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BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 108

BIZNESS! Newsletter

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Cover Story
Mac Farm

Old MacDonald isn’t the only one who has a farm. For one day only, so does McDonald’s. The world’s largest fast-food company today is partnering in an unusual 24-hour tie-in with the year-old, wildly popular FarmVille social-media game…

Continued in BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 108 >>>


Top Stories From CoolBusinessIdeas.com

– Being Opportune About the Shake-up
– KFC Go Recyclable
– Billiard Dining Table
– Stainless Steel Wallet
– Cardboard Trolley
– Flavour-changing Cookie
– Cool Drinks with Simple Science

Continue reading these top stories in the BIZNESS! Newsletter >>>



Top Stories From GetEntrepreneurial.com

– Goals are Dreams with Deadlines: How Goal Clarity Will Get You Where You Want
– Women In Partnerships – The Importance of Due Diligence
– Expand Your Precious Time with Sales Meeting
– Discounting Your Services to Make a Sale? 3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t
– Hiring Help: Two Entrepreneurs Find the Right Assistant
– Making the New Business Pitch: How to Get More Clients By Avoiding 3 Deadly Presentation Mistakes
– The Secret Behind Successful Branding (and No, Its Not About a Logo)

Continue reading these top stories in the BIZNESS! Newsletter >>>


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Categories
Success Attitude

Allowing Your Expertise to Shine Through: Common Reasons That Keep Entrepreneurs from Moving Forward

Article Contributed by Lisa Cherney

In today’s fast paced world we have access to more information than ever before, be it books, media or opportunities for education. And while it’s great to have all this information and learning at our fingertips, it can sometimes be a detriment to us. In fact, for some people, it can be an excuse for them not to move forward in their business.

Two reasons like this I’ve heard recently include: “I’m just not sure I can be successful. I know I help people, but I need more experience.” And “I need to get another certification [take another seminar/get another degree] before I can be an expert and really put myself out there.”

My friend and client Michele PW was held back by these specific reasons. Michele is an example of someone with great expertise – she is one of the hottest marketing strategists around, writes copy and creates campaigns for very well known people that get results (www.MichelePW.com).

Michele started out as a freelancer, selling services. She got into infomarketing and had some really big successes, but she always had trouble doing it for herself. She came up with a couple of products, but none of them sold as well as what she did for her clients. Her belief was that the real money would be in copywriting, not her expertise.

“I knew people could make a lot of money selling products. I knew that in my head, but I didn’t believe it for myself. I guess when you’re doing copy for people, even though you’re out there in the spotlight, you feel like you’re still the support and behind the scenes,” Michele says.

“The problem for me was that I was the expert who always needed to read one more book before I could call myself an expert,” she explains. “I was so stuck on that and I think that’s why I really didn’t value selling my knowledge. I had people pushing me to do some sort of copywriting product and all I could say was, ‘There are plenty of good products out there, what am I going to add to the mix?’ Working with Lisa pulled me out of that and now I’ve had some very successful products. Now I see that I didn’t value my knowledge. Then I wouldn’t have said that was the reason, but looking back I see that now. A big part of working with Lisa was her support and being able to call her in my moments of weakness and angst about change. If you don’t push through and have a number of people who support you, you’ll just start spinning your wheels and never get out of it.”

There will always be another book or blog to read or another degree or certification to be earned. There will always be another seminar to take or conference to attend. But at some point you need to realize that you ARE an expert in your field and you are holding yourself back – and not helping people you could be helping – by not allowing your expertise to shine through.

Entrepreneurs fail. It’s as simple as that. Every single entrepreneur out there, no matter how successful they look on the outside, has failed. Yes, they are very successful, but for all those successes, they also have failures. There were things they tried that didn’t go anywhere. But if you don’t own your expertise and take risks, you’re never going to have the big successes. Granted, you’ll never have failures, but you’ll never have success either.

About the Author:

Lisa Cherney is a Marketing Intuitive and President & Founder of Conscious Marketing™.  Lisa has helped thousands of business owners tap into their intuition and market their businesses from the ‘Inside Out’. For 15 years she worked at Fortune 500 companies and top advertising agencies.

Lisa tells her story in her co-authored book “Inspiration to Realization,” available at www.ConsciousMarketing.com. Conscious Marketing also offers workshops and coaching. Visit her website for more details or call 887-771-0156.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

How to Jumpstart Your Sales in a Stalled Economy with a GREAT Sales Process

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

A tough economy may seem like an improbable time to move current and prospective customers forward to a sale. Yet, it can actually be a great time – if you position yourself as a strategic consultant so customers realize they should not wait.

A good sales process focuses on a wants and needs assessment before introducing a solution. A GREAT sales process focuses on wants, needs, opportunities, challenges, fears and risks! Re-read this list – it includes challenges, fears and risks.

Your market is facing these realities today. Your value increases when you think strategically with your customer and can help them answer tough questions they may not want to think about.

Here are some ways to strengthen your strategic value:

1. Look at your customers’ needs in a different light that includes the challenges, fears and risks that your customers will be facing. Answer the following questions as preparation. If you don’t know an answer, research what is going on in their specific industry or company.
•    What challenges are they facing now that they weren’t the last time you spoke with them?
•    What “realities” are a part of their immediate future?
•    What are the risks to them purchasing – or not purchasing – now?
•    What opportunities might they miss?

2. Develop open-ended questions that will get them talking about these
areas. (Notice how none of the following example questions are directly about
your product or service.)
•    How is the unstable economy affecting your business?
•    What are you facing today that you never thought you would?
•    What are some of the measures your organization is taking to maximize the rest of this fiscal year?
•    The last time we spoke, you mentioned that you were under a tight budget. How are you accomplishing your cost containment?

3. Restate the “What’s in it for Them” (WiifT) of your solution:
•    If your solution will save them money in the long run, you might say, “You mentioned that you have to tighten your budget. We can help you with this. Our xxxx will save you $xxx in this next month. How will that help your cost containment?”
•    If you can minimize a risk, you might say, “As you look to maximize your profitability for the remaining fiscal quarter, our solution will allow you an ROI of twice what you invest. This will help you meet budget.”

Recently a client who uses our Call Reluctance assessment asked to discuss it with me.
I assumed they were going to cut out this “expense”. But I changed my mindset and prepared for a great, strategic discussion. I learned they needed to increase productivity quickly. They had not thought about using the assessment information for managers to coach and increase individual productivity. They are now moving forward to train these managers.

Don’t get caught in default thinking such as, “No one is going to buy now.” Stay positive and be prepared with questions and information to assess wants, needs, opportunities, challenges, fears and risks. This will not only set yourself apart, it will help you jumpstart your sales.

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!

Categories
Operations

Hiring an Assistant

Article Contributed by Michele DeKinder-Smith

No single formula exists for hiring an assistant. Each female entrepreneur is unique and therefore must hire an assistant who meets her unique needs and those of her business. However, all woman business owners must consider these several important topics during the hiring process to ensure an excellent relationship that paves the way to a strong, efficient team in the future.

1.    Personality: just like any relationship, that between a female entrepreneur and her assistant should be complementary so each balances the other’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, Jane Dough business owners often move quickly and can come across as if they don’t have time to talk. It would be beneficial to Jane Dough, then, to hire an assistant who can get Jane Dough to slow down for a moment if he or she has a question or concern. Tenacity Jane business owners are often visionary, so hiring a down-to-earth assistant may be beneficial.

2.    Work skills: certain types of female entrepreneurs enjoy certain aspects of running their businesses more than others; therefore, hiring an assistant whose skills complement a business owner’s favorite tasks is essential. For example, Merry Jane business owners often use their companies as creative outlets. So hiring an assistant with experience handling the financial aspects of a business provides the perfect balance. Some Tenacity Jane business owners excel in their craft or skill, but lack business knowledge. Hiring an assistant with experience in business or finance would benefit both Tenacity Jane and her company.

3.    Communication style: because an assistant will often act as the liaison between a female entrepreneur and her clients and team members, his or her communication style must not only fit the business owner’s, but also must be effective on a larger scale. For example, Go Jane Go business owners may find delegation difficult and may also feel concerned about each team member’s performance. Her assistant, then, should be able to communicate the business owner’s desires to the team members and then report the team members’ progress back to Go Jane Go so Go Jane Go keeps a firm grasp on the happenings of her business. On the other hand, Jane Dough finds it difficult to communicate her vision to her team and probably will not want to know the specifics of what’s going on at ground-level (she prefers working on strategy). Therefore, she’d benefit from an assistant who could communicate the vision to the team, and who would discuss the details only when necessary.

4.    Employment needs: entrepreneurs running larger-scale businesses will be able to hire full-time assistants, whereas those running smaller businesses will not. Therefore, an entrepreneur must consider her own needs as well as those of her potential assistant before signing an employment contract. For example, Accidental Jane business owners relish their freedom from “traditional” work settings, and may not want to feel tied to an assistant, an office, or regular working hours. She would need an assistant, then, who could handle less-than-full-time work status, and who could work from a remote location. On the other hand, a Jane Dough or Go Jane Go business owner may require more than full-time work from her assistant.

Whatever a woman business owner’s situation, hiring the right assistant can prove beneficial in myriad ways. By considering the hiring process from several different angles, a woman business owner can ensure that the match is positive for both parties, and for the business.

About the Author:

Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com

Categories
Communication Skills

Relationships and Communication: Transmitter vs. Receiver

Article Contributed by Gary M. Jordan

In Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, Outliers, the author writes:

“Western communication has what linguists call a “transmitter orientation” – that is, it is considered the responsibility of the speaker to communicate ideas clearly and unambiguously. . . But Korea, like many Asian countries, is receiver oriented. It is up to the listener to make sense of what is being said.” p. 216

As far as the 6 innate Perceptual Styles go, there’s a block I’ve seen over and over again regarding communication between the Activity and Flow Styles, and I believe it can be explained by this concept.

Activity is clearly transmitter oriented, as people with this Style use plenty of contextual information to ensure that the receiver understands what’s being communicated. People with the Flow Style, on the other hand, use a subtle and nuanced combination of words that requires the listener to work to fully understand what is being conveyed.

Unfortunately, this difference in orientation is a set-up for conflict no matter which direction the communication is moving in.

When Activity is talking to Flow, Flow quickly interprets the meaning of the message and can become bored and/or offended by what they perceive as Activity’s excessive verbiage.

When Flow is talking to Activity, Activity misses much of the meaning that Flow intends because Flow’s nuanced choice of words is lost on Activity (who is waiting for context).  Activity often becomes irritated by what they perceive as partial communication by Flow.

In reflecting on the concept of communication orientation in relation to Perceptual Styles, I realized that there is a clear delineation among all six of the Perceptual Styles.

Three of the six—Activity, Vision, and Goals—are transmitter oriented, while the other three—Methods, Adjustments, and Flow—are receiver oriented. Within each group of three, each Perceptual Style uses the orientation a little differently and with different intent, but the orientation is the same.

Here’s how it breaks down by the Perceptual Style, based on the communication characteristics unique to that Style.

The Transmitter Orientations:

•    Activity makes sure to provide ample context when speaking and gives multiple examples through anecdotes that illustrate their point. This is to make sure that there is a solid connection and that ‘you are with me.’

•    Vision uses persuasive and inspiring language to paint a picture of what they want you to understand. This is to make sure that you are enthusiastic, enrolled and that ‘you buy into my perspective’.

•    Goals issues directives and commands and requires feedback in order to ensure that the listener clearly understands. This is to make sure that there is no ambiguity and that ‘you understand what I want you to do.’

The Receiver Orientations:

•    Methods delivers information in a matter-of-fact manner that requires the listener to put the data together themselves. This is because the correct conclusion is obvious to this Style and ‘you should draw the same conclusion I do’.

•    Adjustments
provides detailed, thorough, and precise information that displays the elegance of the topic but requires the listener to provide a context for its relevance. This is because ‘you should be intrigued by the sophistication and complexity of what I am sharing.’

•    Flow
speaks in generalities, employing subtly and nuance that allows the listener maximum leeway to respond in order to keep the conversation going, but this also requires the listener to declare preferences, needs, and wants. This is because ‘we’ve connected and you should care enough to understand my unstated intent.’

All of which underscores the fact that, in order to be effective communicators, we need to understand our own Perceptual Style (and how to make adjustments for each of the five other Styles).

About the Author:

Gary M. Jordan, Ph.D.: With a PhD and MA in clinical psychology, Gary Jordan is a partner at Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd, where he has been advising and mentoring people in all areas of life for the past 20 years. Gary is the visionary behind the Perceptual Style Theory, a revolutionary psychological assessment system that teaches people how to unleash their deepest potentials for success. For free information on how to succeed as an entrepreneur or coach, create a thriving business and build your bottom line doing more of what you love, visit www.ACIforCoaches.com and www.ACIforEntrepreneurs.com