Small Business Coaching for Cash-Strapped Businesses

By Allison Babb

Today I was reading several questions from recent subscribers of my Ezine and one theme stuck out from the recent few – I’m cash-strapped and I’m starting a home-based business. Or, I’m cash strapped and I want to make sure I don’t lose my business so tell me how to sell my services successfully.

So in this Ezine issue, here are 3 ideas I wanted to share on cash-strapped businesses:

Caution: Running on empty

Allow me to first say with complete honesty you cannot run on empty for very long. Much like you can’t stop paying the mortgage and have a roof over your head, you cannot invest zero dollars into a business and expect to create income for you. That’s reality. You must have some sort of cash to create clients and sales. You must have some type of marketing budget.

The other thing I’m seeing with a lot of business owners is that this “running on empty” cash-strapped experience actually started with “running on zero marketing.” As I’ve shared in many articles – Marketing is the gas in your business engine. Too many businesses are not consistently adding marketing fuel in the first place, so the business engine eventually stops producing clients and sales. So please take this to heart - you must commit to marketing your business consistently to experience consistent results and success. Marketing is required for success (and no, I don’t mean pretty brochures and expensive ads either).

Zero-cost partnerships increase sales

Here are a couple thoughts on partnerships that can produce sales. A photographer can partner with a bridal shop and do a free workshop to draw a crowd then produce sales in the back end.

A computer repair person can partner with a business coach to deliver extra value to his/her clientele. The business coach does some free coaching which later results in new business. The computer repair business is seen as far more valuable with the biz coaching thrown in and it earns credibility, loyalty and repeat business from its clients. The win/win partnership costs the business owners zero dollars yet brings in clients and cash.

There’s a truckload of partnership ideas you can explore for your own business that result in a win/win. The key is to ask yourself “Who already has my customer but is not my competitor?” Then pick up the phone and call them and propose a mutually rewarding business partnership. My best example is when I did exactly that and the result was over 100 new leads within 48 hours and new sales within one week. Don’t underestimate the power of partnerships with people who have your customer.

Make your day HIGHLY revenue-focused

This may seem like a simple thing, but most solo business owners spend the majority of their day or week on non-revenue-producing tasks. To attract more clients and more cash flow, you may need to change what tasks you focus on during the day. Clarify your client-attraction strategy and execute it with more determination and consistency than ever. Commit to making those calls, doing the marketing, doing the follow up. Take a no-excuses approach to completing daily actions that produce clients and sales.

As simple as it may sound, when you run low on cash, the thing to do is to abandon the time wasters and execute massive action in the direction of producing the income you desire. And sometimes, that requires a huge shift in what your day looks like.

If you enjoyed this article, you'll want to check out the treasure-trove of ideas in Allison's Ultimate Clients and Cash System where she teaches you how to execute powerful marketing to consistently produce clients and sales in your solo business.

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Allison Babb is an author, speaker and Small Business Coach to solo entrepreneurs. Allison publishes the "Small Business Success" weekly Ezine on how to create a steady stream of clients for your small business at: www.GreatSmallBusinessAdvice.com

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