How to Overcome Bad Business Strategies and Plug Your Leaking Small Business Bucket

We all have had a time where we didn’t realize the impact the little daily minutiae and nuances have had on our business and financial health. Poor business practices limit us in ways we can’t even imagine. It’s not until we sit down and really see the red that we notice how far and for long our bad business habits have affected us. Sometimes, we become so blin to our bad habits that we can’t even see “the forest for the trees.”

What Are Business Bad Habits?

Over the last few weeks, and over different speaking engagements, I’ve noticed the same questions from business owners coming up repeatedly. Why isn’t my business growing the way it should, despite me investing money into advertising and marketing?

I posed the question a few months back if “being a business owner means having to do it all?” When we begin our own entrepreneurial journey, are we expected to work 50, 60, 70, or 80-hour weeks without flinching? Are we expected to sacrifice our own time for the success of the business? 

Many of the questions I’ve received recently relating to customer journeys and customer experience all relate to two things:

• Not understanding the difference between customer experience and a customer journey

• Not realizing the bad business habits you’re engaging in daily

And: 

• Not realizing because you didn’t have the knowledge beforehand. 

We’re all lacking in one area of business education or another and we don’t even realize it. 

There are many business bad habits that we are guilty of committing:

• Time mismanagement 

• Micromanagement 

• Lack of organization

• Failure to plan

• Too much on your plate

CIBN Connect

A little over 3 months ago, I joined CIBN, intrigued by their different take on networking. They place their focus on what the business owner can get out of their organization, not what the organization can get out of them. 

I knew I wanted to create a discussion on customer journeys and the changes one should consider as the business grows, etc, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the self-imposed ceilings business owners had looming above them. 

Whether people realized it, they were their own cause of stagnant profits. 

So, when it came time to prepare for CIBN Connect, I knew I wanted to create something that would inform and educate about the bad habits that are causing our small businesses to have a “leaky bucket.”

From Small Businesses To Segwik 

When I began my entrepreneurial journey, I didn't fully see the difficulty all businesses face when starting from nothing. It was only as I worked side-by-side with entrepreneurs with businesses and industries of all shapes and sizes, did I fully appreciate the hurdles that everyone has to overcome in order to achieve the goals they first envisioned.  

By working with other businesses, I not only saw the business’ bad habits daily in others, but I recognized it in myself as well. This gave me, and ultimately Segwik, the advantage of learning what to advise against and how to communicate it in a way that everyone can understand. 

“The Story of the Small Business Leaky Bucket”

What is the small business leaky bucket syndrome? Most business owners are not satisfied with the quantity and quality of the leads that they are getting. 

It’s not always about feeding a massive amount of leads into the top of your funnel as possible. What will happen is, as most often is the case, the leads will leak out because of the poor processes we have in place further down the line. 

It doesn’t matter how much money you throw at your advertising or marketing budget, it won’t fix the issues at hand. 

Often, businesses forget to revamp their customer journey and other strategies first put in place as:

• The years go on

• Their business grows

• Their client base evolves

One of the biggest self imposed stagnations I see when talking with businesses owners one-on-one is the sheer volume of software they’re using daily to run their business BEFORE THEY EVEN BEGIN the daily task of actually running their business.

Entrepreneurs are needlessly paying extra and managing extra software just to continue an outdated customer journey. Often, this is just an inefficient, time-consuming mess. This is the primary cause of “leaky bucket syndrome.”

Segwik Solutions

Segwik guides your leads through a deliberate call to action, step-by-step, in a frictionless process from “hello” to “add to cart.”

These automated journeys remove the superfluous software that was previously needed, leaving business owners with the time and resources to fully analyze what works and what doesn’t. 

Segwik created a predictable process based on your unique needs that guarantees every new lead will get the same value, customer service, and messaging each time, every time. 

What does this mean? As leads enter your top of funnel, they are being shepherded step-by-step toward your end goal. Creating the scalable growth and profits that are what you always envisioned. 

Part of what drew me to CIBN Connect was how it parallels one of my core beliefs with Segwik: We can all grow and rise together once we have the tools, strategies, and knowledge in place to succeed. 

Watch the video here:

Video Highlights:

• An example of a Typical Customer Journey

• An example of a Effective, Efficient Customer Journey 

• Case Study: Majestic Awning Customer’s Journey