What does it truly take to grow your small business significantly, and ensure you have an £8k a month income; which on an ongoing basis would be tracking a 6-figure business?
Here are 9 ways ways to support your growth journey to £8k a month…
1. The Direction of Your Small Business
Know where you are heading and ensure you have a milestone plan in order to get there. Think short, medium and long term. You should also have sales goals mapped to that plan, so you can clearly see you path to £8k a month.
2. Collaboration
Collaboration comes in many forms:
a) Those that are on the same path as you that you can collaborate with to serve your customers
b) Those that can help you with areas that you do not have expertise in, e.g. marketing, accounts, sales and so on.
c) Those people that can help to free up your time, e.g. VAs/Staff
Collaboration is very powerful, so do not be afraid to look for opportunities.If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together!
3. Niche Customers
We use the terminology STAR Customers:
- Superior: the right fit for your business – an A grade customer.
- Targeted: You know all about them, so can target them with the right content.
- Acquirable: You know where to go to get them
- Results-Focused: They know you’re worth, and will pay you accordingly.
When you are growing a business to £8k a month/6-figures per year, you need to have razor sharp focus on who you are selling to.
“Selling to everyone is like selling to no one at all.”
Whilst it can feel scary to focus on one or two STAR customers (ideal customers) it is by far the best way to scale when you are trying to reach that all important £8k a month mark. Simply put, if you spread yourself too thinly, trying to get noticed by everyone, you will simply not resonate, not create marketing that works, and you won’t get the traction you hope for.
4. Marketing Messages
You can have the best product in the whole world, and you can put it in all the right places, but if you fail to connect with your marketing messages, then you will fail to get the results you want. Here’s a few pointers
- People care about their “IDEAL FUTURE” – so you need to show them how you help them to get there, either moving towards pleasure or moving away from pain.
- The emotional side of the brain is responsible for decision making! WOW! Make sure you inject your messages with that all-important emotion, that allows them to see how your product or service connects with their emotional needs, and not just their rational needs. That’s when they’ll make the buying decision.
5. Proposition/Your Offer
When your potential customers are looking at what you sell, it’s not always appropriate to just think about the END GAME of what your ideal customer wants to achieve. Think about their next step. If they are a 4 out of 10, then don’t try to get them to a 10/10; help them take a step forward and become a 6/10 first!
That might mean that instead of offering your FULL product or service, you allow them to first taste what it is you have to offer. For example, if you sell online programmes, you may first want to invite them to a low-cost training session (around £20) so the value you offer starts to build in their mind, along with the feeling of having a positive relationship with you. Think about exposing yourself to them gradually, so the purchasing decision is not overwhelming.
Remember this: if they buy from you once (low cost) they are 5 times more likely to buy something else you have for them!
6. A Winning Business Owner Mindset
Be content with your journey, the process you go through, and who you are becoming. Run your own race, and don’t look on at others wishing you could have what they have. If you are happy with your direction, and your ego is content, then you are more likely to have the success you deserve. As our guest in Clubhouse, Aaron said, “rest, recover, reflect”.
7. Consider your pace of growth
If your business doubled overnight, would you have the working capital, staff, processes etc to deal with it? Steady growth allows you to take your whole business on the journey with you, and ensure that your customer experience still stacks up, your finances are controlled, and you have the right people in the right jobs. This was a great point made from one of our Clubhouse guests today.
8. Build Relationships
If you focus on building great relationship with partners, customers, staff, suppliers and any other party you come into contact with, that will stand you in good stead. Be your authentic self in all of these partnerships.
9. PR/Media
Thank you to our guest, Queen, who highlighted the power of PR, and leveraging the media. You don’t just need to think about local media either.
Top tip: Get a media page and media kit on your website.
WANT TO SCALE YOUR BUSINESS?
FIND OUT ABOUT COLD TO CLIENT – Our Online Programme helping business owners to turn cold individuals into paying customers by learning the marketing tools, techniques and formulas that get results.
