Do you have a can do attitude or are you full of excuses?
There is one significant difference between the small business owners that I meet you are successful and those who just never make it.
Their attitude!
The successful ones have a can do attitude and will do whatever it takes to make their business a success. They are prepared to step out of their comfort zone and try new things in order to move forward. They are focused and wholly determined and don’t sit around dreaming all day about what they want, they consistently take action to move forward towards their goals.
On the other hand, I meet those who just stay stuck in the same spot. These are the people who want the world to deliver results on their doorstep. They sit and talk about what they want but are not prepared to leave the comfort of their home to really go out there and go after it. They have every excuse in the book and often live within the blame culture.
They put their lack of success down to a situation that happened in the past which had a detrimental effect on them or that they don’t have enough time to do what they need to do. But they have the same amount of hours in the day as everyone else on this planet and do they really believe that they are the only ones to have suffered a setback?
I fully understand that self-confidence may play a part here and a lack of self-confidence can be a hugely debilitating when running a business, but I am talking about those who want the easy option. It really is up to you to choose your attitude and get your business moving forward if you really want to.
Quit with making excuses and waiting for the right time. Just get off your backside and just do it or, JFDI as the saying goes, Just F****** Do It!
If not and you keep doing what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.
[Tweet “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.”]
Do you have the right attitude? Yes? Then great. If not, it is time to decide to stop dreaming, procrastinating and blaming and start some doing if you really want to be successful.
How many times each day do the same things crop up time and time again that cause your energy levels to drop, or your heart rate to rise, or a feeling of being uncomfortable engulf you?
This could be from walking into your office and seeing a pile of paperwork that needs sorting out or not knowing what needs doing next. It could be knowing that you could have to phone a particular client who you know is always difficult to deal with. Or it could just be going on social media and seeing someone who is always complaining and whose comments make you feel anxious or annoyed.
These things to others may seem trivial, but it is quite incredible what a detrimental impact they can have on you and your work.
It is about time to remove the drama and the stresses from your life once and for all and to attempt to only allow enjoyment and happiness into your day. Yes, this may seem idealistic but it is certainly a step in the right direction.
So what can you do to remove the drama and stress from your life?
Workspace stress
If it is your workspace that is getting you down, sort it out. Declutter your office, organise your files and get yourself a task planner or to-do list.
If it is the physical space itself that is getting you down such as your office not being big enough, or family walking through your home office, work externally. Either rent a hot desk for your work or if this is not practical, put a shed in your garden if there is space.
Stressful clients
If you have clients that you dread dealing with, get rid of them. Yes, you may need the income but the impact they have on you and your day may just not be worth it. The time taking putting off their call or meeting or dealing with the drama they create may be better spent finding an ideal client you can work with.
Those never-ending tasks!
If there are certain tasks that are not getting done but are clogging your headspace, block out a day for these and just get them done once and for all. Turn off all distractions and work on one at a time until complete. Or, if the particular task has been sat waiting to be done for months, how important is it really? Just delete it off your list or put on a wish list that you file away for when you are bored and have nothing else to do (haha!).
The energy drainer that is social media
As for social media, first, do a social media declutter. But what about your personal account. Take Facebook. It is amazing the detrimental effect it has on us reading other people’s negativity, anger and criticism. It subconsciously drags us down and can cause us feelings of unrest or anger ourselves. Get rid of these people from your friends list. Just delete them. But if this in itself scares you, just unfollow them. You can do this so that you remain friends but their posts will not show in your news feed.
Start to make a note of when you suddenly get that sinking feeling in your stomach, when you suddenly feel drained or the stress levels start to rise. Identify what has just made you feel like that and then do your best to eradicate the instigator from your life.
Remove the drama and I promise you that you will instantly feel better and you will regain your energy and zest for life.
We all spend so much time on our marketing and doing our utmost to gain new enquiries and turn these to clients. But how much time do you spend on past enquiries? Do you have any process in place for going back to those who haven’t yet bought from you and asking if they are still interested? Far too many small business owners don’t and it is one of the most effective ways of getting more customers.
These are warm leads that are right under your nose and could bring some much-needed income into your business.
[Tweet “Follow up past enquiries. These are warm leads right under your nose and could bring some much-needed income into your business”]
Just this week I met with a client in the wedding industry whose sales were a little slow. They were working every waking hour trying to drum up more business and came to me for marketing advice. I asked them how many enquiries they had had over the last six months and how many times they had contacted those that had not yet booked with them. They told me they didn’t have the time to do this and that they felt it was pointless as if these people were interested, they would have been in contact already.
Personally, I feel this is a very short sighted way of looking at things. Particularly in the wedding industry, and in many others, people will make enquiries to a number of suppliers before making a decision, and that decision can take a long time. It is the suppliers who keep in contact and make that extra bit of effort to make the potential client feel that they are valued that are likely to get the sale.
I managed to convince my client to humour me and take just a couple of hours the next day to call all past enquiries to ask if they had made a decision yet, and if not, did they have any questions or queries they would like to discuss.
I had a call to say that from just the first six past prospects called, 2 had booked my client for their wedding needs. Being a high ticket supplier, this has made a big difference to their bottom line.
So if you are serious about getting more customers, go back and look at your past enquiries. Try giving them a call to see if they are still interested in your product or service. Even if they have bought elsewhere, you can use the opportunity to ask what prompted their decision to go with an alternative source and if they are happy with their purchase. This will provide you with both valuable market research and it may just be that they are not happy and wish to switch to buy from you in the future.
You can also do this with past customers. Make sure you make the time to keep in contact with them and see if they wish to make an additional purchase. Please do not make the mistake that happened to me just this morning.
I phoned a health practitioner as I had not been for a while. I am a private patient so this is not a cheap service and I have spent a lot in the past. But when I phoned I was told that as they had not heard from me for a while they had deleted me from their system!!! What!!!
I was stunned. Customer service at its worst. Why on earth if they had not heard from me did they not send me a reminder via email? Or at least inform me that I would be deleted if I did not get in contact within a certain time. The result was that I hung up and booked myself in privately at another practice.
Continued customer contact is such a simple thing to do but so often overlooked. Set yourself up a simple system to act as a reminder to make future contact with everyone who either makes an enquiry or buys from you. You can get a free online CRM system which is easy to set up and can do this for you.
You never know how much potential income is just sat there waiting for the taking and how easy this method is for getting more customers.
A website is a key part of any business in today’s online society and should form an important part of your marketing strategy.
Consider just a few key points and use this checklist when planning a website to ensure it gets the end result you are aiming for.
Who is the website for?
Who is your chosen audience? Who do you want to attract? Don’t fall into the trap of trying to make your website attractive to everyone. It just won’t work. Think of your ideal customer and plan everything to attract just them. They are the ones who are most likely to become your future customers and spend money with you.
Aims and objectives
What is your USP? – Why will people use your site and not that of your competitor? What is it offering that others don’t? If there isn’t a clear differential then you really need to narrow down your niche target market and give them exactly what they want. It could simply come down to the ease of use and navigation or that the checkout process is easier.
Decide on content
What type of information will you be using and how will it be structured in terms of navigating through the site? Will you be using white papers, videos or infographics? Think about the different types of content that will be used and how they may link together.
Lead capture
Most small business when planning a website want to create more business and one of the best ways of doing this is to create a database from visitors. To turn your website visitors into contacts and future clients you need to capture their details by use of a sign up form. Make it clear and easy for them to sign up and offer an incentive in exchange for their details.
Comply with the law
When you collect information and data from visitors to your website, you need to comply with the law. Even if you don’t have a sign up form but use Google analytics or any other type of tracking, you need to comply with data protection laws and meet the criteria on the use of cookies.
Email accounts
How many email accounts are you going to need for your site? You may wish to have a generic info@ along with separate ones for existing clients or order queries. Check with your hosting company how many your plan includes to ensure you are able to have the ones you want.
Integrate social media
Think of your website and your social media accounts as a spider’s web all linking back to each other. Make sure people can link to your social media accounts from your website and vice versa.
Branding
Make sure your website ties in with the branding on all your other marketing material. The colouring and logo should be consistent across all your marketing mediums whether printed or online.
Personality
Make your site stand out with its own personality. This will depend upon your business aims and your target market but consider if you want your site to fun and funky or whether it should be more formal and serious.
Taking the time to think about the checklist above when planning a website can make the difference between it achieving what you want it to do or not.
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