How to Grow your Business without Spending a Fortune

July 27, 2011


The great recession of the last 2-3 years has made many small business owners skittish about spending money even if it can help them improve sales in the future. Many of the small business owners are hunkering down to survive till the sky is cleared. They are happy with maintaining current sales and making reasonable profit. While we agree that these are difficult times for all small business owners, you should not have to sacrifice long-term benefits at the expense of short-term survival.
We believe, there are ways to satisfy both the needs of conserving cash and growing your business at the same time. The key is to utilize low-cost marketing techniques to improve sales combined with flexible operations to control cost. We have covered several of these techniques in previous posts. Below we summarize them for your convenience.
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Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Management, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: ,

How to Convert Free Samples into Sales

June 26, 2011


Having free samples as part of a marketing strategy is a must for all small businesses irrespective of size or industry. The reason is simple – free samples allow them to reach new customers and introduce new products at lower cost. In an earlier post we showed how small businesses can go about running a successful free sample program.
The ultimate goal of giving out free sample is to convert those customers into paying ones leading to improved sales and profit. That’s why it is important not to work out a plan to achieve this goal as you roll out the free sample program. Here are some tips to make the program successful.
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Filed Under: Marketing, Sales Tagged With: ,

How to Run Successful Free Sample Program

June 22, 2011


In the previous post we discussed why giving out free samples needs to be part of marketing strategy for every small business. There are number of benefits small business owners can obtain by giving out samples to existing and new customers. The key to achieving these benefits is to execute the program well. You have to ensure that you reach out to target it to the customers you want to attract. Give out free samples to anyone and everyone and you will waste your money without reaping proper benefits.
To successfully run the sample program you should aim to reach maximum number of potential customers in your target market. You also need to look into getting recommendations from influential people that your target customers admire. Here are some suggestions to make that happen.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: ,

Why Free Samples should be part of your Marketing Strategy

June 19, 2011


Free samples are everywhere! Walk into any mall or store and you will find people handing out samples. Go to a grocery store… There are samples of coffee, cookies and many other things… Go to a mall department store… There are samples of perfumes for you to try… Even technology companies that do not have physical stores have got into the game with the so called “freemium” business model. They provide “samples” in the form of limited functionality product for you to “try”. If you want additional functionality you need to pay for it. Apple store is constantly buzzing with people sampling their latest gadgetry.
Samples are everywhere because they work. Customers love samples. It gives them opportunity to “try before they buy.” They don’t have to spend money on something new before figuring out if they will like it or not. It also lets them find new products that they didn’t know existed. With the number of product choices available to consumers increasing every day they do not have time to research all the new products before buying them. Samples provide them a way to uncover something new.
As you can see samples provide companies with an interesting marketing avenue to reach their customers. There are several ways small businesses can use free samples for effective marketing. The list below shows how you can use free samples for low-cost yet effective marketing.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: , ,

Ductz – Champion of Customer Service and Marketing

June 15, 2011


If you have been a regular reader of this blog you know that we are strong proponent of customer service and “non-traditional” marketing to improve sales and customer loyalty. We strongly believe that by paying attention to customer service and marketing with emphasis on fundamentals of products and services you can not only significantly improve sales but do so with lower marketing budget.
We are always on the lookout for companies that follow this approach and came across one such company last month at a customer service seminar at IKEA in Canton, MI where I was presenting. I met Dayn Benson, who is Director of Operations at air duct cleaning and HVAC restoration franchise called DUCTZ. Ductz has garnered number of accolades and experienced rapid growth in a short time after being founded in 2002. It was ranked No. 1 in its category by Entrepreneur magazine’s recently released 30th Annual Franchise 500.
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10 Marketing Acts that Generated Enormous Business Buzz

June 8, 2011


As we discussed earlier buzz marketing can help small business owners achieve high return on their marketing investment. We also showed you practical ideas that can generate buzz with your customer and community and improve your sales and customer loyalty. The primary ingredients required to create buzz are buzz-worthy products, suspense, conversation and scarcity.
Some companies have a knack for creating the buzz. Remember the TV commercial that Apple produced to introduce Macintosh computer. This is a must see commercial, along with host of other things Apple has done over the years. Besides Apple, number of other companies have generated buzz and made their brands famous by producing innovative, out-of-the-box stunts. Below are some of our favorites.
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15 Practical Ideas to Generate Buzz for Your Business

June 5, 2011


In the last post we talked about how buzz marketing can help small business owners stand out in the crowd and enable them to compete with large companies. Buzz marketing also helps lower marketing cost for small business owners because it costs less compared to traditional marketing avenues such as newspaper, radio or television.
The primary ingredients required to create buzz are buzz-worthy products, suspense, conversation and scarcity. In this post we provide you with practical tips you can use to generate buzz about your business. As you will see the key theme in each of these tips is doing something expected or even outrageous.
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How to Generate Buzz for Your Business

June 1, 2011


Buzz marketing, also known as viral marketing or work-of-mouth marketing has been the buzzword talked about in marketing circles for the last decade. Simply put, buzz marketing is about getting people to talk about your business by using unconventional marketing tactics. These days consumers’ ears and eyes are so inundated with marketing messages that it is difficult for small businesses to stand out and get noticed unless they do “something different.” This is where buzz marketing helps.
Buzz marketing not only helps businesses stand out from the crowd; but it does so by businesses having to spend less money than traditional marketing techniques such as newspaper ads or television and radio commercials.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing Tagged With: ,

Every Customer Contact is an Opportunity to Sell

May 29, 2011


I simply find it amazing and annoying to see how many companies make their customers wait on the phone when they call them for customer service. Customers could be calling them with a question on the product or make a suggestion for improvement or even place an order! Yet they have to wait listening to the repetitive message that reminds them how important their phone call is to them. Oh Really!!! Just imagine what is going on in customer’s mind, your mind during this time – “God save me from this misery. Bring some human soul I can talk to.”
Many businesses have sacrificed customer service in the name of efficiency and automation in the last 5 years. The so called advances in voice recognition have made matters even worse. Now it’s not just a matter of punching numbers on the phone keypad. The machine will interact with you as if it understands, or at least pretends to, all your questions – “Hello. I can help you find anything you are looking for today. What can I do for you?” My answer – “how about finding a human being somewhere in your company?”
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List of Documents to Prepare for Business Sale

May 15, 2011


Opportunity favors those who are prepared to take advantage of it. This has been the consistent theme in the last several posts we have written on how to prepare your business for sale. We mentioned that you need to start planning for business at least one year in advance. In addition there are additional items you need to take care of as the time to list your business for sale approaches.
Your primary goal as a seller is to allay potential buyer’s biggest financial fears as well as other FUDs related to the operation of the business. It is only through proper planning and careful preparation that you can dispel buyer FUDs and make your business sale go faster and smoother. After all the longer it takes for the sale to go through the more chances of something going wrong and the sale falling through.
One of the most important aspect of getting prepared for the sale is compiling all the documents related to the business finances and operations.
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Filed Under: Buyers, Employees, Finance, Marketing, Operations, Sellers Tagged With: , ,