Simply Business Coaching

What are you doing differently this year to grow your business?

This is a very important question to ask, and one which truly will help your business.

You’ve probably heard of the saying by Stephen Covey:

“If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always gotten.”

If your business hasn’t grown as much as you wanted, then to keep on doing the same things, especially in terms of marketing activities, isn’t going to get you different results.  It’s a bit like expecting to lose weight without making any changes to your diet or exercise routine!

A lot of business owners don’t measure the results of their different marketing activities, so they’re never sure what worked.  This can be an expensive strategy.

When you’re working on your business growth goals for 2010, refer back to the list of what marketing activities you did in 2009 and, against each one, write down how successful they were in terms of business gained.

If it worked, then it makes sense to keep it on the list for 2010.  Whatever didn’t bring any results, don’t waste any more effort or money on it.

(This is another example of where it helps to have a system in place - to measure results of marketing activities regularly - join me for my Teleseminar on 2nd February!)

How are you growing your business in 2010?

You’ve probably heard of the three long-established ways we are taught to grow our business.  You can:

-         Raise your prices

-         Sell your product or service to more clients

-         Sell more of your product or service to your existing clients

Method 1 sounds simple but has a few pitfalls to look out for.  Check what your competitors are charging if your product or service is just like theirs - then work out how to do it differently or better.  Or, you could add value so that you become known as a ‘premium’ provider, thus justifying the high price.

You may lose a few clients but, research shows that your ‘best’ clients (the ones who really appreciate you) will stay and pay the higher price.  The defectors will be those who were the hardest to satisfy, so you won’t miss them too much!

Method 2 involves increasing the number of targeted prospects you have and marketing to them as well as to your existing list of prospects.  This is probably the most labour intensive method for you and will take the longest to achieve results.

Method 3 is often overlooked because we don’t want to be ‘pushy’.  Do you know what you’ve sold to whom?  Do your existing clients know what other offerings you have? You need to have this information close to hand.  Someone who has already experienced your service or purchased your product and who has had a good experience is much more likely to want to buy from you again.  Make it easy for them.

There you have three ways that you can grow your business in 2010.  But then, you already knew about them last year didn’t you?  Did they do the trick in 2009?  Possibly not, because they are only half the story......

Don't leave any part of your customer service to chance!

So many businesses (large & small) proclaim in their marketing materials that 'they take pride in giving great customer service', or 'their mission is to provide an exceptional customer experience' and even 'our customer service is second to none'. 

They would say that wouldn't they?  No business is going to say 'our customer service is OK, sometimes' or 'we do get complaints when we forget to complete the order' even though that's probably nearer the truth!

But what businesses say and what they do to ensure they actually do provide great customer service often don't match up - because they haven't developed a catch-all system (or they don't follow it).

Customer service starts the moment the customer says yes, or completes the order form, and it needs to continue long after they've received your goods or experienced your services. 

• Do you have a new customer welcome system that will thrill & delight - and do you follow it EVERY time? 
• What about your past clients? Do you have a system in place to keep in touch with them?
• Does your customer complaints system ensure you turn dissatisfied customers into raving fans?  It should!

Your relationship with your customers is far too important to leave any part of it to chance, putting systems in place will make sure you really do provide an exceptional customer experience - every time!

What can your customers expect when they do business with you?

(See details of my new Teleseminar : Using Systems to Get More Done in Less Time)

How to make sure you never forget to follow up

Have you ever been to a networking meeting, exchanged business cards with new contacts, come back to the office, put the business cards to one side, and .... there they stay?

You keep meaning to get in touch and say how nice it was to meet them, or perhaps arrange to have coffee or lunch, but never quite get around to it.  Before you know it, 3 months or more have gone by and it would be embarassing to make contact after all this time. 

If you've found yourself in this situation, even once, you already know your lack of follow-up could have cost you a potential customer or joint venture partner.  You're not alone though, many small business owners fail to follow-up with networking contacts - because they don't have a system in place!

My own system ensures that, not only do I send each new contact a 'nice to meet you' note within 24 hours of the event, their details are also added to my address book & a diary note made to contact them again within a month of the original meeting. 

What steps are in your follow-up system?  I'd love to know.

Hey, it's Week 2 Already - How are you doing?

I don't know about you but even though I started off so hopefully last Monday and was full of determination to make great progress on my 2010 goals, I found my productivity slowed down almost to a halt as the snow fell and froze.  I know, I know, it's a pretty poor excuse, especially as I work from home - but it certainly was a distraction wasn't it?

What helped me to keep moving forward were the plans I'd made and written down during the week before, which included plans of blog post and newsletter topics.  I was able to keep referring back to them and, even if I didn't feel like writing a complete article there and then, I did jot down notes of ideas to include later on (like now!).

I also used my favourite productivity 'secret weapon' a few times - and it worked like a charm!  It was quite easy to work in short bursts of 30 minutes, take a 5 minute break and then work for another 30 minutes.  When you find it hard to concentrate, try short bursts of 30, or even 20 minutes until you get back in the 'groove'.

It's a good idea to build your personal armoury of productivity tools before you need them.  What's in yours?

Use a recipe and get it right every time!

Have you ever eaten a delicious meal cooked by someone else and thought you'd like to know how to make it yourself?  The first thing you'd do is ask the chef for the recipe so as to ensure your meal tastes as close as possible to the original.

Not only do you need the recipe to know what ingredients to include, and in what quantity, you also need to know what to do with them, and in what order!  Even when you've cooked it a couple of times, you'll still want to refer to the recipe again as a reminder.

Using a cookery recipe isn't so very different from following a procedure in your business, and yet how often do you start tasks from scratch because you haven't put a procedure or system in place?

For example, I have a checklist which contains everything I need to do when I run a training workshop.  It isn't that I don't trust myself to remember what needs doing, but following a checklist makes life so much easier because I don't HAVE to remember (or worry that I've forgotten something vital)!  As soon as the date is booked in my diary, I print out a new blank checklist and start working my way through all the actions, ticking them off as each one is completed.

Do you use checklists in your business?  What do you use them for?  Do share your experiences in the comments - I'd love to hear from you!

Did you make your 2010 plans small enough?

Well, it’s all over for another year!  I’m sure some people will struggle to get back into a ‘normal’ routine today, while others can’t wait to start working on their exciting plans.  Which group are you in?

The social networks have been a little quieter over the past couple of weeks, although I was amazed to receive a couple of promotional emails on Christmas Day!  Perhaps a case where automated messages aren’t the best option?

As well as creating exciting plans for 2010 - which I hope you have, even if you haven’t typed them up and put them into a beautiful folder yet – making those plans happen is going to need more than some new year resolution!

It’s time to take action now – not next week, not tomorrow, but right NOW!  If your plan seems overwhelming, perhaps it’s because you haven’t broken it down into small enough steps.   I made the same mistake just last week.  I set myself a lofty plan to revise parts of my website during the days between Christmas and New Year .....  then I realised it was going to take a little longer than a week to make all the changes I had in mind.
 
I believe it was Tony Robbins who said: “We overestimate what we can achieve in a week, and underestimate what we can achieve in a year.”  Definitely true in this case!

So I took my website plan and wrote down all the individual actions needed to make it happen.  The resulting list was much longer, but clearer and less overwhelming.  And I even managed to complete a few of the actions. The remainder will get done – one at a time.

This is an easy and effective way to set yourself up for success.  So, which of your plans for 2010 need breaking down into more manageable steps?

Happy 2010 (and a welcome return)!

And so we welcome a new year and indeed a new decade ... have you noticed that somehow everyone seems filled with the hope that 2010 is going to be better than 2009 - I suppose in many ways it has to be!

Towards the end of last year you may remember me blogging that my Mojo had gone missing, and wondering out loud the possible reasons why.  In the 10+ years of being in business, this was the first time I'd experienced such a dip in motivation.  There seemed to be no clear direction, plan or even purpose to all my efforts.  I felt exhausted and reluctant to write (which was most worrying as it's one activity I love to do!).  Has this ever happened to you?

When trying to 'work through it' only made me feel worse, I stopped pushing and decided to do only what felt right instead.  It was rather scary easing back on my blogging and social networking schedule - which included tweeting less!  But I was prepared to do whatever it took to get my mojo back :)

I've always taken pride that my business is built around two of my core values - of authenticity and integrity and so I trusted them to help me decide what to do next.  It turned out I hadn't taken much notice of my inner voice for a while - no wonder I was in such a pickle!

Fortunately it only took a few days before the first glimmers of interest began to resurface; a few more days of enforced rest (over Christmas) while ideas were mpatiently marinating; followed by some excited plotting & planning - which brings us nearly up to date.

I'm delighted to welcome back my mojo, to feel enthusiastic about this year - and to wish you a very happy and successful 2010!