BUSINESS HOW-TO SIMPLE STEPS TO AMAZING GROWTH AND CLARITY IN YOUR BUSINESS
A few weeks ago, I was chatting with a mastermind member, working with them on priorities, and I noticed that most of their priorities were all over the place. In fact, this is common for many business owners. We hear all about “shiny object syndrome” and people jumping from one thing to another in marketing or business ventures, and with access to so much information today, I’m seeing more and more entrepreneurs get sucked into it. One person says you need a funnel (which you do), another says you need great social media presence (which you do), and a smart, strong, and handsome person tells you to buy a newsletter (which you need to do as well). Are these things what you need most today? The reality is that I won’t know without having a conversation with you. All the above-mentioned items are smart tools to have, but the question isn’t what’s smart. The question needs to be this: “What should I do to move my business forward today?” For example, one of my mastermind clients owns three franchise tutoring centers. The thing they need to focus on most is adding 30 more students per location. Those 30 extra students per location would take them from turning a slight profit, after paying each location’s manager, to making a very good profit. Only when you identify the problem you need to solve can you begin to look at which marketing options will best serve your needs. Maybe you need a newsletter or Facebook marketing, but without being clear on the issue you need to solve, there’s no way for anyone to know what you should do next. As you read this, you may be getting a gut feeling about what problem needs to be solved in your business. Before you run off and fix that, though, you need to be sure that what your gut is telling you is really the issue. Let me give you an example.
Most entrepreneurs would say they need more leads and sales. Great! That may be true, but let’s first make sure you’re getting all you can from everything you’ve got right now.
get one new customer when they’re referred to us. Armed with that one fact, I can easily see that it makes sense to invest more time and money in my referral program. As you start to grow, there may be more than one area in need of better focus in your business. If you’re generating at least a few million dollars in annual revenue, feel free to take on more than one challenge at a time — as long as someone on your team owns each project, their targets are clearly defined, and they make regular check-ins on the progress of the campaign with you or another executive. I’ve taught people this process before, and I’ve seen varying degrees of success. The results have nothing to do with how well this strategy works or doesn’t work. Instead, it has to do with how well you execute it. If you’re following this plan and still not getting results, you need to find a mentor or coach. Sometimes you just can’t see the forest for the trees, which is true for all of us from time to time.
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How many leads do you have coming in per month right now?
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How many new leads do you need to get in order to close one new customer?
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If you got 10 new customers this month, how many would still be doing business with you 12 months from now?
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Where do you currently get your best new leads from?
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Can we get any more from that source?
If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’ll know we’re giving away a Tesla as a referral prize. If I compare the close rate on those referred versus those we get from all other traffic sources, I discover that it takes 67 percent fewer leads to
–Shaun
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