Knowhow: Grow Your Business - Faster!
As the economy continues to inch forward at a pace much slower than most of us would like, take advantage of the improving conditions and accelerate your business's growth at a more rapid rate by following four proven action steps.
Step One: Create a vision for the company of where you want it to be in the next 5 to 10 years. Set specific goals for revenue and net income, define your sales territory and identify potential new markets. Make sure the vision is realistic, but by no means self-limiting; it should be something you stretch toward. There's a saying that perfectly captures the consequences for not setting goals: "People who aim for nothing hit it with amazing accuracy."
Step Two: Develop a written plan. Break the vision into annual goals and detail the strategies and specific action steps that are necessary to reach the goals. This should not be an exercise in writing; most of it can be done in bullet-point format and in no more than three to five pages in length. This ensures your plan is user-friendly so it will be referenced throughout the year. And yes, it needs to be in writing. Time and again, studies have proven that people and businesses with written plans usually have far superior results.
Step Three: Revalidate your message. Look in the mirror and tell yourself why someone should buy from you and not the business across the street. Be honest: Does your message move you? Is it a compelling offering and story that clearly distinguishes you from your competitors? Or are you just one of many saying the same monotonous things, that from the customer's viewpoint, it doesn't appear to really matter who they buy from?
Mike Shultz and John Doerr from Rain Today offer a unique three-legged-stool concept. The first leg: Resonate! What are you doing to create demand for your product? The second leg: Differentiate! Why should they choose you versus the person down the road? The third leg: Substantiate! Why should they believe you?
Step Four: Attack your sales growth goals armed with a three-way perspective. Instead of looking at sales as a single line item, break it down into its three components. First, start with the number of customers. How many do you have now, how many do you lose each year and how many do you need to get to reach your goals? Develop a customer-service plan that specifically reduces defections and attracts the new. Next, determine how many times your average customer does business with you. Set a target and determine what you need to do to increase it. Lastly, calculate the average transaction of each sale. Again, set a target and explore what specific offers, cross-selling and bundling you can offer to reach your target.
These four steps are nothing magical, and there are no silver bullets. The secret to success is in their execution. Put in the time, and greater growth and profitability will follow.
Terence J. Shepherd, CM&&AA, CPA, MST, is lead partner of ROCG: Shepherd & Goldstein Consulting Group of Worcester. He can be reached at terence.shepherd@rocg.com.
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