Pest Management Professional, October 2016
pmp Business Planner 2017 Why your business isnt growing PMPs marketing matters columnist offers reasons for and solutions to this common industry problem By Harvey goldglantz Contributor M any years ago when I first began writing for this magazine one of my first columns was titled Fail to Plan Plan to Fail These days many of the questions I receive for my monthly Q A column still relate to how to get from point A to point B Therefore I will focus once again on a question I am often asked but cant answer in detail in my monthly Q A column due to space limitations That question is Why isnt my business growing The question is simple The answer not so much What follow are 15 common growth pitfalls and how to overcome them 1 You dont have a business and marketing plan Operating without a written plan is a prescription for maintaining the status quo or worse A lack of planning is your competitors best friend and a major reason for growth stagnation While your competition is projecting analyzing and preparing you are worrying and trying to figure out what went wrong and why Sustained growth budgeting cost containment increased profitability market penetration and efficient and productive advertising all require planning Without planning predicting the future is left entirely to chance Running your business by the seat of your pants does not work If thats how you continue to operate stop complaining Stop blaming the business climate the weather competitors and everything else for your failure to get ahead The reason is you 2 Youre not sYstematized Systems save time and allow you to monitor the different facets of your business To facilitate growth a growing business needs systems in place that Track weekly monthly and quarterly production and revenue broken down by technician Compare production production and sales goals and performance with data from prior years Develop an advertising and marketing budget and track its performance Track leads and closure rates Track customer cancellation and retention rates Screen prospective employees to help predict their success Monitor customer satisfaction levels illustration istock com milo827 Continued on page 68 66 october 2016 pest Management professional mypmp net
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