Does your workday begin at full steam with dozens of phone calls and emails waiting for you when you get in the office? If it doesn't, you need to read this. If it does, how many of those are business related messages with potential to generate revenue? How many are new sales leads? How much of your time is spent on critical core business activities?

Before I go on further, let me tell you about my self so you know where I'm coming from on this subject. I own and operate an executive office suite business. My company rents furnished and serviced office spaces and private workspaces (desks). We also provide virtual office services to clients ranging from individual professionals to multi-billion dollar companies and everyone in between. I get to talk to a lot of people in a lot of different businesses. This exposure to a broad ranges of businesses and professionals let me see how they operate and see what their daily activities are like. From this, I came to realize that every business has the same core activities that are critically important for success. However, not everyone pays attention to those activities.

Critical activities common to all businesses

Every business, regardless of the industry and profession, has common core activities that are critical to the success of the business. The core activities are Product Development, Marketing, Sales, Closing, Delivery and Follow up (repeat sales). Whether you are a large corporation, a consulting professional or a sole proprietor selling widgets, you must be on top of all of these activities. You must maintain an intentional ongoing activity in these areas to ensure your business success. If you are a startup company, you may be initially focused on product development and marketing. But eventually, you have to sell it and someone must buy it if you are to be successful.

Product Development

Whether you are selling widgets or intangible services, if you are selling some thing, you have a product. Successful businesses continuously spend time and energy improving their products. As a business owner or a professional, how much time do you spend improving your product? For example, we have several products in my executive office suite business. We provide functional office spaces and workspaces and manage everything related to running an office for our clients. This includes making sure that internet connection and telephone services are working properly, maintaining appropriate level of staffing such as receptionists and cleaning crews, making sure that the copier, printer and fax machines are serviced and that we have enough toners and papers for the machines. The list goes on . As part of my product development process, I'm always looking for product improvement ideas. I ask my self, what else can I do to make my serviced office space a better place for my customers to conduct their business out of? For example, when I realized that many businesses and people need part-time office space with a permanent business address, we started our virtual office service.

Marketing and Advertisement

If you have the best widgets in the world to sell, would you keep it a secret? That is what you are doing if you do not have an intentional and active marketing activity - you are keeping your product a secret from your potential buyers. If your potential customers don't know about your product, how would they buy it from you? Marketing is a critical activity for your business. "Build it and they will come" only happens in the movies. Build and announce it to the world and then they will come is more like it. You must get the word out to your potential customers. There are so many creative and cost effective marketing ideas out there. Just search for the term ?Marketing Ideas? on Google, Yahoo and MSN and you will get a long list of websites and free articles. Taking my Executive Office Suite business as an example, I conduct a daily ritual of marketing activities both online and offline. I advertise to newspapers and online classifieds every day. Some online classifieds are free and I try to take advantage of it as much as I possibly can. Why not? It's free. When I advertise, I try to be as direct as possible so that my readers will know exactly what they are getting when they call. I avoid any vagueness so that when a person responds to my ad, there's no mistake about what they are responding to.

For example, my ads may read like this: NYC Virtual Office $100/mo - 212 phone, voicemail, prestigious business address, desk space use, conference room use included. For more information call 212-300-2000 or visit our website http://www.corporatepark.net . There's no mistaking that the ad is for virtual office space. If the reader calls me, that person is a qualified lead looking for a virtual office space and can afford the $100/mo - just the person I wanted to hear from.

Selling your product

If you've done a good job of marketing your product, you will receive a constant stream of sales leads. But the process doesn't stop there. Actually, it has just begun. You now have to sell your product to your potential customer - your qualified lead. Selling involves calling and talking to people to find out if your product is a right fit. A word about selling - selling is not doing everything you can to make your prospect buy. Selling is explaining your product to your prospect so that the prospect can decide if your product is right for them. If you're shy about talking to people, overcome your shyness fast. It's amazing how often a sales lead is not pursued because the sales person has a good excuse why they shouldn't follow up on a lead. My personal favorite excuse that I'm still recovering from is "I sent an email. They'll call me if they are interested in my virtual office service." An email message is a great way to keep in touch with people and send lengthy information. However, it is not a replacement for a live phone conversation. You must get on that phone and make the call if you want to sell. In my sales process, I've established a simple rule for may self - when I get a qualified lead about my virtual office services , I send an email containing information about my product. It's a great way to communicate the specifications of my product but I don't consider that email to be an act of selling. It's just a product brochure. It's not a sales effort. To sell, I follow up on the email with a phone call, actually several phone calls. Think about the last time you bought something. Did you want to talk to someone before you bought it? You have to get on the phone and talk to your prospect if you want to have a successful sale.

Closing on your sale

Informing a prospect about the features and benefits of your product is NOT the same thing as asking them to buy the product. You eventually have to ask your prospect to buy. A sales lead that keeps on leading but not buying is only that - a lead. At some point you have to close the deal. A closure is either a sale or no sale. Being in the executive office suite business, I get many calls from sales people who want to sell me widgets. The widget may be a phone service, internet connection, paper supplies or copier toners. An experienced sales person will spend the necessary time to explain why their widget is better and answer any questions I might have. But eventually the (experienced) sales person will ask me to buy his or her widget. When I tell them that I am not in the market for a widget they'll graciously offer to stay in touch and move on. An inexperienced sales person however will just keep on telling me more about product features hoping that they will stumble onto some magic words that will cause me to buy. They are afraid of closing the sales process because I might say no. But they need to realize that the magic words are ?Will you buy my widget?? and if my answer is no, just move on to the next lead. In my business, my prospects rarely make decisions on the spot after seeing the features and benefits of my virtual office service. They need time to think things over and see other offerings before making a decision. They are trying to make an informed decision. Knowing this, and since I need closure, I ask when we can talk again to see whether our virtual office service will work for the prospect. When I call them at the agreed on time, I should know whether I should prepare a service agreement or move the lead to my ?follow up in the future? folder. I try to help my prospects to objectively sort out their options without being biased. What ever their decision is, I should have closure on my sales lead and move on to my next qualified lead. There's nothing worse than pushing people to make decisions when they are not ready.

Deliver your product as promised

Once the sale is made, make sure the product is delivered as promised and on time. Buyers often get ?buyer's remorse?. Buyer's remorse is a period of time when buyers question the purchase for what ever reason. They may feel that they bought the wrong widget or paid too much for the widget or what ever else a buyer's thought process takes them. During this period, if they experience any snags in product delivery, the ?buyer's remorse? factor will become stronger. The snag could be anything, late delivery, defective product, or not what the buyer ordered. The result could be a bad impression or worse, a refund. Don't let this happen to you after putting in so much effort in your sales process. Deliver the product on time, on budget and in the quality and specification promised. In my business, this is even more critical since I deal with people's business identity and operation. If I don't have the office space ready on time it's more than an inconvenience for my client. They can't get their work done. So I do everything I can to make sure that every aspect of their virtual office is ready on-time. I make sure that the telephone service is turned up correctly, the telephone number and their business address have been sent to them along with instructions on how to use the services, the internet connection is working properly, the workspace is cleaned, company sign is posted and spelled correctly, etc. When I deliver my product I want my customers to know that they have made the right choice in selecting our virtual office service. I try to not to leave anything to chance.

Follow up service

Delivering your product is not the end. Even after your product has been delivered and you have been paid, your product is under constant evaluation until the buyer becomes comfortable with it. After a few days or weeks of delivery (whichever is appropriate your product), give your new customer a call to see if they are still happy with your product. If they are not, offer to fix the problem right away. This kind of willingness to go the extra mile will leave a long lasting impression that you are not just about taking their money and moving on. Your customers will appreciate the fact that you care even after you have been paid. It might even lead to additional sales in the future or a referral to a new qualified lead. In my executive office suites business following up on a sale is unavoidable since my product is my office suite space where I also work out of. I see my customers every day. I always leave my door open so that my customers can walk in a talk to me about anything. If something is wrong I want to know about it right away so I can fix it.

Conclusion

Running a business involves many tasks and activities. It is easy to fall in the trap of the daily grind and neglect what's really important for your business. No matter how busy you are, don't neglect your product development, marketing, sales, closing, delivery and customer service. These are critical activities for your business. Take a step back and look at your daily routine. How much time have you spent lately on the critical things that matter for your business? Neglecting even one of these activities can have a crippling effect on your business. Incorporate them in to your daily routine and watch your business grow.