Your Spring Cleaning Check List
March 25th, 2021 // 12:50 pm @ Scott Manning
Yes, spring has sprung. Depending on where you are in the country, you might be seeing the beauty of the rebirth in nature. You can finally wake from your winter doldrums (which are real, by the way). The weather, the gloom, the cold all has an impact on the human psyche. You have an excuse when nature is sleeping, preparing to rejuvenate for the spring, but now it’s the season of growth.
Usually, I’d write about planting seeds in your business and nurturing opportunity to use all of the symbolism that comes with springtime – and I will; I’m going to save it for the next coming weeks. I’m going to show you how to grow the best customers by planting them in fertile ground.
While there are many, I will tell you there may not be any principle of life more accurate than: you reap what you sow. All too often people are lazy, sloppy, casual, negligent with and towards their own lives.
In business, like planting, you have to be careful what shortcuts you take because a faster or bigger or cheaper shortcut usually doesn’t result in a more bountiful harvest. You must condition and discipline yourself to stay focused on the most important objective before being tempted by “easy.”
You see this all the time in big dumb companies. While their volume often covers it up, their profits still tell the story.
In your business and in others like it, you can’t afford missteps. This is why every decision or change or investment must be held accountable to the question does it serve our greatest purpose and impact our move valuable objectives.
You can find efficiencies, save money, reduce team members, alter the experience, lower price and many other things all for the right and wrong reasons – you just have to be clear which is which.
It is not hard to be successful in business, make the money you want, and have any lifestyle you can imagine. It’s hard to have the discipline to do the work necessary on the front end – the planting – to make it all possible.
Yes, you reap what you sow, in life and in business. And there is one big giant difference between the seasons of a year and seasons of your business – you get them all simultaneously. You have got to be planting and harvesting every single day with everything you do. Finding that effective balance in how you operate, execute, implement, and organize your strategy is what allows you to maximize the seasons of your business.
Today, I’d like to shift gears and talk about Spring Cleaning but in a very different way.
Most people have to spring clean not just to spruce up but because they hoard and gather over the year. In the moment, they might be too busy to put it in its proper place or throw it away when it is no longer needed. Their homes become cluttered and less organized.
Businesses do the same thing. It might be files or people or systems or processes.
Here’s where I’d like you to focus on in your business for Spring…
What could be better organized that would help you drive more results and make both you and your team more productive by focusing on a higher value execution?
What processes have become bogged down and too slow because you haven’t taken the time to review, edit, and update?
What has fallen by the wayside or been neglected for too long that you need to literally freshen up? That could be everything from your website to your décor, from your marketing materials to your attire.
How can you engage your customers in a new way using the Spring theme? Everyone is more motivated this time of year; you can have referral drives or appreciation events or new campaigns.
Throughout the year opportunities get thrown in a figurative junk drawer because people have been too busy ‘doing their job’ to think about growth and expansion. Right now, I promise you, your business has untapped potential, pent up demand, and sales opportunities all around you just waiting to be rediscovered.
What haven’t you gotten around to so far this year that was on your New Year list?
What have you been putting off or delaying that could enhance your customer experience, raise your price, or increase customer value?
What have you done successfully in the past that has been forgotten or ignored recently (think about follow-up with prospects and engaging past customers)?
Now is the time to take the inventory to prepare for the growth that should come with Spring. Get rid of the clutter and make room for growth.
We’ll pick up right here next week to talk about everything from planting the right seeds to making sure they are put into fertile ground to taking responsibility over their nurturing.
In the meantime, before you just start throwing stuff out, take a hard look at where you want to be by fall and what you want to harvest – then do the necessary Spring Cleaning to be in the best position to have the greatest planting season of your life!
Category : Blog
