Print Article for : To Get Business License

[T1003]To Get Business License

by Paul Lemberg, Pau

Thankfully, new business is pretty easy to get, but you do have to do something to get it. Usually something you aren't currently doing. Here are 25 ways you can bring in more business, and if you do things right, more profits.

These are not long term business strategies. These are short to medium term tactics designed to put cash in your bank account within the next 30 - 90 days.

1. Hire a salesperson. Or, if you already have salespeople, hire another one. You may not be able to pay them a salary, so make it for 100% commission, and make the commission generous. And of course, pay their expenses. This will work best if you have a sales process in place, and some kind of systemized knowledge that will bring them up to speed quickly.

2. Get some sales training. The Sandler Selling System is great for simple sales. Mike Bosworths Customer Centric Selling is great for complex sales. Of course there are many others, and any good sales training program will get your sales off whatever dime you are stuck on.

3. Start a referral program. This doesnt mean simply ask for referrals, but do it routinely. Do it systematically. Have a method to ask, and have a method to reward people who do refer.

4. Add products to your back end. The costliest part is getting new customers. Why not maximize your investment and sell those customers additional products and services.

5. If you sell a service, consider adding products that compliment it.

6. If you sell products, adding services is even easier.

7. If you sell free-form consulting, consider bundling specific services into a "productized" form. Give it a name, make the price fixed. Typically the "productizing" and fixed price enables you to sell at higher prices than previously.

8. Raise your prices. Most people undervalue what they do and charge way too little for it. And many others discount from their "list" at the drop of a hat. Stop discounting, but if you must, always get something in exchange. Think tradeoffs. And raise your rates for services and products both.

9. Joint ventures. Find people who have something you need, like products, or customers and trade with them. Pool your resources. Pool your time. Create something larger than either of you. Make it a win-win.

10. Strategic alliances. How does this differ from above? A strategic alliance partner is only involved in one aspect of your business - in other words, they may source leads or product. A joint venture partner is a deeper involvement. Youll work more closely on more aspects.

11. Referral fees. You probably make these referrals anyway. Now get paid for them.

12. Affiliate programs. This is simply the systemized approach to referral fees, and on the internet is THE way to do business.

13. Take your white papers or articles and collect them into a special report which can be used for marketing purposes, or sold outright as its own revenue center.

14. Sell a subscription to your service. Lock in the revenue and accelerate the payments. Then give them special bonuses or super-service for being subscribers, or members.

15. Create bundles out of all your existing products. Put things together and offer special pricing. This may lower your "per unit" revenue, but it will increase average transaction size, as well as total revenue.

16. The Rolodex routine. This means going through your Rolodex, name-by-name, and calling everyone who looks promising. For something. For selling, for networking, for referrals, even for "how do you do."

17. Conduct a survey. Ask your client base questions. This process will get you great information about your market, and it will always bring you "unexpected" business.

18. Offer your services or products at a silent or charity auction. While this wont bring in money immediately, it will almost always expand your client base.

19. Offer to let key influencers give away some of your time, product.

20. If you have a service, consider turning your hard-one expertise into an educational course. This could be an e-course, a tele-course, printed home study course, even a live seminar or bootcamp.

21. Publish an ebook. Ebooks are a great way to promote your business and generate quick revenue.

22. Speak, speak, speak. Especially if you are a master of your individual expertise, speaking is a sure-fire way to bring in additional business.

23. Write articles. Articles and speaking compliment each other perfectly. Not only write those articles, but get them published. Anywhere you can.

24. Focus your market. Many people try to cover too much ground. By becoming a noted expert in a tightly-defined market niche, you can increase the power of all your marketing efforts, bringing in more business for each marketing dollar you spend.

25. Shift into an adjacent market. Sometimes your market niche is exhausted, and sometimes theyre just plain broke. A shift into an adjacent market niche can bring you all kinds of new business.

If you don't want to explicitly ask for a referral from your customers, do some poster printing with your referral program printed (and even illustrated) in clear steps in your waiting room or by your cash register. Word-of-mouth marketing that nets referrals work well, but when you add a little reward or incentive to the mix, you can double the number of referrals you receive.

Here are some incentive ideas for you to try:

Gift certificates: This is a popular option for giving referrals. A gift certificate to another store, restaurant or sporting event works especially well for businesses that don't have customers that return right away, like an eye doctor or dentist. Giving a discount on the next eye exam or teeth cleaning isn't very motivating when the customer won't be able to redeem it for at least six months. Gift certificates that can be used right away to restaurants or city hotspots are much more motivating.

Gift certificates are sometimes seen as worth more than cash because you are ultimately giving away an experience: a dining experience, a sports event experience or a shopping experience. It's easier for people to imagine themselves enjoying something you've provided rather than the multitude of options they could use the cash for.

One tip: if you buy gift certificates in bulk, you can sometimes get a discount from the retailer. One restaurant around my city offers $25 gift certificates for $20, so your reward could be worth more than you actually paid!

Cold, hard cash: Cash talks, people listen. Cash rewards work for many businesses, but it can be difficult to hand out because you need customers to stop by your store or you have to deliver it yourself. Of course checks work almost as well as cash, but then people have to wait for their reward to come in the mail and become discouraged.

Free or discounted services at your business: Offering a free item with the customer's next purchase or offering a big discount can bring people back to your store or Web site instead of sending them out to other retailers. I've seen some shops get into calendar printing and give them away for free to customers. This works with stores that get a lot of repeat traffic, like a boutique shop or a service shop like a gas station.

Recognition: Prominently post pictures and names of people who have given you major referrals or a high number of referrals. Make it a ?hall of fame? type of wall. This will let your customers know who is helping your business and will motivate customers to get their name up on the wall. Make sure you have a large heading above the pictures stating something like ?We would like to thank these people for referring at least X amount of customers this year. We appreciate your business and support.? A nice statement like this will get others to want to be recognized.

Offer a free gift: By offering something of value, you'll encourage people to get the word out about you. A gift that is connected to an upcoming holiday (like a free Thanksgiving turkey) or a season (garden plants for summer) also works well. If your city or state has a sports team that most people support, offering a blanket, mug or other type of tchotchke can be the ultimate motivation.

Article Source :

About Author

Both Paul Lemberg & Kaitlyn Miller are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Paul Lemberg has sinced written about articles on various topics from Real Estate, Internet Marketing and How to Sell on Ebay. . Paul Lemberg's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.

Kaitlyn Miller has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, Advertising Guide and Brochures. For more information, you can visit this page on and. Kaitlyn Miller's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.