Get your Sales & Profits up 20% in 60 Days.... or less

Lots of people are telling me that Ireland has ‘had it’ that there are no jobs and no hope. In one way they are right. There are not as many jobs but what there IS, is plenty of work. Something that happened in Ireland in the tiger years was that we forgot how to sell.

The business just walked in the door each day and we became a bunch of ‘order takers’. We forgot about a smile and a handshake and all the little customer service touches that made Ireland a great place to be, and to do business. So, my challenge to small businesses this month is :

WHAT ARE YOU CHANGING IN THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS IN ORDER TO GET SOME OF THE WORK THAT’S OUT THERE?

I suggest just 5 key changes that will open doors for you, and it Is all based on a change in your marketing and sales strategy? If you said what strategy? Then you are in the “order taker” group and by doing these 5 things you should be able to reach your sales target (you do have one don’t you?) in 60 days.

(i) If you ask yourself; ‘How often do I go out and look for new business, new customers?’ and the answer is not ‘at least once a week’, then you are not doing enough. Do you actively promote your business; Pick specific target customers or people who you want to do business with; and ask people to introduce you to them.

(ii) If you ask yourself; ‘How often do I contact my existing customers, for no reason other than keeping in touch’? and the answer is not ‘at least once a month’, then you are not doing enough. Do it by letter, postcard, e mail, Christmas card, phone call or in person.

(iii) What is your Customer Service Policy? What do you do with complaints? How do you prevent complaints? Lots of people over-promise and under-deliver. Promise Friday and arrive on Thursday I’d be impressed. Wouldn’t you?

(iv) How much do I spend on marketing? I don’t mean advertise and then wait for the phone to ring, I mean invest in your relationship with your customers. When you spend time and money on your customers they will bring you repeats and referrals. If you want to generate 100,000 in sales it usually costs between 5,000 and 10,000 to get that many customers. So identify how you spend your marketing budget. Do you know where your business comes from? Who refers you? How do you acknowledge the referral? What advertising works? How do you check? Do you ask people how they made contact with you? Find out what is working and do it again, and again.

(v) How much money do you need to take in each Month, Week, Day, in order to pay all the overheads, have some cash in reserve and be in profit? If you don’t know the answer you need to find out FAST before you become another casualty.

My 5 Actions.

1. Target specific customers and invest in getting them to buy from you. Get in front of them any way you can. If you need to; write to them personally and follow up with an e mail or phone call.

2. Build relationships with current customers

3. Under-promise and Over-deliver. Be the very best you can be at what you do and always go the extra mile.

4. Put a marketing budget in place and spend it on things that work. How do you know what works? Test it and only repeat campaigns that give a return on investment

5. Set a sales target and work towards it Every Day. If you don’t sell every day you won’t get paid every day. Set your sales targets about 15% above the minimum, so that you have a few quid in reserve for a rainy day.

If We ALL Did this We would kick the recession to touch in 6 months