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Business Owners, this one is for you. I need you to hear me and hear me well.
Growing your business isn’t hard. It’s not complex. There is no mystery sauce that you’re missing. No shiny object is going to make your business grow into the stratosphere.
Do you know what will break your business though? Do you know how you can lose years of your life? You know what will make you go; I wonder why I never made it?
Chasing shiny objects. Stop it. You’re not missing out on anything.
Being an opportunist has been a valuable tool for you so far, but do you know how you scale? You stop being an opportunist. You stop saying yes to every opportunity that comes your way. You start saying no. And you mean it. Because being an opportunist is not a business strategy. It’s a habit. An addiction. It’s fun, but the fact is as addictions go it uses you more than you use it.
I know because I used to be you. The whole business strategy is this…
Say yes to every opportunity and angle that comes your way, consume everything there is to know about it, and then never do anything meaningful with the information.
This business strategy has gotten you all over the place with your business but nowhere fast. Do you want a business strategy?
This is a strategy: Identify the three things that are most important to your business right now.
Strategize around these things, build your team around these things, and then go get them done. I know this seems like it’s too simple, but I know for a fact that this is the way you grow your business because you’ve already done it, but you’ve become distracted.
These are the three things that matter most to a business right now. Let’s take a look at them one by one.
- #1: The Product or Service Your Business is Selling.
- #2: The Way You Acquire or Generate New Clients.
- #3: The Way You Retain Your Current Clients.
From here, it’s a simple exercise of making three lists: 1) What you’re doing well, 2) What needs to be improved, and 3) What you’re not doing well at all and need to start doing.
Now that you have identified the three most important things for your business right now, strategize around these things. Without a doubt in my mind, the biggest mistake you are continuing to make is that you are still trying to be an opportunist. You’re still saying yes to every opportunity that comes your way. This is the cost of it. Therefore, your business won’t grow.
When you maximize your time around only what matters and say no to everything else – you stop being an opportunist – then the right opportunities will come around and your business will start growing again.
Can I just say this as a Facebook ads marketer myself?
Get off Facebook. The ads are addictive. They get you. They get you thinking about what you’re missing out on. Is there a better way to do this? The problem is you live in paralysis by analysis world. Or your efforts are so disjointed and you’re going in so many directions you can’t win any.
Can I tell you a story?
I used to play football. My high school coach put together an exercise where it was `12 on 6. The 6 were on offense needing to drive down the field while they were outnumbered 2 to 1. I was on a team of 6.
We tried numerous approaches. We tried driving the ball down the middle and blocking. We tried all spreading out and getting open for a pass.
Do you know what was most successful?
Getting all together and pushing the same direction and driving the ball down the middle of the field. Spreading out was the worst strategy. We were covered 2 to 1 with no offensive line to protect the QB from being rushed.
Spreading out your time and your energy and your team is the worst possible strategy. Focus. Because you aren’t outnumbered 2 to 1. You’re outnumbered 100 to 1. There are businesses that are bigger and badder with a lot more capital and human resources to throw at it. You need to go back and ask yourself, what do YOU want to build?
Stop trying to emulate everyone else and their strategies. Because the one thing a competitor can’t be is YOU. The one thing YOU can’t be is THEM. Let’s talk about YOU. What do YOU want to build?
[bctt tweet=”When you maximize your time around only what matters and say no to everything else – you stop being an opportunist – then the right opportunities will come around and your business will start growing again.” username=”ThatCompanycom”]Knowing The Product or Service Your Business is Selling.
I told you above that there are 3 things that matter most to your business strategy and #1 is “The Product or Service Your Business is Selling.”
The product is your reputation. And the advertising is the promotion for your marketing services. You may consider signing up to a white label agency to provide them with your logo, white label branding services, and marketing materials. But still, you need to do the bulk of the promotion for your marketing services.
It is all good when you love what you’re doing, but if YOU don’t love it, then stop it. If your first thought is “but you don’t know how much I’ve invested in this, I can’t just walk away.” Then my response is to look up the “sunk cost fallacy.”
If there is an asset to be sold maybe consider selling it (if there is a market, but again that is likely a distraction and will only suck time away from you getting to actually work on what you need to work on.) If that’s you then take a moment and figure out what YOU do love and what YOU want to do.
If you have come to the conclusion, you are selling what you want to sell, or now know what you want to sell.
Knowing The Way You Acquire or Generate New Clients.
How do YOU want to approach the market?
Stop looking at how everyone else approaches the market because guess what if someone else is doing it, and they’re telling others, then it’s already a red ocean.
Get creative. Have fun here. Who do YOU want to work with? Make your dream list.
Now you’re probably going to work with humans, so they won’t be perfect, but nevertheless, identify the type of client you want to work with and start saying NO to the other opportunities that come your way.
This may likely sound painful. “But I need the revenue!”, “I need to pay my bills!”. But do you need the lost time? The years? The heartache?
Push hard enough in one direction and you will find the clients that produce the revenue, and you’ll stop working on the distractions.
Seriously do it. Endure the pain. YOU will get there!
Knowing The Way You Retain Your Current Clients.
“Next, I want to talk about the third item on your list: The Way You Retain Your Current Clients.”
The thing is, you have to ask yourself, why would they? Why would they keep doing business with YOU? Are they doing business with you because you’re marginally better than everyone else? Or are you creating raving fans? People, who LOVE working with you?
If you don’t know, then start here.
Received any referrals lately? If not, then you likely don’t have Raving Fans.
Raving Fans can’t help but tell their friends/family/colleagues/other business owners about you. If you don’t have raving fans, then start by asking what would you want if you were the client?
How can the services improve? Did The communication improve? Did The results improve? Perhaps even get your clients to give you feedback and then work on the areas that you’ve identified that need to be improved. Maybe even consider conducting “Level 10” meetings where at the end of each meeting you ask for a rating from all involved.
1 being worst and 10 being best.
Then find out what could have made the meeting better for the customer. Your customers will find this to be refreshing and so will you. You will no longer question where you stand with your customers. With that said, stop chasing shiny objects, spend time in reflection on the life you want to really build, and then get to work.
I hope I have been able to impact your life. Be blessed, my friends.
