<![CDATA[BizGrowth Inc - BizGrowth 5.0]]>

<![CDATA[BizGrowth Inc - BizGrowth 5.0]]>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:38:12 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Weighing Choices: Empowering Business Momentum]]>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/weighing-choices-empowering-business-momentum

Every day there are choices that are necessary to keep a business running. Also, every day, a business owner is pulled in a myriad of directions that can cause the focus to be on what is happening at that moment, versus what needs to happen in the next moments.

Depending on the business owner’s mindset, choices may also be made based on personal preferences versus strategic initiatives, personal biases versus objective perspective, over-analysis versus simplification, checking off boxes versus seeing progress, and a false sense of demand versus creating real momentum. Being able to weigh choices requires viewing them through a lens that will empower momentum-building decisions being made, not just by the business owner, but everyone on the team.

1. Wanted vs. Needed: When choosing between what is wanted versus what is needed, it is easy to go to what is wanted first because it is typically more attractive and feels better psychologically. What is needed to be done can be less appealing and feel like work. Decisions based on purely wanting can be a form of avoidance or procrastination without even realizing it.

Choosing comfort over discomfort results in you avoiding a hard conversation that needs to occur. Prioritizing speed over structure has you chasing short-term wins while deferring foundational work necessary for bigger long-term wins. It is easy to justify wanted choices because they may be relieving pressure now, however, what is needed to be done could prevent problems later. A great way to frame the difference is that choices based on want protect emotion whereas choices based on need protect outcomes. While morale may be temporarily high when everyone is just doing what they want, with no clear direction or alignment, engagement is lost because what is needed is being ignored or low on the priority list.
Choosing what is needed and necessary takes discipline and clarity. Consider these questions to help you better prioritize needs:

If I don’t address this situation now, what additional problems could arise?
What needs to occur before what I want can succeed?
What is necessary that if overlooked could sabotage success?
What needs to be done that will reduce future effort, friction, or rework?

2. Obvious vs. Best: Too often decisions are made with a surface level of understanding or investigation. Because of not going deeper, the choice may seem like an obvious “no-brainer” choice, but is it the best choice? Obvious choices are comforting because they are safe, socially acceptable, and can be easily explained. While what is obvious can be more easily defended, what is best takes conviction which is where true strategic leadership comes into play.
Choosing what is best creates advantage whereas choosing what is obvious may diminish advantage. Examples of obvious choices in action that become detrimental include copying competitors in what they are doing which hinders differentiation or advantage, hiring similar profiles and missing key strengths needed to grow the team and company competency, defaulting to industry norms versus reinventing and innovating, or deferring to policy or precedent versus what is in the best interest of the customer relationship.
Strategic judgement is in play when you are choosing what is best is over making a snap decision. Consider these questions to help you prioritize what’s best:

What assumptions are being made, and how should they be challenged?
How is this decision based on being liked or popular versus what is right and best?
Is the current solution being considered addressing the real problem?
Before we agree on this direction, what could we be missing or not seeing?

3. Complex vs. Simple: Complexity can look very impressive initially, and then it begins to overwhelm and confuse instead of exciting and empowering team members. Once it reaches overwhelming status, analysis paralysis can be the culprit along with a need for every scenario to be considered. What is complex can seem smarter and more sophisticated until it needs to be adopted and implemented.

A system is over-engineered causing higher costs with lower margins. Excessive metrics are being documented that do not connect the dots for optimal outcomes. A product offering is hard to explain, and therefore, it is not getting any traction. Getting something approved requires a long decision cycle or matrix hierarchy.
Choosing simplicity is not cutting corners. It brings clarity to execution and the likelihood it will be understood and consistently performed. Consider these questions to help you simplify with confidence:

What should we remove before we add without impacting quality deliverable?
How can we change behaviors without more paperwork and protocols?
What decisions need to be made before we build out the prototype/program?
What processes, systems or protocols are no longer relevant?

4. Productive vs. Progress: People can feel productive without being productive. So can business owners and leaders. Lots of boxes are being checked off, but are they the right boxes in the first place? If progress is not being realized, then productivity is not occurring even if everyone feels productive. Productivity can also create a false sense of being busy, whereas progress realizes a difference through what is being done.
Someone moving and shuffling paperwork can believe they are being productive, while no progress is being made towards a specific initiative. Productivity rewards effort while progress rewards outcomes. Productivity without progress is a form of self-deception. It creates motion without any direction or real measurable impact. Progress requires both left and right brain thinking in a collaborative spirit of engagement.
Progress makes effort more effective and rewardable. Consider these questions to help you start realizing progress in the work being done:

What is being enhanced, improved, completed, or optimized through the tasks being done?
What are the ultimate outcomes each task or responsibility is expected to support?
What progress do we expect to realize in this initiative and from each person assigned to support it?
What is being viewed as productivity, yet is not productive?

5. Activity vs. Momentum: When your entire team is working long hours, constantly in a reactionary mode, and scrambling to get ahead of their workload, activity is winning over momentum building. In our Economic Vitality Model, a company that possesses a high velocity quotient when scaling for growth has mastered momentum. Activity can look like hustling with full calendars of meetings, constant communication, and multiple initiatives.

I have seen in more companies than I can count over 40 years where sales were stagnant and growth simply was not happening, yet everyone was working long hours and getting nowhere. While activity is very visible, it can be more chaotic than intentional. Momentum is focused and directional. Activity consumes energy while momentum incites growth and advancement. Momentum requires commitment while activity spreads everyone too thin. Momentum forces alignment, trade-offs, and follow-through with accountability. Activity can cause duplication of efforts and working in silos. Momentum inspires collaboration and seamless communications.
Focusing on momentum transforms activity into team engagement with inspired actions. Consider these questions to empower momentum building decisions:

What is continually improving because we are doing it?
Where is time well spent because it is building momentum?
What is occurring that is more reactive than proactive due to a focus on constant output?
Where is there duplication of activity that needs to be more clearly assigned?

Business momentum is created when there is clear direction. Friction and challenges are removed, and everyone knows what matters most and what does not matter. You know momentum is being realized when decisions take less time, fewer people are needed to achieve the same result, execution requires less supervision and results continue to be realized even when leadership steps back to let the team perform.

Growth accelerates and scaling gains velocity when leaders stop asking, “What should we do?” and start asking “What choice empowers momentum?” It’s not luck. It’s not timing. It’s not talent alone.

Momentum is rarely lost because leaders lack intelligence, effort, or ambition. It’s lost in the quiet, daily decisions that feel reasonable in the moment.

Yours in economic vitality,

]]><![CDATA[Goal Getting: A Paradigm Shift to Achievement]]>Tue, 30 Dec 2025 03:48:01 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/goal-getting-a-paradigm-shift-to-achievement

As the new year is upon us, we are all consumed with what is to be achieved, overcome and accomplished over the next 12 months. In many ways, we limit ourselves without even realizing we are doing it. We allow disappointment at what was not accomplished skew our belief in what we may be able to accomplish in the future.

A work/life balance mentality causes us to weigh our personal lives against our professional lives in a mindset of guilt or sacrifice with a belief that one must give up some things to get other things. The transition into a new year causes us to think only for the short term over these next twelve months instead of a more expansive vision to guide us in our life versus a small part of it.

Instead of approaching this year with the same old, same old, consider these five goal-getting secrets to having a satisfying life and business:

1. Three Aspects of You: Too many entrepreneurs don’t feel whole. Why? Because you have been led to believe a part of you must be sacrificed to grow a successful business. Your family. Your friends. Your hobbies. Your time. All must be sacrificed at a cost you may not even realize until it hits you like a ton of bricks later in life.

Here’s the truth. When you honor all of what makes you feel whole, your opportunities open in ways you scarcely imagined. So, make your goals honor the three aspects of you in 2026 – your Me, Myself & Inc. The ME aspect is the part of you that is shared with others, your family, friends, team members, and others you engage with or will engage with. The MYSELF aspect is what makes you unlike anyone else. It is what makes you passionate and what drives the inner core of you. The INC aspect is the professional, business, get things done part of you.

Set goals in 2026 that feed and fuel the three aspects of you. Set goals that can help you feel whole again.

ME GOALS: What are your ME goals, related to sharing yourself with others and spending time with others? Who are the others you want to make a priority and how? What is desired with family? What is desired with friends? What is desired in being out in your community and enjoying activities with others? What is desired with those you work with or who are employed by you?
MYSELF GOALS: What are goals you have for yourself? Your wellbeing? Your interests and hobbies? Your health? Your unique talents and skills? What are you curious about learning?
INC GOALS: What are your goals for your business as they relate to you as the business owner? What are goals related to your ability as a leader and owner? What are goals related to growth, scaling, and expansion? What are your goals related to competency, capacity and gaining advantage?

Momentum Building Decision #30
It takes elevated thinking to realize next level results.

2. SMARTer vs SMART: In my Forbes article entitled, 5 Keys to Everyone Embracing Company Goals, I turn the SMART goal setting model we learned to embrace from the 1980s on its head as an outdated, and unsuccessful way to approach goal getting. Why? Because that old paradigm is too focused on the goal and not who is achieving the goal. Big difference.

And just like taking the SMARTer approach is more effective in getting your employees to achieve your company goals, this approach is a true game-changer for you achieving your goals … all of them.

Below is a comparison to bring the point home:

Goal Centric	VS	Person Centric
S = Specific	vs	S = Specific
M = Measurable	vs	M = Meaningful
A = Attainable	vs	A = Action-Inspired
R = Realistic	vs	R = Rewarding
T = Timely Deadline	vs	T = Time Well Spent
	++	er = Exponential Results

The old goal=focused concept is also limiting one’s thinking encouraging doubt by forcing someone to make a judgement call on what is realistic or attainable. Isn’t a goal supposed to stretch and challenge you, not limit you? And being specific covers the measurable and timely deadline aspect indicated in the old paradigm, so why be so redundant? Shift to SMARTer and see just how empowered you feel about achieving your goals compared to the old way!

3. Values/Reasons Aligned: Part of the reason the SMARTer goal getting is so powerful is that it gets you to go deeper into why a particular goal is meaningful, which helps you better align with your core values and what truly matters to you. What is meaningful becomes time well spent. What is meaningful is more rewarding. And because it is meaningful and rewarding you are more inspired to take action.

Another important part of understanding why a goal is meaningful is your reasons reaffirm it is a goal you want to achieve. When you internalize it with reasons that matter for you, then it becomes a goal you want to prioritize and focus upon. When your values are aligned with your goals, you become unstoppable because your actions feel inspired, empowered, natural and effortless.

Bottom Line Rule #14
Strategy brings clarity. Clarity ignites results.

4. Mission/Vision = Clarity: Another reason the SMARTer goal getting is powerful is that it has you looking at what you can realize from achieving your goals along with what is realized by living your values throughout your lifetime. This gets you to be more visionary and purpose driven in your approach to goal getting. Most people have a goal yet never consider what they will realize from reaching that particular goal. Most people know their values yet have not given thought to what ultimate benefit would be realized by having lived and breathed that value day in and day out.

Let me give you an example to illustrate what I mean. I know that my personal mission is to inspire new thinking. My books, blogs (this one included), and articles all strive to reinforce new ways of thinking. This was what I deemed to be the ultimate benefit of having lived my values of creativity/innovation and open-mindedness. These two values lived fully and daily would result in the lifelong benefit of inspiring new thinking.

My vision for my company is that we are the catalyst behind helping small businesses achieve a 100% success rate. Yes, a bodacious vision and one I truly believe is possible. Why? Because we believe that we just need to help business owners see what they cannot see and then think unlike they have thought previously. And what will help that happen? By inspiring them with new thinking … new thinking that has been validated through extensive research and best practices over decades.

Making decisions on what to achieve is clear when everything we strive to do is aligned with my mission and our vision in mind.

Momentum Building Decision #26
Setting a series of goals to achieve an overriding goal ensures success.

5. Short term = Long Term: From a strategic perspective in honoring the three aspects of you, Me, Myself, and Inc. goals are more likely to be “gotten” if the short-term goals are building blocks towards longer term goals. You are setting yourself up for greater success when there is a clear connection between shorter term goals and longer-term goals.

Here are a few examples to help you understand the power of this approach.

A Me Goal: A business owner who had sold her business for millions wanted to have an even greater impact on lives and create a legacy in the process. Her story of overcoming adversity inspired her to write a book sharing her message of the power of faith and perseverance against all odds. The longer-term goal was to start a nonprofit helping others overcome adversities and limitations to triumph. Her internationally acclaimed book became the catalyst for growing exposure and funding for the nonprofit.
A Myself Goal: I have been taking daily Italian lessons in snippets for this past year, growing to an elementary reader level currently in a goal to speak Italian fluently. My long-term goal is to spend an extended sabbatical in Italy, and an intermittent short-term goal is a two-three-week trip to Italy within the next 2 years.
An Inc Goal: A U.S. manufacturing business owner desired to expand his business’ geographic footprint coast to coast. A short-term goal was to build plant capacity for handling a much larger customer base and footprint demand. An interim goal was to identify a location for a second distribution facility that could serve the western U.S. He found a location in Nevada through a strategic relationship for a distribution center just in time for expansion due to a large contract that would catapult its west coast expansion.

In 2026, make it a breakout year for you because you have shifted from mere goal setting to goal getting. Instead of making resolutions, create a revolution in your thinking where goals are embraced, not just professed.

Yours in economic vitality,

P.S. Ready to roll up your sleeves and make 2026 your best year ever!? My Dream Wide Awake Empowerment Guide may be just what you need to know yourself better than you ever had before and to dream that is inspired by action and a CAN DO spirit.

"Sherre' L. DeMao is a master strategist and in this workbook she shares a masterful framework that will help you know who the real you is ... your purpose, your passion. and your path. Highly recommended!" - Whitney Vosburgh, author of Work the Future! Today!

Purchase it on Amazon TODAY as a gift to yourself or your team.

]]><![CDATA[Igniting Velocity: From Volatility to Scalable Growth]]>Wed, 15 Oct 2025 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/igniting-velocity-from-volatility-to-scalable-growth

We are always reminding our entrepreneurial clients to focus on what they can control. Easier said than done. Business owners tend to overcompensate when it comes to being in control, and fixate on what is outside of their control, resulting in no traction for the business. External volatilities (economy, regulation, supply chains, increased competition, etc.) often get the headspace and the focus. Internal volatilities can be more undermining, limiting growth or the ability to scale at all.

This BizGrowth 5.0 gives you bonus insights into seven internal volatilities that can derail a company’s best intentions and ability to scale. Internal volatilities are the fluctuations and inconsistencies that come from within the business itself. In most cases, taking charge and driving solutions to address these volatilities is all that is needed. These include cash flow instability, reactive leadership, talent turnover, operational inconsistency, customer relationship risk, overextension of resources, and founder burnout.

1. Cash Flow Instability: Inconsistent billing, delayed collections, and poor financial controls create unpredictable liquidity and stressful business management when payroll needs to be met, and vendors need to be paid. Processes around payment terms, collection, and invoicing frequency and accuracy can mitigate delays. Should deposits be expected before work begins? This is especially important when work is labor intensive. Over-reliance on one or two big customers also makes revenue swings more volatile.

Add to this contract-based payment terms that extend into the 60-day or 90-day timeframe, and your business becomes more and more at the mercy of this customer in what it can and cannot undertake due to cashflow, especially at the beginning of the contract.

This is where financial cushions are critical. Entrepreneurs often focus on growth, but neglect building cash reserves that can be a stopgap when needed, such as the case of the great contract with 60-90-day payment terms. Our research has confirmed that best practices are to have between 9-12 months of operating expenses in reserve, despite the mainstream stating three months is sufficient. It is not sufficient. We need only refer back to the impacts of business shutdowns during COVID to be reminded of the importance of a cash reserve.

Bottom Line Rule #22
Strive for 9 - 12 months of
operating expenses in reserve.

2. Reactive Leadership: Entrepreneurs tend to pivot quickly, and this agility can be a value-added advantage against bigger competitors. However, agility should be strategy based and not reactively based. Frequent shifts in strategy, customers and priorities create confusion for employees and customers and may feel more like a constant reinvention of the wheel. When leadership is constantly chasing the latest business management fads it comes across as indecisive and lacking a strategic foundation.

When there is no clear commitment to a direction, enhancing deliverables and raising the bar of excellence, opportunities are not identified and there can be no momentum. Being over-involved in day-to-day details as a leader or founder can inhibit team members from doing their best work, slowing scalability, and limiting capacity. Lack of clear job roles and responsibilities can also limit delegation from leaders to team members and team members to one another, leading to bottlenecks and reactive rather than proactive decision-making.

Bottom Line Rule #14
Strategy brings clarity.
Clarity ignites results.

3. Talent Turnover & Culture: Small teams are highly vulnerable when one person leaves or underperforms. When turnover is high, the team dynamic is always in flux. A lack of formal onboarding, unclear roles, protocols for performance improvement, and culture misalignment creates instability and confusion even before the team can gel. Entrepreneurs too often hire quickly for growth but don’t manage engagement and performance well, leading to team member burnout and attrition.

What leaders need to understand is that when anyone starts working in their company, they are not engaged, but they are hopeful. In those first 90 days that you are assessing if they are going to be a valuable contributor, that team member is assessing if they have made the best decision for their career and their life. A focus on engagement with each team member to feel like a valuable contributor to the company at the onset will incite them to become a valuable contributor in the company.

Bottom Line Rule #32
On day one, an employee is hopeful, not engaged.
What you do from day one matters most.

4. Operational Inconsistency: Processes that exist “in the founder’s head” or aren’t documented effectively cause volatility in delivery and quality. Team members are then working based on their own assumptions instead of clear guidance and direction. Lack of systems for sales, customer service, or fulfillment means performance depends on who’s available that day. Technology not being leveraged fully or impactfully creates a void in automating the business.

Time is not being used efficiently to free up space for hands-on engagement, innovation and problem solving. Putting out fires becomes a daily norm instead of elevating team members’ ability to be proactive and effective. Entrepreneurs often scale revenue faster than operations, creating growing pains. These growing pains can cause quality deficiencies, unclear roles and responsibilities, duplication of efforts, and overpromising and underdelivering. Instead of trying to catch up to revenue after it is realized with reactive hiring, customer complaint management, and damage control, having a strategic growth plan that anticipates scalable operational needs coupled with clear systems and protocols ensures your growth has momentum.

Bottom Line Rule #13
Ignoring what isn't working is
more costly than facing it.

5. Customer Relationship Risk: Depending on a few clients or one distribution channel magnifies volatility if any of them change terms or leave. No client should represent more than 20% of your overall gross sales, and less than 15% is what should be your ideal. A business whose largest client is more than 75% of its revenue is not a business but a single source contractor representing a huge stability risk. While a multi-year contract can give a false sense of security, poor client management and team engagement or lack of diversification create revenue shocks.

Internal failure to measure customer or team member satisfaction and loyalty allows churn to sneak up. Depending on a single industry source of revenue, unless you have carved out a niche with strategic brilliance, can cause internal volatility if the industry is impacted as a whole. If new laws, tariffs, or restrictions hit the industry, your business is disproportionately exposed. Like the stock market, entire business fortunes rise and fall with industry health. Relying too heavily on a single industry can blindside companies to cross-industry opportunities or disruptive trends emerging elsewhere.

Bottom Line Rule #31
No single customer should be more
than 15% of your gross revenue.

6. Overextension of Resources: Effective scalable growth requires an ongoing proactive focus on capacity building. Chasing too many opportunities (new products, markets, partnerships) spreads the business too thin. Lack of prioritization leads to unfinished projects and wasted momentum, which then negatively impacts morale and team engagement. Limited staff and capital can’t sustain the same pace for long. Capacity building requires an astute understanding of how to effectively leverage time, people, technology and money for greatest scalable impact.

When a business’ current resources are stretched and resources are not being leveraged fully, quality begins to suffer on all fronts. Having the right people with the right skills doing the right job requires anticipating roles today and how they will need to evolve tomorrow. Identifying how technology can simplify delivery of services, free up manual time for more value-added skill focuses, and integrate across the entire operations sets a business up for growth.

After we helped an engineering firm back into their desired double-digit sales growth numbers by identifying all capacity areas that would be affected by each increment of growth, their employee turnover decreased, profit significantly increased, client satisfaction resulted in extended contracts, and overall morale in delivering their services also increased.

Bottom Line Rule #23
Build capacity through effectively leveraging
time, people and technology.

7. Mindset & Founder Burnout: Entrepreneurs’ personal resilience, confidence, and energy directly affect the business. As the founder and leader, you set the tone for the entire team. If you are stressed or exhausted, it shows up in a multitude of subtle ways that you may not be aware are telling everyone there is something to be worried about. Volatility in the founder’s health, focus, or motivation can ripple across the company. Unexpected events in a business owner’s personal life that cause a distraction from the business can leave people feeling lost or clueless if systems are not in place to guide and direct them.

Micromanaging instead of building a leadership bench keeps the business from stabilizing and scaling. While incremental growth may be happening, there will come a point where your business has hit its ceiling of growth because it can no longer be managed solely by just you as the owner.

Growing leaders in a smaller enterprise starts by giving key people more and more responsibilities with oversight and guidance. Holding onto too many of the reigns in a growing business not only limits its ability to grow even more but also causes owner burnout. A need to have your hands in everything in the company leaves no down time or ability to escape, release and relax. Instead of enjoying your own business you start not to enjoy the business at all and start to question if it is really worth all that it is taking out of you.

Addressing these internal volatilities will set you up for realizing a High Velocity Quotient (VQ) in your business. In our Economic Vitality® Model, the key to having a high VQ is in embracing what it takes to realize a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ) strategically and high Emotional Quotient (EQ) culturally. Read my Forbes articles on each of these by clicking on the hyperlinks.
In conclusion, if you are frustrated by what feels like stagnant, feast or famine, or small incremental growth, consider how these seven internal volatilities may be showing up in your business. As an added reference, review this Internal Volatility Checklist as a starting point to prioritize where you need to focus first.

Yours in economic vitality,

P.S. Want to read more about the Velocity Quotient? Read my Forbes.com article entitled, “Velocity Quotient: Empowering Agility & Growth”!

Sherré L. DeMao, CGS is author of Dream Wide Awake, 50 Secrets of Growth Companies in Down Economic Times, and Me, Myself & Inc. – a Synergized World, An Energized Business, Living Your Ultimate Life, and the CEO/founder of BizGrowth Inc. an award-winning next-level strategy, training, and intellectual property development firm based in Denver, NC, serving clients across the United States. As a Forbes Council expert and thought leader since 2022, her blog seeks to help entrepreneurs build businesses with economic value, worth and preference in their industries and marketplaces.

]]><![CDATA[Emotion vs. Logic: Empowering Momentum-Building Decisions]]>Fri, 15 Aug 2025 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/20250806emotion-vs-logic-empowering-momentum-building-decisions

Every day decisions must be made in business. What sets growth companies apart from the rest of the pack is grounded in leaders having the ability to make momentum-building decisions, using both emotion and logic appropriately. How momentum building are your decisions in growing your company?

What we have found is there is clear delineation for when logic is key, emotions are key and when both must be balanced in decision-making.

Emotions play a key role in decision-making when it comes to company culture and team morale, branding and storytelling, and customer experience. Core values being in personal alignment to forge stronger relationships is important between all stakeholders inside and outside of the company. A company that possesses a high EQ understands this all too well when it comes to its culture and engagement. We have also preached for decades the importance of understanding the psychographics of ideal target markets for an emotional connection through branding, storytelling, and customer experience.

Logic is best in decision-making when it comes to financial decisions, legal and compliance, and operational efficiency. Logic-based decisions are more data-driven critical thinking. For instance, reviewing budget and cash flow projections or contracts to ascertain where cost savings can be generated or justifying the cost of a hiring investment. When it comes to compliance or legal issues, regulations, laws, and requirements come into play dictating best decisions to be made. For operational efficiency, decisions on technology may be logic-based driven by functionality, ease in integration and scalability.

Momentum Building Decision #10
A highly desired corporate culture
drives retention and company worth.

Emotion + Logic = Momentum

1. Hiring & Firing: While making the cost investment in hiring can be a purely logical determination, when it comes to hiring or releasing a team member, both logic and emotion should be intertwined in the decision-making process.

One of the biggest deterrents to growth for many business owners is a reluctance to hire their first key people, which is driven more by fear, while being justified with logic. Once this mental barrier is overcome, then logic plays a role in defining skills and qualifications desired, performance measures and role fit, while emotions consider culture fit, potential and relational team dynamics. Does the prospective hire bring a can-do attitude and enthusiasm to their role? Will they strengthen the team or disrupt morale? Does the top candidate in skills also demonstrate alignment with core values, culture and embrace the company mission?

Terminations, when necessary, are best handled when both emotion and logic are balanced in the decision and the handling. The emotions side of this is in handling news to the team member being released with dignity, respect and empathy while balancing it with clearly documented reasons that also take into consideration the entire team. For instance, making the tough decision to let go of a top performer who is toxic to the team is where preserving the culture and overall team dynamics wins. In every case where I have seen this occur in a business, the team rallied in ways the business owner could have scarcely imagined exceeding expectations after the toxic employee was released.

Momentum Building Decision #11
Choose your customers wisely.

2. Customer Strategy: Data analytics and return on investment analysis play a role from a logical perspective in developing momentum building customer engagement strategies. From tracking purchase history, a customer’s lifetime value (CVU), conversion, and churn rate, to measuring campaign effectiveness and profitability, these are all supported by data that should be accessible and trackable.

Mentioned earlier, the emotion or psychographics, play a key role in understanding the emotional triggers in pain points, core values alignment, and branding that tells a story that emotionally resonates with customers. A loyalty program is most effective when emotional value is incorporated into the dollars and sense value of being loyal. Small heartfelt gestures can also go a long way to creating lifelong customers, as well as how you demonstrate the importance of relationships by how you correct a problem a customer experiences with your company. Making things right is an emotional value-add.

Bottom Line Rule #20
Profitability first. Growth second.

3. Growth Decisions: Making growth decisions needs data and logic to confirm everything from market demand and competitive advantage to improving profit margins, cash flow, and returns on investment. Planning for capacity in resources, tools, and capital also needs logic to assess and consider the best options.

Where emotion comes into the mix is in confirming growth strategies are in alignment with vision, mission, and dreams for the company. Feeling personally excited and the team feeling excited about the growth initiatives, and how growth will impact balancing work and life for everyone on the team is also an emotional weigh-in for today’s workforce.

Momentum Building Decision #12
When people are valued as assets,
your choices become clearer.

4. Outsource Partnerships: Strategic vendor or supplier partnerships for your business also need a mix of emotion and logic to confirm the best fits. Does the partner fill gaps or skills needed in your organization? Will the partner build capacity needed? What is the track record, history, and reputation of the prospective partner?

On the emotions front, values being in alignment are of key importance for a sustainable partnership. A shared vision and mission are also key for the partnership to be a scalable relationship. Their people and the chemistry with your internal team is also important to weigh in. Never forget that people like to work with people who are likable, communicate effectively and seek to form genuine connections.

Momentum Building Decision #22
Get out of your own way.

5. Exit Strategy: Choosing to sell a business is already laden with emotion for many business owners due to it being their baby about to be sold to the highest bidder. But it doesn’t have to feel that way. Putting your emotional equity aside, which can be tainted by a need to hold on tight and control, emotion does play a role in making momentum building decisions that will feel right while logic ensures the sale is done right.

Ensuring the company is strategically sound, financially stable, and poised for growth all requires logical analysis and assessments. Valuation is based on financial metrics and a third-party objective appraisal. Logic also plays a role in determining timing of your exit. Is the market right for a buyer? Your deal structure is also based on logic. Will it be an outright sale, a gradual buyout, merger, or liquidation?

Letting go at the right time has an emotional role through respecting personal wellbeing and avoiding burnout. Planning for succession also has an emotional role in mentoring your future leaders while also building your personal legacy. Being considerate of the transition in honoring relationships and creating closure with valued team members that will be staying on after you leave is also an emotional factor that when handled adeptly gets them excited to see where the new owner will take the company.

Bottom Line Rule #12
Ignoring what isn't working is
more costly than facing it.

In conclusion, momentum-building decisions best occur with logic and emotion being beautifully in balance. Avoid mistakes that can occur when you allow emotions to override clear data pointing you in a clear direction. Don’t allow emotions to delay critical decisions to avoid a tough decision that needs to be made or analysis paralysis to cause a bottleneck in getting to a clear answer. Rally your team to collaborate as stakeholders and idea generators leveraging both logic and emotion. And always consider sitting still in a moment to listen to your gut instinct when all logic and emotion has been considered. Then confidently go for it!

Yours in economic vitality,

]]><![CDATA[Preference Building: The Power of Non-Negotiables]]>Mon, 16 Jun 2025 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/20250630preference-building-the-power-of-non-negotiables9964928

Being an agile, quick-on-your-feet business owner is why you are still able to conduct business amidst economic uncertainty, competitive pressures, global innovation, and the list goes on. The ability to flex and adapt is what has always made America’s entrepreneurs the foundation of economic recovery. Just as important as your agility is your capability in knowing what is in the best interests of your customer to the point of inflexibility. What … you might be asking? Inflexibility?

When conducting strategic sessions with clients, once we have clearly defined their ideal target market segments, we then lean into what should be non-negotiable in their business to serve their ideal customers better than anyone else. In working with entrepreneurial companies that have effectively established their mark as the go-to, preferred choice in their industry or marketplace, these savvy businesses understand the importance of being inflexible when it counts the most. Defining and effectively communicating what is non-negotiable and why should be focused on what is for the greatest benefit of the customer. Positioned properly the customer views it as exceptional, not unreasonable, which is what makes this strategic advantage builder so powerful.

There are five factors to consider when determining what should be non-negotiable for your business. These factors are being customer-centric, mission and values driven, quality assurance, desired end results, and accountability.

1. Being customer-centric: What is your approach to being customer centric. Is it that “the customer is always right” or that “the customer is #1”? If your mantra is “the customer is always right,” that could be contributing to your inability to be a preferred provider. If the customer is always right, then why do they need you? They can be right at a plethora of other competitors too with no reason to have an allegiance to you. The preference-building answer is that the customer is #1.

This means your business makes them feel that way in the experience they receive, and your employees embrace this from a service and delivery perspective. While serving as chair of a board of directors for a non-profit, we learned that the association management firm had recently sold to another owner. This firm had been servicing the non-profit membership association along with its philanthropic charitable association for 20 years. What was so eye-opening about this announcement was that this firm did such a phenomenal job of servicing the dual associations, it was felt by all on both boards that we were the only clients that the firm had. They made our leadership feel so taken care of and served that it was just assumed that we were their only clients. We learned that the reason the new owner found great value in this association management firm was because of its customer-centric approach that boasted decades of client continuity. The customer being #1 was demonstrated in everything the firm had put into place to serve an impressive client base.

Bottom Line Rule #2
"It's not about appeal; it's about preference."

2. Mission & Values Driven: How do your mission and core values drive your approach to conducting business and making momentum-building decisions? Are you willing to walk away from a big book of business or contract if it goes against your mission and values? A powerful example of this non-negotiable is when Chobani yogurt first hit the streets as a new brand of Greek yogurt. Their mission from the start was to make high-quality, nutritious food accessible to more people. For Chobani, this meant figuring out a way in the production of their Greek yogurt to keep it high quality, while making it more affordable to the general public. This also meant that they were going to insist that their Greek yogurt product was placed in the dairy section, not the natural foods section, where everything was much higher priced. The founder and leadership team were united in being willing to walk away from big contract, even from desired retailers such as Wegmans, if their yogurt was not placed in the dairy isle. Within 5 years, Chobani realized $1 billion in sales and transformed the industry, still to this day driven by the same impassioned mission.

Chick-fil-A has made being closed on Sundays a non-negotiable, reinforcing its emphasis on honoring family and a day of rest. Despite this, it is still among the most successful fast-food chains with decades of positive sales growth.

Bottom Line Rule #9
A business built on a powerful purpose is one built for profits.

3. Quality Assurance: What is essential to ensure that quality will be maintained to the point you will not shortcut or eliminate a key step or component in your offering? A language services firm was owned by two master-degreed linguists who developed a five-step process to language translation that added a key layer of confirming and validating accuracy in delivering the intended message from one language to another. This became a differentiator that ultimately resulted in being the language translation company of choice for the Social Security Administration for multiple contract years.

The typical remanufactured ink cartridge is refilled through splitting and resealing the cartridge, which causes potential ink leakage and damage to a printer. A remanufactured cartridge company owner refused to split cartridges in its process, determining a different way to refill the ink, while assuring its internal environmental and quality standards. This resulted in these re-engineered cartridges performing better than brand new OEMs at significantly less cost resulting in national contracts and the sale of the business to an eager buyer.

Momentum Building Decision #14
When your strengths are demonstrated through actions,
your advantage is demonstrated through results.

4. Desired End Results: Doing what is best for the customer to achieve the desired end result can also mean stressing certain aspects of what you do or provide as essential and non-negotiable. This does not mean you are being unaccommodating. It means you have time-proven that these aspects are critical to successfully meeting and exceeding customer expectations. In addition to establishing clear expectations of how to serve the customer, you have also determined which aspects of your product development, service delivery, or your approach cannot be altered or eliminated.

For example, a landscape architectural firm realized its non-negotiable was the expectation that every client would invest in an irrigation system in conjunction with its landscaping design/build services. This was in the client’s best interests to avoid their thousands of dollars of investment on design and plantings literally drying up. If a client stated they would make sure they would take responsibility for the watering of the finished landscaping, the company would decline the project. The company had allowed this argument to win in the past, and then later had very unhappy clients with brown or wilting landscapes because they did not hold up their end of the bargain. The owner determined for the sake of his company’s reputation and his client’s best interests, the irrigation system would no longer be an option, but non-negotiable. This resulted in a higher caliber of homeowners who appreciated the added assurance of care to their landscape investment.

Bottom Line Rule #17
Every business can become commoditized.
Differentiation is key.

5. Accountability: Are you willing to hold your customers accountable to provide them with the best possible outcomes and deliverables? The accountability factor is especially powerful in combination with the other factors when you are willing to take a stand on the customer’s role in what is being purchased. By having a non-negotiable around accountability, you are setting expectations in a two-way relationship dynamic with the customer and among your team. By holding your customer accountable, you are demonstrating just how much you care about delivering as promised and their critical role in making that possible.

A diamond blade distributor for the construction industry was impassioned to help the small guys out in the field perform better through his company’s products. However, the industry standard was to give away blades for trying out in the field, and this was not reaping sales. In many cases the free blades would get lost in the shuffle and could not be tracked with any reliability. Serving as a COO on-call with the distributor, I declared there would no longer be any free diamond blades given away. Instead, the offer would be a quantity discount price with a Blade Right Guarantee. Discounts were not often given to small subcontractors for a single blade. The discount pricing was contingent on the expectation that the blade would be put to the test and feedback would be provided on how well it achieved its purpose. Being that the business owner had great knowledge of the variety of blades and what would work best, he rarely had to replace a blade with another option. His team would also deliver the blades directly to the job site, saving the subcontractor time and money. By holding his customers accountable, he increased sales and conversion to quantity buying without having to give away any blades. Most important, he gained trust and respect.

Momentum Building Decision #5
Be better than anyone else at something.

How can you determine what is non-negotiable to set you apart from your competitors? What aspect of your product or service is so important to the end result that if missed, it will sacrifice quality or affect its delivery? Is there a particular step in your approach or process that you use in working with a client that regularly uncovers critical insights needed to get the answers they need? Do you have a system established that your competitors do not that has proven essential to success? Have you identified common mistakes made by competitors that you have addressed and can help customers avoid? Is there a unique component or step in your product development or service delivery that is key to it exceeding performance or quality standards?

One of the most impactful aspects of having some non-negotiables is you are willing to stand by what you offer in a way that competitors may not be willing to do. Most important is that it will ultimately benefit the customer in a way that a competitor cannot. Any non-negotiable should be backed with clear rationale and compelling success stories that will engage your customers with a feeling that they simply cannot go anywhere else. When you have accomplished this level of customer loyalty, you will know just how differentiating non-negotiables can be.

Yours in economic vitality,

]]><![CDATA[Investment Mindset: Key to Scalable, Agile Growth]]>Tue, 15 Apr 2025 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/20250428an-investment-mindset-key-to-scalable-growth8629417

Too many business owners are stuck in an expense-focused mindset instead of being investment-focused. An expense-focused mindset is a mindset of lack and survival. Certain expenses may be viewed as a cost of doing business or unavoidable and just what is necessary to operate. It is like not valuing your people’s time shared in my Forbes article “Why Everyone’s Time in Business Matters.” Every dollar you spend in your business should reap some form of return on your investment. Every. Single. Dollar.

Not valuing what you are spending money on can have an unintended negative impact on your business and your decision making. Every business owner needs to view any expenditure within their business through the lens of being an investment with an expected exponential return. When you are too focused on profit and loss from an income and expense standpoint, the decisions you make may not be the best decisions for your business. You may be reducing profitability and opportunity in your business by eliminating an investment that would take you beyond where you are currently. The critical success factor is knowing how to effectively assess current or anticipated expenditures to validate them as good investments.

Before you can effectively assess a potential investment, you must shift your way of thinking to how you approach operating your business.

Momentum Building Decision #7
Surviving sees expenses. Thriving sees investments.

1. A Growth Mindset: If you are saying things such as “we can’t afford this at this time” or “when we make more money or profits,” you are not in a growth mindset, but rather a survival mindset. Whenever you are thinking in terms of limitations, you believe this is your reality to survive. Even amidst insurmountable challenges an entrepreneur with a growth mindset will believe that they will find a way or make a way. There will be a mentality to explore possible resources and a conviction that there are multiple options that can be considered.

A business owner with a growth mindset believes investing in the business and its people are worthy and necessary. Finding a way or making a way is empowered by helping others find a way or make a way. This includes your workforce as well as your customers. Exploring all potential resources and multiple options gets you to consider how you can more effectively leverage your people’s skills and talents, their time, your time, and technology for greater efficiency and effectiveness. Viewing both your business and your people as worthwhile investments changes your thinking to one of forward thinking versus limited thinking.

2. Four Resources: The four resources that need to be assessed on an ongoing basis within your business are time, people, technology, and money. How are you effectively investing in time in your business? How are you investing in the right people within your business? How are you investing in technology in your business? If you clicked on the link to the Forbes article mentioned earlier, you know that time is spent by people in a business in five key income-impacting ways: Generating, Producing, Sustaining, Supporting and Enhancing. Having people spending their time in the most efficient, effective, and value-added ways inside and outside of the company is a game-changing growth dynamic. Technology integrated effectively can help save time and empower your people to be more effective in their jobs.

When time, people, and technology are not considered to the extent of their resource value, money is typically not being allocated appropriately or strategically for momentum-building impact. In essence, you may be allocating money in the budget that is not necessary, will not reap return on investment, or could be allocated in better ways. To ensure sustainability, growth, and strategic differentiation, where you invest money should also focus on ways to better leverage time, people, and technology throughout your company.

Bottom Line Rule #19
ROI = Impact + Strategy + KPIs

3. ROI Measurables: There are two measures that need to be considered when confirming an expenditure will be a good investment. The first are quantifiable investment factors and the second are enhancement investment factors. The quantifiable factors are more tangible to measure, whereas the enhancement factors are more intangible. Either way, key performance indicators should be defined for the ability to measure and monitor after the investment is made.

To follow are some quantifiable ROI factors to consider:

Increases productivity so more is being accomplished in less time or with less effort.
Increases efficiency in a process so time and money can be spent elsewhere.
Increases profitability of an offering so more money is being realized with each sale.
Increases sales into business that are currently not being realized.
Saves monies being spent in the business (fixed and variable costs).
Recoups monies being spent for allocation elsewhere or improved profit.
Reduces costs while enhancing deliverables.
Increases the likelihood of capital funding.
Increases valuation of the company.

To follow are some enhancement ROI factors to consider:

Allows more time to focus on income-generating or income-producing activity.
Allows more time to focus on income supporting or sustaining activity.
Improves employee performance and communication.
Adds capability or capacity within the business.
Adds skills and internal competency within business.
Adds credibility within the business.
Improves customer relationships within business.
Improves employee attitudes and morale.
Increases knowledge and expertise in business.
Aids in distinguishing against competitors.

In working with clients, we use a ROI Enhancements and Quantifiables Matrix to stimulate discussion and analysis to confirm whether an initiative being considered is a worthwhile investment. If you are interested in exploring further, the matrix with some examples is accessible in the P.S. of this blog.

Bottom Line Rule #6
Allocate spending in three ways:
Sharing, capacity building and value building.

4. Budget vs. Spending Plan: A business should have a budget and a spending plan. Some people may think, “Isn’t that the same thing?” No, they are not the same thing. A budget is an estimate and guideline for categorized expenditures based on income and desired profitability over a specific period of time. A spending plan is based on current and projected income which adjusts based on targets being reached.

When working with a construction monitoring and soil testing engineering firm, the concept of having both a budget and a spending plan was driven home during our facilitated goal-setting session. The owner had been basing growth goals strictly on a 15-25% increase in sales each year. However, while realizing these targets, the company was always in a reactive mode to meet the demand that had been realized. This resulted in bad employee hiring decisions and scrambling for equipment or resources that required paying more due to the urgency. During this goal setting session, I pushed back and asked the following questions. What net profit do you want to realize? What equipment will be necessary in your testing lab with this growth? From a capacity standpoint, what staffing will need to be added in the lab and out in the field? Will administrative support need to be added to support the larger lab and project management team? Will the 15%, 20% or 25% growth require expansion in another geographic area? Will an office need to be added if this is the case? Is your technology able to scale from a CRM, project management and operational standpoint?
All these questions resulted in a spending plan based on different percentages of growth. It also resulted in micro-goals to support the overriding sales goals. The spending plan empowered the firm to be proactive in hiring, equipment purchases, technology investments, and more. Their profit increased and the business owner’s anxiety due to growth decreased.

Momentum Building Decision #8
Value enhancing should be an everyday focus.

5. Capacity & Value Building: To be able to effectively scale a company for year-over-year growth, as demonstrated in the example of the engineering firm, investments need to be made proactively, staying one step ahead of demand. Being reactive to demand is being a business that is merely surviving versus thriving. Being reactive results in stumbling through growth versus empowering growth. However, an investment mindset isn’t just about capacity building. It is also about building a company of true value and market worth. How are you investing in leadership succession? How are you investing in growing tangible and intangible assets in your business? How are you minimizing risk? How are you ensuring differentiation, reoccurring income, or improving your EBITDA? The area most ignored by business owners and leadership is around organizational value building. This is a prime example of leading by working in the business versus leading by working on the business. When leadership is not focusing on how to make the organization more valuable and scalable, it is no wonder that businesses get stuck in either feast or famine or flatlined growth.

The investments that you make are critical to the ultimate success and growth of your business. Considering what you are spending in your business for it to grow is as important as what you are making in revenue and profits in the business. When you understand the dynamics of all three in combination, your business can grow and prosper regardless of economic conditions.

Yours in economic vitality,

P.S. Considering an investment and need a way to gauge its feasibility? CLICK HERE to access our ROI Enhancers & Quantifiers Matrix with an example for reference.

]]><![CDATA[BONUS: Return on Referral: 12 Keys to Referral Conversion]]>Mon, 17 Feb 2025 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/return-on-referral-12-keys

Quality referrals are golden to any business. Understanding the strategy necessary for garnering unending referrals is where most businesses fall short. Typically, our BizGrowth 5.0 provides five key success factors on the topic. In this bonus edition, we bring you 12 key success factors to consider for building an endless flow of referrals into your company that convert to loyal customers.

Have you or your company received referrals you do not even know about because these decision makers never took action to connect when referred? Have you received what felt like a hot lead or referral, only to see it go cold or silent for no explainable reason? Do you get frustrated by referrals that are not a good fit for your company, having to navigate how to refer them professionally and gracefully to someone else?

The two biggest problems we see with business development professionals and business owners in their business development efforts are in embracing the end goal of successfully converting a prospect into a paying customer. First the referral needs to be the right fit for your company, and your company needs to be the right fit for the prospect. Second, you need to realize that a strong referral generation program takes into consideration how the company operates, markets, and intends to grow. Your business needs to be a well-oiled machine that makes prospects excited to learn and know more.

Bottom Line Rule #14
Strategy brings clarity.
Clarity ignites results.

#1: Return on Referral (ROR): Over 40 years of working with businesses, we have tracked success rates of different approaches to gaining new customers. Cold calling has proven to be the least effective means of generating new customers, with a 1% chance of securing a meeting or even a return phone call with a prospect. The most effective means is through being in the right place all the time. When someone seeking the services or products you offer is continuously being introduced to your business from a multitude of sources, this is how you increase your conversion rate and realize better return on referral (ROR).

#2: NOT Just a Marketing Initiative: Gaining referrals as a means of new business is often narrowly associated with marketing or sales efforts. While at a surface level, this makes sense, if you only associate it with marketing or sales, you may have a more difficult time converting the prospect into a long-term customer. Why? Because earning a customer’s trust goes beyond the slick marketing messaging you may be presenting to get them to buy for the first time. Everyone in the company, from operations to accounting, is and should be involved in customer experience.

Bottom Line Rule #17
Every business can
become commoditized.
Differentiation is key.

#3: Attraction/Retention: Most business owners and salespeople do not understand the critical factors in attracting and retaining ideal customers. It begins with convenience and the perception that you are easy to do business with and then moves to two confidence-building phases. The first phase of effective confidence building will get the prospect to become a customer with an initial purchase. The second phase of confidence building will result in multiple purchases or an extended relationship. Customers begin to believe they are getting immense value for their time and money spent. The true pinnacle of success is when the customer believes they cannot find what you offer anywhere else. That can be a combination of a unique experience they enjoy with your company to a WOW factor that no one else provides.

#4: Wow = Customer Referrals: If you believe you need to create a referral incentive program to get more referrals from you customers, you have a problem you may not even be aware that exists. Your goal should be customer loyalty because you have delivered above and beyond time and time again. If you do an exceptional job in wowing a customer, they will happily refer others to your business. You should not need to encourage them or incentivize them. Another factor that can hurt customer referrals is not being kept in the loop with all that you offer. In interviewing thousands of customers of clients over a 30-year period, we learned that more than 50% of customers are aware of less than 50% of what a company offers. Read that again. No wonder referrals are not happening!

Momentum Building
Decision #5
Be better than anyone else
at something. Be the best!

#5: Referrals = Beyond Customers: When a business first starts, how does it most effectively get customers? It doesn’t have customers yet so it cannot expect referrals to come from a customer base that doesn’t exist. This is the irony when businesses rely so heavily on customer referrals. They are shutting out circles and tools of influence that could exponentially increase referrals flowing in. An effective referral program should be started even before a business gets officially opened, building a network of highly influential connections that will refer customers into the business. These connections either serve the same type of customers you are targeting or are highly influential to these potential ideal customers.

#6: Internet = Credibility: What happens when you google your business name or google your name? What shows up in the feed either reinforces to a prospect that they should learn more about your business or move on to another option. In the same study that helped us define the key attraction and retention factors, we also learned that unless there is valuable content or an operational reason to access the company website, most customers had not visited the website since they were a prospect. However, it is the first place they will tell someone they refer to go to check the business out. Give your customers reasons to keep coming back to your website, as this will also remind them of all that you do. Make sure you have some credibility measures in place including testimonials, reviews, awards, case studies, or endorsements that reinforce why others have chosen your company over others.

Momentum Building
Decision #8
Value enhancing should
be an everyday focus.

#7: Get Involved Strategically: In a study where we compared high growth companies to negative or stagnant growth companies during the Great Recession, and amidst COVID, high growth companies were selectively involved in trade, civic, professional, or charitable organization with a clear strategy behind the involvement. Business owners that had stagnant or negative growth were over-involved. Why didn’t being involved in more organizations make a difference? Because there was no strategy connected to being a member, participating in an event or saying yes when asked to volunteer. These companies were desperately throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what might stick. The high growth companies were involved for one of three reasons. 1) Direct contact with ideal target segments, 2) Connections to a circle of influencers in their industry or marketplace, or 3) Providing resources or support to effectively operate and grow the business.

#8: How You Show Up: Your actions and how you conduct yourself when you think no one is paying attention is when you as a professional can really set yourself apart from competition. Do what you say you are going to do. Return the phone call. Respond to the email. Follow up as you said that you would. Help make a connection for the prospect even if it does not benefit you initially. This further enhances your strategic involvements when prospects see how you behave when you are not getting paid. Those who shine in volunteer roles get referrals for their business because people think, “Wow, if they are this way when they are just volunteering their time, they must be amazing when getting paid to do it!”

Momentum Building
Decision #15
It’s not just sales; it’s having
the capacity to execute.

#9: Capacity to Deliver: The worse thing a business can do is ramp up marketing efforts when there could be capacity issues within the company that could impact delivery. Being referral-ready means you can effectively deliver to impress and win even more business. Referral generation should consider how you are going to deliver what you promise. If you have process issues, workforce issues, or supplier issues, you are inviting a prospect into a bad experience. Make sure your ducks are in a row operationally.

#10: Preference Building: In this age where any type of business can become commoditized, it is essential that your business is doing something that no one else is doing or can do as well. Even better is if what you offer cannot be provided by anyone else. Do you have proprietary products or offerings that are protected by trademarks, service marks, patents, or copyright? If you don’t, you need to stop looking like everyone else and figure out what you can offer unlike anyone else. When you create something of preference, you gain customer preference.

Bottom Line
Rule #21
Investment of time and dollars
should reap a 10x return.

#11: Coopetition: Have you ever considered that your competitors could be a quality referral source? It is what I like to call coopetition. By knowing your competitors, which ones are direct competitors and which ones are indirect, you may find certain competitors could be great collaborative partners or referral partners. Among your competitors, there are ones that are focusing on a particular segment you are focusing upon, and vice versa. When I first relocated my business to our current location, I met with consulting firms working with large enterprise, knowing that small to midmarket companies may reach out to them. They were happy to refer the smaller businesses to our firm after confirming our track record and many accolades, so they could focus on what was more profitable for them to serve.

#12: Strategy + Action: Generating quality referrals that easily convert to long-term customers is a strategic initiative that requires due diligence, focused thought, and momentum building decisions to be successful. The most critical component after these factors is consistent, unwavering action. We have been sending a weekly inspired action newsletter since 2008. Recently we had three prospects convert to customers because of this weekly email. Most interesting of all, is when we explored the open rates of all three of these new customers, not one of them had opened the weekly email for several months. The subject line caught their attention, because we always ask a question that gets to a pain point. They were inspired to action by simply seeing our name in front of them week after week, and then that singular question hit them in a way that inspired them to finally reach out to us.

In closing, a rule of thumb for return on referral is that you realize a 10x return on the investment of your time and dollars spent. Determine a realistic period of your recouping the investment of time and money and track your results against that investment. Referrals can be the lifeblood of your business when strategically motivated. A successful conversion is achieved when new customers have decided you are worth purchasing from repeatedly, and even more important, that your company is the best or only choice for what they are buying. When you realize that level of loyalty, your referral conversion will be far greater than the 10x return on investment.

Yours in economic vitality,

]]><![CDATA[Founder's Syndrome: Getting Out of Your Own Way]]>Mon, 16 Dec 2024 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/founders-syndrome-getting-out-of-your-own-way

This year marks 40 years working with entrepreneurs and it has been both rewarding and illuminating. There is not a day that goes by where we are not inspired by what is being done exceptionally well, and also what could use a dose of reality or insight to help business owners get out of their own way. Over these years, our company has advised and guided countless founders of entrepreneurial enterprises.

There are many ways a founder can be classified from being a visionary, daredevil or maverick to being an innovator, thought leader or industry changer. All of these can be exciting, engaging and empowering aspects of working with a founder of a business. What is not so engaging is when the founder becomes the business’ greatest detractor in what the business could potentially become. When founders continue to make the business all about them, and not about how the business can ultimately thrive beyond their own competency and capacity, the business will never be what it could be. This is what is called Founders Syndrome, and the only cure is for these founders to release their grip and allow others in and able to take the business to even greater heights of relevancy, excellence and growth.

Here are five ways the Founder’s Syndrome shows up in the attitude or approach of a founding entrepreneur:

1. My Way or the Highway: A business owner that believes he or she has the answer to everything will hold back the business in ways that will never be seen or known due to a dictator approach to leading, or rather, limiting optimal success. Even if the business has realized immense success at the hands and efforts of its founder, every business reaches a point of influx where what the founder knows is not enough to sustain or grow the business. A founder who is willing to accept that what may have been the way before could be vastly improved or evolved puts the business in a better place for continuous improvement and growth. A founder who must be involved and bless every decision or action undermines everyone else in the company for what they each were hired to bring to the business. The most astute founders hire people in areas where competency is lacking. They allow everyone to do their best work and recognize and reward their contributions.

Momentum Building Decision #21
No one has all the answers, but someone has an answer.

2. Hiring Followers: For a business to grow, a founder must evolve hiring to go beyond those who are merely support personnel or direct reports. For a business to grow beyond a founder it ultimately needs others to help lead within the organization. Another aspect in hiring for the business to excel is that the founder needs to be surrounded by people who are smarter in areas in which the founder may be weak or less knowledgeable. This is what we call enhancing the business’ Intelligence Quotient (IQ) through leveraging the business’ Emotional Quotient (EQ), which is its people and their collective IQ. While it may be an ego boost to have a team that follows your every whim and direction, without those who are willing to be self-leaders including challenging a direction based from their expertise and experience, you may be holding your business back from its next level of growth.

Bottom Line Rule #7
(IQ + EQ + VQ) x PQ = Economic Vitality

3. It’s My Baby: A business with a high engagement, high performance culture has team members who take ownership with passion for the work being done and difference being made. In essence, they believe that the business is their baby too to help succeed. If founders are constantly focused on the fact that the business was birthed by their actions and dedication, the business will never grow beyond the confines of what the founder believes it can or cannot be. It will be a business decades old that still seems like a start-up in many ways. For the business to truly launch, grow and prosper, it must be inspired by its vision and mission in ways that continually have it evolving over time. The greatest aha a founder can realize is witnessing the business grow beyond what was ever imagined by them because of the heart, blood, sweat and tears of a dedicated culture of people who imagined even better, ever greater, and even more impact.

Bottom Line Rule #9
A business built on a powerful purpose is one built for profits.

4. Unopen to Direction: It always amazes me how an entrepreneurial company can grow like gangbusters initially due to the brilliant idea of the founder and then fizzle. There are several reasons for this to occur. One is that the founder may be an idea junkie who gains great satisfaction and energy from constantly generating ideas. After the initial success of their new business idea, they want that “dopamine fix” from even more ideas flowing out of their brain which is where their focus continues to go. The problem begins to occur when the obsession with ideas has no focus or reinforcement to growing the current business. They become a distraction instead of a benefit to the company. Known as the “shiny object syndrome,” the owner creates chaos in the company with no clear direction or focus. When their own ideas are an obsession, they can also be unopen to ideas from others. They believe they can be the only visionary or problem solver. They can take great offense when told they need to stay focused because that feels limiting. A founder that is willing to be held accountable and reigned in by a strong leadership team all aligned in the business mission and vision is one that will see their business blow their own imagination in how it grows.

Bottom Line Rule #13
Ignoring what isn’t working is more costly than facing it.

5. Creating a Codependent Business: Another sign of a business suffering from founder’s syndrome is a when a co-dependent business is what has been built. A founder that has a business that is too dependent on a key client, a key employee, a specific contractor or supplier, a specific process or the founder themselves is a business that will never be grow beyond the founder’s limitations. Read more about each of these in our blog, 5 Negative Impacts of a Co-dependent Business.

Momentum Building Decision #23
Get out of your own way.

In conclusion, I want to emphasize that when your business got started or is launching a new initiative or direction, being in founder mode is very different than being stuck in founder’s syndrome. Being in founder mode simply means that the founder is fully engaged and involved in leading and guiding the new initiative, with an "all hands on deck" mentality. However, where it goes awry and becomes toxic is when the founder syndrome aspect of micromanaging, dictating, and ego drives the direction. As this CNN article concludes, “a great founder needs a great management team” and “the most successful ‘founder mode’ owners have a trusted manager by their side.”

Yours in economic vitality,

]]><![CDATA[Codependent Leaders: Undermining Engagement & Performance]]>Tue, 15 Oct 2024 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/codependent-leaders-undermining-engagement-performance

In a blog written in October of 2022, I shared the negative impacts to business growth in having a codependent business. This edition is going to delve deeper into codependency at the leadership and management level within an organization. While leadership should ideally empower, engage, and inspire team members to do their best work, when a leader is codependent, performance, productivity, and engagement within the corporate culture is hampered.

A codependent leader is one who relies too heavily on a team member or the overall team to the detriment of their own or their team members’ advancement. Additionally, being a codependent leader can negatively impact the business or department’s efficiency and optimal performance.

How does codependency happen? According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, insecurity as a leader plays a role in creating either avoidance or anxiety attachments of codependency. Narcissism is also associated with a codependent leader who is all about control and manipulation of team members. Consider if any of these scenarios are showing up in the leaders within your business.

1. Holding People Back: I am a proponent of strengths-based team engagement and leadership. If you have hired people smarter than you and more competent in certain areas than you as their leader, kudos to you! Henry Ford was once quoted as saying hiring people smarter than you is key if you want to effectively grow and build the company beyond you. Codependency occurs when what key people on your team know is so critical to your success as a leader, that you hold them back from advancing and gaining opportunities through their contributions. This typically happens when the leader takes credit for these key team members’ brilliance instead of lifting up and recognizing the team as key contributors to desired outcomes. Eventually you will lose these people. A leader with the confidence to admit what they don’t know and give kudos to those who do know is a leader who can be trusted, admired and respected.

Momentum Building Decision #25
If you are too dependent on the outcome,
you haven’t considered your options.

2. Micromanaging Everything: In our CURx2 corporate culture assessment a statement that is often checked that is occurring in micromanaging cultures is “Management is highly visible and engaged with employees on a day-to-day basis.” This is typically coupled with a statement that “The manager to whom I report dictates what I do in my job and what my priorities should be to be successful.” If you don’t allow a team member to think for themselves, you are holding them and your business back. A codependent leader can be an incessant micromanager, needing to know everything that is happening and dictating every move a team member makes. Their codependency is all about being in control and not losing control. There is a level of distrust that is imminent in this codependent leader. They believe they can only count on themselves so must manage everyone and everything to their complete satisfaction.

Momentum Building Decision #27
Whatever is out of your comfort zone is a learning experience.

3. Not Knowing Simple Answers: When you rely on one person too heavily for certain things to the point that no one can replace them or you believe they are the only ones who can do it, you are a codependent leader. I recall witnessing this firsthand while lobbying for small business on Capitol Hill. I would meet with legislators and witness them look over to their chief of staff regarding their stance on a particular issue or initiative or the status of a particular bill. I sat there in disbelief as an elected official could not answer a simple question and was so dependent on their chief of staff or staff members to tell them what they were supposed to say. Once I witnessed this, I realized who was the essential person to engage with, and it was not the elected official. A key success factor in a leader who is not codependent is that they know how important cross training team members is to ensure no one is so essential that everything pauses or stops until they can be re-engaged. There is always someone who can pick up the slack in any given situation.

Bottom Line Rule #18
Training should be an ongoing quality
control and value enhancing initiative.

4. Costs Too Much to Replace: When a leader has someone in their employ that does some things exceptionally well and other things not so well, and they keep them due to a belief it will cost too much to replace them, there is a problem. I think back to a CEO who for the longest time kept a high performing toxic sales manager on board due to his results garnered, until finally the toxicity was too much to bear. Then after letting go of this “high performer,” the entire department seemed to be unleashed with a level of performance he had not seen before. Why? Because the “high performer” was holding everyone else back, and then he was gone. That CEO saw a 200% increase in productivity once he stopped “depending” on someone who wasn’t as high performing as he had previously thought.

Bottom Line Rule #12
Always have a back-up plan.

5. Expect 24/7 access: I immediately think of the movie “The Devil Wears Prada” where Andrea must be at Miranda’s beckoned call no matter what time of the day or night when I think of the codependent leader that must have 24/7 access. This is a codependent leader on steroids. Needing to have so much control over a direct report’s time that they could care less about life beyond work is a leader who believes the entire world revolves around them.

As a leader in your business, the key to success is to help others lead themselves and leverage their responsibilities in ways that catapult the business forward. Instead of holding your people back, empower them to excel. Instead of making it all about you, make it all about them and how their skills and abilities are exactly what the business needs to realize levels it has not experienced before.

Yours in economic vitality,

]]><![CDATA[Technology - Some Things Never Change]]>Thu, 15 Aug 2024 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.bizgrowthinc.com/bizgrowth-50/technology-some-things-never-change

Over the years, I have witnessed, advised or helped rectify numerous encounters and situations related to technology with business owners. What I have concluded is that business owners are perhaps trusting too much, don’t know enough to properly manage their Internet presence and technology, and then are left at the mercy of others at the most inopportune of times.

SPECIAL NOTE: This blog was originally written as a business column in a regional business newspaper back in May of 2013. I was amazed that over a decade later, these five points are still an issue with small business owners in their assumptions being made with technology as a form of exposure in their business.

Part of the problem is in assumptions that business owners make or because of what they don’t know that they don’t know. Another issue is that technology providers do not effectively communicate with business owners for optimal understanding about what they are receiving.

1. Registrant ≠ Owner: When you register a domain or have someone else do it for you, make sure you are listed as the actual registrant in the record. Being listed as a registrant identifies your association with your domain. You don’t own it, but you do have the ability to control it if you are listed as the registrant. To maintain control, you must rent or lease it for an annual fee. For more control, you should have your own business account with a reputable provider of domains so that you are paying directly versus through a third party. There is a lot of misleading information still on the Internet stating that when you initially purchase your domain, you own it. You don’t. The organization, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – www.icann.org), is the owner of all domains. Everyone else is leasing and then sub-leasing to you. Not sure whether you are listed as the registrant? Go to whois.com and key in your domain to confirm.

2. Your View ≠ Others’ View: Another area business owners do not understand is the importance of knowing and confirming how the company’s website is truly being received on the other end. Unlike your physical business where everyone sees the same curb appeal when they arrive at your business, your website Home page could look different from one viewing screen to another in color and appearance. Add smart phones and iPads and even more viewing challenges can occur in what you desire to be seen versus what actually is seen. Another area where businesses need to look is in the searchable archives on the Internet. If you have old records that appear as cached in the search listings that are out-of-date and not desired to be seen, the best and only way to eliminate them is to go to the server on which they are stored, perhaps through your previous website provider, and have these page files officially deleted from their server.

3. Designer ≠ Programmer: A lot of business owners assume today that the designer of their website is also the programmer. That is the equivalent of thinking the architect that designs a building is also the builder. Your website, now more than ever before, is the result of a combination of talented team members, and if not, it should be. Just as you would be involved in all stages of a building that your business was investing in for your operations, so should you understand the components of what is involved in building a website. This will also help you ask better questions to get at the best possible website for what your business needs from an Internet presence and operational management standpoint.

4. Youth ≠ BizTech Savviness: While your children or grandchildren may be able to help you program your smart phone in a blink of an eye, they are as intimidated as you are when it comes to shifting their techno-abilities into the business world. Keep in mind, for instance, that social media has been a personal adventure for our youth and young adults. When they are asked to conduct social media for business, they need total direction and guidance because they honestly haven’t been in that mindset. If you want it done right without needing to handhold, seek out professional expertise like you would with any other initiative in your business.

5. TechSpeak ≠ BizSpeak: This point is actually written more for the Tech industry serving small business. I could write an entire column on this alone. Stop confusing business owners with your terminology! For instance, assets to a web designer are the content, images and graphics being used, whereas to the business owner it is their cash, holdings and tangible property. Then consider terms such as “wireframing” or “GUI design” or WYSIWYG” or "SEO" or "UX" and you begin to see why business owners become quickly frustrated by the web development process. Many business owners interpret “wireframing” to mean it is being programmed and are shocked to learn that this is actually a blueprint or schematic before the graphic design or programming begins. Hint to web providers. Call it a blueprint.

To the computer or IT guru, all of what I have mentioned here is quite basic stuff. But for the business owner, it is a source of frustration that becomes eye-opening when they must manage some of these issues. Becoming more aware of technology from an operational perspective will save headaches down the road and make it easier for your business to more seamlessly adapt with technology when ready for your next level of growth.

Yours in economic vitality,

Sherré L. DeMao, CGS is author of Dream Wide Awake, 50 Secrets of Growth Companies in Down Economic Times, and Me, Myself & Inc. – a Synergized World, An Energized Business, Living Your Ultimate Life, and the CEO/founder of BizGrowth Inc. an award-winning next-level strategy, training, and intellectual property development firm based in Denver, NC, serving clients across the United States. As a Forbes Council expert and thought leader since 2022, her blog seeks to help entrepreneurs build businesses with economic value, worth and preference in their industries and marketplaces.

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