Recently, we hosted a workshop with our Swag Coach Small Group Coaching community and discussed this topic. The results were varied. Some distributor business owners said they have support teams so they can focus solely on selling. Some have their own sales force that they have groomed and grown. Some owners choose to do everything in the business from start to finish, and some of us plug into back-office partners so we are freed up from overhead, employees and administrative tasks. It’s up to you to figure out the best model to scale your promo business, but here’s what I did to get this process going. Step 1: Decide which part(s) of the business you want to handle. Here’s an exercise I call the Love vs. Hate Exercise—take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. Write the words HATE DOING on the top left column. Write the words LOVE DOING on the top right column. Close your email, shut off your phone and really think about what you like and what’s most important to you, then make a list under each column. Really think about what parts of your business make you happy and will add to its value. When you are done, you should have a clear picture of what activities and tasks you need to hand off (HATE DOING list) and where you will focus your time and energy moving forward (LOVE DOING list). Step 2: Determine which type of business model works best for you. Are you the type of person who wants to control/own everything (like I did in my 20s) or maybe you are hyper-focused on the parts you love (for me, that’s relationship building, coaching and mentoring) and prefer to hand off the rest? While this may change over the course of your career, what is your mindset right now? Take another sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. Write the words HANDLE INTERNALLY on the top left column. Write the words HANDLE EXTERNALLY on the top right column. List what parts (departments) of the business you want to keep internally versus handling externally (outsourcing through partners). For me, I’m all about keeping the sales strategy, coaching, vendor negotiations and revenue-generating activities under my roof, and handing off the rest (technology, order processing, accounting, etc.). Step 3: Select and deploy a repeatable sales growth strategy (process). Get strategic. The days of being an order taker, waiting for the phone to ring or for emails and sales leads to come in are over. Deploying a proactive strategy for scaling your sales is critical to growing your promo business. There are lots of strategies to deploy, such as targeting a vertical (we call it finding your Million Dollar Niche—see details in PPB’s August issue), setting up a lead generation/referral system, selling company stores, etc. Pick one or two and go after them. Once I completed these three steps, I was able to home in on a business model that worked for me, and my sales and happiness skyrocketed. Take the time to be intentional with how you scale your own sales and promo business, come up with an operational model that works for you and then watch as you reach new levels of success and happiness. Josh Frey is founder of Falls Church, Virginia-based distributor On Sale Promos and the Swag Coach Program. He is a 25-year industry veteran and front-line sales coach. Josh@swagcoach.com. Visit TheSwagCoach.com to register for his next Distributors Helping Distributors show and learn more about his promo coaching programs offered. HATE DOING LOVE DOING HANDLE INTERNALLY HANDLE EXTERNALLY Take the time to be intentional withhowyou scale your own sales andpromo business, come upwith an operationalmodel that works for you and thenwatch as you reachnew levels of success andhappiness. | JANUARY 2022 | 45 GROW
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzU4OQ==