Many entrepreneurs struggle to create a successful home business through times of plenty and times of drought. Only about 18% of entrepreneurs are extremely successful. Want to know a secret to small business success? Successful entrepreneurs make the best use of resources to achieve more with less effort: they use the principle of leverage.
Small business resources that entrepreneurs can take advantage of include knowledge, experience, time, human resources, systems, and technology. The result of leverage is a turnkey business that can “run itself,” generating more profit with less stress and allowing the freedom to enjoy prosperity.
A great way to take advantage of technology is to automate and simplify your sales and marketing with a professional online shopping cart. This small business success secret allows you to put your home-based small business on autopilot, exposing hidden sources of profit. Using an online shopping cart is the fastest and most flexible way to do business online, without expensive and complicated software.
The shopping cart secret to small business success will grow your online business by leaps and bounds when you:
o Use custom forms and opt-in boxes to collect names and email addresses of website visitors
o Stay in touch with your customers 24/7
o Maintain accurate contact information for your customers and prospects
o Automate sales and purchases of products.
o Send automated personal email responses (auto responders) to inquiries, sign-ups, purchases, and follow-up with prospects
o Deliver scheduled informational emails, newsletters and promotional messages to your mailing list
o Set up multiple affiliate programs for others to market your business
o Tracking the success of your ads and emails
o Test and track your website links
o Use questionnaires to discover customer needs.
Statistics show that you need to contact a prospect 7-9 times before they remember your business. Many business owners stop at just 2-3 follow ups and are losing 70-80% of their sales! The online shopping cart will help you follow up easily and effortlessly with autoresponders.
It’s easy to believe that doing contracted work is more important than marketing, but you need to have marketing systems in place to consistently generate sales. You want a successful home-based business, not the feast-or-famine roller coaster ride that many home-based business entrepreneurs experience. Even if you’re doing well now, keep looking to the future and how to further leverage this secret to small business success.
Several online shopping cart companies offer similar services, but at a minimum, you want to make sure the program you choose:
o Offer support services
o Offer free tools
o It is easy and accessible
o It is easy to set up, even for a novice
o Offer multiple packages
o Offers a RISK-FREE trial period
Here’s how to get started with an online shopping cart:
1) Identify your marketing and sales goals.
2) Determine what products and services to sell on the internet.
3) Sign up for an online shopping cart and find out how you can easily use your internet marketing tools to achieve your goals.
4) Enlist the help of an eCommerce virtual assistant or shopping cart strategist who has the technical cart skills and strategic expertise to market your business online effectively
Online shopping cart technology and its small business resources are essential to any successful home-based business. Implement this secret to small business success to build a consistently thriving business that’s easy to manage, achieve your marketing goals with ease, and skyrocket your sales.
Copyright 2009, Michele Hanson-O’Reggio. All rights reserved.