Small Business Profit Maximizer!

Concentrating on Sales Alone Will Hurt Your Business in the Long Run

It’s extremely common for new business owners to focus too much on increasing sales during their first year of operation, thinking that this will automatically solve all of their problems. While this may sound reasonable on paper, this way of thinking is actually dangerous, and often leads to rapid failure.

Before anything else, an important distinction needs to be made: Sales and profits are NOT directly proportional. An increase in sales DOES NOT mean an increase in profits. This is a principle I’ve discussed many times before. 

Let’s say you own a large retail store, and you had a special sale with all of your products being 90% off. It would be safe to assume that you’d have trouble keeping your shelves stocked, and you’d see a massive increase in sales that quarter. However, those kinds of numbers guarantee you’ll hemorrhage money, and no business can survive without turning a profit—so what would be the point? Concentrating on sales is one thing, but concentrating on profitable sales is another, and that’s what you really want to do. 

If you were to ask 100 business owners how their years were going, 99 of them would give you a sales-based answer.

“It’s going great, sales are up 20%.”

“Sales are up 30%!”

“Not great, sales are down 5%.”

That 100th business owner you talk to will give you a profit-based answer (“Profits are up 30% this quarter.”) I guarantee you that of those 100 business owners, that last one is doing the best because they’re not concentrating on sales. They understand that profit is what matters the most.

In this way, high sales numbers can easily mask a drop in profits. It explains why so many businesses that seem to be doing well on the outside tend to fail. It may be shocking to their loyal customers, who contribute to their high sales numbers, but to anyone taking a hard look at the books, it all makes perfect sense. 

You may be surprised to know that there are two periods where businesses are most vulnerable to bankruptcy. The first is the first year of business, where it’s easy to make costly mistakes. The second (and more surprising) instance is just after a business sees a dramatic spike in sales, but we’ll get deeper into that a little bit later.

Let me give you a real-life example. Back in the early ’90s, when I first started my own business, I was acquainted with two business owners who had their own company. During their first year, they were pretty successful, making around $600,000 in sales with a $200,000 profit. Not a bad start. The next year, their sales quadrupled, topping $2.5 Million. However, that very same year, they ran a net loss of $500,000. How does that even happen, you ask? 

The answer is simple: They lost control.

When launching a business, there’s a certain point where you have to make the transition from “entrepreneur” to “manager.” For many, this transition is extremely difficult. It’s not impossible to pull off, but it’s easy for rookies to be overwhelmed. If you’re a new business owner, this is something to keep in mind. With that said, don’t be discouraged—buckle down, do the research, and be ready to make that initial jump. Winging it will only get you so far, and profits are all that matter at the end of the day.

Concentrating on sales also prevents business owners from seeing the full picture. When a newer business tends to see a big spike in sales, they don’t always know how to handle it. An increase in sales also means an increase in labor and inventory management costs, and without proper financial systems in place to keep everything in check, business owners will find themselves running into major cash flow problems, despite impressive sales numbers. 

Beyond issues with cash flow, these businesses may also struggle to keep up with demand, and as a result, the quality of their service may slip, not only harming their reputation but threatening their futures as well. Concentrating entirely on sales not only has the potential to hurt your business—it could very well kill it, especially if you’re not careful.

Again, profits are your primary concern. A profitable business benefits everyone involved. Your customers get what they need, and you’re able to support yourself, your employees, and everyone else you do business with. Everybody wins, and it’s for this reason alone that you should do more than just concentrate on sales. 

Keep in mind that I’m not saying sales aren’t important—in fact, they’re hugely important—but sales alone won’t fix your profit woes. Hard work, research, analysis, and sometimes even painful experience are all guaranteed to help you put in place the systems you need to create profitable sales.

One of the best ways to ensure profitable sales is to create a yearly profit plan, an undeniably helpful tool for businesses, but one that isn’t as easy to do as it sounds. Through my profit coaching services, I can not only help you create the profit plan you’re looking for but also help you increase your bottom line dramatically. I can help you avoid the all-too-common trap of concentrating too much on sales and create clear, concise, practical plans to maximize your profits. 

You can also pick up my book 90-Day Profit Reset: Gain Your Independence from Reduced Cash Flow, Evaporating Customers, and Shrinking Margins, which is filled with tips, tricks, and strategies just like this to help turn your business into the profit powerhouse you’ve always wanted it to be.

Referrals the Right Way- Part 1

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…

The most valuable asset a business has is its existing customers.

But what is a business’ second most valuable asset? Customers by referral! If you want your business to grow and your sales to increase, use your current perfect customers to bring in even more new perfect customers.

In other words, when we use our loyal customers to gain more loyal customers, we create a system that guarantees sales, and our business grows exponentially because of it. Sometimes, however, this is easier said than done.

In my decades of experience, I have become an expert in the art of referrals, and there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. Don’t waste your precious time and money on strategies that won’t help your business grow.

Let’s have a conversation and make sure we prioritize the right customers so this year can be our most profitable one yet!

 

 

Referrals the Right Way - Part 2

Had a glitch that shut down my live video. Here is the completion of how to get referrals the correct way

 

 

How the 8020 Rule Can Massively Increase Profits

Do you want to improve your profit and re-engage customers?

Obviously, the answer is yes, but how do we do this while juggling a cacophony of other tasks and obligations as busy entrepreneurs? The best way to grow profits is with the 80/20 rule. This rule states that 80% of your output comes from only 20% of your input. In other words, if we want to grow, we only need to focus on the top 20% of our customers and 80% of our profits will grow.

Especially during the times in our lives in which we have other obligations that take us away from focusing on our business, the 80/20 rule can help.

By focusing on your growing your top customers, you can double or triple your revenue without having to search for new prospects or develop new services.

Don’t get overwhelmed by trying to grow your profits. Just make sure your focus is in the right spot!

 

 

How Eliminating the "What If" dramatically increases sales

In this video I discuss how a strong guarantee will dramatically increase sales from both your current customers and prospects.

 

 

Major Business Mistakes You Must Avoid! Part 1: Not Focusing on Marketing

Thousands of businesses fail every year. This year much more than any time in history. Here I discuss what marketing and sales you must focus on to succeed.

 

Every year thousands of businesses shut their doors, ending the dreams of so many hopeful entrepreneurs.

One thing that is overlooked in this statistic is the high physical, emotional, and financial cost of each failure. I have watched as clients of mine who were forced to close their businesses suffer through divorce, depression, embarrassment, loss of their life savings, loss of friendships, and arguments with family members who have often invested in those businesses.

In my experience, the number one cause of business failure is that the business owner didn’t have a systematic and proven sales process for increasing leads that are then converted into paying customers. They also had no idea what their gateway products were, what their unique selling position was, what their closing rate was for their sales staff, who their most profitable customers were, or what their most profitable products were. Worse yet, they often don’t know what these things are or why they are important.

Too many failed businesses concentrated more on selecting their business cards, stationery, and office furniture than they did on the following four things that would have almost certainly guaranteed their success:

1. Marketing and lead generation. Successful business owners have a direct response marketing plan that consistently entices prospects to call, email, or visit their business.

2. Sales and conversion. Successful business owners have a scripted plan and consistent sales staff training designed to convert prospects into customers. They leave nothing to chance, and they don’t do anything that doesn’t produce measurable results.

 

3. Up-selling and cross-selling. Successful business owners have a plan to upsell and cros-ssell to customers at every step of the sales process.

 

4. Client retention and follow-up. Successful business owners actively work on client retention with frequent follow-up after a sale. Many of them use monthly newsletters as a no-fuss way to accomplish this.

 

5. Referral generation. Successful business owners have an active plan to get their best customers to refer them to their friends. They do not leave this chance or just wait for it to happen naturally.

Sadly, I have many business clients who seem to have given up and accepted that their

businesses have stagnated and are in trouble. They just don’t seem interested in doing the hard work needed to get their marketing in shape and become leaders in their niches. Trust me, it is a lot more fun to run a profitable business than one that is barely hanging on.

So, when are you going to start concentrating on improving your marketing?

Increasing Profits with Product Tiers

Creating product tiers is one of the easiest ways to increase sales from your current customers. See why they work and how you can use them for your business.

 

Creating product tiers is one of the easiest ways to increase sales from your current customers.  All it requires is that you design more elite versions of your current products.

You and your customers are already used to this.  We see examples everywhere:

• American Express pioneered this by having their regular Green card, with their better customers moving up to a Gold card, then Platinum, and finally the elite Black card.
• Airlines use tiers with their coach, business class, and first class seating.
• Video games do it with their “Ultimate Collector’s Edition”.
• Books have paperback, hardback, collector’s edition and signed first edition copies.

You get the idea.

To get started, all you do is create a higher tier of your basic product, then a better one, and then the best one.  Each level up will have a higher price point, of course.

Price tiers work because of people’s buying psychology.  Customers are hardwired to always want to stand out and be the best.  You want to position your product upgrades such that people feel having your top product will give them that satisfaction.

Most people will use your regular product, but others will upgrade, and they will gladly pay the price to get the best in order to feel like the best.

So give those people what they want and watch your profits soar!

Marketing on a Small Budget

Every business experiences a time where they need new customers but just don’t have the advertising budget. For this I recommend four things.

 

Every business experiences a time where they need new customers but just don’t have the advertising budget.  For this I recommend four things.

First, get into today’s Yellow Pages.  In the past it was key that you get your business into the Yellow Pages so that people ready to buy now could find you.  In most markets today the Yellow Pages just don’t work as well.  Today you need show up on the first page of a Google Search or the online Yellow Pages.  It is so important that any marketing budget you can afford should first be spent here.

Second, look for ways to increase sales from current customers.  This is often the quickest and easiest way to increase sales since your customers know you, like you, and trust you.  Check out our article in our blog titled “Fastest Way to Grow Your Business!”  (https://bit.ly/2Vz4vVT).

Third, identify your ideal customers who you can reach by mail.  Yes mail! (Check out NO B.S. Direct Marketing by Dan Kennedy to learn how.) Not doing what everyone else is doing is a great way to stand out. Then design a three-step mail campaign to get prospects to call you. The advantage is that you can print and mail what you can afford.  If you can only afford $50 this week, then only send out 100 letters to prospects.  If next week you can afford $75, then mail another 150 letters to prospects.  Continue this pattern each week based on your cash availability.

Finally, you may not have money but you usually have time.  Get out of your chair and hit the streets.  Stop in on prospects and introduce yourself.  Pick up the phone and make calls.  Email your contacts.  Just get out there and make yourself known.

Doing these things usually starts to generate sales and cash that will allow you to expand into paid advertising.  But I have found that this is a great way to start when your cash is short.

Just Get Their Email Address!

The fastest way to increase sales and customers is to increase sales to current customers. And email marketing is one of the fastest, easiest, most economical and effective methods of marketing available to the small business owner.

Watch this video to learn the benefits of using email marketing, how to get started, what program to use and how you can design a complete marketing plan just from getting their email.

 

C’mon over to the Small Business Profit Maximizer Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BusinessProfitMaximizer/ where I am sharing business profit maximizing moments that you can use to quickly increase you can double, triple or even 10X your bottom line while creating a more hassle free business.  Be sure to like the page and follow it so you will be notified when I am live and can ask questions live..

Be sure to check out my blog, “Small Business Profit Maximizer!” Where I share these videos and other ideas you can use to make this your most profitable year ever!  Click https://wjb-cpa.typepad.com/ to go to the blog page. .

As a gift to you for watching and following my videos, go to https://profitmasters.mykajabi.com to access the following free courses that will help you increase profits and your bank account balance:

• Double Your Business Profits in 30 Days!
• Turn to Your Customers When You need Cash Now!

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Finally, if you have a question or wish to talk to me you can email me at [email protected] or call my office at 915-857-8158.  .

Thanks so much and let’s make this our most profitable ever!

Educating the Accidental Manager!

If you plan to grow a massively profitable business you will need to hire employees. Unfortunately most business owners have no formal employee management training. Learning to hire, manage, motivate, delegate to, compensate and everything else that comes with your first hire is vital to growing the highly profitable business of your dreams. Watch this video to learn the quickest and easiest way to educate the accidental manager.

 

C’mon over to the Small Business Profit Maximizer Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BusinessProfitMaximizer/ where I am sharing business profit maximizing moments that you can use to quickly increase you can double, triple or even 10X your bottom line while creating a more hassle free business.  Be sure to like the page and follow it so you will be notified when I am live and can ask questions live..

Be sure to check out my blog, “Small Business Profit Maximizer!” Where I share these videos and other ideas you can use to make this your most profitable year ever!  Click https://wjb-cpa.typepad.com/ to go to the blog page. .

As a gift to you for watching and following my videos, go to https://profitmasters.mykajabi.com to access the following free courses that will help you increase profits and your bank account balance:

• Double Your Business Profits in 30 Days!
• Turn to Your Customers When You need Cash Now!

.

Finally, if you have a question or wish to talk to me you can email me at [email protected] or call my office at 915-857-8158.  .

Thanks so much and let’s make this our most profitable ever!

How to Delegate Effectively

If you want to expand, you will need to multiply yourself. This will require you to have employees and then delegate work to them. This is one area that very few business owners do effectively. They try, but they soon give up because their employees make mistakes and take much longer then they do to finish the work.

I often hear from business owners that they would like to expand, but they just can’t find good employees. My answer is always the same: “That’s funny – your competitors have found a way to get good employees!”

The truth is that their competitors have learned how to hire effectively, train effectively, and delegate effectively. Since you have employees now, learning how to delegate effectively is one of the quicker ways to free up your time so that you can work on improving your business and increasing profits.

Effective delegation requires you to:

• Properly define the task and the required result.
• Put a deadline on every task.
• Have a method for progress reports and follow-up. I used to use a delegation book. But I now use an online program that allows me to track employee progress easily. (Check out www.smartsheet.com).
• Don’t just delegate the job. Delegate the authority to complete the task.
• Hold weekly progress meetings.
• Don’t accept the “monkey” back! If, or should I say, when they come back to you with questions, insist that they come prepared with possible solutions.
• Understand and accept that mistakes happen when you delegate authority. Deal with them. Do more training. But don’t stop delegating!

Is Your Company Newsletter of Any Value?

There are many companies and organizations that provide employees with a monthly or quarterly newsletter. The idea is that this is a great way for the employer to stay connected with the employees and keep them in the loop about what’s going on within the organization.

The trouble is so many company newsletters are little more than a token offer and as a result, for the most part, they land up in the trash before an employee even opens them. If you are going to present your employees with a newsletter then it needs to be packed with useful news and it must be enjoyable to read.

Try sharing a bigger picture about your organization. What are its goals - was it profitable last year, what was the role of the employees in its success, what can happen to improve things. You should also make sure that there is some news in the newsletter that is related to the employee. Are there changes to benefits, will there be evaluations and when, are there changes in policy that relate to employees.

Your newsletter can also include reminders. Perhaps you can remind employees that if they are booking holidays their requests must be in by a specific date. You might also remind employees of upcoming stat holidays and how that will affect them. If your company has a shut down period you could talk about that.

Finally, if there are issues going on within your company, the newsletter is a great place to address. Most companies have some ‘sticklers’ happening – disgruntled employee is a common problem – it could be over a denial for time off, a task they disagree with, pay, or a host of other things. Address the issue in the newsletter. It will stop the ‘gossip wheel,’ and let people know exactly what’s going on and the policy relating to it. You don’t have to name names.

Your newsletter is a great way to connect with your employees, make sure that’s what it’s doing.

Increase Sales by Creating New Products

The fastest way to increase sales is to sell more to your current customers.  These are the folks who already know you, like you, and trust you.  They should be the customers you know best.

One of the best ways to do this is to develop a new service or product to sell to them.  But deciding what to sell often stops the business owner right in their tracks.

The key to developing a new product is to discover a “pain point” your current customers have that is not being addressed by anyone right now.  Start by asking your current customers, “What problems are you having that people in my industry are not helping you solve?”  Follow up with, “If I had a solution for that, would you be interested?”  Finally ask, “How much would you spend to eliminate this problem?”

I have been asking my business clients these questions for the last few years, and I have discovered small business owners consistently have the same answers.  They want to pay less tax (who doesn’t?), they wish they had better information to manage with, they need to make more sales, and they wish they could expand and grow without killing themselves doing it.

Armed with this knowledge, I have slowly been developing and introducing products as solutions to the problems my clients said they would be willing to pay to solve.  Seems obvious, doesn’t it?  Ask your customers what they would be willing to pay for, and then give it to them!

I have a fill-in-the-blanks outline that I use as a guide when I am developing new products.  It helps me communicate to my customers and my staff why the product is useful.  Here are some of the things the outline helps me keep in mind as I’m working:

• What should I call this product?
• How can I describe it in one sentence?
• What is included in the product?
• Who is the product’s ideal customer?  (Who is it designed for?)
• Why should the customer buy this product?  (What pain are we solving?)
• What benefits will the customer receive when they buy this product?
• What advantages does this product provide that our competitors’ products don’t?
• What three things should we always tell a customer about this product? (What should be in every marketing message for this product?)

Marketing Tip of the Week - Don’t forget me, I’m already a customer.

The holidays are coming and, like every other year, my company (my wife) makes thousands of homemade cookies to give to some of our clients. It takes about a week of my wife’s time, but our clients enjoy them and request them every year.

The other day a client asked me, “Why do you do it if it takes so much time and effort?” I answered, “Because that’s why you keep me around!”

But all jokes aside, I know that my clients are not going to fire me if I don’t bring them a cookie tray for Christmas; at least I hope not. But, it keeps me in their thoughts. It is a way for me to show my gratitude and remind them I am there to help them. It’s my holiday marketing!

A lot of business owners tend to neglect their current customers and focus on obtaining new ones. DON’T DO THAT! If you have taken any marketing courses or read any marketing books, your current customers are your goldmine!

The 80/20 Rule basically says that your top 20% of your customers generate 80% of your sales. So, why on earth wouldn’t you pamper them and encourage them to buy more, or even refer more customers like themselves to your company?

I encourage you to develop a way to get your current customers to remember or even refer others to your business. Perhaps a refer-a-friend program, annual gifts, rewards programs, etc. Try to always do something that shows that they are valuable to you and your company.

 

Danger: Ignoring Social Media Can Cost You Business! (Part 2)

(In part 1 I explained why you can no longer ignore social media when marketing your business.  This article outlines how you can easily get up to speed with social media). 

So what should you do about it?  Simple—wake up to the fact that social media is here to stay and ignoring it won’t make it go away.  If you want to survive and prosper, you must embrace social media as the great opportunity it is rather than fear it as a destructive agent of change! 

Many business owners understand both the opportunity and the threat, but have no clue how or where to get started.  Here is the three-step plan that I used: 

First, I educated myself.  I purchased the following books and studied them.  You also should buy them and study them in great detail.

-       Social Boom! by Jeffrey Gitomer

-       Likeable Social Media by Dave Kerpen

-       Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman

-       LinkedIn Marketing an Hour a Day by Viveka von Rosen (Be sure to check out my interview with her in this issue.) 

Second, I studied what my competition and their employees are doing on the Internet and on social media.  What are they doing well that you should emulate and what are they not doing that you could be doing?  Study what companies in other industries are doing that no one in your industry is doing.  Many great ideas were stolen from completely different industries.  For example, the fast food drive-up window was stolen (I mean “borrowed) by someone who was sitting in a drive-up window at a bank!  This “borrowed” idea revolutionized the fast food industry. 

Finally, I set goals and figured out how to measure my results.  This included both strategic and tactical goals. 

My strategic goal is to educate my customers and prospects.  I know that educated customers buy more.  Plus, by providing information that my customers and prospects find useful, I am taking advantage of the psychological principle of reciprocity.  This is where you feel that if someone does you a favor, you “owe” someone a favor in return.  It’s never a bad thing for your prospect to believe they owe you one.  The Bible says it better:  “Give, and it will be given to you (Luke 6:38)”. 

My first tactical goals were to get 20 blog visitors per day and to have 100 LinkedIn connections with at least 10 LinkedIn recommendations.  Sounded crazy, even impossible at the time, since I didn’t know how or where to start.  But we have far exceeded these early goals, and the result is that my CPA firm is growing while many others are struggling during these hard economic times. 

So it’s your choice:  Embrace social media or ignore it at your peril!  I hope you follow my example and be like Nike—JUST DO IT!

Danger: Ignoring Social Media Can Cost You Business! (Part 1)

For over two years my niece (who is also my marketing person) tried to talk me into getting a business Facebook page, a Twitter account, a YouTube account, and a LinkedIn account.  And for over two years I told her to go away and stop bothering me.  I, like many small business owners, couldn’t figure out how wasting my time on these things would increase sales and bring in profits. 

One day she just did it on her own, and the results were almost instantaneous.  You see, I had been blogging to my clients for over a year and was pretty much being ignored.  My blog was being visited by about 2-3 people a day.  I called it doing great work in the dark.  Does it really matter how good your work is if no one sees it?  Almost immediately after she set up these accounts and started linking to my blog articles, the number of visitors increased dramatically. 

And that was enough to convince me that social media was here to stay and that I could no longer ignore it.  In fact, I believe that the rise of social media has fundamentally changed the way every business sells to their customers!  Sounds extreme, but believe me, it’s true. 

In today’s world, before any prospect makes a decision to call you or visit your store, they:

-       Google you.

-       Check out your Facebook page.

-       Find you on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

-       Read your blog.

-       Read reviews from your happy (and unhappy!) customers. 

And there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop them!  Heck, admit it:  You’re doing the same thing every time you look at making a purchase. 

Jeffrey Gitomer in his book Social Boom! wrote: 

“Today, ALL systems of selling are preceded, and sometimes precluded, by your online reputation.  Before I ever call you, before you ever call me, before you ever meet with me—I already know everything I need to about you.” 

But what he says next should really scare the small business owner who has decided to ignore social media because they think it is just the latest fad: 

“Here are the NEW standards by which you’ll be evaluated, granted appointment time, decided upon, measured, branded, and talked about:

  -Your Google presence and ranking

  -Your online reputation

  -Your business social media presence

  -Your personal website (present or absent)

  -Your blog (present or absent)

  -Your Facebook presence

  -Your LinkedIn connections and recommendations

  -Your Twitter followers and tweets

  -Your YouTube presence” 

Scared yet?  You should be, because the competitor in your market who “gets” social media and learns how to use it effectively will have a huge advantage over you!  They will grow while you decline.  They will get the best customers while you get the customers they don’t want.  They will prosper while you suffer and complain about how bad the economy is. 

(Be sure to check out part 2 tomorrow to see how you can start using social media to increase your sales.)

Client Question: How Do I Compete Against the Big Established Business in My Niche?

I have had this discussion with three business owners in the last two weeks.  One was launching a web store, one was considering opening a business, and one was struggling to survive.

I too am faced with this.  No American can dodge a commercial from one of the big tax preparation shops from January to April.  To compete, I follow these three rules:

Rule 1:  Never compare apples to apples! Change what you offer your customer in order to meet a need in a way the big competitor can’t or won’t match.

Rule 2:  Never, ever compete on price! The big competitor can charge less because they have the buying power and economies of scale.  Don’t compete with them based on their strength.

Rule 3:  You compete by finding a hot market and a niche!  Dan Kennedy says the #1 thing he would want if he was a restaurant owner is hungry customers.  It’s a great way to say you want to sell to those customers who have a problem they need a solution to and the money to pay you.  The big competitor usually sells to all customers and must treat all customers basically the same.  This gives you the opportunity to find a niche and design a program that solves a problem that the niche has in a way that the big competitor can’t or won’t.

I followed these rules in my tax practice by concentrating on selling tax planning and profit coaching to growing small businesses (following rule 3).  Once I show the business owner how to cut their tax bill and work with them to increase profits, they just automatically have me do their tax return because they trust me.

By not selling the tax return first, I now force the customer to compare apples to oranges.  We both do tax returns but because of my experience and knowledge, the employees of the big tax shops (with their six week training course) can’t match what I offer.  If the growing small business owner wants tax planning and profit coaching, I’m one of their only options.

Study these three rules and consider how you can apply them to your business.  Feel free to call me to set up an appointment where we can talk about your situation.

Until next time, let’s make this our most profitable year ever.

Like any good CPA, I need to add a disclaimer:  Unfortunately, it is impossible to offer comprehensive tax and business advice over the Internet, no matter how well-researched or written.  And remember, I love my readers but having me bookmarked on your computer doesn’t make you a client:  Before relying on any information given on this site, contact a tax professional to discuss your particular situation.

 

Marketing Tip of the Week – Liven Up the Place!!

El Pasoans are always complaining there is never anything to do, so take that as an opportunity to get people through your doors.  Depending on your business, you can invite speakers, live bands, motivational speakers, dances, art exhibits and any other event that can draw a crowd.

An event like this can create positive brand equity and promote awareness for your business. Think about it, people are going to your business to enjoy themselves and hopefully learn more about your business. Plus, if they are already at your door, they are more likely to buy from you.

Of course promoting this even may cost you a bit, but it’s usually worth it in the end. This can give you an opportunity to write that press release to generate free press! Most bands and artists will volunteer to preform just to get their name out to the public, saving you even more money!

Communities tend to favor companies that give back and a free event is always a way to win their hearts. So if you are having problem getting customers through the door, keep this in mind.

P.S. Don’t forget, while they are there get their contact information to promote to them in the future.

Marketing Is Never an Option, It’s a Necessity!

Sometimes marketing is an expense and sometimes it is an investment – depending on if it is working or not. But abandoning your marketing plan when cash is tight should never be an option!

First, let’s understand what marketing is. Marketing is everything you do that creates value in the customers mind so that they are enticed to meet with you. Marketing gives you the chance to sell.

Selling is when you convince the prospect that you can be trusted to deliver what your marketing efforts promised.

Based on these definitions, marketing must happen even if you are totally broke. How else will prospects learn about you, be willing to meet with you, and, most importantly, be excited to meet with you? The following are four things that can be done even if you are cash poor:

1. Create new products and sell them to your current customers.
2. Form strategic partnerships with companies that deal with your prospects. Get creative and remember to make it a win-win for both parties.
3. Create and work a referral program that gets your customer to refer their friends.
4. Learn more by buying Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson and The Referral Engine by John Jantsch. Both of these will provide you with tons of low-cost marketing ideas.

Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!

Don’t Forget To Budget Me In!!

I have a hard time stressing the importance of budgeting money each month on marketing.  A lot of business owners see it as a wasted expense. It’s really not!

I like to use this analogy when it comes to spending money on marketing. It’s like buying a $20 gift certificate for $10 to your favorite restaurant. You spend money to make money. Just because you don’t get an instantaneous response doesn’t mean it won’t pay off.

The trick is to spend your marketing dollars in the right areas. You have to know your customer to have any type of success. If you need help budgeting or getting to know how your customer’s think, call my office at 915-857-8158, to schedule a meeting.