Do You Make Sure to Move the Needle in Your Business? And What Does That Even Mean?

If you’ve spent any time with a business coach, you’ve probably heard them talk about making sure you regularly do things to move the needle in your business, and it’s true you need to make time for those needle-moving activities, but first you need to know what that means. Once you’re clear on the “move the needle” meaning, then we can talk about what that entails, so let’s start with defining the term.

“Move the Needle” Meaning

​Essentially, the term “move the needle,” when talking about your business, means to do things that will help you grow your business. It could be launching a new product or service. It could be marketing your new (or an existing) product or service. It could be making sales calls, or following up with leads after a networking event. Anything you do to grow your business is a needle-moving activity.

While you need to create the product or service you’re selling to your clients, that is not considered a needle-moving activity. That is considered working in your business rather than on your business. That doesn’t mean it’s not important, it just means you can’t only do those activities and expect to grow your business.

​How to Move the Needle in Your Business

Now that we know what a needle-moving activity is, let’s go over a few strategies you can use to consistently move the needle in your business so you can achieve all the success you know is waiting out there for your business. ​

​Identify Your Needle-Moving Activities

First, you need to identify which activities tend to move the needle in your business. If you usually get a lot of high-quality leads through networking, then commit to attending a certain number of networking events every week or month, and don’t forget to follow up with those leads because that is a needle-moving activity for your business.

How Do You Prefer to Move the Needle?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to building a business. Each business is unique, and that’s especially true for solopreneurs who tend to embody their business, so just because someone does something to grow their business doesn’t mean you have to do the same thing. When figuring out which strategies you should use to grow your business, find a combination of strategies that are most likely to reach your target audience and strategies you enjoy so you’re not forcing yourself to do something that doesn’t align with who you are. For example, if you like sending emails, but your target audience prefers to be contacted on their phones, you could send them a text message, especially since almost everyone is using their cell phone as their business phone these days

Commit to Regular Activities that Move the Needle

Once you’ve identified the needle-moving activities that work for both you and your target audience, commit to performing those activities at least once or twice a week. Depending on the activity, it could be every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

​For example, when I was growing my business, I made it a point to spend 15 minutes a day reaching out to prospects and people in my network. Whether it was an email, a phone call, or a LinkedIn message, the intention was to reach out to people individually (not a social media post) on a regular basis, and I did see my business grow as a direct result of this commitment.

​Other people have different ways of measuring their outreach, such as making sure they reach out to a certain number of people each day, week, or month. Again, it’s all about choosing a system that works for you, because that’s the best way to ensure you’ll stick with it.

​If you found these tips helpful and want more strategies for moving your business forward, I wrote a whole book full of tips for growing your business, from launch to marketing. You can get your own copy of the book here, and don’t forget to let me know what you think!