I was watching the best of Mike Tyson’s knockouts the past week. I found it amazing back when Mike was 19, 20 years old on his way up, where he would enter the ring and no matter who he would face, he would just knock them out, usually in the first round. Someone asked him a question before a particular fight, “Hey Mike, what are you going to knock him out with this time?” Mike replied, “Whatever punch I hit him with.” What a great line.
Now, Mike had an arsenal of punches such as the left and right hook, the left and right cross, and that devastating uppercut. Me being a business coach, I’m thinking, “How does this relate to business?” Mike had his arsenal of punches that worked for him, and in business, we should have our arsenal of strategies that work for us to build our business and keep our clients coming back again and again.
You, as a business owner wants three things; more clients, more revenues, and more profits. We at ActionCOACH focus on how to get there. We focus on the leads times conversion to get you your clients, then the average dollar sale and the number of transactions to increase your revenues, followed by your margins to increase your profits. What we also recommend working with our clients is to create a 10 by 10. Implementing 10 different areas to improve upon in each of those five ways.
Today, I’m going to share three in each area. First of all, I urge you to sit down with your marketing team to work on and brainstorm this strategy together. If you can’t come up with 10, feel free to reach out to me or any ActionCOACH in the world.
However, let’s look at leads. Number one, do you have an articulated referral strategy, that both your clients and your team understand? If you don’t, create one. Number two, are you networking in all the right areas and all the right events, so you’re clear on getting in front of your target market? Number three, do you have the correct strategic alliances, so you can refer business back and forth to other businesses, not necessarily in your industry?
Conversion, number one. Do you know your conversion rates from all your different lead sources? If you don’t, you need to, because if you don’t know those numbers, how can you find the source of which is working the best? Number two, ideal client. Have you articulated exactly what an ideal client looks like, so when they’re in front of you, you could say, “You’re the perfect client that I love working with, and let me tell you why.” Number three, Google reviews. Do you have a strategy in place that is receiving your Google reviews, so when somebody is looking for someone in your industry, and they’re going through the internet, they read all your reviews and say, “Yep, they do it right! I want to work with them,” they click on you, get the phone number, and contact your organization.
Next, average dollar sale. Number one, again, ideal clients. Get clear on your ideal clients, the type of clients you like doing business with, they’re going to do more business with you, and hopefully the higher priced items. Number two, increase your prices, only, if you’ve earned the right. If you are synergistic, you have the right structure in place, your team is aligned with the culture, and the purpose of your organization, and you’re doing business right, you can increase your prices because you stand out from your competition. And number three, make sure your clients know all the products and services you have. There is nothing worse than a customer of yours saying, “Oh, I didn’t know you had that. I went to your competitor.”
Number three, transactions. First of all, have goals and targets. Make sure your sales team has goals so they’re striving to achieve. You have that whiteboard in your organization’s office where it’s creating a little competition. Remember also that what you test and measure you increase. Number two, stay in front of your customers. Whatever strategy you have, stay in front of them. Make sure you send them cards, updates, invites, whatever it may be. Make sure you have a systematized process that you’re in front of your customers. Number three, improve customer services. Do it right. Take care of your clients. The best marketing is doing business right. Keep them happy. Keep them coming back.
Finally, margins, create, and stick to your budget. Number two, stop unnecessary spending. Quit merging personal stuff with your business. Stop it. Be really clear on your line items, if they’re not bringing you a client or keeping a client, you really need to think hard and fast whether you keep that or not. And number three, stop discounting. Listen, you are worth what you charge. If you’re doing business right, you’re worth what you charge. Don’t discount. Companies like Kmart discounted and they went out of business. And if you’re discounting, you’re marketing to the wrong customers. You want the right clients that are willing to pay for your product and service because you do it right.
There are your three different areas in each of the five ways for you to work upon, test and measure, to bring you more clients, more revenues, and more profits. You want to know more, reach out to me and I will share with you the additional strategies to build your business.
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, professional speaker, and trainer. He is the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com