Well now that I shared the dark side of the coin, it’s time to shed some light on the bright side.
In the midst of the disaster that was the sales relationship in Part 1. I was also searching for a professional video guy that I could add to my contractor team. I was starting to get into a lot of internet video for local companies and for the SEO strength. I have a closet love for all things video and video production but I did not quite have the skills to take the projects to that next level that I desired.
I happened to find a guy and made a meeting that has changed my life completely and has also created a lifelong friendship that will go well beyond just business.
When we met we had one of those meeting of the minds that seems to freeze time and before you know it hours have passed. Sheldon had just launched Calgary Wedding Television and after answering some very specific and strategic questions properly (thankfully I did) he let me in on his plans and his business bag of tricks.
Since then I have been involved in the launch of Calgary Homes Television, traveled to Germany to evaluate another business opportunity and am overjoyed to be able to give so much of my time to the project even though we have yet to be financed the day to day thrill makes it all worth while.
So I guess my lesson for this post is almost opposite from the one in part 1. For this one I will say if it feels right then you sometimes just need to take the plunge. I have not always had the best successes with the start-ups that I have been a part of but everything about this one feels right both logically from a business model perspective as well as a team perspective.
In Part 3 I will talk about how time can change everything….
I have been a stranger to my blog for the better part of a year now and to the people who continue to stop by and check in on things I both thank you and apologize.
I have made a commitment to finish the year strong and tell you a bit about the journey I and my business has been on over the last year. This could almost be seen as a bit of a state of the union address filled with a few lessons and some great stories.
So for Part 1, Lets start with a lesson: If something feels wrong and dirty then it most likely is! Towards the end of last year I started to look for a sales person to start to help me take my business to the next level and take some of the day to day pressure off myself. I ended up meeting with a guy that contacted me out of the blue so I figured I would give the meeting a shot. After the first meeting it never did feel quite right but I choose to ignore the signs and continued on against my better judgement. BAD DECISION!!
One of the things that you don’t always think about when you get into these arrangements is what it could do to your personal and business reputation. I was smart when it came to protecting and keep my current clients at arms length from the sales guy. A decision that I thank my lucky stars for every day. If I hadn’t I think I could have lost my entire business in the matter of a couple months.
In the end I lost piles of my personal time, resources of my team, and revenue that I would have been able to have made if I had just been doing it on my own. I still have projects that are left unfinished that I feel I have a moral obligation to do the work even though I am going to continue to take a loss. It is really the only way I can begin to possibly keep a relationship with these clients and attempt to repair the reputation loss that my company may have faced.
So take the time to really research and interview before you get into these types of arrangements and don’t go all in right from the start. Their are a lot of Snake Oil Salesmen out there and if you feel the least bit funny about the person just do a small test project to make sure. You should be able to get an indication to see where the “all talk” ends and the work begins.
So that was Part 1 of my year in review. In Part 2 I will share the flip side of the coin with you and talk about the Calgary Homes and the Calgary Weddings project and what happens when it all comes together.
You could have the most unique, highest quality product or service in the world and you’d still be broke if you don’t market it every single day! Websites are not magic wands and your place of business isn’t a magnet. You must have marketing pieces that are perpetually in play, attracting new prospects and new clients, creating a steady stream of revenue.
It is your marketing, not your product or service, that is the lifeblood of your business. Marketing is what gets your offer out in front of the public, persuades people to buy, educates prospects about your business, builds your brand, outrageously increases sales…well, short of babysitting your kids for you, there are few things marketing can’t do…actually, you could create a marketing campaign for the best babysitters in your local area, so there’s actually nothing that marketing can’t do.
Market your business every single day and you are guaranteed to achieve financial freedom.
Give People Everything They Want and You’ll Get Everything You Need
Countless companies fail because they maintain an egocentric perspective in the way they conduct their business. If you continue to execute your marketing and customer relations in a manner that fails to truly perceive the needs of your clients and prospects then you will fail to connect with them.
Before you begin any marketing campaign or project you must get in the mindset of your prospective clients, focusing in on their hot buttons. Zero in on your target audience’s most frequent problems, worries, fears, aspirations and dreams and you’ll break all of your previous sales records.
Incorporate a completely genuine desire to help others within your marketing and it will generate a natural energy that will pull people in for life.
Article Marketing for Permanent Presence
Since consistent, frequent marketing is key to the success of your business, you need to consider the relationship of how much you get in return for your efforts—this is especially true for those of you working with bootstrapped budgets. Ideally, you want to be able to put one unit of effort in and get several units of success in return. Those of you doing your marketing on a one-for-one basis are sure to be going bald from pulling your hair out in anxiety. Successful businesses are those that incorporate leverage in their marketing.
Article marketing provides one of the best ways to market your business every day without actually having to do something every day. That’s because once you publish an article online, it’s there to stay, creating a permanent presence online. Articles pull people in from the search engines through your keywords, provide value through useful information, and drive Web traffic back your site through backlinks that you plant in the article.
This permanence also makes article marketing one of the most cost effective means of marketing. One price, one unit of energy, infinite potential.
Plus, you can print your online articles and send them out in direct response mailers to your leads. (Always think of how you can get the most use out of a single piece for the best use of your budget.) Providing helpful information in your mailers adds a great deal of value and helps establish why your business is the clear choice. Plus, adding an information-based piece in any marketing you do helps soften your sales approach, making it much more attractive than a standalone promotion. Due to a daily bombardment of advertising, people are naturally skeptical about these standalone promotions. When you provide something for free that people can use to make their lives better they’re much likelier to let their guard down and actively consider your offer.
Articles on Legal Steroids
Add video to your articles and you’ll instantly multiply your sales potential. For example, YouTube is now considered the second largest search engine on the Internet; behind Google but ahead of Yahoo and Bing. Is your business missing out on all those potential customers?
In addition, we are naturally sensory driven, so the more senses you engage in your marketing the better your chances of success. Pair your copywriting efforts with video and you give your audience yet another reason to stay tuned and focus on your offer.
Adding videos to your articles also adds potency to your efforts because it allows you to position yourself as an expert. Why do expert opinions and celebrity endorsements still prevail as top marketing methods over all these years? People are more confident buying from an authority.
This opportunity is available to every type of business owner, but massage therapists, salon owners, and yoga teachers have an especially ideal opportunity to create informational videos for their clients and prospects. Create a series of instructive videos, get people interested, show people you truly want to help, and you will motivate them to buy from you.
Money Making Mindset
Above all, it is vital to your success that you remind yourself to have fun during your marketing. Approach your marketing like a drone, drudgingly shuffling through it because you’re viewing it as a mandatory duty, and your marketing message is sure to suffer. Enthusiasm is contagious and can be transferred to others to incite sales. But a complete lack of enthusiasm will leach much of your marketing’s potential as your audience will most certainly pick up on it. Instead, look at it as a fun adventure that promises infinite potential and you will surely unlock the power of attraction, sharing your confidence and enthusiasm with others, and converting record-breaking prospects to loyal customers.
The amount of literature on how to be a good salesperson is so voluminous you might think that it’s nearly impossible to compete with other salespeople who have read all the books and listened to all the tapes. However, being a good salesperson comes down to being an approachable person who knows their product. Here are five stellar sales tips to get you started on being such a successful salesperson.
1. Speak with Confidence: Starting right now, eliminate every wishy-washy word from your vocabulary. No more saying ‘might,’ ‘probably,’ ‘maybe,’ ‘seems,’ or any other word that sounds like you don’t know. If you don’t know, then say so. These words also soften the strength of your pitch without adding anything. Eliminate them immediately and you’ll see the difference.
2. Use the Customer’s Words: When you sit down with customers, they’re going to tell you what they want and what they are looking for. Instead of giving them your usual pitch, use their words within your pitch. This means listen to the terms they use and repeat them. You’ll be answering their needs specifically and it shows you’re attentive as well. Plus, you’ll be meeting customers on their terms, not yours, which makes them feel better about the sale.
3. Diversify Your Communications Portfolio: Most salespeople grew up making phone calls and doing in-person contacts. In this day, people use all sorts of different media platforms on the Web and through other means to reach and maintain contact with customers. Learn to use these low-cost tools as one of many ways to reach new customers and maintain contact with old ones.
4. Set Yourself Up as an Authority: You may already be working hard as a salesperson, but part of doing your job is positioning yourself to be a trustworthy resource for customers to come to. Write articles for websites and other sources to demonstrate your knowledge of business and to give to customers as an example of your acumen.
5. Stay Current: Of course, be aware of the changes in your business, but also stay conscious of the changes in your customers’ business as well. Remember to also keep up on the personal lives of your customers, sending them well wishes throughout the year and whenever they see big successes as well. It’ll show you’re not just about sales, but an interested person as well, who is well worth keeping in contact with.
Any questions of if you would like to chat contact me through Scapes at http://www.scapes.ca
When we start off in business, we often do so because we have a great strength. Whether, you’re a terrific salesperson or an intrepid designer, your strength is the vehicle to make you money. Unfortunately, it only takes about a week into your business when you realize what you do poorly. This can be customer relations, accounting, or…well, practically anything and everything that can go wrong when it comes to running a bootstrapped business. So what do you do? You only have so much time and effort, so do you build on strengths or fix weaknesses?
A little perspective: Almost everybody will always focus on their weaknesses instead of their strengths. This is true on a large scale too. There are 40,000 clinical studies on depression, but less than 400 on joy. Think back to being a kid—did your parents give you as much praise for your A+ in school as they did scolding for your C-? Probably not. Overall, weaknesses are seen not as areas we are lacking, but as Achilles Heels that are bound to destroy us and our business in the future.
But this isn’t the case. In fact, our weaknesses are areas where we need to work with over time. Just because we don’t do something well at this very moment, doesn’t mean we can’t become very skilled at it in the future. Instead of looking at these spots as weaknesses, plan for more time or do a little more reading in these areas, but most importantly accept that you are going to need do some extra work as a matter of course. Many weak areas can also be aided by special learning software and assistance from others in order to bolster your business until you can get up to the appropriate standards. But remember—a weakness worked at doesn’t become a strength.
Moreover, your weaknesses don’t generate income, your strengths do. So accept your weaknesses—outsource the work, find tools to help you, or spend a little more time on these areas—but build on your strengths because they are what will make or break your business in the long run. As your business becomes more successful because of these strengths, you’ll be able to hand off more of your weaknesses to other people. Thus, the damages your weaknesses do may only be short term, but the benefits of your strengths will define your future success.