Posts Tagged ‘small business consultant’

Selling More in A Recession

Before starting out any new business strategies in a down turned economy, it’s always beneficial to bolster your position with preexisting clients and customers. Many times there is enough business to be found amongst your existing client base for you to then finance a “new idea” or strategy that you’ve wanted to implement.  Use these strategies to shore up your financial foundation and then go looking for “new” business.

Whether your primary business is offline or online the same principles apply. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling e-books or toothpaste, applied with the right amount of preparation and presentation, these ideas can make the difference between finishing your quarter in the red or in the black.

Try these tips:

• Begin calling your “inactive” customers.
  • Determine why they’ve gone inactive.
  • Ask for the opportunity to “make it good“.
  • “Would taking care of this immediately change your attitude toward us?”
  • Fix it immediately or task someone who will follow through to completion. (Whether it brings the client back immediately or not)
• Call 20 of your “active” customers/clients and ask them make an additional (wisely chosen) purchase.
  • Make them an OTO (one time offer).
  • Offer an upgrade.
  • Offer a “value added service“, something that improves your existing relationship with them.
• Call other businesses that offers complementary products or services to yours and ask for a trade of referrals. Don’t stop with one.
  • Offer to make it an ongoing relationship that’s mutually beneficial.
  • Over deliver! Offer more referrals than you receive. It will serve you well.

Since these principles apply to either an online or a brick and mortar business, they’re perfect strategies for the Offline Consultant to keep in mind when talking to or even prospecting for small business owners. These are the types of high value free advice that will in turn have those shop owners ready and willing  to do business with you.

In fact, the more giving you’re able to be, the more you’ll have people actually asking YOU to do business with them. It will quickly establish you as an authority  and as the person that everyone will want to be affiliated with.

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Can A Change Of Focus Make The Difference?

Sometimes all it takes to make a significant turn in your small business is to change your focus a little bit. We all have favorite activities, those parts of our business that we actually enjoy doing. For most, that part is the interaction with their customers. Most people who decide to start a small business are passionate about either the product/service that they provide or the people that their business will connect them with.

Whether you have a retail store or you’re a crafter who sells their goods at craft fairs and flea markets you share the need for customers to sell your goods or services to. You might think that having a website that ranks well in the search engines is more important to the retail store owner, but the fact is that both the shopkeeper’s and the craftsperson’s income are dependent upon increasing the number of customers that each has.

As small business consultants we have a responsibility to our communities to assist and educate as many folks and businesses as we can to the benefits and financial gains available by having a properly designed, optimized and focused website. From doll makers to sporting goods stores and every niche in between, the need is the same.

Once a small business owner realizes the ROI (return on investment) that a well engineered site can provide for them, they invariably want the benefits that it provides. By taking their focus off of their A/P (accounts payable or BILLS) and helping them see ways to increase both foot traffic (where applicable) and even more importantly, SALES they can then begin to use their site as the very powerful tool that it is.

As a bit of a segue, here at OBOW we’ll be changing our focus somewhat over the weeks and months to come. Our original focus was to assist small business consultants in their endeavor to help local businesses in their own areas. We have now broadened the scope of that original vision to include those small business owners and home business owners who would like to learn how to “do-it-themselves”.

Keep an eye out for new and interesting topics, and as always, we welcome your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to comment on any or all of our articles. Your responses are the best way for us to know how to serve you best. We appreciate your visits and would like to accommodate your needs in this niche. Please let us know how we can do that.

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