Strategic Planning, Smart Delegation, And Networking That Keeps Revenue Flowing

We dig into why some owners scale while others stall, and we share the three levers that turn frantic weeks into steady growth. We break down practical planning, real delegation, and relationship habits that keep the pipeline healthy.

• setting a 12‑month target and mapping hires and inventory
• proactive plans vs reactive fire‑fighting
• projections and clear numeric targets
• delegating installs and operations to free up sales time
• training teams to solve problems without you
• making hard calls on underperformance
• hiring specialists who outpace the founder
• consistent networking to avoid sales slumps
• tracking outreach and staying top of mind
• relationships compounding into referrals

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Transcript

What Drives Growth

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What separates business owners that are growing from those that feel stuck? That's what we're going to talk about today. Um, are a few key things that we have seen from our owners that really trigger and determine continued growth versus feeling a little bit stagnant. Without further ado, let's dive in.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

One of the biggest things that we see as an indicator for somebody that's either like quickly gonna grow their business or somebody that's gonna get stuck is their ability to be a strategic thinker and to be a planner. Um, so I feel like we there tends to be two different spectrums. There is like the person that looks at this and goes, this is where I want my business to be in 12 months exactly. Um, and so if that's what I want my business to look like, these are the people I need to hire and think about. And here's when I need to hire them. This is the amount of inventory I need to buy. I'm gonna need to own 20 sofas and, you know, 45 dining chairs, whatever it might be. Um, and then they they execute their plan. The alternative is we see people that just go, I'm gonna go out there and sell. And they go out there and sell and they're like, I just landed a job and I don't have enough sofas in my warehouse to execute. And so they panic, run to home goods, and listen, there is no judgment. I have been there. Sometimes you can have the best plan in place and craziness happens. Um, but that like I'm just gonna do activity and then I'm gonna handle whatever came out of that activity is one where we feel like people stall because what ends up happening is they're so focused on like crap, now I need to actually fulfill the thing that I sold. And more of their time is spent sourcing last-minute products and figuring things out and panic buying and panic sourcing rather than like building thoughtful relationships when they have the inventory and the personnel ready to do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

You definitely have to be proactive and not reactive.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Being proactive is a big key.

Proactive Beats Reactive

Delegate And Replicate Yourself

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah. If you're reactive, you know, we've talked about this before, but then all of a sudden, if you're reactive, you're just putting out fires all day long and then you get frantic, right? Because everything has a sense of urgency, right? So again, methodical, execute your plan. Like come up with your plan and then execute your plan, right? We tell our franchise owners that all the time. We've talked about projections, putting those together, put those numbers on paper, know what you're shooting for, what's your target, go after it. Um, those are those are so key. The second thing we want to talk about is, you know, delegating versus I can do it myself. Really, that is so key for growth in in being strategic, right? Is knowing that your ability to grow is going to be largely spurred or stunted by your ability to replicate yourself. And so surrounding yourself with good team members, um, again, in in our industry, you know, it's the difference for our franchise owners, it's the difference of being the one on the install, you know, which is taking you away from building new relationships versus having somebody that you trust ex executing that install so that you could be building new relationships. Like that's what it's about, and bringing the next one into the pipeline. Oftentimes for owners too, they think the easiest way to fix something is for them to jump in and do it themselves.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Well, and right, and on that point, I think that is the immediate easiest solution. It's so much easier to jump in and be like, I just know how this needs to be done. Let me make these changes and handle it. But the moment they you step in and you just fix, you're not equipping your team with the problem-solving skills that they need so that next time they can fix it without needing to reach out to you. Correct. And so taking that extra work to train and develop your team so that they can fix their own problems is key. But keep going.

Train, Decide, And Level Up Talent

SPEAKER_01 3:34

No, you're so right. It but you have to invest into good personnel as well. So part of that, again, is you know, um, again, we're talking about replicating yourself. If somebody's not cutting it, you gotta, you gotta make the business decision. You gotta let them go. Because if you're just spinning your wheels, that's gonna take more time and energy from you, which is gonna take you away from is necessary to grow the business. Right. So it's having that that sort of sound mind and understanding what what it's gonna take to be successful. And that's one of those things.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Love design, but think like a business owner. If you're ready to leave your nine to five and want to do something that's buildable and scalable, check out linden-creek.com slash franchise and see if Linden Creek is the right fit for you. And I think, you know, oftentimes as business owners, when you've been doing the same work for years, you are an expert now, right? And so it's hard to say, like, hey, let me hand these responsibilities off to you, even though you're new into this industry, new into this role, new into whatever it might be, because they may not do it as well as you did it. But if that's their sole focus is to handle this responsibility. And you as a business owner, you are the head of marketing, you're the head of accounting, you're the head of HR, you are the head of sales, you are the head of the actual operations and production. Your time and energy is getting split in so many different directions. They get to focus on this aspect. And so what happens is they will get better than you. And if you're doing your job right as a manager, you're gonna hire people every time that are better at a certain skill set than you are. And that shouldn't be a threat. That should be a good thing because it allows your business to level up because you're almost buying their education and expertise and experience, and it's getting invested and dumped into your business, which is a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

The last key differentiator I think we see between those that are like wildly successful in their growth versus those at stall is networking and investing back into relationships. You know, on day one, nobody's calling you because nobody knows you exist. And so you're like, I'm gonna get out there and I'm gonna, you know, build relationships and get to know people and attend networking events. And then the phone starts ringing and then you get busy and then you're at installs, and then you're, you know, managing clients and you're doing a thousand things and you're like, I don't have time to go to networking events. I don't have time to make new relationships. Um, but what we often see happens is like this cycle of like the sales boom because you're building relationships and then they fall off because you stopped building your pipeline. And those that like boom and then keep booming are the ones that go, it's still important, despite how busy I am and needing to do these installs and run what I'm doing. It's still important for me to invest in networking and building relationships.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

That's one of the key metrics we track in our organization is really who you're reaching out to and who you're making those connections with. Cause also another important thing to remember is you may invest in a relationship and not get a return on that relationship for months or even years down the road. But planting that seed today opens the door for things to come, right? And and oftentimes, even now, you know, here at our home base in Raleigh, you know, we get referrals from people that we've never worked with. You know, they just know that Lyndon Creek is who you need to call. Well, where did that start? That started with relationships that were built a long time ago that just kind of trickle down the line, you know. So always getting in front of people, always letting them know who you are. Again, what is the value you're going to bring to that person? But really, like you like to say this, and I love this phrase, just go make a friend. Like let things happen organically a lot, right? Yeah, you can state your purpose for, you know, why you're at this event and what have you. But even if you're, you know, being proactive to go meet somebody, just find out what you can do for them. I think that's key, and that'll strengthen that relationship.

Relationships Compound Over Time

Friendship, Value, And Follow-Up

SPEAKER_00 7:18

I think networking um, somewhere along the line, and this is coming from a non-sales girl, like always became my favorite aspect of running the business because it's not sales, it is building relationships and friendships and getting to meet somebody new, understand um their stresses, understand their successes, and celebrate it with them. You are you're building friendships. That's that's all this is. Um, it's so stinking fun to get to build those and keep reinvesting into those. But you're right, like we work with agents. The average agent sells three to four listings a year. Um, and of course, there's a big range, but that's on average. So let's say you reach out to somebody and you build this great relationship with somebody and you grab coffee and it's February, they may not get a listing until July. And so somewhere between February and July, do they remember your name? Do they remember the name of your company? Was your conversation five months ago that impactful? Probably not. I mean, unless you're really fantastic, then there's a real good chance they remember you. But things get forgotten and life gets busy. And so if you're not staying top of mind, it's really easy to lose those relationships unintentionally because people get busy, they lose phone numbers, et cetera. Um, and so staying in that networking realm where you are continually building those and investing in your existing relationships, that is the thing that gives you stability in your business. We love geeking out and talking about all things business and operations, but sometimes I know these conversations can get long. So if you have made it this far, kudos. Um, you are one of us and we want to geek out with you again. Um, if you've made it this far, let us know. Comment down below the word turtle. It'll be fun for us to figure this out. And subscribe. And subscribe. Please. This is in good space.