You grow your business by having a Business Growth System in place.

A business growth system involves developing a series of business-related habits that create a methodology. This then generates more profit, which in turn not only brings your business more money, but also gives you more time to focus on those parts of your business that interest you most, as well as more leisure time when you can dispose of that money or do other things. 

There are four (or five if you think long-term) elements to a business growth system.  They’re called (1) Find Your Gap;(2) Do The Basics; (3) Define Your Message; (4) Know Your Numbers; and (5) Consolidation.  Each element has several sub-elements that need to be methodically address if the synergy of all five elements are to result in the overall benefits mentioned earlier. Each of them comprises a separate part of the Coaching for Businesses program offered by WynLewisCoaching.

1. Find your Gap: is where we start to understand:

• you and your business;
• where you want to get to;
• where you are now;
• the difference between here and there (this is your Gap);
• what you need (financially, personally, practically and in other ways) to bridge your Gap
• a clear goal;
• a sense check of your goal (is it even possible?)

2. Do The Basics: this is where we establish the basic requirements of a successful business:

• as the business owner, it’s your responsibility (nobody else’s) to get and keep more clients/customers;
• if you don’t get and keep customers, your business will fail;
• most business owners don’t understand the direct link between:
  • rhythmic business growth activity; and
  • the rhythmic acquisition of clients/customers as a result;
• being reactive on an “everything will work out fine” basis isn’t enough;
• haphazard “spray and pray” marketing, with no follow-up, doesn’t work;
• to become a (more) professional business person you have to:
  • introduce, develop, monitor, refine and leverage systems that result in leads, prospects and clients/customers;
  • know your numbers (how much does it cost you to get a client/customer? what is the lifetime value of a customer?  what are your margins?  what work is most profitable?)
• you have to act and think like an investor with a plan to exit your business a few years’ time.
• the basic requirements for a successful business include:
  • a marketing assets audit;
  • activating Google Business;
  • following up clients/customers;
  • re-marketing;
  • price review;
  • getting reviews;
  • publishing content in social media and other places; and
  • having arrangements that capture enquiries.

Once you have the basics, all you need to do then is monitor and refine them every so often.  But getting the basics in place is often overlooked.

3. Define Your Message:   this is where we focus on marketing your products or services so that you:

• understand your ideal buyer;
• present your business in a way that makes it memorable and needed;
• explain what your business does;
• think like a potential client/customer – why should they care about your personal circumstances – your product is more important than you are;
• establish your business as the place to go for your product or service;
• create an offer that a potential client/customer would be silly to resist;
• assess and work out the most effective marketing;
• follow up
• don’t focus on selling – focus instead on others buying.

Marketing and messaging don’t have to be “sales-y”.  All that it involves is supplying information to people who are already looking to buy something.  They key point is to do this in a targeted way.  Then do it again.  And again.  And again.  That then creates a rhythm, which creates a habit, which makes marketing easier, which results in business growth.

4. Know Your Numbers: this is when we identify, understand and know how to manipulate your management financial data: it’s Business Maths…. The reason it’s important is that:

• most small business live from week to week / month to month / year to year and then send their data to their accountants to get their annual accounts done.  But they (i.e. your accountants) only process your data – they don’t understand how your business works;
• many small businesses are OK if there is enough money in current account to pay for overheads, remuneration, tax and some contingencies;
• and most small businesses have no idea of the numbers that would let those businesses flourish and profit, such as:
  • how much money did you make in the last 12 months?
  • how many clients/customers/sales did you add this year?
  • how much does it cost you to get a new client/customer/sale?
  • how much is your average client/customer/sale worth to you?
  • what is your most profitable work (i.e. which takes you least time and effort to produce the highest profit)?
  • which bit of what you do or provide creates the most profit for the least effort?

There are also 12 key numbers you need to know. These are:

1. your leads;
2. your lead conversion rate;
3. your prospects
4. your prospects conversion rate; 
5. your sales;
6. your average order value;
7. your total revenue; 
8. your gross margin;
9. your gross profit;
10. your overheads;
11. your remuneration; and
12. your net profit.

These numbers let you know how much money you need to spend to make more profit and how effective is that to bridge your Gap.  The extent to which you know these numbers will determine whether you focus on “busy-ness” or whether you are a business person.  You need to know your numbers.  If you don’t know the score, you won’t know your status. 

5. Consolidation: this is when we accept that business growth isn’t something that can be done once and then forgotten about.  Instead, it’s an ongoing process that needs to be developed and refined and, sometimes, changed entirely.  It has three stages:

• Stage 1: involves putting everything in place so that you know more about your business and can manage it better.  This is what the first four stages are all about:
• Stage 2: involves improving, refining and generally polishing what you now have in place, so that (part of) your business can run itself; this then leaves you free to focus on other things; and lets you build (not create) your business: optimisation.
• Stage 3: is what happens when you have stabilised and maximised.  It’s when you can expand your reach, your client/customer base, your products/services:

Everything that’s mentioned above is part of a system, rather than a series of one-of activities.  Each activity builds on and/or is related to other activities to build and benefit from the system.  It’s having a system that result in someone owning a business, rather than owning a job.