- Geekmaster
- 2019-12-29 10:55:25
- 14 minute(s)
W
When starting on a new business, there can often be millions and millions of things that need to be considered.
Certain words bring to mind the idea of business. Customers, products, and the key words of sales or marketing are all words which make you instantly think of business.
Actually, there are no limits on who can become a great entrepreneur. You don’t necessarily need a college degree, a bunch of money in the bank or even business experience to start something that could become the next major success.
However, you do need a strong plan and the drive to see it through. Whether you’re already in business, or preparing to start a business, it takes hard work, tenacity and drive to achieve a high level of success.
"Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week" – Lori Greiner Share on X
But what does it take for a business to fly above the competition?
Successful companies sit on core components that drive and maintain the business. Every business has pillars to it and ALL must be strong in order for your business to be successful.
Purpose Is My Nurse
Over the past decade, leaders in business have become more interested in the development of purpose.
Despite this increased focus on purpose, some organizations are lacking leaders who are aware of and deeply connected to the purpose behind their work. This is in part because our culture conflates being mission-oriented with being purpose-driven.
rule of thumb A mission is the what you’re trying to accomplish, and a purpose is the why.
Apple’s mission centers on being a leading computer company, but Steve Jobs’s purpose was to create beautifully designed, innovative tech products. Clearly the why and the what are two different things.
rule of thumbPurpose can be defined as a long-term, forward-looking intention to accomplish aims that are both meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self.
Why We Need a Why
As Simon Sinek notes in his bestselling book Start with Why, most people know what an organization does, but few know why they do it.
In other words, most purpose-driven leaders can articulate their mission–but many mission-driven leaders cannot articulate their purpose.
rule of thumbToday’s young workers, more than any generation before, demand a sense of purpose in their jobs.
If you are a leader trying to recruit millennial talent and you are not prioritizing the creation of purpose for your employees, you are going to miss out on some of the most coveted people on the job market.
How to Hardwire Purpose Into Your Business
Why did you start this company? What were you hoping to accomplish?
What values and beliefs undergird that purpose, and how do those values influence the way you lead at work?
Are there opportunities to better align your personal and professional aims and values?
Although most employees can readily recognize the what behind your company, few may be able to articulate the why, and employees only connected to the what will show up for the paycheck, but employees connected to the why will give their blood, sweat, and tears to their work.
Encourage employees to share their own reasons for working for your company.
However you do it, be sure to make your company’s why very clear. Be honest about how well the company is making progress toward it.
Once we get to a certain level of leadership, we often lose contact with our end users. When that happens, we can begin to lose track of our purpose.
Taking time to talk to your end users is critical to understand what they like about your company, what they think your company stands for, and why they believe your company exists.
Use your website and other marketing materials to communicate your business purpose with the people with whom you do business. Include concrete examples of how your purpose has influenced your business decisions.
The Mission Statement
Why do businesses need a mission statement?
A well-crafted mission statement focuses the business for both employees and the target audience. It serves as a framework, giving everyone involved a launching point to build from when establishing the brand.
For consumers, it sets the company apart from the competition without limiting the business purpose. Google’s mission statement doesn’t mention running a search engine even though that is their initial claim to fame. It is just broad enough to let the business grow into the conglomerate it is today.
”To be Earth's most customer-centric company where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online.” – Amazon Mission Statement Share on X
rule of thumbA mission statement should tell others why the business exists and what makes it different.
A mission statement is a declaration of what makes the business important. By design, it guides the actions of the employees and draws in customers by creating direction by explaining what the company intends to accomplish.
In order to write it down perfectly, you must focus your statement on these four elements:
- Value : What is the value of the business to both customers and employees?
- Inspiration : Why should people want to work for the company?
- Plausibility : Make it sound reasonable.
- Specificity : Tie it back to the business.
How To Write a Mission Statement
Do keep it short and concise
Sum up the company’s mission in just a few sentences.
Don’t write an essay
You want the mission statement to be tethered to the brand and that means it must be memorable. Long drawn out prose is rarely memorable.
Do think long-term
The mission statement is an investment in your company’s future, so keep it open enough to reflect your long-term goals.
Don’t be afraid to change it
Things change in the business world. If the mission statement no longer represents the company, it is time for a rewrite.
Sell or Be Sold
The idea of sales is almost synonymous with business.
In any business organization, sales is the department that generates revenue.
No matter how good your operation is, how cutting-edge your technology is, how tight your financial goals are or how progressive and forward-thinking your management techniques are, you must still have a great sales mechanism in place, or everything else is useless.
"Sales support the needs of your new business and are, in other words, the lifeblood your business." Share on X
In any organisation, the sales department plays a pivotal role in the success of the business.
rule of thumbThe unique and important role of sales is to bridge the gap between the potential customer’s needs and the products/services that the organisation offers that can fulfil their needs.
You should remember that sales are an essential aspect of any business and thus, it is very important to focus on closing sales.
My Valentine is a Cash Machine
Cash flow is the ‘life-blood’ of every business.
There is no other department or business function that has a greater impact on the development of the all-important cash flows than the sales department.
Moreover, all business planning begins and ends with the sales forecast.
One of the key aims of senior management is to try to increase control and predictability of the business. Almost all operational planning begins and ends with the budgeting process, and all budgets are derived from the sales forecast.
”Everything in life is a sales and everything you want is a commission.” – Grant Cardone Share on X
How many units can be sold during the period? And at what price?
The combination of these is what constitutes the ‘top-line’ revenue projection, and this number effectively dictates how the entire business will be planned and operated throughout the ensuing period.
rule of thumbIf you are not a sales person then you are sales support. That is, your role exists to support sales.
My Sales Motorcycle
No matter what you’re selling, every sale follows roughly the same pattern of steps.
To understand a sales cycle, you must understand the stages it’s comprised of.
Salespeople don’t always think in terms of stages of a sale as being different events, but, in fact, they are, and they’re all necessary to advance the process toward a sale.
"Most opportunities are disguised as problems." – Grant Cardone Share on X
Mastering each one of these stages is essential if you’re going to succeed in sales. If you’re weak in one or more areas, you might survive as a salesperson, but you won’t thrive.
rule of thumbSales cycle refers to the specific actions salespeople follow to close a new customer.
The Closing Stages For Dummies
Prospecting refers to the process of finding new potential customers.
Note that a prospect and lead are two different things, although they’re often used interchangeably.
A lead is a contact that hasn’t been qualified. Once qualified as being a potential sale, it becomes a prospect. So basically, prospecting is about finding leads, and then qualifying them to turn them into prospects.
When a lead is determined to be a good prospect, you can then enter them into your sales process or funnel.
The qualification stage is to confirm that your prospect is ready, willing, and able to buy your product before you spend a lot of time trying to pitch to him.
That means they have an interest in what you’re selling, they have the resources to buy it, and have authority to make the purchase.
The presentation is the core of every sales cycle, and it’s probably where you’ll invest the most preparation time.
Keep in mind that you’re not just selling your product, you’re selling how your product will solve your prospect’s problem.
You’re also selling yourself as a person to trust when it comes to finding a solution for your prospect. You represent your company, so appearance counts. Dress the part.
It can be worrisome to hear a prospect’s concerns; however, objections can actually be a positive sign because they mean that your prospect is interested in what you’re offering.
Prospects don’t ask questions or indicate concerns unless they’re considering buying.
Closing means you ask for the sale or whatever the next step in your process is.
Many people feel like asking for the sale is pushy, but it can be done without being obnoxious. If you’ve shown how your product or service is exactly what the prospect needs and have been helpful and friendly, getting the sale will be a logical next step.
There are a variety of closing techniques such as the assumptive close, question closing , and now-or-never closes.
Leading The Market
Do you know what your customers want?
Do you think your customers trust your products? When was the last time you saw a customer tweeting about your product or service? Was it a complaint or compliment?
The answers to all these questions lie in marketing. How you market your business determines if the enterprise will be successful or not.
"The heart of every successful business lies in marketing." Share on X
rule of thumbMarketing is one of the most important things a business can do.
Not only does marketing build brand awareness but it can also increase sales, grow businesses and engage customers.
What marketing really does? It is a process in which a service or a product is introduced and then promoted to any potential customers.
rule of thumbIf you don’t have proper marketing, you can offer the best products in your niche but no one would even hear of it.
So, without marketing, many companies would close because their sales would crash.
Everything is Social
The importance of social media in business is growing at warp speed.
With more and more people joining social media sites and using them regularly/efficiently, the social media industry is bound to become bigger in the coming years. It’s booming like never before.
Your business should take advantage of it if you want it to survive.
"I think the acquisition of consumers might be on the verge of being mapped. The battlefield is going to be retention and lifetime value.” – Gary Vaynerchuk Share on X
By giving your business brand the social media touch, you not only generate more business but also connect with your customers better and serve them on a higher level.
Your competition is already increasing on social media day by day, so don’t let your competitors take your probable customers. The earlier you start, the faster you see the growth in your business.
Why You Should Leverage Social Media
Social media is one of the most stress-free and profitable digital marketing platforms that can be used to increase your business visibility.
By applying a social media strategy, it will help you significantly increase your brand recognition.
By spending only a few hours per week, over 91% marketers claimed that their social marketing efforts greatly increased their brand visibility and heightened user experience.
For an advertising strategy, social media marketing is possibly the most cost-effective way.
Being cost-effective is important as it helps you attain a greater return on investment and hold a bigger budget for other marketing and business payments.
Just by investing a little money and time, you can significantly increase your conversion rates and ultimately get a return on investment on the money that you primarily invested.
Social media is a good way for engaging and interacting customers.
The more you communicate with the audience, the more chances you have of conversion.
Moreover, communication and engagement with customers is one the ways to win their attention and convey them your brand message.
Thus, your brand will reach more audience in real terms and gets itself established without any hassle.
By connecting with your customers through social media, you are more probable to upsurge customer retention and customer loyalty.
It is essential to often engage with your customers and start developing a bond with them.
Social media is not just limited to introducing your product, it is also a leading platform for promotional campaigns. A customer sees these platforms as service channels where they can directly communicate with the business.
Brand loyalty and customer satisfaction both play a major role, but it all comes down to communication.
When customers see your company posting on social media, it helps them build a positive image in their minds. Regularly interacting with your customers proves that you and your business care about them.
Once you get a few satisfied customers, who are vocal about their positive purchase experience, you can let the advertising be done for you by genuine customers who appreciated your product or service.
Hack My Growth
Growth hacking is the buzzword for businesses who aim to scale quickly.
In order to scale a business, it’s crucial for entrepreneurs to market their products effectively. There are many challenges down the road, however, scalability is possible with the best growth hacking strategies.
In their seminal book Hacking Growth, Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown define growth hacking as a rigorous approach to fueling rapid market growth through high-speed, cross-functional experimentation.
“The more information people put into the product, the more their commitment increases, through a concept called stored value.” – Sean Ellis Share on X
rule of thumbGrowth hacking is not only about customer acquisition but also about customer activation, retention, and monetization.
Growth hacking is an experiment-driven technique to determine the most effective ways of growing a business. The process involves a mix of marketing, development, design, engineering, data, and analytics.
The growth hacking process is built upon four pillars:
- Goal: how to drive revenue growth.
- Data: relies on access to both qualitative and quantitative data.
- Process: relies on an agile model, encourage experimentation, data-informed decision-making, and the pursuit towards constant improvement.
- Product: must be good enough to work.
Four Growth Hacks For Dummies
Referral Marketing
Referrals from friends, family or industry influencers relatively convert a lead much faster than other means. The CPA of referral customers is less, allowing you to cut down your costs too.
Build a Community
Social media is an essential part of the marketing mix for businesses. You can leverage social media communities to promote yourself, receive market feedback and interact with industry influencers.
Cash the Trends
Staying on top of trends is key to the success of your business. You can achieve accelerated results by staying abreast of the latest trends.
Content Marketing
Effective growth marketing strategies consist of an aggressive content marketing strategy that helps you focus on customer feedback and market your product with ease.
Final Thoughts
In the beginning, many entrepreneurs think they will start making money as soon as they open their doors. However, your business likely will not prosper into a million-dollar company overnight.
Growing a successful business takes time, dedication, and a lot of patience.
Customer acquisition is hard. Customer retention is even harder. But, retaining customers is key to business success.
Track the goals you accomplish. If you don’t meet a goal by the deadline, ask yourself what held you back and steps you can take to reach it.
Last but not least, to inspire your staff to do good work for you, find a way to express the organization’s impact on the lives of customers, clients — whomever you’re trying to serve.
Believe your message. Be sold on your offer.
If you don’t believe what you’re saying, your prospect won’t either. That’s why effective salespeople buy into what they’re offering. They’re genuinely convinced that it can help the prospect in a meaningful way.
Starting a business is hard work, and creating a successful business requires many sacrifices.
Some methods are better than others, some are scalable like growth hacking, and ideally they don’t require you doing manual labor to get more people attracted to your business.
With the right focus and determination, you can build up all the required skills, and reap the rewards.
Shout out your thoughts and comments below.
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