In this fast paced world with hyper-growth companies, globalisation eroding margins in many industries and the hidden factor of inflation you may find your business is not growing anywhere near as fast as it should be.
In this week’s ExciteTalk, we take a look at two key paradigm shifts needed to build a business in the current environment.
Let’s start with inflation:
If your business is only growing at around 2 -3 % per year you are not building your business. At best you are stagnant, at worst you company is dying a slow painful death.
Look at the cost of a cup of coffee. In a very short period we’ve gone from an average of $3 a cup to $4 + in a lot of places. If your business is not keeping up with these price increases, you are going backwards.
Action Step: At Minimum Index Your Prices With Inflation
Oh, and if you are worried about price competition you are already going out of business. Competing on price is a race to the bottom and it’s a dangerous race to run.
Focus on improving your client experience, on delivering a superior product or service and charge enough to allow you to provide this.
Better to be the Apple of your industry. Sure you can buy a laptop for a couple of hundred dollar, but if being the cheapest was the best strategy, Apple wouldn’t be one of the most profitable companies on the planet.
So, at a minimum, we should aim to be growing at 6% or more just to stay ahead of inflation. This may need to be even more in the years to come, but that’s another story and a topic for experts in that field.
If you want to compete on price, better to think about how you can disrupt your industry through innovation and cost reduction rather than price cutting and eroding everyone’s margins.
Action Step: Never Go On Sale
Retail clothing and footwear stores have done a stellar job in teaching their clients to wait for the sale. What was a mechanism for moving excess stock has become a way of life for everyday retail stores.
Premium brands, those who know how to market their products and services well, never go on sale. Because they understand their clients and how to market to them effectively, they prefer to invest in brilliant marketing campaigns to turn on demand.
Growth companies avoid, at all costs, cutting price and margins, instead they invest in marketing that generates a return on investment.
Find out how to manufacture demand in your business. Learn how to turn this tap on, rather than having to go on sale because you haven’t marketed your product or service well.
Action Step: Activate Your Existing Database
Do you forget about leads after the first few weeks?
90% of businesses are guilty of the above, yet research shows that majority of your clients will buy within 18 months. If you give up too soon you are missing an opportunity to double your business. Use a mix of digital and print marketing to keep in touch and reach out at critical times in your sales cycle.
Warren Buffett has turned his annual letter to shareholders into one of the finance world’s most sort after publications, attracting media attention and a lot of press time for his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway.
If you have an annual report or meeting, you have a real opportunity to create and print something useful and memorable.
If you don’t produce an Annual Report yet, it could be a product worth creating.
Speak about where your clients are now, and the next logical step, product or service they should be looking at to continue moving forward.
Every business has times of the year and moments in the sales cycle where there are opportunities to offer something useful and activate their market.
We believe using print marketing the right way will generate more leads and sales.
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