Success.
Let’s be honest: it’s an intimidating word because the roadmap to success is so different for everybody…not to mention that success itself looks so different for everybody! So, if success is different for everyone, how can we measure it?
I’m glad you asked!
We are going to dive into the five keys of success and how to measure where you’re at with them. This will help give you insight on where you’re at and where your strengths and weaknesses are.
So, let’s get into it!
I have identified five key areas of your business that add up to the Recipe for Success (you can thank me later!). As we go through this, I want you to picture it as a funnel, so that each step stacks on top of one another.
Ready for it?
The five keys for success are:
- Lead Flow
- Sales
- Delivery
- Retention
- Upselling
Each one of these steps will play a critical role in your success, because as I mentioned above, they build on one another. All five of these steps add up to a seamless client acquisition and relationship experience.
Lead Flow
You know you need leads in order to grow your business…but how do you get them and what do you do once they’ve landed on your radar? This is where lead flow comes into play: you have done the work, you’ve marketed yourself, and now you have a lead, so don’t let them slip away!
There are a number of ways to suss out your lead flow plan, but here are just a few questions to get you started:
- What steps do we need to take from making this lead a client?
- Has this lead been prequalified? And how?
- Is the lead being nurtured by you or someone on your team, by is it automated?
Having a solid lead flow in place will take the guesswork out of what comes next, because you’ll have a plan for that!
Sales
Is it just me or did I just hear you shudder at the mention of sales?
One of the key steps in this stage is to identify your sales style and know what you are selling inside out. If you shift your mindset from one of “sales” to “listening and educating” you have a good chance of seeing an increase in your sales…because you’ll have shifted the focus from what you are offering to what your lead needs. Listen to your lead and actually HEAR what they are saying (ie. don’t just wait for your turn to talk, where you insert your scripted reply). Once you open up a dialogue and talk through your leads specific pain points, they’ll understand that you can genuinely help them, which makes it that much easier for them to sign on the dotted line!
Delivery
Congratulations- you successfully turned your lead into a client- YAY!
Now is the time to, well, deliver! 😉
This is your time to shine and show your client how amazing you are. If you took notes on your sales call or during your sales meeting, you’ll already have notes on exactly what your client needs help with, and you should have an idea how you can help them (ie. none of this should be brand new information to you). Start out by onboarding your client and doing a deep dive into their exact needs so that you can work on identifying each of their pain points.
Retention
And we’re not talking water retention.
We ARE talking CLIENT retention!
Imagine if your business was growing and as you are growing, you are retaining your clients? What would that mean for you and your business?
In order to retain your clients you need to deliver (see above). While there are other factors in your client retention, you want to have a system in place that enables you to retain the majority of your clients.
When we boil retention down, the goal should be to keep them happy (by delivering) and keep them investing in their business with you.
Upsell
The last step in the funnel is upselling your client. Maybe you get stuck on this because you don’t have an upsell offer or maybe you feel icky trying to extract more money from your client, but at the end of the day, once your lead has converted to a client, they are officially in your funnel and they are in their client life cycle with you. This means that you have the opportunity to upsell to them- which also means that you have the opportunity to offer them a higher-level service!
Get to Work
Now that we’ve covered the five steps in your funnel, take a moment to rate yourself in all five of these areas, based on how you are currently performing on a scale of 1-5 (one being the lowest). Before you bring out your angry thumbs and shout, “But, Rachel! I am terrible at XYZ!” just know that this will serve as a benchmark and growth tracker for you.
Don’t beat yourself, or lie to yourself, about where you are in any of the areas. Remember: this is a growth activity and will serve to show you how far you can go once you identify your strengths AND weaknesses. This will just be a dot on your data points for reference.
When you are doing a self-assessment in any area of your life it is also crucial to remember to meet yourself where you’re at- not where your successful mentor or best friend or Aunt Elizabeth is at.
Now that you’ve done your assessment and NOT beat yourself up about it, pay special attention to the areas nearest to the top of the recipe (ie. your funnel) and to the areas in which you rated yourself the lowest. These are the areas that you’ll want to focus your growth efforts on immediately, so that you can start building up from your weakest areas, because this funnel is a complete domino effect: if you don’t have leads, you don’t have the opportunity to sell, and if you don’t have the opportunity to sell, you don’t have the opportunity to retain a client, and later, upsell them.
Which one or two areas do you want to focus on first?
Spoiler alert: the lower the number you rated yourself, you’ll want to pay special attention to those numbers.
Oftentimes people get overwhelmed by all of the options: whether they be for a scheduling program, an app, or KPI’s, and it is similar for the recipe of success for your business. Once you do a deep dive and self-assessment, you can gain clarity on the areas that you’re killing it in and the areas that you need to work on, and that, my friend, is the start to your recipe for success.
If you want more information on how to grow and scale your business… You might just be ready for the next step: www.cliqueforlife.com
