+353 86 822 8781

Blog

Bringing it All Together

One of the real privileges I enjoy as a business coach is the chance to work with energetic, dynamic people who are building their businesses and their lives to their own vision. It’s exciting to me to meet and work with people just like you, and this blog is my way of sharing some of that energy with the greater business community in the West of Ireland. Because, let’s face it, the stakes are high when you have your own business. It’s all about your drive and your skillset, and that can be as daunting as it is exciting. This series of blog posts on ACCELERATING your business through LEADERSHIP has been designed to add to your toolbox, to help make you a more effective leader — for yourself, and for your team.

To review, we’ve touched on

  • setting SMART goals
  • focus, prioritising and time management
  • the necessity of innovation
  • becoming a role model
  • problem solving

These are all hugely important responsibilities and skills of leadership to keep in mind that will help you grow your business, but at the end of the day, in business your successes are measured by your results: by how effective you are at achieving customer conversion, satisfaction and retention. Without customers, you have no profits, and if you’re not making money, you don’t have a business. What you have is a time-consuming hobby.

If the measure of success of a business is satisfied customers, then the measure of an effective leader within a business is someone who does just that within a business context. So, you ask, how can you be sure that you’re working effectively towards achieving results for your business?

1. Determine what is expected.

 When you start a project, take on a client, or begin anything new, the first thing you must do is ask what is expected — of you, from the project, what does the client want? Begin with the end in mind, with those results as your ultimate goal. And of those results, what is the priority for you?

2. Make a plan.

We’ve gone over this in this series — review the post on setting SMART goals if you need a refresher.

3. Do the work.

Determine where the priorities are for you to achieve maximum results, manage yourself and your time and really focus on what needs to be done. Your single-minded concentration is the most important tool at this stage

Funnily enough, all of those steps are highlighted in this series — but if you use the tools you’ve been given, you’ll know you’re on track. Yes, there will always be challenges to face, road blocks and diversions to overcome, but now, with this series of blog posts, you have your road map. Coaching is available for all or any of it, to expand on these thoughts or go into more depth, and I’d love to hear about the successes and challenges you’ve had implementing this training. You can reach me, as always, on my contact form.

ACCELERATE your business through LEADERSHIP — go on, I believe in you!

THE TOP 5 MISTAKES THAT SALESPEOPLE MAKE

I work with many sales professionals, and, as someone who loved being in sales, it pains me to hear people saying they are disheartened with it and are finding it frustrating. They’re getting disheartened because they’re making some or all of the mistakes below and...

LET’S SELL! Goals and customer transformation

As a business coach and mentor I am privileged to spend a lot of time with brilliant entrepreneurial men and women. I am invited into their business lives for advice on a variety of business related challenges. Among my clients are gifted professionals – innovators...

Are You Prospecting?

Now that the first few weeks of 2014 are over and we are all recovered from holiday excesses, we are motivated and ready to up the ante for a successful year ahead. Let us begin with prospecting and what it means. You have developed a product or a service that you...

Trust and Rapport

The foundation stone of every relationship is trust.  Sometimes it is worthwhile to reflect on the word ‘trust’ and what it means in the target driven business world of today.  In defining trust, it can help to look at the converse — what it is not.  If you trust...

Identifying Needs

A crucial part of success in business is identifying needs accurately – after all, you can’t help someone solve their problems if you don’t know what they are! Prospecting well and building trust and rapport will only get you so far. It’s a foot in the door, a seat at...

Presenting Persuasively

In sales, a great presentation is absolutely vital — the presentation is where the actual sale is made! Once you’ve identified a potential customer and figured out how what you’ve got is what they need, the presentation is where you lay it out on the table and show...

Answering Objections

t seems counter-intuitive, but there’s no reason to worry if your potential customer objects to part of your sales pitch. There’re no sales without objections! Objections means your customer’s listening and that they’re interested. Good sales people know that there...

Closing the Sale

The final hurdle! Closing a sale should be a piece of cake if you’ve followed the steps beforehand: identifying the right customer, presenting your product or service persuasively, answering any objections, and knowing when to ask for the order at the right time. A...

Getting Re-Sales and Referrals

The only thing better than making the sale is having the sale make itself. I’m talking about getting re-sales and referrals! With the right system, a great sales business can be run so well that you have a steady stream of loyal customers returning to buy again and...

Be the Solution

“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. “Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and...