Many small businesses struggle in the first few years of launching and often end up having to take out loans to make ends meet. This isn’t necessarily because the business is not successful, most commonly it is because annual turnover is lower than expected.
Many new business owners fail to realise that building up a reputation for a business takes time. And, of course, until you have a steady flow of regular customers using your services or buying your products, your turnover will be low.
If you are a new business owner and your sales aren’t as high as you would like them to be, don’t worry, you are in the right place. In the first few years of launching your startup, it’s normal for your turnover to be low.
However, there are lots of simple ways you can boost turnover, by increasing sales. Here’s how:
Reward your customers
Without your customers, you wouldn’t have an income. So it is important that you do everything you can to hold onto the customers you’ve got, while at the same time, bringing in new ones.
To ensure that your customers stick with your business, offer them rewards and incentives for using your services. For instance, for every time they use your services or buy a product from you, perhaps you could give them a reward stamp. Once they have ten reward stamps, then you could offer a money-off voucher for the next time they use your services or buy a product.
You could also create a referral system for your customers to help increase your sales. For each customer one of your current clients refers to you, you could offer them an incentive or reward. These kind of schemes will keep your current customers happy while also increasing your customer numbers with new clients.
Find new ways to market your business
Regardless of whether you already have a marketing campaign in place, think of new ways you can market your business. Sometimes the most simplistic marketing techniques are the most effective, for instance, word of mouth marketing has high success rates.
If you want to increase knowledge of your company in the local area, why not attend some local events and promote your company at them? Rent a stall at a local event, set up a table there and speak to local people about your business. Make sure you have some branded items and freebies to give away. Everyone loves a freebie pen and stress ball! You could even get yourself a custom table cloth like the ones you can find at http://www.customonit.com/custom-table-covers/.
Get ahead of your competitor
To increase your turnover, it is important to find ways to get ahead of your competitor and boost your client base. One of the best ways to do this is to offer products or services that your competitor doesn’t have. Or, to offer slightly lower prices than your competitor.
To build up a reliable customer base, it is crucial that you ensure that your products or services always stay ahead of your competitor. Your company should always offer something that you competitor doesn’t. Whether that’s an extra product or service or lower prices, it doesn’t matter, it just needs to be something different.
Put these simple tips into practice and you will be amazed at how much your turnover will increase.
