Ten Simple Ways To Increase Your Business
Ten Simple Ways To Increase Your Business
1. Get rich in a niche
If you already have contacts and inroads in a particular industry or with a particular group of people, focus your efforts in that niche. By specializing in a specific industry you can make the most of your marketing and maximize your effort.
2. Make every action serve more than one purpose.
If you are giving a speech or seminar, use your outline to develop an article that you can use as a special report or newspaper story. If you are writing a sales letter, extract the key points to use in a speech to your local networking group. Design your advertising in a way that will enable you to use the same basic ad in different formats and publications. This will allow you to make the most of everything you do.
3. Mine the gold already in your business
We tend to spend a lot of time chasing after new business while there are untapped opportunities within our existing customers. Learn to mine the gold you already have in your business. What other products or services could you offer your existing customers? How could you increase the frequency with which people buy from you or the amount of their purchases? You already have gold within your business just waiting to be mined.
4. Avoid mass media.
Unless you have very deep pockets, you cannot afford to use mass media to advertise. Daily newspapers, radio, TV and such can be very expensive ways to reach customers. Depending upon who your customer is, you can usually find less expensive ways to reach them. Targeted publications such as business journals, parenting publications, shoppers and industry specific magazines are generally less expensive and deliver a more targeted audience. Sales letters to a highly focused mailing list of your target market and telemarketing are also effective solutions. The key is to define your customers and zero in on them with a focused message.
5. Use reports and specialized information.
Writing reports and articles is one of the best advertising methods and costs next to nothing. If you have knowledge that others find useful, you can write a special report and offer it to prospective customers. You can use the same information as the basis of a speech to groups who represent your customer base. You can send a letter to your prospective customer, offering a free report that will be of interest to them and solve a problem they have. The same approach can be used with an ad that gives an 800 number and says something like: "Ten ways to ___. Call 1-800-XXX-XXXX for free report."
6. Use newsletters.
Another inexpensive way to build your business is by using newsletters. A newsletter has a 400% better chance of being read than an ad. This is because newsletters address the needs of your customer. A good newsletter will be about my needs and deliver information that will help me, the reader. Newsletters can be inexpensively produced on your computer and need not be fancy. The key is that they are sent at regular intervals (quarterly at the very least) and help your customer solve a problem of theirs. You can even offer advertising to other, non competing, businesses as a way of sharing the costs.
7. Ask: What else can I do for you?
It always amazes me how people tend to overlook this simple question. If you ask it, you may be pleasantly surprised at the responses. There are needs your customers have right now that you could help them fill, building your business in the process.
8. Use classified ads.
Classifieds are a powerful, inexpensive method of reaching new customers. A well written classified can do wonders for your business. They are also a great way to test an idea before you commit to a larger ad budget. Many highly successful businesses have been built using the lowly classified.
9. Form a Mastermind group.
A powerful strategy, first defined by Napoleon Hill in his classic book, Think and Grow Rich, the mastermind group is simply a group of like minded people who meet on a regular basis to help each other succeed. Find a small group of people whose ideals and aspirations are similar to yours and arrange to meet regularly. The power of the group consciousness can multiply your brain power many times and bring you new insights and ideas. For more about this, read Think and Grow Rich.
10. Serve your customers
Continually look for ways to improve your service to your customer and add more value to your products and services and you will never be without a steady supply of business. The more you can add value to doing business with your company and provide more service to your customers, the better success you will enjoy. Institute a practice of making small incremental improvements, daily in every area of your life.
Ten Simple Ways To Increase Your Business - To learn more about this author, visit Jim Donovan's Website.
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Following are ten simple ways you can market your business with little or no expense.
1. Get rich in a niche
If you already have contacts and inroads in a particular industry or with a particular group of people, focus your efforts in that niche. By specializing in a specific industry you can make the most of your marketing and maximize your effort.
2. Make every action serve more than one purpose.
If you are giving a speech or seminar, use your outline to develop an article that you can use as a special report or newspaper story. If you are writing a sales letter, extract the key points to use in a speech to your local networking group. Design your advertising in a way that will enable you to use the same basic ad in different formats and publications. This will allow you to make the most of everything you do.
3. Mine the gold already in your business
We tend to spend a lot of time chasing after new business while there are untapped opportunities within our existing customers. Learn to mine the gold you already have in your business. What other products or services could you offer your existing customers? How could you increase the frequency with which people buy from you or the amount of their purchases? You already have gold within your business just waiting to be mined.
4. Avoid mass media.
Unless you have very deep pockets, you cannot afford to use mass media to advertise. Daily newspapers, radio, TV and such can be very expensive ways to reach customers. Depending upon who your customer is, you can usually find less expensive ways to reach them. Targeted publications such as business journals, parenting publications, shoppers and industry specific magazines are generally less expensive and deliver a more targeted audience. Sales letters to a highly focused mailing list of your target market and telemarketing are also effective solutions. The key is to define your customers and zero in on them with a focused message.
5. Use reports and specialized information.
Writing reports and articles is one of the best advertising methods and costs next to nothing. If you have knowledge that others find useful, you can write a special report and offer it to prospective customers. You can use the same information as the basis of a speech to groups who represent your customer base. You can send a letter to your prospective customer, offering a free report that will be of interest to them and solve a problem they have. The same approach can be used with an ad that gives an 800 number and says something like: "Ten ways to ___. Call 1-800-XXX-XXXX for free report."
6. Use newsletters.
Another inexpensive way to build your business is by using newsletters. A newsletter has a 400% better chance of being read than an ad. This is because newsletters address the needs of your customer. A good newsletter will be about my needs and deliver information that will help me, the reader. Newsletters can be inexpensively produced on your computer and need not be fancy. The key is that they are sent at regular intervals (quarterly at the very least) and help your customer solve a problem of theirs. You can even offer advertising to other, non competing, businesses as a way of sharing the costs.
7. Ask: What else can I do for you?
It always amazes me how people tend to overlook this simple question. If you ask it, you may be pleasantly surprised at the responses. There are needs your customers have right now that you could help them fill, building your business in the process.
8. Use classified ads.
Classifieds are a powerful, inexpensive method of reaching new customers. A well written classified can do wonders for your business. They are also a great way to test an idea before you commit to a larger ad budget. Many highly successful businesses have been built using the lowly classified.
9. Form a Mastermind group.
A powerful strategy, first defined by Napoleon Hill in his classic book, Think and Grow Rich, the mastermind group is simply a group of like minded people who meet on a regular basis to help each other succeed. Find a small group of people whose ideals and aspirations are similar to yours and arrange to meet regularly. The power of the group consciousness can multiply your brain power many times and bring you new insights and ideas. For more about this, read Think and Grow Rich.
10. Serve your customers
Continually look for ways to improve your service to your customer and add more value to your products and services and you will never be without a steady supply of business. The more you can add value to doing business with your company and provide more service to your customers, the better success you will enjoy. Institute a practice of making small incremental improvements, daily in every area of your life.
Ten Simple Ways To Increase Your Business - To learn more about this author, visit Jim Donovan's Website.
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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