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What is the hardest part of growing your business?
Facing your problems ALONE.
Couple the business challenges with personal dilemmas and you've got yourself a powder keg waiting to explode.
SA5 took on those issues and MORE this year by revealing to attendees how to overcome your biggest challenges, cope with the things you cannot change, and inspire you to fix the things you CAN change.
Jonathan kicked off SA5 with a mesmerizing talk on creating the changes you most want to see in your business and personal lives.
Life can be like a set of dominoes: once you push one down, the rest are bound to follow...
Using a VERY cool Rube Goldberg Machine (watch the video here) and dominoes as analogies, Jonathan likened those machines to chaos… ORGANIZED CHAOS.
“If you think about your path through business and life, it’s very much the same,” Jonathan said.
“It’s going to twist and turn and never play out in a straight line.”
But if you’re setting up your dominoes correctly, planning, being intentional about how you’re going to achieve your outcome, it will be much quicker and less difficult to get there.
You have to start a chain reaction in your business growth. Once you tip over one domino, the rest will fall. But in order for them to fall, you have to plan out each domino.
Imagine your business goals as dominoes.
You have to set up different steps to accomplish that goal.
Jonathan even provided everyone who attended a Quarterly Goals worksheet to get started.
The name of the song in the video at the beginning of this talk is “This Too Shall Pass”.
Consider that for a moment.
Even the biggest failures will eventually pass. Think about how many times you’ve felt stuck in a rut.
What happened?
You got out.
Most business owners fail or plateau because they get so overwhelmed at the idea of growing their business. They don’t know where to start… what to do next… or who to turn to.
Your solution starts with an honest assessment of what needs to get fixed.
Once you put your plan in place you won’t feel so overwhelmed because, like the Rube Goldberg Machine, while it won't be a perfectly straight path, you’ll know exactly where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.
Right at this very moment you have access to two cool new features of Service Autopilot that John Caldwell, our fearless CTO, showed to the crowd: our new Team App and our integration with SendJim.
John also elated the SA5 crowd with some AMAZING things coming up next for Service Autopilot. But you’ll have to wait until they are released to hear about them!
When Jeff Harkness, founder of Three Point Group, took to the SA5 stage, he provided vital information on how you can increase your profits through great financial practices and strategies.
“Leadership isn’t about titles, positions or flowcharts,” Jeff says. “It’s about one life influencing another.”
Key Takeaway: Jeff says the 5 winning foundation blocks to creating a winning business are…
Jonathan roared back on stage to kick off Day 2 with a talk designed solely on increasing revenue growth by focusing on these key marketing areas of your business machine:
Jonathan showed the room just how Online and Offline marketing can work in tandem to get your desired results.
He explained, “Online marketing helps you cast a wide net, while offline marketing is laser focused.”
His Key Takeaway? Consider 2019 a testing year. Start small and test your Facebook ads. Test your email marketing. Test your doorhangers, 9 arounds, etc. Be sure to track your numbers, gauge your results, make a few changes, then test again.
Brian Carter had the answer.
A marketing industry leader and bestselling author, Brian motivated the SA5 crowd to use the single best form of customer engagement… SOCIAL MEDIA.
Being actively engaged with your customers and prospects leads to becoming “ubiquitous” - being everywhere, all the time. And when you’re constantly in front of your audience on social, engaging with them, they’ll remember you. This can be done through posting top of funnel videos on Facebook, placing paid ads on Facebook, Instagram posts, etc.
If you’re not on social, YOU SHOULD BE. Social media engagement on average leads to 50% more sales.
Key Takeaway: Customers are loyal due to 86% like and 14% trust. The more they engage with your business, the more probable it is they’ll like your business. This will lead to trust in your business, which makes them loyal to you.
Loyal customers mean they’re more likely to stick with you, when your competition tries to poach them later on.
KIRK SLACK!
Kirk, owner of Wellspring Landscape Services near Austin, Texas, took home the Biggest Badass Award this year. We had BY FAR the biggest and best nominee pool than ever before. Kirk was up against some stiff competition including fellow Academy members Kyle Hardtke and Jonas Olson.
It takes a lot of hard work to receive the Biggest Badass Award, but it also takes hard work to become a nominee.
We appreciate these guys and everything they do. Next year, we hope to see one of YOU as our next Biggest Badass!
Chris Volpe, Training Manager for Service Autopilot, presented several powerful Automations to a thirsty crowd of SA5 Automations users and those wanting to learn more.
Chris explained how to best use Automations and revealed 3 brand new Automations for conference attendees:
The 3 automations Chris gave away are…
Service Autopilot's Product Owner, Chris Sims, captivated the audience as he taught everyone several ways to calculate Client Lifetime Value.
CLV is the client’s value for the entirety of their customer journey. When determining the customer’s lifetime value, you have to subtract the Cost of Acquisition (the money you spent to get your client).
One way you can calculate CLV is through: Time (12 x Sales x Clients x Profit)
Time is referring to the 3-year average customer lifespan with your business (the average customer lifespan in lawn care is 2-3 years). Sales are referring to the average invoice amount. Clients are referring to the number of invoices per month. Profit is referring to your profit margin.
The customer journey moves in stages of…
Key Takeaway: In order to avoid spending too much money on advertising, you should always know your Customer Lifetime Value and the Cost of Acquisition. Those numbers will help you create a reasonable marketing budget.
Roy Heintz has used his leadership skills to build Atlanta’s Reliable Roofing into one of the largest roofing companies in the business. He brought his high level of business success strategies to the SA5 stage and taught everyone how to be your own champion.
Roy provided thoughtful (and thought provoking) encouragement and tips on how YOU can be a great leader. He also defined what constitutes a great leader.
Key Takeaway: EVERYONE has the potential to be a great leader, if you’re willing to put in the work. Great leaders do great things. The only way to truly be successful in both your personal and professional life is to be a great leader by example.
Good leaders educate themselves.
“Leaders are readers,” Roy says.
The 3 steps to help you achieve greatness as a leader are…
By Day 3, Jason Cupp was on a roll, teaching us how to break through to $500k, then push through to $1 Million. He said there are several major mistakes business owners are making that prohibit them from reaching this goal.
Those mistakes are:
Mindy Ashley, our Director of Member Support, conquered the SA5 stage as she discussed the importance of self-care.
Mindy gave away the secrets to creating a healthy, happy work environment for everyone.
Key Takeaway: Lack of self-care is A LOT more common than you might think, and it’s likely happening in your own business without you even realizing it.
These four areas of focus will help you take care of your team AND yourself…
Don’t ever be afraid to seek out resources that’ll help you through the rough patches.
Martha Woodward, a Service Autopilot Certified adviser and co-founder of Quality Driven Software, enlightened the audience with…
Martha explained that there are three essential elements to this concept…
Key Takeaway: Being transparent and honest with everyone on your team is vital to promoting a self-motivated workforce. If your team is happy, then your clients will he happy.
Consistency is a cycle. As a business owner and leader, you are are an example that sets the tone for your business. If you’re consistent, then your team will be consistent.
You can be transparent in your business by being open and honest when it comes to:
“Transparency SHIFTS responsibility back to your team,” Martha says.
This is not an exaggeration:
Marcus Sheridan, known as the Sales Lion, jumped off the stage and ran around the room, screaming into his microphone.
He taught us that building content that answers questions is the way to keep your audience engaged - especially through the use of video marketing.
Marcus shared that “social video generates 1,200% more shares than text and images combined. You don’t have a social media presence if you don’t do video.”
He went on to explain that people need to:
See you...
Hear you...
Know you…
… BEFORE you, as a business, do them. And if you can make that connection with them before they search for you, they will trust you more. Trust is HUGE when making a sale. Often times people produce video content but don’t integrate it into their sales process.
Marcus’ Key Takeaway? If you follow the simple strategy of producing content that answers customers’ questions, you’re bound to increase your sales and marketing pipeline.
SA5 wrapped up with the MOST EPIC After Party we’ve had to date! The House of Blues did not disappoint. See how the party lasted well into the night...
Be sure to check out our upcoming Profit Roadmap Podcasts with even MORE insights, tips, and exciting stories from the 2018 Service Autopilot Conference.
We can't WAIT to see you next year!
Tags: Business Operation
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