We’re only a few weeks away from our second annual skucamp event held at the Ace Hotel in New Orleans! When we first envisioned skucamp, we wanted it to be a retreat away from the daily grind of deadlines and details so that you could lift your head above the noise and spend time with other entrepreneurs working on your business rather than in your business. As is our custom, we want you to arrive, fully prepared to take advantage of each of the workshops led by our speakers. Following are ten tips to help you prepare for skucamp in a way that will amplify your experience:
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- Create a list of your top ten clients and bring the list with you. Want to crank it up a notch? Sort your clients by declining revenue and declining gross profit. Bonus points if you calculate your order average for each by the time you arrive! You’ll need this list for multiple sessions including Mike Michalowicz’s session on How to Grow a Colossally Successful Business. (For those on commonsku, the best report to run to retrieve this info is the Sales Target Report).
- You’ll also need this list for Ruth Verver’s session on Converting Customers Into Raving Fans. Another suggestion from Ruth: Don’t just bring a list of your top clients but bring a list of your VIP’s. How does this differ from a client list? You might have a potential client that is not yet in your top ten list, or, you might have a smaller client who is an excellent referral resource for you.
- Map your bottlenecks. “Every distributor has bottlenecks,” says Jake Malishkevich who will be leading a session entitled Easy Over Everything: Simplifying Your Sales Process. Consider your current sales process, from ideation to quoting to order entry to billing. Make a quick outline of the steps involved and the number of touches between your team members and projects. Want further help with this? Check out our post about How a Systems Change Can Ignite Growth, and you’ll pick up a few tips on how to map your process.
- Bill Petrie and Kirby Hasseman have homework for you. That’s right. Homework. But it's fun and easy, and will be a tremendous help to you as you learn how to suck less at content marketing. Here’s a quick worksheet you can download with four simple questions about the types of content you use, your target audience, voice, and goals.
- To prepare for Catherine Graham’s session on how to build a high-performance team, sketch out a quick org chart of your company, listing roles and responsibilities. Think through each team member’s workload and most importantly, their potential.
- Legendary mentor, Rod Brown, CFO at MadeToOrder, Inc. is bringing Silicon-style funding advice to his session on Building a Company to Last and Love. Since Rod’s session is largely about financial preparedness, review your P&L and Balance sheet before arriving. Also, how is your cash flow? Payables? Receivables? Make note of the areas you need help with and take advantage of chatting with Rod during skucamp.
- Are you a supplier? Review your catalog and merchandise layout from 2018. Review the way your products are displayed on your website and consider your recent tradeshows and how you merchandised product. Distributor? Consider the client shows you have done this year. Make a list of the areas you need to improve, whether product layout or lifestyle shots for social. Consider the client events you are planning. Have these experiences fixed in your mind so that when you hear Melissa McCauley talk about inspirational merchandising for high-impact sales, you’ll be able to put her advice into context for your upcoming projects.
- To transform your website into a lead-gen machine, first, review your website. Make a list of all your web properties, from your product search engines to your social presences. Pay particular attention to your website’s functionality regarding lead gen potential. What areas of your current site need revision? Do you have a “start a project button”? Can prospects easily get in touch with you via your homepage? Ben Taylor will walk you through several tools that will help improve your site results. To kick-start your review process, here's a worksheet that might be helpful to review before you arrive.
- Caryn Kopp will help us find revenue faster and to accelerate our learning, think about your new business development goals. Write down two things: How much do you want to increase sales for 2019? And what resources do you currently have available to amp your new business development goals?
- Remember, skucamp is not only about the experts teaching from the stage but it's also about the experts sitting right next to you. Review the attendee list and make note of fellow entrepreneurs you want to connect with, be prepared to introduce yourself and make a friend. After all, this event gathers some of the most progressive-minded pros in the business, take full advantage of the community by making proactive connections. And be prepared to share experiences from your journey as well!
See you at skucamp!