You Work IN your Business… When Do You Work ON it?
You Work IN your Business… When Do You Work ON it?
If you want to expand your business, attract new clients, compete successfully with other businesses in your area and boost your profits, you will need to spend some time working ON your business, not just IN it.
Here are some quick tips to get you started:
· First, let's look at the basics. Do you work from a real as opposed to "virtual" building? If so, is your reception room welcoming? Look at it through your client's eyes. If your waiting area is looking a bit old and shabby, try replacing the furniture with new comfortable chairs. Throw away the old torn magazines and keep the supply fresh and in tidy piles. Do the walls need repainting? Consider some leafy green plants and a water cooler. Make your reception area warm and inviting – it should exude a cheerful, healthy welcome to all your clients, potential or otherwise.
· Do you provide your clients with informative brochures? Consider using a wall bracket where you can keep interesting and useful brochures on matters of interest for your clients to take with them.
· While you are in this area, does your letterhead, stationery, or business card need a facelift? You can use these as marketing tools, and not just to provide your name and phone contact. Consider redesigning them if they do not encourage clients to take action in some way, like make an appointment! Using succinct language, you should include information about what you can do for your clients. Don't waste space providing full information about YOUR background or experience – clients want to know what YOU can do for THEM. Your clients are more interested in themselves than in you!
· To help you with the above activity and for marketing purposes generally, spend some time considering just WHO your ideal client is. Is your ideal client a very wealthy professional type, or somebody in the middle-class range? Or maybe you prefer to help the poor? Once you know exactly who your ideal client is, then you can think about what their needs are so you can find ways to meet those needs. You will also then know where to spend your advertising dollar because magazines read by CEO's for example, are not likely to be read by unemployed and perhaps poorly educated single parents!
· Make some attractive wall posters, framed or mounted, and include your Vision Statement. You can also express your appreciation to all your clients for their custom. You can invite them to leave suggestions. You can suggest ways in which they can get the most out of their visits. You can educate them about yourself – your qualifications and specialties. You can suggest ways in which they can improve their situation and invite them to ask you about it at their next visit!
· To ensure past clients will return to YOU keep in touch with them. Make it a practice to follow up with them.
· Consider offering a Referral Reward Program. When somebody refers a new client to you, thank them and reward them. It may be something as simple as a thank-you card, flowers, an Amazon gift voucher, or as elaborate as a gift basket. You can offer gifts that increase in value with each referral. Be creative.
· Of course, the BEST advertisement for your business is yourself! Are you the picture of success? Do YOU lead a balanced life? Set your clients a good example, and for your own benefit, learn to take extraordinary care of yourself. After all, you cannot give your best to others if you're not in peak condition yourself!
You Work IN your Business When Do You Work ON it - To learn more about this author, visit Terri Levine's Website.
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Entrepreneurs, probably more so than other professions, are so focused and caught up with their day to day operation that they either have little time or forget about working ON their business. This is understandable, given that your money-making opportunities are of paramount importance and the reason why you do what you do in the first place.
If you want to expand your business, attract new clients, compete successfully with other businesses in your area and boost your profits, you will need to spend some time working ON your business, not just IN it.
Here are some quick tips to get you started:
· First, let's look at the basics. Do you work from a real as opposed to "virtual" building? If so, is your reception room welcoming? Look at it through your client's eyes. If your waiting area is looking a bit old and shabby, try replacing the furniture with new comfortable chairs. Throw away the old torn magazines and keep the supply fresh and in tidy piles. Do the walls need repainting? Consider some leafy green plants and a water cooler. Make your reception area warm and inviting – it should exude a cheerful, healthy welcome to all your clients, potential or otherwise.
· Do you provide your clients with informative brochures? Consider using a wall bracket where you can keep interesting and useful brochures on matters of interest for your clients to take with them.
· While you are in this area, does your letterhead, stationery, or business card need a facelift? You can use these as marketing tools, and not just to provide your name and phone contact. Consider redesigning them if they do not encourage clients to take action in some way, like make an appointment! Using succinct language, you should include information about what you can do for your clients. Don't waste space providing full information about YOUR background or experience – clients want to know what YOU can do for THEM. Your clients are more interested in themselves than in you!
· To help you with the above activity and for marketing purposes generally, spend some time considering just WHO your ideal client is. Is your ideal client a very wealthy professional type, or somebody in the middle-class range? Or maybe you prefer to help the poor? Once you know exactly who your ideal client is, then you can think about what their needs are so you can find ways to meet those needs. You will also then know where to spend your advertising dollar because magazines read by CEO's for example, are not likely to be read by unemployed and perhaps poorly educated single parents!
· Make some attractive wall posters, framed or mounted, and include your Vision Statement. You can also express your appreciation to all your clients for their custom. You can invite them to leave suggestions. You can suggest ways in which they can get the most out of their visits. You can educate them about yourself – your qualifications and specialties. You can suggest ways in which they can improve their situation and invite them to ask you about it at their next visit!
· To ensure past clients will return to YOU keep in touch with them. Make it a practice to follow up with them.
· Consider offering a Referral Reward Program. When somebody refers a new client to you, thank them and reward them. It may be something as simple as a thank-you card, flowers, an Amazon gift voucher, or as elaborate as a gift basket. You can offer gifts that increase in value with each referral. Be creative.
· Of course, the BEST advertisement for your business is yourself! Are you the picture of success? Do YOU lead a balanced life? Set your clients a good example, and for your own benefit, learn to take extraordinary care of yourself. After all, you cannot give your best to others if you're not in peak condition yourself!
You Work IN your Business When Do You Work ON it - To learn more about this author, visit Terri Levine's Website.
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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