Are You Really Sustainable?
Just as you would set a sales target for each quarter, month, week or day, do you set targets for your personal brand? Do you have measurable performance expectations? Did you memorize that one word that you keep wanting to add to your vocabulary? Do you know the words that you want to use to commence your day or to focus your marketing message to your target market? If not, I suspect you aren’t being sustainable!
I mean this in terms of both external expectations and internal performance.
- External expectations
These are the things that you wish for your business to get right. If you look at your business and wonder, “when will these targets get met?” you need to be achieving them already! For example, if you want to improve your client retention, start by becoming great at the design and execution of your communications process.
- Internal performance
You are probably hoping that your internal processes were good enough to meet your internal targets, right?
Here’s my point: good internal processes are not enough. If there are any processes that are getting in the way of the goal, make the changes that you need to. Before you know it, you will make better Sales Calls or greater Productive Meetings. These improvements aren’t always easy because you don’t know what is going on internally. You have to keep an open mind and a willingness to accept that you can’t just assume that you currently have the right process. You just don’t have that yet!
- Your choices
Here’s what I have in common with running the numbers with you and setting the targets and the execution plan. If you have goals, Your choice process is going to need some adjustments, if you are not sure how to get there. And that meansyouwill need to be the one doing the making. This change is always cumbersome, and requires a different approach, and this requires practices that you may not have used before.
So, stop focusing on perfection right now. It will always have an effect on you at some time. It is up to you to find ways to make small changes to produce bigger change. Only once in my entrepreneurial life did I have a reference for those times when the process or requirements to meet the goal would stretch me.
So, if you want your processes to be great, give yourself a pat on the back. You are on a journey and you are making progress. If you are not feeling it, stop looking at the destination as if it was the end of the road, and start looking at what steps you need to take to gain an outcome. This is where you will find the resistance. When you are on your path to the changes necessary, you address the existing challenges and control the process. Instead of obsessing about, “I didn’t need a newsletter.” you might say “I really need a newsletter to make sure that I spend my time and energy wisely.”
Don’t want to have a newsletter? Then let it go! It’s OK not to be giving away all of your secrets here! Just say “I’m sorry that would not work; I feel comfortable with my current newsletter”. Most likely, you are engaged in telling a compelling story about your business and its experience that ties into what you’re currently delivering. You could always have an invitation into your client’s experience if you have something that you’re excited about telling them.
- I have a referral for you!
What about the fancy stuff? Things like subscriptions and an email delivery schedule. I’ve got a great strategy for you, don’t be put off by fancy stuff. If you are a new business owner, I would invite you to learn more during this brief lesson. You can find it here:
http://www.icontactgroup.com/i notebooks/ summarize_e-newsletter/
What you need to know about this simple formula in terms of income generation and getting more clients is that it must kick into high gear if you want to get more clients fast and effectively, get more clients, and get more revenues faster based on how you have already set up your client conversion process.
If you don’t already have an auto responder, get on that immediately. If you still rely on your email as the main communication channel when
it comes time to do a new email campaign put together a set of action items to remind yourself when to do the next email. Create the schedule of the various actions within “nagapoker” and work through the list. Stay on top of who is signed up, when you are reaching them and how to reach them.
Get into the habit of always asking yourself, “Do I have all of the action items that I would need to take? How much time will I need to take to get my clients?