Our work with hundreds of business owners has shown us that although every business and each business owner have their own unique qualities and quirks, the fact is: every business is faced with the same seven barriers to business growth.
Read through, identify what’s stopping you, and set actions to break through.
1. Not knowing your Ideal Customer
Not everyone is your customer. Focus on those that are qualified Ideal Customers. Those are people who not only “need” your product, but they “want” your product, and value it enough to pay for it.
Actions:
Ask yourself – of my existing customers, who fits these criteria?
Brainstorm the characteristics of these customers, including what it is they value most about your product. Here is a checklist of some questions to ask.
Where do they “hang out”? Online or In Real Life. Go there and meet them.
2. Ignoring your existing customers
Your existing customers are the “Diamonds in Your Backyard”. It costs 10 times more to get a new customer than it costs to retain an existing customer. Don’t let your existing customers drift away; nurture them.
Actions:
Call 3 current clients & ask what you can do to help them. Do this regularly.
Call 3 past clients to catch-up, share what’s happening. How might you help?
Write a thank you note every week and say “we appreciate your business”.
3. Chasing shiny objects
Business owners constantly have new and good ideas. Unfortunately chasing these shiny objects diverts your focus and attention from proven growth activities.
Actions:
Start a “Parking Lot” – a place to “park” your good ideas so you won’t lose them. They will be there when you’re ready. Revisit it regularly.
Identify all initiatives you’ve started & not finished. They are of no value until they’re finished. Schedule time to finish the top priority ideas only; those with the biggest return on investment of time. Put the rest in your Parking Lot.
Never stop having these really good ideas; some will become your future success. You simply don’t want them to divert your attention now.
4. Not documenting your processes
A business works well when its processes work well. When they don’t work and are not documented you are constantly reinventing the wheel, mistakes are made and it’s impossible to delegate work to others.
Actions:
Identify the processes you want to delegate, the ones that are prone to error and the ones that are done infrequently.
Select the first process to be documented & document it as you are doing it.
Don’t worry about format. It is not a literary work of art. Someone else can do that later.
5. Believing you can’t afford to hire someone to do some of your work
If you want to grow your business, you cannot afford to NOT hire someone to do some of your work; part-time or full-time.
Actions:
List all the tasks you do. Identify the ones you are good at, the ones you hate doing and the ones stopping you from doing things to grow your business.
Group the tasks you hate & the tasks that are stopping you. Identify how much time these tasks take & how often they need to be done.
Now you have the start of a job description. You can outsource for expertise locally or virtually, you can hire part-time, or you can delegate by project.
6. Ignoring your numbers
This is more than only financials. Numbers never lie; they tell a story. Don’t avoid the truth.
Actions:
Identify how many sales you made last year. What was the value of your average sale? What would it be if you increased each sale by 10%? This is often a forgotten way to increase revenue.
Identify the key numbers you want to track and set targets. Examples: revenue, number of networking events, number of proposals, expenses.
When your numbers fail to meet targets act immediately to correct the situation. Do not fall into the trap of assuming everything will be fine next month because it won’t! You must act now.
7. Not having the Business Owner Mindset
Do you have a job or are you building a business?
If you don’t see yourself as a Business Owner no one else will either.
Actions:
When you meet people introduce yourself as a business owner like this:
“I’m Mary. My company – Design Excellence – helps small business owners grow their business by designing websites to convert visitors to prospects.”
Not like this: “I’m Mary. I design websites for small business owners …”
Hang out with positive and successful business owners. Their positive attitude will infect you. You will be encouraged to present yourself as a business owner who is building a strong and sustainable business.
Remember business ownership is your career; constantly search for knowledge & wisdom from books, courses, and mentors.
