Wanting to Expand Business

aj9648

Hi

For the last few years I have been running a small home business providing payroll services to small local businesses. Usually a few employees and nothing much else - as I have not really tried to drum up business as I have a full time job as well. I have one client with over 200 employees. I get good feedback from clients, am cheap compared to accountants and other providers and provide RTi compliant service.

In 2014 I have made a resolution to try and expand this business (and maybe end my full time job). But I am struggling with ideas as to how I would get business in. I tried flyer drops in the past and never really worked.

Any ideas would be appreciated?

Thanks

Tomby1

1) Do you have a website? If not, this is your first port of call. If so, does it look the part? Having a website that's been well designed, developed and marketed is the best way to attract clients in this day and age.

2) Can you introduce any recommendation discounts to current clients? e.g. money off your services if they introduce you to new businesses

3) I don't think flyers suit the kind of clientele you are aiming for. You'll need to approach companies directly - research their needs and then get in touch with a potential solution.

Kayalana99

Tbh I don't think flyer drops are a bad idea - but you'd have to drop them to businesses. Doing house to house would be pointless.

I don't know if this might help but is it possible to team up with an accountant so your doing the smaller tasks etc that he can send work to you for?

sooty&sweep

Hi
Are there any business networks you could become involved with eg new start ups? So you get the opportunity to meet the owners and promote yourself ?

Jen

paddyrg

Some places are natural hubs for new small businesses - serviced offices, mail box places, self-storage companies. Offer them an incentive to promote your services or make adverts to lodge with them attracting people who are new in to business a free 30-min session to discuss payroll and options.

colino

Don't waste your time with cheap fliers and grabbing the first set of small businesses you can lay your hands on, get a recommendation from your biggest client and ask them nicely to make introductions on your behalf. Much easier to be working on a cost-saving basis with a few, established SMEs than going through the start-up, set-up and management of a lot of micro companies who will take up a disproportionate amount of your working and selling time. Better to be profitable than busy.

DKLS

LinkedIn is pretty good for business networking and doing some marketing cost effectively. Search for groups in your town/city/county and you should find a few.

Mistral001

I suspect that this is a service in which price is not the main criterion deciding which provider to hire. There are obviously some clients who are willing to employ a part-time one-person business if they are cheap enough, but can that business be scaled? Most clients will think very carefully about who they hire to provide important services like this. They will ask themselves what happens if that one-person is sick? What happens if they have a family crisis? What happens if the work that pays the mortgage has to be put first? What happens if they cannot afford the time (or money) to keep up to date? have they got enough PII etc...?

Going for turnover can be flattering, but is it always the best way to go?. All the best anyway I hope it works out.

ChrisCote

I would suggest networking events to get involved with more businesses. That really helped me.

Additionally you should get set up with a website if you don't have one. My company specializes in web solutions that include email marketing which is much cheaper than flyers.

aj9648

thanks for all responses - really helpful

aj9648

Any tips on building my own site? Looking to host with my own domain but dont have technical skills to do it (and dont want to hire anyone). Looking at these website builder packages ??

been looking at 'Mr Site' - http://uk.mrsite.com/ anyone used it?