Make 2020 the best year yet for your small business with our seven tips to improve sales volume, focus your marketing efforts, find new sources of revenue, and build even stronger relationships with your existing customers.
In this article, we’ll cover:
- Measure Your Marketing
- Upgrade Your Sales Funnel
- Boost Your Online Presence
- Invest in Customer Relationships
- Get a Better Picture of Your Finances
- Stay On Trend
- Motivate Employees
1. Measure Your Marketing
You don’t need to measure all your marketing efforts, just those you’re putting more time and money into.
For example, Forbes recommends tracking how people are finding your website. Is it through a referral program or a blog post you wrote for another site? Be sure you know so you can redouble your efforts in whatever area’s working. Google Analytics is free and easy-to-use tool to track your website traffic.
2. Upgrade Your Sales Funnel
It’s time to make sure those top-of-funnel prospects are really converting into leads and then paying customers. You might have a lot of prospects but what is your small business doing to turn them into leads?
Your website is one place you can focus on increasing leads, says Forbes. To get a visitor’s contact information, offer them something of value in return. This could be a guided demo or a free trial, for example. Once you have their email address, you can offer them more perks like exclusive upgrades and insider tips to help their business.
In short, you need to offer something so the potential customer comes back to your site again and again. A first-time visitor isn’t going to buy what you’re offering. You need a reason for them to come back to your website, learn to trust you, and eventually buy your service or product. That’s the path to success.
3. Boost Your Online Presence
Simple updates to your website can make a big difference. Make sure your contact information is clearly visible on each page. And when a prospect calls or emails you, offer excellent customer service. Respond to them right away and resolve their concern.
Local SEO (search engine optimization) is another hot marketing trend and one of the best advertising tactics for small businesses. This article gives you all the tips you need to quickly get started on optimizing your small business for local search.
4. Invest in Customer Relationships
Improving your customer relationships isn’t a trendy or new strategy, but it works. Building customer relationships means really listening to what they need and making every effort to satisfy those needs. Try to customize your products or service based on those needs, too.
Investing in customer relationships means dedicating lots of time and resources. Be prepared for this to really reap the benefits of loyal repeat customers.
Offering excellent customer service is another must, says Entrepreneur. Forget what’s right and focus on serving the customer. Give the customer what they want. Do whatever is in your power to make them happy. Make sure that your business provides a customer experience to make them feel heard, valued, and understood.
5. Get a Better Picture of Your Finances
Here’s another way to grow your small business: really commit to understanding your finances. Some small business owners are allergic to bookkeeping but unless you have a grip on your numbers, none of our other business ideas to boost sales and increase efficiency are going to work.
Commit to understanding your monthly, weekly, and even daily numbers. Get a sense of the financial trends happening in your business. The accountant you hire to do your taxes can help you keep your small business financially organized, but financially healthy. That’s your job, keeping up with your accountant is a great way to avoid any financial troubles in the future.
Here’s a tip: get small business owner-friendly cloud accounting software like FreshBooks. Discover how easy it is to make reports that put your financials in crystal-clear perspective.
6. Stay On Trend
Understand what’s happening not only in your industry but also in your local community. How will they affect you and what can you do to capitalize on them? In the end, though, always focus on providing value to your customers, says Entrepreneur. Every new product or offering must offer significant value to the lives of your clients or customers. It must also be of the highest quality possible. Otherwise, all your hard work will be for nothing.
Photo: gccexchange.com
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