6 Ways to Cut Costs (& Boost Business) in a Tough Economy
Nov 19, 2008 Uncategorized, business, marketing, sem, small business marketing
You’ve no doubt heard about the economic turmoil all around us. Maybe the recession is hitting your business particularly hard. While there’s nothing we can do to fix the economy, here are some ideas you can implement today that will help you cut costs and save big bucks.
6. Make Friends with a Competitor
You’ve been in business long enough to know that you can’t please everyone. And why would you want to? There are some customers out there who just wouldn’t be a good fit to work with your company. But guess what… some other business is a great fit. And that’s okay. Because most of your customers wouldn’t be a good fit with their company.
Now that we’ve clarified that, working with the competition becomes a great opportunity. If you’re too expensive for some clients, refer them to someone less expensive. If you don’t offer exactly the service someone is looking for, tell them who does. You’ll quickly realize that you’re spending less time dealing with frustrated clients, and more time with the profitable ones. And what’s more, your competitors will start sending customers to you. It’s all about building good karma. Cost = FREE
5. Accept Payment Online
Do you offer online payment to your clients? If not, you probably should be. These days, people expect to be able to pay with their credit card. And they don’t trust letting that card out of their site. Offering online payment options through a reputable provider makes your business that much easier to work with. And the best part is, it’s not that difficult. Just 15 minutes to set up an account with PayPal or Google Checkout and you’ll be ready to accept payments from Visa, MasterCard, AmericanExpress, and Discover.
Your customers can feel safe that you won’t ever have access to their card, and you can rest easy knowing that nobody can break into your office and steal valuable information. Cost = FREE
4. Stop Mailing Invoices
How much time does your receptionist spend printing/folding/stuffing/addressing/mailing invoices each month? How much money do you spend on postage? paper? envelopes? Is tracking down late payments sucking up time that you could be using to make money? Enough is enough!
There are a mountain of companies that can automate your invoicing process including: Zoho Invoice (my personal preference), Invoice Journal (my 2nd favorite), FreshBooks, and Blinksale. These products take all the complication out of billing your clients.
For example with Zoho:
- Just click on “Create a New Invoice”
- Choose a client and the service performed
- Verify the correct amount
- Click “Save and Send”.
An invoice will be emailed to your client along with a link to make a secure payment via PayPal. If they forget to pay, a reminder will automatically be sent to them later. Zoho shows you at a glance how much you’ve invoiced, how much you’ve collected, and how much is still outstanding. Cost = FREE to send a few invoices; up to $35/month to send a lot of invoices.
Jump to the next page for 3 more suggestions…
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Tags: advertising, automatic invoicing, business, cut costs, email marketing, invoice software, marketing, online payment, ppc, ppc advertising, sem, small business online marketing
Should Have a Business Plan?
Jul 25, 2007 business, small business marketing
Absolutely. Good post on why you should have a (simple) business plan.
Tags: growth
Free Restrooms Inside
Jul 6, 2007 business, small business marketing
Why do so many stores have a sign that reads, “Restrooms are for paying customers”? Sure, I understand that it can be costly to have a bathroom that you need to maintain. But how much money do these same businesses spend just to get people into their stores? Then they discourage them from coming inside. It doesn’t make sense. Don’t dissuade these potential customers, welcome them.
If I ran a retail store, I would put a sign outside that said, “Free Restrooms Inside”. People who come into the store will end up walking past the clothes, or candy, or whatever I put in their path and some of them will end up buying something. Sure a few of them won’t buy anything…this time…buy they’ve come in and they’ll come back. The last thing I want to do is spend a bunch of money advertising my company and then make them feel unwelcome when they get there.
McNice?!?!
Jun 26, 2007 business, small business marketing
Here’s my attempt at a Seth Godin-style post (I’m just missing the cell phone snapshot…will add later if I can figure it out). As I left the McDonalds drive-through this afternoon with my dollar-menu sandwich, I saw a sign that really impressed me. It said, “We know you have other options. Thank you for choosing McDonalds today.”
I was amazed. How cool is that? Sure it’s only a metal sign. Most people probably never notice it. But probably McDonalds spent about $50 bucks (or something) for the sign and more to keep it clean. At least that’s something. Why don’t more companies do that?
Leave your personality at the door
Jun 26, 2007 business, marketing, small business marketing
Who decided that companies can’t have a personality. Sure if you’re selling a product or service directly to consumers (read: families or individuals) you can do funny stuff like pick on cavemen or throw a truck down a mountain. But for some reason, if you’re selling a service to another business, you’ve got to drown your sense of humor and start using words like, “actionable solutions” and “return on investment”. Are there not people working for these companies that might actually appreciate some humor now and again?
I’m interested in your thoughts. Are there any business-to-business companies out there that still have a sense of humor?
Tags: pensive thoughts
Get a Little Controversial
Jun 1, 2007 business, small business marketing
Yesterday, Google released Street View, a controversial feature of Google Maps that lets you really explore a city as if you were walking down the street there. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but some people have complained about individuals, license plates, etc. showing up in the photos.
Now I’m not here to discuss the ethics of showing people on the internet. This little project has generated tons of news coverage for them. Go ahead, flip on CNN, Fox News, whatever your flavor. I promise it won’t be long before they start talking about Google’s Newest Blunder. But look what this has done for Google. With almost no effort on Google’s part, millions of people have been notified about Big-G’s newest product. And a large portion of them will likely browse out to it and try it out. That’s exactly what Google wants.
So how can you make this work for you?
While I don’t recommend tarnishing your company’s good name, I do recommend doing something different…something that will get attention. For example, my company is contemplating allowing our clients to underpay us if they’re not satisfied with our services. It’s controversial in a great way. In fact, when most people hear the news, they’ll likely not believe it. They’ll think there’s a catch. But they just might spend a minute or two looking into it.
How to Treat Your Clients Well
May 28, 2007 business, marketing, small business marketing
Ok, so I’ve posted about bad customer service…but what level of customer service should we expect (or provide if you own a business)? Here are two examples:
Old Navy
My wife used to work at Old Navy. They had a store policy (I’m not sure if it’s everywhere or just in our store) that they can’t tell customers that the store is closing. That’s right, it could be 11:30 at night and if you’re in there shopping, the most they can do is approach you and ask, “Can I help you find anything today?” There are no announcements over the P.A. system reminding you that they appreciate your business but only when it’s convenient for them. “Now wait a minute, isn’t that lame for the employees?” Yes. But Old Navy isn’t in business to serve themselves, they’re in business to serve their customers. Any company that forgets that, has another thing coming.
Lands’ End
I bought a messenger bag from Lands’ End. After about 3 months of carrying books in it (imagine that), it tore. More specifically, the fabric began to tear where the strap joins it. I checked out the Lands’ End website and it said all their products are “Guaranteed. Period.” So, I called them up. A woman answered (not a computer). I explained my situation and asked what options I had.
She explained that I had three options. (1) I could return the bag for a full refund, (2) I could exchange the bag for a product of equal or lesser value, or (3) I could return the bag for credit. Now these were all great options but I still really liked my bag. I asked if there was an option to have it repaired. After about 5 seconds of researching, she told me, “Sure, we can repair it if you’d like.” She then emailed me a label that I could use to ship my bag back to them (at their cost). They repaired the back and returned it to me (again at their cost) in no time.
What did all of this cost them? Shipping both directions, and the time for someone to repair my bag. What did they get out of it? A customer for life.
Conclusion
Companies spend inordinate amounts of money trying to differentiate themselves. They come up with unique logos, crazy television commercials. Viral internet videos. But they don’t do something very basic…astound their existing customers. Do this and your customers will do your marketing for you.
Tags: Buzz Marketing, growth
How to Treat Your Clients Like Crap
May 21, 2007 business, marketing, small business marketing
My wife and I are pretty patient people. We don’t easily get upset. We aren’t picky eaters. We seldom argue. But we have decided that we will never go back to Blockbuster Video.
“Why” you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s because they treat their customers like crap. You’re thinking, “Wait a minute, I’ve been in there plenty of times and I never noticed anything wrong.” Here’s why…because you’re used to getting treated like that gum on the bottom of your shoe. We’ve become so used to mediocre service, that it has become acceptable…even normal. We’ve become so used to shopping at WalMart that we don’t remember what it’s like to go into a store that actually has helpful salespeople.
A Bad Example
Here’s what irked me. A couple of summers ago, my wife and I were temporarily living across the country. We didn’t have family or friends nearby so we often resorted to renting movies. The problem was that I didn’t usually get home from working until about 10 PM and the local store closed at 11 so by the time we chatted about our day, decided what to do, and then made it to the store, it was about 10:40.
We would walk into the store excited to find just the right movie only to be reminded by the associate at the cash register that, “We’re closing in 20 minutes!” (As if I had somehow missed the big sign right next to the door handle that said, “Open ‘till 11 PM”). This wouldn’t have been too bad except that every two minutes, another associate would approach us and repeat, “We’re closing in 18 minutes.” I’d think to myself, “Wow, really? How weird, that’s the same time the girl at the cash register said you’d be closing.” To add to this frustration, if we happened to arrive at 10:55, the doors would already be closed. “Wait I thought the store was open ‘till 11. Maybe you should change the sign to read, ‘Open ‘till 10:55’.”
After two or three nights of this, we got fed up. We decided that we’d go somewhere where we were appreciated as customers. Hollywood video was just another block away, open ‘till midnight and we never once heard anyone say, “We’re closing in X minutes.”
Tags: Buzz Marketing, growth
Getting Customers
May 5, 2007 business, marketing, small business marketing
Every now and then we get into a rut. Business is slow and we can’t seem to think of a way to break free. But, to paraphrase my friend Carolyn, “at the end of the day…the only thing that matters is getting new customers.”
It’s true, you can spend entire days ordering inventory, sending invoices, calling suppliers and customers, organizing your desk, and putting out various brushfires but if you haven’t generated any more business, you’re not really making any progress.
This is not by any means intended to be a comprehensive post about how to get new clients. Instead, I just wanted to point out a valuable post that Carolyn made over at the Hundred Dollar Business blog called, “42 Ways To Get Customers!”
Her list offers some ideas that might spark your creativity again. It’ll remind you of things you could be doing but aren’t. So go on, check it out. Then come back here and tell me your thoughts.
Tags: growth
Do you have a purple cow?
Apr 17, 2007 business, marketing, small business marketing
Have you ever stopped by the side of the road to take a picture of a cow? Probably not. Would you stop if you saw a purple cow? I just watched a pretty entertaining video by marketing guru Seth Godin that describes how to use this “purple cow” syndrome to improve your marketing performance.
Historically, marketers have focused on getting the attention of the general majority of consumers. The problem is, these people are so inundated with marketing that they ignore nearly every attempt to pique their curiosity. Seriously, think about the billboards you passed on the way to work this morning. What were they for? What were the phone numbers they asked you to call? Do you remember any of the commercials you heard on the radio?
Seth explains that if you want to get people’s attention now, you need to have a purple cow. For example…have you ever seen an ad for LinkedIn? I haven’t. I don’t think they advertise. They don’t have to. Their members do it for them. They’ve developed a unique solution to a common problem and their customers tell their friends about it.
Watch the video and then come back here and post your comments. Tell us about other companies (that you’re familiar with) who have successfully utilized the “purple cow” philosophy.
Tags: Buzz Marketing, growth, viral marketing
