Experience has taught me that to succeed you simply have to follow what successful people do. This logic surely applies to businesses too, and I am amazed by the simple lessons applied by major corporations, that bring great results and can be simply applied to your business too.

There are only 3 ways to build a business.

1. Find more customers
2. Get your customers to increase their order value
3. Increase the frequency that your customers shop with you

What can we learn from the ‘big boys’ that can help us acquire new customers…?

Most of us are simply looking to win market share from our competitors. Our most precious assets are our existing customers and these can be our strongest ally in the quest for winning new customers. Two international brands that do this better than most are Next and Sky. Both of these businesses, at nearly every opportunity, invite their customers to introduce them to their friends and family. Sounds simple; and you will often here me say “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” But by creating a “win-win” offer, these global brands are acquiring new customers from their competitors. Are you asking your existing customers to recommend you? If not- start today and you will be amazed by the results.

In terms of helping customers to increase their order value, the Jedi masters are all on the high street. Fast food outlets like McDonalds, and Supermarkets like Tescos, make huge impacts on their bottom lines by drastically increasing the size of their average order values. They do this in some very simple ways…

• Supermarkets place the everyday necessity items in far reaching corners of the store to ensure that you walk past the maximum number of offers on route. How could you put your offers in front of your customers more often?
• Several multi-buy offers are positioned on the ends of aisles to encourage you to buy more than you require. What offers could you create to encourage your customers to increase the amount they buy from you?
• Products that compliment one another are strategically positioned together to promote link purchases. If McDonalds can offer “fries” with every burger then what should you be offering alongside your product/service offerings?
• Convenient additions of new products, that are desirable to your current customers, can prevent them going elsewhere. What are your customers buying from someone else that they could buy from you?  McDonalds produced a veggie burger and Tescos started selling clothes. What could you add to your portfolio to make your customers life easier and safeguard them from your competition?

We all know that it is easier to get more business from an existing customer than it is to find one from scratch. So, what can we do to keep them coming back? Understanding what big businesses do to encourage this leaves a trail of clues towards strategies that can work for us.

The underlying factor to continue to get your customers to return time and time again is to be genuinely great at what you do. If your service standard is below par then the techniques that follow will not work. What we are really looking to achieve is loyalty. Repeat business is based on loyalty and in the first instance this must be earned. Once you have earned loyalty to your business, I see 3 main areas where you can influence the frequency of customer transactions.

1. Controlling the process. On of the finest examples in the world at doing this is the Hairdressing industry. Upon delivering their work they will rarely let a customer leave the salon without booking their next appointment. How could you further control the next transaction your customer makes?
2. Membership or retained income. This is practiced by health clubs and gyms to great success; however an example you can also consider is that of the football club season ticket. A season ticket gives its owner access to all the league home matches and priority on all cup matches and away games, all for a slightly reduced investment than the combined cost for all the scheduled games. It also gives the owner a guaranteed seat at all games that results in a feeling of belonging and privilege.

These are the qualities you should look to replicate if you are to create a membership product. These customers will be your most raving fans and should receive your very best level of ‘rock star’ service. They will be the first to buy additional products and services and should not be taken for granted. All service-based businesses could offer a retained service for a fixed monthly fee, but remember to undersell and over deliver.

1. Communication. Getting people back to shop with you is largely a case of being able to effectively communicate with them. This can only be done if you understand your customers and have their contact details. Great examples of this come from our nations banks. They are obliged to send us monthly statements and letters. In each of these communications we are encouraged to shop again with these service providers. Another great example of this just last week came to me from Pizza Hut. A few weeks ago I ordered a pizza for delivery and they requested my mobile number. The pizza was delivered, paid for and very much enjoyed. Two weeks later, at 4pm on a Friday, I received a text from Pizza Hut with a great offer to use that night. As such we ate pizza again, however, without that text we would have eaten elsewhere. How could you better communicate with your existing customers to keep them coming back?

In summary, I am hoping you can clearly see that the challenges that we face in growing our own businesses are being addressed every day by some of the biggest brands we know. It can be lonely in business, but we are in the market place every single day- from sitting in traffic staring at the back of a bus to watching TV in the evening. Successes leave clues. Keep your senses open to what others are doing around you, learn from their actions and then take action for yourself.

Phil Jones (http//www.philmjones.com]

Isn’t reliability the first quality that we should look to develop as individuals or businesses? If the people we work with or our customers know that they can depend on us to do what is required, they will be much more relaxed in working with us. We can only develop a reputation for reliability by delivering over an extended period of time. To be reliable we have to do whatever it takes, whatever the circumstances. Excuses cannot be accepted.

Once we have developed reliability, we can start to deliver that little bit extra – the customer delight features. But once we’ve added in these little extras, we have to go on including them because they have now become part of being reliable.

Of course, there is another take on the definition of reliability. Some people and organisations can be predicted or depended on to be unreliable. It’s your call how you want the world to see you. Remember, being reliable is hard work. But think of the opportunities that it can bring.

David Wike (www.davidwike.co.uk)

I know I have certainly changed my opinion.

For the last few years in my business, I’ve been giving away 50 free ways to promote your business and you know what, it’s got results. I’ve attracted lots and lots of new contacts to my business and they’ve all been very happy to give me their contact details.

The theory then goes that once they’ve given you their contact details and therefore expressed interest in what you do, they should go onto buy from you, right?

Well no actually. Not necessarily.

The chances are actually much higher that they’ll grab your free giveaway with both hands and you’ll never hear from them again.

Now I’m not saying that offering a free giveaway is the wrong thing to do, but you must be very careful with what information you give away in order to attract the right people to your business.

If I offer 50 free ways to promote your business, who am I attracting with this information?

I’m attracting people who DON’T WANT to spend any money on marketing.

Is that who I want to attract? Well, no not really.

Who I want to attract are small business owners who want some help with their marketing AND who are willing to pay for someone to help them with it.

Could I change my free offering to attract these sorts of people? Absolutely! While I may not as many people signing up, they would be much more qualified and therefore much more likely to turn into clients.

While this doesn’t mean that I’m not going to give these people free information, what they do get will a) much more tailored and personalised to them and b) much more likely to result in sales.

So if you currently offer something free to your contacts in order to get them to sign up for something, make sure that what you’re offering appeals the right set of customers that you’re trying to attract.

Think carefully about your offer and make sure you are attracting the right people to your business.

Ed: Thanks to Helen Dowling for another great guest blog.

I can tell you from working with many, many small business owners over the years, that there is rarely such a thing as sitting down in front of the perfect client. In reality, a small business owner will need some degree of sales skills in order to turn a potential client into an actual client.

So my question today is what should be in your sales kit so that no matter what the potential client throws at you, you have all the tools in your arsenal in order to deal with it.

A good sales kit doesn’t necessarily need to be materials that you take along with you but ideally you should have thought these through and be prepared before you go along to a sales meeting.

In my sales kit I have the following:

• A good pen and some sort of good notepad so I can record what was said
• Sales literature such as brochures, flyers, business cards etc
• A list of frequently asked questions so that I know that no matter what the question is I can answer it
• Diagrams and exercises so that I can demonstrate a technique or idea to a potential client
• Active listening skills so that I really hear what a potential client is telling me
• Proposal templates so that I can quickly get a proposal back to a potential client
• Ways to close the sale or ask what the next step is
• Always having a chat on the phone first to properly qualify the potential client – is it worth my time going to meet them?

The fact is, when I first started my business, I was really rubbish at sales. I didn’t listen to the potential client and just sat there and told them how we could help rather than listen to what they wanted.

It was only after a good deal of lost sales and opportunities that I realised that clients would very often tell you what they wanted if only you would listen to it.

Once I started to do this, and put together great ways of answering the questions they asked. Believe me answering the question “why did you study Psychology at Luton University?” with “Because I didn’t do as well in my A levels as I wanted to” does not impress a potential client. I know as that’s what I once said.

Now I have ‘political correct’ answers – answers that sound great and can really sell my products and services no matter what is thrown at me.

I have also developed diagrams and exercises so that I can visually explain to a client what we do. Although I don’t have these formally created (as I want to keep the meeting informal), I do have these in my head and can bring them out at any moment to explain a difficult concept to a client.

So do you have all of these tools in your sales kit and how good are you at using them?

A good question to ask yourself is: if you had 10 potential clients, how many of them (being really honest) would you turn into clients? If your answer is anything below 8 out of 10, there is definitely room for improvement.

Thank you to Exceptional Thinking for this guest blog.

Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides help and advice to small business owners on their marketing. For 50 free ways to promote your business, visit http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/50ideas.htm

Take a minute to read through each one and consider how they could benefit your business. They may seem obvious at first glance, but ask yourself… do you actually apply them on a regular basis?

BE PERSONAL… Stop hiding behind your logo… ‘people do business with people’! When showcasing your business, introduce the people behind your brand – it builds a huge amount of trust, brings your company to life and makes your potential customers feel at ease when making contact with you.

BE KNOWN… Most business opportunities come as a direct result of people knowing each other. Get yourself known personally by those who can refer business to you, build mutually-beneficial relationships and pro-actively generate ongoing ‘word of mouth’ opportunities.

BE FOUND… Make sure that when potential customers are searching for information relating to your specific services they end up with your business in front of them. These people are looking to do business with someone… make sure they find YOU.

BE INTERESTING… Potential customers like lots of useful and interesting information but only if it’s well written and simple to understand. Give your potential customers the information they want to know in a clear and easy to read format.

BE CREDIBLE… People are less trusting than ever. Make sure that potential customers perceive you to be an expert in your field and give lots of supporting evidence to back up your reliability and quality of service.

BE IN TOUCH… People’s circumstances change all the time. Have a system in place to keep in contact with your potential customers on a regular basis… you never know when they will need your services.

BE CONTACTABLE… It sounds obvious but… make it as easy as possible for potential customers to get in touch with you.

Dave Sharpe of Local Faces  http://www.localfaces.co.uk 

Why many business owners fail is because they try to do everything for themselves. They run themselves ragged sorting out their website; organising advertising; figuring out their daily bookkeeping, sending out invoices and chasing payment; fielding phone calls; spending hours if not days on administration. They spend their precious time on necessary, but very time consuming and energy sapping tasks that could actually be done by someone else!

Smart successful business owners learn NOT to get swamped by all these jobs. Instead, they spend their time doing what they are best at, using their specific talents to grow their business, engage with clients and take their business forward.

So, how is this possible? Well, they outsource the jobs that get in the way of progress. They use a telephone answering service to free up their time and ensure that every prospective customer enquiry is answered professionally; get bookkeeping support to keep their accounts up-to-date, and they hire the services of a brilliant PA to keep them organised and deal with the day-to-day administration.

“Oh!” you say, “but this sounds expensive”. Well, actually it is not. Because these days you do not need to employ an office full of staff. The smart solution is to outsource the tasks you can off-load, by buying just the specific support you need.

So, the choice is easy… continue to spend all your energy making the wheels just keep turning in your business, or are you going to take the clever route and forge ahead in the direction you really want to go whilst someone else gets to grips with all those other jobs?

Many great Virtual PA’s and business support companies offer cost effective and efficient ‘virtual’ or ‘cloud’ services, so consider contacting one to see how they can assist your company.

Outsourcing necessary but time consuming business administration chores can make your business more productive, profitable and motivating.

Many small businesses complain they are ‘drowning in paperwork’ from all the invoicing, chasing accounts and marketing of their company. Added to this is the problem of fielding the many incoming telephone calls are often cited as the main chores that really sap the time, energy and motivation of business owners.

Outsourcing can be a valuable and strategic tool for making your business more productive and profitable – if you know when and how to take advantage of it. The key factors that need to be considered  are WHICH business functions are suitable to be outsourced and WHEN is the best time to ‘farm out’ this work for someone else to do.

Stop and consider what your ‘core’ business is? Are the tasks helping you to grow your core business?

What is your main skill set? Are the tasks taking you away from what you do best?

Here are 7 Top Tips to help you make your decision about WHAT and WHEN to outsource:

1. Outsource tasks that are not central to generating profits, competitive success or help you to grow your business.
2. Outsource routine but necessary jobs that regularly ‘sap’ your valuable time and energy.
3. Outsource tasks that reoccur regularly – like basic administration.
4. Outsource tasks that are less expensive to have someone externally to do than to do yourself – or by a member of your own staff.
5. Outsource activities that CAN be done cheaper in-house, but that drain the resources of you or your team and get in the way of achieving something EVEN MORE valuable to your business.
6. Outsource when the task requires a skill that is so specialised that it’s just impractical to have a regular employee do it badly and take more time than a professional – i.e. designing and building a website, transcription, or writing marketing copy and image manipulation.
7. Consider outsourcing when the activity that needs doing is one that nobody wants to do or feels they can do it well.

And don’t just look at the cost of outsourcing – think about the time and money it will SAVE you – and how it will motivate you to focus on the core activities of your business!

Outsourcing is a viable option for everything from transcription and dictation, bookkeeping, telephone answering, databases and mailings, graphic design, marketing, event organisation and website design. The key advantage of outsourcing is that it enables you to invest your resources into more profitable activities that drive your business forwards.

Related article – ‘Outsourcing: You can’t afford not to’ The Globe and Mail  http://tiny.ly/fqw8

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/your-business/exit/taxation/outsourcing-you-cant-afford-not-to/article1942750/