Are you focussing on the right things at work?

Through the use of technology, the blend of social media and work and our ever shortening attention span, we tend to jump from one task to another all day long. This has actually proved to be counter productive and unlike the robot in the picture, we are no longer on top of things.

So set out clearly what the objectives are for your business or department (see my previous blog on business planning) and start planning them into your daily and weekly workload. Do this with both exciting tasks but also those things you always put off. It will stop you from having "dead" moments where it feels OK to go on Facebook for a while. It will also make sure that instead of coming up with yet another way to market your company or to monitor your staff, you stick with those activities you are already started and actually see them through properly.

Focus on few things at a time and do them well. What is also important is to set yourself targets for each of your activities, what is the outcome you have in mind? Make it as tangible and realistic as possible. Do this for yourself and if you have any, also your staff. That way you can celebrate success when you or they achieve it and tweak things that are not working.

Good luck with putting this in practise and as always do please let me have your comments on the blog and requests for new topics.

How to get more leads

Seeing as this is the number one issue the small businesses I provide coaching and consulting for face, I thought it might warrant a blog entry! Especially if you are trying to grow the size of your business, or your existing customers are not returning or spending often enough, then this is for you.

Brand new or existing clients
Whenever possible, always try to sell more to your existing clients first. Everyone knows that it takes more time, money and effort to get brand new customers. So if you can, up sell or cross sell. Up selling is where you sell more of the same product or service, cross selling is where you sell a new product or service to an existing customer. Do your customers know about ALL of the products you provide? Nine times out of ten in the businesses I visit that is not the case. So start making them aware of all the things you do.


Direct sales activity
Call, write or e-mail to your prospects. If you don't the time or the inclination to do it yourself, get an agency, a member of staff, a freelancer or apprentice to do it for you. You will most likely still have to do the sales meeting yourself, but the legwork is not something you have to yourself. Likewise if you hate cold calling, there are plenty of agencies that will do that for you.



Marketing
Marketing is a huge subject that warrants some proper thought. Before you start any activity in this area, have a think first who your prospects are, where they spend their time and who with. Where or who do they get the information from that forms their buying decision? Then target them where they will be. This is equally valid for consumers (B2C) as it is for business customers (B2B).

Will it get me leads?
Marketing activities vary widely of course from social media, to advertising, your website, flyers and much more. Whatever you do, don't expect that marketing on its own will get you lots of leads. You will usually need to follow up with sales activity. The only exception possibly is the retail sector which tends to spend a lot of time and money on marketing. Tesco don't personally call you to invite you to their shop. But they do have lots of calls to action, vouchers for you to spend, promotions they run etc. Similarly on e-commerce sites there will plenty of buttons to say "buy here" "order now".

In conclusion
So have a think what calls to action you can put out there to create leads. This is not always about price, it can be many other things too. Use your imagination! Most of all, be consistent and persistent in your efforts. Good luck and let me know how you get on.

As always, I do appreciate your feedback and comments on this blog. Any topics you would like to see here, do let me know!