Some would point to paperwork or legal status, others might point to their sales numbers or impact in the industry.
To us, the definition of a business is having a customer. You may have the perfect product, top talent on staff, and an unbeatable strategy; but none of that will make you a dime without a customer.
It is the customer who creates the business. When you accept this fact, you are able to focus your goals and priorities squarely on customers. The ultimate goal of every decision and investment is to strengthen your customer base.
There’s just one problem: no sale lasts forever. Customers you gain today may not be around next year. For every business in every industry, there is a constant rate of customer attrition which you must overcome.
When you secure the next big deal, it’s easy to sit back and relax. Celebrate the win for your business, especially since the entrepreneurial road is so fraught with challenges.
But do so while acknowledging a big win this year may not be around next year. You should constantly seek new opportunities.
After all, if you aren’t growing, you’re shrinking.
How do you maintain a winning mindset?
Remaining focused on the priorities of your business is challenging. It’s easy to lose sight of your core values in the busyness of the business.
To counteract this, here are a few tips:
1- Look in the mirror. The first step of recentering focus is identifying a problem. It pays to step back and analyze the business as a whole. The more frequently and regularly you do so, the better you are able to course-correct with minor adjustments.
Do NOT neglect this step. A small issue grows into a major problem if left unchecked.
2- Establish good habits. Turn the “theory” of your priorities into actionable behaviors. If your goal is to grow, you need growth-facilitating habits.
The habits you create should be enabled by process and strategy. When inspiring habits in your team, create processes and incentives which encourage those behaviors and make them easier.
Planning is important, but effective execution brings results. Foster habits encouraging your core objectives and bringing you closer to achieving goals.
3- Assume it will be hard. In the planning stage, it’s easy to imagine the path to success as both exhilarating AND easy.
While being a business owner is certainly one of the most fulfilling ways to spend your life, no one who has done it would say it didn’t have challenging moments.
There will be days you feel burnt out, exhausted, and unmotivated. Days where the phone feels like lead and the last thing you want to do is call another prospect.
No matter how hard it gets, don’t stop. Go into the growth process assuming it will be difficult and discouraging at times.
Challenging though it may be, the process is also rewarding and fulfilling. Every drop of sweat is worth it because the effort you put into your business pays out in excess.
Stay focused: you only make one step at a time.
