10 Tips on Growing your Business

10 Tips on Growing your Business

For Small or Large business, scaling your business effectively and efficiently can be difficult. It requires focusing on the long term and including 5 key elements:

· Product

· Marketing

· Sales

· Finance

· Legal

If you’re a startup or have been in business for 20 years, you may find yourself wearing many hats until you can hire experts or even when you have them in place sometimes they can get set in their ways.

Here are 10 strategies you can use to help accelerate your growth.

No. 1: Grow your network

Every person you meet could be a potential advisor, customer, or partner. Time can be a short fall for some getting out to grow and connect but here are some tips for building relationships with like-minded:

Business bankers are a great resource for knowing how to set yourself up for future growth. Try making time for a lunch or coffee with a motivated connection. Look for creative like-minded business growth individuals and brainstorm together.

No. 2: Invest in product research and validate your idea

If you’re manufacturing your own product, you might be spending the better part of your first year investing in research and development. And once you have a prototype, you need to validate that other people will love it just as much as you do.

There are several ways you can validate your product ideas, including:

• Talking about your idea with family and friends

• Sending out an online survey to get feedback

• Starting a crowdfunding campaign

• Launching a 'coming soon' page to gauge interest via email opt-ins or pre-orders

With your product idea in mind, you may feel inclined to leapfrog ahead to production, but that can become a huge financial drain if you fail to do any product research or validate your idea first. Companies like TLC will likely have resources for your packaging design, discounts and more.

No. 3: Do your research

Don’t forget to research your competitors, too. Knowing what their strengths and weaknesses are can help drive your decisions on how to appropriately scale your business.

No. 4: Building your brand

Establishing your Branding Message is crucial from the beginning. And staying on top is just as important if you’re established. Your business brand is who you are. It’s the repetitive message to the consumer that brings them back. Referrals and loyalty, community involvement reaching the buyer and showing them you care and are part of their community brings loyalty to your company. Getting them to you one time is one thing. Repetitive loyalty comes from a trusted brand that feels good. You can be around for 10 years, and along come a competitor that knows Branding, they could shadow you with their repetitive message. It’s important to stay on top of your Branding message.

No. 5: Build a sales funnel

Think of a sales funnel as a customer’s journey. When they enter your business or visit your website, they’re at the top of the funnel. When they buy something or sign up for a service, they’ve successfully gone through the funnel. This is where you need to be sure they have the best experience with you, your product or service. You are building a life time relationship.

No. 6: Keeping new customers

We can’t say enough about taking care of your customer. It’s not enough to just get new customers for your business. You also need to keep your existing customers coming back. When you increase customer retention, you’re building customer loyalty, which can increase sales. Don’t overlook repetitive branding messages to let them know you’re there. You are top of mind awareness. Think Coke, Pepsi, Red Bull, they have their customers, and they stay top of mind awareness with branding. TLC has great recommendations on Branding resources and negotiation tools for pricing. Think long term when signing marketing plans. See if there’s a bigger discount for long term agreements even 24 – 36 months.

Considering it costs five-times as much to get a new customer than it does to keep a current one, focusing on retaining customers. Don’t rely only on word of mouth. If you’re a community driven business. Don’t forget new people are always moving to the area, they may not know where to go. If you’re a community service or retail, reaching them early is important while they’re establishing new needs and habits.

No. 7: Increase customer retention

Consider Creating a customer loyalty program: These programs reward your existing customers for supporting your business. They can also help you attract new customers or get back those that left your business. Keep your promises: When you tell a customer you’ll follow up with them with more information or contact them at a later date, do it. They will know it’s because their special to you. And everyone wants to feel special and appreciated.

No. 8: Participate in networking events

Increasing your brand visibility can help you attract new customers and grow your business. A good way to do this is by attending networking events. Check local professional organizations and don’t be afraid to attend a few events to get the word out about your business.

No. 9: Practice corporate social responsibility

Many customers want to do business with a company that matches their own values. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means you recognize the impact your business has on all aspects of the community. Letting the public see what your business is doing to have a positive impact can help your business’ bottom line.

Giving back to the community: Participate or sponsor local community events these kinds of activities show that your business is serious about investing in the area and people.

Producing sustainable products: Find out if there are ways you can change materials or your process to create more environmentally friendly products. TLC has resources for buying environmentally friendly products at discount.

No. 10: Form strategic partnerships

Entering a strategic partnership with another business can give you the chance to reach a broader network of customers or align with growth and strategic in your business plan. One example of a successful strategic partnership is between Starbucks and other national stores, like Barnes & Noble, Safeway, Target. The partnership puts the coffee chain into many retail stores across the country, which increases its reach and revenue. If you’re a business that offers services or products to other businesses, TLC will work with you to promote your services to businesses while aligning bulk orders to give you a better savings on what you offer, and in turn offering a lower price to the end user and more orders for you.

You may even form a strategic partnership with a vendor to help expand your business. A company like TLC is a great business to partner with. Increase Network + Customers = Growth

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