In our discussion on
growing your business value we talked about referrals from existing clients/customers
and conducting promotional events to increase your business and add to your
profit margin. Needless to say there are
limitless resources to add to that list.
You could also start an
email campaign. When customers are in
your establishment at the check-out counter, it would only take a few moments
to get their email address. Make a list
and continually add to it. Over time you will have a nice data bank. The email would consist of industry news, news
about your business or even some value added ideas about some of the products
you sell. Use your IMAGINATION! Will all people read it? Probably not but I can speak from personal
experience that it does work. As with
anything else in growing and investing in your business you must give it time.
Along with that concept,
ever consider writing your own BLOG? If
you’re not a writer, perhaps one of your workers would be more than happy to
help. Or maybe a family member could
write a short blog. That’s how I got
started with Albany.com and have had very favorable feedback.
A good spin off to the
above two concepts would be to create your very own WEBSITE. There are a host of companies out there that
could get your site up and running very quickly. I think it’s almost a necessity in today’s
business world. I have had mine up and
running for several years now (www.robertjfowler.com) and also have received positive
feedback.
Although it tends to be
expensive, perhaps consider a radio infomercial. You could do a test run to assess the
effectiveness of such a campaign. Many
local radio stations have a dedicated professional whose sole task is to secure
advertisements from local businesses.
Give it a try and at the very least, it would increase your visibility
to current and potentially new customers.
Last but not least, don’t forget
to invest in your own staff. Employees
like to be recognized and I firmly believe it will boost staff morale. I read recently that the power of one (you
the owner) can leverage to 1,000 but the power of two can leverage to
10,000. There are many ways you can
invest in your staff. Give them an
Executive Bonus (it’s tax deductible too), perhaps start up a payroll deduction
IRA program. Look for training events in
the area. Our local chamber of commerce frequently
sponsors various workshops that your staff may be very interested in attending. It would be well worth your effort to contact
the Chamber and if not already even join the chamber.
This list is but a small
sampling of what could be done. Put on
your thinking caps and I’m sure you can find many more ways to invest in your
own business.