Judy Sylvia - Transforming Your Business Blog

Perspective is a funny thing!

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:12:00 GMT

I am so fortunate for the opportunity to work with many different business owners and their staff. It never ceases to amaze me how we each have our own perspective or "lens" that we view the world from! And how that lens is so crystal clear to us personally but may not make a bit of sense to those around us! I continue to learn (sometimes not willingly) to appreciate the different perspectives we each bring to the table. Of course, there are days that I would prefer everyone see things the same way that I do but in the big picture, I know that has its limits!

I frequently use Disc Behavioral/Personality Assessment tools with clients to improve their own self knowledge as well as a great communication improvement tool for staff and clients. Many times blocked communication becomes clear and flowing and so healthy for the business again - there are powerful tools that I use often. I have helped visionary and bean counter find their happy place of appreciating their differences and each embracing the others perspectives. It's rewarding.

Recently I started taking online classes and in my first class I had to take an ethical lens inventory. After identifying our own ethical lens, we had a series of four different labs that we were to utilize this new found information. Smugly, I thought "this will be a piece of cake" as I use the Disc assessment so often - similar concept just different twist. True confessions - the first lab I failed miserably. I kept answering the questions through my own "lens" even though the assignment told us what "lens" we had to put on to answer the question. Let's just say this humbled coach had to work hard to master these labs and be reminded ever so annoyingly that perspective is a funny thing. Our own lens or perspective is so ingrained in us that we don't even recognize we have it. Without a conscious effort to remember that we all have a different lens and perspective, we just revert to our own instantaneously and think the rest of the world is off!

So what do you to do embrace different perspectives?

Taking Control of Your Time

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:48:00 GMT

Take control of your year! If you have completed your business plan for 2012, mapped our your business development activities you will focus on and established your "TIME" budget - it's time for action! The most exciting plan means nothing if you don't take action! From what I have observed with many business owners and professonals is they can design the business plan, create a great plan to manage their time effectively but then they are stumped on how to make that plan come to life.

I suggest breaking down your each of your identified goals for the year into actionable steps. How do you eat an elephant? One step at a time. So if you have a certain revenue goal you want to hit for the year - how many sales/units/clients and what type of sales/units/clients does it break down into you will need? Next, how will you generate the necessary leads to get those sales. Do you know your lead conversion rate? Have you ever measured how many prospects it takes to get one client? What marketing strategies have you identified you will tackle this year? What will you do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly to generate enough leads? Break them down into bite size pieces and you can determine what your schedule needs to look like. Then budget your time to meet these bite size action steps.

The goal is to take the general down to the specific! You can do it. One bite at a time!

A Time Budget?!?

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:35:00 GMT

A Time Budget… what in the world is that?

One of my favorite subjects to speak on is “Living an Intentional Life”. So often we live life by default instead of design. We just let life come at us from all directions and react. Wouldn’t it be better to decide ahead of time how you WANT to spend your time and then plan accordingly?

Time is a limited resource, however we treat it like there is an infinite supply. I’ll do it tomorrow, I will tell them tomorrow. How many times have we put something off we could have done today but figured we had plenty of time in future? If you have lost someone close to you - you know that too well.

How do you spend your time? Do you ever think about it? Do you plan your time or do you let it happen and go with the flow? The truth is time is our most valuable resource on the planet – when it’s gone – it’s gone.

Last week we spoke about creating a simple business plan for 2012. Then figuring out how you are going to accomplish that plan by breaking it down into bite sized action steps. To do so, you need to get a better control of your TIME.

Time Manage is always a hot topic. There are many resources on time management? Can you really manage time? Is it possible? If so, what do you need to master it? I think it needs to start with a process. A process is a series of activities that produce a predictable result. The key to maximizing every day is to have a process to manage my time.

We need to have a budget for our time. A budget you ask? Yes – a budget. A Time Budget – like a financial budget is an important tool for success - A tool to decide ahead how you will spend your time!

So there are 168 hours in a week –do you have a time budget?

Time to start anew!

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:56:00 GMT

This is one of my favorite times of year! The dawn of a new year always invites an opportunity to start fresh – a clean slate. A great time to make changes, get refocused and make an intentional decisions of what you will do for the year! I like to do start my planning for a new year between

Building a Referral Network!

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:38:00 GMT

Last time we spoke about referrals, marketing and the desire of most business owners to get referrals. We discussed building a referral based business takes work, time and intentional effort. And it must have as its foundation a high level of service that you provide to your clients.

This week, I want to continue in the referral marketing strategy but shift our focus to building a referral network. There are a few key definitions to describe the relationships found in a referral strategy:

Network: a collection of friends and colleagues who may or may not send you business

Referral Source: someone who brings you potential business

Strategic Alliance: another business who serves the same clients as you and with whom you enter into a loose partnership to help each other generate new business

Centers of Influence: individuals who can bring you 10% of your business this year

I would suggest making a list of those already in your current network and then start building your list. Start with sources that have given you referrals in the past, people you may have given referrals to, people in your business community, profession or churches, people you do business with, people whose business benefits from yours, people whose business relates to yours in any way etc.

Put that list together and then divide them into three lists:

“A” List - most promising sources; these will be people you already have a relationship with and who are good potential sources
“B” List - good potential sources, but little relationship
“C” List - people you have a relationship with but are probably not a high potential source

Then get out there and start building those relationships! Look for the win/win. How you can help each other grow your business and spheres of influence. Remember revenue is in the relationships! And authenticity is critical to build relationships. So get busy – go relate – it’s fun, it’s easy and the rewards are exponential!

Referrals and Marketing

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:15:00 GMT

We ALL love referrals! We want referrals. We hope that our clients will refer us but do we intentionally plan for referrals? If we are honest, most business owners would have to answer “no”. Most just take care of their customers and hope for the best. That, my friend, is NOT referral marketing!

I have long been a student of building a referral based business. For over 12 years, I was coached by a pro that ate, slept and drank referrals. I used to think like most business owners, if I took care of my clients, they would be happy to refer friends and family to me. However, I realized somewhere along the way that they don’t wake each morning with this burning thought: “WHO CAN I REFER TO JUDY TODAY?” In fact, I don’t know how many clients think of me at all during the day. Many times, we are so busy being busy that we exude fumes that say “Wow – business is so great, we are so busy and crazy with schedules that some clients may be afraid to send you more business and overload you”. Ask me how I know that one. Yes, that actually happened to me. I had a client say that they knew how busy I was and didn’t want to add to my stress so got someone else to help their friend. That was absolutely one of those “FACE REALITY” days for me. I had to stop and look in the mirror and ask myself some very tough questions. I made a commitment that I would never let that happen again. I had to change my mindset and make a firm decision that I would intentionally work on making my business a referral based business.

What is a Referral Marketing Strategy?

A Referral Marketing Strategy can be defined as a way of getting your existing customers and friends to promote your business for you. It is the systematic cultivation of word-of-mouth business. Building a word-of-mouth business that generates good referrals requires a system.
A Referral Marketing Strategy is a specific set of tools and tactics designed to bring your business new clients and qualified leads with or without the aid of other advertising methods.
A successful Referral Marketing Business calls for a commitment from you to devote a certain amount of time and effort to building relationships that will pay off in increased referrals. It is a whole new way of doing business for most people.
While referral marketing typically has a low hard-dollar cost, some referral strategies can be quite time consuming.

Where to begin? It all starts with serving your clients and customers with heart and a desire for excellence. This may sound elementary but it is the foundation. If you are not serving your customers and clients with excellence, honesty, integrity and WOW – you cannot expect to go far with your referral marketing. Turn your clients into “Raving Fans” where they just can’t help but tell people about you!

Let me recommend some great books on this subject: “The Referral of a Lifetime” by Tim Templeton; and “The Referral Engine” by John Jantsch.

Make a commitment to incorporate this crucial strategy into your marketing plan for your business!

Keeping Marketing Easy!

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:45:00 GMT

Continuing with our marketing discussion, I want to again remind you that marketing does not have to be complicated. In fact, if we keep our focus correctly, it can be quite simple.

Besides acquiring another business/competitor, there are only 5 ways to grow your business:

1. Keep the customers you have

2. Acquire new customers

3. Increase the average transaction size (unit sale)

4. Increase the frequency of purchase (back end)

5. Say “NO” to bad customers/prospects.

Combining these strategies can bring exponential growth!

Many business work so hard to acquire a client, make that “notch” in their belt and then jump back on the train looking for their next new client. Instead our number one marketing priority should be on customer satisfaction and retention. Watch your ego! Don’t chase strangers when you have loyal friends that do business with you. Focus the bulk of your time, effort and resources on current customers – 80% of future growth can come from current, loyal customers.

Be sure to focus on THEIR needs and wants, not your products and services. Increase the “value” to your current customers by asking them:

· How are we doing?

· What other needs do you have?

· How can we improve our value to you?

Remember your best customers are your competitors’ best prospects! Start serving your customers how they want to be served and watch your business grow!

One of our clients, a local business owner, started doing just that. They asked their customers how else they could help them AND they listened. That year their revenues increased by 10% due to that one simple action. Never under estimate the treasures you have in your existing customers.

Marketing should be #1 priority of EVERY business!

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 17:14:00 GMT

Marketing can be so confusing to many business owners. If we were to look at 10 different text books on marketing, we would have ten very different definitions. None of which may apply to the small business owner living in today’s world.

One of the best definitions I have found is from “Duct Tape Marketing” by John Jantsch. A great resource and must have for every small business owner. Jantsch defines marketing very simply as

“Marketing is getting people who have a specific need or problem to know, like and trust you”.

Simple, isn’t it? Yet why do we complicate it so much? Typically we find there are two approaches to marketing. First, is copycat marketing. We just look at what our competitors are doing and figure they must know what they are doing – so we copy what they do. Every industry seems to market the same as everyone else in that industry. It’s like we strive to “conform” to our competition rather than try to deviate and separate ourselves from the competition.

The other approach is “ostrich” marketing – a very sophisticated plan that says “I have no clue what to do so I will just stick my head in the sand and hope it all works out”.

I would encourage you to practice neither of these approaches! Instead, make every effort to become a student and active action taker of marketing this year! Every business is actually in the marketing business – we are just in different industries. Never forget, without finding a way to reach and motivate customers, you will have no business.

Where to start? I encourage you to start by analyzing your existing clients that already know, like and trust you. Analyze their demographics (for consumers this would include: age, employment status, gender, occupation, income, educational level; for business clients this would include industry, number of employees, type of business, geographic scope of business and revenue levels. Next take a look at their psychographics (emotional makeup of clients –what they value, fear, desires, goals, etc.)

You should start to see some similarities emerge from this list. Pay attention, the lessons are many in this exercise alone!

Keep the focus on the simple definition of marketing: getting people who have a specific need or problem to know, like, trust, do business with, and refer you to others who have this same need or problem. And remember – you are in the marketing business first and foremost!

Don't Over Complicate Your Business!

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:02:00 GMT

To be an effective CEO or Business Owner, you MUST adopt a big picture perspective. As leader, don't overcomplicate your business. Keep it simple and straightforward. Simplicity allows for clarity of focus and focus allows for superior performance. Here is a simple framework by which to see and guide your enterprise.

As owner or CEO, you are solely responsible for the company's leadership process (direction, strategy, focus, goals and accountability) AND the business development process (building a systems-based business that is self managing, self improving and nearly runs itself). As such, there are only a handful of additional major processes you need to ensure are in place, well documented and working smoothly and optimally:

A simple popsicle and a foot rub.. A tribute to a treasured friend!

j.sylvia@thegrowthcoach.com — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 21:49:00 GMT

A simple popsicle and a foot rub.. A tribute to a treasured friend!

Taking a break from the business side of blogging this week to share a renewed perspective recently gained. I have been reminded of just how fragile and precious life is. Many of you know that a dear friend, confidante and client of mine, Della White, became a citizen of heaven this week. I have certainly had my share of losses in recent years with the passing of my mother, my aunt and my brother but somehow the passing of a treasured “girlfriend” is remarkably different.

Della was many things to many people but I think what might best describe her is Della was sunshine to everyone. She radiated sunshine. It was in her, came shining through her and encircled her. Her smile illuminated every place she entered and warmed even the darkest of places and souls. Della was fun, joyful and beautiful in every way. A kind word was always on her lips. Even if she didn’t feel like being kind, she was. She had to be – it was the very essence of who Della was.

Della was also a remarkable business owner. She owned Environmental Services Group along with her husband, Roy. Della was the only person I know that literally got excited about mold – well actually the eradication of that mold but still…mold? Her sunshine persona and the mold may seem like a contradiction but honestly it was a natural fit. She just had a heart to serve and making environments clean for others was one of many ways she contributed to the world.

Della had a strong faith and it was her faith that saw her through the unexpected and challenging journey of the last month. She told me many times that she was not afraid, she knew where she was going and she was not alone.

There have been so many thoughts, emotions, lessons and more learned and experienced in this past month but I have to say one sticks out so vividly to me. I was in her room with her at Hospice, along with her mother. She was unable to drink or eat but could have ice chips and pieces of popsicles. She asked for a popsicle and her mom started to feed it to her one spoonful at a time. Della’s response was a long, vibrant expression of “hhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm” If you didn’t know better you would think she was eating the most delicious of all delicacies but it was a simple orange popsicle. A few minutes later, her mom went to rub her feet and again Della responded with such sincerity “aaahhhhhhhhh”. One would think she was getting the best pampering services ever given at a five star spa.

I have to say that morning has left a forever imprint on my heart, mind and soul. I am all about business. I love the world of business, of dreams and entrepreneurship and like many of my clients, I get caught up in working too many hours or allowing the stress to creep in a bit too much at times…but that day I thought “what are we doing?” If we only focus on building our business and forget to acknowledge the simple joys and treasures along the way, we could miss out completely. A simple popsicle and a foot rub.

So thank you once again my dear friend for teaching me yet another lesson about life, love and friendship. Della, you will be forever in our hearts.

BC Forbes said it best: “Don’t forget until too late that the business of life is not business, but living”. Take a minute now and reflect on your life and remind yourself of those simple but precious gifts you have been given