Low Hanging Fruit for New Owners

Even in the last decade we may have been astonished at the pace of change in technology just in our personal lives. Imagine what it’s been like for businesses, and even more so, for businesses more than ten years old. But in that change lies a lot of opportunity, and we often see a lot of prospective buyers’ eyes light up when they hear how “behind the times” a successful business is. That’s because being “behind” technologically signals a whole lot of opportunity. 

If a business is successful despite not having a website (or a good one), or the owner thinks SEO is some new band the kids like these days, or the 1970s is calling, asking for their branding back, that means customers like or need the products and services enough that they don’t care. 

But that also means that every effort into these areas will gain new customers and enhance links with the ones you already have. Bottom line? These changes offer a lot of upside with not a whole lot of investment. Here are some areas that buyers should be scrutinizing during diligence, to add to their “get this improved ASAP” list.

Bad Branding

Sometimes companies are long overdue for a brand refresh or even a rebranding. The logos and taglines were done ages ago when the company first started out and haven’t been touched since. This may have been because the company has been doing well and it hasn’t been top of mind. But that doesn’t mean that an improved brand won’t gain more business.

This is especially true if that improved branding is seen on window displays or vehicle wraps or other advertising venues.

Website

Websites have come a long way from the equivalent of hanging an online shingle. Today’s websites have to perform many key functions. Just a few of them include:

• Brand representation — does your company look professional through a clean and easy to navigate website?
• Consumer education — customers now come to websites to learn about the products and services you offer. Do you have content for them, in audio, visual, and written form, that they can consume in their preferred format?
• Email capture — is there a way for website visitors to get on your mailing list so they’re getting your news, information and offers?
• Call to action — now that they’ve found you and educated themselves, do you give them an opportunity to act, whether that means giving you their contact information or actually making a purchase?

No SEO

One of the keys for any business is getting found in search, whether that’s through traditional searching by keywords, or newer forms of search like voice through tools like Siri or Alexa. You can earn your search ranking through solid and persistent content or you can pay for your ranking. Either way, potential customers can find you, but if you’re not doing any SEO, you’re not even there to be found.

No Backoffice Tech

There are so many pieces of software out there that make life easier for business owners and allow them to collect data on their prospects and clients. But many businesses are still functioning with paper and pencil…and fax machines (seriously!) Again, there’s nothing wrong with that. These businesses have been successful for a reason. But without that tech assist, there’s a ceiling as to what they can do.

With communication tools like Slack or marketing tools like Hubspot or SEO research software like Ahrefs, the sky’s the limit as to how you can communicate with your team or keep customers in your sphere of influence or what you can know about the customer journey.

Final Thoughts

None of these changes will cost new owners a lot of money. In fact, they are all classic examples of low investment, high return. And remember, the reason these changes were never made is likely because the owner wasn’t aware of them, because they were too busy running a successful business. That’s a good problem to have, right? And it’s even better to, in a way, gift these easy wins to the new owners. 

If you’re looking for businesses that offer these early easy wins, we’ve always got new ones listing each week. But call us soon, as they tend to go fast.