Starting a business is a significant achievement, but scaling one is a huge challenge. Small enterprises are critical to the development of global economies The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) confirms that small businesses create income and employment, they react to new or narrow demands and they strengthen social inclusion rates.
According to the National Business Confidence Index for 2019, about 84% of surveyed business owners confirmed their plans to grow the business in 2019. However, 30% reported they don’t expect the economic climate help their development, while 60% are focusing on boosting sales, expanding their customer base and volume. Overall the results show that businesses gave ambitious plans for 2019.
So, to help you stay ahead of the competition, here’s a list of the top 5 ways to expand your business this year.
Adding New Services to Your Offering
Although the strategy is simple, the execution is complex. First, learn what your prospects and customers want, and how much they can afford to pay for different products and services. The next step is to establish if you can make a profit from their sale.
Your best approach is to perform market research before investing any financial and human resources into the development of new services and products. Focus on the rate of customer demand for these types of products and your production and distribution costs.
Increase Sales to Existing Customers
Increasing sales to your existing customers involves a deeper accessing of your customer base. Draft a market segmentation study to highlight the different customer segments which are likely to purchase. This will help you focus your marketing and sales operations on these segments.
Separate your customers into different segments according to various criteria such as age, location, gender, and purchase history. This is how you can identify the potential profitability rates when you sell them new products or services.
Tap into Parcel Delivery Channels
Leveraging on strong distribution capabilities to send parcels will guarantee a streamlined delivery of your products. Customers will enjoy receiving their orders safely and on time. Whether you own a physical store, or you’re running an eCommerce business, successful delivery is an essential component of your sales funnel. It guarantees sales fulfillment and strengthens your brand’s market position. So, whenever you must send a parcel to a customer, make sure you’re working with reliable delivery companies.
Invest in Systems
If you try to micro-manage, you’re limiting your potential growth. On the other hand, a systems-powered business can manage multi-layered development demands.
Use integrated programs such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software or strong e-commerce platforms to help you concentrate on expansion and development. Analyze different customer purchasing trends and your marketing patterns to automate and outsource as much as you can.
Personalized loyalty programs
Nothing increases sales better than personalized loyalty programs. The cost of new customer acquisition is three times higher than selling your products to existing customers. And developing a customer loyalty system will improve your client retention levels.
What’s more, you’ll even attract new customers. If you offer your customers real incentives to buy products from you, they often will. So, develop exciting and attractive loyalty programs and offer them to your existing clients. Your sales will soon skyrocket.
