Small businesses Archives - Page 4 of 4

Why Bother With A Sales Process

If you put the phrase “sales process” into the source of all wisdom which is Google, you will get a whole load of smartly titled materials pop up. Anything from the 7 steps of the sales process explained, 5 crucial sales process step to a bunch of serious looking diagrams. When you look it up on Wikipedia it throws this smart sounding sentence at you: “A sales process is an approach to selling a product or service. The sales process has been approached from the point of view of an engineering discipline”.

Whilst I do not doubt that reading many of these articles, examples, case studies and e-books will help improve your sales revenue I doubt that you have the time or inclination to do so. After all sales just happen don’t they? It’s all about common sense, a good product, sound reputation and a bit of luck, isn’t it?

I agree that many of the above elements are important to make sales happen (not so sure about the luck bit though). However, having a sales process can really help make sure that you keep repeating all these good strategies that help you win business and take out elements that have not worked in the past. In fact here is a whole list of things for which it can be useful:

It can help you train new team members faster
Measuring results become a lot easier
Productivity can be improved by cutting out unnecessary fluff
Additional touches can be added to improve conversion rate
It can really improve your customer retention

So the reason you should bother with a sales process is that it takes away the trial and error element of sales and helps you systemise all that in your experience has brought in sales in the past to make sure they happen more often.

Even more important is the potential to improve your customer retention. As most customers leave due to indifference, not ensuring that you demonstrate the value you offer leaves them to decide on price alone. Couple this with the fact that up selling is much easier than selling to a new prospect and you can see how important it is to have an after sale plan.

To get your sales process up and running consider the following:

Write down all steps you take between first engaging with a prospect to making a sale and ongoing communication with your clients
Emphasise the actions you take and consider writing scripts, list of actions and written communications which can be repeated
Write it with another, new member of your team point of view in mind
Get someone else to read through and comment on how easy it is to follow

So, to summarise, developing as sales process for your business is well worth the effort as it will definitely make a difference to your conversion and retention rates. Follow my suggested steps to help you make a start and develop it further based on your unique process. Most importantly, make sure you and your team follow the process once designed consistently to see the benefit.

What do you see as the biggest challenge for your business in terms of sales process?

Leave a commentMarketing, Sales, Small businessesmarketing plan, marketing process, sales process, sales retention

Why all businesses need a website in 2016

How many times a day do you go on the internet? We bet that the amount of time you spend online has significantly increased over the past few years, right? The explosion of the online world has been felt across all industries and now almost everyone has a smartphone, tablet or some form of device that enables them to access the internet at any time, in any location. The internet is full of huge opportunities, but it also opens up the market to a high number of competitors for the services you provide. You need to be on top form to fight off the competition, but even with these technological advances, a lot of business still DON’T have the number one tool; a website which delivers results.

Does your business have a great website? If not, why not? We commonly hear the excuse that a business “doesn’t think it’s a worthwhile investment” or that it’s simply not worth the money. Well then here are our top reasons as to why it could be the best investment your business will make.

Do you want to attract new customers and increase sales?
If you are trying to run a successful business, then we hope the answer to this question is a loud YES. To do this you need somewhere to direct potential customers to and a container to hold all of the information about your products/ services. Think of it as an online brochure with the ability to reach a global audience without the hard work of manually posting one through every door! Without a decent website that appeals to your target market, they will simply move onto one of your competitors.

How do you market your business?
The internet isn’t all about having your own website, of course this is the first (and biggest) step, but you need to get out there and promote it online. Social media, email marketing, blog there’s a vast variety of online marketing tools available out there, but these all need to point back to a website. There’s no point tweeting about your fantastic new product, if you can’t include a link for someone to read more information about it.
Who are you?
We all know that the best way of securing new business is via word of mouth, but since the internet became such a huge thing, an extra step was added to this; Google. It’s pretty common for someone to Google a company name to check them out before deciding whether to make contact or not. If you haven’t got a website, how will they find you or how to contact you?

Convinced yet? If not, just try Googling some of your products or services and see just how many of your competitors have a website.

Websites don’t have to be a burden to your business, with the right website developer; it can be a simple and stress-free process that leaves you with an efficient, appealing online sales tool that helps to drive your business development.

Leave a commentMarketing, Small businesses, Websitesonline, small businesses, web design, websites

Keeping Your Data Up-To-Date

The Importance of Data

Data is the driver of so much in this day and age but businesses often struggle to know where to start with data collection, management and usage. Done well, it leads to significant increases in revenue, profit and customer retention. Let’s take a look at some examples of where data can make a big difference to a small business.

Car Garage

A customer brings their car in to a small local garage for 2 new tyres because they have seen a deal advertised in the local paper which is what they typically rely on for generating business but its low margin being so competitive.

When will that garage contact that customer next and about what? Often the answer is never because the data that will drive contact with that customer has not been captured anywhere electronically. For example, capturing when is their MOT and service is next due along with a mobile number and email address (customer name and address are a given!) would allow them to go for that work when the time comes and in a cost effective manner by text / email (or mail). Collecting this simple data allows that garage to better influence that customer’s decision on where to get the work done therefore increasing their revenue and profit, meaning their advertisement to capture new customers generates so much more than just one job.

Gardening Business

I was recently talking to a friend that runs gardening business and he said he was doing another flyer drop in the local area, he said his work had dried up. I asked him about the customers he had done work for in the past and when he last spoke to them about whether they would like any work doing. The challenge was, he had very little data. He had some names and phone numbers in his mobile amongst all his other contacts but couldn’t show me a list of customers, what work he had done for them and when. Keeping a simple spreadsheet or even paper diary with a record of each job carried out, for which customer and the date, perhaps with the cost of the work would have made the world of difference to him. It would have allowed him to generate work from an existing customer base by targeting those that had work this time last year or had not had any work done for a while rather than having to go for new customers which is costly and time consuming.

Top 10 Tips

Make some time to decide what data will be of use to you e.g. last job date, next contact date
Don’t put it off – the sooner you start capturing data it the sooner you can use it to your advantage
Review any existing data capture processes what quantity and quality of data are your staff capturing
Measure success regularly daily, weekly or monthly
Set out a plan for how and when you will contact current customers, previous customers and prospective customers
Ensure data you capture allows you to follow the plan
Follow through on the plan and measure success
Find a method that keeps it simple manual diary, spreadsheet, other software.
There are lots of very cost effective and sometimes free solutions which are ready made, search the internet
Get some help if it all seems too much.

Leave a commentMarketing, Small businessesdata, data storage, database, database tools, guide

How To Keep Your Employees Happy

As a business coach I work with lots of businesses from all sectors and of all sizes and this subject comes up repeatedly. In my experience what makes a team and employees happy is involvement. As individuals we all crave the following, it’s a basic need..:

Autonomy – have your employees got the autonomy/accountability/responsibility?
Relatedness – do your employees feel part of something bigger?
Competency – can your employees grow their skills/knowledge and do they have opportunity?

With the above in mind we need to find ways of ensuring that our employees have the above as part of their role, that we understand them and that they have the opportunity to grow.

I recently spent a full day with a client running a strategic planning day. It was a big investment to take close to 20 people out of the business for a full day but wow, the response. I spent some time after the session reflecting on why it was so successful. The first point to make is that we expect a lot from our teams and sometimes it might feel like they aren’t supporting us as much as we would like. I often hear directors say, “They just don’t get it”, “why won’t they just do this”, and “surely it’s obvious”.

The problem is ASSUMPTION.

We assume our employees know what we are trying to achieve, we assume they know how they can impact it, we assume they know why we are doing what we do, and why we are headed where we are headed.

The session we ran was all about alignment; communicating the next couple of years’ plan, why we want to go there, what it means to them as a team, the opportunities it brings, and why we need their support to get there. The directors didn’t have all the answers and so we asked the team how they could support it (ownership and involvement). We covered current restrictions, then strategies and solutions to overcome them, and finished with 90 day plans to start the process of implementation.

The team left with a renewed enthusiasm for the business, total clarity and direction about where they are headed and why. They were clear in what they can do, feeling part of the process and with ownership of projects to deliver. The directors left with a motivated team, reassurance that the business it totally aligned and team involvement rather than a reliance on the directors to do everything.

Alignment is a critical success factor in every great business to ensure a happy team, so ask yourself the question: Are you aligned or do you assume?

Leave a commentSmall businessesadvice, employees, small business, support

Welcome to The Little Blue Blog!

Hello and welcome to the Little Blue Blog! We’re so happy you found our little corner of the Internet. Here we hope to provide both practical and informative weekly content on how to effectively market and grow your small business; alongside some interviews with local businesses and snapshots from the areas where our Little Blue Books are distributed.

Local Pages was founded in 1979 by Boris Bernard. It remains a family company to this day with his two sons, Dan and Ollie at the helm supported by their amazing team. The world has changed a lot since the 70’s. Promoting and marketing your business has never been easier, yet at the same time, it’s more complex than ever with the overwhelming amount of platforms and ways to do this.

We’re passionate about small businesses and our goal is to become a one-stop-shop for all marketing strategy. From advertising in our heritage Little Blue Books to social media and website design & hosting, we’re here to provide solutions. Connecting local people with local businesses is at the core of Local Pages.

Thanks for stopping by! We’re a friendly bunch, so please feel free to comment on or share our posts – we’d love hearing from you. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and please subscribe to The Little Blue Blog.

Leave a commentAdvertising, Design, Marketing, Print, Small businesses, Social media, Websitesbusiness directory, family business, local businesses, local people