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The holidays may be busy, but one thing that at all times helps is a list. Even Santa needs one – and I hear he checks his twice!
Every yr I have a holiday routine that helps me reflect on how my business did last yr and how it could possibly improve next yr. These key tasks helped me grow my business, PostcardManiafrom zero to over $100 million in annual revenue. The better part is that our revenues are growing, which is a big achievement for a 26-year-old company. As of 2020, our annual revenues are averaging 15% – three times the average growth of 5% in the previous decade.
This checklist will provide help to in the means of analyzing your results and preparing for the coming yr.
Review your marketing metrics and focus on revenue growth (aka recent sales).
At the end of the yr, take some time to gather all of your performance data – leads, sales, and where each are coming from.
In my case, I look at what is driving revenue growth (i.e. orders from recent customers). Many trainers and consultants focus on profit growth, but from a marketing perspective, I find profit information most useful.
What drives sales? What provides the best return on investment? Once you know this, you possibly can increase efficiency down the line to enhance profitability/profit, but ensuring revenue growth is at all times my number one priority.
For example, last yr we saw a decline in recent orders. My beautiful VP of Sales, Ashlie, who has been with me for over 20 years, made an excellent remark and suggestion. She asked, “How about we increase the number of postcards?”
Um, HELLO – I needed to practice what I preach! We looked into this and someway our outgoing postcard promotion was reduced from 205,000 per week to 195,000. So we increased postcard outflow again (now over 260,000) and recent orders and revenue from first time buyers finally increased . The increase was greater than $1 million in the year-to-date revenue growth. As I write this, we still have 4 weeks left in the yr.
What’s more: we already know that half of those recent customers will order greater than once, and many will order for many years.
For me it was a big deal! A “come to Jesus” moment – if we increase our postcard mailings, we’ll undoubtedly increase our revenues. It’s sort of embarrassing because that’s my mantra and I missed it.
What works for my company might not be the same for yours, but you have to place in the work to search out the most vital growth driver. Once you know it, develop it like no other and turn into more practical over time. This was the key to growing MY business.
Look for trends from yr to yr to make changes
It’s not only the current yr’s results that you ought to analyze. Compare the last five years to discover trends. If you do not have data going back that far, try to assemble all the information you possibly can to get a broader picture of what may have modified or remained the same over time.
How have your marketing strategies evolved? I can say that at my company PostcardMania, junk mail marketing continues to deliver tremendous results. Every week we send a whole lot of 1000’s of postcards promoting our services like clockwork.
But over time, we also tested other marketing strategies. For example, most of our social media ads are static images. Then last yr we decided to release a series of short video ads highlighting our clients’ successful marketing campaigns and we witnessed a huge difference. As a result, our social media lead count doubled, increasing by 105%! We have since moved most of our Facebook and Instagram ads to video as an alternative of photos.
What is your top marketing trend? This will probably be different for every business, but the bottom line is that the more you promote, the more your enterprise will grow. It’s a proven trend that will at all times remain the same.
Analyze your sales pipeline to find opportunities for improvement
Even if you have been using the same sales funnel to deliver to customers for years, it’s still value analyzing its performance to see if there’s room for improvement.
Where do you sometimes see potential customers losing interest? Find weak spots in your communication channels and brainstorm ways to bring them back.
Typically, an interested buyer will visit your website before making any final decisions. This is a key moment where prospects will often fall out of your sales funnel – but you possibly can do something about it. At PostcardMania we use technology to match a site visitor’s IP address to their physical address and then send the message to them retargeted postcard inside 24-48 hours of visiting the website. The postman sitting at their house helps bring them back to buy.
I also recommend creating a solid schedule of reminder ads, emails, and phone calls to re-engage prospects who have not yet converted. If you possibly can automate these tactics to reply using CRM, that’s much more ideal. This will reduce your workload and provide potential customers with a more personalized experience. Win-win!
Remember to work smarter, not necessarily harder.
Track your competition and compare for additional insights
By now it’s best to have an idea who your most important competitors are. A well-thought-out marketing strategy also includes an evaluation of the competition and its marketing.
What did the competitor offer this yr? Was it higher than the discounts or free products you advertised? Who, in terms of audience, did their ads appeal to? If you are undecided, visit their web sites and join for newsletters or marketing promotions. I also suggest creating a Google alert for each competitor, which can send any recent online mentions on to your inbox. Take all of this information into account and highlight any offers or messages that may have performed higher than yours. Then join forces with your team to develop even higher strategies and stay ahead of the competition next yr.
Just remember that your organization should maintain its unique mission and identity despite any changes in promoting and promotions.
Ask your customers for feedback through surveys and reviews
I can not preach it enough, but the only option to get more positive reviews is to ask! The end of the yr is the perfect time to send an email or text message to your customers and ask them to rate your products, services and customer support.
By giving your customers the opportunity to precise their opinions, you not only increase your credibility online, but you furthermore may gain more information about what your customers love and what they do not love.
My staff commonly takes the time to ask satisfied customers for reviews. If someone has a good experience, they may almost certainly leave a review when asked!
After implementing the right process, our five-star reviews skyrocketed. I run a B2B business and I’ve noticed that my competitors – even publicly traded competitors that are 10 times our size – are far far less good reviews than us.
Create a comprehensive plan for the recent yr
You don’t have to attend until the recent yr to make changes. As soon as you analyze your organization’s performance data, you possibly can start a recent marketing strategy. The best time to make purchases is at the end of the yr so you possibly can reinvest your taxable profits back into your enterprise and reduce your tax burden. Some purchases may even qualify for tax breaks!
If you run a B2B company like us, send a letter to your prospects and customers giving them a great idea to pre-purchase your product or service before the end of the yr. This will inevitably occur for some, with an increase seen in December, when people are often too busy on vacation to spend their taxable income. We do this every yr, and December is often our most vital month of the yr!
Celebrate your successes and appreciate those that contributed to it
The yr shouldn’t end until you acknowledge all of your victories! Even if this yr hasn’t been your best, you possibly can still rejoice every achievement. Include these wins in your year-end events or create a company email newsletter filled with positive information. Be sure to praise everyone who has contributed to the growth of your enterprise. This will increase company morale and encourage the entire team to work even higher in the coming yr.