“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
There are a myriad of moving parts in a business to attend to so it’s no wonder that some things fall through the cracks. And this adversely affects your business growth and bottom line profits.
Here are 4 mistakes that will diminish your profits if not fixed right away and how to fix them.
- Inconsistent Marketing
In my work with entrepreneurs, my mantra could be
Consistency, Consistency, Consistency
For example, it’s just not enough to publish one Facebook post or a couple of tweets every week. Likewise, ignoring your email list is also detrimental to your business.
If you don’t keep up with a consistent marketing plan, people will forget your name, will forget how they ended up on your email list, or forget why they’re following you on social media. These forgotten people need to be won over yet again and they need to hear and see your company name on a consistent basis before they decide to spend money on your products or services.
- Failure to Automate
Are you stuck in the old school way of doing things, like making phone calls to confirm appointments instead of using SMS technology to send text message reminders to confirm?
Even posting on social media can be automated using platforms such as Hootsuite or Buffer. Yes, these automation tools may cost money but compare the monthly or annual costs to the cost of an employee or a virtual assistant doing the same task. The old school ways are much more time consuming, thus costs you more money in the long run. A veteran virtual assistant will be knowledgeable about the latest technology that can help you automate while sticking within your budget.
- Bad Money Management
What processes do you have in place for your bookkeeping and paying your monthly invoices? Do you have any idea what your income vs. expense spreadsheet looks like? Do you have a habit of buying training classes that you don’t have time to use?
There’s no reason you should be surprised at tax time with how much (or how little) profit you made in the last year. Businesses that are positioned for growth have good money management solutions in place.
- Reluctance to Reinvest in Your Business
Think of reinvesting as a way to grow your business. Instead of taking the extra profits out to pay yourself every month, keep those profits in the business and use them to hire a virtual assistant, purchase software or training tools that will help your business, or invest in a business coach. Each of these reinvestment options will help your business run more efficiently so you can have more time to serve your customers and prospects. Of course, you should pay yourself a salary every month. It’s the profits (or a percentage of the month’s profits) that should remain in the business to help it grow.
As you can see, a virtual assistant can help you get these business mistakes rectified and offer more solutions for your growth.
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