By
Steven L. Keough a.k.a. Coach Steve (MC², MBA)
Have you heard of the ladder of success right, so how do we go straight UP!
Learn how to master the eight steps on the ladder of business success! This will help you run your business more effectively and grow your business faster, plus you will have fun doing it too!
First understand why you are in business. A business is a commercial vehicle or enterprise setup up to make profits, and the profits generally make someone or a group wealthy. Ideally it should work without you in it otherwise it may not be sellable, as nobody wants to buy you. Without profits all there are is a hodge podge of people and actions, but nothing of value, so understanding the ladder of success and how to go straight up is pretty critical really. It's there to be a repeatable process that creates profits. A money making machine that prints money all day long.
You must learn to master the basic levels of business before you can ascend the ladder or ascend (rise) as a great and profitable business. And if you are in business you MUST be clearly focused on two main things: Marketing and Selling! Just like sports when you win it hurts a lot less, well in business, when you have sales from marketing efforts that work, nothing hurts as much.
Here's the bottom line, you business must produce the following, AND you need to know the numbers every step of this way. 1. You MUST have leads so your marketing better be creating responders. 2. Your conversion rates (turning prospects into customers) better be above average or you'll just be average. 3. You systems better keep your customers happy and your questions from them to a minimum (or you are wasting precious energy).4. The number of transactions you do is critical and you should always want to either be increasing that number of transactions, the amount of the transaction or better BOTH! 5. The average dollar sale, as I mentioned, either add on, catch a referral making it two sales or make the average number go up by adding on another item(s) 6. Total revenue for the company, which is either going up-good, going down - not good or staying the same - flat and not so good. 7. Margins on your products or services are critical and should also be healthy. I don't touch a thing that doesn't make me at least 30% and finally (but not least - it is priority 1) PROFIT and is something every business owner needs more of. These are the eight steps or rungs on your ladder that will ultimately make you profits and successful (not successful and profitable).
Setup a tracking mechanism at your business that monitors these eight items. Start with a month of baselining, where you determine what the norms are (or if seasonal - one season) and from there you plan how to increase all these items. If you succeeded at four you'd be doing great, but if you succeed at them all you'll be killing it. One does affect the other, so if you are having good results with one, the others should follow.
I gave you them in sort of an order, meaning that if number 1. above is improving, number 2. above should improve and all the way through number 8. However, not everyone is good at everything so some may be working and others may not be. Outsource the ones you are not so good at, that's what I do. The costs is in relationship to the AF factor. The aggravation factor because I may not enjoy to do one of the items. Outsourcing it (for a reasonable fee) gets it done with me "getting any of that on me."
Having been in sales and a sales trainer for so many years I actually like all the topics, but not everyone does. Hiring the expertise is also an option, but outsourcing is much cleaner, if they don't work out: next! With employees, you have all the drama and emotions and all - yuck!
In your planning sessions (weekly is best) ask yourself "With the business model I have now, how will I increase X" and go right through all eight factors. If you have clear answers, put those into action. No clear answers, or confusion either in your head or amongst team members, then it's back to the drawing board until you come up with a clear cut winning strategy for each item.
And I don't want to hear "I can't x." YES, you can, so knock off the crap and figure it out. "Those who have no vision will perish", it's in the bible, so have a vision of improvement and a critical eye for the best way possible to get these eight accomplished. In business, what else have you got? What else would you be spending your time on and is that a comfortable distraction?
If you are too comfortable, that could be the very reason you are where you are. There is no resting in business, you keep driving and driving, and you rest when you retire. Nobody needs an on the job retiree, especially if it is you. Others are watching your example. Model the best behavior in your organization to drive these eight critical business categories. Just do this...
1. Create a bigger number of leads or responders to marketing campaigns by making your ad copy compelling and creating emotion to buy 2. Raise your conversion rate by being diligent using a sales system such as our Octo-Gone 3. Turn one time customers into repeat buying clients by adding value and servicing the heck out of them ASAP 4. Increase the number of transactions by adding an upsell line item to every order or a second offer (if you buy 20 the second 10 are 50% off) 5. increase the average ticket price by raising your prices or suggesting the additional of a sister item for best results 6. Increase revenue by focusing on selling more and by driving marketing to create more and more responders 7. streamline your business so you retain more margin (by reducing your costs) and obsess on process improvement and finally 8. To increase profit raise prices, cut expenses, streamline operations or add a product or service line. That's my advice. If you need assistance, check out the offer below.
Finally, Ask your self two questions: 1. Who could buy a lot (think out of the box for this answer) and 2. Who could buy often (who would consume your stuff fast buy repeat rapidly) answering these two may solve the other eight.
To Your Greater Success!
Thanx…Coach Steve
A Unique Opportunity
A Unique Opportunity
How can we help with this? As you may know, I have set up a worldwide organization of coaches to assist people with the most persistent of challenges. These coaches have been hand picked by me, personally trained by myself as well and are held to the highest possible standards of delivery. You don’t have to go it alone and you don’t need to be ashamed or embarrassed about these challenges. We all face challenges! The question is “What will you do about it?” And we are here to help make sure you are Happier, Healthier and Financially FREE!
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So, here is an offer that we think even you would say “I’d have to be absolutely crazy not to take you up on this offer and solve this challenge in my life once and for all.
So what’s the lesson here? The lesson is you don’t have to tolerate this any longer! Please, learn from other people’s failures by leveraging their painful lessons to your advantage so you don’t have to endure this hardship for another second. You can avoid many of the common mistakes almost every single person makes by having a coach nearby to help you navigate life.
You are at a crossroad if you have read down this far. Don’t bail on yourself now. Take Action!
About Coach Steve
Steven L. Keough or Coach Steve as he prefers is the Founder & CEO of his coaching company Straight Forward Coaching, an Internationally recognized coaching enterprise. Coach Steve operates four very busy companies: of course Straight Forward Coaching, CoachingProducts.org (North America), CoachingProductsInternational.org (Overseas Operations and Non-English Speaking Products), and finally Business Coach Alliance for the training of coaches to be better certified coaches. Yes, we actually train many of the coaches that most organizations will hire.
Steve is also a multiple book Author (5 at this time), Handbook Author (24 at this time), Home Learning Course Creator (4 at this time), Speaker, Trainer and Master Certified Coach himself, a product of the product, and most proud to be a Coaching Curriculum Developer, changing thousands, if not millions, of lives for the better with his materials. He has coaches people for nearly two decades and has amassed over 20,000 hours of coaching individuals and businesses!
Certified in 12 different coaching distinctions, Coach Steve’s books are best-sellers and his materials have been translated into multiple languages and are available in over 100 countries!
Visit Coach Steve at www.stevekeough.com or call 1-888-341-Coach (2622).
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