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SBM #54 – Are you a Hunter or Gatherer?

Tagged as: entrepreneur, gatherer, harvest, hunter, purchase cycle, referrals, relationships, strategy

I like to define entrepreneurs into one of two categories, they are either a hunter or gatherer.

A hunter is someone who’s business requires them to go out every day and find new customers. Whereas a gatherer is much like a farmer who continuously harvests business from an established base of existing customers. The best businesses do both.

Of course, all entrepreneurs start out as hunters. They must, because they don’t have an existing customer base from which to harvest. Survival in the early days requires hunting every day, otherwise they won’t be in business very long.

Neglected Opportunities

Unfortunately, far too many entrepreneurs neglect the opportunities that exist to become a gatherer. They are so accustomed to the thrill of getting a new customer, they completely miss out on or don’t realize the potential that exist from generating incremental business from their previous customer base.

Long vs Short Purchase Cycles

To be fair, some businesses have incredibly long customer purchase cycles. An example of this is roofing sales as most people only replace their roofs every 15-20 years. Another example is new car sales, whereby people are keeping their vehicles an average of 7+ years. So, trying sell these people any sooner is very difficult.

In these situations, there still exists the opportunity to harvest from these relationships through referrals to friends and families. Easy to do, but seldom tried and wastes all the goodwill generated. Even hunter type businesses can become gatherers, if they stay in business long enough.

Many other businesses with shorter purchase cycles, think months not years, still don’t try to increase the purchase frequency. They are in such a habit of hunting that they overlook or fail to identify the many opportunities to promote complimentary or supplementary purchases. They just wait and hope that the customers return or calls them.

Look for Opportunities

Entrepreneurs that act as gatherers look for opportunities to be constantly in front of their customers, reminding them of the products and services they have to offer. With the all tools available today, such as, social media or email, staying visible is far easier than ever before.

Hunting everyday is far more difficult than gathering. Finding a balance between hunting and gathering can reduce the pressure to find a new customer every single day. Understanding whether you’re a hunter or gatherer business allows you to design the most effective strategy that will allow you to maximize your potential from all the goodwill you’ve already generated.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #53 – Focus

Tagged as: business, entrepreneur, focus, mistake, narrow, outlier, profitable, raging, small business expert, sunlight, unprofitable

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Many entrepreneurs’ struggles can be traced to their inability to bring focus to their business. It is said that if you try to be great at everything, you’ll end up being good at nothing. I like to use the example of sunlight to explain the power of focus.

The Power of Focus

Most day our world is full of sunlight and even on the hottest of days there’s little risk of it setting anything on fire. But take that same sunlight and let it pass through a magnifying glass held at just the right angle and within seconds you can create a flame. Then, if properly stoked, it can become a raging inferno. That’s the power of focus and by applying the principles of focus to your business can take a mediocre enterprise and turn it into one that is highly profitable and sustainable.

Not That Popular

Bringing focus is easier than most realize and can applied to many areas of your business but none are more important than sales and marketing. The first step is to identify your most profitable products and services and then rank them. You’ll most likely discover that upwards of 80% of your revenue is coming from approximately 20% of your services or products. This is key. Far too often we waste time and energy on our slow moving products. One of the reasons we do this is that they offer higher margins but also because we hate admitting we made a mistake. However, in many instances these more profitable products are just not that popular.

Now, do the same with your customers. You need to determine, their purchase frequency and order size. Chances are that you’ll find an interesting overlap of your most profitable products and type of customers.

Now here comes the hard part. Ideally you should look to lose or reduce your activity opposite these low volume or unprofitable products. Next, stop chasing those non-profitable customers and focus all your attention on those products, services and customers that are making you money.

For example, if you discover that the most profitable customers are those with 10-20 employees, then that size of company becomes your focus. Clearly, you have something they want, otherwise they wouldn’t be your biggest market. Can you have a secondary target market? Of course, but in most cases, you’ll never exhaust the primary list.

Outliers

Meanwhile, if non-targeted customers want to avail themselves of your business, that’s okay and you should gladly accept their business. But point is you shouldn’t be chasing them, let them come to you, they are outliers. Focus on those individuals or companies where you’ve already experienced a higher level of success and spend all your sales and marketing efforts accordingly.

Narrowing your focus helps you to become an industry specialist or even an expert. The deeper you go in your target market the higher your reputation will soar and the more in demand you become.

Light a fire under your business by narrowing your focus.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM#44- Want More Sales? Follow Up!

Tagged as: closing, entrepreneur, follow up, professional, propsect, sales, small business, small business expert, Small Business Minute

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

One of the simplest ways to increase your sales closing ratio is by simply following up with your prospects in a timely manner.

All too often I encounter entrepreneurs who lament at how difficult business is or that they just don’t get sales even though they are pitching and quoting.

Digging a little deeper quickly uncovers one of the main reasons for their poor sales performance, they don’t follow up. It is estimated that 85% of sales contacts are never followed up.

When I enquire as to why they don’t follow up, I usually get the same answer- “I don’t want to bother them or come across as pushy’. To this I typically respond by saying “they asked you to quote, so a few follow up calls is not considered pushy, if done in a professional manner”

People Are Well Intentioned

When you consider that people lead busy lives and although well intentioned, they sometimes need a little friendly nudge in order to take action. I can’t tell you how many times a prospect has thanked me for following up with them- which is certainly in contrast to what we would expect.

By following up, it also gives the serious prospect the opportunity to ask questions or get answers to things they thought of since our last meeting and more often than not, if it doesn’t result in an immediate order, it certainly moves the process along and keeps me in contact with the prospect.

So if you want more sales, follow up.

You may also enjoy The 80/20 Rules For Sales

If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #40- If Not Now, When?

Tagged as: coffee, delegate, financials, Profit and Loss, referrals, relationship, revenue projections, small bus, small business, small business expert, visibility

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sitting down with a cup coffee, you look at your financials and you realize your annual projections are not unfolding quite like you planned. Revenue is down, expenses are up and profitability is just a flicker on your Profit and Loss statements.

You know that the longer you wait, the harder it will be to make up the shortfall. It’s time to step up your game and maybe even get outside your comfort zone and do some business development. Because you know that if you don’t act now, things are just going to get worse.

“You already have a relationship with them, take advantage of it!”

So here are five things you can do to hit those goals and get the business back on track or to the next level.

Business Development

#1 – Call your dormant customers. Look at all those clients you’ve served during the past 18 – 24 months and the ones you haven’t heard from in the past 12 months, give them a call to let them know you’re thinking about them. Use the opportunity to tell them what new offerings you have. You already have a relationship with them, take advantage of it.

“This exercise will help you free up the time you need to be more visible”

#2 – Up your visibility! Get in front of your target market whether as a guest speaker or attend an event that your prospective clients may might be participating. Consider volunteering within your industry association or a business group like a chamber of commerce. Get out in front of people and let them know what you do.

#3 – Delegate an important task to one of your employees. Give them direction and set expectations then get out of their way. Don’t forget to establish some milestones by which they need to check in with you. Let them know that you are available for discussion but expect them complete the assignment. This exercise will help you free up the time you need to be more visible in front of your customers. It will also help you to learn how to delegate.

#4 – Go have a coffee with 5 of your current clients and ask them how you’re doing? What do they like and dislike about doing business with you? Ask them what you can do to make doing business with you easier?

#5 – While you’re talking with your existing clients (point 4) and your dormant clients (point 1) ask them who they know that could use your product or service.

Earth shattering ideas? Not! But most businesses are run by doing a whole bunch of straightforward activities that should be done everyday. So why wait any longer? Because if not now, when?

You may enjoy Delegating Is Easier Than You Think

If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM # 26 – The 80/20 Rules For Sales

Tagged as: 80/20, calls, clients, follow up, lists, meeting, Pareto, proposals, prospects, quotes, sales, Small Business Minute

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Wilfredo Pareto discovered the 80/20 rule when he wanted to determine who owned all the lands in Italy in the 18th century. He found out that 80% of the lands holdings were owned by just 20% of the families. As he continued his research he soon discovered that many things fit that profile.

Applying The 80/20 Rules For Sales

So how do we apply the 80/20 rules for sales? Well as entrepreneurs we seem to manage to bog ourselves down doing all sorts of non-productive activities. Sure we justify them as necessary activities but in many cases we’re just doing busy work that could easily be delegated or maybe not even done at all.

Because sales are such a critical element of our businesses, it is the #1 item that owners ask for help or guidance when I advise them.

The Formula

So here is my simple formula; until you have enough sales to provide you with sufficient revenue to cover your monthly fixed cost, including your salary, you should be spending 80% of your time on sales related activities, period! Make sure these activities are actual productive and really sales related. Too often, we classify all sorts of activities as sales related when in fact, they’re really not.

So what are sales related activities? Here’s a list of seven:

Preparing prospect lists
Making calls to the list
Sending emails to the list
Going to meetings with existing or prospective clients
Preparing quotes or proposals
Following up on quotes or proposals
Cold calls if necessary

In other words, activities directly related to generating an order.

For some people these are unpleasant activities but as business owners you need to get over it and make this activity a priority otherwise you’ll struggle along for years.

The 80/20 rules for sales will help to keep you focused on what’s important. Thank you Mr. Pareto.

If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #21- No More Customers

Tagged as: customers, existing clients, loyalty, profitable, purchase

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I regularly work with small business owners who are so focused on growing their customer base that they ignore their existing customers.

Existing Customers Are More Profitable

What most don’t realize is that existing customers are far more profitable than new customers. In fact, it can cost you 5 to 10 times more to get a new customer than it does to service an existing customer. In addition, if you can increase an existing customers’ loyalty or purchase frequency by just 5%, you can increase your profitability between 25% and 85%!

So why is that? Well, when you consider how much effort goes into getting a new customer on the books, it becomes very clear. Think about how many prospects you phoned or emailed. How many quotes did it take to convert one of those prospect into a customer? How many appointments did you have and how far did you have to drive and still not get an order? So when add it all up, getting new customers can be a very expensive proposition. But of course we never take those costs into consideration. That would be too painful.

Existing Customers Trust You

Now compare that to your existing clients. They already know and trust you. That makes it far easier and quicker to get in front of them again and introduce some of your other products or services. In other words you have history with them. Of course you can only do this if you have been collecting their contact information all along. I know of companies that have done business with 1000’s of customers but have not taken the time to collect and manage these customers contact information- What a shame!

So let me ask you a couple questions. What would you do if you couldn’t get any new customers and could only sell to your existing clients? How would change the way you do business?

If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #14 – Everyone Is In Sales!

Tagged as: everyone, interaction, opportunities, professional speaker, sales

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

As business owners, we sometimes forget that every employee can have an impact on sales in our organizations. (TWEET THIS)

For example is the shipper receiver courteous to all who present themselves at the loading dock? Do those customers have a pleasant experience that reflects favorably on your organization? There’s nothing worse than going through the sales process only to drop the ball at the last step.

Are All Your Employees Motivated To Sell?

Are all your employees trained and rewarded for generating leads? Do they let you know about that new business that just opened across the street from their favorite restaurant? Is your delivery driver conscientious enough to be on the lookout for competitive products showing up at your customer’s place of business and advise your sales team?

Is your customer service team asking any type of probing questions before terminating the call other than the standard “ Is there anything else I can do for you today?” Why not change it up to “Before I let you go, did you know we have a complete line of …? And fill in the blank with your product or service. How about letting them know that you’re having a sale next month.

Once we step back and look at the interaction that each of our employees have with our customers, it behooves us to figure out how to harness that opportunity, because at the end of the day, everyone is in sales!.

If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

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Category: Sales

SBM #54 – Are you a Hunter or Gatherer?

Neglected Opportunities

Long vs Short Purchase Cycles

Look for Opportunities

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #53 – Focus

The Power of Focus

Not That Popular

Outliers

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM#44- Want More Sales? Follow Up!

People Are Well Intentioned

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #40- If Not Now, When?

Business Development

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM # 26 – The 80/20 Rules For Sales

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #21- No More Customers

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #14 – Everyone Is In Sales!

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

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