Did the last SWS Teleseminar of the year on Thursday morning. The topic? Ho hum... Business Planning.
Sorta.
We didn't go into the nuts and bolts of creating a business plan; it was more of a philosophical discussion of what you might want to think about in planning for the new year in hopes of making said new year better than the year that's nearly behind us.
Sounds like a "plan," eh?
I spent about 60 minutes wandering from topic to topic; tip to tip. At the end of the show, I asked the audience to share with me which topics and tips were most helpful to them, and here's what they told me.
Favorite-est Tip #1: Enjoy what you do!
Don't force yourself to do prospecting activities you dread. Life's too short to get up every morning and do something you don't wanna do. We all got into this crazy business because we liked the idea of running our own show and doing things our way... so let's DO THAT. Figure out what business-generating activities are fun and easy for you and do them well, do them consistently and have FUN doing them!
Favorite-est Tip #2: Review all your marketing material
Go through all your active marketing items and venues, including your: business card, blog, website, online profiles, newsletters, newspaper advertising, email signature, personal brochure, outgoing voicemail message and photo.
Make sure all are still accurate, interesting and up-to-date. I can pretty much guarantee you they aren't. Commit an hour a day to proof-reading, and checking links and photos. Listen to your outgoing voicemail message. Go through your website with an eagle eye.
Favorite-est Tip #3: Before committing to a prospecting activity, give it the SWS "test"
Any time you're considering adding a prospecting activity to your business model, run it thru the following test:
Ask yourself...
1) Is this an approach I'm proud of and excited about?
2) Is this an approach that would work on me if used on me?
3) Does this approach make me feel icky?
If the activity doesn't pass the test, either tweak it until it does, or head back to the drawing board.
Favorite-est Tip #4: Research where your business has come from in the past
Take an hour to go through your client (and prospect) list from the last few years and tally up where your business has come from. You may be surprised to find that one or two sources blow the rest away! Of course, those sources would good to focus on even more in the new year.
Other topics and tips from the show included: It's not necessary to plan out 12 months if you don't want to - 2 or 3 months at a time is fine; taking great care of your current clients is a viable prospecting strategy and should be included in your business plan; just pick one or two additional prospecting activities to try at a time.
So... here's to all our success in 2011 and beyond!
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