50 Principles of business growth

1. Study best practices. What are the best practices in your industry or field especially as it pertains to customer service, marketing and operations. Also study other fields.
2. Create a marketing strategy. What tactics will you use to achieve those strategies?
3. Create a Marketing Plan. Who is your target market? Who are your competitors? How are they different? How will you be different?
4. Use one tactic at a time so you measure it accurately.
5. Measure everything. It is important to know what is working and what is not.
6. Do what works until it stops working and then do something else.
7. Offer bonuses with 1st time purchases.
8. Up Sell, Cross-Sell and Re-sell at every purchase.
9. Stay in Contact with your customers. Develop a system where you follow up constantly. You don’t want them to forget you.
10. Hire only the best.
11. Train your people well.
12. Tell employees how their job fits into the scheme of things (bigger picture). Make sure employees are familiar with vision, mission and goals for company.
13. Work on a strategy to get big clients while also working on smaller ones.
14. Client Retention-Keep the customers you have happy.
15. Activate old clients. Entice them with a card or postcard. You might offer a discount or offer a new service.
16. Implement a Referral Program.
17. Do more than is expected. Under promise and over deliver.
18. Give great customer service. Customers are the only way we can stay in business.
19. Listen to your customers for hidden opportunities or trends that have surfaced.
20. Try new things. Don’t get stuck in a rut. Things are constantly changing. Who would have thought ten years ago people would use their cell phones to go to a website instead of a computer.
21. Always be on the lookout for what other industries are doing and having great success with.
22. Enhance customer satisfaction (foundation of future revenue growth).
23. Keep your pipeline full. Without consistent marketing and prospecting, your sales will be up and down.
24. Make growth everybody’s business not just yours including cross selling and upselling.
25. Enter into new market opportunities.
26. Create value for customers.
27. Differentiate your products and services that fill a new or unmet need
28. Use a growth agenda and do what needs to be done today
29. Generate internal growth.
30. Search for ideas for revenue growth with minimal resources.
31. Analyze everything your business does in an effort to increase sales.
32. Make growth the focus at meetings and informal discussions. Don’t waste time. Have an agenda always.
33. Challenge (or meet with) those individual’s that say growth is not possible.
34. Change your mindset. Stay positive. Be optimistic. Keep moving.
35. Look for small projects or growth ideas that will grow your business even if it’s over time. Imagine the possibility of several small ideas that add up massively instead of looking months or years for the next big thing.
36. Reposition yourself in the marketplace.
37. Determine what is working and multiply it.
38. Raise prices 10%.
39. Eliminate bottom 20% of customers. You do know who they are don’t you. If you don’t find out now.
40. Realize that Marketing is long term.
41. Eliminate the clutter in your business.
42. Make small improvements daily. Resolve to continuous improvement. Make it a part of your company philosophy.
43. Look at small problems within your business solve at least one of them daily.
44. Study competition regularly. How are your different from your competitors?
45. Ask clients why they buy from you. Customers love to talk. The question is will you ask and then listen.
46. Conduct a survey with your customers. Ask them what keeps them up a night. What problems do they need a solution for? Look for gaps no one is filling by looking at the competition and by listening to the customer
47. Get organized.
48. Look at where you are currently. How many customers do you have currently? How many sales are you making monthly? How much money are you making each month?
49. Analyze every single expense, starting with the biggest item.
50. Develop a Strategic Plan.