I ask this question a lot when someone tells me what they do and we are in a conversation strategizing around their business. There is usually a long pause, a giggle and a shaking of the head indicating they are working way too hard for the money coming in.
Sometimes, I’ll also ask, “What is your average monthly income?” Usually, there are lots of explanations as to why followed by a number that ends with a question mark.
The answer to the “So, are you making money with that” is YES. Or it should be!
You can make money with what you do in your business. If you’ve been an entrepreneur for some time, you know that “yes” is complicated. Most business owners would rather do what they love in their business rather than the business of doing business. If they could avoid all the “business stuff”, especially anything to do around sales and marketing, they would be So Happy!
There are so many times a business owner says to me, “I would rather hire you, LoriAnne, to do my sales.”
Now, there does come a time in your business growth where it’s necessary to develop a sales team but it’s premature for most businesses who are asking me that question.
Although, you just want to serve your clients, sell your products or build your team, ignoring or minimizing the sales and marketing pieces leaves you with very little in your bank account each month.
<<< If you have been in business for less than three years, what you do in your business will only account for about 30-40% of your time. >>
The rest needs to be around sales and marketing.
The mistake I see most business owners make is that they spend most of their time marketing and ignore asking for business. Your marketing and sales strategies are of equal importance.
If you can figure out the simplest way for your potential clients to find you, whether that’s networking, sponsoring, online or speaking, then I recommend you spend most of the business time selling at first.
As you build your business and there is consistent cash flow coming to your bank account, now would be the time to have a marketing and sales strategy that are in alignment with your industry and yourself.
Many business owners think they are selling when actually they are marketing.
Selling is a conversation in person, on the phone, online, or via text for the expressed purpose of closing business.
Marketing gets your potential clients to you while the direct conversation is asking for the business for the expressed purpose to make money.
That last sentence makes many business owners shudder because they equate making money as not serving their clients. If someone pays to work with me, it’s my responsibility to serve them at the highest level. Serving my clients at the highest level, it’s also my responsibility to charge my clients for the value I give them.
Those of you at the 6-figure mark and beyond, are now in a position to start building a team, systemizing your back-end and having strategies in your marketing and selling that grows your business quicker. No more throwing spaghetti up against a wall to see what sticks or chasing bright, shiny, new ways of doing business that are not systemized, nor monetized or make sense for you and your business.
At this point, you should know your conversions, how your lead generation happens consistently and how your money flows consistently.
What usually happens, there’s a mad dash to get to the $100K mark and when you get there the business looks messy.
I just spent about 4 months with a client shoring up the backend, changing the way the office manager handles first contact and moving clients to the next step so time is not wasted. We implemented an easy flow of servicing current clients and consistent lead generation to even out cash flow. Now we’re ready to make a huge leap in a new direction.
It’s important to keep your sales and marketing consistent.
It looks different at the beginning.
If you’re under $100K, keep your marketing simple and have as many sales conversations as possible to keep money flowing to your bank account.
Over a $100K, we’ll have numbers to work with and can now evaluate your strengths in this process to quickly build strategies for sales and marketing to grow even quicker.
The first $100K is the hardest to get. After that, with the right business model, marketing strategy and sales strategy, we can start tripling your money by growing even faster.
Let me know if you have questions.