8 Ideas For Growing Profits 20% This Year! (2 of 2)

(2nd of two articles)

My prior article covered the first 4 ideas to grow your profits 20% in the coming year. In the second of those two articles, here are 4 more ideas for you!

1. Are you following a disciplined SALES PROCESS? I’m going to give you 2 sales process check points: Do you have a set of ‘needs analysis’ questions that you ask when you first meet with a potential customer? When is the last time you updated it? Look at the last one that was completed. If the opportunity is later stage, take a look at your proposals. Just take a look at that last one that went out. What do you think? Is the proposal strong enough to win a significant new contract, or do your proposals need an overhaul?
2. I know you are probably using a CRM to track all of your qualified opportunities. The sales process is defined in the CRM also. So all of that is good. But are you looking at SALES VELOCITY: How long does it take to close a customer once they are qualified? How can we speed this up? Brainstorm ideas with your sales team – they will have ideas! Managing your sales pipeline is about effectiveness AND velocity. Pick a couple of opportunities currently in your pipeline and figure out a way to pick up the velocity and move it toward close.
3. Are you in the process of HIRING NEW Sales, Marketing, or Business Development Reps? Spend some time upfront thinking about the critical success factors for the job, interviewing strategy and process, and the makeup of the compensation plan. I helped two of my CEO coaching clients do this a year ago, and the reps we hired are exceeding expectations, partly because of the discipline we took in our hiring process.
4. Develop a LEAD GENERATION CALENDAR. Is your pipeline large enough to hit your quota? You can calculate this. For most of us, there are not enough (qualified) opportunities moving through the pipe to hit the goals we want. And if you are closing business, the pipeline will decrease if you do not generate new qualified opportunities. So what specifically did you do socially and with lead gen programs in Jan., Feb., March, and April? What’s planned for May and June. Get together ideas for your next 3 social marketing programs and start your first one next week! Make it educational for your customers – and get it started!

The bottom line is this:  There are 6 ways to profitably grow your company.  These are represented by the 6 sides of a cube (see The Growth Cube).   You might be doing an exemplary job at 1 or 2 of your upcoming growth ideas, but others may need more your attention and leadership in order for the company to keep growing profitably. If you are not on your targets this year, show urgency by focusing on measurable process changes you can make in the next 2 weeks – and that will get you back on track to take your team all the way to the top in the coming year!

Ready to explore your potential?

1. 1-on-1 Coaching: Gary has implemented the ideas above successfully with his own teams, and he is actively refining them today with his CEO coaching customers. Can we help you implement positive results in your company? Contact Gary directly: gary@inspireyourselftoday.com
2. Learn at your own pace: Join The Growth Cube Academy – a training school for small business CEOs that includes 20-minute video workshops conducted by Gary that you can listen to at your leisure, and focus in on specific topics.
3. Think – Order Gary’s book, The Growth Cube, or join Gary’s newsletter and stay up-to-date with new successful models and tools!
4. Learn more about how Gary is applying these principles real-time in his startup company. Go to www.woundwiseIQ.com and sign up to see a demo or invest in Gary’s AI and imaging analytics software products that help improve patient wound healing.