Could you benefit from specialized business consultant services?

Running your own business is not turning out the way you thought it would. You seem to be working more hours than you did in a “JOB”, in fact, your business is just another job. Perhaps you could benefit from specialized business consultant services. An adviser can really amp up your business marketing strategies.

You cant take holidays and if you do you dread the crisis call something has gone wrong. You don’t want to tell anyone how much net profit your making, not yet anyway until things turn around.

This is really more work and less reward than you had in mind when you started out, self-doubt starts to creep into your head and you ask yourself— “Do I really want to be in this business?”

Then you wake up and realise it was all a bad dream!

You breathe a sigh of relief knowing that you have more customers than you can handle, your profitability is great and you can fly off to Bali for 3 weeks and not have to worry about a thing.

Your customers are raving fans, your phone is ringing and you’re turning down referrals as you’re so busy. Your working with the right strategies and your business marketing strategies are looking superb!

This is the life of the rockstar business owner, here are seven ways a good business advisor can help you make that a reality for your business. Let’s elaborate on these specialized business consultant services.

1. Begin With The End in Mind

A lack of clarity and purpose is a sure-fire recipe for poor performance and lack of results in your business marketing strategies. Work with your advisor to form a realistic target for where you want to be in terms of income and lifestyle.

You need to believe success is possible, that is it possible for you and to expect your results will exceed expectations. Setting big goals is important but they must also be realistic and achievable.

Let’s say your yearly net profit is $100,000 and you want to be making $2,000,000 in a years time. This goal is exciting but the brain often has trouble making such a leap. The most successful business marketing strategies would break it down into bite-size pieces.

2. Have a Look Under The Hood First

When you ask business owners what they want, a large proportion will say they don’t have enough customers or sales. The vital business health signs of profitability and cash flow are overlooked or simply ignored.

Turnover and sales are important but not as important as profitability. Make sure you understand your gross margin, net-profit, free cash flow and cost to acquire a new customer.

Your turnover is often your ego, it’s tempting to jump straight in and increase sales. If you soup up the sales engine before fixing the rest of the car you will spin out of control, or even off the road. Specialized business consultant services can steer you in the right direction.

“Poor business fundamentals + Increased sales = Going broke faster”

3. Open The Show With a Bang

You only need a limited time to work with your advisor to get some fast results. It is important early on to find areas where you can quickly harvest value.

Target results in the first 30 to 60 days, cut wastage, retarget existing customers, increase the number and value of sales, negotiate with suppliers. A good advisor will measure marketing expenditure that’s not working and put a knife through it.

Getting some early results will establish an important belief that your advisor’s business marketing strategies can work for you. It’s as easy as sitting down to do a household budget and many of these early wins cost little or nothing to implement.

3. Follow get The Action, Results, Belief Cycle

Excitement will be high at the beginning of the consulting process and building momentum will make it easier for you to take the necessary actions needed to keep your success going.

Your advisor will typically follow a routine of planning and task assignment at the start of the week, measurement and review of results at the end. 

When you track task activity, web traffic, sales and other incremental improvements, it provides visible evidence of results and is highly motivating.

Each small victory fuels more activity, more belief and in turn more wins. This is the Action, Results, Belief Cycle.

5. Be Alert To The “Hidden” Value In Your Business

As you work with your advisor, they will show you ways to add value in your business you haven’t considered. These are easy to overlook if you’re too close to the action and are working “in” your business instead of “on” it.

Complementary products and services in the back end are commonly where this value is found. Using a joint venture “JV” is the fastest way to unlock these dollars and dramatically lower the cost of acquiring new customers.

Are you in building and construction? Partner up with plumbers and electricians. In Real estate? Do a deal with furnishing companies and advertising agencies. Personal Trainer? Look at fitness software, gym gear and physios.

6. Everybody Must Pick Up an Oar

We all know the type of consultant that unloads all the great ideas, sends in the invoice and then you never hear from them again. This kind of country club hustling “pump and dump” approach is big on talk with very little action.

Good business consultant services will be involved at every step of the process of helping you execute the improvement strategies that have been agreed upon. This will mean that your advisor will lead by example and everyone will get their hands dirty.

This will include Roleplay with the salespeople, conducting workshops, getting on the phone with suppliers and helping to negotiate. Don’t be afraid to tap into the expertise of your advisor and ask for help if you’re not sure.

7. Hold Your Own Feet to The Fire

Expecting your advisor to lead by example does not mean that they are going to do all the work for you. It’s your business and you are ultimately responsible for taking the action required to achieve your success.

Measurement and accountability are essential at every step of your consulting engagement for both yourself and your advisor. But as a business owner, being held accountable to complete the actions you need to take will make the work easier and the results greater.

The weekly progress meetings are your greatest accountability asset, use this time to match individuals with tasks and due dates. Use this opportunity to build strong accountability in your organisation and stand firm on what needs to be done and who is responsible. These are the types of business marketing strategies that are the most successful.

Go Forth And Turn Your Customers Into Raving Fans

Imagine waking up each morning knowing that you can turn on the results tap for your business immediately. If you have been struggling for years, this will be like a breath of fresh air.

If your business advisor is any good they will be following all of these seven approaches. How much improvement will you see in your business in the next twelve months if you followed just a few of these tips?

How will it feel getting a steady stream of referrals, being able to pick and choose the customers you want to work with? 

How good would it be to be able to brag about how well your business is doing and how much time you’re able to take off — letting it run by itself?

Pretty good yeah!