1. Work ON your business not IN it. Think about where you need to be a year from now and ensure all of your actions are aligned with achieving those goals. When we're busy working IN the business, on a day-to-day basis, we sometimes end up doing activities that lead us astray from our truly intended business goal.

2. Create an Elevator Pitch that not only clearly describes your value but also positions your business in the most powerful light possible. Your pitch, whether truly delivered in an elevator or in a hockey rink or at a networking event must always show your passion as well as reinforce your credibility so the person receiving the pitch will want to continue a dialogue with you.

3. Profile your customers so you close the gap between what you think they want and what they truly need. Make sure that customers' perception and experience with your company is truly the one you want them to experience. This includes understandings their demographics, psychographic and behavioral characteristics.

4. Understand what differentiates your company from your competitors. This includes not only companies that provide similar services/products that you do but all of the firms that compete for the same customer dollars. For example, one of my successful entrepreneurs in my InnerCity Entrepreneurs class runs an HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) company. In reviewing her competitors she realized that some of her prospects were deciding between spending money on a new AC system or a new swimming pool. That makes swimming pool firms her direct competition.

5. Understand how your brand impacts and influences prospective customers. A brand is not simply your logo or tagline. It's how your customers perceive you and the impact that has upon their relationship with your company. Are you the highest-quality provider, the least expensive or the firm with the best customer support? Do you know which of these traits is most important to your customers and how you fulfill their needs?

6. Expand your customer touch points. Evaluate how you communicate with customers and determine if these methods are still valid. If you've been advertising in the yellow pages for the past 20 years, do you know if customers still find out about your type of services this way or are they looking for you through search engines or online review sites or perhaps through social media tools like blogs, Twitter, Facebook or Youtube?

7. Make the right connections. Who do you need to meet to improve your business and who needs to meet you? Where are they? Can you meet them at networking events, professional associations or online in social media groups? This is a great time to reconnect with colleagues and former business associates.

8. Boot strap your success via business partners. Think of your partners as companies who are focused on the same target market as you are yet don't compete with you. If you sell lighting fixtures in the luxury market, architects and designers might be a perfect match for you to work with to expand your customer base. Remember, partnerships only work if they're win-win, meaning you have to provide as much benefit to your partner as they do to you.

9. Sales is not a 4-letter word. Selling is about listening to your customers' needs and addressing them clearly and thoughtfully. It's not about telling somebody everything you know about your products and services. A good salesperson spends at least 75% of their time listening to their customers' needs before talking. With a typical adult attention span of 15-30 seconds, that means you need to truly do your homework before you meet with a key prospect so the message you provide is clear, concise and targeted toward providing them with a solution that is customer-focused.

10. Remember, it's a numbers game. You need to understand how many calls it takes to land a sale as well as the value each type of customer provides to your business. If you aren't measuring results then you'll likely find yourself spending your time prospecting for customers who simply don't generate enough revenue to justify the cost nor time required. It's all about bottom line results and to achieve them, you need to begin by understanding which customers to pursue and which to fire.