OPERATION SKYROCKET

10 easy ways to jumpstart your small business in tough times and send revenues soaring.

1. Expand With A Website:
   
   Need to build you business? Try adding a website. You can use the website to act as a bulletin board for your business, announcing special promotions, or you can use the website to actually take orders for your enterprise. It's your online catalog. You'll need to register a domain name and establish a relationship with a web host who will help you maintain your website. The payoff is great as a website can cost less than $1000 a year to set up and operate. Do a net search to learn more about domain names and how to register them. You can find more information at networksolutions.com. This is a one-stop shopping excursion for your web needs.
   
   
2. Host A Grand Re-Opening:
   
   Yes,you've done it before. Hosted your grand opening when you first set up your shop. But times have changed and you need to attract new customers to your shop or service business. Consider hosting a Grand Re-Opening. You'll introduce your customers--new and old--to your products and/or services and help them learn about the changes you've incorporated into your product offerings, inventory and service business. If you run a shop, pick a day when many people drop into your store. Hand out flyers, balloons or other advertising specialties announcing your name and anything that is "new" about your business. If you run a restaurant, offer a free beverage with dinner as part of your new opening. If you have a service business, give your customers something at a reduced rate if they do business with you during your Grand Re-Opening.
   
   
3. Introduce A Frequent Flyer Program:
   
   Everyone is familiar with the airline programs: the more you fly with an airline, the more mileage you accrue and can then turn it in for a free trip, hotel stay, car rental, etc. You can follow the same premium system with your own business. Let's say you run a florist. For every 10 bouquets a customer purchases, they'll receive a free arrangement. Or, for every $1000 they spend, they'll receive $75 off the next purchase. If you run a shoe store, consider giving the customer a free pair of shoes after they purchase seven pairs or ten pairs. You'll work out the details for your individual business.
   
   
4. Beef Up Your Customer Service
   
   Take a long, hard look at the level of customer service you and your employees are delivering. Times are tough and consumers want to get everything they can out of their hard-earned dollars. Take inventory of what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong to ensure that you continue to attract customers to your business. Remember the customer is always right and there is always a way to strike a balance even when the customer is actually wrong, rude or ill mannered. Examine your practices: return policies, refunds, store credits, store hours, customer suggestion boxes, how you handle complaints and just about any other aspect of your business that comes to mind. Develop a manual for your employees so they understand how to handle anything that comes up while you might be absent from the shop. Delivering good customer service is fine, delivering wonderful customer service can help those cash registers ring.
   
   
5. Announce A Discount
   
   In the last quarter of 2001, thousands of Americans who were not going to buy a new car bought one thanks to the incredible "zero percent financing" discount program the car manufacturers offered to lure buyers to their empty showrooms. You can develop a similar discount program for your small business. Take 10% off orders totalling $100 was a familiar refrain during the Christmas holiday shopping season. You can do the same one week a month or for a limited period this spring. You can offer discounts on any item that is "red" for a limited time or offer a 10% on the homebrew of the day if you run a coffee bar. The particulars are up to you, but they will total increased sales for your small business.
   
   
6. Develop Piggyback Program
   
   If you run a small business in a mall or near another store, consider a joint-effort or a piggyback program. Say, you are the monogram kiosk buy or gal at the mall and that there is a homestore nearby selling towels, napkins and other potential items that could be embroidered. Go to the shop and ask them to send their clients over to you. Since they don't offer the monogramming or embroidery service, you are not taking business away from them. You are simply figuring out how to join forces to build business. The possibilities are endless for this type of jumpstart program.
   
   
7. Publish A Newsletter
   
   It doesn't have to be fancy and it can be printed on your home/business computer, but a newsletter might make your customers feel that they are plugged into business and that they are receiving information on "the inside track." You can announce new programs or store hours, tell customers about a new product or service offering, include a discount coupon and much more. The newsletter could be distributed on a monthly or quarterly basis. It could be handed out in the shop or sent to your customer's e-mail address. You could distribute them in the parking lot to lure new clients into your store, or if you work from home, you can send it to folks on your mailing list and that brings us to jumpstart idea number eight.
   
   
8. Put Together A Mailing List
   
   You'll never know when you are going to need it, so start putting together a mailing list of your customers and potential customers. Even if consumers leave your shop without purchasing anything, ask them if they'd like to be on your mailing list to "receive discount information, sales announcements" and so forth. You'll quickly collect a lot of names and addresses (either snail mail or email) that you can use to expand your bottom line. Send out announcements of new products you are offering or invite customers to come into your store. If they bring the newsletter, they'll receive a 10% or 20% discount. This way, they will actually look for your future newsletters even if you are only offering a "free cup of coffee." Leave a book by the cash register or by the exit at your small business to start collecting names and addresses.
   
   
9. Host A Benefit
   
   The citizens of the United States of America quickly rallied to help the victims of the September 11 tragedy and there is no reason why this type of program has to ever stop. We can all help people all through the year even when there is no single, unifying crisis. Consider hosting a benefit in your shop. It can work as easily as the ebay auctions worked. For every item you sell, you'll donate 5% or 10% of the profit to a charity. You can also say, 10% of proceeds from this month's sales will go to the charity. You can do this every Valentine's Day or for the first Tuesday of every month or for special holidays. It's up to you to decide how you'll want to structure your program.
   
   
10. Build A Community Goodwill Project
    
    This is where the beauty of helping others can really pay off. Let's say you run a landscaping business and find out the children's orphanage in town needs to clear a lot. You come in and volunteer to clear the lot and in place plant a beautiful flower garden. Another example of this type of goodwill exchange is of the local printer. He or she finds out that a local charity needs to print up a program or a flyer to announce an event. The local printer donates the printing services and receives a nice credit on the program. If you run a food business, consider donating a particular item to the high school drama club for sale at the intermission of their annual play. There are many ways to develop goodwill for your enterprise without much work or effort at all.
    

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