Monthly Archives: June 2015

10 questions to consider before getting your new company to market

  1. What will you solve? What pain are you relieving for your clients and what will they achieve through working with you?
  1. Who are you targeting? Who will be suffering most from the pain you relieve or relish the advantage you offer. Be very specific, including gender, age, geography as well their main challenge and what they are looking to achieve.
  1. Why you? What is your USP? What can you do that your competition can’t? This does not have to be completely unique but others are not shouting about it.
  1. How much will it cost? Work out your pricing strategy and make sure it cover your costs on-going
  1. What will be your bate? Most people engage first by making a small purchase to try it out. Can you offer an initial product or service which allows you to speak with your customers and build a relationship?
  1. Who is your competition? Find out the main players in your market. Who could you bench yourself against? What are they offering which you could use?
  1. Who can recommend you? Are there people you have worked with already, in your new business or previously? Get some testimonials and case studies done. A lot of people like to do something others have done before.
  1. How many new customers can you handle? Work this out on a month by month basis and set out revenue and profit targets. This will also support your pricing strategy and help you keep on track with your plan.
  1. How will you go about selling? Set up your process in detailed stages and evaluate it on a regular basis. This will be the key to converting more of your newly found leads.
  1. What is your plan? Work out your top strategies for business development, who will you approach first and how?Happy Selling

Would you rather sell another…Or a brand new…?

Every half decent sales person trying to sell you advertising, SEO or data will ask you this question:

Do you know where your business currently comes from?’

I must admit that I have asked this question many times throughout my career and my conclusion is that most people don’t know the answer and don’t care enough to actually check, so they make it up.

So if you don’t care and are happy to keep going as long as the business keeps coming in, that is absolutely fine by me. You started your own business, so you can make your own choices. But just in case, here is why I think you should know:

Most SME owners think that growing their business must be done through generating new leads. It is because of this belief that you end up being persuaded to spend money on advertising and marketing schemes.  You don’t know for sure if they’re working but are too scared not to spend the money, just in case they are.  So knowing where your business currently comes from can save you money and that might actually make you consider it more seriously, mightn’t it?

The case for selling another…

The most common answer to the question of where business comes from is ‘70% of our business comes from word of mouth’ and measured or not this is very true in most cases. But the real killer question is are these new enquiries or additional purchases from existing clients?

If the answer is new enquiries than you need to consider how you currently communicate with your existing clients. Increasing the number or value of purchases coming from your existing customers is easier than finding new clients and it will not be as expensive and time consuming, making it a lot more profitable.

So next time you are considering your business development plan, make sure you consider the opportunities within your existing database.  There are many strategies you can use but whatever you do, you need to look at the following;

  • Understand your target markets
  • Develop your database
  • Create an e-mail marketing strategy and plan

Not Sure how?  Need some help?

Click here to fill in our business questionnaire to identify your main business opportunities