Where Does Your Actual Business Power Come From?
| The James Hooper Business Builders Letter Townsville – Earth. 21st Century.  The Source of Business Power Welcome to now. It has been a while since you heard from me as I have been absorbed in “testing”. I love testing. And it is a key part of our business success. The insight for me is that it is the application of the lessons drawn from the tests that make the dough. Over the last 20 or so years I have collected and tested a vast range of tools for business. Once tested I have added them to my “toolbox”. Then, as needed with my coaching clients I simply draw out the tools as needed, and help my clients apply them. Not Knowing Enough Tactics Is Not Why People Go Broke (or fail to achieve).. Recently it occurred to me that most people don’t go out of business as a result of not knowing enough ways to increase their business. More often it is it is because they don’t apply any of the ones they already know – or they only apply them for a short time before jumping to the next “tactic”. Are you wasting your power? Doing absolutely nothing and trying to do absolutely everything – can have the same result. And the second way is probably more exhausting. Exhausting because you are always seeking and learning NEW and better tactics. This is extra work. Then when you find the NEW tactic – there is the pain and time involved in learning the software or “doing” the training. Then – after you get it work (or not) – time to discover the next tactic – leaving the tactic just learned to rust in the corner. So- What is the antidote? Well – go into any decent bookstore (or Amazon) – and surround yourself with a thousand books and continue with your exhausting “seeking” work. Read, study, learn – consider, test. Read some more, forget what the first guy said. And repeat…. Or.. You are allowed to simply STOP. 4 Words of Power Napoleon Hill told me once (in The Law of Success in 16 Lessons – about 900 pages) that power is “organized knowledge intelligently applied”. Just 4 words is the juice I crushed it into. The second last word hid from me for a while. How do you know if you are applying your organized knowledge ‘intelligently’? Smack in the head? The answer came to me like a sharp smack in the part of my head that just loves to “do” stuff and “get on with it”. Are you ready for just 5 words that will alter your business and life strategies? The answer is that ‘intelligently’ means “takes you toward your ideal”. Again – “it takes you toward your ideal – whatever your ideal is.” The Most Common Reason for Mediocrity I believe the single most common reason that business owners do not fly past all goals is that they simply have not stopped and decided what “ideal” looks like for their business, how they get things done, and their personal life. Or – put another way – most entrepreneurs have not achieved their major goals in life because they simply are not clear on what those goals [ideals] are. Once you have listed your ideals – the power question is “Why have you not already got this?”. The answers are the obstacles – the reasons you cannot get your goals right now. We can now take these obstacles and what we must make happen and DEFINE them. Then just convert the defined obstacles into OBJECTIVES. Once you have listed your objectives – you then have a clear path to your IDEAL. More Work AND Less Success? If we do not define our ideals FIRST – we end up with a huge list of tasks that may take us somewhere – but probably not to our ideal. And it will be hard to keep our motivations strong. Knowing why we are doing things is the source of our continued power. This is what I think Hill was talking about with “intelligently”. It can be applied to all levels of goals. Without choosing the ‘ideal’ outcome – we cannot apply specific effective strategies to overcome the appearance of that outcome – which means we use “generic” strategies and just “hope” that they magically give us our (secret) goals. Shotgun or Minefield Without a Map? Without an ideal to shoot at, we “shotgun” our generic strategies – doing massive amounts of action (‘work’) – most of which is not taking us to our goals – but some of it just might. Summary of this long rant: 1. If you want success, then make yourself DECIDE what your ideal (in any area) looks like. Write it down clearly. 2. Ask yourself why you do not already have it, and what needs to be overcome to get it. Write this all down. 3. Convert these into objectives, stated positively. There are more steps – but that is for the next letter. Just doing these will change your life in minutes. Final Questions: Choosing not to define your ideals in each area of life that is important to you – is that choosing to give up your power? And when you look back on your life – will you have weaved a beautiful tapestry of precise achievement and fulfillment that defines what is most important to you? Or will it be a grey, bland and mediocre effort where you played tunelessly because you refused to choose the notes that were best for you? Thinking QuestionWhich has the greater effect on your net profit: 1. 10% increase in the average number of customers 2. 10% increase in the average number of transactions for each client per year 3. 10% increase in your average margin Answer next newsletter. SystemsYou cannot create a system without first knowing the purpose or goal of the system. (Write Purpose of Procedure ON the document! DOH.) How many of your procedures, systems, or manuals do not clearly state what the system is supposed to produce? Hey – does that mean that your business cannot be systematic unless you have clear and stated outcomes for what you mean it to produce for you? Should you automate your most productive activities first? Techno-Tip – Use flowcharts to describe your systems and processes. Use a tool like Gliffy.com to get shorten your learning curve. Sales DevelopmentIf your sales process involves someone answering your phone after you have generated a new lead – it is likely your conversion rate is lower than it could be. Spend $20k on your Google & FB adverts to make the phone ring. Then do no training or monitoring for the people who answer the phones? Is that you? Do you have a phone script so that everyone answers your phone the same way? Have you ever had your phone answering “mystery shopped”? Or simply recorded? Does your team put people on hold without permission for a long time? Even just over that last couple of weeks I have called businesses ready to buy – and have been put off by the ‘receptionist’. You know the kind – where they make it seem that you are ‘bothering’ them? Tip: At the completion of a phone call – plan to hang up AFTER your prospect or client. Then they do not get the “hanging up in your ear click” or even “throwing the receiver onto cradle crunch”. Both of these lessen the experience and cost nothing. Thanks for reading. Over the next few months the format of this newsletter will evolve. Please feel free to forward it intact. Have a wickedly abundant day James Hooper seminar.com.au | ||
