Well, here we are nearing the middle of June and the half way point in this calendar year. Seems like just yesterday we were asking if you had developed your goals for this year. So, this being the half way point of 2014, how are you doing? Do you need to dust off the business plan to review what is supposed to be your focus for the year or are you forging ahead? Let's review a bit.
Are your sales on target? Maybe more importantly, are your sales on target in the types of accounts on which you need to focus? Did you establish a policy to only take those accounts that fit the profile you want to advance your business such as a certain time of day or night, or a certain segment of business such as manufacturing or medical or educational or a time that fits your supervison and doesn't stretch that supervision to impossible bounds?
Did you establish a systematic formula for securing new accounts like regular targeted mailings or social media outlets? If so, how is your progress or lack of progress?
While we are on sales, have you developed an ongoing, systematic way of making sure you stay in contact with your current customers? Remember, the investment to keep a current profitable customer is much less than the dollars needed to secure new customers. Not only is it important to maintain a positive relationship with existing customers, these are also your best prospects for adding profitable tag or special work or introducing a new service you have decided to add to your portfolio.
I remember speaking with a BSC a couple of years ago who told me he had added over a million dollars in new business that calendar year. I then asked the inevitable question of how much business had he lost during that same time. His answer was just a bit over a million dollars so his net effect was a loss. I then asked him what he was going to do and his response was that he was going to add another salesperson. I couldn't resist the temptation to ask him if that meant he was poised to lose two million dollars next year. He gave me that puzzled look and asked what I meant. Well, if you sold a million this year and lost a million plus and you plan to add a sales person so you can add two million next year, it stands to reason if you don't change something in your operation, you will also lose two million in business next year. He had never thought of it in that way.
You see, when you develop a sales goal for a period such as a year etc. it is also important that you make sure your operation and administration departments are running smoothly and efficently. It is critical to evaluate where you are and determine what changes need to be made to handle an influx of new business. Most of the work I do with my clients is to help them create sales growth and do it in a somewhat rapid pace but we ALWAYS focus as well on what has to happen, and when, in the operation of the company to handle the new growth and to make sure we are not short changing or neglecting the existing customers that are paying the bills to this point and allowing us to spend the time and dollars on securing new business.
As we take the time to focus on existing business, the half way point of the year is also a great time to do a retuning of your current accounts. Are they in budget? Is the budget you established the one that still should be the current budget? Did things change that would cause us to change the budgeted time up or down? Are the closets neat and clean and are there supplies that can be brought back to the warehouse or does the budget for supplies need to be increased? What about equipment? Is it time to replace that 1947 floor machine or that 1985 vacuum cleaner? Are the specifications for all of the accounts up to date and posted properly? How about emergency phone numbers or is the emergency contact number in the closet that of a supervisor that quit 3 months ago? We have a FREE retuning form that may be of help. You can do to www.consultantsincleaning.com and click on the Worksheets icon and download the Account Re-Engineering Worksheet under the Operations/Human Resources heading. May save you some time. It's free and we don't bug you to buy something.
And last but not least, are you doing the refresher technical training for all of your technicians. People do get in bad habits. Even our best employees get off track and sometimes don't even realize it so a refresher class of how your company expects cleaning procedures to be done is in order for everyone at least twice a year.
Well, there you have it. It's half time in 2014. How ya doin? Time to check up on yourself and your company?
This week's pod cast at www.tripodcast.com talks about a tax credit from the government that just may save you tons of dollars in taxes this year. Be sure to go there and listen and see if it can help you.
Till next time.
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