The Ca$h Flow Calculator.

The Ca$h Flow Calculator.

Let’s face it. The major hot button for most small businesses these days is the ability to generate leads. But few of them know how to attract customers to their business successfully.

As a coach, I have a pretty good handle on generating leads. So here’s the process I use to do this.

Most of the business owners I speak with often feel lost or overwhelmed as they navigate through all the various options available these days – Websites, social media, SEO, email marketing, Facebook, pay-per-click, and so on.

Let me do you a favor right now and completely remove that overwhelm from your life forever. Are you familiar with the 80/20 rule?

For business owners, it means that 20% of what you do every day is generating 80% of your total annual revenue.

In other words, you’re only doing a few things daily that makes you most of your money. I can tell you precisely what makes up that 20%, and that’s all you need to focus on after today.

There are five areas that make up that 20%: leads, conversions, transactions, pricing and profits.

Let me show you what’s possible and why these five areas are so critical.

Cash Flow Calculator

I use a tool I call the CashFlow Calculator. (you can go here to test drive a 5 year cash flow calculator, but finish reading this first…)

Let’s say your business generated 1000 leads in the past year and your average conversion rate was 25%.

Let’s also say your customers bought what you sell ten times throughout the year and they typically paid on average around $100 per purchase.

Finally, let’s say your profit margin per sale is only 25%.

Notice at the bottom of the first column that you’re earning $62,500 annually. But look what happens if we increase each of these fiveareas by a meager 10%.

You would see your annual revenue almost double from $62,500 to over six figures. Most business owners would KILL to double their revenue, wouldn’t you agree? But what happens if you could increase each of the five areas by 50%.

Your business would skyrocket from $62,500 to almost half a million dollars annually. Now, you may be thinking that 50% gains in each of these five areas would be next to impossible. Let me assure you that a 50% increase is child’s play. Click the link here and play with it yourself.

Lead Generation

When I sit down with owners and assess their business, I ask what marketing materials they have to promote their business?… 99% said none. I ask: “how you’re currently generating leads?”

Many business owners often cite ‘word of mouth,’ ‘referrals,’ or ‘networking’ as their primary lead sources. While these are indeed valuable avenues, the challenge lies in their unpredictability. You can never be certain when or how many referrals or networking opportunities will come your way.

Consider leads as the fuel for your business engine. Just like a car needs a full tank of gas to go anywhere, your business requires a steady flow of leads to thrive. Knowing when your next ‘fill-up’ is due makes scaling your business a straightforward process, as predictability breeds growth.

However, if you’re only receiving a trickle of leads, akin to having a near-empty gas tank, your business’s potential for growth is severely limited. Without an ample fuel supply, you’re essentially stranded near the metaphorical ‘gas station’ of opportunity, unable to venture far.

While 99% of businesses today do have a website, do you know for sure how many leads your website generates every month? Do you know for sure how many sales your website produces every month?   

I want you to think about every lead-generating activity as a spoke on a wagon wheel. How many spokes are on your wheel? How well is it going around? If you only have 2 spokes (like networking and referrals) will your wheel work like it should?

Here’s the key to successful marketing. You MUST be able to enter the conversation taking place in the head of your prospects. How do you do this? It’s quite simple when you know and understand(s) the fundamentals of marketing.

The conversation that’s taking place in EVERY prospect’s mind revolves around two major points: There’s a problem they havethat they don’t want and there’s a result they want but don’t have.

Now, believe it or not, there is an actual marketing formula we follow that takes these points into account and spits out a message so compelling it practically forces your prospects to buy what you sell.

Conversion Equation

It’s called the Conversion Equation, and it looks like this – Interrupt, Engage, Educate and Offer. Interrupt is your headline – which means it’s the first thing someone sees when they visit your website, read any of your marketing collateral or hear you speak. The headline MUST address the problem your prospects have that they don’t want.

Engage is your subheading – It MUST address the result your prospect wants but doesn’t have. Educate is the information you provide either verbally or in writing. This information must presentevidence to your prospects that you and your product or service are superior in every way to your competition.

Unfortunately, MOST businesses aren’t different from their competitors, and that’s why you MUST innovate your business to create what we refer to as a market-dominating position.

You MUST make your business unique. It MUST stand out from the crowd. It MUST make your prospects say to themselves that they would be absolutely crazy to buy from anyone else but you – regardless of price. And finally, the Offer. You MUST create a compelling offer that makes it so irresistible your prospects can’t turn it down.

Due to the saturation of marketing messaging these days, most prospects have become numb to most marketing.

Following our Conversion Equation can dramatically overcome this, but even with this powerful tool in play, it will still take multiple “touch” points before your prospects buy what you sell.

It takes anywhere from 20 to more than 100 touchpoints for most businesses today before a prospect makes their buying decision. Following the Conversion Equation reduces the touchpoints to somewhere between 5 to 12 points of contact.

But here’s the key, most businesses don’t follow up (52%) with their prospects at all. This provides a HUGE window of opportunity for ANY business that does follow up to position themselves as the dominant force in their industry.

But to have the opportunity to get your message in front of your prospects 5 to 12 times, you MUST find a way to collect their contact information, and that’s the purpose of your Offer.

Most businesses offer incentive offers, which only appeals to the NOW buyers or prospects ready to make an immediate purchase. Unfortunately, NOW buyers make up less than 1% of the total number of prospects in the market to buy what you sell.

These businesses typically offer prospects a free consultation, a discount, a coupon, a free assessment, a complimentary quote (incentive offer) or “CALL US!” (so we can sell you our stuff).

Most businesses‘ marketing materials, website, and business cards list their phone number as their sole offer and that ONLY appeals to that 1% of NOW buyers. The remaining 99% of viable prospects are searching for and gathering information about what you sell.

They’re searching for information because they want to determine who is offering the best value. 

PROSPECTS DON’T SHOP PRICE – THEY SHOP VALUE! 

Prospects only consider price because most businesses don’t give them any other value proposition to consider except price. Hence, In the absence of value, price is everything.

In conclusion, if you follow these simple strategies and use the Cashflow calculator to leverage your business exponentially, you canthen focus on the five areas that make up your 20%.  

Utilizing the Conversion Equation method will allow you to increase your leads by addressing the problem that your best prospect(s) are experiencing. Increase your conversions by using our conversion equation formula to create an irresistible offer, capture their information, follow up at least 7 times, and always deliver more value. 

When you intentionally focus on the these five areas, you can’t help but grow your business. 

For more on these strategies, download my eBook here.