Market Like You Mean It

Most people think a business plan is for small companies who are trying to get funding, but a business plan is primarily just that…a plan. It’s a map for you…the owner or manager. It will help you to visualize where your company is headed in great detail and work out any kinks before they really become kinks.

Anyone who has ever actually created a business plan before knows that it’s actually a very enlightening experience. If you thought you knew your business…try explaining it in writing. Suddenly you’ll realize that your anticipated cash flow is much less — or maybe more — than you expected.

If you need a boost getting started, check out Carolyn’s article over at the Hundred Dollar Business about the essentials of a business plan. BPlans.com might also give you some inspiration (i.e. - templates).

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.

Hello folks, it’s been too long.

I just want to mention briefly today, how important it is to keep you existing customers.

“But Ryan,” you say, “some of them are ridiculously demanding. They make unreasonable demands that I can’t justify.”

Okay, that’s a fair complaint. Just remember, it costs 4 to 7 times more money to get a new customer than to keep an existing one. If your customer is making you any money at all, even if it’s just a bit, do you absolute best to keep ‘em.

Disclaimer: if you happen to have the fortunate problem of more demand than you can handle, then maybe it IS right for you to drop one or two of your less profitable customers in order to take on new ones. IMPORTANT: This must be done very thoughtfully. Always consider the effects that dropping a client will have in the long-run. Just because a customer is making you very little money now (or even losing you money), is it possible that keeping them around could be profitable to you in the distant future.