If you’re a small professional services firm and you’ve spoken with a business coach, you’ve no doubt considered, or are perhaps on the way to building a business that works without you. Something with systems and staff so it’s not reliant on you being present all the time.
The Dilemma
It’s a fine vision to have, but it can seem hard to achieve until you have a consistent and sufficient flow of revenue in the first place to pay for it. It becomes a circular argument.
We’re too busy working in the business rather than on it, as they say. We swing from being really busy delivering our services, to nothing, and back. Your promotional effort and revenue, swings equally. We just don’t put enough consistent effort into marketing, to create a steady flow of leads and build on-going trust. Does this ring true?
Marketing Strategy Solution
It’s clear from this diagnosis that implementing a solid marketing strategy is key. That means lining up all the four Ps in the marketing mix: product, place, price, as well as promotion. It starts with understanding your target market, their need and how you fill it. Many of us will benefit from tightening our focus on a sub-category or market niche – which we can then talk to more directly. Only then will our promotion/ communication efforts start to register.
Professional services (ie consultants, accountants, lawyers, coaches) also need to build build more trust, because prospects doesn’t really know what they’re going to get until after they receive the service. Hence marketing effort needs to be about building trust over a period, and encouraging repeat business.
Using Videos
Videos can help automate many parts of your business. Think training videos instead of presenting to staff. Promotional videos as part of a sales funnel, on-boarding videos to educate new clients, explainer videos for existing clients, or simply a home page video like this one we made for Pearsons Family Law:
However, videos are a tactic, not a strategy. Too often small businesses want to jump into promotional activity like making videos, or SEO or Adwords, and haven’t truly lined up their strategy ducks.
If this is you, here’s two business coaches I trust, who can help work out a path to a business which works without you:
- Greg Roworth, specializing in professional services: Watch Greg’s 30 minute free video training (Click the ‘Click Here’ button) or
- Rob Chiarolli, Grapes to Grange, or see Rob present his One-Page Business Plan on 25 February 2020.
Hope that’s helpful. With a good strategy, your videos will be working at their best.
Keith
