Three Low Cost High Value Ideas for Growing Your Small Business

Managing or owning a small business is the single best occupation in the world when the money is flowing, the coffers are full,  and one can seemingly do no wrong.  Then you wake up one day and the sales pipeline is not as full, the weekend retail sales were off, service orders are down, and you are asking yourself how could this happen.  Here are three low cost, high return ideas for growing your business.

Idea 1:

Create or Support an Event

As a small business your focus is usually on a specific community or target market.  It is much easier to support a current event than to start your own event.  Do some research in your community for events in your field.  Look at trade publications for events in your area.  Your support can be as simple as providing people, knowledge, or anything else creative you can think of.  

To create an event you may have to think about other events that competitors or similar industries do and see if you can do it better.  Events are about bringing your business closer to your customers and do not need to cost a lot of money.  Some of the best events revolve around interactivity and getting your customers to do something hands on.  

Events that catch on can become powerful sales and marketing tools for your organization for years to come.  Remember to give yourself plenty of time to promote your event, spur of the moment events tend to lose staying power and without proper notice inconvenience your best customers.  

Events can cost as little as labor and time depending on your level of support.  Potential rewards can be building a long term relationship with the community and a perpetual way to market your products or services in an effective way.  

Tip:  Use your email marketing list, and get customer interest and input prior to joining or creating an event.

Idea 2:

Maximize Current Customer Referrals

Everyone talks about referrals being the life blood of many small businesses and the statement could not be more true.  Many businesses think that by creating an excellent experience or service the referrals will take care of themselves.  In reality you must ask for the referral, if not completely direct you should at least be asking customers if they would be comfortable referring your business to others.  Touching base with your current customers is a great way to drum up new business.  No matter what industry you are in, making a repeat customer out of a current customer or a personal referral from a current customer is much easier.

Ask yourself these questions.  Do you have a referral program?  Is it easy for your customers to use?  Does it provide something of value (intrinsic or physical) in return for doing something on behalf of your business?

Referral cost, can be as little as thanking the person or company doing the referring to having a physical reward such as free products or discounts.  The reward can be a perpetual sales pipeline built on word or mouth and goodwill.    

Tip:  If you use website as a marketing tool make sure your referral program is easy to get to and clearly defined.

Idea 3:

Partner Up

Maybe you have been in business for 30 years and have always done it alone.  Leaner times call for outside of the box thinking.  Finding companies or individuals that offer complementary products or services can lead to a rewarding cross selling opportunity for both parties.  If you can make your business an attractive partner you should make every attempt to forge new creative partnerships.  

In many businesses partnering up is standard operating procedure.  Being a real estate agent, it pays to know mortgage brokers, general contractors, and maintenance people.  Thinking outside of the traditional circles, maybe you the real estate agent should attend a Human Resources Professional seminar or function.  Human Resources for many companies are the source of information for employees moving to the area or the office resource for important decisions such as home ownership.  

Creating a partners program or setting up an affiliate program with established guidelines makes your company more attractive to partner with.  There are many resources online to help you on your quest to partner up.  Partnering up properly can make for an easy way to profit from the experience and customer base of others.

Partnering can cost money to setup or create an agreement between two parties.  The potential reward for your small business could be access to a whole slew of potential customers with little acquisition cost and a built in loyalty.  

Tip:  While doing research on the internet about your competitors and potential partners see if you can find links to their partner or affiliate program.