Are you finding in your small business that New Year sales are off to a slow start? If so, you’re not alone as most small businesses typically have a lull period at the beginning of the New Year.
Take this down time to prepare for your business year ahead.
Hire a Virtual Assistant, trained in marketing, to go over your current business plan and get you back on track with a focus to earn more money this year.
For example, have them pull out your Rolodex and reintroduce your business to clients that you have not had contact with for whatever reason. You know, those dead clients you’ve not heard from for a year or so.
Once your VA has a list of these clients have her start contacting them with a last ditch offer to try and bring them back on as a loyal customer. Offer them a huge discount on a service or product of yours that is “too good to be true”. Chances are that 30% of them will bite on this offer and gain a new respect for you and your business which means future sales and more $$$ for you in the year to come.
Now, there are a couple of ways to present this type of offer to these dead clients. One, have your Virtual Assistant just out and out telephone them or simply email/mail them.
Whatever way you choose to make that contact, also have your VA first ask them “Why” they haven’t ordered from you lately. This is excellent feedback for you in case it is a simple technical issue with your shopping cart online or something since as this is something you could fix for future buyers. Your VA could even send them a short survey to answer although keep it short to 1-3 questions so as not to utilize much of their time. At the end of the call or email/mailing, entice them to come back by offering them a discount they can’t refuse. Lure them back with some awesome deal!
Remember, they are already not buying from you so the worse that can happen is that they STILL don’t buy from you by going through this process. But, chances are, they WILL BUY and become loyal followers of your product or service because of the kewl offer you just gave them. You will earn their trust. And in the world of online shopping TRUST = BUY!
The truth is that there was a reason why you collected that business card or email addy in the first place. Use the talents that come with specialization (an Internet Marketing VA) and redevelop old contacts and marketing strategies. We are always quick to be there for current or large clients, but as time goes by we can lose touch with clients that can very easily be our bread and butter style clients.
Have your Virtual Assistant help you bring the dead clients back to life in 2009.
Great suggestion Tawnya! I usually take this slow period to brush up on training or creating new marketing strategies but I did that with my new business plan last month! I can see how contacting previous contacts to check in might spark interest and keep the idea of a VA in their minds.
Thanks Tawnya, what a wonderful suggestion! I’m trying to keep up with my “dead” writing clients on my own, and I occasionally send out an incentive to try to win them back. This is something I hadn’t considered asking my VA to do, but I think outsourcing this task, plus making a too-good-to-be-true offer, could make a big difference in my results.
For someone who has been thinking of working with a Virtual Assistant, but is not sure which tasks she should outsource, this could be an easy one to start with.
There are so many things that a virtual assistant can help you with, and this is a great suggestion!
As you prepare your forecast for your upcoming year, taking a little time to wake up those ‘dead’ clients could be a very profitable venture!
I plan to take advantage of this advice myself as well as suggesting the idea to my current clients.
Clients and virtual assistants can use the benefits of VAnetworking.com to resusitate failing clients or revive ‘dead’ ones. Getting the order, implying or clearly saying, “You are now in my way.” while pursuing the next new customer or client is business idiocy.