The S.W.O.T. analysis that can save your business
What is the one thing you can do as a small business owner to make sure economical and other external factors do not have a negative impact on your business? Is there anything you can do right now that will enable your business to sidestep negative conditions and position your business to not only survive, but THRIVE?
What you need to know…
There is one basic business principle that can help you turn negative economic and environmental factors to your advantage and you can use this same principle in your business right now to become the predominant force in your market. It’s called a SWOT Analysis, and it stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Why you need to know this…
A SWOT Analysis helps a small business owner discover their personal strengths and weaknesses, and use that information to position themselves so they perform their highest income-producing activities. That immediately jump-starts revenue and profits for your business.
A SWOT Analysis also allows the business owner to predict threats to their business, and develop a pre-determined plan of action that will enable them to turn any threat that materialises into an instant opportunity. It worked for Toyota, didn’t it? They were the only car company whose SWOT Analysis predicted the gas crisis, and the public’s current demand for hybrid vehicles.
The cost to you if you fail to act…
Do you have a SWOT Analysis for your business?
Do you know the tools required to properly perform one?
Do you have any idea what your strengths and weaknesses are, or for that matter, what your highest income-producing activities are for your business?
If you don’t, what will be the future costs to your business if you fail to act?
Develop these critical skills and you will position your business as the obvious choice for your prospects to buy from.
To take a Test Drive on our system visit http://BusinessGrowthForYou.com/guidedtour
Until the next time
Vernon Simpson, Nydes Business Coach
Coaching Business Owners and Executives to their next level of Excellence
P.S. Please remember that at any time you feel ready and qualified to move forward and acquire the professional help that can enable you to build the business of your dreams, just click here and check out our E-Learning Marketing System™. It’s helping small business owners just like you get the answers and the help they need to build the business they have always wanted.
We created the E-Learning Marketing System™ with the perfect combination of online resources, tools and support to get you out of any financial distress you’re presently experiencing… help you get laser-focused on your highest income-producing activities… and help you develop and then apply the fundamentals that build multimillion pound businesses. click here to see for yourself.
Generate an Unlimited Amount of Leads for Your Business- Part 5
For the last few weeks I have been sharing with you some great advice on the tactics and strategies you can put in place to provide your business with unlimited leads to create the customers you want for your business. This week I am concluding this particular series of business advice this by showing you how to manage all this with a great lead management system.
Lead Management Systems
Once your lead generation strategies are in place, you’ll also need a system to manage incoming inquiries. You’ll need to ensure you receive enough information from each lead to follow up on at a later date. You’ll also need to create a system to organise that information, and track the lead as it is converted into a sale.
Gathering Information from Your Leads
Here is a list of information you should gather from your leads. This list can be customised to the needs of your business, and the type of information you can realistically ask your potential customers for.
• Company Name
• Name of Contact
• Alternate Contact Person
• Mailing Address
• Phone Number
• Fax Number
• Cell Phone
• Email Address
• Website Address
• Product of Interest
• Other Competitors Engaged
Lead List Management Methods:
Once you have gathered information from your lead, you’ll need a system to organise their information and keep a detailed contact history.
These days the simplest way to do this is with a database programs
Electronic Database Programs
• High level of organization available
• Unlimited space for notes and record-keeping
• Data-entry required
• Examples include: MS Outlook, MS Excel, Maximizer
• Customer Relationship Management Software
However, you can also do it the old fashion way by using a variety of hard copy methods such as the following :
Index Cards
• Variety of sizes: 3×5, 4X6 or 5X8
• Basic contact information on one side
• Notes on the other side
• Easy to organize and sort
Rolodex System
• Maintain more contacts than index card system
• Easily organised and compact
• Basic contact information on one side
• Notes on the other side
• Can keep phone conversation and purchase details
Notebook
• Best if leads are managed by a single person
• Lots of room for notes
• Inexpensive
• Difficult to re-organise
• Best for smaller lists
Business Card Organiser
• Best for small lists – under 100
• Limited space for notes
• No data entry required
• Rolodex-style, or clear binder pages
Well that concludes this series on generating an unlimited amount of leads for your business. I hope you found it interesting, useful and fun. However, if you really want to find out more and get some help in putting all this into your business then visit: http://mybusinessdevelopmentacademy.com or make an appointment with me by clicking this link: https://my.timedriver.com/62NK1
Until the next time
Vernon Simpson, Nydes Business Coach,
Coaching Business Owners and Executives to their next level of Excellence
Generate an Unlimited Amount of Leads for Your Business- Part 3
For the last two weeks we have been looking at the right processes for generating unlimited amount of leads. This week we will examine how to get more leads from your existing strategies.
The first thing I have to say about this part is that increasing your lead generation doesn’t necessarily mean diving in and implementing an expensive array of new marketing strategies. Marketing and customer outreach for the purpose of lead generation can be inexpensive, and bring a high return on investment. You are likely already implementing many of these strategies. With a little tweaking or refinement, you can easily double your leads, and ensure they are more qualified. Here are some popular ways to generate quality leads:
Direct Mail to Your Ideal Customers
Direct mail is one of the fastest and most effective ways to generate leads that will build your business. It’s a simple strategy –in fact, you’re probably already reaching out to potential clients through direct mail letters with enticing offers. The secret to doubling your results is to craft your direct mail campaigns specifically for a highly targeted audience of your ideal customers.
Your ideal customers are the people who will buy the most of your products or services. They are the customers who will buy from you over and over again, and refer your business to their friends. They are the group of 20% of your clients who make up 80% of your revenue.
Identify your ideal customers.
Who are your ideal customers? What is their age, sex, income, location and purchase motivation? Where do they live? How do they spend their money? Be as specific as possible.
Once you have identified who your ideal customers are, you can begin to determine how you can go about reaching them. Will you mail to households or apartment buildings? Families or retirees? Direct mail lists are available for purchase from a wide range of companies, and can be segregated into a variety of demographic and sociographic categories.
Craft a special offer.
Create an offer that’s too good to refuse – not for your entire target market, but for your ideal customer. How can you cater to their unique needs and wants? What will be irresistible for them?
For example, if you operate a furniture store, your target market is a broad range of people. However, if you are targeting young families, your offer will be much different than one you may craft for empty-nesters.
Court them for their business.
Don’t stop at a single mail-out. Sometimes people will throw your letter away two or three times before they are motivated to act. Treat your direct mail campaign like a courtship, and understand that it will happen over time.
First send a letter introducing yourself, and your irresistible offer. Then follow up on a monthly basis with additional letters, newsletters, offers, or flyers. Repetition and reinforcement of your presence is how your customer will go from saying, “who is this company” to “I buy from this company.”
Advertise for lead generation
Statistics show that nearly 50% of all purchase decisions are motivated by advertising. It can also be a relatively cost effective way of generating leads. We’ve already discussed the importance of ensuring your advertisements are purpose-focused. The general purpose of most advertisements is to increase sales – which starts with leads. However , ads that are created solely for lead generation – that is, to get the customers to pick up the phone or walk in the store – are a category of their own.
Lead generation ads are simply designed and create a sense of curiosity or mystery. Often, they feature an almost unbelievable offer. Their purpose is not to convince the customer to buy, but to contact the business for more information.
As always, when you are targeting your ideal audience, you’ll need to ensure that your ads are placed prominently in publications that audience reads. This doesn’t mean you have to fork over the cash for expensive display ads. Inexpensive advertising in e-mail newsletters, classifieds, and the yellow pages are very effective for lead generation.
Next week I will provide you with some top tips for lead generation advertising
Until the next time
Vernon Simpson, Nydes Business Coach,
Coaching Business Owners and Executives to their next level of Excellence
Generate an Unlimited Amount of Leads for Your Business- Part 2
Last week we focused on where our customers come from and how to record that effectively to work out our conversion rates according to the lead sources.
This week we will look at working out our conversion rates and how to make sure our leads are the right ones.
From Lead to Customer: Conversion Rates
Leads mean nothing to your business unless you convert them into customers. You could get hundreds of leads from a single advertisement, but unless those leads result in purchases, it’s been largely unsuccessful (and costly) campaign.
The ratio of leads (potential customers) to transactions (actual customers) is called your conversion rate. Simply divide the number of customers who actually purchased something by the number of customers who inquired about your product or service, and multiply by 100.
# transactions / # leads x 100 = % conversion rate
If, in a given week, I have 879 customers come into my business, and 143 of them purchase something, the formula would look like this:
[143 (customers) / 879 (leads)] x 100 = 16.25% conversion rate
What’s Your Conversion Rate?
Based on the formula above, you can see that the higher your conversion rate, the more profitable the business.
Now you can determine you own current conversion rate. Add up the number of leads you sourced in the last section, and divide that number into the total transactions that took place in the same week.
Quality (or Qualified) Leads
Based on our review of conversion rates, we can see that the number of leads you generate means nothing unless those leads are being converted into customers.
So what affects your ability (and the ability of your team) to turn leads into customers? Do you need to improve your scripts? Your product or service? Find a more competitive edge in the marketplace?
Maybe. But the first step towards increasing conversion rates is to evaluate the leads you are currently generating, and make sure those leads are the right ones.
What are Quality Leads?
Potential customers are potential customers, right? Anyone who walks into your store or picks up the phone to call your business could be convinced to purchase from you, right? Not necessarily, but this is a common assumption most business owners make.
Quality leads are the people who are the most likely to buy your product or service. They are the qualified buyers who comprise your target market. Anyone might walk in off the street to browse a furniture store – regardless of whether or not they are in the market for a new couch or bed frame. This lead is solely interested in browsing, and is not likely to be converted to a customer.
A quality lead would be someone looking for a new kitchen table, and who specifically drove to that same furniture because a friend had raved about the service they received that month. These are the kinds of leads you need to focus on generating.
How Do You Get Quality Leads?
• Know your target market. Get a handle on who your customers are – the people who are most likely to buy your product or service. Know their age, sex, income, and purchase motivations. From that information you can determine how best to reach your specific audience.
• Focus on the 80/20 rule. A common statistic in business is that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. These are your star clients, or your ideal clients.
These are the clients you should focus your efforts on recruiting. This is the easiest way to grow your business and your income.
• Get specific. Focus not only on who you want to attract, but how you’re going to attract them. If you’re trying to generate leads from a specific market segment, craft a unique offer to get their attention.
• Be proactive. Once you’ve generated a slew of leads, make sure you have the resources to follow up on them. Be diligent and aggressive, and follow up in a timely manner.
You’ve done the work to get them, now reel them in.
Next week we will look at how you can more leads from your existing strategies.
Until the time
Vernon Simpson, Nydes Business Coach,