How to build a successful business and still have a life...
In today's article, I will share with you the secret behind how entrepreneurs have created successful businesses whilst still having a life.
Happy New Week Everyone!
How do you build a successful business and still have a life? Here’s how… systems!
Having processes that are repeated, documented, and automated. Below are some pointers to help you create systems that will give you back your time.
The first system is positioning, how do you differentiate your brand? What is your unique selling point? Your first unique selling point is you as a founder or a co-founder, how you tell your story makes your brand different. Your processes, delivery style, innovations, history, and background enable you to be different.
Next is getting clear on your offering, how can you build trust and value with your audience? The aim is to make it an easy decision for your client or customer. Do not overcomplicate your offering. For example, as an agency, we offer a variety of services however, we can’t introduce ourselves with a long list of services as that’s just going to overwhelm the client. Show them what you can do with one service first then upsell your other services.
Asking the right questions, it is important to ask prospective clients the right questions in order to save your time and efforts. Create a list of questions that can help you qualify your prospective clients.
Here are some questions I ask:
What’s the business problem you’re seeking to solve?
Do you have a budget allocated for this project?
What are you currently doing to solve this problem?
What will happen if you don’t solve this problem?
When do they need this problem solved?
Ask questions to figure out their urgency and if they are a client you want/can work with.
Have a prospective pipeline and create an inbound channel. Inbound marketing is a form of outreach that attracts new customers to your brand through engaging, informative, and value-adding content. This can be web content, SEO, or social media marketing. Create a system and strategy for getting predictable leads. This system will put you in a position where you’re getting frequent enquiries. Go fishing where the fishes are.
You also need to have an outbound channel, a strategy for reaching out to a client you want to work with, and converting them to a paying client. This could be through a sales call, email marketing, etc. You want to systemise your pipeline so you can get leads in without having to send 10,000 emails a day or stress about creating content to get new business. You want this process to be seamless.
The system that will bring in the money is the sales system, how do you close deals? How do you get someone interested in your business to a paying customer? Make sure to document your process. Document how you demonstrate your value, track and nurture your leads, and onboard with enthusiasm. Businesses lose sales by not having a clear system and being unable to manage all leads that come their way.
The most important system is the delivery system, how do you deliver the result your clients want? Once you have the client, you have to make sure you did not sell them a dream, and you can actually solve their problem. Once you’re able to solve that problem, you have demonstrated your full value and can then start upselling and getting more business from them. If you can solve this problem for 1 person for £ then you have a working business.
Businesses that started in a bedroom and became a multibillion enterprise, did it through systemisation. Through systemisation you can put processes in place that can increase your customer base, free you from time-consuming tasks and give you your time back.
Have a great week everyone!