Hey, business growth fanatic,
As a founder or leader, the equation for building wealth is clear: ensure more money flows in than out… Duh!
This is the essence of economic success.
Yet I come across many struggling businesses through coaching or DMs and I'm astounded that where most get wrong, is they shy away from revenue-generating tasks and get lost in a routine of convincing themselves that they are being busy.
The reality is far from this.
As the leader of the business (or within a leadership role), it's your job to role your sleeves up when times get tough (and a lot of the time, when things are running as standard).?
The key lies in actively engaging in tasks that directly boost your revenue whilst not getting lost in vanity or bullsh!t as you panic your way into the red.?
Notes about sales teams: I might need to do some training on this over the coming months as it's incredibly worrying. Let me explain. Throughout December, I spoke with 4 upcoming players in the IT/Tech sector (I'm talking between ￡10M-￡100M in annual revenue) and each of them had sales teams whose calendars were pretty much empty, If you have sales teams within your organisation, you should be ensuring that those diaries are filled solid. Otherwise, they will get frustrated whilst simultaneously haemorrhaging cash.?
Here’s a list of 10 critical revenue-generating tasks every business should be doing:
- Cold Calling:?It's simple. > Make a list of your dream 100/1000 and run the numbers. > Reach out to potential clients and start discussions. > Offer to provide value and build those connections. This personal touch can lead to new business opportunities and partnerships. > It's important to think long-term and begin those discussions as quickly as possible.
- Email Outreach:?We live in a world where automation and data are rife. Use it to your advantage but be clever with it. Instead of doing cold outreach on mass to try and get meetings, use it to push value to those who will benefit from it.?Then use your outbound team to run simultaneous campaigns that will hone in on prospects to inevitably push revenue down the line.Craft targeted, personalized emails to prospective clients or collaborators. Use it to build up your marketing funnel and go heavy on warming those people over time by offering lead magnets, whitepapers and other information that will help the prospects in their roles.
- Developing a Sales Funnel:?This is one of the most underused tactics despite being one of the most lucrative. Predominantly, they are time-consuming to get set up correctly, but damn, you are leaving a lot of money on the table if you don't.Design a structured process to convert prospects into paying customers. This includes creating awareness, interest, decision-making, and action stages in the customer journey.The best funnels are:> Lead Magnet> After a meeting is booked (raise interest and excitement)
- Content Marketing:?Create and share valuable content related to your business. Don't be ME ME ME in your messaging. Make your marketing about your prospects and show them that you are all about solving their problems.This builds your brand, attracts a relevant audience, and can lead to direct and indirect revenue generation.
- Networking Events:?Attend or host events to connect with potential clients, investors, and peers. Networking is a powerful tool for uncovering new business opportunities. Better still, look at how you can become a speaker at these events. Think of the concept of one-to-many wherever possible as this produces better ROI when looking at time and spend.
- Personal Branding:?Establish yourself as an expert in your field through social media, blogging, or public speaking. A strong personal brand can attract business opportunities.> Think about Virgin… Richard Branson has a bigger following > Look at football: Ronaldo has a larger following than all the top teams combined. Strategise building a strong personal brand over the next 36 months and you will never struggle for leads again. Better still, strategise this within your entire leadership team, gamify the process and watch what happens.
- Product Demos or Webinars:?Webinars are great as they feed the pipeline through one-to-many broadcasts and can be recorded once and run repeatedly without any extra input.?Showcase your product or service to potential customers through demos can directly lead to sales and increased interest in your offerings. Whilst this is obvious, it goes to my point early at how little those diaries were being filled. Sometimes, you just have to go back to basics.
- Partnership Development and Referral Programs:Forging strategic partnerships with other businesses or individuals can open up new markets and customer bases. This has to be a two-way method so choose your partners wisely A better method is by setting up affiliates or referral partnerships.This means that you don't have to give anything in return apart from a financial tie whilst they do a lot of the legwork at generating traffic to your products and services.?
- Customer Feedback:?Use customer feedback to improve your offering. You can then implement referral programs to incentivize current customers to bring in new clients. Provide a service that is way beyond any of the competition and you will be inundated with leads.?
- SEO and Online Marketing:?Whilst these are the basics, many of the companies you see THINK they are doing it right, but they aren't. Worse still, more are ignoring it completely.Optimise your online presence to rank higher in search engine results, driving more organic traffic to your business and potentially increasing sales. Creating great literature that is heavily referenced (whitepapers) and produces incredible backlinks.
By focusing on these tasks, founders can actively drive revenue and build a sustainable path to increasing their net worth.?
Remember, the key to wealth is not just in managing expenses but actively and consistently generating income.
Serial Founder / 10X Growth Partner / Vagabond
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