by Angela Connell | 29 Oct 2021 | Blog
As your RTO grows, you need to scale up. With more tasks, more sales, and more students, you need all the help you can get.
Here are some of the best tools out there to help you build your RTO.
Google Analytics
How do you know if your RTO is growing without tracking metrics? Google Analytics offers more metrics than any business can use. You can create customized reports that tell you exactly what’s working and what isn’t. Google Analytics is free, but there are also premium programs you can use if you want more options.
Email Autoresponder
You can use your email autoresponder to do more than just manage your list and send emails. Some things you can do include:
- Segmenting your subscribers and send different offers to different groups
- Asking a question or running a survey to get feedback from your list
- Integrating with social media so that you’re sending your email subscribers there and your social media followers to your list
Content Management System
As your RTO grows, you’ll have a great deal of content to create – blog posts, landing pages, websites, social media content, and more. A content management system, or CMS, helps you manage all of it. These programs also offer additional tools to help with content marketing. Popular low-cost programs include WordPress, Squarespace, Weebly, and Wix.
Accounting Software
You may want to invest in accounting software to help you balance the books. This is a skill not every business owner has and it gets more complex as your business grows.
An accounting software program can help so that you don’t need to hire a full-time accountant. Good accounting programs include Xero, MYOB, and QuickBooks.
Customer Service Automation Tools
With more customers, you’ll spend more time on customer service. If you can automate some of the routine tasks, this can help to free you up for more important things.
Examples of these tools include a chat bot on your website or an interactive FAQ. AgileCRM, LiveAgent, HubSpot, and NetSuite are good CRM programs.
SEO Tools
These are marketing tools that help you manage your search engine optimization. They offer features such as insights, keywords, analytics, content management, research, and more, all in one package. Some good SEO tools include MOZ, SEMrush, and Ahrefs.
Project Management Software
If you have a team working with you, project management software can help keep you on track. This is a program that integrates all of your systems, facilitates communication among team members, helps to set and reach goals, and manages busy schedules. Software programs include ClickUp, Monday.com, Airtable, and Zoho Projects.
Social Media Management
For most business, social media is an important part of growing and engaging the market. However, it’s tough to handle multiple social media profiles at once.
Social media management programs allow you to put everything on one dashboard, and offer additional tools for research, automation, keyword optimization, and analytics. SocialBee, Sprout Social, and Buffer are three of the most popular options.
These tools, along with a comprehensive business growth plan, are what you need to achieve your goals. Wondering how to go about the planning you need to get started? If so, we are offering a Strategic Planning Retreat, just for RTOs, on growing your business strategically step-by-step.
Learn more here: https://strategic-retreat-2022.vivacity.com.au/
by Angela Connell | 29 Oct 2021 | Blog
At some point as your RTO business grows, you may want to outsource. Through the Internet, you can hire a virtual assistant to help you with tasks you don’t like, don’t want to do, or don’t do well. Here are the five signs that it’s time to start outsourcing.
You’re Burning Out
A sure sign that it’s time to seek help is when you’re feeling burnt out. As your business grows, your tasks grow too. With more to do, you may find yourself running around trying to do everything, which can lead to stress and burnout. Finding some outside help can relieve your stress and free you up to focus on other things.
Things Aren’t Getting Done
In the rush of everything, you might discover that important tasks aren’t getting done. This is a sign that you need more hands on deck. Look at the tasks that aren’t getting done and see if they’re things you can outsource to someone outside your company. If they’re not, find some other simple tasks someone outside your organization could do and outsource those – this will free you up to complete the tasks that weren’t getting done before.
No Time to Focus on Growth
Your business needs your daily attention in order to grow. You need to look at it from a “big picture” point of view. If you’re constantly bogged down with mundane everyday tasks, the important planning work won’t happen. If you find yourself without the time and energy to focus on growing your business, it’s time to outsource.
New Skills Needed
One of the ways many RTO’s discover they need help is when they find themselves in over their heads in terms of skills. As you grow, you’ll find new skills your RTO needs, and you can reach out to service providers to get these specialised tasks done. Outsourcing for just the tasks you need done can save you from having to hire additional employees.
Your Customer Service Is Lacking
When things get busy, customer service can often fall through the cracks. You’ll have more students coming in, and with that, more client issues in general. If you’re finding that you’re no longer able to give each student the careful attention you gave them when your RTO was smaller, this means you need to outsource some tasks.
Where to Start?
Since outsourcing is an essential part of any business’s growth, it’s a good idea to get started with it early. There are many ways to find help:
- Referrals from colleagues or friends
- Service providers’ websites
- Job sites where providers bid on jobs
- Decide exactly which tasks you need to outsource and what skills or experience you need. Make a shortlist of candidates and start contacting them until you find the help you need.
Building a business and scaling up isn’t hard to do if you approach it in a systematic and organised way. Want to get started? I’m offering a two-day intensive strategic planning retreat that leads you through the planning process step-by-step. You can check it out here: https://strategic-retreat-2022.vivacity.com.au/
Other relevant blog posts:
SWOT, SOAR, and More – Simple Methods for Evaluating Your RTO For Growth
by Angela Connell | 29 Oct 2021 | Blog
Before your RTO starts to really grow, you need a realistic picture of its current status. There are several easy methods for doing this which can bring great clarity. They can reveal your strengths and weaknesses and show you a birds’ eye view of market forces that affect you. It’s an essential first step towards RTO growth.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is the most widely used model. In this method, we create a grid for four sections: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths and Weaknesses are internal to your company while Opportunities and Threats identify market forces or other external factors. By filling out this chart, you can easily see the situation your RTO is facing.
SOAR – The Positive SWOT
SOAR is similar to SWOT but takes a more positive slant. It identifies Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results. Like SWOT, you list each in the spaces provided and this gives you a clear picture of your company and the current market.
Some say that since SOAR removes the negatives, it doesn’t give a clear picture. However, proponents of the method say it’s more effective because it reframes the negative factors as challenges or opportunities. While SWOT looks at the current situation, SOAR presents a vision of future growth.
PEST – A Look at the Outside World
PEST is a similar method that focuses on the market and other external factors. While you examine both internal and external factors with SWOT, PEST focuses only on the external. It stands for Political, Economic, Social, and Technological.
PEST analysis gives you a chance to look at trends in the world like attitudes toward health or lifestyle, exchange rates, government regulations, and technological innovations like automation or AI. PESTLE a variation on PEST that adds in Legal and Environment.
SCOPE Planning – SWOT Taken to the Next Level
SCOPE planning is considered SWOT taken to the next level because it adds a fifth factor and focuses more on strategic development. It stands for Strengths, Core Competencies, Obstacles, Prospects, and Expectations. It considers the current situation as well as internal and external factors with an eye toward business growth through assessing prospects and expectations.
Porter’s Five Forces – Focus on Competitors
If you want to analyze the market and, in particular, the competition, you might use Porter’s Five Forces. This is a slightly more complex method of analysis that looks at five market forces: Supplier power, buyer power, competitive rivalry, threat of substitution, and threat of new entry.
To use this method, brainstorm factors in each of these categories and chart them on a graph. The completed graph gives you an idea of what you’re facing in the market from other RTOs.
These tools are all helpful for RTOs that are about to grow. Analyzing your business and the market is an important first step because you need to have a birds’ eye view of the entire situation.
Are you ready to start growing your RTO? It’s not so hard if you approach it in an organized way. Learn how to conduct an effective analysis of your RTO and get started growing at the RTO Strategic Planning Retreat, learn more here: https://strategic-retreat-2022.vivacity.com.au/
Want to learn more about how to
by Angela Connell | 29 Oct 2021 | Blog
Your business exists to solve your customers’ problems. If you can do that effectively and in a unique way, you’re guaranteed to see your business grow. However, if you miss the mark, you won’t see the business growth you want.
So how do you know if you’re marketing to the right people?
The Foundation of All Good Marketing is a Customer Avatar
Everything revolves around your customer avatar. A customer avatar is a description of a single person who is the ideal target for your marketing. This is the person who your product or service is the perfect match for.
Even if you’ve already identified your avatar, remember that it’s a work in progress. From time to time, you have to look at data and update your avatar to make sure you’re still marketing to the right people in the right way.
Once you have a solid idea of who your customer is, ask yourself, “Does my offering help them to solve a specific problem?” The best products and services are those that save time, money, or work.
Customer Feedback Is Key
Another way to tell whether you’re marketing to the right people is to seek customer feedback. Keep lines of communication with your audience open and interact with them wherever possible to gain an understanding of how they view your company and its services.
There are many methods for getting feedback from your customers. You can run surveys on social media, hold focus groups through webinars, interact in social media groups, and reach out to customers individually at key points in the buying cycle.
If you listen well to your audience, they’ll tell you exactly whether your products and services are a good match for them.
Tips on Targeting Your Market
Segment Your Market. You might have different offerings for different categories of audience members. In this case, it might help to segment. You can create two or more customer avatars and market your products accordingly.
Narrow It Down. You may face issues because your avatar is too broad. Don’t be afraid to be specific. The more you can narrow each segment down to one individual, the more focused your marketing will be.
Try Different Channels. You may have the right market but you’re using the wrong channels to reach them. Find out how your audience likes to discover new products and services and where they hang out online. Invest in marketing in these channels.
Your RTO can’t be all things to all people, nor should it be. Instead, you should focus your energy on only those people who need your training services.
Want to learn how to grow your business in easy-to-follow steps? Check out our Strategic Planning Retreat: https://strategic-retreat-2022.vivacity.com.au/
by Angela Connell | 29 Oct 2021 | Blog
The Top 5 Marketing Metrics Every Growing RTO Needs to Watch
How do you know if your business growth is going the way you want? You need objective data to tell you whether or not your business is achieving its aims, and what you need to do to keep growing. Here are the five essential metrics you need to track.
Today’s technology makes it easier than ever to track these metrics and do it yourself in-house without hiring an analyst. Google Analytics offers a robust array of metrics and is free to use. There are also paid software programs you can use that automate calculating the data you need.
Return on Revenue (ROR)
The revenue return rate is how much profit your company is making after expenses are subtracted. Take your total income and subtract your operating expenses. The calculation must include day-to-day expenses, as well as expenses that aren’t as easily seen (such as rent and office supplies) and non-cash factors like inflation or depreciation of properties.
Run Rate
The run rate is a calculation of future performance based on present performance. If you have two years of data, calculate a monthly average. Then, if you’re looking at the next year ahead, multiply this by 12. Use as large a sample of past data as possible.
Average Customer Spend
Your average customer spend tells you how much each customer buys from you. It’s calculated by taking your total revenue and dividing it by the number of current customers you have. This metric gives you an indication of how your company is performing.
Customer Acquisition Cost
This metric is the cost of convincing a potential customer to buy your product or service. It tells you how much your sales and marketing efforts are paying off, and what resources you need to convert leads into customers. You can use this to predict your future finances as you grow.
Customer Retention Rate
The customer retention rate tells you what percentage of your customers stay with you and buy again. It costs much more to gain new customers than to keep existing ones. If your rate of retention is low, your business is losing money. Low customer retention means you need to step up your efforts to engage and offer continuing value to your audience.
Return on Advertising Spending
This metric looks specifically at the cost of advertising and the amount of revenue it’s earning you. It tells you whether your advertising spending is paying off or not. If it’s not, you need to consider more effective or less expensive methods.
Metrics help you assess your progress, but if you really want to see growth, you should set goals and timeframes for achieving them. You can then make changes and tweak if you’re not seeing the results you want.
Do you want to know how to grow your RTO and reach your goals? Then check out our Strategic Planning Retreat, live Thursday 25 and Friday 26 November 2021 here https://strategic-retreat-2022.vivacity.com.au/
