Reality Check

When I sat down to write this post, I realised that this is the twentieth on my blog. So I reviewed all I've written to date and thought that it's about time to update you on how my business is progressing.

As with most things in life, there are ups and downs. While it was very exciting to sign up my first client (see earlier blog), that in itself was no guarantee of success. With the ERA model, success only comes if we analysts manage to find potential savings for our clients and they implement the recommendations we offer. My first client (yes, I do now have other clients!) asked us to review a number of overhead costs that are of concern to them. We were able to find savings for them in one of these areas, but unfortunately not in the others. Of course, I'm happy we could help them in the one area, but that's the nature of our business - we don't know until we've carried out the work what the result will be. So we've implemented the new supply agreement, the client is now realising the benefit and I've started to earn an income. Of course, that income would have been more substantial if we'd found savings in all the areas we reviewed, but that will come in time. With my other clients, we have not yet reached the point where we know whether there are savings to be realised, but the process is underway.

Of course, this is just the beginning and there is still a long road to travel. Getting any new business, even a franchise, established to the point where you feel comfortable and 'in charge' takes time, as Mary Lambie describes very well on the Franchise New Zealand website. But it has become very apparent to me that the process of winning a client and finding cost savings is somewhat slower than I'd first imagined. While I might think that the service we offer is a "no-brainer", I would be deluding myself if I thought that everyone else would come to the same conclusion. I live with this business day in and day out; however, our potential clients don't so perhaps it is not surprising that they cannot immediately see the benefit of our services.

And therein lies the challenge - how do we quickly and efficiently get the message across? Our success depends upon communicating the message via an effective first approach to secure a personal meeting. Once you're sitting face-to-face with someone, it's much easier to demonstrate your business model, to establish credibility and, ultimately, to win the business.

So guess where I'm focussing my energy? You've got it - learning how to convince a potential client that it is worth giving me half an hour of their time, learning how to turn the "I don't think we need that," or "I'm not interested," or "We can do it ourselves" into an agreement to at least meet. It's not easy and takes practice and skill to win that meeting - and, above all, perseverance!

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