5 Ways to Improve Your Businesslifecoach2women.com /successstore/blog/5-ways-to- improve-your-business/

If you’ve hit a slump in sales or you’re just looking for ways to improve your business, you will find the following 5 tips asa perfect solution to jump start your sales and get things moving in the right direction.

# 1 Review your goals and set new ones. One thing that has always helped me stay on track in my business is writing andreviewing my goals often. Studies show that most small business owners don’t keeptrack of their goals and consequently many have yet to achieve their company’s vision.You have to make time to think about your business, where you’re headed and whatyou really want to accomplish. Reviewing your goals will keep you on track to achievewhat you want. I use my Success Attraction Journal to plan my company goals andmarketing calendar for the year. The thought-provoking questions prompted me to takean introspective look at what’s working and what’s not and what I needed to do to reachmy goals. I used that information to craft the best agenda and plan for my business.Now my team and I are focused on achieving what matters most right now for thebusiness.

This week, take a no-excuse approach to writing and reviewing your goals. One way toget it done is to do it before you end your day and/or early in the morning beforestarting your day. You’ll amaze yourself with how much more you get done just fromwriting and reviewing your goals often.

# 2 Use systems to st reamline tasks and projects.It’s real important that you adapt a set of systems for running your life and yourbusiness. Move away from a trial and error way of running your business. With systems you have a proven processthat you can use over and over again to get great results in your life and business. They help you create order, keepyou growing, and yielding consistent results.

Start documenting your processes and evaluate what steps were taken that yielded the best results. This is how youcreate your own system to use in your own business. When you’re running a business, you have to rely on systems tokeep things in order. I have systems for my business and personal life. From the way I pack a suitcase for travel to howwe book an engagement…they’re all documented steps that can be used over and over again to get great results.

You can even use systems to attract success. One system that I rely on to stayfocused in my business is a simple action of placing my goals on goal cards thatallow me to focus on one goal at a time and track my success over time. GoalCards that are about 5×7 inches that have a space for a photo and a place to writeyour goal and a achievement date. They are small enough that you can tape themto your computer, your bathroom mirror, and refrigerator or anywhere you canfrequently see it. They remind you of your goals and by seeing it often andmeditating on it, you attract it into your life at a much faster rate.

I gave out my signature goal card at The Women’s Success Conference,challenging the attendees to set a 90-day goal. Since then, I’ve gotten tons of reports from business owners who havequickly gotten success. One client, Susan is finishing up her e-book…another, Annie, has gotten 3 new clients per weeksince the conference and made her first online sale on her new packaged services. Another client used her goal cardto get a new car so she can do her business better!

The goal card system is one I’ve used for over 15 years and has proven to work in my life and several thousand otherpeople’s lives as well.

Think about your business this week, what action steps do you take to increase sales, market online, or service yourclients. Keep a journal of the process and develop winning systems that you can use in your business over and overagain.

# 3 Master your market ing.Marketing is necessary when you want to get more clients and make more money. The key to successful marketing issharing your offer in an authentic voice without being salesy. You’re clients aren’t just buying your product or service…they are buying your story. Present your offer in a way that displays your credibility, so that they know that you know whatyou are talking about and also show your vulnerability so that they know where you are coming from. People want torelate to you and your struggle. While it doesn’t mean you have to have a “skid row” story, your story should relate toyour offer and show how you used your product or service to overcome successfully.

# 4 Enhance your online presence.Maybe you find Facebook and Twitter as exciting ways to connect with friends and family, but they are so much morethan that. Social media forums are a direct line to your target audience and they want to engage with you. Readers notonly want to know about you, they want to talk to you and they want to get a response.

They want to get to know you, like you and trust you as a respected source and expert. So make sure you give a goodimpression with a very good online presence. Here are a few things you can do:

1. Get a professional photo taken. Get rid of blurry photos with people cut out of them. Get a professional head shottaken that you can use anywhere online. If you want to add pizzazz, you can also schedule a photo shoot and takepictures that reflect your industry. If you’re a baker, take photos in a professional kitchen with your tools around, orholding nice baked goodies. These kinds of lifestyle photos help give your audience a visual of who you are and what

you do. In my photos I always wear accessories from StyleShoppe.com

2. Use your name as a brand. Create Twitter and Facebook accounts that include your first and last name. I think it’sgood to have your business brand synonymous with your name as well. On Twitter you can find me both at@LifeCoach2Women and at @StaciaPierce.

3. Share your contact information. If you already have your own website or domain area, create an email account thatreflects your business name and post it on your social media accounts and website. (for example,Stacia@lifecoach2women (dot) com) is my email that anyone can reach me. It’s just good business practice to havea way for people to reach you. You can also use google to create a business line on your current phone, that wayyou’re not giving your private number out. You open yourself up to many more opportunity and sales when you can bereached easily from your website or profiles.

4. Check your emails and accounts often and respond to people. Remember, they want to engage with you. The morerapport you build, the larger you’ll grow your list with people who have truly chosen to connect with you because theyreally want to…these are the kind of connections that convert into customers.

# 5 Reinvent new products into new and improved products that can yield more prof its. With a little creativity and innovation, you can take one product and create several more from it that stretches the value. I call this process re-purpose and recycling.

Sometimes the problem is: we already have a product, program or services that we offer, but we’re not selling it. Thereis just not enough demand for our offer.

That happened to one of my clients who created an e-book. My client had an e-book that was selling really slow, untilshe surveyed her market and discovered they were really looking for some training materials to go along with the e-book.

So, by adding a simple audio CD to her current product, it caused her sales to take off and she sold twice as manyproducts than she had previously.

Now let’s think about your services and products…Can you find an entirely new way to use an existing idea in a differentcontext? New context yields new streams. For instance if you have written a book, you could use the same informationto create:

A live workshop

A video series to each chapters of the book

A podcast series

Are you starting to see the many ways that you can create products to generate more money? After taking the ProductIdea Creation Course, one of my coaching clients, Dr. Omada, created awesome new products to offer her patients. Sheeven landed a contract with a national chain of drugstores to carry her product line.

Take out a sheet of paper or a journal and write down your most dominate idea or product that exists. Now think of otherways you can use that same material…make a list right now. Now you have a starting point for growing your income!