10

Dec

Wrapping Up The 30 Days

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I finally completed the series “How To Grow Your Business In 30 Days”.  It ended up being a lot more work than I expected, but it was really enjoyable overall.  I learned a lot.  I’ll share some of the lessons I learned during the 30 days in future posts.  Here I’ve summarized the Grow Your Business In 30 Days using the original outline I created so that you have one easy place to review them and find each post.

  1. Find someone to hold you accountable: Day One
    1. Business coach
    2. Spouse
    3. Friend/mentor
  2. Get control of your finances – expenses: Day Two
    1. Do you know what you cost each minute, hour, day, week, month, year?
    2. Cut out the fat
    3. Do more with less
  3. Get control of your finances – Accounts Receivable
    1. It’s OK to lose 20% to get 80%
    2. Build a system that improves speed of payments
    3. Automate monthly fees
  4. Get back on track – pickup the phone and call vendors
    1. Thank your vendors
    2. Tell them what you are up to
    3. Ask them what they need from you
  5. Get back on track – pickup the phone and call old customers
    1. Keep your name fresh in their mind
    2. Ask them how you can help
    3. Be willing to face old problems
  6. Find a new lead source
    1. Start somewhere fresh
    2. Measure the quality and cost of the leads
  7. Adjust the lead source to meet YOUR needs
    1. Is it your exact market?
    2. Does it apply to the product or service you sell?
    3. How can you swing the bat more often?
  8. Fine tune your prospecting approach
    1. Write a thesis statement that explains your approach
    2. Draw out each step sequentially and study it
    3. Ask your peers and mentors how the think you should do it
  9. Review your successes – magnify them
    1. What worked?
    2. Why did it work?
    3. How can you replicate that?
  10. Review your failures – minimize them
    1. Where did it fall apart?
    2. How can you prevent this from happening again?
    3. What did you learn from your mistake?
  11. Improve your sales process – what works?
    1. Do you understand your open, middle, and closing steps?
    2. Study good sales behaviors
    3. Persistence is the key factor
  12. Improve your sales process – automate it and refine it.
    1. Write it once, and re-use it
    2. Get a direct line
    3. Get in the solutions business
  13. Practice honesty
    1. With yourself
    2. With your customers
    3. With your team
  14. Build a strong team
    1. Outsource effectively
    2. Hire in temp to full time
    3. Learn to give consistent effective feedback
  15. Build strong partners
    1. Groom your vendors
    2. Set expectations
    3. Prepare plan B and C and D
  16. Put killer marketing in place
    1. Email marketing
    2. Person to person marketing
    3. The I need you, Do you need me? Approach
  17. Be available
    1. Open your schedule for your customers
    2. Expect an appointment
    3. Explain the use of your communication channels
  18. Write an FAQ
    1. Save yourself time and read through the FAQ’s you receive
    2. Write an FAQ and provide it automatically
    3. Ask your customers to provide input
  19. Provide a support portal
    1. Queue and handle requests
    2. Automate responses and include your FAQ and tools to download
    3. Remember that every time you reach a customer it’s an opportunity to build value
  20. Don’t focus on today’s dollars – look long term
    1. Monthly services are relationship builders
    2. Learn to provide solutions to problems
    3. Help others succeed and the money will follow
  21. Schedule your way to success
    1. Build your to do into your calendar
    2. Make sure you are meeting someone to accomplish the to do list
    3. Never leave a meeting without scheduling the next
  22. Put A Project Management System in Place
    1. Tag and prioritize products
    2. Mark the date the project entered your system
    3. Daily choose to update and manage the system
  23. Take time to relax and think
    1. Lay on your back and wonder
    2. Don’t be afraid to consider change
    3. Stop doing things you don’t enjoy
  24. Ask for feedback
    1. From your Team
    2. From your Customers
    3. From your Vendors
  25. Have Fun
    1. Enjoy the challenges
    2. Express your excitement
    3. Don’t take it too seriously
  26. Examine your model
    1. What is your model?
    2. Does it work well?
    3. How soon will you have to adjust your model?
  27. Invest in good technology
    1. What really improves work-flow?
    2. What can save you time?
    3. What can save you money?
  28. Learn faster than everyone else
    1. Read constantly
    2. Listen to pod-casts
    3. Ask the right questions
  29. Serve those around you
    1. Do what is right for your team
    2. Lead from your heart
    3. Communicate that you care
  30. Consider vertical and horizontal growth
    1. How can you grow your business larger? (vertical)
    2. How can you expand into new sectors (horizontal)
    3. How fast should you grow?

Now with everything in one place here in this post you can simply review the general thought process I had behind the 30 days or you can read each post at your convenience.  I’m sure that this doesn’t cover everything that you’ll encounter over the years in business, but I have tried to give you some tools that will make a difference in the short term.

How can I help you?  Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comments or by contacting me.  Here’s to your increased growth and success in 2011!

Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States. ~ Ronald Reagan

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526 days ago Short URL 2 Comments

Grow Your Business In 30 Days/Instructional/Small Business Resources

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22

Oct

Win Win

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Ever heard the term “Win Win”?  What heck does that mean?

I’m pretty sure that was my reaction to the term Win Win when I first heard it.  Like a lot of other people that I know I grew up in a fairly competitive environment that taught me that winning was important.  When we’re youngsters the concept of both people winning is a little foreign.  As a kid “Win Win” just meant I was dancing around yelling “I win! I win!” after striking it rich in monopoly world domination.  No one else won, just me.

What does Win Win mean in business?

win win - winning with others

I think that understanding “Win Win” in business is critical to our success.  It’s the missing piece in making things strong and stable.  Over the course of the years I’ve slowly started to realize that when I approach another partner in my industry it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about winning together.  A competitive nature can be valuable in many aspects but it can also lead us down the wrong path if we aren’t careful.  Win Win is about competing together with those that want to win the race with you.  I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have some hugely successful winners in my life.  Some of them are new and some of them have been helping me win for years now.  Rather than explain the theory of Win Win any further I’d like to just explain what it means by sharing how I win with just a few of my incredible partners personally and with my business ZigZap.

What does it look like?

  • Win Win with a vendor partner can mean that they make the profits they need and my company gets on time quality delivery of the product or service we need.  Eric Eckman at US Signal has set a new standard of winning in the circuit delivery field for me this year.  I love winning with Eric.  He understands what it takes to deliver what a customer wants and needs.
  • Win Win with a customer partner can mean that I can provide them a solution in an efficient and timely manner and out of that they gain stability and growth.  I believe it also means taking the time to educate each other about how our businesses work so that we can effectively partner together to make solutions work well.  David Valrose at DC Data Corporation chooses to win with ZigZap and I find that to be incredibly valuable both personally and professionally.  Winning with David is always rewarding.  His honesty in dealing with me and his drive to deliver on time solutions to his clients is inspiring.
  • Win Win with your business partner means consistent and real honesty about challenges, frustrations, and positives in your business so that you can continue building and growing together.  It means being willing to work hard at the relationship even when it’s hard.  Lane Campbell has taught me this lesson very patiently and consistently in ZigZap and I’m honored to work with such an incredible man.
  • Win Win with another vendor partner may mean that they are willing to invest in educating you about their product or trade extensively.  As a vendor education of your clients can feel very risky because it often seems like your customer could walk away from you.  Once they have the knowledge you impart to them what’s stopping them?  You must be wise in who you educate, but contrary to what I expected, I’ve found that every time I invest heavily in education of a client they are even more loyal to me.  Chris Buechler at BSD Perimeter is not only a networking genius but an incredibly patient teacher.  Since Chris has chosen to win with ZigZap the Win Win between our companies has created some incredibly opportunities.  Winning with Chris is incredibly satisfying to me and my whole team.
  • Win Win with an affiliate partner can mean that even if you aren’t in the same industry you can refer some work back and forth and expand your market indirectly.  When you find a reliable team member in another business sector it’s well worth the time it takes to work out an understanding and a clear relationship.  Once you have that in place the opportunities are endless.  Having someone like Brandon Cohen to send clients to when they need merchant processing setup or need their current costs reviewed is  invaluable.  I know that Donate Your Processing is good for my clients and our world.  I know that my clients will be treated incredibly well by Brandon, and that they won’t find anyone more honest and sincere.  Winning with Brandon is very rewarding.

Win Win Is Teamwork

Those are just a few examples of what Win Win looks like to me.  The great thing about winning with others is that it never gets old.  The more you strategize on how you can put a Win Win plan in place the more you and your whole team can benefit.

What does Win Win look like for you?  Share your thoughts in the comment section.  Thanks for reading, I’m honored that you’ve taken the time and I hope this post just like all the others has proven valuable to you.

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575 days ago Short URL 1 Comment

Inspirational/Leadership/Small Business Resources

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05

Oct

Satisfy The Essential Four

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As small business owners we have to juggle a lot of different conflicting interests.  Sometimes they aren’t conflicting directly but we do have to orchestrate satisfying multiple needs at once.  Who and what are the four groups you ask?

  1. The people who work for (with) you.  Your team.
  2. The people who buy from you.  Your clients.
  3. The people who sell to you.  Your vendors.
  4. The people who lend to you.  Your bank and or investors.

Just think, if your team, your clients, your vendors, and your bank all love you, then what else do you need?

As a leader you have to learn how to serve those around you more effectively.  By categorizing the groups of people that you work with into more clear groups you can think about how to effectively serve and lead them.

You might be good at working with one group, but not the other.  Share your experiences in the comment section and I will offer my suggestions.  Maybe you can share your suggestions for others as well.

Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.

Ronald Reagan

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592 days ago Short URL 1 Comment

goals/Inspirational/Leadership

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20

Jul

If You Are Stuck Change Your Scenery

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I was reminded again today of how easy it is to get back on track by simply changing the scenery.  I find that I can easily get stuck on one project or problem because I try to focus all my energy on it and this can at times actually cause me to get stuck.  One of the downfalls of the technology that we use is that we can be isolated without realizing it.

smiling businessmanIf you are stuck on something or having a hard time conquering your task, get up, walk around, call up a client you have been putting off seeing and go meet with them.  Get out there and interact with the world you live in and you’ll find that you will be renewed and refreshed.  You will be able to once more put all your energies into succeeding.

Action is the foundational key to all success.
~ Pablo Picasso
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669 days ago Short URL Comments

Inspirational/Instructional/sales

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