These windmills run effectively when there is a constant source of wind, and in that way, this energy device sustains momentum. The same goes for the success of a business – consistent movement forward. What happens after a good month of sales? Does business keep moving along smoothly with continued growth? What can you do to sustain that type of business momentum? Here are some tips from those who have.
1st STEP: ANCHOR
Why are you in business for yourself? The answer may seem obvious to you, but the first essential step for momentum is that you anchor everything you do with your responses to this question. Flesh these out. Come up with 5 reasons why you began the business, why it’s important to you, and why you wish to continue it indefinitely. Next, on a daily basis focus on these reasons. Post them on sticky notes in clear view. Make sure that you think of these reasons every day.
A business is like any relationship you have. To maintain it, you must reflect on all of the reasons why it’s worth your time, your energy, and your resources. By believing in its worth, you will continue to move forward – no matter if you have a light month of transactions, customer support has been busier than usual, or your top salesperson has exited stage left. Sustaining momentum requires reinforcing your reasons.
2nd STEP: FOCUS
In order to remain focused so that your business can sustain momentum, the second step is to set a list of priorities aligned with your business plan. Gather your team or if this is a solo venture, brainstorm the results you plan to achieve by the end of the fiscal year. Work backward from that list to create your priorities with a timeline in mind.
When these priorities are your focus on a daily basis, your list of tasks will move you forward to success. The critical word here is focus. Without that daily recognition and renewal of your priorities, it’s easy to lose traction, to veer off the path, and to get mired in projects that are not supporting those. As a result, when the year’s end comes more quickly than expected, your business has lost momentum. Sustaining momentum requires focusing daily on priorities.
3rd STEP: ORIENT
In order to bring life to those priorities, the third step is to create a task board. List your goals with required tasks under each. Using calendar months as your guide, draw arrows to represent the timeline for each task. Long-term goals may need the entire year for completion. Some goals may be short and only need a few weeks. Be specific.
At the start of the year, every task may seem essential and time-triggered. Move beyond that inclination and prioritize what needs to be done first. Often projects are building block ventures, and those tasks will fall into place consecutively when viewed more objectively. Remember to include maintenance tasks that will support each venture. Those take time, too, so add them to the timeline. Just like nickels and dimes of expenses can add up, so can an hour here and there when those necessary tasks are not included. Sustaining momentum requires planning your time wisely.
4th STEP: REVIEW
A big part of running a successful business is to have periodic reviews. If a task seems to be blocked, do a quick and unplanned review to uncover the reasons. Otherwise, plan monthly or quarterly reviews to measure the status of each task. If there’s proof that one of your windmills has been slowing down, ponder the various possible causes that may be causing that. Agree on a plan to modify this task to get the blades moving again.
Another way to give a boost to momentum, is to review the successes. What tasks have been completed? Where has there been exponential growth? Determine what took place that led to this and plan to duplicate it. Obviously success gives reason for celebration, so take full advantage of that. You and your team will react favorably to recognizing what is working well. Sustaining momentum requires reviewing how things are going.
There’s nothing like seeing a field of windmills spinning quickly in the wind. Your business can have that sort of consistent momentum when these steps are taken and maintained. To increase the wind speed for your business, consider enlarging the scope and targeting an online market.
Online Sales Pro can help you with that. Use this powerful software platform to generate the wind for your windmills with potential customers. Adding those leads to your email list with generate more transactions. Please note that your subscription to OSP includes both the web and mobile app.
Combining the steps above and including the online element with OSP, you can build momentum for your business and sustain it. We are glad to help you with that!
