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LEDA's final course in the Business Life Cycle answers the questions you have been waiting for, how to increase your sales? A few experts and successful business professionals provide the answer for a big boost in your deals before you even introduce your product to the market. As a bonus, there is a surprise customer pipeline you may not know about, providing millions of leads every year.
Business Development and Ways to Increase Sales
Lafayette Economic Development Authority "Business Life Cycle Education Series"
The experienced speakers for this LEDA's Business Life Cycle Series session were Reece Theriot, Tom Cox, & Jennifer Richard. Reece is the founder / CEO of a Fulcrum Sales & Marketing business development firm and has successfully served over 100 clients in Broussard, LA. Tom is the CEO of Golfballs.com, the first e-commerce business in Louisiana, and has been named eight times by INC Magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in America. Jennifer is a Government Contracting Consultant at the LA Apex Accelerator (Formerly LA PTAC), covering over 20 parishes in Louisiana, assisting businesses with the complex procurement process.
The two sides to every business are production and sales. Remembering the Business Model Canvas, the right side is about sales, and the left is about production. It would be best if you did both simultaneously to be successful. If you involve the customer in the production side of the business, you will quickly sell your solution to the customer because you already know they want what you have. Selling is not slick and shady people just trying to make a buck; it's about listening to your customer and responding with something they value. Everyone wants to buy a deal, and a contract is in the eye of the beholder. The value formula is when your client believes the perceived value of your product exceeds the value of their time, energy, and money spent on the product. If the customer participated in the development, how much more would they value the product? Sales are about knowing where your customer is and where they are not. You would only know that by initiating, developing, and enhancing relationships with your customers.
To achieve consistent growth, you must be willing to innovate and position yourself in a way that your competitors can't reach. The best methodology for successfully innovating is, without significantly disrupting that which is already working, to section off a small team to work on new special requests from your customers that you don't already do. In doing so, you are taking a little risk because you may build something that most of your customer base does not value. Still, you may create something your customers desperately want, and no one else in the market is considering doing. Every business will need to make pivots at some point, and usually, they are made in a crisis. If you practice this innovation method, your company naturally pivots well before a predictable turmoil because you respond to your customer base faster than anyone else.
Lastly, did you know the government could be an easy customer pipeline for your business? The government buys almost everything in the market, including food, clothing, household products, construction services, and professional services. Chances are good that the government may want to purchase whatever product or service you provide. The way you would find out is to register, certify, and bid on contracts presented by your state government, the federal government, or both. There are millions of contracts awarded each year! The question then becomes, how would you sort through millions of contracts to bid on the ones suitable for your business? That's where APEX's value is. You would get assistance registering, certifying, sorting, and bidding on the proper contracts. Contracts are tailored to geography, minorities, women, and the socially and economically disadvantaged. Thus creating more minor, less competitive pools of contracts to bid on. Contact a consultant at APEX today!
The moral of the story is two ways to increase your sales are by bringing your customer's into the production process and considering government contracts for additional business opportunities. Don't build a solution that won't solve a problem for your customer base. It's the fastest way to fail. Once you have developed a real solution, the government may be a great way to fill your pipeline.
Works Cited
Lafayette Economic Development Authority "Business Development and Ways to Increase Sales" Business Life Cycle Education Series, 2023.
