At Kirkwood Wilson Accountants we have seen our clients businesses grow and grow. Even in the struggling economic climate, many clients have achieved their goals. Now that the economy is slowly improving, we want to offer you some useful tips to ensure you also improve the profitability of your business.
1. Ask for New Business
Avoid being too pushy but always ask your customers for a referral. It is often considered impolite, but all you have to do is say “Thanks for your business, we always appreciate a referral so perhaps you could recommend us to a friend.” At Kirkwood Wilson Accountants, we offer our clients various incentives for referring us. At the moment we are offering a reduction in fees depending on the size of the referral.
2. Use Your Existing Customer Base
It is often said that it is 7 times more expensive to win a new client than it is to sell to an existing client. If you are not following up with past customers on a regular basis, you are not making the most of a valuable source of new business. At Kirkwood Wilson we would suggest you make a record of all customers or clients that haven’t transacted in the last 6 months and conduct an email campaign. Set yourself a target to do some networking i.e. lunch, golf, networking groups etc.
3. Marketing Consistently
Once you have committed to owning and running a business, you must be equally committed to marketing and selling the products and services of that business. Marketing is not a luxury. If nobody knows who you are and what you sell, the phone will never ring. To get more out of your marketing, create a simple marketing plan that includes marketing activity every day, every week and every month.
4. Inspire Your Team
As a business owner or manager, you want to get the best out of your people. Communication is the key to truly inspiring your team. Inspirational communicators tend to have an inherent appeal that motivates people. So how can you be a bit more inspirational when you are communicating with your team? Training and development is always a positive way to motivate and inspire our team at Kirkwood Wilson, we recommended this to be done on a regular basis.
5. Connect With Your Team
Take the time to understand the issues faced by your team and demonstrate that you, as their manager, can help them make the right decisions to overcome those challenges. It is important that you interact with your team and build relationships with them, as when you communicate with them they will know that you have a good knowledge and understanding of day-to-day life in the business rather than just “
6. Don’t Hide Behind Technology
If you really want to inspire your team, don’t just send them an email. Equally, don’t stand up at the top of the room and use a PowerPoint. Instead, create an opportunity to speak with them in a relaxed environment. Maybe go out for lunch or even go for a drink after work on a Friday. At Kirkwood Wilson, we believe it is good to talk. Emails can be easily misinterpreted; face to face communication can avoid any misunderstandings.
7. Suggest Ways to Help Your Team to Succeed
If you want to inspire your team, share your own experiences. Take the time to compare your story to the challenges faced by your team. Explain how the solutions you used to overcome challenges can be used by your team.
8. Focus on a Vision
When you are communicating with your staff, share not only the company’s vision but also your own Vision for the company. Let them know what management is trying to achieve, where the company is going and how the management team is trying to get there.
9. Plan Ahead and Schedule
Social media is the way forward to advertise your business. It is a free marketing tool which allows you to instantly gain access to your target audience. You need a management tool to keep on top of all the social media activity which takes place. We would recommend a platform such as HootSuite to plan and schedule your posts.
10. Call to Action
Don’t bury your head in the sand and hope your concerns will go away. Pick up the phone and call the experts. We at Kirkwood Wilson are here to give sound, friendly and helpful business advice to all.
