The challenge many businesses face right now is how to get a strong influx of business. But even when times are good, these are tried and true tactics to generate business fast for most small businesses.
What Works to Generate More Business?
Here are 4 things that can work really well for most businesses:
- Reactivate Past Customers
- Ask Customers for Reviews
- Ask Customers (or Business Partners) for Referrals
- Create an Offer Based Sales Funnel
The first three are pretty straightforward, assuming you have a list of customers with email addresses. If you don’t have email addresses, then you can contact them using direct mail, phone call, or text message. AND if you don’t have a list start building one immediately, preferably with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
Another great thing about the first three is that you are dealing with people who already know, like and trust you, and they have probably already purchased from you or know someone who has. The result is a shorter sales cycle and a lower cost of customer acquisition.
1. Customer Reactivation
Reach out to past customers and give them a reason to buy from you again. Not sure what to offer them? Pick up the phone and call a few past customers, see what’s on their minds, and ask them what would motivate them to buy from you again (you might have a few “seed” ideas in mind before you call them.
2. Customer Reviews
Google reviews are critical for local businesses. Look at your Google reviews and cross-reference against your customer list over the past several months. Craft an email to send to these recent customers that haven’t done a Google review for you, and make it super easy for them to do by including your Google Review Link in the email. Explain the benefits for others as well as your business. The key thing is to ask. Finally, make asking for a review part of your process.
3. Referrals
Create a referral program as an incentive for customers and for your business partners to refer you. Formalize it — and communicate it. Help customers and business partners refer you by giving them your perfect introduction. Offer an alternative to make a donation to a charity to help the community too!
The next tactic focuses on getting brand new customers. It’s really important to create a system to make the most of this approach. The great news is, once you get this system in place you can turn it on and off as you need to, and even better yet replicate it for another product or service that you offer.
4. Create an Offer Based Sales Funnel
This approach is to target cold traffic using Facebook Ads or Google Ads to get customers now:
- The Offer is key – it needs to speak to a specific audience about a specific problem, be of high value, and have a sense of urgency
- Lead Capture – a landing page that you send people to in order to claim the offer and to put the lead into your CRM. Having a CRM makes the whole sales funnel that much more effective.
- Conversion – just because someone claims the offer doesn’t mean they become a customer. Use email, text messages, and even phone calls to ensure that they redeem the offer.
- Give them a reason to come back a second time – Yep, you got it… create a great experience and create a second offer to get them back as a customer a second time.
Statistics show that a customer will likely continue to keep coming back if that customer has a great experience twice. Think of the lifetime value of a new customer and what that can mean to your business. Even if they don’t redeem the offer(s) you still have a potential customer that you can nurture through the sales process to try to convert them into a customer.
By leveraging your existing customers, business partners, and building an offer based sales funnel you can have a cost-effective way to get new customers.
Ready to tackle any of the above grow strategies?
Schedule a 30-minute call to discuss which one(s) are right for your business.
Photo by Artem Beliaikin from Pexels