When I was studying for my MBA, my most challenging class
was statistics. And even though I managed an A- in the
class, it took every one of the few analytical brain cells
I had to do so.
So imagine my pleasant surprise when I sat down to analyze
the statistics of my business over the last 12 months and
found myself engrossed, fascinated, excited and practically
dancing for joy. Armed with this critical data, now I know
exactly where to spend my time and efforts going forward to
receive the highest and best rate of return!
I ran a total of about 10 reports, but let me share some of
what I learned specifically from my shopping cart's reports:
Shopping Cart Stats
The shopping cart system I use (1ShoppingCart) has the
ability to run sales reports in a variety of ways. Below
are four of the reports I ran, what my results were, and
how you can apply the results to your business:
a. My Monthly Sales Totals...
...showed me how many sales I made each month, and from
that information, I discovered that my best month
financially was December.
I reviewed my marketing and sales activities (in other
words, the offers I made) for that month, and what I found
was this:
In December, I held my 50% off holiday sale - and I didn't
have to do a thing to bring in those sales, other than
promote it. So, if you're hesitating about having a sale,
and even more so if you're hesitating about giving a big
discount, don't. You'll not only make sales that you
wouldn't have otherwise, you'll likely make MORE sales than
you would have otherwise, which of course means more money.
I also offered my 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online
Success Take Action Group 10-week coaching program, which
is one of my higher ticket programs. If you've already
developed some products or programs at the lower-priced end
of your marketing and product funnel, consider adding a
more comprehensive program at a higher price to your
offerings to in^crease your bottom line.
b. My Sales by Ad Campaign...
... showed me which special offers were the ones you were
most interested in taking advantage of. Now I know which
offers to consider repeating, or offering on another
product or program in the future.
This is something you can do as well. Guessing if a special
campaign you ran worked well or not doesn't make good
business sense. Tracking actual numbers does, however, and
it's super-simple to do in 1ShoppingCart.
c. My Sales by Clients/Customers...
... showed me who my top clients/customers are, what
they've bought, and how much they've invested in my
offerings. And since I know that one of the most effective
ways to grow a business is to make additional offers to
those who have already bought from me, you can bet that not
only will I do that, but I'll do it in a way that makes
them feel special - because they are to me - by offering
them special access or discounts or additional benefits as
my way of thanking them for their continued business and
loyalty.
If you track this information, you can do the same and
increase your sales and your customer loyalty at the same
time.
d. My "Where did you hear about us" Report...
... showed me that even though I thought that some of my
online networking efforts weren't really paying off, mainly
because I didn't think I was focusing enough time on them,
I was wrong. It seems even the small amount I had been
doing was making an impact.
So now I know the top three places to really focus those
efforts going forward. If you've found online networking to
be a struggle for you, tracking this information makes what
can seem like an overwhelming marketing activity (some
lists are SO active) into an extremely managable and
once-again enjoyable one.
I gleaned all of this information from just four reports
from my shopping cart. And this doesn't include the reports
I ran from my email list service (Aweber) or from my web
stats (Google Analytics).
Measuring the results of your business activities is
critical to your success, and anyone can do it (it's really
one of those "if I can, anyone can" kind of things). I
really want to encourage you to take a look at where you've
been over the past 6-12 months, analyze that data, and make
some strategic decisions about where you want to focus your
efforts going forward to get where you want to be.
----------------------------------------------------
Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & CoachT,
founder of ClientAbundance.com and creator of 21 Easy &
Essential Steps to Online Success SystemT, teaches
professionals how to attract more clients, create
profit-making products and services, make more sales, and
ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE
tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit
http://www.ClientAbundance.com .
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