I’m guessing that you want more profits and more time.
These are two complicated problems to solve even for an expert marketing consultant or business consultant because each person has different things going on that cause the profit and time-related problems. Furthermore, over time the problems change with the ebb and flow of the economy, politics, and other factors. Of course…
These problems are vital to solve for small business owners in particular.
Because business owners set shining examples of how to manage time and create profit for their entire audience of thousands or millions, it’s important that we solve this problem for them first.
We care about serving small business owners with big visions is because they are the key to a future that is more positive.
As a result, we have reviewed millions of dollars worth of the most recent research and applied hard-earned wisdom to create this blog post series on small business growth plans.
This blog series includes specific strategies for growing your profit, your team and your happiness.
In order to address the two problems of helping business owners make more money and spend more time doing things they love, we will group the challenges most small business owners face into four main areas which we reveal below.
We will explore these four challenges in this blog post. Then, in two weeks we will follow this post up with a series of posts which will cover our highly-researched, experience-based recommended solutions to these challenges. Be sure to sign up for our blog email list at the top of the page to receive notifications.
Now let’s get an imaginary drumroll for the number one biggest challenge that business owner face when trying to grow their profit and their free time….
I. Business owners have a hard time developing a consistent source of leads for their business.
Year after year, attracting new clients is almost always at the top of the list of challenges for small business owners.
Why is attracting new clients or getting new leads, or building a consistent traffic source so hard for small businesses? We’ll give you 5 reasons.
5 of the biggest blunders small businesses make when trying to get more leads:
1) They focus on everyone instead of one specific person.
2) They don’t have a core message that resonates with their prospects, clients and audience. This results in non-stop talking about your company or your products.
3) Business owners do not identify the best tactics, channels and media for their company and audience and apply them in innovative ways.
4) Very few small business owners create a lead generation strategy with SMART goals.
5) If they do create a plan and try something new, they don’t measure the outcomes and iterate. Instead, when their plans don’t work as expected, they move onto something else, or worst, quit trying.
(For more information about these 5 Revenue Draining Blackholes, sign up for the blog email list so we can email you the upcoming blog post, Escape 5 Revenue Draining Blackholes and Win Ideal Clients.)
In order to overcome these 5 challenges, it is useful to make a business growth plan that specifically addresses attracting new clients. Here is a list of some tools and resources to help you with your business growth plan: Top Tools and Resources .
Now it’s time to cover the second biggest challenge that business owner face while trying to grow their profit and free time.
II. Business Owners have a hard time getting consistent repeat business.
Business owners do not specifically state that their problem is “more sales“; however, with futher digging, “more sales” tends to be the root of their problems.
The blackholes mentioned above apply to converting sales. Below we have revised them specifically for getting repeat business, or in more technical terms, “increased sales conversions”.
1) The sales conversion process is focused on “everyone” instead of a specific client avatar.
2) Instead of creating a core message and collateral around that, they try to keep clients coming back and spending more money by talking about their products and services all the time.
3) Instead of selecting and committing to specific tactics, channels and media based on their strategy to convert more sales, business owners will often stick with what has worked in the past, or try whatever shiny object looks good at the time.
4) Very few small business owners create a sales conversion strategy with SMART goals. Instead they try to come up with one marketing plan that encompasses too many goals and end up doing nothing.
5) If they do create a specific plan for sales conversions and execute it, they don’t measure the outcomes and iterate. Instead, when their plans don’t work as expected, they move onto something else, or worst, quit trying.
Business owners do not need an independent marketing consultant to know that it is easier and less expensive to keep the clients they already have. Therefore, if you want to grow your revenues, it pays to get and keep long-term or even lifetime clients.
Yet it remains that getting and keeping “lifetime” clients is a big challenge for many small businesses. So as you develop your business growth plans, it’s important to continuously ask yourself…
How can you create more value for your clients?
When one constantly adds more value in their clients lives, the client naturally wants to spend more and more often. They want the value you can offer!
Here are some great questions to ask:
- What is the lifetime value of your average client?
- How can you add more value to your client’s first order?
- How can you keep your clients coming back on a consistent basis?
- How much impact are you making in the lives of your clients and how can you share that so others will follow suit?
- Do you have an automated referral system?
If you start to realize some blackholes in your own business and want to get some expert advice from an independent marketing consultant, email us now using this link. We are a small business consulting service who will be more than happy to schedule a quick chat with any business owner who needs help with their marketing or business growth strategy.
Now it’s time to cover the third biggest challenge that business owner face while trying to grow their profit and their free time.
III. Business Owners have a hard time transitioning to a scaleable & sustainable business model.
Oh the challenge of scaleability! The things that got you up and running do not lead naturally to scaling, rather you have to make it happen. And this can be just as hard as scaling up your business in the first place.
A big challenge associated with scaleability, sustainability and having more time is building and keeping your dream team together. There are many parts to this one challenge, here is a summary of a few of the biggest aspects business owners find challenging…
The 6 Biggest PEOPLE Challenges Associated with Scaling Small Businesses
- Leading and managing people is difficult.
- The task of figuring out who to hire is difficult.
- Finding good people is difficult.
- Training people is difficult.
- Keeping people motivated and dedicated and engaged is difficult.
- Keeping people at your company is difficult.
Another sub-challenge associated with scaleability and sustainability is that business owners often find themselves needing injections of cash for equipment, marketing, etc. And often these expenses pop-up unexpectedly. If this is you, we have some great resources for you in the blog post Top Tools and Resources.
In the last section of this blow post, we cover the fourth biggest challenge that business owners face when trying to grow their profit and their free time…
IV. Entrepreneurs spend too much time on things that are un-important.
As a result, this automatically means that business owners are not spending enough time on what is meaningful to them, puts them in flow, gives them pleasure, and builds positive relationships in their lives.
Because what we really want when we say we want time is happiness. In other words, we want to spend more time on the things that bring us happiness and less time on things that don’t. Part of the solution comes with hiring a great team, but we also need to know and do the things that make us happy, which is more challenging than we’d like to admit. Furthermore…
We want to help you become a master of creating happiness in your own life and in your business.
That is why we do what we do and why I’m writing these blog series. In the next post we will share proven practices to grow your revenues as well as address team development. With this knowledge you’ll make more money and get to spend more time on the things that matter the most to you.
More Happiness
Lift Your Business is the only independent marketing consultant company that I know of offering small business consulting services which consciously incorporate your happiness as a business owner into your business growth plan and marketing system. We do that by researching and incorporating positive psychology into our products and services. However…
Lift Your Business’ main mission is to help you make more profit.
In fact our goal for small business owners is to double their profits so they can double their impact. If you are ready to make that happen in your own business then our most basic small business consulting service package may be right for you. The Profit Now Package will help you determine the best way to make the most amount of money in the least amount of time, or determine if you want to focus on a more long-term exponential growth plan. For more information on the Profit Now Package click the link in this sentence!
Please communicate with us below!
As always, we would love to hear what you think about this blog post – especially if you have any tools or ideas that will make it easier for people in the future. Please comment below.
