Bridging the Victory Gap The 6 Steps to Success Part 2
Bridging the Victory Gap The 6 Steps to Success Part 2
The CVF’s are developed and integrated into the business through 6 steps that are the 6 Steps to Hyper Growth.
Step 1: Mastery.
Shockingly, most businesses never get past Mastery. One has completed the Mastery level when the basic essentials of the business are fully understood. This means knowing which marketing activities generate what kind of results; understanding cash flow and the information that can be derived from financial statements; managing one’s time and developing a success mindset by, among other things, setting goals and plans. To pass through Mastery, one must focus on the skills associated with success mindset, financial management, time management and those skills from marketing that deal with testing and measuring the costs and results generated from different marketing activities.
Step 2: Niche
Once a business finishes this stage, the business can stop competing on price. By focusing on niche, you stake out a piece of territory in the market that is yours. Maybe it is a segment of the market you focus on, or it is convenience or service or exclusivity or product range or location. It can be anything that will allow customers to feel it is worth a little bit extra to deal with you. At this step, you want to focus on those marketing skills that allow you to develop and communicate your unique selling proposition and on sales skills that allow you to motivate prospects to examine considerations other than price.
Step 3: Leverage
Now that you are generating some positive cash flow on a consistent basis, you do not have to keep doing everything yourself. You can begin focusing on high value activities that have the biggest impact on your business. Other tasks can be delegated to other team members or to subcontractors. You can also diversify your marketing activities. By this time, you will have a great idea, from your testing and measuring, of which marketing activities will generate results. You will now be in a position to invest more in those activities to generate greater results. So at this level, you will be focusing your learning on sales, sales management, marketing, more advanced financial management and, of course, system development. For many entrepreneurs, the development of systems initially feels restricting. It removes the “seat of the pants” adrenaline rush that, for some, presents an illusion of freedom of action. In reality, however, you will enjoy much greater freedom when you have systems in place that allow your business to deliver your service with predictable consistency without your involvement at every stage.
Step 4: Team
Obviously, to get to this level, you will have had a team working with you. That may be an internal team or various subcontractors. At this step, you bring your team knowledge to a higher level. You want to have the right people in the right positions pursuing the appropriate objectives. Therefore, you must learn recruitment techniques that minimize time and expense and maximize the likelihood of finding superior performers who will stay with the business. At this stage, you will also make sure you have adequate performance appraisal systems, compensation arrangements that align performance with business objectives as well as clear policies about procedures and practices that comprise the culture of your organization.
Step 5: Synergy
Now you are becoming a true entrepreneur. At this stage the team now runs the systems themselves. You learn to build career planning into your systems and team practices. You develop contingency staffing plans and you groom a general manager who can take over from you. Because the systems and team are now in place, the business can, if you choose, experience dramatic growth. The high water mark of synergy is achieved when the business can run without you being there. That doesn’t mean you have to step away from the business; many business owners love working in their business. But it does mean that you have the choice. And with choice comes freedom.
Step 6: Freedom
Here you learn a whole new level of financial management and systems. Here is where you move from being an entrepreneur to being either an investor or a serial entrepreneur. You learn to identify investment and business opportunities that, if properly leveraged, provide even greater degrees of freedom and fun.
The Challenge
An important question to ask yourself, now that you have reviewed these 6 steps is “Where is my business on this evolutionary ladder?” Once you are able to place yourself, then you are able to begin focusing on the appropriate CVF’s that will allow you to climb to the next stage; a stage that will take you that much closer to true freedom. Next week, we will look at some of the obstacles that can prevent a business owner from successfully getting through all 6 steps and what can be done to help.
Bridging the Victory Gap The 6 Steps to Success Part 2 - To learn more about this author, visit Warren Coughlin's Website.
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In my last article, I introduced the concept of the Victory Gap, that small distance that separates those who reap the big rewards and those who come up short. We explored the Critical Victory Factors that apply in business, while raising a caution about the way those factors are introduced into a business. If the business is to move up the evolutionary ladder quickly and effectively, it is critical that the owner know enough to ensure that the CVF’s are pursued in the right order. If not, the business could falter. By developing them in a strategic and planned manner, the business is built on strong foundations that can support its continual growth.
The CVF’s are developed and integrated into the business through 6 steps that are the 6 Steps to Hyper Growth.
Step 1: Mastery.
Shockingly, most businesses never get past Mastery. One has completed the Mastery level when the basic essentials of the business are fully understood. This means knowing which marketing activities generate what kind of results; understanding cash flow and the information that can be derived from financial statements; managing one’s time and developing a success mindset by, among other things, setting goals and plans. To pass through Mastery, one must focus on the skills associated with success mindset, financial management, time management and those skills from marketing that deal with testing and measuring the costs and results generated from different marketing activities.
Step 2: Niche
Once a business finishes this stage, the business can stop competing on price. By focusing on niche, you stake out a piece of territory in the market that is yours. Maybe it is a segment of the market you focus on, or it is convenience or service or exclusivity or product range or location. It can be anything that will allow customers to feel it is worth a little bit extra to deal with you. At this step, you want to focus on those marketing skills that allow you to develop and communicate your unique selling proposition and on sales skills that allow you to motivate prospects to examine considerations other than price.
Step 3: Leverage
Now that you are generating some positive cash flow on a consistent basis, you do not have to keep doing everything yourself. You can begin focusing on high value activities that have the biggest impact on your business. Other tasks can be delegated to other team members or to subcontractors. You can also diversify your marketing activities. By this time, you will have a great idea, from your testing and measuring, of which marketing activities will generate results. You will now be in a position to invest more in those activities to generate greater results. So at this level, you will be focusing your learning on sales, sales management, marketing, more advanced financial management and, of course, system development. For many entrepreneurs, the development of systems initially feels restricting. It removes the “seat of the pants” adrenaline rush that, for some, presents an illusion of freedom of action. In reality, however, you will enjoy much greater freedom when you have systems in place that allow your business to deliver your service with predictable consistency without your involvement at every stage.
Step 4: Team
Obviously, to get to this level, you will have had a team working with you. That may be an internal team or various subcontractors. At this step, you bring your team knowledge to a higher level. You want to have the right people in the right positions pursuing the appropriate objectives. Therefore, you must learn recruitment techniques that minimize time and expense and maximize the likelihood of finding superior performers who will stay with the business. At this stage, you will also make sure you have adequate performance appraisal systems, compensation arrangements that align performance with business objectives as well as clear policies about procedures and practices that comprise the culture of your organization.
Step 5: Synergy
Now you are becoming a true entrepreneur. At this stage the team now runs the systems themselves. You learn to build career planning into your systems and team practices. You develop contingency staffing plans and you groom a general manager who can take over from you. Because the systems and team are now in place, the business can, if you choose, experience dramatic growth. The high water mark of synergy is achieved when the business can run without you being there. That doesn’t mean you have to step away from the business; many business owners love working in their business. But it does mean that you have the choice. And with choice comes freedom.
Step 6: Freedom
Here you learn a whole new level of financial management and systems. Here is where you move from being an entrepreneur to being either an investor or a serial entrepreneur. You learn to identify investment and business opportunities that, if properly leveraged, provide even greater degrees of freedom and fun.
The Challenge
An important question to ask yourself, now that you have reviewed these 6 steps is “Where is my business on this evolutionary ladder?” Once you are able to place yourself, then you are able to begin focusing on the appropriate CVF’s that will allow you to climb to the next stage; a stage that will take you that much closer to true freedom. Next week, we will look at some of the obstacles that can prevent a business owner from successfully getting through all 6 steps and what can be done to help.
Bridging the Victory Gap The 6 Steps to Success Part 2 - To learn more about this author, visit Warren Coughlin's Website.
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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