In the current economic climate, a small group of business owners are achieving amazing results and living the dreams they had when they first started their businesses. And they're doing it in spite of, or seemingly because of the opportunities created by the so-called "recession"! These business owners are among the elite visionary leaders who can see the big picture and are poised to take advantage. But what in the world could make some business owners see this as a time of opportunity, when most are hanging their heads in despair or just trying to "ride the storm out" by cutting  back on what they perceive as non-essential spending?

The business owners who buy into the "recession depression" will either fail and close up shop over the next 12-18 months, or come out the other end so damaged and crippled that they will never be able to fully recover. That's the bad news for them. The good news for the rest of the pack is this: That small group of visionary leaders in the business community will come out the other end of the current economy in 12-18 months from now in a position of such strength that they will virtually have eliminated their competition. They will no longer be in the same league. The visionaries will have increased their competitive advantage and their business knowledge so as to be head and shoulders above those weak nay-sayers that used to be considered competitors.

How will they do it? They will recognize this time, right now, as the greatest opportunity in the last 10 years to thin the herd, and to elevate themselves above the pack. They will do this by investing in education and training, by reinventing their marketing programs, by learning who their customers are and are not, and by developing, measuring, testing, and continually improving a bullet-proof sales system. They will thin the herd by taking advantage of present opportunities to engage experts who will help them fine tune (or redesign) their business and the way it functions.

You have a choice to make right now. Will you be one of the majority of business owners affected by "recession depression", or will you be among the smaller group of visionaries who lead the way into the new economic boom that will begin shortly? There's not much time to position and prepare. The new boom will be unlike anything any of us have seen before, but those who cut back on the two critical elements of training and marketing right now won't be around to see it.

To take the first step, check out our Quantum Leap Growth Workshop Series.

I've been focusing on marketing; promotion and advertising quite a bit lately because that's what most business owners want help with. However, in my opinion, many business owners focus so much on marketing that they overlook the other equally important contributors to a healthy top-line revenue number: conversion rate and average dollar sale.

Marketing encompasses all the activity that a business owner engages in to get prospects to take that first step of making an inquiry about the organization's products or services. Once that initial contact has been made however, the subsequent activities of converting prospects into customers becomes the most important thing. Once the prospect has been converted into a customer, then the activity focuses to the average dollar sale - making sure that the new customer purchases everything that he or she needs in order to fully address the pain or pleasure that drove him or her to the organization in the first place.

Many business owners focus so much on marketing - driving prospects to their storefront, website, or other delivery channel, that they completely forget that they also have control over the process of converting the prospects into customers, and in achieving the right average dollar sale for each new (or repeat) customer. It's important to make sure that the conversion rate is optimized so that the amount of time and money spent on marketing can be minimized. Almost every business owner that doesn't like marketing and complains about the amount of money they spend attracting prospects, also coincidentally neglects the KPI of conversion rate.

You see, once the business owner has done all the due diligence of refining the target market and refining the message and the media, then he or she can work on fine tuning the conversion process and it's at this point when a business owner can effectively "buy customers". When we know our target market, and we know how to reach them, and we know how to convert them into paying customers, then we can decide exactly how many of them we want and spend accordingly. This is where running a small business gets really fun! Don't you want some of that fun to replace some of the frustration you feel about marketing and selling today? Isn't owning and operating your own company supposed to be both financially rewarding and fun?

How do we impact our conversion rate? Simple. The same way we impact our marketing effectiveness; we measure what works and we improve upon that. We measure what doesn't work and we stop doing that. When a prospect walks in the door, clicks on the link, calls on the phone, or makes contact through some other means, we must document everything that happens leading up to a sale or a no-sale. Once we know what worked to get the prospect converted into a customer, we can use that again and again and continue to measure and refine. If we sell 20 out of 20 customers when we're wearing our blue suit, but only 1 out of 20 when we're wearing our brown suit, guess what? We give the brown suit to a charity and buy more blue suits! If we convert more customers when we say "Is this your first visit to our store/site?" than when we say "May I help you?", then we stop saying "May I help you" and we say "Is this your first visit to our store/site?" every single time we get in front of a prospect!

As business owners, we really are in control every step of the way, but some of us choose to play the role of a victim and insist that business involves "luck", or we "hope" for a better year. Which role will you play? The role of the victim, or the role of the strategic business owner?

I've had more than one business owner tell me "I hate marketing". Usually this comes from a sense that they are spending tons of money on marketing (or what they think is marketing) and they feel like they are getting no results. Well, my usual response to this statement is this: "Fire your Vice President of Marketing... Today!"

Invariably the business owner then goes on to tell me "I don't have a VP of Marketing - I'm a small business owner and I have to do all the marketing myself!". This is when I get to have some fun. This is when I tell the business owner "I know that you do the marketing. That's why I'm telling you to fire the VP of marketing."

By this point the business owner is either mad at me and ready to throw me out of his establishment, or gets the point and asks me to tell him more. What I mean by fire the VP of Marketing is this: If you're doing your own marketing and the results are not what you expect or need them to be, then it's time for a serious review and a big shake up in the marketing department. First, you have to be measuring every marketing campaign and medium that you're using. Second, if you are trying to grow the business and attract new customers, you need to have at least 10 marketing strategies working at all times.

How many marketing strategies can you name that your business is using right now? Look at the following list of marketing strategies that any service-based business might use and see how many of them  you have going right now: 

• Yellow Page Listing
• Newspaper Ad
• Magazine Ad
• Clipper, Penny Saver, or Val-Pak Coupon
• Targeted Direct Mail Postcards
• Website
• Website Search Marketing (Paid Placement)
• Link Exchange
• Chamber of Commerce Listings
• Chamber of Commerce Networking Group
• Other Networking Group
• Sign on Vehicle
• Sponsorship of Sports Team
• Sponsorship of Anything Else
• Ad in Church Bulletin
• Outbound Calls to Past Customers
• Ask Current Customers for Referrals
• Even Better, Start a Referral Rewards Program!
• Strategic Alliances With Complimentary Businesses
• Radio Advertising
• Cable TV
• Infomercials
• Newsletters to Current and Past Customers
• Free Trials
• Promotional Gifts With Company Name
• Book the Next Visit at the End of Today's Visit
• Hire a Sign Walker
• Ad Space in Malls and Bus Benches
• Hire an Outside Salesperson
• Share an Outside Salesperson With a Non-competing Business 

There's 30 ideas and strategies off the top of my head and the list goes on and on. These are all traditional and "inside-the-box" marketing strategies too, when in reality everything you do as a business owner is a form of marketing from how clean your restrooms are, to the kind of clothes you wear and how promptly you return phone calls. Every action you take as a business owner sends a message to customers and potential customers, and that is the definition of marketing!

There are literally hundreds of marketing strategies that a business owner COULD use, but many owners try one or two things, don't track their performance, and then get mad when the numbers don't show improvement. If that sounds familiar, I think you should fire the VP of Marketing, and light a fire under his or her replacement! (even if both the old VP and the new VP are you) :-)

One of the most common questions from people considering hiring a business coach is this, "What can you teach me about my business?"

Some business owners assume that a business coach should know more about their business than the owner does. This is a misconception about what business coaching really is. For example, I was having lunch today with an old business friend and asking him if he knew of anyone who could use my services. He said "Well, Bob, Jim, and Ted seem to think they already know everything about the widget business so I don't think they would be interested". I didn't press the issue, but the though that came to mind as he was telling me this was... hmm... Tiger Woods knows a lot about golf too, but he has a coach. In fact he has two. The number 1 male tennis player in the world, Roger Federer just hired a coach, and I bet Roger Federer thinks he knows quite a bit about tennis.

The reason to work with a coach is not simply to learn things you didn't know about what you do for a living. Sure a business coach can teach you plenty about running an effective business but the main reason to work with a coach is to get better. A coach can see things that you can't see because a coach is unbiased and not emotionally involved to the degree that you are. A coach is like a mirror that talks and speaks the truth.

Another misconception about business coaches is that they will come into the business and do some of the "heavy lifting". Wrong. The coach is there to help you find new ways of doing things, and to hold you accountable for executing strategies that the owner and coach develop together. Ultimately, only the business owners can implement the strategies. It's a little like thinking that a football coach should come in on third down and throw a game winning pass. That's not his role, his role is to work with the team and help them improve and to help the players develop strategies for winning. The quarterback must execute the strategy. In business, the owner is the quarterback and the coach is, well, the coach.