Increasing sales and revenue is invariably a high priority for most businesses. Most businesses are unaware that there are only 4 ways to grow your revenue and fail to focus their efforts on these key mechanisms. In this article we describe the 4 ways to grow the revenue in your business and some of the tactics that you can use for each of them
How do you drive sales and revenue growth for your business?
Before you start to think of tactics to grow your revenue you need to identify a strong point of difference for your business; what sets it apart from all the other companies that provide the same services that you do? Without a clearly defined and articulated Unique Selling Proposition (USP) you will make the task of growing your revenue much more difficult and will probably end up having to compete on price.
Your USP is the unique thing that you can offer that your competitors can’t. It’s your “Competitive Edge.” It’s the reason why customers buy from you, and you alone. If you don’t have a USP, you’re condemned to a struggle for survival – that way lies hard work and little reward.
However, USPs are often difficult to find. And as soon as one company establishes a successful USP in a market, competitors will rush to copy it.
How to Find the USP for Your Business
Understand the Characteristics That Customers Value
First, brainstorm what customers value about your product or services, and about those of your competitors. Move beyond the basics that are common to all suppliers in the industry, and look at the criteria that customers use to decide which product or service to buy.
As with all brainstorming, by involving knowledgeable people in the process, you’ll improve the range of characteristics you’ll identify. So talk to salespeople, customer service teams and, most importantly, you must talk to customers themselves.
Rank Yourself and Your Competitors by These Criteria
Now, identify your top competitors. Being as objective as you can, score yourself and each of your competitors out of 10 for each characteristic. Where possible, base your scores on objective data. Where this isn’t possible, do your best to see things from a customer’s perspective and then make your best guess.
- Identify Where You Rank Well
Plot these points on a graph. This helps you spot different competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
And, from this, develop a simple, easily communicated statement of your USP. Remember when you identify your USP, make sure that it’s something that really matters to potential customers. There’s no point in being the best in the industry for something that customers don’t care about.
- Preserve Your USP (and use it!)
The final step is to make sure that you can defend your USP. You can be sure that as soon as you start to promote a USP, your competitors will do what they can to neutralise it. For example, if you’ve got the best website, they’ll bring in a better web designer. Or if you’ve got a great new feature in your product, you’ll see it in theirs next year.
If you’ve established a USP, it makes sense to invest to defend it – that way, competitors will struggle to keep up: by the time they’ve improved, you’ve already moved on to the next stage.
And once you’ve established a USP, make sure that the market knows about it!
Growing your revenue
Now you know what your message to your audience is, let’s consider the only 4 ways to grow your revenue.
These are: Leads, Conversion rate, Frequency of purchase and Average sale value.
Number of leads x Conversation rate = Number of customers
Number of customers x Frequency of purchase x Average sale value = Revenue
At ActionCOACH we have hundreds of strategies to help you to grow each of these areas of your business, let’s focus on some of the most used ones for each of these areas.
Lead Generation
- Always have at least 5 marketing strategies that you can employ. Not all of them will generate leads for you all of the time, so you need to have at least 5 running in order to have a consistent flow of leads into your business. Once you have identified the 5 strategies the secret to the success of any marketing strategy is consistency. You have to keep doing it!
- Review your online presence – Optimise your website for sales instead of clicks by determining which search terms and website design aspects are actually bringing in sales. Consider how you can optimise your site or rewrite your online copy to maximise those attributes.
- Have a clear call to action (CTA) – Ensure there’s always a clear call to action (CTA) on every touch point with your consumers. Are you networking? Leave your business card with a link to schedule a call. Are you passing out brand pamphlets? Include a reason and call to action to visit your website. Put your URL on all of your social media channels and business listings. This is very simple but very much overlooked.
- Try using LinkedIn Sales Navigator – LinkedIn Sales Navigator is simple, allowing you to find anyone in any country, in any position and in any size company. It will also enable you to find people who are active and who want you to contact them. Then, use SmartLinks and Who Viewed My Profile to engage with people who show signs of interest in you and your services.
5. Set up a referral strategy – An easy way to get new customers is by asking your existing customers for referrals. It can help fuel your business growth. However, simply having a good product and service is not enough to get referrals from your customers. You’ll have to actively ask for referrals and possibly even offer incentives to your customers to provide them. Remember, only a few customers will come back with referrals if you don’t actively push for them.
6. Create a database – One of the best ways to connect with people and increase your reach is by building a database. Regular communication helps to keep you top of mind. But remember, every piece of communication should answer the recipients’ question; What’s In It For Me? Your communication should inform and educate them so that they are rewarded for the time they have spent reading it. News about new products, special offers, developments in the sector etc.
7. Use social media – this is one of the fastest growing sources of leads. You need to decide which media you are going to use and how often you are going to post, ideally at least twice a week. Every post needs a memorable or eye-catching image and when writing the content to accompany it remember, to answer the readers’ question; What’s In It For Me?
8. Expand your geographic reach – You might expand physically by opening a new location. You can also expand the geographic range of your customers by increasing the distance you can deliver or provide services or by marketing your business in neighbouring areas.
Conversion Rate
- Use testimonials and reviews – The proliferation of online reviews in recent years means that few people will buy without checking reviews for the product or company. You must collect reviews and testimonials and make these very easy to find; on your website, in your tenders/ quotes, on your marketing material. A positive review is the next best thing to a personal referral. Make sure you have a system for asking for reviews from every customer.
- Turn your quotes/ tenders into sales tools. – Create a smart template for your quotes/ tenders with images and testimonials from clients. Include your company values and remind them why you offer such good value.
Join the NoLimits Business Community
Are you a business owner looking to take your business to the next level? Join our innovative community of like-minded professionals and gain access to a wealth of valuable resources, including a community portal to chat with other business owners, ebooks, business development software, and growth events that will transform the way you do business. Best of all, these resources are completely free and will be available to you forever.
But the benefits of joining our NoLimits business community don’t stop there. By becoming part of our community, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with other business owners, share insights and ideas, and build valuable relationships that will help your business thrive. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to supercharge your business and join us today!
Number of Purchases
- Add Products or Services – One way to increase the number of sales per current customer is to offer more products that your customer needs. You can consider adjacent products that a customer would buy to use with your product or service your customers might need. For example, if you have a speciality pen company, you might offer notebooks and stationery too.
- Target existing customers – Cultivate the relationships you have with dedicated brand customers. Increasing communication can remind your customers of your store and control the message that they receive. Consider reaching out by email or text to promote sales or inform them of new inventory. Many email systems also allow you to review metrics, like the number of recipients who opened your email or clicked on a link, which can help you determine how effective your communication choices are.
3. Target lapsed customers – Bringing back former customers sometimes takes less effort than bringing in new customers. Maintain a marketing plan for former customers so you can target them differently than your current customers. You can appeal to them with specific incentives, like a discount for those who bring in outdated items when they buy a replacement or upgrade. Former customers can also give you referrals or reviews that bring in new customers.
4. Review your delivery charges – Some customers may be willing to pay more for a product if the shipping and handling is free. For online sales, you might consider ways to build shipping and handling costs into the overall cost of the item instead of including two line items in the price. If you deliver products locally, you may be able to try the same method.
5. Create targeted incentives – If you have regular communication with your customers, you can use any occasion to build loyalty by offering holiday sales, birthday rewards and coupons for repeat purchases
Average Sale value
- Bundle products and services – Bundling products can encourage your customers to purchase more because they can save money by purchasing more than one item at once. You can bundle internally by packaging items together and marketing them as a set, or you could offer a discount when customers buy multiple items together.
- Up-sell products or services – Adding a specific plan to sell higher-priced products can help you transform a single sale into a more valuable transaction. Displays and informational materials can help with this by showing a more expensive or upgraded option first and emphasising its benefits over less-expensive options.
- Review your prices – To increase revenue while maintaining the same number of sales, review your prices. You may sell more items by lowering your prices and taking market share away from your competitors, or you could raise your prices if your brand is strong and customers believe in the value you offer. If you offer a subscription service, you might offer a pricing structure with just a few tiers to appeal to customers through a simpler shopping experience.
4. Review your sales incentives – Changing your incentive structure for your salespeople can increase sales numbers by making your sales team more motivated. Finding new metrics or rewarding different kinds of sales numbers can inspire your sales team by giving them a new challenge. You might consider inverting your commission plan to give higher incentives to a certain group or offering bonuses for achieving goals within a certain amount of time.
I hope this has given you ideas for how to drive revenue growth that you can implement in your own business. If you need more help and advice on driving revenue and profit growth, why not take a look at our NoLimits Community – become a member at any level and join our community.
Join the NoLimits Business Community
Are you a business owner looking to take your business to the next level? Join our innovative community of like-minded professionals and gain access to a wealth of valuable resources, including a community portal to chat with other business owners, ebooks, business development software, and growth events that will transform the way you do business. Best of all, these resources are completely free and will be available to you forever.
But the benefits of joining our NoLimits business community don’t stop there. By becoming part of our community, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with other business owners, share insights and ideas, and build valuable relationships that will help your business thrive. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to supercharge your business and join us today!
By Justin Charlton-Jones