Of all the things that occur in your business, which ones make the most difference?
If your top value is revenue, for example, which parts of your business make the most difference toward revenue? Is it lead generation? Is it having a good sales process? Is it knowing how to close and eventually sell the business?
Those critical factors that lead to success in your business—or really in anything—are those practices where you put more time, attention and effort, and where afterward you get even more in the return for that time, attention, and energy you put in.
For example, adding legal services might not transform your business, but adding lead generation systems (i.e. systematic marketing!) could really transform it. Adding a referral generation system could totally transform your business at an incredibly low cost.
There are some fairly broad success factors that really make a business hum to the tune you want to hear. Those factors include:
- - Lead Generation
- - The sales process
- - Client, customer, or patient services that make for returning clients, customers or patients
- - Knowing the cost of each customer you acquire
- - Delivering on your promises
- - Recruiting—your ability to staff up and deliver on what it is that you’re trying to do
- - Production or manufacturing, if you have things to make then sell
- - Product development—you can be great at acquiring customers, but if you don’t have anything to sell them, you create the product
- - Marketing communications and media—how you manage the media, public relations, articles, etc.
Compare each of these things to the things that tend to frustrate you in your business, or those factors that you consider to be most important to you. If revenue is your top value, lead generation is going to take on greater importance, but if it’s client services, then recruiting will be more important to you than lead generation. There is no fixed, one-stop shopping solution.
Your selection of criteria could be vastly different from everybody else’s, so you select your criteria first, and then you go through the list and you consider, “What are the pieces that are most important to how I get what I want out of this thing I call my business?” Naturally, the list above isn’t all inclusive; there are many others.
Once you figure out your criteria and then start looking at how to systemize whatever process you’re focusing on, that’s permanent. The hardest part of that is already done. You might look at your critical success factors every half-year or so—you don’t want to just do this once and get complacent in thinking that adjustments won’t be necessary along the way. But doing it in the first place is a key step in creating those systems that not only grease the wheels of your business for smoother function, but also those reasons why we started doing all this to begin with; more profit, more time, and eventually freedom from the business so you can do whatever you really want to do.
What do you think? What are the success factors that have been critical to your business, or where do you find yourself focusing your time? How does that pan out? What adjustments did you or do you have to make? The Millionaire Mind community wants to hear from you!!!
Thanks for this T. Harv. This simple enough appearing note is a kick in the pants for me. I'm a creative who has a great produce yet the rest of my business structure is lacking. “How's that workin' for ya?” Great question. I now have to go back and design, for the first time, how to make my business model work.
Thank you,
Dave Moore
Thinkers and Sinkers
ISBN 9780615450407
this is the best business article I have ever read by you, Harv – and there were a few that I already thought were great – thanks!!
Thanks Harv, I changed to systematic marketing and things changed completely for me; more inspired than ever!
Thank you for giving me something to work with! I believe this is very good advice!
Great Points T.Harv.
You are absolutely right of course Harv, most important is lead generation although you have to be good at your expertise also.
Greatings from Holland,
Koos
moddest suggestion Harv,
Add Gravatar.com service to your blog
Thank you,
Koos
Thank you Mr. Harv. Appreciate this post as I am stuck at one point and I need to figure out most important key to get going.
Regards,
Uday
Hi Harv, I had the privilege of attending the MMI this last weekend in Melbourne at which you personally presented. I have been receiving your email action points for quite a while now. Now though your written words have your voice behind them so they are way more powerful.
The arrow exercise was very special as initially I told my partner I was not going to do it. She was committed, I was inspired by her and the other thousands there and achieved the challenge you set.
Thank-you, thank-you for coming to our city in Australia (Oz). My partner and I are now extreeeeemly excited about the wealth creation journey (learning & doing, learning & doing) in front of us.
Regards,
Michael Tellesson
Hi Harv,
I have read your book and i have been receiving your emails for quite sometime, which really made a difference in my blueprint.
I am starting my online business, an online store that operates in the middle east. My core interest is the revenue as you have mentioned that is why am gonna focus on generating leads will be my focus now.
Thank you for everything
This is great Harv thanks! I'm a freelance designer, and while my customer service has been good, I don't have enough of the project types I want to work on (Sci-Fi comic illustrations). Now I realize I perhaps Lead Generation and a well-targeted marketing, instead of trying to do “all types of illustration work”. Thank you for this post!
thank you very very much Harv
Thanks T. Harv – lot of suberp informations – THX, Swen-William;-)
Thank you for sharing.
You are most welcome.
Natalie,
Thank you for sharing and the kind words.
Great post, Harv. I re-read it a few times just to reinforce the info. Revenue is HUGE of course, because without it, what's the point of being in business, right? However, at the same time, as I have a membership-based business, for me, systematic lead generatition is critical indeed. Thanks for the thought-provoking words.