Why Small Businesses Won’t Double Their Revenue This Year
Why Small Businesses Won’t Double Their Revenue This Year
But they all have something in common - they work really long hours, they think about work constantly, and they worry-a lot.
This is where we come in. We may not understand how to run a fabricating plant, but we do know why prospects agree to stay in touch; why people buy things and why customers decide either to stick around and spend more of their money or leave, taking their business with them and telling ten of their friends why they should do business elsewhere.
Here is what we have learned are the biggest reasons why small businesses will not double their business this year (yes, this year-even in the current economic climate):
1. They don't know who their ideal customers are. These are the customers who pay on time, give you most of their budget and can recommend other people just like them.
2. They don't create best customer relationships that lead to a constant stream of referrals-great high margin business with practically zero cost of sales.
3. They lose sight of their prospects. These days it takes at least seven touches before a prospect tries you for the first time-and it can take fifty, or even a hundred. Most small businesses stop at four, sometimes two.
And of course they do! Who has the time, the sales force and the money to pursue leads that may or may not pan out?
Well, take a look at this: 99% of small businesses do not consistently follow up with their prospects and customers. And this leaves a whole lot of money lying on the table for your competition to grab hold of.
For example: if your average sale is $10, and you have 1,000 people coming into your store four tines a year, that's $40,000 in sales. If you could get half of those people to make one more visit, you've just grown your business by 12.5 percent.
Here's one more: if you have 100 prospects, maybe 25 are "hot" and maybe you close 25 percent of them, or six people. If you could increase your close rate from 25 percent to 35 percent, you would now have nine customers-a 50 percent increase.
If on top of that you could increase your "hot" leads from 25 to 30, you would now have ten new customers-a 66 percent increase. The variables may seem small, but you can see how things start to multiply.
Of course you'll need a system to do this.
Why Small Businesses Wont Double Their Revenue This Year - To learn more about this author, visit Liz Walker's Website.
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Part of the fun we have in our practice is hanging out with small business owners. These people are smart, driven, competent and experts in their chosen industry. We always learn something, and we are always in awe of how successful they are at doing something we couldn't imagine even understanding, let alone doing for a living.
But they all have something in common - they work really long hours, they think about work constantly, and they worry-a lot.
This is where we come in. We may not understand how to run a fabricating plant, but we do know why prospects agree to stay in touch; why people buy things and why customers decide either to stick around and spend more of their money or leave, taking their business with them and telling ten of their friends why they should do business elsewhere.
Here is what we have learned are the biggest reasons why small businesses will not double their business this year (yes, this year-even in the current economic climate):
1. They don't know who their ideal customers are. These are the customers who pay on time, give you most of their budget and can recommend other people just like them.
2. They don't create best customer relationships that lead to a constant stream of referrals-great high margin business with practically zero cost of sales.
3. They lose sight of their prospects. These days it takes at least seven touches before a prospect tries you for the first time-and it can take fifty, or even a hundred. Most small businesses stop at four, sometimes two.
And of course they do! Who has the time, the sales force and the money to pursue leads that may or may not pan out?
Well, take a look at this: 99% of small businesses do not consistently follow up with their prospects and customers. And this leaves a whole lot of money lying on the table for your competition to grab hold of.
For example: if your average sale is $10, and you have 1,000 people coming into your store four tines a year, that's $40,000 in sales. If you could get half of those people to make one more visit, you've just grown your business by 12.5 percent.
Here's one more: if you have 100 prospects, maybe 25 are "hot" and maybe you close 25 percent of them, or six people. If you could increase your close rate from 25 percent to 35 percent, you would now have nine customers-a 50 percent increase.
If on top of that you could increase your "hot" leads from 25 to 30, you would now have ten new customers-a 66 percent increase. The variables may seem small, but you can see how things start to multiply.
Of course you'll need a system to do this.
Why Small Businesses Wont Double Their Revenue This Year - To learn more about this author, visit Liz Walker'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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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva'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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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander'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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