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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28

Nov

Ask For Feedback – Day Twenty-Four

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Ask For FeedbackOne of the tools that can move you forward quickly as a leader is feedback.  Honest constructive feedback from those you work with and around is day twenty-four’s step in growing your small business in 30 days.  Today we’ll cover the important points of asking for and receiving feedback.

Ask For Feedback

A great step towards growing personally as a leader is when you ask for feedback.  This is valuable for a few different reasons.  The first being that you show humility to your team and you let them know that you are open to hearing their honest thoughts about how you are doing, the business is doing, and honest feedback about the customers and vendors that you work with.  Each different group that we discuss below can give you valuable and different feedback.  The important part is that you get to see a different perspective than just your own.  You open the door for honest communication which is key in any good relationship.

1. From Your Team

Feedback from your team is probably the most valuable place to start asking for feedback.  Team members see you, the customers, the vendors, and the projects that you all work on.  They may be more in tune to needs or positive points than you realize.  It is also important to allow for an open relationship where they can share their honest feelings and thoughts in a productive and respectful manner.  To get the ball rolling try these steps:

  • Send out a brief 5 question survey asking for their opinion.  Be sure it has a due date.
  • After the survey schedule one on one meetings with each team member.  Keep the meetings light and encouraging.  Don’t get personally offended and keep an open mind when they share what they think.
  • Have a team brain storming meeting.  Now that your team knows it’s ok to share what they think it will be good to collaboratively discuss goals, plans, and issues that may be going on.

Remember as the leader you need to serve the needs of your company and your team.  Be sure to set aside your pride and feelings.  Work hard to understand what your team is trying to share with you.  Contemplate it carefully before responding.  They may be right or they maybe wrong, but either way their feedback is incredibly valuable.  You’ll need it now and in the future, so set a new tone of open communication by asking for their feedback.

2. From Your Customers

It can be very scary to ask your customers for feedback if you’ve never done this before.  It may seem daunting at first, but in the end you’ll find that you’ll gain incredible insights from your customers.  Remember, just like you had to do with your team, set aside your pride and your feelings and truly listen to what they say.  If they are respectful and kind then it’s worth listening to them.  Here are a few steps to get started:

  • Send out a survey.  Keep it very brief since everyone is busy and the shorter your survey the more responses you’ll get.  When writing the survey think about the important pieces of information you need from your customers in order to grow.
  • Ask your top customers for a meeting.  If you can have just a few minutes of their time and short list of questions you can learn more about what you and your team should be improving on.
  • Review the feedback personally and then with your team.  There will definitely be things you can learn and with the combined insight from your team you can make this information incredibly valuable to your small business.

3. From Your Vendors

Asking for feedback from vendors is something that you may have never considered doing.  If you haven’t ever asked your vendors for feedback on your interaction and performance with them it will be incredibly refreshing to them.  You’ll also create a bond with them that they won’t have with their other customers.  To get started, just try these few questions and listen carefully to their answers:

  • Is there anything that we are missing and could change to make your job easier?
  • Do you feel like you are getting accurate information when we are ordering products or services from you?
  • Is there anything else you can give me feedback on?  I value your opinion.

Getting valuable feedback from these three groups of people will prove to be incredibly eye opening and valuable.  Although it might be scary at first, in the end if your goal is to grow your small business then you’ll be surprised and pleased with the results of this exercise.  Take the first step today and survey your team and customers.  After that you can put the rest of these action steps in play.

You’ll be glad you did.

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22

Nov

How To Build Strong Partnerships – Day Fifteen

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Build Strong PartnersDay fifteen in growing your small business is about building strong partnerships.  As you know it takes a strong team around you to build up a winning operation.  Strong partnerships with those around you are key to your growth and success as a small business owner.

Build Strong Partners

Strong partners come in the form of vendors you can depend on.  When you enter the relationship properly and maintain it wisely you can depend on your vendors to be there for you when you need them.  Every small business owner needs solid partners on their team.

1. Groom Your Vendors

From the beginning of the relationship to the end you are responsible to give your vendors the tools they need to succeed for you.  Before diving head first into dealing with a new vendor think through what you expect, the work you’ll need done, and the best form of communication for the project.  Remember you are responsible for their performance as much as they are.

2. Set Expectations

In general all of us work about as hard as we are expected to work, show up when we are expected to, and complete as much work as we expect ourselves too.  Setting proper expectations is important for vendors.  When you hand off a project, set a deadline.  When you ask for an update set an expectation of what kind of update you are to receive and when.  Don’t leave things to chance or leave them unexplained.  Be explicitly clear about what you want and need.  If you don’t set expectations then your vendors will perform at whatever “normal” is inside their organization.

3. Prepare Plan B, C, And D!

I’ve learned one thing from my many mistakes and that is plan B might not be enough.  Plan C and D are generally a good idea.  Even though you can’t guarantee success every time, you can guarantee that mistakes will happen in the course of your efforts toward success.  Don’t be so arrogant to think that you can pull it off every time without a hitch.  Don’t believe that your vendor is perfect even though they’ve delivered every time so far.  Be wise and have one or two contingency plans in place.  Even if you only use them once or twice a year you’ll be thankful when you do.

Those are just a few keys to building strong vendor partners around your small business.  Take a few minutes and sit back to review what you’ve put in place in your current partnerships.  Take the time to raise the bar, expect more, and prepare a backup plan or two.  You’ll be thankful that you did.

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04

Nov

Grow Your Business In 30 Days: Day Four

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Grow Your Business In 30 DaysToday is day four in my series of 30 tips on how to grow your small business. Just like in every post I write in this series, my goal here is for you to be able to apply each step in roughly 30 minutes or less. I know that even if you just apply one step out of the 30 you’ll see positive results!  Today’s step is especially important because without a strong team of vendors no one can succeed.

Day Four: Pickup The Phone And Call Your Vendors

Vendors make up the extended family on your team.  Without strong vendor partners a small business can’t really grow or thrive.  When you begin a new vendor relationship or when you want to improve the relationships you have, there are some simple steps you can take to make that happen.

1. Thank Your Vendors

Out of curiosity, can you remember the last time you called up your vendor and thanked them?  If you can’t then that’s the first thing you will do today when you speak with them on the phone.  Let them know that you really value their hard work and what they contribute to your company.  They are running a business just like you and no matter if they are a small business like you or a large corporation their team appreciates being appreciated.  Business is about doing business with other people.  So if you haven’t thanked your vendor team recently or ever, that is the first thing you should do today when you connect with them.

2. Tell Them What You Are Up To

Next after you’ve thanked them for their hard work I recommend that you share with your vendors what you are up to.  The more they know about your current workload, new offerings, or current challenges the better they can partner with you.  It is in their best interest for you to succeed, so why not let them in on your current game plan.  You may be surprised to find that they are willing to offer assistance, referrals, or insights into what they have seen other companies like yours doing in the past.  Bottom line, remember they are a huge part of your team and it’s important that you communicate effectively with them.

3. Ask Them What They Need From You

To wrap up your call ask your vendor partners what they need from you.  It may sound strange since they are typically the provider in the relationship, but in reality you both need each other.  If you can find out a way to make their job easier that can translate into positives for both of you.  If they enjoy working with you more than other clients they service the likelihood that you will get recommended over a competitor is much higher.

This step of asking what they need from you reinforces again that you truly care about their well being as a person and company.  When you have a strong team of vendors behind you it means your company can grow in a stable manner.  It also means that when you run into trouble you’ll have someone to rely on for outside expertise and assistance.  Pickup the phone today and call all of your vendors that you possibly can.  It will make a bigger difference than you realize.

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562 days ago Short URL 2 Comments

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