Thinking More About Your Clients Than Your Own Business? Think Again.

Our guest expert today is Jennifer Cresswell. Jennifer is an expert in helping business leaders scale their businesses. Jennifer's Bio.

In service-oriented businesses, the focus is almost always on the client. 

First, you look for potential clients. Next, you try to close the deal. Once they’re engaged, you need to deliver what you promised.

Finally, it all comes full circle, with you trying to retain them by extending your current work or signing a new scope.

But what about your company? What about your employees? Are you also spending time to shore up the foundation of your business?

If your answer is “sometimes,” “only when we have time,” or “no, not really,” it’s time to start treating your own business like you treat your clients.

Wait…what? Working ON your business doesn’t directly translate into revenue…or does it?

Happy Team = Happy Clients = More Revenue

Your team is the lifeblood of your company.

They are also a core reason your clients sign up to work with you and continue to renew that relationship yearly. 

It seems logical that happy employees would lead to happy clients, which then should lead to more revenue. But is there really a correlation? Researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science say yes.

Add to that the fact that you know (and have likely experienced multiple times) how expensive it is to replace a well-liked, top-performing employee – both from a monetary and a time standpoint.

Now that you recognize the need to work ON your business, not just in it, where should you start?

Strengthening Your Business’ Foundation

Four key elements create the foundation to empower your team and propel your business forward. They are equally important on their own and produce a powerful combination that will ensure the scalability and sustainability of your business.

Structure

While the dreaded org chart might cause some to run for the hills, you do need to clearly define roles and responsibilities, as well as how core areas work together. 

Make sure you clearly communicate this to your team. This will help them stay focused and work together toward their common goals.

Team

Do you have the right people in the right seats? If yes, you’re well down the path to get your business firing on all cylinders. But this is rarely the case. 

Developing consistent and effective ways to hire, onboard, train, evaluate, and reward your team is a vital step in driving high productivity and loyalty within your staff.

Process

Speaking of loyalty, one of the most important roles of a business leader, especially the owner or head of the company, is empowering your team to operate to the best of their ability. 

That means process. Not red tape or an arduous process. Process with purpose, meaning processes that standardize, streamline, and scale.

Think about it this way:

• STANDARDIZATION = consistent best-in-class service = happy clients = more revenue
• STREAMLINED workload = less burn-out = happy team = increased loyalty
• SCALABILITY = foundation for growth = business sustainability

Culture

Don’t mistake culture as perks and benefits. While those factors should be considered, the most important aspects of culture drive how you do business. How you make decisions, support and recognize your team and work together is really your culture. 

These aspects impact your ability to serve your clients and grow your business into the future.

Focusing ON your business to create a strong, scalable foundation is key to driving consistently high client satisfaction and the future sustainability of your business.

Consider this shift in mindset and start setting aside uninterrupted time to focus solely ON your business. It will result in happier clients, happier employees, and a happier bank balance. 

The best part—everyone wins.

Guest Author: Jennifer Cresswell

Jennifer Cresswell is the Founder & Principal of Thoughtgro, a consulting and communications firm focused on helping leaders of service-oriented businesses scale successfully. With decades of experience in leadership roles, operations, business strategy, and communications, Jennifer is a problem-solver at heart. Through consultation, coaching, and collaboration with leaders, she uses her diverse skill set to help them develop the skills to create, execute, and communicate solutions that support business growth.

Connect with her on LinkedIn or reach out directly: jcresswell@thoughtgro.com