By Jim Augustus Armstrong In the previous installment of this series, I showed readers how to create your ideal week on paper. The next step is to begin moving your ideal week from paper to your real life. To illustrate some key steps for making that happen, let’s look at an example of a real coaching client of mine, whom we’ll call Kevin, that reached his target goals.
Kevin is a floor dealer who is working 60 hours per week. He feels burned out and constantly stressed. So, I work with him to help him create his ideal week on paper (his target goals). In his ideal week he only works 35 hours, and on Wednesdays he plays golf from 1 p.m.–5 p.m. So, we make the first order of business to free up his Wednesday afternoons for golfing. The question is: what will Kevin have to move off of his plate (e.g. delegate) so he can take every Wednesday afternoon off?
Well, it turns out Kevin is one of three salespeople in his business—two full time and one part time—and he spends Wednesday afternoons working the showroom floor and doing measures. I suggest that he move his part-time salesperson up to full time and have her cover the showroom on Wednesdays.
Kevin has it in his budget to pay the additional salary, so he begins the process of promoting her. If Kevin didn’t have it in his budget to promote the salesperson, I’d have him implement sales and marketing strategies to quickly grow his revenue.
One of the first things I ask dealers is if they are currently marketing to their past clients in order to grow their repeat and referral business. Most aren’t, and Kevin is no exception. So, we implement a robust client marketing strategy, which includes sending out a monthly newsletter and a weekly e-newsletter. We also put a referral reward program in place and promote it in the newsletters.
In addition, Kevin’s sales team only closes three out of 10 walk-ins. With the right selling system, he could easily increase this to five out of 10. So, we put a sales system in place along with weekly sales trainings to get his team up to speed. Before long, his team’s close ratio increases.
Within 90 days of implementing these strategies, Kevin’s average monthly revenue has increased by $30,000, which is more than enough to cover the cost of promoting his part-time salesperson.
So, he bumps her from 20 hours per week to 40. This has the added benefit of freeing up an additional 20 hours per week, which brings his total work hours to 40 per week.
He is now only five hours away from his goal of 35-hour workweeks. He has more than enough time to take every Wednesday off to play golf, which he begins doing immediately. As a happy side benefit, his stress level drops and his business begins to be more fun and enjoyable again.
For brevity’s sake I simplified the actual process I took this dealer through to reach his target goals, but this shows you the fundamentals of how this process can transform your business and your life.
Jim is the founder and president of Flooring Success Systems, a company that provides floor dealers with marketing services and coaching to help them attract quality customers, close more sales, get higher margins and work the hours they choose. For information visit FlooringSuccessSystems.com.
