Mark Mikelat is a success expert for small businesses. From his 15+ years of consulting at Fortune 100 banks and major corporations such as Microsoft, Border Books, and IBM, Mark has discovered that people are people first and business leaders second. By implementing basic principles of respect, sincerity, and professionalism, you can grow you success.
He is business college faculty, and an author of multiple books. You can learn more about him at www.BuildingAspirations.com.
I want you to sell more shovels. I live in the great state of California, and if you know a bit of your US history, you know that the Great Gold Rush helped populate the state. In the 1840s and 1850s thousands of people move to California in search of the riches and prosperity that gold would bring. Most did not strike it rich. But, the people who sold shovels made a bunch of money. The strategy of selling more shovels is a powerful one to help you grow your small business.
Let me expand a bit on this shovel metaphor. In my example, a provider of shovels has an opportunity to sell something that is of value in a hot market. This is the point that small business owners need to appreciate. Take your knowledge, expertise, and product and work to sell it to everybody in your target market.
Suppose that you provide janitorial services to supermarkets. How can you package, position and present this product to all of the supermarkets in your market? What is preventing you from doing this? Do you need more employees, more research, or just more marketing and management to make this happen? These are the basic questions that need to be answered. Once you have these answers you have huge leverage to enable the explosive growth of your small business.
Just like there is a process to selling a shovel, there is a process for your business as well. Identify the most important steps and keep doing them over and over again to sell more shovels. In the supermarket example, if you are pitching your product to the managers of the store, think about their needs and how you can help them. Then, think about how you can use that model to sale to all supermarkets.
If you are digging for gold, you might find one deposit of gold and be successful. If you sell the shovel to all of the gold miners, you will be successful.
Sell more shovels. The attitude of selling more shovels is a powerful idea to aid you in growing your small business.
Could you use more tips like this to accelerate the growth of your small business? Achievement thinking is a powerful concept that Mark Mikelat, the founder of Building Aspirations, www.BuildingAspirations.com, uses to coach his small business clients to double or even triple the size of their businesses. You can learn more and take advantage of a free strategic analysis at http://www.BuildingAspirations.com/BusinessSuccess.html. Also, you can view his books on Amazon.com.
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