Growing Your Business In 3 Easy Steps

So often in business we tend to overcomplicate what we need to do to enjoy success. We go searching for answers in places they don’t exist. We spin our wheels without moving forward in the right direction.

Why do we do this?

Human nature I guess. The thing we must keep in mind is that the easiest way to get from where we are to where we want to be is a straight line. Yet we tend to want to make our lives more difficult by going off on a tangent, or even worse, ignoring the straight easy line in favour of the more convaluted spasmotic line.

This is so true in business. As small business owners and entrepreneurs we have a tendency to look for ways to complicate our business. Yet success can be so simple if we know what to FOCUS on.

So let me share with you the three key areas I believe you need to focus all of your efforts and energy on in order to grow your business. Now as you read this resist the temptation to think … I already know this. Of course you do! But you and I both know that its not what you know that leads to success it is what you apply in the real world.

So the three things to grow your business in 2009 are:

1/ Expanding Your Networks – The first thing to focus on in order to achieve success in your business is to expand your networks. This includes networks of prospective clients, general business contacts and strategic alliances. There is just no escaping the fact that the more people who know and what you do the more likely your success.

This explains why attending Networking Events is often mentioned as the number one source of new business for the small business owner. If you are struggling for clients now then one of the first things you should do is start attending a lot more networking events.

Another component of this is to also ensure you have an effective lead generation strategy in place as well. You want to always be putting into place strategies to grow the size of your database of prospective clients. The acquisition of leads is essential to any business and there are many ways to do this.

When I am working with my consulting and coaching clients one of the first things we do is to develop a lead generation system. This usually involves giving away what I call an Irresistible Offer to ATTRACT your prospective clients into your database.

I recently met at lady who grew the size of her database of prospective clients from 5,000 to 12,000. Her income went from $200,000 to over $1 million. There is just no escaping the fact that the size your networks and database is a key determining factor for your success in 2009.

2/ Improving Your Relationships – Now it is a good thing to have a large database of prospective clients … however if you do not have a good relationship with them then it means very little. So the next step is to focus on developing a quality relationship with them.

There are a number of aspects to this. First you want to consider how you want to be perceived by those in your database as this will impact on the type of relationship you establish with them.

My preference is to build relationships by constantly adding value to them. I do this through frequent contact via this weekly newsletter, through free Telesemainrs we do each month, through our blog, the e-course on marketing mistakes, through our Attraction Marketing Seminars, and more.

I am constantly working on ideas to build this relationship and the key is always to add value to the lives of those on my database.

Recently I have come across Send Out Cards which I think is one of the most brilliant marketing tools ever developed. This system allows you to keep in touch with your database by sending them thank you cards and greeting cards. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to improve the relationships you have with those on your database.

3/ Exceptional Sales Process – Finally … you can have a growing database with great relationships … but if you do not have a system in place to lead them to buy your products or services then you will struggle in business.

For a lot of small business owners selling is a dirty word. I understand that but did you know that selling can be really easy? All you need to do is to have your prospective clients SELL THEMSELVES!

Thats right … if you have in place the right sales process then they will literally sell themselves on doing business with you. In order to do this you need to understand the concept of a Marketing Funnel.

In a well thought out marketing funnel you have an ascension of products and services. It is wise to have what I call entry level products / services, mid range, expensive range and exclusive range. Why different price points? Because everyone is different and want different ways of interacting with you.

The mistake I see made often is businesses with only one price point. If this is you then you are missing out on sales.

Also … if you want your prospective clients to sell themselves then you will want to give them every chance to do so by placing testimonials and case studies in front of them. Demonstrating the success you have helped others achieve is a fundamental part of the sales process.

Now here is a golden tip to having your clients sell themselves … make them come to you rather than you go to them trying to sell them.

The way I do this is to have prospective clients request a complimentary Marketing Audit. They fill out details about their business and request a time for the audit. Why have I set it up this way? Well the very fact that they take the time to fill out the form usually means they are pre-sold on having me work with them as their coach or consultant. Usually by the time they do this they are sold on the fact that I can assist them to ATTRACT more clients.

So there are three areas to focus on in 2009. If you can master each of these three areas then you can grow a successful business. Within each of these three areas of course there are a number of considerations to get them right. Once you have it working for you though your business will start to take off.