I love analyzing our business in various ways to see how we are doing and what areas we can improve upon. I recently conducted an analysis to determine where our clients come from. This is important because it provides valuable feedback such as (a) how are our advertising dollars doing?; (b) are our SEO/SEM efforts paying dividends?; (c) are our strategic alliance efforts working?; (d) are direct mail campaigns working?
Here is what our analysis revealed:
- Referrals (20%)
- QB ProAdvisor Website (19%)
- QuickTrainer Website/Google SEO (16%)
- Networking (10%)
- Walk-Ins (9%)
- Print Advertising (7%)
- CPA’s (5%)
- Word of Mouth (4%)
- Chamber of Commerce (2%)
- Dialing for Dollars (2%)
- Expo’s (2%)
- Informational Workshops (2%) - These efforts are relatively new for us.
- Direct Mail (2%)
As you can see, we get a lot of business from our ProAdvisor listing. Now granted, I have been doing this since 2001 and have numerous ProAdvisor Certifications. Also, we are listed in the #1 position for our geographical location.
I will also reveal that our website, coupled with our SEO efforts, is quickly increasing the number of new clients we get from this resource, and will likely surpass our ProAdvisor listing before year-end. This has happened because I love the art of SEO and have been studying SEO diligently.
When I look at the above numbers, there are some things which stand out to me. I believe we can improve on our networking efforts. I wish this number was higher. Over the past two years, I’ve gained some valuable insight. Here are some things I’ve gleaned:
- It’s all about forming relationships and establishing a rapport with people.
- People typically do business with those they like and trust.
- Never be anxious to sell your services when networking. Rather, show a genuine interest in people you meet; ask lot’s of questions, letting them know you are interested in them.
- By asking lots of questions, you can determine if they have pain in the area of your business expertise.
- It’s about helping people with their problems and helping them succeed.
- You never know when the person you met six months ago (or longer) will call you in need of your help.
I could go on and on with lessons learned. But, I think I shall stop here.
You can do an analysis like this too using information from your QuickBooks file. I’ll tell you how in a future blog.
…Jim