25 Super-Practical Steps to Build Your Business!

For the past several weeks, we have focused on some wonderful but (to my way of thinking) rather fancy ideas about life. I wrote about motivation (I don't believe in it). I wrote about sorting out priorities (I do believe in that!). And I wrote about the 4 traits of highly successful people. I love that stuff! But I believe most of you subscribe to TIP's for help in actually running your office from day to day. Most of you have told me you're professionals in private practice, or owners of small businesses, or a manager. And that means you must attract clients or customers, serve them very well, and earn their return business - and do it every single day.

So. Let's talk about some practical steps that my clients have used to build their referral business quickly and systematically. I call it the "5-by-5" process. Let's walk through it.

Monday: Take care of, clean up, and get rid of 5 tolerations in your office or work. Make a list! Look around your space, your car, your desk or office, and commit to spending an hour taking care of at least 5 small, daily annoyances that have been bugging you, robbing your energy, or making life difficult. Do that filing! Repair that broken light, or throw out those old magazines. Buy a new desk chair, or a whole new desk! You can't afford to be distracted by these things. Fix them. Do it on Monday!

Tuesday: Contact 5 former clients or customers. Send them a letter, call them, even send them flowers or a small gift in cases where that might be appropriate. Invite them back, offer them a free follow-up or consultation. Ask them to help you evaluate your service by completing a questionnaire or ask them to come in for an interview. Tell them you value them as customers and want them to come back - and refer their friends! You can do this! Schedule an hour and do it on Tuesday.

Wednesday: Contact 5 current clients. Follow a similar routine from yesterday. Call them up, or send a card or letter telling them they are valued customers. Invite their comments on how you can improve your service or expand your business. Let them know you appreciate their trust and value their ideas. Do it nicely, with tact and sincerity, but ask them to help you build your business. You practiced on Tuesday, so you know you can do this. Schedule an hour and do it on Wednesday!

Thursday: Contact 5 potential customers or clients who have never used your services, and make them an offer they have to respect. Go through your rolodex, your list of friends, colleagues, associates and members of organizations you belong to - use the Yellow Pages if you have to - but pick up that phone and invite 5 people to check you out! If it's appropriate, tell them you want to grow your business and offer them a free sample (who could turn down a free massage or a free oil change, or?.?) If that's not appropriate, tell them you want to grow your business and you'd love to meet with them, buy them lunch, whatever it takes. You've been practicing for two days, so you know you can do this. Schedule an hour and do it on Thursday!

Friday: This is the hardest one of all: Do 5 wonderful things for yourself! You've worked hard all week, taken risks, put the word out that you are ready and eager to handle more business. That means you need to be healthy, energized, relaxed and ready. So, go for a walk. Take a long lunch and visit a friend. Read a great novel - or a trashy one, your choice! Enjoy the sunshine, or relax and listen to the rain. Spoil a neighbor's kids, then give them back! Schedule TWO hours, and do it on Friday!

This week, take 25 specific, measured steps to create more room and build your business. If you wanted practical, this is it. Now, it's your choice. My advice? Go get 'em!

Have a wonderful, productive and delightful week!

© Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: "Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It's all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com

---

Success at Work : People Skills : Dealing with New Ideas

Re-organizing, re-engineering, re-training, down-sizing, outsourcing, changing-changing-changing. Organizations today think they... Read More

Why Half of All Mergers Fail After the Honeymoon Ends

Marriages and corporate mergers in America have at least one... Read More

Stopping The Brain Drain: How To Capture Key Business Knowledge Before It Walks Out The Door

The verdict is in: More and more baby boomers will... Read More

Managing YOUR Expectations

I sit on the board of an organization and at... Read More

Does Your State Like To Keep Your Workers Compensation Secrets Hidden?

Workers compensation secrets are hidden deep within piles and piles... Read More

Creating A Vision ? Bringing Your Dreams Into Reality

Do you have some goals you want to achieve or... Read More

Running Successful Meetings - The Key Steps To Getting It Right

We all complain about meetings which are a waste of... Read More

Employee Retention: Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business

The retention of highly skilled knowledge workers is one of... Read More

Making a Decision to Outsource: Driving Factors

Most executives view offshore outsourcing most of all as a... Read More

3 Keys to Being a Fearless Executive

In my work with business executives, I have come to... Read More

Do Customers Like the Feel of Your Organization?

In two recent articles "Some Evidence of How We Are... Read More

Five Strategies for Profitable Services Growth

In today's era of Professional and IT Services competition and... Read More

Issue Management Methodology for Tracking Project Issues

1. What is an Issue?An issue is an incident, circumstance,... Read More

Where Else in Your Business Do You Accept a 60% Failure Rate?

I recently surveyed CEOs and Business Leaders of large companies... Read More

Be a Leader - The Importance of Going Home Early!

How you run your business is, of course your business.... Read More

Compensation and Six Sigma Black Belts

One of the more ambiguous elements of a Six Sigma... Read More

The DNA of Motivation

It really is about motivation. After all, what impels someone... Read More

Innovation Management: The Quality and Quantity of the Idea Pool

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Performance Appraisals: Questions for Smarties and Dummies

In numerous programs I've conducted on performance appraisals, with Human... Read More

3 Innovation Keys - Do Your Innovative Efforts Need More Power?

Recently, I attended a webinar with nearly 400 other Chief... Read More

Eight Skills of Highly Successful Consultants

With deference to Dr. Covey and his very popular Seven... Read More

Better Management Performance - The Easy 3-Step Way

Managers make three mistakes when they try to run businesses.... Read More

What to do When You receive a Bad Check

As a small business operator, personal checks may be one... Read More

Increase Productivity: Five Powerful Actions

How can you make the best use of your energy... Read More

Smart Hiring: What Makes the Right Employee?

Good hires do not happen by accident or luck. In... Read More

Succession Planning for Your Business - 7 Key Benefits

A core activity in many successful businesses, Succession Planning is... Read More

Organizing The Information

Putting a piece of paper in a file folder is... Read More

Organizational Capital in Politics, War, Sports and Business

Intangible Corporate Assets such as Organizational Capital, Blue Sky and... Read More

Having Your Phil

February 2nd, at approximately 7:30 a.m. local time on Gobbler's... Read More

Behavioral Interview Questions You Can Use Monday Morning

If past behavior is the best way to determine future... Read More

The Red Phone - Management Consulting in 30 Seconds or Less

Modern business faces complex problems; management often calls upon highly-specialized... Read More

When Business Becomes A Battlefield

"We have to be careful it's like a minefield out... Read More

How to Dodge Distribution Difficulties

It happened again. I ran into an old friend while... Read More