Posts Tagged ‘new customers’

For me, I love reading blogs by other freelancers, marketers and small business owners.   Some can lead to advice and ideas which I can directly link to growing my business.   But whilst I like reading blogs, I never let the blogs get in the way of my normal day job.   Reading blogs for me is an activity reserved for when I am waiting in a queue, or on a train or erm, busy in the smallest room.

I also find myself reading a blog, understanding what the author is trying to say, thinking to myself that “that sounds like a reasonable idea” but never acting on it.  I must have read hundreds of posts which caused me to take no action (for whatever reason).  I am sure you are the same.

Well, rather than waste any more of your time, can I present to you a list of some of my action suggestions?

Any one of these actions (and associated posts) cover changes I have made in my own business.  Each and every one of the suggested actions has grown my revenue, customer base and profits.

Pick one or try them all – I promise all will boost your business.

Ditch your accountant and go Cloud Based I wasted so much money on my accountant that in hindsight it scares me.  Since moving to a cloud based accounts system, I have more control, more visibility, and I am saving so much money.

Get Your Terms and Conditions in Order.  I know it does not sound sexy, but I know that having a straight forward, short but good set of T&Cs has landed me business whilst boosting my own business protection.

Be Bold, and Ask for the Business. I am a strong believer in asking for what you want (after all, nobody is a mind reader).  I have won a lot of business simply by asking for it.

Set Goals.  Your business needs goals in order to give it direction and something to aim for.   Setting ambitious business goals has really helped me move forward

Reuse your previous work.  This is one of my best tips for generating more revenue (cash) each and every day.  Try it – you will be amazed!

Add communication and Control through Cloud Project Management. I have been using a cloud based project management system for the past 2 years and it has saved me so much time, effort and money.   And my customers love the visibility it gives them.  Perfect!

Streamline reading blogs and other content. I have moved reading content onto my mobile devices – and it means I can squeeze more productive time into the day.  Free and Easy.

Keep the cash flow by Chasing Customers.  My accounts system automatically chases overdue invoices with different levels of warning – which means I no longer have cash flow worries.

Offer a Bonus.   And as my bonus suggestion, I recommend any serious Freelancer or Small Business Owner read The Wealth Freelancer – its packed with a whole lot more useful ideas for growth.

Last week I was having a conversation in the business mentoring group that I attend, and I was asked how much I was willing to pay for future events. I won’t tell you the actual figure, it’s irrelevant. What is important is the conversation that followed with my wife, and a few friends about the amount I said I was happy to pay. All thought I was mad – it was way too much. After all, their logic was that with 5 or 6 people attending and all paying that same amount, if it was projected forward for a whole day, it would come to over £2000 pounds.

Which bring me onto the difference between the cost and the value of things. I could see their point from one side – would I pay somebody £2000 a day for business advice – most likely not. Is anybody really worth £2000 a day? But, my logic was that for the couple of hours each month, I get to sit down, talk about my business and how I can move it forward, and get feedback. And its not £2000 a day because we are only there for 2 hours, and we are not paying for the whole day – just the 2 hour portion (its only £2000 if you project it forward to 8 hours and therefore multiply it up). Plus, and this is the big factor for me, I can pinpoint some advice that I received in previous mentoring sessions which directly lead to sales worth tens of thousands of pounds.

So let me ask you dear reader, if I was to say to you that for a fee I could get you tens of thousands of pounds of revenue – what would that be worth to you? If you are honest – what would you pay?!? And that is my argument.

This is the difference between the cost, and the value. Things may look very expensive, but when you work out what they save, what they generate, or how much use you get from them, are they really that expensive?!? And there may be cheaper options out there, but would I get the same value, the same results?!?

Which is why some salesman do really well – they are the ones that when presenting a proposal which is in the enterprise/luxury side of the price scale, they can sell the value, compared to the cost.

It’s also why we don’t all fly Ryanair or Easyjet.