Stop Banging Your Head tells the stories of three small business owners working hard, yet finding it is increasingly difficult to move ahead. Their frustrations grow as progress stalls and nothing seems to work. They are banging their heads against The Wall of Frustration. Does this sound familiar? In the end, they breakthrough to success after adopting five innovative business practices. Business owners have a lot of tasks to perform. Processing them is analogous to a stage performer spinning plates at the top of a rod. Place a plate at the top of the first rod and start it spinning. Then place a second plate on a second rod and start it spinning. Go back to the first plate to give it a couple of reinforcing spins. Then start a third plate spinning, but return to the previous plates to keep them spinning. And it goes on for other plates. This is what business owners do with key business tasks. Like the spinning plates, they must continually make progress within each key task else a slowing plate wobbles and falls. It is hard to do when there is lots of activity. Through the experiences of Peter, Cathy, and Scott - financial services professionals in different phases of their careers - this book describes how they deal with spinning and falling plates. The author interacts with them as consultant and mentor, helping them deal with issues; sometimes successfully and sometimes not. That is how they are introduced to five essential business practices called The Business Breakout Blueprint®. Practice #1: Build a team and delegate. A practice that increases capacity, reduces stress, and focuses energy onto growing the enterprise. Practice #2: Differentiate yourself with premium delivery. A practice that attracts ideal clients to services providing unique value not delivered by other providers in the field. Practice #3: Stay in touch with prospects and clients. A practice that puts you top-of-mind when they are ready to do business. Practice #4: Boost recurring revenue with Type-V service. A practice that delivers high value service in exchange for recurring revenue. Practice #5: Prepare to transition while you are growing. A practice that maximizes the value of your business so you are ready to transition on your own terms. These practices embody critical principles to sell products and services through a sales cycle of prospecting, client conversion, and client service. Every business follows these three steps in one form or another, however the traditional cycle under-values the importance of re-engaging with the clients regularly. The Business Breakout Blueprint® incorporates a redefined model that, from the very beginning, sets an expectation that re-engagements are a valuable part of the relationship. The result is The Continuous Engagement Model with three steps: 1) Prospect Engagement; 2) Client Engagement; and 3) Planned Re-Engagement. The Power-Step is Planned Re-Engagement. From the outset, re-engagements are planned regularly to deliver additional real value. Taken one step further, the delivery uses Type-V service to blend perceived value with real value to build a premium service that warrants recurring fees. This book reveals the stories in layers starting with the Walls of Frustration obstructing Peter, Cathy, and Scott. Next you learn how The Continuous Engagement Model works before it is introduced to the characters. Then we examine the five business practices in The Business Breakout Blueprint® followed by the successes of the characters. Finally, the reader is shown how to pull it all together in their own business and move forward. You may have reached a point in your own business where there is too much to do, not enough time to do it, or not enough people to get it done. You may be finding it difficult to see what has to be done to move ahead. By the end of the book, the hope is that you find powerful ideas to help you break through your own Wall of Frustration.
