How to Combine Online Strategies with Your Brick and Mortar Business to Increase Sales and Boost Revenue
The business world is divided. Online businesses are considered, by some, to not be real businesses. Brick and mortar businesses, though they have may have more direct access to their customers, are loosing the revenue war to their more easily-accessed online counterparts.
For a while now, I've suspected that physical businesses, if they could implement some of the best practices of online marketing, could absolutely dominate their local markets.
Restaurants
Why a restaurant would NOT want to collect email addresses is beyond me. Think about the power of email marketing a restaurant could harness if they chose. They could send out promotions, menu updates, specials or seasonal changes to their location.
The power of email marketing for a brick and mortar business would be incredible! The tools I use is ActiveCampaign.
Doctors Offices
Why an office would still have someone dedicated to manually scheduling appointments is beyond me. Sure, not everyone has access to the internet, and some people are more comfortable talking to someone on the phone. But I haven't manually scheduled a meeting with a client in almost 3 years.
While at Dell, scheduling conference calls, both within the company and with our clients, was a nightmare. The back and forth was not only a waste of everyone's time, but it dove most participants crazy.
One of my clients, a chiropractor, has gotten back a ton of his time by automating his scheduling. I use Calendly to handle all of my scheduling, and I've heard good things about Acuity.
Consultants & Coaches
Giving away free information is one of the BEST ways to grow a business. In my book Exit Strategy, I outline an effective and detailed plan about how to grow your business by sharing useful information. You should buy a copy (on Kindle or paperback) from Amazon right now.
Most of my clients go through my sales funnel before they decide to work with me. Here's a simplified version of what that funnel looks like:
Free Advice:
Blog Posts & Podcast Episodes
Valuable Information:
My email list & Training courses
Low Cost Resources:
Books, Membership, Action Plans
Higher Cost Coaching:
Masterminds & 1x1 Coaching
If you're not going to spend the time to create resources to educate and entertain your prospective clients, some one else will. And, your clients will buy from them instead of you.
Proof It Works
One of my clients, Dr. Cory Ellerbroek, who is a chiropractor here in the Austin, Texas area, was a friend before he became a client. A couple of years ago, not only was his practice new, but he and his wife had just moved here from another state and left most of their social connections behind.
I told him about about how he could combine online strategies with his brick and mortar business, and he started making changes that dramatically increased his revenue.
But don't take my word for it. Here's what Cory had to say about working with me and the results he got by putting these online strategies to work in his practice:
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/GFiZqSYhEzU
Cory followed my sales funnel. He read my blog and listened to my podcast, he joined my email list, joined my membership site, and then joined my mastermind group.
Cory added a welcome mat (powered by SumoMe) to his website and he started automating some of his email responses, and deployed an email funnel with ActiveCampaign. He was able to acquire more patients and his existing ones coming back.
The truth is, you don't have to manually do everything in your business, and automation works.
His brick and mortar business is a success story every business should follow. When you combine online strategies, even basic ones, with your offline business, you can get amazing results that increase sales and boost your bottom line.