Companies come and go. But, ones who stay, are known often to do something very sharp shot which in turn has resulted in the success of the same. A falling or not-working business has some general flaws.
Here are the 5 common mistakes that you might be doing for your business is still struggling:
1. Your Sales Process Is Not Predictable
Sales are the lifeblood of any business and usually, the first place many come up short. If you don’t have a predictable way to bring in leads and sales, you simply don’t have a sustainable business.
Ask yourself these questions to determine if your sales process needs some attention:
Do I consistently have an adequate number of leads in the pipeline to meet my objectives?
Are my incoming leads quality prospects who meet my ideal customer profile or at the very least, my basic qualifications?
At what rate do the leads that come into my business convert into customers? How can that number be improved?
Based on your answers, it will be clear to you what needs fixing in your sales process. If you have plenty of qualified leads, concentrate on upping your conversation rates. An improvement of just 1-2 percent can increase your revenue substantially.
2. You Don’t Have A Consistent Follow-Up Process
Imagine, you launch a new ad campaign and spend hours testing and tweaking to get the best results. You get what seems like a good lead into your pipeline and you’re excited. After trying repeatedly to make contact with your prospect, you finally connect with them only to hear the dreaded words: not interested.
If you’re like a lot of business owners I’ve worked with, you decide this lead isn’t going to convert and move on.
3. Wasted effort
One important thing to understand when dealing with prospects is that it is never an end game. After all, they did end up in your pipeline so there was at least some interest, right?
What most prospects mean when they say they’re not interested is usually one of four things:
I don’t have enough information to decide
I don’t quite trust you yet
I can’t afford it
Not right now
Did you notice that not one of those includes a blatant no? It simply means there is a bit more work to do before you get the sale. However, without a systemized follow-up process in place to educate, nurture and build trust with your prospects, you can all but ensure that when they are ready to buy, they buy from someone else.
4. You Aren’t Tracking Your Metrics
Almost every business owner I know shudders at the idea of having to track every aspect of his or her business, and I totally get why. Though it’s definitely annoying, it’s a necessary step for creating a business capable of predictable growth.
