3 Simple Systems That Allow You To Stay Ahead Of The Game

You know the feeling the get when you are just going through the motions in your business, trying a few things here and a few things there but nothing done with any great conviction? I like to call it re-active business. Well I am going to give you some basic business systems that you can start using in your business TODAY so you have more control, more information and the ability to stay ahead of the game.

As you progress with your business, you become wiser – more confident. You learn from your experience and you begin to get a greater understanding of what works and what doesn’t. Now having experience is great but we are all really busy so trying to remember every detail about our business is a big ask. Having a simple system for accurate measuring and reporting is much better as you to make smart business decisions based on cold hard facts.  The three areas that we are focusing on today are your marketing, retention and client spending so let’s get cracking….

Become A Marketing Genius By Measuring

Now we all know the importance of having a constant flow of new leads coming into your business is so I am not going to rabbit on about that. But as you continue work hard to achieve that, I want to make sure that you are measuring your marketing right from the start. This is an extremely simple task and one that will actually improve your marketing efficiency as you can look back and see what is working and what needs to be refined.

Without this type of information, you are simply marketing in the dark. Now we all know how hard achieving that constant flow of leads can be at the start, so any simple way to improve your game should be looked favorably upon.

Here’s the drill:

1. Put together a simple form that has all the possible lead sources you have in your business down one side and two blank columns running down the right. One is for how many leads each source provides in the month and the second column is for the how many of those leads convert into clients.
2. Now for the entire month, when you get a new lead simply ask them how they found out about you and record it on your sheet.
3. Then update the second column if they convert to a paying client.
4. At the end of the month, add up all your leads and conversions and enter them into this spreadsheet.
   

Then as you months progress, you not only have a great record of how effective all of your marketing strategies have been but you will also know your conversion rates. You can use this information to maybe working harder on the lead sources that are providing you with alot of leads or on the flip-side review and refine the sources that are not giving you much.

Test – measure – refine = marketing joy.

While Keeping An Eye on The Front Door, It Pays To Watch The Back Door Too

With all of us paying so much attention to getting more clients, we can often forget about placing just as much emphasis on retaining the ones that we have worked hard to get, making sure they don’ slip out the back door.  It is sooooo much easier to do a great job providing a great service for people in your business then finding new people to replace them so retention is something that should always be measured.

Now measuring retention is really simple but it is often the people that leave our business who can honesty tell us the some great ways to improve our service. So this measuring system also has an optional feedback section that is one the best ways to improve your business. Check it out:

1. On the bottom of your marketing test and measure form (from above), add a box for retention.
2. Each month simply record in this box if someone currently training in your business leaves, their reason and the follow up details (if any).
3. Now if you really want to find out why your client left (because they don’t always tell you the truth to your face), send them off a short email with a two of three question feedback form giving them the opportunity to give you some honest feedback.
4. Record the number of client’s stopped training for the month on your spreadsheet.

After a few months of recording your retention data, you will have a good idea of how your business is shaping up. with your feedback forms you will also have plenty of things to improve on if they are needed.

Knowing Your Numbers and Making Them Grow

So far we have covered how to measure getting clients and keeping clients; lets now look at how much they spend with you. This term is known as the average client spend and refers to how much each client spends in your business per month (on average).

So what, why is this important?

Well if can measure your average client spend, you can then work on making that amount gradually bigger and bigger. This can be achieved by up-selling to extra or additional services that you offer, running a promotion as well as there training (eg: 6 week skinny jean challenge), events, products, seminars – the world is in your hands.

But before we get too excited about your up-selling opportunities, here is how to measure your average client spend:

1. At the end of the month, work out your total income (from all sources in your business).
2. Then take that number and divide it by the number of clients in your business eg: $10,000 income / 24 clients = $416 average client spend per month.
3. Now head off and record that figure into your spreadsheet each month.

So if you have identified that your average client spend is $416 for that month, try to increase that by 10% for the following month. Through making a concerted effort in up-selling sessions, adding a weekend group or night class or by running a special event.

If you can achieve your 10% goal (providing opportunities for your clients to spend $457 instead of $416) you will add nearly $1000 of turnover into your business without doing any marketing……nice.

Alright, so there you have three simple systems to measure what is happening in your business. It is a simple – if you are acutely aware of what is happening in your business then you can set achievable goals, focus your efforts and stay ahead of the game.

Best of all – all three of these collectively take about an hour to do every month so you don’t have to be snowed down with boring bookwork.

What are you measuring in your business at the moment and how does it help?

Cheers

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, swearing personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches, writes books, runs an online community and holds live workshops for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read, subscribe to blog here and get your weekly dose of goodness delivered straight to your Inbox.

Tagged as: business systems, personal training systems, test and measure marketing