Business owners have a million and one things that compete for their time. They do what they do – probably very well – but it’s only when a big project is completed, or delivery made, a solution completed/installed, they lift their head up, take a deep breath, and realise there’s nothing in the sales pipeline. Panic stations!! It’s then all hands to the pumps to get some more business –ANY business. The pressure is particularly intense when there are employees to pay. So, typically, Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) lurch from feast to famine and back again. This is the result of stop-go sales and marketing, without a planned and continually measured lead generation strategy. Business Growth and Development is the life blood of every firm, but even though we all know this obvious truth, most businesses are busy “working in” their business and have insufficient time or focus to “work on” their business.
Even when there is time available, it is not always clear exactly what should be done to take the business forward and where to focus efforts and resources necessary to build a healthy sales pipeline that continually delivers a manageable flow of orders and income. Without that, you can’t reliably and steadily grow your business (or even, in some cases, survive) so that you can achieve your goals.
It is a fundamental cornerstone of every business to have a clear sales and marketing plan, which creates new customers and improves relationships with existing clients. The reality is that most SME business owners don’t have a plan. They quite simply ‘shoe horn’ selling and marketing into any spare available time they have. And don’t even get me started on thinking more strategically!! The result is spikey and erratic revenue, over reliance on too few customers/clients and certainly an income that does not match the potential for the firm. Does that seem familiar? Is business growth important to you?
My advice to you is to STOP! Take time out to think about where the next orders or clients are going to come from. Not just in the immediate timeframe, but over the coming months and years. Do at least ONE THING every day that contributes to business development, or moves a potential customer (or prospect) one step nearer to buying from you. Yes, I know that may be difficult given your schedule, but the alternative is chaos and potentially going out of business. To make things easier, you could consider outsourcing what you can’t do, don’t want to do or lack skills/resource to execute. The list could be quite long and may include website optimisation/SEO (search engine optimisation), blogging, telemarketing, Email marketing, etc., etc. Don’t see sales and marketing as a cost, but an investment. As a rough guide, it is generally accepted that you need to invest around 15% to 20% of your target turnover in to business development in order to achieve it. So, It’s going to cost time, effort and money, but the compensation is obvious and enormous.
My Business Development Consultancy exists to help SMEs win more business and gain a competitive advantage. Our services are designed to smooth out the choppy income and revenue, win you more business, maximise your profit and help you achieve your business goals. We will help put you on a path to successful Business Growth and increasing you profits in a manageable, predictable way. We offer a flexible sales and marketing solution that is easily managed, both in cost and time, without having to commit to employing full or part time sales staff or entering into any long term consultancy contract. You purchase our services and time according to what suits you and your goals. Working with us is therefore low risk, and furthermore, we will regularly review the results we are getting and make course corrections to improve response and lower the cost of new business acquisition.