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For example, the ones who are struggling with their business typically work just as hard as the ones who are seeing their turnover and profit grow.
That doesn't make sense, does it? That's not what they teach us at school and university. They teach us that the harder you work - the more hours you put in - the better the results you get.
So how come that isn't the case with your practice? How come there is a disconnect between hours worked and success achieved?
The first time I noticed this a few years ago I dug a little deeper to see why this was the case. I realised that practice owners whose hard work is getting them nowhere fast are often confusing activity for progress.
Put another way, they are working on the wrong things, and so get easily frustrated and demotivated when those things don't give them the results they need.
Here's an example. You could get a hot brand into your practice, let's say Face à Face, and you could put together the most powerful and desirable promotion. It could be promoted the right way to every single person that walks into the practice, yet still few of your clients buy the frames.
And the reason for that failure could be something as simple as the fact most of your clients are 60+ and have no positive emotional reaction to that brand. You're pushing a young brand to an older audience no wonder they're not buying.
That might sound like an obvious example, but I see people working hard on the wrong things time and time again. And this what holds their practices back.
For example, the practice owner who works hard on the perfect new client generation advert, but then puts it in the wrong place. There's no point putting it in the local paper, or on a billboard. These methods don't give you a good enough return on investment in 2013.
The website where the practice owner has spent thousands of pounds and many hours of meetings getting the design right, but then puts in the same generic boring text as every other optician's website. Writing 'Welcome to the XYZ Opticians website - we offer the best service and quality' hurts your business.
The practice owner who spends hours writing a new recall letter from scratch, tries it with 25 clients, and then bins it because in their opinion 'it doesn't work'. And they return to the tired old one they've been using for a decade already. Making key marketing decisions on a gut feeling can be dangerous when split testing allows you a scientific way to measure and improve any piece of marketing.
Five-point plan
If you're working hard but not seeing results, you really need to stop and do something differently. Here's a five-step strategy to make sure that every hour you spend working on your business is productive:
? Set the right goals: If you don't know what you're working towards, how can you know what to invest your time in? The leaders of successful practices know what they want and remind themselves every day that their main priority at work is not testing eyes or dispensing it's pulling the business towards its big goal
? Develop the right strategy: A goal without a plan is just a dream. So develop a strategy and start working it. Don't worry if you've got the right or wrong strategy; all strategies evolve over time, especially as you learn more about your goal and what you need to do to get to it more quickly
? Use the right balance of resources: You have three resources available to you: time, energy and cash. Make sure you use them in the right balance. Your time is the most precious resource and the most finite. Don't waste it. Your energy will start to run out earlier and earlier each day as you get older (which is why business development is best done before the day's clinic starts). Use whatever cash you have available to make up for lack of time and energy
? Grow the right team: Your staff are one of the key factors that will help you succeed or fail in growing your business. If they're the wrong people, they have to go. Hire an aggressive HR expert and adopt a policy of 'hire slowly, fire quickly'. Get rid of the dead wood. A little short-term pain will pay off in the long term as new, motivated and excited staff move you forward even faster
? DOA: Traditionally this has always meant Dead On Arrival. Well that's what you will be if you try to do everything in your practice yourself. You should delegate, outsource, automate. Ninety per cent of all the tasks you are currently doing, someone else can do for you. Which means you focus just on the things that really matter.
Please don't read this and think I'm just saying you should work less. I'm just saying if you're going to work hard, then work hard on the right things. After all, you're in business not busyness. ?
? Richard Pakey is the author of It's Time To Fight Back, now owned by more than 2,700 UK practice owners. You can get a free copy at www.freeopticiansbook.com