Managing and growing a business are hard work. It involves a lot of sacrifices, risks, learning, failures, and mini triumphs. But if you are going to focus on those heartbreaking failures, you’ll never allow yourself to fulfill your dreams. And what is the alternative? A nine-to-five job? The kind that will drain you lifeless. That is not the kind of life we should want for ourselves. Rather, we should strive to build a career that is not hinged on someone else’s success.
Talk to a financial coach about the possibility of starting or reinvesting in your business. They will look at your current financial standing. They will advise you on how much you can reinvest to grow your business. You don’t need a large sum of money to grow your fledgling business, but it’s wise to know where you are financially and what you can and cannot afford.
There are plenty of things you can do for your business that does not require thousands of dollars. Some marketing agencies accept x-deals. Then, there are also free resources on the Internet that you can take advantage of. But the most important strategies to grow a business are at the core of your entrepreneurial character.
Create a Sales Funnel
Every business needs a sales funnel. No business can survive without understanding the journey that every buyer takes. A sales funnel refers to the steps that each buyer takes to become your customer. In a brick-and-mortar store, a sales funnel looks like this: potential customers walk by your store and notice the window display, the buyers enter the store, they walk to the clearance rack, they try on a few shirts and then, they walk to the counter to pay for the items.
That is a complete sales funnel. It takes the business owner to every step of the journey. Understanding the buyer’s decision-making process during each step of the journey will give your business a fighting chance of staying on top of its game. Once you have a sales funnel, this will automate your sales. Even as you work in the background to create more opportunities for growth, your sales funnel is creating revenue for your business.
Take Advantage of the Internet
has a lot of resources for marketing a business. There are free blogging sites. There’s social media. It is cheaper than ever to market a business and reach an audience. However, many businesses fall into the pitfalls of Internet marketing. Fly-by-night marketers offer a quick and easy way to rank on Google’s search results. Businesses pay for these services only to find that it takes time, hard work, and research to impress Google’s algorithm enough.
In truth, you don’t need a lot of money to reach your market on the Internet. What you need is more time to research and create engaging content. You have to spend time getting to know your market and what they expect from you.
Research the Competition
Again, you don’t need money to do one of the most important strategies of growing a business, which is to research the competition. Visit their websites and social media pages. Call their hotline number. Order from their online store. Check their return policy. Visit their actual stores and experience their personnel’s customer service. That won’t cost a lot of money, but it will give you the reason why some of them are better than you.
Emulate their best practices but make them your own. Don’t just copy strategies that work for them. Every business is different even if they belong in the same industry. What worked for your competitors does not necessarily mean will work for you. Figure out what these strategies can do for your business.
Build a Customer Loyalty Program
Do you know that it costs three times more money to attract a new customer than it is to retain an old one? Create a customer loyalty program to get your customers to come back. This is a great way to give back to your loyal consumers. It might also help you attract new ones. If they see that they are going to get more from buying from your store, they will most likely choose your establishment over another.
A great example of a loyalty program is racking up points that can be used to purchase from your store, too. The idea is to get the customers to buy more from your store to accumulate points. They will then use these points in the future to also purchase something from your store. It’s a good way to increase your sales.
There are dozens of opportunities to grow your business that does not require a lot of money. Being an entrepreneur requires that you also be skillful and resourceful. You have to grab opportunities as they come your business’ way.
