“There are Only Four Ways to Grow Any Business?”

Here I’m going to share with you some practical ideas on how you can create a number of positive outcomes for yourself, for your organisation and for your customers.

The 4 Key Questions of Business Growth…

The ideas are related to the 4 Key Questions of Business Growth – and yes, despite what so many people say there are only four ways to grow any business! There are a number of answers to each of the questions – a number of multiple strategies which you can implement in your business – however when you peel back the layers you’ll always arrive at these 4 Key Questions.

Now, a number of people have said to me “Ah Royston, but what about reducing costs – that will increase my profits?”

And – Yes they are right. However - I’m talking about the untapped, upside potentiality of unlimited growth. Reducing costs has a finite ceiling which you’ll hit – you can only ever cut back so far, where as business growth – unleashing the hidden windfall profits lying in your business - focusing on the upside potentiality - has no boundaries.

So what are the 4 key Questions of Business Growth? Well today I’m going to focus on the first question for you.

The Benefits…

Specifically by using the ideas we’ll go through in this ezine and the subsequent 3 ezines covering the other 3 questions you’ll be able to:

· Increase your turnover

· Increase your Profits

· Increase your customer retention

· Increase your penetration rates

· Increase your market share and…

· Make easier sales - than ever before!

The change in mindset you’ll go through, as I did, when you learn The 4 Key Questions of Business Growth and of course, the answers to those questions – will amaze you!

You’ll start to see opportunities in so many different places.

So let’s look at the first question;

How do you/we increase the number of Customers?

This is where most businesses tend to spend their time – in attaining new customers through the front door of their businesses.

So my question for you is this;

What are the various strategies you’re currently using in order to attract people to your business?

I’ll share a couple of my key accelerators with you and then suggest an exercise you can do either on your own or with your team if appropriate.

Accelerator 1…

The first and number 1 Low/Cost no cost strategy for increasing the number of customers is of course referrals – a subject that I dedicated Business Accelerator Ezine number 5 to (if you’ve not seen it you can download a copy from www.pti-worldwide.com - just go to the ezine archive)

86% of our business in Pti now comes from referrals – was it always the case – of course not however for the past 18 months we’ve been focused on building a referral only business. Could you do the same? What percentage of your business comes through referrals today? What could it be in the future with an increased focus in this area?

Accelerator 2…

Alliance Partnerships or sometimes referred to as Strategic Alliances. Who has a target market of customers who fit the profile of customer you want to attract to your business? And…
How can you form an Alliance Partnership together to cross refer business? We could spend days and days talking about this strategy however I’ve seen some of our clients achieve double digit growth just by leveraging the power of this one idea!

Accelerator 3…

The third accelerator could be running special events.

One of my clients runs evenings for current and potential customers and holds wine learning evenings. Not just wine tasting but wine learning. Evenings where a wine specialist comes along and teaches the customers and potential customers how to recognise good wines.

These events are extremely popular and the conversion rate of new customers is over 90%.

What special events could you hold for your potential customers?

· A daytime event - where you could showcase your products

· An evening event

· A special day at the office or factory

· Special promotions to go with those events

The list is endless - but I’m sure you can personalise this method and come up with a number of ideas that could be tested at little cost.

Suggested Exercise…

So, this is what I suggest you do - either on your own or with your team.

Write this focused question on the top of the page;

How can I/We increase the number of customers?

Set yourself/your team a target of coming up with 50 plus ideas each and then share collectively on a flip chart. You’ll be amazed just how many ideas you’ll come up with. I now have a list of over 133!

One of my clients has 4 flip charts in his monthly sales meeting, each containing one of the questions from the 4 Key Questions of Business Growth.

2 hours of every sales meeting is dedicated to these four questions. No wonder he is the fastest growing business unit in his company!

Have fun doing this process for yourself. Next time we’ll look at the second key question and I’ll share some ideas on how to personalise it for you and your business. Until then Enjoy Your Business Success!

Guest Article by Royston Guest