Rapid Business Growth’s Blog

A lot of people complain that business is either a feast or a famine.  They are either selling lots or nothing. Yes you can blame external factors, if you want: blame the seasons, the competition or the government.  When I’m invited to look at businesses with that problem I invariably find that there is no Sales Funnel in use.    

Let’s be clear here, a “sales funnel in use” is not the same as “having a sales funnel”.  By “Sales Funnel” I mean a system that tracks prospects from first contact onwards through the  sales cycle.  It does not have to cost millions or involve complex software.  What it must have is be easy to use and comprehend as well as be appropriate to that business.  There are lots of cowboys out there who will sell you over specified rubbish when a pen and ledger will do just as well. 

If you don’t have a sales funnel you can decide on the building blocks over the weekend.  First break down your sales flow into components.  First contact, free samples, site visit, rfp/rfq, Tender, negotiations, contract signing  these are all elements that may be involved.  Grab a pen and sketch out your idea sales flow.  Then add your most common deviations and you have probably covered 90%+ of your sales.  Now jot down all the prospects that you have closed over the past period, from memory try to run these guys through your new sales model.  Did they move smoothly?  Are some sections too long and need to be broken down?  Are some sections too short and could be merged?  Hint: Normally 5 or 6 phases in a sales flow is about right.  Add a few durations, how long does each phase last.

Now as yourself the really obvious question, how do you know when a prospect moves from one phase to the next?  It could be they say “could you customise one for me?”  or money could change hands you will know.  At this stage you can label the end point of each phase with a fairly clear statement that marks it successful conclusion. 

Now you take all your existing prospects and position them across these different sales phases.  Because this is your first time doing this lots of your prospects will be long timers who are stuck for whatever reason.  Don’t worry about those right now.  Just sit back and feel proud, you have a solid list of prospects that you can market too.  Plus having look at this for a few hours you should now know the prospects are getting stuck in the sales cycle.  (ask about your sales barrier demolition workshop)

Congratulations you have now developed a sales funnel (or model) and lots of consultants will charge you 6 figure sums for doing this work alone!!!!

Now that you have this list of prospects at different phases you can see where the peaks and troughs are.  One you can see them coming you are in a position to do something about them, and that is called Sales Management.   

If you need to figure out how to get prospects into your sales funnel or how to move them along, please give me a call. I’m very happy to discuss how we could help you further.

Best wishes
Mike Spratt
www.rapidbusinessgrowth.ie
Phone: +353 1 491 3328

In this time of economic uncertainty in Dublin, many business will go under.  That is regrettable but an essential part of the capitalist system.  Capital and other resources need to be recycled into newer and more viable ventures.  So much for the big sanctimonious picture, you are probably thinking how do I keep my business from being yet another statistic?

The answer is to innovate!  Pure and simple.  People are still buying products and services and if you can make your offer standout you will get business.  You can innovate on quality or cost or a host of other factors to appeal to any specific target market.  Just follow these 4 steps:

1              Study your target market, their behaviours, attitudes, like dislikes etc ask questions!

2              Decide how you can match one or more of their wants or needs

3              Test Market it to them

4              Return to step 1 and REFINE

You need to constantly refine your offering because customers now have the whip hand.  They aren’t begging for your product or service anymore!  You need to convince them to buy your offering from a host of “me to” offerings.

For help and assistance with this or for any of your marketing needs, please give me a call. I’m very happy to discuss how we could help you further.
Best wishes
Mike Spratt

www.rapidbusinessgrowth.ie
+353 1 491 3328

Have you ever wondered what amount you should set aside for marketing each year to grow your business?

How do you know what the optimum amount is? As an Marketing specialist, I’m often asked this question by startup and small business owners.

So what’s the answer? Whilst many business owners are looking for an answer such as €5000 or 10% of sales, I think this completely misses the point.

I believe the answer is…

You should not put a limit on your marketing budget

Let me explain. Whenever you undertake any marketing activity, you need to know whether you make a profit or not on that activity. The only way to do that is to measure the results of the marketing.

To do this you need to undertake direct response marketing as opposed to purely brand marketing. For small business especially it is crucial to ensure money spent on marketing is not wasted. The best way to do this is to record the results of any marketing activity, whether that be direct sales letters, advertising, telemarketing, email marketing, pay per click campaigns, seminars or whatever.

As a minimum, you need to know…

•             The cost of the marketing activity

•             The sales generated from that marketing activity

•             The profit made from those sales

And if you make more from the marketing than it costs you, it makes sense to continue spending on that marketing activity until it stops making you a profit. You’ll of course know when this is because you are measuring your results.

By testing on a small scale to start with, you’ll never lose too much money if it doesn’t work, but when it does work, if you gradually increase your spend on this particular activity, you should continue to do so until it no longer makes you a profit. It doesn’t matter how much you spend, as long as you make a profit, it makes sense to continue to invest in the marketing.

And don’t stop at just one marketing activity. Test another marketing activity and if that makes a profit continue with that in the same way. Eventually, the aim is to have multiple marketing activities. This is the key to exponential business growth. Not being reliant on one activity, means you continue to grow even when one stops working.

For help and assistance with this or for any of your marketing needs, please give me a call. I’m very happy to discuss with you how we could help you further.without charge!
Best wishes

Mike Spratt

www.rapidbusinessgrowth.ie
+353 1 491 3328