| 1. Are You
Making These Mistakes In Your
Business? |
You’ve
probably heard the statistic that
95% of small businesses fail in
the first five years. That’s not
a very encouraging number!
Although being part of the 5% that
succeed is not easy, it’s
definitely possible. What it takes
is a lot of common sense, some
marketing and sales skills and the
ability to learn from the mistakes
of others.
To get you started on the road to
success, here are three of the
biggest mistakes small businesses
make and some tips to help you
avoid them:
Mistake #1: Having a Poorly
Defined Sales Process
The key to making money with any
business is to stay focused on how
you can “sell”, “sell
more” and “sell more often”.
Unfortunately most businesses
don’t consider all of the ways
they can make money from customers
and end up losing potential
revenues.
There are three ways you can make
money from your site:
1. Get More New Customers – This
is the sales activity that most
small businesses spend 90% of
their efforts on. Although it’s
an important element of your sales
process, it’s only one of three
ways you can make money. Don’t
neglect the other two because
you’re focused on only
attracting new customers.
2. Make More Money From Each
Transaction – Upselling is the
process of increasing the value of
a customer’s order. Offering
additional products and services
at the point of purchase is an
effective way to increase the
value of the transaction.
3. Sell More Often To Existing
Customers – Existing customers
are the least expensive customers
to sell to. Why? Because they’ve
already purchased from you once so
they trust you, you already know
what they’re interested in and
you know how to reach them. Use
these facts to your advantage by
following up with existing
customers on a regular basis and
offering them more products and
services. This process is known as
backend sales and is one of the
most overlooked revenue sources by
small businesses.
A well-defined sales process will
include all three of these. If
you’re missing any of them you
need to rethink your strategy from
the beginning. Start with your
first contact with a customer and
walk through step-by-step how
you’ll take them from never
having heard of you to being a
lifelong customer.
Mistake #2: Not Learning What
Makes a Website Sell
If you’ve been online longer
than five minutes you know that
the “build it and they will
come” mentality doesn’t work.
If you want your business to
succeed you need to learn how to
make a website that sells.
Some of the best things you can do
are:
- Build Trust - Providing
testimonials, free trials, money
back guarantees and a Privacy
Policy will all help your
customers trust you. The more
confidence people have in you and
your ability to deliver what you
say you will, the more likely
they’ll be to take the action
you want.
- Keep Your Product Offers
Relevant - No matter how tempted
you may be to promote an unrelated
product or service because it pays
a high commission, DON'T! There is
an old saying that you should keep
in mind at all times, "stick
to your knitting". In other
words, stick with what you've been
doing.
- Get An Email Address For As Many
Visitors As Possible – This can
be when they order, sign up for
your newsletter, request an
information package, enter a
contest, request a special report,
sign up for a trial/demo, or
whatever action makes sense for
your business. Having this address
allows you to follow up with them
and turn them from prospects to
customers.
- Make The Perceived Value
Extremely High - The higher the
perceived value of your offering,
the fewer objections you will
receive. To add value, consider
additional products and services
you can offer to purchasers. This
can be a special report, an ebook
or even some of your time. Just
make sure that whatever you offer
it's not readily available for
free on another site. Otherwise
this technique will have the
opposite effect and make your
offer look less valuable.
Mistake #3: Not Treating it Like a
Business
Too many small business owners
fall into bad habits early on and
end up treating their business
more like a hobby than a business.
Here are a few things you can do
to treat your business like a
business:
- Stick To A Schedule – Just
like you would with a regular job,
develop a work schedule for your
small business and stick to it.
This will keep you focused and
you’ll be more productive.
- Get Help When You Need It –
You can’t be an expert at all
things. If you don’t know how to
build websites, write copy or do
the accounting, find someone who
does. Doing so will let you focus
on what you do well instead of
wasting your time and leaving you
frustrated.
- Work Hard At It - That’s
right, good old-fashioned elbow
grease will always get you further
then searching for the “secret
to success”.
Are you making any of these
mistakes in your business? If so
now is the time to make some
changes!
--------------------------------------------
This article is an excerpt from
the Special Report by Jennifer
Tripp, “The 7 Biggest Mistakes
Small Businesses Make – And How
You Can Be Smarter!” To get your
copy of the entire report visit
http://www.mysmallbizcoach.com/sevenmistakes.htm |
| Posted By :
Jennifer Tripp |
| Address : |
| Ph : , |
| URL : http://www.mysmallbizcoach.com |
| Date Added :
06-May-2004 |
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