Posts Tagged ‘5 Ways to Profits’

I need some advice and ideas for my new business. I am putting together a business plan and your books and blogs have helped a lot. I am starting my own very first business in America, and it will be a travel agency. I have been in this business overseas, but the American market is new to me. My question is what kind of marketing plan should I follow to ensure the success of my business?

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

The key to making any marketing plan work is a keen knowledge of your numbers or financials. Once you know what your break-even point is, you can begin plotting a strategy to bring in leads at a lower rate than you invest to bring them in. I call this Buying Customers and it is a unique way at looking at marketing as a whole and turning any business into a profit-making machine.

The key to Buying Customers is lowering your customer acquisition costs. The best way to lower that cost is by utilizing referrals, but how do you get them when you are just starting out?

Network, network, network! How many organizations, clubs, committees etc. can you join and get something going. Meeting people and developing relationships with them is a great way to ensure you have the customer base you want, while not spending a lot of your resources to get them.

Next, hit the streets and talk to everyone you meet. Put together a simple sales kit that consists of an off the shelf folder, several suppliers brochures and your business card. Hand them to interested people and then stay in touch, again and again.

Once you have a list of leads, work that database. Get an email or follow up call system up and follow up every lead that is not either stone cold or dead!

Finally, test and measure everything you try and use those strategies that work best.

It’s important to remember that in order to create a marketing plan you first have to understand the basics of the existing market and how it is serviced. From there you can figure out what the gaps are in the area, what is good and what is bad. You can use this information to develop your own Unique Selling Points, what will be different about your Travel Agency, like whether you will cover the broad spectrum of travel or specialize in one area? Will your customers contact you exclusively face to face or via telephone or the web? So ask yourself, what weaknesses in the current market will you be addressing?

Unless you have a very distinct market or edge, it would normally be unwise to just use one medium or strategy to access potential customers, so  do as much work as possible up front understanding the market, and your offering and always test and measure.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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How do I get PR for my business that won’t eat up all my resources?

Friday, February 18th, 2011

PR is all about newsworthiness and having something the media is interested in highlighting or featuring.
The benefit to you and your business is credibility – which is the ultimate value of PR.

The best low-cost strategy is to take stock of what you’re doing … and try to find a newsworthy angle your local business media would be interested in covering.

•    Have you signed a big new customer?

•    Do you have an innovative product or service?

•    Do you have a unique history?

•    Is your office space interesting or innovative?

•    Do you support a local charity … or have you helped a local non-profit meet their obligations or boost their donations or capacity?

Any of these ideas can help you get some PR.

Simply create a media list of local business editors (for newspapers), or assignment editors (for TV) and create some short press releases that you send out on a regular basis.

Just remember … don’t bother calling up people on your list to brag about your company or demand they write a story about you.

PR is all about sales … and just like sales, you need to develop a rapport and relationship with your list … to start to get PR results.

And the best way is to give them “news” that is unique, interesting, unconventional or out of the ordinary.
Anything else isn’t quite news … is it?

It takes some practice, but once you understand how to come up with newsworthy angles regarding your business (or simply call someone up and ask them what they might be interested in hearing about), getting the message out is much easier, especially as you develop better and deeper relationships with your local media outlets.

Soon, you might even become a source or a go-to person for the media – which is a great way to further leverage your own PR, and your identity as an expert in your business or industry.

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Brad- I own a landscaping business that has been in operation for 7 years. We have been desperately trying to find more “high-end” clients and we have tried seemingly every form of advertising with little to no results. We do direct mail by demographic, advertise in the Yellow Pages, have a website and we’ve even tried local publications in addition to radio and tv ads. So far nothing is getting the high-end clients I think my business needs. What should I do to attract them?

Friday, February 11th, 2011

It’s time to develop a referral strategy that will lower your customer acquisition cost while bringing in the type of customer you are looking for. That way, even if you don’t find “high-end” clients, your company will still be able to generate leads and new customers profitably.

If your service is good, garnering referrals won’t be as hard as you might think.

You say your business has been around for seven years, so you probably have a number of valuable customers. Use your best customers you have as a resource to generate new customers and don’t be afraid to ask them to help.

If you tell your best customers you are looking for more customers just like them, you’ll not only flatter them, they will probably bring you more customers that will use your services time and again.

You can give incentives for referrals as well. For instance, offer customers half off a service for each referral they bring you.

If you generate more referrals, but they still aren’t the type of customers you are striving for, consider where you’ve been looking for your customers.

The avenues you mentioned aren’t exactly where the rich are looking for your business.

They are more likely to find you online than in the Yellow Pages, but only if your website is easily found. If the website you have isn’t drumming up business, you should probably look a bit closer at the way search engines find your business or Search Engine Optimization.

Have you optimized keywords on your website? Do you have keywords that describe your business and match what people would search when looking for a business like yours?

You can also partner with another business that caters to the type of customers you want, if you can work out a deal in which they promote your business and you gain access to their database of customers.

How about a deal with the local “high-end” car dealership where they offer your landscaping services each time someone bought from them?

When your company goes in and does a great job at that new car owner’s home, do you think that might generate a lead or two?

Of course, getting those new customers is just the first step. Once they are customers, you have to make them repeat customers and then advocates of your business.

The ultimate goal is to turn each of your customers into ravings fans, who can’t help but tell others about your business. If your business does it correctly, it will lead to referrals and a thriving business.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Brad- In your Five Ways Formula you say that you have literally hundreds of different strategies to grow any business. I’m interested in using the formula, but I want to know how many different strategies I should use.

Friday, October 29th, 2010

There are only five ways businesses can grow profits, generating more leads, converting more of those leads to customers, growing the number of times each customer buys and how much is spent on each item bought and, finally, increasing profit margins.

No matter which methods you want to use, this formula works much better when you are working all of the Five Ways.

Within each of those ways there are dozens if not hundreds of individual strategies. To get the full effect of the system, you should use multiple strategies within each of the Five Ways.

My coaches tell their clients to find 10 strategies within each of the Five Ways and use all 10, until you’ve decided what works and what doesn’t.

From there, get rid of the ones that don’t work and try some new ones.

I call this the 10X10 Rule.

Why do we tell clients to use 10 methods for each of the Five Ways?

Because if they weren’t supposed to try so many, some business owners might just use one or two and never get the full effect of this very powerful formula.

Think about it, if you are putting up a huge tent, how many poles would you need?

It would take more than a few poles to keep your tent up and inclement weather out.

If you used fewer poles, your tent might stand for a while, but the structure won’t have the integrity it needs and will eventually fall.

The 10X10 Rule is a great foundation to build your business on, so once you’ve decided it’s time to use the Five Ways, pick 10 strategies in each category and go from there.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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