Here’s a tough year-end test to give yourself that may not be a fun exercise to participate in. Get a clean legal pad of paper, a pen, a BIG cup of coffee and camp out in a place AWAY from your PC, phone or any other electronic gadget that might distract you. Get comfy. Then make a list of every improvement, advancement or breakthrough you’ve made or manufactured in your business in the following categories below. Make each of these a header on its own page and go to work trying to fill the pages, using one item per line (no cheating and writing in 48-point type like a five-year-old). Anyone who wants to send me photocopies of the pages they write out that I can publish will get $100 in Robin Bucks you can use in any way you like.
Again, the question is: “What Improvements, Advancements Or Breakthroughs Have You Implemented In The Following Categories?”
- Lead generation
- Online footprint, findability and presence
- Closing sales
- Increasing average sale
- Increasing LTV (lifetime value) of a client
- Customer retention
- Employee productivity
- Service delivery and operational efficiency
- New products and initiatives
- Your business’s security and stability
- Bottom-line profits
If you can fill an ENTIRE page in each category, I can practically guarantee you’ve doubled your sales, profits and stability of your business and have significantly increased your personal income. Congrats! Half a page, you’re on track to have a damned good year and poised for explosive growth. Good job! If you have some pages that are blank while others are full, you’re probably running like a crazy person putting our fires, with some good going on, but being weighed down fixing others. If you’re all blanks, get a mirror and check that you can fog it. If you’re still (barely) breathing, you’re a Christmas miracle. No fogging, you done expired.
