Business and Finance

Posts Tagged ‘grow’

ou Can Grow Your Small Business Using The Right Technology

Dan Katz of PSK Supermarkets, a Mount Vernon, N. Y. based chain of Foodtown grocery stores, knew he had a problem: His customers were making fewer trips to his stores and spending less money each time. Facing intense competition for customers from both traditional competitors and newcomers like FreshDirect and Whole Foods, he needed to increase customer loyalty fast. But how?

Dan started with his in-house point-of sale system. The system stores records of all purchases and ties the data back to the individual customer and the SKUs (shopkeeping units, or products) they buy. Using the shopping cards he issues to his customers, Dan created a targeted loyalty program focused on his best customers.

Here’s how it works: customers are divided into 12 loyalty levels, with 1 being the most loyal and 12the least loyal (measured in terms of dollars spent per month). The best customers are rewarded for their purchases with S&H Greenpoints which can be redeemed for merchandise. In the first six months of the program, Dan boosted the average purchase per visit more than 20%; a year later, Dan constantly monitors customers across the 12 loyalty levels. He offers incentives to retain his best customers and watches for “downward migration” if customers suddenly start shopping less so he can send out targeted promotions to bring them back into his stores.

PSK’s strategy is a dramatic example of how business is changing the way it interacts with and markets to customers and prospects. A few important trends make it easier than ever for any company, large or small, to catch this wave and reap tremendous rewards. Data storage costs are lower than ever, and Internet usage is widespread. Most importantly, there are now powerful software programs that can capture, track, manage and analyze customer data. Microsoft Office includes Excel, a spreadsheet program many small companies use to store data on their customers.

Users who upgrade to Microsoft Office Professional for a few hundred dollars more can take advantage of the power of Access, an expandable relational database that can store data on many thousands of customers. There is also software for rent available on the Web from SalesForce.com that can keep track of sales interactions with customers for less than 0 per month per user. In short, a variety of powerful, easy to use, customizable tools are available that can help companies store and capitalize on their customer data.

Any company now has the ability to track the behaviour of every customer and store enormous amounts of data on purchase history, transactions, demographics and interactions. The key to building revenue and profits, though, is to use that data to provide a more personalized, interactive and service-oriented customer experience. How can you get started right now to take advantage of these trends and keep up with your competitors?

Here’s one “big idea” you should come away with: Learn who your best customers are. You’ll maximize revenues and profits by paying attention to your most valuable customers and targeting your marketing and business development efforts toward satisfying their needs. Below are ideas for getting better acquainted with your clients.

Keep track of all your customers. You can start with a simple Excel spreadsheet, or move to a more sophisticated Access database. If you have a large number of customers and want to track transactions, interactions, purchase history, demographics and other data, you can move to an industrial-strength relationship database management system.

Use the Web to interact with and learn from your customers. Think of the Web as a two-way street to gather and transmit information — from your website, via e-mail or in a blog. Give customers a reason to register on your website (to receive a newsletter or take a quiz) so you can capture names, addresses and e-mail addresses. You can then use a program such as Constant Contact to send e-mail on a regular basis to customers. Another idea is allow customers to “chat” or instant message in real time with, for instance, a sales rep, during certain hours.

Calculate a monetary value for each of your customers and update it when additional purchases are made. This can be as simple as updating an Excel spreadsheet once a month with purchase data from your point-of-sale system. If you have it, update your customer history with data on your cost of goods sold, so that you can calculate a net profit per customer. Over time, you can get an idea of how much your best customers are spending with you and a sense of what the “customer lifetime value” is for each of them.

Keep track of how often your customers buy from you (frequency), when was the last time they purchased (recency), and how long they’ve been with you (longevity). Together with the monetary value you’ve calculated, these will help you refine your definition of “best customer” and allow you to concentrate on maximizing total value over the customer’s lifetime.

Ask your best customers how you can do better: If you ask, they’ll tell you. What new products or services can you develop? What changes can you make to your existing products or services to provide customers with a reason to stay with you and bring you more business? If you listen carefully, you’ll learn a lot about what it takes to keep and grow your best customers. One great resource for surveys is Zoomerang.com, which will conduct a survey and analyze the results for you. The company currently offers a small scale study for free.

Read the rest of this entry »

Incoming search terms:

• grow
• grow money
• growing business
• grow images
• Powered by Article Dashboard generac generator
• keeping and growing customers
• images of business growing
• Business and The Internet
• Grow Image
• traditional competitors

If you are looking for successful strategies on how to grow a business, the internet is a powerful tool that can be used to help with sales, marketing, client communications, and customer service. Whether you want to build an internet business or promote and expand an offline company, establishing an online presence is an effective means of increasing awareness and advertising products or services at a much more reasonable cost than the rates often associated with more traditional marketing methods.

Read the rest of this entry »

Incoming search terms:

• grow business
• business photos
• image expand grow

Growing a business is never easy. Trying to grow that business as the country comes out of a recession can be even harder. It’s therefore vital you are constantly seeking new ways to set your organisation apart from the rest.

Read the rest of this entry »

GROW YOUR BUSINESS FROM HOME

A typical day for me is to hang out the washing while my children eat breakfast before shouting at them to get their shoes on and get in the car to get to school. Get my morning run in (as long as it is not raining!) and then be ready for work at 10am. Work like crazy either speaking to one of my 1-2-1 clients, bash away at the keyboard writing copy for a website or an article or dash out to a networking event before skidding in to the car park for 3.15pm to do the pick-up. Read the rest of this entry »

Easy Marketing Ideas

Each day I hook up with dozens of network marketers online, Generally of them still struggling to get the success they yearn for.

And you know one of the biggest questions I get askedAll the time goes a little something like this:

“I’m trying to move my organization rotten the ground, but I’m on A very inadequate finances. I need to create money Fast. What are the top low cost marketing strategies!?”

And you know what, that is a real first-rate question. Read the rest of this entry »

Business With Soul

What is a business with soul? Business with soul provides purpose, passion and meaning to the people behind a business. This includes the founders, team members, suppliers, and clients. Business’s soul adds value, innovates, makes positive difference, grows talents, incubates the human spirit, and therefore makes a profit. Business is not just about huge buildings, profits and others, it is about people, purpose, culture and spirit. Read the rest of this entry »