Assessing Your Business is Critical to Your Success

Business owners who take the time to identify their target market, competition, the services they provide, and their leading edge in their marketplace are 97% more successful with their sales and marketing efforts.

Those who have not taken the time to identify these critical aspects of their business struggle to have a steady cash flow and continually worry about where their next client is coming from. Hitting a target that has not been identified is almost impossible. It would be like shooting darts with a blindfold on and expecting to hit the bulls-eye. If the bulls-eye were to be hit, it would be by pure luck. Operating a business with knowledge instead of luck dramatically increases your odds of success.

A business must also identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to properly strategize its next business move. Identifying these four factors will significantly improve the future of a business. Knowledge is power!

When was the last time you assessed your business? Regularly you should identify the seven items below.

1. Target Market — It is critical to identify your target market and its needs. The better you know your market, the more proficiently you can craft your marketing message. This will also allow you to know which of your services are in the greatest demand.
2. Competition — Without identifying your competition, you will not know if your pricing aligns with the industry standard. You do not want to sell on price, or you will price yourself out of business. However, you do not want to be overpriced.
3. Services —You must identify your services and the benefits they provide to your clients. Buyers buy benefits, not services. Today's buyer is looking to do business with professional and credible companies which consistently offer quality services. They will pay more for this consistency and quality. One of the biggest mistakes businesses makes is when they try to be all things to all people.
4. Strengths — It is essential to identify your company's strengths and play on those strengths.
5. Weaknesses — Weaknesses that are correctly identified can be turned into strengths with proper planning. Not recognizing your weaknesses can cause credibility issues for your business. Once you lose credibility, it is tough to reclaim it.
6. Opportunities — It is crucial to identify what opportunities are available to you. Knowing these opportunities gives you great insight when creating your business strategies and assists with growth and profitability.
7. Threats — When you have identified the threats that surround your business, you can create strategies to eliminate those threats. If you do not take the time to identify threats to your business, therefore do nothing to stop them, they could significantly damage your business or even put you out of business.

Without assessing your business and identifying these critical factors, you will be wasting time and money with your sales and marketing efforts. At True Perceptions, we do not believe in wasting our client's time or money. Therefore, we always work with our clients on these vital elements before recommending marketing and sales strategies. This saves our clients time and money and creates success in their sales and marketing efforts.

The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same things and expecting different results. I challenge you to make the right investment in your business now so you don't spend the next year saying, "I wish I would haveƒ"

If you need help assessing your business to have an effective sales and marketing strategy, call True Perceptions at 678-583-0401.