When I started working for Dmac Media Ltd nearly 5 years ago I frequently heard my boss telling customers “Start Small Grow Big”. I thought this was crazy, he was basically telling customers “Put some of that money back in your pocket, we don’t need it all” This seemed contrary to all I knew about selling. I’d been a self employed business man for 25 years at this point and up-selling was ingrained in me. Over the coming months I began to understand why he employed this philosophy and at a recent BNI meeting (http://www.bni.ie/) I was reminded of it again and so decided to post this blog. A speaker at the Sligo BNI (Yeats Chapter: http://www.bnisligo.com) was delivering an educational spot on the difference between “Shoppers” and “Customers”
People who buy your goods or services.
People who buy or purchase your goods or services and are so happy with the service/product and customer service you provide that they continue to buy from you. Having worked with Dave McEvoy for almost 5 years I now fully understand where he is coming from. He wants to minimise the capital outlay for our customers, especially those who are taking their first steps into the “Online” world. By using his “Start Small Grow Big” approach the customer gets to utilise the unspent monies on other areas of their business: Staff, PPC Advertising, Social Media Management, Signage etc. Overall I have seen this philosophy work time and time again, the client minimises their initial expenditure at a time when they are launching their new business/online business. It takes time and effort to attract a customer base to your new venture both offline and online so unnecessary expenses only act as an impediment to your success. Almost always, our clients Start Small and then Grow Big. Once their venture is giving them a return they are more than happy to invest a little more in developing or promoting their business online. We have many success stories that would support this model, but one in particular stands out for me, www.tanksireland.ie The business is run and managed by Porick Murray and focuses on selling oil and water storage tanks along with the usual accessories. Porick previously worked in the oil and water tank industry as 'European Business Development Manager' for about 10 years. Early in 2012 Porick approached Dmac Media with his idea to launch an online only business selling oil and water storage tanks. Porick had some great ideas, but implementing all of them in one fell swoop was increasing his set up costs. Dave McEvoy introduced Porick to his Start Small Grow Big Philosophy and immediately Porick saw the logic in it for him. Shortly afterwards we designed and launched www.tanksireland.ie . Porick worked hard on developing his website content, social media and even harder on adding products and descriptions for the site. It wasn’t all smooth sailing as Porick was launching a brand new site which was breaking into an established market but he kept going and after a short while he made his first online sale! Since then Porick’s business has grown Big! He has reinvested some of his profits in the website, improving his SEO (search engine optimisation), product range and most importantly his customer experience on the site. Recently Porick launched a new online business: www.pontoonsireland.ie and once again we applied our Start Small Grow Big Philosophy. I am happy to say that Porick and www.tanksireland.ie are doing very well and the launch of www.pontoonsireland.ie promises to be another success for Porick. At Dmac Media we are always happy to discuss and advise on new online business ventures. Feel free to contact us today.