Biblical Stewardship 2

 

1. Clarifying Your Business Purpose

A good steward is not aimless. He knows exactly what his employer expects of him. As business stewards, we must understand clearly what we are aiming to accomplish and why we are trying to accomplish it. If we are foggy about where we are going with our businesses, we will take a zigzag path (or even go in circles). This is not a good use of resources.

Entrepreneurs sometimes contract a disease called Shiny Object Syndrome. Businesspeople with this “disease” get distracted from their core purpose and start chasing shiny objects—enticing new strategies, ideas, opportunities, products.

Clarity on your vision, mission, and core values gives you a basis for faster and better decision-making so you stay on the right track. Sometimes you will decide to take advantage of new opportunities because it fits with your vision and mission, and other times you will need to decline.

Clarity of business focus streamlines decision making and makes your job easier because your team can take appropriate action without always coming back to you for direction or just doing what they want to do.

2. Research and Strategy

The story goes that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos positions an empty chair at the conference table during meetings. The empty chair serves to represent the customer—Bezos wants Amazon’s customers to be the focus of every meeting. “Start with the customer and work backwards,” he says.

We waste many dollars and hours when we make faulty assumptions about our customers. Unless we discover the truth about our customer’s needs and preferences, we won’t know how to serve them in the best possible way.

Good stewardship usually includes discovering and serving a niche market. Differentiating yourself this way is more effective for both your business and your customers (offering them better choices). Directly competing with other businesses easily turns into a price war that doesn’t help anyone.

3. Lead Generation

Lead generation is often where most of the waste happens in marketing. That’s because advertising is expensive, and we don’t always get a good return on our investment. Pouring money into advertising with no Return on Investment (ROI) is like investing in an expensive machine that doesn’t work. We would never knowingly do the latter, so why would we do the former?

If you do not have any testing and measuring mechanism in place, start by tracking how many leads you get from each lead source. Also track how many dollars of sales come from each lead source. Traditional forms of advertising such as newspaper ads and direct mail can sometimes be replaced with less expensive alternatives that yield better results.

4. Lead Conversion

Lead conversion can also be a place for major waste. Do you know what percentage of your leads convert to sales, and how much every conversion costs on average? If it costs you $100 to generate one lead, every lead that does not convert is $100 lost.

Let’s look at it this way. If you spend $50 to convert that lead instead of losing it, you are ahead by $50 because you redeemed that $100 lead. It is often less costly to improve your conversion rate than to generate more leads.

5. Sales and CRM

Part of being a good steward in business is helping your customers be good stewards of their own resources. Just as we wouldn’t want to spend money on an ill-advised purchase, we should not try to persuade our customers toward purchases that won’t serve their best interest.

As salesmen, we can be partners in helping our prospects get the most value for their money. This is following the Golden Rule, and even if we don’t get the most profitable sale, we will still be rewarded for doing the right thing.

An organized Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system saves you time and helps you serve your customers and prospects more efficiently because you have their contact information and sales history at your fingertips.

6. Branding

Making a direct connection between branding investments and the return it brings is challenging. However, proper and strategic branding can be among the highest ROI marketing investments you make. This is true for several reasons:

1. Branding is all about building a reputation of trust with your prospects and customers. Creating trust is essential for people to do business with you. With a strong brand, your entire sales cycle will have less friction.
2. Once trust is earned, all you need to do to maintain it is to keep doing what you say you are going to do.
3. Satisfied customers who trust you will actively refer you or at least give a good word for you when others ask. Even prospects who chose not to buy from you might recommend you to others they believe would be a good fit for your product or service.

Conclusion

You have a lot of irons in the fire and are juggling many responsibilities in addition to marketing. In each of those areas, God is calling you to manage well what He has given you for His glory and others’ good.

If there is one thing I want you to remember from this article, it is this: testing and measuring is the key to improving the results from the time and dollars you invest in marketing. Without this information, you are driving blind and more susceptible to making wrong turns. May God give you wisdom to be a good steward of your marketing activity.

Who is the Virtuous Woman?

Who exactly is the virtuous woman? She is a strong woman who uses her gifts and abilities to praise God in all aspects of her life, including her business.

Proverbs 31 paints a beautiful picture of a woman who characterizes as someone who works hard and diligently every day of her life, and whose hands produce fruit that helps her family and others.

She is rooted in the Word of God and lets it guide her decisions and actions. She represents the attributes of a willing and diligent woman who is an excellent wife, a wise entrepreneur, and a role model for every Christian women.

She has full confidence in her ability and trusts God to direct her steps as she strives to impact His kingdom.

Virtuous Characteristics for Businesswomen

It can be easy to get caught up in the physical appearance of success – the perfect outfit, the impressive resume, the latest technology.

But the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 reminds us that it’s the inner qualities that truly make a difference in our daily lives, both personally and professionally.

The virtuous woman is like a merchant ship delivering valuable goods to her family with eager hands and a noble heart. 

She is a wise woman who understands how to manage her time and resources, as well as a hard worker who is not afraid to put in the effort required to attain her objectives.

She is an intelligent woman who cares deeply about the financial well-being of her household, and she is not afraid to take on the role of a full-time homemaker if necessary.

In addition to her business and home responsibilities, the virtuous woman is also mindful of those around her. She is a servant to her family and her community, and she has a quiet spirit that speaks volumes about her character.