Business growth doesn’t just happen – you must take action.
There’s so much talk these days about the Law of Attraction and how you can use it to create the life you want.
I personally believe that this is a powerful tool for business growth and that you can’t just simply set your intentions and then wait for all kinds of good stuff to come your way. In my world, the Law of Attraction has two key components: (1) affirm what you want and (2) take action.
What’s your action plan for success?
If you’re a typical entrepreneur, you have a zillion great ideas running through your head. If you’re a successful entrepreneur, you’ve not only identified which of those ideas will propel you toward the goals you want to achieve; you’re also clear on what action steps you’ll take to turn those mission-critical ideas into reality. If you’re feeling stalled right now on how to turn your list of goals into a list of accomplishments, here’s a sample action plan based on what I call the 4 P’s of Business Development™.
1. Develop your Prospects.
2. Develop your Presence in the marketplace.
3. Develop (and refine) your Products and services.
4. Develop your Professional and Personal skills.
Simple, right? If only!
It’s typically easier to think about developing a step-by-step action plan than it is to actually create it, much less implement it. One of the most powerful and sanity-saving tools I’ve ever applied is the practice of “chunking it down.” If you’re not yet familiar with this term, it simply means to break down a large task into smaller and smaller chunks until you’ve created a series of action steps that are manageable and (perhaps) just slightly uncomfortable. This series of baby steps is much easier to tackle than one HUGE task which is overwhelming and downright intimidating.
I find it especially useful to ask myself questions as a way to define what business-building steps I need to take to reach my goals. Thoughtful answers to my questions guide me to the steps I need to take. Here are some questions you can use to start defining how you’ll address your own 4 P’s.
1. Regarding your Prospects:
- Who’s your truly ideal client?
- What’s the source of the greatest pain in their lives?
- How do your skills provide an aspirin for that pain?
- Who do you definitely not want to work with? For what reason?
2. Regarding your Presence in the marketplace:
- Where do your ideal clients hang out online? Offline?
- What can you offer them that no one else can? (There will almost always be competition in your field, so the trick is to identify how and why your particular set of skills will create the best experience for your ideal clients.)
- What results do you want from creating a strong, positive, and pervasive Presence in the marketplace? Get subscribers on your mailing list? Give people a chance to sample your products and services? Ask for a quote?
- What can you do to establish yourself as a thought leader and an expert in your field? (Caution!! “Expert” does not mean “knows everything there is to know about this topic.)
3. Regarding your new and existing Products and/or services:
- When was the last time you evaluated your current service offerings for relevance and value?
- Do you really need to introduce a new product/service, or is it more a matter of refining your existing ones to better meet your clients’ needs?
- What do your clients ask for that you don’t yet provide? How will this translate into a new offering?
4. Regarding your Personal and Professional skills:
- What are your current areas of strength? (These are the areas where you’ll get the highest ROI on personal/professional development.)
- What activities do you currently struggle with or are merely competent at? (These are the ones to let go of! Outsourcing even a few of these “weak spot” activities will free up time to operate in your areas of strength.)
- When considering taking a new course or subscribing to a new ezine, ask yourself why you want to do this and how it will move you closer to your professional goals. (If you don’t have a good answer, then that activity is not worth your time and effort.)
Are you willing to ask these tough questions of yourself and—more challenging—
create action plans based on the answers? If so, are you confident and raring to go, or are you kind of deer-in-the-headlights at the thought of doing the work? If you’re feeling paralyzed, maybe I can help you get out of the headlights and instead get behind the wheel.
I invite you to check out my Take-Action Packages to see which of them describes you, and then call or e-mail me so we can arrange for a get-acquainted, let’s-see-what-we-see phone call. (And woohoo to you, because there you have it: your first chunked-down, two-step action plan! That was easy.)
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