Making investment decisions

Since businesses come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, it makes sense that successful growth strategies will be different too. It’s not a “one size fits all” proposition. And, no matter what your business, resources – people, time, and money – are limited. How do you decide where to invest your resources for the best return?

In his article, The Five Levers of Running a Business, Joe Rotella, Chief Values Officer at Delphia Consulting, LLC, suggests using the levers, or tools, that drive the bottom-line for nearly every business and keeping an eye on their target metric:

• Number of leads
• Conversion Rate
• Transactions/Client
• Revenue/Transaction
• Margin

When the time comes to decide where to put your resources, being aware of how that investment will impact any or all of these tools helps you make an informed decision. A small boost in each lever can make a significant difference in revenue. You may decide to invest in something that doesn’t move a lever, but your move won’t be a mistake—it will be a choice. Being aware of the likely results means you’ve made it thoughtfully for other valid reasons.

Knowing what matters

Joe also mentions the importance of knowing what makes your business tick. What is its vision, mission? What are its values? What is your brand? Making sure your strategies align with these is essential when choosing where to put your limited resources.

Once you’ve made your decisions, setting objectives and creating measurable goals that will help you achieve them are the next steps. They focus you and your team on what matters.

Challenges to keeping and maintaining a customer base

Businesses have always faced challenges to thrive, and that’s true today. But COVID-19 is presenting new ones. It’s changing how customers shop and interact with retailers. A robust online presence is more important than ever. Fewer people are shopping in physical stores, but they are all online. Can prospective customers easily find you on social media?

Locating products is only one online activity. Customers check to see what you are doing to keep them safe: Do you offer contactless payment? Curbside pick-up? Do you require everyone to wear a mask?

As always, maintaining a relationship with existing customers is key. Making them feel special, providing quality products, services, and customer service are all part of a successful business strategy.

Read the article and follow the link provided to watch a replay of Joe’s webinar, “Pulling the First Lever – Lead Generation and Getting in the Door.”