Tips & Tricks

Grow your business - the essentials

Growing a business is similar to tending a vegetable garden. Knowledge, careful planning, organised systems, use of proper tools, continuous care and dedication give you the very best chance of producing a beautiful and abundant garden that brings forth fresh 'veggies' for years to come.

The same is true when it comes to growing your business. By following a specific sequence of steps, just like growing a garden, you can succeed. Neither can be accomplished with a haphazard approach.

Discovering how other businesses are growing, thinking through your marketing strategy, taking an organised approach, using the proper tools to get the word out and focusing on achievement will help you reach your business goals and set you on the right path towards accomplishing your greatest success.

Prospecting

For most products and services it is imperative to first generate qualified prospects. Only then do you work on converting those prospects into first-time buyers, repeat customers and finally, lifelong customers. If you are trying to generate an immediate sale, you are going to be disappointed with the results. You will make most of your sales by following up with your prospects regularly.

A person is a prospect only if he or she has:-

• a genuine interest in the particular product or service you provide
• responded to one of your offers
• provided you with contact information (i.e. name, e-mail, etc.)
• the authority to buy your product or service and can afford it.

Everyone else is a stranger, not a prospect.

Target

You cannot try to market to everybody. When you do you are marketing to nobody. Choose a niche market and focus on your main audience. Target them in all of your marketing materials.

Offers

To get people to respond to your marketing, develop an enticing offer and get it in front of as many people in your target market as you can. Perhaps a free tips report, a free e-zine or free sample. The best offers are generally the free offers.

Getting the word out

There are a multitude of ways to get the word out about your offer. You can try traditional marketing, such as direct mail, press releases, networking, advertising etc. or, you can use the internet for on-line networking, affiliate programmes, link exchanges, joining in discussion forums, submitting to search engines and so on. Whatever you choose, schedule time each day to market your business. Write it on your calendar. When it's written down, it is more concrete and there is a better chance that you will do it.

Follow up

Once you begin to generate prospects, it is imperative that you get their contact information (i.e. name, e-mail address and any other pertinent information) into an organised database. Why all the work? Because follow up is the key to successful marketing. Once you have contact information you can continue to make enticing offers for your products or services (i.e. discounts, gift certificates, 2-for-1 deals, etc).

One product or service

Choose one product or service to market at a time or you are liable to confuse your prospects. You can have more than one product listed on your web-site. However, when you contact your prospects, it is better to focus on one thing.

Guarantee

Guarantee your products or services. Offer at a minimum 100 percent money back guarantee. When it is clear that you stand behind your products or services you will have accomplished a trust factor. This is called risk-reversal.

Proactive

Don't use the passive marketing technique. That is when you distribute general information, verbal and written, about your business, then just sit around waiting for the telephone to ring or your e-mail in box to fill up with orders. That just doesn't happen you have to be proactive.

Track

Track. Track. Track. That is the mantra and I can't say this enough. Keeping accurate numbers will help you make good marketing decisions. If you dont know what's working you are going to waste a lot of time and money. However, if you do know exactly what is working for you, you are practically guaranteed to reach your goals.

Want further information? Contact Graham King using the contact details above.