How to Build & Keep a Good (Sales) Relationship

JUNE 19, 2017

There are very few people in the world who want to be sold, but everyone wants to buy (hello cute shoes!). In the professional sales world, we all know that people buy from those they know and trust, but building that trust relationship doesn't exactly come with a road map. Fortunately, there are some tested and proven psychological tools that we can use, not to manipulate, but to help put a new potential client at ease and foster a great long term relationship.

1. Mirroring. Listen, in general, people like themselves. Which means that they like other humans that are somewhat like them. As a sales person it is your job to be a chameleon, so if you notice that they speak quickly, pick up your pace. If they are leaning on the table, lean in. If they talk with their hands, guess what...so do you! You may also notice (and this is a big one) that they may have a hard time making eye contact, meaning that they are introverted. If this person is sitting across from you PLEASE do not try to stare them down until they look you in the eye! Give them a break and pull back a bit, they will feel so much more relaxed.

2. TAKE NOTES! Do you remember the time when you used to keep more than 7 phone numbers in your head? Yeah, we don't do that anymore. So if you are expecting to remember that your client told you that their child is in softball or that they got married on the top of a tuna boat you are asking way too much of your poor brain. Use your client relationship management tool to keep those notes and refresh your memory before you call or go on that appointment.

3. Touch them in many ways. Ok, mind out of the gutter, seriously you need to connect with people in a multitude of ways. Phone calls, lunches, handwritten notes, newsletters, social media, and gifting are all ways to let your clients know that you value them as more than just a number. Creating 'WOW Campaigns' and setting reminders for yourself in your CRM tool (activity sets will help speed this up and allow you to delegate some basic items) will make sure that your follow-up steps appear on your calendar and that you don't miss these critical connections.

Want to know more about how we can empower you to increase your revenue, see true ROI from your marketing and breeze past your goals? Call Marie at 312-720-1399

Marie Hale is the co-founder and CEO of @revenue, a sales and marketing collaborative in Chicago. With more than 15 years of sales training and marketing implementation experience, Marie and her firm are dedicated to changing the lives of small business owners by empowering them to sell more effectively and employ powerful marketing strategies.

by Marie Hale

80/20 Folks! The Sales Golden Rule

MAY 05, 2017

|IN SALES

|BY MARIE HALE

80% and 20%. We all know this ratio as the key to maximizing efficiency, but how does that apply to sales? When I bring this up at my weekly sales class, the jaws drop... this is the amount of time the salesperson is supposed to listen vs. talk. 80% listening, 20% speaking that is! Don't say anything- just let that sink in. That's right, if you are spending time presenting and talking, you're not able to understand the needs of your client. And listening, my salesperson friend is what your actual job is.

"But Marie, aren't I supposed to convince them to buy my stuff/services/etc?"

Nope.

Your job as a salesperson is to find out what are their compelling reasons for doing business with you, and IF they're a good fit. If you're not actively listening and instead of talking the whole time, you aren't doing your job.

To increase your ninja-like listening skills try these three things:

1. Ask open-ended questions. Make it a goal to take such awesome notes that you can quote your prospect's words back to them later in the conversation

2. TURN OFF THE DARN PHONE. Ask your prospect to do the same.

3. Care. You have to care about others to be a good sales person! Try it! It might just make you a better human in the process.

by Marie Hale

United Airlines and the Case of the Walking, Talking Brand

MAY 02, 2017

|IN LEADERSHIP, MARKETING

|BY MARIE HALE

Nobody’s perfect, right? Yep, nobody. But when you’ve had a week like United had last week, you have to take a good long look in the mirror and decide what you really stand for…as a company. In today’s reality of the constant state of video, social media, and public opinion, companies have to be careful about how they present themselves, especially when you are in the service industry. It is not often we have a front row seat to what is sure to become a classic PR case study in what not to do, so let’s take advantage of this moment.

When the events of April 9th first hit social media, United’s CEO, who had just the month before won an award as Communicator of the Year, responded quickly. His first reaction was to say he was sorry that the airline had to “re-accommodate” passengers on the flight. Then, he announced that United employees had simply followed policy. Finally, he expressed what seemed like sincere regret for the way the whole debacle had been handled. Now, the company is changing firm policy regarding how passengers are handled in cases of overbooking, especially when employees are the ones bumping paying customers.

I absorbed all of these events with utter astonishment. United is a big company, with presumably many of the “best and brightest” in every facet of the industry working there, EVEN in public relations. I couldn’t believe that at every stage of this event, the actions leading up to it, and the actions that preceded it, they had made such obvious mistakes. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that customers have an adequate number of potential airlines to choose from when traveling, and United doesn’t currently benefit from an airline-favorable oligopoly where customer service falls way down on the priority list because customers ultimately have to choose from only a handful of less than desirable options. So basically, let’s assume that United wants to please customers to grow revenues and has to actually compete.

In that light, how do you process the actions of United? Can you? In the book of everything I know about business, coupled with common sense, I cannot. But the good news is, we get to benefit from the lessons of their (giant) mistakes.

I’ve been saying for a long time that service businesses are more complicated and require far greater leadership than product companies do. Your brand isn’t just your logo or your website design. It is walking around in every single employee you hire, mentor and train. When you run a flourishing service business, your brand is constantly working. Growth in a service business means that you cannot separate the brand from the people like you can in a product business. You have to get it right every day.

So, let’s cover the ways in which United failed to get it right and how they could have done it better:

by Marie Hale

Top 4 Tips To Eliminate FEAR From Sales

Top 4 Tips to Eliminate FEAR from Sales

APRIL 14, 2017

|IN SALES

|BY MARIE HALE

In my years of working with entrepreneurs, small business owners and even the top sales folks in companies there is one piece of ‘head trash’ that seems to be ever-present...Fear.

Some of us were raised with a fear of speaking about money. Our parents taught us that if we had money we don’t talk about it because you don’t want anyone to know. Or if you don’t have money you don’t talk about it because you don’t want anyone to know. Money is something that can cause anxiety and, at it’s worst, it can lead to an inability to make a decision from fear that the money we need might magically not be there somehow.

We also fear hearing the word NO. ‘No, I don’t want to buy your product.’, ‘No, this isn’t a good fit.’

Or even worse, the deadly….’Not right now….” UGH!

But here is the thing about fear most people don’t realize: YOU are in control of fear. You manufacture it, you give it power and YOU bring it to that meeting.

Here are our top 4 tips for eliminating fear in your sales meetings:

Have a process and a plan. How many of you ‘wing it’ when it comes to a sales call? How’s that working out for ya? Having a process to follow to get to your clients REAL (compelling) reasons to do business with you will empower you to ask the powerful questions that will uncover if this customer is a good fit for you, and vice versa.
Practice. I know, I know...totally uncomfortable. BUT if you have an accountability partner that can role play a sales call with you, help you verbalize the questions you want to ask and tell you when you need to change what you are doing you will walk in knowing that you are ready.
Set a good agenda and get permission. If your prospect thinks you are just there to present they will be primed to say yes or no based on the price only, not the real value of your service. Get permission to ask them tough questions about their business and THEN you can dive deep into the REAL reason they need to make a change.
Don’t let fear drive your actions. Let go of the head trash. You don’t have to feel bad talking about money. If you don’t have enough money to even pay for the coffee, you might get uncomfortable asking for a large sum from your prospect. Don’t sell with your own pocketbook. Your client is in a totally different situation than you are. Let it go. You are there because, hopefully, you can impact his organization in a major way. Don’t fail him by not selling him what he really needs.

All of this takes practice. You can read a million sales books, but if you really want to move forward you need accountability, real-life experiences, and practice. I invite you to join us at our upcoming Executive Brief where we deep dive into the psychology of sales, the human decision model, and permission-based selling.

“So don't be fearless. Instead, fall in love with fear. It’s the beacon in the night, guiding each of us toward the next better decision. It’s the challenge that asks us whether we’re strong enough to receive the benefits of all we’ve asked for. And it’s better than any alarm clock, giving us regular wake-up calls designed to help us rise to the next occasion.”

-Erika Napoletano

Columnist, American Express OPEN

by Marie Hale

Top 3 Silent Cash Flow Leaks for Small Businesses

JANUARY 03, 2017

|IN SALES, LEADERSHIP

|BY MARIE HALE

by Elizabeth Andrews

Running a small business is often an all-hands-on-deck operation and a lot can get lost in the shuffle. With years of experience working hand in hand with businesses, I have seen all kinds of things that cost businesses time and money. With companies big or small, these are the top 3 things that consistently eat away at the bottom line.

ISSUE #1: Invoices Aged Over 30 Days

Collecting payments tends to be the most costly part of running a company. Companies commonly don’t have clear payment terms or tend to soften them to win the sale. With no plan of action to tackle unpaid invoices, many companies resort to a phone call and hope the client answers and pays.

FIX: Preparation and Preplanning.

Clear contract terms and documented payment agreements
Collecting (and securely storing) payment information for contracts or service agreements.
Recurring billing plans using accounting software or payment processor
Use of a simple customer interface to make payments

ISSUE #2: No Reconciliation Process

“Reconciliation” may be a new term. It is defined as “the key process used to determine whether the money leaving an account matches the amount spent, ensuring the two values are balanced at the end of the recording period.”

For companies with linked accounting softwares and bank accounts, many think of this as a hands off task. However, human intervention is necessary to make sure your accounting books square up. When companies finally dig in, they find a variety of things:

Unpaid Customer or Vendor Invoices
Fee Increases from Vendors
Duplicate Charges
Unaccounted for Cash Withdrawals or Deposits

FIX: Two options, both will assist in cash flow and tax reporting:

Schedule time: Block out a couple hours each month on your calendar as a recurring event. This will ensure regular attention to finding leaks.
Hire an hourly professional: Time is money. Bookkeeping professionals are efficient and as they learn your business, it will take less time to complete your reconciliation. Another set of eyes is also beneficial to see things you may have missed.

ISSUE #3: No Review of Services or Fees

This is common with mom and pop businesses all the way up to Fortune 500 businesses. Many companies don’t take the time to kick the tires on the fees they are paying to vendors. Because many take the stance of “If It Isn’t Broken, Why Fix It,” they are commonly overpaying. I have met with companies that have let 10+ years pass and overpaid thousands of dollars.

FIX: Knowledge is Power

Find your contract end / renewal dates for vendors. This may require reaching out to get copies of contracts.
Request an account review 6-9 months before the end of your contracts. They may find you now qualify for a new tier or reduced pricing.
Ask your tax or bookkeeping professional for recommendations.They are looking at companies’ expenses everyday and may have insight into where costs might not line up with industry standards.

Reach out to your local chamber of commerce, LinkedIn groups, or associations. Let others’ hindsight be your foresight.

Guest Blog by Elizabeth Andrews, with Calibr Merchant Solutions www.gocalibr.com,

by Marie Hale

3 Reasons Why That Newsletter is So Important

3 Reasons Why That Newsletter is so Important

JANUARY 03, 2017

|IN BUSINESS

|BY MARIE HALE

Email marketing can do a lot for small businesses. It helps nurture new leads, drives sales, promotes products and services, and builds loyalty. Notice how I mentioned more than just sales? That’s because marketing isn’t only about the bottom line, but contributing to the bottom line. Some email messages, such as promotions, are specifically designed to drive sales, but others, such as newsletters have other important functions.

Here are 3 things email newsletters do to help your business:

1. Keep your business top of mind. Newsletters are a great way to keep your business in the forefront of your customer’s mind by simply being there. Email is one of the most efficient and effective ways of getting your brand in front of your audience, and newsletters are a great and consistent way to get their attention.

57% of email subscribers spend

10-60 minutes browsing marketing emails during the week.

(Source: today willChoozOn)

Yes, we get a lot of emails, but we all spend time browsing, reviewing and evaluating them. Make sure your business has visibility where your customers are spending their time.

2. Engage your audience. Newsletters are great for customer engagement when they are full of information that customers want to read. Why would you want to engage your audience? The more engagement with your business, the more customers connect. The deeper that connection, the more likely they are to purchase.

63% of people requesting information on today will not purchase

for at least three months, and 20% will take more than 12 months to buy.

(Source: Marketing Donut)

Statistics like this reminds us that the customer journey is just that – a journey. Customers need time to make purchasing decisions. By engaging your audience through the purchase decision, you have a far better chance of them ultimately buying from you.

3. Deepen your relationship with customers. Newsletters are all about providing information to your customer. In our customer-centric environment, this communication is critical to help build the relationship. Plus, they are a great way to share your business values, differentiators and personality. Allowing your customers to learn more about you and your company improves loyalty and increases sales.

When asked which medium consumers would like to receive updates from,

90% preferred an email newsletter, while only 10% chose Facebook.

(Source: Nielsen Norman Group)

If good marketing is talking to the right audience, with the right message, at the right time, why not send a newsletter? The more connected the audience is, the more they begin to view your business less as a commodity and more as a partnership.

Newsletters are just one of the many different types of email marketing messages businesses can send. If you would like to learn more about email marketing and how it can help your business, contact our team today!

by Marie Hale

Stop relying on “Random Acts of Sales & Marketing”!

Stop Relying on "Random Acts of Sales & Marketing"!

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

|IN SALES, MARKETING

|BY MARIE HALE

Three weeks ago, Marie and I each had two prospect meetings. As we debriefed, it was as if we had the same meeting but on two different topics. Marie’s was marketing and mine was sales. In both cases what we heard was a lot of wishful thinking, and lots of money spent with virtually no real strategy, process, or plan to ensure 2017 is better than 2016. Guess what the 3 musts to success in sales and marketing are?

1. Strategy

My business partner, Marie uses the phrase ‘random acts of marketing’. I sure know what those look like and you might be doing some of them yourself. It’s that knee-jerk reaction to the so-called social selling craze. The MUST to be on Twitter, Periscope, Snapchat, etc. It’s the belief of “if I only had a better website, then they would call me.” Producing videos that don’t speak to the audience and futilely grasping at the latest and greatest. Or worst of all, handing over a fist full of cash to the nice guy in your networking group that convinced you he had the magic wand, but now you want to punch him every time you see him!

These investments rarely work and can almost always guarantee to be a waste of money, time, resources, emotions, and opportunity costs. Unfortunately, businesses run like this all the time and the ownership wonders why they struggle with market awareness, consistent messaging, and real Marketing Qualified Leads.

How do I fix it? Take the time to get QUALIFIED consultation and recommendations for strategy. Then, be sure to understand the strategy and make a commitment to follow through on the complete strategy. Marie has a hard and fast rule: it’s a no-go if it has to be done in under 6 weeks. That goes for a conference, an email campaign, or anything else that you want ROI from. We offer our clients strategy, implementation, ongoing execution, automation, and ultimately TRACKABLE and QUANTIFIABLE REVENUE. Isn’t that what marketing should be doing?

2. Process

I take tremendous pride in doing my job to the best of my ability, both selling and teaching sales. It makes me sad when I hear my profession be diminished and criticized. Then I quickly realize that we have no one to blame but ourselves because most salespeople are ill-equipped to succeed. They are often poorly trained (if at all), poorly led, poorly coached, poorly managed, and incentivized in horribly outdated ways.

Simply ask yourself, would you go to a dentist that wasn’t trained or had no plan? Send your kids to a teacher with no certificate? Trust a doctor, mechanic, jeweler, dry cleaner, or a pilot who is ‘winging it’?

Of course not! So what makes anyone think that you want to buy from an untrained and unprofessional sales person who lacked a process? What makes us think we should be selling when we’re not properly equipped with a process? Look, sales is a profession - one that should be respected and appreciated by those of us who sell (EVERYONE READING THIS) and those of us who buy (EVERYONE READING THIS). If you’re a lawyer, accountant, chiropractor, plumber, or any other professional service, stop your ‘random acts of sales’ and get trained to be the best you can at client acquisition.

3. Plan

Are you set for 2017? Do you expect 2017 to look like 2016 or does your plan insist that it will be better? Listen, don’t get caught looking back at the end of Q1 and see that you’ve done nothing new to ensure your success. Here are a few points to consider:

A. Is my networking really working or do I waste my time ‘net-eating’, ‘net-drinking’, and ‘net-chatting’? Networking needs to bring you ROI! If it doesn’t then stop, re-evaluate, and realign to a new group. If you need help, let me know.

B. Set very specific goals and then set the course to achieve them. There is nothing worse than being on the hamster wheel of business only to run and run but fail to advance.

What I want you to do now is simply decide: are you going to try something new and talk to with a successful sales and marketing team or do you want to forge ahead on your own? @Revenue offers a variety of training, education, and full consulting services. So the real question is: are you failing to plan, or planning to fail?

by Marie Hale

Is Business Networking Obsolete? Not If You Follow These 5 Commandments

Is Business Networking Obsolete? Not if You Follow These 5 Commandments

OCTOBER 28, 2016

|IN SALES, NETWORKING

|BY MARIE HALE

Blair Nicole (Business 2 Community) featured our co-founder Jim Rosas in her article on effective networking.

“Do you think face to face business networking is something best left in the stone ages? If so, you’re probably missing out on valuable opportunities to connect with potential partners, influencers, and even customers. After all, no amount of digital marketing compares to eye contact and a firm handshake.

The problem is that most people go about business networking completely wrong, and in some cases, create a bad name for themselves in the process. But business networking done right can truly set apart novice business owners from seasoned hustlers.

Here are five commandments from expert business networkers, to help you go from schmo to pro in no time.” Continue reading on Business2Community.com

Are you getting the most from your networking efforts? Attend our monthly Executive Brief.

by Marie Hale

Have They Told You Lately That They Love You?

Have They Told You Lately They Love You?

OCTOBER 13, 2016

|IN SALES, LEADERSHIP

|BY MARIE HALE

About a decade ago a client of mine used the phrase “professional love” to describe how they felt about the work we did together, the results and our working relationship. As a result, I’ve spent the last 10 years always holding that as the bar for my client interactions. After working with many dozen sales professionals, mid-level manager, Directors, VP’s and CEO’s there are so many reasons why professional love exists in some relationships and is lacking in many others.

For some leaders, they couldn’t care less how their staff feels about them. These are of course not leaders but simply people in authority, often by default. These folks typically don’t understand the need to be emotionally intelligent in order to maximize the potential of their people and therefore their business. I’ll give you an example: I worked with the CEO of a 12-year-old $500,000.00 business. It became abundantly clear in only a few weeks that the reason why this business could not get past a moderate dollar amount in a high ticket service industry was that the leader was only concerned with one thing, his ego. Despite suggestion and the specific direction he simply did not value his people or the internal relationships. Had he recognized their talents as equal to his and shown them some love, they would have helped him double or triple sales in no time. Who wants to go to work and KNOW that you’re not appreciated nor respected? This so called "leader" was not in professional love with anyone but himself and his staff could feel it.

One of my daily mantras is simple, you must love them first.

And, as in any relationship, we show love in a variety of ways.

Be the best you can be for each other.
In business, this means to focus on strengths and bolster weaknesses. If you’re a leader, study how to be better. If you’re a janitor, equip yourself with the tools needed to be most efficient. Talk to any Doctor and they will tell you that they are taxed with being their best or people may suffer or even die. Why should we take our profession as any less impactful? Be sure to put one another first and to serve one another. Keep in mind that this also means that we should expect the best from our teams and our clients. Don’t settle for second best, don’t settle for weak attempts, if you’re giving it your all, it’s a lot easier to demand your team’s all.
Love only works with trust.

As in the example above, without trust, there is an imminent failure in any relationship and business. How we translate trust to our teams and clients is critical. What I find best is to identify the strengths I talked about in #1 and create the environment for each to maximizes their strengths. Don’t give up on an amazing sales person just because they are weak at doing CRM entries (which is every superstar sales person). FIND SUPPORT STAFF THAT CAN HELP THEM. Your profits will be higher if that superstar stays out on the streets closing deals. Then, TRUST THEM. Don’t micromanage, don’t monitor their e-mails, don’t stop giving them projects…” trust, but verify”-Ronald Reagan. Verification comes through accountability. I wrote an article, conducting an effective 1:1 meeting which outlines how to hold your team and clients accountable to their commitments. However, if we start with management and not trust, we set our people up for mediocrity.
Love cares.

It’s okay to like and care about one another's personal lives and to take part in important causes of your staff. I was out to dinner with a friend the other day and she mentioned that their staff was all taking work-time to donate to an animal shelter. Why? Because each employee (about 10) have important causes and each month an employee arranges to do something for their cause and then the ENTIRE team buys into that cause and works together. I’m sure you can imagine the camaraderie, respect and “love” that comes with this. Of course, the leader has to be bought in and understand that work time does not translate to clock punching. The time invested in these activities pays off in spades when your team is united, caring, committed, involved and loyal to each other and their united success. The lives of your people and the revenue of your business will prosper. The ENTIRE team buys into that cause and works together. I’m sure you can imagine the camaraderie, respect and “love” that comes with this. Of course, the leader has to be bought in and understand that work time does not translate to clock punching. The time invested in these activities pays off in spades when your team is united, caring, committed, involved and loyal to each other and their united success. The lives of your people and the revenue of your business will prosper.
Love is recognized and rewarded.

Think about your spouse, children or any loved one, we show love with hugs, kisses, gifts, servitude, etc. In the work environment, these manifest themselves in ‘at-a-boy’s’, bonuses, smiles, rewards, dinners, happy work environments, etc. In his book Drive, Daniel Pink teaches at great length that the days of the stick and carrot are no longer. He also talks about if-then rewards vs now-that rewards. Love is not conditional so work reward shouldn’t be conditional. Almost every sales manager tries to get results with if-then rewards. You know, “If you hit the goal then you get more money”. This is far less effective than when you show your love/reward with no expectation. This can be tricky and is a real mental shift for many. If you have any questions or would like to connect about this, let me know. I show my love by working with SMB leaders to drive great success. I do this in a variety of ways and not always for money, sometimes just for love.

by Marie Hale

Let's talk about Six

Let's Talk About Six

SEPTEMBER 27, 2016

|IN SALES, LEADERSHIP, MARKETING

|BY MARIE HALE

After years of working with SMB business owners/leaders and their salespeople, I have realized that there are at least six, oftentimes more but we’re going to talk about the prevalent six, critical areas that are neglected entirely or have weak plans and structure. My hope is for you to identify and address any and all of these areas in your business.

1. Go-To-Market strategy - As businesses look to grow they often times have the Field of Dreams syndrome; “Build it and they will come”. This rarely works unless your business is a Starbucks on seemingly any corner in the Loop. Other than that, a strong actionable go-to-market (GTM) strategy is required. You must have specific actions formulated to access and influence your buying market. No matter what your services, from accounting offices to chiropractic practices, every business requires strategy to maintain growth. There are some great GTM examples online, but a word to the wise, make it your GTM strategy. Unless you own it, embrace it and believe in it, it will simply be another document that collects dust in a drawer. Seek the outside perspective that is required and then do it! Try it, track it and then you will know how to change it.

TASK: Read the examples, step away from your business for an afternoon (If you think you can’t do that, you don’t have a business you have an obsession) take the best minds you have from within your business and a few from the outside then start talking long term strategy. You’ll need to set some goals for the strategy but goals without a strategy of achievement are only hopes and wishes.

2. Automate, Delegate, Duplicate - The biggest hurdle that business owners face is the habit of being the COE, Chief of Everything, instead of a CEO. As you build your service offerings and identify how you care for your clients make sure that you document repetitive behaviors. Everything from how you onboard a customer to the follow up that happens with your inbound marketing can be automated, or if automation is not an option you can document the process and delegate it. Make it a full time focus to effectively hand off as many tasks as possible. There are a litany of tools on the market (insightly and mailchimp are my favorite go-to products) that can function as a project management tool, empower your marketing automation and drip marketing campaigns, and integrate with your accounting software.

TASK: Do a time audit to understand where you are investing your time. When you have a solid view of where your hours are going you will be able to assess what truly should be on your plate and what can be handed off. Begin to document how each task is done and create activity sets that can guide a support person through the process. You can find a virtual assistant or on site part timer to help you in the beginning, and then do your level best to touch things once and hand them off!

3. Documented and Disciplined Client Acquisition Process - Each phase in the client acquisition process needs to be documents and measurable. I’ve seen many businesses that simply have fields such as: LEAD<PROSPECT< OPPORTUNITY< CLOSED WON as their funnel. This will not suffice if you take your business development seriously. Here is an example of one I built for a past client. As you can see, there are VERY SPECIFIC qualifications that must be met before the prospective client transitions from Marketing Lead to Sales Lead and then MORE VERY SPECIFIC qualifications that must be met before the salespeople can assign a phase and percentage of probability. With this process, my client could easily identify the marketing effectiveness and where along the process they had the greatest lost rate. WIth this information, I was able to coach, develop and train with laser like focus.

TASK: Move outside of the generic sales funnel fields and assign what makes sense. Then, within each category assign the qualification points that must be met to achieve the threshold. This gives you a true “process” to follow. Think of it like a recipe: step by step, timed accordingly, baked properly, etc. When you omit ingredients or make other mistakes you inevitably get a dismal outcome.

4. Consistent and effective 1:1 meetings with staff and leaders. I already wrote about this topic so I won’t repeat myself. I encourage you to read it if you haven’t already. One addition, few business owners have someone to give them consistent and honest feedback.

TASK: Follow the tips in the article! If you as a business leader don’t have someone, find someone. It’s not that hard these days to find a coach. Your obligation is to find one that fit’s with you but will push you. Oh, and make sure they’re qualified, there are a lot of jokers out there.

5. An understanding of Emotional-Intelligence, Dr. Travis Bradberry’s book is a smart but easy read that is far and away one of the best out there. I will only impress upon you that the world is shifting, carrot/stick is a motivation of the past for most businesses. You must lead with emotional intelligence in this day and age.

TASK: READ THE BOOK!

6. Working toward your exit vs. running in place- This seems to be the big winner! In a May 2016 CNBC story it was sited that almost two-thirds of businesses have no plan for exit. Thus, people run on their hamster wheel day after day and never get to their goal. Simply said, without the goal of exit, it’s rarely achieved.

TASK: This one is more fluid. It depends a lot on from where you are starting. But a few musts are: Timeline goals, financial goals, a decision on what will happen to the business when you exit, strategy to pursue your goals, support to achieve your goals.

So, now what? Take stock, don’t be discouraged and start to make the changes needed to address these Six often neglected areas. Listen, it’s hard! The days fly by and business owners have a few thousand distractions a day. Step back, get perspective and set a plan into action. Let us know if you need help.

by Marie Hale

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