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Eight Dirty Little Sins that Stop Business Owners From Growing Their Business

Written by: David Frey

Article Overview: This article will remind you (or surprise you) of eight little sins that small business owners often commit that stop them from growing their business.

Eight Dirty Little Sins that Stop Business Owners From Growing Their Business

Little things make a big difference. That’s true in marriage, parenting, and in selling your products and services. Too often as dealers and builders we get caught up in the "thick" of "thin things" and we lose touch with what really drives success in our business.

In the little time we have together I want to remind you (or surprise you) of eight little sins that small business owners often commit that stop them from growing their business.

Sin # 1 - Working "In" Your Business Instead of "On" Your Business

Last week I was talking with a small business owner who was in a sales slump. I asked him to detail all his activities for the next three days, fax them to me, and then give me a call back. He did his homework and I received the fax listing of all his activities and how much time he spent on them.

With an immediate glance I could tell exactly what his problem was - - he had forgotten what business he was in. After reviewing his activities it was clear that he was in the "putting out fires" business because that’s where most of his time was spent. Rather than working "on" his business he was working "in" his business.

This small business owner (and you) should be spending more time working "on" your business doing things like "planning and marketing," which have a higher long term payoff.

In his popular book, "7 Habits for Highly Effective People" Stephen Covey hammers this point home using his famous "Time Management Matrix." Dr. Covey emphasizes that too many business owners spend their time doing "urgent - but not important" activities when they should be spending their time on "non-urgent- but important" activities.

Non-urgent - but important activities, such as planning and marketing, generate continued and sustainable long term growth.

Sin # 2 - Failing to Create and Use a Marketing Plan

Last year I was speaking at the Aqua Show and had about 200 small business owners in the room. I asked the crowd to hold up their hands if they had a current marketing plan that they use and refer to on a consistent basis. Only three hands went up!

Even I was shocked. Studies have shown that small businesses that create and consistently use marketing plans experience an average of 30% higher sales than their competitors. Wouldn’t you like to increase your sales by 30%?

Here are a few tips to help you create your marketing plan.

Tip # 1 - Start your plan by studying and documenting the specific reasons why your customers buy from you.

Tip # 2 - Create a message that focuses entirely on the results from Tip # 1.

Tip # 3 - Break your plan down into mini-plans such as "referral marketing plan", "advertising plan", and "publicity marketing plan."

Tip # 4 - Hold a weekly meeting to review your plan.

Sin # 3 - Failing to Implement Systems

A system is a business process that generates predictable, consistent, and replicable results day after day. If you want to see a good example of a system simply visit a fast food franchise like McDonalds or Wendy's. Notice how they do the same things, the same way, every single time.

Unfortunately, most business owners never take the time to "systematize" their business, which results in duplication, waste, chaos, and ultimately lost sales. Sin # 1 is partly to blame for not getting around to creating and implementing systems.

The ironic thing is that most small companies have systems for just about everything they do but they don’t document them and train their employees to use them. I like to use the acronym S-Y-S-T-E-M (Save - You - Stress - Time - Energy and - Money) to explain the benefits of using systems.

Sin # 4 - Forgetting to Market to Your Current Customers

Many small business owners believe that once you sell your product or service and the happy customer walks out the door, then the deed is done and you need to move quickly on to the next prospect. While that’s true, your next prospect might have just walked out the door!

Many business owners tend to think, "My customer just bought a widget from me - - they’re not going to buy another widget so why waste my time on them. Let’s find a new prospect." This is especially true if your product or service is a high ticket item. The fact is that you should be getting 60% to 70% of your business from your current customers through referral and repeat business.

In your marketing plan you should be including customer appreciation events, monthly or quarterly newsletters, and direct mail offers all designed to stimulate repeat business. In addition, every small business should implement systems that generate "multiple streams of customer referrals." If you need more ideas for referral systems you might want to visit www.InstantReferralSystems.com.

Sin # 5 - Not Testing and Tracking Your Marketing Efforts

A great retailer once said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." There’s nothing worse than spending money on a marketing campaign and not knowing whether it worked. It’s even worse when you continue to spend money on a marketing campaign that you think is working, but really isn’t.

The only way to invest in your marketing efforts with confidence is to test a campaign, track it, and measure your results. That’s why I recommend always offering something of low risk, like a special report, video, or audio CD to get people to respond immediately via the phone or your website so that you can track your response.

This strategy also allows you to capture your prospects contact information so that you can continue to follow up with them.

Sin # 6 - Not Following Up with Your Prospects

A study done by the Sales & Marketing Executives Club of Los Angeles revealed that 81% of all sales happen on or after the fifth contact. If you’re a small business owner and you’re only doing one or two follow-ups imagine all the business you’re losing.

Not following up with your prospects and customers is the same as filling up your bathtub without first putting the stopper in the drain!

If you followed my advice in Sin # 5 then you have all the information you need to follow up with your prospect. The first key to creating a successful follow-up marketing program is to create a lead capture system that is accurate and reliable.

The second key is to develop compelling follow-up marketing literature that will drive store traffic or phone calls. The third key is to systematize the process so that the process happens day in and day out, the same way every time as I talked about in Sin # 3.

The final key is to automate the system as much as possible using a contact management system and/or an outside mailing house to do your mailings.

Sin # 7 - "Spraying and Praying"

Believe it or not, not everyone is a good prospect for a product or service. If that’s the case, why would you spend your precious marketing dollars trying to reach them? It doesn’t make sense. If everyone is your prospect then no one is your customer.

Unfortunately, too many small businesses use the television, radio, and newspaper to "spray" their message to everybody and "pray" that enough people see or hear it to make it worth the investment.

Instead of spraying and praying, find out who is buying your products and services and market to people just like them. If your prospect is 45 years old, is married, has three kids, makes over $70,000 and owns two cars then find the neighborhoods where those people live and market only to them. Your response rate will go up and your cost per sale will go down when you begin to target your market.

Sin # 8 - Not Differentiating Your Small Business

Did you know that your prospect receives, on the average, over 3,000 marketing impressions a day! With all that clutter that you have to compete with, how do you make your small business stand out?

How do you differentiate your business in a way that separates you from the competition? Is it with ads that say, "best prices", "biggest selection", or "superior service?" Everyone else is saying the same thing! You need to differentiate your business in a way that stands out from the crowd and gets noticed.

A simple way to do that is to keep a close eye on the marketing that really captures your attention and make a note of it. Then borrow and modify those strategies and ideas to create your own unique and compelling message.

Conclusion

It’s true the majority of small business owners are committing one or more of these sins, but you can repent and improve. My challenge to you is to take just one or two sins that you’re committing and focus on improving them. When you’ve got them nailed move on to another sin and overcome it. Business success usually results from commitment to making small process improvements over time.

Related Articles
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  Pay It Forward
  Ten Confessed Marketing Sins From Clients To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  More on Referrals
  The Seven Deadly Business Sins

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