Top 7 “must do's” in Business for Smart Business Owners

#1 Goals

The reason why goal setting is powerful in business, is because goals portray a vision of what is achievable and aligns stakeholders to the desired outcome. You may have a goal that states, ‘I need 30 new clients by the end of the month’, giving you a ‘guide’ of what to aim for.

So why don’t Small Medium Enterprises (SME’s) use goals more frequently to get their desired outcome? The acronym SMART refers to Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results orientated and within a Timeframe. How does this work in your business? Let’s put in a hypothetical goal and write it up as a ‘SMART Goal’.

SMART GOAL example:

I would like 30 new clients each paying $5000 for my service. That is a total of $150,000 in revenue in the next 30 days. I can measure my success by the amount of money received on a daily basis – cash going into my bank account. Going on our previous sales figures in the past 3 months, it will be an increase in client attrition of 20%. If I support my sales team of three, each salesperson will need to acquire a client every 2 days (taking into consideration weekends). I will support my sales team by providing quality leads, marketing material and following up every 3 days so our sales targets are met.

By clearly defining the ‘How’, ‘What’ and ‘Who’, the goal is more likely to be achieved than not.

Don’t get Goals confused with Budgets! Budgets are financial targets and usually don’t motivate the majority of the workforce.

Goals are the dream, anchor goals to align with helping clients, creating a better life and it’s essential to tie in with company vision and value proposition.

# 2 Values

Values help us to understand what is right or wrong, good or bad. Values include integrity, honesty, family and so on.

 Why are values important in business? Because people want to know they are contributing to a better way, a better life or be part of social consciousness and to be of service. Employees want to be associated with companies that have similar values and companies want to attract talented people, so they become long-term employees.

When personal values collide with organisational values, you get a misalignment and therefore a possible transient workforce. You’ll be creating a workforce that doesn’t perform at its best and is less productive.

If it is a highly regarded value, such as freedom, then if you were to ‘chain’ people to a desk you will not attract the type of people you may need for your organisation. By aligning values, both for employees and business owners, you will be set up to become a better, more productive and more profitable business that customers will want to be associated with for a long time.

 #3 Customer Life Time Value (CLTV)

When business owners get this right, you’ll have a great business. This is the customer spending life cycle, in other words, how long will customers keep paying you for your products and services over a period of time.

As an example, if you only sell a book for $30, the CLTV is $30. However, if you packaged with workshops, online courses, workbooks totaling $250, the CLTV is $280. If you did a workshop, course and extra workbooks over 5 years, the CLTV is $1280.

So, you can see if you leverage and add value at every opportunity, you will increase the value you create for your clients and they will remain a client of yours for years to come. The added bonus is a very low cost of acquisition.

The maths: Increase Revenue, lower costs, long-term loyal clients = Successful Business!

Exponential Growth occurs when you look at every department and create ‘extra’ value for all stakeholders. It all stems from understanding the Customer Life Time Value.

#4 Sales Process

If you don’t have a sales process in your business, STOP EVERYTHING AND CREATE IT NOW!

Sales are the lifeblood of the business, as fuel is to a car. No sales = no business.

How do you create a sales process? It’s simply a matter of understanding what your clients’ needs are and then giving it to them.

Here’s the process:

1.      Qualify your customer. This is asking the customer what they need or want. Who is it for, what is it for, how long do you want it for, what color, what budget and so on.

2.      Choose NO MORE than 3 products or services you KNOW will fit the needs of your potential client. People want a choice, but don’t want too many choices as it creates indecision and procrastination.

3.      ‘FAB’ experience – Features and Benefits. It is imperative that when you explain a feature of your service or product that you back it up with a benefit. No-one cares if the car has got a ‘xct-grt 600 tech mover spark’ if they don’t know what the benefit will be to them.

4.      Ask for the sale. So many people don’t know how to ask for money. Here’s a couple of lines that always work and is not the ‘hard sell’. “What color would you like?’, ‘How would you like to pay, credit card or cash?’, ‘Shall we organise the paper-work?’.

5.      CRUCIAL STEP! This last step in a very brief sales process overview is critical in making sure you attract and keep, long-term clients.

THANK YOUR CLIENT FOR THEIR BUSINESS.

#5 Communication.

Communication strategies are super important in so many different levels in business. Communication between departments, suppliers, clients, staff, and family. How you communicate is a direct proportion to how successful you are in business.

If you can’t communicate your message to your potential clients, you won’t get clients.

If you can’t communicate what you want your workers to do, the work won’t get done.

If you can’t communicate with your suppliers, then you won’t get the right product.

If you can’t communicate to your family what you’re doing, you won’t get the right support!

Get the picture!

Communication is super important. It accounts for a huge amount of lost productivity in organisations, so if you’re a small business, you’ll want to get this right. Communication is paramount to the overall success of any business, big or small.

How do you get better at communicating? There are many strategies available, but what I find to be successful is understanding personality types. How do people talk and listen? If you’re a creative and visual person I might communicate with you by drawing out our plans. If you’re like me and learn predominantly by auditory, I can simply say something to you and I know it’ll get done - by asking to repeat it back, it will verify the interpretation.

Using technology is another form of communication – email, project management software and so on. If you have team members on a project, then it may be best to set up the project in project management software to keep transparency and accountability for the project. This eliminates the need for back and forth ‘he said, she said’ and reduces the amount of time for meetings and procrastination. By setting up ‘email protocols’ in your organisation, you can eliminate the issues and interpretations of how people respond. It may simply be a list of facts and removing the emotional context from the conversation.

Whatever you are using and whatever system you set up, you need to ensure that it aligns to company goals and values.

#6 Leadership.

Who’s the captain of your ship? What is the role of a leader? Is anybody following you…. Not Instagram, but actually in your business?

Have you heard the saying, ‘lead by example’? If you were the example would you be happy with your staff?

Oh no! I hear you cry!

What is leadership? A simple definition is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. (Susan Ward 2019)

Aha! So, all you have to do is motivate a group of people towards the goals of the organisation and everything will be fantastic! So, if you were the captain of a cruise liner, responsible for 2000 clients having a good time and 1000 staff to make it happen, all you need to do is write a motivational speech, rally the troops and hey presto, you’re a leader!

Wrong!

If it were that simple, we would all be leaders! Leaders direct, get out of the way, motivate, get their hands dirty, strategize, inform, innovate and inspire and so much more. Leaders are exciting to be around, they’re at the forefront, charging to make a difference.

Leadership is about aligning all aspects of the business, but most importantly, the people. Not just employees, but customers! Leadership is about leading for the benefit of the customers and aligning values and goals for all stakeholders.

#7 Business Coach

A good coach will ‘extract’ the best version of you to achieve your goals and dreams.

A GREAT coach will INSPIRE YOU to be the BEST VERSION of yourself and dare to dream greatness beyond what you thought possible.

A coach is super important in business because they will guide you, support you and instil a calmness about decision making, making you feel in control and confident.

What qualities do you need in a business coach?

1.     Experience

2.     Knowledge

3.     Directness

4.     The firm, but fair in their delivery

5.     Sales Orientated

6.     Process & System Driven

7.     Supportive & Flexible

8.     Understands your pain points and can predict solutions before downturns

9.     Has strategies to improve your business from experience, not just textbooks

10. Strong Values & Integrity

A Business Coach has the ability to fast-track your success. In my opinion, it’s important that coaches see you from a point of view of ‘what are your strengths’ and then bring everything else up to that standard. If you focus on your weaknesses, you tend to lose confidence and self-esteem, therefore reducing the effectiveness of a quality business coach.

A great Business Coach can understand the underlying effectiveness of your business and create a value proposition that translates into more efficient systems and protocols when running your business. By aligning with company goals and outcomes, marketing, staffing and sales will be more productive and cost-efficient – creating profit and a better lifestyle for you and your family.