Why do we make excuses?
As with any business, you are in it to make money. After all money is what our world seems to revolve around. You can’t own a car, house, boat, pay insurance without it.
Since we need it, why do we make excuses for not going out and finding ways to make more?
Sales people and small businesses have very many similarities. In essence, a sales person is a small business owner. They are managing their account base and trying to make money not matter what company they work for and what industry. Small business owners are sales people because they are selling themselves everyday to somebody. So for the duration of this blog, let’s group them together and look at one of the biggest excuses and how to fix it.
So many times when talking to business owners the main excuse is it is slow. Definition of slow is to not move quickly, proceeding at a low speed. To solve this problem, the first thing you have to do is committing; commit to speeding things up to make it fast. After all you started a business for a reason. You were inspired at some point, whether it is because you were fed up with bosses, you wanted creative freedom, or simply thought that was the best way to provide for your family. Find that inspiration again and let’s take action! There is no reason to say it is slow again. Remove this word from your vocabulary forever.
The next thing to do is develop a plan of action. How do I make things faster? Well let’s think for a minute….we want money, people spend money so we need to find customers.
You should be honest with yourself or even go outside of yourself and have a trusted friend or family evaluate your business.
Do you have goals or a business plan? You can’t manage or predict the future unless you are measuring certain things.
Is my business neat and clean? Does it look rundown, cluttered, uninviting? Are you unorganized?
Staff? Are they tan, neat, friendly, TRAINED? Could they be running your customers off or preventing customers from coming in?
What is your competition doing? Do you even have a clue? Business owners should always stay on top of the latest going on’s around them.
How are you advertising? Are you even targeting the right people in the right way? You may be wasting efforts and valuable money in the wrong areas.
Am I diverse enough? Do I offer several products to appeal to multiple people? Should you upgrade equipment or switch up product mix? Never let things get stale.
I could go on and on and on but I think I have given you enough things to think about that you shouldn’t be slow ever again. Once you re-commit to making it work and start taking action, everything else will fall into place.
Now here is my sales pitch to you.
The best action you could take is to partner with us, Four Seasons. We have all the ideas, tools and people to help you get inspired and to help follow thru. Contact your sales rep and ask them what excuses they have used lately. While you are at it, ask them to help your with marketing, staff issues, and ideas on the hottest trends.
I promise you will be glad you did!
