Small Business Profit Maximizer!

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!

Increase engagement and interaction through Twitter

It is important to market a business appropriately through social media and get the most out of the internet in order to get as much customers as possible. Twitter is one of the best sites to advertise your business on and this article conveys some tips on increasing engagement and interaction through Twitter.

The real advantage of Twitter is that the posts are limited to a maximum of 140 characters and this does keep posts short and snappy and does not allow waffling or other unnecessary filler to be put onto the message. This is a principle that you should follow when promoting your business online through Twitter: keep your posts as succinct and to the point as possible. You may wish to market special offers of your business through Twitter as these are the types of post which do not require a lot of content.

Furthermore, you should keep posting regular content onto your page so that it does not become stale and slip down the rankings when people search for similar sites for you. Putting constant posts on your site really keeps in tune with the whole concept of Twitter as it is all to do with efficiency.

Another tactic that you could use to promote your business on Twitter and boost engagement is to look at some of the promotion packages that the site offers. These can put your site above others in the news feed and thus facilitate an increased amount of traffic. The initial financial outlay of purchasing such a service is far outweighed by the engagement you will get from it.

If you want to boost engagement, you need to reach out to people and advertise your business. Follow people who you would like to follow you and you would be surprised at the amount that follows you back. Furthermore send direct messages to your potential followers and also re-tweet some of their posts and perhaps favorite them too. This will make them feel special and know that you are taking more of an interest in them so they are more likely to interact with you.

Top Tips to Help You Launch a Video Marketing Strategy

Video marketing is one of the best strategies you have available for you. Let’s look at some top tips that can help you launch a successful video marketing strategy.

Dedicate Resources

Everyone worries about budget, after all budgets are tight, so every company tries to do more with less. The good news is that there is no need to spend millions on a studio, nor do you need a dedicated video team to create your own video marketing strategy.

The best way is to produce enough content for all the various stages of the journey of your customer is to release a new video every few weeks. That’s not as excessive as it might sound.

If you need to invest in one dedicated hire, a videographer is the place to begin. Having a strong videographer will not only be able to shoot your video, but also edit all of your footage and so you will be able to create at least one short video for about $1,000 a week.

Figure Out What Story You Want To Tell

For most organizations there is great potential for video content. Before you do anything, consider who your audience is and what you want them to know about your company. A good first video would be to explain what your company does. There should be a video for each step of your marketing funnel. Fun campaign videos can be a good way to humanize your brand.

Show People Not Just Your Products

Explaining your products is important, but they aren’t always enough to make a compelling story. Putting the human face on the company through interviews, commentaries, sharing success stories, etc.

Keep Your Videos Short

Editing is one of the hardest steps. You have all the content you shot or had shot and there are tons of amazing things your company does, but now you have to shorten it down to just one minute because that’s the attention span of your audience.

Why Engagement is Critical to the Success of Your Social Media Marketing

In a normal social setting people control what they say over what they really want to say, and they control how they act over how they really want to act. When you have a successful social media platform these rules get bent. What does that mean? It means what might be an acceptable in the real world can be completely acceptable online.

For example, many people are afraid to advertise themselves in the job market for fear that their current boss might find out that they are doing so. Then along comes LinkedIn, which is 11 most visited site in online (Alexa Internet stats). There are more than 300 million members all who list their professional achievements education interests etc. openly for the world to see. LinkedIn creates the opportunity for a user to say what they want, how they want with no negative repercussions and it allows them plausible deniability. In other words, they can put themselves in the job market showing their skills without admitting to do so. They create an engaging profile that is there for the world to see, and that includes recruiters.

Facebook is the second most visited site on the Internet. They changed our perception of the context of being nosey. What was once perceived as getting into somebody else's business, is now seen as the norm, as every day, all day long, people post the details of their life. Users also openly share their likes and dislikes of products, companies, and individuals.

So how does this apply to your social media marketing strategy? Will it clearly defines just how important it is to have a marketing strategy that focuses on integrity and openness. It must allow your customer or visitor the freedom to share their viewpoints both positive and negative. Creating these open and engaging conversations is the ticket to increasing your sales and overall revenue. This is where so many social media campaigns for part. Without the realization of the importance of the engagement factor your social media marketing campaign is destined to fail.

Why Blog?

All businesses need to have a blog, no excuses! It’s free, it educates your customers, and it can lead to sales!

There are SO many free blog sites that allow you to create a blog that is easy to manage! Blogs give you a forum to tell your customers about your industry, why they need you, and how you can solve their problems! On top of that, you can highlight new products, promote events, reward certain customers, discuss hot topics in your field - the list goes on and on! It’s your company’s voice!

Go create your blog today and give your company a step up on your competitors.

If you need help with your marketing, we’re starting a new company, Innovative Marketing Consulting, which specializes in internet marketing and consulting. Go to www.imcelpaso.com to learn more!

The Best Marketers Use a Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is an automated system designed to maximize the lifetime value of a customer by automatically “funneling” them toward buying more of your products over time. If you are not using sales funnels, you are leaving SERIOUS money on the table! Most business models are in the “one-off” sales mode.  In other words, they are always selling one version of whatever their product is to as many customers as they can afford to reach.

The secret of the sales funnel is that it literally multiplies every single dollar of advertising for every sale you make.  This happens by taking every single lead you get and gently pushing them up a planned money pyramid—putting more money in your pocket.  And with today’s technology, all of this can be automated in a way that takes very little time to maintain.  Of course it does take substantial time to set up.

Here are the main parts of a sales funnel.

1)    The lead magnet.  This is simply a bribe in exchange for their contact information.  What we want is for a potential customer to raise a hand and say, “I may be interested in what you are providing.”

2)    The tripwire sale.  This is a small sale where you start to demonstrate your expertise and hint at how much more is available to them.  The goal is to turn the prospect into a customer.

The bad news is that the hardest sale to get is the first one.  Everyone is scared that they will be taken advantage of.

The good news is that once they see that you over deliver on your promise, it is easy to get them to buy more products.  The trip wire sale is designed to make this happen in a low-risk way for your prospects.

3)    The core sale. This is the main product that you sell that delivers on your promise.  In fact you should over deliver!  This isn’t the end, but rather the beginning of what can be a very profitable relationship.  You are doing the work once and selling it indefinitely.

4)    Profit maximizer sales.  This is where the profits really are!  This includes upsells, high-end coaching, software sales, and just about anything else related to your niche.

5)    The customer return path.  This gently pulls any prospect who didn’t move up to the next level.  Most sales don’t happen on the first contact.  A well-designed customer return path re-sells to any prospect/customer who doesn’t purchase the next level in the funnel.

6)    Movement into the next sales funnel.  Use any additional products you may have or develop.

This article just scratches the surface.  Read our recommended blog article about Digital Marketer’s blog for much, much more information (www.digitalmarketer.com/blog/).

How Video Marketing Can Improve Lead Conversion

If you think that video marketing isn’t an important part to growing your online presence, think again. According to recent studies, 85% of Internet users in the US watch online videos on a regular basis, including 4.3 billion online video ads. While we tend to skip past ads on television, when it comes to online videos, we can’t seem to get enough.

With the number of video views, it’s no wonder that these can help convert leads for any company and any niche – as long as it’s done correctly. Having videos available on your site has proven to keep visitors longer. Not only does it increase lead conversion but also increases time spent on your site.

Video gives your customers and prospects a unique experience that no other medium can offer. It is more than just words or pictures. Video allows your customers to know they are dealing with a real person – you give them a live person to listen to and relate with. This relationship builder can mean the difference between a completed sale or not.

It’s not a matter of IF you’re going to use video to convert leads, it’s when. There is no media that “doesn’t work.” It’s a process and every campaign is an opportunity to learn and improve your efforts.

3 High-Impact Fixes For Your Marketing Woes

How many times has your competitor gotten one over on you?  The feeling of being left behind just eats away, until you do something about.  The problem is that we often feel that we've got to come up with some grand plan in order to get our business skyrocketing again.  Don't be fooled!  Getting back on top of the market isn't as tough as it seems with these high-impact, easy-to-use fixes.

1. The Magic Number - 1

Implement a "advertise 1 item at a time" motto for your advertising strategy.  Does that mean you can't SELL more than one item at a time?  No... but wait until AFTER the sale.

When a customer sees more than one of a product offered at unbelievably low prices, he's confused.  Which one is the better deal?  Which one does he prefer?  These questions encourage procrastination - one of marketing's greatest thieves.  Instead, offer the consumer a product that compliments his purchase in a nearby display... or even at the register.  You'll make extra profits instead of losing a sale.

2. Outsmart Your Competitors

Your competition is looking for you in all of the usual places.  Don't go there.  Quietly look for new methods of advertising and new markets to target. 

Niche markets provide the perfect sneak tactic for reaching new clients.  Here's they key... sub-divide your current market into smaller, more specific niche markets.  Familiarize yourself with the needs and concerns of the niche, then present yourself as the pro in their corner.  Leave your competition in the dust with the intensity of new prospects that will come your way.

Modernize an old marketing technique that still carries a wallop - postcards.  Yeah, these small, inexpensive marketing tools still carry a personal message that is quick and easy to read, but with new high-impact colors and designs that capture the attention of readers.  Your competition won't even know that you're using them!

3. Encourage Communication

Communication is crucial to understanding your consumers.  Encourage questions before the sale, during the sale and after the sale.  Make it easy and comfortable.

Provide convenient contact information on all of your sales materials, including Websites.  If you find yourself overloaded with questions, create a frequently asked question page where clients can get the answers they need without claiming as much of your time.

Confused customers, tough competitors and communication mishaps won't steal profits from your account when you fix things up with the 3 quick tips.

3 Innovative Ways To Build An Optin Email List That Stands Above The Crowd

With so many optin email lists out there, you really need to come up with a hook to attract subscribers. It needs to have something special or different. It could be something you offer inside every newsletter issue, like interviews with experts. Or the hook could be a unique incentive that website visitors can take advantage of immediately when they sign up.

Here are 3 ideas you can use for your own sites, or use as inspiration to get you thinking a little outside of the box:

-- Build an Optin Email List by Creating a Private Members Only Site or Section --

Create a private web site and have people sign up to get free, immediate access. For example, you could say, "Subscribe to our free e-zine and get free access to our private membership web site!" You can choose to have them receive a username and password every time they want to login, or you can just provide a link to the site in your welcome email.

Your private members only site can be as big or as small as you want. Some of the things you can include inside are: reports, software, articles, ebooks, etc. Inside the site, you can advertise your affiliate programs, as well. And you can follow-up to let them know about updates, new products they might be interested in, the latest news in your industry, etc.

-- Build an Optin Email List By Giving Subscribers a Free, Tangible Gift --

Instead of offering a free ebook (or a whole package of them) like most everybody else, promise to give your visitors something they can hold in their hands if they give you their contact information.

For example, you could say "Subscribe today and get our new report mailed to you via First Class." You could print out your report on standard 8 x 11 sheets of paper, fold it up, put it inside an envelope, and mail it off.

Or you can offer a tips booklet and mail it to new subscribers. Or you can create your own CD full of information targeted toward your market and mail that. Or if you have a wholesale supply of a product of interest to your subscribers, then you can send one to each new subscriber. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Follow-up possibilities include: articles (your own or written by others), tips you pick up, news in your niche, reviews of products or other interested, related websites, etc.

-- Build an Optin Email List Through a Contest or Sweepstakes --

Hold a free contest or sweepstakes at your website where they must give their contact information, including their email address, to enter. Make the prize something that your niche market will be interested in. Otherwise, they'll never want to enter.

If you already have an ezine up and running, you could offer free automatic entry for new subscribers. For example, you could say, "Subscribe to our free newsletter and get automatic entry into our contest." You'll also want to retroactively include current subscribers.

You can announce the winner(s) at the end, as well as send any new contest announcements or product announcements. Or you can make this an ongoing contest, where you give away the same thing to one (or more) lucky people every month. That way you'll entice many subscribers to stay on your list.

You can find niche products to give away through wholesalers or dropshippers. Or you can create it yourself. One of my favorite ways to do this is create a CD-Rom with a guide or report (or sometimes several) that my niche market will find interesting.

Once again, you can follow-up with tips, articles, news, new product announcements, or just an announcement of each monthly winner(s).

Hopefully, now I've inspired you to take some action or encouraged ideas of your own with these tips. Any idea, the more popular it gets, requires you to think outside the box every now and then in order to be effective. Building an optin email list is no different. And with newsletters and ezines saturating the Internet day by day, you need to offer something a little different to make them want to sign up to yours. Or you'll just end up getting left behind.

Brainstorming Techniques

Have you been in a "brainstorming" session where each person just defended their own ideas? Worse is when people don't suggest ideas at all, for fear they'll be attacked. That's no way to brainstorm. Brainstorming is using the power of many minds, and ideas should flow freely and trigger other ideas. How do you make that happen?

The Key To Good Brainstorming

You have to have a good leader to have good brainstorming. The leader isn't there to impose his will, though, but to stop the imposition of anyone’s will. His role is to stop criticisms, arguments, and even strong opinions, at least in the first part of the session.

A brainstorming session needs to be spontaneous, open and uncritical. "Bad" or "silly" ideas can lead to helpful ones, so suggestions have to be left un-judged at first. To brainstorm effectively, you can't stifle the creative process. The leaders job, then, is to make everyone feel free to suggest any ideas.

An Example Of Good Brainstorming

The scenario: your business needs to cut delivery costs. The group throws out ideas and thoughts. "Let's not deliver," someone suggests, and when another starts to criticize, you remind him of the rules. "Negotiate lower rates," somebody says, "Or just find a company with lower rates," another adds. Ideas like reducing package weight and charging customers more are suggested, and lead to other ideas.

You keep it civil, take notes, and eventually call a halt to this free-for-all part of the session. Now it's time to evaluate and develop the ideas for whatever usefulness they may have.

To keep the creativity flowing in this stage, have participants defend or develop ideas that are not their own. This brings new insight to the idea, and prevents the problem of ego-identification that causes people to get "stuck in a rut" with their own ideas.

For example, ask the man who was critical of the idea of not delivering to work with that idea. "We have to deliver," he might start with. Then he thinks for a second and says, "I suppose we could deliver to central distribution points instead of to the individual customer. The customer could drive a short distance to pick up their order. That might save us on shipping."

Someone else suggests that the customers may like the arrangement. They would be able to return the product immediately if they were dissatisfied, with no need to pack and ship it. You assign a couple people to look into it, and move on to the other ideas.

Good leadership keeps the whole process working. In the last example, you've even used a "bad" idea to come to a possible solution. That's good brainstorming.

Are You Using Facebook Ads?

If you have a Facebook business page, you really should try adding a Facebook ad to your marketing. Facebook ads are an inexpensive way to reach a very targeted audience.

When you create a Facebook ad, you first set your daily budget and when you want to start your campaign. Don’t worry if you want to spend only $5 a day, you can. Then you will choose “Pay for Impressions (CPC)” or “Pay for Clicks (CPC)”. Pay for impressions means you will expose your ad to your desired audience. You will be paying for exposure and how often your ad is displayed is dependent on your daily budget. Pay for clicks means Facebook will display your ad to your desired audience, but you will not pay for anything until people start clicking on your ad. Once your daily budget is reached, your ad will no longer be shown.

After you have decided on how much you want to spend, you will choose who you want to see your ad. I feel this is the best feature of Facebook ads. Facebook acts like a database of people’s personal information. If you wanted to target a narrow group of people, you have that option. Facebook also makes this easy for you. 

Now all you have left is your message.  You will have limited words and space restraints, so get right to the point. Make your message as alluring and eye-catching as possible. This will be the hardest part of the whole process.

Now get to it! Put your business’s face out there and make the most out of your social media.

The #1 Reason Small Businesses Prosper

One of the big advantages a CPA has working with small business owners is that we get to learn what makes them profitable and what makes them fail. 

In a past blog I gave you a number of reasons small business fail. But while avoiding these reasons for failure is important, it is just as important to understand how to succeed.

Moya K. Mason released a paper years ago, What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? (http://www.moyak.com/papers/small-business-success.html). In it, she writes, “What does matter, it turns out, is having a strong grasp of the business basics. Without exception, companies that outperformed their industry peers excelled at what we call the four primary management practices – strategy, execution, culture and structure.” My observation of small business owners who prosper agrees with her findings. To this I would add the following reasons that small business owners prosper: 

• They have or acquire a strong working knowledge of business basics.
• They have a strategic profit plan.
• They build their strategic profit plan around a clear value propositions for the customer.
• They are committed to marketing and selling their product.
• They concentrate their sales efforts to a niche rather than trying to sell to every possible customer.
• They develop a way to make their product something their customer “must have” rather than something that would be “nice to have”.
• They continuously turn out innovative products and services rather than reacting to events.
• They deliver products and services that consistently meet and exceed customers’ expectations.
• They hold themselves and their people to a high level of performance.
• They empower their employees and managers to make independent decisions and to find ways to improve operations.
• They make it easy for their employees and customers to work with their organizations.
• They hold on to talented employees and actively work to develop more.
• They get a mentor on board.
• They practice the “Golden Rule” in all of their business and personal dealings.
• They develop a good accounting system that provides them with strong management reports. 

 

MYTH VS TRUTH: To Increase Sales, All I Have To Do Is Buy Advertising

The myth most business owners believe:  The first thing a business owner does when they want to increase sales is to put one of their products on sale and then buy advertising.

Why this myth causes a problem: It no longer works!  Prospects don’t want to be sold.  They want to be educated about the options that solve their problem or meet their need.

The truth successful business owners learn the hard way! 80% of customers buy after the fifth sales contact by the company.  So should your first contact with a prospect really include a call to action that asks them to buy from you? 

A more successful way to increase sales is to design a marketing campaign of five to eight steps that ultimately leads to a lifetime customer.  The first step in this campaign, more often than not, is simply trying to get the prospect to notice you and start a conversation with you.

In fact, the first four steps should be about educating the prospect on how your product or service can solve their problem. Make the sales pitch only after you have a qualified, educated customer!

Lesson learned: Educated customers buy more! Invest the time and effort to design a marketing campaign that first educates your customer about how your product or service solves their problem.

 

Selling to the Cynical Consumer!

As a business owner, I am always receiving emails advertising everything under the sun.  At least once a week a salesperson will drop off their business card and sales material in hopes of getting me to buy their product. Every one of us is constantly bombarded with advertising and pressured by salesmen trying to sell us something—so much so that we have all become very cynical consumers.  It’s as if we have all set our default setting to “I don’t believe you” or “Sounds great, but what’s the catch?”

This cynicism explains why most advertising and cold calls are a waste of time and money.  Before you can sell to the consumer, you have to first gain their trust.  Consumers buy from people they know, like, and trust.  That is why traditional marketing and sales campaigns are no longer very effective.  Asking for the sale on the first contact with a prospect is like proposing marriage on the first date—not likely to happen.

That is why the most effective marketing is based on relationships using the VCP process.  VCP stands for Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability.  This process takes into account that no relationship, especially a business-customer relationship, appears out of nowhere.  They are born and nurtured as the business earns the trust of the customer.

Visibility is how your customer becomes aware you exist.  The best way to get visibility is to offer information that provides a solution to a problem.  This is where you present a variety of solutions to the customer’s problem, with your product or service as one of the options.

Credibility is earned as your customer begins to build confidence in your ability to solve their problem.  This can take many months to accomplish, and requires patience by the business owner who must learn to use such techniques as sending newsletters, posting to blogs, and providing free informative webinars.  Credibility entails doing what you have promised to do once the customer makes the first purchase.

Profitability is the final step.  This is when the customer becomes not just a one-time customer, but a repeat customer.  Better yet, they become a raving fan who refers their friends.

The VCP process is a better way to plan a marketing campaign that works with today’s busy cynical customers.  But it takes planning and patience by the business owner.

So how can YOU use the VCP process to develop customers?

 

Ten Steps to Becoming a Marketing and Sales Expert

What I didn’t understand when I started my CPA firm is that every business is a marketing business!  A business without customers is called a hobby.  This leads to the major problem that most new business owners discover:  They may be good at what they do, but they must become experts at marketing and selling if they want to have a successful business.

I think Bill Glazer (the author of Outrageous Advertising That’s Outrageously Successful) explained best when he said,

“I have a two thing business—Getting new customers and keeping them as long as possible.”

The question I usually get is, “How do I become a sales and marketing expert?”  The following are the steps I have used over the last 20+ years to teach myself.

1. Change your mindset about sales and marketing.  Too many business owners, especially professionals (doctors, lawyers, CPAs, architects, etc.) view salespeople with disdain.  You must eliminate that attitude now!  If you really believe that your product or service will transform your customer/client/patient’s life, then you have a moral obligation to provide it to as many people as possible.  This can only be done by selling it.
2. Educate yourself.  Read as many books as you can about sales and marketing.  I would start with the following books:
   • Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
   • Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer
   • Duct Tape Marketing by John Janstch
   • All of the No B.S. series by Dan Kennedy.  I would start with No B.S. Direct Marketing
   • Outrageous Advertising That’s Outrageously Successful by Bill Glazer
   • SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath
   • Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes
   • LinkedIn Marketing an Hour a Day by Viveka van Rosen
   • Stick Like Glue by Jim Palmer
3. Take some marketing courses.  Check out sales online training with Jeffrey Gitomer (www.salesblog.com) and Steve Clark (www.newschoolselling.com).
4. Find and hire a sales and marketing coach.  Being an entrepreneur in charge of marketing and sales is a lonely job.  Having a coach gives you an outsider’s perspective, an experienced voice, and a deadline for getting stuff done.  Don’t underestimate the value of a deadline.  Without one, the everyday demands of your business and the natural inclination to procrastinate when faced with something you’re not good at will delay (sometimes forever) your work on sales and marketing.  One of the key things a coach does is get you on schedule.
5. Subscribe to sales and marketing magazines and blogs.  And read them constantly!  You must think about sales and marketing your business 24 hours a day.  Heck, you should dream about it!  Don’t forget to check out our magazine every month.  We cover marketing and sales every month and provide you with homework to help you improve.
6. Create a marketing plan.  A good resource for preparing a marketing plan is Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days by Jay Conrad Levinson.
7. Create a 12-month implementation plan of your marketing plan.  The motto of this magazine and my coaching programs is Good Ideas + Action = Massive Profits.  You have to do the work.  Having a marketing plan and sticking it in your desk drawer won’t accomplish anything.
8. Choose sales tools that fit your budget.  Once you do, commit to sticking with them for at least six months.  It takes time for marketing to work.  Don’t make the mistake of giving up after only a couple of tries.
9. Make a monthly appointment with yourself to review your marketing.  Every marketing plan needs to be adjusted based on how your prospects and customers react to it.  It is a good idea to A/B test every part of your sales and marketing process.  Remember, results are all that matter!  Keep experimenting and improving until you get the marketing message and sales methods that deliver sales.
10. Set aside time to sell weekly.  This is particularly important for professionals and technical businesses (mechanics, contractors, etc.) that put more importance on getting the work done correctly than they do on sales and marketing.  It is extremely easy to get lost in doing the work that needs to be completed now, but doing so usually results in not having any work lined up once the current job is completed.  It is important to always be selling so that the work pipeline is always full.

Remember, every business is a sales business first!  That means that every business owner must become an expert marketing and sales professional in order to be successful.

 

Would You Buy From You?

Have you ever asked yourself this question? If I wasn’t the owner, would I do business with myself? 

Do I make it easy to buy? Are my prices competitive? How is my customer service? If after honestly answering these questions you discover that you would not do business with your own business, you need to make some changes and FAST!

Many business owners forget to approach things as a customer. Placing yourself on the other side of the business model you’d probably make different decisions for your business. 

I often ask business owners why they do certain things in their business that inconvenience their customer and their answer usually has something to do with the owners’ preferences.  Customers are finicky and are looking for excuses not to buy things sometimes and your “preference” may be costing you money!

I’ve encountered many different types of business owners in my day, and all think their business is the best in their field. Some are right but many are blind to their own shortcomings and don’t realize they are not thinking of their customers.

Answer the question “Would you buy from you?” and be honest. You may be surprised to find out you may need to make some changes.

by Jacqueline Alvarez

How to Legally Reconstruct Your Records

If you are audited by the IRS, it is often several years after the end of the year being audited.  It is unfortunately very common to be unable to produce the receipts, bills, or other written documentation for all the items the auditor is questioning.  That’s when you and your accountant will need to reconstruct your records. 

It’s perfectly legal to reconstruct your records in any way that provides adequate evidence that your return was actually filed correctly.  The law does not require perfect record keeping.  But it is definitely easier and cheaper if you do keep good records. 

Here are a few examples of ways to reconstruct various items:

• See if you can request a copy of your receipt from the original company.  Call your mortgage company, doctor, or vendor for a copy or a statement.
• Get affidavits from the parties involved detailing the transaction that you don’t have a receipt for.
• The law requires that you receive a receipt at the time you make a contribution in excess of $250, but you can always request a copy if you lose the original.
• Use a diary or calendar to back up your deduction for auto mileage, seminars, and travel.
• You also can back up auto deductions by analyzing your accounting records.  Making a deposit shows that you went to the bank on that day.  Purchases from your vendor show that you picked up merchandise on that day.  Outline your normal sales process for a customer.  For example:  You make one trip to see what work is required, one to deliver the proposal, one to do the work, and a last trip to deliver the invoice and receive final payment.  Calculate the mileage for each customer using this method.
• Get a copy of the police report or insurance claim to back up your casualty losses. 

The IRS auditor most likely will not accept any or all of these reconstructions.  But they will work at the appeals level or at tax court.  Obviously this will be much more expensive and time consuming.  So the moral of the story—keep your receipts!

Why You Need a Business Plan

Over the years, I’ve seen how business planning can be the secret to success for both new companies and rapidly growing companies.  I’ve seen how the best companies understand planning and regularly develop and manage their plans.  Good companies plan. 

Planning includes a major paradox:  The plan is useless, but planning is essential.  That’s a quote from former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, who had reason to know a lot about planning.  He led the Allied forces to victory in Europe during the Second World War. 

You already know the obvious reasons for creating a business plan, but there are many other good reasons that may not be as apparent.  Just to change things up a bit, let’s take a look at a slightly longer list of the most important reasons every business needs a business plan. 

1. Grow your existing business.  Develop a strategy and allocate resources according to your priorities and goals.
2. Create a new business.
3. Set specific objectives for managers.  Good management requires setting specific objectives and then following up.  How can you manage effectively without a plan?  How do you know what’s supposed to happen?
4. Deal with displacement.  Displacement is probably the most important practical concept that is ignored by business owners.  It goes like this:  “Whatever you do rules out something else you don’t do.”
5. Share and explain business objectives with your management team, employees, and new hires.
6. Share your strategy, priorities, and specific action points with your spouse and children.
7. Hire new people.  How will new people help your business grow and prosper? What exactly are they supposed to be doing?  The rationale for hiring should be in your business plan.
8. Decide whether or not to rent new space.  Rent is a new obligation, usually a fixed cost.  Do your growth prospects and plans justify taking on this additional expense?
9. Back up a business loan application.
10. Develop new business alliances.  Use your plan to set targets for new alliances, and use selected portions of your plan to communicate with partners.
11. Decide whether you need new assets, how many, and whether to buy or lease them.

Latest Marketing Trends And Why You Cannot Afford to Ignore Them

Social media, the Internet, and mobile devices are revolutionizing marketing.  Big companies are jumping into these avenues with a huge investment in advertising dollars and employees.  This can intimidate the small business owner and make them ignore the whole issue.  I often hear, “What’s wrong with what I’ve been doing?  It’s worked for me for the last ___ years!”  That’s great, but I can almost guarantee you it won’t work much longer. 

You see, we now live in a “New Economy” where 95 percent of customers will gravitate to the business owner who is more ambitious, eager to learn, willing to adapt, and dedicated to continuous integrated marketing. 

One of the main reasons for this is that our current interconnected information age has transferred control from the business to the consumer.  Today’s consumer has the ability to easily explore their options.  They can quickly compare prices, determine who has the best customer service, and find out which company has the best reputation. 

The financial crash and the resulting loss of wealth and income since 2008 have resulted in a consumer base with far less money to spend.  This means that when they do spend their money, they are much more cautious.  Luckily, this does not mean that they only want what is cheapest—they just want the best value for their dollar. 

So how do you adapt to this? 

First, you have to understand that if you sell a commodity, you will lose.  A small company just can’t beat the price that big box stores like Sam’s and Costco can offer or that can be found shopping online at Amazon and other stores.  If you want to survive, you will need to differentiate yourself and educate your customer on why shopping with you is really a better value.  (How to do this is well beyond the scope of this article.  Be sure to check out our soon-to-be-released “8-Week Boot Camp:  Dominate Your Niche in the New Economy” which will be released in October of this year.  This course is designed to help you position yourself to be that one firm in your niche that will attract 95 percent of consumer dollars.) 

Second, traditional sales and marketing are quickly losing their effectiveness.  This is especially true for smaller businesses that just don’t have the budget to run branding advertising.  Traditional advertising tools such as TV, newspaper, and radio require an expensive, long-term commitment to be effective.  This makes it almost impossible for most small businesses to compete head-to-head with the big companies. 

But this also presents small business owner with fantastic opportunities to grow their business if they act quickly enough to take advantage of recent marketing trends. 

• Content marketing is becoming vital to market dominance.  Content is the foundation of digital marketing and is vital to your marketing results.
  • Content marketing allows you to educate your customers on why your product or service is best for them.  It also helps with customer retention and upselling to your current customers.  Remember, educated customers buy more.
  • Content marketing is key to establishing yourself as an expert and thought leader in your industry.  People want their problem solved by an expert.
  • Content marketing increases customer retention by reminding them why they became a customer and that you still care about them as a customer.  People switch providers because they perceive that you don’t care more than any other reason.  Constant contact helps eliminate this.
  • Content marketing increases upsells and cross-selling from your current customers by educating them on additional products and services you offer.  Remember!  Educated customers buy more! 

• The integration of offline and online marketing.  Some of the best results are accomplished by a) using offline marketing (direct mail, small newspaper ads) that b) push to free reports or webinars online that educate the prospect and introduce you (in a non-threatening way) that is then c) followed up with contact that pushes for an in-person sales call.  This online/offline integration has proven to be very effective and cost efficient. 

• The rise in mobile marketing.  Many companies are using text messaging with great effectiveness to bring prospects into their stores.  One example is a restaurant that sends a text message to loyal customers offering a VIP-only special. 

• Continuous planned marketing.  The market leaders in every niche usually have at least a 12-month plan for all of their marketing.  Nothing is left to chance; everything is tracked, tested, and improved. 

• Results-based marketing.  More and more companies are making a shift toward using only marketing that allows them to easily track the results.  This is one of the main reasons for the resurgence of direct mail. 

• Visual marketing.  A picture is worth a thousand words, particularly when selling a product.  I have a client who sells home medical equipment who is using video with great effectiveness.  A patient bed lift looks like something that would have been used during the Spanish Inquisition.  But a video showing a small person easily lifting a larger person out of the bed, along with an explanation of how this reduces injury to both the patient and the caregiver, does a tremendous job selling the advantages and benefits of the bed lift. 

What are you doing to keep your company from losing market share to your competitor?

Using Monthly Meetings and a Promotion Binder

As Dan Kennedy says:  The number one thing successful companies do is that they implement their ideas! 

To implement means to put a decision, plan, strategy, etc. into effect.  That means there is action tied to a strategic purpose, and there is something done.  Not being done.  Done.  Not being put into effect.  Put into effect. 

There is a “willy-nilly” nature to most entrepreneurs’ activity precisely because steady-handed, methodical implementation of what works most reliably is boring, and putting evergreen systems into effect is difficult and tedious. 

Marketing is no different.  To be successful you need a system that helps you get things done consistently.  I recommend using a monthly promotional binder to help you stay on track. 

Every month you should have a meeting where you:

1. Review the results from last month’s promotion and advertising.
2. Plan the implementation of this month’s promotion and advertising.
3. Plan next month’s promotion and advertising. 

I still recommend using a three-ring binder for each month’s promotions.  Try these sections:

1. Promotion outline
2. 12-month promotion calendar
3. Brainstorming
4. Monthly budgeted sales goal for the promotion
5. Plan of action with each task scheduled and assigned to an employee
6. Employee training schedule
7. Promotion up-selling and cross-selling opportunities
8. Vendor support (any possibility of co-op marketing support)
9. Promotion results analysis
10. Ad layouts 

Finally, schedule a set time each month for the meeting and decide who will attend. Assign all of your action steps and make sure the deadlines are clear.  I use SmartSheet.com worksheets with Gantt charts to keep track of the work being done by my team.