Podcasts - Page 10 of 12 - Greg Weatherdon

SBM #24 – Customer Lifetime Value

Tagged as: Brother, Canon, customer lifetime value, Gillette, high margin, HP, opportunities, purchase frequency, Schick

There really isn’t a better testament for your business than having repeat customer sales. It tells you you’re doing something right because your customers are coming back for more. But the true magic of repeat business is understanding the frequency a customer buys, what they buy and the value of their purchases.

In Small Business Minute #21, I discussed how profitability increases when you deal with existing customers, but now I want you to leverage this information so you can enhance a customer’s lifetime value to your organization.

Big Companies Understand

Customer Lifetime Value or CLV has been used by large corporations for years. Companies like Gillette and Schick realized a long time ago that if they can get one of their shavers in your hands and you like it chances are that you’ll become a loyal and profitable customer by selling you an ongoing supply of blades at very high margins.

The same goes for printers. Once HP, Brother or Canon get you to buy one of their inexpensive printer, they know that you’ll produce a steady stream of high margin purchases every time you run out of ink.

Figuring Out

So if you haven’t calculated the Customer Lifetime Value for your business, now may be the time. By analyzing how, why, when and what your current customers are buying, you may begin to uncover patterns that you can start to exploit and market to your entire customer base. Finding continual opportunities to be of service to your clients increase not only their value to you but your value to them.

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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 #23 – Who’s Got Your Back?

Tagged as: delegating, entrepreneur, illness, invincible, overwhelmed, superhuman

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

As entrepreneurs we are use to doing everything because in the beginning there wasn’t anyone else. As they say, old habits are hard to break so when a staff member gets sick or overwhelmed, we’re usually the first ones to jump in and cover the situation. But who covers for you when you get sick? Who’s got your back?

We’re Only Human

I know we think we’re superhuman, and sometimes we really are, but most of the time we’re just frail human beings just like everyone else and we need to seriously consider a contingency plan. How would your business operate if you we’re sidelined for a week or even worse a couple of months?

Now chances are no one employee can wear all your hats, but chances are if properly allocated across a few employees you would most likely cover 70-80% of your critical duties and would allow your company to continue to function if your absence was more than just a couple of days.

Who’s Got Your Back?

So where do you begin? Ideally look for those task that can be easily transitioned like staff or project scheduling. Who does the invoicing? If you train someone else as a back up, your cash flow won’t be terribly disrupted while you’re benched. Is quality control part of your oversight? Again, train someone because you can’t afford to have completed orders sitting on the floor and missing deadlines.

The thing is, you’re not invincible and you may never be faced with a time out but it’s no different than any other emergency plan you have in place. You don’t need it, until you need it.

The truly great thing about this exercise is that you may discover that your staff may be far more capable than you gave them credit and you just might start down the road of delegating more and more tasks and really free yourself from the day to day running of your business.

One mandate I had at my company was that all positions and functions had a trained backup, including me. So, who’s got your back?

You may also 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 #22 – Define Your Own Success

Tagged as: achievement, crossroad, definition, financial, goals, success

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Have you ever taken the time to actually inventory your achievements? Every once in a while we should stop and look back over our shoulder to appreciate really how far we’ve come since we stepped into the abyss of self-employment.

Success has many definitions. To some it’s a state of mind, to others it’s a financial achievement or the accumulation of possessions. Unfortunately, many have yet to create their own definition.

Define Your Own Success

The advantage of being an entrepreneur is that we can set our own parameters to this definition. In this age of over-hyped 24/7 news cycle, it’s easy to get sucked into someone’s else’s definition of success.

Just remember that you and you alone can determine your success. What is important for one person may not even be on another person’s radar.

Some people take a more holistic approach and are less concerned with the materialistic trapping normally associated with success. To some personal health, happiness and well-being are part of their definition? To others they look at success as a full contact competitive sport, where the one with the most toys wins.

Take A Moment

It’s funny how we plan for so many things in our lives from next vacations, car or TV we’ll purchase, yet we never seem to plan for success. To be sure we have some vague and random thoughts, but most of us are so busy chasing an undefined goal that we usually don’t even stop at the crossroads of success and achievement.

Let’s be clear, there is no right or wrong answer. The only definition that matters is yours. Comparing your situation to someone else’s is a fools’ game and one that can be rarely won.

We spend a tremendous amount of time developing business plans based on revenue, profit, market share, etc. So how come we don’t add a section on life goals and success?

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 #20 – Cash Flow – The Breath Of Life

Tagged as: cash flow, entrepreneur, oxygen, Paypal, receivables, Square

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Prior to starting my own business, I literally devoured everything I could about owning and running a company. One thing that I could never understand was how a perfectly good business ended up going bankrupt because of cash flow problems. It wasn’t until I started my own first enterprise that I quickly learned that regardless of how profitable you were, it didn’t matter until that money was in the bank- Cash flow ruled!

Cash flow in a business is much like the oxygen we mere mortals need to survive. Getting paid for what we do is like breathing in, it’s the oxygen our business needs to survive. On the other hand, paying our bills is like breathing out.

Much like our bodies, we can’t just breathe out nor can we just keep paying bills, we need a constant source of cash coming into our businesses and the only way to do that is to make sure our receivables are current.

Get Over It!

All too often I hear owners tell me they don’t want to annoy their customers by constantly bugging them. To this I usually respond with “get over it”. You’re entitled to your money and you need to get a little more serious about it. If dealing with consumers, don’t you leave or let them leave without being paid in full.

With services like Square or Paypal you can accept credit cards on the spot, so there are no excuses. Getting paid in a timely manner ensures you give your business the oxygen it needs for it’s survival.

If you have a topic idea, send me an email and if I use your suggestion, I’ll send you an digital version of my book Get More LIFE Out Of Your 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 #19- What’s Your End Game?

Tagged as: focus, hard work, millionaire, Stephen Covey, Strategic, wealth

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

As a business owner, do you even know what you’re trying to achieve? Waking up and hoping that today will be better than yesterday is not much of a strategic initiative and will do nothing to advance your dream. Alternatively, simple statements like I want to be wealthy or sell the company someday and retire just don’t cut it, they are just too vague.

Being successful in business is a combination of hard work, focused attention, and luck. Unfortunately, all three elements must work in harmony to ensure a fruitful outcome.

Hard work is not enough

Hard work on its own is not enough. Heck if it only took hard work, most entrepreneurs would be multi-millionaires. Similarly, focused attention by itself won’t do anything if you don’t put things into action.

It’s like spending the day watching an aquarium full of fish, entertaining but not very productive. And lastly, there’s luck. They say that luck is nothing more than preparedness meeting opportunity and preparedness is equal parts hard work and focused attention on your desired outcome.

Stephen Covey stated that you must begin with the end in sight and in my opinion the best way to do that is to take the time and define why you went into business in the first place.

Once that is completed, sit down and write a one pager describing what your business will look like when in five years. This exercise will force you to crystallize all those thoughts running through your head and give you a target to hit. In other words your end game.

For examples and worksheets go to my website at www.gregweatherdon.com/download

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 #18- Delegating Is Easier Than You Think

Tagged as: delegating, enlightenment, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, expert, freedom, high value, projects, small business, tasks, training

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Entrepreneurs are notorious for not delegating duties and responsibilities within their organizations. A common reason for this that they figure it’s just easier and quicker to do it themselves than to take the extra time required to train someone. So instead, they just figure they’ll work a little harder.

Delegating Is Freedom

For those lucky few who do find enlightenment, they quickly realize how learning to delegate can be a revelation in freedom that, over time will allow to become a better manager and allow you to focus on the long range plan of your organization, instead of being stuck in the moment.

Contrary to what most people assume, delegating is easier than you think. Instead of trying to delegate a whole task start by breaking it down into bite size pieces. For instance, if a task requires ten steps to complete, start by delegating the first few steps. That may be as simple as getting an individual to collect some of the some initial data.

By delegating those couple of items is the beginning of the training process. Once you’re comfortable, you can delegate a few more of the steps and before long you have effectively delegated 70% of the task, thereby freeing you to focus on higher value activities that really do require your attention and possibly gaining some additional freedom.

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 #17 – Small Gains = Big Rewards

Tagged as: bottom line, Canada, efficiency, gains, operational, rewards, small business expert, waste

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Trying to increase the profitability of our business is always at the forefront of our thoughts and that usually revolves around looking for the next big idea, product or service that we can offer our customers.

Many times this makes perfect sense, especially if we’re confident we have maximized the opportunities within our current clients, products and operations. Unfortunately, more often than not, we have done neither and are simply looking for something new to play with, something to get us excited simply because we may be a little bored with the status quo.

So before we waste untold amount of time looking for that “new whatever”, why not look internally for those efficiency gains? Streamlining your processes can lead to increased productivity and reduced overheads by doing more with less and getting rid of waste.

Small Gains = Big Rewards

Here’s a couple of simple examples to prime your thinking.

1. Can you get a cheaper cell phone plan for your company? If you pay for three phones and reduce the monthly bill by $50, it’s an instant $600 to your bottom line.
2. Got dead inventory? Blow it out and turn it into cash because right now it’s worth $0 and tying up real estate.
3. Got vehicles, what kind of volume discount are you getting on fuel? Many national fuel companies offer volume discounts.

Taking the time to dig deep into the operational side of your business can free up thousands of dollars a year without having to find new customers. Is it exciting? Nope, but Small Gains = Big Rewards!

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 #16 Rejection-The Best Research You’ll Ever Get!

Tagged as: entrepreneur, rejection, selling, success

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

One of the key skills successful entrepreneurs share is their ability to use the selling process as a research vehicle.

Being a great designer, mechanic or programmer matters little if you can’t convince someone to buy your goods or services. Alternatively, hoping “to be discovered” may leave you waiting a long time.

Sales Generate Revenue

With the exception of sales, all other activities that you do are costs to the business. Sales is your sole revenue generator and supports all other activities. Remember, No sales, No business. But getting in front of customers is hard work and often frustrating, especially if you’re being faced with constant rejection. So maybe it’s time to change your outlook.

Every minute you spend in front of a prospective client is a learning opportunity, even if you’re being told no. The client is giving you clues to where your product or service is deficient and need improvements. Consistently being told no for the same reason is like a trail of bread crumbs leading you to a better solution, but only if you’re listening.

So instead of getting mad or depressed look at rejection as some of the best research you’ll ever get.

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 #15- Quit Scaring Your Customers

Tagged as: customers, professional speaker, relationship, scaring, selling, trust

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I often come across business owners whose sales style is to use scare tactics rather than a consultative sales process By scare tactics, I refer to that style whereby the sales individual attempts to pressure the individual into making a purchase decision based on world ending events.

An example of this would be a roofing salesperson telling the client that they can’t wait any longer because their roof is failing and if they don’t act now they risk a leak that would cause untold damage to their ceiling, furniture and flooring and may not be covered by insurance.

Although all of this is technically true, the urgency of impending doom in the salesperson’s voice can create an emotional purchase decision that may be regretted later. Is this the kind of relationship you want with your customers? You see most people are trusting and assume you’re being honest {TWEET THIS} but once they find out that they misled or pressured, then you’re probably going to miss out on any referrals.

Using the same example, an alternative approach should be along the lines of “I realize that this is a big decision, however, I would like you to keep in mind that although it may be fine today, I wouldn’t wait too long as the potential and collateral damage could be significant. It’s better to be a month early than a day late.”

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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