Someone emailed me with a question, which I’d love to share with you.
She wanted some free advice, on how to “deal with the losers” who ask her for free advice.
The lesson here? It pays to look in the mirror before we’re critical of others. With a little reflection, we may learn something about ourselves… or avoid looking silly.
A reader emailed me this morning, about his latest cash flow crisis. He asked me for some advice on how to overcome it. I promised I’d answer here, as it’s a very common problem for a lot of business owners right now.
My reader put his problem like this: “I need to sign-up 5 new customers by the end of December, to avoid another cash flow crisis”.
Here’s my advice, which is relevant to almost any business owner with an on-going cash flow problem.
In my reader’s case, if he does focus on getting those 5 new customers, there’s a reasonable chance he will make it happen. Or come pretty close to making it happen. I don’t have any details about his business. But I do know that in business, we tend to get what we focus on – good or bad.
So, whilst there’s a good chance that he will be motivated to get those 5 new customers, if he does get them, he will have also just planted the seeds of his next crisis! That’s because those 5 new customers will simply buy him some time until he’s in the same position again.
Here’s a far better way forward. It’s based around 2 adjustments that can radically improve your financial situation… and your life!
Cash flow can be resolved relatively easily. But only after you understand that on-going cash flow problems are rooted in the way you feel, think and act regarding money. When you overcome this block, the cash starts to flow like never before.
Your accountant will be able to explain how successful business owners fund their businesses correctly. If you don’t have an accountant, ask your financial adviser or business banking manager. It’s extremely straightforward.
Always, always set motivating targets that correspond with a thriving business. The kind of epic targets that will lead you to a massively better quality of life. Never set targets that merely help you to scrape by.
Here’s why the right type of targets are critically important for you and your business.
In short, a poorly funded business, focused on trying to stay afloat, is guided by fearful, short-term thinking. It has an extremely limited horizon.
The answer is to resource your business correctly. And set exciting targets that motivate you to build a financially powerful company.
Did you know that you can increase your sales in multiple ways, by using a great elevator pitch? Well, you can. It will work for you online and face-to-face. It will open doors for you and help you get noticed. It will help you be remembered by prospective clients or customers, too.
Here’s how you and your business can benefit mightily from this powerful, often misunderstood marketing tool.
There are lots of variations, but a common definition of an elevator pitch will go something like this.
A sales pitch that can be delivered in a short period of time [the time it takes to ride an elevator].
That is incorrect. It’s a narrow, literal interpretation of what an elevator pitch is. You are never going to sell anything of value to a stranger in 20-30 seconds. What you absolutely can do, is give a compelling introduction to someone, which will motivate them to want to know more.
In other words, an elevator pitch is a pre-pitch. It’s a short, well-crafted message that inspires the person(s) listening to become interested. Interested enough to give you more time, where you can actually pitch your service or products.
Here are the core business benefits of having a short, well-crafted sales message.
When you connect with a prospective client for the first time, you need to be able to make a positive impact quickly. This is true whether it’s face-to-face or online. A motivating elevator pitch will allow you to do exactly that. People are busy and your pitch will ensure they hear what they need to know, with clarity and without delay.
It takes time to develop a great elevator pitch. By the time you have it down, you’ll know it by heart. And because it’s a short message, it’s also an easy message to remember. That means it will stick. It also means that whenever you’re in a situation, where someone asks you about your business, you’ll have the perfect answer to hand.
And that’s not all. The feeling of being prepared and knowing you have a powerful message to share, boosts your confidence. And that confidence is then transmitted to whoever is listening, which makes your message vastly more compelling.
I strongly recommend you don’t write one from scratch by yourself. Instead, find a free one from a credible source online and refine it, so that it’s directly relevant to you, your services or products. There are hundreds of free examples and templates for you to choose from via your search engine of choice.
Why refine an expertly written elevator pitch, rather than write your own? The toughest form of written marketing is what’s known as writing short. Even professional copywriters struggle with writing short. That’s because you have very few words and every one of them needs to count. You’re trying to motivate, educate and leave a powerful first impression, within those tight confines.
If at all possible, find an industry-specific example to refine. That’s because a different approach is required for every industry. Here’s what I mean. The pitch used by a family law firm will need to be different from that of an oven-cleaning franchise. The pitch used by that oven-cleaning franchise will need to be different from that of a private school.
It’s reasonably easy to create an effective elevator pitch and the benefits massively outweigh the time it will take you. Start with a good quality example or template to work from and you’ll be good to go in no time.
You heard what the customer or client said, the words they used. That doesn’t mean you also know what message they were trying to convey.
In our normal conversations, this is no big deal most of the time. But in an important conversation, it can create major problems.
Imagine someone tells you their business grew by 15% last year. They might want your congratulations. Equally, they might want your commiserations. Without clarity regarding the context, your reaction and response could be way off.
Always get the context before you respond.
You have a business problem. However, you’re not ready to talk about it with an expert.
You now have two problems.
Those two problems soon combine to create additional problems. These additional problems do the same.
The cycle begins.
Advice and support from an experienced expert equips you to eliminate the problem, fast. This also protects you from the follow-on problems.
Whatever your business problem is, erase it. Ask an expert for the solution and free yourself to move forward with clarity, enthusiasm and confidence.
The story you’re telling yourself that’s blocking you from getting expert advice, needs to be called out for what it is. It is not working FOR you. It is working against you. Causing you to waste time, lose momentum and miss out on opportunities.
Jim Rohn used to tell us that failure is so common because it’s so subtle. Another day on the wrong cycle doesn’t seem to matter much. But that day soon becomes a week, a week becomes a month, a month becomes a year, and a year becomes yet another year… or it doesn’t.
You can absolutely decide right now to break that cycle and thrive. But, as with solving every major issue in life, it starts with you taking that first step.
What’s the best way to scale your business for success?
Here are my thoughts.
But first, I have a very quick question for you.
What do the following all have in common?
The answer is that they’re attributes that are valued, extremely highly, by everyone. We are attracted to people who are kind, honest and caring. And given the opportunity, we prefer to do business with people (and brands), who are kind, honest and caring, too.
Now. Hold that thought.
One of the BIG buzzwords right now, is ‘scaling’. Business owners are being told that it’s a cornerstone of commercial success. And that the best way to scale their business, is to automate pretty-much everything.
For example.
In short: To cut back on the human touch as much as possible, whenever possible and wherever possible.
The huge limitation with that approach is clear. Automation software is…. well… software. And as such, is incapable of the human characteristics of kindness, honesty and caring.
The reason for the growth in automation-based scaling, is that it promises a lot and is extremely simple. It requires almost no effort. And it’s sold by the gurus pushing it, as a magic way to cut your overhead back to the bone, both in time and money.
As more business owners embrace automation-based scaling, prices and fees in their industries are being driven down and down. It’s a race to the bottom for those who’ve bought in.
Paradoxically, it’s also a race, which no one actually wants to win. This is why we hear these same business owners complaining about attracting fee-sensitive clients and how hard they find it to stand out and get noticed.
They’re discovering that it’s extremely difficult to build a successful business, with the most fee-sensitive clients, wafer thin profits and a customer base who will drop you in an instant, for a lower priced competitor.
That’s a toxic mix.
While some business owners embrace the race to the bottom, where the winner is the cheapest provider, others have identified a far more profitable way to scale.
It’s a different race. A race to profitability and success. A race, where the winners attract the best clients, work on the best projects and earn the best fees.
You see, it turns out that kindness, honesty and caring, scale. In fact, they scale to infinity. People tell their friends about remarkable service. So, the word spreads. And they remain loyal to providers, who go the extra mile to look after their needs. So, they keep their clients for way, way longer too.
Yes, the cheapest prospective clients in your marketplace will always shop for the bottom dollar provider.
That’s perfectly fine.
Because every marketplace has a large and massively profitable niche, who eagerly pay a premium fee for a premium quality service. People hate automation and only opt for it as a last resort.
And even the bargain basement crowd seldom remain with an impersonal service for long. They often realize their cost-cutting error, once they’ve tasted the frustration and expense, of suffering with a problem, which can’t be resolved by automation software and requires a person. And there’s no person available.
So my friend, I suggest you scale your business for kindness, honesty and caring. It’s an excellent foundation on which to build a sustainable, valuable business.