Debbie Mayo-Smith: Free and easy steps get the cash flowing

For small business owners, building rapport with customers may be key to their return. Photo / Thinkstock

You might have read the article about "Crisis in the family firm" in the Herald business section this past Saturday. It focused on the owners of small businesses using their personal credit cards to finance the business through cashflow hurdles.

One comment was that the vast majority of small business owners need to acquire more rounded business skills, including marketing. I think it's timely to look at the freasy (free and easy) things they can do to improve cashflow and sales.

Do 'a Cigana' for a cash injection.
Tim Jones, Cigana cafe owner, sells pre-paid coffee cards (you can read all about Tim's clever marketing here). By providing a small discount on the pre-purchase amount as an incentive to buy, you immediately get cash up front for future sales. This idea applies to anything from sandwiches to tune-ups, dental check-ups to photo printing. Cost = less than 5 per cent or so of sales (remember people will add-on, improving the profit margin).

Improve your customer relationships.
If your business is a commodity with competition - fish and chips, cafe, clothing, shoes - get ahead of the competition by making the customer feel good. You do that with smiles. Remembering names and details. Small talk. You'll develop more regulars and returning customers. Cost = zero.

Develop a database then use it for email and SMS marketing.
If you have a computer and internet connection, email marketing is basically free. If you want to market using SMS messages, you can use the local phone companies or buy bulk message sending ability at approximately 7c a message.

The important action is to start collecting customer details to build your database. You need nothing fancier than an Excel or Google document spreadsheet. Don't just collect names and email addresses. Get business cards, cellphone numbers, names, and locations.

Having a database allows you to bring customers back when you want (rather than waiting for them to return) and spurs word of mouth. Cost = free, or 7c-20c each for text messages.

Social Media - Facebook.
If you have a younger target market, Facebook should work well for you. See my article about Facebook business pages. You can do so many interesting and clever things to get people to your page and into your business. For example, taking photos of customers on your premises and then uploading and tagging them.

This will alert all their Facebook friends about you. You can put up Facebook specials, let people ask questions about your products, or create contests. Cost (in dollars) = none. Yes, there is a cost in time, but if you have a smartphone all this activity can be accomplished using your phone during spare moments as you work.

Social media - YouTube.
Using a camera or your smartphone, you can video clients and make videos of people using your products or services. How about testimonials, how-to guides ... We live in a visual world and you can create and upload videos for free. Use them in email marketing, on your website and social media sites. Cost = free.

Inexpensive add-ons.
What quick inducements can you use to bring in more people? Adding on something free to the purchase could work well. Coffee with a meal. Socks and waterproofing with shoes. Tooth polish with the check-up. A year's subscription to a home magazine for listing with you.

New markets.
Have you thought of approaching a new market? For example, any food business can try offering corporate lunch catering or office deliveries. Make special offers to groups in your target market - work social clubs, local professional associations. It's as simple as printing off a flyer and paying for a student to distribute it - or including it with a mail drop. Cost = negligible, to a few thousand dollars.

In closing, people want real inducements to come back to you or to give you their business in the first place. Relying on loyalty cards is a misnomer as they don't breed loyalty; they simply add another card to someone's wallet to keep until they decide to return. Alternatively, by enacting any number of the free and easy strategies above, you will bring your customers back and bring in new ones at little or no cost.

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Debbie Mayo-Smith is a bestselling author and international speaker.