How to Grow Your Business

Let’s get real, this is an article not a book, so my goal is just to get you thinking about how you grow your business. So the expectations are on the table for what you’re getting here, I’m getting your wheels turning on growing your business.

Your objections to using a system.

You’re growing as fast as you need to right now, you’re not good at following a system, it will be to much work, etc. These are all valid objections, and I’ve been in your shoes.

Think about this for a minute. How do you go about brushing your teeth? You may do something similar to what I do. I wet the tooth brush, apply the toothpaste, brush my teeth, rinse the tooth brush off, and rinse my mouth. This is the system I follow 2-3 times per day without even thinking about it.

It’s the steps you take to complete the task of brushing your teeth. A business growth system does a very similar task. And if your business is growing as fast as you need it too, do you know how and why it’s growing the way it is? Remember, without hard work, the reward is typically not worthwhile. Didn’t your Mom tell you nothing good ever comes easy?

So what is a business growth system?

A system is a set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole. So the business system I’m discussing is the connected parts to form an overall approach to growing your business. You will see me use system and process interchangeably throughout this article, FYI.

There are four core disciplines that form the basis of this system.

1. Attraction: Getting new prospects.
2. Conversion: Converting prospects into paying clients.
3. Expansion: Expanding existing client relationships.
4. Execution: Your people plan to execute small business growth.

As you look at these four core disciplines you’re probably thinking that it’s to simple. The basic outline of the system should be simple. The steps within the system should also be simple, and easy to understand. You want the system to be as intuitive as possible.

The basic flow of the system is Attraction of a target suspect to your company by one of your marketing channels. When the target suspect decides they would like to talk to you about doing business they qualify as a prospect.

This is where your Conversion process takes over. These are the steps that help determine if the things your prospect is looking for help with are things that you are good at helping with. Your goal in Conversion is to determine a “Best Fit” for both you and your prospect.

When the prospect becomes a paying client, your Expansion process will kick in. Your Expansion process is where you expand the relationship with your new client. This part of the system will help keep you focused on delivering on the expectations of both parties. You will also move to what I refer to as the Trusted Advisor role in your clients eyes, but more on this some other time.

As the business owner you’re always paying attention to the Execution process. This means that you always have your radar on for your ideal employee. In order for your system to be effective you must have gone through the process of deciding what characteristics, skills, experience, and beliefs your ideal candidate has.

So why would you use a system?

The biggest reason to use a system is that it allows you to audit your actions against your results. You can look at what you are doing to attract new prospects, and measure it against the system. So for example, the three steps within attraction are using the right message to attract the right target audience using the right marketing channels.

If you’re not getting the number of prospects into your pipeline that you need to achieve your goals, you can look at each step in attraction. Since you have three elements involved in attraction, you can start to ask yourself some questions.

1. Do you have the right message?
2. Do you know the biggest problem(s) your target audience faces?
3. Do you use the right marketing channels to reach your target audience?

The use of a system allows you to audit your actions, your results, and gives you the ability to systematically make adjustments.

So what now?

Are you happy with the current results you’re achieving? Do you have a current system in place in each of the four core disciplines that effectively allow you to audit what’s working and what’s not in your business?

If not, consider using the four core disciplines that I have outlined here as your starting point. Then ask yourself this question as it relates to each core discipline, “What are we doing to improve (fill in the blank). Example, what are you doing to improve attracting new prospects to your company?

This is your first step in creating a more effective business growth system to achieve your professional and personal goals.

Now go and take action.