Business Growth

gimsfort

GIMSFORT is my framework of principles that I have used to grow every single one of my businesses.

It addresses all the major areas where a company needs to excel in order to grow profitably.

GIMSFORT stands for:

• Growth
• Innovation
• Marketing
• Sales
• Finance
• Optimisation
• Raving Fans
• Trust

You need to become a business owner instead of a business operator.

To do that you need to design what your business is going to look like when you actually build it.

On this page, I will explain each one and reveal my tips for success in every area…

growth

What is your business going to look like in terms of size?

By “size” I am referring to the:

• Revenue
• Net profit

It’s very easy if your a business owner/ operator, to get the business to a level where it’s paying you enough money to live a good lifestyle.

But, if you’re not careful it will end up meandering along for years.

In this scenario, the business will never be something you can sell because it is totally dependant on your time.

So what you need to do is have very, very clear growth goals, and know what you are trying to achieve.

Be very clear on at least what your first milestone is in terms of growth, for the top and bottom line.

innovation

Normally, the only reason a client will come and buy from you is because you are doing something different or better.

The way you do something better boils down to innovation.

Business is about marketing and innovation, and if you can get a strong combination of both of these, then you are going to beat your competition.

Innovation comes from:

• Analysing what your competition are/ aren’t doing
• Listening to your clients
• Getting feedback from different perspectives
• Being really open about improving your offering

I recommend deliberately setting aside time each week, 2 or 3 hours, to focus explicitly on innovation so you are ahead of the curve at all times. 

marketing

Very often an inferior product can do better than a superior one, simply because more people know about it.

You need to always be shouting about your product, and that comes in the form of marketing. But not just any marketing…

Measurable marketing is the key, and the more of this you can do, the better.

My favourite platforms are:

• Google
• Bing
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Linkedin
• Youtube

Also, do not underestimate the power of large scale PR such as appearing on a news channel to give your brand an immediate boost in traffic & credibility.

sales

This goes hand in hand with marketing, because the leads you generate will end up with your sales team.

In an ideal world, what you would have is all inbound leads, so your sales team are not starting out completely cold, and it’s warm lead development.

The average number of points of contact before you make a sale is 16, so when you get a “no”, that’s fine.

Just make sure you are always monitoring your ratios and following a data-driven strategy that helps your sales reps engage leads at the bottom of the funnel, instead of cold calling the whole time.

finance

The finances of your business are absolutely critical.

“Cash flow is king”, especially in a small business, so just because you have registered sales, if you haven’t been paid yet then you won’t be able to settle your bills at the end of the month.

There are all sorts of hidden costs that people forget about like rent deposits etc… and if you’re not on top of all these you will find yourself with no cash very quickly.

You’ve always got to work out what your worst-case scenario is with your cash, and probably double what you think you need, as well as accessing finance facilities like invoice discounting so they are there when you need them.

Always look to push out your payments as far as possible (within reason), and give out incentives to get paid faster, like 14-day terms with special rebates, and things like that.

optimisation

In addition to marketing and innovation, there is another reason that your customers will buy from you and that is greater efficiency.

This includes:

• Better/ faster delivery
• Better customer service
• Low cost through economies of scale

Developing systems across the entire business is the only way to achieve it properly.

When teams are left too much to their own devices, you get miscommunication and disjointed processes which undermine optimisation.

Once you’ve created these systems, it’s about constantly reviewing them and asking the question:

“How can we do this better?”

Optimisation of your business is critical.

raving fans

Once you’ve got a client, it’s so much cheaper to keep them than it is to go and find a new one.

Displacement of clients, where you lose a customer and have to find a new one to keep revenues at the current levels, is one of the most time-consuming activities for any business.

However, raving fans will only become raving fans if you go over and above what they expect.

So you give them a great service, but then you get feedback from them after, and find out what you can do to make their experience extra special.

Usually, it is trivial things such as:

• Knowing their birthday
• Taking them out for drinks
• Remembering their wife just had a baby

But, knowing this will make a real difference to how loyal your customers become to your brand.

Finally, when somebody complains to you, that is a great opportunity to create a raving fan, because if you go above and beyond their expectations, they will tell people about you, and that’s what you want a raving fan to do.

trust

What I’ve found is that if you can get a strong team within your business, and align their values with yours, you will be able to build a level of trust that allows you to stop micromanaging, and start making long term strategic decisions.

To achieve this you need to make a list of your values, for example:

• My staff turn up on time
• My staff dress smartly
• My staff ask good questions

Once you know them, you can start engendering them throughout your organisation.

If you do this properly, your staff will stop thinking:

“What is Angela going to say about this?”

and instead, simply ask:

“What is the right decision here based on our shared values”.

Then, you will find that everything runs far more effectively because everybody is singing from the same hymn sheet.

summary

All in all, these are the key concepts you need to get right to enable massive growth in your business.

My view is that you should have 1 day per week where you address these things.

My schedule looks something like this:

1. Monday: stats and finance
2. Tuesday: sales and marketing
3. Wednesday: optimisation
4. Thursday: people, legal and assets
5. Friday: KPIs and goal setting

So there you have it – that is GIMSFORT!

I hope this page has provided some value to you and will help you improve your business.

If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to download official YBMB Business e-books resources below that will help you take your first steps towards a successful career…

Or, if you want to work with me more closely, I encourage you to join my programme Business Mastery which has helped thousands of people build the careers they deserve!