What works even in a recession

Years ago, I discovered that with a few simple skills I could navigate through the thickest fog and magically get where I wanted to go, most of the time, much to the surprise of my friends. Now with a GPS it's so easy anyone can do it.

The same is true with your business. Once you know how to stay focused and navigate through this recession you'll amaze yourself as you see profits pouring in.

Use the following five steps:

1. Begin with an urgent and compelling goal. Pick a goal that's vital to the success of your business. It could be lead generation, referrals, increasing repeat sales, customer retention, etc. But whatever you pick, it should be so important that it motivates you to follow through.

2. Pick something you can accomplish within a few weeks, a month at most. If your goal is to write a book, identify a short-term sub goal, such as completing the first chapter.

Or if you want to get referrals, you could start by writing the sequence of questions you'd use to get existing clients to tell you how much they love your products or services. Then get them to give you 1-2 names of people they'll help you contact.

3. Pick something you can measure. Improving customer service is a nice idea, but you need a specific sub goal you can measure. Increasing repeat sales this month would be a good goal to measure.

4. Make sure the larger goal and the sub-goal you have picked is one that everyone on your team can commit to. If half your team doesn't agree that it's urgent, it won't happen.

If everyone can agree, for example, that they'll focus on adding one more sales partner each month, it's more likely to happen.

5. Pick a goal you can accomplish with the people and resources you have. That way you're not dependent on additional funds or new resources.

That's it. Now get started.

Pick an urgent marketing goal, stay focused and you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Courtesy of: Charlie Cook