Part Two: The following ideas have proven effective for the Business enhancement success of ‘any’ business. Fill in the ‘__________’ with your field, and apply accordingly.

Build rapport with clients …teach or provide something new:
I got my start in the speaking and training business, as a kitchen designer, by offering in-house and continuing education programs to assist my potential clients in their quest for a better kitchen. I wrote, “How to Remodel Your Kitchen & Stay Married!” as a tool to help them prepare and survive the ‘marriage stretching’ kitchen or bathroom renovation.

In any business, we are more successful when perceived as value-added or solutions-oriented.  Ensure they see that you are there to help and are committed to their success.  I thank my clients for allowing me to be a part of their success team in their training programs or conferences. It is a statement of commitment on my part and a reminder to me to always seek to add value and build on the relationship. It helps with the referrals as well.

Promote your delivery time-lines and unique strengths:
Do you have something special you ‘do’ in relation to how quickly you can respond, a service, or deliver on a request?  Is there a way to capitalize on something you do and do consistently well.

One of the ways I service this meetings market is by providing complimentary copies of my ‘How to Host a Successful Meeting, Training Session, or Convention” e-book which uses some of the custom checklists and resource materials developed to help the meeting planner succeed.

Co-promote with strategic alliances:
Our global economy is getting more competitive on an hourly basis. 

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The following ideas have proven effective for the Business enhancement success of ‘any’ business. Fill in the ‘__________’ with your field or business, and apply accordingly.

However, since I am primarily in the speaking and training business, I will share ideas drawn from what I am learning in my quest to make what I do more productive and profitable. Ideas to make sure I stay competitive in this growing and globally competitive field. My speaking has taken me to 9 countries on 4 continents, so far. I am sure you will be able to see how you can apply them to your specific areas of concern.

Use client testimonials:
People hire speakers and trainers based on several factors: They have heard us speak personally; someone they trust has heard us; or another speaker, trainer or client has heard us and says nice things about what we did for them. They do not normally hire on the basis of a cold call. They may if the timing is correct, but will still go back to one of the above three factors as a part of their decision process.

This applies to any business format, and is important, as it helps minimize the risk factor in the decsion process to engage or do business with us. How can you ensure your clients talk about what you’ve done for them? How do you get them to do so? Who have you successfully served who would be willing to tell the world what a great job you did? Ask them!

Two points: 1) Do a simply outstanding job and keep in touch afterwards – remember out of sight out of mind and; 2) Ask them to give you feedback on what you did and how it affected or assited them in their business. Ask for quantified answers, if you can get them, as they are more effective tools. Ask permission to quote!

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As a teen entrepreneur coach, I work with young entrepreneurs who are often bootstrapping when they start out. They are searching for simple ways to build a presence online to compliment whatever they are doing in the offline space. Even though they are often technologically savvy, when starting a business, marketing a business online can be information overload. So these are the simple steps I share with them so that they can get started. And they can use supplementary resources, advanced programs and tools and fee based 3rd party applications to build on this foundation as they acquire more knowledge, visibility and money.

1. Name It and Claim It. When you decide to build an online presence pick a topic that centers on a theme and try to make sure everything you set up from your social networking sites to your blog, somehow ties back to that theme. It helps to build greater brand awareness. The more niche or specialized the theme, the easier it will be for your target customer and the media to find you vs. you trying to find them. Express your unique voice as it will make you more memorable i.e. Relationship Marketing Expert, Mari Smith, always wears turquoise in her videos, online avatars and at conferences so she can be easily recognized….not to mention she is a 6′ blonde =) When creating a name for your blog or user name, try to think of an all encompassing term that someone might use to search for your site or blog.

2. Choose Your Platform. Think about the behaviors of your customers or do a survey (www.surveymonkey.com) to find out what online tools they are using. The places where your customer are spending their time are the places you need to be active. You don’t need to register for a lot of sites or the latest and the greatest. Register for one or two sites.

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You are only as good as your press list. You can put together the most fantastic press release, but if the wrong people see it, it’s worthless.

Putting together a press list is something my clients struggle with because..well..it’s boring. But it has to be done, so my suggestion is to get on with it, or delegate it to an assistant, confident teenager or intern. Here are some suggestions that might make it easier.

1. Who is Your Target Market
Is it local? Who are you aiming at – parents? Schools?

2. Build A Library
This could be the local papers, national newspapers, local newsletters and magazines, radio stations, what’s on and listing websites. Get copies of any that are printed. If you’re stuck on titles, The Guardian Media Directory, available from the Guardian website, is a good investment at under £20.

3. Set Up Your List
This could be on a simple Excel sheet, or a newsletter service such as constantcontact.com. The advantage of the latter is that you can track clicks so that you know which releases get the most attention. You may have more than one target name for each publication. In the case of a local newspaper you may have the News Editor, a family writer, women’s page editor and Features Ed.  On a radio show you may be contacting the Assistant Producer, Forwarding Programming and Researcher.

4. Get To Know Your Publications
Good PR is not just a case of sending out press releases to everyone and hoping that one of them will stick. Looking at publications or listening to radio show shows and coming up with ideas and angles that suit them is vital. If you have a team you can assign particular publications to particular people.

Boosting Your Press List - Media Requests
They are requests for case studies or quotes from journalists.

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If there’s one way to make sure that you get your PR moving, that’s to give yourself a deadline. And what bigger deadline could you get that a specific date where you meet the press.

Here’s our 7-point guide on inviting press to an event…

1. Decide what it is you will do and put it in the diary. If you’ve got something to eat or drink, organise a tasting. If you’ve got a venue, organise an open day. If you’re exhibiting, invite the press along to your stand at a specific time for a mini press event.

2. Chose a date. You want enough time to be able to organise something different, and yet a date that’s close enough to give some urgency.

3. Find a partner. If there’s a venue that you think could do with the publicity, approach them, or buddy up with someone who targets the same market and split the work.

4. Invite the press - keep the invites personal (no round robin emails), eye-catching and give them a good reason why they should come. Think about whether you want to go for numbers, inviting lots of press (and paying for the inevitable drinks bill!), but ultimately reaching a maximum number of publications in one fell swoop, or target and go for a small intimate group where you can get your message across.

5. Follow up. And follow up again. Speak to them and find out if they can make it along. If they say yes call to confirm a week before and again the day before as a reminder.

6. Think about goodie bags. There’s many a journalist has come along to an event for the goodie bag alone if it’s good enough. Once they’re there it’s up to you…

7. Stay in Touch. If they made it, call to find out what they thought. If they didn’t make it, call to see if they’d like a personal meeting/samples sent over.

One the night…

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Qualifying your customer is the process of determining their interest in your value proposition, their budget and their decision-making process. Do they have the Money, Authority and Desire (MAD)? They are not fully qualified unless they have all three. One of the ways you can determine if they are MAD is simply to ask. Here are some qualifying questions:

Money
· Whose budget is this coming out of?
· How much have you set-aside for this project?
· How are you proposing to fund the project?
· What is your company’s process for funding these types of investments?
· When does the budget process begin?
· What are the steps in your budgeting process?

Authority
· What is the decision-making process for this project?
· Who else do you need to consult before making a decision?
· Is there any one else you think I should talk to about this project?
· Whose head will roll if this project is not a success?

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I had an interesting conversation with someone the other day about our newsletters. He said he received them and I asked him whether he found them useful. He said he did, but mentioned that 70% of what I included, he already knew.  

Good point, I thought – but often it’s not about what you already know is it? There’s very few new things in this world, so the chances are fairly high that you’re going to come across what I cover somewhere else.  

The point really is this – even though you heard my messages before or come across them somewhere else, have you actually done anything about it? Have you taken any action on your marketing? 

Now, I know we’re all busy; I know we’ve all got things we need to do and get on with, but if you don’t take action on your marketing and put into place some of what I talk about, you’re missing a massive opportunity for your business. 

I’m not exaggerating when I use the word ‘massive’ here. If you’re getting business and you’re doing little or no marketing, just imagine what could happen if you actually did some marketing? 

There are usually three things that stop small businesses doing any marketing – I thought I’d cover them in this article and then (hopefully) you’ll have no excuse and you’ll have to get on with it. 

Reason number 1 is the fear of being too busy. People really talk themselves into this one. If they got tons of new customers from doing some marketing, how would they cope with the extra workload?  

I can understand this fear to some extent. After all, you may not want to take on anyone else and you may not want to get that big in your business.  

But, let’s also be realistic here. The chances of you being snowed under with work after doing some marketing are very remote.

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I was once asked by a speaker agency to run a focus group meeting with their clients. One of the key points made at the meeting was that most of the clients were tired of meeting speakers (recommended by the agency) who were ‘interesting to talk to in person’ at the briefing, and then ‘awful to listen to as presenters’ at the conference. What a time to find out that you hired a logical loser!

A lot of sales people suffer from this dual persona problem, meaning that they can ‘sound’ quite incisive in their views at sales meetings and social gatherings, and yet absolutely insipid when selling to customers and prospects. Obviously, the sufferers are unaware of their Jeckyll and Hyde condition, but they are not the only ones to suffer of course. The organization has hired and pays Mr Logic, who can’t make sales but who can explain in detail why he doesn’t, and the customers and prospects have to tolerate listening to Mr Loser with almost every sales person they hear on the phone or meet in person! This means that many companies continue to employ and pay sales people that have already been fired by the market.

As a young man, when I was promoted to the role of sales manager from the team I had been a part of, I spent time on the road with guys I had only ever spoken to at sales meetings. One of the team was an outspoken Scotsman who, when once asked by the previous sales manager how his week on a country trip had gone, replied ‘It wasn’t my fault.’ Anyway, I accompanied him on a sales call and I can’t ever recall having seen such a weak, embarrassing, time-wasting and unproductive ‘presentation’. He was the same on subsequent calls and then he actually lost his temper when a customer dared to criticise one of our products.

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