Top 10 Piggybank Budget Hacks to Grow Your Business

Are you using these free or low cost avenues to grow your business?

BY JESSICA ZARTLER

Underneath all the hype, marketing and sales are about relationships. And like any good relationship, it’s got to be give and take. When you focus on giving and educating rather than selling, the universe will conspire for the sales part — or for you more scientific folk — energy in = energy out. Using this as the basis for transforming your business and coming from a place of abundance, creating value for others, plus some good old fashion elbow grease — these elements can be the defibrillator you need for your flatlining ROI.

Here are 10 things you can do right now to improve your sales — be encouraged!

1. Build a Social Community — Are you doing this one thing wrong?

This may seem like the obvious one, but there are still so many businesses who still don’t take advantage of this and even if they do, they aren’t finding success. Why?

Most people excitedly take to Facebook Groups, Quora or Linkedin trying to sell first and provide value later. It should be the other way around.

Granted this takes a bit of time investment, however with helpful interns or spending time on business networking on Facebook instead of personal perusing, just 10–15 minutes a day time investment can pay off in a big way.

Some people don’t even have a business or model but build their communities first, and it turns into a thriving market — because they’ve already attracted the biggest fans in the niche. A fantastic example of this is I F@!^&*$ Love Science. This story shows the power of social communities to build a brand.

Here’s a great guide from Social Media Examiner breaking down how you can use social to grow.

2. Use Contractors, Outsource & Automate

Take a few minutes to write down the daily or weekly tasks that are slowing you down the most. What are the things that you hate to do most or take you the most time to do for little result? Maybe it’s project management, marketing, maybe it’s customer service, web design or copywriting.

Find your weakest link and then, hire someone else to do it.

With an increase in online freelance hiring sites like Fiver, Freelancer.com, etc., etc. it’s easier and cheaper than ever before to outsource. Just make sure you brush up briefly on what you’re looking for and make sure it’s something that will truly give you back time, so you can use your powers for strategy and growing the business, rather than day to day tasks.

The same goes for automation. With the growth of cloud platforms that automate and organize things like customer service, marketing and collaboration software like Taskworld.com , investing a few bucks in software that allows you to create repeating tasks or automates email marketing, can exponentially increase your productivity. And we all know time = money.

3. Co-Host an Event

If you’ve never ventured onto Meetup.com or other networking sites, you might be surprised at what you find in your business niche. You don’t even have to do the heavy lifting of building a community, you can just tap into the ones that already exist!

Again, focus on how you can add value — maybe it’s a free workshop, presentation or donating time to a non-profit event, these are great ways to show you are engaged in other’s education and success, and this will get your business out to new potential clients and their networks.

4. Listen to Your Clients & Ask for Referrals

Sometimes businesses are so busy discussing what they think their clients think when instead, they can just ask. Using surveys, polls or doing a check in can bring things to the surface that you did not even know your product or service was doing right or wrong. This is powerful information you can use to do — of course — more of what you are doing right, and less of what you are doing wrong.

Asking questions also shows your clients you are engaged and then there is already a conversation open which could also provide an opportunity to find more challenges that need solutions — AKA upselling! Who do you like more in a conversation, people who listen or people who just talk?

In addition to open conversations, if you haven’t started an affiliate program, give it a go. There are several websites that offer this services automated online or start small with your top customers. Never ask for referrals, never receive. The principle of reciprocity is powerful — use it.

5. Limited Time Sales & Bundle Services

Have you ever been shopping online and seen a countdown clock? How did this change the way you felt about the potential purchase? This is one of the oldest tricks in the book for online marketing, but what if you also brought this concept into the physical world?

Many coaches and speakers use this method. They sell packages of their coaching to crowds that are only good for that day. I was recently reading Expert Secrets by Richard Brunson, a millionaire and coach who has made millions in up sells with this tactic along with bundling services.

Whether it is a service or product that you have, creating urgency and packaging or creating subscriptions for your services can create valuable up sells and recurring revenue.

6. Leverage Your Network and Partner Up

Who are your biggest cheerleaders — your friends and family of course! Sometimes we forget the most obvious network we have — our own. How many connections do you have on Linkedin? How many Facebook friends? It’s amazing when you ask for help or ask for ideas or recommendations, how many people will come to your aid. Again, the reciprocity factor is enormous.

Check out the remaining 4 hacks on Taskworld’s official blog.