Last week Apple launched the iPad2 and again another great product to really consolidate it’s position as the leading supplier of Tablets.  However, that’s not the reason for this post…

How do we all learn from Apple?
What’s the key to their success? and how can we all learn from them?

Back in 2001, when I worked at Apple they launched the ipod,  Steve Jobs had come back to the company and became CEO in 1997 and they launched the Apple Store that year.  Everyone questioned Apple when in 2001 they announced the iPod – what was a computer manufacturer doing launching an mp3 player?  But the real key to the success was a free piece of software – iTunes and then the iTunes Music store in 2003. Since then we have had various iPod models, the iPhone  There are now 3 online stores – iTunes, Apps Store and the Book Store as well as the Apple store and therein lies the key and Steve Jobs spoke about it in his Keynote for the iPad2.

Apple now has over 200 million online accounts, which means they have the Names, Addresses, email addresses, buying habits, purchasing trends and credit card details for all these people, so when it comes to launching a new product they can target and ‘market’ directly to their existing customer base, and they do on a weekly basis, so even if they only get a 1% take up on a product in the first year the product is going to be a success. – The ipad sold over 15million in yr 1 that’s over 10% of their customer base at the time of the launch a year ago.

What does this mean for your business?
The first place to start is your existing customer base – very few of the SME businesses I meet actually have a database of their customers and those who do a very small percentage actually use the data for any proactive marketing of their product(s) or services, and this can be done at very little cost.

Keep reminding your existing customers you exist, and keep reminding them of the value you add and how your products and services enhance their lives and businesses.

Remember : This doesn’t have to cost you the earth, once set up you can effectively use a system for as little as £18 per month which includes 5000 emails credits each and every month.

Pr2go is a virtual PR agency that specialise in writing and distributing press releases and is an ideal service for businesses to communicate news stories to existing and potential customers but in a very cost effective way, no longer will you need thousands of pounds to get your message to your audience, Pr2go coupled with the back up of  Yorkshire Business Growth will make sure you get heard.

There are multiple packages to make sure that you get all the exposure you need, from just a few press releases a year to a few a month the choice is yours and of course you can tap into the wealth of the team to make sure you know what makes a great story.

This provides a very compelling service to all SME’s in the UK who want to take advantage of having great news to share through traditional channels but also the newer social networks that can magnify your reach.

So for as little as £49.99 you can get you story, written by a journalist, in front of 100’s of editors all within a couple of days.

Interested in getting your business in the news?  - Call  me on 01484 461656 or email me at paul@yorkshirebusinessgrowth.com

Is the experience you create for you customers a Great one of not so good – It’s up to you, but make sure you fully understand the impact.

At the end of last month, I had invited Mark Bradley to speak at the YC Change event at the CIH event in Harrogate.  Mark is one of the UK’s most insightful and entertaining business speakers and he was speaking on the importance of the Customer experience in the Public Sector.

Mark told the story about a friend of his who gets a critical illness policy from the Prudential, she puts it on the coffee table and comes back 10 mins later and her two young kids had crayoned all over it in huge scribbles.   In a panic she rings the PRU and a nice lady called Ann takes all her details, and reassures her that everything will be OK and they will issue her another policy document, that they will send it by recorded delivery, and that if it doesn’t arrive in 48 hrs to give her a call.  The next day when it arrives she opens the A4 envelope an she takes out the new document as well as a colouring book and 2 sets of crayons. A great example of how creating a situation where staff are empowered to create a great customer experience.

Compare this story on my experience with Allianz Insurance.   Whose website claims “Allianz makes every effort to provide you with a market leading claims service and to make the claims experience as simple and as fair as possible“.

I was unfortunate enough to have to be cut out of my car after being rear-ended whilst stationary. After 14 weeks and still chasing a resolution after broken promises, numerous calls and battles with Allianz they managed to live up to the terms in the policy and the replacement arrived.  Had I not checked the policy, be prepared to push and chase Allianz would have settled with the finance company behind my back.  I got fed up with regular phrases like “that’s not part of my processes”, “it’s not my responsibility”, “that’s not my fault …”.  As a consequence, the new car arrived and I purchased my insurance from another provider and I am now telling everyone I can about my “Allianz” experience.

These two experiences highlight two extremes – one will have a hugely positive impact on the perception of Prudential and a hugely negative one for Allianz… I hope.  Mark must have told the Prudential story wo well over a thousand people and I will use the Allianz one when I am speaking.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to make a very positive impact on how people perceive your business and very little budget – it’s all in the mind set you set in your staff.

You will shortly be able to listen to Mark’s session as the session will be available for download soon from www.ycchange.co.uk.

At 6-o-clock on Wednesday evening I sat down in front of my Mac and watched Apple unveil their latest device on the outside world via a live blog.

Sad, I know, but WOW what a masterpiece, and I’m NOT talking about the iPad.

The event lasted 90 minutes but there was only two and a half minutes about the technology.  Over 95% of the presentation was dedicated to the user  through showing the  experience of  Browsing the internet, email, viewing photos and movies, listening to music, playing games and reading eBooks how it will provide a new experience just as users of the iPhone have found out.

Apple did it with the iPod and the iPhone and now they have everything in place to transform the market with this device.  It’s not about the technology, although that’s extremely sexy.

What about the market they are launching the device into?   It’s very competitive with some major players – Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Google and Amazon amongst the big boys.  However, Apple have over 75 million users of iPod and over 20 Million iPhone users for a start.  They have 125 million accounts on their iTunes, Apps Store and iBookstore, with all the credit card details of their customers, all enabled for one-click shopping, and they have already purchased over 12 billion items.  They have been able to hit very aggressive price targets, which is so rare for an innovative product, but the key is that through the stores they will continue to get their growing customer base to purchase more music and videos, more applications and more books, I also wonder how many will also go back to purchase a Mac when they are looking to buy their next PC.  All in all, they are extremely well placed to sell the device as they can sell it to their existing customers especially as it isn’t just an “I want one of those” items it’s a sexy “I MUST HAVE one of those” which will attract a whole new customer base.

Apple have become the masters of developing and launching sexy products, because they have clearly identified their market and build and positioned the great product to WIN.

I strongly urge you to go the Apple website at http://www.apple.com and watch the maestro Steve Jobs in the keynote launch, and then watch the ad.  Yes, admire the product, because it’s going to be a winner but really learn from the masters on how to launch, market and sell.

And, YES I have already sent my letter to Santa for next Christmas.

The organisation of most SME businesses can be broken down into 3 main areas:

• Operations (product or service delivery)
• Admin (Accounting, HR, IT – back office)
• Sales & Marketing

If you were to give your business Marks out of 10 for these three areas what mark would you give?

In my experience, after talking to hundreds of businesses over the last few years show that the averages work out something like this:

• Operations                  -  8 or 9 / 10
• Admin                         - 5 or 6 / 10
• Sales & Marketing        -  2 or 3 / 10

It always amazes me that even where  businesses that have a good to excellent product/service always fall short on how they feel they perform inthe Sales and Marketing arena, the typical response is we rely on ‘Word of Mouth” and “Referral” and may attend a networking group and then that’s the limit, they just sit back and wait for the business to roll in, which is fine if you are always at maximum, but what happens when the current work dries up?

I was recently speaking to a business that had just gone into administration.  18 months ago they were very successful, employing over 80 people, very profitable and had a good order book – They operated in the automotive industry, making specific parts for motor vehicles.  When orders were cancelled, they were suddenly in the situation that they needed to  adapt their range and look to sell into different markets, but they had no sales and marketing infrastructure to deliver and get new business – result they couldn’t adapt quickly enough to get new orders and they ran out of cash !!!!

What about you?

Sales and Marketing is the backbone of your business, you need to be continually working to ensure that you are flexible and can adapt to changing market conditions -

The keyword for 2010 is Flexibility and focus on your Sales and Marketing systems and processes get them into the GREEN and pass the test.

As discerning consumers we are always on the lookout to make sure we are getting value for mmone when we part with our hard earned cash.

I am always speaking to businesses who are proud that one of their USPs is their Customer Service.  I HATE this on several fronts.  Firstly, as a customer I don’t want to be “Serviced” and secondly, if this is everyone’s USP, it’s hardly UNIQUE!!!

I want a GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE and I am prepared to pay a little more to get it.

Yesterday, I called Paymentshield to discuss their quotation for the renewal of my Home and Contents Insurance (we have been with them for 3 years).  After being on the phone for 4 1/2 mins before getting to speak to anyone, I was  very alarmed by the attitude of the Customer Service person who basically told me that there was no room for manoeuvre on the premium without cutting the cover.  So I asked them to call me back by the end of the day if they wanted the chance to retain the business.  I was told, in no uncertain terms that they wouldn’t negotiate.  I therefore cancelled the “automatic” renewal of my policy  and I will go with another broker.

I found the attitude of the staff amazing, especially as their website proudly states “We pride ourselves in consistently delivering first class customer service and in our efficient policy servicing, which is provided by our 300 dedicated employees.“
I was quite prepared to stay with Paymentshield but the difference between the premiums – over £400, makes my decision a no brainer.  So as a Business Growth consultant who specialises in the customer experience, I emailed some feedback as to my experiences in dealing with their company.  So far, no response.

I have now placed my insurance through Ryburne Brokers, where it took 1 phone call lasting a total of 3 1/2 mins, all the details have been processed, and the docs arrived in the post this morning – SORTED – No hassle, no fuss, great value, GREAT EXPERIENCE

Ryburne have also had the benefit of me telling this story on two occasions where I have given presentations (yesterday afternoon and this morning) to over 60 business people.  Who is going to get the Business?  I have also got 4 more speaking engagements over the next month!!!

Not only have Paymentshield lost a customer, I have told at least 60 people about my poor experience and that’s not counting all who read this Blog !!!

Go to Ryburne  “http://www.ryburne.co.uk/” & speak to Dani !!!

I been appointed to drive and facilitate the new Huddersfield Town Business Club.

The Launch meeting was Friday (7th August) at the Galpharm Stadium and a big thank you to those who came, it was a great event with over 60 people there. (we did have 14 no-shows !!!)

There was a real mix of people from Networking virgins to experienced BNIers, 4Ners and other networkers and it was clear who was who.

The delegates had 6 opportunities, in the “Shuffle” to present their 60-90 seconds and there was a real difference and a lot of people struggled.

Remember you have 60 seconds (your elevator pitch) to

• introduce yourself
• Tell them what you do
• Explain the benefits for your product or service
• Explain what’s in it for them
• Tell them how to refer you and your business and
• Leave them wanting to know more, and want a 1-2-1.

So don’t waste your valuable time remember :

Everyone there wants to Network and promote their business and generate business opportunities for themselves and the other members.

They want to meet and get to know and trust  you just as much as you want to meet and get to know and trust them.

So EMPOWER THEM by ensuring that YOUR opportunity to present  enables them to help you.

Building Customer Relationships

I recently gained a new client, it was an interesting one because when I asked him where he found out about me and my servces he referred to a ‘Fax Blast’ I had sent out .  Nothing surprising there, I thought, however I sent the Fax out in Sept 2006.  He had kept if for over 2 years until HE was ready.

Your target market prospects & clients needs and wants change constantly… Almost minute by minute and therefore what they say ‘no’ to today could be ‘yes’ next month, next week, tomorrow or even in a minute.

No one ever stays frozen in one place. That means their needs and situations constantly change – sometimes just 15 minutes after they described their needs to a marketing research or telemarketers query! If someone doesn’t need your product or service today, that doesn’t mean they won’t need it tomorrow, or next week. Or maybe they need it, but can’t buy until two weeks from now when they get paid. Often, all this means is that the time is not exactly right for them to buy.

Experienced and smart marketers know that taking just one shot – a single letter, ad, phone call, face to face contact – at a prospect is rarely sufficient. Smart marketers know that people buy more often on the second, third, fourth or fifth time you contact them. It’s called ‘the irresistible customer relationship model’. It is well documented that the good salesperson that doesn’t give up on the first ‘no’ can often move on to get the sale. Furthermore, experience shows that people will often respond after they’ve received 6, 7 or more contacts. The point is, by sequentially and systematically making the extra efforts you can very often get a pay off where many before you have failed. That’s where the ‘irresistible customer relationship model’ comes in.

The trick is to have a ‘system’  where each contact has a distinct goal, your ‘system’ will evolve over time, but when it works – stick to it, don’t try to fast track the process – you prospects won’t be ready to buy if you do.  Modern technology will help you devise and deliver YOUR system, but remember the content still needs to be about your customer not you.

This morning I spent my networking meeting listening to another round of lacklustre presentation.  I see many small businesses ill prepared to present business in a good light they arm themselves with the presentation or script that they have been told is the way to do it.

It looks something like this:

• All about me and my company – How long we’ve been in business, where we went to school, why I left my ‘job’ …
• What we do or sell
• Who we sell to , throw in a few company names especially if they are big ones.
• Key USPs – you know the ones – quality service, market leader, one stop shop, strategic partnerships, etc.
• How we do it - Process Overview – personal attention/service, bespoke solution …
• and finally Questions.

Remember this may be the only opportunity you have so don’t waste your precious time and the time of your prospects on the “company pitch”, focus on engaging your audience and demonstrating you understand their needs and the problems they are facing (including the ones they won’t admit to).

Your prospects need to be engaged, so organise your presentation or pitch in a way that provokes interest in you and your company.

Treat each call, presentation and message as an opportunity to personalise the conversation between you and your prospect(s). Show a genuine interest in their problems and present your solution and why your solution is the right decision for them.

Stay away from generic buzz words and TLAs  that don’t tell the customer anything about your product or service and what you can do for them and customise the discussion based upon the customer and their needs and not your company.

Remember it’s about THEM not YOU

If you’re like most small businesses today, you will have tried several ways of telling people about your business at least to some degree either at a networking event, on an advert, mailshot, email bast etc … You may have even experienced some successes now and again.

But are you able to make it work consistently for your business? If not, what’s going on?

SO

Put your message and materials to the “So What?” test.

Pull out your most frequently used marketing tool (e.g., your 60 secs or your elevator pitch).

Sand in front of the mirror and read it out loud and put it to the “So What?” test.  After you read it out loud, is it possible that your target audience could respond with a big… “So What?”… “Why do I care?”… or “What’s in it for me?”

If your message isn’t clearly communicating what problems, issues, and challenges you want to help your audience solve and what outcomes you want to deliver for them, then a “So What?” response is exactly what you might expect.

Messages and materials that are too much about YOU are likely to fail the “So What?” test.

Remember that your target audience wants to know what’s in it for them.

Now go out and review all your marketing materials, including your website and ask yourself     SO WHAT.

Putting the price of your products up always sparks a reaction from your sales team with comments like “we’re doomed”, “we’re too expensive”, “my competitors are cheaper I can’t raise my prices”,  and there goes my commission …

Recently, I was reminded me of some simple truths and it comes from a quote form John Ruskin in the 1800′s

“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little.  When you pay too much, you lose a little money …  that’s all.  But when you pay to little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.  … “

Price is never an issue unless there’s an absence of value.  Our customers evaluate our worth, if we make everything about price, they will judge us on price, if we sell on value and what we deliver, guess what?

They will gauge us on value !!!

When I was at Frog, our Client services team  identified that we need to add an additional day into the implementation process involving another day on site for a consultant in order to provide a better service and increased value – we are looking to raise the price of the product to accommodate this (and an additional day’s training that we have already added to the process).  So we positioned it,  not a price increase as such, just an additional value that we need to cover the cost of.  It helped us create a wider gap between us and our competitors – on VALUE.  We didn’t have any complaints and we actually increased sales.

I offer a FREE 90min no obligation meeting, to show business leaders how I can add REAL value and profits to their business and not be a cost burden.

BNI Script 21/04/08

I have been working on my fitness with Joe Oliver for over 18 months now and as Joe was making me inflict some more pain on my body last week he reminded me on the progress we had made over the time we have been working together.  Although, I find it difficult every week there has been a significant changes in my body posture and strength and the back pain has gone. Also, getting out in the field has helped remind me that I had begun to lose touch with our market and customers.

It struck me that in my work helping businesses grow hat I have to be patient in order to build a strong business, it will take time, training and support to get the business firing on all cylinders.   So what does it take to be great?

Not surprisingly, results of several studies show that being greatness isn’t a result of any kind of genetic gifts, or even some kind of inherent talent (there are loads of talented broke and unsuccessful people), but the direct result of “painful and demanding hard work, performed over and over again over many years.”

In fact, the study shows that 10 years of “doing whatever it is you do” is a rough estimate of how long it takes to be great. And in many fields, like music and literature, top performers don’t hit their stride until 20 or even 30 years of experience.

Well, the study shows that it’s more than just “practice,” it’s actually “deliberate practice,” and getting out there and being prepared to go through the pain.

But it’s easy to see how you can practice something like writing, golf, or even managing people.  But how do you practice some of the intangible business skills, like presenting, negotiating, or deciding whether or not to get into a certain project or when to quit, or interacting with people?

Well, the truth is, you can’t “practice” these things the same way you can practice ‘deep squats’.  However, there are two things you can incorporate into your mannerisms and your daily life, that do “count” towards your performance, the same way ‘deep squats’ counts towards your overall fitness.

One, of course, is your intensity and attitude about what you’re doing.  Your satisfaction and performance is directly related to your intensity.  The simple fact of life is that the more serious you are about something, the more you’re going to hold yourself accountable for your results.  Which basically infers that if something’s not important to you — even if you do it well — you’re not likely to be very successful at it.

The second thing you need to do, is to keep the vision of each separate thing you’re doing as part of your overall goal.  Meaning, if you understand “the big picture” of what you’re looking to accomplish, it puts each component of this picture into a more deliberate perspective.  This works for hitting your personal target on a monthly and annual basis as well as the company business plan targets and becoming a market leader.

My journey on working with Joe is ongoing but the results are starting to show even through the vision and goals continue to change.  More practice, getting out there in front of customers, and not being afraid to fail is what’s needed to get my business to the next level.

Business Failures – BNI Script 14/04/2009

Today I want to talk about Business Failure.
80% of businesses fail in their first 5 years and over a 10 year period 24 out of 25 businesses fail

So why do businesses fail ??
•    Mismanagement
•    Underfunding / capitalization
•    Interest rates

REAL REASON why most businesses fail
•    They run out of CASH
•    They don’t get enough quantified Prospects
•    They fail to convert prospects to customers
•    They allow customers slip to their competition

The ONLY way to succeed is to have a clear understanding of the market for your products and services

How many people have you heard say ‘I’ve got a great idea/product – everybody is going to want one
It’s the wrong way around …  to succeed in business you first need to find a market that is where there are hungry customers, you can then find a product or service to fit that requirement.

Unfortunately most people do it the other way around

In yesterday’s Sunday Times there was an article on Apps for the iPhone -

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6078155.ece

“Ethan Nicholas, an America programmer, was struggling to make his mortgage payments last summer so he devised a game called iShoot. “It became so successful that at one point he was earning £20,000 a day,” marvelled Rowan. “He made £500,000 in five months.”

Here it discusses the power of the market that has been created – over 1billion apps downloaded in 2008

John Paul Getty –said around 50 years ago.
If you want to succeed in Business then look at what your competitors are doing and do it better
Today, you might replace doing it better with doing it differently.

- BNI 14 Apr, 2004

1. Decide what’s the purpose of your site?

I am currently working  to revamp my website, and it has been a great time to just remind myself of why I am doing it!!

There are two types of website, the first type is one that generates and adds to the business, the other is a cost burden.

So I thought I would pass on my top 3 tips how to spot businesses that I would like to talk to, please use these to analyse your own site

• Is the purpose of your website to sell something,
• give information,
• nurture relationships???
• It’s up to you – but get clear from the start
• So get clear on what you want your website to be and focus on it

2.    Remember that your website should not be about you

• OK it sounds weird but the truth is your prospective clients and customers aren’t that interested in you.
• They’re interested in what you and/or your product can do for them.

3.    Email Addresses

• You’ve heard this a thousand times before, but most businesses still do not collect the email addresses of everyone who contacts them.
• You may as well take a huge bucket of cash, go to the top of your building and throw it out of the window.
• Every time a business fails to capture someone’s email address they’re turning down the opportunity to contact them for FREE, for weeks, months and years ahead
• Use bribes, incentives, and freebies to get them to give their email address to you.
• Once you have Email Addresses you can start a dialogue with your prospective customers –  SO use them!

So when you look at a website, if it doesn’t generate new business it’s probably a cost to the business and I need to talk to them.

- BNI  07/04/2009

How much effort and investment do you put into getting referrals? – As BNI members you are all already aware of the power of referrals

Most Businesses tell me that they don’t spend any time or investment in generating referrals because they happen automatically.

Whatever percentage of your business comes from referrals, the likelihood is you sit back and wait for referrals to come to you.

This is a mistake – a BIG mistake!

For most service businesses referrals play a big part in their growth and profitability.

The surprising thing about this fact is only a small handful of people actually put effort into generating referrals.

This is why you must set up several referral systems.

➢    If you get referrals without any effort it means you’re good at what you do.
➢    It means people appreciate you.
➢    It means you offer good value for money.
➢    It means your service achieves the goal it sets out to achieve.

You owe it to yourself, to your customers, and to your business to start working harder on getting referrals.

The good thing about putting a referral system in place is – it doesn’t cost you a single penny. It’s one of the most powerful, profitable and rewarding  strategies you’ll ever use.

Every business need three referral systems…

➢    For your existing customers
➢    For new customers
➢    For professional contacts and / or other suppliers

REMEMBER – The best time to ask for referrals is when your customer pays you after you have done a great job for them.
For more details on how you can develop your Referral system speak to me,  Paul Scott at Yorkshire Business Growth

BNI Script – 31/03/09

I am currently in the process of moving my father back to Huddersfield and last weekend we went to buy a new sofa for his new flat.

1st stop – Harveys on Leeds road retail park,  found a sofa we all liked and went to buy it armed with a debit card and his account full of cash waiting to be spent.

No problem sir, we can deliver it in 6 – 8 weeks time, I explained we needed it within a week, nothing doing ..
I asked about the display sofa – “ oh you can’t have that one it’s for display”, not even for Cash I retorted – no was the reply, I couldn’t even persuade the manager to part with the sofa, so we walked out and across the retail park to SCS, but they couldn’t deliver for 8-12 weeks and they wouldn’t part with the showroom sofa either.

As we were leaving my wife suggested we go next door to Land of Leather,  I explained we couldn’t as they had gone bust.

All of these companies which are struggling in the present climate have forgotten the first rule of business – Make it Easy for your customers to buy, they were so pre-occupied with their policies and procedures that they have forgotten about their customers.

Stephen Covey wrote ..

“We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions.”

I was recently asked to review a website of a prospective client and to give him some feedback when we met. He was proud of his new site, and it looked clean, it was easy to navigate and gave a lot of information, but that was about it, it was packed with information and jargon.

I asked him a couple of questions – What was the purpose of the site? Who was the target audience?. As usually happens, I got the same stock answers, that the site’s purpose was to give information about the company to prospective clients and to provide credibility, basically a fancy Business card and corporate brochure.  In reality it did little to get it’s readers to take any action if they stayed on the site long enough to get that far, and once someone had been on the site, they had no reason to go back.

They had fallen into the trap that many new (and established) companies fall into, they tend to assume that the client or prospective client will firstly be interested in their site and secondly,  know and appreciate their marketing message.  They didn’t appreciate that you have to literally spell things out to their prospect, and explain in detail every facet of what they do. They also assume they know what their clients want and are interested in, clients will always make assumptions based on your marketing message; and very often the wrong ones.

In my prospect’s case, the TRUE benefits of their services were actually hidden three or four clicks down the site map – the majority of prospects won’t get that far, because they assumed that everyone who went on the site would be interested in what they had to say.

So go back to your marketing message and materials, make sure you don’t assume your prospect is interested and understands the intricacies of your product of service and spell out the benefits and results your clients can expect from your product or service.

Let me repeat, clients will always make assumptions based on your marketing message; and very often the wrong ones.  Don’t assume that they know what your message is, tell them…  and find out who they are so you can speak to them.

If your site is like the one I reviewed, don’t waste your hard earned marketing budget.  Donate it to a deserving charity, at least there it can do some good.

Now go and get some more customers.

BNI  4 min Script    20/05/09

Over the years I’ve discovered that there are 3 major ‘problem areas’ affecting most businesses – do any of these sound familiar?

Firstly : Lack Of Time – Busy Being Busy

How many times have you been in this situation?

You’ve set out at the start of the day full of good intentions. Before you know it, the day is already over and you haven’t done a fraction of the stuff you were meant to do – never mind the marketing issues you had to deal with!

The next day turns into the next month and the next month turns into the next quarter and so on. Before you know where you are another year has passed you by!

One thing is guaranteed – every day that passes is another day you can’t get back. Your business isn’t being given the fuel it needs to grow and you are getting bogged down in the quagmire. You know it, but in the end it becomes an accepted part of your business life, however as soon as it gets to this you’re in trouble.

SECONDLY Knowing ‘What’ to do is one thing, Knowing ‘How to do it’ is a different ball game.

How many times in our lives do we put things off because we’re not sure how to get the job done? Or it’s in the “too difficult category”

Yes I know and it’s a real ‘killer’. I’ve been there and done it myself. And depending on your situation it’s either frustrating, overwhelming or a combination of both.

You know some of the things you should be doing when it comes to your sales & marketing but you don’t know fundamental things such as what to do first!

• if it’s not the order of things, it’s the priority of where you spend your money,
• if it’s not that, it’s how to write the good copy for your website or a good leaflet
• and if it’s not that it’s that you want your website to generate enquiries, but you don’t know how.
• and so on …

Whatever it is, you feel like the world’s spinning and you want to get off, and your dinner is in the dog !!!

THIRDLY : No Marketing system in place

How often have you heard?

Things are going okay we’ve been busy recently. You then get busy dealing with the work that’s come in, but then a week later there’s no new enquiries coming in … You need something churning away in the background to bring you new leads regularly while you’re busy on existing ones.

I regularly meet business owners who are not getting the results their great product or service deserves because they don’t have a system working automatically in the background and therefore have to settle for the springboard effect – inconsistent, one off marketing efforts, which inevitably by their nature fail to produce consistent sales.

The businesses I worked with in the past have learnt one key thing It’s not rocket science. It just comes back to doing the right things over and over again and the ability to keep taking action using a repeatable system.

Don’t worry if one or all of these three problems are affecting your business. There is a solution – a simple and proven one.

Here’s how it works…

I work in partnership with you by implementing a proven business growth system in your business.

Implementing the business growth system into your business gets you…

• More enquiries
• More sales and new customers
• More profit from new and existing customers
• Increased market share
• THE COMPLETE ELIMINATION OF ALL 3 MAJOR PROBLEMS LISTED ABOVE!

The business growth system includes over 400 proven, low or no-cost marketing strategies. Each one has stood the test of time and can be applied to 99% of businesses

Our business growth system ensures you get a world-class service built on over 20 years of experience and results.

So business leaders who

• Complain of a lack of time
• Know what to do but don’t know how to do it
• Don’t have a sales and marketing system in place
• Don’t have the time, skills or knowledge to deliver the results in their business

Give me a call to find out more and for a FREE 90 min no obligation meeting, that allows me to understand the challenges your business face and give you some practical ideas that you can implement straight away

We had a really good BNI meeting this morning, lots of visitors, lots of referrals and lots of business reported.  However, there are a number of members in the chapter who really struggle to get referrals and it all comes down to what they say in their 60 second slots and their 10 minute presentations.

Let’s be honest, I don’t want to hear about how long they have been in business, the great service they offer or how they are the best thing since sliced bread.  As someone who is looking to get referrals for the other members in chapter what  I need to know why they are successful in selling their product or service, why their customers buy, why do they stand out from all the other plumbers, printers, web designers, insurance brokers, accountants, photographers  etc ….

I need to know why they  STAND OUT. Yes, I need to know what their product or service is, but the important thing here is that they are not selling a product or service this is the service. They should be selling the results of their product or service i.e. What was the impact of the flyers the printer designed and produced, the tax the accountant saved this client etc…

Most of the time it can be very difficult to stand out in a crowded market place i.e. be all things to all people. So become the expert in your chosen field, rather than being one of the herd… Lead the herd… Or even better, be the first and only choice in your field, you do this by STANDING OUT.

This will make it a lot easier for me and my fellow members generate more referrals for the benefit of the whole group.

Following on from yesterday’s post…  albeit a bit of a rant.  I came across this today from John Jantsch via Twitter @ducttape.  It give you some practical ideas for your 60 seconds presentations and marketing in general.

“No matter how many shiny, cool features and benefits you cram into your marketing messages, brochures and presentations, you better find ways to help the prospect get what they really want. And, no matter if you sell heating and cooling services, legal services, hand painted greeting cards, or consulting, at the end of the day, your customers all buy some variation of the same five things.

So you better make sure you show them how you and your products and solutions are going to:
1) Make them more money
2) Save them more time
3) Allow them to avoid the frustration of doing stuff they don’t like (like wasting time and money)
4) Help them save or not lose money today and in future
5) Help them feel better about themselves

Copy these five points and refer to them often as you develop your marketing.

Now, you can focus all of your energy around selling one of these points or you can come up with ways to mix and match. Some lead to getting another, for example people want more of #1 to get them more of #5. Understand though that just because you tell a prospect they will save money or look and feel better doesn’t mean they will buy – they’ve also got to believe your solution will work for them and sometimes the hurdle is they don’t trust themselves – in fact, this is often the most frustrating “no” for a salesperson.”

I know this can seem like an awfully simple and somewhat cynical approach to marketing, but I’m not suggesting you understand this concept so that you can paint your products and services in ways they are not, and I don’t really even mean that you should change your core marketing messages to address one of these five points.

What I am saying is that at some point this is how a decision about you, your products and solutions will be made, so you must answer one or all of these questions along the path to contacting you