In our last conversation, we talked about choosing an industry, or vertical specialization, as a way to find your "people like us," but what if there’s not one industry that fits your business? One of my clients, Diane Yetter of Yetter Tax, helps people with their most difficult sales tax problems. Though we think of sales tax as being primarily a retail problem, the most difficult challenges in sales tax apply to manufacturers, e-commerce sellers, hospitality chains, people who sell through dealer--the list goes on. Her work doesn’t fit well within a vertical specialty. To make things more difficult, only the very largest of companies have more than one person who works with sales … [Read more...]
How to find your “people like us”?
In our last conversation, we talked about how “people like us, do things like this.” How identifying your tribe, and then acting in ways that show you are a part of that tribe, can significantly accelerate the growth of your business. Which begs the question: who are your people like us, and how do you demonstrate you're part of the tribe? Pick an industry The easiest way to specialize is to pick an industry to focus on. I know a banker who specializes in working with dentists, a lawyer who specializes in breweries, an IT company who works only with distributors. The simple formula is "I help X with Y." This is called “vertical specialization,” and it has some significant … [Read more...]
People like us do stuff like this
You know when you are in a “tribe” because you do the things that your tribe does, you wear the things that they wear, you sound like them, you look like them… Seth Godin, in one of his most popular blog posts, called it “People like us do things like this.” So when you think about your ideal target market — that buyer that you are 100% sure you can make a big difference for — what tribe are they in? How do they talk? What words do they use differently from the way the rest of the world uses them? Where do they go (online and IRL)? What kinds of things do they do when they are there? What are the signals of trust and status that they display? If you can answer those … [Read more...]
When you are afraid, but you do it anyway.
In our house, there’s only one show that the whole family watches religiously the moment it's available and that’s Snake City. Snake City is a show that follows a South African snake catcher (Simon Keys) and his assistant/girlfriend (Siouxsie Gillett) as they drive around Durban catching poisonous snakes. (Durban is loaded with venomous snakes!) Simon and Siouxsie are experts at what they do (caching venomous snakes), but they are also very aware of the danger involved. Simon recites all the ways that the venom of the snake he’s currently hunting can kill him while he searches for each snake. It makes for an edge of your seat tension in every episode. But Simon has taught me about … [Read more...]
The best way to get “unstuck”
In our last conversation, we talked about The U-Curve, the predictable path that business profits take as your business grows from “just you” to “you and your team.” The most important feature of the U-Curve is the flat bottom. That’s the zone where profits are slim, growth is hard, and a lot of entrepreneurs stall out. One of the indicators of entrepreneurial success is to move through that flat bottom of the U-Curve quickly. But what if you found yourself stuck in that dreaded flat-zone, where margins are low, sales growth is a slog, and you’re thinking “there must be a better way”? If that’s you, there are two things you need to do right away. The way to get unstuck is to start … [Read more...]
Where are you on “The U-Curve”?
Remember that first time you got paid by a client? You stepped out on your own, got some work, delivered on it, and got paid. I know for me it felt like magic. People were just giving me money! As my business grew I started adding some expenses, I built a website, I added a “business phone”, then bookkeeping help, and Admin help. By the time I got to hiring an associate team the feeling I was getting from cashing those checks went from “magic” to desperation! OK, now I can pay this month’s bills, whew! Where’s the next check coming from? When we start out in our business that first check is pure joy; in part because it’s pure profit! But, as we grow our sales, expenses also have a … [Read more...]
The most important 100 days in the year
From now until mid-December are the most critical hundred days of the year for owners of B2B Service firms. This is the time when clients are making big decisions about their priorities and budgets for the next year, and you need to be in those conversations with them. If you want to grow your business, you must be focused and effective in the next 12 weeks. So let’s stop and take an inventory of what might keep you from delivering in this crucial period. Do you have the physical, mental, and emotional strength and stamina that you need to shine? You need to treat your health the way an Olympic athlete treats their body! This is going to be a demanding period and you need to be … [Read more...]
This call might just double my business!
I’ve been having a great time getting on the phone with some of you this last week. I heard about moving houses and offices (and the upheaval that brings). I heard about hiring and firing teams, about businesses that had tough years, and businesses that are on fire and are having their best year ever. But one conversation stuck out to me that I wanted to share with you all. One reader told me about how he had simplified his business so that he was selling just 3 things, and how that had catapulted his sales in the last year. As we went through his 3 offers, there was one that we honed in on. It was his “entry-level” offer, the one he made the least profit on, but was the “gateway … [Read more...]
The best way to make progress is to get help.
OK, so we’ve been talking about The Resistance for a few days. We’ve seen how subtle it can be, how tricky the lies can get. We know it costs us energy, confidence, and progress in our business and our life. So what can you do to defeat The Resistance? The Resistance is in your head. It knows you inside and out and uses your greatest fears against you. Once we accept this, it becomes obvious that we cannot fight it alone, because we are actually just fighting ourselves. We need help to keep us focused and resilient. We need a team. If you go head-to-head with The Resistance you have no point of reference; you have no place to stand, it’s like fighting a whirlwind from the … [Read more...]
What is The Resistance costing you?
What does it look like when we’re afraid to make changes, take risks, or push our comfort zone? How do we recognize that The Resistance has a hold on our perspective, and is holding us back? Let me tell you a story. I knew I had to fire him. He’s a great guy; he’s got all the right background to be successful at this work. On the outside, he looked just like the person I needed to do this job. Still, it was undeniable that every project I gave him went south. In one project, the client had some medical challenges that were hard to deal with, so maybe that one isn’t on him. With another assignment, I hadn’t fully trained him… I had excuses for why the projects were all getting screwed … [Read more...]
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