Ideas to grow your business

Here are some suggestions you can put in place immediately to get your business growing. You don’t need a lot of time researching or thinking about these ideas – just put one or two in place immediately and then when you have those in place pick another one or two and run with them.

So in no particular order:

  • Invoice your clients immediately on completion of sale or service. Don’t wait for the month end to do them in a batch
  • Simplify your business. Identify the products or services which don’t sell or are unprofitable and stop doing them – concentrate your time and effort on the profitable ones.
  • Systematise (or automise) the non- profit making areas especially the ones the customers don’t appreciate their value g accounting, customer care, voicemail, sales reporting, record keeping.
  • Encourage employees to find more efficient ways of completing their tasks and achieving their goals.   A major discouragement can be the overbearing, bad tempered boss. Ensure you are open to discussions about the running of the business at al times.
  • Delegate.   Delegate everything you do that doesn’t make money!
  • Be nice to your suppliers – you never know what benefits you will receive!
  • Give clients a clearly defined product or service then charge for extras or any changes made by your customer. NB Be fair!!!
  • Work more efficiently. If you can spend less time on each assignment you can fit more assignments in.
  • Marketing – ensure there is something valuable on your website for others eg how to….
  • Social media. Does your business tweet? Do you have facebook? Are you on linked in?
  • Local media – do you send press release monthly so you can be identified as the local go to expert?
  • Forums – are you on the appropriate forums to meet potential customers?
  • Local business community – are you members of your Chamber of Commerce? Go to events and meet local suppliers and potential customers.
  • Referrals. Ask your customers to refer you to their colleagues. This is so much more effective than marketing to “the world”.
  • Offers. Ensure all offers are included in email footers/ invoices.
  • Awards. Put your business forward for awards – it is surprisingly effective as a marketing tool.

Now if you need assistance in putting any of thse ideas in place ask Gibson Hewitt for help and advice.

For continued growth make a meeting with your business advisor at Gibson Hewitt as part of your monthly routine. Our independence and experience is invaluable for “seeing the wood from the trees” and offering support to the entrepreneur. It can be very lonely at the head of an organisation with no one to discuss ideas with.

Give Lynn Gibson a call on 01932 336149 and arrange a FREE NO OBLIGATION MEETING to assess the benefits of our services. We have been advising, running and turning around business for almost 30 years!

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