So you have been writing down goals and trying to come to grip with what your income will be. What path do I take toward my future success. Like most I expect you want it to make more money than you are currently making. So how do we get there? What is a reasonable growth projection? If you are a salaried employee one looks for part time work or running a home based business on the side. These types of activity have the greatest bottom line impact as most of your current expenses are fixed. If you are in commission sales you likely have money goals that usually breaks down into the number of units or programs you sell. If you are a business owner the task becomes more complicated. You have to pay your expenses before you pay yourself. Forget the notion that is a business expense and it is tax deductible. You can only pay your bills with money that you have in the bank. Cash is king. Deductible or otherwise.
The success master in my opinion is Jack Canfield. In his book the "Success Principals" he spends a great amount of time discussing your relationship to money. "Develop A Positive Money Consciousness". In this book he devotes several chapters to money and there is a recipe to obtaining wealth. Like all things in life, it will take some time. What you do have, is control of the rate of that growth. Know where you are now. Know where you want to be next year and know what it will take to live your dream life. Once you know the income that is required to be where you want to be next year you can set out with your plan. It's key not to do a pie in the sky approach for next week. Save the pie in the sky for later. That's not to say don't write it down. Just understand there will be fair bit of space between now and then. Success is more likely and far more enjoyable when you are having fun.
You have to start with measurable numbers that work. For example if you are selling 8 cars a month you will need to know what the average commission per vehicle is. Then you calculate how many additional units you need to sell to get to your target income. In my opinion there are really only three main ways to do this. The first being by picking up the phone and start doing warm and cold calls inviting folks to come to see you for their next vehicle purchase. You generate more opportunities rather than waiting for potential customers to come in the door. You need to measure the success of these calls as this will help you determine what is required to gain one additional sale. Secondly is to enhance your sales skills so you can have a better closing ratio. The third way is to do both. Imagine a 25 percent increase in income. Well it's taking 8 units a month to 10 units a month. Bingo. You now have your number. Success is in knowing the activity you need to obtain success. Make sure its measurable.
If you're in business you will need to come up with some sales projections. Your bank and shareholders will want to know your plan. This is once again going to be difficult to measure. For example in retail you are subject to picking the right products and most importantly retaining your existing customers so your base does not erode. These choices become a balancing act. Remember this. It's easier to keep an existing customer happy than it is to get a new one. You have to ensure that the promotions you are offering to attract new customers is not a better deal than your existing customers are currently paying. So how do you do this. One area to grow your business through what is called organic growth. Increasing the average sales to your existing customers makes good economic sense. It is also the most cost effective way to grow our business. This increase in sales can be found through introducing new product offerings and obtaining more of your existing customers business they may be purchasing from your competitors. This type of growth is the most controllable and affordable way to grow your business. In your plan for new customers you need to figure out what it costs to obtain a new customer. What are you paying your outside sales staff. Advertising and promotional costs. You need to know if you have the available funds to start such a campaign. In a nut shell you need to put a number on the average increase in sales to your existing customers and how many new customers will you realistically bring in. You now have your number. The key to your success will be how you implement and carry out this plan. It's not easy to be an entrepreneur because there are so many variables. Go forward with a good plan and be ready to adjust the plan as you move along. You need that goal or target to focus on. Just make sure the number is well thought out.
Fast and rapid growth can be followed by equally fast decline as these types of sales growth are usually found at the leading edge of a new technology or sales created from new fad products. These periods of fast sales growth also attracts competitors and makes you the hunted. Growing your business based on sound values and solid projections will add balance to your life and balance to your bottom line.
No comments:
Post a Comment