If you follow us on social media, you might have seen our recent sequence of posts relating to the 7 ways to grow your business. These tips are designed to help you increase sales, reduce costs and propel your business into the new year with a strategy that sticks. At the heart of all that we do is our mission to empower individuals within the enterprising business community to find innovative solutions that realise their vision. We want to see our clients grow, evolve and upscale their businesses with strategies that work for them. 

With this in mind, we’ve compiled a short list of finance tips that address key areas of growth and opportunities for improvement. So as you mentally prepare to check-out of work and check-in to your long-awaited holiday, let these ideas incentivise you to begin the next year with a bang. 

1. Increase customer retention.

Stop your customers defecting to your competition by encouraging customer loyalty. 

The cost of generating and converting a new lead is five times more expensive than it is to maintain the customer relationships you have already established. A few ways to increase customer retention include engaging with your online community, using your online presence to establish a strong brand identity, developing campaigns that reward return visitors and implementing email marketing strategies.  

2. Increase lead generation.

Find, locate and reach potential customers with improved marketing strategies.

If your current client database is missing key target demographics, your business is running at a loss. Without effective marketing strategies in place to increase brand awareness and generate exposure, your potential customers might not even know you exist. Consider investing in social media marketing to engage with your audience where they spend most of their time: online. Some other techniques include paid advertising, influencer marketing and email direct marketing (eDM) campaigns.

3. Increase your sales conversion rate.

Create lasting relationships with your clientele by building rapport and nurturing your leads. 

Customers want to deal with a human being, not a robot. You are more likely to encourage sales conversations and customer loyalty by personalising your communications, replying to enquiries in a timely manner and by following up warm leads. In doing this, you might just encourage on-the-fence prospects to choose you over your competitors. Consider using a CRM system to streamline your communications and track your leads. 

4. Increase transaction frequency.

Focus on customer experience and learn from your competitors. 

Your brand’s identity is defined by the way your customers perceive the value of your products or services. For this reason, feedback is your ticket to positive brand awareness and customer loyalty. Get to know your market and offer them a meaningful experience. Consider rewarding them upon return with spend & save strategies and subscription-based loyalty programs. Unlike storewide discounting, these are personal ways to incentivise repeat purchases. 

5. Increase transaction value.

Help your customers find what they’re looking for – and more – with up-selling and cross-selling techniques. This is both good for sales and customer loyalty. 

Meet your AOV threshold and target order volume by providing valuable assistance to your customers. This can be done by up-selling and cross-selling. The former is a sales technique that encourages customers to choose a higher value purchase that better suits their needs than their original item of choice.  The second option involves introducing additional relevant products that complement your customer’s initial purchase. This should be done tastefully and without pressure, so as to not scare your prospects away. 

6. Reduce your cost of sales.

Improve efficiency in your business model to reduce the direct costs of your products or services. 

You might be spending more money on your sales strategy than necessary. Consider optimising your budget by calculating your costs of customer acquisition, your e-commerce tools and marketing strategies. What works for other businesses might be overkill for yours – and marketing companies may be reluctant to tell you that. If you think you might be overspending, look for viable alternatives that align with your business needs.

7. Reduce your overheads.

Eliminate or better manage your fixed business costs.

By focusing on your gross profit margins and costs of goods sold (COGS), you get real visibility into your ROI. Fixed costs like rent, shipping charges or duty fees and marketing expenses are just a few of the overheads that can be dragging your bottom line down. Consider doing a break-even analysis, optimising your supply chain, reviewing your purchasing policy and better understanding your general Terms of Trade.