9 (more) Words for small business profit

300% increase in signups?

 

9 words for small business profit

Last week we wrote about the 9 words you need for profit using Lakeland as a model for anyone selling from a physical shop. But what if you sell from an online store, and have no physical shop presence? Well there is an online equivalent and we are ready to divulge all.  

Maestro of affiliate selling

Head on over to some of the more social media savvy sites – like Michael Dunlop’s Retire at 21 site  or his Popup Domination site. Now click to buy one of his products but before you spend your hard earned cash, just hit your browser back button or try to close the window. What happens next is a little bit of magic.  

You see a window pop up, encouraging you to buy, and to buy NOW and Dunlop’s not being unreasonable. You were interested in the product or else why did you visit the page, and he is offering you a discount. Some have called this a cheesy approach, and we admit it is not quite a slick as Lakeland manage, but this is the closest equivalent we have found to those classic words used to get us to buy more when we are in a physical shop and according to Dunlop he has increased signups by 300% since adding pop-ups like this.  

My advice would certainly to be to do this with care. Have you tried this on your site? Have you seen an increase in traffic? Let us now by commenting below.

9 words that make small business sales rocket

9 Words for profit

A company that comes top in customer service review after review is Lakeland. They are a kitchenware company who frankly take customer service to another dimension. We will be publishing more on their legendary quality of service, so you can use their tips, but for now I’ll leave you with those 9 important words that Lakeland use to drive sales. The great news is they are not copyright, not trademarked, you can use them yourself.
After shopping in one of their stores, (the Cambridge shop is on Sidney Street) when you get to the checkout the assistant will utter these vital 9 words: 

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?”

Yes I know it is mind-numbingly simple, so why aren’t you doing it? I can’t count the times I’ve gone to Lakeland, bought a bunch of stuff and got to the counter without the thing I came in for. This is hackneyed consumer practice, but Lakeland have turned it into science by asking it of every single customer, every single time. Barely a visit goes by without me replying: “Oh no you are right, I was looking for ….” and within seconds my desire is in my hands and I’m handing over my cash. 

For those of you working online (without physical shops) we’ll be publishing the online equivalent in the next few days. Look out for it and let us know of any other amazingly-simple-but-effective sales boosting tips in a comment below. 

PS I see this is catching on. While writing this a colleague told me that they have started to ask the same question in WH Smith on Market Street. If you start to use this in your shop, let us know how it affects sales.

More business for (nearly) no effort – tasty?

Tastier profits

What could be tastier than getting more business for doing almost nothing? OK to be fair it is going to involve you in about an hour’s one-off set up, and then maybe a minute each day, but for more sales that seems worth it, right?

As I walked through Cambridge yesterday I stumbled – almost literally, it was busy – across this.  I walked past almost without noticing the shop front. I certainly had no intention of buying from them, then I saw it and it made me stop, go back and buy. It is in the right place, at exactly the right time and it is cute and made me smile. Their timely prompt instigated my impulse buy, making me happy (it was delicious) and making the business owners richer (from extra sales).

Permanently free promotion – tasty!

If you have a physical presence (a shop, office, or other buildings) that the public passes then you need your equivalent. So if you want to grow your Cambridge business get out there with one (or better still two) of these. By mentioning “Do the Right Thing” you will get a 10% discount off any A-frame sign with an excellent local Cambridge firm Algar Signcraft

For those of you looking for the virtual/techie equivalent of this, take a look at our recent post “More local customers while you sleep“. And if you get more business from taking this business advice, come and let us know by posting a comment.

Do the Right Thing helps local business grow see how

Small business grants – show me the money

 

Actually it is more show me the viability of your business idea. The East of England Development Agency today launched their final round of Proof of Market grants. You can use the grant (up to £20,000) to evaluate products, processes or services. Head over to their website for details.

Here’s what they say it is all about.

“The Proof of Market grant is part of the Grant for Research and Development (GRaD) programme and is designed to help entrepreneurs and businesses undertake market assessment and test the commercial viability of their innovative business ideas for new technology development. Innovative business ideas may be products, processes or services, but must have been developed through scientific or technical research to a degree that the idea’s market potential can be properly assessed.”

Cambridge businesses on the up

UK economic growth climbs by 1.1% and Cambridge, with the tourist appeal of one of the world’s greatest universities (not to mention beautiful scenery, thriving culture and easy access to London), could also benefit from a 60% growth in tourism by 2020. A new report from Deloitte says that tourism directly contributes £52 billion per year (4% of GDP) and £63 billion in indirect contributions.

New communications technology needed

But, claim Visit Britain who commissioned the report, say we need government intervention to help Cambridge’s small and medium-sized businesses cut their running costs particularly though using new technology. If by that they mean things like Twitter, Facebook and blogging for communications, e-commerce for handling sales and other cool tech stuff, some newer Cambridge companies are way ahead of the game. Here is one example of how a Cambridge business helps local businesses bat on a par with the big boys.

Business grants and business support

If the government really want to support Cambridge entrepreneurs with ideas for starting small businesses, then business grants and small business advice may be more profitable than exhortations to work smarter.

Do the Right Thing turns business advice into profit. For no-nonsense, no-jargon business advice you can turn into real value Do the Right Thing and book a free business advice session here

Cambridge University key to small business growth

 

Blog writing sorted

There are clearly 3 distinct aspects to getting blogging right

Blog content

The first is your blog content. If your blog content is rubbish who would bother to read it even if it is beautifully written. So write with style. This is so important I’ve drawn your attention by putting it in itialics and bold.

Search Engine Optimisation

The second is technical aspects. If people can’t find or access your blog easily, how will they know about your great content? The same applies to search engines, they may not have soul but they do have power to drive traffic to your site.

Great blog writing

Third is the appeal of your blog. If is not both visually appealling and beautifully crafted, again there’s plent of reason for a reader to move on and not come back.

As you can imagine we have suggestions to improve all three. Today start with some of the tech stuff and here’s a great guide to get you started.

More local customers while you sleep

Google Places

If you don’t yet have a listing on Google Places, you are missing out on permanent promotion for your business – frankly while you sleep. Don’t you want potential customers to find you?

4 Minute set up

Set it up in 4 minutes, and your customers will be able to find you for your business name or business category (florist, baker, business management consultant “ahem.”)       

Get it while you can

There are rumours afoot that Google plans to change the way it lists (and you can bet charges for) local business information so get in now while the going is free. If you work from home and don’t want to list your actual address, a street name is fine. You can even generate free online coupons (offer a discount, promote a sale, etc.).

It is cool, it is free, it works when you don’t. What’s not to like?      

More good stuff

Do the Right Thing turns business advice into profit. Do the Right Thing and call 01223 851 161 or email grow@rightthings.co.uk for a free business advice session. Find out more HERE
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Interview me!

Something to say?

We know that the best people to advise growing businesses are people who are growing their own. Is there something special about the way you run your business? Our readers would love to hear about it.

The process is simple. We agree a time, call you up and run an “in 7 questions or less” Do The Right Thing phone interview. You get the chance to describe your business and the use you make of online stuff (like Twitter, Facebook, blogging and e-commerce) and to share your views on what issues you think growing businesses face.

When we publish we include a short biog about you and your company as well as links to your web and other online stuff, and we ask that you link back to our posting so your clients and staff can see the coverage you are getting for your company. Ideally we also publish some or all of the audio from interview dependent on the technology functioning!

If you would like Do the Right Thing to interview you, get in touch letting us know what you think our readers would be most interested in hearing. You can send us a direct tweet through twitter, or email us all from our website http://www.rightthings.co.uk

How to build a team that knows what it is doing

Email grow@rightthings.co.uk for a practical guide to put these steps in place

 

If you want your team (company) to be clear about where your business is going – you need 7 key things. They sound incredibly simple, but wait till you try to agree them with your team. For a free practical guide on how to put these 7 steps in place email grow@righthings.co.uk 

1. Vision/mission  A statement defining why your organisation exists: a desirable, often difficult to achieve future aim, an aspiration
2. Core values  Deeply ingrained principles that guide an organisation. Cornerstones that are sacrosanct and immutable. These do not change over time even if your vision and mission do.
3. Strategic anchors  Core pillars on which an organisation is built. What differentiates your organisations from others from an internal perspective?
4. Thematic goal  A single, qualitative focus or rallying cry that is shared by the entire leadership team and ultimately, by the entire partnership-and that applies for only a specified period of time.
5. Defining objectives  The temporary, qualitative components that serve to clarify exactly what is meant by the Thematic Goal; shared by all members of the team.
6. Standard Operating  Objectives Other key objectives that an executive team must focus on and monitor. These objectives do not go away from period to period and often include topics such as: revenue, expenses, customer satisfaction, quality etc.
7. Metrics  The measures that sit below the defining objectives and standard operating objectives to assess progress
These terms are based on original ideas from the writing of Patrick Lencioni 

Do the Right Thing turns business advice into profit. For no-nonsense, no-jargon business advice you can turn into real value Do the Right Thing and call 01223 851 161 or email grow@rightthings.co.uk  BOOK A FREE BUSINESS ADVICE SESSION HERE

Business 365 – what matters most to you?

This post is part of our Business 365 project.

Which topics matter most to you? Find out more about the Business 365 Project and give us your suggestions for top business issues that matter to you on our dedicated post – you can also leave your comment below. We reward our top commentators with free content, links and Twitter promo. What do you want most?

We have just launched the UK’s broadest and most-up-to-date business issue spot. Though 2010 we are finding out what are you top 365 local and small business issues and we’ll be publishing our grow your business every single day book with an action you can do each day to grow your business (this usually means grow your profit). To suggest a business issue or topic, comment here or tweet us. Every person who suggests a business issue that gets included in the Business 365 Project gets a free copy of the 365 book. A free answer to your very own question – what could be fairer than that?

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