Melanie Benson Strick

Open Doors for New Revenue

Posted on Dec 21, 2011 in Business Growth | 1 comment

by Melanie Benson Strick

One of the biggest challenges facing a service-based business is how to grow bigger than just you. When your revenue is a result of the work solely you perform, you can only get as big as the amount of time you can actually work for a client.

Time constraints can create a wealth ceiling; without proper leverage strategies your revenue will be limited. Or worse yet, you’ll work yourself into the ground trying to fit in more clients.

It’s time to unleash leverage into your business so you can explode your profits without giving up your life. Here are some strategies I teach my clients to grow.

Think  “Leveraged” Offerings

To avoid getting caught in the time-for-money trap, you’ll want to think in terms of “how can I get this  knowledge to many people at once?” The following are some of the best strategies for leveraging your time and being able to impact multiple people at once.

Wow Customers and Build Relationships

Posted on Nov 2, 2011 in Business Growth | 2 comments

By Melanie Benson Strick

One of my favorite routines is a walk to my local Starbucks. Sometime before noon, I grab my Ipod, tune it to a success audio program, throw on my sneakers, and trek the half mile to enjoy my favorite pick-me-up – a half caf soy latte.

When I walk in, the barista asks me, “Hot or cold today?”

I always smile when I pull out my shiny Gold Starbucks card with my name imprinted on it. This is how I get my free soy and rack up points to get to my free drink.  I think to myself… Starbucks certainly knows how to KEEP me coming back. I actually cringe if I have to go to another store. I feel like a traitor.

Starbucks understands that the cost to acquire a new customer is much greater than the investment in keeping the ones they have happy.

Check out this statistic from “Leading on the Edge of Chaos”, by Emmett C. Murphy and Mark A. Murphy: 

“Acquiring new customers can cost five times more than satisfying and retaining current customers.”

DELEGATE Before The Holiday Rush

Posted on Oct 26, 2011 in Business Growth | 1 comment

By Melanie Benson Strick

The holidays are just around the corner and with them, the craziness of business planning for 2012, and the non-stop holiday celebrations. And – for some of us – it’s time to get our products in the hands of those holiday shoppers.

This year, why not do it differently?

Let’s get some stuff off your plate NOW, to make room for more important activities.

There are more than 101 tasks you can delegate to free up your valuable time, but I’m going to just focus on my nine favorite ones (three of which are actually more personal than business). Before I dive in any further, let me remind you WHY delegation is so valuable for someone pursuing six figures or beyond.

First of all, it allows you to focus your time and energy on what you do best. Thousands of dollars are wasted when you spend countless hours learning everything. Even with the training you are learning here at StomperNet – you can hire someone to implement it FOR YOU!

Secondly,

Productivity and Your Business Success

Posted on Oct 19, 2011 in Productivity | 1 comment

By Melanie Benson Strick

In our fast-paced society we encounter a constant feeling of “how can I get more done.” There is a study that revealed the average human being is bombarded with over 1,000,000 bytes of information in a minute. And that was before Twitter and Facebook existed! No wonder it’s so challenging to get things done. Think about how many times you ended your day wondering how your to-do list didn’t even have a dent made in it.

Most of us suffer with terminal “over-commit and under-perform” habits, especially when it comes to our own businesses.  Some of it has to do with the habits we have cultivated for years. Some of it is due to the nature of how our businesses are set up. But a good portion of why we don’t get more done is because of the conditions we live in.

The conditions we set up in our life either pull us forward or block our progress. Most of us have unconsciously set up conditions that sabotage our growth and make getting things done ten times harder.