Let’s face facts, you are probably focusing on the wrong part of you business.
Small business owners have a huge job, sometimes larger then life. Many complicate their ‘job’ unnecessarily because they fail to organize appropriately, by splitting the management duties into the three basic components: production, finance, sales and marketing; and thus they often spend their days hopping between the three appropriate divisions, paying attention to the squeaky wheel, the issues screaming for attention and the issues that appear most important to them at the time -typically finances and production- while leaving sales and marketing to kind of happen on its own.
After all there are just so many hours in the day, and the small business owner infrequently asks for help, even less frequently allocates responsibility and seldom is organized effectively and appropriately. But hey! as long as he is busy busy busy, he must be managing managing managing and thus the owner limps away satisfied that he has done his best every day.
Typically the small business owner specializes in putting out fires… and babysitting his people.
The next priority is typically spending time and attention on the most important clients, the ones providing most of his revenue, this certainly seems like the right use of his time and energy, and is an important function for the owner to focus on.
This is typically a business owner’s management focus. It is however the wrong priority!
The above frequently repeated, and very common, scenario is a cycle which prevents advancement, progress, growth and development. Prevents it.
So what should a business owner be focusing on?
SALES AND MARKETING.
We all know that nothing happens until something is sold. We also all know that the single most significant and most frequently stated issue preventing growth and development is the lack of adequate funds to support overhead, payroll and of course growth and development -but what do we do about it? Increase our focus on sales and marketing?…No, we ignore this division and allow it to do whatever it does more or less on its own.
The first budget cut is always in the sales and marketing area, whether advertising, or manpower. The least effort, time and energy spent is on sales and marketing. Most sales and marketing programs are based on allowing the potential client to find you, and ask you to sell something to them. ’Waiting for the fax machine to spew out an order’ -that’s a frequently utilized sales and marketing “strategy”!
Most would argue that they don’t have the capital available to effectively advance the sales and marketing programs that they may picture and dream about…if only they had the money to do it.
YOU CAN HAVE THE MONEY TO PROMOTE, ADVERTISE ,GROW AND DEVELOP, IF YOU MARKET SUCCESSFULLY AND SUPPORT YOUR SALES EFFORT.
Why wouldn’t this division be the first and most important aspect of your business day? Increased sales means increased revenue, increased revenue means freedom to develop your business successfully and profitably.
Make the sales and marketing responsibility your primary focus, and your financial worries will be over. Make sales and marketing your primary effort and production issues will disappear as you will always have adequate inventory, materials, equipment, etc.
This doesn’t mean you have to spend yourself into oblivion and buy bigger or more ad space…NO! Sales and marketing efforts don’t have to have a big budget, successful marketing can be done on a shoe string, but it simply must be done.
There are many posts in my blog that outline alternative marketing strategies, strategies that deliver results but don’t cost a fortune. What ‘s required first is an acknowledgment that sales and marketing is the most important leg supporting the table; and that a significant effort must be devoted to this division in order to reap the desired results… the effect will be huge.
Nothing happens until sales are made. Change your priorities and focus your energies, your creativity and management skills to this area and reap the benefits.
