There’s a month to go until year end.  Super duper yikes!!  Where has the year gone?

I’m guessing that like me, you have one eye on what you’ve got to achieve before 31 December, but you’re starting to focus on 2017 too….and what your business will look like and what you hope to achieve over that year.  Am I right?

Time to grow your business?

Perhaps you’ll want to grow your business in 2017.  What does growth mean for you?

Increasing your turnover?

Increasing your profitability (that’s much more important than turnover growth)?

Growing your team?

Getting your business ready for exit?

10 top tips for business growth

There are 10 key areas of business that you must be looking at to support the growth and financial success of your business.  They are:

1.  Clarity of direction – what do you want to achieve and how are you going to get there?  If you’re not clear on that, then all paths will lead somewhere but not necessarily where you actually want to be longer term.

As boring as it may sound, you must create a simple, measureable plan which states what you want to achieve, and the actions you’ll take each quarter and month to get there.  The plan should also have measurable goals.  Hold yourself to account to achieving it.  Better still, get a business coach or accountability partner to hold you to account as well.

2.  Cash Flow Management – Here’s my motto: Turnover is vanity, Profit is sanity, Cash flow is reality.  Unless your cashflow is strong, your business growth will be inhibited.

Many small businesses don’t have decent systems in place to manage their cash flow.  What systems have you implemented to ensure you get paid by your customers in a timely way?  Do you actively manage cash across your business by controlling your accounts payable and negotiating payment terms with your suppliers?  How about inventory turns?  Do you actively control the amount of inventory you hold at any one time?

3.  Monthly Financial Management – Many small businesses don’t have monthly management accounts to help them manage their business. Year end accounts are only useful to determine the profitability of your business and how much tax is to be paid.

They won’t help you to manage your business during the year.  So, how about getting your accountant/business adviser to work with you throughout the year, producing monthly management accounts that you can analyse together?

4.  More Customers and Your Sales Pipeline ─ Most small businesses want to grow their customer base, yet many do not have strategies in place to attract new customers. What’s your new customer pipeline looking like? How are you marketing your business?  Most markets are crowded, so how are you standing apart from your competitors?  What about closing sales?  How are you doing that?  Do you need to learn more about closing sales to sell more?

Marketing, business development and sales are changing in this fast paced evolving world we’re living in.  Are you keeping up with the new strategies and tools that are being used to attract customers to you?  Get all this right and you’ll have a constant funnel of customers coming your way.

5.  Differentiating your Products/Services – Do you sell all your products and services as one offering or do you differentiate them according to what your customers need and can afford? Do you make offers to your customers to cross-sell, up/down-sell your products and services?  Those businesses that have a strategy in place to differentiate their product and service offerings are making BIG profits.

6.  Product and Service Profitability – Do you understand the profitability of all the products and services you offer to your customers? The most expensive product or service you sell to your customers may not be the most profitable. Work out which are your most profitable, and sell more of those.  That strategy alone will have a measureable impact on your business’s profitability.

7.  Customer Profitability – Who are your most profitable customers? Many businesses aim to service any customers that come their way without thinking about whether they are going to be profitable.  So, learning how to work out customer profitability is critical to making more profit in your business.

8.  Pricing – How about increasing your prices? This is a touchy subject as you may be thinking that you will not survive in business if you do.

Studies have shown that only 9 percent of customers move away from a supplier due to price increases, yet 82 percent will move away to a new supplier due to perceived indifference and unresolved conflict with the original supplier.

It comes down to value.  How much value do you think you are offering your customers for the prices you charge, and do they feel that they are really important to your business?

9.  Systemising Your Business – Regardless of whether your business is just you, or you plus your employees, is your business systemised and automated in a way that your customers receive streamlined service? If not, then you are offering what I refer to as ‘random service’, which is unpredictable and not able to be replicated by your staff.

McDonald’s doesn’t make the best hamburgers in the world, but they developed arguably the best systems in the world to deliver their products to their customers.  How does your business measure up?  If your customers return more than once to buy from you, will they get a consistent experience with your business?  If not, then your business isn’t systemised.

10.  Treasure your team – No man or woman is an island. Recruit and train the best people to your team – whether they’re full-time, part-time or outsourced members. Your team is critical to your success…. They’re your number one support in effectively growing your business and delivering excellence to your customers.

So, that’s it.  My 10 top tips for business growth.  How many have you got sorted in your business?  Where can you improve?  I’d love to know.  How about leaving a comment below?

Need help?

There is nothing more exciting than to see a business grow into a sustainable, profitable asset.

If you’d like support in taking your business to the next level of growth, then please send me a return email now, and let’s talk (via a short Skype call) about how I might be able to assist you with some exclusive coaching or mentoring to achieve that goal.  Here’s my calendar to make an appointment.

Imagine looking back in a few years from now at where you are today versus where you want to be and can be.  How exciting does it feel?

I’d love to help you achieve greater success in your business too.  So, if you’d like to talk about how I might be able to support you with coaching or mentoring to grow your business, please email me by return now, and let’s arrange a Skype call.  Here’s my calendar to make an appointment.

Why did you start your own business?

• To be your own boss?
• To live your dream?
• To bring certain products or services to market?
• To help others?
• To earn the money you know you’re worth rather than receive a salary working for someone else?
• To control your life?
• To create a successful business?
• To contribute to the lives of others?

And perhaps right now you’re currently working by yourself – being self employed or a ‘solopreneur’.

How’s that working out?

Are you achieving your business dream or are you a slave to the work?  Are you working vast hours to generate a decent income, serving your clients, dealing with all aspects of your business (accounting, debt collecting, social media – the list is endless)?

Is being self employed or a solopreneur all that it’s cracked up to be?  You’re just a glorified employee, aren’t you? But with more risk, pressure and less time to do what you’d like to in your life.

What’s stopping you?

What’s stopping you from going from self employed to business owner, where you’re managing a business and have a few (or many) staff working for you?

As a business owner, hopefully you get more time working ‘on’ it than being working ‘in’ it.  The business engine still fires without you – your staff are working for you, driving the business forward alongside you.

When you grow a business, you’re creating a business asset, something that can possibly be sold one day (so long as you create, manage, grow and lead it correctly).

Sadly, being self employed doesn’t generally give you that option.  When you stop working, that’s it!  The business stops.

Which sounds better to you?

Growing your business

How about deciding to grow your business in 2017?  If that sounds exciting, what needs to change?

How do you go from self employed to business owner?

Firstly, your mindset needs to change.  Are you ready for the next stage?

Then you need to plan for the growth in your business.

Do you have clarity of purpose and vision over your business?

How are you going to grow your business?  What will your marketing and sales strategies involve?

What systems and processes need to be put in place to integrate new staff members?

Customer delivery should always be a focus.  How will you ensure your customers receive excellence from you and your team at all times?

Finance – do you need working capital to fund the growth?  If so, where is that going to come from?

How will you recruit your team?  Outsourced workers to start with or will you have a team fully employed by you?  How will you go about recruiting them?  Remember, hiring great team members is one of the most important jobs you’ll undertake in your business.

There’s so much to think about, plan and execute as we grow our businesses.

Need help?

There is nothing more exciting than to see a self employed person grow their business into a sustainable, profitable asset, that as it continues to grow creates more value for everyone involved.

If you’d like support in taking your business to the next level of growth, then let’s talk (via a short Skype call) about how I might be able to assist you with some exclusive coaching or mentoring to achieve that goal.  Here’s my calendar to make an appointment.

Imagine looking back in a few years from now at where you are today versus where you want to be and can be in a few years.  How exciting does it feel?

I’ve just done this exercise with one of my businesses – Small Business Huge Success™ – we’re getting ready to take it to the next level with a HUGE purpose and vision to achieve in support of small business owners around the world.

Yes, it’s scary, but it’s also very exciting too.  Bring on 2017.  I can’t wait for it to unfold as I grow the team that will support me.

I’d love to help you achieve greater success in your business too.  So, if you’d like to talk about how I might be able to support you with coaching or mentoring to grow your business, let’s arrange a Skype call.  Here’s my calendar to make an appointment.

The price a business owner sells their products and services for is arguably one of the most important business decisions they will make.  And yet, pricing is one of the most feared aspects of running a business.

Are your prices too low?

One of the many conversations I have with business owners is on pricing, and those discussions often start with me saying, “Your prices are too low.”

They look at me in shock and often respond with all the reasons why they cannot raise their prices:

• I’ve lost jobs because I was too expensive.
• I’m more expensive than some of my competitors.
• I’m barely making enough profit as it is, and I can’t afford to lose customers by raising prices.
• You have got to be joking— put my prices up in this depressed market?

Responses like that generally indicate those business owners don’t understand the impact pricing has on a customer’s perception of their business and its branding in the market.

What happens if your prices are too low?

If your prices are too low, your market will label you a low-end player and you’ll attract bargain hunters who will invariably try to get you to discount your products even further.

Lower prices also make it unlikely your business will build long-term relationships with customers, who by their very nature will shop around to get the best prices on a product or service, not staying loyal to any one business.

How about higher pricing?

Higher pricing raises customers’ expectations of a business, which can be a challenge.

But if you constantly deliver on those expectations your business will usually enjoy customer loyalty, and you will attract a better quality customer who is willing to pay more for quality customer service.

Branding is important

It comes down to branding.  What does your business, your brand stand for?

What is the promise you make to your customers?

Branding is about building a relationship with your customers, and over time they expect certain things from your brand, as that is what you have promised them.

A brand can turn something that is pedestrian or homogenous into something that is unique and that stands out from the crowd, regardless of the market.

If a business is branded, it can set you apart from the rest.  A strong brand builds respect, loyalty and retention, and allows a business to set its pricing strategy accordingly.

Why customers leave a business

Dr Michael LeBoeuf, international business consultant, focuses a lot of his work on how to win customers and keep them.  He created a matrix based on extensive research on why customers leave a business.

Based on that research, of those customers who leave a business, only 9 percent leave due to pricing, whereas 82 percent of customers leave because they are not treated as special or there is an unresolved conflict.

In essence, they leave due to a lack of customer service.

What’s your CVP?

Therefore, key to the success of your business is not worrying about the price you charge your customers, but concentrating on the customer value proposition you deliver to your customers to keep them happy and returning for more.

It’s about going beyond the call of duty to provide value and service to your customers.

It’s about creating customer cheerleaders, customers who will be loyal to your business for a long time and at the same time, will refer their family and friends to your business too.

Pricing isn’t arbitrary

All businesses should have a pricing strategy.  When creating your business’s pricing strategy, the key is to identify your value proposition for your customers, rather than pitching your business against your competition and attempting to undercut them to win more customers.

Get that right and your brand will create an impression in your market, and you can price your products and services according to that positioning.

A brand is a differentiator

A brand is an image.  A brand is a promise.  A brand is an experience.  A brand is a perception.  A brand can move a business or a person from the ocean of obscurity to the river of relevance and riches.

Focus on building your business brand, and competing on price will be a thing of the past.

Need some coaching guidance?

It’s tough being a business owner/entrepreneur.  I know that from running my own businesses and I see it day in day out with the business people I work with, guiding them to achieve the success they seek in their businesses.

Do you need a coach or mentor to guide you in your journey?  If so, please arrange a free no obligation 30 mins Skype strategy meeting with me.  Here’s my calendar to make an appointment.

I am thrilled to be freeing up coaching time to work with business owners.  If you think I am possibly the ‘right’ person to assist you in your business journey, let’s talk.  Here’s my calendar to make an appointment.

QUESTION:  What are your thoughts on pricing your products and services in your business?  What’s your biggest challenge with it?   I’d love to read your thoughts.  Please leave a comment.

Today, we’re bombarded with so much ‘noise’ in business, right?

Everywhere we turn – LinkedIn, Facebook (especially sponsored adverts), Twitter, online blogs, emails from people we subscribe to, websites – an ‘expert’ has something to teach us to make us more successful in business.

How to become an overnight success!

How to make millions online!

Grow your list to 20,000 in a week or two!….. and so it goes on.

Now I promise I’m not a cynic….

But, there’s one thing I know.  No-one in business is an overnight success.  That’s called winning the lottery!

Business is a journey.  Success takes time. 

Rather than being confused or seduced by all the ‘noise’ that hits us in the face each day, here are 9 top tips for business success that I swear by and that my coaching clients refer to at all times.  Follow these and you’ll achieve the success that you desire….. in time.

1   Clarity of purpose and vision

What do you want to achieve and why?  Don’t buy into someone else’s dream of what success looks like.  Define what you want in business (and life).

Think about how you are going to achieve that in your business.

Why are you in business?

What are you passionate about in business?

How will you demonstrate that to your clients, constantly?

If you’re passionate about what you do, your clients will feel your passion and they will want to buy from you.

Get enough people buying from you and you’ll achieve your vision.

2  Get your strategy nailed

Once you know what you want to achieve in business and why, next is developing the strategies to get there.

A strategy is your road map to get to your destination, and in my book it covers the areas of branding (personal and business), marketing, sales, finance, operations (customer delivery/systems/innovation), and people/team.

Be clear about your strategy in each area.  Strategising for 1-2 years max is more than enough as the pace of change in business is too great for us to see beyond that.

3  Planning and measuring

Now the fun starts.  You’ve got your key strategies in place.  Planning is critical.  Keep it simple.  What do you need to do to achieve your business strategy?  How will you know when you’ve achieved the plan?  What are your key performance indicators (KPIs)?

Break your plans into (say) quarters of the year, so you know what you need to be doing in your business each quarter….in each area of strategy.

4  What are your key actions?

Now it’s time to get on with the work.

What are your key actions this month, this week, today?

What can you delegate?

What KPIs can be put in place to measure how effective you’re being?

5  Understand your numbers

The financials and KPIs can be the nemesis of business owners.

Often they’re afraid of them.

Manage your business through your numbers – monthly and not just for tax purposes.

Get your monthly accounts prepared. Ask your accountant (or at the very least a book keeper) to explain what the numbers mean.  Think about the numbers and use them to make better decisions in your business.

6  Get a mentor/coach – be a learner

Elite athletes have coaches.  The highest performing people in life often have coaches.

Coaches/mentors are not equal.  Do your due diligence.  Make sure you find a coach who has run businesses.  Find someone who is keeping up with how business is being done in this fast paced world in which we live.….  A great coach/mentor will guide you through the ‘noise’ of business and whether something’s relevant for your business to consider or whether your current plans/actions are equally as good.

Be a listener and learner.  You will learn a lot from a business coach, if you’re willing.

7  Trust in others

Don’t go it alone.  Be collaborative.  Be a giver.  Help others on their journey and they will help you.

Build a team around you – other people who are in business  – people who want to achieve great things in their businesses too.

Perhaps form a mastermind group together and support each other.

Trust in others and delegate as much as possible so you can mostly focus on what you’re good at.

When you’re very small, you’ll have to be a ‘jack of many trades’ but as soon as you can, get help.

Outsource.  Hire a part-time assistant.  Do what you can to delegate.

8  Believe in yourself

Believe that you can and will achieve all the success you want in business (and life).

Yes, the road will be challenging.  It’s never a straight line to success.  The twists and turns, the challenges, the ups and downs will be many, and at times, very hard.

Yes, you will have to make changes in the way in which you do things.  Business lessons will teach you that.  That’s another given… you will make mistakes and plenty of them.  Your coach/mentor will guide you through them.

9  Focus and work

Work smart.  At times, work really, really hard – your business will require that of you – going beyond what is reasonable.

Be prepared to make some sacrifices.

Remember, everything comes at a cost.

Don’t give in.  Don’t give up.  Regret is a very sad place.

Need some coaching guidance?

It’s tough being a business owner/entrepreneur.  I know that from running my own businesses and I see it day in day out with the business people I work with, guiding them to achieve the success they seek in their businesses.

Do you need a coach or mentor to guide you in your journey?  If so, please arrange a free no obligation 30 mins Skype strategy meeting with me.  Here’s my calendar to make an appointment.

I am thrilled to be freeing up coaching time to work with business owners.  If you think I am possibly the ‘right’ person to assist you in your business journey, let’s talk.  Here’s my calendar to make an appointment.

QUESTION:  Which of the 9 top tips for business success most resonate with you?  Are there any that you’re going to work on now?  I’d love to read your thoughts.  Please leave a comment.