Empires aren’t built overnight—and neither are businesses. Every successful entrepreneur has had to grow their company from the ground up with blood, sweat, and tears in order to see their vision through. You can, too, by following these tips for expansion after launching your startup off the ground.
- Optimize the Sales Pipeline
You’ve laid the groundwork, secured the funding, and signed all of the documents. Finally, you can call yourself a proud business owner! Hopefully, customers will soon begin pouring in as planned, but if you’re not seeing the type of revenue you hoped for right off the bat, it might be time to refer to your business plan and see how you might be able to optimize the sales pipeline for brighter months ahead.
So, what’s the secret? Here are a few of the top suggestion to increase sales at your small business:
- Ask for referrals – Trust is one of the most important factors driving consumers’ purchasing decisions, and as a new company, fresh out of the gates, it may be difficult to point to a past track record of success that proves your legitimacy. Asking for referrals from family and friends could help bolster your sales by word of mouth.
- Research your top customers – You might consider analyzing your target demographic so that you can market to your audience more effectively.
- Automate prospecting – As a small business owner, you should always be prospecting for new leads, but the time and effort to put in the work can be rather exhausting. Setting up automatic prospecting tools as simple as an online plugin that allows people to schedule an appointment without picking up the phone can make a huge difference.
If you’re feeling stressed about an empty sales pipeline looming in the months ahead, do your best to keep your head on straight. Wind down with relaxing Teavana tea or vegan CBD gummies by CBDfx to balance your mind and tap into your inner creativity.
- Bolster Your Online Presence
Another effective way to grow your business is to boost your online visibility through digital marketing. There are many different channels you can use to gain more traffic to your website: search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertisements, email campaigns, the list goes on and on. You could hire an influencer on social media to put your brand in the spotlight, but something as small as claiming your local business listing can drive big results.
- Prioritize Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Once you get a steady stream of leads coming in, it’s essential that you nurture them carefully—and investing in a CRM platform is one of the best ways to do so. This technology allows you to keep track of your interactions so you can follow up in a timely manner without having to remember each instance on a case by case basis.
A good CRM can automatically send emails at predetermined dates, such as a happy birthday message with a discount code. This enables you to push leads down the sales funnel to earn the conversion, and once they convert into a customer, you’ll be able to effortlessly stay in touch with them so you stay at the top of mind and retain their business.
- Hire a Team of Employees
At this stage in your company’s growth, it might be time to hire a team of employees who can help you take on the increased demand. It might be tempting to keep labor costs low and profit margins high, but if you’re too short-staffed to deliver a satisfactory experience, you’ll end up losing customers and hurt yourself more in the long run.
Remember, if you’re not ready to hire full-time, salaried employees, you can always opt for part-time workers or a seasonal crew for peak business.
- Scale at a Sustainable Rate
The most important tip for growing your business is to avoid biting off more than you can chew. It’s important to be realistic as you scale and break into new markets, otherwise you risk letting details fall through the cracks, causing the company you’ve built to unravel.
Keep these suggestions in mind as you reach for greater levels of success and you’ll certainly note the improvement to your bottom line.