If you are a small business owner and want to grow your business quickly, there are two ways you can do it without spending extra money on advertising. Continue reading to learn more.
Many small business owners are not marketing experts. They are entrepreneurs, the people with ideas and inspiration for everyone else they come in contact with. The default response for many small business owners is to go out and pound that pavement if they want more business. After all, if you want more money, you need more customers, right? Well, not always.
There are two other things you can do where you don’t need to increase the number of customers. In fact, many small businesses are maxed out and cannot accommodate more customers in their workload. Try these two things instead:
1. It’s growing the dollar amount of each customer’s order“This is where you’re really going to get in there, roll up your sleeves, and find out what else the customer wants.” Find out what their problem is and offer them MORE products or services that will solve that exact problem.
Suppose you own a hardware store. A customer walks in looking for a screw for 39 cents. You help them find it by spending 15 minutes with them and they leave happy. What if you ask them about the problem they are trying to solve. Maybe they were trying to hang a rusty bird feeder. You could show them your full line of rust-resistant bird feeders as well as a bag of premium seed, increasing that order from 39 cents to $39.
When you already have a customer in your business and they’ve already made a commitment to buy, that’s the time to work on solving their exact problem. The customer will be grateful and you’ll make a lot more money in the process.
2. Increase the frequency with which your current customers return to make another purchase– This is where you need to become a master of direct marketing. Using your current customer list, you will need to contact them regularly. Create call-to-action opportunities that get the customer off the couch and into your business. This can be achieved through limited-time coupons, contests, free consultations, entertainment and much more, all designed to bring them back. Loyalty programs would also fall into this category.
By doing just these two things, some businesses have doubled or tripled their revenue in just a few months. All you have to do is solve the customer’s problem perfectly and remind them often that you’re still in business.