The 3 Simple Secrets To Extraordinary Growth In Your Small Business

Would you like to know the best ways to achieve extraordinary growth in your small business?

Of course you would. I’ve got great news for you – it’s as simple as 1 – 2- 3.

When you set a goal to grow your business, you need to start with the end in mind and then work backwards from there. For example, if you have a $100,000 per year business and want to grow 50 percent, you’d need to add $50,000 in new revenue. If your average customer spends $1,000 per year with you, you’d need 50 new customers.

There are only 3 simple ways to extraordinary growth in your small business:

1. You can get more new customers
2. You can increase the amount of money each customer spends (increase the transaction size/amount)
3. You can get customers to come back again (to spend again) (increase purchase frequency)

Let’s look at these 3 in more depth:

GET MORE NEW CUSTOMERS

If you want to get those 50 new customers needed to grow your business by 50 percent, you need a plan and a budget to accomplish it. You need to know what it’s costing you now to bring in a new customer. Is it $20? $200? If you want to grow by getting more new customers, it’s very possible you’ll need to increase the amount you spend to do so. Currently, you may be getting all of the low-hanging fruit, so to continue to grow, you’ll need to spend additional money.

INCREASE THE AMOUNT EACH CUSTOMER SPENDS WITH YOU

Very few small business owners focus on this when they’re trying to grow their company, yet this strategy has massive leverage. Since you already have a customer base, getting each new customer to spend 10 percent more per year with you decreases the number of new customers you need to acquire.

You can increase the value of each customer, client or patient you have by providing another product or service that you can earn more money from. You are now earning more money from that customer – you’ve increased how much they’re spending with you without your having to market for new customers. Now your transaction value has increased. Smart restaurant owners know this by promoting dessert options. The patron is already there – getting them to spend extra on dessert is almost straight profit (besides the food cost) – since all of the “overhead” costs are already paid for with the meal.

I do this in my coffee and smoothie business by offering upgrades – additional options such as alcohol upgrades, additional time, decorations, etc. The package is already sold – adding these extras is almost straight profit to my bottom line. All I did was increase the amount each customer spends with me by offering additional options they’re probably interested in.

If you can find a way to increase the value of a customer, client or patient, you can earn more money from them, thereby increasing your transactional value, and reducing your marketing costs.

GET CUSTOMERS TO COME BACK AGAIN

Every business loses customers, clients and patients. Many lose more than they realize. You’ll need a strategy to replace this lost revenue. If you have a 24 percent annual churn rate, you don’t need 50 new customers, you need a total of 74 new customers to account for growth and to replace the customers you’ll lose over the next 12 months.

When you consider that existing customers, clients and patients are 5 to 7 time more likely to buy than the cold market, are easier to sell to and the “cheapest” market for you to sell to – you can see the mistake most businesses make, and the opportunity open to you.

And one final point. You should NOT look for one way to get 10% more clients, another way to get 10% more average value and another to get 10% more purchase frequency.

Rather, break it down into bite sized, achievable chunks. Over the next twelve months, find…

5 ways to get 2% more customers (for example from social media advertising, email marketing or direct mail)

4 ways to get 2% or 3% more value per order or invoice (for example by avoiding discounting and focusing on up-sells and cross-sells)

3 ways to get 3% or 4% more purchase frequency (for example by implementing customer retention strategies like handwritten thank you notes, newsletters, and VIP specials)

This means you just have to find one 2%, 3% or 4% improvement each month – easily achievable even when you are running a busy and demanding business.

(NOTE: If you struggle with figuring out what marketing campaigns to do every month, check out the Silver Platter Marketing Membership – it’s like having marketing handed to you on a silver platter!)

About Stacey Riska

Stacey Riska, aka “Small Business Stacey” is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about saving small business and rebuilding Main Street. She helps small and local business owners become a #SmallBizMarketingWiz by teaching them marketing strategies that get MORE: MORE leads, MORE customers/clients, MORE sales, and MORE money. Stacey is the founder of Small Biz Marketing Specialist, THE go-to place for marketing tips, techniques and strategies that get results. Stacey is also the creator of the Daily Deals for Massive Profits Training Program, an online video training program that teaches small and local business owners how to use daily deal sites like Groupon to skyrocket their business growth and get massive profits. In this program she teaches from experience, as it was the key strategy that transformed her coffee and smoothie business from being $500K in debt to a 7-figure profitable business. When not saving the small business world, she enjoys sipping red wine, eating chocolate (who doesn’t!) and spending time with her amazing husband.