Business insights to help optimise your potential

Get clear on your WHY

Whether you are just getting started in business, or you are a veteran and you have been doing it for a while, I have come to realise that most business owner are not experiencing the level of success they truly want. Sure you may be very optimistic and may even come up with some very good reasons why you are not enjoying the level of success you ideally want, you have set your goals and you are taking the action to move you closer to achieving what you want. So why are things taking longer than they should?

Achieving success in business is about doing the right things, in the right order, at the right time… I’m sure you have heard me say this time and time again, and I hear you saying back to me… I’m doing that Tania, so why am I not realising the success I truly desire. Here are some quick and easy things you can do to support your journey in business and help you achieve more momentum with less effort.

Determine why you are in your business. Sometimes we can lose sight as to why we went into business in the first place. Take the time to reconnect, with your passion and your purpose and the very reason why you bought into the franchise brand in the first place.

If you focus on what you are doing to earn a living, then you will always be doing stuff just to bring in the money. The passion will fade and all you will be left with is a passionless job in your own business. By shifting your focus from WHAT you have to do to WHY you are doing it, things will flow and you will attract more customers, more money, more balance and build more momentum that will ultimately support you in achieving your dreams and goals for you and your business.

Knowing Your L – S – F Gap

If we were to look at business from a simplistic view point every business either has a Leads gap, a Sales gap or a Fulfillment gap (L — S — F). Of course there are many areas of business that require attention and continuous improvement, however these three are the primary ones.

Without leads coming into our business, we don’t even come close to the opportunity of closing sales. Without sales there are no revenues, therefore there is no business.

Fulfillment focuses on the delivery of your products or services and without it there is no follow-through in the business itself. I’m sure you have heard this before – success is always in the follow-through.

Carrying out a regular gap analysis helps you to define your present and future objectives in both financial and non-financial terms with also a specific focus on the L-S-F areas of your business. The difference between where you are and where you want to be is the gap and becomes the starting point for building your business to the next level.

A gap analysis need not just be about leads, sales, fulfilment or the money, it is however usually where most people start. Your nonfinancial considerations could include the number of team members, your product or service offering to the marketplace and the number of satisfied customers. Other areas could also include the number of hours you work, the number of recreation days, family days and the holidays you take.

Serving Vs. Selling

Gone are the days where we ‘sell’ to others. Today it’s all about serving, not selling. You may need to shift a little in your thinking to get this. To this day customer service is very important to me. You’ve just got to ask my kids. Not only do I expect great service it’s a value in our company that we serve our customers rather than sell to our customers. Sales is the discovery of a match – if what you have to offer does not match what the customer needs or wants and vice versa, then generally a sale should not take place if you are in the business of serving.

If we are to serve not sell then it’s important to ask ourselves who do we want to serve more of and who do we want to serve less? I liken our ideal client to our favourite toy or teddy bear when we were children. We still played with the others, however we spent more time with our favourite one. It brought more fun and enjoyment into our day so the same can happen in your business. Focus on your ideal client and you will increase your revenues, build more momentum and have more time to do the things you love. Before you can start serving more of your ideal customer you’ve got to know who they are and what they look like and where to find them.

You can get started by asking yourself these simple questions:

• Describe the type of customer you want to do business with.

• Describe the type of customer who you believe will give you the greatest return on your marketing investment.

• Looking at your current business, which customers do you believe right now are the easiest to find, easiest to sell to and require the least amount of time spent on them?

• Describe the type of customer who will stay with you the longest and spend the most with you.

Value – It’s all Perception:

I’m asked this question all the time: “How do I know if I’m providing enough value?” We all have adopted a belief that it’s important to add value when we “sell” our products and services. Unfortunately this in fact causes most people to reduce their effectiveness and growth potential. When we are focused on selling we are always looking at how we can convince the customer of the value of something. If you shift to serving then it is our job to help the customer discover the value that is there for themselves.

Value is perceived. It is a perception, which means the value will be different for every single customer. Value tends to be never about the money. It’s about the relationship you build, it’s about the experience you create.

Rather than setting the expectations around what you are selling that may or may not match those of the customer, you can focus on serving them in alignment to what they are wanting and then they will derive the value out of everything. Knowing what is important to your ideal customer will assist you in building the perceived value around serving them.

Most business owners believe they have to provide massive value to their clients, and then they get paralysed by the concern of whether they are doing that or not. As perception is perceived, the customer is always responsible for getting the value out of the relationship! There are some things you can do to raise the perception of the value you provide and they can differ from business to business. Take some time to think about ways you can improve the perceived value wrapped around your product or service. Find out what your customer wants, loves and what’s most important to them.

Now that you know your why, you’ve identified your gap and you have worked out how you will add more value without having to work harder, we will, in the next issue, move onto learning – how to put a revenue plan together and implementing that plan to increase revenues and help you build more momentum in your business.

Tania Allen is the founder of Vision Alliance and author of Franchise Profits.

Vision Alliance is a business growth & franchise consulting firm that helps franchisors and franchisees get more out of business and more out of life. For more information about how Tania and her team can support you contact Tania Allen at:

Phone: 1300 76 49 20 or 0419 481 203
Email: tania@vision-alliance.com
Web: www.vision-alliance.com