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grow your business

It’s one thing to have a business, it’s another thing for the business to grow, and thrive.

The first part might seem easy; the latter definitely isn’t.

Yet (unfortunately), the latter part – growth – is what determines whether you’ll remain business or not. Whatever doesn’t grow dies, ultimately.

If you’re a business owner, one major question that must’ve always been on your mind is: “how can I grow my business?” (Or, how can I grow my client’s or boss’ business, if you’re a marketer.)

And…you must have found hundreds or even thousands of answers.

Problem is: where exactly do you start from?

Where to START from

Credit: MakeItOn.co.in

In my search through business books and all over the internet for how to effectively grow a business, I found that every concept and strategy around this topic can be classified under just three ways, as posited by the legendary marketer Jay Abraham.

In other words, there are only three ways to grow your business, and they are:

  1. Increase the number of customers;
  2. Increase the average transaction value per customer
  3. Increase the number of transaction per customer

In simpler English, the only three ways to grow your business are:

1 => Get more customers

2 => Get them to spend more money with you

3 => Increase how often they come back to do business with you (buying frequency)

No matter what business you do, notwithstanding the people you serve, doesn’t matter the strategies or tools you use, those are the ONLY ways your business can grow – and continue to grow – effectively and sustainably.

Not that simple, huh?

Credit: Giphy

Of course, you’re too smart to be fooled by the seeming simplicity of these “three ways”; you know for sure that each “way” encompasses a lot of several strategies and tactics.

However, simply knowing that all your work towards growing your business is in just three parts should make business and marketing less daunting, and you can direct all your attention and plans towards these “three ways”.

Just so you still don’t get stuck on the several hundreds of strategies and tactics involved in growing your business those three ways, I’ll now go into more depth on how to go about each “way” – exactly what to do to successfully grow your business these three ways.

Let’s get started!

The 3 Ways to Grow Your Business Explained

  1. Increase your number of customers

Credit: Google Sites

Of course, customers are the lifeblood of every business. You only have a business when you have customers.

It therefore makes perfect sense that to grow (or increase) your business, you have to increase your number of customers.

So, how do you increase the number of customers you have?

I can simply summarize that in three steps:

  • Get the attention of more prospects (your ideal customers)
  • Get those interested in what you offer to signify (especially by giving you permission to tell them more)
  • Get as many of those interested as possible to buy something from you.

In marketing-speak, the above steps translate to:

  • Create more awareness
  • Generate leads
  • Convert as many leads to customers

How exactly do you implement each of these steps?

Here are specific proven strategies and tactics you can use to increase your customers:

[To get more people to see what you do/offer (awareness), you should…]

  • Have an introductory message, tied around what your target audience or ideal customer is interested in. (If it doesn’t interest them in the slightest way, you’ll never get their attention);
  • Place the message where your target audience hangs out (in whatever format they’ll relate to);
  • If possible, pay such platform to get more of your ideal audience to see your message. (A.k.a. advertising!)

(To make those interested in your business to signify by opting in to hear more from you, you should…)

  • Have a lead magnet or “ethical bribe” (something useful that your audience would be interested in but you give away for free) – could be a guide or report, a coupon code, a product sample or trial, etc.
  • Have a system to collect their contact in exchange for the freebie – called an opt-in form online. (Could be a fishbowl offline, where entrants qualify for a raffle draw.)
  • Have a system to deliver the promised freebie – mail or email is perfect for delivering most freebies. You should also thank them for even opting in at all – time and attention are expensive; personal contact is invaluable!

(To convert your new leads — a fair percentage of them — to customers, you should…)

  • Follow up with them constantly, preferably with even more value!
  • Offer them something for sale, especially closely related to the freebie they opted in to get – preferably low-priced. Doesn’t have to be your flagship product or service…
  • Have a follow-up series in place that, over a period of time, encourages new leads to buy what you’re offering.

NOTE that at this stage, your main aim is to convert as many leads as possible to buyers, even if it has to be just $1. Why? According to the book Marketing Metrics, businesses have a 60 to 70% chance of selling to an existing customer while the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5% to 20%. Whether it’s $1 or $1000, anyone that gives you money in exchange for what you offer is a customer – and that’s what you want as many of these leads to become.

It might seem like a long journey, but one foundational truth of selling is: people don’t like to be sold. Yes, we love to buy stuff, but we want to feel in control; not like someone manipulated or outsmarted us into buying.

This latter part is what following the strategy above helps you achieve; it puts your customer in control, as they are allowed to decide based on the abundant information and opportunities you supply them.

Secondly, it’s just common sense; people are generally more open to “useful information” than to adverts. We naturally want to get information, while we are naturally skeptical of ads or anything salesy. We like to get informed; not sold!

Can never be overemphasized!

That low-priced sale used to activate buyers – sometimes called tripwire – is the difference-maker between okay businesses and mega-successful businesses, especially in high-ticket sales.

Trust needs to be earned, one small step at a time, before you can ask for a bigger commitment.

Now that you know how to increase your customers, how do you get them to spend more money with you? The next 2 steps will help you achieve that, but first;

  1. Increase the average transaction value per customer

Credit: Splitit.com

Now you have a transaction, though most likely low value, and probably at a loss to you – because our earlier mission was simply to move the prospect from lead to buyer, even if at a cost to us.

It’s time to increase the value level of your customer – the value you give and the value you get in return.

I mean, it’s time to increase the amount your customer pays for what you offer.

How to do this?

Simple: Offer a higher-priced product or service, preferably still in line with the value previously gotten by the customer; in line with the same problem your prospect is (still) looking to solve.

How exactly do you go about this? Let’s get specific:

a. Offer your flagship product or service:

Credit: DailyExpress
  • You definitely should already have your flagship (or core) product or service – the main offer your entire business is built around. So I safely assume this step is well taken care of.
  • Ensure to follow up with buyers of your low-priced offering, in order to engage them and ensure they get value from their purchase. You want to get them happy and excited enough to be able to do more business with you.
  • At the end of your follow-up, offer more help, in form of your flagship product. This should be positioned to help them get better results, or get them their desires faster or more easily.
  • Like your tripwire, let this offer span a few emails over a period of time, encouraging them to buy your flagship product.

b. Offer an Upsell

Credit: BuddhaMoney

Upsells are the ultimate “profit maximizers”. Many businesses won’t make profits even on selling their flagship/core product; they might only have been able to cover acquisition costs at this stage.

Having an upsell (or an array of upsells) in place is where the profits start coming in, even if only about 2% buys it.

Here’s how to go about it:

  • Make sure you follow up on buyers of your flagship offering – so they get value and also get excited and happy about the product or service
  • Offer yet another product or service – or more of your core offer – that further takes the customer higher on the value ladder
  • While it is your high-ticket (or high-dollar) offer, ensure the price is nothing compared to the amount of value they get from this purchase. (This is very important!)
  • Ensure it gets them their desired result even faster or more easily than the flagship offer. (A great example is done-for-you service, where they don’t even have to lift a finger to get their desired result.)
  • Offer more upsells – as many as the customer wants, as long as there’s more value to get. (Please, value is the important word here!)

c. Offer cross-sells

Credit: MageWorx

Your upsell might be a cross-sell instead. That is, not necessarily higher priced than your core or flagship offer, but around the same price range – sometimes even lower (like in the image above). A cross-sell however also aims at giving more value to your customer, than was derived from your core offer.

A great example of cross-sells is Amazon’s “People who bought this product, also bought that product.”

How to go about cross-sells?

Simply follow the same steps outlined for Upsells above.

d. Offer a Downsell (or down-sell)

Credit: StoreApps

Downsells are great especially for those who took your core offer but don’t want your upsell(s) or even cross-sell(s).

For example, where the upsell was a seminar or other physical event, a perfect downsell for those that didn’t buy the ticket could be the recording or notes of the event.

In offering your downsell, you can follow same steps highlighted earlier, under “upsells”, but never come from the angle of “Since you’ve refused to buy this, we thought you could afford this…!

Now let’s quickly go into how to grow your business by making sure customers keep coming back for more.

  1. Increase the number of transactions per customer

Credit: MyCustomer.com

This simply means ensuring that the customer comes back over and over – more frequently and recently – to initiate a new transaction (or more of the old) with you.

As you should already know by now, bringing a customer back is easier than getting a new one – especially if they like what they got from you initially and had a good experience with you.

It’s easy when what you sell is a consumable – something that finishes and they have to replace, like supplements or toiletries. It’s even easier when the initial purchase was a subscription or membership.

Whatever it is, follow up is key! (More important than follow up are derived value and great customer experience).

You need to keep in touch with your customers regularly and show that you genuinely care about them and not just interested in the sale. (And you must indeed care!)

Abandoning your customer after a sale and expecting them to come back to do business with you is worse than gambling (I bet it has lower odds than gambling).

Great value isn’t enough. You have to follow up, giving them great experience with your business and asking for more sale along the way.

Here’s how to go about it:

  • Have several follow-up platforms in place; email, phone, social media, blog, retargeting ads, events, exit pop-ups, and whatever you can think of that will bring a customer back to your business – both by asking them directly and keeping your business at the top of their mind.
  • Have well-crafted and carefully-planned out follow-up sequences for every step of your funnel or customer journey. (You must have noticed how I kept mentioning “follow-up” at every step of this article. Shows importance!)
  • Ensure your blog (or vlog or podcast) and social media pages are functional and frequently updated – these are the greatest platforms for engagement.

Bringing people back into your business, no matter where they peaked or fell off, is all about frequent and strategic communication with them.

Just ensure you’re not annoying or bothersome while at it, and make sure the (mostly non-verbal) message you pass to your audience is that you care – deeply!

Now you can double, or even triple, your business!

Credit: Giphy

Yes, you’re now empowered with all it takes to grow your business.

All you have to do now is start from wherever you are in your business, and do everything you can to get more customers.

If you already have a lot of leads, for example, but not enough customers, simply deploy a campaign that activates buyers — a Tripwire!

Could be a 5-day flash sales series where you give a highly-discounted price to just your existing leads. Or you quickly create and offer a low-priced product where you don’t have any.

If you have a lot of customers but they hardly come back, give them something to make them come back for more – an upsell or cross-sell. Or offer more of the same product or service as a bundle. Or add extras to make the offer a kit.

As you can see, it’s all about thinking in your prospect’s shoes, from where they are in your business and what they might need next, and being creative in creating a new solution or repackaging an existing one.

This is how you create an unending sales machine that brings in fresh leads, new customers, while at the same time catering to old customers and making more money from them. That’s how to create an unstoppable business!

It works for every type of business!

 

Credit: MeridianPOFinance.com

This is the same system I’ve used for several businesses (mine and my clients’), from selling services to selling information, physical products and everything in-between.

In November 2017, for example, I launched a new business; a beauty eCommerce website (BeauCrest.ng) selling imported beauty soaps to women in my home country.

I tried different strategies and got several results, ranging from bad to okay, until I refined my funnel (or sales process) and every step in it.

Nailed the blog post that would get me the right attention; nailed the guide/report my audience would kill to have, and then the sales offer that would be hard to say NO to.

My favorite result was in the last week of January 2018 when I spent $140 in advertising cost to generate 87 orders.

That’s less than $1.7 per order. And each order was worth over $35. That was the beginning of great weeks for me in that business (though the orders came with their fair share of “Cash on Delivery” problems).

If I can use a combination of a blog post and a free eBook to successfully sell (not-so-cheap) soaps, then this system works for any type of business! (Guess what? I only advertised the blog post and hadn’t even placed any retargeting ads. Yes, they all converted into customers from an advertisement of just one blog post. Every other step of the funnel took care of itself.)

Need Help?

Would you like to get help in creating an automated growth system for your business, instead of doing it on your own?

Or would you like to learn more specifically, what each step/”way” should contain for your specific business (the type of lead magnet or tripwire, how to position them, what to offer as upsell, etc)?

Then congrats!

Because you can get help for FREE today.

All you have to do is claim your slot in my FREE consultation, where me or someone on my team will run you through our proprietary 72-Point Double-Your-Business Checklist (believe me, that’s *72* specific things you can do to *double* your business!).

This checklist follows exactly the three ways to grow your business outlined in this post, and more so, the checklist was created using the same system, resources, strategies and tools used by the smart marketing teams of companies like Uber, Shopify, Infusionsoft, The Honest Company, Harper Collins Publishers, etc. (Yes, our team has the exact same training these smart guys have, and we belong to same mastermind groups.)

The 72-Point Double-Your-Business Checklist is something every business owner must lay their hands on, and the ONLY way is through the free consultation call (you’ll get a copy of the checklist after the call).

Not just that, on the call, we’ll create your ideal Customer Journey (the process your prospect goes through from stranger to loyal customer) together!

And finally, you’ll leave the call knowing the ONE THING you should do that will have the biggest impact on your business immediately.

So much for a free consultation, yea? I betcha! 🙂

To reserve your slot in this free consultation however, you’d have to apply, after which you’d book your free call on our calendar.

After analyzing your application (and learning one or two things about your business), we’ll get back to you within 24 hours with instructions for the call.

Click here now to apply for the FREE Double-Your-Business consultation call. (https://renegadecommerce.com/apply/)

See you on the inside!

 


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Oludami Yomi-Alliyu
Oludami Yomi-Alliyu

Oludami is the founder of RenegadeCommerce. He is certified as a digital marketing professional by DigitalMarketer HQ, Texas, and as a professional copywriter by American Writers and Artists Inc. (AWAI).

Comments

    7 replies to "Here are the ONLY 3 Ways to Grow Your Business"

    • Rev Victor Ariyo

      I need to know how to grow my school business. Secondly I just started an NGO how can I get people to sponsor this interest?

      • Oludami

        Hi Rev, you can book your slot for the free consultation offered at the end of this article, so we can talk better.
        Thanks for stopping by.

      • Oludami Yomi-Alliyu

        Hi,
        We have a campaign that works for schools. Send me an email at oludami@oludami.com if you’d like to discuss this.

    • Chidinma

      Very Interesting and informative. Thanks

      • Oludami

        Thank you, Chidinma 🙂

    • Idowu david

      Good. Thanks a lot for the informstion

      • Oludami

        You’re welcome, David!

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