It was a sad morning. When I came out to the kitchen I saw a completely wilted Azalea plant. Even though it sat where I could not miss it I had forgotten to water it for days. Azaleas need lots of water. The flowers had all folded up on themselves, trying to preserve what little moisture they had inside. They resembled like crumpled old tissue and it looked hopeless. And then, when I went to move it there was a shower of leaves. Oh no, I had definitely killed my plant.

A business is like a living thing; there are requirements and actions that must be done every day to ensure it continues to live (exist) as an entity. If you stop watering your business it will die and by watering I mean providing the daily nurturing that helps sustain the businesses life. Here are three things that must be done in your business every day.

Pay Attention

If you are not paying attention then how do you know if you are doing well or not doing what you expected to do? It is easy to get into a routine and to feel the results are in line with the forecasted numbers. Maybe these statements sound familiar:

• we have seen it before
• we made the same amount of calls as last month
• we have the same amount of prospects in your sale funnel, etc

The numbers are the indicators of the health of your business. When you are not making your numbers it is like the leaves falling off my plant. Something is wrong and your business is in stress. When you easily make your numbers, days before they projected result them maybe you need to set some new numbers. Pay attention to the value of the sales and your goals.

Just because it is the same does not mean the result will be the same. We need to pay attention to the actual sales result – the dollar value. Did you hit your forecasted monthly sales number? Do you have a monthly sales number you are trying to reach? On which day of the month did you hit the number (day 20 or day 30?) Are you close to not making your numbers? Are you always failing to hit your projected sales?

The numbers are the indicators of the health of your business. When you are not making your numbers it is like the leaves falling off my plant. Something is wrong and your business is in stress. When you easily make your numbers, days before your projected goal then maybe you need to set some new numbers. Pay attention to the value of the sales and your goals.

Focus on Revenue Generating Activities

If you are not doing something that will generate new sales next week, then when next week comes you will have no money coming in. This is what is often referred to as the money rollercoaster. In service-based businesses, often no sales are done when the work is being delivered, which leads to no work. When there is no work then there is no money but lots of time to do more marketing to generate more sales. Whether you have no time the marketing and sales must be done anyway, every day to create a consistent cash flow in your business.

In a more traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ style business, there is an expectation to sell product every day. If there is no marketing that is taking place to capture new prospects or remind your current customers that they can buy from you again, then you will start to see less and less traffic. Whether you are the one doing the marketing or you have a marketing team, it has to be done every day to ensure your sales funnel is full so you can sell product today, next week, next month, and next year.

Customer Care

Your customers are the reason you are in business. Every touchpoint they encounter of your business must clearly represent your brand and provide an exceptional experience. This is true for your past clients, your current clients, and your clients to be.

Know your systems

To ensure your clients get the best experience possible every time, you must be unwavering in how you run your business. By this I mean your business must run the same way every day. If you create an exceptional marketing invitation for a prospect, you want to ensure you create that same great experience for every new lead that comes in contact with your brand. If you have a fantastic way of servicing your clients, you must have procedures that ensure you and your employees deliver your service the same way every time your clients come to you. If you want customers to return, make sure you have a system that tells you who to contact and when to reach out to them again. Delivering your great service the same way: every client, every time.

Even though I watered my plant 2 days ago, it is still losing leaves, although the flowers have recovered. Will the plant survive? If I had just watered it every day all I would have to do is continue to water the plant to manage the health. Now I may have to add more than just water to help stabilize the plant after this major stress.  If you want your business to have a consistent cash flow you must have daily routines that help manage the health of your business and protect it from stress that will cost you more time and money down the road.