Don’t Just Set Goals, Achieve Them!!

“Goals give your business and your life direction.
Taking consistent daily action at the right time and in
the right order will then help you achieve your goals
easily and effortlessly.”
Tania Allen, Founder,
Vision Alliance.

We are all familiar with the art of setting goals.  Like most business owners, I’m sure by now you may have set some goals for the next six or 12 months.  You have made a promise to yourself to do things differently, work more efficiently perhaps and of course make more money.  Setting goals is the easy part.  So how do you go from being a goal setter to someone who actually achieves their goals easily and effortlessly?

Achieving your goals comes easier when we know where we are heading.  Goals are like a destination.  They are where you want to go.

Without goals, you simply cannot arrive at a destination, and if you don’t know where you are going then how will you ever know what actions you need to take to achieve higher levels of success and achievement.  It would be fair to say then: Goals give your business and your life direction.  Taking consistent daily action at the right time and in the right order will then help you achieve your goals easily and effortlessly.

If you look around you, you will notice successful people have very different habits.

They think, and do things differently.  They are however no different to you or I.  We can achieve what they do and more.  They just have particular habits that anyone can apply.

Here are some key essentials to help you build the momentum so that you get closer to realising your full potential and getting  closer to achieving your dreams and goals.

Know your why

Why you want to achieve your goals will always play an important role in whether you will achieve them or not.  When setting your goals the stronger your why, the more committed you will be to doing whatever it takes to achieve them.

Set holistic and balanced goals

Successful people set goals in all areas of their business and life.  When working on your goals be sure you develop goals in six areas of life: relationships, spiritual, contribution, financial, health and business.

By pursuing goals in each area, you will create a more balanced and integrated life.

Be clear about what you want

All goals must be clear and concise, so when setting your goals be specific about what it is you want.

Aim high

Most of the time we are all aiming too low.

It’s time to get out of your comfort zone.  As the now-clichéd saying goes: Shoot for the stars, if you miss you’ll still be on the moon.

Make your goals slightly unreasonable; in other words, don’t allow your (perceived) limitations to get in the way.  Don’t allow your old conditioning to stop you from going after what you really want.

Write your goals in detail

Just the act of writing down goals sets the process in motion, so be specific.  The more information you include the more probable the final result will be.  By being as accurate as possible you invoke some of the natural laws of the universe in your favour as well as getting your brain to work for you in the most efficient way possible.  It’s always a good idea to follow the SMARTA criteria

(Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time bound Actionable) when setting goals and be sure you always set a date for achievement.

By writing your goals down you will be much clearer on where you are heading.

Look at it every day, stick it on your fridge, or your computer, it can be a picture, the words, whatever will motivate you to keep striving to achieve your goal.

Make your goals consistent with your values

Most people don’t do what they value first and therefore find themselves stressed and out of alignment.  Create a list of your highest values and then create your goals around them.  This will give you a sense of being on purpose consistently.

Know the consequences

It’s very important to look at the consequences of achieving the goal.  Ask yourself when setting your goals: “How will achieving this goal affect me or others?  Is this outcome good for me and others.”  Not all goals will have positive effects on others so it’s important you understand the positives and possible negatives to achieving your goals.

Review your goals daily

This is an important part of achieving success and must become routine.  Review your list of goals each morning when you wake up.  Visualize your completed goals and how your life looks and feels as a result.

Each night before you go to bed, repeat the process.  This is a great way to train your brain to expect your goals to materialize.

Create a Plan and take Consistent Daily Action

This is in fact the most important element to achieving your goals.  It’s okay to know where you are headed and what you want to achieve however if you don’t get off your backside and take the necessary action to make it happen then nothing will happen at all.  Be sure the action you take is consistent.  Get into a daily habit of knowing what actions you need to take and in what order you need to take them in order to move closer to achieving your goals.

Take some time now to get clear on your goals and create a plan, once you have your goals worked out you need to ‘reverse engineer’ them starting with the end in mind and working back to the starting point.

Check your Progress and Celebrate your Wins

Goals by nature are high achievements in life, and sometimes it can seem too hard to reach them, we lose motivation and give up!

Break your goals into smaller ‘milestones’ so you can celebrate your wins along the way.  It’s important to measure your progress to determine if you have gone off course.  Measuring your progress regularly will enable you to shift back on course quickly with minimum disruption to your momentum.  Keeping a check on your goals is also important as sometimes goals change so you can bend and flex where you need to, moving the goal to meet your changed conditions, requirements or intentions.

Don’t get discouraged

You will either achieve your goal, or you will gain insight into whatever is in the way of its achievement.  This is not a setback; rather, it is part of your forward progress.  Stay focused on what you want to achieve and you will find ways to solve difficulties or break through barriers.  Celebrate every success and before you know it, you’ll have to make a whole new list for ‘next level achievement!’

Finally, be committed!

There’s a big difference between being interested in achieving your goals or being committed to their achievement.  Those who are interested tend to do what is convenient, what is easy and what everyone else does.

Those who are committed will be able to achieve whatever it is they want no matter want, because they will learn what they need to learn, they will rehearse what they need to rehearse, they will practice and they will do whatever is needed to be done.

Committed people don’t have excuses; they relentlessly give up all their excuses and the reasons why they don’t have what they want.  They get rid of their excuses and they stop blaming  their outside circumstances and  put their attention on how they will and how they can achieve their goals.

So the most important question I encourage you to ask yourself today is: Are you Interested or Committed in Achieving Your Goals?

If you need some help and support in gaining clarity around setting and achieving your goals, email tania@vision-alliance.com to receive a Complimentary Goal Achiever Pack valued at $97.

 

Increasing Your Personal Effectiveness and Revenues

If you want to grow your business revenues much faster than you are now, it’s important to start focusing on the right activities in your business.

The key in achieving personal effectiveness is to focus the majority of your time on high- impact, revenue-generating activities that are most essential to your business. To increase your overall effectiveness, it’s important to know and understand how to accurately identify where you spend your time.

The 80:20 Rule

I’m sure you have heard of Vilfredo Pareto or at least Pareto’s Law. Pareto came up with an economic principle that said 20% of the people typically own 80 percent of the wealth. Two decades later, management guru Joseph Juran introduced this “80/20 Rule” to the business world, calling it Pareto’s Principle, or Pareto’s Law. Over the years, Pareto’s Principle has been applied to many areas of business, concluding that 20% of our efforts produce 80% of our results, or 20% of your team produces 80% of your results.

For you, this means that to increase revenues it’s important you focus on the right activities in your business and then hire, barter or outsource people to do everything else.

Multiply your business revenues and personal effectiveness many times over using the 80:20 rule.

Suppose your business has 25 different activities, such as sales, marketing, operations, finance, customer service and more. According to the 80:20 rule, 20% of those activities will generate 80% of your revenues. Conversely, 80% of those activities will generate only 20% of your revenues. Doing the math shows that 5 out of the 25 activities will produce four-fifths of all the income your business generates.

Now, assume that your business takes in $50,000 a month. According to the 80:20 rule, 5 of your 25 activities would account for $40,000 of your monthly revenue, which works out to $8,000 per activity. Conversely, 20 of the activities would produce only $10,000 each month, which works out to be just $500 per activity. Sixteen times 500 equals 8,000 so your top 5 revenue-producing activities are 16 times more effective than the bottom 20.

Suppose you took it even further and moved the 80/20 ratio to 90/10, so that only 10% of your activities produced 90% of your revenues. That would make you 81 times more effective than you currently are now. Merely by focusing your time and attention on the five or ten activities that have the highest impact on your business, you can increase your revenues and income by 16 to 81 times!

Here’s the million-dollar question: what specific activities should you be focusing on?

Here’s a brief three-step process to help you work more effectively in your business.

Step 1. Identify your Passion and Purpose

Passion is a very powerful emotion and is infectious. When you express passion, people are automatically attracted to it. When you’re passionate about what you do, your product or service speaks for itself. So the first big question is: what are you passionate about. What do you love doing?

Next, look at your purpose. Are you in business merely to earn an income, accumulate wealth or do you have a strong desire to help others and be a service to others?

When you can match up your purpose and passion, magic happens. It puts you in front of all the others who have lukewarm enthusiasm for what they do. What is your purpose in business, how does it match up with your passion, and how do you combine the two to make the world a better place?

Step 2. Identify Your Strengths

The biggest mistake business owners make is thinking they have to do everything themselves. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. In order to succeed in business, you must get very clear about your unique abilities and then focus on them almost to the exclusion of everything else.

You will become a better business person when you identify your strengths and spend most of your time using them to perform the highest-impact activities in your business.

Step 3. Manage Your Time

When you’re a business owner it’s difficult to manage your time. What you can do is manage your activities by tracking where you spend your time on a daily basis and using that information to help you focus on high-impact activities.

One of your most important tasks is identifying the highest income-generating activities in your business and devoting a minimum of 80 percent of your time to those activities. This principle works whether you’re a “solo-preneur” with one product or service or a larger operation with a larger product or service offering and a team to support your daily efforts.

Monitor & Measure Your Activities

You can’t manage what you don’t monitor or measure so your first step is to identify where and how you spend your time. It’s important you identify what you are currently doing and what you should be doing, based on your highest income-producing activities.

For the next two weeks write down every activity you do in all areas of your business and how much time you spend doing it.

High income-producing activities include making a sale or something that leads directly to a sale. High-impact activities include producing a great website or making sure that your ad copy is properly written to make sales for you. These activities don’t directly make a sale, but they play an important role in generating revenue. To determine whether an activity represents one of your unique abilities, ask yourself two questions: What drives me crazy when other people don’t do it as well as me? What do I play at that other people consider work?

Track all your activities over a two-week period, noting how much time you spend on each activity each day. Before the two weeks is up, you will probably begin to see that you need to be spending more time on some activities and less on others. You will also begin to see that there are lots of activities that you should not be doing. This doesn’t mean they don’t need to be done, only that you should not be doing them.

What activities should you be doing? For the entrepreneur and small business owner, the highest income-producing activity is generating revenue. Every day, your primary focus should be on how your company will generate more revenue. If you’re not spending a minimum of 80% of your time on income- generating activities, your business will struggle to grow and increase revenues.

What about all the other activities that are just as crucial to your business? Here’s the challenge: For a small business, generating revenue must come first and management second. Otherwise your business will never grow to the point where management becomes as important as sales.

Revenues are consistently increased when the owner leverages his or her personal strengths through the use of other people’s unique talents and abilities. In other words, successful business owners focus on their highest income-generating activities and then build great teams around them to do all the other important activities they don’t do well.

It’s a fact, you don’t have to do everything yourself. Start focusing your efforts away from working in the business and focus them toward working ON it.

Make a commitment to yourself to spend one hour each day to identify which activities you need to be doing and tracking how you spend your time. Over the course of 365 days, that adds up to the equivalent of nine 40-hour weeks, or two solid months of working on your business rather than in it. Just imagine what you could achieve with that kind of concentrated effort!

Time to Take Action

  • Keep an hourly log for two weeks of your business and personal activities during your working hours
  • Determine which are the real high income and high impact producing activities vs. the tedious menial few
  • Take consistent action and maintain focus every day to ensure you are focusing on the high income and high impact producing activities.

To receive an expanded whitepaper on this topic including a full worksheet on increasing effectiveness please email tania@vision-alliance.com or call Tania on 1300 76 49 20.

Attracting Your Ideal Customer

If a business isn’t growing, it’s dying. And the only way to make sure your business is growing is to identify and engage a steady stream of new customers.

Identifying your ideal customer & generating more revenue

Let’s begin with the end in mind. As a small-business owner, you want more customers, which translates to more revenue.  However, the only way to attract more customers is through effective and compelling marketing.

Unfortunately, marketing can be expensive, so it’s important you make sure you’re getting the right message out to the prospects who are most likely to buy what you sell. If you get the right message to the “right” prospects, they’ll not only buy from you, they’ll keep coming back, buying from you forever. They’ll tell their family and friends about you and they’ll spend more money with you than your typical customer.

So your number-one priority is to find out exactly who your ideal customer is.

 A massive volume of customers is not nearly as important as serving the right customers. When you match your business with the right customers, you’ll increase customer loyalty, decrease complaints, and have fewer returned items from dis-satisfied customers.

Here are three areas to look at when marketing to your ideal customer:

Wants vs. needs — why they buy

Attracting your ideal customers through marketing requires you to discover the specific wants and needs of these customers. These wants and needs are often referred to as “hot buttons.” Keep in mind that there is a big difference between wants and needs. They may sound similar, but they’re as different as black and white.

As a business owner, it’s important to distinguish between the two in order to attract more customers and grow your business. By learning the specific wants and needs of your customers, you can learn how to better market your product or service in a way that speaks to your ideal customer and leads them to buy from you.

A want is something you would like to have. It is not absolutely necessary, but it would be a good thing to have. A good example is a new car.  You may not need a new car but you when you want a new car you somehow find a way to get it.

A need is something you have to have, something you can’t do without. A good example is food. If you don’t eat, you won’t survive for long. You might not need a whole lot of food, but you do need to eat.

The fact is, wants are much more powerful than needs. When marketing your product or service it’s therefore vital you move away from promoting the need for it and start to identify with why your customers want your product.

There are two primary categories of information that will assist you in determining your customers needs and wants.

The first category is called demographics. These are the characteristics that identify the ability, need and interest of a customer to purchase your product or service. Demographics define those customers who need what you sell.

The second category is called psychographics. These are the factors that identify the motivation or reasons why someone wants to buy your product or service. Psychographics define those customers who want what you sell.

Hot buttons — what they want 

Depending on your industry, customers will have different wants and needs, called “hot buttons. Hot buttons are the problems, frustrations and concerns that most customers consider when they do business with your business. Many business owners feel that price is always the number one hot button that impacts their customers. In reality, price is one of their last considerations. Most customers are more than willing to pay a higher price if you offer enough value to warrant the higher price. Unfortunately, most marketing and advertising looks exactly the same, using common phrases such as, “We’re the best” We offer the lowest prices, the best service and so on. If you market this way, as most businesses do, your customers can’t determine the true value you provide, so they default to lowest price as a differentiator.

Whatever you do, don’t fall for this trap! Fortunately, the idea that price is most important exists only in the mind of the business owner which can be retrained. On an operational level though all you need to do is provide more value than your competition. When you do, you can actually increase the price you charge for your product or service.

Below is a short list of industries and their corresponding hot buttons.

Select the industry category that your business belongs to and then prioritise your customers’ hot buttons in order.

This exercise will help you identify your ideal customers’ wants in order to create the proper messaging that will appeal to them.

 

Common Hot Buttons for:

Service Industries – Fix it right, Fix it fast, Be on time, Provide quick resolution, Be honest

Professional Industries– Expected results, General customer service, Price of affordability, Guarantee results, Trustworthy

Retail Industries– Product options, variety, selection, Product quality, Product results match expectations, Customer service, Advice, Knowledge, Price

Opportunity/ Entrepreneur Industries– Make money (return on investment), Easily transition into ownership, Validation, Proof of support, Resonates with beliefs and values

Wholesale Industries –Make more money and higher margins, less hassle, easy to do business with Low risk, Reliability, Receive it on time

Overall, these hot buttons apply to most businesses in each industry category. Occasionally, other hot buttons may be more appropriate than those listed. If you honestly believe your specific hot buttons need adjusting from those that are listed, make those adjustments now by either rearranging the priority sequence or removing and replacing any hot buttons you feel may be more appropriate for your business.

By using these guidelines, you can create persuasive marketing messages that address your ideal customers’ needs and motivate them to buy from you. If you do this really well, you will find yourself attracting more customers in a short amount of time.

Decision makers, influencers and users — who to target

There’s one more area that needs careful consideration. In most business transactions, there’s a decision maker, an influencer, and a user. Here’s a typical example. When eating McDonalds, the parents are the decision-makers, the kids are influencers and in most cases they’re all users. Think about your business, your users may not be the influencers so it’s important to direct your marketing to the influencers to drive an increase in sales.

A point to consider is the end user of your product or service may not be the only person involved in the buying process. This is especially common in business-to-business transactions, where you may find that there are influencers or decision makers that are not the user.  Once you understand this and identify these three roles you will have better control over your marketing and notice a significant difference in your revenues.

By using these guidelines, you can create persuasive marketing messages that address your ideal customers’ needs and motivate them to buy from you. If you do this really well, you will find yourself attracting more customers in a short amount of time.

Time to Take Action-

Take some time over the next week or two to consider

  • Who your ideal customer is
  • What are their HOT Buttons
  • What future compelling marketing strategies will you create in order to attract your ideal customer and not just any customer

Closing the Gap

No matter what stage of development your business is presently in, all small business owners want more revenue. That is always priority number one and to be honest, it should be.

As the year starts to pass us by very quickly you may be asking yourself, how can I achieve more as we creep towards the final half of the year and the beginning of a new financial year? Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Where have all those months gone?

As fast as the year may go, so does our opportunity to really create the results we want in our business.  So how can we really achieve more? The difference between those just going with the flow and those who grab hold of the steering wheel with two hands and deliberately drive their revenues forward is in how they plan for the achievement of higher revenues and then what strategies and tactics they implement, and the actions they take in order to achieve the desired outcomes listed in that revenue plan.

Identifying Your Gap

Before you get started in putting together your revenue plan, it’s important to know where you are now and of course where you want to be. This is what we call your gap.

A gap analysis defines your present and future objectives in both financial and non-financial terms. The difference between the two is the gap and becomes the starting point for building your business to the next level.

A gap analysis need not just be about money, it is however usually where most people start, including your revenues, profits and cashflow. Your non-financial considerations could include the number of team members, your product or service offering to the marketplace and the number of satisfied customers. Other areas could also include the number of hours you work, the number of recreation days, family days and the holidays you take.

To create your own gap analysis, simply list the goals that are most important to you and your business. List where you are today with each of those measurables, using a number scale system. E.g. on a scale of 1-10, 1 representing little results are being achieved right now and 10 being the ultimate place where you want to be. Write down a number for each goal that represents where you are and then write down a number that represents where you want to be, let’s say, in one years’ time. The distance between those two sets of numbers is your gap. Now you can start working on closing the gap.

Once you define the gap that exists in all areas relevant to your business you can then create a revenue plan that will map out the exact process required so you can eliminate that your gap, reach every one of your goals and objectives and do so within a very specific time frame.

Creating a Simple Revenue Plan

Your revenue plan need not be too complicated. It is an outline of how you intend to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Your Revenue Plan actually begins the process of generating leads for your business by knowing specifically the product and/or service your business will offer, the number you want to sell, the price you will charge and when you project these sales will take place.

Once these objectives are clearly and specifically defined you will have an excellent idea of the number of leads your business needs to generate in order to accomplish every one of those objectives.

Putting together your revenue plan is relatively simple. Start by listing on a piece of paper all the products and services your business provides. Your next step is to then multiply each product or service by the prices you charge and then multiply that by how many units you expect to sell for the specific period (quarter, six month or one year period). Setting your revenue plan out in a table is all you need. What’s important is you set your plan in stone so that you can get to work moving closer to your desired outcome. I like to work with a simple table to begin with that gives you a snapshot of the year then using a more detailed spread-sheet I then break that revenue plan into a month view plan which enables you to be more specific when planning what strategies and tactics you will take action on in order to achieve your plan.

If the results on your revenue plan do not match the objectives on your gap analysis then simply make adjustments until they do. This may mean increasing your prices, increasing the number of times a customer buys from you or it may mean increasing the average amount a customer spends with you at any one time. It’s a simple road map for reaching your targets.
If you haven’t yet drafted an outline of a revenue plan, get started today and see the difference it makes in such a short period of time.

Example Revenue Plan Snapshot

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Now you are ready for the next step. Creating your sales process. A Sales Process will help you maximise your potential and achieve your revenue goals.

The sales process includes choosing the most appropriate channels for getting your message directly to your ideal customers, choosing the right marketing strategies and associated activities. I see this especially in retail, when usually the business owner relies on the most obvious channel – foot traffic. They hope for the best that the customer chooses them today. It’s like playing a game of chance. You have an equal chance that you will win, and an equal chance of not winning the customer. Put simply it is essential you understand your sales process. If your franchisor hasn’t a solid sales process in place then create your own.

Remember your success is dependent on you, not your franchisor. So what would your sales process consist of?

Typically your sales process would include these steps:

  • Identify your ideal client / customer
  • Generate leads
  • Qualify your prospects
  • Present your product or service to your prospect
  • Convert your prospect into a customer / client  (remember to upsell, cross-sell and down-sell)
  • Lead nurturing – Following up leads that have not yet converted
  • Delivery – Servicing your customers including following up

Defining your ideal client is the first step to attracting the kind of people you want to do business with and will greatly increase your revenues.

Without sales and marketing you would have no business at all. It would therefore be fair to say that sales and marketing are the lifeblood of every business. As Peter Druker once said a business has only two functions – marketing and innovation.

The key to dramatically increasing your sales and marketing results is very dependent on your ability to attract not just more clients, but more ideal clients.

So before you dive straight into your sales and marketing activities in order ot increase your revenues, it’s important to understand who your ideal client it. I liken the ideal client to a favourite toy you used to play with as a child. You may still play with the other toys however the bulk of your time is spent with your favourite one, in otherwords the one your prefer to spend more time with. This is the same for your ideal client. Sure you may have other client types but your ideal client is the one you want to focus the bulk of your time. The ideal client is the one who not only buys your product or service, they love your product and service. They literally share your passion for what you do. These are the clients who really want what you have to offer instead of just needing what you offer. Ideal clients mean fewer headaches, returns and complaints. They’re a pleasure to deal with and they’ll not only buy from you once, they’ll keep buying from you forever. Or if you offer a one-off product or service, your ideal client will be willing to tell their friends and family to buy from you. These are the type of clients who will spend more money with you than the average client ever would.

They will send you great referrals and give you unsolicited testimonials. When you properly and specifically identify your ideal client you will soon find you are working less and earning more, which is what your ultimate aim in business should be.

Knowing who your ideal client is will enable you to craft a message that speaks directly to them which will help. This can have a massive impact on your business allowing you to increase revenues, and have more time, more money and more freedom to do the things you love.

Time to Take Action

Before we move onto the next step and key area in your business take some time now to

  1. Complete a GAP Analysis on your business. Where are you now? Where you you want to be?
  2. Prepare your Simple Snapshot Revenue Plan and your Detailed Monthly Revenue Plan listing all your products and services and what you want to achieve
  3. Describe the type of customer you want to do business with.
  4. Describe the type of customer who you believe will give you the greatest return on your marketing investment.
  5. Looking at your current business which customers do you believe right now are the easiest to find, easiest to sell to and require the least amount of time spent on them?
  6. Describe the type of customer who will stay with you the longest and spend the most with you.
  7. Review your past marketing strategies. What have worked? What havnt? What else could be done to maximize your potential?