Expand Your Offering During “Tough” Times
Posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 am and is filed under Entrepreneurship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.Lately I have found myself involved in conversation with business owners and employees alike, concerning the “tough times” that are upon us. It seems that most small business owners are beginning to experience a severe lack of work coming there way. As I sat there in the office yesterday and we discussed the problems we are facing as a small business who’s majority of work comes from other small businesses in the area, I began to realize the need for a good plan. It seems as though we have found ourselves stuck in a cycle. Area small business is slowing down and there for tightening their own pockets. For us that means fewer clients walking through the door. But wait shouldn’t small businesses begin exploring previously unused marketing channels to search out customers in hard times. You would think that is the case but more naturally it seems that people would rather tuck it in and weather the storm hoping that the ship has enough ration to stay alive. By taking it all in and doing some research of my own I have come up with what I think to be a decent plan as we head deeper into an economic slowdown. My personal opinion of the situation is a bit different, I think “expansion”. (I will be breaking this idea down into two articles. That which you are reading, and the second article entitled Exploring New Marketing During Tough Times.)
Why expansion? Let me first clarify that by expansion I am not suggesting that we all go out and purchase a new building or office space planning for the economic boom to follow. What I am suggesting is that your look to expand your product or service offering. Fact is there is still money out there to be made for your small business but it may mean thinking a bit outside of the box. It is time to begin exploring other services or products that would easily piggy back on your current offering. Here is an example. Let’s say that your company, company A has been in the business of selling Widget A for the last 10 years. Widget A sells for $1000 and falls in a category somewhere in between necessity and luxury. Business has been good from the get go and you haven’t really seen the need to expand your product or service offering up to this point, but being that the need for your product lies on that shaky middle ground, you have started to notice a slow down in new purchases. So how do you combat this. Well here are some thoughts. In the past when people purchased your product they have covered by warranty, however that warranty is fulfilled by either the manufacturing company or the local serviceman who knows just enough Widget A to offer a quick fix. Herein lies the opportunity. Chances are that a number of your seasoned employees know quite a bit about widget A and could more than likely diagnose any number of problems that might arise. Being that your customers are looking to keep Widget A and during this time would rather have it serviced than purchase an entirely new unit, your company is in the unique position to expand. It is time to begin generating revenue by offering service solutions to your customers. Having already gained the customers confidence through the initial purchase you are one step ahead, you specialize in Widget A.
Another example for those that are not quite positioned to provide a service in addition to the product you sell. Perhaps your product is quite expensive and not quite considered a necessity in these rough economic times, so now what? It seems like every product assembled these days has a vast array of accessories and add-ons. Now it will take some research and knowledge to decide which one of those products might actually offer an added value to your customer, but if you are able to provide an accessory that may increase performance or efficiency chances are you have found something that might sell. Allowing your customer to upgrade without forking over the money for a completely new product but instead purchasing an accessory could be the solution to generating new revenue.
I for one have realized that when looking at web design, my particular product and service can often times fall on either end of the spectrum. It can range from a necessity (needed to conduct daily business) to a luxury (it would be great but we don’t need it right now). So I have set out to compile a list of offerings that closely relate to my major product/service. A client might not need a new website at this time but what fixes or upgrades might add to their existing site, there for increasing productivity for their business? What other, slighty less expensive services may someone with an online presence be willing to explore? Email and Newsletter marketing, advertising and online productivity tools are just a few off the top of my head. Maintenance to existing sites that may have been scheduled for a re-design but have now gotten pushed back. This type of client is looking to stick with what they have but make slight improvements, which I am more than happy to provide.
In summary, look to expand your service offering in tough times, search out both existing and new clients and keep pushing through the hard times. Diversify and expand your current service and or product offering to generate new revenue. Ask yourself what else can I do for my client?
