9 Simple (But Effective) Ideas To Grow Your Trade Business
Many people have their own trade business, but they want to help it grow so they can make more money and hire more employees. However, they are also managing their business, so they don’t have a lot of time to grow their business. Luckily there are some simple methods. to achieve growth!
If you don’t know of some simple things you can do to grow your business, you are in luck because there are 9 things that you can do to grow your trade business. Each is listed below with additional details.
1. Build a Website
If you want to grow your trade business, build a website for your business where customers can view details about your business. You could include pictures of your employees, details about how long you have been in business, past jobs that have been completed by your employees, and customer reviews. Your website can also display information about your products and services to customers.
When you build your website or use a website builder, make sure that it is SEO-friendly so your website is one of the first ones that pops up when people search for certain services. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and if you create an SEO-friendly website, it will eventually be one of the first ones to pop up on search engine algorithms. Increased web traffic will bring in more customers and help your trade business grow.
When you create a website, you can use a website builder so you don’t have to do as much work yourself. You could also hire someone outside your business to create your website.
If you hire someone to create your business’ website or create one using a website builder, make sure that the resulting website is clean, colorful, organized, and easy-to-use. Otherwise, your business won’t grow like it would if your website was different.
2. Establish Expertise in Trade Niche
Make sure that all of your employees are fully trained and have experience in the trade that your business is in, and ensure that your employees, as well as yourself, are experts in the field you work in. If you do so, then the work done by your employees will be up to a specific standard and you will get repeat customers, and you will be considered to be experts in your work field.
Understand and anticipate what your customers need to be done. Make sure you stay within offerings that are relevant to your business and expand your expertise in order to meet the needs of the market. If your company meets your customer’s needs, and your employees get the job done well, they will hire you repeatedly, and you will make more money.
Although this may not seem easy, it can actually be fairly simple. All you need to do is make sure all of your employees are trained properly, anticipate your customer’s future service needs, and periodically take training courses so you can learn how to complete those services quickly and accurately. Make sure your employees do so as well!
3. Form Partnerships
If you want to grow your trade business, form partnerships with other companies and people, and be strategic when forming those partnerships. Form partnerships with companies that are larger than yours are in similar but different markets, and where people will be able to see evidence of the partnership repeatedly.
One easy way to form a partnership is to go to a local business, like a grocery store or candy shop, and ask them if you can advertise your business somewhere in the shop. Then, put up a sign or something similar that advertises your business. This is a very easy way to get new customers and help your trade business grow. It’s always nice to advertise their business in return.
You can use social media to form useful partnerships, although it will likely cost money to do so, depending on the strategy you use.
4. Utilize Social Media
Social media is everywhere and is used by nearly everyone, so make sure you utilize it for your trade business. Create a social media page on Facebook and Instagram for your business and use it regularly. Advertise your business on social media, and form partnerships with well-known social media influencers and celebrities.
Ads on social media are one of the most common ways that people find businesses and are persuaded to use their services, and if you use social media to advertise your business, many people will see the advertisement and utilize your services. (Source)
If you advertise your business on social media and have a social media page dedicated to your business, you will book more jobs and your business will earn more money.
On your social media page, create and communicate an identity for your brand, and promote products and services that you offer. Use your company’s social media to advertise your business, but also use it as a way to connect with your demographic so people feel like they are hiring real people rather than just a faceless person who doesn’t actually care about their customers.
If you don’t want to control the social media page for your business, or if you are unsure about how to effectively use social media to promote your business and connect with customers, hire a social media specialist.
Overall, social media is a very easy (and mostly free) way to connect and advertise your business to customers, and it is a very simple tool that you can use if you want to grow your trade business.
5. Attend Local Events
Get out and socialise with people and attend local events, such as markets, festivals, sporting events or information sessions, where you can connect with people and potential customers and advertise your trade business.
If you attend local events, then you can talk to people and potential customers and they will be more likely to hire you in the future, which will help your trade business grow. Even if many people don’t hire you to perform a service for them, they will talk to their friends about you because they associate you with a positive event. If they recommend your business to their friends, then your trade business will grow. Word of mouth is powerful!
6. Host Events in Local Area
If you can’t attend local events, then host your own event where people can visit and learn about your company and the services that you provide. Host the events in areas with a lot of foot traffic, and have various activities and prizes for people to do.
If you host an event for your local community, you can connect and build relationships with potential customers. You can even have special activities available for people who have used your company’s services in the past and draw previous customers to the event where you can really connect with them.
If you establish a connection with future or past customers, they will use your company’s services repeatedly, and your company will grow over time. (Source)
7. Create a Customer Loyalty Program
If you want to grow your trade business, you could also create a customer loyalty program. If they spend this amount or hire your company to complete a certain number of jobs, then they get a reward. Loyalty programs increase sales, and it is a great way to make repeat customers feel appreciated and like they are getting something out of using your company’s services repeatedly.
If you do implement a customer loyalty program, offer discounts or prizes that customers can earn over time. Although you likely won’t be able to offer free jobs, you can offer free items that are attributed to your business. However, don’t make the prizes items like rubber bracelets or whistles. Instead, offer items that customers can actually use and won’t feel like a walking advertisement when they use it.
When you use a customer loyalty program, you can offer things to customers if they leave a review or make a referral that pans out. This will boost your business and help it grow because people will see those reviews and likely hire your business because of the positive reviews, and the referrals will help you get even more positive reviews and book more jobs. It is a win-win for both you and your customers.
If you don’t want to create a customer loyalty program, but you still want to connect with customers and periodically offer them items or discounts, then create an email list that customers, both past and future, can sign up for. You can send them emails reminding them about the services that you provide, sales that you currently have, or announce that you now offer a service that you didn’t offer beforehand.
Utilizing an email list is a great way to connect with customers and keep your business on their mind when they are thinking about jobs that need to be done that your business can do. If you utilize an email list or a customer loyalty program, your trade business will grow over time.
8. Use Helpful Programs
If you want your trading business to grow, use a program that helps you keep track of jobs, invoices, customers, and more. You can also use customer or job management systems that will help you keep track of payments, past jobs, future jobs that they have booked, addresses, and contact information. If you are interested in fining put more information on job management systems, please see our article “Top 8 Job Management Software for Australian Tradies“
Some of these useful programs can be connected to accounting apps so you can do payroll quickly and easily, help you keep track of inventory, and create a website for you, so you don’t have to do as much work in order to have a website for your business.
Unfortunately, most of these helpful programs cost money for you to use, but they will help you make more money than you will likely spend on the subscription. The price of the program that you use varies depending on the program and the plan that you choose, so research various programs that can help you before you subscribe.
Programs that will help you run your business will also help it grow over time, so they are very useful and you should utilize them if possible if you want to grow your trade business.
9. Hire Amazing Employees
If you want your trading business to grow, hire amazing employees that finish their work in a timely manner and are good at customer service. Hire responsible people, and make sure they are fully trained before they work on jobs alone or with another person who has less experience than your other employees. (Source)
If you hire people who are good at customer service, customers will have a good experience and likely hire them in the future, especially if they completed the job in a timely manner and the job was done well. Encourage your employees to become more efficient if you want to grow your trade business. If possible, reduce your costs and try to help your employees reduce waste of materials.
If customers have a good experience interacting with your employees and they do quality work, then they will likely use your business again when they need a different job done that they can’t do themselves. Also, if customers have good experiences with your company, they will recommend it to their friends, and you will get more business.
When your employees do well and are responsible, your business does well in turn. If customers don’t have good experiences with your employees, then they won’t refer your business to their friends and they likely won’t use your business when they have another job that needs to be done. Make sure you are hiring amazing employees if you want your trade business to grow.
Overall, there are many things that you can do in order to help your trade business grow, and many of them are easy to do during the day when you have some down time. If you can’t do any of these things on this list or your trade business isn’t growing like it should, keep up your good habits and be patient!
