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3 Questions to Ask to Grow My Business

Marketing is essential to any business. The ones who have survived without having a budget for it are at risk. Most of the time marketing is the be-all and end-all of success and growth. However, if a business is losing existing customers and is unable to get people coming back more often then they may have bigger problems than just marketing.

Before any small business launches a marketing plan, they should ask 3 key questions:

1. Do you have more or less returning customers than you did last month?
2. Are you attracting more or less new customers than you did last month?
3. Is your Average Sale Amount increasing or is it less than it was last month?

The answers to these questions represent your core business numbers of how you’re doing today before you start attracting new customers. Why are these numbers so important? Because in order to identify if your business is improving you must have an understanding of where you are right now. Let’s explore each core business number more closely in an effort to pinpoint its origin and how it can be improved.

1. # of Returning Customers: If you have less Returning customers than you did last month this usually points to an issue with your products or services. There could be a consistency or staleness issue. Perhaps the quality of your product or service has declined, your customers have lost faith in your brand, and have opted not to use it anymore. What can you do? Read your social media and online reviews. What are your customers saying about your business? Talk to your employees, show you care, and listen. Have they received any direct customer feedback? Talk to your customers and ask them what they like and don’t like about your products/services. Asking for their feedback will give you some great insight and it will provide a great connection to your customers by showing that you care. If through your research you find that your products and services are solid, then it may be that you need to create a better connection with your customers, remind them of your brand again, and show them that you appreciate their business. The great thing about engagement through customer reviews and social media is that these are already great customer relationship building measures. You’ve researched the problem and made headway on a solution in the same step. In addition, you might look into advanced training for your staff; developing a new product/service to add to your current offerings; and continue to engage further on social media with your customers in a fun, creative, interactive setting.
2. # of New Customers: If you are attracting less New customers than you did last month then it’s time to step up your marketing strategy. Are you doing less marketing than you have in previous months? Were your most recent marketing plans less effective? Are you relying on word-of-mouth or old ways to market to new customers? Oftentimes a new company experiences a constant influx of New customers in the very beginning, which slowly tapers off. Especially if you’re the new kid in town with a new approach or offering, your company may have generated lots of local excitement and press at its inception. It’s time to change your ways, freshen up your marketing, and attract more New customers.
3. Average Sale: If your Average Sale is less than it was last month and you didn’t lower your prices, then you need a plan to increase sales. Check your competition and see if you can raise your prices without losing customers. Create some package deals to make it easier for customers to buy add-on products. Train your staff on presenting the new price plan and/or upselling to existing customers. Every little bit counts and can really add up when you multiple it by hundreds or thousands of transactions.

Can you see how knowing your numbers can dictate the best approach to grow your company faster? In summary, lack of returning customers is probably a product or service issue, lack of new customers means you need marketing help, and low average transaction value is a product, pricing or training issue.

Growing your business faster is about identifying shortcomings in every facet of your business and creating results that will boost growth in that specific area. When you add up each individual improvement it has an exponential affect to revenue and customer growth. This is one of the keys to having a plan built for lasting success and a thriving business.

You can do all this yourself, but do you have the time, training & resources? At Bluume, we take every one of our clients through a process to develop a custom plan for them to improve every facet of their business.

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