You want a business that lasts, right? One that can withstand market changes, competitors, pandemics, and recessions? What if I said you could build a business model that not only withstands these obstacles but positions you to consistently grow. To predict your growth. To not just survive, but also thrive.
If you’ve ever heard me speak or read anything I’ve written before, you know I love acronyms. It’s become a common thread across everything I do. It’s my steady bass beat if you will. So T.I.M.E. is my acronym for sustainable success. We need these four focuses, that when implemented, will help us forecast growth, identify obstacles, adapt and excel time and time again.
Let me share with you a quick story that resulted in this becoming a topic I educate DJs and industry professionals on. I was talking to the owner of a very successful wedding venue after an event, and he made a comment that hit me in the face. To paraphrase him, he said “while I love working with wedding planners, I don’t need their referrals for us to hit our goals.”
I thought, wow. Feels a little brash and over-confident right?
Knowing this person, he didn’t mean it to be arrogant. What he meant was he had a formula for sustainable success. That formula doesn’t rely on one person or one group of people. It’s a formula of balance and focus. I’m going to share that formula with you, one acronym letter and article at a time. Today, we’re focusing on the “T.”
Tracking information is crucial to better understanding where your revenue is coming from, where you’re spending time and money, and what exactly people are buying from you. Through tracking information, you can better identify trends, focus on sweet spots, adjust where needed, and more accurately project business revenue.
For starters, track things like: total number of leads coming in, qualified leads, lead sources, and what percentage of overall and qualified leads you book. Know what percentage of your business is coming from each different source also.
Who is sending you the most business? Those are people you want to take very good care of. Who is NOT sending you business? Those may not be the people you want to spend time and money chasing after. Track what specific packages, products or services people are buying from you, as well.
Don’t brush off the lost business and not track that. It’s easier to convert inquiries and customers you already have than to find new ones, so digging in on why you lost business it essential to converting it in the future. Keep a record of how you lost it.
Was it due to budget, travel, a competitor, or maybe they didn’t mesh with you or your DJ? Maybe they reached out with too short a notice, or they were one of a billion people trying to get married on that same weekend in the spring/fall? Perhaps none of your team was available or you declined the business because it wasn’t a fit.
Knowing why you book business, and why you don’t, will allow you to better adapt, focus, and convert in the future. It will become basic math. For my business, Carolina DJ Professionals, this information has made it much simpler to project revenue and set goals. For example, over the last seven years I’ve been tracking this information, I know we qualify roughly half of all the leads we get. I also know as a team we book 82% of the people we talk to.
When I set goals to grow, I work backwards from the goal to establish how many new leads I need to find. Then I look at my referral sources that I also track and can better identify where to find those leads. For us, we book about 10% of our business from online marketing, 10% from shows, and 80% from referrals. Which makes for a perfect transition to the next aspect of building a business that thrives…
Troy Adams is the owner of Carolina DJ Professionals
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