Anchor Advisors

Anchor Advisors offers small business consulting in the Chicago area. Our advisors help businesses to grow with confidence and make better decisions.

CALL US! (773)-282-7677

  • About
    • Case Studies
    • Speaking
    • Jobs
  • Services
  • Articles

I need help!

By Brad Farris

"Hi, my name's Brad, and I'm a doomscroller." It started with the pandemic. I wasn’t much of a social media consumer before that, but I wanted to stay on top of the news when the virus hit. Things were changing all the time, so I kept checking back. Then it was the protests, then the political news…I know I need to stop. Before long, my wife was doomscrolling along with me. Instead of catching up with one another at the end of the day, we’re staring at our phones, sending links back and forth. I resolved at the start of the year – I’m leaving my phone in my office. I don’t have to bring it out at night! That lasted 6 days. I need to get sober. The thing is looking at the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

Are you “doing the thing” or leading your business?

By Brad Farris

As I talked with one of my clients last week, he said something that blew my mind. 🤯 Mike went to law school as a mid-career switcher. His background is in product development and engineering, but now he owns a law firm. We talked about how things have changed for him during the last few years that we’ve been working together. “I’m not even a lawyer anymore,” he said, “or at least I don’t do what lawyers do!” Mike had found a way to use outreach to gain new clients consistently. By sending just a few hundred direct mail letters each week, he could keep the phone ringing steadily with clients looking for his services. But to stay focused on the new clients, he knew that he couldn’t … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

How do I find time for prospecting?

By Brad Farris

When it comes to your sales pipeline, there’s just one thing you are in complete control over. You can’t control when people buy or who will buy, but you have complete control over the top of your funnel. And unless you’ve got something seriously wrong, the more qualified leads you put into the top of your funnel, the more sales come out the bottom. So the equation is simple, generate more leads, and you’ll get more sales. So why don’t we generate more leads? A consistent lead generation process requires two things: A clear idea of who your ideal client is and where to find them. Consistent, daily effort to find and engage with those clients. Most of my clients have the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

What you can, and can’t, control in your sales funnel

By Brad Farris

The sales funnel is a useful concept for helping us visualize the journey that a prospect makes toward becoming a customer. But the idea of the “funnel” makes the process seem more predictable than most of us find in practice! Just because someone is in your funnel doesn’t mean that they will buy, or even that some percentage of them are going to buy this month! What can we control about our funnel, and what can’t we control? You can’t control who’s going to buy Obviously, not everyone buys. In fact, some folks you think are a slam dunk will never buy, and some long-shots will come through easily. You can’t control their timing When a prospect tells you, “I want to get this … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

What can focus produce?

By Brad Farris

I’ve been trying to make an argument this week that it’s easier to grow your firm by narrowing your focus than by taking on a broad range of work from the clients that come your way. I wanted to end the week by talking about an example, a client who actually did this! Meet Robin I started working with a web design company that was doing well, but the owner wanted to see more growth. There was a lot of variability in the clients and projects coming in, so she needed to have a wide range of talent to deliver on all those various projects. When we kicked off the engagement, she crystallized the problem, “I want to grow my business, but I don’t want to grow the number of employees. I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

Have an average day

By Brad Farris

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” — Bruce Lee We all want to be exceptional. If to achieve my goals, I have to be exceptional every day, that’s going to be exhausting! I’m not sure I have it in me to keep that up day after day after day. But the good news is you don’t; you just need a string of average days. Think about what you can accomplish in an average day. Can you call 3 past clients or prospects on an average day? If you sustained that over the course of one year (5 days a week), you’d have made 780 calls to prospects or clients that year. In three days a week, it would be 468 calls in a year. What would that do for your business? Could … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

Accelerate your sales cycle by talking directly to your ideal prospect

By Brad Farris

When I talk to growing agencies and creative services firms, their top concern is lead generation. They are confident that they can deliver value, but everyone struggles to get in front of the right potential buyers. Because their pipeline is skinny, and they’re anxious about that, I see folks relaxing their qualification. Instead of focusing on their ideal customer, they tend to start talking to folks who might be “less ideal.” Then, to close deals with those “less ideal” clients, they stretch their service offerings to match what those clients “want,” and they end up working on things that they “can” do instead of what they are best at. The solution isn’t to open up the top of your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

2021, can you step into my office…

By Brad Farris

2021, I want to have a serious conversation about your performance. As you know, we brought you in to replace someone who had severe performance issues. 2020 started off on the wrong foot, then just a few weeks later, their decisions had a major impact on the whole organization. I’m a believer in second chances, and so I let them stay. Things were rocky, but through the summer they secured us some government support, which did help. I was hopeful that things would work out. Unfortunately, all hell broke loose, and we had to let them go. I don’t want to see that happen to you 2021. Here’s what we need for you to stay a part of our organization: First, and this is important to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

What are you giving up for the new year?

By Brad Farris

Welcome back! I’m hopeful that you’ve gotten a good break at the end of a long year and are back at it, ready to take on 2021 with new vigor and enthusiasm. I had some great downtime this holiday season. My business partner gave us a back yard fire pit! We were grateful for the opportunity it provided for some socially distanced visits with family and friends. It was the perfect #2020 holiday gift! One thing that’s sure to come when I take some good time off is that I return full of new ideas, fresh insights, and renewed energy to conquer the world! This year, before I launch into new things, I’m feeling a draw to examine all I’m doing with the idea of paring back to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

Happy (almost) solstice

By Brad Farris

Blowing a bubble in the winter and watching it freeze

It’s nearly the shortest day of the year, and after a long year filled with new opportunities, unexpected changes, loss, serendipity, and work – lots of work, it’s time to hibernate for a couple of weeks. If you’ve been reading along all year, you’ve seen 142 emails come your way from me, almost 30,000 words. (And if you read every one, bless you!) It’s my privilege to have as generous an audience for my musings as you. I’m looking forward to leaning harder into questions in 2021 and giving many of you a chance to school me! But until then, enjoy your egg nog, your warm fires, you socially-distanced, outdoor family gatherings, and some much needed time off. See you on January … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Email Archive

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 30
  • Next Page »

For More Information:

  • Privacy Policy and Legal Disclaimer
  • Contact Us
  • Join the conversation!

Search

Connect with Us

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2021 · Anchor Advisors, Ltd. · Call 773-282-7677 · 7061 W. North Ave #352, Oak Park, IL 60302