It’s Not Sales and Marketing that Will Grow Your Business
by admin ~ June 12th, 2009. Filed under: practice management.Do you have too little time each day even though you’re not hitting your income goals?
Do you, like many advisors, think that increasing your business, gaining clients, is centered on marketing and sales. It’s not.
What saps your time is your business structure. The products you handle, the prospects you serve, how you deliver services–is usually so uncoordinated and lacking congruency, that much of the time that should be committed to marketing and sales is lost.
So the first place to look to increase your revenues is your business structure and your business methods. Consider that your doctor spends about 12 minutes with each patient and you even get billed for the things his nurse and receptionist do. Now THAT’S financial efficiency.
Stop running yourself ragged. Turn your time into money when you use your time correctly. The Practice Management download will help you uncover the incongruousness in your business and show how you can restructure so that you can rapidly grow your business.
To outsource prospecting, visit ProspectMatch
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June 24th, 2009 at 10:43 am
“business structure and your business methods” is the root of every business. Marketing is also important but it comes after you have established both metioned previously. Without those two, even if you have a very good marketing, your business would simply wont last to handle the influx of consumers.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:47 am
I agree with you. Business structure is vital to performing efficiently. And when it comes down to it efficiency is what you need to improve. Finding new methods or more efficient ways of doing things will ultimately generate you more money in the long run
June 29th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Hmmm, it’s a balance between how much more you can get per time and how many clients you can get per time. Interesting.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:04 am
I’m not sure that I agree with this. You raise some interesting points, but marketing and sales definitely play a role.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Yep, i am also a strong votary of a strong business structure for success. If we succeed in building a good fabric ,rest would fall in place automatically. It would be sagacious to spend more time in getting the groundworks done for a better business plan and structure than to rue later.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Awesome Blog! it’s a balance between how much more you can get per time and how many clients you can get per time. Interesting.YouTube marketing is a great way to market your websites! I had no visitors, until 2 months after starting Video Marketing and using this Traffic Generating Site . My site reached many more visitors! Thanks!
August 12th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
thanks for the financial efficiency idea, this is a very great idea. i hope i can to this :). thanks.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Analysing manhours is definatelly an important part of any business.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Business structure is vital to performing efficiently. And when it comes down to it efficiency is what you need to improve. Nice stuff.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
It very true that in order to increase revenue business analysis is very important and more important is the analyze the business structure. Hope Practice Management helps to restructure the business method.
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Excellent report. My weakness is the ability to focus. Being an entrepreneur, I am very creative and innovative. Which means ideas come to me quite frequently. It’s very hard for me to just focus on one thing.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:55 am
Interesting view. I agree and disagree. You can build the best widget with potential for a high percentage of profit margin and still not get your item out to the masses, especially in today’s market. I think proper sales/marketing is a vital partner to a good business structure to succeed in today’s competitive market.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I can understand where you’re coming from with this one. You would think that more people would have a fairly good idea on how to structure their business so that it can scale easily with growth. Just thinking about it now, you see this kind of problem with new startups all the time.
I’ll be sure to remember to keep this in mind when I start growing my own business. If you want to know about probiotics, you can check out my site, it happens to have the best probiotics supplements around.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I am not in the situation to agree with you 100%,though you have mentioned some useful points but i believe that marketing and sales is the key factor for sales.If marketing not essential then why people are hiring person for marketing?Thanks for your awesome post.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
i agree, sometimes it can pay if you take a moment, stop and think. Look at your business from an outsiders point of view, create a checklist of possibble black areas and implement positive changes. Each positive change makes your business stronger.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Being an entrepreneur, I am very creative and innovative. Which means ideas come to me quite frequently. It’s very hard for me to just focus on one thing.
December 16th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
This is very true. We just completely restructured our business from the ground up and it is way more important than concentrating on sales. Sure sales are the driving force, but we set our selves up to win and the sales come from that. Back to the basics.
December 19th, 2009 at 8:57 am
I read in an article that besides money and people (input), we also need trust to grow our business. Is it true? How can we keep trust when we meet many new people and we know that everyone just wants to benefit? Well, as written in the article, trust has been proven as an essential tool to keep thing going well. Remember how financial crisis was becoming severe and severe in Asian countries because the citizens didn’t trust that their governments would be able to accommodate their needs and safety? See the opposite happened at developed countries? People do business with you mostly because they trust you, that you will do your role well. And you do the same to the others, and your business can grow.
December 24th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Yes, Practice Management can allow us to turn our money correctly into desired goals. Thanks for sharing
December 24th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I dont completely agree with you.
Marketing is the backbone of any business
January 5th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
The first step to look in is the business structure ofcourse.
January 8th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Time management plays an important role in any business.You have to set how much time for marketing,for monitoring and other parts of the business.It is not how much time you spend working but how much dedication and focus you give in everything you do.
January 14th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Someone said on this blog that they often have a hard time keeping focused. I beleive it was “Internet Business”. Anyways, I can really relate on this since many of my ideas come rapidly as well. Business structure is crucial to having a successful business.
I would love learn more about getting around this in order to focus on one task at a time.
January 16th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Yeah you are absolutely right. Sometimes marketing enough can’t bring success in business. There are lot of things needed to have success in business.
January 16th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
My marketing section is so bad as I am not getting any sales for the past five months. What is the main reason behind that?
January 18th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
As a business owner most days I feel I run myself ragged, I want to do it all myself. It becomes hard to delegate. Thanks for the info, it is very beneficial to help me get on track!
January 20th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Though, sales and marketing is not only factor to grow our business. But it is so hard to implement excellent marketing strategy. Thanks for sharing the link download
January 31st, 2010 at 1:43 pm
At first, the topic prompt me but later I got an Idea of what it actually is about , you are right in your sense that there are things that matters most for you than the marketing.
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:37 am
Interesting post. My company focuses too much on marketing. I’ll share this with the higher ups. Thank you.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:00 am
While I agree that marketing is one of the most important aspects of business, it’s still essential to keep the entire business process in check…like what was said, you could use the extra time you got from optimizing your processes for more marketing and sales.
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Yeah you are absolutely right. Sometimes marketing enough can’t bring success in business. There are lot of things needed to have success in business.
February 11th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Excellent point about doctors. I have always loved how the nurses do all the dirty work and the doctor gets all the money. They are definitely getting a raw deal there. I do agree with you, your business structure is number one in importance because it guides everything else.
February 12th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Absolutely. If you don’t have the structure to handle the new clients marketing and sales will bring you, it will all collapse around you.
February 13th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
You should look into the business structure first but marketing is also very important. I enjoyed reading your article.
February 17th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Nice post ………It’s Not Sales and Marketing that Will Grow Your Business
February 18th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Time management and persistence are two keys to running a successful business, but marketing and prospecting is at the root of most small businesses
February 19th, 2010 at 12:27 am
Spot on! As a business owner I find a comparison with what you’ve said. It’s not the number of lead/enquiries you receive, nor is it the number of opportunities - it’s sales that matter for turnover.
I frequently hear “We got X number of enquiries, that’s great”. It is, but for any business to be efficient you would much prefer 10 enquiries and 10 sales to 1,000 enquiries and 10 sales…
It’s finding the balance!
Thanks
February 20th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Given that many of our customers work in sales and marketing, what I infer from these numbers is that video marketing is poised for a huge year in 2010. The reason is clear: video simply engages people in a way that static text and images cannot. There are dozens of studies that show the power of video to boost customer interaction, drive sales, encourage viral sharing, and build brand awareness
February 25th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
[...] the direct link to this particular post I’m talking about: Javelin Marketing “It’s not sales and marketing that will grow your [...]
March 5th, 2010 at 8:12 am
On point. Sales processes often kill sales - not the salespeople themselves!
March 5th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Following time management is enough for running the business effectively…
March 8th, 2010 at 6:42 am
I agree. Good sales has nothing to do with marketing. Sales must be shown using good methodology.
Nice post.
March 16th, 2010 at 10:43 am
I agree but marketing and sales is also very important.
March 18th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Practice Management can allow us to turn our money correctly into desired goals. Thanks for sharing
March 21st, 2010 at 4:28 am
This is a real eye-opener. My business structure is very disorganized and creates a lot of procrastination in between trying to raise sales of clients. Fixing my management skills will likley help shorten the gaps.
March 23rd, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Yes, Practice Management can allow us to turn our money correctly into desired goals. Thanks for sharing
March 26th, 2010 at 4:08 am
The quality of leads is just as important as the quantity when it comes to the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Unfortunately so much of what we consider marketing is based on impressions and not qualified leads…just look at CPC advertising.
March 29th, 2010 at 3:59 am
Business structure is really the first thing a business must perfect because it is the foundation of all business process. So when business structure is good the business flow will follow.
April 1st, 2010 at 6:17 am
Exactly right! I’ve been thinking for a while now that our business is being run as a marketing business and not a sales focused agency. It’s very interesting learning the differences and previously I didn’t think you could have one without the other.
Thanks again for the great read.
April 18th, 2010 at 6:10 am
No question good time management is critical for a sales professional. “7 habits of successful people” is a must. First things must be first to be effective.
April 21st, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Running a business is like baking a cake, there are lots of ingredients that go into it to make it work well and if you miss out the key ingredients you wont get first prize at the bake off.
April 26th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
RR
Referral and retention, best way of marketing.
April 26th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Your best salespeople can turn into managers, and the bulk of a manager’s time can finish up wasted. Email and voicemail are great time-savers!
April 28th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Yeah you are absolutely right. Sometimes marketing enough can’t bring success in business. There are lot of things needed to have success in business.
April 30th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Thanks so much for the practice management download!
May 5th, 2010 at 8:19 am
I agree that time managment is very important. I think building a viral brand is better than the traditional marketing approach.
May 10th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Planning, Time management and Good Business Structure are key elements in running a successful business.
May 12th, 2010 at 11:47 am
I definitely agree: having the proper business model makes all the difference.
May 15th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Thanks for the great post. I do agree that business structure makes a huge impact on the bottom line. When we figured out how to improve our document handling and vendor management, we saw a marked increase in productivity and cash flow.
May 17th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Very useful article, thank you for sharing experience. I agree, that time managment is very important and not all people can allocate time.
Best regards…
May 22nd, 2010 at 7:39 am
Actually I agree with you. Business structure is vital to performing efficiently. And when it comes down to it efficiency is what you need to improve. Finding new methods or more efficient ways of doing things will ultimately generate you more money in the long run…
May 24th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I like this post. It’s defintely hit the nail on the head. Your business model is key to providing an efficient service which uses its resources wisely. I think you have to take your time to prepare a business initially, down to the systems it uses and stages of production or service and how it can be made easier. Great psot
May 25th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Great article. one of my biggest weaknesses is not being focus enough to finish projects seems like its hard being an entrepreneur sometimes.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:54 am
A great way to streamline your business structure to find more time for marketing is also to automate your processes or to even hire someone to do specific tasks. Like the Doctor and nurse scenario. Even when the nurse is helping and the doctor is away the job is getting done and the doctor can focus on other processes.
May 27th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Nice post, I always try to remember the mantra ‘Always work more ON your business and less IN your business’. All the marketing in the world won’t sell your product unless your product is great.
Ste
May 27th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
I have to totally agree with you, i just started a business and i did a nice marketing and got some few new clients, but my business structure wasnt good to carry that along for to long, as a result i broke down, and now i am starting again more carefully, planning more what i do.
You cant start a building from the last floor isn’t it ?
June 4th, 2010 at 12:55 am
Time management deff comes first, without I would be lost!
June 4th, 2010 at 4:40 am
A great book on this is the E-Myth. The whole premise is to be working ON your business not IN your business.
June 7th, 2010 at 8:01 am
There is no problem in good time management is a critical sales professional. The success of the 7 habits "is required. First of all you must first be valid
June 9th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I think marketing is the backbone of any business, thanks!
June 9th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
yeah you’re absolutely right.time management is the important thing.
June 10th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
i cant agree more with you. you definitely need to be congruent. people can detect incongruousness and you could lose their trust immediately. keep up the great posts
June 11th, 2010 at 1:51 am
agreed good time management is vital thanks for this post its been great to read
June 15th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Time management is critical when it comes to business. When you are working on your business, work on the system not on the symptoms which is the sales and marketing.
June 18th, 2010 at 4:55 am
After reading your post I downloaded the pdf (practice_management). It’s huge. I quickly went though thr guide and I found it very helpfull. I trully agree that time management is key to success whatever one does. I knoew this before but still could not convince/change myself enough to use my time towards earning. Hopefully your guide (which I’ll go though again very carefully) will teach me some lessons and help me to achieve my (real financial independence)
Thank you very much
June 20th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Time management its famous
June 23rd, 2010 at 6:55 pm
This is a great article - thanks a lot. I think, many things are important to effectively grow your business: the right marketing strategy, time management, optimizing processes, sales management… But you are right, focusing only on sales and marketing won’t be enough for steady & continued business growth.
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:44 pm
You’ve got to be onto something here. I know I can do things more efficiently around here, sometimes finding the time to work on those things can be challenging, but I suppose if I pay those dues they’ll pay me back….
June 24th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Great post! I’m a BIG fan of practice management. As a webdeveloper, I try to keep my code library up-to-date and extend it as much as possible. This saves me a LOT of time when setting up new websites. I only have to copy some files and I’m already half on my way to a new site!
June 26th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Marketing and sales definitely play a role.
June 29th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Thanks for the great post. I do agree that business structure makes a huge impact on the bottom line. When we figured out how to improve our document handling and vendor management, we saw a marked increase in productivity and cash flow.
June 30th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Thanks for sharing, and I totally agree that the management structure is very important.
Another thing I’d like to add is that, ultimately, business is about developing relationships, even if the relationship is built upon the content of your webpage. I think it’s easy to forget this since most of us spend most our time sitting in front of the computer. But it all comes down to trust and credibility, which is built upon building relationships with the customer.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Your points are valid but i think sales and marketing have their own importance and must not be compared like this.A balance between them is actually required for success.
July 2nd, 2010 at 8:04 am
Time management and good structure is key to any success. I agree with this. You can be a great sales or business person but if you can’t manage your business you’re pretty much not getting anywhere.
July 6th, 2010 at 1:30 am
This is good advice. If marketing and sales is the driving force of the business the rest of the business should be so well systematized or delegated to others that the business owner can focus on what gives him or her the actual income flow - sales and marketing. It’s odd how by focusing on one part of your business like structure or method, it can increase the efficiency of marketing because of the time it frees up. Again, I think this is good advice - thanks!
July 6th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Actually I agree with you. Business structure is vital to performing efficiently. And when it comes down to it efficiency is what you need to improve. Finding new methods or more efficient ways of doing things will ultimately generate you more money in the long run…
July 7th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
The Practice Management download is a great way to show businesses where their company is lacking in congruency. It’s always important to maintain that consistency in structure in order for everything to run effectively and efficiently.
July 8th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I agree with you. Having the proper business model makes difference!
July 12th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Business structure is vital to performing efficiently. And when it comes down to it efficiency is what you need to improve. Finding new methods or more efficient ways of doing things will ultimately generate you more money in the long run.
July 13th, 2010 at 5:06 am
The business structure is important - but good marketing can turn (*almost*) any business around.
July 13th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Yep, i am also a strong votary of a strong business structure for success. If we succeed in building a good fabric ,rest would fall in place automatically. It would be sagacious to spend more time in getting the groundworks done for a better business plan and structure than to rue later.
July 19th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
I agree with you. I am also a strong votary of a strong business structure for success.
July 19th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I don’t agree with your statement on marketing and sales. I know strong business structure is vital but without marketing and promotion, no business can survive no matter how well its structure was.
July 19th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
You really know what you’re talking about when it comes to business models and marketing. Succeeding in both of these facets of business should rocket any small company to the top.
July 20th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
I agree with you. Business structure is vital to performing efficiently.Business structure is vital to performing efficiently.
July 20th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
From the perspective of a business owner I can see where it bcomes difficult to be ablet o deligate certain projects and responsibilities to help with creating more time with clients. This post showed some great examples on how to do that, and the importance of it as well. Thanks.
July 21st, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Actually I agree with you. Business structure is vital to performing efficiently. And when it comes down to it efficiency is what you need to improve. Finding new methods or more efficient ways of doing things will ultimately generate you more money in the long run…
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Definitely. It’s always difficult to be able to properly hand out projects to other people. However, this post is a good example not only of how to do it properly, but what the long-term benefits are as well.
July 28th, 2010 at 2:40 am
Sales force unite! It’s time to put to rest all the ugly sales stereotypes we have heard for years. Labels like “con artist,” “pushy,” and “one-sided” simply don’t hold true for the majority of individuals whose common traits are quite redeeming. Assertive, creating and caring are much more fitting descriptions of salespeople.
July 28th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Excellent report. My weakness is the ability to focus. Being an entrepreneur, I am very creative and innovative. Which means ideas come to me quite frequently. It’s very hard for me to just focus on one thing.
You can check out microphonics.net too.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:18 am
Building business systems is the key the creating a sucessful business. Remember your not a business owner if you work in the business