What asset am I’m talkin ‘bout?
We’ll get to that in a quick second.
It’s in this story that has a HUGE cautionary tale for you…
The other day I was speaking with a client of mine. He mentioned being frustrated by the redundancy in his business.
Every year at this time he acquires several printed prospect lists that he manually migrates onto an excel spreadsheet and then imports that onto an online CRM database. One name at a time.
He commented that his time is at a premium and that he was sick of the redundancy of entering the names into excel and then migrating that into the CRM. It was creating twice as much work for him as opposed to just entering it straight into the cloud.
So he told me he was just going to enter every name straight from print to the CRM in the cloud.
I strongly cautioned him against this and reminded him redundancy is your friend.
You gotta back ‘dat asset up!
*That was a little 90’s rap reference for you, from the great American philosopher Juvenile 🙂
What asset?
Your list, that’s the asset.
Whatever kind of list you keep.
If you’re an entrepreneur it’s your customer list.
If you’re a coach it’s your recruiting list.
How often do I back up my lists?
Weekly and then I store the thumb drive containing the data in a safe. A list of readers (aka YOU) and a list of clients and prospects.
You might think I’m a little OCD about this but it’s for good reason.
My list is my most valuable business asset. Your’s is too.
This is a strategy I learned from copywriter Ken McCarthy. Every Friday he takes the most up to date version of his customer list to the bank and puts it in his safety deposit box.
Is that a little excessive? Maybe, maybe not.
There’s a very practical reason to back up and lock up your list weekly…
Shiznit happens.
Seriously. Hard drives crash, software gets corrupt, computers get viruses, lightning strikes, fires ignite, burglars burgle and there’s a host of other ways you can lose your most valuable asset.
So there’s the compelling practical reason to back ‘dat asset up and then lock it up somewhere safe.
There’s also a psychological reason to do so.
It’s a physical and visual reminder that your list IS your business.
In business, your prospects and customers are the lifeblood of your company. Just like recruits are the lifeblood of an athletic program.
And they all need constant care and attention.
Are you adding value daily and weekly to your list members?
If you are, they are more likely to reciprocate and FAR more likely to engage with you and stay with you.
Common sense? Yes.
Common practice? Nope.
You always want to be growing your list and adding new value to the people in your world.
Don’t look at your list as a collection of names, addresses and emails. It’s a list of PEOPLE – they’re living breathing humans and deserve to be treated as such.
How do you do that? By keeping THEIR best interest at heart not yours.
And how do you do that? First by having a reliable S.Y.S.T.E.M. to actually keep them in your world.
Do you have a S.Y.S.T.E.M. for your daily processes like time management, marketing plans, expense reports and the like?
Yep S.Y.S.T.E.M. is one of those fancy acronyms meaning:
Save
Yourself
Stress
Time
Energy &
Money
Oh yeah, how did the story end? Did he take my advice?
I’m glad you asked.
Yes, because I reminded him about Pat another client of mine who didn’t back his assets up. A year ago Pat’s fancy CRM system in the cloud went down, he was locked out for over a week, couldn’t get back in, missed critical deadlines and lost customers as a result. To add insult to injury, when it was “restored” everything in his account was deleted.
Is redundancy more work? Yes.
But when the “fit hits the shan” you’re gonna wish like hell you had redundancy in your business in the form of an excel spreadsheet on a hard drive, a thumb drive and a print version.
If you lack the tools or the time to search for or create all the right business spreadsheets, lists and forms yourself, don’t worry I’ve got your asset covered…
With just the thang to save yourself stress, time, energy and money. My Business Growth Vault is an entire system of time saving forms, templates and schedules designed for busy folks like YOU to accelerate your results.
Here’s your link to the goods:
https://coachbru.thinkific.com/courses/BusinessGrowthVault
P.S. Friendly Reminder: If you don’t back that asset up and instead choose to blame software, the cloud, anything or anyone else for lost files you’re blaming the wrong person. Look in the mirror.