"Resident Sales Pro"

The number one reason companies fail – sales aren’t high enough.

Someone in your company has to be an expert at selling and have a system they teach others.

Who is that in your company?

Either get someone or get outside help – a consultant or trainer. 

Or read some books and make a sales system!

"The Spread"

If you own a business and have subscriber to Think Daily for some time, do you measure your “Spread”.  You should.

It’s cash + receivables – payables. 

Measure it the same time each month, and keep a chart of the four numbers.  It’s is very helpful in making decisions about money and the timing of your decisions – including making investments, borrowing money, and taking distributions.

My Spread charts go back many years and along with my financials it helps me fully understand how my company is performing.

Net Margin

Let’s say I sell something for a dollar, and make 5 cents net profit after all expenses are paid.

Here’s how I can double my profits – 

Sell twice as much.  That’s a no-brainer – but maybe not so easy.

What if I can lower my cost by 2 cents and raise my price by 3 cents?

Now I make 10 cents instead of 5 cents.  That means I have doubled the total net economic output of my business!

Even if I lose 10% of my customers because they are price-sensitive, I am still way ahead.

Is it that simple?

Ummmm – yes.

Average Sale

How can you get the customers who buy from you to buy more when they buy?

Offer other complimentary products/services…

Offer discounts on other things.

Offer discounts if they buy more of the same.

Offer financing.

Train your salespeople to be experts in selling other items.

Other

Other

Other…

How can you get the average sale up for your business?

Leaders build people. People build the business.

A leader only has 24 hours in a day.  No matter how important you are, you still only get 24 hours in a day.  In my School of Entrepreneurship, we have a saying – “You don’t scale”.  Working longer gets to its limit pretty quickly, and the rest of your life suffers.

The only way your business can scale is through other people.  Get a good team and teach them how to do their part to get great results with customers.  

Leaders build the team.  The team builds the business.

The CEO's job.

When an entrepreneur starts their business and has one employee, he/she is the Chief Executive Officer.

The CEO has a job that if done well, can propel the company forward.  If done poorly, it will hold the organization back, or even hurt it.

Here are the three key parts of the CEO’s job – Vision, Money, People.

Vision – What to do provide to whom?  How?  What makes you the provider of choice for customers?  What do you want to be when you grow up?  What does that look like?  What will you need to get there?

Money – What margin do you make on your product or service?  What are your costs?  Pricing?  Do you have enough money to get going?  How will you finance it along the way?  Do NOT run out of money!

People – Get the best people you can – and some people who have specialized knowledge you do not.  Culture.  Inspiration.  Training.  Acknowledgement and recognition.  Get the best team and keep them team together.

That’s the job.  For most entrepreneurs, they do not understand what their job is.  They think they are a salesperson or a manager or a technician, and never actually do the CEO’s job.  With this position left unfilled, they stagnate. 

Is the leader of your company doing the CEO’s job?

Legacy Projects

There are two kinds of work.  Work that will make tomorrow better and work that won’t.

I call work that will make tomorrow better “Legacy Projects”.

Talking to customers (in my case homeowners) is not legacy work for me.  There will always be more customers taking up your time.  That will never end.

Training someone else to get great results with homeowners is legacy work.  Making a training program for other trainers to use to train other people to get results with customers is even better.  Making sure my people have the resources (facilities that inspire productivity and cheer, vehicles, equipment, etc.) can be legacy work.

Positioning, getting smart people on my team, and permanently solving problems so they don’t reoccur is legacy work.

Busy work is always in abundance.  It’s not for me.  Only I can do the leadership job, and if I don’t do it well, nobody else will.

I try to focus on legacy work for as much of my day as possible.

You?

A Bias for Action

When you have a good idea, the speed of implementation matters.  

In my own business, there is no committee to explain it to, no approvals to secure, and nobody’s blessing to get.  (This is not a good thing if you have bad ideas or if you are a rookie).

Joe Polish says “Get off your ass and take action now before you talk yourself out of it” – or get distracted.

If I can get more good productive “legacy projects” done faster, I can get results, grow, and make progress and money faster.

(This doesn’t mean working longer and harder if you have a good team.)

(Some entrepreneurs are good starters, but not good finishers.  Beware. Who will finish this?)

STAND OUT!

Does your business stand out?

Is your business forgettable or memorable?

How?

How can you make people always remember you?

A players need attention

Most entrepreneurs are rebellious, independent, and unemployable.

A players however seek accountability, direction, clarity, goals, and recognition.

Freedom and independence are great for entrepreneurs, but to A players it is seen as neglect.

A scoreboard with their names at the top is nirvana for A players.

Do you treat your A players right?