How $350 transformed a business
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We’ve been running our 1 hour brainstorming and mini consultancy for a few weeks and I thought I’d share with you share with you some results our clients have achieved from just a 1 hour Skype conversation.
In this post, I’m going to tell you about Tom’s story. Tom generated $1500 of additional revenue, within 3 hours of going live with our suggestion. The best bit? He was sitting in the pub at the time.
This is how he did it.
In our 1 hour brainstorm Tom described his business and it was quite clear that Tom’s business is very reliant on him. He does everything in the business (a UK based car speed detector business and satelite navigation supplier) from taking the orders on the phone, providing advice and sending out the products. He keeps his costs tight, but as a result he has no time to grow his business.
What’s more, it’s very difficult for Tom to take time off from his business or go on holiday.
At The Big Red Tomato Company we believe that business owners should be exactly that, owners and not employees. Consequently we help entrepreneurs grow their business by thinking of themselves as owners and creating a business which works without them.
So, when I talked to Tom, we looked at how he could generate more time to spend on his business rather than in his business.
This is what we came up with:
Tom’s business generates business from his internet site, but sometimes his customers don’t know what products to purchase and they contact him for advice. Other times, customers contact him simply to place an order which they could do directly online. What’s more after 5.30pm Tom goes home.
After floating a few ideas to Tom he decided to use a UK based Virtual Assistant using a dedicated firm. The Virtual Assistant allows Tom to switch his phones over to them when he’s busy and consequently allows him to focus on areas of his business which generate more revenue. In Tom’s case, this is providing advice on car forums.
More importantly after 5.30 they answer his calls until 10pm and also at weekends, which means he is effectively extending his trading hours, without any additional effort on Tom’s part.
The first night the service went live he checked his phone from the pub and recieved 3 orders, totalling $1500. These are orders that he would in all probability would have lost. Any prospective customers wanting more detailed information than the Virtual Assistant is able to provide are simply forwarded onto Tom to give them a call back.
So, that’s how we’ve helped Tom transform his business. What could we do for yours?
To find out more about our 1 hour brainstorming services click here
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Hi Matthew,
It sounds like you gave Tom some solid advice – good for him for taking it and raising the extra funds. As I was reading the intro, I was thinking that outsourcing would probably be the answer, particularly if he was running a one-man shop. The money he spends on his VAs will be recouped by the extra time he could devote to promoting his business and strategic planning activities. Pay someone an amount less than you earn per hour frees up your time to devote to higher ROI activities.
I’m glad that it worked out for both of you.
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..Five Ways To Add Connection To Your Life =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Hi Karen thanks for your comment. The biggest challenge is actually not the coming up with the solution (that generally is the easy part) the hardest part is recognising the need for change.
So Tom must be pretty happy, huh? This should really help him as he’ll have more time to work on growing his business as well.
.-= Mike Roosa´s last blog ..Did The Contest Work? =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 6:54 am
Hi Mike, you’re absolutely right. It was getting Tom to see that if he focused on running the business he could spend less time working in the business. Thanks for the comment!
Matthew,
That is a great case study. You should record those calls and put them on your site as podcasts. That would be an explosive way to get your consulting message out there. It’s really easy to do with a digital recorder.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
.-= Joshua Black | Underdog Millionaire´s last blog ..Copywriting Critique of the World’s Worst Salesman =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
June 6th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Joshua, thanks for this comment. I’m offering it to clients to save them taking notes, but that’s a great idea. I will look into creating a library. Thanks, Matthew
Hi Matthew,
You certainly gave Tom some great advice. That’s a huge return on his investment in only one night.
I’d love to hear a follow-up done with him to hear how this strategy has impacted his life long term.
Matthew Needham Reply:
June 6th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Funnily enough I had a follow up call with Tom yesterday and he’s delighted with his ROI. The virtual assistants are more than covering their costs and generating Tom extra income which in all probability he would have lost. Plus, he’s differentiated his business from his competition but more importantly he’s giving his customers a better service.
Thanks for the comment. More case studies coming up over the next few weeks.
That’s awesome to hear how Tom improved his business.
A lot of small business owners are still set in the mindset of normal work hours yet the internet is 24/7.
This actually gives me a few great ideas about the business I work for. We also have a lot of orders over the phone but when we close up for the day, we can’t handle those.
Thanks for pointing this out; perhaps I can send my boss your way
Murlu´s last [type] ..How To Make An Extra $20 Online Today
Matthew Needham Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Thanks for the comment Murray. You’re right, business owners need to ensure that their business operations support their site opening hours. So, if you’re quoting a phone number for phone based orders, you need to be able to support them, especially if you’re operating across time zones.
Thanks again!
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