4 Fast Ideas to Rapidly Grow Your Revenue Without revenue, your business will die. These options won't require a huge effort, but the payoffs could be immense.
By Jeff Shore Edited by Dan Bova
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There exists only one unbreakable rule for entrepreneurial growth: Get revenue!
That's it. There are a thousand tasks that compete for your attention every day, but raising revenue must always remain at the top of your list.
You cannot fund your business on hard work alone. You cannot pay your bills with optimism. You either raise revenue or your business dies.
So how does the average entrepreneur continue feeding the revenue beast? Here are four fast ideas for rapid revenue growth that I've identified inside my own company for the upcoming quarter:
1. Leverage your existing fan base. Your best and most reliable source of revenue comes from your fan base. They already love and trust you. Now is the time to add new value for them to raise new revenue.
Related: Escalate Revenue and Growth With These 5 Strategies
Start by asking the question, "What would add so much value so quickly that our existing customers would pay well to receive it?"
Is it a new service that supports something you have sold before? Is it an improved version of a previous product or service? Maybe it is an entirely new line that you can rush to market.
The key is to leverage existing buyer relationships. In doing so, you gain a shorter buying cycle, a higher conversion rate and more rapid revenue growth.
2. Host a seminar. Are you truly leveraging your expertise, or do you hold it back for a select few clients? Now, is this "hold back" increasing your revenue? Maybe … maybe not.
I know this is out of the box for many people, but if you have expertise that people can immediately benefit from, consider an open invitation, half-day educational seminar. There are countless resources online (and in bookstores) that describe how to create, promote and deliver seminars (or webinars).
Do the math: Find 200 people willing to pay $100 each and you just grew revenue by $20,000. Layer in product sales, consulting contracts and sponsorships, and pretty soon that rapid revenue growth begins looking quite impressive.
The key is coming up with a killer idea that appeals to the broadest audience possible. What is your specialty? How do you define the power of your message? What do you have to say to the world?
Related: Seek Out and Land Speaking Spots to Boost Your Business
Figure it out and hold on for the ride!
(Author's credibility note: I'm doing 11 such events in the fourth quarter this year.)
3. Cross-promote to new audiences. Are you promoting exclusively to your own audience? Big mistake! Go find someone (or many "someones") with a larger audience and offer your product to the people in their database. (You will have to share the revenue, of course).
If you ever receive an email from a prominent expert endorsing the product or service of "my very good friend," you are likely reading a cross-promotional sales opportunity.
The good news is that you can reach an entirely new audience. And when you sell to them once, you increase your chances of selling to them again in the future. Recurring revenue at it's finest!
4. Repurpose an existing product. Do you blog? Assemble your very best blog posts into an ebook and sell it online. Do you have inventory lying around? Repackage it and combine it with something else so that you can promote it as something new. Consider expanding a service you offer or launching a unique sales promotion to clear out stale inventory.
The key is looking at your products and services in an entirely new way. Find a new perspective on an existing product and ask how it can generate revenue right now. As long as your product adds value to the customer, you can keep selling it over and over again.
So, are you working with a revenue-first mindset right now?
Trust me, the growth of your business depends on it. And, by the way -- it's fun!
That's why we're entrepreneurs in the first place.
