Many entrepreneurs are in a situation where their business is struggling, and they aren’t making enough money. This can be a very stressful time for an entrepreneur and if you aren’t able to correct the ship, your business could fail. Join Jay on today’s Black Entrepreneur Blueprint podcast episode # 415 as he discusses three tips to help get your struggling business back on track or improve your current business.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
BLACK ENTREPRENEUR BLUEPRINT SHOW NOTES – EPISODE # 415
These tips I’m about to give you today can help you dig out of a bad situation if your business is failing, and they can also help you be more profitable if your business is doing well.
TIP # 1 (Cost Reduction)
Get rid of unnecessary & overpriced software – This is something I had to do just recently. With all my software systems I was paying over $1,500 per month just to run my business. So make sure you do a software audit. Many of your software providers probably overlap in functionality, so get rid of the ones you don’t need. Here’s my tech stack for my business:
- Email autoresponder – convertkit.com (learn more by clicking the link) is an email autoresponder and landing page builder.
- Funnel software & Landing page builder – systeme.io is a great alternative to clickfunnels and dropfunnels and there is a free version, a $27 version, a $47 version, and the most expensive version is a $97 version. Whereas Clickfunnels is $97 or $297, and dropfunnels is $49 or $149. Systeme.io has all the features you need, and you could literally run your entire business with it. Features sales funnels, email marketing, website builder, affiliate management, business automation, evergreen webinars, online courses, blogging, and selling products
- Online Course Platform – I use Thinkific.com for my online courses and BEB Academy.
- Scheduling – I use Calendly.com to schedule calls and meetings
- For eCommerce – I use Shopify.com for my physical product sales. For certain digital products like my eBook in Mobi and epub I use www.sendowl.com
TIP # 2 (Increase Revenue)
Create Upsells And/or Add On Sales to existing products – try to maximize each sale by creating upsell opportunities for each product or service to increase your average cart revenue. Here are some ways to do this:
- Create different versions of your product or service. For example, you may have the base version and the upgraded version of a product just like automobiles have different packages.
- Create upsells by offering the next step or next solution to help solve their problem. For example, if you sell an online course about “how to make money with online courses,” the next natural progression after you create the course is to find people to sell it to. So, you could create an upsell to a “traffic secrets” program that helps you drive traffic to your online course. Example (from a BEB Family member): if you sell waist trainers, you can sell a digital exercise program that focuses on losing belly fat.
- Offer live coaching or a community – you can offer hands-on one-on-one coaching or a community that is based on the product or service you sell. This is a great add-on that you can charge a premium price for.
- Use Affiliate Offers – a simple way to add on an upsell is to market affiliate products that have synergy with your products or services. You can go to sites like www.clickbank.com and www.jvzoo.com to search for products that make sense. For Example: If you’re selling waist trainers, you may also look on clickbank.com and promote the “Outback Belly Burner” Initial $/conversion of $113.06, Recurring $/rebills of $38.87
TIP # 3 (Increase Revenue)
Collaborate with synergistic partners – Create mutually beneficial relationships with partners and help increase your sales. Some opportunities include:
- Create your own affiliate program – where you pay a commission to people that promote and sell your product or service. Systeme.io has an affiliate component built into the system.
- Develop partnerships to cross-sell or cross-promote products – you can create partnership opportunities where you cross-sell or cross-promote products or services. Example: I could partner with another podcast, and we could both promote the other show and help get more traffic.
- Barter – you can barter services with other businesses that can help you market your business. For Example: If your business does social media marketing, and you need to get more exposure, you may barter your services with a podcaster in exchange for ads on his podcast.
- Create Special Bundles or Packages – you can partner with synergistic companies to offer your products in a special bundle. For Example (real BEB Family member): A watch company owner is partnering with a bow tie company to offer special packages that include both the bow tie and the watch. This way both companies benefit.
