Only For The Bold

For those businesses that use the calendar year as their fiscal year, it is time to wrap your minds around your budget for the upcoming year.

Here is a challenge for you to chew on.  What would it take to double your revenue in 2014?

Now, if you say it can’t be done, then you’re right.  But, if you ask yourself “what would we have to do in order to double our business?”, then you are at least open to the possibility.

If you are going to double your revenue in 2014, determine your average annual revenue per customer.  You can attempt to double the number of customers you currently serve or double the annual revenue per customer or some combination thereof.  Some questions to ask yourself are:

a) how do I get more and better leads?

b) how do I improve our lead to customer conversion rate?

c) can we increase the number of transactions per customer?

d) can we increase the amount spent per customer transaction?

Here is a perspective that you can use in your planning activity:

1) Do more of some things

2) Do less of some things

3) Do some new things

4) Stop doing some things altogether

Let’s get started by looking at the top 20% of your client base.  Chances are that these customers account for 80% of your revenue.  Are there additional services or products that you currently offer that these customers would purchase from you?  If they are also focused upon growth, will the frequency of their purchases be increased?  Will they pay more for the existing products and services that they purchase from you?

Are there some customers that should receive fewer services from you?  Are there services that you provide for which you are not adequately reimbursed?

Who are the targeted companies that you should be approaching?  What new products or services can you add to your offering that are complementary to your current offering?  Is your current business plan in need of being revised?

Let’s go back to that 80/20 analysis of your customer base.  Which companies are candidates for pruning from your customer base?  Do you have any products or services that should likewise be expunged?

I’d encourage you to spend some time asking yourself how the business could be doubled rather than simply accepting that you can’t do it.  There will be smiles all around even if you only lift the business by 50%!

What Will You Do Differently Next Year?

For those whose fiscal year follows the calendar, a new year beckons.

Will you be entering the new business cycle with a “steady as she goes” attitude or do you recognize that more of the same might, in fact, be a risky approach?  It could well be that you are coming to the close of a strong year and your focus might easily be “how do we maintain our momentum?”  But, how strong has your year really been?  You can certainly compare your current results against the prior year and state unequivocally that the numbers are up (if in fact they are).  But a more relevant comparison would be how you are doing against your competitors.  Is it possible that your competitors are enjoying an even better year than you are and consequently, you are actually slipping behind?  Of course it’s possible, but how would you know if that has been happening?

When you get fully absorbed in running your business, it is very easy to remain in technician mode. You just keep “working in your business”.  If you are not careful, you can lose sight of what is going on around you.  You might think that all is well with your customer base, but how do you actually know that is the case? Could it be that your presumptions are based upon the old adage that “no news is good news”?

In the absence of certainty, why don’t you build a scenario in which you assume that the competition is out flanking you.  Rather that adopting an attitude of laissez faire, why don’t you assume that your current strategy could stand some revisiting?  Perhaps you might challenge yourself by making your strategy more “ruggedized”.

The author Seth Godin suggests that playing it safe is the riskier approach to running your business.  Now, please recognize that I’m not suggesting that strengthening your strategy means a wholesale change to your current business model.  But, I am suggesting that the status quo is a dangerous place to be.

Why don’t you decide that 2014 will be the year that you determine what actions can be taken to be different in a meaningful way to your customer base?

BIZBUZZ – S. Godin, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

This is episode 1 of my version of BIZBUZZ.  I stimulate conversations that challenge business owners to consider new possibilities and to act boldly.

This video highlights some of my selections of the most significant comments made by Seth Godin in his book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.

Hi, I’m Gary Brown a FocalPoint business coach.

Welcome to BIZBUZZ.  This is my attempt to help you generate some buzz in your business.

I’ve chosen to comment on Seth Godin’s book entitled Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

I really enjoyed reading this book and I found a number of very thought provoking ideas and suggestions.

I’d like to comment on three of them.

The first is the overall emphasis on differentiation.  Godin says this OUT LOUD when he claims that the opposite of remarkable is very good.  This bears repeating … the opposite of remarkable is very good!  If you think of a scale that has remarkable at one end and say, mediocre on the other end, how many of us would have placed our business on the wrong side of very good?

My second take-away is that it is safer to be risky than to play it safe.  In a crowded marketplace, Seth Godin suggests that playing it safe, or fitting in, frequently leads to failure.  Are we prepared to exchange safety for riskiness?

Finally, my third choice is the suggestion that your marketing message needs to be targeted towards the innovators and early adopters in the marketplace for your product or service.  Godin describes your message as an ‘ideavirus’ and your task is to find the early adopters who are most likely to ‘sneeze’ your message onwards.  Consequently, he strongly suggests that you avoid a marketing message that is aimed at the general marketplace.  It’s a waste of your resources.

That’s it for the Purple Cow and for me.

Let me know if this produces any insights for you.