Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Why Working Backwards Can Push Your Business Forward
Ever work backwards? No, I'm not talking about doing dumb things; I'm talking about doing something that's really smart.
Most people, when starting a business, have dreams of where they want it to take them, but never work through how to get there. Working backwards is an easy way to break down your dreams into the steps needed to make them reality.
Start with your goal and make it specific. Saying, "I want to make lots and lots of money," is not a specific goal. Come up with a specific number.
Let's say, for example, that you want to make $10,000 a month. Now break it down further into a shorter period of time. $10,000 a month breaks down into $333 a day or $2331 a week (there are 4.3 weeks in a month).
Now comes the part that makes this work. Look at those figures and determine what you need to do to make sure this happens over the timeframe you set for it. Most new business owners never do this; they simply set up their business and trust that "everything will all work out." But looking at your business in this "working backwards" mindset will increase your chance of success—dramatically.
Chances are, if you're in the early stages of your business, you're making nowhere near the $333 per day you'd need to make in order to reach your goal. That's OK. File that number as a longer term goal and determine a reasonable target to shoot for this month.
Focus on hitting this month's target. Let's say you're currently averaging $10 a day and decide that you can increase that to $20. Sit down and figure out what you need to do to make that increase. How many of your products do you have to sell to reach your goal?
For the sake of example, let's say you're selling one $40 product every four days. To average $20 a day, you need to sell one every two days instead. What are some things you can do to accomplish this? Would doubling your traffic do the trick? Or would bringing in a more targeted source of traffic be the answer? Are there ways you can make the product more appealing so that more of your existing visitors will buy it?
Look at everything and figure out specific, tangible ways that you can change things for the better. Never trust to luck. Never expect that simply adding some new tool to your marketing arsenal will do the trick all on its own.
Look at buying your product from your visitors' point of view. And I mean look at it honestly. What questions will your visitors need to have answered before they'll buy? What will your sales copy need to do to reach them?
Look at how they get to your site. Look at what needs lead them to look for your product in the first place. Understand them better and you'll sell to them better.
Challenge yourself to find a way to improve your business so you meet your goal. Rather than merely hoping that things get better, make it a habit to look for ways that you can make them better.
And once you meet your goal, you can set a higher goal for the next time period, building constantly toward the long-term goal you had set initially. As you get better at thinking backwards, you'll be able to make some intelligent projections of how long it will take to reach your goal. Your plans will become more solid. You'll find yourself growing more consistent and more confident of the direction you're going.
I have one more "never" to share with you, though, especially when you first start this exercise. Never give in to the temptation to try to make multiple changes at once.
As you look at all the ways you can increase your sales from $10 to $20 a day, you'll see multiple ways you can potentially accomplish this. Choose the one that you feel gives you the best chance of success and stick with just that one. Do the best you can with that one before you flit off to try something else.
The worst thing you can do is try a little of this and a little of that and never stick to any one way to reach your goal. Focus on improving one thing and one thing alone until you've done the best you can with it. Don't worry that some other ways might work even better. You can always try those other things when you're moving your goals upward from $20 to $30, or $30 to $50.
You accomplish far more by doing one thing completely than by never completing ten things that you've started.
Working backwards is an effective way of developing the mindset you need to succeed. And it puts you in the driver's seat. You control your growth. You learn to set realistic expectations. And, most important of all. You keep your business moving forward.
Jeff
Ever work backwards? No, I'm not talking about doing dumb things; I'm talking about doing something that's really smart.
Most people, when starting a business, have dreams of where they want it to take them, but never work through how to get there. Working backwards is an easy way to break down your dreams into the steps needed to make them reality.
Start with your goal and make it specific. Saying, "I want to make lots and lots of money," is not a specific goal. Come up with a specific number.
Let's say, for example, that you want to make $10,000 a month. Now break it down further into a shorter period of time. $10,000 a month breaks down into $333 a day or $2331 a week (there are 4.3 weeks in a month).
Now comes the part that makes this work. Look at those figures and determine what you need to do to make sure this happens over the timeframe you set for it. Most new business owners never do this; they simply set up their business and trust that "everything will all work out." But looking at your business in this "working backwards" mindset will increase your chance of success—dramatically.
Chances are, if you're in the early stages of your business, you're making nowhere near the $333 per day you'd need to make in order to reach your goal. That's OK. File that number as a longer term goal and determine a reasonable target to shoot for this month.
Focus on hitting this month's target. Let's say you're currently averaging $10 a day and decide that you can increase that to $20. Sit down and figure out what you need to do to make that increase. How many of your products do you have to sell to reach your goal?
For the sake of example, let's say you're selling one $40 product every four days. To average $20 a day, you need to sell one every two days instead. What are some things you can do to accomplish this? Would doubling your traffic do the trick? Or would bringing in a more targeted source of traffic be the answer? Are there ways you can make the product more appealing so that more of your existing visitors will buy it?
Look at everything and figure out specific, tangible ways that you can change things for the better. Never trust to luck. Never expect that simply adding some new tool to your marketing arsenal will do the trick all on its own.
Look at buying your product from your visitors' point of view. And I mean look at it honestly. What questions will your visitors need to have answered before they'll buy? What will your sales copy need to do to reach them?
Look at how they get to your site. Look at what needs lead them to look for your product in the first place. Understand them better and you'll sell to them better.
Challenge yourself to find a way to improve your business so you meet your goal. Rather than merely hoping that things get better, make it a habit to look for ways that you can make them better.
And once you meet your goal, you can set a higher goal for the next time period, building constantly toward the long-term goal you had set initially. As you get better at thinking backwards, you'll be able to make some intelligent projections of how long it will take to reach your goal. Your plans will become more solid. You'll find yourself growing more consistent and more confident of the direction you're going.
I have one more "never" to share with you, though, especially when you first start this exercise. Never give in to the temptation to try to make multiple changes at once.
As you look at all the ways you can increase your sales from $10 to $20 a day, you'll see multiple ways you can potentially accomplish this. Choose the one that you feel gives you the best chance of success and stick with just that one. Do the best you can with that one before you flit off to try something else.
The worst thing you can do is try a little of this and a little of that and never stick to any one way to reach your goal. Focus on improving one thing and one thing alone until you've done the best you can with it. Don't worry that some other ways might work even better. You can always try those other things when you're moving your goals upward from $20 to $30, or $30 to $50.
You accomplish far more by doing one thing completely than by never completing ten things that you've started.
Working backwards is an effective way of developing the mindset you need to succeed. And it puts you in the driver's seat. You control your growth. You learn to set realistic expectations. And, most important of all. You keep your business moving forward.
Jeff
Comments:
Post a Comment
© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Jeff Baas, One Stop Web Support
