The Six Scenarios

You may remember your last good referral. Knowing where the next one will come from might be harder.

Client feedback can help you understand who is willing to recommend you and where a relationship may need attention. An appropriate invitation gives willing clients an easy way to make an introduction for you. Staying in touch with information useful to them can help keep the relationship active, whether or not a referral follows.

The result is a more consistent way to encourage referrals and respond when they arrive, with less dependence on chance.

An inquiry, referral, or proposal can sit waiting while you’re occupied with other work.

Timely and effective follow up can be a challenge if you don’t have a system to manage it. This becomes even more of a challenge when your normal sales cycle extends over long periods. The key is creating ways to nurture your clients and then be alerted when they need your direct engagement.

Building a system to maintain your relationships, without turning it over to a cold automated process, helps ensure leads don’t go stale and your time is available for the prospects who need you.

Most small businesses are challenged to promote what they do. This is because their focus is doing what they do, not bragging about it.

And yet, the stories of your success and client testimonials are critically important to helping your next customer choose you. Case studies and tips help clients and prospects see you as a trusted advisor. And sharing this information in the right places, at the right time, and with the right people is the difference between success and silence.

Prospects want to feel comfortable that you will be able to help them. Sharing your experiences is the best way to do that.

Most business owners want to find the next client, that is natural. But taking any client, rather than an ideal fit client, can do more damage than good.

Every business has an ideal operating dynamic. It may be efficiency that drives a low price, it may be quality that ensures great results. When your business dynamic matches a customers preferences the basis for a good relationship exists. When they don’t match that customer can seem like a burden.

Success depends on identifying that ideal fit client, filtering your prospects effectively, building a strategy to connect with them, and then nurturing them in ways that reinforce your value.

Founders and business owners are often challenged to not only manage business development but also keep the hands in the business’ operations.

With growth, that creates a conflict that can affect the bottom line, the owner’s mindset, or both. The solution is building a system that allows you to engage effectively even when you don’t have the ability to connect personally.

Creating an effective solution to the Founder Bottleneck allows you the time to grow your business without compromises.

Marketing is often expensive. Whether it is paying an agency or staffing internally, the cost in time and dollars to generate new business adds up quickly.

In too many cases, we see firms trading tactics for strategy. Often this means high costs, extensive effort, and inconsistent results. This is not a recipe for success.

The solution is a strategic look at your marketing and a clear definition of what success really is. With that in place, evaluating your efforts becomes clearer and you don’t waste time or money on activity that does not drive business.