January 1, 2020
6 min reading
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur the collaborators are his.
I’ll just go out and say it. I hate New Year’s resolutions. We have all been there. Start the new year in a spirit of optimism, trying to do something new to improve your life: start a diet, sign up for a gym subscription, be kind to other people, and never last more than a few days. Starting in 2020, if you want to seriously advance your business in 2020, your business needs something stronger and more sustainable than a New Year’s resolution. After all, as we’ve all shown in our personal lives – by being unable to stop eating carbs and not being willing to go to the gym in the dead of winter, you’re very unlikely to make immediate transformational changes. It is more reasonable to move forward based on the characteristics of success we already have. Let’s call them “New Year’s Nudges.”
Related: 4 growth tricks to make 2020 your best year
Below are some of the “Nudges’s New Year’s Nudges” sales and marketing to help your business grow in 2020.
1. Keep your current customers.
Don’t take for granted your existing customers. When most entrepreneurs or marketers are thinking about sales targets for 2020, they tend to think in terms of the new, not the old. They are excited about acquiring new business and new customers. It often seems more exciting to go out looking for new customers, expand into new markets, and otherwise generate bright new business. However, to grow, your current customers need to be happy. It’s not boring, it’s safe!
Your existing customer base represents one of your great sales growth opportunities, only selling more to people who already know you, trust you, and buy you. Every dollar counts the same, whether it’s a dollar you get from a new customer or an existing customer. Keep in mind that your ongoing customer relationships have significant vital value in terms of the thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars you will earn in revenue from that customer during the (hopefully) many years you have been doing business together. .
So, as you begin your new year, be sure to show some recognition to your existing customers. Check in with them. Listen to them. Be sure to pay attention to your problems and address any questions before they become a problem. The best way to grow your business is to have a solid base of loyal and existing customers. Then you can have the confidence and stability to go looking for new accounts.
2. Re-evaluate your marketing spending.
The new year is a good time to take a step back and get an overview of how you spend money on marketing. What worked last year? What tactics were surprisingly effective and which channels performed lower? You won’t have to reinvent the wheel, but it’s worth taking the time to re-evaluate where your marketing dollars are going and if you want to try something new. Think of marketing as an “investment portfolio”. Ideally, you should have a well-diversified portfolio of different types of marketing tactics, including inbound contact generation, outbound contact generation, PPC ads, search engine marketing, industry event attendance, network-sponsored posts social media, LinkedIn networks and maybe even some analog methods like direct mail and cold calling.
Related: Top 10 Instagram Tools for 2020
3. Be patient.
Many business owners tend to view January as a high-intensity time to start coming in and out the door with big breakthroughs in sales goals. But that can be a mistake. Don’t assume that just for January, you need to focus on making sales right away. It’s a 12-month task and January has nothing magical about it. Your customers may not be ready to buy yet. Depending on your industry, you may have a longer sales cycle. Buyers may not know what their budgets are for the new year; there may be a lag time as they catch up and find out what their needs are for the following year. So of course, make productive use of your time during the month of January and don’t panic if you don’t get immediate results. Use this time to lay the groundwork for future sales.
4. Take risks.
Always look for new solutions, vendors and possibilities to help you grow in 2020. Be prepared to try new things, try some different posts, try some different platforms, you may need to find the right channel combination. marketing. , marketing message and time to reach the right audience.
Are there any fairs you’d love to attend, but didn’t want to invest in the money to exhibit? Try it this year. Are there any potential companies you’d love to sell to, but don’t feel ready to make the playing field? Use this year as your time to connect with some great leads and start these conversations. As an entrepreneur, fortune favors the daring. No one will come down from heaven and anoint you and say, “You’re ready to talk to this Fortune 100 customer.” You have to decide for yourself when you are ready, and you are probably more ready than you realize.
Related: 5 New Year’s resolutions that your company should take by 2020
5. Stay focused.
Stop reading these articles and work on reminders 1-4. But really, growing a business is not a matter of making a big move that changes everything. It’s about introducing yourself every day and progressing progressively by staying focused and doing the right things. Don’t expect the new year to bring magical results. Instead, invest in the daily magic of building customer relationships, researching, doing legal tasks, getting a general idea of what your business and your customers need, and then taking some calculated risks. to try new things.
New Year’s resolutions (for your personal life or for your business) shouldn’t feel like “work”. They must be fun and inspiring! Hopefully these little New Year’s Nudges will help guide you in the right direction for a successful year. Happy New Year!