How do you step up and begin moving your business to better results? Well, first of all, you need to make some changes. That means taking a couple steps to the edge of your comfort zone, and sometimes going right out there to the edge. Growth requires change. That’s why it’s called growth.
Number one: You need to spend more time on money-making activities. If you’re not prospecting, contacting, meeting with clients or creating sales opportunities, you are not going to get more sales. Set an alarm on your smartphone to go off at random times throughout the day and make a note of what you are doing at that moment. Is it the $100.00 per hour work or the $10.00 per hour work? What you are doing will determine how much you’re going to make.
Number two: Move your least profitable accounts to others. If you have sales people or a sales assistant, reassign the bottom of our account list to them. This can be the most effective way for you to grow. Those accounts will get better service from someone else and you’ll be able to spend your time on your most profitable accounts and your big, hairy, audacious dream account list.
Number three: Prospect for bigger fish. You do have big, hairy, audacious dream accounts, don’t you? In my career, I was able to work with huge accounts because I was either brave enough or stupid enough to call on them, to research them, to provide ideas for them. One major account took me 19 years to land but it became a seven figure per year account for me. I believe you should have 10 big dreams that you are working on at all times.
Number four: Create a stop-doing list! Everyone likes to brag about their long to-do lists. Having a stop-doing list can be much more profitable. You need to stop doing the things that are not paying off. Activity may make you feel better but unless it’s getting profitable results for you, it’s time to stop it now. See number one above.
Number five: Increase your average order size. If you’ve moved your accounts that are doing small orders to others and you’ve begun prospecting for bigger fish, you have a good start on this. Become a specialist in higher-end and higher-ticket items. Sell programs and sell into programs such as wellness, trade shows and other areas where you can get bigger orders. It takes the same amount of overhead, same amount of effort and the same amount of time to sell a small order as it does a giant sized one. Make it worth your while.
If you follow these five steps, you’ll be setting yourself up to grow. But you need to stay disciplined, you need to risk turning over small accounts so that you have time to develop bigger ones and you need the courage to go after your dreams.
Dream Big.
