3 Tips For Expanding Your Small Business Into A New Market

 
Growing revenues is the top priority for every small business owner. There are a number of ways to accomplish this goal. These three tips can help expand your small business into a new market and aid in achieving your business sales goals.
 

 
Vertical markets

The first thing you need to determine is which vertical market you serve today. For example, if you sell paper to school districts, you are by definition in the educational vertical market. Some of the larger vertical markets are healthcare, military, automotive, educational, pharmaceutical, construction, retail, real estate and agriculture. The point to consider is that it is highly likely the products you sell to one vertical market is consumed by other vertical markets. To grow your business, it is important to understand who consumes products similar to yours and how they are consumed.

 
Geographic markets

One of the easiest ways to grow your business is to expand into new cities and areas. If your current business market is limited to a specific geographic area, you can easily expand your sales coverage footprint into a new area by hiring a direct sales person or by leveraging indirect sales channels in that new market. Indirect sales channels, such as distributors, can be a very cost effective strategy to grow your business into a new area. Organizations such as the Manufactures Representatives of America, a national non-profit trade organization, can assist in finding an excellent sales representative.

 
New products and services

A good strategy to expand your small business revenue is to introduce new products or services to your existing customer base. These products and services can be obtained through purchase, consignment or through a sales commission agreement. As an example, cellular operators place their products for sale in gasoline stations and small local convenient stores. The small business owners of those businesses increase their revenues by selling products that they previously did not carry. The small business owner in this example can purchase and resell a product or they can sell it on behalf of the manufacturer and earn a commission on the sale. Either way, the small business owner will successfully increase revenues by introducing this new product.

 
This article was written by Michelle M. Guilbeau for CBS Small Business Pulse