Top 7 Connections Your Business Can't Do Without

Top 7 Connections Your
Business Can't Do
Without

By Kate Marsden

More than ever before, being connected is
critical to business these days. You can’t
operate in isolation – and the range of
places and people you need to connect
with is growing all the time. If you are
looking for improve your business, think
about these connections and how well you
are doing. Are you really connecting to:
1. Your current customers?
How often do you communicate with your
customers and prospects? If you aren’t at
the top of their minds, the chances are
your competitors might be. A lot of sales
and repeat business is about being in the
right place at the time, so your business
needs to pop up frequently to hit that
chance. It's better to over-communicate
than under-communicate, as long as it’s
with some decent content.
2. Your old customers?
Nearly all business people know that they
should keep in contact with old customers
and clients, but many of them never do -
or the contact is so infrequent it doesn't
work. If someone has bought from you
once they are far more likely to do it again
- but it is up to you to keep reminding
them that you are there. Make sure you
don’t spend longer trying to cold-sell to
new customers than you do keeping in
contact with old customers.
3. Your customers connections?
One of the easiest and quickest ways to
get new customers is to get referrals from
your current ones. But far too many
businesses never tap into this easy way to
boost your profits. When was the last time
you asked your customers if there was
anyone else they know who might be
interested in your services? Be prepared to
offer an incentive if someone gets referred
by another customer - as long as you can
still make good profits, why do you care if
they get something for bringing people to
you that wouldn’t otherwise come to your
business. 50% of something is always
better than 100% of nothing.
4. Potential partners?
Partnerships and joint ventures can
dramatically shift your business scale and
reach. Whoever your customers are, there
will be other people already providing
services and products to them that could
be complementary to what you do. Look
for organisations where the partnership
would be a win-win situation, rather than
simply helping one party or the other. Start
simple and do some informal partnership-
work with another business. If that is
successful you can gradually add to it and
formalize the process, but if not you can
quickly back out and move on to someone
else
5. Your Networks?
I find people often fall into 2 camps – they
avoid networking like the plague, or they
do it so much they have forgotten that
they have a real job to do. Think about why
you are networking, what you are trying to
achieve and how you will know if it’s
working for your business. Think carefully
about where to network - the chances are
your customers may not hang out at
“networking events” so you need to get
more creative about being where they are.
6. Your staff?
Many business leaders think they know
what their staff really think and feel about
their business, but in most businesses
there is a gap between what the owners
think is reality and the true reality. It can be
really frustrating that even when you ask
the question, the answers you get are
“screened” in some way. Talk to staff
directly, on their turf. Encourage them to
be creative with ideas – and allow criticism
without being negative back.
7. The Wider world?
If your business feels like it’s a bit stuck,
the best thing you can do is lift your head
up from the business and open your eyes
to what is around you. You’ve probably
heard the expression “If you do what
you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve
always got.” Bear that in mind with your
business – and start to open your eyes to
what is going on around you. It’s amazing
how much time is spent looking internally
and not at the outside world. The
competition and customers are outside not
inside your business – get your focus on
them instead of what is going on internally.
Look around you all the time – for what is
going on now and for what is starting to
change for the future. And keep your eyes
open for help – there is a ton of support
out there for small businesses –
sometimes you just have to connect to it.
Want help improving your profits and
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Source: http://Top7Business.com/?
expert=Kate_Marsden