If you’re running your own company and have found your way to this website, then it’s very likely that you are a motivated individual looking to build a bigger and better business. If this is correct, then you’ve come to the right place as ActionCOACH is all about helping you to grow your business.

There are various tools and techniques you can use that will result in big changes, for minimum effort. Music to your ears, right?

It’s all about focusing on the areas that are going to yield the biggest results, to ensure you are using your precious time to maximum efficiency. And this is what we’re here for.

What if we told you that you can increase your business by making small improvements in just FIVE areas?

These are the five areas of sales and marketing that you should be concerned with. We call them the ‘5 Ways’ because they are five ways in which any small business can see quick results.

So what are the ‘5 ways’?

  1. Number of leads – how many potential clients do you attract?
  2. Conversion rate – how many leads do you convert into clients?
  3. No. of transactions – how many times a year do your clients buy?
  4. Average sale – how much do they spend each time they buy?
  5. Margins – what is the gross net margin your business achieves?

This simple but effective system is great and ActionCOACH has successfully used this with thousands of businesses. It enables you to benchmark and evaluate your current position and gives you a number of strategies to improve performance in each of the five areas – and crucially it does this in a way that can be tested and measured.

The objective of any of these strategies will always to be reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase your pool of ‘grade A’ clients, and ultimately grow your business.

Using ActionCOACH resources you can plot how achieving just a 10% improvement in the areas of lead generation, conversions, transactions, sales and margins can achieve real and noticeable results for your business. Get in touch with your ActionCOACH today to access these useful resources.

You can also access hundreds of actions and identify which you can easily implement to bring about those improvements.

Improving lead generation

There are many ways you can generate leads and you may have thought of – and indeed implemented – a great deal of them. But there’s always more you can do and new territories to explore. It may be that it’s time to evaluate whether all of your lead generation methods are working and to stop those which aren’t delivering results. Our ‘5 Ways’ resources list almost 100 ideas for lead generation, including the obvious, such as newspaper advertising, social media, newsletters, trade shows and seminars, to the more creative, such as chat bots, fridge magnets and even sky writing!

Conversion rate

So, you’ve put lots of effort into generating leads, but how do you convert that into actual sales? This could be as much about your products and services, as your sales and marketing processes. You might want to develop your own product line, develop an exclusive range, or start sending out samples. It’s also about selling your business’s image and reputation so that people want to deal with you, and this could include things like using testimonials, defining and publishing a mission statement and publishing press articles. There’s also the operational aspect in terms of making that customer journey as easy as possible, so they can progress from that first touch to actually making a sale. Look at your phone systems, the online journey and your physical environment if applicable. Again, we have more than 80 proven methods you can easily implement in your business to improve the conversion rate.

Number of transactions

Increasing the number of transactions from your customers is, in large part, down to the customer service. Make sure the service is top notch, under promise and over deliver, stay in touch, introduce loyalty schemes, implement offers and develop a database of contacts to approach with limited deals. Planning sales and marketing activity around product launches to ensure you regular have new updates is also key to keeping your profile – and therefore your number of transactions – high.

Average sale

This is about looking at the value of your average sale and seeing where you can push that up; even just a few per cent can make a big difference. Our strategies in this area include reviewing prices, up-selling, arranging finance, creating package and bulk deals, offering goods and services with higher price points and focusing on your higher-level clients.

Profit margins

The fifth and final area of sales and marketing you can easily improve is your profit margins and looking at ways you can increase the amount of money you make on your goods or services. This includes strategies such as improving efficiency, productivity and time management, removing any discounts, selling only quality items, recycling, knowing and understanding your costs, to name just a few.

Whichever strategies you choose to implement, you’ll find that the ‘5 Ways’ system is a sure-fire way to increase your profits. For all the tips and tools on 5 ways to increase your business, contact Gary Wagstaff, your local ActionCOACH.