More or Less, Less is More

The concept of “less is more” is making a comeback.

It became popular in the early 1990s as the recession forced families and companies to do more with less. Today, startups and small businesses are feeling the crunch as funding rounds get lean.

The average funding round for a startup in 2024 is estimated to be less than half of what it was in 2021.

A startup must make more money with less capital. With supply chain bottlenecks coming from the Panama Canal and potentially Europe, small businesses will also have to deal with higher financing costs or lower access to capital.

Here are simple things a small business can do to scale out with fewer resources:

1.?????? Hire more developers.

If you hire a handful of senior programmers, you will burn your budget. However some of the best startups hired a single senior programmer to build the product while training a team of 2-3 newbies to support his efforts.

You save by not having to pay a salary for a developer in his prime. As for the newbies, along with a salary, you offer them the chance to work on things beyond their payscale and develop skills that will earn them big projects faster.

They will spend years developing your code and knowing inside and out. By the time they mature, you should have scaled out by then. Now, you can offer them the big money to hire a few newbies and train them.

2.?????? Stock the snack bar and offer Gift Cards

Small comforts can keep someone for an extra six months. Free lunch. A well-stocked snack bar. Work at home Fridays. Paying for outside learning.

All of these make it so comfortable for someone that when they get the itch, it takes an additional six months before they scratch and start looking.

These are the workers with the most experience. They are the ones returning the most on your investment in them.

You would be surprised how many people add millions to your bottom line simply because they can’t break away from “Happy Hamburger” Thursday lunches. ?

3.?????? Lean Wages and Fat Commissions

How do you pay someone more than you can afford? You offer them money you don’t have!

Pay your salespeople like bartenders. Give them a very basic salary and an adequate expense account, and add incentives with generous commissions.

A good salesman will jump at the chance.

It’s a win-win. You offer beyond your ability, and your salesperson works to expand that ability. Everyone makes more than expected. If you upsell your product or offer a yearly fee, you usually pay your sales team commission for the first year.

The rest is yours.

4.?????? Don’t Hire full-time Marketers

Marketing with sales is like wine with dinner. You must have it, but it doesn’t need to be the main course.

A small business can survive with a marketing consultant.

A savvy digital marketer can:

• Find 500 qualified leads prospects off the bat
• Create weekly content that generates targeted traffic for your audience
• Post to social media daily
• Target directly the 500 qualified prospects and direct them to the sales team once they become leads

He can do it without those free hamburgers as well. At an hourly rate, he is your content writer, SEO manager, social media wiz, and lead generator.

This is what we do at 300 Marketing Solutions.

We spare you the hassle of paying a full-time salary to your marketing team while giving you the value of a full-time workforce.

If you want to accomplish more with your business while spending less on your marketing, let’s chat!

https://bit.ly/300MarketingSolutions