If you’ve been sitting up reading too many articles that promise a gazillion social media followers but it isn’t helping you with sales, I’ve got just the article for you. I’m going to dive into a three often forgotten areas of small business that can help you boost sales.
These tips work even if you HATE the idea of selling!
Create a 1 page plan
Do you know why those “Find 100k followers in 10 hours” catch your attention?
It’s because no one told you that you’d need a marketing and sales plan for your business.
Students attend my entrepreneurship sessions and often share that marketing and sales are the hardest part of their business. They would rather be “doing” the work of the business. Few people get jazzed about working on their business.
Trust me. I get it. If I have an upcoming workshop or speaking event, I’m in planning heaven. I’m thinking about games that the audience can play. Working on stories I’ll share. Or just overall working and re-working my content. I want to ensure when I step on stage that everything flows well.
But if I don’t spend any time on my marketing, I’ve missed a MAJOR opportunity.
For example:
- How am I going to tell my community about this event?
- What pre-event information do I share?
- What post event recaps do I offer?
- How do I let prospects and new clients know that I can speak on a particular topic?
If I don’t spend time planning this out in my business, it will be a lonnnnng time before my next opportunity.
So take some time this week. Spend an hour and plan out your marketing. Think about how much time and money you will need to spend on:
- Face to Face marketing – ie. networking events, word of mouth
- Email marketing – ie. reaching out to former clients or email newsletters
- Online marketing – ie. social media
And what goals do you have for these methods? How many people do you want to connect with? What will people do once they learn about your business?
Because no one is going to pick up the phone and just call you with a 100k order. You have to be intentional and create a plan. Far too often, small businesses lean on on “stick to the wall” marketing. You try a few methods and pray that they work.
So stop the madness and start creating basic plans. I have a 1 page business plan that can get you started. But there are hundreds of options that can give you the quick and dirty to get you moving forward.
Have your plan crushed by trusted coach or advisor
Ever heard the joke, “Man plans and God laughs”? That laugh is really painful when you are running a business.
So find a trusted mentor or coach who can review your plans…and rip them to shreds.
- Have them poke holes in your ideas
- Get feedback on what they have done which worked and also wasn’t successful
- Get insights into your pricing and overall business models
- Use their prior experience and determine what you forgot or where you might need to spend more money.
A student asked me recently to read her business plan. She wanted feedback on the overall plan especially the industry research and her sales plan.
But, I refused to read it.
Normally, I’m extremely open to reviewing plans. But I knew she was super skilled at writing, researching and planning. So her plan would look good on the surface.
But I also knew until she starts actively selling – she would be slightly off in her marketing and sales projections. It always takes more time than you anticipate to land a full roster of clients when you are lacking referrals, testimonials and other tools that make it easier to land recurring revenue.
So I suggested that she roll up her sleeves and get started selling. Make mistakes with the sales process. Learn exactly what clients wanted to pay for. Adjust her marketing to better fill their needs.
Yesssss much more painful than writing the business. But after years reviewing business plans, I know that the initial launch stage can be one of the most misleading times in the life of an entrepreneur. You haven’t had your ideas crushed yet. So your numbers are just “guesstimates”.
Mind you, I go through this process with my own coaches and mentors. I have been called the “entrepreneur dream crusher”. LOL. But that’s because I’ve had my own dreams crushed a few times and understand what might be around the corner for many who have similar business models to mine.
So don’t be afraid to get that feedback. It can save you HOURS and valuable DOLLARS if you are open to it. If you are interested, feel free to reach out to me for a free discovery call to see if I might be able to help you review your plan.
Find a A+ accountability group
Yes, it can be darn lonely out there when you are running your business. If you don’t have a host of other entrepreneurial friends, you can feel slightly crazy when you are trying to juggle the growth of the business.
So stop trying to figure it out by yourself. Ask a small group of peers to meet on a semi-regular basisa and watch how your business starts growing.
I’ve been blessed to participate in these type of groups a number of times. It truly is rewarding.
For example, I was recently able to be totally transparent about a marketing challenge. Yes, I was struggling with the technical details. But the truth of the matter was that it was rooted emotionally in how I perceived the situation. Once I was able to be completely honest with the group, I realized how silly it was for me to operate in this manner. And yes, I happily surmounted the challenge.
Mind you, I could have easily been dealing with it for many months. And it would have literally cost me time and money.
So consider the power of forming a small group of like-minded peers. A few recommendations:
- Keep the group size small when you start. Five and under makes it easier to schedule
- Ensure that the group will keep conversations confidential and that you are all invested in the overall good for everyone to grow
- Start out with people from different industries.
- Don’t try to keep the group going for more than 90 days. Schedules start to change. So set an initial schedule for the first two months and be open to disbanding after 90 days.
