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The lull you've reached in your business
now can actually be one of the most frustrated points in every
company's lifespan. Your marketing plan has reached its critical
mass and now it's time to expand into entirely new arenas of
marketing, conversion and systems. At this point, you're going to
want to actively develop both the front-end and back-end of your
business. I call this a Level 3 business. Congrats! You've reached a
point in your business where it's time to start changing everything
you do! Yea! (that's not to say you've been doing things wrong up
until now, but your business is growing up and you need to let it do
that.)
The New Goals of a Level 3
Business:
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Get to REALLY know your customers
(somewhat like a scary Big Brother way)
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Get to REALLY know your business' innards.
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Get to REALLY know your market and
more importantly, your competition.
Getting to REALLY know your customers
(Big Brother-style)
The internet is a particularly unique
venue for selling goods because 1984
has essentially arrived in some respects. You (and your customers)
are completely traceable. With some simple tools
you can see where they came from, where they went, what they clicked
on, how long they stayed...and nowadays even where their eyeballs
focused the longest! Isn't technology mind-blowing?
But you don't have to go down the software
and technology route just yet. A simple home-grown way to do a quick
customer-focused website analysis is to ask a neighbor to help you
out. Invite over someone that isn't familiar with your site but has
some time to sit with you. Set up simple tasks for them and control
your desire to guide them through your site. Pay attention to
everything they do, their facial expressions, and ask them
periodically to describe their impression of your site.
Then ask them to tell you what sites they
do like on the web and help them tell you exactly what they like
about those sites. Not everyone can really pinpoint why they prefer
to buy from Amazon over Sports Authority, even though the price and
product is the same. But I bet if you sit down over a cup of coffee
you can figure it out together and incorporate what you find out
into your site design.
Get to REALLY know your Business' Innards
You've been running your business solo or
with a partner since the beginning and it's worked out really well
for you. But if you're spending the majority of your day shipping,
packaging and invoicing you're not spending much time growing your
business. Shipping, packaging and invoicing are really very basic
tasks. Most likely, there's someone out there that can handle
it--for $10 an hour. Now you've suddenly gained another 5 hours a
day to focus on all sorts of business-growing activities like:
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developing new connections with
manufacturers or wholesalers
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incorporating videos or other modern
marketing tools into your site
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starting a new marketing campaign
focusing on your slowest sellers
Excited to get started?! Go out and find
yourself a helper. Spend a day training them.
psst! There's a trick here! The best way to learn about how
well your business really runs on the inside, is to have to teach it
to somebody else. This is where you're going to figure out if you're
doing things in the most efficient way possible or your packaging
system could use a little work. Take some time with your first hire
to develop some smoothness in your business.
Get to REALLY know your Market and your
Competition
Ok, so I started this page turning you
into "Big Brother" now I'm turning you into a spy. Isn't
business exciting?! Once your business has reached Level 3, it's
time to really start paying attention to the latest innovations in
your market and others. Investigate video
marketing, which newsletter
images and templates convert
the best, and even more traditional avenues like trade shows and
events.
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