Gardening For Strategies

 Do you do any planning or thinking when you are in your garden?

After a crazy summer schedule, I found ragweed / golden rod weeds taking over my garden.  Well that is not good since I am allergic to ragweed! Not good at all!

I blocked time to get rid of the ragweed.  

step 1 - decision to pull out the ragweed and not just chop it off (Do the project correctly the first time and do not have to worry about having to redo it.)

step 2 - try pulling it out to no avail.....the roots are too strong 

step 3 - review the strategy - new strategy - water the ground and see if it makes it easier to pull the weed

step 4 - try again......some of the weeds came out with this new strategy

step 5 - review the strategy - new strategy - try digging down to break the roots before pulling them out

step 6 - wow - it worked - the rest of the weed came out

When working on a business project, try a strategy but evaluate the strategy before repeating it.

Did it work? Was it effective and efficient use of time, energy and tools?

Consider other strategies to reach your project goal.  Learn from my gardening experience that some of the best results come from changing strategies during a project.

Cheryl Rankin, Fit For Business

fitforbusiness@rogers.com / 647-287-0320

2020 is here.  Is your business ready to go? Are you ready to go?

A business plan will help you confirm your focus and what resources you need in order to succeed.  An existing business plan should be reviewed and updated in order to be as useful as possible.  

Your focus - identify your goals and what products or services you are selling in order to meet these goals.  Your goals will start as an annual goal but it is best to break them down into  monthly and even weekly goals so that you can create your tasks / actions you need to perform in order to meet your goals.

Your resources - in order to meet your business goals, what do you need for resources?  Whether it is raw ingredients for manufacturing products or new software to manage your schedule or staff in order to meet the production and delivery needs of the business - you need to identify the resources and confirm when and how to get them.

You - identify the skills you need in order to meet the goals you have identified.  If you need some more skills then do some research on how to get those skills.  Identify how you will actually do the work that is needed. Confirm whether or not you have enough time to do all of the tasks necessary or if you need to hire someone to help.

Most people are not actually ready to run their business at the level of their goals.  Taking time to prepare will help insure that you can actually grow to that level, attain the success you dream of and most of all make sure that you do not burn out.

Cheryl Rankin

Business Consultant, Fit For Business

info@fitforbusiness.ca

647-287-0320

Fit For Business - 100 Day Challenge

Fit For Business - 100 Day Challenge

Managing a Sales Team

Managing a Sales Team

It is great when you have more than one person selling for your business.  You can grow exponentially.  Once you have a team you need to manage them.

- set goals together - when the goals are set without their input then some salespeople will get frustrated and say that you set the goals too high
- give them what they need - do they need marketing materials in order to present your business professionally?
- train them - make sure they know the product / service - inside out and backwards (if it is a product that they can test  - personal training - then have them test it)
- review the marketing plan with them so they know what messages are being delivered to the prospects
- review the production / delivery of your product / service so that the sales team can make realistic promises ( it is bad when they promise delivery in 2 weeks and you always need 4 weeks)
- monitor / manage them - everyone should give daily / weekly / monthly reports to someone
- reports - some reports could be visible on the wall if everyone works from the same office
- rewards - talk to them to determine what rewards they want and what rewards will make them work to their best potential
- appreciate them - be sure to stop and talk to them and thank them (every day if possible)

To set up systems to manage your sales team, call Cheryl Rankin at Fit For Business 647-287-0320, info@fitforbusiness.ca.

Sales Training DVD - purchase this excellent tool as part of your training program for your sales team. "Shape Up Your Sales"

Fit For Business newsletter - send us an email and get our business tips sent directly to you.

Cheryl Rankin
Fit For Business
647-287-0320
info@fitforbusiness.ca
www.fitforbusiness.ca