Categories
Sales & Marketing

Build Your House On A Solid Marketing Foundation

Article Contributed by Lisa Cherney

A solid marketing foundation is key to a solid business. Even the big boys like Pepsi and Coke realize this! If they get comfortable and let their marketing efforts relax, then sales will suffer, and they’ll have to work twice as hard to get back their share of the market. You, as an entrepreneur and master of your own domain, have to be cognizant of where you spend your time and dollars. Just like a house, you need a strong foundation that you can build on that will stand the test of time. From this foundation, you’ll be able to add on and up as your business grows. So here are the first 2 key elements to a solid marketing foundation, the Juicy way.

Your ideal client is the foundation of your house.

I, like most entrepreneurs, didn’t know when I started my business that just having a “niche” was not accurate or precise enough to create the success that I was after. Let’s face it: your business is you, so you have to love all your clients. You are no longer employed by someone else, in a job where you have to do what your boss tells you and work with people that you don’t necessarily like. You’re the boss now, so you’ve got to love what you do and the people you work with. Picture your clients as the frame that your house is built around. The large bottom part is your target market – the concrete foundation that holds the house together. The walls are your niche that you most want to appeal to, but the roof is where it’s at. They are your ideal clients. So you have to figure out what those folks at the top want to hear from you. It’s not always about money for them, it’s about growth. Do you have what they want? Here’s a question to ask yourself: “Which clients are my favorites and why?” You’ll be making a huge mistake if you only focus on what you do. Focus on the values of your ideal clients, because it will tell you about your own values – and you’ll be speaking the words that they want to hear. It’s the foundation of your house, so make sure it’s solid!

Always highlight your irresistible Juicy benefits.

These are the shutters, the crown molding, the landscaping of your house. It’s curb appeal! It is your unique way of describing how you can change someone’s life. In the end, your credentials don’t matter as much as how their life is going to change once they give your their money. This is where you tell them the benefits of working with you. NOT how many years of experience you have, or the huge mega-companies you’ve worked with, or all the workshops, workbooks and CD’s that they’ll get with your program. These are features, not benefits. Spend the time, dig deep, and have a juicy benefit statement ready to go for every form of service that you provide. This is your opportunity for getting clarity so that your marketing can stand out. These statements help you to know your value so you can charge more. Find the words to say why you’re different than everyone else out there.

The best part about owning your own business is that you get to design your own “house”! Later, I’ll give you two more juicy secrets to build your business on solid marketing ground.

About the Author
Lisa Cherney, a.k.a. the Juicy Marketing Expert, founded Conscious Marketing 12 years ago to help small business owners find their authentic marketing voice, attract their ideal clients and increase their sales. Following her own Stand Out & Be Juicy program, which centers on owning your unique self and laser-focus marketing, Lisa has tripled her income while working part-time. Prior to Conscious Marketing, Lisa worked with many Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Lipton, Nissan, Blue Cross and Equal. She is a highly sought after speaker and often shares the stage with experts such as Jack Assaraf (The Secret), Jack Canfield and Jill Lublin. Learn more about Lisa at www.consciousmarketing.com or call 887-771-0156.

Categories
Networking

How to Get More Leads With LinkedIn By Using My Simple Learn, Lurk and Link Strategy

Article Contributed by Kristina Jaramillo

When you take control of your social media interactions on LinkedIn you will build, develop and have command over your own community.

For example, when Article Marketing Expert Eric Gruber and I created and launched our Instant LinkedIn Marketing Templates we:

1. Reached out to our LinkedIn Group members.  Eric has over 800 people in his group alone, which is a target rich environment for us to get more sales.

2. We created articles that demonstrated ways LinkedIn should be used to generate more profits for you.  We created articles that showed top mistakes people are making on their LinkedIn profiles.  At the end of all these articles we added a call to action to grab our Instant LinkedIn Marketing Templates.
3. We used a simple learn, lurk and link strategy to capture other prospects that belong to other groups.  Some of these groups have more than 25,000 members.  I cannot tell you how many times we saw an order that had “LinkedIn Group” as the answer to: “Where did you hear about us?”

Here’s My Simple Learn, Lurk & Link Strategy Explained in Detail

1. Learn – Before you can create content that your LinkedIn prospects can connect to you must uncover what challenges they are facing, the latest thinking, mistakes that are being made and what questions are being left unanswered.  The best way to achieve this is to be where your prospects are. That means you should join the LinkedIn groups your prospects belong to.  Then move onto the next step.

2. Lurk – Go to the group and view the discussions. Look what kinds of questions are being asked within the group.  See what kind of content is being created and distributed.  Check out the different debates that occurring, this way you can see other points of views.  This is one of the best ways to see the latest thinking and philosophies.  Then find out how you can add value to the conversations by revealing information that has not been said before.  Offer a new twist or insight on a popular topic.  This will make people want to listen to what you have to say and learn more about what you have to offer.

3. Link – The final step is linking to these prospects.  Invite people to connect that have commented on your articles, posts or previous comments.  Reach out to prospects by asking them questions and inviting them to join the conversation.  The point of this is to get people to like what you have to say so they will view your website, buy your products, use your services, ask for your advice and so on. When you can show that you are an expert in your field others will listen.

Now try my learn, lurk and link strategies with your LinkedIn marketing and see if you can get results like Help My Website Founder Adam Hommey who received 150 new

subscribers, four new coaching clients, $6,259 in immediate profits and two media interviews!  After receiving these results here is what Adam had to say:

“Leveraging the full power of LinkedIn® has been the secret ingredient that has taken me further during the last couple of months toward achieving “authority” status as a website conversions expert than I moved in three years PRIOR.”

Now are you ready to learn, lurk and link?

About the Author:

LinkedIn marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo, the creator of the first LinkedIn marketing templates at http://www.InstantLinkedInMarketingTemplates.com helps business professionals network more effectively on LinkedIn so they can get more website traffic, prospects and profits. Now, with her free special report, you can uncover how you can become “the trusted source for your industry on LinkedIn” by avoiding her top 14 mistakes. Get this information for free at: http://www.GetLinkedInHelp.com

Categories
Starting Up

How to Finish the Projects You Start and Grow Your Start-up

Article Contributed by Rigdha Acharya

Entrepreneurs, by nature, are great initiators. Think about it: You get hit by an idea and then set out to make that idea a reality. That’s what entrepreneurship is all about and that’s also why most entrepreneurs are haunted by unfinished tasks, enormous stress and dwindling profits.

You see, in order to grow your business and become successful, it is important to learn how to finish the projects you start so you can close more deals and bring in more profits. Unfinished ideas harm more than just your bottom line. Each new idea is like a new commitment, and commitments that are not kept put additional strain on you, as well as waste massive amounts of time.

Look at it this way; do you have a social media account that is collecting dust? How long did it take you to create that account? Wouldn’t you agree that the time spent on a proven strategy would have produced actual revenue?

The reality is most entrepreneurs have at least 10 half-done projects sitting on the shelf everyday amounting to nothing but wasted time, energy and resources because half done projects do not produce revenue.

Here’s what causes unfinished tasks, unnecessary headaches and lost profits for entrepreneurs:

1.       Tasks get boring: Even the most interesting ideas get dull after a while.

2.       Too much to do: Having too much work paralyzes you, preventing you from getting anything done.

3.       Poor time management: Procrastination, distraction, overwork and lack of focus make a deadly recipe.

These 3 prevents business owners from reaching their full potential and earning the money they deserve.

However, there is hope. If you find yourself constantly battling against the idea bug, you can win by countering each of the above factors by applying these 3 proven strategies.

1. Measure your progress

Measuring your progress helps you fight boredom and lack of motivation when a project takes too long or doesn’t go in the planned direction. Create small milestones and celebrate when you pass each one. This will keep you excited and keen.

When you start out with a project that is especially tough to wade through, make a few goals that are easy to meet. For instance, if you’re struggling with a new brochure, one of your milestones can be selecting a font for the headline. This is small and simple compared to writing the content of the brochure. This milestone will get you moving and once you have momentum, it is easier to tackle the more challenging parts of the task.

2. Be objective about new opportunities

Small businesses are restricted by the amount of resources available. By this definition, there is always going to be too much to do and very few resources with which to do it. This requires you to develop an objective eye for new opportunities.

Look at each new opportunity and ask yourself if it will really help you achieve your goals. If it will, try to note it down and return to it after you finish your current undertaking. Just remember, a project delivered is more powerful than ten projects in production.

3. Learn how to manage your time more effectively

Lack of proper time management is a vicious circle. It can cause overwhelming stress, which increases the tendency to quit something before seeing results. This, in turn, leaves you with even more stress. Learn how to prioritize, reduce distraction and plan your day more efficiently to increase the chances of finishing everything you start.

Create small 45 minute blocks of focused time where you can focus on the project at hand and keep a notebook with you so can note any ideas or distractions that occur during the time block. As you get better with managing distractions, you can increase your time block to 60 or 90 minutes. This level of focus will aid you in getting your tasks finished before you rush to the next idea.

So, there you are; learn how to manage your time effectively, take an objective look at new opportunities and measure your focus to conquer the demons of unfinished tasks and generate more revenue.

About the Author:

Rigdha Acharya is the CEO of <a href=http://www.GetYourSuccessNow.com>Actionable Business Training</a>; her company delivers actionable, customized, caring and measurable business training to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. You can learn how to prioritize opportunities, set measurable goals and manage time effectively by requesting her free course at http://www.ManageMyTimeNow.com.

Categories
Planning & Management

Business Exit Planning – Can Your Business Survive If You Could No Longer Manage It Tomorrow

Article Contributed by Tony Kubica and Sara LaForest

How much time do you spend thinking about business exit planning?

If you’re like many of the small business owners we meet – not much. That’s okay as long as you don’t care about supporting yourself and your family when you retire or leave the business, and if you are not attached to what happens to the business, your employees and your customers after you leave. But in truth, the business professionals and small business owners we meet do care.

They care a lot – they just haven’t done much about it yet.

Unfortunately, many business owners believe that their business will just dissolve when they exit, and don’t believe or understand that their business could have value for sale.

Two Reasons Your Business Can Have Value After You Leave the Business

1.      If you setup your business so it can be sold at a later date, then your company can help grow the acquirer’s business by allowing them to add a new service or product line to their business or by enhancing an existing service/product line through the addition of your company.

2.      If you are a thought leader in your industry and if the business does not rely on you for operations – then your business has value as your competition will want to remove you as a competitor!

Now, I know what you are thinking… “But, I’m not ready to sell my business. Why do I have to think about exit planning for my business now?”

Here’s Why Exit Planning Is Critical For Your Business Now – And Why You Should Not Delay Thinking About Exit Strategies…

An exit plan better prepares you (the business owner) for the inevitable transition of your business – whether it’s expected (intended), unexpected or the result of undesirable circumstances that can and do arise.

Most business owners we talk to understand the voluntary exit (even if they are not currently planning for it). And they also understand and fear an involuntary exit. What is less discussed, but a looming reality like the proverbial albatross around your neck, is the unexpected exit.

An unexpected exit may be triggered by a biological event such as:

  • You die
  • You become ill or disabled
  • You’re too old to effectively run the business

Due to the sensitivity of the topic, many small business owners and business professionals simply avoid the biological aspects in their exit planning.  As a result, they are left to deal with the muddle of unknowns amid the highly emotional and sometimes financial losses of an owner.

Now That You Know Why You Need to Have An Exit Plan in Place – Here Are Your Next Steps…

Regardless of whether the exit event is planned (the sale of the company, leadership succession of an employee or family member) or not (a biological event), at some point there will be an inevitable transition.

So we ask again, how much time have you spent thinking about and formulating an exit plan that considers not only the planned exit options, but also the unplanned exit possibilities?

To start thinking about it, we suggest you start with one key question: Can your business continue if you could no longer run it tomorrow?

If the answer is yes – then you are well prepared for a sale or for a biological event. If your answer is no because the business relies either solely or primarily on you for sales and key operational activities, you are not a very attractive acquisition target. And should a biological event occur, sustaining the business will be a serious challenge.

Clearly, we recommend that regardless of where you are in your business life cycle (start-up, or nearing the end of your tenure with the business), you should be working with a business consultant to create your business exit plan.

While formulating an exit plan will require some “frontloading” in time, the benefits of your effort will payoff by:

•      Allowing you to control and better manage the exit

•      Helping you to maximize company value

•      Minimizing tax implications

•      Establishing multiple exit options which mitigate unknowns and negative unexpected circumstances (i.e. serious injury/disability, death, divorce, disagreement/owner deadlock, etc.)

•      Better enabling you to achieve business and personal goals

•      Reducing stress and anxiety due to prior planning and defined expectations

•      Insuring business continuity

Now, start planning your exit strategy!

About the Author:

Tony Kubica and Sara LaForest are management consultants with more than 50+ years of combined experience in helping entrepreneurs, small businesses and organizations improve their business performance. Failing to plan an exit strategy is just one way to sabotage your business. Get their complete “Self-Sabotage in Business White Paper” at: http://www.kubicalaforestconsulting.com/resources.php and uncover the common, subtle ways you are harming your performance.

Categories
How-To Guides

How to Leverage Your Time And Raise Your Prices

Article Contributed by Lisa Cherney

Given the impact that your clients have on your business, it’s crucial that you have the right clients on your success train.  If the distance between your ideal clients is widening, you need to close the gap!  Consistency in attracting those “10’s” in your client base is key to obtaining that peace and prosperity that will allow you to make more money and work less hours than you ever have in the past.  Here is a strategy that you can use, right now, to get the most mileage out of your programs and services so that you can use your part-time hours effectively.

Start by asking yourself this question: Where can I add group delivery and by what date?

I transformed my business when I changed what I was selling, my “off-the-shelf” type programs, into a high ticket, high value program.  I was able to impart so much more value, more tools, more marketing how-to’s, audios, and small group experiences when I didn’t spread such a wide net and limited the participation to a select group of entrepreneurs who could benefit the most from what I had to offer.  And here’s the process in a nutshell.

First, I set a date for when this new program was going to start.  Then I created the program.  Third, everyone I talked to that was a fit for  my “ideal” client was offered that specific program and no other.  Right now you may be treating every client as an inidividual, having conversations, holding a teleclass for one… that’s not the way to get a 6-figure income.  You have to stop the one-on-one.  If they’re not a match for your program as it functions, then they are non-ideal clients.  Do them, and yourself, a favor and just say no.  Keep it simple and only offer a couple of very specialized programs.  I have two really quality programs that I offer, and it works great for me.  I’m clear on my clients and offerings, and I get the most out of the people that I work with.

Next, double your fees.

Think of one thing that you charge for and double it.  If that’s really easy for you, then you should have already been doing it.  Double it again.  Do it until it feels uncomfortable.  You have to believe in yourself and the value that you provide.  Don’t listen to the excuses of why you can’t, just know your value and do it.  You can start this today!  Put a date on the rate increase, even if it’s a year out.  Be confident and “get full of yourself” (in the good way) in order to create the value of your programs in the mind of your potential client.

One of the most impactful steps in our Stand Out & Be Juicy process is creating a set of irresistable Juicy Benefits for every product and service you offer because this is where you learn to articlulate the value you offer in a unique way.  And people tell me over and over that they see a directly relationship between what they are willing to charge and their ability to articulate the value someone will get.

I have to warn you not to pre-judge someone because you think they don’t have the money for your new full-service program.  I once gave $2000 back to a client when I couldn’t give her the value that I knew she needed from the service option she had chosen.  She didn’t think she could afford the full program, and I knew that she really needed more.  She needed the full-blown group program to take her business where she wanted to go.  So when I told her I couldn’t in good conscience take her money for the small program, she knew where I was coming from and told me to keep the money, and she would pay for the full program in 2 weeks.  That’s how you know your ideal client gets not only your value, but their own.

About the Author:

Lisa Cherney, a.k.a. the Juicy Marketing Expert, founded Conscious Marketing 12 years ago to help small business owners find their authentic marketing voice, attract their ideal clients and increase their sales. Following her own Stand Out & Be Juicy program, which centers on owning your unique self and laser-focus marketing, Lisa has tripled her income while working
part-time.

Prior to Conscious Marketing, Lisa worked with many Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Lipton, Nissan, Blue Cross and Equal. She is a highly sought after speaker and often shares the stage with experts such as Jack Assaraf (The Secret), Jack Canfield and Jill Lublin. Learn more about Lisa at www.consciousmarketing.com or call 887-771-0156.