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What's
the difference between
successful businesses and struggling businesses?
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by: Jane
Hendry
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Copyright
2005 Attractioneering
Have you ever noticed how some businesses seem to do extremely well,
and go from strength to strength, whilst the majority just seem to
muddle along?
Since starting my own business I've met many small business owners and
what I've noticed is that the vast majority of them seem to just about
get by, but few reach the level of success that they're actually
capable of. Some of them end up failing altogether, some lurch from
project to project, and some do OK, but never really achieve the
success or lifestyle they envisioned when they started their business.
On the other hand, I know a handful of extremely successful service
business owners, who are making high 6 and 7 figure incomes every year
(and rising) - and yet they don't work longer hours, their products and
services are not magnitudes better than their competitors and they
aren't geniuses!
So what is the difference between the successful businesses and the
struggling businesses?
In a word: Marketing
Whilst there can be other factors that affect the ability of a business
or practice to be successful, such as the economy, trends, cashflow and
product/service quality or innovation, the number one difference
between successful high-flying businesses and their struggling
counterparts is good marketing.
Here is the lament of one survey respondent which is typical of the
angst felt by service business owners who know they do a good job, but
who don't understand why they don't have a queue of clients at their
door:
"We know our products and services are good - we get great feedback
from those clients we've worked with - but we still have trouble
getting potential customers to buy in. Our services offer real benefits
to clients but we are not as successful as we should be when we see
what other companies offer (not as much) and yet are still very
successful."
If you offer a quality service or product that produces great results
for your customers or clients, and yet you're still struggling to get
all the clients that you want or need, or to charge the fees you
deserve, you probably have a marketing problem.
What do highly successful business owners do that others do not?
The first thing that they do is to realise that their primary objective
is to build their practice or client base. In the words of Michael
Gerber (who wrote The E-myth) they "work ON their businesses, not IN
their businesses". What this involves is making the time to work on the
business - in particular on marketing and product or service
development, rather than spending all of their time handling clients,
delivering services and dealing with administration.
They also look for areas where they can gain "leverage". Simply put,
this means gaining maximum return for every hour they work. Instead of
trading hours for pounds or dollars, they find ways to do the work once
and get paid for it many times. They find ways to market their services
one to many, instead of one to one (thus reducing marketing and sales
effort and time). They delegate those activities which take up a lot of
time (but which don't add much value in terms of moving the business
forward) or which they are not skilled in such as admin, accounting,
website maintenance and copywriting.
They also develop a success mindset, understand their strengths and
weaknesses, take risks, innovate, hang out with other successful people
and build a support network around themselves.
But above all, they learn how to market their businesses and create a
marketing system that keeps a steady stream of prospects knocking at
the door, without taking up all of their time!
About the author:
Jane Hendry helps professionals, consultants and coaches to create
marketing systems that easily and consistently attract their ideal
clients. To get your f*ree Attraction Marketing Starter Kit please
visit http://www.attractioneers.com
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