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Give Your Business a Back-to-School Makeover

Guest post by: Kerri Salls

Article Overview: When you give your business a back-to-school makeover every quarter, you'll not only hit your 90 day goals, it will also be that much easier to achieve your year end and 12 month goals. You'll see the payback in your checkbook.

Give Your Business a Back-to-School Makeover

We're heading in to the last 90 days of the year. Are you on track for hitting all your business goals for the year? Here's aquick check-up to help identify what needs tweaking toensure a strongyear end result. Theseare five key areas to focus on with your quarterly planning.

1. Clarify Your Objectives

Are you clear on where want to end up by the end of the year? You cannot design and implement effective strategies unless you know exactly what you want to accomplish.

2. Makeover Your Business Model

Many clients painted themselves into acorner financiallyby structuring their business in a wrong way. No matter how hard they work and try, they can't make more money, and end up being more frustrated. It often takes this level of pain before they reach out and ask for help and are willing to consider other options.

What's the solution? Here are a few ideas. You could:

• Diversify your product/service offering.
• Find new ways to work with clients. E.g., if you only work with people using one-on-one format, start offering group programs; develop teleseminars or live workshops.
• Multiply yourself. Bring in other professionals (junior partners) who can be trained to deliver your process to clientsat a discounted rate.
• Develop information products. Leverage your knowledge into passive streams of revenue.

3. Makeover Your Lead Generating Systems

How many ways are you generating new leads? Do you have at least three to five lead generating vehicles that are consistent and automated?

• Consider direct mail,targeted direct-response advertising, and strategic alliances. Ask your current clients for referrals.
• To ensure long term positioning and visibility in your market place focus on publicity, getting speaking engagements, and writing and publishing articles.

4. Makeover Your Follow-up

Are you keeping in touch with your clients and prospects? Do you have a way to automatically connect with them at least monthly? Most people give up following up after just three attempts. Most prospects don't make a buying decision until they've been exposed to your marketing message at least five times? See the problem? Regularly send out information you come across that your audience would benefit from.

Use technology to automate your follow-up. Use online sequential autoresponders. Offline use voice broadcasting, or even simple postcards to leverage your time and connect with people quickly,personally and affordably.

5. Makeover Your Marketing and Operations Strategy

We all have a limited amount of time. If you are spending it all working with clients you are not creating long-term leverage. Every week schedule a block of time to create new marketing assets to work for you.

• Review your current marketing materials, programs and offers. Are your business cards, websites, and brochures consistently communicating the right marketing message?
• Continually build your credibility and positioning. Ask every client for testimonials; develop new talks on your subject of expertise, and create information products.
• Develop tools and systems. Create checklists so you can delegate more tasks. Develop and implement a few extra follow-up steps that can be automated or outsourced. Record your talks and teleseminars and turn them intofree and paid products to attract more clients.
• Invest in yourself and your business. Read more books, attend high-end training programs [like the Solo Success Retreat we run each fall:-)], purchase home-study courses (and use them), hire mentors to help you gain greater proficiency. Become a perpetual learner and always look for ways to apply or implement new knowledge quickly.

When you give your business a back-to-school makeover every quarter, you'll not only hit your 90 day goals, it will also be that much easier to achieve your year end and 12 month goals. You'll see the payback in your checkbook.

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Article Tags: business makeover, objectives



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