18. August 2011 by admin.

Where do you want your business (or career) to be in three years?  Do you have clarity about where you are going and a timeline for when to get there?

There is a law in nature called the Law of Precession that dictates that there are steps of progress to move from one level of success to another.  These steps, or milestones, confirm that you are on the right path.

Your business and career are the same.  If you have a one million dollar business and want it to  be three million in three years—you need to be somewhere around two million in eighteen months.  If you are not, then you have to change your goal, or increase the activity to get there.  This is what the law of precession is all about.

One of the keys for the law to work  correctly is to know where you are going—in other words, having a SMART goal.  For Action, a SMART GOAL is one that is:

*  S– SPECIFIC
*  M—MEASURABLE
*  A—ACHIEVABLE
*  R—REALISTIC
*  T—TIME ORIENTATED

As people get ready for the beach, they reflect upon the most common New Years Resolution– to lose weight.  Although that is a nice goal, it is not a SMART goal.  For it to be a smart goal, they need to add how much weight they plan to lose (specific), so that they know if they are making progress (measurable), can they do it (achievable), will  they do it (realistic) and by when will they hit the goal (time).

Without this level of detail, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to gauge the progress against the goal.  Without progress, the chances of accomplishing the goal are slim.

When setting your plan for the balance of the year, keep the Law of Precession in mind and define your goals from a SMART approach.  If you do, get ready for success!

Action Tip of the Month—Profit Margins

Measurements: Lead generation, conversion ratio, average dollars per transaction, number of transactions per year and profit margin. 

You are in business to make a profit and provide an income stream to YOU, your TEAM and your suppliers.  For small businesses, cash flow is king—and your profit margins help drive your cash flow.  There are many ways to improve your profit margins—including:

*  Wasted funds—what are you doing today that is not adding value or bringing in a return.  For example, are you running advertising that is not getting a response?

*  Sack under performing customers—focus on the A clients and generate more sales (and less headaches).

*  Reduce inventory—how much inventory do you have and what is it costing you to carry it? 

*  Reduce purchase cost by starting a buying group.

Little adjustments to improving the profit margin put money right into your pocket.  Wasn’t that one of the reasons you got into business in the first place?

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18. August 2011 by admin.

50 Ways to Lose Your Customers (OK, really 5)

There is a lot of discussion on customer retention—this month we will take the opposite approach, five sure fire ways to lose your customers.

1.  Try to sell them something they already buy from you (as if it were something new).  It never fails, each week I get an offer from a company trying to sell me something that I already buy from them.  Wasted marketing dollars.

2.  Be inconsistent in your delivery.  Have you ever gone to a restaurant that was great, only to be disappointed when you went back with family and friends?  I know that I have.  Inconsistency breeds a lack  of confidence in your ability to deliver.

3.  Raising prices has a tendency to drive off some of your customer base—especially those that are price shoppers.  This one has an upside and a downside.  The upside is that if your product or service is fantastic, raising prices will allow you to increase your profit.  The customers that you will drive away are the price shoppers that make up the lions’ share of your headaches.

4.  Respond slowly—a great way to loose customers.  I responded to an add for a marketing company two weeks ago—it took them a week to  call me back.  How could  a company that focuses on marketing be that slow in responding?  Obviously, I will not be using them.

5.  Perceived indifference—the most  important of the five.  You have invested good money in acquiring your customers.  Treat your “A” clients as gold by staying in front of them and reminding them how much they mean to  you.  The key to retaining clients is to make them feel special.

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