Do you want to grow revenues quickly in 2013?
Here’s small business advice to help struggling small business owners to find new sources of revenues.
First, find the lost sales opportunities from 2012.
Everyone has missed opportunities.
Did you meet interesting people at a conference and never followed up with them?
Did you collect business cards only to have them land between your couch cushions? List those missed opportunities.
Go back through those business cards. Build an excel spreadsheet and just list them.
Did someone say a kind word about your talent or your work? Write that down too. That’s a testimonial you’ll need as evidence you are great at what you do.
Just do it!
Second, explore your existing list of customers.
Most small business owners think the way to generate revenues quickly is to find new customers. This is not good business advice.
List your top ten customers, then list what networks or organizations they belong to. Ask for an introduction to speak or to attend an event.
You’d be amazed at how many doors will open for you. And it won’t cost you much, if anything.
Third, join organizations your prospective clients join.
Be clear on the profile of a high-potential customer. That will help you figure out where they congregate. Remember, eagles fly together.
Attend only those events where your prospective customers attend and few of your competitors attend so you can stand out in the crowd.
Avoid the time consuming meet ups. Avoid the industry rah, rah conferences that drain your time and money with little return.
Do you have the opportunity to give a keynote speech? Do you have the opportunity to moderate a panel? Do it. That puts you in a position as an authority.
Make sure you have enough business cards on hand to give out. Give yourself a goal to collect business cards.
Fourth, follow up with people who show genuine interest in what you do.
The best small business advice is to strike while the iron is hot. You know why? When iron is hot, you can shape it anyway you want.
That’s how they make horseshoes, for good luck! If you receive a business card, follow up within one week of receiving it.
Then make sure it’s put into a database (that’s backed up) so you never lose the contact. Also, be sure to include how and when you met that person.
I like to include a few outstanding physical features that person has to jog my memory.
Following this basic small business advice should increase your closure rate dramatically and help to grow revenues much faster.
These four tips are indispensable to show you how to generate revenues quickly.
