As a young entrepreneur starting your own business, you have a lot of questions. Your main question might be: “what is my fastest route to success?” This is an important question to ask, but to answer this question, you need to first get very clear about what success means.
I speak from experience here. When I first started my mortgage marketing agency, I was so focused on the “race” that I almost forgot about my vision for the business. But once I recalibrated, I discovered the engine that enabled me to build a thriving 7-figure business in less than three years.
Now, I’m more determined than ever to help as many people as possible. However you choose to define success in your business, the following tactics will help you get further, faster.
1. Make Digital Work for You
Regardless of whether you’re running a brick and mortar or online business, you must figure out a digital strategy that works for you. The beauty of living in the digital world is that anyone with a website can have a business. The challenge of living in the digital world is that anyone with a website can have a business.
This means you’ve got to figure out how to grow your share of the online market. At a minimum, make sure you have a digital marketing strategy for each of the following channels:
- Website traffic growth
- Email list growth
- Email marketing
- Social media marketing
I have always believed in and embraced the power of digital. I credit my success with finding the right system for online marketing early on. My team and I diligently track our data and adjust our strategy and tactics based on what we see. This system has enabled us to help hundreds of loan officers grow their businesses.
2. Remember: Garbage In = Garbage Out
Any successful digital marketing strategy also must take into account the quality of the content you’re creating as well as the quality of the leads coming in. Putting leads into a broken system will not yield better sales and higher conversion rates. This principle is known in the business world as “garbage in, garbage out.”
Marketing is the driver of sales. But these two parts of the business must work together seamlessly to get the results you want.
We can look at my industry as a good example. In the mortgage and lending industry, a lot of lenders and real estate agents turn to marketing companies to drum up leads for their salespeople to call.
What happens? Marketing companies deliver terrible results. Leads come through broken or unqualified. And loan officers don’t have time to sort through bad leads.
No matter what industry you’re in, the lesson here is clear. You’ve got to figure out how to qualify leads. Here are some places to start:
- Create a long-form lead capture questionnaire for prospects
- Hire someone to qualify leads for you by asking key questions
- Use highly specific images in your ads
- Use hyper-specific targeting of audiences for your ads
3. Find a Proven Closing Process
When you know your leads are solid, you’ll be able to fine tune your sales, build connections with prospects, and most importantly, strike while the iron’s hot!
If your marketing machine is returning solid leads, you may be ready to turn your attention to sales. While some people are naturally talented here, others could benefit from some coaching. Watch out for coaches who will try to sell you general sales coaching though. Conversion coaches are best for upping your conversion rates.
4. Run Your Business on Your Terms
Finally, no business—no matter how high the revenues or how fast the growth rate—can count as successful if success is not on your terms. I knew from the moment I started my business that I would only count it as a success if I was also making time for family and friends. I fully believe that everyone can craft the life they want as long as they have the tools and inspiration to get there.
Why own a business only to let it take over your life? Keep these tactical tips in mind and you’ll build a successful business on your terms.