Are you using the Right Technology to grow the Sales of your Small Business?

This post was written with Brian Singer, Marketing, Technology Researcher, Sales Growth Expert & President of Cloud Applications at Boundless Innovation. @Google

So here we go:

Small Businesses TODAY use technology more and more, to improve efficiency, productivity, profitability and in some cases to increase customer engagement and guest satisfaction.

However, with so many advancements on a steady basis, it’s VERY CONFUSING for business owners to know which technologies are essential to really GROWING the Business?

What we know for sure is… to be successful today..

• You must WORK SMARTER than you have in the past.
• You have to use the RIGHT Technologies that deliver real results.
• You must have the Right information to make wise business decisions.

Our experience is that it’s critical to stay focused on the fundamentals or what matters most.

FOCUS on those Technologies that have a direct impact to…

?? Increase Sales.

?? Attract New Customers and

?? Drive more Repeat Business.

What’s at stake? Sales Growth!

Many small businesses are missing out on sales growth because they don’t have a plan to address new customers, existing customers and referrals.

Whether you have a brick-and-mortar business (own a restaurant, a retail store, a pharmacy, a medical practice or a bowling alley) or offer a service (translation service, carpet cleaning, consulting or coaching) these trends affect every type of business.

There was a time when “solution selling” was sufficient; showing how your product solved a generic problem worked really well.

Lots of businesses still use these approaches to sell their products and services with good success. However, that approach alone will not work on its own anymore.

Customer expectations have now changed and accelerated; the way people buy goods and services has also changed. Customers nowadays are researchers with many options to choose from; a competing restaurant or business around the block is just one Google search away from attracting customers away from your business.

Since customers have become more sophisticated, our businesses, too, must be more savvy in their approach to customers. 

Customers expect you to know them, understand them and know what they want. 

The trick is knowing what they want and delivering it through the right channels better than anyone else.

Remember the old saying… “Sales Makes Everything BEAUTIFUL” … It doesn’t matter whether it’s 1998 or 2018. When it comes to growing your business nothing could be more true! Sales cures a bunch of problems.

Anything you can do to increase sales, attract more customers and repeat business, is good Business. 

Sales is the fuel to the engine that runs your business. Without a steady stream of “sales fuel” your business could wither and die. When your business is in a constant state of sales growth, it buys you the time and resources to build a healthy and profitable business. 

Changing Customer Behavior

We believe that when you look at what’s really going on with customer behavior then you’ll find what matters most to customers.

When you look at the Marketing Trends – you can’t help but to notice that customer behavior has changed dramatically over the last 2 years.

Customers today are very sophisticated and also very distracted. Competition for customer attention is fierce and It’s likely the #1 Problem for Businesses all over. 

How are customers different?

People today don’t want to be sold anymore. They want to be entertained. On top of that, customers expect you to know them. Customers believe that you should know what they want.

For Small Business Owners, Digital Marketing is complex and confusing. Without a Big Budget Marketing and Technology resources at your disposal, most small business owners simply don’t know, what to do or how even to get started.  

Effective Digital Marketing = Enhanced Customer Engagement

The most important thing for Small Business Owners to grasp TODAY is that advancements in technology are disguised as entertaining Digital Marketing. It goes on all around us 24/7. Customers and the general public get a steady dose of Digital Marketing everywhere they go. Most of it is generated by Big Corporations like we mentioned earlier.

However many Small Businesses don’t realize that they too need to be digitally relevant these days. Digital Marketing is the way it’s done today. You can either sit on the sidelines and hope for the best or find a way to jump in and join the Digital Marketing party.

So how do you attract customers in these tough times? What we know for sure is that the ability to Communicate with customers is CRITICAL.

Also your communication with customers must create a solid and lasting connection. When you have a real connection with customers you attract more repeat business.

Social Media platforms understand the power of customer engagement and customer entertainment. Their website and platforms provide a provocative means of communication and allow people to create a connection with others.

So any technology that allows you to communicate with customers and create a connection is priceless. 

Let's examine a few actionable tips:

1) Why - Clearly define your professional goals and target prospects.

2) What - Create  a strong brand that stands out and instantly communicates what your business is. Have a professionally crafted website and social media presence, one that helps you stand out in your professional field.

Most important: Know the difference between features and benefits.

Features – what your services/products are.

Benefits – what your services/products can do/will do for the customer.

Many small business practitioners think they can influence or sell to customers by offering a laundry list of features. They have to realize that a particular customer is only interested in the benefits to him/her. Of course, in a one-on-one selling situation, you can probe, ask questions to learn what, specifically that customer needs and what his/her pain points are.

In online selling, you have to do your homework and then use your best guesstimate of what benefits most of the prospects will resonate with.

USP – Unique Selling Proposition – this is most important. What is unique, different and special about you, your products and services that differentiates you from others in your category? This is the key factor in defining yourself and your company, so think long and hard about it and how to articulate it. It may also require some “competitive intelligence” (research on your competitors) to make sure your USP is truly different and stands out!)

Many businesses fail to do this: they list their fine features and capabilities and assume that the benefits and USP are implied. Such an assumption must not occur. You must say it clearly, for it to have maximum impact.

3) Where - Be where your clients are (online & offline) – i.e. reach customers on their smartphones through effective Free Wifi related technologies.

4) How - Create very attractive messages whether it is via email, content posted on social media. etc. With the ever-shorter attention spans these days, your message must be clear and compelling.

Don’t rely on only one message. Try testing one headline vs. another and then measure the responses to each. You can keep refining your message that way, at no additional cost. 

Focus on providing helpful content that will showcase you as a trusted resource. But don't stop there; focus both on content promotion and content distribution so you maximize the number of “eyeballs” you are reaching.

Also, make sure your participation in social media is a two-way street. Of course, you want to regularly post helpful content, ideas, strategies to establish yourself as an expert, indeed, as the expert in your field.  But don’t be a “Dr. Know-It-All.  Your contacts, connections, friends on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. also have opinions, thoughts, ideas. Make sure they know you hear and read them. Add a comment, a like, a follow to the posts of others, especially prospects you’ve identified. You want to enter a dialog with them, establish a relationship. You’re laying the foundation for a next step, perhaps a conversation.

Establish key metrics to help you measure and refine your sales efforts  (monthly, quarterly, annually).

Final Thoughts

Remember it is all about building relationships with your existing clients and potential prospects, becoming their trusted advisor, the company that has the solution to their problems and wants to be their “partner” in growth.

Here is where the importance of testimonials, success stories, trusted sources comes in. Your clients must know and trust that you will deliver results for them, as you have for so many others.

You must become the Innovative company that will help them evolve, grow and win, in fact so successfully that they will be sure to share their success story and experience with their friends, colleagues and others in their social media networks.

And you will surely become that Innovator, the best in your field, by using the best and most advanced techniques and tools (data intelligence, appropriate tools to increase customer engagement, referrals and revenue etc.).

Here’s to the Success of your Small Business!!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DENNIS KOUTOUDIS

Dennis Koutoudis, is a successful entrepreneur, a recognized LinkedIn expert, a Certified Social Media professional & speaker. He is the Founder & CEO of LinkedSuperPowers (over 2.5 million Social Media Followers) an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Social Media Consulting Company specialising in optimising the LinkedIn Profiles of both individuals & corporations (see company explainer video) as well as helping them achieve their professional goals via the most effective usage of LinkedIn & Social Selling. It is also worth mentioning that Dennis was recently ranked by Klout #1 globally amongst the LinkedIn Experts (individuals or entities) who had generated the most engaging content for the topic of LinkedIn in the last 90 days. Dennis has personally worked with executives at Pfizer, Bloomberg, Nokia, Amazon, Deloitte and several other Fortune 500 Companies while he is frequently asked to speak at events and conferences. He has over 32.000 followers on LinkedIn, more than 290 LinkedIn recommendations, and 2.1 million Twitter Followers. EvanCarmichael.com has listed him as the #1 Social Media Expert to follow on Twitter for October 2016, has been recognized by Agilience as Top Authority on Social Media and he has been cited in Forbes, Fortune, The Huffington Post (see: In The Name of Gucci... & Sargent, LinkedIn & the right to fame), Entrepreneur.com, CNN iReport, Engadget, Buzzfeed, The Great Work Insights Podcast , SheKnows and Digital Doughnut amongst numerous other recognized international publications.

Apart from the blog of LinkedSuperPowers, Dennis presents Social Media and LinkedIn Strategies at AlphaGamma, a pan-European business portal, helping young job-seekers and young entrepreneurs from all over Europe, as well as BizCatalyst 360° . He is also an author at Business2Community (one of the largest business blogs on the web).

BRIAN SINGER

Brian is a Sales Growth expert and marketing and technology researcher. 

For 30 years he has repeatedly turned around struggling businesses and launched dozens of products and new businesses to double digit annual growth.  

He is at the forefront of the most advanced technologies that use digital marketing to attract more customers and repeat business. 

To learn more CLICK HERE.