Get Your Business in Gear for the End of the Year

Regardless of what kind of business you run or what type of work you do, the end of the year is a wonderful opportunity to close the current year and set into motion your plans for the coming year. This process is actually critical to your success - if you're serious about growth and moving your business forward.

This Week with Sara Fitts looks at the necessary ways to get your business in gear for the end of the year.

• Review your business plan and your marketing plan. What worked? What worked well? What didn't work? What surprised you most? What do you want to replicate for next year? What is most important to focus on in 2007?
• Assess your results with brutal honesty. What do you need to do to improve your overall business in 2007? What systems must be in place in order to make these improvements happen? What do you need more of? What do you need less of? How will you make these improvements happen?
• Be willing to make necessary changes in order to get better results. Who do you need to be in order to be more successful? What do you need to do to sell more products and services? What has held you back? Will you refuse to become stagnant? Will you make the changes your business needs you to make?
• Be specific when planning 2007. How much growth do you want to experience? Do you want to increase production by 15% or by 50%? Do you want to increase sales by $100 per sale or by $5000 per month? It really doesn't matter what numbers you use as long as they are realistic for your business and your market.
• Think outside the box. If you continue to do the same old things, you will continue to get the same old results. If these are the results you want, great! If they are not at all the results you want, you must make the necessary changes in order to get the results you want.

Get your business in gear for the end of the year! You'll be even more ready for 2007!

Ways to Keep the Customers You Have

Following up from yesterday's post, I'm going deeper into some ways to keep the customers you already have. It pays huge dividends to keep your customers - because it is almost always less costly than getting new ones. And, your current customers will likely bring you additional customers with their "word of mouth" marketing of you and your company.

Ways to keep the customers you have:

• Showing your appreciation of each customer. This can be in the form of hand-written notes, holiday cards, a personal thank you note, a phone call from the owner or president, a gift basket or gift card, or even a logo-crested item that advertises your own product or services. Regardless of what it is, appreciation goes a long way to sustain a relationship.
• Invite your customers to lunch. If your customer base is primarily local, you can invite them to your office for a major customer appreciation catered event and really play it up. You can have tours of your facility, introduce your staff, and make an event of it. You can make it an annual event - and really use it to springboard new products and services.
• Invite your customers to a workshop or seminar. It doesn't even have to be related to your products or services. The workshop can be on time managment, New Year's resolutions, or anything motivational and uplifting.
• Publish a company newsletter. Use this as a marketing tool in addition to making it newsworthy. It can be done as a traditional newsletter or as an ezine. As long as it keeps you connected to your customers, it should work for you.
• Fix any and all problems as soon as possible. While the customer may not always be right, the problems should always be fixed - if you want to keep the customer who has the complaint.
• Make yourself available. Return calls in a timely manner. Address issues that arise. Never close your door on a customer - unless you don't want them back.
• Initially be selective when seeking customers - and then it becomes 100% easier to want to keep them!

How to Increase Your Bottom Line

This Week with Sara Fitts looks at how to increase your bottom line by increasing sales and growing your business - any business, actually. I see these as basic fundamentals of business growth.

1. Keep the customers or clients you have. Customer service is extremely important in growing your business. By keeping the customers you already have, it becomes much easier to attract others. Your base should be held in the highest regard and never taken for granted. Reward your customers for their loyalty to you, and you'll have them for as long as you're in business.
2. Attract new customers or clients. Marketing should be an on-going activity that keeps your name in front of your target market at all times. Marketing is not an activity that should be "done" when sales are down. Marketing won't attract customers without follow-up. Attract new customers by following up on every marketing campaign. Follow-up is fundamental - but often lacking. Follow up on all leads and prospects. Increase your base.
3. Add to the average sale. Fast food restaurants do this extremely well with their value and combo meals. This is a strategy that I think can work in any business. Bundle your services or products for a bigger and better sale. Add value to every single sale for the sake of the customer as well as for the sake of the business.
4. Increase repeat business for every customer. This may mean an increase in research and development of new product offerings and services. This also means that you must stay on the cutting edge of your industry in order to increase your bottom line. Take the average time for repeat sales, and cut it in half. When you think about that, you've already doubled your revenue.
5. Refuse to accept all prospects as customers or clients. We all know who we need to get rid of - but we often don't because we feel we need their money. But the reality of the situation is that the worst customers or clients actually zap the life out of the business because we become drained by the aggravation they bring. If we refuse to accept poor candidates for our products and services, we then are more energized to go out and find the very best customers and clients. Be more selective, and you'll automatically increase your bottom line.
6. Remain positive, stay focused, and never give up. Growing your business will almost always take longer than you want it to, but never give up. Have a plan and keep working that plan.

An Invitation to Manage Your Time & Stress for the Holidays

This is an invitation from Sara Fitts to Manage Your Time & Reduce Your Stress for the Holidays.

I'll show you 12 ways to have more time and less stress - and enjoy the holidays so much more.

If you have an hour, I have the solution.

Join me for a 1-hour teleclass on Wednesday, December 6 @ 12 noon (EST). The tuition for this one-hour class is $45 (USD) - payable by debit or credit card. This class is limited to 20 people - so reserve your spot right now by emailing thecoach@SLFConsulting.com to register. Please include your name and telephone number in your email.

After you register, you will receive an email confirmation with payment details and call instructions.

I hope you'll join me!