What can small businesses (especially physical-location, brick-and-mortar businesses) do TODAY for cash flow and to prosper?
I did a quick 10-minute video interview on this topic with Oscar Calderon, who has been a Breakthrough Marketing Secrets reader and follower pretty much since the beginning.
Watch the quick video, and you’ll get my 5 steps for creating cash flow TODAY, in the middle of the coronavirus shutdown…
Even if you run a small business where you normally meet clients in-person, and your doors are closed. (And no, you don’t have to run a brick-and-mortar business to profit from this advice!)
I’ll share the steps here…
But I strongly suggest you to watch the video, too.
Because I didn’t just share the steps in some abstract way.
But instead, I riffed on all kinds of examples of different scenarios and contexts in which you might apply this.
Here are the 5 steps ANY business can use to get cash flow (even if your doors are closed)…
- Identify your CORE AUDIENCE that wants to see you survive and thrive through the shutdown and beyond. You have a group of prospects and customers who DO NOT want to see you fail. And some of them will be very open to offers to help you make it through this shutdown. Who are they and what do they want?
- Think about what kind of IMMEDIATE VALUE you can provide for them. Maybe you can make your services available virtually, over the internet. Maybe you can deliver or do carry-out. Maybe your immediate offer is simply a discount on some kind of membership or future purchase, redeemable when things open back up. Maybe it’s some combination of the above.
- Develop an ADVANTAGEOUS OFFER around that immediate value. An offer has a deliverable, a price, and a deadline. Define what they get. Define a price. And define when they have to respond to get it. And, importantly, make it advantageous to the customer, to give them a reason to respond now. Especially if the value they’re going to get is after things open up, at whatever uncertain time that is into the future.
- Put together your LIST of customers to contact. I truly, truly hope you have a list of your customers and prospects. If not, you’ll have to find an alternative path to contacting them. Perhaps through paid advertising in a highly-targeted way. (I think many small businesses are learning right now how powerful it is to have a list and have control over the communication they have directly with customers.)
- Send out a CAMPAIGN to the list to communicate your offer. A campaign comes in at least three parts. First, you introduce the offer. Then, you justify and explain the offer. Finally, you close the offer. Send this out, through whatever channel or communication medium you use to reach your list. Increase urgency as the deadline nears. And don’t be afraid to sell — it may mean the very survival of your business.
Watch the entire interview here.
Remember: Your best customers want you to be there when things open again…
They’ll miss you if you’re gone. And they’re likely to be your best source of support, to make it through.
Stimulus packages are nice.
But ultimately you can’t sit around waiting for someone else to save you. The best thing you can do is save yourself and your business.
… Doing whatever it takes.
And the way you’re going to do that is to make sure your best customers have an opportunity to help, and get something out of doing so NOW, even when they, too, are probably feeling some uncertainty.
(Note: even with massive unemployment, the majority of your customers statistically still have jobs and incomes, AND some businesses are doing better than ever right now.)
The whole trick is in finding out what works best for you, your business, and your customers.
Watch my interview on these 5 steps for a bunch of examples to inspire you and stimulate creativity…
I can also help you directly…
I haven’t really been actively promoting this. But it’s worth noting here. I regularly consult with direct marketing businesses, helping them address challenges and create success.
If you want an action plan for implementing the steps above…
Or, if you have an action plan and want my feedback…
Of, if you have some other business or marketing challenge you’d like my insights and perspectives on…
I’d strongly recommend a 1-hour private consultation call.
This is a paid call, not a sales pitch. But often just an hour on the phone with me can turn into pages of actionable profit-boosting and cash-flow-generating action items. And can generate many, many times what you spent in terms of directly-attributable revenue.
(E.g. I’ve been told one recent call has already yielded nearly $10,000 in sales from a $500 investment. Plus advice that will continue to make the business at least 20% more PER CUSTOMER for as long as they remain in business.)
Click here to learn more and book a 1-hour consultation call.
One last note about the interview above…
That’s part of a whole interview series Oscar has done for brick-and-mortar businesses.
For actionable advice, from experts, on what to do in the current coronavirus crisis.
Each interview is about 10 minutes. And packed with valuable insight and action items.
After you watch my interview, consider joining Oscar’s Local Business Warriors Facebook Group and you’ll ALSO get access to all the video interviews.
I don’t get anything out of it, besides knowing you’re more likely to come back and do business with me in the future if I give you every resource possible to survive and thrive through this strange situation we’ve found ourselves in.
Here’s that link to watch my interview one last time.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs (even when the shops are empty),
Roy Furr
