Questions

I am trying to grow my market share without investing a large percentage of the profits. What is the best way to do this?

Hi all. I am the owner of a maintenance company in Ireland supplying 100 maintenance services all one one number. The website is www.360degrees.ie. We operate in Ireland and have been in business for 5 years. It is time to stop plodding along. We want to blow the company out of the water and become a national brand. Do we invest in a sales team, google ads, direct mail, facebook ads or is there is some low hanging apples that we don't see. If I get some leads I would be more than happy to pay for a professionals time on the phone. I am hoping there is a construction or another professional out there who has some of the answers to the questions we have as a company.

4answers

Having looked at your website, I'd suggest that an overhaul of your site is likely required prior to spending too much on new initiatives. I find the overall messaging of the site confusing and somewhat inconsistent with the description you've provided in your question detail.

I'd be happy to share my feedback in more detail with you and if you find that you agree with that feedback, provide you some simple actionable steps you can take to put yourself in good position to grow your company and take it to the next level.


Answered 10 years ago

There is no right answer to this question because it will be different for every company. To be able to develop a successful strategy, you have to get a good picture of where you're at now, what's been stopping you from growing bigger / faster and how do you want the company to grow. Once you have clarity over these points, you can start building a strategy and test the different scenarios.

Here are some of the questions you may want to get answers to before spending any money on sales people, ads, etc:

1. What is your bigger vision? What does it look like when you've made the company the way you want it to be?
2. What does success look like for you? How will you know you have achieved what you wanted to?
3. What problems do you solve? Who has these problems? How much is it worth for these people to get the problems solved? How big does it make the market? What are the different segments? Do your services cover all the different segments of these markets?
4. What are your current strengths and weaknesses? Where do you make most of your money? What are your least profitable activities? Where do you spend most of your money?
5. What has been stopping you from growing bigger / faster? What have been your most successful channel / initiative for growth? What have you already tried that worked / didn't work?
6. What are the opportunities in the changing world for your business? These changes can be social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal or ethical.
7. How much money do you have to invest and what return do you expect? How much time can you give yourself to test different solutions?
8. What do your clients think of you? Why do they use your services versus competitors? How do your clients find you?
9. Who are your competitors? What makes them more / less successful? Why do their clients use them versus you? How do their clients find them?
10. What will you personally gain from having a more successful company? What's in it for you? How does it make your life better / happier?

I have helped several companies through this process. What's important to remember is that the answers will be different for every business depending on the industry, the environment you're in, your reality, etc.

Do you want guidance to develop a growth plan for your business?


Answered 10 years ago

Do you have a niche? What makes you different than all the other options in the market? Where are your sales coming from right now? Social media is good for lead generation if you're listening properly. The key is to generate thank you'd and wows so you can get yeses when you put out a call to action.


Answered 10 years ago

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