As January comes to a close, this doesn't mean that your 2012 goals and objectives have too! I'm here to encourage and support you to achieve your best business this year. Whether you are just starting out, growing your revenue or ready to move from managing to leading your business, you will find something here that will support you.

In fact, you can help too!  Share your strategies for achieving your 2012 goals and objectives with us here.  The first five to share their goals and strategies will get a shout out from me in our Business Booster Newsletter.

If you are looking for strong accountability to reach your 2012 goals, then why not sign up for our Business Booster Newsletter or come over to our Facebook Page!

Here's to 2012!
Deb

Are you great at knowing what you want to achieve, but not so good at actually pulling your goals out of your head and writing them down? You sorta know what you want to do, but aren't quite sure how to do it. 

Well I want to share with you a simple process that will make this a little easier for you.

First thing is to get clear on what your objectives are for 2012.  Then begin by making a list of the objectives you want to achieve this year.  Be specific and include time-frames for each one. So an example may be:

I want to increase my list size by 10,000 and before September 2012.

From here, the second thing you want to do, is ask yourself: 

a) What are my strategies for achieving these objectives? 

b) What type of programs/services will I be selling to reach my objectives?

Take time to list all of the different strategies you can take to achieve your objectives.  The clearer you are here, the easier the next step will be.  So an example may be:

To develop a value add free offer that will capture peoples names and contact addresses.

To produce high quality content to use in promotional activities

And the final step is to break your strategies down into actionable steps, that you can track.

Your Success Assignment:

Now you know what the steps are to pulling together your Objectives for 2012.  It's up to you to take the time now and write our your objectives (if you haven't done so already).  Make them real for you, and make sure that you feel excited about what you want to achieve. If you don't then you've got the wrong objectives, and I would encourage you to go back through and look at what the best ones are for YOU!

For more accountability, why not join the conversation here or our facebook page, and share with us your 2012 Objectives.

• 25% of respondents believe companies take their business for granted, while 10% think companies don't care about their business - a result that has more than doubled from a year ago.
• 73% of consumers are willing to spend more money with a company they believe provides excellent service.
• For those businesses that do deliver great service, consumers are willing to pay an average of 12% more, up from 8% last year.

1. How can I serve my clients better?
2. What do I need to do to provide extraordinary client satisfaction?
3. Do I really know what experience my clients receive when they decide to purchase from me?

Our mission is to support you in starting, growing and leading your business.  To do this, we provide you with the tools, strategies and knowledge that will help you get the edge in your industry.  Over the next few months, we have new programs coming out to support those of you who are new to business, as well as higher end programs for those of you who have been in business for a while and want more personalised business growth coaching.

The key foundations we’ve developed that run through
all parts of our coaching, focuses on FOUR Foundations: You, Your clients, Your offer, and Your message.

When you have these four foundations in place, your business is growing strong.

Although I would love to walk you through specifically what modules, key points, and measures form the basis of each of this foundations, we really don’t have the room here in today’s article, so what I am going to do is share with you some of the key snippets about the first foundation. 

The first of these foundations is: YOU!  And yes, mindset is very much a part of this foundation.  I’m going to say this as it is - it really doesn’t matter how educated you may be, if you don’t have the right mindset for business success, you will struggle to grow your business. 

There is more to the YOU than just a positive mindset – it’s also about how you think about work, what you do to structure your days, how you lead your business, and what you do to continually stay ahead of what is happening in the marketplace. 

The key point here is being clear on your work ethic. What actions do you do day in and day out that are building your business?

Growing a business takes time; it takes energy, focus and hard work. But it doesn’t need to be rocket science. You can grow your business by working smarter, not harder.  Be smart about how you build your business, don’t wipe yourself out or put those closest to you on the ‘back burner’, thinking they will be there when you reach your goal.  They may not! 

Another important point is to look at the activities within your business that you can outsource.  What is it that you don’t need to be doing, that you can outsource to someone else?  

Make a list of all the critical and non-critical tasks and then look at what competencies some-one needs to have to work on the non-critical tasks for you.  Once you're clear on what type of person you need, take time to either bring some-one in to do this work for you, or outsource it.  Remember that you can bring contractors in and out of your business on a project-by-project basis if you need to. 

It’s important to take time to detach from your work, and to nourish the people and activities that are important to you.  Using the excuse that you’re too busy to spend time with those who mean the most to you just doesn’t cut it.  I see it all too often, in fact I’ve done it myself, and it makes having a successful business very hollow.

Another key point is take time to detach each day from your business. 

What can you do at the end of the day, that will allow you to detach from your business?  Make a list of the things you can do and work your way through this list – have some serious fun!

Finally, I would like to leave you this final key point, which is to have a vision for your business that is bigger than you!

I would love to hear back from you, about what you believe also sits under the YOU foundation.  As mentioned earlier, our aim is to support you as much as we can, so please let us know what else you need from us.

“It’s just too expensive!”  What’s your response when you hear this from a customer? 

Do you back pedal and try to justify your price?  Do you immediately offer a discount? Or do you realise that you’ve obviously not explained the true value of your service or product? 

Yes, there are always those customers who for them, price is an issue and no matter what, they are looking for the cheapest cost for the service they need.  That’s okay, and it's a normal part of doing business. Let these clients go through to the keeper, don’t try and convert them, because ultimately it is not worth your time.  It will just be their loss in the long run.

But there are a majority of customers where price isn’t their deciding factor, value is!

So the next time a customer says that you are too expensive, consider the following.  Have you explained to them the real value of your service and/or product? Have you taken the time to speak to them about the benefits and results you deliver, or have you simply provided them with only  the price of your services?

There are many motivators that make people buy, and the main four include, making more money, saving money, saving time, and avoiding effort.  It’s important that as part of your process of educating your customers about the value of your service and products, that you are clear as to which of these motivators fit within your results. 

Here are some strategies you can put in place to further explain your value:

• Put together a sales process for all new potential customers.  This doesn’t need to be a ‘hard’ sales process, it needs to a system that works for you and your business model.
• Provide them with more than just a price.  Firstly, take the time to find out about their struggles, their concerns and their business. Understand what is happening for them by asking open-ended questions and then listen!  Listen to the words they are saying as well as the tonality of their voice.
• Speak about the value you provide.  Don’t rush this process!  This really needs to be about them buying your services rather than you selling.  Take the time to demonstrate either through examples of what you have achieved with past customers, or by linking their current challenges back to the solutions you provide. 

When you take time to find out more about what is happening for your customers, and speak directly about the value you add, you remove the price point.  Without knowing it, you begin at this point to increase the trust factor,  strengthen the relationship and customers will choose to work with you. 

Is there something specific you do to demonstrate the value your services or products add - if so, share with us here.