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The simple equation for 2021 vision
Setting an intention for a new year is easy. The tricky part, as we all know, is making it happen.
My intention for this year is to grow. An easy thing to say, and something I’ve thrown out to anyone in earshot (mainly the labrador) at the start of each year for as long as I’ve been in business, as though in saying it. Despite the grand January proclamation, I race to the December finish line with, roughly, the same bank balance and client figures. It wasn’t until a recent business mentoring session that I learnt the building blocks for change is a very easy formula ALCPF:
A: Audience
L: Leads
C: Customers
P: Price
F: Frequency
Improving your business across all of these measures increases your income, profitability, efficiency, reach, and pushes you beyond ‘survive’ or ‘thrive’ into ‘anti-fragile’, where you are truly ready to take advantage of anything that comes your way – opportunity or body blow (read more about being anti – fragile here)
The beauty of this breakdown is that each of these areas are measurable. We all know that you can’t manage what you can’t measure (thanks Peter Drucker) and the start of the year is the perfect time to start measuring so you’re seeing improvements, or red flags.
The best way to start to track is to make a google sheets doc or spreadsheet. Let’s break these down to explain what will go into each are:
A: Audience
Note here all of the people your business reaches, that you know of – your social audience, your LinkedIn network, your email list – anyone who has a direct touch with you, whom you can access today or not.
L: Leads
Leads are anyone you can directly access. This includes your current active customers as well as your email list. These figures should represent people who’ve actively engaged with you – to download a lead magnet,who’ve emailed with a query but perhaps not come on as customers.
C: Customers
These are your paying clientelle – they’ve purchased your products, your services, they are recurring revenue subscribers. These are your inner circle.
P: Price
List your price for all of your services (or the main family of products and services if you have an inventory that will take til 2022 to list out). Consider if these can bear a price increase – if not, can they be delivered more efficiently so your profit improves?
F: Frequency
How often are you communicating with your customers and leads? Can current customers be persuaded to buy again/go onto a subscription model/buy a new product that is working well for others in their industry?
Are leads being serviced regularly? Are you sending out follow up emails? Do you have an abandon cart sequence? Are you talking to leads that didn’t close – perhaps they’re just waiting for clarification or a little more persuasion. If they’ve not said no, they may be waiting to say yes.
Use ALCPF to frame your decisions. Keep them front of mind when you’re thinking new products, new services, new conversations. Improve any of these and you’re on your way to improving your business.