Document Your Sales Process
I have been asked, “Why do I need a defined sales process?” My answer is you don’t…unless, of course, you: A defined process makes it easier to test ideas for improving sales results. A defined sales process with conversion rates can allow you to quickly generate, pipeline and revenue reports. For example, if you have 50…
Keep readingHow To Work With Annoying Manager Traits
We’ve all heard it before, “People leave their managers, not their companies.” While statistics vary, at least one recent survey shows that over half of respondents quit a job because of their boss, and an additional one-third have considered quitting because of their boss. So, yeah: People who quit jobs often actually quit their manager. More…
Keep readingScale Your Business Using Retention & Endorsement
During a recent mentoring session, I was asked how can a business scale in today’s climate? For a business to scale, consider the following fact…studies show it costs five times more to sell to a new customer than to sell to a returning customer. So, instead of focusing all your attention on gaining more leads, why…
Keep readingYour Time-Focus Should Change While Starting A Business
Before I get into today’s thought, I would like to share some facts. Small businesses make up 99.9% of all US businesses and create 1.5 million jobs annually. There were 32.5 million small U.S. businesses in 2021, according to the SBA. Of those, 22 million were individually operated, meaning they have no other employees other than…
Keep readingAligning The Marketing-Sales Process For Profit
During the pandemic, small business weaknesses were exposed. Many failed because they did not align their marketing and sales functions into an integrated process. By this I mean that marketing, the sales personnel and all of the company employees must work together in the areas of strategy, tools, and customer acquisition to maximize the business profit…
Keep readingPut eMail Into Your Marketing Strategy
There’s an old saying in online marketing: “The best time to start an email list was two years ago; the second best time to start is now.” Email, SEO and blogs continuously outperform their social media counterparts. According to several studies, about 58% of consumers check their email first thing in the morning…64% of small businesses use…
Keep readingQuiet-Quitting Hype or Actual Business Issue?
All hiring starts with retention. I recently heard the term quiet-quitting used to describe when employees were not outright quitting their job, but they were quitting the idea of going above and beyond. They still performed their duties, but were no longer participating in the hustle culture mentality that work has to be their life. In…
Keep readingKnow Your Customer Acquisition Cost
Recently while mentoring, a business owner asked how to calculate the customer acquisition cost (CAC). Here is the easy answer: Thoughts on customer acquisition marketing strategy tactics that affect CAC: For more thoughts on customer acquisition strategy and retention strategy, view the free micro-thought video entitled Marketing For Business Owners, Session 1. Copyright ©John Trenary 2022
Keep readingThe Search For A Product – Market Fit
Entrepreneurs basically have two options to get an answer on the viability of their product/service before attempting to carve out a new market for it. The true test of viability isn’t whether or not the product offering works for the intended purpose. It’s also not whether or not you can sell it to a customer. True…
Keep readingBusiness Scaling Strategy During Recession
Every startup wants to scale, and a lot of them start scaling, but then they realize that as their top line is growing, their bottom line is shrinking. At the same time, in today’s inflationary environment, many businesses are seeing increased costs and are forced to turn to cost-cutting strategies like bulk-buying and automation while consumer…
Keep readingMarket Strategy Implementation Requires Supporting Tactics
Over the past years, the economy has taken a major digital shift that has impacted the way businesses connect and interact online with their customers. All company communication, sales demos, & business meetings have turned mostly virtual with remote and hybrid work environments. This digital shift has also shaped the consumer expectations of all businesses. Now…
Keep readingFirst, Define A Target Market
When I ask small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, “Who is your target market?”, many answer with one word…“everyone”. While many may think everyone could benefit from their product/service offering, they soon begin to realize that everyone is not their customer. Initially, it is critical that entrepreneurs identify a big market that has underserved customers.This group…
Keep readingHow To Establish Pricing For Your Offering
I am often asked how to establish a product/service price. Here are some background thoughts: Even with these thoughts in mind, determining the price to set for a product or service can be challenging if some historical price and demand data is not available. So be sure to considered the following questions when setting a price:…
Keep readingBusiness Model Canvas
A business model framework is a way to visually describe how an organization creates, delivers and captures value. The Business Model Canvas (BMC) usually consists of nine building blocks, each represented by a rectangle. The right side of the BMC focuses on the customer (external), while, the left side of the canvas focuses on the business…
Keep readingProduct Concept Landing Page Testing
There are many ways to test customer acceptance of a digital or physical product offering concept or service. Some marketers use focus groups while others use mailing lists and surveys. The internet has provided yet another platform for evaluating new product acceptance that involves landing pages. A product landing page is a web page designed to…
Keep readingRevenue First Sales Startup Strategy
One of the best ways to achieve entrepreneurial success is to anticipate and correct problems associated with achieving sales traction by looking at your sales process before starting your business. Regardless of who will be selling your product offering or how it’s going to be sold, be sure to spend time developing a coherent sales strategy…
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