As the great Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” With all the moving parts of a business to look after, it’s no wonder that some things fall through the cracks, which directly affects your business growth, income and bottom line profits. And having to do virtually E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. by yourself can make you feel overwhelmed and like you never achieve anything on the daily. Especially if procrastination is your middle name. Let’s examine five business killing mistakes that will diminish your profits if not fixed right away.

5 Business-Killing Mistakes you’re Making Every Day

1. Inconsistent Marketing

It’s just not enough to publish one Facebook post or a couple of tweets or Instagram shots that are totally unrelated to what you do, every week. Likewise, ignoring your email list is also detrimental to your business. IMPORTANT! Even if you only have seven people on your list – you MUST email them! I think I had about 50 people on my list before I felt brave enough to insert myself into their inboxes on a regular basis! You can join my mailing list here by the way!

If you don’t keep up with a consistent marketing plan, people will forget your name, will forget how they ended up on your email list, or forget why they’re following you on social media.

These forgotten people need to be won over yet again and they need to hear and see your company name on a consistent basis before they decide to spend money on your products or services. A coach can offer solutions and ideas to make your marketing more consistent and more effective.

2. Failure to Automate

Are you stuck in the old school way of doing things, like making phone calls to confirm appointments instead of using automated email reminders like Acuity (which I personally love for taking appointment and workshop bookings and payments!) or SMS technology to send text message reminders to confirm?

Even posting on social media can be automated using platforms such as Planoly, Hootsuite or Meet Edgar. Yes, some of these automation tools cost money but compare the monthly or annual costs to the cost of an employee or a virtual assistant doing the same task. If you haven’t reached that stage yet then these options are a great alternative.

The old school ways are much more time consuming, and so it costs you more money in the long run. A coach will be knowledgeable about the latest technology that can help you automate while sticking within your budget.

3. Poor Branding or Messaging

What is your company’s mission? What is your Unique Selling Point? Do you know who your target market is? What their pain points are and what they REALLY want instead? If you can’t answer these questions, you need to revisit your messaging and your business image, because most customers make a buying choice based on emotions, not logic!

And let’s talk about branding, because this aspect is so more than your logo and business colours; branding is your overall image and what you promise to your customers. A coach can ask the right questions that help you drill down to those core principles that drive your business.

4. Bad Money Management

What processes do you have in place for your bookkeeping and paying your monthly invoices? Do you have any idea what your income vs expense spreadsheet looks like? Do you have a habit of buying training classes that you don’t have time to use? Be honest, we’ve all done it!

There’s no reason you should be surprised at tax time with how much (or how little) profit you made in the last year. Businesses that are positioned for growth have good money management solutions in place and a coach can help you create a budget for your business along with solid processes for handling your monthly expenses.

5. Reluctance to Reinvest in Your Business

Think of reinvesting as a way to grow your business. Instead of taking the extra profits out to pay yourself every month, keep those profits in the business and use them to hire a virtual assistant, purchase software or training tools that will help your business, or invest in a coach. Each of these reinvestment options will help your business run more efficiently so you can have more time to serve your customers and prospects.

Of course, you should pay yourself a salary every month. It’s the profits (or a percentage of the month’s profits) that should remain in the business to help it grow. I typically reinvest 30% of my profits into my own growth and that of my business and in turn I can pass those new skills onto my clients.

As you can see, a good coach can help you get these business mistakes rectified and offer more solutions for your growth. Book a complimentary strategy call today.