The fall is a critical selling period for a lot of small businesses. When kids have resumed school and prospects have returned from summer vacation in the fall, customers get to talk about their plans and needs for the future.
Here are some ways you could consider maximizing revenue growth opportunities this fall.
- Invest in a CRM System
One of the key steps you could take toward streamlining your sales process is setting up a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. This database will hold all your important business contacts, including partners, prospects, and existing customers. There are various CRM products in the market, from free versions, such as the Zoho CRM and Hubspot CRM, to enterprise-level products like Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and Salesforce.com. These products’ core capabilities include contact management, opportunity tracking, reports, and communications integration (to track meetings, phone calls, and emails).
- Connect with Your Partners
You may consider using the summer season to update your partners before the fall, when the focus will be on winning over prospects. Specifically, connect with all partners that can potentially bring you referrals, such as your vendors and other referral sources. Use this period to inform them about the partnership opportunities you offer, your services and capabilities, and your ideal prospect profile.
- Focus Your Efforts
It’s easy to be tempted to pursue every opportunity that comes your way. However, it isn’t easy to scale a company without a clear and focused growth strategy. Furthermore, a lack of a clear focus will make it hard for prospects to believe that you have the expertise to serve their unique needs. Consider cutting down your offerings and settling only for the few that are most profitable and make business sense. Other ways of becoming more focused include developing new offerings that serve particular needs or targeting a specific demographic.
- Develop Something New
Summer can be an ideal time to develop new services and products. If you sell a range of services, you may want to consider bundling them into a package. You may want to include a support services package (for instance, if you sell solar equipment, you may want to include installation and annual maintenance services in your sales agreement).
- Host Special Programs and Introduce New Offers
Summer is a great time to start preparing for how you’ll attract new clients and build traction during the fall. For example, you could craft a marketing strategy for a new special offer. You could also engage your prospects by providing educational information through an online webinar or a seminar series. You may want to also find ways to bolster your referral partnerships by creating a referral program that will engage and incentivize partners to refer your business to other customers.
For more information and resources that’ll help you build a thriving business in Ventura, Santa Barbara, or Los Angeles County, contact us now at Economic Development Collaborative.
