Wasn’t it just January? Now we are halfway through the year. It seems like the kids just started school – and now we are scrambling to find summer stuff to do. Holy crap where has time gone?
I hope your time is flying fast because you are making so much money that nights in Vegas blur with sipping cocktails in Fiji and days on the slope in Tahoe. But if time is flying because you feel you don’t have enough to put out all the fires you are dealing with, or you are stressing out because you are not hitting the goals you set for yourself AND THE YEAR IS FRIGGIN HALF GONE, read on.
First, the point of this is not to waste any more of your precious time. So don’t read the following at work when you need to focus on whatever it is you are doing.
Instead, read this by the pool. Or in the car while waiting for your kids to finish soccer practice or dance or karate or whatever you got stuck carting them around for : )
Many people get discouraged around mid-year if the first half sucked. They lose their fire. And that sets them up for a shitty rest of the year.
Instead of falling into this cycle, how about a quick review of your business so you can spool up for the rest of the year, slaughter Q4 and prepare 2019 for a winning Revenue Machine?
There are four areas to focus on to accelerate sales. Here they are:
Plan
Did you start with a VREV/NPS of your clients? Do you understand what is important to them and what they love and hate? I know this sounds CRAZY – but does your revenue plan start from a customer perspective, rather than yours alone?
That said, is everyone following the revenue plan — or are they marching to their own drummer?
Dust off your existing plans, including marketing and growth plans, and compare to reality. Examine the departures from the ideal scene and figure out why. Get help from an external mentor if you need it. Sometimes people (and you) don’t follow your plan because it stinks and only a mentor can get you to push your ego aside to tweak it.
All plans should aim for greater production and expansion. Does yours? Or is it bogged down in minutiae?
People
Dealing with people wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t have personalities. I am kidding! (but not really.) I am a “people person,” as you likely are, but the majority of the issues in a business are usually caused by a small number of, well, jerkoffs. So, the first step in this area is to take stock if who is making the rest of the team (or you) miserable are and have conversations with them. This often ends in a parting of ways, but sometimes they reform.
But let’s say you are blessed with a jerkoff-free enterprise. Lucky you, but there are still issues to examine here. Is everyone in the right role, for instance? Are you hiring salespeople using science, such as the Predictive Index (PI), or are you winging it and buying too much B.S. in the process? Is your org chart too tall, or too wide?
Are your people operating on the right success metrics to incentivize the correct behaviors?
A word on the PI human driver assessment I mentioned, which focuses on four main drivers that affect behavior. I am a Practitioner Analyst and have been using this test for years to help leaders find who they are and who their staff are to create winning teams. I cannot stress enough the value of this to your business, so get yourself tested at least.
Process
A healthy revenue system knows exactly where business comes from – and what happens at each stage of the customer life cycle. If you are weak on this point, take a napkin right now and draw out the main points of your process. I prefer the “funnel” representation, with defined sales steps. Draw it in crayon, I don’t care, but spell it out from your marketing/lead gen and advertising at the beginning of the funnel to the close to your customer retention and referral actions.
Drawing it out should illuminate where things are breaking down. Again, compare what it should look like to what things actually look like – and brainstorm some handlings.
Platform
The tools for execution comprise your platform. This means your marketing automation and CRM software as well as your e-commerce solution. If you are more of a brick and mortar entity, consider your physical layout as well: an uninviting or confusing space can drive revenue away.
Consider also your training methodology and meeting matrix.
The Four Ps above are the bedrock of any healthy revenue machine. We start with the VREV/NPS survey – truthful actionable data and referrals from the customers. UX and CX are foundational to our work. I help clients evaluate their businesses using these Four Ps and it’s amazing to see the lightbulbs turn on when they “get it.”
So you can do the same, right now while you sip your coconut rum or whatever. Scratch that do this sober, or better yet call me and I will help you perform this Revenue Health Assessment for free. And help you kick ass the rest of the year — and in 2019.
No joke, try me out. (760) 815-4464 or shaun@old.volohaus.com to set up a 20-30 minute sesh absolutely free. We have over 200 success cases and plenty of references. You literally have nothing to lose.
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