At this time it’s still not too late to strategise or re-strategise for 2021 business year, let’s talk about that now.
Let’s say you are a very talented chef, teacher or tailor and so you decide you want to start your own business and be your own boss.
You may not realise it but having a great product or service is not enough to ensure success. Your success as an entrepreneur actually lies in how effective you are in your sales and marketing function. As the business owner, your number one responsibility is to sell.
Selling is not something you can completely delegate. Don’t be overwhelmed by other activities that keep you busy but don’t make any money, those are tasks you can delegate or outsource.
A business goes out of business without customers; so how you get and keep customers is key to running a profitable business.
Let’s look in detail at the three Cs for startup success.
Customers: Who do you want to serve? No one can afford to address everyone’s problems. You need to know your Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA) their demographics, psychographics and so on.
Knowing your ICA changes everything; it helps determine your product/service offering, your marketing strategy, your channels of communication etc.
By understanding your prospects’ desires, pains, fears and dreams better than your competition you’ll gain a competitive edge because your ICA wants to know that you understand them and that you have a solution to help them.
Communication: Once you know your ICA; you can now target specific prospects with tailored messages. The ability to communicate your value proposition and produce marketing messages that sell is one of the key skills you need to succeed in business.
You should craft messages that effectively communicate how you can solve the prospects’ problems. Your copy needs to grab attention, communicate and persuade the customer to buy the product. If you have gone to a business page looking for something specifically and didn’t find what you were looking for, then you know what I mean. You have to help prospects and provide answers to their problems through your content. With this, you attract your ideal customers and bring in new clients on a regular basis.
Tailor your content to provide value to your target market and watch your profits soar.
Conversion: Now that your communication is generating leads for your business it is time to position your solution as the only choice. Make your prospects an irresistible offer, give them compelling reasons why they should do business with you and make it easy for them to buy from you.
Ask for the sale! This may seem obvious but I have lost count of the number of businesses that neglect this simple Call to Action. If your business doesn’t ask for the sale your competitor will.
Always remember, no matter what sector or industry you are in, the revenue in business is not in the actual product or service, it’s in the sales of your product or service.
