Four Ways to Grow Your Business

If you are like most business owners and entrepreneurs, business growth is not a distant thought, but a constant and nagging certainty. A business that is not growing after all, is dying. Add to this the unpredictable nature of customers and this nagging certainty can quickly become a nightmare.

But we have to be patient. Rome wasn’t built overnight, nor was any successful business. The most successful businesses have all taken time to grow, you just didn’t know they were there.

To ensure a continuum of business growth, we must focus attention on both short term actions and long term strategies. It’s easy to reflect on the long term, but the daily management of a business can distract us from the short term.

Here are four “short term” areas to focus your energy on that will help ensure business growth remains on a continuum.

1. Volume. The more people you interact with the greater your opportunities for new business, introductions, referrals, partnerships and alliances. A successful business is based on building and managing relationships and the greater the volume, the greater the chances for success.

2. Activity. It’s not enough to simply meet with people in order to build a business. You have to be focused on the right activities and limited time means your selection of activities is critical to success. What are the activities that have predominantly brought you business? Consider how you are bringing value to prospective customers, existing customers and past customers. Minimize your activities to those that provide the greatest value.

3. Communications. Staying in touch is more important today than ever before. We are surrounded by messages and noise, therefore you must find ways to breakthrough the noise. This means personalization of communications that are both meaningful and valuable to customers. How do your customers prefer to be communicated with and how are you incorporating those activities into your daily routine?

4. Momentum. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. Developing the right habits is not as important as continuing the right habits. Make short term activities part of your daily routine in order to ensure business growth remains continuous. There is nothing more important than daily repetitive activities that keep you on the top of your customers’ mind.

Question: What activities are you employing today that keep you connected with customers in order to grow your business? What changes should you make in order to make the best use of your time while offering value to your customers?

© Shawn Casemore 2015. All rights reserved.