Do it Better Than Anyone Else!

This article may hurt some feelings or may just end up in the trash because some people just can’t handle the truth, but I can assure you it will hit you between the eyes with the facts.

You’ve been either avoiding or perhaps buying into all the so called marketing hype that’s being spewed out by countless sales reps, marketing gurus, and the like.

I can almost bet you have no less than three contacts per day from someone trying to sell you SEO services, Leads, Mobile applications, Social Networking, web site optimization, Google first page search positioning, Rep management and on and on. It’s all crazy and guess what? Most of it will do nothing but drain your marketing budget with little to no ROI. Most of the effort is going nowhere.

Bottom line what you want is not a bunch of tools that add to your daily tasks but simply more revenue to grow your business.

You know years ago it was easy you either ran an ad in the local newspaper or put a nice display ad in the yellow pages and people called you. The ROI was huge back then. Today newspapers are costly and produce very little. No one uses yellow pages anymore and they are expensive too, so what is a business owner to do?

Most small business owners know all about what it is that they do like they know how to make great Pizza but when it comes to all this new Internet and technology stuff they don’t have a clue nor do they have the time to mess with it. They hear that they need it, like web sites and social exposure but they don’t have the time to post on Facebook or add content, back links or video to their web site. It’s overwhelming. Yet the businesses that find the proper use of the technology seem to be growing and making more money, so what’s the secret?

Well in the rest of this article we are going to look at what you have to do and how you can evaluate your business in order to get the right resources to grow your business.

Understand this; I’m not presenting this to sell you anything. I’m providing this information without any obligation what so ever. Take it for what it is, use it or don’t but hopefully it will help you and it might even make a difference in your business going forward.

It's every businessperson's nightmare: his or her company is failing, dysfunctional, stuck in neutral, and/or is disappointing overall, from the finances to the customer feedback.

Let’s face it, you’ve wondered if your business is going to succeed or not. You keep on pouring your heart and soul into your business but for some reason your business just doesn’t grow like you would like to see it grow. You buy into all the sales hype about the Internet and Social Networking and mobile and it just gets confusing. What is it I really need to do to grow my business?

Well the sad part is, there is no sure way to know if your business is going to fail or succeed. But there are certain basic evaluations and processes you need to make to determine if your business has the ability to grow and if you have the necessary tools to help you improve your odds of succeeding.

First let’s look at the three evaluation steps that you must do before we can review possible causes and solutions.

1.   Is there a need (in your industry)? What is the need factor of your product or service? If your selling Mongoose removal services in Michigan there may not be much need for your services but if you are in Hawaii there would be much more need. (lots of Mongoose in Hawaii) Now this is an exaggeration of course but whatever type business you’re in there must be a high demand for your product or service.

2.   Barrier to entry (can anyone get into your business) If it’s hard to start your business then you probably have the potential to make a profitable business. For example if you’re a painter and all it takes to get into your business is a brush and a roller then you may have lots of people trying to be a painter because it’s easy to get started. If you’re a nuclear engineer and want to build nuclear reactors the barrier to entry is much higher. Now other factors do come into play and just because you may be a nuclear engineer does not guarantee that you will make more or be more successful than a painter. Think of barrier to entry as a measure of competition.

3.   Scale-ability: Can you scale beyond say 10 miles of your location or are you limited to that one spot. For example if you own a Pizza restaurant can you grow beyond your local area with delivery services or even multiple locations or franchising? Perhaps you can scale by adding new products and services. Scale-ability is an important part of growing your business and you should always be thinking about it.

 Now with the three evaluations from above you should be able to think about your business and how you fit into a successful business model but we are not done yet. We need to look at some reasons why your business is not growing like you want it to.

1. You’re not making a profit;

It’s easy to say that you have to make money, but in reality, that isn’t true. You need to be making a profit. Bringing in a million dollars a month is useless if you are spending a 100 million. That means you would be losing 99 million dollars every month.

Successful businesses make profit. And although you may not be profitable right now, you have to work towards it.

According to the Small Business Administration, most businesses fail in the first 5 years because they can’t make a profit.

2. Do you talk to your customers

You think your business is doing OK? Who cares what you think! All that matters is what your customers think because they are the ones paying you. This is sooo important. I can’t stress it more!

If you haven’t talked to your customers yet, you better get off your ass and do so. And more importantly, don’t just talk to one, talk to them all. If you don’t have a follow up system and a way to talk to your customers (do not go past go, do not collect $200) get one right away!

Look at Amazon and how they have created a simple email service that keeps Amazon in touch with all its customers regularly. They make billions every year and their email system is a huge part of their success. The ROI of a simple email program is huge.

We know you’re busy with your everyday tasks of running your business and trying to contact your customer’s everyday can be daunting and writing email copy can be tough but there is a lot of money to be made if you contact your customers on a regular basis. You could be leaving a lot of money on the table.

With a list size, and I’m just giving you a number, of say 100,000 one email could bring in $10-$20-$30 thousand dollars.

Now if you’re not collecting the names of all your customers and potential customers then you better start now as you can see the money you may be missing out on.

If you don’t know how or have the time we can do it for you and we do it for free.

3. You really don’t enjoy what you do.

If you enjoy, or even better, love your business you are more likely to spend more time on it. And if you spend more time on your business, you are more likely to succeed. If you’re just in business to make money, there is a higher chance that you’ll get burned out and you won’t work as hard.

Working 40 hours a week just doesn’t cut it when you own a business. On average entrepreneurs spend 61.1 hours working each week.

Now I’m not saying you have to become a work-a-holic but a solid work ethic of “the day is not done till the job is done” can take you a long way. You also set a good example for those that you work alongside of (your employees).

4. You can’t take criticism about your business or you

When someone gives you feedback about your business or you, you shouldn’t get angry. Listen and try to really understand what they are saying.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to do everything they are telling you to do, but you have to at least listen. Who knows, one day they may give you advice that will change you or your business for the better.

5. You could really care less about your customers

Customer service and support is something that can make or break your company. If you don’t care about your customers they won’t come back and buy from you again. Remember it’s typically easier to get repeat customers than new customers. It’s called customer retention and it can represent as much as 60% or more of your profits if used properly.

You have to care about your customers. You have to believe that the service you provide and the products you sell will enrich the lives of your customers no matter what that product or service is.

You have to make your customers feel special. You might be charging more than your competitors but if you provide over the top customer service you will win out 90% of the time.

6. People don’t talk about your business

Word of mouth marketing is the best way to grow your business. If no one is talking about your business, then you aren’t doing all that you can do to provide a great job.

Advertising and paid marketing is great, but the organic stuff is what really helps a business grow. For example people use Google because they heard about it from someone else. When Google first came out they never paid for advertising.

Out of all the marketing methods out there, word of mouth marketing is ranked as the most effective.

7. You’re not agile enough

The demands customers have over time change so you naturally have to adapt to them. If you aren’t agile you won’t be able to adapt quick enough, which means your customers will start going to your competitors who are adapting to their needs.

If you want to be agile, you have to learn about your customer demands from your customers. That’s why we said in #2 that communicating with your customers is so important. You have to be ready for change when it happens. It’s the only way to be ahead of the curve.

8. You are so tight you squeak when you walk

That can be a huge plus. Lack of capital is the number one reason most businesses fail. This is why you have to be tight. Do whatever it takes to save a buck… as long as it doesn’t cost you more than it is saving you.

Plus in the business world there are always ups and downs. So if you don’t save while you are making a good amount of dough, you won’t have any cash to get you through tough times.

There are some things like recessions that aren’t in your control. So save money when you can.

9. You are not sure when to spend money.

It’s good to be cheap, but sometimes you have to spend money to make it. For example, paying more money for talented employees is a lot smarter than paying little money for mediocre ones. Mediocre employees can lose you millions of dollars by making the wrong decisions for your business.

In the previous number 8 we talked about saving but saving can be of benefit when it comes to spending at the right time. If you have cash on hand you can make those great buys when they come along which can add to the bottom line in profits.

10. You don’t have a good representation.

Lawyers and accountants are worth every penny. A good lawyer can save your ass from a lawsuit or protect you when a customer refuses to pay. A good accountant can help you to keep the hard earned profits and show you were to reinvest to make more.

Never skimp on legal or accounting fees and make sure you are working with a partner at a good law and accounting firm. If you can’t afford their fees, you can always bargain with them or come up with a payment plan. Be creative and don’t be afraid to ask. Remember they have competitors too and if they see potential profits from you they will more than likely work with you rather than see you go to their competition.

11. You simply can’t or you hate to delegate.

If you try to do everything yourself, you’ll be limiting the true potential of your business. Remember that owning your business is simply an opportunity to duplicate your efforts by hiring others to do what you do. If you can’t trust your team to help out, then things will never get done quickly.

Plus I don’t care how smart you are, you’re not a jack of all trades. So you might as well delegate tasks to people who are better at doing them than you. That’s why hiring good qualified people is so important.

12. You keep on making the same mistakes

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes; you just can’t keep on making the same ones over again. If you learn from your mistakes, you’ll save a ton of money and time.

And if you really want to learn from mistakes, you should learn from other people’s mistakes. Everyone makes them, so might as well learn from them and try to avoid them yourself.

13. You are afraid of taking risks

Sometimes you just have to roll the dice and take risks. Playing things conservatively works sometimes, but it doesn’t always work.

Switching up business models, laying off a whole department, or even moving your company location are just a few risky things that you may have to do. It’s too hard to predict what these risks will be for you, but when the time comes you have to be willing to take them. Risk involves more than flipping a coin, it’s about logical interpretation of known facts and a certain amount of belief.

14. This is your first business

If this is your first business, you’re likely to fumble a lot. I hate to say it, but 78% of first time entrepreneurs fail. The odds just aren’t with you because you are stepping into a new territory and you will more than likely make some mistakes. The best advice I can provide is grow slowly and don’t be afraid to get help when you’re not sure what to do.

And even if you are on your second business, your odds won’t increase drastically. Instead of having a 22% chance of succeeding, you’ll have a 34% chance of succeeding.

15. You can’t seem to focus; too many things

It’s better to do one thing really well instead of doing 100 things at a mediocre level. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Skype are just a few examples of companies that did one thing really well.

Yes, later on they did start expanding their business, but at first they just did one thing really well.

Orville Redenbacher said “Do one thing and do it better than anyone else” he makes popcorn and it’s the best.

You too need to focus your business and just do one thing really well. Don’t expand until you’re really good at doing that one thing. If you lose laser focus you can jeopardize your business.

So now maybe you have seen some things about you and your business and the good news is every business can rebound from its lows, regain its momentum, thrill its customers, and be the source of pride and profits its owners and shareholders seek.

This U-turn must begin with you, the owner or senior manager; you must make a declaration of change. You must face the fact that the malaise the business suffers from is ultimately your responsibility and your doing, and even more important, that it will not be rectified unless you take the lead. Face the hard truths. Take the difficult actions. Demonstrate determination, creativity and resolve.

In this insightful article we have tried to make three points clear:

1. The key to long term business success is for the leader to make a declaration of change to him/herself so that the company never rests on its laurels.

2. You have to deal with and address any and all factors that lead to business failure/decline/lack of growth/dysfunctionality.  Identifying and addressing these plagues is the focus of your declaration.

3. You don’t need more tools and fancy technologies. Good solid business processes and procedures can do more than all the technologies you’re being hit up to buy. While some are part of doing business others may be a passing fancy that will provide very little to your bottom line. The overwhelming need is to thrill your customers/clients, provide value and be of service to your community.

We have made a small effort to pull back the curtain on business performance to reveal the reasons many businesses decline or simply fail to grow. We have identified some potential red flags, and provided some innovative methodologies to transition from failure to flourish. It's not too late to turn your company around—go from languishing to soaring!

I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be OK and you’re going to do well, but I can’t. The odds aren’t in your favor so you have to look for the warning signs and avoid them.

As an entrepreneur you have hopes of creating a successful company and although at certain times it may not seem like you will ever get there, you will as long as you keep on pushing forward. Even if you make big mistakes, you can still succeed.

The best way you can improve your odds of success is to learn from other people’s mistakes and try not to create that “big” company when you first start. Your first goal should be to create a profitable business and from there you can grow. But the key is to not get ahead of yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for help!

If you like what you just read and would like to learn more call me at 480-626-4622 or email me at [email protected] and we can talk about it.