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Where has your focus been over the last three months?

Have you been merely reacting to what’s happening, or have you committed to yourself to maximising your business results?

In March this year, one of our clients was forced into shut down because of COVID-19 restrictions. For most businesses, an unexpected, complete shutdown of operations would be a significant challenge. ‘

However, in the 3 months since re-opening this client has achieved a 200% increase on their pre-shutdown average dollar sale. Which means this client has effectively achieved six-months pre-COVID revenue in just three. Not only that, but the way they’ve achieved it has meant that their PROFITABILITY has also improved.

“Wow,” I hear you say, “How on earth did they do that?”

Very simply put their great results have come from 1 simple strategy – knowing where to put the energy and focus of the team.

Just prior to COVID hitting, this very smart business owner had identified that the success of her business was dependent upon one thing and one thing only, upskilling her team to do the job they were employed to do to the best of the knowledge and ability.

How Single-Minded Focus Achieved A 200% Increase In Average-Dollar Sales

The moment she was able to open the doors of her business again, the business owner asked me to come and work with her team.

For her team to not just do their job, but to really achieve to the best of their knowledge and ability, some critical reframing on exactly what their job was needed to occur.

Often, our employees don’t really see the full potential of their role, they only see what’s immediately in front of them. In the case of our client, her employees weren’t seeing the true purpose of their role. Their true purpose isn’t just to perform a treatment for a client, their true purpose is to solve their client’s problem.

Think of it this way. A counter-server at McDonald’s ‘purpose’ isn’t just to take your order, although that’s likely what he’d think without the proper coaching and perspective. His ‘purpose’ is to efficiently solve every customer’s unique hunger problems in a way that both completely satisfies them and ensures they want to come back again and again.

How Your Employee Sees Their Role Matters

If an employee believes their purpose is merely to ‘do their job’, then you’ll have an employee who likely does the bare minimum of what they have to do.

More than ever, businesses cannot afford employees to simply meet ‘minimum standards’. We all need employees committed to driving the business.

For context, this particular client is practically a one-stop shop in their respective industry. Therefore, provided their focus is on their clients’ problems and adding value through the solution they can provide to those problems, then improving the average dollar spend of every client is simply a matter of ensuring each team member has the right perspective.

Specifically, here’s exactly what I focused on with my client’s team to help them understand their true purpose and recognise the full impact of their work.

• As an employee of this business you’re are not “just a [profession] – you are a professional solution provider to each and every client that walks through your door to solve their specific problem
• Everybody that walks through your door has a problem that you can solve – they wouldn’t come to your business if they didn’t
• Your job is to find out what their problem/s is. The only way you can do that is to ask questions – lots of them
• Don’t offer the solution/s until you have thoroughly identified all their problems
• Don’t sell or try to sell to them, get them to buy. Remember they’ve come through the door but they don’t want to be pressured into something they don’t want – they want their specific problem/s solved.
• Don’t assume that if you wouldn’t spend money on fixing their problem, they won’t. One of our biggest challenges is imposing what we would do or not do onto others
• There’s a lot of people prepared to spend a lot of money on your products and services. They’ve just got to make the decision that you’re the right person to help them
• Sure, things are quieter than they were before. Therefore, it’s even more important you build a relationship with each and every client you have
• Don’t only focus on what they initially come into the business for. Remember you have a whole suite of products and services.
• Ask them questions to lead them to start talking about the problems they may have that involve those other products and services. Don’t sell those other products or services to them
• You are in an industry that has the potential to provide a solution for life – once they start they cannot stop. They will only stop if they don’t think you care about them
• Remember the 80/20 rule – 80% of your results should come from 20% of your effort. Identify your top 20%-ers. Focus on them first.
• Develop a plan with each and every one of them to solve their problem
• The best way to grow any business is to look after the clients you already have, find their problems and offer the solutions to their problems
• When you do this they WILL come back to you more often and they WILL spend more money with you
• It’s that simple – NOT easy – simple!!!

Our client’s team have been focussing on these lessons and applying them to their job every day. What does this mean for our client, the business owner? The result of her team’s focused effort means she’s seeing increased revenue and profitability because the average $ sale has increased by 200%.

But what about for her employees? What impact has all this reframing done for them? Well, financially, their improved results have resulted in bonuses. Culturally though, her team are clearer on who they are, and the value they add to their clients. They are now more focused and imbued with a real sense of purpose that wasn’t there before. By being of service to the unique needs and wants of each and every client who walks through their doors, they’ve found greater meaning in their work and their clients feel like they’re being treated by someone who actually cares about them.

How could you apply this thinking to your business?

What area of your business, if you were to direct all your efforts and energy towards it, would result in a significant boost to your turnover and/or your profitability?

If you’re not quite sure, or you’ve got so much going on it’s hard to know what one area would make the most significant impact in the shortest amount of time, then reach out. We’d love to work with you to achieve the business and lifestyle you deserve for you and your family