Here’s an excerpt from a blog post I read by Naomi at Itty Biz… It’s a great reminder for any struggling small business owner…

So I’m on the phone yesterday with a client (let’s call him John) who runs a medium-sized business on the internet, and he’s telling me how desperately afraid he is about money. He’s up at night, wondering where it’s going to come from this month, and where it’s going to come from in the months after that.

John’s getting about as much sleep as he is new money – not much. The fear of where “new money” is going to come from is driving him crazy. His business isn’t in outright free-fall – it’s a good business, it’s bringing in decent money – it’s just not bringing in enough. And the stress is killing him.  He needs something to change, and change fast.

And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

The fastest way to bring in more money via your business is to stop leaving it on the table.

Yes, we’re going to talk about “the table.”  The one that everybody and their mother is leaving money on.

This table is full of customers who want to buy something – and are ready to buy right now – but they can’t find what they need.  This table is full of clients who got good service from a business, still need a little bit more, but keep forgetting to get around to it.  This table is full of people who read your website regularly, find your content interesting, but don’t see something compelling enough to merit joining your list for.

These customers, clients and people have money to spend. (If you need confirmation of this, please get in your car, go to the mall, and stand outside the AT&T store for a while. Notice how few of the people whipping out their Visas for brand new iPhones to replace their perfectly good existing iPhones appear to be starving to death.)

  • When they open their mail and find a coupon for that restaurant they like, they say “Oh, I’ve been meaning to go there again.  I think I’ll do that tonight since it’s 10% off.”  (They’re not being “hit over the head” by the ad.  They’ve been thinking about that 12-ounce ribeye.)
  • When they get an email from their coach or service provider asking if they want to purchase more services, they say “Dude, I’ve been meaning to get around to that – I’ll do it now.” (They’re not feeling harassed by the provider, they’re happy for the reminder.)
  • When they visit a website regularly and see a clearly compelling reason to get on a list they say “Yes, that’s what I’m looking for.”  (Sometimes they didn’t even know they were looking for it, either, but it looks like the content could solve one of their persistent problems.)

The point here is that “new money” doesn’t have to come from new people.

When you need to start making more money, you have two options:

  • Do a bunch of stuff – probably resource prohibitive stuff – to get new people in the door, or
  • Start making the most of the people and resources you already have.

Leap of the Week:

You have heard it here before… You are all sitting on a Gold Mine! And that is, your database of existing clients. Why not capitalize on those relationships?

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