If you have a friend or colleague who refers you to another potential new client you need to thank that person. A referral is the highest praise a colleague can pay you and your business. When a colleague is asked for help with a particular project that he doesn’t do, and if your name comes front of mind, you are doing your job as it relates to running your business. You have been effective in marketing yourself, but more importantly, you have nurtured relationships to the extent that you are a go-to resource.
What do you do if you get one of these three types of referrals? First, you need to understand the referral type and then you need to nurture your referrals:
A cold referral. This is when a name is passed onto you by a colleague who may possibly have a need for your services. It’s not a lead where your colleague has “talked you up” but instead more likely it was a passing conversation that ended with…”I think you should call this person” and you are that person.
A warm referral. This is the type of referral where your name and your service or products were specifically mentioned. The referral source is likely waiting for you to contact him or her, but probably doesn’t yet have you on the calendar for a specific time to chat.
A hot referral or hot lead. This is the type of referral that every business owner dreams of. This person has said, “I NEED XYZ product and I need it now!” This referral type is waiting by the phone for you, or anyone to call, and help solve his pain point. He is ready to buy, you just need to be in position to be the one he buys from.
Regardless of the type of referral you receive you need to heartily thank the colleague who thought enough of you to pass your name and contact information along and who has supplied you with the same from the potential new client. If the referral turns into a client you will want to reach out and perhaps take your colleague to dinner or purchase a small gift to thank him for the new client.
You need to nurture your referrals as well as those individuals who refer potential clients to you.
Do you have a way to follow up with referrals you may receive? Do you nurture the cold, warm and hot referrals? For how long? Remember, it might take some people up to two years to reach out. Will you still be front of mind then? If you have a funnel follow up system in place you will be. Do you have that in place? If not, email us. We can help.
Whether you work from home or work in an off site location, you need to do an evaluation to determine whether your business has the necessary resources to make you successful. There are three things you need in order to have a successful business: Working space, materials to function and staff to help make it happen.
When it comes to space: Do you have a working computer? Do you have a desk that is comfortable to sit and and work from? Do you have the supplies necessary to be productive at your job? Do you have the website and online resources necessary to get your business known? Do you have the necessary training to continue to perform at peak levels? Business is always evolving and you need to evolve with it if you want to remain competitive. Constant learning should be part of your business plan.
Materials. The materials you need to run your business are the physical materials needed if you’re a manufacturer. They are the materials you need in order to provide a service to your clients. The materials should include your business plan, any licenses you need to operate in the state in which you’re located. The materials should also include onsite storage and backup for your intellectual property.
Your staff, or vendors on whom you rely. You simply can’t do it alone, nor should you try. The smart entrepreneur understands he needs to focus on his core competencies and hire out the rest. If bookkeeping is not your forte, you’re better served to hire a bookkeeper. If you’re not convinced, do this bit of math: take your hourly wage and determine how long it takes you to do bookkeeping tasks. Are you losing money doing your bookkeeping? Are there other core tasks that you’re putting aside in order to perform bookkeeping tasks? If that’s the case, it is time to hire someone, or more than one person, to take off your plate the tasks that aren’t bringing in clients or money.
Do you have what you need in order to be a success?
When you were working your way up the corporate ladder was there a leader with whom you connected? A leader from whom you learned a lot? If so, what can you do today to be a better leader for your employees?
Here are three keys that I have found that will help you craft a better leadership style. You just might become that leader who inspires others and that one special leader your staff remembers when they move onto their own endeavors.
Three Keys To A Better Leadership Style
Understand how your staff perceives you. Do you have an easy relationship with them? Do your people get nervous when you enter a room? Do your staff members offer suggestions on processes? Is there a level of trust between you and your staff? What can you do to enhance any of those areas and make your leadership style be one that others want to emulate?
Are you a mentor to your staff? Do you help them to grow and thrive? A good leader will want his employees to succeed and grow. Keeping employees in a box will lead to their stagnating and to their productivity waning. Make them feel as though you are a partner in their growth and success. Their growth and learning will help your business thrive.
Set expectations within your organization. If your staff doesn’t know what’s expected of them, if they aren’t aware of what they can to do improve, how will they know whether they are meeting or exceeding, or operating under expected requirements? This begins at the start of hiring someone when you set forth their job duties and responsibilities. Give your staff a metric to shoot for that they can measure themselves and their personal and business growth against.
What are some of the stumbling blocks you have toward being a leader that your staff looks up to? Do you need to hone your communication skills? Talk with a trusted staff member and ask them for their honest insight on your leadership style. If you feel it needs improvement, work toward making that happen. A happy workforce is your best option for a healthy bottom line.
Are you the curious type? Do you have conversations with colleagues or employees that end in one sentence? Do you ask open ended questions or do you ask questions that simply require a yes or no answer? Asking yes or no questions doesn’t offer the participant a chance to interact or truly respond. Asking questions is a fine art that entrepreneurs should hone.
Here are some of the reasons that asking questions just might make you a better leader.
Even though you are the owner or manager or leader, asking opinions of your staff and other managers on the team shows everyone that you value their input. Asking for opinions and insight makes for a more open working environment and you just might hear an answer to a solution that you’d never imagined. Give your staff a voice!
If you’re looking to delegate, you need to talk with those to whom you want to delegate. This will be a way to engage with them and more importantly, gauge their interest in a possible increase in responsibilities. Talk to staff members before you simply hand out new work tasks.
If you’re moving your company toward a particular goal, ask questions of those involved to see whether they need more resources, whether there are any snags in the process and what other resources they may need from you to take the project to fruition.
If you’re in the habit of coaching your staff toward higher levels of success, you need to not only talk with and to them, you need to listen to their needs and whether they are on the trajectory they imagined they’d be.
You’ll be more approachable if your employees know that some of the ideas they suggest are truly taken into consideration. We have all worked with employers who listen and nod but immediately forget what we’ve said once the conversation is over. Don’t be that kind of leader.
Are you a good “asker of questions?” Do you take time to build relationships and have conversations with colleagues, staff and vendors? If you can’t remember the last time you had a productive conversation with them, take a look at your own conversation style to see if it needs to be changed.
The Summer 2016 Olympics are a thing of the past, but we want to take some time in this article to talk about whether your business deserves a gold medal. We bet it does! Even if you’re never going to get up on the podium and have a medal hung around your neck, here are some things that many entrepreneurs do that warrant gold medal treatment.
They create.Entrepreneurs are creators. They take their idea and run with it. They find ways to address a pain point. They are innovators.
You’re your own boss. Do you remember the leap of faith it took to make the change from employee to employer or entrepreneur? It was scary as hell, but you did it! You are your own boss and you just might be making opportunities available for others.
You use your talent. We all have talents. Some may feel more hidden than others, but everyone has a unique talent that they could potentially use to start their own business. What’s your talent?
You’re doing a better job. When you’re working for a company you may find yourself frustrated with the status quo. This is especially true if you see a better, faster, more efficient way to take on a task and your ideas aren’t being considered. As your own boss, you can take your ideas and run with them!
What prompted you to start your business? What do you do each and every day that warrants a gold medal? If you asked your customers or your staff what would they say sets you apart from the rest and would make you the gold standard to aspire to? We’d love to know.
If you’re still wondering what your talents are and how you can uncover them so you can make the leap into business ownership, send me an email and we can talk about how unique you are!
