Escape the Enslavement of your Cash-Crunched Business

1.   Describe the current state of the profit margin from your business and how you are feeling about the results you are generating?

Our margins are squeezed, we have little momentum and I am fed up with our poor cash-flow. I still want to keep the dream alive and think it could be successful if I could just figure out what's missing, but I'm really beginning to think maybe we cannot win.

We are surviving, but we have cut everything there was to cut as our margins have been squeezed and I am working much harder than I used to just to hang on to what I have got. We are working to better manage our cash-flow and we are messaging the market to keep our image positive, but I am under a lot of pressure.

We are implementing systems and processes and are feeling some momentum so I am enthusiastic about better cash-flow, but we are not out of the woods and are not having much fun in the business.

Because of the solid systems we have in place, our business has clear momentum and our margins are expanding. I can feel the enthusiasm and energy of our momentum with both clients and staff, but more importantly measures of referrals and new sales opportunities are well ahead of past periods.

2.   What process do you use to define your ideal Target Prospect and to understand what motivates them to action so that you can communicate with them most effectively?

Our ideal prospect is anyone who needs our products and services. Most everyone is a good prospect for our business. We just need to get our name out there so they are aware of how we can help them.

Our Sales group knows who the best prospects are and they manage their own prospecting and follow-up process. We provide Contact Management software for them.

We have demographics on our customer list, we believe we know their buying motives and we have a communication systems in place to keep in touch with them consistently.

We have done extensive research and now have a clear picture of our ideal and most profitable clients; we understand the pain that motivates them, so we know what messages call them to action, and we even know how to most effectively communicate with them.

3.   Why would a prospect choose to do business with your company as opposed to any and every other option available to help them solve their problem?

That is a tough question. I don't think we could legitimately answer that.

We have discussed concepts like that question from time to time, but we've not been able to reach clarity on how we are better or different than our primary competitors.

We have done research with our Market and have based new product development on gap opportunities that we see as being poorly served by our competitors.

We've discussed and researched the answer to this question and have purposefully modified our entire marketing system to create and highlight our unique differentiation positions so that we appear to our customers to be in a class by ourselves.

4.   Describe your Systems for managing Prospects through the Sales Process and consistently wowing new Clients at the front end of the relationship.

We don't really have consistent Systems for managing communication with Prospects.

We allow our Sales Staff to manage that process themselves and generally each does what they think is best for each prospect.

We have an e-mail follow-up system, we sometimes mail Thank You/Nice to meet you Cards, and we have a new client orientation package to ensure clients know what all we offer.

We have installed an effective, multi-media, multi-step Prospect Management System which basically 'Clones' our best efforts and blows away our competition by ensuring every prospect receives multiple touches, demonstrates a preponderance of proof supporting choosing our business and moves them efficiently to Closed and into our New Client Welcoming System.

5.   Describe how you specifically track and evaluate the effectiveness of your Marketing efforts from the perspective of Return on your Investment?

We do not track specific Marketing actions and I'm not really sure it is possible to track and measure specific Marketing results other than by general business success.

We advertise to build brand awareness and that's hard to measure. The Representatives from the various Media we use tell us the most effective ways to build our brand and we follow their recommendations.

We use trackable lead capture systems, which flow into follow up systems that ensure we are growing our Database and are communicating with prospects. These are on-line tools with e-mail follow-up and it seems to work well for us.

We can measure and prove Return on Investment of any and every Marketing endeavor. For example we know clearly when $1 Invested brings in $2 in Revenue. All of our Marketing produces clear and measurable calls to action which we track and continuously improve upon. Prospects are sent through a multi-media, multi-step system until they buy or beg for mercy!

6.   The momentum of the People's Media on-line is truly a world changing development of communication. Tell us how you are leveraging the latest on-line technologies for Marketing Communication, including Social Networking, on-line Video, and Webinar/Podcast type tools?

We have a static website and some of our employees help promote our company when they are on-line. I would not say we leverage new media.

We have vendors manage our on-line Marketing, we think we need to be on-line, but we've not done it ourselves and don't really understand the new media.

We've set up a dynamic website with regular updates about our products and our people. We are pleased with how it represents our company, but we so no real results or measurable feedback.

We have a dynamic, blog-based website with consistent fresh and entertaining content, we have mastered the art of on-line Video, and we are posting Marketing and Feedback Data. We get top Search Engine ranking as a result and we have fun doing it! All of our on-line content is automatically broadcast over the People's Media which regularly generates new leads out of 'thin air'.

7.   How many minutes of your average work day are spent purposefully moving you measurably closer to your most important, predetermined, goals?

Zero. I don't actually have written Goals.

Maybe a few minutes? I have Goals, but they are not really clear and I don't look at them often. Mostly I fight fires and respond to customer and employee needs as they arise. I have an open door policy and am always available, 24/7.

More than I used to. I am learning to place higher value on my time and am trying to focus more time on the things I'm uniquely good at and add the most value to my company.

I average several hours per day of solid proactive time as I have clear plans of action in place and I have defined my highest priority activities for achieving those goals. I block time for my high priority work and do not allow myself to be distracted or bothered during these appointments with myself.

8.   Many business owners express frustration in finding employees who 'get it' or 'get them'. What processes have you established to facilitate communication and build enough trust with your staff so that you are comfortable with and confident in your team?

Employees seem to be a constant strain and struggle. I find it difficult to find people that get it and I get frustrated trying to develop those that don't. It's very difficult to implement new ideas, so I mostly focus on the day to day running of the operation as best I can.

I have some people who are really on board, but other than that I really don't trust any employees well enough to have real confidence in them. I struggle to get their buy in and make real progress.

I use a 'what gets measured gets done' approach to manage the execution of my plans as best I can. It's challenging to get everyone on the same page so we try to establish systems that are repeatable.

I think that a combination of competence, communication, and trust are the keys to an employee's success in my business. We have regular, formal, dialogue about our organizational goals and their role in executing those goals. It's a big investment, but it's worth it and it allows me to clearly establish rolls in our organization.

9.   There are only two ways to grow a business and expand margins for the ownership: Innovation and Marketing. Describe your process for managing your businesses' maturation so that you are constantly leveraging your unique capacity and position as driver of Innovation and Marketing even as the enterprise itself gets larger and more complicated to operate?

I do not have defined systems to do this and I am very hands on involved with nearly every detail of the operation of my company.

I have outsourced these functions as the business developed and I felt I no longer had the time available to do them well.

As much as I can afford to, I have hired the best people I could find to manage these areas for me. I wish I had more time to spend training and working with them. I know I could help them increase Sales.

I have learned to effectively delegate anything which is not a High Pay-off Activity for me personally as the company has grown, I'm agressive and sytematic about this, and I have had success in outsourcing much of the non-revenue producing administrative functions as possible. This keeps us 'lean and mean' and focused on expanding margins.

10.   What is your clearly defined and planned out Exit Strategy for your Business?

I do not have a clear plan other than to say that I hope I can sell my business someday or possibly give it to my children if they want to work this hard.

I know that I cannot work this hard forever and I imagine creating enough cash-flow momentum to make the business either more pleasurable to run or attractive to an outside investor before I crash and burn. I feel like I'm racing against a clock.

I can see that someday I won't want to manage the company anymore and am setting up enough processes so that another owner/operator would be able buy me out and continue running the company successfully or I will become simply an investor in the operation.

I already see this business as an investment which ultimately produces income for investment in other places beyond the scope of the business. I am purposefully working my way out of a job in my company, or have done so already, by implementing Systems which run 24/7 without my direct attention. My success here will serve as a case study to replicate in the future as I continue to direct myself toward my passions and capitalizing on my unique expertise.

11.   Taking into account the current state of your business and the processes in place that make it run as it does, how confident are you that you are on the direct path to meet your ultimate business objectives and exit strategy?

Honestly? I think I need some help while I still have the energy to make it happen!

I'm confident in my own abilities and I think the economy will improve someday, but I sure wish I could find a better and easier way to get there.

I'm not 'there' yet, but my team and our processes are getting better. I think we'll probably get where we need to get someday.

I'm a completely confident that the processes we have in place today will deliver the business exactly at my ultimate goal and at the time that I have defined to be there.

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