Are You Planting For Profit In Your Business?
April 18th, 2019 // 1:06 pm @ Scott Manning
Last week, we talked about the never ending need to be planting seeds in your business and how important it is to NOT get out of balance on any one aspect of the ‘farming’ of your customers. In business, unlike the seasons of farming, you really want to have a business that is cultivating, planting, nurturing, harvesting and preparing for more at all times. Not one at a time.
You get to decide if you plant in fertile soil. So, focus on the foundation of your business (the culture, structure, and environment in which you place your seeds).
Today, I want to talk about the reality that most business owners take very much for granted. Once you stop taking it for granted, you will be amazed at how much control you can actually create in your business. This is probably the most important piece of the entire business puzzle…
The Seeds Matter Most
The best soil with the wrong seeds planted will still give you a disappointing harvest – all that work for nothing.
So, my question to you is: what are you planting?
The clarity about this is critical and tied directly to the outcomes you want for your business both in profit and in lifestyle.
First, there is not just one type of seed you have to plant. If you think it is just so easy as picking the seeds and throwing them in the ground – your business sales system and customer experience – and then they pop out at the end with handfuls of money to give you, you are naively mistaken and no wonder you aren’t as profitable as you should be.
One of my mentor’s favorite sayings was, “Never underestimate the difficulty of the task.” You can bet that the farmers that survive and weather all of the storms learn to never underestimate how tough it is going to be.
As long as you take control and don’t leave your success up to chance by being at the mercy of outside forces, you can be certain of your outcomes. You simply can’t take anything for granted. Instead, calculate, prepare, design, create, orchestrate and manufacture the results you want by deliberately focusing on all aspects of your farm (business).
Imagine a farmer throwing random seeds in the ground and treating them all the same just hoping that one gets roots, grows and then bears enough fruit worth all the efforts. With no idea of the preparation, fertilizer, water, and care required, the crop will surely fail.
This would be a losing battle no business could win; expending resources as if they are unlimited just for the hope that once in a while a customer would come to fruition.
And yes, most business owners operate exactly like this. It is more like gambling if you are simply planting haphazardly and hoping. Having grown up with farming in my family, I know the methodical study, research and preparation required to mitigate as many variables as possible to ensure a success season.
I want you to really think about this…
What type of seeds are you planting right now? How intentional are you about picking the plants?
What are you doing to prepare the soil for those specific seeds before they go in the ground?
What would you do differently to give your customers the best probability possible of success?
Sometimes we are setting people up for failure as a customer because we are not properly cultivating the ground before we attempt to plant.
There is a lot to think about in this analogy. The main takeaway I want you to get from this should be: if you are going to best serve yourself and your business (not to mention your customers), you have to be more thoughtful about the entire planting process.
Remember, you have the opportunity to be selective about who you give your resources to – not every seed is the same.
There may be one type of ‘ideal’ customer you want or there might be a variety of them – you get to decide. You have to always be working on ‘that’ part of your business by planting seeds for the customers you want to harvest.
The nurturing you give in the form of relationships, education and value targeted to your selected plants is the only way to get the most out of every ‘crop of customers.’
Next week, we’ll dig even deeper to tackle the forgotten seeds that give you the ripest fruits for your business.
Category : Blog
