Tweet

You Work IN your Business… When Do You Work ON it?

Written by: Terri Levine

Article Overview: Sometimes, you are so busy working IN your business, you forget to work ON it... and lose many opportunities to expand and grow.

You Work IN your Business… When Do You Work ON it?

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!

Related Articles

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women
Re: Five Personality Traits of Successful Business Owners - 1. Focus 2. Ability to Adapt 3. Hard Work 4. Good planning 5. People Skills
Re: Books for the Entrepreneur - Another great book for internet entrepreneurs is The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris MichelleJ
Try wikipedia.com for more information - That depends what type of business you are involved in. Maybe if you share that, we can help you a little better. I work mostly in the Work at Home industry so my advice would only be along those lines.
Re: Vera Wang Profile - I too love this kind of success story Evan, I especially liked the article 'Nothing Replaces Hard Work', I can relate to a lot of things in there, take care Carol


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ten Steps to Go from Idea to E-book for Sale

How to Ask for a Flexible Work Arrangement

Bootstrapping Your Start Up Business.

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.