We’ve just added fresh content to our Business Momentum Club and it’s now better than ever! This upgraded version is based on valuable feedback from small business owners such as yourself. We have a proven system that will lead your business on a path to success. There is no fluff or theory…just relevant and applicable strategies that many small business owners are using right now to take their businesses to the next level.
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Are you looking ahead and setting goals for 2010? Here are a few quick tips that your business can use to flourish in the New Year:
1. Find out who your ideal client is and make sure you’re marketing to them.
For any business to succeed, knowing your ideal target market is an absolute must have. Who are the ideal people to purchase your products and services? Why do they want to come to you instead of your competition? Which group of people would you love to work with? Take some time to interview some of your top clients to create an “ideal client profile” and adjust your marketing so that it will speak to them and their wants and needs.
2. Find the time to work on your business, not in it.
When was the last time you evaluated your business operations? Are you too busy dealing with customers, answering phones, creating invoices and running your company? Acquire the necessary infrastructure so that you won’t have to rely on yourself to do everything. Get help in the areas where you don’t excel so that you can spend more time on the things you’re good at. The goal is to have your business perform well without you so that you can spend time on the things that will make your business move forward and grow. Create a model that will ensure things get done right from top to bottom.
3. Create a long-term plan.
What is it that you want from your business? Where do you want your business to be next month? In a year? In five years? Set step by step goals that are achievable. For example, figure out how many sales you must have in order to meet your revenue goals. That way you know what to aim for. Find out what is working and what isn’t and make sure you’re spending time daily to reach toward your goals. Find the right people to help you get the proper strategies in place and keep you accountable. This will help you avoid mistakes and prevent having to rebound from any major setbacks later.
4. Build strong social media channels.
Every business should have a strong presence in social media. It’s not going away. For example, a few months ago Facebook was close to 300,000,000 users. It’s now accounting for more than 70% of the entire Internet population. What’s more is that social media will significantly increase in 2010. Your clients are out there. Whether you’re a dog trainer or a business consulting, it’s very important to start engaging with your target market online.
5. Seek help.
We know that running your business can be difficult and growing your business is even harder. You’ve put all your time and energy into your business and you’ve sacrificed time for yourself and with your family. That’s why at OneCoach, we help our clients take the right steps, in the right order to grow their businesses. We’re committed to helping you achieve your business goals and to live the life you’ve always wanted. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, we’re here to help. Click here to learn more about our Business Coaching programs that are specifically designed to help your unique business succeed.
Is this the year that you and your business will grow to extraordinary levels? That’s up to you.
Business ownership is the 21st century version of the American Dream. But of the millions of people taking the leap into entrepreneurship, about 50% of them will fail within five years.
That is a staggering number of casualties, and the ironic part is that not one person thinks they will be one of the many who fail. Even when they do fail, they will blame it on almost anything else but themselves. This doesn’t have to happen.
In working with thousands of small business owners worldwide, I will share with you a few of the classical errors we consistently see business owners make. Avoid these mistakes and you’ll share some of the big bucks.
Mistake #1: Not knowing exactly who your customer is.
This is what we refer to at OneCoach as your “Ideal Client Profile.” If you are thinking that anyone and everyone is your client, stop immediately and get real. For every product or service, there is a very specific personality that is just right for it. As a business owner, your job is to identify the characteristics of your perfect buyer and then craft all your marketing and sales efforts to meet their needs. Do not try to be everything to everybody.
Mistake #2:“The Vanilla Syndrome.”
What this means is that you must discover as soon as possible how to separate and differentiate yourself from your competition. It doesn’t matter if you are a lawyer, dentist, direct sales expert, or a dry cleaner. If you look and feel like everyone else, that is what your potential customers will think. Set aside some time and figure out if you are faster, cheaper, environmentally safer, more knowledgeable, etc., until you determine how you can be and feel different to potential and existing clients. Think about the reasons you choose companies’ products or services to use, and then create compelling reasons that appeal to your ideal customer.
Mistake #3:“Money Matters!”
It never ceases to amaze us how many small-business owners operate their business without having an understanding of their cash flow (or lack thereof). The days of running “by the seat of your pants” are over. It is imperative to know exactly how much is coming in, how much needs to go out for basic operation costs, and how much is needed to invest in the growth of your business. Each expenditure needs to have with it an anticipated return of investment (ROI). You must understand the financial details in your business or they will bite you in the bum before you know it!
Follow these three simple suggestions and you’ll shave a bunch of percentage points off your chances of being a negative statistic.
Is your website fulfilling its purpose? Is it driving leads, building relationships and generating sales to your business every day? Watch this strategy video with John Assaraf and Adrian Ulsh to learn the fundamentals of making your website effective and stand out from your competition.
Most marketers don’t provide any value! But if you’ve been following some of our previous posts about identifying your ideal client, mapping out their decision making process, and developing an elevator pitch, then you already have all the tools to create a killer marketing message that crushes your competition.
These tools will allow you to clearly inform your prospects on how you benefit them and you can establish yourself as an expert they can trust and respect.
Take the information you previously created for your elevator pitch, and use this to write your marketing message.
Write compelling headlines that hit the “hot buttons” of your ideal clients. If you’ve worked on your ideal client’s decision-making process, this should be easy.
Ask your current ideal clients to review your headlines and marketing message. Ask them if it compels them. It’s better to hear their feedback than to assume their perception of your marketing.
It sounds simple, but it is important to consistently use these steps to develop value-based marketing that gets results. If you don’t target your ideal clients and their hot buttons, then your marketing will sound like your competition’s and you will forever compete on price alone.
When people ask you what you do, do you know what to say?
If you’ve already learned about your ideal client profile and their decision-making process from our free videos on business strategies, then you can easily create a 30-second elevator pitch that articulates the exceptional value of your business.
When you create an elevator pitch, you need to know who you are talking to and what they want. Otherwise, your marketing message will fall on deaf ears. This is where the ideal client profile and the decision-making process will really come in to play.
First, state a problem that your ideal client is often dealing with. Start with “Do you know how…” and describe a problem that they are likely frustrated with.
Next, state what you do. “What we do is…” and then share how your product or service is a solution or benefit to your ideal client’s problems.
If you’ve already worked on your ideal client profile and decision-making process, then you’ll be able to easily come up with a good elevator pitch that…
Has a powerful and compelling message
Commands the attention of your ideal prospects
Pre-Qualifies your prospects
Helps you gain rapport and respect
An elevator pitch with these qualities will save you time, effort and expense. This blog is just a brief overview of this process, so if you haven’t yet, then sign up for our seven free videos and learn how you can take your business to the next level. If you have already seen them, then be sure to check out our Business Momentum Club. You can join now for just a buck!
People are looking for experts they can trust, and with our proven process you’ll be able to create an elevator pitch that clearly and succinctly makes you the right choice for your prospects.
Your job as a business owner is understanding the solutions your ideal client is looking for. Then you must take the time to apply this knowledge to your own business, to separate yourself from your competition and make your business the obvious choice.
Here are the basics of how you can do this:
Create a list of your ideal clients’ hot buttons. What problems, frustrations and concerns do they have when buying what you sell? Think about the hot buttons across all the businesses in your industry.
Analyze your business. What is your business’ current solution for these hot buttons? Is it ideal?
Brainstorm potential innovations. How can you innovate your business to solve the hot buttons and exceed your ideal client’s expectations? These ideas can be totally out there, but write them down anyway. You never know – the wacky ideas can turn into genius innovations!
Record the benefits associated with your innovation. Once you find an innovation that you can apply to your business, make sure you know the benefits. You can then use these benefits in your communications to your ideal clients to hit their hot buttons and stand out from your competition.
These steps are just the start of laser targeting your audience to stand out from the crowd. We go more in depth about your ideal client’s decision-making process in our free business strategy video series. If you haven’t already yet, you can check out the series here.
Did you know that your prospects may or may not buy what they NEED, but they always buy what they WANT?
It is very important that you as a small-business owner identify your ideal client, so that you can develop innovative, niche products or services that provides for the wants of your specific client. Here are some basic steps you can take to find your ideal client:
Who NEEDS what you sell? Identify the demographics (physical attributes) of your client base. This can be age, gender, income or revenue level, number of employees, etc. This will vary greatly depending on the type of business you have.
What do the people who need your product or service WANT? Identify the psychographic profiles (emotional attributes) of your clients. What are their biggest problems, concerns or challenges?
Now, which one of these groups of people meets your passion? That’s your ideal client. You have to be the person that they turn to for their wants, and in return, they will continue to buy from you and send you referrals.
We share more about this in the second video of our new business strategy video series. If you haven’t seen these exclusive videos yet, you can access them now at www.OneCoach.com/videostrategies.
We’ve just launched seven powerful business-growth strategy videos that will help you attract more clients, drive more cash and grow your business even in this recession!
We have reviewed hundreds of business websites and more than 90% of them make one huge mistake. I even spoke with one company recently that does more than $30,000,000 a year in sales and they were making this mistake.
The Big Mistake is:
NOT having your phone number prominently displayed as a call to action on each and every page!
On most websites you have to hunt for a phone number by clicking on a “Contact Us” page or it’s hidden at the bottom of the home page in small font.
Let us give you a tip: If your prospect has to work at finding a way to contact you, they’ll leave your site faster than you can believe.
You wouldn’t think of hiding your phone number on a newspaper ad, a piece of direct mail or in the yellow pages – so why do it on your website? Make it really easy for prospects to call you and watch your leads increase with no more effort or expense.
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Disclaimer
The views expressed here are those of the individuals affiliated with OneCoach, and should not be construed as the opinion of OneCoach as a whole, nor of its clients.
When people ask you what you do, do you know what to say?
