WHAT SHOULD I BE DOING DURING COVID 19 that TAKES MY BUSINESS FORWARD?

– there is a lot of screaming in the market place at the moment and it is all feeding fear!

Many people have been so busy with their customers that now is the time that they are going to stop and look at their businesses and put all the “should” stuff into place.

BUT WHERE DO THEY START?

What they should NOT do is add to the noise in the market-place!

So whilst it is a great time to have a look at your systems and what you could achieve online.. the purpose of this worksheet is to help you to slow down and look at what to do.

MY BACKGROUND in AUTOMATION/COMPUTING

I started my life in computer science and systems many years ago at a time when everyone SHOULD have a computer system and people would sell very complex systems off the shelf into retail businesses that were way beyond what they needed to achieve the job.

Then I would see overly complex POS Systems rolled out into companies freaking people out about how to move from a cash register into a computer system and EFTPOS functions.

CRM – Customer Relationship Management Systems were another place that people were supposed to automate what they are doing with their customers. I watched as people made the same mistakes with the data going into a CRM that happened with their paper form address books. Requiring a clear clean up.

Later I was a part of implementing and rolling out Learning Management Systems (LMS) into organisations to manage large workforces and their learning predominantly as depositories for ELearning.

I have also been a part of Vero, Xero and MYOB watching as small businesses have struggled with these systems because they will solve the never ending and complex situation with their finances.

Enough about me…this is my opinion

“SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS THINK THEY NEED AN AUTOMATED COMPUTER SYSTEM”

Before they work out why they needed it in the first place.

It is all backward…. Often they then buy or implement one and have to work these things out after.

They realise that they must manually make decisions on the data that is entered into it. They also have to manually ensure that the data is not corrupt.

Ever seen yourself forget what code when against what expense? Then you create another code for it?! Now your system is not going to be able to report accurately the numbers. Once this is realised then back to manually sorting and sifting through the data to ensure it is correct.

I have seen people spend 10’s of thousands on systems that they really did not need to spend all because someone told them they needed it and because somewhere in our minds we have learnt that to keep up in business what we need is a computer to solve all the parts of our business that we don’t want to do.

Marketing, Accounting, Administration, Sales, Stock Control, Buying or Training Employees.

What they all needed was time to do the function of the business be it servicing a vehicle, selling a widget or educating someone how to be a better leader.

Many small businesses get into business because they are skilled to do the function of that business – Mechanic, Electrician, Plumber, Lawyer, Architect, Engineer & the below case study – A Learning and Development Consultant and Coach.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

PROBLEM: Need a CRM system that automatically sends out emails to my customers so that I can keep in contact with them

WHY: Because all of my contact details are currently in my phone

Sounds easy enough… Solution HELP her set up the CRM system. – She works in Wix, explain how she can import all of her contacts into the Marketing system that WIX has connected to her Website.

EASY PEASY… BUT IT DOES NOT SOLVE THE ACTUAL PROBLEM!

Need to dig deeper….

Many people have a whole lot of beliefs operating about what makes them good in business… the belief that we got hold of in here is that if she is not doing what everyone else is doing then she will fall behind and fail. At the moment – this is huge with COVID 19 and the lockdown of non-essential businesses.

So, there is an opportunity right now, whilst she is in lockdown she can do all the things that she should have been doing. Most especially for her sorting out her website and online marketing.

She will feel guilty if she is not looking after her business in this time, moving herself forward. There are some beliefs that may need to be worked on here too. (That is for another post) There are a number of things that we do need to do on a self care basis to keep us healthy and resilient at this time for our families and our business.

THE MARKETING WORKSHEET – FIRST THINGS FIRST

Work out what you want to achieve:-

What is your objective with your current customers?

- Over the Lockdown period?

- Over the next year?

- Five Year plan?

What is your goal for new customers?

- How do you find them?

- How many do you need this year?

- How many new customers do you need over the next Five years?

What goals do you have for your family/you etc?

What goals do you have for your business? (Other than marketing)

- Employ staff?

- Online courses/products (Less requirement of you)

- Strategic partnerships?

BREATH – take time to reflect on what you want….we want to focus on the theory of abundance, not scarcity… not just positive thinking, but possibilities, visionary and influential leadership.

Come back to me with these answers and we can have a look at what marketing you need to do and we can make a marketing plan for the next year – 5 years. So when you are busy doing what you do best, you are just pressing the button for your marketing to roll out.

WRITING OBJECTIVES/GOALS – That work

Always consider what you want the outcome to be for you, and for the person you want to change.

So for example my goal during lockdown for my current customers:-

To energise my clients during this time with their health (mental/physical etc- fear/resilience) and their business/wealth, (money mindsets and financial fears) so that they emerge from the lockdown with a plan they are excited to implement.

To __________________ (Verb – what is the emotional word): Energise my clients

Subject __________________ (To do what, learn about what?): Health and Wealth Strategies to manage lockdown time

Why – For them _______________________ (What do you want your customer to do think or feel?)

Why/Outcome for you? ______________________ For me (Keep the value of my coaching/consulting top of mind to my customers and financially lucrative for my family)

Many people only write a subject goal the WHAT, but they don’t say the WHY…. And if the why is self centred then it isn’t going to be very compelling for your customer. You have to put your win and their win out there – WIN/WIN.

You may not need to do anything for your customers during this time….apart from survive it and reopen! That is pretty huge.

If you have staff – what are your goals during lockdown?

Have a think about it – write these down and then leave them. Defining a goal and writing it down is very powerful to achieving it.

All the best, I am here….book a free LOCKDOWN SESSION online at www.yourpoint.co.nz stating whether it is for personal or business reasons.

Or send me an email with what times might work for you.