I was talking with my daughter this morning about the excuses that we make that keep us from accomplishing the things that we really want to accomplish in life. I decided to make that the topic of this week's blog post.
I believe that we ALL make excuses that stop of from doing things. Maybe you're too busy with work to workout and take care of your health. Perhaps, you're taking care of family and can't quite your day job, so why try to start a business? Perhaps you don't want to visit your in-laws, so you're not feeling well and need to stay home?? They're all excuses. The key is to acknowledge them and understand the driving force behind the excuse.
Understanding the root cause of the excuse will help us to move forward. Perhaps the driving force behind the excuse is that the task is something that simply isn't worth your time and you need to learn to delegate or say no. Perhaps, you're not confident enough to take action and it is fear of failure holding you back. Perhaps, it's simply being stuck in a comfort zone and complacency has set in. You're doing OK, so why rock the boat?? It's vital that we identify and uncover our excuses to move to the next level in our business.
I challenge you to put some serious thought into the current problems that you're facing in your business. Think about the past conversations that you've had with friends, families, business partners, etc. about why you're struggling? Can you separate the facts from the excuse? The facts will be hard to debate AND will be easier to make a plan to address. The excuses will feel a little squishy. Once you identify the excuse, spend some examining the why behind the excuse and write it down. Then resolve to eliminate the excuse. Make a list of as many ways to take immediate action as possible, then review and prioritize the list. Now, go get started. Do something today to break the excuse!!
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Ask yourself a question. Are you the type of person that looks to squeeze every last penny out of your customers? Or, are you the type of person that loves to wow your customers with extras? I truly believe that creating long-term business success can only be achieved if you continually give your customers more value than they are expecting. Sounds weird, right?
When customers experience that wow factor and receive a ton of value they tend to stick around. They also tend to tell others, which drives organic growth. Who doesn't love free positive word of mouth marketing? We've all heard the stats. It generally costs 10x more to acquire new customers than it does to retain existing customers. Focusing on the lifecycle of a sale from marketing the product through the post-sale service is critical but, if the customer doesn't feel that they got their money's worth, they will quickly look someplace else.
There also seems to be some unwritten law of reciprocity at play. Whenever we give big, it seems to come back to us in unexpected ways. Perhaps it's landing a new account that we didn't expect or getting a tremendous deal from a supplier. Regardless of the method, the value we receive always seems to be many times more than those little extras that we give away to wow our customers. It may take some time to receive, but it always happens.
Finally, giving more to the customer just demonstrates that you're a good human being...and we all want to do business with good people. It eliminates that fear that we always have to be on guard or we're going to be ripped off. What a way to ruin a relationship!! When people get more than they expect, and it's consistent, then that fear simply fades away and doing business with you becomes a joy!!
I realize that this may seem a little woo-woo to some, but I suggest giving it serious thought. If you're reading this post then it's likely that your business isn't performing to you're expectations anyway. If you've been focused on getting the most out of each transaction, then I strongly encourage you to try another way. Perhaps you may just be wowed!
Remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Don't be afraid to try something new. It just may create an avalanche of positive changes and you're business will be transformed in ways that you never expected. Need a little help?
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Strange title, right? What does it mean? You'll hear lots of gurus out there tell you to find find your passion in life and do that. Well, I don't believe it's quite that simple. Every successful business owner has a passion for what he or she does. However, they all have something else in common. They all had to deal with things in business that they weren't passionate about. Eventually, we all have to deal with accounting & finance stuff, supplier issues, unhappy customers, etc. The real question is how we deal with it.
It's easy to get worn down by those things that don't fuel the burning desire that caused us to start a business in the first place. It feels like a constant bombardment of things that stop progress and distract us from the things that we get excited about. If we don't keep those things in check, it's easy be consumed with those negative things and lose sight of our real purpose in business.
We started a business because we saw a need to bring a unique product or service to market and help people! When our focus moves away from that mission for too long, the house of cards comes crumbling down. It's like growing a vegetable garden in a bed of weeds. The gardener gets so consumed with dealing with the weeds that he or she neglects the vegetables. It doesn't take long before those weeds that were the point of focus are now all that's left.
Are you too focused on what those less-than-energizing activities of your business? What you focus on grows. Perhaps it's time to refocus your energy back on your purpose...bringing that unique product or service to people who need it. Change your focus today and watch those weeds begin to shrivel up and die. One-by-one at first, but eventually you'll look up and realize that your garden looks better than ever!!
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In this hyper-connected age, it seems like there is always a new social media platform to start using. It's easy to get caught up on the latest trends and it's very common for businesses to feel the pressure to post daily or multiple-times a day on all of the major platforms. That's wonderful if doing so drives a hard ROI for your business!! What if it doesn't? Then it's time to adjust your focus.
Social media should be a part of your marketing strategy. As such, there should be an intended purpose and goal for each platform and it should compliment the rest of your marketing strategy (print, TV, billboards, etc.). Each post should lead to a conversion of a lead to a sale. If not, why spend the money and effort? Can you measure your conversion rate? Does your marketing plan lay out a strategy for growing your conversion rate? If not, then you have some work to do!
The best marketing plan won't attract and retain customers if the rest of your operations aren't up to par? Do you deliver your product or service in a timely manner? Is your customer service team resolving issues quickly and with compassion? Does your sales force demonstrate true passion for your product or service and take the time to really build a relationship with prospects and customers? The basics can't be avoided and you can't rely on the latest social media platform to solve your woes. If you have gaps in fundamental aspects of your business, then roll up your sleeves and get to work...TODAY!!
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