"Cha-Ching" - Cranking Up Results
Program Description
Cha-ching. Aaah, that beautiful, yet sometimes elusive, ring of a positive cash
flow. You might wonder though where should you focus to crank up results? What
type of people do you need on your team? How do you create a unique place and
space in the market - a place where prospects will not only give you the time of
day, but also become customers who show you the money? Punch the following 3
keys and get ready to rock!
Key 1 - "Dirty Fingers and Big Eyes" - Manage and Lead
You don't get rich with your fingers on every transaction, every customer order,
every employee issue - managing all the details. You do get burned out though!
You also don't get rich being an allusive, reclusive "strategic thinker" who
spends all their time meditating and theorizing a winning business approach.
Reality will set in on Monday morning when you get the cold-water of day-to-day
business operations splashed in your face! OK then, what does it take? Simply
put - dirty fingers and big eyes! Knowing where and when to manage - digging
into your business trench. Knowing where and when to lead - stepping away,
guiding the big picture while simultaneously driving results. Some quick
pointers:
- Reduce it down to stir it up - There is too
much information coming at us to focus on the goal. You need to keep it
simple. Develop a one-page business plan, a one sentence Unique Value
Proposition, five key priorities you will accomplish this quarter. Impossible,
you say. Buy Kraig Kremers "CEO Tools" and for $29.95 you'll get ready-made
forms and a CD to focus yourself and your business (no - I'm not getting a
commission on sales of these books!).
- Provide support, not crutches - There's
comfort in a full plate of problems. Sounds crazy, doesn't it. Just watch the
average manager's day - problem, solve; problem, solve; problem, solve.
Employees throw hand grenades, managers solve away. Stop being a "problem
solving crutch" so you can lead your growth. Reverse these grenades by asking
employees, "What do you think we should do? What are your potential
solutions?"
- Remember, total sanity is over-rated - Want
to know the biggest obstacle to growing cash flow? Doing business the same way
you did yesterday. Being totally safe. Being totally sane. Progress requires
risk. Risk is uncertainty. Identify new processes, approaches, markets, and
customers to create profitable growth? Don't let "perfect planning" roadblock
real progress. Try a new process. Go visit a customer to learn more about
their business, their wants and needs. Experiment, measure results, adapt, and
grow!
Key 2 - Wanted: Three "C" People
Effective management and leadership are useless without the right people to
execute, but what do these people look like? Once you find them how do you
inspire and stroke their internal fires to generate hot results? The key - 3
"C's." People with competence, character, and desire to serve the customer.
Here's what to look for:
- Competence - Match your "key need"
with your candidates' "top personal strengths." Identify the specific results
you want. Make sure you're willing to risk $25,000 (some estimate this to be
the cost of rehiring and retraining) on your choice? Don't hire quick, hire
right!
- Character - Do you have any good
performers with bad attitudes? People who get results in their "silos" but
still drag the rest of the company down. There's no time like NOW to stop this
saboteur. Use a "crossroads" meeting (this meeting clearly explains things
have to change - or your want this person to "hit the highway"). Do the
following to ensure you have a company "of character" and not a "cast of
characters":
o Explain clearly where
the business is going and how their attitude is a problem.
o Describe specific behavior changes you require.
o Ask the person to reflect and decide whether they want to stay or go.
o Set up a follow up meeting (if they stay) to grade progress.
- Customer Service - There's no "gold"
without customers. An obvious statement, yes. Do most companies treat
customers like gold? No way. For example, in one of my glass block businesses'
the previous #1 market share company recently went bankrupt because the
back-end of their business did not deliver what the front-end promised.
Consider the following:
o Get your team
together.
o Identify step-by-step an exceptional service delivery process (read "Secret
Service" by John DiJulius to help with this).
o Communicate this process in writing to your customers.
o Develop some non-publicized "wow steps" to get your customers buzzing (this
might include handwritten thank you notes, a gift after purchase program, or
phone call after the service from their sales rep etc.).
o Insist on people who are responsible and accountable to this process.
Key 3 - Outside-in & Inside-out
"No news is good news, and I haven't heard anything bad from the field about
your services," a buyer from a home building company said to me. "Ouch," I
thought to myself. Although my company wasn't a problem, we weren't important or
integral either! To thrive, to grow, to crank the cash register something had to
be done. Our solution - find ways to delight the customer from outside-in (from
the marketplace back) and from inside-out (with exceptional operations and
systems to improve our customer's experience). Here's part of our approach you
may want to consider:
Focus on the Customer 1st - OK this makes sense, but it's exactly
opposite how most companies sell today! The average sales rep hawks their wares
first, and maybe (and I do mean maybe) asks questions later. Use this cycle to
grow your sales:
1. Develop a process to research your prospect.
2. Ask questions to address their concerns, trends, problems, and opportunities.
3. Recommend solutions (create a Unique Value Proposition that helps your
customer win in their marketplace).
4. Close
5. Do some thing after the sale to delight your customer.
6. Follow up, learn more, adapt your process, repeat Step one.
Find the right markets - Do you "own" your
target markets? Are these markets profitable, sustainable, and differentiatable?
Our leadership team did one simple thing. We got out! We focused on seeing more
customers, asking more questions to understand their needs. Here's a challenge
for you (a) Do you know what your target market customers really want? (b) Would
more personal time with customers help your sales?
Re-tool the systems - Do you current systems support your strategies? Is
there a link between your sales/marketing systems and accounting/operations
systems? In our business we're working to create this linkage to better serve
customers and sell them more stuff. Will this be easy - no way. Could this help
to crank up our business - it had better (this technology stuff is expensive!).
Conclusion
Getting the "cha-ching" to happen in your business is simple, but not easy. It
boils down to getting out with customers, keeping your eyes open to reality, and
your ears cleaned out for understanding. Develop a team with competence,
character, who cares to serve customers, then enjoy the money rolling in!
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