Do you currently own a business or perhaps are on the verge of starting a business? What are some great ways you can take your business to the next level? I have viewed other businesses in the past that have done many things to improve their profit margin, but they mainly involved cutting costs which did nothing to improve their top line: sales. Without improving sales your business will not grow, and without growth you certainly cannot become a more powerful business than you were the day before.

Here are some great ideas to improve your sales to take your business to the next level:

1) Reach out with letter box advertising – There are companies out there that will do what is called, “letter box advertising”, which means that they will design your advertisement for you and they will distribute them to your proposed customer base. It is an excellent hands off operation that will allow you to reach out to new customers that may not have heard of your business before.

2) Initiate a referral reward program – Without an incentive, the only way people will talk about your business is when they are complaining about it. If, however, you offer an incentive for others to bring their friends – something like a gift certificate to your business or a cash payout – they will be more inclined to spread the word about the awesome work that you’re doing.

3) Do good things for the community – Spreading the name of your company shouldn’t be the reason for doing good things in the community, but it definitely does work. If people see you volunteering your time to make your city a better place to live, they will take notice and will more likely purchase items from you instead of your competitor. It is a great way to do good work, but also get your name out there.

4) Advertise on the street – Have you ever seen those people holding signs that say things like, “We Buy Gold”? Well, while they might look a little goofy on the corner flipping that sign, this form of advertising definitely works and it makes people aware that your business exists. All you have to do is pay someone about $10 an hour (or maybe less, depending on your area) to hold a sign and you could find yourself with a whole new line-up of customers. Heck, it’s worth a shot right?

So there are four fantastic ways to drum up some new business. If you institute just one or two into your advertising plans of the future, you might just need to hire some more employees to handle all of that new business that’s coming in!