What can I do to improve my business?

In speaking to a lot of people over the last couple of weeks, I’m noticing a paralysis setting in, and quite a bad one at that. A paralysis in the sense of not knowing what to do, or a feeling of well I’m doing everything but I’m not getting anywhere.

However when I start to ask a few pointed questions, the ‘everything’ seems to melt away fairly quickly. You see there are loads of things that can be done. Yes, I agree knowing which ones are the correct things to do is the key to success, and that’s where having somebody to show you what to do and how to do it is so critical.

So let me lay out a few pointers to think about:

A lot of people say to me, I’m doing Twitter, Facebook, advertising, LinkedIn, networking events… the list goes on, but they’re not getting any sales/business. All these are good things to do and are tools in your marketing toolbox. However, let me ask you – how many people did you ask for money this week? The thing is, a lot of people do all of these marketing things, in the hope that someday it will turn into business. ‘Hope’ is a very dangerous word in my dictionary. At some point, we have to ask people for the business. Now this might offend some people because they’re not salespersons. I’ll let you into a little secret – everybody is a salesperson. If you’re in business, you’re a salesperson. You’re selling every minute of the day, you may just not realise it. Now there’s a lot involved in selling and how to ask for the sale, but for now, if you’re struggling in your business right now, ask yourself – how many people did you ask for money this week? Not just attend events, or make loads of connections on LinkedIn – but genuinely ask for business. If you haven’t, start having conversations with people and ask them for their business.

What new things have you learned this month? There’s a saying that’s used in ‘management speak’ – “if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’re going to get what you’ve always got”. So what are you doing differently this month that you weren’t doing before? What new ways of getting business have you learned? Over the last year, I’ve spent an enormous amount of money on my own personal and business training – why, because I can give that knowledge to my clients as well as implement it into my own business. The way we do business is changing rapidly and if you haven’t any new ideas and the ability to keep up with the changes; well you know the rest of the sentence. So my challenge to you is what new thing are you going to learn this month and implement in your business?

I work on the basis that there’s only one economy. It’s not the economy that’s outside of us, where it’s controlled by other people. It’s the economy that we create, and what we have control over. If you’re on the side saying “Well my sales would be up if the Government did this” or “My sales are down because nobody is buying” – then you’re on what I call the ‘effect’ side of things. However, if you look at it from the point of “well I got that amount of sales this month, what can I do next month to double that figure” – now you’re on the ’cause’ side. You see when you’re on the cause side of things – you create your own economy, you have more power, you take responsibility for your own future, you stand out from the crowd and become a maverick, and you achieve a huge amount more. So my question to you is – which economy are you playing in?

To recap:

1. How many people did you ask for money this week?

2. What new thing are you going to learn this month?

3. Which economy are you playing in?