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Tips and Tricks for Small Business Success
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Archive for the ‘Getting business to come to you’

How Many Referrals Do You Receive?

August 17, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing, Networking

The creative professional should be able to get 80% or more of his new business from referrals, follow-ups, or add-on business from existing clients.

Once you reach this goal, you have a self-sustaining business, which is the goal of all people who start a business.  All of your efforts, whether networking, promotions, advertising, or other efforts, should be focused toward ultimately attaining the goal of becoming self-sustaining.

According to a recent survey, many businesses relied heavily on word-of-mouth referrals from business associates in purchasing business services. 

  • 44% chose a lawyer by word of mouth. 
  • 45% chose an accountant by word of mouth. 
  • 45% chose an advertising agency by word of mouth. 
  • 42% chose a business consultant by word of mouth. 
  • 42% a marketing firm

So how do you develop referrals?  Find out tomorrow.

 Have a profitable day!

Emergency Strategy For Getting Business Fast!

August 14, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing, Networking

If you need business fast, try this approach:

Identify people in a position to know who needs what you offer.  Make face-to-face contact with these people for the purpose of gathering information about who is buying what you’re selling.  Ask permission to use the name of the person you talk with.  Then make contact with the companies or people you learn about.

For example, in my business of website design and repair, I talk to business coaches because they know people who need new websites or update their existing website to reach their goals.  I would find out from the city or chamber of commerce who is obtaining a new business licence.  A new business may be more in need of a website then one who has been around for a while.  I can also contact bankers to see who is getting a new business loan.  Almost any sales man who contacts businesses could be a good source of leads.  And the list goes on and on!

When you contact any of your “sources” as above, and they become good sources of contacts and referrals, these are your strategic alliances!

Where Can I Find A Good Mentor Or Strategic Alliance?

August 13, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing, Networking

You might be surprised — they may be right under your nose!  I bet there are several people you already know that you have overlooked who would make excellent sources of help!  Or maybe you are just too shy or timid to ask them.

Think about:

  • Who have you done a good job for at some time?
  • Who has given you encouragement in your business?
  • Who have you helped through a tough time?
  • Who helped you through a tough time?
  • Whom do you know that has done what you want to do?

Look at these as a short list of people to look for:

  • Previous employers
  • co-workers
  • relatives
  • distant relatives
  • friends
  • friends of the family
  • teachers
  • ministers
  • neighbors

This is only a very short list of people who are possible mentors and strategic alliances.

If you are timid about approaching them, remember that most people are flattered and even honored to be helpful to others as long as you are courteous and respectful of their time and talents.

If you are asking for something that would take a lot of effort or you are asking for advice from those who provide that advice or service as part of their business, you should offer to pay them or at least offer to take them to lunch.

Remember, too, that when you get advice or help from others, act on it.  If you get a referral, call that referral immediately — or if you were told to contact them at a certain time, do so then.  Then follow up with the person that provided the help and let them know what happened with the referral.

A good mentor will not want to be a mentor very long if you never follow his or her advice!

Now make today profitable!

Finding Mentors and Strategic Alliances

August 12, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing, Networking

Networking is not just a great way to get new business, it also is a great way to meet people who can help you get business and to grow your business with their expertise and support.  I believe that the more support and assistance you have, the better.

A mentor is a trusted counselor or influential supporter who takes a personal interest in your success.  One great source of mentors is SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives).  SCORE is free and you can have one-on-one counseling for your business and build a long term mentor.  I like to think of SCORE as a board of directors for a small business that cannot afford one.  I know small businesses who have several counselors, each with his or her own expertise.  One might be a marketing professional, one an accountant, one a retired banker, and so on.  When you need advise and help with marketing, you call on your marketing professional.  SCORE is a great resource that you never have to pay for.  And you never have to worry about confidentiality because to be a SCORE counselor, you have to sign a contract with the SBA. 

You can contact me if you would like to find a SCORE office near you.

A strategic alliance is someone who is in a position to open the door to resources and contacts.

In my web design business, I found it very difficult to find those business owners that currently needed my services.  So I have created several strategic alliances with other professionals who already either have a large clientele of business owners or contact business owners on a regular basis.  When they come across someone who needs a website either built or fixed, the refer them to me.  They give me their contact information so I can follow up on them.

Running a small business on your own can be daunting and difficult.  A mentor or a strategic alliance can ease your way through the tough, competitive times.  Mentors and strategic alliances opens doors for you to knowledge, skills , referrals and contacts you might otherwise need years to access.

How can you develop these resources for yourself?  We will discuss that tomorrow.

So today, go out and create a profitable day!

Overcoming Six Major Excuses for not Networking

August 11, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing, Networking

Even though most successful home-based businesses are built on word-of-mouth marketing, I have found that networking is usually overlooked and sometimes even avoided.  Too often a home-based business will try to compete with larger competition on their level with advertising and direct mail.  Unfortunately, many home-based businesses find that normal advertising techniques do not result in immediate business and require a lot of money, which most small businesses do not have.  Not only that, but a prospective customer has a hard time knowing how such a business could serve them better than all the competition that is also advertising.  And without knowing a prospective customer and his or her needs, you do not know how you can best serve them until you talk with them to find out what unmet needs they may have. (for a discussion of how to remedy that problem, read my other blog on websites and how they can help)

That is where networking comes in.  Networking gives you the opportunity to find out what they need and show how you can serve them better.  In the process, the prospective customer will also have a chance to find out what they like about you, and most people want to do business with someone they know and like — particularly when they need a service.

So why is there such a resistance to networking since it is such a useful marketing tool?   According to the “Almanac of American People”, going to a party with strangers is the most frequently mentioned source of anxiety in social situations.  Could that be the reason many small business owners avoid it?

Here are six common excuses I hear for not using networking and a new way to look at them.

  1. I don’t have enough time to network.  Networking does take more time than answering the phone and setting up appointments to do business.  But if the phone is quiet, networking is an excellent way to make it ring. Networking also allows you to do market research while you are trying to fill your pipeline of potential customers.  You can rub shoulders with prospects and find out what they need and what needs are not being met.  You can also find out how your competitor provides their services, what they do that the prospect likes and what they do that the prospect does not like.
  2. I am too shy to meet people in a large group.  What makes a successful net-worker is not a lack of being shy, but the recognition that everyone else in the room is shy, too!  If you focus your attention away from yourself and onto helping others feel more at ease, you’ll become more at ease, yourself. How do you feel when someone you have never met before comes up to you with a warm smile and says, “Hi! I’m so and so.  What’s your name?”  I am sure that you are more than happy when that happens.  It works the same way when you go up to someone you don’t know and greet them and show interest in them — genuine interest — you make them feel good.  If that person doesn’t need your product or service, they may know someone who does!
  3. It takes me away from the office.  Some people work on their own because they like to work by themselves, plus those who work on their own have more than enough work to do in the office.  Networking usually does mean taking the time to go somewhere else.  To make it so you are not away from the office during business hours, many networking meetings are either early in the morning so you can be back before the phone starts to ring, or they are at noon when customers will understand if they get a answering machine that says you are at lunch until 1:00.If you do not keep the pipeline full of potential customers, soon you will not have enough work to keep you busy… you don’t want that!
  4. I don’t like to mix business with pleasure.  Another version of this is that people feel guilty if they enjoy working too much.  Yet how often does someone at a social activity ask you, “What do your do?”  And how often do you ask others what they do?   Each such question is an open invitation to network.  Most people are eager to talk about themselves and are flattered when someone else takes an interest.Don’t think only small businesses network!  Many large deals are made by the largest companies over a game of golf or at other functions.
  5. I don’t want to be a pushy sales person.  Networking is not selling!  Let me repeat that, because it is important.  Networking is NOT selling!  Then what is networking?  Networking is a means of finding new people who are interested in and of themselves.  It is also an opportunity to find out whether or not the people you meet are potential prospects without the pressure of a sales situation.I advise to never sell while networking.  That is what gives networking a bad name.  Any selling that is to be done will come later.  If you find someone that could be a prospective buyer of your services, you won’t have any of the problems associated with cold calling.  You have already opened the door to a relationship.  Simply get their card and withing a day, give them a call to make an appointment for a one-on-one.  Do this even if they would not make a good customer but may know someone who would.
  6. I do not like to sell, period.  No business can exist without some selling.  Networking is an ideal way for someone who hates to sell to get business.  In networking, by the time you get the opportunity to sell, you have already built a relationship and determined the need for your product or service.Even if there is no sale from your efforts, if you continue to network, you will be able to stay in touch with the contact  without having to make any follow-up phone calls, which take a lot of time and we all dread making.

Remember that you should not try to depend on networking for immediate results.  Of course, you shouldn’t expect immediate results from other forms of advertising either.  It has been estimated that you need to make contact with a potential client 7 timesbefore they will even consider you as a supplier of what they need.  With direct mail, that can be very expensive!  Networking is far less expensive and the results are far more sure.

So if you want to get more business, start talking and have a fun time while you’re at it.

Now go out and have a profitable day!

Tips To Be More Successful AFTER The Networking Meeting

August 10, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing, Networking

Now that the networking meeting is over, there are some things you can do to insure your time at the meeting was worthwhile.  If you follow these steps, you will have success, if you don’t follow these steps, you will probably be disappointed at your results.

14. Follow up fast with a phone call.  NetworkingIf you meet someone at the meeting that showed interest in doing business with you, you need to follow-up immediately.  I call the next day to arrange a meeting.

You might not be able to make follow-up appointments with everyone you have met, but if there could be any future business value from these contacts, you can at least call the next day.  First meetings is where we can make first impressions, but following up by phone will cement them.

15. Arrange a one-on-one with everyone.  Begin with those contacts that you feel might use your services.  Then after you have met with all those, do one-on-ones with those that you think may be able to refer new business to you.  Then move on to one-on-ones with the rest.  You never know who might know someone who needs your services.

A one-on-one is a meeting you arrange to meet with each other.  Plan on at least a half-an-hour to perform these.  You could meet in your office or theirs.  You could also meet at a restaurant and pay for their lunch.  The important thing is to meet. 

When you meet, be the first one to begin the conversation and ask about their business!  Also ask them what kind of referrals they are looking for.  How can you help them!  You must show genuine interest in them and what they do.  By doing this, you will build a relationship and they will feel obligated to ask you about your business (in most cases).

If you can think of a referral to give them, so much the better.  I have found the more you give, the more you receive and the more successful your one-on-one will be.

If you are networking correctly, you should be doing two or three one-on-ones each week.

16. Put the names of your new contacts on your mailing list.  You should be sending out news clippings, reports, or announcements that you think will be of interest to your contacts.  Include information about your recent activities.

17. Always send a thank-you note or place a call to say thank-you to anyone who sends you a referral.  Then keep them informed as to how the referral is progressing.  When someone has sent you several referrals or one that is particularly profitable, give the person that referred them to you some additional acknowledgement.  Take the person to dinner or send flowers.

18. Don’t over do it.  Don’t try to cram in every event on the calendar;  you will get sick and tired of the effort. Keep your networking calendar to a manageable level.  Two well-selected events per week are ample for most full-time businesses.  Remember that networking takes more time AFTER the meeting than just the meeting.  You not only want to make contacts, you want to have time to follow them up and enjoy the process.  Pace yourself!  If you are too busy to do the follow up, you might be attending too many networking events.

There you have it, 18 tips to making your networking successful.  Tomorrow we will talk about overcoming the major misgivings about networking.

 Until then, have a profitable day!

Blog Spin-off

August 07, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing

My original intention for this blog was for Internet marketing.  However, I have spent the last few weeks talking about general marketing and business tips to build your business. 

So I have changed the name of this blog to “Business Marketing Tips”and will continue to provide general marketing tips and business building tips (with an occasional plug for websites and SEO, since that is what I do!)

I would appreciate feed back on this blog.  Let me know if I am covering the subjects you want and if I am covering them sufficiently!

I have also created a new blog on Internet Marketing Tips where I will concentrate on how to build your business using the Internet.  Please go there and read that blog on a regular basis.  In fact, please become a fan of this blog on Facebook.  This helps you to know when I make updates to the blog.

More Tips To Make Networking Meetings More Effective

August 06, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing

Yesterday we began our list of tips you can use to improve your results of networking. Here are more networking tips building on yesterdays list:

6. Carry a large stack of business cards at all times.  Even when I run to the store to buy sprinkler parts for my lawn, I carry business cards in case I run into someone who may need my services.  There have been times when I forgot my cards and I needed them!  Remember that some networking meetings have you pass your cards around the table for everyone to take one.  If you go to a meeting with 60 people, and you only have 40 cards (which may seemed like a lot when you left the office) some potential clients will not get one of your cards!

7. Make sure you get a business card from every one at the meeting.  This allows you to follow up by calling them later.  The primary reason to give out your business card is to get their card in return.  Never leave it up to those you want to talk with further to contact you!  You must take the intitive yourself.  So many times someone who was excited about my services at the meeting and said they would call me in the morning forgot!  I had to call them. 

Why get a card from everyone, even if some may not need my services?  You must remember that 80% of the business I get from networking meetings does not come from the people I meet using my services, it come from people they know that are referred to me!  I even get business  from my “competition”!

8. Make notes on the card you collectabout when and where you met the person and anything special about them and what you want to discuss in the future.  Don’t rely on your memory.  Chances are two weeks after getting the card, you’ll have no idea who gave it to you or why you kept it.  So many times I get home and have several cards from new people I met and can’t remember anything about them and who was who.

9. Make name tags work. If name tags are furnished, don’t just put your first name on the tag.  Print clearly your name, and the name of your company.  Wear your name on your right side so people can easily see it when they shake hands with you.  You may want to have a professional name tag made and wear you all the time.  Even outside of meetings, you don’t know who may see your name tag and ask you about it.

10. Talk to one person at a time.  Don’t rush madly from person to person.  If you are too much of a go-getter, you will turn people off.  Over the long run, you will do far better talking sincerely with a few people.

11. Don’t spend too much time with one person.  I am not contradicting myself from number 10.  If there are other people you could meet and greet at the meeting, talk with each person long enough to exchange information, then move on.  You should arrange a one-on-one (discussed later) and spend extended time getting to know each other later.

12. Wrap up conversations graciously.  When you conversation winds down of its own accord or you can see that the need to talk will get much more involved than is proper for this type of meeting, feel free to move on.  There are several ways to conclude the conversations, such as: “I’ve enjoyed meeting you”, “I’ll look forward to seeing you in future meetings”, or “let’s get together during the week”.  Those lines will also work well to excuse yourself from a  conversation with someone who is talking on endlessly.  In that case, you could also say “Excuse me, I see someone I need to speak with.  It’s been a pleasure meeting you.”  However, if you use that statement, be sure to go talk immediately with someone else.  I might look bad if they notice you just go off and stand alone!

13. Stay at least 15 minutes after the event.  Don’t rush off too quickly.  there may be someone who wants more information from you or wants to set up a one-on-one meeting.  Exchange cards with others you want more information from and wrap up any unfinished conversations from earlier.  Take a moment to say good-bye to anyone you met for the first time or haven’t seen for a long time.

Tomorrow I will go over tips for what to do after the networking meetings that can improve your results. 

Until then, have a profitable day!

Tips To Make Networking Meetings More Effective

August 05, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing

Do you wonder why you do not get more results from your networking efforts?  Usually it is because you are not making the most of your networking opportunities. 

The three biggest benefits of networking groups are:

  1. Finding several business owners in one place
  2. Building relationships with people who may use your products or service at some time
  3. Some of the other attendees may know several people that could use your products or services.

Lets talk about several things you can do to make networking pay!

1. Prepare before the meeting.  Make sure that you have the materials that you need to help your efforts.  This includes your appearance.  You must look professional.  If you are a mechanic, change clothes before you attend.  Do not come in your greasy coveralls. 

Have the brochures and business cards you need to support your message that day. 

I have also found that those business owners that have a website that supports their message, can improve the results they get from the networking meetings. These days. almost everyone interested in your product or service will ask if you have a website and go there before they make the commitment to buy.

2.  Arrive at meetings and group activities at least fifteen minutes early. If you attend these meetings and arrive on time and leave right after, you are missing the boat.  This is the time when the most networking occurs.  Once the formal program begins, there is usually little time for networking.

3. Attend regularly.  I see many times when business owners attend two or three times and then decide that since they had no results it wasn’t worth their time.  It takes time to develop relationships with other business owners before they feel comfortable use your services or to refer you to their friends.  I have seen business owners that have attended for two or three months or more before receiving their first order or referral from the group.  Then at that point, sometimes the flood gates of business starts flowing in.

I have also seen those who attend long enough to get business.  They then feel they can slack off the meetings and find that their business and referrals from the group stop.

4. Stop waiting for something to happen.  I often hear people complain that they have attended networking meetings but “nothing happened”.  From experience, I have found that they usually attend the event as if they are a guest, waiting for someone to intorduce them.  Instead, you need to approach the event as if you are the host, greeting people yourself.  Walk up to them and strike up the conversation!  They are there for the same reason you are, so if you go up to them smiling and extend your hand, in every situation I have seen, they will smile back and introduce themselves in return. 

5. Introduce yourself with a sixteen-second sizzler.  Have you ever been introduced to someone and, when they told you what they did, you were completely at a loss because you had no idea what he or she was talking about? These conversations end quickly because no one wants to appear foolish and ignorant.  The kiss of death is using overly technical and professional jargon!

Make sure you don’t fall into this trap.  practice introducing yourself in a simple 25 word statement that provokes interest.  Use terms an eighth grader will understand. 

Instead of saying:  “I own LegalTech.  I install third-party vendor systems for vertical markets.”  say something like:  “My company is called LegalTech.  We help lawyers and their staff make friend with computers.”

Your introduction should include your name and company name, the market you serve, and how you benefit your clients.  For example:

  • “I’m Ron Coleman with Virtual Secretary.  I provide word-processing for busy business owners.  I specialize in meeting impossible deadlines.”
  • “I’m Ron Coleman.  My company is called Fresh Mushrooms.  We provide large, luscious mushrooms to the finest restaurants in town.”
  • “I work with people who are tired of dieting.  I’m Ron Coleman and I have a no-diet, no-exercise weight-loss program called the Bonus Plan.”

When you meet someone whose introduction leaves you in the dark, be different than everyone else that will back away.  Ask them, “What does that mean, exactly?”

Tomorrow we will continue our list of things you can do to make networking meetings pay.  Until then, have a profitable day!

Networking: Making Contacts That Turn Into Business

August 04, 2009 By: Ron Coleman Category: General Business, Getting business to come to you, Marketing

It has been said that success is not so much in what you know but in whom you know.  Over the past 35 years in business, I have found this to be true.  Business is about relationships.  Knowing people who believe in you and your work, people who will recommend you, refer to you, and open doors for you can make the difference between a marginal and a stunning success.

This means that you can use your mouth to make the business contacts you need to succeed!  In today’s world, you can contact virtually anyone you need to know through networking.

No matter how large a business becomes, business is still about relationships.  It is done person-to-person with the exception of some online sales.  Through networking, we can use person-to-person contacts to establish relationships that will lead to business.  Through networking, anyone can become well connected.

In my experience with helping small businesses and home based businesses become succesful, networking is the single best way to start and build a small business.

If you do not count the sales I get off my website, most of my sales each year come by way of networking.

Think about it.  Wouldn’t you prefer to do business with someone you know and trust or someone who has come recommended to you by someone you know and trust?  Most of us would.  For this reason the more people you meet, the more likely you are to find people to do business with.

And also remember the phrase “Out of touch, out of mind”.  The more you keep in touch with the people you know, the more likely they will turn into customers and clients, or give you referrals to those who will become customers.

How do you get started in networking?  We will talk about that tomorrow.  So go out and have a profitable day!