Introduction
The Action Business Development Owners Report is for and about business owners. It has one mission - to provide you with a wealth of knowledge, techniques and practical ideas to energize your business. I believe that being in business should give you more of what you want out of life. That's why my business focuses on a program called "Six Steps to Massive Results." This program helps business owners dramatically increase their profits, create better teams and processes, while having more fun and MORE leisure time.
Newsletter Design
Look to your left and you will see a table of contents. Each issue of the Owners Report is designed to address four key areas:
- Six Steps to Massive Results - Feature articles on business growth, development and profit building.
- Cash Flash! – Quick tips for instant cash flow
- Business Coaching: Q&A - A forum to submit your business questions to a panel of Action business coaches
- Upcoming Events - Educational and motivational events of value to business owners in the GTA
Send us Your Questions & Requests!
We sincerely want to help you develop your business to get it to where you’d really like it to be. We invite you to send us your business questions or requests for future topics. Please send your email to newsletters@actionbusinessdevelopment.com.
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If you have a friend that might benefit from this newsletter, we invite you to forward it using the forward button at the bottom of this report. There is no cost to subscribe to the newsletter and if you should decide that the newsletter is not of value to you, you may unsubscribe at any time by following the instructions at the end of this report All subscription requests will be honoured.
Why are You a Business Owner?
We all have different reasons for choosing to become a business owner, instead of working for someone else. These reasons may be – to make more money; to have control over when and how much we work, to make our own decisions, to not have to answer to anyone, to do the things we enjoy, to have fun, to show someone we can do it, to own a job so that no one can fire us …
While these individual motivations are important to understand, it is my observation that all of these reasons for business ownership can be summarized into one simple concept – to provide more Freedom – freedom to earn as much money and free time as you want. In other words Freedom to earn the lifestyle you desire. Now owners with a strong social conscience may say it’s not all about making money and having free time it’s also about making a contribution to society and helping others to have a better life. I would agree. You see a highly profitable business that requires little hands on involvement from the owner frees the owner to do whatever she or he wants to do – to contribute to society in whatever way inspires them. On the other hand, a business that is marginally profitable, a business that requires the owner to spend long hours working in the business, gives the owner little freedom to contribute much to society. This type of owner is often financially and physically drained of the resources and energy to do much other than tend to his or her business and the basic needs of their immediate dependants.
What is a Successful Business?
Brad Sugars, the self-made multi-millionaire, author, entrepreneur and founder of Action International defines a business as:
A profitable, commercial enterprise, that works without me.
This definition can help provide a simple, but essential focus to developing your business.
As a business owner, you need to be very aware of what inspires and motivates you, for being in business is not always smooth sailing. However, on a day to day basis, most owners should have two underlying objectives they are striving for:
1. How can my business make more money?
2. How can my business run with less effort on my part?
Six Steps to Massive Results
With my 20 plus years of business development experience, I have found that in order to obtain truly massive results in business, it is very important to stage your development efforts. There are six stages, or steps that each business must progress through before the owner can produce truly massive results. Each level is illustrated below-starting with Mastery and moving towards Massive Results. While businesses may have some concurrent activities that touch on the different stages, it is important at any point in time to focus the bulk of your efforts on one, most appropriate step. Where is your business within these six steps and how can you move to the next level, and the next, and the next?
Mastery… cleans up the chaos in the business by learning how to properly manage time and money. Every business owner needs to master the basics of delivering his product or service with consistency, as well as testing and measuring key activities that make his business a success: lead generation, sales, and cash management.
Niche … generates great cash flow by identifying or developing, then fortifying and exploiting your niche. At this stage the business does not compete on “price.” The business focuses on its unique selling proposition, and realizes good cash flow.
Leverage … systemizes the business so it assumes a life of its own, independent of the business owner. This level focuses on systems and technology that leverage the owner’s time and the business’s capabilities.
Team … invests in people and their education so team members become well organized, efficient, and motivated. When the owner takes care of his team—the team takes care of his business. This level includes team recruitment, development, and recognition.
Synergy ... continues to invest in people and their education, thereby enabling the business to exploit the niche, run systematically, and creates a well-defined culture. The business vision and mission are well articulated and understood. This level focuses on grooming a general manager so that the business owner can step away from the day-to-day operations and …
Massive Results … business owners get what they want: time off, passive income, and a realization of their personal dreams.
The future issues of the Owners Report will explore these levels in more detail and illustrate the tools, systems, and programs available to master each level. Can you see your business giving you what you want?
Cash Flash! Instant Cash Flow Tips
Profit and cash flow are not the same. A business that shows a profit on its books can still go broke if it doesn’t have the cash reserves to meet its commitments.
Cash flow management is the fundamental and essential responsibility of the business owner. A good cash flow manager reviews cash flow needs for the next week, month, and quarter--and plans for any large cash need before it becomes a crisis.
Quick Cash Flow Strategies:
1. Increase Your Prices
This can be applied by many businesses, but especially those that deal with high value or luxury items such as beauty treatments. For example, a beauty salon could add 10% onto everything without losing any customers – people understand that prices increase, and they expect it at some point. Price increases are not advised for businesses that sell low value consumables that people can buy from anywhere. Although often a small increase won’t be noticed, this practice should be approached with some caution. If you intend to increase your prices substantially it’s often best to gradually phase the new prices in over a period of time.
2. Improve Conversion Rates - Use scripts
Scripts are absolutely essential whatever business you’re in. This is especially true if you are getting lots of leads, enquiries or traffic to your business. After all you want to convert all that marketing effort into customers and cash. Once you find the right (or very close to right) way to sell something to someone, why change it? Write down exactly what you said, and then do that every time. And make sure your team does the same. Every customer is different, but the objective is always the same – match the product to the buyer. You should have scripts for everything – from answering the phone to saying goodbye. Scripts are an important tool to increase your conversion rate. If you change what you say to each customer, how can you expect to be consistent? It’s vitally important that you test and measure a variety of scripts to find the most effective one for you and your product. You’ll probably get tired of hearing it after awhile but your customers won’t. Remember that you’re the only person who hears it day in day out. To your customers it’s as new and effective as the first time you used it.
3. Get Cash Up Front
This can be effective if you have the type of business where you accept orders from customers then have to assemble, or subcontract work and finally deliver to your customer. Why wait until you deliver before you bill? Get your money when they place the order. Or worst case get a sizeable deposit, then collect the rest when you ship.
4. Direct Mail Regular Offers
Send your customers letters and/or emails promoting particular deals on certain items. Practically every business should be doing this. This is why your list of customer names is so important. You should contact your customers with an outline of special offers. You can pick products or services that they have never tried, or alternatively a package deal on something they have. You’ll get many people coming back just by doing this. If you don’t get them the first time, make sure you mail them again. After all they bought something before.
5. Closed Door Sales – bring a friend
A variation one the tactic above is to invite your past customers to an exclusive sale – only past customers are invited and the doors are locked to all other people. These sales are perfect if you have a large amount of stock you’d like to clear quickly and without spending a lot on advertising. You’ve already paid for the inventory, now you are exchanging it for cash. The sale occurs after hours, and the bargains are especially good. It often pays to provide drinks and hors d’oeurves. Having a door prize can be effective. Make it something attractive that you can afford to give away without spending too much.
6. Team Incentives for Increased Sales
Offer your team bonuses. Set targets for your team and offer a bonus of some kind for each target achieved. List the different prizes available beside each goal. Conduct the program for a specific time period which will keep team enthusiasm high. Depending on the culture of your organization competitions can be very effective. The biggest bonus goes to the top performers but, often you can get higher performance from everyone.
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