How to Avoid Losing Sales with Simple Systems.

You ever watch a guy (or gal) on the internet and they tell you about "an easy to use" system that will "explode your business" And then when you start looking into it, it's not so easy and you have no idea how it will work for your business... Yeah me too.

What I've found in my more then a decade of experience that simple systems beat "easy systems" everyday of the week.

In this short blog post I want to give you the quick and dirty version of tools I use to make sure all the information gets put together, stays together and gets used the right ways. Oh and MOST IMPORTANTLY how it can be shared properly with all the members of your team(s)

So let's stop losing sales, start winning more sales and dig in!

Tools to use:

• Google Workspace

• Google Drive

• Google Sheets

• Google Docs

• A CRM of your choosing (DM me and i'll tell you my favorite picks for your business)

• A project management tool

Google Workspace (formerly Google For Business) gets you majority of this list but the reason I listed it separately is because it also gives you access to Google Chat. Google Chat replaces 3rd party internal Chat programs. Use this for individual chats and they have a room feature for team and project collaboration so nothing gets missed and communication never stops!

Google Drive is where all your folders and files will live, you can keep your own folders and files separately. You can share them with JUST the people that need access. My favorite hack though.... Create folders for departments that only those, in those departments have access to. It keeps everything separate, organized BUT collaborative at the same time!

Google Sheets because they can be used by multiple people across your organization all at once, the reason this is very important is because I encourage folks to use Google Sheets to organize all customer data, sales data, operation data etc.

Google Docs because like Sheets and the rest of the Google Suite it can be if you wish as a collaborative tool and you can use this to create internal docs, external docs, save them as PDF's for manuals, marketing material... The list is endless!

A CRM of your choosing - Once you have all your customer information in a Google Sheet you can save/download that as a CSV file. That CSV file can be used to upload to your CRM. (whether it's your first time or an update) CRM is a personal and business choice. Some of my favorites though are Pipedrive, Nutshell CRM, Hubspot CRM. They have different features and price points depending on your needs. (DM me and we can talk about what's right for your business)

A Project Management tool of your choosing - The reason I added this to the list is because you will lose out on customer lifetime value (CLV) if you cannot deliver. To make sure you deliver on what was sold I recommend an operational system to make sure things are tracked internally. There are lots of different ones. BUT a very simple one that integrates with the tools I've mentioned above is Asana.

In conclusion you can now see how with 4-5 of the RIGHT tools you can maximize your teams productivity and make more sales every month without missing a beat or having anything fall through the cracks. If you have questions DM me and let me know, I'd love to talk to you!

Be great!

8 Things My Sons Lemonade Stand Can Teach Us About Building A Business

8 Things My Sons Lemonade Stand Can Teach Us About Building A Business

Have you ever seen the look on someone's face when they accomplish something big, the way they light up, their excitement and enthusiasm? Maybe it was a child learning to ride a bike on their own for the first time, maybe it was you learning to do pottery, riding a motorcycle. Whatever it is think about that feeling, how you felt, what your face probably looked like. Your energy level.

While late last week I was privileged to share that moment with my young son!

I want to share 8 things I learned from him that I think would serve every trade and service-based business well to grow the business and increase sales.

Late last week my son set up a lemonade stand and made $10 and he has 8 things to teach us…

Being willing to pivot

It started with a mini garage sale at the end of the driveway and when that was not going well my son decided to pivot into a lemonade stand.

QUESTION: If what you're doing is not working, are you willing to pivot with your market?

Going all in

He sat out in the rain (rain or shine) he was out there selling his lemonade. He was committed.

QUESTION: No matter how hard it gets or how crappy the weather or what they nay-sayers say, are you ALL IN?

Dressing the part

My son had a lemonade stand so he wore a yellow shirt and yellow pants because, in his words "I'm selling lemonade, I'm a lemon!"

QUESTION: Do you dress the part, do you need to dress on brand? Wear a shirt with your logo and look more professional than your competitors? Or do you need a collar (even if it's on a golf shirt.)

Thinking differently about revenue models

Most kids are told by their parents or maybe they decide by themselves to charge 25 cents, 50 cents or maybe even a dollar BUT knowing that adults (for the most part) find kids adorable when they do lemonade stands and so I recommended he simply put a "tip jar" on the table thinking that he would probably make more money that way. And he did. He told me later that a lady gave him $2 and she did not even want a glass of lemonade!

QUESTION: Have you looked at your market, your product, your competitors and thought about different revenue models for your business?

Capitalizing on free foot traffic (no shame!)

The reason that my son's lemonade stand had legs, was because our neighbor was having a garage sale and so my young son reasoned that if people were going to go to the garage sale they probably would want some lemonade, no advertising needed.

QUESTION: Are there things you can do, locations you can go to or businesses you can partner with that can bring you new business opportunities? New customers, that cost you nothing?

Attitude and enthusiasm

Well, people were leaving this garage sale my son would call across the road "Lemonade, get your lemonade" to get attention, and even in the rain he had a positive mental attitude and enthusiasm for his product and his business never wavered. He believed in what he was doing and would not quit.

QUESTION: When the going gets tough when things get hard and you have to work hard, work alone, work in bad weather, deal with hard situations in your business how are your attitude and your enthusiasm towards and for your business and your customers?

Hiring experts

My young son knows very little about making lemonade other than the fact that you need lemons. So, he enlisted the help of his Mom to make the lemonade, get the right cups.

QUESTION: Like my son do you recognize when you are not an expert? Do you recognize when you could use some help? Think about enlisting the help of an expert. You don't even need to hire employees you can enlist the help of consultants and independent contractors in whatever it is, you need help in.

High level of customer service

He consistently made sure that his customers were happy by asking; “it’s good, huh”

QUESTION: Do you make sure that your customers are happy or are you afraid to ask because of what may come up? Be willing to ask and it will bring up an amazing opportunity?

Closing:

In closing below is a list of a bullet list of the 8 questions that can help you increase your sales and grow your business and finally, the points below may seem simple or that they can't work. BUT they will work if you focus on them every day. If you have questions or comments we'd love to hear from you!

Questions to grow your business and your sales:

• Are you willing to pivot?

• Are you all in?

• Are you dressing the part?

• Are you able to rethink revenue models?

• Are you able to leverage free traffic to increase sales?

• Are you approaching every day with a positive mental attitude and enthusiasm?

• Are you able and willing to hire experts?

• Are you asking customers if they are happy?

Booth & Vanguard exists with the mission to help Trades and Service-Based businesses leverage their existing operations to increase sales. With simple and actionable systems in place, what could you do or get done with more money and more time? (close your eyes and let your imagination go!)