4 More Free Ways to Grow Your Business

by Charlie Cook

Apply these 4 low-cost and no-cost small business marketing strategies TODAY!

Strategy #1: “Target Your Sales Copy to What’s On People’s Minds”

Most people are thinking about giving and wondering two things:

* What would make a great gift for my son or daughter,
* What would make a great gift for my spouse,
* What would make a great gift for my father or mother in-law.

… and they’re wondering

* What should I put on my own holiday list,
* What gift should I give myself this year, Yes, a lot of people, while out buying gifts for others, buy gifts for themselves too!

You get the idea. Don’t assume people know what they want to buy. I’m often at a total loss myself as to what to buy for my 22 year-old son. So whether you sell to businesses or direct to consumers, help them out with your sales copy by targeting the questions that are on your customers’ minds at this time of year.

Strategy #2: “Use the End of The Year To Up-Sell & Cross-Sell Clients”

December 31st marks the end of 2008 and while it’s just a day on the calendar, it has a strong emotional effect on your prospect’s and clients. People see it as a clear ending and Jan 1st as a new beginning.

At the end of December people tend to reflect a little bit on their past performance and on their aspirations for the coming year. This is the perfect time to tap into their psyche and get clients to review their needs, what worked and didn’t work, and what they’d like to do better next year.

Whether you sell consulting services, or flat screen TVS, the end of the year is an ideal time to cross-sell and up-sell your products and services.

Strategy #3: “Strengthen Your Relationships with Prospects and Clients”

Your primary small business competitive advantage is the number and strength of your relationships with prospects and clients. Use this time to show your appreciation to them. How?

* Tell them. Thank them for their business and loyalty. Gifts are nice but ultimately it’s the thought that counts. Make sure to let them know you value their business and enjoy working with them.

Unless you’re the only source for a product or service clients can always find someone else to buy from. The best way to prevent this is to maintain a strong relationship and this starts with saying thank you.

* Send your most valued clients a gift, but not just any gift. For years I had an investment advisor who each Christmas sent me something from Tiffany’s that cost hundreds of dollars. As you may know by now, I’m not a Tiffany’s kind of guy and ended up returning almost every one of these to the store.

The key is to give something that your client would appreciate. It’s hard to lose with food. In my case I would have been much more impressed if my investment advisor had sent me something that was 25% as less expensive like a lift ticket or ski lesson at my favorite ski resort.

Strategy #4: “Offer Special Deals For A Limited Time Only”

The end of the year is fast approaching and everyone likes a deal. The problem is we all tend to procrastinate. What’s the solution?

You have the products and services prospects want. Now all you need to do is motivate them to buy.

Combine special offers with limited time availability. If you have a website you can put a countdown timer on your offer sales page to increase the sense of urgency.

Just use the links below to find code you can easily add to your web pages and include your countdown clock. There are tons out there. Here are three.

http://www.christmasbuzz.com/countdown/
(the site I grabbed my Santa countdown from)

http://www.countdownclockcodes.com/christmas-countdown-clocks/

http://www.7is7.com/otto/countdclock.html

That’s it!

Four easy, no-cost ways to increase your sales and beat, or at least get closer, to your goals for the year.

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