Isn’t it the dream of every business owner to wake up with a steady stream of potential clients/customers lined up
to do business with you? Whether it is a waiting line at your store, high traffic to your website, or requests for your services in your inbox – this would be Nirvana!
Well, it is not only possible but there is an emerging “formula” that successful business owners are using right now to accomplish just that.
I have been helping small to medium-sized businesses achieve profitable growth for over 30 years. Here are the big rocks that will work for you no matter what business you are in or what stage you are at:
- Understand and align to basic principles of growth and profitability – here are 3:
- The #1 objective of any business is to figure out how to acquire enough clients/customers at a profit
- Your business will grow at the rate of the growth of your relationships
- There are 3 success drivers that drive any business. Activity X Success ratio X Revenue. Big growth comes when strategies are implemented that push 2 or more of these. Relationship marketing (referrals) is one of those strategies.
- Clarify your promise and what problem(s) it solves
- Do what you say – deliver on your promise
- Show up and end on time
- Say please and thank you
- Get your best clients/customers and relationships marketing for you!
- Have a system to ask and reward clients/customers/relationships for referring others to you. It is the #1 way consumers want to learn about a business.
- 83% of clients/customers would refer, less than 29% actually do because no one asks
- Position “The Ask” as helping them to help others. They want to help themselves and their family, they want to help others, and they want to help you. Give them the opportunity to do that and make it easy!
- Use an automated referral system to make sure relationships are “asked” consistently, professionally, and using preferred communication methods. Click here for the best ones out there.
- Use Social Media and other connection tools to set up your trustworthy digital brand
- Trust is a function of Competence and Character. Make sure all of your online profiles are set up effectively to best represent both what you do (core competencies) and who you are (values). Pictures, content, and videos all matter!
- What do prospects and clients/customers see when they “Google stalk” you or find you with online listings of your business?
- To access a great tool to optimize your online listings
- Make sure you are clear who your ideal clients/customers/customers are and get on the social platforms and groups where they are
- Now you are ready to create “the machine” that will drive clients/customers to you
- Produce content/value that is relevant to your audience and send it through the channels you have created. You can use social media aggregation sites to make that easier.
- Make sure you have a clear action for them to take that gets them in your door or to your website.
- Make sure your Website is set up as way more than a place to show off your capabilities and brand. Your Website should be optimized in every way including capturing interest/leads and then converting them (conversion funnel). If you want a referral to professionals who can help with that, fill out our contact us form and we will follow up with you.
Of course, there is always more to the story, but this should be enough to stimulate some thinking and help you self-assess where you can start.
If you want to start with a simple system that can generate referral clients/customers right away.
Post author: Peter S. Velardi
