Balance: The Entrepreneur's Cure for the 24/7 Work Week!
Have you ever found yourself
- With too many hats to wear, too much to do and not enough time to do it?
- Losing sight of what's truly important?
- A victim of "Information fatigue syndrome"?
- Feeling guilty or frustrated because you can't remember everything you think you ought to?
- Unable to find and maintain the right balance between work and the other parts of your life?
If any of the above sounds familiar, you've come to the right place. This lens will help you to
- Increase your efficiency (without working harder or longer hours!)
- Discover what's truly important in your business and your life
- Find and pursue your passion
- Personally define success and attain it
- Use proven goal-setting strategies that will not only help you define your goals but reach them
- Achieve true balance among the important areas of your life
The Small Biz Balancing Act: Secrets to Restoring Passion and Play in Your Business and Life
The Small Biz Balancing Act is set for a September 2008 release
Life for an entrepreneur is often a balancing act of phone calls, emails, client appointments, and dealing with the daily challenges of running your business. Juggling all this with time for family and friends is an on-going challenge.The Small Biz Balancing Act includes real life stories of how business owners coped with these issues, and gives practical ideas, proven techniques.
You can choose how to use your time, manage your business and live your life, and Victoria Munro's The Small Biz Balancing Act from Soaring Press, Inc., shows you how. The Small Biz Balancing Act is a practical guide for busy entrepreneurs juggling the demands of business, family and life.
With The Small Biz Balancing Act, you will learn to
- Identify and implement your core values in business and life
- Use SMART goals to move your business forward
- Take control of your workspace and your time
- Implement healthy boundaries
- Increase your efficiency
- Delegate
- And much more!
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Books I recommend
Thousands of books have been written for small business owners. The array of titles available can be overwhelming, so I've done some of the work for you and listed below several high-quality reads I recommend. Some are hot off the press, others not so new, but all offer valuable lessons you can profit from.
Busy schedules can make it hard for entrepreneurs to find time to read, however many of these titles are also available in audio.
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It
In this totally revised and updated edition of the more...0 points
E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company by Michael E. Gerber
The bestselling author of phenomenally successful more...0 points
The bestselling author of phenomenally successful and continually vital The E-Myth Revisited presents the next big step in entrepreneurial management and leadership with E-Myth Mastery.
A practical, real-world program that is implemented real-time into your business, Gerber begins by engaging the reader in understanding why the entrepreneur is so critical to the success of any enterprise, no matter how small or large it may be, and why the mindset of an entrepreneur is so integral to the oper...
0 points
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by James C. Collins
The Challenge
Built to Last, the defining manageme more...0 points
The Challenge
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning.
But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?
The Study
For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and conv...
Pour Your Heart into It : How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz, Dori Jones Yang
Since 1987, Starbucks's star has been on the rise, more...0 points
All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World by Seth Godin
Every marketer tells a story. And if they do it ri more...0 points
Successful marketers don't talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want t...
0 points
101 Ways To Promote Yourself: Tricks Of The Trade For Taking Charge Of Your Own Success by Raleigh Pinskey
You may have the most outstanding business, produc more...0 points
Find out how to:
- Develop hot new leads
- Project a positive image
- Get your name i...
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're e more...0 points
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
"The best way to understand the dramatic tran more...0 points
Primalbranding: Create Zealots for Your Brand, Your Company, and Your Future by Patrick Hanlon
What is the magic glue that adheres consumers to G more...0 points
A New Brand World: Eight Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the 21st Century by Scott Bedbury, Stephen Fenichell
No company can succeed without a great product or more...0 points
Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience by Jonathan M. Tisch
Praise for Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough more...0 points
"Jonathan recognizes that in today's Internet-fed, savvy-consumer world, it is the people-to-people connections, regardless of price point, that differentiate a customer's experience. Gimmicks come and go, but without sincere and caring people delivering the overall experience, from start to finish, well, it's true--chocolates on the pillow are not enough. A great read!"
-David Neeleman, founder and CEO, JetBlue Airways Corporation
"If you...
0 points
The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary by Mark Sanborn
Meet Fred.
In his powerful new book THE FRED FACTOR more...0 points
Meet Fred.
In his powerful new book THE FRED FACTOR, motivational speaker Mark Sanborn recounts the true story of Fred, the mail carrier who passionately loves his job and who genuinely cares about the people he serves. Because of that, he is constantly going the extra mile handling the mail - and sometimes watching over the houses - of the people on his route, treating everyone he meets as a friend. Where others might see delivering mail as monotonous drudgery, Fred sees an opportunity...
Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless: How to Make Them Love You, Keep You Coming Back, and Tell Everyone They Know by Jeffrey Gitomer
Nationally syndicated columnist and sales trainer, more...0 points
The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth by Fred Reichheld
CEOs regularly announce ambitious growth targets, more...0 points
Based on extensive research, The Ultimate Question shows how companies can rigorously measure Net Promoter statistics, help manage...
0 points
Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends by Tim Sanders
Are you wondering what the next killer app will be more...0 points
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi, Tahl Raz
Do you want to get ahead in life?
Climb the ladder more...0 points
25 Ways to Win with People: How to Make Others Feel Like a Million Bucks by John C. Maxwell, Les Parrott
You've read John Maxwell's best-selling Winning wi more...0 points
You've read John Maxwell's best-selling Winning with People, and now you're ready for some specific action steps to build on the knowledge you gained. 25 Ways to Win With People has just what you need! This complementary companion to the full-sized book is ideal for a quick refresher course on interpersonal relationships.
A small sampling of the twenty-five specific actions readers can take to build positive, healthy relationships includes:
- Complimenting People in Front of Others
- Creating a Memo...
Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships by Jeffrey Gitomer
People in all kinds of jobs, in big and small comp more...0 points
Power Networking, 2nd Edition: 59 Secrets for Personal & Professional Success by Donna Fisher
This book empowers you to create mutually benefici more...0 points
SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham
The international bestseller that revolutionized h more...0 points
The international bestseller that revolutionized high-end selling!
Written by Neil Rackham, former president and founder of Huthwaite corporation, SPIN Selling is essential reading for anyone involved in selling or managing a sales force. Unquestionably the best-documented account of sales success ever collected and the result of the Huthwaite corporation's massive 12-year, $1-million dollar research into effective sales performance, this groundbreaking resource details the revolutionary SPIN (S...
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Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing by Harry Beckwith
The transformation from a manufacturing-based econ more...0 points
The Science of Influence: How to Get Anyone to Say "Yes" in 8 Minutes or Less! by Kevin Hogan
New secrets to getting what you want every time
Th more...0 points
Selling To VITO (The Very Important Top Officer) by Anthony Parinello
This book contains all the tactics you need to get more...0 points
You'll quickly learn how to:
Get into new accounts at the top
Keep out of time-consuming log-jams-and into VITO's office
Promote loyalty at the t...
Make the Impossible Possible: One Man's Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary by Bill Strickland
"Success is the point where your most authent more...0 points
"Success is the point where your most authentic talents, passion, values, and experiences intersect with the chance to contribute to some greater good."
--Bill Strickland
According to MacArthur Fellowship "genius" award winner Bill Strickland, a successful life is not something you simply pursue, it is something that you create, moment by moment. It is a realization Strickland first came to when, as a poor kid growing up in a rough neighborhood of Pittsburgh, he encountered a h...
The Slight Edge: Secret to a Successful Life by Jeff Olson
Why is it that some people make dream after dream more...0 points
The Power of Focus: How to Hit Your Business, Personal and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Hewitt
Whether they are corporate professionals, budding more...0 points
Whether they are corporate professionals, budding entrepreneurs, or they own a home business, most people are looking to achieve more in less time, while earning enough money to live comfortably. This book reveals the proven techniques thousands of people have used to attain all of the money they wanted while living healthy, happy and balanced lives. The Power of Focus, the new blockbuster from the coauthors of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul, is a practical no-nonsense guide that show...
0 points
Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story by Jerry Weissman
In Presenting to Win: Persuading Your Audience Eve more...0 points
Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Annie McKee, Richard E. Boyatzis
Daniel Goleman's international bestseller Emotiona more...0 points
Now, Goleman teams with renowned EI researchers Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee to explore the role of emotional intelligence in leadership. Unveiling neurosc...
0 points
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick M. Lencioni
In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencion more...0 points
Are You Shooting Yourself in the Foot?
Tips to Help You Get the Right Message Across
What sort of an impression are you really making? As we seek to gain new customers, many of us overlook the obvious -- how we appear to those we want to influence most. Making a positive impression, whether in person, through printed materials or via the Internet, is worth thinking about.
Your Message
To ensure you evoke a positive response, you must be crystal clear about what you want to say. Distill the essence or core of your message into the fewest possible words so that it can be heard or read in 15 seconds or less. Take time to craft your message. Make it clear, concise and compelling.
Getting Your Message Across
In Person
Via Printed Marketing Materials
Through Your Company Website
Keep your target customers in mind as you get your message out. Seek to understand them and what's important to them. Whether you're communicating one on one, as a speaker to an audience, via printed material or through your website, put your best foot forward and make sure you present a consistent, professional image with a memorable and meaningful message.
Your Message
To ensure you evoke a positive response, you must be crystal clear about what you want to say. Distill the essence or core of your message into the fewest possible words so that it can be heard or read in 15 seconds or less. Take time to craft your message. Make it clear, concise and compelling.
Getting Your Message Across
In Person
- Gain visibility by joining associations for industries or professions related to what you sell.
- Establish yourself as an expert by giving informative speeches on topics related to your business. Hone your presentation skills to give talks that are polished and professional.
Understand your audience and make sure that what you have to say is a worthwhile investment of their time. - Write articles for professional journals and industry publications your target customers read.
Via Printed Marketing Materials
- Design quality marketing materials that accurately portray who you are and what you offer. Convey a professional image that will help customers and prospective customers feel comfortable and confident about you and your company.
- Consistency is important. Make sure all your stationery, brochures and other promotional materials look like a cohesive family. Use these to create growing brand awareness within your target market.
- Your business card may be the only representation of you and your company that you'll leave with someone. Dollar for dollar, it's probably your most powerful marketing tool. Keep it simple, clear, and easy to read and understand. Never leave home without it -- keep a stash of extra cards in your glove box, briefcase and computer bag.
Through Your Company Website
- Make sure the appearance -- the look and feel -- is appropriate for your type of business and is consistent with your print materials. Your website should reflect your business personality, whether it's formal, fun, high tech, etc.
- Organize the navigation so that visitors can easily find what they're looking for.
- Your visitor's finger is on the mouse button -- you only have six to eight seconds to capture his or her attention. It's even more important to communicate your message in a clear and compelling way here.
Keep your target customers in mind as you get your message out. Seek to understand them and what's important to them. Whether you're communicating one on one, as a speaker to an audience, via printed material or through your website, put your best foot forward and make sure you present a consistent, professional image with a memorable and meaningful message.
Brand Your Business to Be Heard Above the Crowd!
Experts tell us that we're exposed to more than 5,000 marketing messages every day. Your clients and prospects are on marketing overload, and getting your message heard above the crowd can be a challenge. Branding your company can help you do just that, and to survive and thrive in today's competitive marketplace you need to be heard!
Contrary to what you might have heard, branding doesn't have to cost a fortune. Large corporations certainly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to brand products. However, solopreneurs and consultants, willing to invest the time and effort, can brand their services and products affordably.
Branding Basics: What is Branding Anyway?
Branding encompasses the entire "feel" associated with your company. It's expressed in your every communication: the way the phone is answered, the look of your printed materials and website and how you network in the community. It's your company's reputation within your particular marketplace. It's an implied promise made to your customers that helps build trust, confidence and loyalty.
For a small business, the brand is inextricably linked to the owner. It represents your values, expertise and personality. To some degree, it will take on your personality.
Branding Benefits
Branding your business:
When a company's printed materials, website and signage send a consistent message with similar text, graphics and colors, it conveys a solid, professional image. It provides the level of comfort a potential client may need to do business with that company. Check to see if you are communicating a mixed or confusing message that might undermine your credibility and professionalism. Perhaps use a focus group to give you objective feedback.
Seven Steps to Brand Your Business:
1. You are the key, so before you begin, it's essential to review what is really important to you and your business. Understanding your core values personally and as a business is an essential foundation.
2. Identify your target market. Select a specific market niche. When you want as many customers as possible, cutting out the larger market to concentrate on one small segment can appear to defy logic. However, the narrower your niche, the more effectively you'll be able to communicate your message.
3. Learn everything you can about your clients' businesses. Understand the challenges they face, and their greatest needs and desires that your services or products meet.
4. Know your market. Know your competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, what they are known for, what they claim to do best. Identify your position -- where you fit within that market.
5. Pick your differentiator. Stand for one thing that sets you apart: that single unique quality that gives you a competitive advantage -- your unique selling proposition. You probably do many things well, but you can't effectively communicate a laundry list of strengths.
Warning: You can't brand "excellent products" or "good service." Your customers automatically expect this.
6. With the above information in mind, write your Branding Proposition. Keep it simple, and make sure it's easy to understand. You must captivate your audience immediately with a relevant and compelling message that includes your logo. In studies, people shown text with graphics remembered more than when shown text alone.
7. Consistently communicate your message across every medium you use -- print, web and telephone contact. Ensure that employees, clients and strategic partners understand and can explain your brand.
Contrary to what you might have heard, branding doesn't have to cost a fortune. Large corporations certainly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to brand products. However, solopreneurs and consultants, willing to invest the time and effort, can brand their services and products affordably.
Branding Basics: What is Branding Anyway?
Branding encompasses the entire "feel" associated with your company. It's expressed in your every communication: the way the phone is answered, the look of your printed materials and website and how you network in the community. It's your company's reputation within your particular marketplace. It's an implied promise made to your customers that helps build trust, confidence and loyalty.
For a small business, the brand is inextricably linked to the owner. It represents your values, expertise and personality. To some degree, it will take on your personality.
Branding Benefits
Branding your business:
- Enables you to attract the right clients by reaching them with a relevant message that speaks directly to their need
- Communicates a clear and consistent message that builds credibility and trust
- Helps to develop strong, loyal relationships between you and your target customers
- Gives a competitive edge that helps customers and prospects to easily remember your services and products when they have a need
When a company's printed materials, website and signage send a consistent message with similar text, graphics and colors, it conveys a solid, professional image. It provides the level of comfort a potential client may need to do business with that company. Check to see if you are communicating a mixed or confusing message that might undermine your credibility and professionalism. Perhaps use a focus group to give you objective feedback.
Seven Steps to Brand Your Business:
1. You are the key, so before you begin, it's essential to review what is really important to you and your business. Understanding your core values personally and as a business is an essential foundation.
2. Identify your target market. Select a specific market niche. When you want as many customers as possible, cutting out the larger market to concentrate on one small segment can appear to defy logic. However, the narrower your niche, the more effectively you'll be able to communicate your message.
3. Learn everything you can about your clients' businesses. Understand the challenges they face, and their greatest needs and desires that your services or products meet.
4. Know your market. Know your competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, what they are known for, what they claim to do best. Identify your position -- where you fit within that market.
5. Pick your differentiator. Stand for one thing that sets you apart: that single unique quality that gives you a competitive advantage -- your unique selling proposition. You probably do many things well, but you can't effectively communicate a laundry list of strengths.
Warning: You can't brand "excellent products" or "good service." Your customers automatically expect this.
6. With the above information in mind, write your Branding Proposition. Keep it simple, and make sure it's easy to understand. You must captivate your audience immediately with a relevant and compelling message that includes your logo. In studies, people shown text with graphics remembered more than when shown text alone.
7. Consistently communicate your message across every medium you use -- print, web and telephone contact. Ensure that employees, clients and strategic partners understand and can explain your brand.
Create and State Your USP to Increase Revenue
Why would someone choose to do business with you over your competition? After all, your competitors claim to do what you do, and with an increasing array of products and services to choose from, your customers are on advertising overload.
Defining and deploying your USP (unique selling proposition) is the solution. A USP is a distinct and engaging statement that sets you and your business or practice apart from all the rest by describing the unique value you offer, and that generates excitement in your potential new customers. It tells your prospects, "This is why you should do business with us." It builds your brand and helps would-be clients think of your company when they realize a need for your product or services. There may be very little difference between your service or product and your competitors', but if you intend to succeed in business, you need find a way to communicate your uniqueness and connect it to a felt need of your target customer -- your USP.
Before You Create Your USP
Before you begin to craft your USP, it's essential that you know exactly who your target clients are, what their specific problems, needs and wants are, how they make decisions, where they hang out and what they spend money on. The more clearly you can describe your ideal client and the narrower your target niche is, the more effective your marketing will be.
Understand what truly differentiates you, your company or practice from the competition. Position yourself as an expert in a specific area. You may offer many really outstanding services, or sell a wide variety of excellent products, but to get your message across in a clear and memorable way, you must focus on only one thing!
Creating Your USP Statement
You're going to craft a strong, appealing and memorable statement that causes you to stand out in the crowd, which paints a clear picture of what you want people to think and visualize when they hear about your company. Your USP must make your service or products extra special and more valuable than those of your competitors.
Remember: A USP is all about the customer or the client. It is not about you. It presents your solution to their need in a way that clearly answers all of their questions and makes them jump at the chance to buy from you.
Effective, Fun Exercises to Help You Establish Your USP
Gather everyone together who is involved in your business. As a group, brainstorm and make a list of every value that your company offers and why someone would want to do business with you. Make it a really long list! Then, put a line through everything that is also true about your competitors. What remains is unique about your company. Use this as a starting place to create your USP.
If you're in business on your own, take pen and paper and write a one or two paragraph description of what sets you, your company or your practice apart. Then, ruthlessly edit away the generalities, until you're left with a clean, succinct, specific promise. From there, rework it, deleting all the excess verbiage and vague statements until you have a clearly defined Unique Selling Proposition that your client can immediately seize upon.
You could answer the following questions to get you started:
Allow this information to inspire you as you create your USP.
Also, discuss this with your best clients, your raving fans. See yourself from their perspective and find out why they choose to do business with you, rather than someone else.
Warning: Be absolutely sure that you are able to deliver on any promise you make. If your USP tells clients that you have "A complete range of widgets in stock at all times," and a customer calls to find that their preferred widget must be ordered and won't be shipped for a week, your USP has created a negative relationship.
Deploying Your USP
Use your USP everywhere, on everything: Marketing tools, print materials, website, voice greeting, ad copy, in the signature line of emails, everywhere. Make sure that everyone who works with you -- sales force, customer-service personnel, office staff and delivery people -- understands and regularly uses your company USP in all their contacts with clients.
Most business owners don't have a USP -- just a "me too" message. Their advertising sounds the same as everyone else's. Use your Unique Selling Proposition at every opportunity to let prospective clients know why they should choose to do business with you!
Defining and deploying your USP (unique selling proposition) is the solution. A USP is a distinct and engaging statement that sets you and your business or practice apart from all the rest by describing the unique value you offer, and that generates excitement in your potential new customers. It tells your prospects, "This is why you should do business with us." It builds your brand and helps would-be clients think of your company when they realize a need for your product or services. There may be very little difference between your service or product and your competitors', but if you intend to succeed in business, you need find a way to communicate your uniqueness and connect it to a felt need of your target customer -- your USP.
Before You Create Your USP
Before you begin to craft your USP, it's essential that you know exactly who your target clients are, what their specific problems, needs and wants are, how they make decisions, where they hang out and what they spend money on. The more clearly you can describe your ideal client and the narrower your target niche is, the more effective your marketing will be.
Understand what truly differentiates you, your company or practice from the competition. Position yourself as an expert in a specific area. You may offer many really outstanding services, or sell a wide variety of excellent products, but to get your message across in a clear and memorable way, you must focus on only one thing!
Creating Your USP Statement
You're going to craft a strong, appealing and memorable statement that causes you to stand out in the crowd, which paints a clear picture of what you want people to think and visualize when they hear about your company. Your USP must make your service or products extra special and more valuable than those of your competitors.
Remember: A USP is all about the customer or the client. It is not about you. It presents your solution to their need in a way that clearly answers all of their questions and makes them jump at the chance to buy from you.
Effective, Fun Exercises to Help You Establish Your USP
Gather everyone together who is involved in your business. As a group, brainstorm and make a list of every value that your company offers and why someone would want to do business with you. Make it a really long list! Then, put a line through everything that is also true about your competitors. What remains is unique about your company. Use this as a starting place to create your USP.
If you're in business on your own, take pen and paper and write a one or two paragraph description of what sets you, your company or your practice apart. Then, ruthlessly edit away the generalities, until you're left with a clean, succinct, specific promise. From there, rework it, deleting all the excess verbiage and vague statements until you have a clearly defined Unique Selling Proposition that your client can immediately seize upon.
You could answer the following questions to get you started:
- What does my business do really well?
- What is my most important benefit to the client?
- How can I substantiate this claim -- to what do I attribute this benefit?
- How will my clients understand this benefit, relative to those of the competition?
Allow this information to inspire you as you create your USP.
Also, discuss this with your best clients, your raving fans. See yourself from their perspective and find out why they choose to do business with you, rather than someone else.
Warning: Be absolutely sure that you are able to deliver on any promise you make. If your USP tells clients that you have "A complete range of widgets in stock at all times," and a customer calls to find that their preferred widget must be ordered and won't be shipped for a week, your USP has created a negative relationship.
Deploying Your USP
Use your USP everywhere, on everything: Marketing tools, print materials, website, voice greeting, ad copy, in the signature line of emails, everywhere. Make sure that everyone who works with you -- sales force, customer-service personnel, office staff and delivery people -- understands and regularly uses your company USP in all their contacts with clients.
Most business owners don't have a USP -- just a "me too" message. Their advertising sounds the same as everyone else's. Use your Unique Selling Proposition at every opportunity to let prospective clients know why they should choose to do business with you!
How to Turn Your Clients into a Dynamic Sales Force
Take advantage of an often untapped and worthwhile resource by focusing your marketing efforts on current customers. This will cost less and produce greater results than targeting new customers, since your existing clients understand what you do, how much it costs and value what you have to say. Below are seven low-cost ideas to make the most of the market you already have.
1. Ask current clients for referrals. If you don't ask, they may assume that you don't need more clients and probably give little thought to whom they might refer. Turn them into a dynamic sales force for your company.
Always follow through on leads promptly, expressing sincere appreciation and, when appropriate, giving suitable thank you gifts.
2. Listen to your customers, educate yourself and become aware of their needs and the challenges they face. Learn to see the world from their perspective and seek to serve them rather than sell to them. Are you crystal clear on how your product or service benefits clients? What value does it bring to them?
Develop an attitude of excitement about continually striving to improve your service or product line to better serve your customer. Determine never to be content with the status quo.
3. Survey existing customers and learn what they really want. They are far more likely to give honest feedback if someone outside your company handles the survey.
Ask former clients why they left. Your goal here is to learn valuable lessons, rather than attempting to woo them back. However, listening carefully to their concerns and expressing a sincere desire to provide a premium product or service could result in a second chance to gain their business.
4. Host an appreciation dinner or lunch for your "raving fans" and ask them to help you brainstorm ideas on how you might improve your service, provide more useful products or more effectively market your company.
5. Create a plan to continually stay in front of clients and potential clients with newsletters, thank you notes, announcements, invitations and special reports. Keep their needs in mind and send them helpful articles and ideas that you come across.
Establish an automated system to call all customers on a regular basis (perhaps once a quarter), make sure they're not having any problems with your product or service and request ideas on ways you could improve. Keeping a well-maintained contact management system is essential.
6. Collect and use testimonials from happy, satisfied customers who appreciate you and what you offer. Use these to gain increased credibility in your marketing materials. Make it easy for clients to write a testimonial -- provide guidelines and an outline. When confidentiality isn't required, add their information, including website address.
Write testimonials for other companies -- This gets your name out there at no cost.
7. Whenever you ship or deliver a product, include a coupon or information on other products that your customer could benefit from. Provide customers with a reason to call and order from you again. Include a small marketing piece with your statements and invoices. Make sure that all marketing materials are customer-friendly and professional. Don't sabotage your efforts with less-than-professional materials.
When you see an exceptional business card or brochure, find out who designed it, seek them out, commend them on their fine work and learn what they may be able do for your company.
Creative marketing ideas abound, but consistently keeping in touch with and delighting your customers will yield the best results. Aim to turn your clients into raving fans -- passionate sales people to spread the word about your business.
Take advantage of an often untapped and worthwhile resource by focusing your marketing efforts on current customers. This will cost less and produce greater results than targeting new customers, since your existing clients understand what you do, how much it costs and value what you have to say. Below are seven low-cost ideas to make the most of the market you already have.
1. Ask current clients for referrals. If you don't ask, they may assume that you don't need more clients and probably give little thought to whom they might refer. Turn them into a dynamic sales force for your company.
Always follow through on leads promptly, expressing sincere appreciation and, when appropriate, giving suitable thank you gifts.
2. Listen to your customers, educate yourself and become aware of their needs and the challenges they face. Learn to see the world from their perspective and seek to serve them rather than sell to them. Are you crystal clear on how your product or service benefits clients? What value does it bring to them?
Develop an attitude of excitement about continually striving to improve your service or product line to better serve your customer. Determine never to be content with the status quo.
3. Survey existing customers and learn what they really want. They are far more likely to give honest feedback if someone outside your company handles the survey.
- No need to contact everyone, simply select five or six possible candidates and send them a letter requesting permission for someone to contact them.
- Carefully craft no more than three or four questions they'll be asked that will provide you with the most useful information. In his book, The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth, Fred Reichheld asserts that the only question you really need to ask is, "How likely are you to refer this company to a friend or colleague?"
- Compile the data gathered and highlight common themes and issues.
- Decide on possible changes that you can implement.
- Send all customers who participated a letter of thanks, letting them know how helpful their contributions were and what changes you're planning to make as a result.
Ask former clients why they left. Your goal here is to learn valuable lessons, rather than attempting to woo them back. However, listening carefully to their concerns and expressing a sincere desire to provide a premium product or service could result in a second chance to gain their business.
4. Host an appreciation dinner or lunch for your "raving fans" and ask them to help you brainstorm ideas on how you might improve your service, provide more useful products or more effectively market your company.
5. Create a plan to continually stay in front of clients and potential clients with newsletters, thank you notes, announcements, invitations and special reports. Keep their needs in mind and send them helpful articles and ideas that you come across.
Establish an automated system to call all customers on a regular basis (perhaps once a quarter), make sure they're not having any problems with your product or service and request ideas on ways you could improve. Keeping a well-maintained contact management system is essential.
6. Collect and use testimonials from happy, satisfied customers who appreciate you and what you offer. Use these to gain increased credibility in your marketing materials. Make it easy for clients to write a testimonial -- provide guidelines and an outline. When confidentiality isn't required, add their information, including website address.
Write testimonials for other companies -- This gets your name out there at no cost.
7. Whenever you ship or deliver a product, include a coupon or information on other products that your customer could benefit from. Provide customers with a reason to call and order from you again. Include a small marketing piece with your statements and invoices. Make sure that all marketing materials are customer-friendly and professional. Don't sabotage your efforts with less-than-professional materials.
When you see an exceptional business card or brochure, find out who designed it, seek them out, commend them on their fine work and learn what they may be able do for your company.
Creative marketing ideas abound, but consistently keeping in touch with and delighting your customers will yield the best results. Aim to turn your clients into raving fans -- passionate sales people to spread the word about your business.
Take advantage of an often untapped and worthwhile resource by focusing your marketing efforts on current customers. This will cost less and produce greater results than targeting new customers, since your existing clients understand what you do, how much it costs and value what you have to say. Below are seven low-cost ideas to make the most of the market you already have.
Is Lack of Consistency Killing Your Sales?
Don't Underestimate the Power of Repetition in Marketing
Lack of repetition could be sabotaging sales and costing you a fortune. Your message needs to be seen and heard over and over again. It is generally accepted that it takes six to eight "touches" to get your name, service, brand or product to the point of achieving top-of-mind awareness with your prospects and customers. Whatever forms of marketing you use, once or twice won't be effective. Consistency is key, so if you're just going to try it once or twice, save your money!
Keep in Touch with Clients and Prospects Regularly
Direct mailings to current clients and prospects should be delivered on a consistent basis, at least six times a year. These could include: newsletters or ezines, postcards, letters, invitations, announcements, coupons, etc. Taking time to clip and send useful articles and information when you're not asking for a sale can build a bond of trust.
Build relationships by setting up a system to call clients and prospects on a regular basis. Don't make all calls sales calls; give a referral, mention a helpful resource or just ask how things are going. Be ready with a clear, appealing message if you get their voice mail, and if the call isn't returned, put the name back into the system to call again in a couple of months. Voice mail isn't a waste: every time someone hears your company name, you're branding the business.
Make Marketing a Habit
Commit to doing at least two to three marketing activities every day. This may seem challenging initially, but after a few weeks it will have become an easy and profitable habit.
Keep Your Company Message Consistent Across all Forms of Communication
Establish a consistent message that everyone in your organization, from the receptionist to the delivery driver, is familiar with and always aims to communicate. Your stationery, invoices, all printed marketing materials, website, signs, vehicles and ads should carry the identical message and reflect the same familiar "look."
Communicate with the Media
Send press releases regularly detailing a newsworthy event, recent achievement or the latest developments in your business. Ideally, send these once a month to editors of industry publications and local newspapers.
Project a Consistent Image
What message do you want to communicate? If you want to be known for top-notch quality, then everything must reflect the highest quality: printed materials, electronic communication, phone conversations, etc. Failure to do so will send a mixed message and undermine credibility. Printing your brochure on the old ink-jet printer probably won't convey the message you intended. If you claim to be an exceptionally innovative designer, then everything you produce must communicate unusual creativity. If you want your company to be known as the friendly dry cleaners, then your store must be welcoming, and everyone who has contact with the public must be friendly.
Consistently Track Activities, Costs and Results
Measure your success! Design a system to effectively track the results of each marketing activity. Without this in place, you'll never know if you've won or lost, which methods were great investments and which you should abandon. Some strategies, like an ad campaign, can yield immediate results; on the other hand, PR takes longer to build and track.
Keep in Touch with Clients and Prospects Regularly
Direct mailings to current clients and prospects should be delivered on a consistent basis, at least six times a year. These could include: newsletters or ezines, postcards, letters, invitations, announcements, coupons, etc. Taking time to clip and send useful articles and information when you're not asking for a sale can build a bond of trust.
Build relationships by setting up a system to call clients and prospects on a regular basis. Don't make all calls sales calls; give a referral, mention a helpful resource or just ask how things are going. Be ready with a clear, appealing message if you get their voice mail, and if the call isn't returned, put the name back into the system to call again in a couple of months. Voice mail isn't a waste: every time someone hears your company name, you're branding the business.
Make Marketing a Habit
Commit to doing at least two to three marketing activities every day. This may seem challenging initially, but after a few weeks it will have become an easy and profitable habit.
Keep Your Company Message Consistent Across all Forms of Communication
Establish a consistent message that everyone in your organization, from the receptionist to the delivery driver, is familiar with and always aims to communicate. Your stationery, invoices, all printed marketing materials, website, signs, vehicles and ads should carry the identical message and reflect the same familiar "look."
Communicate with the Media
Send press releases regularly detailing a newsworthy event, recent achievement or the latest developments in your business. Ideally, send these once a month to editors of industry publications and local newspapers.
Project a Consistent Image
What message do you want to communicate? If you want to be known for top-notch quality, then everything must reflect the highest quality: printed materials, electronic communication, phone conversations, etc. Failure to do so will send a mixed message and undermine credibility. Printing your brochure on the old ink-jet printer probably won't convey the message you intended. If you claim to be an exceptionally innovative designer, then everything you produce must communicate unusual creativity. If you want your company to be known as the friendly dry cleaners, then your store must be welcoming, and everyone who has contact with the public must be friendly.
Consistently Track Activities, Costs and Results
Measure your success! Design a system to effectively track the results of each marketing activity. Without this in place, you'll never know if you've won or lost, which methods were great investments and which you should abandon. Some strategies, like an ad campaign, can yield immediate results; on the other hand, PR takes longer to build and track.
- Use a reference number in every print ad
- Keep a spreadsheet to track phone calls, what was said, actions to take and the ultimate results
- Call on or email networking contacts
- Follow up on responses to mailings
Position Your Business to Outshine the Competition
Your clients and prospects have access to more information and choices today than ever before. The number of small businesses increases daily, and competition can be tough. In the past, competition may have been similar companies in your part of town; now many small businesses must compete with others around the globe. Positioning your company can provide the competitive edge you need to outshine the competition.
Appropriately positioning your business enables you to communicate a meaningful, relevant message to clients and prospects and establishes you as an "expert" in your field. First, you must know and understand your market as well as the competition, their strengths and their focus. Then you can determine the most profitable place to position your business in relation to others in that market.
Domino's Pizza provides a classic example of this. They've positioned themselves to focus on one thing: fast delivery. They don't claim to cook up gourmet pizza, or a romantic dine-in experience. Just fast delivery -- and it works! They have cornered this position in their market.
If you're a florist and your number-one competitor is known for its bargain bouquets, you may want to target discriminating gift givers and position yourself as the shop that delivers the freshest, longest-lasting arrangements that recipients will enjoy for a week or more.
The Positioning Statement
Writing a Positioning Statement for your company is a precursor to branding the business. It will determine what you emphasize in your marketing materials. To help you create a company Positioning Statement, answer the questions below, or revisit your USP (unique selling proposition).
Fun Exercises to Help You Establish Your USP
Set an afternoon aside and invite everyone involved in your business to a brainstorming session. Together, compile a list of every value and benefit your company offers that would entice someone to do business with you. Make it a really long list! Then, put a line through everything on the list that could also be said about your competitors. What remains are the unique qualities of your company. Use this as a starting place to create your USP.
If you're in business on your own, take pen and paper and write a one- or two-paragraph description of what sets you and your company apart from the competition. Then, ruthlessly edit away the generalities, until you're left with a clean, succinct, specific promise. From there, rework it, deleting all the excess verbiage and vague statements until you have a clearly defined Unique Selling Proposition that your client and prospects can immediately grasp.
Warning: Be absolutely sure that you are able to deliver on any promise you make. If your USP tells clients that you have "A complete range of widgets in stock at all times," and a customer calls to find that their preferred widget must be ordered and won't be shipped for a week, your USP has created a negative relationship.
Now, from your answers to the questions above and your USP, write out a Positioning Statement that expresses your company's specific place in the market.
With a clear Positioning Statement, you're ready to brand your business and make it stand out from the crowd!
Appropriately positioning your business enables you to communicate a meaningful, relevant message to clients and prospects and establishes you as an "expert" in your field. First, you must know and understand your market as well as the competition, their strengths and their focus. Then you can determine the most profitable place to position your business in relation to others in that market.
Domino's Pizza provides a classic example of this. They've positioned themselves to focus on one thing: fast delivery. They don't claim to cook up gourmet pizza, or a romantic dine-in experience. Just fast delivery -- and it works! They have cornered this position in their market.
If you're a florist and your number-one competitor is known for its bargain bouquets, you may want to target discriminating gift givers and position yourself as the shop that delivers the freshest, longest-lasting arrangements that recipients will enjoy for a week or more.
The Positioning Statement
Writing a Positioning Statement for your company is a precursor to branding the business. It will determine what you emphasize in your marketing materials. To help you create a company Positioning Statement, answer the questions below, or revisit your USP (unique selling proposition).
- What do we do best?
- Who is our target customer?
- What needs do we fulfill for them?
- Who is our competition?
- What makes us different from them?
Fun Exercises to Help You Establish Your USP
Set an afternoon aside and invite everyone involved in your business to a brainstorming session. Together, compile a list of every value and benefit your company offers that would entice someone to do business with you. Make it a really long list! Then, put a line through everything on the list that could also be said about your competitors. What remains are the unique qualities of your company. Use this as a starting place to create your USP.
If you're in business on your own, take pen and paper and write a one- or two-paragraph description of what sets you and your company apart from the competition. Then, ruthlessly edit away the generalities, until you're left with a clean, succinct, specific promise. From there, rework it, deleting all the excess verbiage and vague statements until you have a clearly defined Unique Selling Proposition that your client and prospects can immediately grasp.
Warning: Be absolutely sure that you are able to deliver on any promise you make. If your USP tells clients that you have "A complete range of widgets in stock at all times," and a customer calls to find that their preferred widget must be ordered and won't be shipped for a week, your USP has created a negative relationship.
Now, from your answers to the questions above and your USP, write out a Positioning Statement that expresses your company's specific place in the market.
With a clear Positioning Statement, you're ready to brand your business and make it stand out from the crowd!
Seven Steps to Stop the Cash Flow Roller Coaster
Funnel Marketing is the Key
Sometimes your sales are going through the roof and then suddenly they come to a halt, the work disappears and you must scramble to start your marketing cycle from scratch again. This economic roller coaster ride is all too common for small business owners.
Landing one or two very large clients can provide consistent work and cash flow but presents a potential danger, too. Putting all your eggs in one basket and focusing on these, while failing to prospect for new clients, isn't always wise.
The roller coaster problem is compounded by the fact that small business owners are often required to wear many different hats at the same time: meeting deadlines, addressing client concerns or employee demands, and dealing with cash-flow issues. On top of this, there are personal and family matters, which can be inescapable when working from a home office.
When you're busy and the business is humming along nicely, it's easy to neglect the very thing that got the sales going in the first place. Then, when sales drop off, panic sets in again. How can you turn this feast-or-famine cycle into a smooth, stress-free ride?
The Solution: Seven Steps to Keeping Your Sales Pipeline Filled and Flowing
Picture your sales cycle as a funnel, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. You need to keep as many prospective clients as possible entering the top of your funnel, then filtering down to your required number of new clients and signed contracts coming from the bottom. The idea is to always keep a constant stream of prospects entering your funnel.
Step One: Decide How Many New Customers or Sales You Need Each Month
What number would be ideal? What is the minimum number of clients (and sales revenue) you can get by with? How many is too many, and could strain your resources and compromise your service?
Be crystal clear about who you are marketing to. If you haven't done so already, create a profile of your ideal customer.
Step Two: Understand Your Sales Cycle
How many initial prospects do you need to contact in order to make a presentation? How many presentations do you need to make to gain one new client? What is your closing ratio? It boils down to a numbers game.
Step Three: Select Activities to Meet Your Prospects
Based on the number of initial contacts that you need to make, how many networking events will you need to attend, flyers will you need to mail, calls will you have to make?
What sort of prospect-generating activities will work best for you, fit your personality and put you in front of your target clients?
Remember: When you've made these contacts, stay in touch with them, nurture them and keep your name in front of them.
Step Four: Your Sales-Cycle Timing
In order to plan and predict cash flow, you need to understand the timing of your sales cycle. What is the average length of time from the initial contact to closing the sale and signing the contract or selling your product?
Step Five: Your Marketing Budget
Establish a marketing budget. Be aware of the cost in time as well as dollars. A series of print ads in the local newspaper or trade journal may cost thousands of dollars, but take very little of your time; whereas attending networking events is relatively inexpensive, but will take many hours of your time. Don't forget to compare the cost of gaining a new customer versus the cost of marketing to existing customers.
Step Six: Decide on Your Marketing Strategy
Select marketing activities that fit your budget, your available time and your personality. Consistency is key -- make marketing activities part of your daily routine!
Be selective You can't do everything, so choose a few activities that will work well for you.
Be realistic: Choose activities that you will do without procrastinating. Know yourself, and if you have issues that may sabotage your plan, you have two options:
Landing one or two very large clients can provide consistent work and cash flow but presents a potential danger, too. Putting all your eggs in one basket and focusing on these, while failing to prospect for new clients, isn't always wise.
The roller coaster problem is compounded by the fact that small business owners are often required to wear many different hats at the same time: meeting deadlines, addressing client concerns or employee demands, and dealing with cash-flow issues. On top of this, there are personal and family matters, which can be inescapable when working from a home office.
When you're busy and the business is humming along nicely, it's easy to neglect the very thing that got the sales going in the first place. Then, when sales drop off, panic sets in again. How can you turn this feast-or-famine cycle into a smooth, stress-free ride?
The Solution: Seven Steps to Keeping Your Sales Pipeline Filled and Flowing
Picture your sales cycle as a funnel, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. You need to keep as many prospective clients as possible entering the top of your funnel, then filtering down to your required number of new clients and signed contracts coming from the bottom. The idea is to always keep a constant stream of prospects entering your funnel.
Step One: Decide How Many New Customers or Sales You Need Each Month
What number would be ideal? What is the minimum number of clients (and sales revenue) you can get by with? How many is too many, and could strain your resources and compromise your service?
Be crystal clear about who you are marketing to. If you haven't done so already, create a profile of your ideal customer.
Step Two: Understand Your Sales Cycle
How many initial prospects do you need to contact in order to make a presentation? How many presentations do you need to make to gain one new client? What is your closing ratio? It boils down to a numbers game.
Step Three: Select Activities to Meet Your Prospects
Based on the number of initial contacts that you need to make, how many networking events will you need to attend, flyers will you need to mail, calls will you have to make?
What sort of prospect-generating activities will work best for you, fit your personality and put you in front of your target clients?
Remember: When you've made these contacts, stay in touch with them, nurture them and keep your name in front of them.
Step Four: Your Sales-Cycle Timing
In order to plan and predict cash flow, you need to understand the timing of your sales cycle. What is the average length of time from the initial contact to closing the sale and signing the contract or selling your product?
Step Five: Your Marketing Budget
Establish a marketing budget. Be aware of the cost in time as well as dollars. A series of print ads in the local newspaper or trade journal may cost thousands of dollars, but take very little of your time; whereas attending networking events is relatively inexpensive, but will take many hours of your time. Don't forget to compare the cost of gaining a new customer versus the cost of marketing to existing customers.
Step Six: Decide on Your Marketing Strategy
Select marketing activities that fit your budget, your available time and your personality. Consistency is key -- make marketing activities part of your daily routine!
Be selective You can't do everything, so choose a few activities that will work well for you.
Be realistic: Choose activities that you will do without procrastinating. Know yourself, and if you have issues that may sabotage your plan, you have two options: