The holiday season is a great time to relax, spend time with family and grab five minutes to think about the business instead of just working in it. We know how hard it can be to find time throughout the year to plan the business and that it is often the last thing you feel like doing at the end of a long day’s work.
To help you make the most of the lead up to the new year we wanted to share 7 of the most powerful strategies we use when getting started on our business development plans. They’ll help you kick off 2015 with a real bang.
7Powerful Ways To Grow Your Business in 2015
KNOW Your Ideal Customer – take a look through your books and find out who spent the most, took the least amount of support and bought the most. These are Ideal Customers. Letting everyone else chase difficult to manage and fee focused customers is the best competitive sales strategy you can put into action. If they are Real Estate franchises, Strata companies or larger corporates in the area that buy regularly, make sure they are your customers.
Sack Your Worst Customers – Getting rid of paying customers, must be mad right? If you can charge one customer twice as much and they buy twice as much than a bad customer does you double your profit for the same amount of actual work and a fraction of the support and customer handling. Bad customers are a drag to any business and getting rid of them leaves more room for great ones.
Have a Response For EVERY Objection – nothing worst than being stumped by customers, when they ask hard questions. Become GREAT at handling every objection, write them out and hang them up. If price is at the heart of most objections then get to the heart of the true COST of not taking action. If the COST of not spraying for poisenous insects is a family member being bitten and rushed to hospital then the PRICE of $150 or so to prevent that in the first place for a year at a time is exptremely inexpensive peace of mind. When you get good at this, no one can loigally object to you. If they do, say thank you and walk away, they are most likely a bad customer.
Call Your Existing Customers –your existing customers will spend as much as 26% more than a new customer, they trust you as they’ve already bought from you. Very few businesses actually call their customers, even less script their call, this is your opportunity to fill your appointment books fast. Wish them happy new year, inform them of a special where you add value, not discount and book them in for it. Business has become lazy and scared of using the phone, if you can call and make sales, your business will always grow.
Call ALL Your Leads – For everyone that didn’t buy, if you recall or have notes of their objections to buy, check in and say hello and Happy New Year to them and discover how they’ve protected their family and property during this pest season.
Ask Customers For Family and Friend Referrals –Get feedback on their experience and if they know anyone that can benefit from your service. You only need to ask in most cases, but most businesses never do.
Joint Ventures – This is a partnership approach where you identify related businesses that share the same customers, but do not compete with each other. These arrangements are best formally arranged, with payments being made to them for each new customer you get. Work with your local trades and train them to look for signs of infestation while they are on the job and pay them for the referrals or to market to their database. Keep it simple and valuable to the people referring you.
The best marketing and sales activities are the ones that make the most money for your business in the shortest amount of time with the least cost.
How will you kick start your 2015?
