By Beth Schneider and Sandye Linnetz
You know you have to market your business, right? How else is that huge rush of client going to magically show up at your door step? But did you know that marketing by itself is not enough? Creating and using an effective system for marketing in your business is the key to having both more time and more money for playing the market . . .and shopping at one!
A rush of clients is great. But isn't a rush of clients that magically gets handled and doesn't overwhelm you sound better? The freedom to walk out of your business for an hour or a month - and know that it will run smoothly and profitably on it's own- is available through the systems attached to your marketing efforts.
Here are the steps we took one client through to greatly increase his profitability and find the hidden money in his business. The best part is you can use these same steps to increase the cash flowing into your own bank account.
Step 1. Notice the breakdown One of our one-on-one consulting clients at Process Prodigy is a brilliant marketer - really a star in his field. He's a great copywriter and comes up with fabulous products that people want, BUT the system behind all of that brilliance was broken! Consequently, he and his staff were stressed, overwhelmed with the amount of work to do and constantly rushing at the last minute to put out fires and complete projects and tasks that should have been finished days or weeks before. He was saying, "yes" to almost everything and figuring that "somehow it will all fit in." The problem was that, at his company, they had no schedule or calendar and he was way over extended; things were being double booked and too many tasks and projects were getting lost in the shuffle. This is a common breakdown that you problem can see in your own business, but don't quite know how to handle it.
Step 2. Lay out the Big Picture We started by creating a calendaring system. We scheduled all of the upcoming newsletters, coaching promotions, live events and various product launches. Laying things out in a calendar made it easy for his whole team to see what happens and when. Do you have this view for yourself? Lay out a calendar for yourself, you'll be amazed at how much gets accomplished just because you have a plan.
Step 3. Connect the dots Once you know what to focus on, then you want to lay out all of the pieces, the steps to get each job done in a smoothly organized, highly profitable way. Essentially you lay out "how" things get done. This will empower the right team members to follow the right steps to get things done your way and you don't even have to be there.
Step 4. Give it away Don't plan on doing it all yourself. Give out assignments to the right people on your team. For our client we created a detailed spreadsheet of what needed to get done, who was responsible and the date it needed to be completed. At a glance, the "what", "who" and "when" was perfectly clear.
The results? Success was immediate. After less than four hours of working together on his new marketing system, my client "found" $100,000.00 that had been slipping through the cracks without a system in place. When you create a system and put a system into use, it works, so you have more time and money not to.
Let's recap. We identified the breakdowns, created a big picture plan, laid out the steps and then assigned the team to make sure everything got done. Writing an outstanding blog or article may make you feel good - and your mother proud - but, if you don't point it anywhere and no one reads it - If you did a fabulous job of pointing and didn't give contact info. Get the point? Marketing matters - truly matters, but it is marketing plus systems that equals a successful business.
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© 2009 Beth Schneider, Process Prodigy, Inc.
Want to reprint this article? Feel free as long as you include the following:
Beth Schneider, President of Process Prodigy Inc., www.processprodigy.com, along with her team of highly sought after operations consultants, reveal the insider secrets billion-dollar corporations pay thousands of dollars for. Specializing in process creation, Process Prodigy tools and techniques have helped entrepreneurs increase productivity by as much as 600%, and revenues by as much as 250%. Visit www.processprodigy.com/ezine and grab your FREE systems starter kit valued at $297.00
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