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Speaking of repeat and referral, this is the mantra of Quad 4 businesses. They believe that doing great work will result in tremendous business growth. They are partly right. The problem is that they typically ignore their marketing and sales system. Therefore, any new leads—including referrals—get stuck in one stage of the buyer’s journey. Or, they opt out due to feeling ignored or confused by the process. This results in a cycle of feast or famine as the business shifts from operations when a solid lead closes. Business development ceases. Once the project nears completion, someone raises their head from the work and realizes there is nothing in the pipeline. This inconsistent revenue prevents investing in growth. One month you’re overwhelmed with work, the next you’re idle. Morale plummets on this revenue rollercoaster.

What’s worse than not getting enough customers? Getting too many of the wrong kind. Some businesses have a solid system for funneling leads through the buyer’s journey. The problem is that these leads don’t have sufficient budgets, they are high maintenance, creating operations headaches and increasing overhead. This model may keep you busy, but the wrong customers sap time constantly onboarding and handholding. Turnover is high across your team. You churn through employees nearly as fast as customers.

Here is where things get interesting. What if your business has both quality leads and a high-quality marketing and sales system? Then you have the kinds of leads that can become your best customers. And they are efficiently moving through the buyer’s journey because you are addressing their doubts and reinforcing their hope at each stage of the process. They don’t get stuck. They don’t opt out. The sales cycle is accelerated. Your close rate is elevated. Your sales become predictable, reliable, and repeatable. Once you max out your operations, you can decide to close the “spigot” a little and slow down business development. Or you can increase your capacity and open the spigot further, bringing in more customers to grow your business. This is the dream for leaders who want to grow their business, employees who want to do great work, and customers who value what you provide and want more of it.

Where does your business fall in this matrix today? Assessing your lead quality and marketing and sales system is the first step to reaching the dream quadrant’s strong growth, profits and morale.