The Key to Growing Your Small Business

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Ok, maybe that title was a little too tricky, because I don’t have the key, in fact I was going to ask you if you had it. But you clicked the title, perhaps thinking I had stumbled across the magic formula and was now sharing it with the world. That just indicates to me that I am not the only small business person looking for ideas about ways to grow their business.

No, you are barking up the wrong tree if you think I have the key to growing your business. All I have is questions, a few observations and not a lot else. But before I go on, let me back up. The seed for this post was planted a few days ago during a conversation with my wife. We were kind of brainstorming ways to grow my office supply business. She had several good ideas in particular, but in the larger sense, it got me thinking about what works in terms of landing new customers.

I am not sure I know. In fact, I know that I do not know. But I am going to go over the pros and cons of several sales generating methods we talked about.

Cold Calling
The old faithful of the sales world. Countless books have been written about this method, that is probably every salesperson’s least favorite activity.

Cons: You are interrupting a complete stranger who is focused on something else entirely who may or may not even need your service. Think about it in reverse…how receptive are you to being cold called?
Pros: It is a numbers game, do it a few thousand times and you will get a few customers.

Bottom Line: Most people do not have the time to devote to making the large number of calls necessary to tilt the numbers in their favor.

Lead trading/Networking groups
Tired of cold calling, many sales people gravitate towards the greener pastures of BNI or other groups like it.

Cons: The idea behind these groups is good in principle, but despite what they tell you, everyone there is truly only on the lookout for themselves and 90% of the promising talk you hear at the meetings about things they are working on for you is just that…talk. But it does keep you coming back…to a point.
Pros: There are complimentary professions that these groups can suit quite well. I am thinking about mortgage bankers, real estate agents, home inspectors, for example, where a lead for one can be a lead for all.

Bottom line: This method might bear limited representation in your arsenal, but be exceedingly cautious as to the time and money you invest in these groups, as you can quickly get to the point where the amount of business you would need from the group to recoup it’s cost is unattainable.

Referral Programs
Alright, now we are getting somewhere, right? I mean, this approach seems pretty valid, after all, turning your most satisfied customers into sales reps for your products seems like a pretty solid idea. Well, maybe.
Cons If you have to ask your customers to recommend you, you probably aren’t doing a good enough job to begin with. Even with some incentive, though, you are still depending on your customers, who have lives and real jobs and a ton of other things on their minds, to remember and spread your message at appropriate times. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t, but I wouldn’t pay them in advance. Most people won’t go out of there way for their own mother…you are asking a lot.
Pros: There is no greater source of new business than someone that comes to you via an extremely satisfied customer.

Bottom Line: Again, please be careful with the cost. Paying too much for referrals just puts farther out in time that point at which the new customer becomes profitable to you. And most of them just won’t be around that long. Better to do an amazing job for the customers you have and let any referrals you get be the icing on your new customer cake.

Social Media/Networking
You know, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc? The new kids on the block. Finally something is here to ease all the troubles you are having with the previous methods and really start generating some business for you. We’ll see.
Cons: These methods have a black hole-like gravitational pull on your time, and I don’t mean in a good way in case that statement was not obvious. It can be hard, if not impossible, to measure your return on the time spent. Actually, when you hear someone say that, it is code for “there is no return yet, but I am still hopeful that one day there will be”.
Pros: These methods can be legitimate networking tools, if you find active groups in your area and get involved in meeting the other users. Think of these sites like you would a chamber of commerce.

Bottom line: In golf terms, this is your putter. Useful and important, yes. But there are 13 other clubs in your bag that are needed just as much along the way to ultimately get your ball into the hole. And if you spend all your time on the practice green, you won’t ever become proficient with the other clubs.

I am sure by now there is outcry on the parts of those that evangelize on behalf of any one of these methods. And there are no doubt exceptions that prove the rule, as they say. But those will come from those selling the method. Think about your experiences actually trying to sell products with any of these methods. Are they honestly that much different? I would love to hear about it if they are.

Until then, because it is all you can do, I am going to keep working hard, trying to find something that works. I will let you know when I do.