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Monday Morning Motivators – November 27, 2006
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Espresso business tips are designed to "caffeinate" your mind while your java gets you going. Subscribing and Unsubscribing at www.mondaymorningmotivators.com
“The best predictor of future behavior is frequent past behavior.”
--Marcus Buckingham
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Table of Contents
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1. Stop Doing That! – Linda Fayerweather
2. Marketing Monstrosity #8 – Not Systematically Following Leads - Rebecca Booth
3. Be Visible - John Meyer
4. Fine Print
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1. Stop Doing That!
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As the holidays begin to roll over all of us, you may find you are leading a busy but undisciplined life. Creating a “Stop Doing That” list instead of a “To Do List” is one way to get a handle on your time. Start making a list of all the things you aren’t going to do now or in the future. Some things on your list will need someone to do the job while other activities may be able to be quietly released. Not sure what to add to the list? Look for activities that take time, don’t increase customer satisfaction and often answer the question “we’ve always done it this way”. Now, get out there and “stop doing that!”
Copyright 2006 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
www.ChangingLanes.biz
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2. Marketing Monstrosity #8 – Not Systematically Following Leads
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You already know that it takes 7-16 “impressions (or drips)” before someone will notice your business. But this doesn’t mean Thisthey’ll have the need to buy. If you look back into your historical archives, you should be able to see how long it takes for you to finalize a sale. (Cahners Publications, one of the nation’s largest publishers of trade magazines knows that 57% of their clients need a year or longer to reach a buying decision about advertising in one of their magazines.) Keeping leads alive need to involve more than an occasional sales letter or sales call. Did you know that 77% of all leads are close-able? Yet the majority of sales people will let them drop because of the lack activity/interest.
Avoid this marketing monstrosity by:
• Creating a systematic approach to lead follow up. Spice up your mailings with crazy and personal cards like a “It’s Eat What You Want Day! Bon Appetit” card versus the standard sales sheet regarding your latest product. Remember people buy from people they know and like. Get people to like you more by getting personal with your communication!
• Don’t become obsessed with generating more leads until you have exhausted the ones you already have.
Copyright 2006 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
www.marketingsolutioneers.com
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3. Be Visible
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If you want to build your business through referrals, join non-competing organizations. Make sure you diversify the types of organizations you belong to that best fit your needs. For an example, join a formal referral passing organization such as BNI, a woman's business group like WEN, and your local chamber. By diversifying your networks, you're maximizing your opportunities.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Monday, November 13, 2006
Customers - Generic Leads - Being Generous
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Monday Morning Motivators – November 13, 2006
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Espresso business tips are designed to "caffeinate" your mind
while your java gets you going. Subscribing and Unsubscribing at www.mondaymorningmotivators.com
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Table of Contents
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1. Customer Service and Holidays – Linda Fayerweather
2. Marketing Monstrosity #6 – Generic Networking - Rebecca Booth
3. Be Generous - John Meyer
4. Fine Print
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1. Customer Service and Holidays
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With Halloween behind us and the holiday season official looming ahead, we all know that customer service will make or break a business. Do an inventory now before the big rush. Get out your stop watch and help your staff have fun and find bottlenecks and speed bumps. Here are some areas to check and refine:
1. How quickly are phones answered, calls returned, and customers greeted? What is your stated standard? What is the customer’s expectation?
2. What specials are you going to have? Does everyone know about them?
3. How quickly are orders fulfilled or service provided? Is that what customers anticipate?
4. How many customers do you expect? Can you service them?
Do you see the theme? Before the holiday rush, make sure you know what to expect and how to fulfill your promise. Planning is always more fun than correcting!
Copyright 2006 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
www.ChangingLanes.biz
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2. Marketing Monstrosity #6 – Generic Networking ? Specific Sales Leads
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Don’t get us wrong, networking is a terrific tool for everybody’s business, but it rarely generates a substantial amount of sales leads. Instead of going to functions where people “meet and greet”, think about creating relationships with others who sell to the same pool of clients as you do. Create long-lasting relationships with these people and focus on helping each other’s business by becoming referral partners. By actively meeting and discussing what types of business you want and what you’re looking for, as well as listening to your referral partner’s needs and wants, you’ll be better able to cut down on some of your networking activities.
Avoid this marketing monstrosity by:
• Co-marketing with a referral partner
• Cultivating relationships with referral partners
• Setting goals at all networking events you attend so you will meet that one person who swims in the same pond as you do.
Copyright 2006 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
www.marketingsolutioneers.com
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3. Be Generous
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Be generous to those who are unable to attain what they cannot attain without the assistance of others. Go out of your way to help people who are unable to reach their goals without the help of others. There is power in numbers and with the help of others we can all reach new heights and accomplish together what could never be achieved alone and remember we all started small and scared.
Copyright 2006 John R. Meyer
District Director, BNI Ohio
http://www.bni-ohio.com
Monday Morning Motivators – November 13, 2006
============================================================
Espresso business tips are designed to "caffeinate" your mind
while your java gets you going. Subscribing and Unsubscribing at www.mondaymorningmotivators.com
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
============================================================
Table of Contents
============================================================
1. Customer Service and Holidays – Linda Fayerweather
2. Marketing Monstrosity #6 – Generic Networking - Rebecca Booth
3. Be Generous - John Meyer
4. Fine Print
============================================================
1. Customer Service and Holidays
============================================================
With Halloween behind us and the holiday season official looming ahead, we all know that customer service will make or break a business. Do an inventory now before the big rush. Get out your stop watch and help your staff have fun and find bottlenecks and speed bumps. Here are some areas to check and refine:
1. How quickly are phones answered, calls returned, and customers greeted? What is your stated standard? What is the customer’s expectation?
2. What specials are you going to have? Does everyone know about them?
3. How quickly are orders fulfilled or service provided? Is that what customers anticipate?
4. How many customers do you expect? Can you service them?
Do you see the theme? Before the holiday rush, make sure you know what to expect and how to fulfill your promise. Planning is always more fun than correcting!
Copyright 2006 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
www.ChangingLanes.biz
============================================================
2. Marketing Monstrosity #6 – Generic Networking ? Specific Sales Leads
============================================================
Don’t get us wrong, networking is a terrific tool for everybody’s business, but it rarely generates a substantial amount of sales leads. Instead of going to functions where people “meet and greet”, think about creating relationships with others who sell to the same pool of clients as you do. Create long-lasting relationships with these people and focus on helping each other’s business by becoming referral partners. By actively meeting and discussing what types of business you want and what you’re looking for, as well as listening to your referral partner’s needs and wants, you’ll be better able to cut down on some of your networking activities.
Avoid this marketing monstrosity by:
• Co-marketing with a referral partner
• Cultivating relationships with referral partners
• Setting goals at all networking events you attend so you will meet that one person who swims in the same pond as you do.
Copyright 2006 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
www.marketingsolutioneers.com
===========================================================
3. Be Generous
===========================================================
Be generous to those who are unable to attain what they cannot attain without the assistance of others. Go out of your way to help people who are unable to reach their goals without the help of others. There is power in numbers and with the help of others we can all reach new heights and accomplish together what could never be achieved alone and remember we all started small and scared.
Copyright 2006 John R. Meyer
District Director, BNI Ohio
http://www.bni-ohio.com
Monday, November 06, 2006
Lean Business Math
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Monday Morning Motivators – November 6, 2006
============================================================
Espresso business tips are designed to "caffeinate" your mind
while your java gets you going. Subscribing and Unsubscribing at www.mondaymorningmotivators.com
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
--Theodore Roosevelt
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Table of Contents
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1. Lean Business Math – Linda Fayerweather
2. Marketing Monstrosity #5 – Can the Target Afford You? - Rebecca Booth
3. Remember: P + C + E + R = Business Growth - John Meyer
4. Fine Print
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1. Lean Business Math
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Big Businesses know their numbers. These numbers are benchmarks or metrics and they are tracked to illuminate the path to business objectives. To start your own business math, get your business objections or goals in front of you (maybe 2007 needs a plan, too). Once you have your time sensitive goals, you will want to decide what to track. Most businesses track and compare their goals to Sales and Gross Profit as starters. Now, think about other things that impact your business. Here are my favorites from the “lean” world:
• Costumers time in a waiting queue,
• Time customers spend from first contact to sale completion, and
• Your waiting for supplies or internal work.
Time is the only resource we can never make and waiting is waste! Spotlighting wasted time is a first step in Lean Business Math.
Copyright 2006 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
www.ChangingLanes.biz
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2. Marketing Monstrosity #5 – Can the Target Afford You?
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What’s worse than not having a target market or having a target market that’s too narrow? Why having a target market of those who can’t afford you! When was the last time you assessed affordability when it comes to marketing your business? Go back into your historical archives. Look at who’s hiring you. Look at how big that company is, as well as what their revenues and employee ratios are. Do you see a commonality between customers? Can you lump them into A, B and C groups needing different things but having some similarities? Look at the types of projects you want to sell. Who’s buying those? The worst client you could have is that guy who’s “giving their business one last shot by hiring you.”
Make sure you avoid this marketing monstrosity by:
• Knowing what types of businesses can afford you
• Identifying those businesses which have long-term potential for new and repeat sales.
Copyright 2006 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
www.marketingsolutioneers.com
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3. Remember: P + C + E + R = Business Growth
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The four essentials to being a successful networker are participation, communication, education, and reciprocating. You need to put into action all four of these areas to get a full return on your investment in a networking organization. By participating, communicating, educating and reciprocating you will be remembered and that is the key!
Copyright 2006 John R. Meyer
District Director, BNI Ohio
http://www.bni-ohio.com
Monday Morning Motivators – November 6, 2006
============================================================
Espresso business tips are designed to "caffeinate" your mind
while your java gets you going. Subscribing and Unsubscribing at www.mondaymorningmotivators.com
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
--Theodore Roosevelt
============================================================
Table of Contents
============================================================
1. Lean Business Math – Linda Fayerweather
2. Marketing Monstrosity #5 – Can the Target Afford You? - Rebecca Booth
3. Remember: P + C + E + R = Business Growth - John Meyer
4. Fine Print
============================================================
1. Lean Business Math
============================================================
Big Businesses know their numbers. These numbers are benchmarks or metrics and they are tracked to illuminate the path to business objectives. To start your own business math, get your business objections or goals in front of you (maybe 2007 needs a plan, too). Once you have your time sensitive goals, you will want to decide what to track. Most businesses track and compare their goals to Sales and Gross Profit as starters. Now, think about other things that impact your business. Here are my favorites from the “lean” world:
• Costumers time in a waiting queue,
• Time customers spend from first contact to sale completion, and
• Your waiting for supplies or internal work.
Time is the only resource we can never make and waiting is waste! Spotlighting wasted time is a first step in Lean Business Math.
Copyright 2006 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
www.ChangingLanes.biz
============================================================
2. Marketing Monstrosity #5 – Can the Target Afford You?
============================================================
What’s worse than not having a target market or having a target market that’s too narrow? Why having a target market of those who can’t afford you! When was the last time you assessed affordability when it comes to marketing your business? Go back into your historical archives. Look at who’s hiring you. Look at how big that company is, as well as what their revenues and employee ratios are. Do you see a commonality between customers? Can you lump them into A, B and C groups needing different things but having some similarities? Look at the types of projects you want to sell. Who’s buying those? The worst client you could have is that guy who’s “giving their business one last shot by hiring you.”
Make sure you avoid this marketing monstrosity by:
• Knowing what types of businesses can afford you
• Identifying those businesses which have long-term potential for new and repeat sales.
Copyright 2006 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
www.marketingsolutioneers.com
===========================================================
3. Remember: P + C + E + R = Business Growth
===========================================================
The four essentials to being a successful networker are participation, communication, education, and reciprocating. You need to put into action all four of these areas to get a full return on your investment in a networking organization. By participating, communicating, educating and reciprocating you will be remembered and that is the key!
Copyright 2006 John R. Meyer
District Director, BNI Ohio
http://www.bni-ohio.com
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