Until you become large enough to hire a business development professional, one of the biggest challenges that service providers face is keeping a consistent flow of new business. The reason is obvious. When you are busy doing work for clients, you do not spend much time looking for new business. And when you don’t have any business or you know it is ending soon, you are out desperately looking for new business. You start all kinds of new marketing activities only to stop th

When business owners want to meet, they typically want to talk about tactics: Can Instagram work for a service business? Would Google Adwords work for us? How could we use LinkedIn successfully? When you start talking about tactics, it is easy to get caught up in the next shiny object: “Facebook is working well for John, we should try it.” or “Direct mail is making a comeback, let’s run a test campaign.” Without a clear strategy, a tactic can sound appealing for all the wrong

Are you aware of your habits? While I have been growing more aware of my habits for some time, after reading Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit, I have become acutely aware of them. For example, my mother always insisted that we finish the food on our plate as children. And that generally seems like a good habit since kids are prone to want to get up and do something else before their stomachs are full. However, it has become detrimental as I try to lose weight. Even

When most people look at generating more leads, they start from the wrong end of the equation. They tend to start with: “What can I do to get more leads?” This leads to you thinking about activity. So, maybe you go out and start doing more networking or meeting with referral partners. This activity feels good because you are doing something. And it may lead to a referral or two. However, it does not lead to a consistent flow of new leads. Why? Because you are not asking the r

In talking with a business owner on Monday, he shared that he had just lost a long-time client. While this did not break his business by any means, he felt pressure to replace that ongoing revenue. Plus, it undermined his plans for growth this year. When you are in that situation, it can impact your confidence. When you don’t know where your next client will come from, it is scary to lose an existing client. It feels like you really need to scramble. And frequently, you feel