• Affiliate Marketing
 • Affiliate Marketing - Basics
 • Affiliate Marketing - Development
 • Affiliate Marketing - Setting Up
 • Archive catalogue
 • Autoresponders
 • Banner Advertising
 • Business Development
 • Checklists
 • Competitors
 • Copy Writing
 • Copy Writing - ad copy
 • Copy Writing - email copy
 • Copy Writing - sales copy
 • Customer Service
 • Database Marketing
 • Direct Mail
 • Domain Names
 • E-books
 • E-commerce
 • E-mail Marketing
 • E-zines
 • E-zines: Advertising
 • E-zines: Promotion
 • E-zines: Subscribers
 • E-zines: Writing
 • Entrepreneurship
 • Free Services
 • Home Based Business
 • Home Based Business - Finance
 • Home Based Business - Getting Started
 • Home Based Business - is it for YOU?
 • Home Based Business - Marketing
 • Internet Tips
 • Market Research
 • Marketing
 • Marketing Strategy
 • Net Business Start ups
 • Networking(MLM)
 • Newsletters/Newsgroups
 • Online Payments
 • Online Promotion
 • PC KNOW HOW
 • Personal Development For Marketeers
 • PR/Publicity and Media
 • Sales Tips
 • Search Engines
 • Search Engines - Keywords
 • Search engines - Optimisation
 • Selling Techniques
 • Surveys and Statistics
 • Telesales
 • Top 10 Tips
 • Traffic and Tracking
 • Viral Marketing
 • Website Design and Development
 • ZeLatest

How To Grow Your Business: Five Rules To Help You Get To The Next Step

Category: Business Development Date: 2002-03-25
Many of the people I coach are independent businessmen and women, who have built a small business and want to take it to the next step. They may own a service business such as plumbing or contracting or some type of manufacturing business. They’re owner-operators, sole proprietors. They work in their business and have complete control over it.
But in many of these businesses, these owners aren’t sure how to go about this daunting task. They don’t know where to start. They often don’t know how to start. They don’t even know what to start doing. In some cases, they have a perfectly good general idea of what they need to do, but can’t seem to organize or arrange their working circumstances to get around to actually doing it.
One problem they face is they’re so busy – actively doing tasks every day – that they don’t have the time or energy to step aside, take a good look at what’s going on, think it through, and then make a decision.

One excuse I find that rationalizes not doing anything immediately is a dream many of these business people have of finding “new capital” (e.g. a loan) to enable them to “grow.” But the finances and their P&L at this stage in their business’ life really won’t permit this to happen. So they hang on, working as hard as they can, hoping sometimes desperately that some kind of miracle will happen.

Based on some of the common threads I’ve seen in my coaching practice, here’s a suggested plan of action that may serve as a model for many business owners that want to grow:

(1) Determine your area of expertise. It’s easy to try to beat the odds by “covering the water-front”. By this I mean, it’s easy to try to be all things to all people. Many of the business people I see mix up their jobs or their products, making large items, small items, doing this type of job and that type – whatever brings in the money at the time. This, in the short-term, appears to be a good strategy, but it precludes being efficient, concentrating on what you do best, and doesn’t present a single, unified whole vision to the world. If you can begin to concentrate on what you do best, you can begin to operate efficiently and develop a reputation that will attract more customers.

(2) Try new inexpensive ads. Test, test, test is the professional marketing manager’s slogan. Likewise, find out which ads work and pull in the type of customers you want, based on the specialty you’ve decided upon. For example, one of my clients, a plumber, worked on anything that came his way – leaks, drain stoppages, disposals, re-plumbing, gas piping. However, it turned out that he also worked for the gas company as an installer and had in-depth expertise installing gas lines. When we sorted out that this was an area he had had success with, he decided to concentrate on it. He advertised this in the local Penny Saver publication, and the results astonished him – creating a steady stream of work and even word-of-mouth referrals.

(3) Raise your prices or your rates. Most smaller business, at least in my experience, are somewhat under-priced because they’re afraid to raise their prices, preferring to operate on the lower and less profitable end of the spectrum. Yet there’s often room to raise prices or fees so that they’re still below the more expensive competitors. The biggest fear is it won’t be as easy to attract new customers or that they’ll drive away existing customers. This is a scary move for the sole proprietor of a business, but worth trying. If you offer something, and you believe it’s good, there’s no reason why you can’t price it to deliver the maximum revenue without hitting the stratosphere.

(4) Set a period of time and evaluate the results. How many new customers did your specialization attract? Are you creating a reputation for your specialty? Is the new advertising for this specialty working and pulling in new customers? Are the increased prices that you’re charging bringing in increased profits? These are the type of questions you need to answer to determine if the strategy you’ve been following is working. Set a definite period of time and objectively assess how this strategy that you’ve put into place is working, then make adjustments, if necessary.

(5) Take the additional revenue and begin accumulating capital for your next expansion. This, I believe, is the hardest step – because most people will be tempted to spend any overage as soon as it’s received. It requires great fortitude. But, if you can do it, you’ll find that you can self-finance your growth. If you can begin saving the increase in profit, you’ll also find that it will be easier to secure a loan if you want to expand. It will also take you to the next step in an emotional and psychic sense – you’ll begin to feel more confidant and in charge of your destiny, and that, in itself, will be reflected in how people relate to you.

These steps, while they look simple, require determination and focus. They’re part of an overall strategy, not something to be done haphazardly or piecemeal. But if you can follow them, if you’re willing to give them a try and follow through on them, your business will have a chance to grow and you’ll have found a way to move it to the next step.

© 2002 by Lawrence M. Light. All rights reserved.

About the author.

Lawrence M Light is a professional coach with over thirty-five years experience in the business world. He has worked for such companies as IBM, Xerox, Computer Sciences Corporation and Messer Griesheim (MG Industries) and has been president of his own company Merion Associates, Inc. and a second company PTTV. His clients include owners of businesses including law practices, plumbing firms, and a wide variety of consultants in marketing, healthcare and software. He is a member of the International Coach Foundation (ICF) and he has served on the Board of Directors of Forty Plus. He can be reached at (949) 716-3581 and his website is located at YourOwnPersonalCoach.com

http://www.yopc@cox.comhref=http://www.yopc@cox.com>http://www.yopc@cox.com>
www.YourOwnPersonalCoach.com
Ñàéò èçãîòîâëåí â Ñòóäèè Âàëåíòèíà Ïåòðó÷åêà
èçãîòîâëåíèå è ïîääåðæêà âåá-ñàéòîâ, ðàçðàáîòêà ïðîãðàììíîãî îáåñïå÷åíèÿ, ïîèñêîâàÿ îïòèìèçàöèÿ

Copyright © 2005-2006 Powered by Custom PHP Programming

 • Affiliate Marketing
 • Affiliate Marketing - Basics
 • Affiliate Marketing - Development
 • Affiliate Marketing - Setting Up
 • Archive catalogue
 • Autoresponders
 • Banner Advertising
 • Business Development
 • Checklists
 • Competitors
 • Copy Writing
 • Copy Writing - ad copy
 • Copy Writing - email copy
 • Copy Writing - sales copy
 • Customer Service
 • Database Marketing
 • Direct Mail
 • Domain Names
 • E-books
 • E-commerce
 • E-mail Marketing
 • E-zines
 • E-zines: Advertising
 • E-zines: Promotion
 • E-zines: Subscribers
 • E-zines: Writing
 • Entrepreneurship
 • Free Services
 • Home Based Business
 • Home Based Business - Finance
 • Home Based Business - Getting Started
 • Home Based Business - is it for YOU?
 • Home Based Business - Marketing
 • Internet Tips
 • Market Research
 • Marketing
 • Marketing Strategy
 • Net Business Start ups
 • Networking(MLM)
 • Newsletters/Newsgroups
 • Online Payments
 • Online Promotion
 • PC KNOW HOW
 • Personal Development For Marketeers
 • PR/Publicity and Media
 • Sales Tips
 • Search Engines
 • Search Engines - Keywords
 • Search engines - Optimisation
 • Selling Techniques
 • Surveys and Statistics
 • Telesales
 • Top 10 Tips
 • Traffic and Tracking
 • Viral Marketing
 • Website Design and Development
 • ZeLatest