How To Create Strategies For Business Growth

Posted on January 21, 2022 by harborcapitalgroupinc

How To Use Business Growth Strategies To Become A Superior Competitor

If you are in a competitive market long-term, you will likely go out of business because eroding margins are the consequence of destructive competition.

Therefore, you need a powerful strategy for business growth to become a superior competitor.

The good news is there are three strategies we will cover in this blog that you can repeatedly use:

keep creating new ideas and innovations to acquire new clients,

get them to purchase more,

and increase the number of times they buy each year.

Learn how to get out of that long-term competitive race with a superior, long-term strategy for business growth.

Our strategic framework will elevate your products and services over the competition—no more short-term tit-for-tat competitive strategy.

You will have a process that will deliver endless business growth strategies, opportunities, and revenue growth, making you the market’s value leader.

Without the hype, buy now marketers we see so much of today.

This Strategy For Business Growth Blog Will Briefly Cover:

1. How to make better decisions more often. It covers expertise and critical thinking from one’s perspective and vision.

2. Then, three ways to increase revenues and what you can afford to spend to acquire a new client.

3. And then, we will discuss only three things — business growth strategy, creative insights, and marketing strategy —

you can repeatedly use to keep improving value and increasing revenues and profits.

Let’s talk about decision-making first because you may want to change how you approach decision-making.

And we know you must make many daily decisions as a business leader. So, let’s start with a question.

With So Many Growth Strategy Decisions, How Often Do CEOs Make The Right Decision?

The answer is 52%. You only have to make the right decision 52% of the time to be a top decision-maker — 2% more than the flip of a coin.

Remember New Coke or the Edsel car? Billions were spent and lost by brilliant people making poor decisions.

Why is this number so low? The first reason may surprise you. It’s due to our reliance on expertise.

They specialize in their industry, markets, and products to get to the top of their company and industry.

They have built a kind of wall around their perception of the world.

They know the norms of their industry and are comfortable. So they are comfortable making informed decisions.

Many Executives Have Put Themselves In A “Limited Perception Box.”

Executives often limit their business and industry worldview.

This limits their situational perception, which is a significant reason they can’t get past 52%.

For example, If you looked at the front of a house, you would have a real, accurate perception of that house.

If someone else looks at that house from the rear, they would have a different and precise perception of it.

Here’s a fun perception example that I like from Edward de Bono.

This group of 12-year-old boys tends to pick on or tease Bobby because the group thinks it’s fun.

They show him two coins one day, a large one (worth $1) and a smaller one. (worth $2).

Bobby picks the large one, and the group laughs and has a good time at Bobby’s expense.

They do this several times over the summer.

One day, an older man sees what’s happening and afterward tells Bobby that the smaller coin is worth twice as much as the larger one.

Bobby says I know that. But, if I had taken the $2 coin, they would never have kept offering him the opportunity again and again.

Perceptions can be valuable and increase opportunities.

This short story shows how vital your perception is,

and the broader your perception, the better you will be at solving problems, coming up with new ideas, and making good decisions.

You can’t limit your perception of your industry, market, or how you think about your company.

Why “Perception” Matters When You Are Trying To Create Business Growth Strategies

If I asked you what you do, you might answer: I own a hardware store, I am a doctor, or I manufacture light fixtures, or whatever.

You probably would say yes if I asked if you wanted to grow the business.

So, now let me REFRAME your answer by changing your perception,

Let’s say your first answer was. “I own a hardware store, and I sell products and services.

That perception may then limit your market growth.

But what if you reframed your answer to, “I own a marketing company that sells hardware and services.”

Now, you have a different and much broader perception of what you do and how you would approach your objective or goal differently.

Your job is marketing which means you focus on increasing sales and profits.

You can now focus on ethically building your company, sales, and profits, not as a hustler.

This change in perspective gives you a broader perspective and have you searching for ways to market your business by focusing on your clients.

Note: your focus is now on the client because a client is someone you care about and want to help solve their problems. A customer is a transitory perspective.

There Are Only Three Traditional Ways To Get Additional Revenues.

1. Increase the number of your clients. Start by looking at the “lifetime value” of the client.

If you sell a product for 1,000 dollars, the client makes a purchase once per year,

and the average customer remains a client for five years; the lifetime value of that client is $5,000.

I assume you would prefer the $5,000 to the $1,000. So, you now know you can spend up to $5,000 (less your costs) to acquire a new client.

If you could increase the number of clients by 10%, you would increase your revenues by 33.5 percent.

2. Increase the average size of the orders

Start by satisfying the client with add-ons or solving the client’s problem better or differently, which might require additional or different items.

Maybe the way they sell cars.

After you agree to purchase the car, they show you the sunroof to make your driving more fun, the better radio that brings in more stations, and more.

3. Increase the number of times they buy each year

Create other ways for clients to use your products or services.

A great example is American Express or Visa, which enables you to purchase plane tickets, theater tickets, and a frequent flyer miles incentive program.

Or maybe a special spring and fall sale at your store for current, specially invited clients only.

Those are all excellent traditional things you could do to improve your revenues. But an even better approach will give you continuous revenue growth.

How To Achieve A Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Generally, if you are in a competitive market long-term, you will likely go out of business because of eroding margins

due to the problematic competitive nature of competition.

But, there are only three strategies you can repeatedly do to keep coming up with new ideas to get new clients and get them to purchase more,

plus increase the number of times they buy each year.

Revenue Opportunities Start With Your Strategy For Business Growth.

Using your new perception, create a new strategy for your business

based on your goal or a problem that needs to be solved to reach your objective or goal.

We could talk for days about what strategy is, but Richard Rumelt, author and professor,

explains a practical and straightforward definition that makes a complex description simple and easy to understand

A strategy Process Is:

1. Identify and define your problem or objective.

2. Diagnose the objective or situation (data is essential but not sufficient) because you rarely come up with new insight

because your mind is dealing with the information you already know

3. Innovate through insight and creative thinking. There are many innovative techniques you can use to create new ways of solving problems, and knowing how to reach the objective,

4. There is never enough time or money to do everything, so you must prioritize and ensure the solution conforms to your strategy

4. Prepare a coherent plan and execute it.

There is never enough time or money to do everything, so you must prioritize and ensure the solution conforms to your business growth strategy.

Then Creativity And Innovation:

I need to talk about innovation briefly because many people think they are not creative, but everyone is creative.

Again, Edward de Bono shows why your mind is set up to be creative.

It requires you to learn innovative techniques to put your mind in gear to do the creative work.

And it’s a great way to get business growth strategy ideas.

Humor is a beautiful example of how the brain works.

Humor indicates how our information system gives rise to perception and how you can see the world differently.

You might enjoy this example from a Winston Churchill story.

A woman MP meets Churchill in the hallway (after lunch and a few drinks) and says to him,

“If I were married to you, I should put poison in your coffee.”

And he replies, “and if I were married to you, I should drink the coffee.”

Our information system gives rise to perceptions and how you can see the world differently.

Perceptions set up in one way can suddenly be reconfigured in another way. Humor is the essence of creativity.

One can use many creative thinking techniques to create different concepts, insight imaging, and ideas and turn them into innovations.

For example, the random word technique is an easy and quick way to get many ideas.

See our blog post, “How to turn negative problems into positive results. or Michael Muchalko’s book, “ThinkerToys.”

Then Marketing Strategies For Business Growth

Marketing strategy and tactics are the third groups of tools we can repeatedly use to reach our objectives.

It begins with the same strategy format explained above — objective, diagnosis, insight, and a coherent execution plan — but is applied to marketing strategy.

Apply a market strategy to every tool used. For example, you need a marketing strategy in b2b for your website, blogs or ads, publicity, and other marketing tools.

You might want to see our blog posts on websites and value propositions.

For example, over one million blog posts are created every day.

How would a potential client find and read your blog post?

You need material the client is looking for, not necessarily the material you want to give him;

you need to be different and have a strategy and some creative insights to make it effective.

Also, because your perspective is now broader, you can use marketing strategies and tactics – from any industry-

to get new clients, get them to purchase more items, and buy more often.

Conclusion

Long-term, it is difficult to compete profitably in a competitive market because of eroding margins.

However, you can win this competitive race with better thinking, a broader perspective, and tools that can be used repeatedly.

To achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, you need to start with your business strategy for growth and keep adapting it to market and buyer changes.

Then use your creativity — everyone is built to be creative. It is a learned skill, not a talent. Learn to create ideas and then turn them into innovations.

Then create your marketing strategy for each objective and program — like website, blogs, advertisements, publicity, etc. — you will use and make sure you also have a coherent execution plan.

How will you use this approach to strategy for business growth to drive more revenues and profits?

Tell us what you think Also, if you would like more information like this blog post, sign up for our free blog post program.

PS. You might also be interested in the blog post, Why Your Business Growth Strategy Is Your Story.

How To Repeatedly Make Sound Decisions

Posted on December 28, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Make Sound Decisions Repeatedly

A survey of top executives showed that executives only make “sound decisions” 52% of the time.

That’s only 2% better than flipping a coin. So if you could improve just a few percent, you could be

in an elite class of decision-makers who make sound decisions repeatedly.

Why is it only 2% better than flipping a coin? There are three reasons:

1. Their extensive industry knowledge and expertise.

2. Their reliance on analysis and critical thinking

3. Their self-limiting perspective.

Industry expertise can hurt your ability to make sound decisions.

In becoming a decision-maker, you have accumulated extensive knowledge and experience in your industry, market, products, and services.

You have talked to many customers. You know how what works and what doesn’t work.

You have established patterns, processes, and a culture of how “we do it here.”

While all of this is necessary, it has also established automatic thought patterns, which you can refer to quickly.

And at the same time, it limits your ability to think outside of your industry and market

to understand how other markets and industries might think about and handle the problem or opportunity.

So they decide based on the past rather than exploring new ways to think about the problem or opportunity.

Hearing about how a different market does something often gives them ideas on

how they might use this idea or process to solve a problem or improve their strategy, product, or service.

All this built-in knowledge and experience keeps them from repeatedly making sound decisions.

Over-reliance on analysis prevents making sound decisions.

We learned that gathering enough information and analyzing the data thoroughly

was the “the way” to solve problems and create a better way forward.

Unfortunately, making data-driven decisions often does not work because analyzing the data is all about the past, not the future.

So, if you need to move forward into the future, all those old solutions and ideas will not work.

Here’s an article from Forbes if you want another view.

Critical thinking is a good process and should be used,

but the object of critical thinking is to judge whether the information you have is correct or not, true or not.

That is undoubtedly important to understand the problem or opportunity,

but it will not help you look into the future to solve this new problem or exploit this unique opportunity.

The goal, of course, is to make sound decisions repeatedly.

Here is a traditional view of critical thinking from the Critical Thinking Organization.

Limited perception inhibits making sound decisions.

The first and maybe the most important thing you need is to see the problem or opportunity.

In other words, your perception. It is your perception that will design a solution.

One of the best ways to explain this is with an example. Here is one from Edward de Bono.

A group of 12-year-old boys was always picking on Bobby, one of the boys.

Because that is what they do at that age, one day, they showed Bobby two coins,

a larger one worth one dollar and a smaller one worth two dollars, and they told Bobby

he could pick one of the coins and keep it.

Bobby picked the larger coin, and the other boys laughed and talked about how dumb Bobby was.

They made this offer whenever they wanted a good laugh at Bobby’s expense.

One day an older man saw what they were doing and told Bobby that the smaller coin was worth twice as much as, the larger coin.

Bobby said he knew that. But if he took the two-dollar coin, they wouldn’t keep returning and giving him additional coins.

Conclusion

Expertise and analysis are essential, but you must look forward rather than just backward

and broaden your perception if you want to move forward.

So, your perception of the situation is often not considered and is critical to your decision.

That is how you will make sound decisions repeatedly.

You will want to check out our blog post, “How To Get Significantly Better Results In Less Time.”

Also, check out our website, How To Create Strategies That Turn Goals Into Results.

How Your Value Proposition Defines Your Website’s Success

Posted on December 14, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

How Your Value Proposition Defines Your Website’s Success

Visitors come to your website because they have a specific problem that needs to be solved.

But, visitors will only give you about 8 seconds before deciding if they will stay and read more.

If they stay, you have about 125 words to convince them that your company has the best solution to their problem.

They will probably not read on or even scan the page if they are not confident. They will move on and probably never come back again.

Tell your value proposition story quickly.

Years ago, we were taught to start with the problem and then offer the solution.

But think about it. Your visitors already know the problem, so they are at your website.

They are searching for the answer to their problem.

You need to convince them immediately that your value proposition solves their problem.

Tell them why you can solve their problem.

Tell prospects what you do and how you solve their problem

Why your solution is superior to your competition.

Your value proposition needs to compel them to read your entire story.

They will most likely move on without a clear, targeted value proposition.

Most people look at multiple companies before deciding to move forward.

To show you how few companies have a compelling value proposition,

marketingexperiments.com states that only 2.2% of businesses have a compelling value proposition.

You must also tell your value proposition story quickly at the top of your website.

Very few websites have a value proposition, and even fewer have it at the top of their website.

Check out your competitor’s websites and see how many have a value proposition and what you see as your competition.

Remember, your website is about what they want to hear, not what you want to tell them.

Here are the basics you will want to include:

Headline. The headline tells the reader your value proposition in one sentence, no more than two sentences.
Yes, it’s only one sentence, but you will have to write it many times to get it perfect and make it attention-getting.
Next, write a short explanation of the critical elements of your value proposition in two or three sentences. Remember, you have to be able to deliver what you promise.
Then, add up to three features, benefits, or unique differences you offer. Individual bullet points are an excellent way to highlight these benefits.
A positive image, if possible. You know, of course, it’s worth a thousand words :).

Here are the basics you will want to include:

Headline. The headline tells the reader your value proposition in one sentence, no more than two sentences.
Yes, it’s only one sentence, but you must write it many times to get it perfect and make it attention-getting.
Next, write a short explanation of the critical elements of your value proposition in two or three sentences. Remember, you have to be able to deliver what you promise.
Then, add up to three features, benefits, or unique differences you offer. Individual bullet points are an excellent way to highlight these benefits.
A positive image, if possible. You know, of course, it’s worth a thousand words :).

I am sure you will consider many more questions to examine as you define your value proposition. To NeilPatel.com, Google cares about how long people spend reading your webpage. If visitors spend time on your page, you got it right.

Conclusion

Your value proposition is critical. You will be in a class all your own if you have a compelling value proposition.

You will want to get it “perfect,” which will take some time.

It may only take a few minutes to write, but it will take many tries to perfect it.

To get started, ask yourself these questions.

Why does the potential client want to solve this problem? I
Is there no workaround?
How is the problem affecting their business?
Why haven’t they been able to solve it already? How can you solve the problem?
What outcome and benefits result from your solution? Here are the basics you will want to include:

P.S. I would love to hear how the development of your value proposition went and how successful you have been since you implemented it. Go to our website and let us know. Your story may inspire and help others (and us) try to improve their value proposition.

PPS. You might want to check out this blog post as well. Transform Your Competitive Market Into an Uncontested Market. Click Here

Innovative Strategies: Leverage Potential Change

Posted on November 15, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Exploit Market Changes

Industries and markets are constantly changing for many reasons, including technology, a new business model, or a pandemic.

When this occurs, companies have two choices: adapt to current changes or, longer-term, be disrupted.

But, if you pay attention to these changes, you can develop innovative strategies for revenue growth and exploit these market changes.

That is what we are going to talk about in this blog, how companies react to these changes, how you can adapt your strategy to these changes

to gain product value, revenues, and even a long-term monopoly in your market.

Companies that do not adapt generally resort to inertia or entropy.

What is inertia?

Inertia is the unwillingness of the affected company to adapt.

Not adapting could be caused by routines (the way we have always done things) or an unwillingness to change strategies because it will hurt current profit streams.

They assume that these current profit streams will continue.

However, this also opens up opportunities for others. For example, Netflix replaced Blockbuster. Walmart replaced K-Mart.

What is entropy?

Inertia generally leads to entropy. Entropy is not keeping your product line up to date and, therefore, losing clients, sales, and market share.

The primary reason entropy becomes the problem is that the company becomes less focused on its products,

often reduces prices and generally becomes less responsive to its customers. You might agree with Elon Musk, “I think you should always bear in mind that entropy is not on your side.

Again, entropy opens opportunities for competitors to innovative strategies for revenue growth. Product-market fit is not a permanent status.

For example, the Encyclopedia Britannica was replaced by Wikipedia. Photographic film was replaced by digital cameras.

Innovative Strategies: Examples of Potential Opportunities

Your strategic opportunity is to pay attention to these changes and be willing to innovate your products or services and experiment.

In that case, you can leverage your current strategy.

You can capitalize on these changes with new concepts, ideas, products, or services that should generate new revenues and profits for years to come.

A few examples of potential innovative strategies for revenue growth in market changes are happening today.

Innovative strategies for potential changes in auto Insurance

Every car insurance company says -one way or another- you only pay for what you need.

And there are companies with apps comparing prices. How long can profitability last?

I also realize that much of their money is made on premiums and reinvesting premiums into other interest-paying assets.

But what happens when interest rates change, and the spread collapses?

What happens when car buyers switch from buying cars to subscribing to vehicles?

This concept is just getting started, but the idea is increasing globally.

Just pay a monthly fee and drive off the lot. You have a three-year subscription and can change car models every 12 months.

You subscribe at the dealership, and your monthly subscription includes insurance (they want to protect their asset.)

This concept is new, and I assume changes will be made along the way.

Other opportunities include electric cars, charging stations, gasoline prices, parts costs, and many more.

Is there an opportunity for an innovative strategy for growth, or are insurance companies the next Blockbuster video rental company?

How could you take advantage of these opportunities if you are in this industry?

Innovative strategies for opportunities in the phone market

One telephone service company sells its service for $75 per month,

and another sells the same service with the same coverage for $25 per month.

Are costs plummeting, or are more and more competitors entering the market?

Or are the phone companies still making money on phone sales?

But we see ads claiming you can save about 50 percent on some phones.

Are these companies simply discounting to get updates or new customers

— or calling it the marketing cost of acquiring a new customer who will eventually be profitable over the long term.

Plus, what technological advancements are going to happen? Will SMS messages all become MMS multimedia messages?

Will there be anyone left on laptops? What will happen with 5 G?

How will this evolving industry affect your market, product, or service? And how quickly?

Innovative strategies for opportunities in the real estate market.

Real estate companies continue to reduce their commissions and have gone from 6% commission down to about half that amount.

Companies and agents use marketing companies to get listings and independent agents to sell homes.

This new sales model has dramatically reduced costs.

There have also been new sales models like “ibuyers,” who buy a home in cash with no fees,

spend a few dollars updating the home, and resell the house for a profit. Can this last with higher interest rates and slowing house prices?

Also, many real estate companies own title companies because that is another way to “cross-sell” and increase their sales and profits.

But what if title companies begin using blockchain technology to make title registration faster, easier, and safer –maybe reducing title insurance?

Or what if the real estate agent took the average discount the buyer wanted and gave the buyer a portion of that discount as a “bonus” at closing for buying the house?

That money would be much more valuable to the buyer than the small amount that would reduce the monthly payment.

Considering all the variables that go into the real estate market, how will this market change in the next 3-5 years?

How will the real estate companies deal with all the brick-and-mortar offices across the country?

More changes and opportunities to come

Those few common examples are only the beginning of the changes we will see in the coming years.

For example, what will RoKo streaming television do to cable companies?

Or is Artificial Intelligence taking over more and more tasks?

Or are 3D printers building homes in a couple of days?

The list could be extensive, but you get the idea: everyone is or will be affected by continuous changes in our world.

One way you can deal with these changes is to monitor the changes knowing that some companies

will adapt quickly while others will respond with inertia and/or entropy.

Those companies are easier to identify and give you time

to create and modify your strategy to be the value leader in your industry and market

-and maybe own the monopoly position in a new market niche.

Conclusion

Gain Strategic Leverage From Market Changes

-Market fit continues to evolve and change with the economy and the customer’s needs and wants.

Therefore, stay alert and be ready to take advantage

of the many new opportunities to modify your strategy as required.

Who can argue with Elon Musk’s perception of the future?

He says, “you have to get into a new market several years ahead of the apparent trend to be a player in that market.”

Cheers,

Jim Zitek

PS. If you would like to learn more about business growth strategies,

check out this blog post: Why your business growth story is your story

PPS If you want to get the right information at the right time, check out our website,

How To Define And Solve The “Real” Problem

Posted on November 4, 2021July 26, 2024 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Define and solve the real problem

We’ve all been there—several people discussing the problem that needs to be solved to meet the goal. But the challenge is that different people have different definitions of the “real” problem. This short blog post, taken from Michael MIchalko’s book, Thinkertoys, will help you end that uncertainty. It will help you identify and prioritize problems and convert them into specific challenges using creative thinking. I have condensed this to keep it as short as possible for this blog post.

Start by making a list of the problems that need to be solved. Following are a few examples. How can I increase revenues by 20% this year? How can I cut costs and increase production? How can we better differentiate our product from our competitors? How can we improve the role of the service department?

Just the act of writing your challenges down may result in some immediate ideas.

Carefully craft your challenge statement.

The more time you devote to perfecting the wording of your challenge, the closer you will be to a solution. When you have a problem, write a challenge statement out, study it for a while, then leave it, change it, stretch and squeeze it, and restate it. Questions help you look at a challenge from different perspectives. Following is the blueprint for executing this statement challenge.

Blueprint

Broaden your view.

Write your statement as a definitive question, beginning with “In what ways might I (statement)…?”
Vary the wording of your challenge by substituting different synonyms for keywords to broaden your perspective of the problem (e.g., increase to multiply to enlarge)

Then, squeeze your view down to a very narrow, specific perspective.

Divide your challenge into subproblems
Solve the subproblems
Then, Keep asking how else? And why else?

Again, positively phrase these problems and as a question: “In what ways might I…?” This form helps keep you from concluding what the problem is too quickly. You want many different perceptions of the situation to see other possibilities.

Stretching the challenge

To keep your mind open to all possibilities, stretch your challenge by asking “why?“ several times. Also, asking why will help you identify your general objective and challenge your assumptions. This process will also help you redefine and reshape your challenges.

For example, suppose your challenge is “in what ways might I sell more computers?“

Why do you want to sell more computers? Because we need more funds to pay bills.
Why do you want to increase revenues? Because costs are growing.
Why do you want to sell more computers? Because sales are beginning to slow down.
Why do you want to sell more computers? To make investments in new products.
Why do you want to increase your sales volume? To take advantage of discounts.

Expanding your challenge gives you a broader concept of the challenge so that you can view many more approaches.

Squeeze the challenge

When you have a broad idea of what you are trying to find, narrow the objective from the general to the specific by squeezing it. This process makes your challenge easier to solve. To squeeze a challenge, you want to discover its strengths, weaknesses, and boundaries. To do that, ask who, what, where, when, why, and how.

Who might have unique strengths and resources or access to helpful information
What helps identify all the things, objects, and items involved in the situation, the requirements, difficulties, rewards, and advantages and disadvantages of formulating a resolution.
Where considers the place. Locations or focal points of the problem.
When probes schedules, dates, and timeliness of the situation.
Why helps you reach an understanding of your primary objective.
How helps you recognize how the situation developed, actions that may have been tempted or now occurring, and steps that one could take.

You’re going to do that for the larger problem and the subproblem.

Conclusion

Going through this exercise will enable you to see all of the things you need to do to solve the real problem. Now, you can prioritize them and accomplish them one by one until you can reach your goal. You may also have to redo your analysis as you go because things will change.

PS. If you want to get the right information at the right time, go to our website, sign up for the ClickVisorTM program, and learn about innovative strategies for continued revenue growth.

Why Customer Lifetime Value Is So Critically Important

Posted on October 26, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Why Customer Lifetime Value Is So Critically Important

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is an important business metric. It is the total revenue your business earns from a customer over time. It gives you a picture of the business’s short-term, long-term status, and financial viability. It is also an indicator of product-market fit, client loyalty, and recurring revenue from existing customers.

CLV gives you an understanding of the costs and profits of your business as it relates to acquiring, generating revenues, and retaining customers. Also, getting repeat orders from existing customers brings in a healthy cash flow regularly into the business. When you know what a customer will spend with your business over time, you can consider more options for your acquisition budget.

There are two basic ways of calculating CLV, depending on what data you have available.

1 Accumulated data

If you have historical sales data, this method is far more accurate. It puts together all orders by individual customers to get their own real CLVs.

2 Average estimate

If you don’t have granular data, you can estimate an average by the following formula: Average order value times number of orders per year.

How to calculate Customer Lifetime Value

For instance, if your customer base will, on average, buy ten times per year at $10 per transaction (or $100 per year) for ten years, the lifetime value of a customer is $1,000 (minus costs). If your profit is 25% of sales, the CLV is $250 (25% of $1,000). Therefore, you could technically afford to spend $250 to attract a single new customer. However, many marketers suggest that you do not spend more than 33% of CLV or, in this example, would be $82.50.

Another view. If you could improve each of the three CLV numbers by 10%, you would increase profits by 33 percent, giving you a profit of about $332 (plus $82). This additional profit could then be added to your marketing budget to grow even faster the following year.

Now, how can you improve each element of your CLV?

Now that you know the lifetime value, you want to spend some serious time examining how you can improve your revenues and profits. This information will also give you a long-term look at your business and help you plan for the future. To improve your results, you should do the following things sequentially:

Increase the dollar amount of each sale to a customer.
increase the frequency that customers purchases from you. ,
Try to increase the number of products or services you provide for your customers.
Then, you can begin to increase your market share by going outside — to increase your market share by working on your competitor’s customers.

This process also forces you to look at different market and customer segments. For example:

Who are your best customers and worst customers using CLV? How can you get more of the good customers and maybe less of the lower value customers?
Which products provide the most revenue and profits? Can you add value to your products and increase the price?
Which industry or market segments provide the most or least CLV? Are you in the best markets, best niches, and aiming for the best clients?

You also want to generate many alternative ways to increase your CLV

Now, you can focus on developing many alternative ideas and practices to increase your CLV. You want to focus on your overall business strategy, potential innovations, and marketing strategy. More information is available on our ClickVisor program to help you accomplish these crucial tasks.

Consider Multiple Marketing Approaches

This process also requires you to expand your marketing approaches based on the industries, segments, and types of customers. It is also a good idea to have more than one marketing approach that you continue to use long term. You need to try and test different approaches as the world, and people change.

CLV will change as you create and implement new programs

As you implement your marketing program, this lifetime value should change as the variables in the process change. So, reviewing your CLV regularly make sense. It will cause you to rethink many things you’re doing as you are always looking for ways to improve that number.

Conclusion

Client Lifetime Value is an essential concept for every business. It goes hand in hand with customer repeat orders and retention. It is also a great concept to broaden your thinking about your company and its mission. Plus, businesses with a high CLV can service their client better and grow continuously over time.

How To Get Significantly Better Results In Less Time

Posted on July 14, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

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Get Better Results In Less Time

No one has enough time, especially business executives.

We always try to do more, learn more, and produce more.

But there are only 1,440 minutes in a day, and no one gets more time, no matter who they are.

But there are ways to get much more done and better if you know how to use your time correctly.

Start by asking yourself these questions.

What do I love doing?

What is my expertise?

What do I hate doing?

What do I do that isn’t a priority?

Here is the first step if your goal is increased productivity and faster results.

Get rid of the jobs you hate to do and those that are not a priority.

If you hate doing them, you are probably not very good at them either.

Plus, they take more time than they should. Time is not a renewable resource.

Maybe someone in the company loves that kind of work and would be happy to do it.

If not, hire someone from the outside to do it. That’s probably less expensive than you doing it.

You have just saved time and used it on higher priority projects like driving revenues and profits.

Wait, there is another way to use your time more effectively.

What if you closed your office door, turned your phone and email off, and told people not to disturb you for three or four hours.

The result would be no interruptions, no time-sucking chit-chat, no distractions from emails that were not critical, and more.

Imagine four hours free of disruption –every day –what you could accomplish with that much extra time.

I’ll bet significantly more than twice as much.

Conclusion

Now, you can focus on the priority jobs where you have the expertise.

That’s how you become an exceptional leader that gets results.

Jim Zitek

Harbor Capital Group

P.S. Check out our website for more information on how to get results

P. P.S.It’s a short week so I made this short to save you time 🙂

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How Much Will People Pay For Your New Product?

Posted on May 27, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

How Much Will People Pay For Your New Product?

Most people believe their new product or service idea is a huge winner. But, to be sure, they tell some friends about the idea and ask what they think. Their friends, of course, have no idea but don’t want to hurt their feelings or be unnecessarily pessimistic. So they generally give a positive response to the idea.

That is the wrong approach.

Based on Rob Fitzpatrick’s experience as an entrepreneur, and several failing startups, he realized there was a better way

and wrote a book titled, “The Mom Test.” that solved his problem.

Here is what he found out. To validate your problem, you have to interview people in your targeted market,

but you can not tell them what your product is.

That will bias their answer. Again, mainly in your favor.

People want to be friendly, and there are no consequences for their response as there is no product yet.

You want to interview people about a subject other than your new product.

Then, during the interview, find a way to casually ask the person if they have the problem you think they do.

if they say yes, ask them how they dealt with the problem.

Let them tell you exactly what the problem is

Let them tell you how serious the problem is and how they dealt with it.

The interviewee is now talking about his/her experience and giving you facts rather than opinions.

You need facts to make a go/no-go decision.

Also, If the problem is serious, ask what it cost them (time, money, operational issues, etc.) to solve.

That will give you an idea of the price range you could charge.

Start with your market representative list

Get started by creating a list of about 30 people you can interview — that number would be statistically significant.

This is the kind of information you and your team will need to diagnose and create the solution.

Want even better product design ideas?

You can now take this information as the basis for your diagnosis of the problem

and use your creative problem-solving skills to design an awesome product.

See our blog post: How you can turn problems into opportunities.

The Next Step In Your Product Validation

After you get your initial product or service designed, revisit people in the targeted market,

This time with your solution to see if they are willing to pay for your problem-solution fit.

Conclusion

Don’t ask how much they would be willing to pay for your solution.

Ask them how they are solving the problem now and what they are paying to solve the problem including time delays, workarounds, performance, etc.

That will give you an idea of what you could look at in terms of the price range.

Jim Zitek l Harbor Capital Group

P.S. You can get more information about validating your new product idea by going to our website

and downloading our free report “ Learn The 4 Secrets That Guarantee Problem-Solution Fit.”

P.P.S. If you know someone who could also use this information, please pass this on to them.

How You Approach Problem-Solving Matters

Posted on March 3, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

How You Approach Problem-Solving Matters

No matter who you are, a seasoned businessman or an entrepreneur, you continuously face different problems on that pathway to success.

And you can add to that the challenge of not having enough time to do everything.

We want to change that by getting you off on the right foot with how you initially approach problem-solving.

It’s important because the way you approach problem-solving matters.

Most problems need a timely solution. Some linger because we don’t know how to solve them.

It often happens when you suddenly have to face some things that you did not expect.

So, choosing the best path to reach an effective solution matters.

Following are several approaches to problem-solving.

Understand them, and you will be able to see the changes in how fast and effective your problem-solving techniques will become.

A Team Approach To Problem-Solving

If you are working with a team, everyone on the team must know and understand the problem from their own perspective.

And every person on the team must be able to freely express their point of view without criticism.

Leadership means that you remove all the fear in people’s minds of any repercussions if their idea is ridiculed.

The good news is it often happens that some off-the-wall comment is picked up by someone else and turned into a potential solution.

If you find that you cannot find “the” solution after a reasonable amount of time, compile a list of all the suggested solutions.

You can then analyze which one has the potential to solve your problem.

A day or two later, when people are not intensely focused on the problem’s details, someone often comes up with an insightful solution.

Having an open-minded approach is needed to develop transparent communication.

With an open mind, you can see things more clearly and see the bigger picture.

Finding and assigning important tasks to all the open-minded people will help in reducing the problem-solving time.

People with open minds can take you forward in your quest to find the best solution to any of your problems.

Creating a team of people who know exactly where to look when a problem occurs is always an interesting approach to problem-solving.

Mindsets Make A Difference In Approach And Outcomes

Next, let’s take a look at different mindsets and how these mindsets approach problem-solving.

Analytical thinking:

People who think analytically generally consider every aspect of the problem.

From here, they can move forward in a calculated way.

People with analytical thinking mindsets find it very easy to take on and solve any problem, so they proceed step by step.

They make assumptions and considerations because they have expertise in discovering new things, and they are sure about it.

Logical thinking:

People who think logically and straightforwardly learn from their actions from past actions.

Logical thinking can get you the solution you seek for any of your problems.

Logical thinking is the basis of their solution.

They approach the problem from how they think a normal person would view the problem.

They try to see the long-term solution.

Rational thinking:

It is a kind of thinker who would use their knowledge and assumptions.

They would not look for any experience or any other factor.

From their perspective, they may be like the problem,

and he would solve them in a way that others may find questionable.

Absolute thinking:

The absolute thinker wants surety for everything.

He has just two solutions, and one is right while the other is wrong.

He only selects from two of them, and for that, he always seeks permission from higher authorities.

He does not live with probabilities.

Creative thinkers:

Creative thinkers do not remain limited to one or two solutions based on their judgments or past experiences.

They can create solutions from scratch.

And they do not focus on one thing when there are so many potential solutions.

They will also take tier time in coming up with these solutions.

Conclusion:

Your approach to problems tells how you will solve your problem.

Identifying and agreeing on the problem rather than working on a symptom is critical to your success.

Learning how to solve problems creatively is a crucial talent and a toolbox for anyone who wants to succeed in business.

Solutions, no matter how difficult the problem or challenge, can be solved — some instantly and some, like solving the theory of relativity, took Einstein 10 years.

Always choose your method or technique according to the complexity of the problem.

Lastly, remember that trying to approach and solve a problem as a team can be fragile because you have to give space and freedom without criticism to each member.

We hope this information gives you some food for thought as you approach a specific problem.

I would love to hear your comments on using this approach.

How To Turn Problems Into Opportunities

Posted on February 19, 2021 by harborcapitalgroupinc

How To Turn Problems Into Opportunities

Being a founder or CEO of a growing company means you are always stressed to do more.

There is too much to do, too many problems to solve, and too little time to do it all.

Yet, on top of all that stress, you have issues that crop up almost daily.

So, how can you turn problems into opportunities and move forward?

Anyone can turn problems into opportunities using problem-solving techniques, and you don’t have to be a genius to do it.

However, you have to learn a little about the different kinds of problem-solving strategies and techniques.

20+ Problem-Solving Techniques

We are working on creating a series of over 20 ways anyone can turn problems into opportunities.

We explain how each one works. You can’t simply read one after another and understand that technique well enough.

You need to know if that technique works for you or if a different one would be better.

We encourage you to try each one. Some methods you can do quickly, and others take more time.

But, each one will teach you how to become a better problem-solver.

Your Mind Is Pre-Wired To Solve Problems

According to Danial Kahneman’s book: “Thinking Fast And Slow,” Your mind is pre-wired to go problem-solving.

It can switch your thoughts from thinking fast (having an instant answer or a Eureka! Moment)

to thinking slow (digging deep into your knowledge base for breakthrough ideas).

For example, Einstein’s theory of relativity. Your mind switches back and forth between the two thought processes as it searches for the answer.

This process lets you see a bigger picture and more problem-solving options.

In addition to fast and slow thinking, you need to have a positive attitude to solve problems.

You can’t focus on the negative (“why are sales slowing down”).

You have to reframe the negative problem into a positive (“how do we get customers to buy more”). That way, you are focusing on a positive solution.

Pretty easy so far, right?

Next, you can begin to look at the many problem-solving techniques that will help you solve your problems.

A good place to start is with Michael Michalko’s books, especially the “Thinkertoys” book with many problem-solving techniques.

He divides the techniques into two groups.

One group focuses on a linear method using words and illustrations to probe your thoughts.

Some people are more comfortable working with word concepts.

The second group of techniques is more intuitive and relies on intuition and insight to arrive at the solution.

People generally prefer one group over the other just based on their individual preferences.

There is no right or wrong technique.

You can use any of the techniques to solve your problem. You do want to become familiar with all of them.

Each has a unique way to structure and process information that leads to a solution.

Some techniques will seem easy, and you will like using them. Others may give you answers, but the process isn’t as comfortable as some others.

Also, some techniques will give you the confidence you need to believe that you will solve the problem.

Never underestimate the power of confidence. You have to believe you can solve the problem.

So you pick the technique that works best for you or try several of them on your problem to see what results you get.

All Problem Solving Techniques Will Be Covered

We will be covering all of these problem-solving techniques on our advisor platform.

But, you can’t simply read about a method and quickly move on to the next one.

You need to go through a problem-solving example so you can get the idea and feel of how that technique works.

Working through an example is the only way you can judge how they work and if you are comfortable with that specific problem-solving technique.

Three Factors That Will Help You Turn Problems Into Opportunities

Brian Tracy, in his book “Creativity and Problem Solving,” offers three factors, among many good ideas. That helps you be creative:

1. How intensely you desire a goal (the more you want to achieve that goal the more ways you will find to achieve that goal).

2. How serious the problem is to your life or business. Once you have identified what is holding you back from an important goal,

your mind will start generating ideas to solve that problem.

3. How do you focus on the question. (the more precise and focused you are on the question, the more rapidly your creative reflexes operate to generate workable answers

Using these problem-solving techniques, you will be able to

1. Generate ideas at will

2. Create new business opportunities

3. Modify ideas until you come up with innovative and powerful ideas

4. Improve old products, services, and processes

5. Develop solutions to complex business problems

6. See problems as opportunities,And much, much more

Conclusion

As an entrepreneur or CEO, our hectic lives are continually being interrupted by challenges and problems that need creative solutions, short-term, and long-term solutions.

And everyone is capable of innovative solutions.

It’s a matter of learning the methods and techniques of creative problem-solving and practicing them.

Remember, the worth of the idea you create will depend to some degree on the way you define your problems.

For example, write down the problem. Translate it into a positive opportunity. It is impossible to be creative if you are focused on a negative.

You have to look at the problem broadly. This broad approach is true for problem-solving techniques as well.

Try all of them and select the ones that work best for you.

We would love to hear your comments about problem-solving, good or bad.