Ways to Elevate a Market
Father George Rutler of the Church of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Manhattan knows a thing or two about elevating a business market. After all, Rutler nearly tripled attendance since he took over as pastor of the Manhattan Church.
Here are a few pieces of advice the pastor has for elevating a business.
#1. Set intelligent, actionable goals
Financial advisors say that setting unreasonable goals, or not really having a plan at all, are the single biggest reason why so many businesses either fail, or simply stagnate.
The goals for a business should be:
- Very specific rather than general
- Be measurable by statistics
- Actionable
- Reasonably achievable, rather than merely be wishes or preferences
- Extremely focused
A business lives or dies by the focus of its business plan
- Time Orientated
A business should have an action plan for every six months.
If a business is struggling, refocus attention on this initial step.
#2. Be very focused with the business website
Unless your business is the rare bird, about 80 percent or more of customer attention will come from a website.
Unfortunately, with many small businesses, their website isn’t very good.
The major reason is that many small businesses treat their website as sort of a self-glorification venue. But this should not be a business website’s focus.
Get to the point quickly, as most people really don’t care about the story behind a business, make it very clear what it is the company offers, state the benefits of doing business with your company, and have several calls to action.
And remember, speak in plain, old-fashioned English. Do not try to impress people with complicated vocabulary.
#3. Optimize the company website to be seen
Nobody goes to page 2 on Google, and Search Engine Optimization is not easy, but it is essential.
While a company can try to do it themselves, most will hire pros to assist.
#4. Write for people, not for Google
While SEO is important, in the end, too many companies write for what they think Google wants instead of writing from the customer’s perspective.
Completely reorient the companies thinking in favor of the customer and not only will the company website be more profitable, but it will likely attract google as well.
#5. Turn customers into evangelists
Father George Rutler believes that a company can have a group of truly gifted salespersons, but they will never compare with the power of a customer.
Realize that if customers truly love a product being offered, they will tell many others. This will help the business grow and expand as well as maintain a solid reputation.
In the age of hype, people do not know whom to trust so they rely on their friends, even if they are social media friends to guide them. And people do want to be guided in their purchases.
So find a way to include customers in the business and turn them into raving evangelists. In many fields, it’s the only way to prosper.