With the latest and best concepts, seminars, webcasts, and “how-to” books vying for your attention, you’d think your company’s growth was as complicated as building the space shuttle. The fact is that there are only 3 ways to expand a business… and these should always be part of your business plan and business strategy.
The only 3 ways to expand a business
Option 1 – Increase the number of customers
The first of the ways to expand a business is that tou increase the number of your customers by reaching new customers 1) with your existing offer or 2) the development of a new offer. Ideally, you can use the offer to open up a new market or expand the reach of your existing market. Three important questions to answer the number of customers are:
- Who has a real need for the product/service I sell? Does my product meet this need in a way that either saves money or provides added value?
- How much, if any, do they spend to address this need today?
- How many of these potential customers are there? How do I reach them?
Answering these questions requires market research. Market research is a prelude to sales. It teaches you a lot about what you need to know to reach these new customers effectively, such as what to say, how and to whom.
For example, you can conduct a national market research study that presents your customers with the problems and challenges to the target market. Through the research, which will enable a deep understanding of the needs and wishes of customers, customer-developed messaging and marketing materials can be created that will not only be popular with existing customers, but also with new customers. The response rate to lead-generating events will increase from this.
Option 2 – Increase the purchase frequency
The second of the 3 ways to expand a business is simply to have your customers buy more often. The quickest way to increase the frequency of purchases is to give your existing customers the opportunity to do business with you repeatedly. Another way to see this is to add customer value – and ultimately customer loyalty. By making it easier for your customers to buy from you compared to your competitors, you will continue to win their business. This, of course, requires that your products or services are comparable or superior to your competitors.
Aside from customer loyalty programs, here are some areas you should improve:
- Responsiveness to requests, calls, emails
- Accessibility to the customer’s main contact
- Consistency in the offer
- Follow-up and follow-up of meetings
- Accurate and timely billing.
While this may seem like common sense, you should consider how many providers you no longer use because it was too difficult for them to do business with them. Don’t become your customers.
Option 3 – Increase the number of units sold
This final of the ways to expand a business builds on the first row. By default, you increase the number of units sold by increasing the number of customers and the purchase frequency. You can also increase the number of units sold by understanding value creation. If you want to sell more products or charge more hours, providing value or a solution will strengthen the customer relationship. If you want to permanently enhance the customer relationship, you need to fully understand how your customers interpret, define, and quantify the value they achieve with your products and services.
Here’s an example for consumers: A restaurateur offered existing customers a 20 percent discount for groups of 4 during lunch and early dinners. The idea was to add value to existing customers by offering them a benefit they could share. Result: His lunch business grew by 88% in one month and by 53% in the campaign. On the frequency side, he experienced a 71% bond with his customers when he canceled the campaign after 3 months.
Don’t forget to see real results, you need to start with what you already know about your customers. It’s market research, the existing customer knowledge, which is literally a hidden gold mine of profit, that can boost your business and increase your business’s revenue. This customer-focused information will provide the foundation for generating more revenue, retaining and selling customers, and attracting new customers. With customer-centric information, you know how best to grow your business.
