Have you ever spent time working out where your business came from?

Sounds like a bit of a daft question perhaps, but sometimes we forget, or perhaps we think more is coming from one source than it really is, and this distorts our view on life.

Carry out this simple exercise:

1. Draw up a list of all your clients into one column – ideally you should be able to download them straight into a spreadsheet from your accounting system.
2. In the next column, put down the source of where they came from
3. In the third column, identify their value to you – ideally in a measureable form such as turnover
4. Stand back and analyse!

I did this recently, and I was quite amazed at the results.

I could clearly see

• Where one referral had led to another, and then another
• Exactly what return I was achieving on each networking event I went to
• How many clients had come from my social media activity
• I could identify the source of my most important and influential customers

If you do this exercise, you will be able to

• Do more of what works
• Do less of what does not work

Sounds a bit simple, but then, why make life complicated!