Dont Just Build Business Credit, Create A Relationship With Your Customers

Your customer should be looked at as stock in your company. The customer is the reason your business is a success. If you treat each customer as simply a transaction, then it may be just that. You should treat your customers as individuals, finding out what they want and need, keep track of their buying habits and market to them directly.

I am not saying to create an individual campaign for each customer, but if you can categorize them in groups then each group should be sent a more personalized email campaign.

You can establish a relationship with you customer by keeping in touch with them. Always thank the customer for any previous purchase and encourage future purchases that you feel will benefit them. If you spend a little time researching the marketing skills for customer relations you will benefit from higher profits.

If a customer in the past has purchased two remote control cars and one remote control airplane within the last year, then a smart marketing plan would be to suggest a remote control boat. You could send special savings for batteries give offers of newer and improved remotes and let them know I hope you are still enjoying the vehicles you have purchased and I wanted to let you know about special savings our company is offering I your are of interest.

People like to feel as if you are speaking directly to them and not to the masses. If they feel as individuals in your eyes then in their eyes you will be looked at as an individual as well. People still like to do business with people they know and trust giving the feel of a mom and pop shop and acting accordingly will create a good return for your business.

It is much more economically sound to keep the customers you already have than it is to generate new ones. If you can spend some time planning marketing campaigns to the previous customer you will encourage them to become loyal and frequent buyers.

Always try to obtain email information or mailing information when a customer makes a purchase. Keep track of what they have bought and send out special savings as a way to say thanks to them soon after their purchase. Do not overload your customers will useless information, a savings every other day, or mass email campaigns.

Keep the specials to a minimum so they feel as though they are genuine, create individual and personal campaigns that will be of interest to them and make them feel as if you are speaking to only them, not the 20 or 50 other clients that are sent the same email.

Your company’s success relies heavily on what customers think of you and your products or services make them feel important and become the expert or go to company when they have a question or they hear about something new. Let the customer know that if they are looking for something, you will find it for them, there is no need to go elsewhere. Establish trust and create a strong relationship that will last for years to come.

Dont Make the mistake of just working with us to establish corporate credit, lets us help you actually grow your business!

Business Websites

If you have decided to expand your advertisement, a website is the easiest, cheapest, and most reliable source of advertisement for any business. A website is an easy way to get your first foot in the door to social networking or SMO Social media Optimization.  Networking is a great way to connect with customers, introduce you to a new audience, and find similar minded organizations to pull resources with.

Before building the website, you need to give detail to the design aspect of the site. You want it to reflect you and your business, while reaching out and appealing to a larger audience. You have to decide what the site will be used for, if you will be selling products or services, you will need to have an easy checkout added to the site with the ability to handle business credit card sales.

You have laid the groundwork for your website, decided its uses and are now ready to turn your creativity into a reality, now you have to decide how it will be built. If you have an administrator familiar with HTML or you yourself are experienced in web design you may want to handle this job on your own. If you decide to take on this task, know there are several great programs available at a very small cost to help you along the way. Dreamweaver, Microsoft Expression, and x-site pro are to name but a few, and some will allow you to create your page with little experience, although adding any special features such as java or any scripting may require some expertise. For most, the easiest solution is to hire someone to design the page for you, if your experience is limited or non existent in this area, a professional will save you time and money in the long run.

There are several options available to you if deciding to hire a web designer, a freelance designer for example may be found easily and be more affordable than a large firm. If you feel more comfortable dealing with an established web design company rather than an individual working independently, there are smaller firms that will offer their services at a similar rate; they will also offer the guarantee that there will always be a designer available for any problems that could arise with the site structure. Most offer upfront pricing for basic templates, adding more graphics, text content, or scripts will vary in cost according to your needs.

Keeping a website simple and clean makes it easier on the eye of the visitor; you want them to view the site in its entirety, without being distracted by flashing animations or large off center images.

Someone has to manage the site, and it can be a tedious chore. Updates have to be made to the site frequently to keep fresh with the search engines, links have to be checked and repaired when broken, not to mention the flow of emails the site will generate, each have to be responded to in a timely manner to ensure confidence in you and your business to the sender.

Your business in order to succeed needs a strategy for success not just business credit. You can not start your business and run it on hope, you need some hard work and plenty of time to plan and strategize a market plan for success.

You may feel that the products or services you are offering are what people need and want, but they may not feel the same way. You have to coordinate a plan of action for letting the customers know about your products and services and make them understand why they need them.

There are number of proven strategies that have worked in the past for other companies that you can utilize in your own business. Advertising is the most effective way to get your business attention and there are many ways you can use this tool.

•    Classified Ads
•    Create a Company Website
•    Email Marketing Campaigns
•    Print Ads
•    Fundraisers
•    Special Events
•    Corporate credit

The ideas for advertisement are limitless and they can be very affordable if done correctly. You do not have to spend a fortune in advertisements; you can successfully get your business the attention it needs by utilizing some strategy in your advertisement plan.

If your company is small, then you advertise small, as your company grows, your advertising can as well.

Another strategy that companies have used in the past successfully is customer relations. If you build a relationship with your customers and keep them coming back, your needs for advertising will diminish a bit. It is much more economical to keep the customers you have than it is to try to obtain new ones.

You should have all your customers give you their email information at the time of their purchase, this will enable you to target them in email marketing campaigns and also allow you to send out specials and company news without the failure of cold calling. These are people who know you, trust you, and will come back to make future purchases if they are given the chance.

The last and most important tactic that companies have used in the past for creating a higher success rate and increase their profit margins is to up sell other products. If you can get more from each sell, then your profits will skyrocket.

There is always something you can suggest at the time of purchase, you have to determine what items can be interlinked and what accessories will go with each item. The time you spend in this field can really increase your revenue. If you are selling digital camera, then you could suggest:

•    Extra Battery Packs
•    Photo Printers
•    Photo Printer Paper
•    Carrying Cases
•    Extra Cords for More Function
•    Photo Software
•    Tri Pods

The point to this is that you offer a convenience to your customer, offer something they may have overlooked and in the end make more profit due to the increased purchase dollar amount.

Using these tactics and strategies will increase your company’s profits and allow you to enjoy a more successful business.

World-class marketing is founded on one main principle – clearly identifying the people/organisations that you are trying to reach.

This sounds a very obvious statement to make, yet 99% of all businesses fail to do this – or fail to do this effectively.

Before you write one single word for your client, you must define their ‘target market(s)’ or ‘niche(s)’.

This is the clearly identified group(s) of people / organisations who…
-Need and more accurately ‘want’ your client’s products or services
-Can afford to pay for your client’s products or services
-Can be easily reached by your marketing efforts
-Need corporate credit for example...(business credit)

One of the biggest mistakes your client can make is to try and be ‘all things to all men’. Yes, you can be successful using this approach, but by focusing on one or more ‘niches’ your client’s success will be greater and achieved much quicker than the more ‘conventional approach’.

So why do so many people try to be all things to all men? In most cases it’s because we’re frightened to ‘limit’ the number of people we specifically target. We think if we reduce the number of prospects, we’ll risk our whole livelihood…Nothing could be further from the truth. Let me explain…

A common question I’m often asked is this – “If I limit my market won’t I be reducing the chances of doing business with more people?”
Of course you will, but to succeed in today’s competitive market place you need to concentrate your client’s marketing on a small number of well-chosen segments or niches, into which you pour all your resources.

Because you are targeting fewer companies, the same amount of money you could have spent marketing to everyone is spread across a smaller number. Therefore you have more to spend on each prospect than you would if your market was bigger. This alone makes your client more successful.

In a nutshell, your client’s niche market is the segment(s) that represents their best chance of getting a good return for their marketing efforts.
Of course, if you focus on a smaller group(s) you may not get the business of other people or businesses outside the target group.  However, what actually happens is you increase the amount of business your client receives from the target group.

 This is because they are specifically meeting the niche market’s needs and requirements. Your client is saying to them that they are THE company that knows about their situation – their problems – and their concerns. No other company specifically meets their needs in this way, and therefore your client is seen as the logical company to turn to.

Let’s take a look at the first principle of growing a business… Increase The Number Of Customers.

7
 Ways To Increase The
 Number Of Customers
 Your Business Has.

Ask nearly any business owner what they would like to have more of and most likely you’ll get an answer somewhere along the lines of, “more customers.”

There’s no denying that customers are very important to any business. Without an adequate number of people purchasing the goods and services sold by a business, there wouldn’t be any need for the business, and they would soon be out of business.

But getting customers begins with having someone to tell a sales story to – a prospect – a lead – and then converting those leads into buying and profitable customers and then keeping them from leaving and buying from the competition. Here are some ideas you can use:

1.    Get More Leads.
That is find ways to get in front of more prospects to tell your sales story to. There are a number of lead generation devices that can do this very effectively, from direct mail or telemarketing campaigns, to paid advertising or free publicity, to joint ventures and host-beneficiary relationships, just to name a few.

2.    Increase Your Conversion Ratio.
This is the converting of interested prospects into paying customers. You do this by getting better at what you do. You develop your sales skills, your word tracks and your scripts. And you can even upgrade or attract a better quality of prospects who would be more likely to buy from you.

3.    Reduce Customer Defections.
That is, close the back door – don’t let existing customers slip away to do business with the competition. Statistically, for every five percent increase in customer retention, a business can generate a 30 to 40 percent increase in profitability over a 12 to 16 month period. Since most businesses lose around 19 percent of their customers each year, only 81 percent are left. But if that number were to increase to 86 percent your business would enjoy a 30 to 40 percent increase in profitability.

Remember that it costs six to eight times more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one, and it’s 16 times easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one. So when you compare the acquisition costs for getting new customers to like you, know you, trust you, and buy from you the first time, versus getting your existing customers to repurchase from you, the cost-to-sale difference is significantly different.

4.    Increase The Number Of Referrals.
Getting new customers through referrals is one of the most cost effective methods there is for growing a business. Referrals from good customers are much easier to sell to because they’re already somewhat “pre-sold.” With conventional advertising it takes a certain amount of valuable time to create credibility and trustworthiness in the minds of prospects. But when a prospect comes as a result of a referral, that credibility and trustworthiness has already been established by the one who referred them.

5.    Establish Referral Reward Programs.
Make it worthwhile for your customers who take the time and make the effort to tell others about the benefits of doing business with you can do a lot to bolster the number of referrals you get.

Simple things like movie passes, restaurant gift certificates, car washes, manicures, or samples of some of the additional products or services you provide make good choices. The reward for a referral should be perceived as high value to your customer, but low cost to you.

6.    Reactivate Former Customers.
Every company, including yours, has former customers – those who used to do business with them but for one reason or another have stopped and are now doing business with a competitor, or maybe not even using your products or services any longer.

It’s often much easier and less expensive to sell something to someone who has done business with you in the past – someone who has already experienced the service, quality, convenience, terms, and relationship you have to offer, than it is to create a completely new customer and build that trust and credibility from ground zero.

7.    Establish Joint Venture Arrangements.
Work together in mutually beneficial arrangements with  your centers of influence.  Find people or companies who have already spent considerable time, effort and money establishing and building relationships with customers who are of the same buying profile as the customers you are targeting. Then work out reciprocal arrangements with those business to refer, endorse or suggest that their customers consider certain products or services offered by your company.


The second principle for growing a business credit, is to Generate More Income From Your Existing Customers.

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a business that consistently and predictably realizes extraordinary growth and another business that struggles just to make ends meet?

Or why a business that was started in a garage or basement of a home and run by the seat of its pants, can out perform in sales and profits, some of the best run companies?

Or take two businesses that operate in the same marketing arena. They both sell the exact same products or the same services for the exact same prices. Why can one business continually grow and prosper, while the business owner spends a good portion of his or her time away from the business on trips and vacations with their family, and the other owner spends an inordinate amount of time working harder and longer hours just trying to pay the bills and never taking any time off?

In the pages that follow, you’re going to learn a handful of practical ideas that have worked for some of the world’s largest and most prestigious businesses, and that will work for you in your business, as well. Ideas and strategies that you can begin to use immediately to quickly and easily take your business to the next level and begin adding profits to your business’ bottom line.

There’s no reason you can’t improve your business or increase your profits as long as you adhere to four fundamental principles

•    First, you must have a product or service that is beneficial to those who buy it.

•    Second, your product or service must be wanted or needed by the end user.

•    Third, you must effectively make your prospects aware of the availability of your product or service.

•    And fourth, you must make your prospects an offer that is enticing, compelling and in their best interest to purchase your product or service.

The first two areas – having a beneficial product or service that your prospects want or need, are areas that you’re going to have in place, or are going to have to develop.

The third and fourth principles – letting your prospects know about what you have to offer and then compelling them to buy from you, is where the following ideas can be of enormous assistance to you.

So grab something to write with, get ready to make some notes in the margins of these pages, and let’s dig in.

When you get right down to it, there are really five basic ways any company, any association, or any organization can increase its business.

•    First, a business can increase the number of new customers they have.

•    Second, they can generate more income from their existing customers.

•    Third, they can increase the efficiency of their operation, cut their expenses and improve their margins.

•    Fourth, they can determine and then ethically exploit the Lifetime Value of their customers.

•    And finally, they can create a clear, compelling and irresistible reason for their prospects and customers to do business with them, and not their competitors.

Each one of these categories on its own has enormous potential to dramatically affect the bottom line profits of your organization, but if you combine two or more of them, they can have a synergistic effect, and the results will be exponential.

(I will be posting the 19 secrets over the next 7 days, stay tuned. Each of these secrets, combined with business credit will easily increase your current business!)

This is the first official CCC blog post!

We have already dedicated so much to educating small business owners on how to build their business credit, we thought we would post some general business strategies such as marketing, sales conversions, increase sales transactions, etc.

Stand by for some great weekly posts starting Monday December 8, 2008!

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