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Maximize Your Resources – Part 1

Over the next few posts, we’re going to talk about how to take a hard look at your current resources and get the most out of them. This can help your capital go further and increase your profit margin.

Today we’ll cover three different ways to maximize what you already have. These include:

• Recognize the obvious
• Unconventional breakthroughs
• Face the facts

Recognize the Obvious

Sometimes when you are too close to something, you can’t make out the big picture. You need to step back and take a hard look at the resources you currently have in front of you. You are surrounded by opportunities that can boost your career and help your business become more successful.

Unconventional Breakthroughs

Don’t sit around waiting for breakthroughs. You need to create them yourself. A breakthrough is merely a new way of doing things or finding a new thing to do for the same or better results. It would be best to have regular brainstorming sessions and encourage your team to come forward with breakthroughs or ideas any time they have them.

Some great examples of breakthroughs are:

• A health and beauty company discovers a side effect of a product that can be re-marketed and sold.
• A company creates a roll-on deodorant inspired by the shape and size of a ballpoint pen.
• Nike’s founder poured rubber onto a waffle iron and created the most innovative and successful running shoe ever.

When attracting or strategizing for a breakthrough, there are some key objectives you need to keep in mind. They are:

1. Look for the hidden opportunity in every situation.
2. Look for at least one cash windfall for your business every three months.
3. The more value for your client, the better your breakthrough.
4. Create multiple streams of an idea to find the best breakthroughs.
5. Effective breakthroughs remove all risk or resistance.

Face the Facts

Before you can put your breakthroughs to work, you need to face the facts of the processes and systems that are not working for you and work to correct or get rid of them. System analysis is an excellent way to do this. Once you have a listing of your strengths and weaknesses, you need to compare those to your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

You can present some great questions to you and your team to get a handle on where your business is right now. They are:

1. Why did I first start this business? Why am I in this industry?
2. What products/services did I offer then? Which were the most popular?
3. Why are my customers/clients buying from me right now?
4. How did I generate new customers/clients then?
5. Which of my marketing efforts were bringing in the best results?

Once you’ve got some answers to these questions, you’ll know better how to approach your weaknesses.

These three areas we’ve gone over give you a jumping-off point for how to utilize your current resources to their fullest potential. If you need any help with your strategic or systems analysis, try our GUIDED TOUR to work with one of our amazing business coaches.

5 Killer Mistakes – Part 2

In the last post, we covered the first two of the five biggest mistakes you can make in dealing with big fish clients. Today we’ll cover the third and fourth ones: Taking on More Than You Can Handle.

When you take on too much, your business can’t keep up, and therefore you can quickly lose control of everything and find yourself barely functioning. You want your business to be successful, no doubt, but you need to plan how you will handle the growth. Your clients expect excellent customer service and high-quality products/services. They don’t know or care about your behind-the-scenes operations required to get those things done.

• Look for these signs that you are taking on more than you can handle:
• Clients’ needs aren’t being met.
• Employee morale is low, clients are upset, and you’re in a panic.
• You have to react in emergency mode to save accounts.
• Your current clients are suffering from trying to keep up with new business.
• Profits are going down.
• You are just trying to pick up the pieces of your business.
• Your clients/customers leave.
• Resources are being reallocated.

There a trick called the Mock Fish Plan. This plan can help you react positively when you are facing some or all of these things and help you get your business back on track. This plan will:

• Help increase sales in a short period of time.
• Alter your products/services for the better.
• Fulfill the promises you made to your clients.

There are six steps to this plan:

1. Bring in your best team and have them all help to meet the fish needs.
2. Review your operational system.
3. Anticipate future problems better.
4. Communicate better.
5. Include costs in your quotes.
6. Always have a back-up plan.

All Your Eggs in One Basket

You can allow your company to become dependent on any one fish. Eventually, or for specific periods, there will be a slowing down period with your fish. To stay in the game, you need to diversify.

If you’ve ever mishandled a fish, you could drive away potential fish as well. In order to keep balance and prepare for a healthy future, there are a few things you can do.

• These things include:
• Stay in the loop and try to know what’s going on inside your fish company.
• Constantly reinvent yourself and stay at the top of your industry.
• Stay exclusive.
• Try to secure multi-year commitments and contracts.
• Spread your contracts out.
• Price your products/services correctly.

You will also need to work to reduce your dependency on your fish. Generally, this can be measured in sales or profits. Please take a look back at the process we’ve used thus far to snag more fish to keep this all in balance.

These are the ways you can help avoid the killer mistakes that can make you lose it all. If you need help with any of these tips or tricks, try our GUIDED TOUR to get the help you need fast.

Next time we’ll talk about the last of the killer mistakes and how to combat it from hitting your business hard.

Keep Up the Momentum

In the last post we talked about negotiating with your big fish and nurturing and building on the relationships you are creating. Today we’ll talk about the power your fish has and how to utilize that for your benefit.

One of the most critical aspects of this is to keep your cheerleader cheering. This refers to the ally you created in the company and who needs to stay loyal to you to continue a profitable partnership with your fish. You can keep your champion going by offering or doing several things to show appreciation. Some of these things are:

• Share the limelight.
• Help them thank their company with new products and services.
• Emotionally connect them to your company.
• Know when to leave them alone.
• Keep your “family” happy.
• Stay on the front lines.

Now that you have some ideas for building solid relationships, you need to seek out people to build these relationships with. These alliances will help you get more prominent clients that stay with you forever. You can often get in the door by offering them something in exchange for something they need:

1. Power
2. Information
3. Better work experience

These are all great ways to feed your alliance. You need to go into a relationship considering the things a big fish can offer you besides money. These can include:

• The opportunity for your business to expand
• The opportunity to learn from the experience and find ways to grow
• The opportunity to improve your processes, systems, and other means of doing business

These are some of the best ways to keep your alliances going strong, and your partnerships fresh and content.

If you need help with any of these tactics, try our GUIDED TOUR for great tools and resources that can help you every step of the way.

Bring Them Flowers

There are a few things you need to do and consider preparing for your first face to face meeting:

• Make a list of what you want to accomplish during the meeting.
• Anticipate potential concerns from the client.
• Check to make sure you are entirely prepared.
• Listen more than you talk.
• Bring support staff with you.
• Use and respect the clients’ format.
• Always follow through.
• Ask for what you need and seal the deal.
• Simplify your prospects life.
• Find ways to boost your credibility.
• Build and nurture relationships.
• Learn from “no.” Find out what didn’t work, so you know how to change it for the next time.

These are all important things to do both before and during your presentation. With confidence behind your company and product, you will catch that big fish. The next step of the process is negotiation. This can seem a little intimidating, but with a few tips and tricks can become natural to you.

Here are some tips to help you negotiated successfully:

1. Build a pricing strategy and stick with it.
2. Prioritize what you plan to offer. This should include what really matters to you and what you are willing to give in on.
3. Don’t give in too quickly.
4. Negotiate with a person, not a “company.” Don’t let their answer be that they would like to, but can’t.
5. Don’t sell yourself short.
6. Mitigate your pricing. If you go too low, you won’t be able to raise it back up, and you need to make a profit.
7. Don’t sacrifice quality for the deal.
8. Your services should always count as costs.
9. Boost margins with add-ons.
10. Handle requests for proposals with the utmost care.

These are how you make sure that both parties are getting the best possible situation from the partnership. Once you start meeting or working together, it’s essential to continue to build your relationship so that that representative becomes a significant ally for you. They are more likely to vouch for you and build on the partnership you have with their company.

We like to call this person a champion. They are champions for your company and can bring a healthier, brighter future for your company. Here are the characteristics of a grand champion:

• They are respected by supervisors.
• They are socially networked.
• They think in the best interest of their company’s long run.
• They can navigate through the company to get things done quickly.
• They are willing to give credit to another person.
• They share the same business philosophy, values, and vision as you.

Now that you know how to negotiate for what is best for both parties and build on relationships, we’re going to talk about how to use your fish’s power to the best of your benefit.

If you need help with any of the negotiation or courting process, try our GUIDED TOUR to get access to a wealth of great tools and resources to help you be successful.

Who’s Your MVP?

In the last post, we talked about making the first contact with your prospective big fish and how to make a positive first impression. Today we’re going to talk about feeling out your prospective big fish’s personality to match the right salesperson to the fish.

You need to do this in two steps:

1. Profile your salespeople’s personalities.
2. Match the right salesperson to your target fish.

There are essentially three different selling personalities:

• Sage
• Pal
• Pit Bull

The Sage

This salesperson offers knowledge, experience, comfort, and trust. They can make a concerned customer feel at ease. To be successful, they need plenty of information, a demo of the product/service, references, and case studies, if possible.

The Pal

Much like it sounds, this is a salesperson that shines at building relationships. They can instantly relate to the prospective client and make them seem like old friends in no time. They work best with clients looking for friendship, information, and a similar peer group as the salesperson. This can include anything from age and culture to hobbies and nightlife. While sharing experiences can be beneficial to creating a new relationship, your salesperson must always keep it professional and dignified. The resource’s this personality type needs is help pairing with the right client, entertainment (or schmoozing) budget, and the right information to meet the client’s needs.

The Pit Bull

Obviously, this personality type is a little more aggressive than the others. They are all about business and the bottom line. While this may seem harsh to many people, there is a set of business people out there who want the same thing and respect someone who can get down to business and the benefits of a partnership. This salesperson will need to be trusted with a little authority as they will likely be closing deals on the spot. They’ll need plenty of resources and access to products and services. They are best placed in environments where they can work independently, exercise their authoritative discretion, and seal deals quickly.

These can all be successful when each is used in the right selling environment. You can easily see how matching the right salesperson for the client can secure more big fish and for a longer period of time.

If you need help figuring out which of your salespeople fit into these three areas, try our GUIDED TOUR and work with one of our amazing coaches to get your big fish plan in action.