The hardest thing about running your own business is getting consistent results. Business growth can stop for various reasons. But most often it happens because the combination of efforts of the owner and his team aimed at expanding and developing the company and the combination of counteraction to these efforts caused by external adverse factors become equal. External factors are competition, rising prices for raw materials, the economic and financial crisis, and so on, as well as chaos, confusion, and general inconsistency of actions within the company itself.
However, the main problem is that the process of development is endless. You have to constantly search for a new audience, improve production and strive for even greater profits. But how to manage your business if the main goal is to move forward?
Constantly Improve Your Service
It is the first way to boost your business. Put yourself in the place of a potential client, ask yourself the same questions that the client asks himself. You can sell your product much more expensive than your competitors and at the same time be at a higher level in your area. The main thing is not the price but the service. What is the use of buying a TV set half-price if you get it only in three months? Focus on service and the issue of growing your business will be solved at once.
Learn From Your Competitors
Have you ever dreamed of becoming a private detective? Have you watched someone trying to get the information or just out of sheer curiosity? It sounds crazy but it may help take your business to the next level indeed. Using an anti-caller ID or mspy, call a competing company or drop them an email as an interested customer. Pay attention to every detail up to the intonation and timbre of the voice — how they communicate with the client, what they say. Analyze what information your competitors provide to potential customers, what questions they ask, how they promote their service, how their way of communication differs from yours.
Pamper Your Customers
If you own a small store where the average rate of customers is, for instance, 100 people per month, make half of them regular customers. Give them gifts and they will be pleased to know that they are valued as buyers. Make the managers call regular customers by name and in person. Show your customers that your managers are interested in how they are doing and sincerely worry about them. People crave attention especially when they are shown that they are special ones.
Use a 80/20 Approach
This principle is also known as the Pareto principle. In a nutshell, it states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effect comes from 20% of the cause. Many researchers show that 20% of the most popular products account for approximately 80% of total sales, 20% of customers purchase 80 % of your products and 20% of sales your company’s sales generate 80% of your sales revenue.
Why sell goods that bring 2-3% of the profit? Why bother with them, why promote them, invest in them? Highlight the most profitable products so as not to waste resources on promoting low-margin ones. This approach works if customers do not need a full range of services or a wide range of products. By defining the ‘effectiveness’ of the client, you can understand which of them bring the most money. Such customers should be paid maximum attention.
Increase Average Bill Value Per Customer
Cross Sell and Up Sell are the most common ways to increase your average bill. They are often confused and they are considered to be interchangeable but it is not so.
Up Sell means the sale of more expensive products that are better or more functional in comparison to those ones in question. For example, a customer came to your store for a smartphone. He may have preferences regarding the brand, color, size. The seller’s task in this situation is to find out how the client is going to use the phone, for what purpose. As a result, he should sell him a phone with the best options: extra-long battery life, high-megapixel camera, large storage place, etc.
Cross Sell involves selling related products or cross-selling. You can additionally offer a glass, case or memory card for a phone. For a bike — a pump, helmet, water bottle, child seat, etc.
