20 ways to Grow Revenue ...

In 2018, I presented 20 ways to grow revenue (sell) at a conference in Hyderabad. It feels like ages because in a couple of years it will be close to a decade. Growing revenue is close to my heart and will remain that way. Obviously my knowledge evolved over years until I learned about a quote from David Ogilvy (“the consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife”).

Wait - what? Yes; he said it in 1955, so not years but a century back. Once I came to know it, I forgot everything I thought I knew and then had to re-learn it again. See the full quote at the end of this post … 💐

So what changed since 2018?

• Consumers and buyers are more educated than ever. Thanks to YT being the biggest and most followed University on the planet. 

• Sales, marketing, advertising, etc. all aim to bring revenue and customers. For me it is  not at all complicated. No change here since decades. 

• AI is the new kid on the block which can not be ignored. It is proven to expedite all touch points you and your customers/ buyers have in their journey. 

• Channel saturation, CAC bloating, playbooks becoming stale are more real than ever. And the hustle needed will also never change. 

The same fundamentals of how you grow revenue (such as 20 ways to sell) remain relevant and apply to b2b, b2c, startups, mature companies, and products in all innovation/ adoption curves. Additionally, if you have time on your side; you can grow exponentially and scale. The significance of beating time will never change. You are here to scale, right? 

Let's look at the 20 ways to grow revenue, exactly as I presented in 2018 … 👍 

1 - Give free information, answers. Insurance companies are a good example. Nowadays, celebrities are hired for this. One of the very famous Bollywood actors frequently urges the public to file taxes on time. It is important to file taxes on time - that is the information. 

2 - Give a free product. I have been using google photos for more than 25 years now; and I am emotionally attached to it. This makes me trust Google at work also. 

3 - Give free services/ ecosystem. In India if you buy a bike, for the first year service is free. Yes Free - only consumables are charged which are less than 10% of actual bike servicing cost. However, this is after the product is sold, you get the point. Nail your end to end journey … 🎖️ 

4 - Sell by commitment - “Lower prices. Everyday. On everything”. This is the only proposition and I am committed to it. If you combine, this family is the richest in the world right? Yes. 

5 - Sell economies of scale - Are 99 cent burgers still available? I remember Checkers used to sell burgers for 99 cents in Auburn. Or maybe the store used to give burgers for 99 cents only to immigrant students. Oh, that burger joint was owned by an Indian … 💡 

6 - Encourage referrals - Mobile apps monetised referrals flawlessly in 2014 to 2018. In India it was 100 Rs and in the US it was 9 dollars. Dropbox, Paypal, PayTM - works well if done well. They are reaping handsome benefits of that distribution after a decade. 

7 - Provide bundles - Ask your agent about bundling family member phones, with internet, subscriptions, etc. They save money and hook customers for a long time. B2B software is also sold as bundles, SaaS too. 

8 - Bad tactics - world is what it is. In it, how do you sell a dating app? A dating company created fake profiles (fembots) so users download and keep using the app. Hmm, may work for a short time … 🚨

9 - Create variations - “pizza inside a burger inside a pizza” exists and sells also. What is a product mix that will attract more customers for you? 

10 - Sell a copycat - In my post on scale (part 4) I mentioned first mover, late mover, sharks and so on. MS Word, now being used by close to a Billion people, is a copycat. So yes … 🏦 

11 - Show solid proof - Mr. Beast creating YT videos and selling chocolate bars? Social proof is the brand; bigger the better. Too good. 

12 - Give discounts - We all like it; customer lifetime value, etc. Recency, frequency and more are self explanatory. 

13 - Loyalty programs - This is a charm, ok. I have seen my friends driving 5+ miles for a coffee and get loyalty points. Yes - that is Starbucks. 

14 - Cross sales - large fries with extra cheese, right? 

15 - Mix up and iterate - Steve Jobs said in 2007 “it's not just music, phone, touch screen and browser; it's a lot more”. Simply brilliant.

16 - Sell with network effects - Everyone who joins helps the existing ones as well the ones who get onboarded - simple. You synced your contacts with a chatting app on your phone, right? 

17 - Government policies, regulatory protection - In India there were credits to solar panels; then it is easier to sell solar panels right? Another example - Indian PM pushes for digital India (India stack), consumers like convenience, mass adoption happens, and so on. Now the US government is pushing the AI stack, which makes sense … 👏 

18 - Make it a habit - Temples and churches serve free food. They have been doing it for centuries if I am not mistaken. It's so kind of them. 

19 - Commodities - Vitamin water is penetrating by creating a category? I hope you are aware that vitamin tablets are cheaper than testing to know your vitamin levels. So take vitamins and drink water after that. It is cheaper that way. Will you?

20 - Communicate frequently - Feet on the street, mid-market, enterprise; see what fits. Events, lists, communities; experiment with all. Crm, segmentation, ROI, enrichment, enablement; tools do help for sure. Year over year efforts, partners, affiliates, relationships, incentives; compounds for sure. Do you know an average sale takes 6-8 communication touch points to close? Make every communication count. 

There you go; 20 ways to grow revenue as I presented in 2018. Did I mention 3Fs of Sales? Maybe next time … 🏆 

If you have worked with me, I use MAGIC as a word frequently. In my mind it is a combination of finding a product and using all of the above to sell and scale exponentially. 

Did I read sales books so I can zig zag, execute and do the magic? Here is the para from David Ogilvy. 

Picture - these are the only ones I have from the conference. Reverse Moore’s law and guess what the mobile camera resolution was in 2018. 

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Swagat Irsale is a Growth Advocate. He works with start ups and scale ups and helps them grow revenue and build enterprise products which users use.

Connect with him for work, partner opportunities. 

https://www.groadv.com/post/grow-revenue-the-journey-zero-to-one-billion-swagat-irsale