From the moment a customer hears about us, to the time they no longer need our services it is important to design each step they take in their lifecycle with the company. As a business leader, I always look to ensure each element of the business is operating smoothly and collaboratively, identifying bottlenecks using data and focusing on that bottleneck to ensure success across each department.
Brand – What people picture your business to be
Creating a brand starts before they’ve even seen or heard of us, by defining how we want to be perceived in a level of detail that we can work with, refine and cultivate, we can make decisions that bring this brand to life. By creating the image in your customer’s mind, you create the perception of what your business is, does and offers.
Marketing
Marketing is the next stage of interacting with your potential clients, while similar to branding, marketing is a more direct action to attract interest into your offering.
Casting your marketing net in the right places with the right messaging will bring in leads, so defining your ideal customer and what they want and need from you is a critical element to being a pro marketer.
Once you’ve defined your customer on a deep level, it’s time to write, create and analyse the fruits of your efforts.
Sales
Marketing brings in potential buyers, but it’s up to the sales team to bring home the value and interact with those who are interested in your offering. Sales teams are easily rewarded with commissions as their efforts generally bring in direct revenue to the business. Keeping a sales team focused and energised is critical to any business looking to grow.
Customer Service
Once a client is sold on what you do, it’s up to the customer service team to keep them happy. The cost of marketing isn’t cheap, so retaining a happy client base is highly valuable and should not be overlooked. Often the customer service team hold deep knowledge of the product and how things work, along with the challenges clients face in their journey with the company. This is often an untapped gold mine for improvements across operational, communications and product development.
Product Delivery
While closely tied to customer service, the product or service delivery is generally the main reason your client has bought from you. With that in mind, improving the quality of your product, understanding why your clients are happy to pay and what triggered them to show interest in the first place, begins the lifecycle of an ever-improving marketing, sales, customer service and product delivery cycle.
Financials
Financial resources play a big role in how you build your team, focus your energy and make decisions on what you spend. Additionally, the profit at the end of each period determines the ultimate score for your business. Understanding the balance sheet and profit & loss help to ensure the company remains in a strong commercial position to not only continue, but to succeed long into the future. If the business was like a ship, the P&L would be the stars that guide the business through its travels.
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