If, after reading part one and part two in this series, you’re starting to see the value in better understanding your financial performance, then we’re in a good place to move forward. If you’re thinking, “Sure, that all sounds good, but there’s no way I have time to put this much energy into tracking and thinking...
This is Part Four on how to build a sales system that works. Read Part One, Part Two, and Part Three here. When you really break it down, a salesperson who has the highest lead to sales conversions is doing one thing better than everyone else: leading the sales conversation. If you, in your sales role, or your sal...
This is Part Three on how to build a sales system that works. Read Part One here, Part Two here, and Part Four here. How well do you know what’s really going on in your sales department? Whether you’re a solopreneur or you’ve got a team of salespeople responsible for bringing in new business, how much do you reall...
This is Part Two on how to build a sales system that works. Read Part One, Part Three, and Part Four here. Isn’t it curious that sales, the lifeblood of every small business, is so damn hard to get right? You started your business because you believed you could make or do something that other people wanted, but th...
This is Part One on how to build a sales system that works. Read Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four here. It’s not hard to agree with the idea that your business needs systems. But, when it comes to sales, small business owners often have a lot of difficulty really getting behind creating a comprehensive sales sy...
“We need more sales.” At some point during the life of your business you've probably uttered these words. For most business owners these words have become a part of their regular vocabulary. Without sales, there's no business. The employees need to get paid, the lights need to stay on and most companies are lookin...
Trendspotting is a term most commonly used in fashion circles. Top designers will spend thousands of dollars to send their curators all over the world to… spot trends. We’ve notoriously been told that the fashion industry is capable of predicting what colors we will want to wear before we even know we want to wear...
Numbers—drilling down into a complex spreadsheet of financial data—can be unsettling. Even to those who are accustomed to reviewing their own financials and metrics on a regular basis, it’s entirely possible to feel degrees of panic when faced with looking at the numbers. Why? Because there’s no hiding from the tr...
When most business owners hear the word “budgeting,” they cringe. Many times, the “budget” ends up collecting dust on some back room shelf, never to be seen again—until your accountant asks to see it. But your budget is more important than you think. It’s critical in helping you and your management team get the pr...
You know what a bad sales call feels like. The aimless small talk, the thinly disguised attempt at ‘relating’ to you, and the ever-present background anxiety of the sales person desperate to meet their monthly quota. All you wanted was a real conversation with a real person to help you make an informed decision. N...
Is your blog getting you down? Do you wonder whether it’s worth all the effort, whether people are really getting something from it, whether you’re “doing it right”? Maybe you think you’re not a writer, or you simply feel like you don’t have the time to write with all the other demands of your small business.
Your business plan is based on increasing revenue. You're looking forward to more revenue creating more profit. And with the increase in cash flow you'll finally be able to hire more people so that your struggles will ease and you will finally be able to get free of the technical work.
Passion and drive go a long way. There were 5,000 little things you did to survive in the face of long odds of small business success - the late nights, juggling expenses, praying for new customers. You leaned on that passion and drive to get through - and it worked.
You grow a business by increasing sales. That simple assumption is the default way most businesses operate - especially small businesses. While this thinking is almost always wrong, the real problem is that it can easily take you further from the two goals you're probably really after, which are (1) increased prof...