 It's a challenge as old as commerce itself: how do I sell more products and services to my customers? Acquiring a customer usually involves a healthy upfront investment, so why not improve your return on investment by selling them as much as possible? This is much easier said than done and most companies fail miserably at continual selling because they neglect one or all of the three keys to upselling: connecting the dots, timing it right and adding value. Connecting the dots Leading your customer by the hand and taking them on a journey, with each step being a logical progression from the previous one, is a great way to boost sales. The first step is usually your core product or service — the reason customers walked through your door in the first place. Your first upsell should be something directly related to your core service and it should be something simple with a low barrier to entry to establish yourself as a supplier of more than one item or solution. Experimenting with the upsell will help you gauge your customers' needs and interest in different services. The ideal upsell will also serve as an indicator of interest that you can expand upon. Finally, it must be compatible with the strategic direction you want to go as a vendor or supplier. For example, if you are a printing company and your core product is business cards, logo design might be a natural progression since many of your clients might not have a logo or need something more professional. From there, other graphic design projects become a natural fit. After all, your firm designed your customer's logo, so you already know their style and color palette. Now that you are handling more advanced design and collateral development, you are the logical choice to promote and distribute them with marketing and advertising services. Timing Timing is another critical factor in the upsell process. Data can give you an advantage. Your core service provides a window into your customer's situation, and every product or service you sell after is another data point providing more insight into yet more opportunities. If you are the first vendor to identify a need and the first to have a solution in front of the customer, you improve your odds of closing that opportunity by order of magnitude. In our business card example, if an existing customer orders more business cards at an accelerated pace, it's likely because they're growing and have new employees. You might be the first to know that this small business customer has just become a medium-sized business. Therefore, some of your more advanced services might now interest them. The window for offering exemplary service at the right time is usually narrow, so the more this process can be automated and as close to instantaneous as possible, the better. This is where marketing automation systems can shine, but only if you supply them with the correct data and logic to trigger relevant offers. Drip marketing campaigns are much more effective when they promote a product or service related to something the customer just did or a challenge they encountered. Adding value This is the most critical aspect of selling services to your customers, and it's not just about offering discounts or package deals. The number one question you have to answer is, "why would I get a service through you instead of from dozens of other places?" Price and convenience are insufficient to compel customers to expand their relationship with you. True comfort involves saving customers time and stress and getting them to their objectives faster. Our business card example makes a compelling case for convenience: "Sure, you could get a logo designed from someone else, but you'll have to find someone first, and then get a copy of the logo in the right format, and then come back and upload it. But if you do it through me, it's guaranteed to be the right size and format for your business cards. I'll also have your logo on file for any future business cards you might want to print, and you can get this all done in one step right now." The key is the integrated experience. Suppose you sell a logo design service that takes a few weeks or involves working with a different team that sends the customer the output. In that case, all of your advantages over other designers disappear. The same applies to any service. If a customer buys an add-on from you, it should work out of the box and better with your core service than if the customer had purchased the add-on anywhere else. What not to do One of the best examples of how not to sell services to your clients is through marketplaces. To stay relevant, many companies that serve small businesses have attempted to cross-sell a variety of online services. Several of these companies have invested tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars into building an online catalog of SaaS applications in the hopes that their clients will appreciate the convenience of sourcing them all from one location. However, these marketplaces don't work because they miss out on all three points above. Instead of offering many products and services, confusing customers, and diluting your value proposition, provide a curated set of products that work better because they come from you. Offer them at the moment your customer needs them. Saving customers time and helping them achieve their objectives faster can transform a one-time transaction into an ongoing relationship. Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/
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 The rise in technology adoption is at the heart of what today's businesses have become, making it easy for business owners to bridge the gap between them and their target audience. But how effective is your business in bridging that gap? One twist of events — a.k.a. the pandemic — was all it took for many companies to realize that the future of technology, especially in business, was already upon us. The business narrative went from a standstill because of inactivity to a surge of activity as the new normal ushered us into new horizons. Content became in demand as every business's target audience now had one location in common: the internet. It became the vessel through which brands could get their products and services across to their target audience. But with your audience's attention span limited to eight seconds, you race against time to get their attention ahead of everything else jousting for it. Your content has to be effective, well crafted, engaging, and relevant. But to achieve that, you need a content strategy. What is a content strategy? Content strategy is a plan for creating, delivering, and managing content to achieve specific business or communication goals. Every business has the sole objective of attracting and converting its customers into sales. However, it is not always as easy to accomplish as it sounds. It involves a series of activities such as defining which topics to cover, tonality, content format, and how often to publish new content. Having a content strategy is an important first step in any content marketing initiative. Without a plan, it's easy to get lost in the sea of content options and end up wasting time and resources on content that doesn't serve your goals. A good content strategy should answer the following questions:
Having these in hand provides your business with clarity and direction to pivot your content marketing. How to execute a content strategy Just as there is no one-size-fits-all formula in branding, there is no perfect formula to execute a content strategy. Executing a content strategy varies from one business to another, as goals and objectives are not the same. However, some steps can be taken to ensure you execute a content strategy effectively. 1. Define your goals and objectives clearly One of the most important aspects of executing a successful content strategy is defining your goals and objectives clearly from the outset. Without clear goals and objectives, it can be challenging to measure the success of your content strategy. When defining your goals, it is important to make sure that they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART). This way, your goals are realistic and can be achieved within a reasonable timeframe. 2. Develop a detailed, thorough content plan It is important to create a detailed content plan to execute a content strategy. Over 78% of businesses with documented content marketing strategies were very successful in 2021. A plan outlines the types of content that will be created, when they will be published, and where they will be distributed. Doing so will help ensure that your content strategy is executed effectively and that your goals and objectives are met. 3. Create high-quality, engaging content that is targeted at your target audience Creating high-quality, engaging content is essential to the success of any content strategy. Your content must be targeted at your target audience in order to be effective. Achieving that requires understanding your target audience and what type of content they are looking for. According to Neil Patel, 78% of customers will trust your brand if you create customized content, while another 61% will be influenced by it. Once you have a good understanding of your target audience, you can begin creating content that is tailored to their needs. It should be well-written, informative and interesting, and it should be published regularly in order to keep your audience engaged. 4. Promote your content through various channels There are many ways to promote your content, and the best approach will vary depending on your goals and target audience. Some common methods of promoting content to reach a wider audience are through social media, email marketing, paid advertising, blogging and press releases. 5. Analyze the performance of your content regularly It is crucial to analyze the performance of your content regularly and make adjustments to your strategy as needed. This will help ensure that your content is achieving the desired results and that your overall strategy is on track. There are several ways to measure the performance of your content, such as looking at engagement metrics (e.g. likes, shares, comments, etc.), traffic data, conversion rates and so on. By tracking these metrics over time, you will be able to identify patterns and trends that can help you fine-tune your strategy. Drawing the curtains The goals and objectives of every business anchor the foundation of what will become their content marketing. Half of your job as a business is done if these two key components are identified. Structuring your content strategy becomes easy to plan and execute as you now know what topics to cover based on your target audience and your content strategy goals. Turbocharge these resources with your content creation frequency and maximize multiple channels to distribute your content. You will have established your brand as a thought leader for your audience, making it easier to be the go-to brand when they are ready to buy. Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com  A recession is finally upon us, depending on your definition. Among the people mentioning the downturn are prominent economists, CEOs from different companies, big banks and former fed officials. Seventy-five percent of chief executives at Fortune 500 organizations have confirmed that growth will go negative before 2023 ends. Early in the year, the United States economy recorded a 1.4% shrink in the first quarter. A recession occurs when the GDP goes negative for two successive quarters. During an economic recession, as many as 17% of companies don’t survive, either suffering bankruptcy, getting acquired or going private. However, the surviving businesses succeed (some 9% even performing better) usually because they embrace appropriate financial management strategies or take advantage of new market trends. Here are four critical areas that a business needs to focus on to survive during a recession. Marketing channels should attract the right customers. Tracking the organization's marketing channels and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) are essential. The channels achieving desired results should continue, while others should be paused to help minimize costs. The goal is to focus on the best marketing channels to attract and retain the correct type of customers (we'll talk about that shortly). Businesses should have a manageable marketing budget to help create a robust online presence. Marketing is often cut when the business needs it the most. At the same time, it might be the best possible time to acquire new customers when your competitors cut back into obscurity. Here are some tips on how to handle marketing during an economic recession:
And in general, always make sure you have a clear ideal customer profile or “buyer persona.” It can help keep your marketing team focused on accurately reaching the right customers. Cut unnecessary operating expenses. It can be challenging to cut back some expenses due to the need to maintain the same level of service quality. Start with the highest and most unnecessary costs. Here are some expensive areas of spend management that you can cut back right away without adversely affecting business operations:
When cutting operating costs, it is crucial to ensure that the quality level of your product and service does not change. Delegate and automate what you can. In times of economic crisis, leaders should be ready to make tough decisions concerning the business. As a leader, you must assess the roles that can be handled by employees, combined or automated. Automating some functions will help cut costs. Some of the roles you can automate include:
While many tasks can be automated with available and upcoming tools, cutting headcount should only be a last resort as it has many adverse effects. Do your best to cut costs without cutting headcount. Time and money can be saved through automation; keep your employees focused on the most high-value tasks that deliver the most significant impact for the business. Automate the mundane, repetitive tasks with the variety of easy-to-use tools available with a quick Google search. Don’t overextend yourself on new projects or initiatives. We all know growing a business requires investment in new assets, products and other initiatives. However, a company might bite off more than it can handle during a recession, fostering its downfall. Therefore, watching the costs and controlling the company’s growth is essential in facilitating the survival of a business during a recession. Take careful consideration when choosing new projects or initiatives; they’ll usually take quite a bit of investment, and it’s not worth starting in the first place unless you plan on going all the way with it. It is always necessary to have a proper defense plan for the business in an economic crisis. Appropriate fiscal management is the best tool for handling an economic recession. Reviewing your financial statements is the simplest and most meaningful method for managing a business. These financial statements can expose the areas where you are wasting money. From there, you can start to take action today, keeping in mind some of the strategies highlighted above, so your business is ready when the recession hits. Source: https://www.forbes.com/ Image Credit: Getty  Client relationships are the bread and butter of any B2B business. But in a world where your clients are an email away, it’s getting harder and harder to build client relationships in a remote environment. While it’s easy to warm up your client relationships face to face, how do you handle these relationships remotely? Consider this: 70% of consumer purchases are influenced by how valued customers feel. That means investing in positive client relationships can have a tangible impact on your client retention and revenue. You want long-term success, and you need your clients along for the ride. But if you handle all of your work remotely, you have to intentionally build positive relationships. If you’re struggling to build positive client relationships in the era of remote work, try these five tips. 1. Get to know your clients as people. Sure, this is business, but it doesn’t mean your client interactions have to be all about work! Get to know your clients as people, asking questions like:
You don’t have to quiz them for half an hour every time you meet. A casual question before you get to business will work wonders for building client relationships. Since asking questions can increase your likeability, this can deepen your client relationships while building your social capital. Translation: Your customers will love you! 2. Agree on a shared tech stack. Misunderstandings can lead to a lot of frustration and negativity in client relationships. That’s why it’s a good idea to get on the same page with your clients, especially concerning how you’ll communicate and work with each other. Agree on a shared tech stack when you work with a client. For example, if you normally do Zoom meetings but the client only does Google Meet, you’ll need to adjust how you do video calls. It might feel annoying to add another platform to your tech stack, but you want to make it as easy as possible for the client to get in touch with you! 3. Squeeze in a little face time. If you’re trying to build warm, positive relationships with your clients, make sure you show your face! Humans rely on facial expressions to socialize with each other (and science backs this up). Make sure you get a little face time with your clients by:
4. Set clear, documented expectations. Remember, misunderstandings and confusion can create tension in your client relationships. You want to minimize that as much as possible, so create clear, documented expectations with each client. It's also important to keep in mind that when building relationships with clients, it's not just about one-on-one interactions. You need to think about the whole experience of working with them—from the moment they contact you until you complete their project. To do that, I recommend:
5. Keep records. Nothing’s more frustrating than a “he said, she said” scenario with your clients. To foster positive relationships, it’s a good idea to keep records of every client relationship. The good news is that, thanks to remote work, you can document just about everything! Keep records on:
The best way to do this is to get a customer relationship management platform to automatically log all of your client interactions in one place. It’s much better than sifting through your email for a client’s contact information. Recordkeeping is great for client relationships because it helps you personalize every relationship, too. Instead of wondering which clients are ready for renewals, your CRM can alert you automatically. It’s the best way to have a positive, long-term relationship with each client. Relationships take a lot of time and attention, and client relationships are no exception. Remote work can be more efficient, but it does mean that you have to be more intentional about creating positive relationships with your clients. Follow these five tips to help maintain great client relationships, even when you’re working remotely. Source: https://www.forbes.com Image: GETTY |
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