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Sales Masters Guild Mentor, Olivier Carion, asks “Are you ready for the next big push?”.

This is the season every business owner must prepare for. From mid-September to the end of November is the season that is key to growing your business. How well you perform during that time will have a significant impact on the performance of your business next year. Are you ready?

Each year after the summer holidays, most everyone goes back to work at the beginning of September if not sooner. This is the time to catch up after being away. Come mid-September and the business is back in full swing. The crazy period starts then and, until the end of November, the opportunity to sell more of your products or services is right in front of you. How well are you prepared for it? Now is the time to plan and get ready.

As a personal business mentor, both in my work with business owners from different sectors and in my entrepreneurial skills training workshops, I talk to a large number of men and women whose business goes through peaks and troughs throughout the year. This can be very stressful.

When a wave of work comes their way, they rejoice. Not only that, they can breathe a bit better at the thought of having plenty of work for a few weeks. However, after the wave comes a low period. This period is more stressful, very much an anxious time.

Imagine what it would be like if there was a way out of the typical peaks and troughs scenario in your business. Would you like to know what it is? The good news is that this way out is also the way to prepare for the big push of the selling season just ahead. However, to make it happen, we must first position ourselves differently. Let me explain.

I don’t know about you, but I personally enjoy going to beaches that offer a good strong surf because I love to dive into the big waves rushing one after the other to shore. Very much a peaks and troughs scenario here too. In some places, however, there is real danger in the water. This is why helicopters fly above to provide safety for the swimmers. From the water level, it is not possible to see the danger. It takes a view from above the waves to spot the sharks.

The same is true in business. In the peaks and troughs scenario, when a wave of work comes in, it is very difficult to see what lies ahead. In the helicopter, however, you get a much broader view of your business. Let’s do just that and ask three simple questions.

Question 1 – Where precisely are you taking your business to?

This question is essential. Without a clear answer, it will be nigh impossible to develop a clear strategy to get where you want to go with your business. The more detailed and precise an answer you can give, the easier it will be to devise a strategy to get there.

It means having a clear idea of how much personal income you want your business to provide, what precise work/life balance you want to achieve and by when.

Once these aspects are crystal clear, each step you take from now on is coloured by them. Naturally, more could be said about this and the following points, which I cover in much detail in my one-day entrepreneur training workshops.

Question 2 – How clear and truly compelling is the value you offer?

This question is another big one. If we find it difficult to articulate the real and personal value of our product or service to our potential buyers, there is no way they will “get” it, in every sense of the term.

The reality is that the real value you offer is not in your product or service itself or its functionality. No, the real value is in what difference it brings to the buyer and what it means to him/her personally, at the emotional level: how different does he/she feel after using your product or service? This is what counts the most for buyers.

Remember the all-important question that will be in the mind of anyone looking at you and your offering: “What’s in it for me?” Answer this question in a compelling way and you will have a good chance of increasing your sales exponentially.

Questions 3 – How strong and robust is your marketing strategy?

Marketing is often an area of much frustration to many business owners. Sounds familiar? The truth is that if the value you offer is not crystal clear — a “no-brainer” proposition – then your brand won’t be strong. In turn, if your brand isn’t as strong as it should be, your marketing strategy can’t be robust. It’s as simple as that.

If this is your case, what specific steps are you going to take now to make sure you are ready for the big push around the corner?

These three questions above can only be answered with a helicopter view of your business. Providing clear answers will help you get ready for the months ahead, the big selling season. As you can see, all three questions deserve your taking a deep dive into them.

This is something I enjoy doing in my workshops, working with men and women who are eager to turn their business around and take it to a whole new level.

Olivier’s Sales & Negotiation training courses run regularly and are open to entrepreneurs and business owners looking to grow.

If you’d like to find out more about the groups before booking, please contact Olivier directly though his Mentor profile page.

25 way to get more customers

Olivier Carion

Olivier Carion is a Sales Masters Guild Personal Business Mentor

 

With a real passion for the psychology of communication and the architecture that underpins accelerated growth, you’ll quickly realise why Olivier is the man who will help accelerate your business to a whole new level.

 

Find out more about Olivier on his Sales Masters Guild profile page.

 

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