168. That’s the number of hours in a week, seven days. No more, no less.

To master most goals, be it a tennis championship or building a multi-million business, emanates from the amount of time we devote ourselves to taking high impact, concrete steps that lead us to accomplish that skill and discipline.

Working alongside professional services clients for 25 years, I am still amazed at how little time they seem to think they need to devote to building a prosperous business and by extension, how little time they are willing to allocate and carve out for engaging in purposeful, meaningful business development activities.

Thus, the genesis of why I crafted the Secret Sauce to marketing success and share it daily.

How to Grow A Successful Business

The consistent, persistent, massive amounts of action over a prolonged period of time.

Let’s break it down:

Why ‘consistent’? Mr. Webster says “marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity; behaving in the same way”.

With all of life’s obligations and commitments, being consistent in building a prosperous client base requires considerable focus, organization and commitment. Fits and starts of random marketing activities will not take you where you want to go yet so many lawyers endeavor to follow this path to success. Often, they find a dead end road.

Got persistence? Defined as continuing to do something even when it is difficult; not stopping or giving up. Again, as client work stacks up and billable hour requirements loom over your head, maintaining a persistent approach to business development activities proves to be challenging though critical. There is little else more important than building momentum and buzz within your network to send referrals your way and developing that top-of-mind awareness in front of targeted prospect clients and referral sources.

What massive amounts of action? Many business owners are overwhelmed understandably from developing new business, servicing clients, running the operations end of the business, and actually doing the work associated with the business. How in the world could there be any time for this so-called “massive amounts of action”?

Before I launched KLA Marketing Associates in 2008, I worked in business for 23 years, primarily in law firms across the region. When I became a business owner, my professional life took a 180 degree turn in focus, responsibility, and never-ending tasks of working “in” my business as well as “on” my business.

Given the far-reaching range of imperatives as a business owner, I advise and guide clients of the same gamebook that I have follow.

Business Growth Checklist

• Deliver extraordinary service to your clients (to move them along the buyer’s journey to ‘promoter’)
• Being the face of your enterprise.

All other tasks, technically, may be delegated or outsourced to others with precise discipline expertise.

Be that as it may, there are three business development pillars to growing a successful business that lawyers must engage in the following on a regular basis.

• Relationship-building tactics
• Reputation-enhancing tactics
• Contact management

One of the many upsides of working with outside seasoned advisors is how to incorporate each of these imperatives into an integrated marketing plan AND learn how to most productively engage in “massive amounts of action” to grow your business, on an ongoing basis.

How long is a ‘prolonged period of time’? Once you are clear on your unique value proposition; who exactly is your ‘ideal’ client; where these individuals “go”, professionally; and, how to cultivate relationships with these individuals, you never stop getting and staying connected, taking strategic steps to be seen and get known, and, most of all, converting your qualified leads to paying clients. Lawyers really struggle with this. So busy already, the last thing they need is one more “to-do” to their list.

Understandably, many business owners do not realize the powerful commitment and timetable growing a prosperous business requires. There are no shortcuts, magic bullets or “one hit wonders”. Instead, by implementing the proven Secret Sauce on a consistent, persistent basis, you can be uplifted that attracting clients becomes more predictable and attainable.

Won’t you schedule a complementary “tasting” (consultation) today to learn how you can create the business of your dreams?