Resources – Page 2 – Pauline Bright Business Coach

7 Client-getting strategies even if you think you’re no good at marketing

Let’s get rid of the head –trash first. Marketing is not difficult. Stop thinking of it as “Marketing”, start thinking “Getting to know the people you’d like as customers”.

Here are just 7 ideas – there are a million more, I’m sure.

The trick is to IMPLEMENT a strategy or two, don’t just passively read this then let yourself off the hook. Marketing only works if you work it.

1. Collaborate

Gone are the days of thinking you have to do everything yourself. There are plenty of ways to collaborate with friends and colleagues in business.

Organise a brainstorming session to work out what you could offer each other’s customers. Share your databases ethically – no spamming. How about putting together an irresistible offer as a package of products or services.

2. Work your network

Join a Meetup group, a business networking group or your local Chamber of Commerce. Immerse yourself in a group of proactive business owners to swap stories, strategies and ideas and give each other encouragement.

Get to know your peers and GIVE referrals before you expect them back.

3. Offer a freebie

You have information or product and services that other people want, otherwise you wouldn’t be in business. While you’re out networking and brainstorming come up with ideas for “freebies” you could give to potential customers.

Can you give the equivalent of samples, taste tests, try-before-you-buy offers? Can you give simple yet desirable information in the form of checklists, guides, reports, whitepapers, PDF downloads, videos. The list is endless and it won’t cost you a fortune.

It could be a 1 page document printed from your office printer and posted or emailed out. Develop a library of useful freebies and every time you’re talking to someone listen carefully and offer to send them something irresistibly good that will help them solve a problem.

4. Co work

If you work in a home office on your own, find out what co-working spaces are available in your local area. Hire some desk space for a day or two a week and get to know the other business owners. You’ll soon build up your network of friends and colleagues.

Apply the Collaboration strategy with your new network.

5. Get your work out there

If you never had a stand at an expo, now is the time to give it a go.

Google what’s coming up, there are often national, international and local expos you can participate in. The big expos can cost several thousand dollars to participate but if you sell a high end product it can be very lucrative.

If at the lower end, often business networking groups and chambers of commerce will run business expos .

The secret with expos is not to stay behind a barrier in your stand. Go out and meet people, have a chat. If you’re on the shy side, get a friend to help you, someone who loves talking to people.

It’s also a great way to do a survey. Make sure you have a way to capture prospective customer’s details – make an offer and put them in a draw for a prize or two.

6. Get some publicity

Make your business newsworthy. Find a way to link your products or services to something topical and send a press release to your local journalists in the press, radio and TV.

The media are always hungry for stories. Get to know journalists who are looking for stories like yours and consistently send them good newsworthy material. Always be ready to comment on an issue to be seen as an expert in that area.

7. Speak wherever you can

One of the best ways to get noticed and therefore get customers is to develop your speaking skills.

When you join a networking group you will be expected to speak at every meeting to introduce yourself and your business. You’ll get better with practice.

If you know how to do something others don’t then offer to teach them – preferably in a group setting. Use your networks, co-working space, chambers of commerce, meetup groups – anywhere you can think of to get more experience.

If you’re already an experienced speaker, try getting a little publicity and connect with people who need speakers. If you think about the thousands of conferences, industry expos, networking events and boardroom “lunch and learn” meetings you’re sure to find something that fits well with you.

Good luck, let us know how you go and feel free to share your own ideas on ways to get customers.

What you should be doing everyday to manage your social media channels

Managing social media channels for your business can be very time consuming. By getting organized at the start of the month, you will save yourself a lot of time throughout it! Each month you should take some time to plan out your social media schedule. We recommend you do this 2 – 4 week in advance to ensure that you’re organised. Stay on track with your posting schedule and deliver engaging content to your followers.

Here is a list of daily social media must do’s

Check your notifications in the morning and randomly throughout the day. Turning on your notifications makes this process easier as you can monitor if any comments or reviews are made to your page while your not actively on social media and respond in a timely matter or re-tweet anything that is relevant. Monitoring and management of your pages are very important when working to maintain credibility online.
Post everyday! This of course depends on what social media channel you’re on BUT at a minimum most require daily posting. As an example, we recommend posting to Facebook once per day and Instagram 2-3 times per day.
Follow the posts and comments within the groups you’re a member of. It is important to be an active group member so other members get to know who you are and you can do this by posting within the group or commenting on any posts that have been made since you last visited.
To grow your network and increase brand awareness it is important to follow, engage and share from other pages/accounts you’re following. Go through and like, comment or share interesting posts you read that may be of benefit to your own network.
Review & Report. You should be checking each day how well your channels are performing. This will ensure you keep on track to achieving set KPI’s and give you time to tweak future posts. In effect, making sure your getting the most out of your efforts.

So how long should this all take each day – that’s hard to answer as it really will come down to how active you want to be and how quickly you want to grow your brand and awareness. If you stick to the daily tips listed above and plan your calendar in advance, then aim for 30 minutes to one hour (broken up if needed) each day.

Katrina Giura – Gloss Marketing Communications

5 ways to get more business before you go on holidays!

If I had a dollar for everyone who tells me “My business is quiet at this time of the year”… “You can’t get customers at this time of year”… “My industry is different”…

Well, that would be a LOT of dollars – but that wouldn’t help IF I BELIEVED THEM!

I KNOW you can get customers at this time of the year – some of our best clients have come just before Christmas and other holidays. Here’s why and here’s what you can apply to your business.

1. Get the Jump – Pre-sell before the holidays

Holidays are the perfect time for relaxing and thinking about life. Your customers will be mentally planning (even if they don’t realise they’re doing it) – imagining how they want things to be this time next year – the holidays they’ll take, special projects they plan to do next year, things with the kids, things without the kids.

Think about your customers, what do you think they want right now – or early next year? What is the real benefit to a customer buying now rather than after the holidays? Find a way to help them buy it almost before they’ll need it and give them back their peace of mind for the holidays – you will have taken care of it for them.

What could you do? What have you got that you can pre-sell? You don’t have to deliver now, as long as the customer is happy that it’s a weight off their mind.

2. Position your product as the ideal gift to themselves

Help them indulge themselves.We’ve had clients buy our coaching services as a birthday or Christmas gift to themselves. It’s a little – or BIG – indulgence they may not normally allow themselves at any other time.

And don’t be worried about the dollars – your perception of what they will pay is entirely your own mental bias; people will buy what they want, when they want it and pay the price if it is something they’ve already mentally said “yes” to.

3. Get them started early – what is the benefit to THEM for buying this now?

Our clients pre-pay for their program then do a little “homework” in the interim, before we officially start – not that boring repetitive stuff you did at school but creative, fun, imaginative play; thinking and talking about “What if… we could have this, or make this happen? How would things be different if we…” We have a template for it, just some gentle prompts that are not too taxing but they get to the heart of the matter. Questions you probably wouldn’t ask yourself or each other if you were left to your own devices. Great conversation starters as you relax with a drink.

Give them a “starter” – a session, product or service. Let them get some real benefit and see the value of not waiting until after the holidays.

You’ll need to do some thinking about what you could offer and why the best time for them to get started is NOW!

4. Do special deals – ONLY available between now and Christmas or New Year

Make sweet deals; ones you can be proud of, ones you and your customers will be happy with, but watch your profit margins – don’t go giving away the farm!

Try these – alone or in any combination.

Bundles – what have you got that you could bundle up to add extra value? Have a bundle price that is better than the items/services etc. bought separately.
Freebies – every business has the ability to give away freebies – think “information”. What do you know that others would pay to know? Write it down, put it on a video, make an eBook, make a little online eCourse – give it away for free as a bonus with purchase. You have way more riches in your business than you know!
High value extras that don’t cost you too much – Think about things you could produce or get from suppliers that cost very little but have high value to the customer. What could you buy in bulk and repackage? What could you repurpose, reposition or reinvent – especially if you’re in the information business.
Baker’s dozen – if there is great value in keeping a customer for longer (and there always is) can you offer a Baker’s Dozen: 13 of something for the price of 12 – or any combination of this.
Free or nearly free membership – e.g. $1 deal for first month. If you have a paid membership program, a VIP club or any loyalty program or long term product or service give them tangible benefits to try before they buy.Whatever you do – don’t follow the crowd. Make your offer so unique that no-one else can copy it – be quirky, funny, outrageous – anything that makes you stand out in a crowd. You are not for everyone. Attract only your ideal customers who love what you do.

5. Team up with others – help them get more business too.

Business is not a solo game. Who else in your business community could you team up with to help them get more business? As the saying goes, “Help other’s get what they want and you’ll get what you want”.

Think creatively here – don’t just look at your first circle of affiliated businesses. It’s not just accountants teaming up with bookkeepers. Cast the net a little wider and think about your customers; what else could they be buying at this time of year? Accountants could team up with marketers or IT specialists or systems gurus to help their business clients fill in the gaps. Get the idea? Who would you like to start an affiliate business relationship with?

Unless you’re in an industry that forbids you to sell before Christmas or any other holiday, you really have no excuse. Get to it!

Want my pre-Christmas Special Gift?

Book a 15 min phone appointment HERE. Tell me what’s going on in your business and I’ll find something to help.

I love variety so EVERY gift is different and tailored to suit your business.

Keeping score. What are KPIs and Why you need them.

It’s very hard to tell if something is working or not if you don’t pay attention to it.

Why do games have winners and losers; gold, silver and bronze medals; coloured belts, trophies, handicaps?

Why do people keep score on the golf course, in computer games, at little athletics?

There’s a certain thrill in knowing how we are performing – comparing ourselves to others or reaching our personal best; are we getting better, levelling out or dropping the ball?

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a metric you have set up to measure the performance of your business against your business objective. Some businesses use net profit as a KPI, some measure customer retention; some use every step in their marketing system to measure performance: cost of acquiring customers, average spend per customer, conversion rates from lead to sale.

There are literally dozens of metrics you could measure in any business, but the secret to simplicity is to find the ones that matter most, and keep your eye on those.

Think of KPI’s for your business like a scorecard. It is a collection of KPIs that let you know how the business is going.

Keep your KPIs as simple as they need to be to measure the most critical drivers of your business – the things that need to happen to reach a business objective. E.g. are you hitting your financial targets, are you collecting your debts within a specified period, is your marketing bringing you the number of ideal prospective customers you want with a predictable conversion rate to sales?

False metrics

And just like in sport it is possible to cheat your own system – although I don’t know why you would.

You can falsify KPIs with all sorts of strategies to make the numbers look better than they are. A bit of creative bookkeeping, some juggling of numbers on your phone calls log, customer service ratings – many, many ways.

Sometimes business owners don’t even know they are doing it – paying themselves a set salary each month, kidding themselves the business is doing well when they are really living on a burgeoning overdraft, because they are not paying attention to the financial KPIs.

The trick with KPIs is to find the ones that really matter, and it might only be a few, but when you diligently keep score each day, week or month you will see patterns emerge that will give you an accurate picture of what’s really happening in your business. What’s working, what’s not.

From reading your KPIs regularly you’ll be able to make well informed wise business decisions – your business will be flexible, agile, able to move with the times and you’ll be a much better business person for it.

Want to know how to set up your business KPI scorecard? Book a 15 minute phone call with Pauline Bright here

#keyperformanceindicators

Why a coach’s perspective is so important when you want to expand your business

“You know what you should do?”

…and so it starts again… the well-meaning but often unsought advice from someone who really doesn’t have a clue about your business.

“Here’s what I’d do if I were you…”, but they’re not you are they?

Everyone’s got an opinion – even people you’ve just met – and they’re more than happy to share it. But who do you listen to and trust enough to give you the right advice?

Unfortunately a lot of well-meaning advice gets tainted with emotion; friends and family want to see you do well, but they worry that you are overworking and not looking after yourself. They want to keep you safe.

They want you to be successful but maybe not too successful in case they lose you! You might get big and rich and famous and leave them behind!

Unless you’re getting business help and advice from a respected successful impartial friend or family member (which is amazingly brilliant and rare – lucky you!) then you’ll need to filter out the noise and concentrate on what YOU want.

So, why would you listen to a coach – aren’t they just another voice in the noise?

Well, the role of your coach is NOT to give you advice.

A really good coach is impartial, has no emotional stake in the business and will listen, guide and reflect back to you everything you need to get ahead. You already have most of the answers – you just don’t know that you do until your coach asks some key questions and keeps digging to get to the heart of things.

A good coach will educate you so that you can make informed decisions – but they won’t make the decisions for you.

If your coach has also walked a mile in your shoes before you, in their own business and life experience, then they may act as a mentor to show you what worked or didn’t work for them, but they won’t do it for you.

A good coach will see you as you are in the moment, without any of the life baggage you may be carrying around, and will be able to tap into your vision for the future, often stretching you way beyond what you thought you were capable of.

As Les Brown says “You have Greatness in you!” Why would you settle for mediocrity?

A good coach doesn’t take any BS – no excuses, no counselling, no jumping the fence to have a pity party with you. Sure, we’re tough but we’re compassionate, we can have a laugh, and we SEE you – I mean really SEE you – the best version of yourself.

We don’t dawdle; we like plenty of movement and momentum – as they say in kindy “You can have fun, but you’ve gotta get it done”.

A really good business coach is well versed in business – not just finance or sales or marketing or systems or HR – but ALL of the aspects of business and how it all fits and glides together.

It’s very likely there are some holes in your business – maybe you’re aware of them, maybe you don’t know what you don’t know.

Shall we go digging together to see what you don’t see right now?

CLICK HERE – a 15 min phone call may change your life!

Evolutionary Business Design

Category: Resources