Lori Richardson on Increasing Sales

I had the opportunity to talk with sales super star Lori Richardson of Score More Sales about how business owners could increase sales and revenue.  Here's what she had to say.

What are some of the things that people can do to increase sales and revenue to their businesses?

A lot of business owners, they just have this idea for a business, and they don't know how to sell, and often they don't like to sell.  I think the keys are to have really a well thought-out plan and then to figure out how to execute it and to find the right people or tools that can help you.  There's a tremendous amount of information available on the Web.

Right, and then you have to take daily action.  We tend to fumble that for some reason.  We get a plan.  We sit down and for several days plan things out, and then we don't actually implement it.

I agree, and I think it's important [to have], with the start of the week and the end of the week, kind of a check-in with yourself or if you have other people that you're working with.  It's critically important that you don't let things go too far out of hand, because that's when you realize months out, "Hey, we're not making any money.  This strategy isn't working."  Look in the mirror, pretty much, and say, "What have I done this week to grow the business?"  Not just, "How busy was I?"  People say that like it's a badge of honor, "Oh, I'm so busy!"  That's great.  How are you building your business?  What are you doing that's leading to more revenue, that's making your company more sustainable?

You're absolutely right, and I like the bi-weekly check-ins.  For whatever reason, we feel like we can't take the time to do that.  We can't take the time to see where we stand or think we just don't have time at the start of the week and end of the week to do that, but if you do it, you spend your time more effectively and more efficiently.

It's like the Franklin Covey quadrants of time.  Everything you do falls into one of those quadrants, and we tend to do those things that are urgent that may or may not be important.  I think it's really powerful to be thinking about, "What am I doing that's helping to pave the way for the future?  Maybe it's not going to generate cash today, but I'm setting the foundation for the future," and those are the things that are really, really important to do on a regular basis.

As part of your "Fabulous 50 Project," you say that business owners should "declare their big and audacious revenue goals."  Explain that and why you believe business owners should think big.

You can set a goal that doesn't represent your entire revenue, but is maybe a project that you're working on like, "I'm working to get $100,000 in new client business," or something, and that can be separate from what you already have going.  For me, I picked a goal of fifty new client projects averaging $2,000 each.  I did that because I wanted to walk my talk, and I wanted to actually demonstrate how many prospects I need in my pipeline to do that, how easy or hard, or how I feel about it as I'm going forward and really working that accountability plan as if I was reporting to a corporate boss.  I think that's something that, as small business owners, we go, "Ah well, that didn't work, so next week I'm going to try something else."  We don't really hold ourselves to the same standard as we did when we had to report something by Friday.

Well, and like you said, it is a pipeline.  You have this goal of fifty clients, but that starts with a much larger number in order to generate that.  You have to keep that momentum going around meeting new people and networking, all these different things that you do.  You have to keep those numbers up first in order to meet that ultimate goal.

Exactly, and being innovative.  I actually had a client come to me and ask me to start a mastermind group in our area, and I thought, "That could be one of my revenue projects," so I turned it into something we call "The Million Dollar Club" for local people, and we get together quarterly.  That was an innovative idea that I've never done that particular thing before, and I set up a business model and a way to make it profitable for me.  Then I get to black out a couple of my boxes for doing that, so it's a very rewarding feeling to know, "Yeah, I'm working off that goal!"  It feels really good to have a measure, because you can't really improve what you don't measure.

Absolutely.  I think a lot of times we chase the wrong things, the wrong metrics.  We follow things that don't matter in the big scheme of things, like maybe Twitter followers.  What does that really relate to in the big scheme of things?  It's not to say that for certain people that's not an important thing, but for the average business owner, does that really matter?  Really, is the number you should be concentrating on the number of leads you have coming into your business or the number of contracts or projects or clients you're taking on and how you can fluctuate those numbers?

Yeah, and maybe it's, "Have I gotten any leads related to growing my business through Twitter?"  If you are making contacts that are valuable, people who could refer you business, and you follow up with them and get to know them, all of a sudden, boom, there's your referral business.

Right, it's keeping it all in perspective.  I can think of an example, just to say Twitter, there's a VA that I know who gets most of her business from Twitter, but she's not worried about Twitter followers.  She's worried about how she uses that tool to grow her business.

Absolutely, and how do you know what metrics to follow?  I think you need to get outside of yourself and ask trusted advisers, people who are successful in business, because success leaves clues.  That's something I remember from Tony Robbins.  Find people that are building a successful business and see what they measure.

It reminds me of a quote from Julie Morgenstern's book Never Check E-Mail in the Morning where she says to stay close to the revenue line, never more than two or three steps away from the revenue line.  That's really what all of us need to be focusing on is, "What is directly impacting my revenue?"  That gives you the hints.  Like you said, success leaves clues.