My good friend Ann Brown recently published this great article about questions we should ask ourselves about our businesses as we head into 2013. I'm sharing this via my Blog as I think it is something that offers a really good 'focus' for businesses as we face the new business year. It's thanks to Ann's input that I got on and updated my website and developed my blog - she has a lot to answer for! Here are Ann
1. What is the lifetime value of your customers? This is the key. Know this & you know how much to invest to attract new customers and clients. Here’s how to calculate it.
Average value of a sale x how many times they will on average buy from
you again x Average Retention Time in Months or Years
2. Are you using testimonials and positive reviews from review sites? Testimonials convince and now more than ever consumers and business buyers check out online reviews. Sign up to review sites such as Trip Advisor and Yelp. Add the review site logo to your business cards to encourage people to post reviews.
3. What marketing and advertising brought in most sales in 2012? Knowing the answer to this will save you both time and money in 2013. Invest in the marketing and advertising that works and review that which hasn’t brought in so many enquiries. Don’t know the answer? Then you need to set up monitoring systems.
4. Are you monitoring enquiries including on and offline and social media? Simple monitoring systems can be very revealing and highlight poor conversion rates in specific marketing actions. Monitoring systems do not have to be anything too complicated, but should include, responses from different ads, direct mail, networking, social networks and web site enquiries.
5. Who else has access to your customers/clients? If selling B to B referral businesses are an excellent source of new prospects and clients. Can you come up with mutually beneficial agreements, or enhance the services your business offers the customers of partner businesses.
6. What problems does your business solve? Analysing this is the means to understand what your customers are really looking for. For retail it might be ‘How to look good’ or ‘What to wear this season’. For B to B it could be ‘Providing the best IT training for staff’.
7. Are you using irresistible offers and powerful guarantees? Offers and guarantees sell. Look beyond the traditional 10% off. Offer time limited discounts, discounts at weekends or ‘Friday Flyers’.
Whatever business you are in these really do work. Think ASOS and Debenhams.
8. Does your business stand out from similar businesses in your market place? Or are you just another player. Standing out makes you memorable and enables you to target niche markets. Stand out on product, price, service, choice, product range, design, by specialising, selection. Essential for both B to C and B to B.
9. How can you use an expert to save time and money? Sounds counter intuitive, but calculate the time you spend mastering new skills compared to your hourly rate or sales you could be making. Using an expert can be viable proposition and they will have additional knowledge.
10. Are you making the most of your existing resources? Listing all the communication channels you have access to can be very revealing. It’s almost always more than you think. Are you using them in the most effective way? Can you use more channels in combination to have more impact?
For more of Ann's very positive and focussed marketing advice look at her website www.summitup.co.uk
1. What is the lifetime value of your customers? This is the key. Know this & you know how much to invest to attract new customers and clients. Here’s how to calculate it.
Average value of a sale x how many times they will on average buy from
you again x Average Retention Time in Months or Years
2. Are you using testimonials and positive reviews from review sites? Testimonials convince and now more than ever consumers and business buyers check out online reviews. Sign up to review sites such as Trip Advisor and Yelp. Add the review site logo to your business cards to encourage people to post reviews.
3. What marketing and advertising brought in most sales in 2012? Knowing the answer to this will save you both time and money in 2013. Invest in the marketing and advertising that works and review that which hasn’t brought in so many enquiries. Don’t know the answer? Then you need to set up monitoring systems.
4. Are you monitoring enquiries including on and offline and social media? Simple monitoring systems can be very revealing and highlight poor conversion rates in specific marketing actions. Monitoring systems do not have to be anything too complicated, but should include, responses from different ads, direct mail, networking, social networks and web site enquiries.
5. Who else has access to your customers/clients? If selling B to B referral businesses are an excellent source of new prospects and clients. Can you come up with mutually beneficial agreements, or enhance the services your business offers the customers of partner businesses.
6. What problems does your business solve? Analysing this is the means to understand what your customers are really looking for. For retail it might be ‘How to look good’ or ‘What to wear this season’. For B to B it could be ‘Providing the best IT training for staff’.
7. Are you using irresistible offers and powerful guarantees? Offers and guarantees sell. Look beyond the traditional 10% off. Offer time limited discounts, discounts at weekends or ‘Friday Flyers’.
Whatever business you are in these really do work. Think ASOS and Debenhams.
8. Does your business stand out from similar businesses in your market place? Or are you just another player. Standing out makes you memorable and enables you to target niche markets. Stand out on product, price, service, choice, product range, design, by specialising, selection. Essential for both B to C and B to B.
9. How can you use an expert to save time and money? Sounds counter intuitive, but calculate the time you spend mastering new skills compared to your hourly rate or sales you could be making. Using an expert can be viable proposition and they will have additional knowledge.
10. Are you making the most of your existing resources? Listing all the communication channels you have access to can be very revealing. It’s almost always more than you think. Are you using them in the most effective way? Can you use more channels in combination to have more impact?
For more of Ann's very positive and focussed marketing advice look at her website www.summitup.co.uk
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