JCS 42 - Digest 😎 (3 mins 30)

Published: Wed, 03/11/20

Digest Time

Time to read: 3 minutes 30 seconds

Here's something new, a digest of things I've posted on LinkedIn recently.

CONSISTENCY

Anthony Trollope - "A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules."

Consistency in action brings results.

I forget that every now and then, leaving me to do the spasmodic Hercules thing for a week to get back on track.

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FINDING MY WEAK SPOTS

Something on my mind is how sole operators are juggling all the balls in their business.

I did it myself for several years, only recently hiring what has now turned into a small team. But, on the whole, I'm still largely doing everything to build the business myself (I'm working on changing this).

So, while I don't personally work on every part of a project because there are others on my team who are far better than I am, I need to ensure the work done is to the standards I would expect.

I also have a responsibility to train those in my team and keep everyone motivated and engaged. For me, these areas are hard. As are areas like:

- accounting
- tax
- legal obligations
- money management

I'm not naturally drawn to these topics which is why I hire people to get things done properly. Whereas other parts are, by comparison, incredibly easy. Things like:

- sales
- below-the-line marketing
- business modeling
- analytics
- tech
- automation
- consulting

I spend several hours each week learning about these topics because I find them interesting and useful. I've worked at making myself aware of these traits and I don't think I'll ever be 'done'.

So, if anyone has any recommendations for resources to help me with this, let me know. Always looking to shore up weak spots!

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OFFERS OVER CRO

The majority of SMBs should focus on making the thing they offer more attractive. The offer and how you communicate it to your audience is the most important part of sales.

Not 'how' you sell it.

If a customer *actually* knows how you can help them, why it's important, and why they should act now, you're going to see your results improve.

It sounds simple, but that's only because businesses love doing the opposite.

They do crazy CRO tests for the tiniest, most insignificant things. (Changing button colours, anyone... really?) Rather than double-checking that the actual 'thing' they sell is easy to 'get' and solves a real need in that person's life.

I'm not knocking CRO, either. I do it for my clients and it is important. I'm saying it shouldn't be on your to-do list if you haven't got your offer dialed in yet.

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HELP YOURSELF

When I look back at some of the most frustrating projects of my career, it's where a client does one of two things:

1. Doesn't do anything after being given a clear solution
2. Executes so poorly that it's not going to make a difference

Frustrating projects aren't ones that are challenging. Or where I've been wrong. Or where the budget is tiny. Or where I'm butting heads with a business owner. Or any other myriad of 'small' issues.

Frustrating projects are when you know you can help someone and they seemingly don't want to help themselves.

It's not my job to motivate you to want success for your own business; it's to help you execute on the ideas that bring success to your business.

Big difference.

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GETTING HELP

Why doesn't your typical small businesses outsource marketing or sales help more often? (Or, insert any another field I guess).

It always kind of confused me, because instead they'd hire someone in-house... but the owner typically has no skills in either of these fields.

So how is the new employee meant to figure out what to do properly? They end up just doing whatever the owner used to do. Or they look around for stuff online. No plan or program in mind.

When it'd be so much easier if that business just outsourced initially, dialled in to what's working, then hired an employee and retained the freelancer or agency to then train their team.

Am I missing something? I hear so many stories like this of new employees getting crushed when working for small businesses because they have no direction or help.

It's cheaper outsourcing in many cases than hiring for someone at the same experience level anyway... this also always confused me when the 'price' thing was bandied around.

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Cheers,

James Steadman

Director - JC Steadman Marketing

www.jcsteadman.com

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