eBusiness Weekly
Robert Gonye
Growing a business is not a matter of making one big move that changes everything. It’s about showing up every day and making incremental progress by staying focused and doing the right things. I don’t think the New Year will bring fairytale results. Instead, when we invest in the everyday work of building customer relationships, and the research that focuses on thinking about the big picture and what your company and customers need, then taking some calculated risks to try some new things.
Once again, welcome to 2019. We opened the year with a discussion last week with tips on painting a better year. Today is no different, we focus on individually and organisationally success building in a new year. While the majority of people run with New Year resolutions which are not bad, it’s just sad to then see the same people slowly deviate from them.
I for one am not a firm believer in New Year’s resolutions, 2019 is here, if you want to make serious progress in business, your business needs something stronger and more sustainable than a New Year’s resolution. After all, as we’ve all demonstrated at one point or another in our personal lives — by being unable to stop eating carbs and losing that holiday weight time and time again.
It is therefore highly unlikely to make immediate, transformative changes. Rather, it’s more reasonable to make progress by building upon the successful characteristics that we already have and I will spell out a few points both on a personal level and business level to further assist us in 2019.
As an individual, always audit your time. An audit from 6pm-1pm as a key focus. The time between when the traditional workday ends and when you fall asleep is the white space for so many people to do great things around businesses.
Whether that’s advancing your career by staying in the office late or going home and building your business idea to improve, be it your cooking skills, use that time more wisely in 2019.
What defines you or anyone, myself included is not what you do from 8am- 5pm, rather what you do from 6pm till you sleep, that’s what distinguishes you from everyone else. While we at it, be known for something, whether it’s a positive trait skill. It’s that relentless focus and drive of one thing that will get you noticed.
Secondly, learn to stop complaining. It’s not a choice to be where you are but it’s a choice to remain there and then cry while everyone else around you is making positive strides to change that which they don’t like or appreciate in their business environment.
Looking at the negative, seeing the glass as half empty, and complaining are the absolute biggest wastes of time anyone can engage in. I highly recommend, cut your complaining in half till you are no longer used to just doing it without thinking. Systematically listening to positive podcasts and material will help too.
Whatever helps you to complain less, do it because it’s truly one of the biggest things that can stand in the way of success, both personally and professionally. I would be remiss not to have it on this list.
As for your business, Stay with your loyal customers. Don’t take your existing customers for granted. When most entrepreneurs or salespeople are thinking about sales goals for 2019, they tend to think in terms of the new, not the old. They get excited about the new business and customer acquisition. It often sounds more exciting to go out and find new customers, expand into new markets.
However, in order to grow, you need to keep your current clients happy. It’s not boring, it’s safe!
Your existing customer base represents one of your biggest opportunities for sales growth, just by selling more to the people who already know you, trust you and are buying from you.
Every dollar counts the same; whether it’s a dollar you get from a new customer or an existing customer.
Keep in mind that your on-going client relationships have a significant lifetime value in terms of the thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars that you will earn in revenue from that one client over the (hopefully) many years you have of doing business together.
As a business person or leader, spend where it counts. The New Year is a great time to step back and take a look at how you’re spending money on marketing. What worked last year? Which tactics were surprisingly effective and which channels underperformed and why? You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but it’s worth taking time to reassess where your marketing dollars are going and whether you should try something new. Marketing should be viewed as an “investment portfolio”.
Ideally, you should have a well-diversified portfolio of different types of marketing tactics, including inbound lead generation, outbound lead generation, search engine marketing, attending industry events, social media sponsored posts just to mention a few and maybe even some traditional analog methods like cold calling.
Do start your new year by showing some appreciation to your existing customers. Check in with them. Listen to them. Make sure you’re paying attention to their issues and addressing any concerns before it becomes a problem. The best way to grow your business is to have a solid foundation of loyal, existing customers. Then you can have the confidence and stability to go after some big new accounts.
The last point worth mentioning is, be patient because patience pays. A lot of entrepreneurs tend to look at January as a high-intensity time to hit the ground running and come right out of the gate with big progress on sales goals. But this can be a mistake. Don’t assume that just because it’s January, you need to focus on making sales immediately. It’s a 12-month task and there’s nothing unique about January especially in our country where most businesses open towards the middle of the month in January. Your customers might not be ready to buy yet. Depending on your industry, you might have a longer sales cycle.
Your buyers might not know what their budgets are yet for the New Year; there might be some lag time while they get up to speed and figure out what their needs are for the year ahead. So by all means, make productive use of your time during January, and don’t beat yourself up if you’re not seeing immediate results. Use this time to lay the groundwork for future sales.
Next week we talk about the “I am factor in business”, enjoy the rest of your weekend!
The views given herein are solely for information purposes; they are guidelines and suggestions and are not guaranteed to work in any particular way.
Robert Gonye is a Business Growth Expert and Influencer. He writes in his personal capacity. Comments and views: [email protected]
