 1. Leadership (Vision, Organizational Planning)
To lead a successful company, the one thing you must do is understand and be able to clearly articulate what motivates you as a leader. Is it for the financial reward, or a specific cause? What intrinsically drives you? Once you have a clear grasp of this, you should write down your own motivations. This list will give you some perspective when you start focusing on what motivates your people.
2. Lead Generation (Marketing)
It’s crucial to find the right people who are interested in doing business with you. And first, you’ll need to create a detailed description of your ideal client. What is he or she like? Who are you passionate about helping or serving? What group of people is going to be able to pay for or invest in your products and services? Knowing all this will help you market to your prospects later down the road. You also need to think about your pricing strategy and adjust your service offerings from time-to-time if market trends change.
 3. Lead Conversion (Sales)
Once you generate qualified leads, how do you convert them into customers? Many people fear sales because they’re afraid to become that stereotypical pushy, annoying salesperson. But you don’t have to be. You can build rapport with your prospect and really help them with what you have to offer. Remember to ask for the business! It seems rather simple, but that is the number one thing people don’t do. And without asking for the business, you won’t get any.
4. Management (Training, Recruitment, Hiring)
Some of us naturally love interacting with and managing people, but many others really don’t like it at all. Hiring, interviewing and training new employees are generally okay, but the tough part (for most people) is reprimanding an employee. The key in this case is to be direct with the problem. Voice your concerns and give them a moment to digest it. Then, always follow up with a positive statement and leave them on a good note. Over time, this strategy will help streamline communication between you and your employees.
5. Fulfillment (Delivery of Products and Services)
Do you have your entire product or service delivery process documented from start to finish? Staying organized is important, especially if you offer services with a more complicated delivery process. For example, a website designer goes through various phases with his clients. The client needs to approve designs at certain intervals, and the designer needs content and graphics from the client at times. If you don’t keep track of your progress with some kind of project management software, you might get confused or bogged down with miscommunication.
Another viable method would be to create checklists. Go down them each time you work with a client, and you’ll never forget or miss anything important.
6. Finances (Accounts Receivable, Payroll, Budget)
 How familiar are you with your company’s profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and the statement of cash flows? Do you often review them, and what impact do they make when you’re faced with major decisions within the company? These are all crucial questions to gauge if you’re properly managing company finances. You also must look ahead when it comes to finances, such as planning the annual budget and making revenue predictions. These tasks, although often tedious, can really help you make better business decisions by giving you the proper perspective.
7. Back Office (Infrastructure and Administration)
If you’re a business owner, and you’re still dealing with the back office stuff, paperwork, and all the other things that aren’t on the forefront of your business, I recommend that you put a good part-time or full-time employee, or even virtual assistant on your team who can take care of all that for you. Be sure to leverage technology as well in keeping your back office organized and running smoothly.
That’s it for the seven key areas of your business. Please do click on the clicks in each section to read further so that you have a full understanding of it all. And then, take action. Nothing will happen unless you take action.
Thanks and have a fantastic week,
Jared Polak
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