When you grow your business, you’re opening up opportunities for not only revenue but more free time to do other things that matter the most. When it comes to long-term success, what is the best way to grow a business? Simply put, it’s by providing value to others.
Starting your business is one thing, and it can be difficult starting out. However, being able to grow your business to the next level is another challenge to overcome.
There are multiple approaches you can take to grow your business. I can tell you right now that they’re all the same old, traditional approaches that so-called experts will spit out time and time again.
In this post, I will lay out some common ways that anyone can grow their business. More importantly, I want to share my best approach to always growing your business.
Common approaches to growing a business
Business marketing has been around for a long time, and it will continue that way. There are common ways to market and grow your business. Some of them include the following:
- Find new customers to sell your services
- Invest more revenue into advertising (i.e. social media ads)
- Hire more people
- Charge more for the services you offer
- Researching your competition
Not that I’m not saying these are all bad approaches. All of them work very well, and every type of business can make an effort to try them out.
But there’s one approach that you need to be doing all the time. You want to be doing something that can keep your current customers (and maybe new ones) to keep coming back for more.
The best way to grow your business all the time?
The one thing that I learned when starting my first business is to always help others. Oftentimes, people seem to be in “selling” mode when they’re promoting their products and services.
Unfortunately, I don’t believe in the “sell, sell, sell” approach as the most effective way. Why is that? It’s because your mindset is all about “Just make money- so throw out whatever you have to make an extra buck right now.”
When you’re in “selling” mode, you become less genuine and not as sincere when you promote your business. Ask yourself: Do I just want to say to a customer “Hey, just buy my stuff. Thanks!”.
What business is all about: Provide value
One of the foundations of conducting business is to always provide value. If you truly believe that your product or service is the best out there, you have to prove why it’s the most valuable one in the market.
Here’s another question I encourage you to ask every single day: What can I give others in order to get what I want? When you think about it, you’re more in the “helping” mode rather than selling to others.
If you can answer that question thoroughly, you’re more likely to focus on providing value to your customers. It’s more about the quality of your service over the “make profit” part. The “making money” component will come over time.
Sleazy car salesperson
To help you understand how it all comes together, let me provide the example of your typical car salesperson. I’m going to use that one because I know people who’ve had bad experiences buying a car.
When you go to a car dealership to test drive a car, the car salesperson will explain all of the features of your next car, and they may even ask some personal questions in-between.
For example, as you’re test driving your next car, the sales representative may ask you if you’re married or have children. They may ask you other questions leading up to making a decision.
But here’s the problem: The sales rep is not asking that casually. As to what will happen later (as you think about your decision), they may use sleazy sales tactics to make you feel bad about not buying that car you drove.
Some things they may guilt you into include:
- “Well, this car can be a great fit for your family. You don’t want to let them down, do you?”
- “How would you feel if you were stuck on the road with an older car?”
- “Don’t worry about the price: We can work something out. Don’t you want to lock something down now?”
- “You do want to make a decision sooner than later. Why bother waiting on buying that car?”
A car expert writing informational articles or educational videos on cars
Now, let’s switch from that pressure-like situation at the car dealership. Let’s say you did some research online and found a very helpful article on a car you’re interested in getting.
This situation can be an article online, or an informative video you found on Youtube. The author or person in the video is very knowledgeable about the type of car you want while laying out the pros and cons to consider.
If you’re watching some videos on buying cars, some of the topics that might be covered include:
- 5 Ways Car Dealerships Will Rip You Off.
- How To Get Maximum Value For Your Trade-In
- Sneaky Tricks Car Sales Reps Use To Get You To Buy
- Car Dealers Exposed: What You Need To Know About
Now, these are really good topics that can be helpful in making an informed decision. Not only that, do you notice something that was not so obvious from these topics?
The big difference
Based on the situation I laid out, the car sales rep was more into “selling” and making you feel bad about not making a big purchase.
On the other hand, the expert who made those videos was helping and providing value to others. Especially if the topics are about what to look out for when going to a car dealership, that person is not trying to sell you.
Providing value always wins
If you’re always providing value to your customers, you’re going to gain more trust and confidence from others over time. More so, they’ll more likely want to conduct business if you’re already established that trust.
If you keep doing that consistently, your business will keep growing if you’re giving others what they want in return. If your product or service is valuable to others, you’ll end up getting what you ultimately want in the long run: A successful, profitable business.
Final Words
There are a lot of ways to grow a business. The best approach I laid out is not often emphasized enough in the business world today.
If we lived in a world where business was all about helping and providing value to others, that would be wonderful. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world like that.
But it’s good to understand what you need to do if you want to grow your business further. It’s worth making an effort at it.
Want to start or grow your business the right way?
Would you like to start a business or grow your existing business? I can help you with that. I’ve been building a business for the last few years, and I know it’s not an easy path to take.
But I would like to bring you to a place that does exactly that. It’s my go-to place whenever I’m stuck and need help from time to time.
If you’re interested in learning more, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via the contact page. I look forward to being in touch with you.
Your Turn: Do you think providing value is key to business?
I would like to get some of your thoughts on this topic. Have you always thought business was all about selling?
Do you think helping others is what matters most in business? If you have a business, how do you provide value to others?
Feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below. I look forward to reading your responses, and I’ll gladly respond promptly.
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Eric is a content writer and the site owner of notimekillers.com. He takes great pride in helping people manage their time and grow their businesses. Eric is a firm believer in time freedom, as he believes in taking ownership of time. “Time is your most important asset. It can be your best friend or worst enemy. How you use your time can shape the future you desire to have.” In his leisure time, Eric loves to write and read whenever possible. He enjoys going for long walks outdoors while doing in-home workout videos every week. You can follow Eric on LinkedIn.
