Who's got lots?

High net worth is a term that is used a lot.

You’ll find it mentioned in the reports and statements of many financial firms.

HM Revenue and Customs has a high net worth unit.

Most of the banks have units who look after the interests of this group.

Quite a few businesses say that they would like to sell to high net worth individuals.  Many of them struggle to do so.  This series of articles is all about selling to that group.

If your business wants to sell to high net worth individuals the sensible place to start is to think about who these people are.

What is a high net worth individual?

There are different views, but you won’t go too far wrong if you think of a high net worth individual as someone who owns at least the equivalent of one million US dollars in financial assets.

Ultra high net worth individuals, on the other hand, need at least thirty million US dollars or equivalent to qualify.  In this instance, a family can be counted as well as individuals.

Some banks and financial institutions sub-divide further into such categories as “very high net worth individuals” and so on.

Who has this sort of resource?

If you’re looking to sell your products and services into the top end of this market, you’re looking at a very exclusive group of people.  Check out the high end of the market and you’ll come across the people with yachts, private jets, expensive cars for each day of the week and so on.

Thinking about high net worth individuals more generally, you can easily start to gather some useful information that will help you to understand a little more about them.

Almost half of them have directorships.

More than 60% of them fly regularly.

Typically they will be worth just over £1 million.

By the way, according to some statistics, 1.1 % of the UK population are millionaires.  Other sources say there are over 280,000 of them living in the UK.

Okay, 80% of high net worth individuals are male, which helps you with your customer profiling, but that doesn’t mean you would recognise a high net worth individual if you met him – or her -  in the street.

They’re not that different from a lot of other people.

What sort of people are high net worth individuals?

Quite a lot of people could fall into this category.

• Think about the person who has run a business for 30 years.  At retirement he or she could well realise this amount of money when selling the business.
• Some people inherit wealth.  When the parental home is sold, it can realise significant amounts of money these days.  Inheriting such a home and liquidating the asset can turn someone into a high net worth individual overnight.
• Some people, especially those in finance, earn big salaries and become wealthy at quite a young age.
• Yes, some people win the lottery or the football pools and become rich overnight. . . . And there are celebrities etc.

What’s important to remember is that high net worth individuals are a diverse group. 

They don’t all have the same experiences.

They don’t all have the same expectations.

They don’t all have the same interests, needs and wants.

They don’t all live their lives in the same way.

They don’t all want to buy the same sorts of products and services.

Selling to high net worth individuals

It’s not enough in your business to state that you want to sell to high net worth individuals.  When you make this statement you haven’t gone far enough with your analysis.  You’ve identified s a market segment, but it’s not a niche.  (It’s still too big.)

You need to slice your market segment further.

The first step is to do some customer profiling.

1. Are you potential customers likely to be male or female?
2. Are they likely to be young or old?
3. Did they become affluent quickly or did they become affluent slowly?
4. Are they interested in ……………. type of investment?
5. Are they interested in …………………. type of activity?

You can then start to think about finding real people who fit your criteria. 

Have you got to that stage? 

If you have, that means your search for the right high net worth individuals has begun.

Is anyone plotting your course?

It’s easy to be busy.  It’s easy to work from early until late.  It’s satisfying to keep ticking off the items on the “to do” list.

Stop for a moment and think about your approach to how you run your business.

• Just how satisfying is it to work like this?
• When you work like this, do you feel as if you’re in control?
• Do you believe you’re making progress towards your goals?

If you’re not convinced that you’re achieving what you want to achieve with your business, despite all that hard work, try the following.

Check out that one key objective

If you don’t have that one key objective, then you now know you need one.  Recognisng this one point means you’re already well on the way to changing things in your business for the better.

Let’s just take things a little further.

You need an objective for each quarter of the year.  You need a relatively short-term objective that you can remember and that you can work towards.

It could be:

Sell 500 copies of my new book

Complete, test and revise my training programme on ………

Increase my email list by 1000 before ……………….

These are not high-level objectives.  They are valuable because they are memorable.  They are also measurable.  They are important because they will help you to achieve your high-level goals.

So check out how you’re doing as you work towards that one key objective.  Review your progress each month.

Remember that money doesn’t matter

Lots of people like to say they’re in business to make money.  You’ve met them.  Some of them also offer this statement as if it were a startling announcement.

You know that making money is important, but that you – and I – make our money by providing a service and providing value to a customer base.

Provide the service first.  Make money second.

Provide service to a high standard and making money will become easier.

Provide service that people in your market want to buy to a high standard and you will really start to make money.

In other words, we are all in business to make money, but making money for the longer term is the result of serving a market well.  If you forget this, your business will suffer.

Ask yourself how well you serve your market right now and then consider how you could improve your approach over the next month.  This will help your business, especially if you check out your plans with your customers before you take action.

Have a focus for each week in the month

I’ve kept this one until last because this is the tactic I think is really valuable to new and existing businesses.  It’s something that lots of businesses just don’t do.

At The Adams Consultancy Ltd, we have a particular focus for our activity for  each week of the month.

Week one: Take a long hard look at our business

What are we trying to do?

Where are we going?

Week two: Focus on our customers

Who are they?

What are we offering them?

Are we offering the right things?

Just how good or bad is business?

Week three – How are we getting the word out?

Are we meeting new people?

Are we keeping in touch with the key players?

Who’s new on our radar this month?

Who do we want to engage with?

Week four – Are we making sales?

Nothing happens in business until something is sold, so are we making sales?

Are we making enough sales?

Are we making the right sort of sales?

How much does it cost us to make our sales?

Taking control of your business – once and for all

Get a plan

Does working like this deliver the level of control that a business needs?

I think it does.  It’s the approach that I recommend to our customers.  It’s an approach that helps consultants, coaches and other experts to use their time wisely and to achieve more. 

What really makes a big difference is having a focus for each week as well as a strategic overview and direction for the business.

If you try this approach, you will find that you give more attention to what you want to achieve in your business.  That will help you to do what’s needed.

Starting your business month

This is the last post in my business start-up month series.

Over the past four weeks I’ve offered advice on lots of topics that face start-ups in their early days.  Together they form a useful tutorial.

If you’ve just started your business, and if you’ve found the series helpful, please let me know.

If you like this post please “like” it on Facebook and tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

#entrepreneur.

You might also like to read:

How to use your blog as a sales tool for your consultancy or coaching practice

The fastest (legal) shortcut ever to becoming famous in your niche

The top tip for starting a successful business

The most common mistake new businesses make and how to avoid it

Connect with your market via your blog

Some consultants, coaches and other expert professionals roll their eyes when I ask them if they blog.

When they answer they are likely to say that:

• Blogging is a bit down-market for them.
• Blogging is for youngsters.
• Blogging is for the “me” generation.

They also often say:

• Blogging is not for professional people.

They then go on to add that they don’t have time for blogging and social media and the like.

Serious businesses blog well and blog often

It isn’t difficult to bring forward evidence to contradict these assertions. There are lots of business blogs out in the world and many of them are very popular.

I’m a serious businessperson and I blog.  Well, actually, I’m a serious businessperson and I write articles and authority content.

The articles are blogs, of course, but I call them something different.

It’s relatively easy to convince professional people that they need authority content on their websites. They know that authority content positions them as experts in their niche.  They write authority content but don’t realise they are blogging.

Acquiring expert status is important and it helps to make sales.  Therefore, an authority blog is a great sales tool.

Blogging solves customers’ problems

I solve problems for customers via this site.

Lots of my business’s customers struggle to establish the value they deliver to their marketplace.  In fact, many of my customers are good at what they do, but don’t know how they add value in their marketplace. Thus, they don’t know how to promote themselves and their businesses effectively.

Almost eighteen months ago I wrote a series of articles (posts) about establishing the unique selling proposition in businesses selling complex products or services.  Whenever I start work with a new customer I always encourage him or her to read the complete series.

This approach adds value to the person’s learning process. 

I’m also solving a customer’s problem via this website.

Blogging helps you to get quoted, get shared, get tagged and retweeted

It’s not what you say about yourself that matters.  It’s what the movers and shakers in your marketplace say about you that’s important.

I make a point of writing interesting Facebook updates.  I tweet interesting material.  I write articles that get shared.  (Sometimes this is via social media.  Sometimes individuals e-mail links or include links in their newsletters.)

My blog posts are quoted, linked to, tweeted, liked and so on.

As a result, when I go to a business networking event I meet people who say:

“I follow you on Twitter.”

“I have liked your Facebook Page.”

“I liked your article on ……..”

It’s a great endorsement and, of course, other people in the room hear the endorsement.  That means I’m already starting to build a relationship with people even before we have shaken hands.

They’re starting to move along the Know-Like-Trust continuum that leads to business.  They’re doing that because of my blog.

Blogging helps you to make sales

My website (or blog) is a business asset.  It’s worth the time I spend on it.

It helps me to make sales, and that means that my business is more likely to profit, survive and grow.

What do you think?

Do you consider your blog to be a business asset?  Let me know in the comments section or on Facebook at:

Social Media Success Community

If you like this post please tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

#entrepreneur.

You might also like to read:

Your great value proposition

One simple thing consultants can do to grow their business faster

Are you selling a complex product or service?

Get them to sign up!

Most consultants are looking to grow their businesses.

Most consultants who have been in business for a while say it’s harder now to get business than it once was.

When consultants start to work with me they often say their problems have nothing to do with them and the way they manage their practices.  They say:

“It’s the economy.”

“It’s the cutbacks.”

“It’s the level of competition.”

Well, I’m not sure I agree.

When I start working with a consultant, one of the questions I ask in our first meeting is:

“How many sales meetings did you have last month?”

I often get blank looks.  Then I get lots of information about the one-to-one meetings and the discussions following on from networking meetings and the lunches and breakfast meetings the consultant has attended.

I take notes. It’s fascinating to listen and to work out how much time and money consultants spend on these activities.

In the end it turns out that quite a few consultants don’t have any sales meetings at all.

They have meetings where they talk about what they do.  They have meetings where they present proposals.  They have meetings where they discuss options and possibilities.  They have exploratory meetings.

They don’t actually have meetings where they say:

“This is what I am offering and this is the price.  Now, when can I start work on your project?”

That’s the main reason why they’re not making sales.  They just never get around to asking for the business.

How to make sales

If you’re going to do business you need to make sales.

We’re now into week four in the Business Start-Up month, which is why I’m writing about sales.  In week four in The Solo Success Start-Up Guide I concentrate on sales and doing one very important thing to get sales.

What is it?

It’s asking for the business.

If you don’t make sales, your business is doomed. Yet, when you delve into the way lots of consultants work, they never actually ask for the business.  That’s their biggest problem.

Do you ask for business?

Think carefully.

• Have you asked for a piece of business in the last month?
• Have you asked a customer for a start date for a project?
• Have you asked in plain and simple terms that the customer makes a commitment to work with you?
• Have you asked when you can submit your first invoice?

If you haven’t, then you’re missing out on business.

Often customers are just waiting for you to ask them for their business.  They want you to ask. If you don’t, they won’t offer to put the first meeting in the diary.  They won’t ask you about the best time to run that workshop.  They’ll let you walk away from the meeting empty handed.

You can improve your business if you make a point of asking for the business every time you make a proposal of any sort.

What have you got to lose?

They can only say no.

Over to you . . .

Be honest.  Do you ask your customers for their business?

If you don’t, what gets in the way?  Let me know in the comments.

If you like this post please “like” it on Facebook and tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

#entrepreneur.

You might also like to read:

The real secret of consultancy success

How well are you closing the sale?

The most common mistake new businesses make and how to avoid it.

Climb faster!

Okay then!  You want to become a successful entrepreneur.  You know this means you must get your name known and you must get people to remember who you are and what you do.

You’re starting a consulting or coaching business and you want to make a success of what you do fast.

Here’s a quick way to succeed.

How to become famous

Make a list of the twenty top people in your market niche.  Just do it.  Don’t agonise.  Just write. You can prune later if you need to.

Now organise your list into:

• competitors
• thought leaders
• potential customers
• potential strategic partners
• media (journalists etc)
• mavericks
• others – plus a reason for including them in the list.

Make sure you have at least two names under each heading.

Business Success For The Taking

Work out:

• what you would say to each of these people if you met them
• how you could add value to their business
• how building a relationship with each individual will help your business.

Then plan how you’re going to make contact with each person on your list.

You’re in your third week in business, so it is time to start to plan ahead and prepare to succeed.

This action plan will help you to find a place for yourself and your business in your niche.

Over to you

Do you have a better, faster and more effective way of building your fame in your niche quickly?  If you do, please tell us about it in the comments.

If you like this post please “like” it on Facebook and tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

#entrepreneur.

You might also like to read:

The Five-Minute Guide To Managing Your Second Week In Business

Becoming a successful entrepreneur is your goal and your start-up business is now in its third week of trading.

Thank you for following the Business Start-Up Month posts on this site.  This is becoming a popular series.

In The Solo Success Start-Up Guide the motto for week one is:

Markets Matter Most.

That’s true.  The market will decide your fate. 

The motto for week two is a sobering one:

You’ve nothing to sell until you know what people are willing to buy.

Now it’s week three.  What’s important for this week?

How to become a successful entrepreneur – quickly

The advice I offer to new businesses and fledging entrepreneurs in the guide is the advice I offer to all our customers.  It’s advice that I follow every month, too.

Week three of the month is the time to think about business development.  Each month I work out:

• how many hands I have shaken
• how many new hands I have shaken.

It’s a simple metric, but it’s an indication of:

• how much business I am doing
• how well I am building relationships
• how many new prospective clients, prospective strategic alliance marketing partners etc I meet.

I then work out how many business discussions I have had and how much business – new and repeat – I have gained.

There is a relationship between how many new hands I shake in one month with how much new business I gain two or three months later.  Keeping relationships going over time helps with repeat business, too.

The top tip for business success

In the third week of each month I plan out my networking schedule because it’s through business networking that I tend to meet new customers and new business partners.  I decide which events I will attend in the next four weeks.  I work out which seminars or other events I will attend.  I work out how much “virtual networking” I plan to do via social media.

Then for the next four weeks I implement that plan.

So what is the motto for the third week of each month?  It’s:

Get out more.

Business doesn’t come just because you’re there.  You – and I – have to go out and find people and businesses to work with.

The businesses that are going to succeed and continue to succeed are the ones that both understand this point and act on it.

See you out and about.

Over to you

It’s nice to have a metric to think about.

• How many hands do you shake each month?
• Do you find there is a link between people you meet and how much business you gain either directly or by referral?

Is this a metric that you use?  Let me know in the comments below.

If you like this post please “like” it on Facebook and tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

#entrepreneur.

You might also like to read:

The Five-Minute Guide To Managing Your Second Week In Business

The Most Common Mistake New Businesses Make – And How to Avoid It

168 hours and they're all yours!

If you’re following the Business Start-Up Month series of articles on this site, you’ll know by now that I tend to focus on how people in business use their time.

I hear so many people at all stages in their life in business saying that they don’t have enough time to do what they want to do.

My consulting clients say the same – at least when we start working together.

However, time is not the issue.  It really isn’t.

We all have 168 hours per week.  You can’t buy extra time.  All you can do is decide how to use it.

There is plenty of time . . .

In week two of running your business think again about my motto:

Clear thinking + the right actions = success

Clear thinking is easy in the first days of running your business.  It will lead you to an in escapable conclusion.

You have an urgent need to generate revenue.  You need to do this before your business goes bankrupt.

That means you need customers.

This situation presents a simple question:

What are you doing today, this morning and this afternoon, this minute, to bring in more revenue and to get more customers?

If the question makes you feel uncomfortable then I’m glad you’ve read so far.

5 minutes is all you need

You only need five minutes to come up with the solution to this problem.

Let’s assume that your working day runs from 9 am to 5 pm.  If it doesn’t, then substitute the right times.  If you work part time in your business, write down the relevant times.

Now you need to commit to spending ALL of your working time on one of three tasks:

1. finding business
2. preparing to deliver the business you have acquired
3. delivering your service.

That’s it.  There’s nothing more to it.

Now spend five minutes allocating all your time to working on these tasks.

Managing your second week in business

But …. But …. But …. you say.

You need to talk to the web designer.  You need to get some printing organised.  You need to sort out your desktop printer.

Maybe.

Maybe you do need to work on these tasks, too.  Just do them outside your normal business hours.  These tasks do not contribute directly to the success of your business.  Yes, you need to be able to print out the document you intend to take to the meeting with your new customer.

However, you need to get that customer and the next one and the next one before you can waste precious working time on non-essential activities.

If you don’t focus on the three tasks that will help your business to survive, then ask yourself this question:

Are you serious about wanting to succeed in your business?

Building a successful business

It takes a long time to create a successful business.  It’s hard work.  85% of new businesses fail within the first three years of trading.

You can’t afford to be half-hearted about getting your business moving.

In The Solo Success Start-Up Guide I call week two the “taking aim” week.  That’s what you need to do.

Create the right working habits and apply them from now on.

Now it’s your turn

How difficult do you find it to keep focused on the right things in your business?

It’s very easy to turn to non-essential but time-consuming activities and to push aside the tasks that are going to help you to get the customers you need.

What do you do to keep yourself focused on the right things?  Let me know in the comments.  I’d love to hear about your successes.

If you think this article is helpful, then please “like” it on Facebook, and tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

#entrepreneur

You might also like to read:

The most common mistake new businesses make – and how to avoid it

If you start a consulting or coaching business, will it succeed?

The real secret of consultancy success

Your first week in business - did it go well?

If you started your business at the beginning of the month, you’ve been in business for a week now.

Starting a consulting business or a coaching business is a challenge.

Starting out as a solo-preneur or independent professional is a challenge.

How well did you meet that challenge in your first week as a start-up business?

What did you achieve?

Asking you what you achieved is not the same as asking your what you did.  You were probably very busy.  There are so many things to do when you’re running your own business.

• You need to set up your website.
• You need to get your business cards ordered.
• You need to sort out your office’s equipment.
• You need to think about setting up a bank account.
• You need to deal with your new tax position.
• …. I could go on.

Important as these tasks are, they are not make-or-break tasks.  Of course, they need doing.  You need to address them all.  You probably need to address them in your first month in business.

Did you spend the whole of your first week in business working on this sort of task?

If you did, you achieved less than you might.

Focus on what really matters

Now you’re in business you must be very clear in your own mind about what’s really important.

For all new businesses what matters most is getting business.

How much of your time in your first week in business did you spend on getting business?

In The Solo Success Start-Up Guide I urge new businesses to find time in their first week to think about the following questions:

1. Who do you serve?
2. Which problems do you solve?
3. What value do you add?
4. Who is your ideal customer?

I ask people who are starting out to focus on these questions for one very important reason.

Their business is more likely to survive, if they know the answers to these questions, and if they pay attention to addressing the issues that their answers raise.

Business success or business failure?

There are lots of statistics around about new businesses indicating how few of them survive for three years.

I believe that the businesses that are most likely to fail are the ones that struggle to address a defined market, and solve the problems of a defined group of people.

If you want your business to survive, I believe you need to be clear about

who you serve – so that you don’t waste time, energy and money trying to do business with the wrong people

the  problems you solve – so that your customers and prospective customers will know how you will help them

the value you add – so that you have strong messages to deliver online, offline and face-to-face

who your ideal customer is – so you can target your marketing and sales efforts in the right way.

Work on your answers the questions I ask above in your first week and you will stand more chance of success.  That’s because:

Clear thinking + the right actions = success.

So what did you do in your first week in business?

Did you spend at least half an hour a day thinking about your answers to my questions?

If you did, you’re ready to start your second week in business.

If you didn’t, take some time early in week two to give them some consideration.

The Four Questions For Your First Week In Business

Just so that you don’t forget, the four questions are:

1. Who do you serve?
2. Which problems do you solve?
3. What value do you add?
4. Who is your ideal customer?

Questions for established businesses

Did you think sufficiently about these questions in your first week of trading?

I know I didn’t.  Twenty years ago, when I started my business.   I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do.  I remember visiting the local tax office.  I remember thinking about who I should follow up.  (I’d written quite a few letters to prospective clients before I started my business.)  I remember working on my offer.  I know I didn’t have a structured plan.

I made sure I put in the hours and I completed a range of tasks.  I hoped that by doing this would get at least some things right.

Lots of businesses still struggle to decide what to focus on.  You can get a head start on other start-ups by asking yourself those four questions now.

It’s Your Turn

So how is the new business going? What happened in the first week?  What are you planning for the second week?  Let me know in the comments.

If you like this post please “like” it on Facebook and tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

#entrepreneur.

 You might also like to read:

 Use your time wisely!

Working efficiently damages your business.  Why not try a different approach?

Make your list.

If you’ve made your decision to start a business, then you’re probably keen to get started.

You want to start trading.  You want to open the doors to your business, whether you have real doors, or virtual doors.

However, there are some things you need to do before you begin.

Use the suggestions below as a checklist.

Before you start your business . . .

Make sure you complete as many of the items on the list as you can before you leave your job.

1. Put some savings together. You can’t assume you’re going to earn much in your early days as a business person.
2. Work out how much you need to live on per month and how much you’re anticipating spending on your business per month.
3. Decide who you’re going to tell you’re leaving your job.
4. Decide who you know who could become customers of your new business.
5. Decide if you would like to do business with your current employer after you have left your job.
6. Draft out a list of income sources for your business.
7. Make a hit list.  Who could become your first five customers?
8. Work out what you could do to help each of these potential customers.
9. Make contact with these potential customers.  Just let them know you’re leaving your job for the moment. Don’t ask for any work.
10. Keep on good terms with your employer.  Avoid the temptation to say what you think about your current workplace, if it’s not complimentary.
11. Work out precisely what you’re planning to do once you leave your job.
12. Decide if you’re going to create a business name or trade under your own name.
13. Work out what you’re hoping to charge for the work you do.
14. Work out what will go on the front page of your website.  (Take some time to think and rethink this.)
15. Find out about tax, national insurance and similar issues for the self-employed, or small business owner.
16. Set a date to start your business.
17. Make a list of businesses you could work for as a contractor.
18. Contact these businesses.  (Contracting can help your cash flow, so don’t be too proud to consider this route.)
19. Work out why people should buy from you rather than from anyone else.
20. Congratulate yourself that you’ve done some planning.  You’ve made a good start.

Start working on this list today.  You might not complete every activity in order but think about each point and do what you can when you can.

Once you start your business, you’ll be busy every day.

Now it’s your turn

Have I missed anything?

Would you like to add any points?

If you like the post, please tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

and “like” it on Facebook.

You might also like to read:

If you start a consulting or coaching business will it succeed?

Warning! The economy is in trouble so start your business today.

Most new businesses – especially those started by consultants, coaches and other expert professionals – worry about how to sell.  They think that their lack of sales skills  is their biggest challenge and their biggest problem.

Is what you're selling a mystery?

Quite a few new business people take some training on sales skills early in the life of their businesses and hope that this will solve their problem.

This is fine up to a point.

New businesses often have something else they need to think about before they come to consider how to sell.

It’s an issue that is often ignored because it can be a difficult one to deal with. However, it’s an issue that will affect your business’s chances of survival and it has nothing to do with sales skills.

Selling tangible products and services is a bonus

Some new businesses find it easier to make an impact quickly than others.

When I work with new businesses I can be fairly certain that certain types of business are going to make progress sooner than others.

These are the people who have tangible products and services to sell and who can explain the value of what they deliver.

Web designers have a head start.  Even though they are selling services people know the outcome they will receive: a web site. People know what websites are.  They know what they want to buy.  What’s more, businesses need websites.  Even the smallest of businesses needs a website, so there is a ready and waiting customer base and a need out there in the marketplace for web designers.

Book-keepers and people who keep small businesses’ accounts in order have a head start, too.  People need to keep track of their spending.  They need to raise invoices, pay bills, create profit and loss accounts, cash flow forecasts and the like.  As soon as they start trading the bills come in and the invoices must go out. This is the sort of work that many business people do very badly if they do it themselves, so they are likely to look for someone to help with these tasks sooner rather than later.

Once again there is a ready and waiting customer base and a need in the marketplace.

If you’re selling photocopiers or office supplies, that’s good, too.  You will be shipping tangible products when you make a sale.  What’s more people can either see a picture of your product or they already use something similar so they know what they’re buying.  They don’t need you to explain it to them.

Work out what you sell

If you’re a consultant or a coach you’re in a different situation.  The first thing you have to work out, when you start your business, is what you’re actually selling.

Working out what you sell can be a big challenge.  Coaches and consultants often try to avoid thinking deeply about this issue by deciding to sell their time.  Alternatively they hide behind statements about what they do: life coaching, image consultancy, time management training.

Yet, businesses and individuals don’t buy time or processes.  They buy outcomes.

Therefore, it’s a big mistake to place the emphasis on inputs (time) or processes (consultancy).

How to avoid this mistake and save your business

The solution is very straightforward.

Spend time working out what you’re selling. Think carefully, too, about the value you deliver to your customers.

• Sell outcomes. 
• Sell value.
• Sell benefits.
• Sell improvement.

The next time you’re asked about what you sell, don’t talk about the hours you will input to the development process.  Focus on the end results, the value and the outcomes you will deliver.  Don’t worry about how you’re going to sell your product or service before you’ve worked out what, exactly, you’re offering to your marketplace and the need your offer addresses.

You’ll make more sales and your business will be more likely to survive, profit and grow if you think about these issues before you start to think about your sales skills.

You’ll also avoid one of the most common mistakes that new businesses make: focusing on the wrong things.

Do you agree?

• Do you know what you sell?
• Can you explain the value of what you sell to your customers?

Let me know in the comments.

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