Referrals – we love to get them, we hate to ask for them! And yet, almost nothing can be more beneficial to the entrepreneur or small businessman. Referrals provide new business at almost no cost, and frequently provide a new customer who’s pre-sold. A referral strategy, regularly executed, can make a colossal difference to your bottom line.

7 Steps To Profit Without Expense
This document focuses on the value of referrals, and some methods for avoiding the stops we encounter around asking. Bob Burg wrote an excellent book called Endless Referrals, from which much of this material is taken. Burg’s book goes deeply into networking practice, and is a great advisor. In this newsletter, we’ll narrow our focus to the specific practice of getting an abundance of referrals for your small business.

1. Isn’t it true that our good friends and customers are the best informed and probably the most enthusiastic support groups we have? I’m assuming that most of us need training on seeking referrals in order to train your customers and colleagues. It’s not hard to do, they’ll love you for it, and you’ll really love the results.

Small business owners usually describe their advertising as “word-of-mouth.” They occasionally get a referral from a friend or client, and occasionally turn it into business. These are wonderful moments – a customer has affirmed you, and you have a new client as well. When he tells you about it, he’s proud to proclaim that it was unplanned. Note to the CEO – “unplanned” is not necessarily a good thing!

If a large business needs a seasonal emphasis on sales, they revert to advertising to simulate sales activity. A car manufacturer has too much inventory when the new models are coming out. What does he do?

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post called, 11 Lame Questions You Need to Avoid”. It generated some interesting comments and one reader asked, “What questions should I be asking?”

What ARE the questions sales people should be asking to increase their sales and improve their results?

Certainly this depends on your industry and/or product(s). However, there are many questions that are generic in nature or that can be easily modified to your specific sales environment. Here are 23 high-value, tough, penetrating and powerful sales questions that will help you grow your sales.

Let’s start with high-level questions; these are important if you sell to senior executives.

The higher up in an organization you sell, the more important it is to ask these types of questions simply because executives are used to asking—and answering—tough questions.

• What goals are you striving to achieve this quarter?
• How do those targets compare to last year’s results?
• What, if anything, is preventing you from achieving these goals?

However, do NOT start your conversation with questions like this because you have to earn the right to ask them, especially if you do not have an established relationship. It is much better to begin by demonstrating your expertise, industry knowledge, and understanding of your prospect’s business and/or company.

• We’ve noticed several trends occurring in the industry lately. The two that stand out the most are… How are these affecting you and your business?
• When I was doing some research, I noticed on your website that your company is… What progress are you making on that initiative?

These questions are effective because they show that you have done your homework and executives appreciate that.

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You might have a great story, but if you don’t know how to present it, you’re not going to grab the media’s attention. Remember what seems like a great story for you might not seem that way to the media. Building a great pitch for a TV segment or magazine article takes some time, thought and creativity. Have fun with this process. Give it some time and you just might uncover some hidden gems that will launch your PR campaign.

Before you approach the media, study and review the press release or pitch you’re going to be using. Again, simply because it looks good to you doesn’t mean it will resonate with the media. Keep working on and refining your pitch with the focus on how it will meet the media’s needs.

1. Debunking a myth:

If there are certain preconceived ideas in your industry, or surrounding the topic you’ll be pitching, focus on those and pitch a story around how those myths or preconceived ideas are wrong. For example, if you’re in the fitness industry, come up with some points that debunk some commonly held misconceptions about working out or losing weight. Present yourself as the expert who can set the record straight and educate the public.

2. Comment on a national issue:

If there is a story being covered in the media, or if there is a particular topic that is being discussed that you can comment on, do so. For example, if you are an attorney and there is a particular legal case that is in the news, or if there is an issue or topic that is being discussed that you can address, pitch yourself as an expert in the field who can clarify and explain the topic. Perhaps take a side and explain why the other side is wrong. Make sure to explain why you are the expert to address this topic.

3. Seasonal Stories:

The media always covers season stories. It has to.

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OK – I have to admit, by the time I got to Z in this series, I had to be a little bit creative about the title, but actually being able to get in the Zone is an important part of running a business. 

Let’s face it, we all have projects – things we want to do in our business to get us to where we want to be. And it’s really, really easy to let these things slide because other priorities get in the way. 

I’ve got a ton of things that I plan to do between now and the end of the Year and it’s always a struggle to fit them in. There always seems to be something else that I need to do instead. So, in order to get them done, I need to enter the ‘Zone’ – in other words, set my mind to getting these things complete and actually do them. 

And that’s the thing isn’t it? It’s all very well saying I’m going to do something like get three new training contracts, but if I don’t do anything to make this happen, these training contracts are not going to materialise. 

Unfortunately, I see this happening with small business owners a lot. They say they’re going to go to 1 networking event every week, write articles, or contact 100 businesses to see if they’re interested in their products and services, but they don’t plan this activity in detail so sometimes, it never happens. 

Take writing articles as a task. This requires quite a bit of thought … and more than you might think. What topic shall I write about? What research do I need to do to write the article? When am I going to sit down and write it? Now it’s written, what do I do with the article? How do I generate business from it? 

Many of us wait until we have answered all these questions and more before we actually get going on the task and therefore, it’s very likely that the task doesn’t get done. 

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Well, this article isn’t exactly about Yo Sushi! It’s about the fact that if you pay attention to the big companies around you, it’s very likely that you’ll find ideas that you can apply to your own business. 

Remember, big companies can afford to do things – they can afford to hire the best marketing consultants; the best design agencies; the best social media experts; the best advertising companies. 

Now, I’m not for one second suggesting that you should spend the type of money that the big boys are spending. What I am suggesting is that you learn from them and adapt some of the ideas that their very expensive marketing consultants have come up with to your business. 

Let me give you some examples: 

Costa coffee and a lot of the other coffee chains have loyalty cards. You buy one coffee, get a stamp and when you have five stamps or so, you get a coffee free. This is really easy to adapt and apply to your own business. Can you run a loyalty card scheme too? 

Prezzo (the Italian restaurant chain) have done wonders with their Facebook page. They encourage people to get involved by taking photos in their restaurants and posting the photos online. They also send out vouchers to all of their fans and recently did a campaign where they said if they got 50% more Facebook fans, they would give additional discounts to everyone. Could you do something similar? 

DFS run a 4 year interest free system whereby you get the first year for free for any sofa in their store and then pay the rest back over three years. Very clever campaign as they have made buying what could be an expensive item affordable for everyone. How could you apply this to your business? 

Renault (who I recently bought a car from) sent me a letter last week inviting me to pay for my services on a monthly basis.

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Many small business owners envision “more revenue” as the key to a higher selling price.  But, is that really true?  Is it really more revenue that the owner needs, or just better, more profitable revenue?

It can be an enlightening experience to understand what tasks create value in your company and which ones simply keep you busy.  It can also be devastating if you’ve spent years focused on the wrong activities.

There’s a tremendous difference between bringing money into your company and putting money in your pocket (adding value).  You’re not in business to be a conduit for money.  You want to either keep it for yourself, use it to pay down debt, or use it to finance your company’s growth.  If the revenue is merely passing through your fingers, what’s the point?

It’s time to take a closer look at your business; not as a whole, but by each individual product or service line.  Calculate revenues for each product or service, then take a look at the costs that you incur in order to generate those revenues.  Subtract the cost to produce that product / service from the revenues as well your cost to deliver it to the customer.  Are all your product / service lines profitable?  There’s more…

Don’t forget to allocate your overhead!!  There are certain functions in your business that you can’t reasonably allocate to just one product or service, such as accounting, rent, and utilities.  For these expenses allocate them to your product or service lines based on the same percentage split as your revenue.

For example, if service A accounts for 30% of your company’s revenue, assign 30% of your rent, 30% of your utilities, and 30% of your accounting expense as a cost needed to generate this revenue.  Now, are all your product / service lines still profitable?

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Xenophobia is the fear of strangers or foreigners so this article is all about turning strangers into friends into customers and it’s something that you’re going to have to do if you want to succeed in your business.

You’re going to meet people all the time – whether it’s from networking, on the internet, through making calls or through having a press release appear in the local paper. And some of those people we won’t know and they won’t know us.

So, how do we turn them from complete strangers to someone who knows what we do?

Well, this is the first fundamental step in terms of marketing. You need to tell the world what you do so people become aware of you. As someone put it the other day “it’s all very well having a mobile phone, but if no-one knows the number, no-one will ring you!”

Exactly the same is true of marketing. We all know how easy it is to forget someone’s name if we’ve just met or encountered them once…it’s only when we get to know them that we remember them.

Likewise in marketing, if they only come across your business the once, it’s unlikely that they’ll remember you. However, if they keep coming across your business, they’ll get to know who you are and what you do.

How could they keep coming across you? Well, if you’ve been to a networking event once, go again and keep going. If someone has downloaded a newsletter from your site, keep communicating with them by email. If a customer previously used your services and hasn’t for a while, contact them to see how it’s going.

It takes an average of between 7 and 11 times for someone to really remember who you are and get to know you, so you need to keep touching base with them.

Once they know who you are and what you do, your next problem is to turn them from a friend into a customer. How do you do this?

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Collecting sufficient capital for small business can be a laborious task for new owners. The banks usually turn down the loan application of new entrepreneurs as they avoid taking risk of lending money to companies without an established financial record. But do not worry as there are options that you can rely on to finance your business.

Here are some other ways that you can employ to finance your business:

1. You need to have a proper business plan as it will help you to operate your business strategically. It should contain details of the principal owner along with the information on the operations of the initial years. The plan should also deal with the analysis of the business opportunity along with the niceties of financial projections. Your business plan will be incomplete without the inclusion of the estimated expenses and revenue. The facts that are incorporated in the plan needs a meticulous research that will benefit your future business prospects. Setting a proper plan can prevent the business from getting into debt.

2. According to the community reinvestment act you can seek for grants, funds or any other similar program. You can look for available local, state or federal funds. Disadvantage of a grant is that you need to be a part of a challenge in order to get your grant application approved. The reason behind this contest is that, the grants for profit enterprises might be limited. You can browse through Grants.gov website to locate grants for your business.

3. Angel investors can be helpful if you are looking for finance for a business loan at this moment. Usually a family member or friend is considered to be an angel investor who trusts in your plan for investment.

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One of the questions many small business owners ask is why is my marketing not working? Many people have spent a lot of money, time and effort getting their marketing to work only to find they have little or no results. It can be very frustrating and be enough for many business owners to give up and just rely on referrals. 

But, you’ll be glad to know that there is a reason (or actually three reasons) why marketing doesn’t tend to work for small business and knowing these reasons can often mean that you can do something about it. 

Let’s have a look at what those reasons are: 

1.    Marketing doesn’t just get you customers. Marketing actually has three purposes: (a) to increase the awareness of your business; (b) to establish you as an expert within your field and (c) to get you customers…obviously. But, the thing is most of the marketing methods you do are much better at achieving (a) and (b) than they are at achieving (c). There is something you need to do differently in order to actually get you customers. More about this in a minute. 

2.    Small business owners don’t follow up. If I gave you the contact details of someone and told you that they wanted your products or services, I’m willing to bet that you’d be on the phone to them right now. But, how many of you will follow up with everyone who visits your website or everyone who you meet or don’t meet at a networking event? Small business owners are fairly bad at following up consistently and with everyone and this is vital if you’re going to get business. 

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Misconception 2. The buyer should be happy just because I am selling it to him.

Business owners invest their money, time and sweat in businesses. Sleepless nights, time away from family, no vacations – that’s what the owner gets, especially in the beginning. No wonder that all the above translates into substantial value in  business owner’s eyes. The history itself adds to the value day by day. “I built it from the ground up, I took it from $5,000 per month losses to $10,000 profit, I trained the employees, I negotiated the contracts – the buyer should be happy just because I am selling it to him…”.

Well, let’s look at it from business buyer’s prospective. Business buyers rightfully think that business financial performance is the common denominator. They don’t know how you got where you are and take your current business performance at its face value.

Lets look at the example of two similar businesses, Business A and Business B, each generating $10,000 in monthly net income for their respective owners. Business A was around for 10 years during which time the owner never had a vacation, worked 12 hours per day and defaulted on business loans twice. Business B was around for 3 years, has more employees, owner is rarely there. Although both businesses generate the same income, the perception of value for the Business A owner is greater because he invested more time and effort to get where he is, went through hardship, etc. Business B owner may be more skillful, or lucky, or organized, or had more working capital,… or all of the above. From business buyer’s stand point, Business B has greater value than Business A because it’s better organized and allows for more free time to the owner.

Business sale is performed between two equal partners: business seller and business buyer.

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As small business owners, one of the things that we’re short on is time and particularly time to do marketing. Marketing is just one of those things that goes by the wayside when everything gets busy isn’t it? 

Here’s the problem though. If you only do marketing only when things gets are quiet and then don’t do any when you’re busy with other work, it will lead very quickly to peaks and troughs in your business. The trick to sorting this out is to do marketing all the time even when you’re busy.  

Not so easy if you don’t have any time though…. 

So how do we sort this out? 

Well let’s look at getting time to do marketing in a bit more detail. Is time really the issue here? Small business owners say that they don’t have the time to do marketing, but often that’s not the case.  

What’s really going on with small business owners is this: 

• They don’t know what marketing to do
• They don’t know where to start with their marketing
• They do some marketing and it doesn’t work so they get frustrated with marketing 

Result – for whatever reason is that no marketing actually gets done. Time is blamed, but that’s not really the issue. 

If you can resonate with what I’m saying here, then we need to get you out of this trap. Here’s how: 

1.    The first thing to do is get some ideas of what marketing you can do for your business.  

2.    Once you’ve got some ideas, the next thing to do is learn how to do them. Many small businesses get put off implementing an idea because they’re not sure how to do it. The answer to this is learn.

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You are looking to Start a Business.  You are Running a Business.  You are Buying a Business.  You are Selling a Business. What is the most important step in any one of these ventures, And no the answer is not having unlimited deep pockets. To start, run, sell,or buy a business you need to understand that business.  You need to understand not only the operational side of your business, you need to understand the financial side of your business.  I am a business broker in Florida and I help people buy and sell businesses (and current and former business owner).  This last week I completed a very busy week of helping an out of town business buyer visit several different businesses.  Our intent of visiting these multiple businesses was an effort to understand the businesses. To buy a business you have to understand the business.  A small business owner truly needs to understand the financial health of their business.

 Many, Many Many small business owners DO NOT understand the financial side of their business.  Do you feel as an entrepreneur you need to understand the difference between a debit and credit or if you buy something if it should be a capital purchase or an operating expense.  So many small business owners and entrepreneurs run their business using their gut as their guide, they can feel if their business is going good or bad.

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It might only be the start of July, but already I can sense people starting to wind down for the summer. People are telling me that that they are feeling tired, struggling to get through their normal work, let alone do any PR. They are eagerly awaiting their summer break or just in a whole different state of mind.
 
And yet, leave a glaring hole in your PR activities for the next two months and it’s just like starting all over again come the Autumn.
 
So, what do I think you should at least be doing this summer…?
 
1. Tip Sheets 
Write  a “7 ways to”, or “The Top 5 Myths about” article. Break up those 7, 5 or whatever number of points into separate emails and schedule one tip or piece of advice to go out each week as a series over the summer months.
 
Even if you have no press releases going out and are making no follow up calls, the press are still getting regular contact from you and you are continuing to build your brand.
 
2. Schedule in some Networking Events 
You might think that it’s not worth it as there will be fewer attendees, but the reality is that you are more likely to strike up a quality conversation when people are relaxed and there’s less of a crowd competing for your attention. 

3. Use an Intern 
If you’re anything like me you may well have projects that you just never seem to have to finish, or ideas that you haven’t got around to implementing. Using an intern, whether it’s a student or a keen teenager, for the summer, might be one way of getting them off your to-do list. 
 
4. Boost Your Blog 
Many of my clients know that doing a blog would be a wise move, and many of those actually enjoy writing so it won’t be too much of a chore.

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What kind of business owner do you consider yourself?  Are you a Hands on Business Owner or do you consider yourself more of a big picture operator that consistently effort yourself to avoid the minutia of the business.  I think the majority of us are a hybrid of these 2 approaches.

When running a small business, or involved with a startup business, on an almost daily basis you are faced with the question “Do I do it myself or do I hire others to do it for me?”  Most all are aware of the concept Time is Money – but like so many other business concept we all draw the line in the sand at different places.  We are not always consistent with where we draw that line, and find that that line moves as or business moves or the economic climate around our business moves.  This question can be applied from basic business task of running to the post office to mail off some stuff or calling some prospects to significant larger issues like hiring outside help to handle your marketing functions, doing my own website, or trying to do my own SEO.  

I am a business broker and I help business owners and individuals in the process of buying or selling businesses.  Selling ones business is a very significant event and very often like so many other decisions a business owner will decide to try to sell the business themselves or hire someone to help sell their business.  This decision is part of the never ending series of question a small business owner needs to answer. In my current profession as a business broker if Florida I am faced with these same similar questions on a daily basis.

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The current small business credit crunch is getting much attention and rightly so. We know very little about the overall small business universe because it is so huge and diverse. Most discussions about this topic focus on credit and lending, but the issue is much more complex than that. A more broad-based discussion is necessary to understand the full extent of the current crisis. The crisis encompasses both types of financing, debt and equity.

Personal Wealth
In good times or bad the top source of small business capital is the personal wealth of the owner. Even beyond startup, owners often tap into their personal wealth like a line of credit, on an ongoing basis. If available, personal wealth is easier to access than other forms of financing and may be the only source available. The primary sources of personal wealth are typically real estate and retirement accounts. Since 2008 both of these sources have taken a huge hit, so the amount of personal wealth available has plummeted. Most owners are experiencing the worst economic times in their lifetime. So even if they have personal wealth available, they are less likely to invest it in their businesses. Instead, they are cutting back or forgoing expansion.

Friends & Family
Another common source of capital has essentially dried up – friends and family. For the reasons discussed above, friends and family have less wealth available and are less willing to invest.

Creditworthiness
The ability of a private company to borrow funds depends on the cash flow of the company, the available collateral, and the credit of the owners.

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1. You’re on stage. When you’re on the phone with a client, you’re playing the roles of a good-will ambassador, problem solver, public relations representative, and more. Whether you are having a good day or a bad day, your telephone call is a performance that should leave your client feeling positive about you.

2. Put energy in your voice. A good trick to remember is that when you are sitting during a phone call, your diaphragm is compressed. When you stand up and move around, you breathe more freely. You have more energy, which will come across in your voice.

3. Smile when you speak. The person you speak to won’t see the smile, but the warmth that comes from a smile will come across the phone line!

4. Monitor your voice quality. Do people often ask you to repeat what you just said? You may be mumbling or not enunciating clearly. A good telephone voice is clear and loud enough for people to hear, without sounding loud or shrill.

5. Prepare for your calls. Before an important call, plan what you will say, in writing if possible. This will lower your chances of getting sidetracked, or forgetting important items.

6. Stick to your point and keep it brief. Business people don’t have time for chatty conversations during the day. Monitor the voice of the person you are calling. If they sound hurried, get to the point, or ask when would be a good time to call back.

7. Have all the materials you need at hand. This includes a pen and paper, your calendar for setting appointments, and other information you have from previous contacts.

8. Don’t do other tasks when you’re on the phone. The person you’re talking to may hear you clicking on your keyboard if you’re multi-tasking during your conversation. Eating, drinking or chewing gum during a business conversation is unprofessional.

9. Take notes.

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The devil is in the details – Preparation for customer meetings is critical. Here are a few items to consider before you visit your prospect.

• Re-Confirm Date, Time, Place, # of attendees 24 hours prior to visit

• Ensure you have an agenda for the meeting

• Know how much time you have

• Know the Titles and Responsibilities of attendees (if available)

• Know the meeting environment (if available prior to visit)

• Clarify what is to be accomplished at meeting and/or preferences (customer expectations)

• IE: Does the client wish to talk, do a whiteboard, see a PowerPoint, etc. (if so, is a Whiteboard/Projection screen available?)

• If being accompanied by a colleague (Sales Engineer, Manager, etc) confirm availability and make sure you do a debrief on the account.

• Do you know where you are going – make sure – you don’t want to be late because you got lost

• Ensure you have all the pertinent Account information (ACT info – Contact Report, etc)

• Literature/Demo Software, etc (if applicable)

• Business Cards

• Cash (for Parking, Coffee, etc)

• Appropriate Corporate Dress

• Cell Phone/Blackberry muted

• Clean Automobile if clients are picked up

When you look and act the part through your preparation – you are more believable and trustworthy in your client’s eyes. Prospects want to deal with Sales PROFESSIONALS – be one – BE PREPARED!

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Putting Down Financial Roots
One of the best ways to ensure personal financial success involves buying and operating a franchise business.  There are literally thousands of opportunities out there in hundreds of different disciplines, and all it takes is commitment, dedication, and cash.  The question prospective franchise owners ask more than any other has to do with franchise costs.  Before you can decide what sort of business to purchase, you need to know the franchise cost and exactly what it covers.  While every business is different, there are enough commonalities from one franchising system to another to make some educated guesses about franchise costs.

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It’s not easy to remain focused and motivated at work. There are many distractions and comforts that call to you. But if you can resist them, the benefits are many. You’ll get your work done during the hours you planned to work, and you’ll have time off with friends and family afterwards. This improved work plan may also bring a better balance between work and home.

Did you know that the tone of each day is set in the first hour? When you set your goals in advance you will have a more productive start to each day. Write up today’s work plan the night before. Break the next day down into manageable steps and work your plan step by step.

E-mail usually offers us new priorities and other peoples’ urgent requests. It’s a good idea to aim to get one priority task done before checking your e-mail, and you will start the day more on track.

The second step to better focus is to identify what your particular distractions are – so that you can catch yourself when you start to procrastinate. Once you identify your own distractions, you can use them as rewards to motivate you to remain focused on your work. It can help move you forward, even through distasteful tasks.

The third step is to structure your time to allow you to indulge yourself, after you’ve worked in a focused manner. We benefit by knowing that a reward is coming. These pleasures can help us to stay motivated.

If others are working for you and they finish a task on schedule, you may encourage them to take some time off. You might even treat them out to lunch. We deserve the same rewards. We must plan time for our own rewards.

What is your favorite distraction? Mine is reading in the sunshine. There is a spot in my garden, that allows even pale sunshine to warm me. I can stay there for hours. Which is why I’ll take a timer with me when I decide to read for an hour.

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Networking is all about building relationships…and it’s no different when networking with the media.  You are never trying to sell anything – you are simply getting to know the other person. 

By getting to know your local media contacts in print, online, and on television and radio you can be top of mind when they’re looking for an expert source in your industry for their stories.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Develop a Relationship: Ask about their personal interests, family, hobbies, etc. and share your personal interests.  Then let them know about your expertise in other areas so they can call you as a source for other articles.

Invite the Media: Send the media invitations and tickets to your events.  If your budget can handle it invite them along to certain events as your guest or at a greatly reduced rate.  Recognize that quality news media people are sensitive to being bought.  Your invitation does not entitle you to cheery coverage if something goes sour.

Be Flexible:  Be willing to work with the media.  They may have a different concept about profiling your business than you do and go with it.  They are not giving you a free advertisement – they have their audience in mind. 

Tight Deadlines: Remember that reporters and editors are busy and are nearly always pressed for time.  Appeal to their need to save time. Give them what they need in the form they need it.  Anticipate their questions and have appropriate answers ready. Be available, easily reached, and completely prepared for comment.

Remember the Story: Journalists need a story, not a sales pitch, so determine the best way for your company to be part of a bigger story that affects your community or the nation.

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