Business Sins Part 2 – A Few More to Consider

Following my post a couple of weeks ago on the subject of Business Sins, a friend asked me whether my blog was the definitive list of main omissions for business owners; sadly the answer is a resounding “No” – I’d just recorded the first few I’d worked on regularly but had a whole load more in reserve!

Once again, see if any of these seem familiar:

  1. Automated Referral System. No system or process in place to gather referrals from existing happy customers.
  2. Internet Marketing. Just getting a website is not going to get customers – you need to direct them to it.
  3. Google Ranking. It has to be Google in the UK and you have to carry-out a genuine search as a customer would rather than a specific company search; if you’re not above the scroll line page one you’re nowhere.
  4. Different Routes To Market. Don’t get stuck in the “this is the way we’ve always done it” – try and test new ideas.
  5. Failing to Test. Be it campaigns, offers, reports, samples etc.
  6. Direct Response Marketing. Unless you’re a large customer I would suggest all your advertising has a ‘call to action’.
  7. Website Construction. As above, my main gripe is not having a clear call to action strategy – what do you want people to do who visit your website and how will you persuade them to do this?
  8. No Mobile Website. If your business is likely to be searched via mobile devices you need to have a mobile-friendly website; in 2015 more people search this way than on traditional devices.
  9. Customer Records. Details on who has contacted you all the way through to what they’ve bought and what they’re worth to you.
  10. No Current & Updated Marketing Strategy. If you only market when your business is down your sales will most likely lurch from feast to famine.
  11. Asking For The Sale. A lot of small business owners struggle to ask customers to commit, but if you don’t supply them someone else will.
  12. Testimonials and Endorsements. Use the customers who bought from you – they clearly liked the product/services you supplied to get them to promote for you.

If any of these apply to you and you’re struggling to overcome them or want to find ways to grow your business generally please get in touch – they’re easy to fix!

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