It’s May. That means it’s National Small Business Month and it’s time for you to get serious about your business.
Answer these questions about your business: Have you updated your business plan? Are you using your business plan to run your small business? Do you have monthly/weekly sales goals? Do you know by the 15th of the month how well or poorly your business did last month? Are you doing 5 things before 11am each day to jump-start sales and revenue in your business? If your answer is no or not really try these:
Here are 5 things you could do today to generate a sale:
1) Send an email to a recent customer (within the last two weeks) and ask for a LinkedIn or Yelp recommendation. Be sure to send the link in the email to make it easy for them.
2) Call a contact that you met at a recent networking event to schedule coffee or a lunch appointment.
3) Send a personal note to an old customer to check in on them. Include an article of interest to them, too.
4) Write a 300-500 word blog post for your business blog.
5) Evaluate your accounts receivable to see if anyone is 30 days behind in paying you, and give them a call to find out payment status. While you’re on the phone with them, inquire about another order.
May is the busiest time of the year for me, and I have some great free resources for you from some of my corporate customers that will help you as you run your small business.
May 1: Take a business course for free: I’m the lead instructor for Black Enterprise’s Small Business University: Register for the Small Business University NOW and learn how to build and grow your business! Plus enter for a chance to win more than $50,000 in prizes. It’s not too late to sign up today http://www.blackenterprise.com/sbu/
May 2: 7th annual New York XPO for Business at The Javits Center in NYC. I will be delivering a keynote speech: “Using Social Media to Engage Customers & Drive B2B Success!” My speech is from 4:00 — 5:00 PM. I will teach small business owners how to create a winning online marketing strategy. Register today before it’s sold out. Here’s a BONUS! FREE 1-DAY XPO PASS REGISTER NOW = http://bit.ly/ubMH61 Promo Code = SPEAKER15
May 8: Live Tweetchat on Twitter Learn How to Build a Social Media Brand to Grow Your Small Business. Stay tuned for details.
May is going to be a great month for being in business. Check back at this blog daily for tools and resources to succeed as your own boss.
Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady www.twitter.com/smallbizlady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works. http://succeedasyourownboss.com/products/purchase-the-book/
Thanks for the post. EVERYONE needs to think about ways to jump start a sale and your tips were smart. BTW, congrats on being named to the Forbes list.
When you do your blog post, email or letter to attract that sale: make sure you also have a strong headline.
For example: this article has a great headline: “5 things you could do today to generate a sale” – I give you top copywriter marks! Here’s why…
Using “power words” will attract your audience, but focussing the content on the customer will make them read it and interact with you.
This article is good because you use “5 things” (a power phrase) as well as the word “you”. And, you’re focussed on your customer’s needs (“making a sale”).
The result? You got my attention on Twitter, and now here I am engaging with you via a comment.
Readers, take note! Even basic copywriting helps you generate sales for emails, blog posts – even phone calls.
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