Grow Your Sales Through the Power of Systems
THIS CONCEPT of systems is so powerful that it could have an immediate and profound effect on your thinking and your sales and profits.
You’re probably familiar with the word system, as in the solar system, or circulation system. You may even have a general idea of what a system is.
But today we’re going to give you a much better understanding of what a system is and how you can begin using the power of systems in your business.
Let’s begin with my definition of a system:
‘A system is a specific sequence of steps designed to achieve a specific result.’
If we break down this definition we learn that…
- a system is made up of steps
- the steps are in a specific sequence or order
- and every system is designed to produce something
Everything you do is a system.
Based on this definition, everything – absolutely everything that you do – is a system.
If you’re not making the kind of money you want to with your business, the problem is always with the systems you are using. Sometimes just changing one or two steps in a system can turn failure into overwhelming success.
Think of the specific sequence of steps you perform to tie your shoes – that’s your shoe-tying system.
The specific steps you use to start your car make up your car-starting system. Can you imagine performing those steps out of sequence?
All the machines, devices and tools you use each day are made up of systems, each designed to produce a specific result.
By now you’re probably thinking, ‘So what does this system stuff have to do with making more money in my business?’
Everything! Here’s how . . .
Whether you are aware of it or not, you already have a system for doing everything in your business.
- You are using systems to attract possible customers to your business, and you use systems in your attempts to convert them into paying customers.
- You also have systems to create your products or perform your services.
- You have systems to hire and train your employees, and you have systems for paying your vendors.
The list of systems that you and your staff members perform to keep your business running is nearly endless.
By simply improving your systems you could be making 3 to 5 times your current results
Here’s a profound insight. Just because you are performing a system within your business, doesn’t mean that it is an effective or profitable system.
In fact, there’s a good chance that many of your systems are ineffective and unprofitable. They actually lose you money.
When we are consulting with small business owners, we review the systems our clients are currently using and determine if they are producing the results our clients desired. If they aren’t, then we help them develop new, improved systems that will.
Very often the new systems can produce 3 to 5 times the results that the old, ineffective systems produced.
You can do the same thing in your business, and make an immediate and significant impact on your sales and bottom line.
Here are a few examples:
Bill, the owner of a retail business, wanted to sell more gift certificates during the holiday season. Every year he would put up a small sign behind his cashiers that said, ‘Gift Certificates for Sale.’
That was his ‘system’ for selling Gift Certificates. I’m sure you’ve seen this same system in many businesses that you frequent.
It’s one of the primary systems small business owners use to sell Gift Certificates for their products and services. It’s also one of the most ineffective, profit-losing systems for selling gift certificates.
Just because everyone is using the same system doesn’t mean that it is a good system. Bad systems get passed on more frequently than good systems.
We told Bill to take down his sign, and showed him how to improve his system so that it would produce the results he wanted – increased gift certificate sales.
Since Bill had the type of business where his customers had to wait for their order to be prepared after placing it, we knew that they would have a few minutes to look over a special offer if presented to them in the right way.
And this is what we did . . .
A simple system for increasing sales
We had Bill’s cashiers hand every customer a small coupon with their receipt. The coupon said, ‘Gift Certificate Special – Buy Ten $1.00 Gift Certificates and Get One Free.’
We had the cashiers say to the customers as they handed them the coupon, ‘Here’s a special offer we have on our Gift Certificates today.’
Whereas most of Bill’s customers had never even seen his small sign on the wall for his Gift Certificates with his old system, now all of his customers became instantly aware that he had Gift Certificates for sale – and they also knew that he was offering them a special deal.
Now his customers had a decision to make, accept the offer or not accept it. So many people accepted the offer that he increased his Gift Certificate sales by over 400% that first season, and he has continued to use the same improved system every year since.
One system produced a trickle of results, while another system produced a flood.
To increase your sales all you have to do is look at the systems you are currently using to generate your sales and ask yourself if you are happy with the results.
If you would like to get more results from your systems, then you can’t continue using the same systems you’ve been using. If you try, you will continue to get the same results.
There is only one way to change your results – you have to change your systems.
Here’s another example.
Jim was the owner of a computer consulting business. He had a pretty good system for attracting prospects, and he did a good job of explaining his various services, but he converted far too few of his prospects into paying customers.
Jim’s problem was his conversion system. His system was to hand his prospects his business card and tell them to ‘Call me whenever you have a problem.’ Then he just waited.
That’s called a ‘passive system,’ and it’s a horrible system for generating sales. Most people are procrastinators – they put things off. Even if they need your product or service, very often they won’t call. People also lose things, like business cards and phone numbers.
Using a passive system like this almost always results in low or no sales, but it’s the system many business owners use.
The solution to Jim’s system problem was simple, just improve his conversion system.
We taught Jim that if his prospects didn’t have an immediate and pressing need for his services, that they would quickly forget about him. That’s just human nature.
If he wanted to stay uppermost in their minds so that they would remember him when they had a problem he would have to change his system to ensure that happened.
We had Jim create a simple, one-page ‘computer tips,’ newsletter that contained easy-to-follow tips that his prospects would find helpful. We suggested that Jim send a new tips newsletter to his prospects every few months.
This new system would ensure that his prospects would never forget Jim and his computer service.
And then we went one step further . . .
We went one step further and had Jim list two or three of his services on the back of the newsletter along with special discount offers on the services and a deadline for responding. The special offers and deadlines for responding gave his prospects a reason to consider and decide if they wanted to take Jim up on his offers.
Jim was thrilled with this new system because it began producing results immediately. After sending out his first newsletter, he received three calls from prospects who became paying clients.
It’s actually very easy to improve your sales results when you understand the concept of improving your systems.
Instead of hoping or wishing for more sales, you can actually get more sales by simply using a more effective system that has been proven to work.
Until next time… Onwards and Upwards!
John
If you want to improve your business by using efficient systems that work, give John a call 0414 955 743 – advice is totally free of charge.