Charting My Course

2008-09-12T04:27:00.001-07:00

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug" - Mark Twain

2008-09-01T04:27:00.000-07:00

"You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try – you don't take the risk." -Rosalynn Carter

"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it." - Unknown

Building Better Business Relationships

2008-08-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

How strong are your relationships with your prospects, current customers, and previous customers? It is crucial to your business that you develop strong, long lasting relationships. I have listed six ways you can start developing those relationships.

1. Be a giver. Always look for a way to be of service to others. This is probably the most important step in building strong relationships. Most people adhere to the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) principle. When you are talking to someone at a networking event, their main interest is usually in what can you do for them. They simply want to know how what you do fits into their business or their life. They do not want to listen to you go on and on about how great you are.
2. Make the decision to like people. This is sometimes difficult because we meet people whom for whatever reason, we just don’t want to be around. There is not always justification for this. It is just a fact of life that we will get along with some people more than others. Either way, we can still make the decision and make the effort to like everyone.
3. Cultivate the art of listening. When making a sales call, the person making the sale should only speak 30% of the time while the person on the receiving end speaks 70% of the time. We get impatient in today’s multi-tasking, fast-paced world. This includes when we are listening to someone. Be considerate and give the person speaking a few minutes of your time and actively listen to what they are saying without thinking about the brilliant response you will have when they finish talking. Be interesting and be interested.
4. Find places you can go or events you can attend that will provide you with an ongoing list of people to call and follow-up with. Be careful how you spend your time. Some networking events are very serious about helping their fellow small business owners and growing their own business. Others are nothing more than social events. Nothing wrong with either of these. Both events provide the foundation for building the relationships we need in our businesses and in our life.
5. Develop a system for following-up with your prospects and clients. This is where most people miss so many great opportunities and cash. They go to networking events, collect business cards, and then the cards just sit on their desk or in a drawer with no action taken to follow-up.
6. Be flexible and be patient. Try to accommodate the other person when possible.

What one thing can you do today to make contact with someone? Put strategies in place to make it easy for you to make consistent contact with prospects and customers. Find events, associations, chambers of commerce, and other places where you enjoy the people and can get the contacts you need to grow your business. Look for opportunities to help others. Cultivate your circle of influence. Nurture your relationships. It does require some work on your part but your efforts will be rewarded. Above all, have fun and enjoy the process.

Do You Want Success (or just dream about it)?

2008-08-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

John Maxwell said, "Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential." How strong is your desire to succeed in whatever you are doing? Are you willing to do the hard work that most people aren't willing to do? This is what will set you apart from the crowd because most people will not do what it takes.

Most people are not willing to do what it takes to be successful in business or in life. Most people would rather make excuses. "Im too old. I shouldn't be doing this at my age." "My parents told me I would be a failure." "I don't have the money I need to start a business." Sound familiar? Get over it and stop whining. There is no easy road but there is a road. Set SMART goals, make a plan, execute the plan, see your dreams fulfilled. It really is that simple. Blow up your TV, start reading, start learning, and just do it. Expect success, not failure. Your thoughts will predict your future and what you get out of life.

Defining Success

2008-08-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

This is how Paul J. Meyer, personal development and growth guru, defines success. “Success is the progressive realization of worthwhile, predetermined, personal goals”.

How do you define success? For some people it may be the accumulation of wealth. For others it may be to finally have their kids finish college. Still for others it may be retirement and playing golf everyday. Success is a personal thing and unique to each individual. Just as you should have clearly defined goals in place, you should also have a clear picture of what success looks like for you. It is difficult to measure success in your life without a clear picture of what success looks like for you. This should be done without the influence of others.

This brings up another question. Are you allowing other people to define success for you? Have family members, society, or friends defined success for you? Sometimes we get caught up in what other people have defined as success for us. We see the lifestyles of the rich and famous thinking that is the true definition of success. This may be true for some people but not for others. I would say you are successful if you are passionate about what you are doing and pursuing worthwhile goals in your business and in your life.

Give this some thought and write down what success would look like for you. Be very specific and don’t just say “I want to be a millionaire” or “I want to get my kids through college”. What would your family life be like? How much money would it take for you to feel successful? Write down an actual dollar amount. If you really look at how much money it would take to be financially independent, you will be surprised at how small this figure may be. What kind of car would you drive and what would your house be like? Get very specific with this and write down all the details. Look at each area of your life: health, spirituality, finances, family, and business. What would success look like in each of these areas? Once you complete this exercise, start writing down specific goals that will get you a step closer to building your success. I will address the topic of goal setting in a future article.

How would you define success in marketing your services or business? Again, you must be very specific and write down actual dollar amounts, number of clients, or whatever else you want to use as a measurement of your marketing success. It is crucial to know what defines success in marketing your services. Otherwise you may spend money in the wrong place and not know what type return you are getting for the dollars spent. Having a system in place to measure your marketing success is critical to your business.

Success means different things to different people. You are the only one who can truly know if you have attained success in your life. It should be the right thing for you whether it is success in the area of finances, family, spirituality, health, business, or whatever. Going through the exercises mentioned above will get you one step closer to being successful.

Are You Playing With A Full Deck?

2008-04-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Marketing is viewed by many people as a necessary evil. It’s something that must be done but not enjoyed by the majority of business owners. There are many reasons for this. One of the reasons is procrastination or you may just not know what to do first. Marketing doesn't have to be difficult. Marketing is all about building the right foundation under your business that will create an unshakable structure in which your business can live and thrive. This can be done if you play the right marketing cards every day.
Some of you may be great poker players. I have to admit, I am not a good poker player because I never know which cards to keep and which cards to play. I just play whatever and hope it works out. This is how a lot of people approach their marketing. But in marketing my business, I have learned not only which cards to play but which cards will allow me to win the game of marketing.

Consistency
The first card is consistency. Here is the bottom line on marketing. I think we all know what to do but for whatever reason we just don’t do it on a consistent basis. What can you do consistently to move your business forward? Do one thing every day towards reaching your goal or moving your business forward. Make sure it is something that you WILL do. Decide what works best for you. You get consistency in your marketing efforts by building momentum. You build momentum by doing at least one thing every day towards the attainment of your ultimate goal.

Action
The second card is action. How do you know what action to take? You first have to look inside and find what you really enjoy doing. If you are marketing your business and using a strategy that is not in line with who you are, you will not be able to take action a consistent basis.

Results
The third card is results. When you work with someone, are you interested in their business or getting the results that you need? What are the real results of people working with you? This is an area where a good brainstorming session will work wonders for your business. Sit down at your desk and just start writing. Do stream of consciousness writing. Don’t think, just write. After you have filled up 2 or 3 pages, start filtering through and find the real benefits your clients will receive as a result of working with you.

Differentiation
What is unique about you? What is unique about your business? Again, do a little brainstorming. Research your competition and find what they are not doing that you could be doing.

Systems
There are a few systems that you need to have in place but the most important one is a contact management system. Following up with prospects and keeping in touch with existing and previous clients is probably the single most important thing you can do for your business. Having a system in place will help you track all of this. It does not have to be anything elaborate. If you have 50 to 75 contacts, you can probably get by with a 3-ring binder with contact sheets. But, I would recommend going ahead and getting a database of some type to do this for you and to automate the process.

I hope this gives you a new perspective on marketing your business and growing your business.

The Lost Art of Listening

2008-03-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

I remember sitting under the shade tree at my grandmother’s house and having casual conversation about nothing in particular. Sometimes it was lively conversation and sometimes it was just talking about the weather. In both cases there were people listening and there were people talking but not at the same time. It was a two way conversation. One person listened while the other person talked.

Now let’s move up to the present. I am having a “conversation” with a friend of mine. I am listening and he is talking. There is a pause in the conversation and I start to interject a thought when he starts talking again as if I am not there. If I were not a confident and self-assured person, I may take this personally.

What happened to the art of listening? What happened to talking for a bit and then listening to what the other person has to say. If you watch the talking heads on some of the cable news networks, you will see a barrage of people having conversations. Sometimes having different conversations to each other! What is going on here? Have we become so inconsiderate of other people that we do not deem them to be important enough to listen to without interrupting them with our brilliant thoughts and dialogue.

Being a good listener is absolutely essential to being successful in anything. This is especially true in marketing and selling your services. Listening attentively is a form of respect for the other person. If you are engaging a potential client, being a good listener will take you leaps and bounds ahead of your competitor. It seems very few people posses this valuable asset. I’m not saying everybody, but I am saying some people could use a little improvement in this area.

Here are a few things you can do to be a better listener:

1. Put other thoughts out of your mind and focus on what the person is saying.
2. Shut up and don’t interrupt while the other person is talking.
3. Be mentally and physically ready to listen. If you have an important meeting, make sure you get lots of rest the night before.

Setting SMART Goals

2008-02-27T08:38:00.000-08:00

Now is the time of year when everyone is thinking about setting their goals for the year. Some people want to lose weight, make more money, increase their business. We have to be clear on what we want to go in order to have any chance of getting there. A goal is not the same as a dream. "I want to lose weight " is a dream. "Join a gym and work out 3 times per week" is a goal.

A goal must be:

- Specific - What? Why? How?
- Measurable - How will you know your goal is accomplished?
- Action oriented - Are there specific actions you can take to reach your goal?
- Realistic - Do you truly believe this goal can be accomplished?
- Time based - What is your timeframe for accomplishing your goal?

Another great exercise is to write down your goals as if they have already happened. Think about what your life would look like at the end of this year if you accomplished all your goals. For example: I make $150K a year, I am at my ideal weight, I have balance in my life, I work out 3 times per week, I am healthy.

Probably the most important part of attaining your goals is to write them down. Get them out of your head and onto a piece of paper. Put them on a 3x5 index card and keep them in front of you on your desk as a daily reminder. Never lose sight of your goals.

Remember, if your goal is not a SMART goal then it is just a dream. Having clearly defined goals will increase your confidence, self esteem, and drive your business forward in the coming year.

It’s That Time Of Year....Again

2008-01-11T06:22:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to make those New Year’s resolutions. I will lose weight. I will exercise more. I will save more money. I will leave this dead end job and start my own business. Does any of this sound familiar? Will you end 2008 with regret because you didn’t accomplish what you set out to do at the beginning of the year or will you make the decision now to make a change? How can you improve your chances for success this year?

Here is my New Year’s resolution. I will not make New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I have set a few specific, realistic, attainable, and measurable goals for my life and my business. These goals are set in several areas - financial, health, business, family/social, personal development, spiritual, and fun/recreation. Be aware of where you are currently in each of these areas and decide where you want to be in 30 days, one year, three years, and five years.

Ideally you will set your goals prior to the beginning of the year but it is never too late. So, how do you get started? Here are five tips that will help you.

1. Set aside an hour in the next three days and just get it done. There is no other way to get the clarity and focus that is needed to reach your goals other than simply doing the work and putting in the time. Don’t procrastinate on this because you think you are not clear enough on what you want. It is important to be clear on what you want but it is more important to just get started. Remember your goals are not set in stone. Sometimes they will need to be adjusted or they will change as your life or business changes.

2. Writing down your goals will dramatically increase your chances of success. Write your goals on 3 x 5 index cards that you can keep on your desk within easy reach so you can review them every day first thing in the morning.

3. Have a strong “why” for attaining your goal. Having a strong “why” will give you the determination and perseverance you will need to reach your goal in addition to giving you more focus. Ask yourself what drives you. What makes you get up in the morning? It is very important to determine your motivation for achieving a specific goal.

4. Don’t set yourself up for failure before you even get started. Make sure the goals you are setting are realistic and attainable. This is not to say you shouldn’t dream big but at the same time make sure this is something you will do and something you can do.

5. Set a specific and realistic date for accomplishing your goal. Without a specific date, it is highly unlikely that you will ever reach your goal.

Live your life on purpose, Write down your goals and start taking steps today to reach them. Align your goals with you passions. Visualize yourself at the end of this year with a feeling of success, accomplishment, and elation. Have fun, relax, and enjoy the journey.

Consistency In Your Marketing

2007-12-28T02:01:00.000-08:00

Consistency is probably one of the most important concepts you can grasp to be successful in your marketing. A bad marketing plan done consistently will usually get better results than a great marketing plan done inconsistently.

Exercising is a great example of the importance of consistency. If you start going to the gym and exercise once a month, you probably won’t see very good results. If you start going three times a week, the chances are high that you will see results and feel better after only a few weeks. The same applies to your marketing. If you are going to a networking event every couple of months, then you probably will not get the results that you want. On the other hand, if you go to four networking events a month your chances of success will increase exponentially. Setting a goal of attending four networking events a month or to make five cold calls everyday or benchmarking whatever task you want to do on a daily basis towards improving your business will help you get consistency in your marketing.

One of the reasons for not being consistent in your marketing could be that you put too much on your plate on a daily basis. Some people like to feel they are “busy” and overwhelmed. The reality is that most of these people accomplish less because they are too “busy” and overwhelmed. Take a step back and discover what is really important. What one thing could you do today that would change the course of your business? If you do this over a period of thirty days, you will have done twenty key tasks that will potentially grow your business. If you do three things a day, that would be sixty tasks you would be doing every month towards reaching your business goals. Over a period of a year you would have done 720 tasks towards improving your business. Do you think that would change your business? When you are doing your daily tasks, make them challenging but not overwhelming. For example, if you are just starting to cold call, don’t tell yourself you will make 100 cold calls today. Set a goal to make 10 cold calls. Your chances of success are greater and your chances of becoming discouraged decrease. Doing this one thing will help you become more consistent in your marketing.

Another obstacle to being consistent in your marketing is procrastination. 80% of all decisions that you make in your business should be made immediately. Learn to trust your gut. Look inside yourself and try to find the root of your tendency to procrastinate. It could be a fear of failure or it could even be a fear of success. Maybe you just don’t have the right systems in place to do proper followup with potential clients or to benchmark your strategies. Find the root of your procrastination and get it fixed today. It could be costing you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in lost revenue especially if you are procrastinating on following up with potential clients.

In conclusion, always be aware of what you are doing on a daily basis and don’t put too much on your plate. Find a few simple things you can do every day to get better results from your marketing efforts. Realize that whatever marketing tasks you choose to do should be done consistently in order to see the results you desire.

How Are You Spending Your Time?

2007-12-14T09:01:00.000-08:00

Knowing how you are spending time can mean more to your business than almost any other factor. There is a tremendous difference between just working hard and working hard on tasks that will drive your business to the next level. For example, I attended every networking event I could find when I first started my business. It took time to figure out which ones were “social events” and which ones were actually interested in helping business owners succeed. I also spent time with unqualified "potential clients" that wasted my time and theirs. The reality is that you are spending time in your business the same as you are spending your money. Are you budgeting both of these assets?
As a business owner, you have to be selfish with your time. If you are spending hours a week on tasks that are more social than business, you may need to reevaluate what you are doing. (You may even need to evaluate whether or not you really want to be in business for yourself.) You get inundated with networking meetings, volunteer opportunities, meetings with potential clients, sales, marketing, and personal errands. How much time are you devoting to training that will teach you how to be more effective in your business or to market better? I don’t have time for training, marketing, (or take your pick of other tasks that may drive your business to the next level). This is something that I hear from business owners over and over again. When I dig a little deeper in what is taking their time, I find they are doing things for the local chamber, going to a sports event or concert, meeting with potential clients that will never produce any real income, or volunteering for everything that comes along.
I am not saying don't volunteer your time and efforts to these events and worthy causes, but manage your time wisely. Discover what is really important to you and your business. It is very important to volunteer, be involved in your local community and to give back. So find a way you can contribute to your local community, have a social life, and still run your business. Find a way to do all of these things effectively. It takes a little effort but the payoff in the long run is tremendous.

Here are a few tips to help you make better use of your time:
1. Find a way to benchmark your efforts.
2. Be selfish with your time.
3. Volunteering is great and I encourage you to do this but budget the time you spend on these tasks.
4. Take 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon (or whatever day works for you) to plan your week.

What’s In It For Me?

2007-11-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

Think about the last time you purchased a product or service. Were you focused on the benefit it would add to the person who was selling you their product or delivering their services? NO! Your focus was on "What's in it for me?".

No matter how good your product or service is, your customer or client will want to know what’s in it for them. Sometimes in our enthusiasm for our business or service we forget to think about what the customer really wants and really needs. We try to second guess the customer or tell them what would be best for their business when in reality, the customer really does know best. All the customer wants is a product or service that will drive their business forward and increase their bottom line in a big way. They want to see a return on investment for the hard earned dollars they are spending. If you cannot show them how your service or product is going to increase revenues or deliver some other tangible benefit to their business, you don’t stand a chance of having anyone buy from you.

Before calling on a potential client or customer, always do a little research on what they sell or offer in the way of services. This doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Read a book or spend 15 minutes on the internet to get all the information you need to become informed enough to intelligently approach a potential client.

Your job is to educate your customer and show how your service will add to their bottom line. Your job is not to “sell” your potential client or customer. In order to educate your customer, you must have a thorough understanding of your product or service. You also need to have a general knowledge of their business or service to speak intelligently about what you are offering and how they will benefit. You owe this to your clients and you owe it to yourself. Your job will be much easier using this approach.

They are giving you their hard earned dollars in exchange for a product or service that will drive their business forward, increase revenues, or get more clients for their services. You should never approach any business or service professional with what you have to offer until you have done your due diligence. It’s not that hard. They will appreciate the fact that you have taken the time to learn about their business or service and have more confidence in the fact that you can provide what they really need. Remember to always think about and to always show what’s in it for them.

The Benefits Of Time Blocking

2007-11-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

How many times have you ended the day and wondered what did I accomplish today? So many times we get caught up in being “busy” during our day and before we know what hit us, the day is over. We spend time doing this for a minute or two, then we do something else for a few minutes, and then come back to what we started earlier in the day. This is not good time management. In this day of multitasking, some people take a sense of pride in being overwhelmed and “just too busy” to get anything done. Hours go by, days go by, and yes, even years go by without ever accomplishing anything.

Here is the solution. Time blocking can provide structure in your day and allow you to complete tasks or at least complete a large part of a task before moving on to something else. Here is how it works. Decide on the tasks you will do for a particular day. Instead of just having a “to do” list with everything listed in order of importance and working down the list, take a few items from the list that are top priority for accomplishing what you need to accomplish, and block out whatever time you want to allocate to that task. This can be 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours. The point is to only allocate the allotted time to each task.

Here is an example. Today I want to write an article, follow-up with 3 contacts, go to a 1 networking event. I will allocate 1 hour to writing the article. This is a focused effort on just writing the article. Whether I finish the article or not is irrelevant. I will only spend one hour on writing the article. I will do the same for the other two tasks. I will allocate 30 minutes to following up with contacts, and allocate 2 hours to the networking event. By doing this you are sure to, at the very least, accomplish these tasks. You will not end your day wondering where the time went and what you accomplished.
Give this a chance and try it for 5 consecutive days and see if you have improved productivity, less stress, and more time to do the things that are important to your business and your life.

What Do You Do?

2007-11-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

This is the question that inevitably comes up in any conversation when networking or meeting people in some other fashion. What do you do? If you do not have a clear answer to this question, you may have just lost a sale or a potential client for your services.

As service professionals, we must constantly tell people what we do. If you cannot clearly articulate this message, you lose.
When someone asks what I do, I can confidently say that “I work with service professionals who want to differentiate themselves from the competition and become more effective in their marketing". This is everything I do in a nutshell. This can be communicated in around 10 seconds. I say this and then I stop. I do not go any further with this as far as clarifying what I do. I simply let it lay there and wait for their response. Mark LeBlanc, in his book Growing Your Business, calls this your defining statement. It tells the person asking the question what you do, who you do it for, and the benefits of working with you.

Wouldn’t it be great if the next time you met someone at a networking group, you could clearly articulate what you do, who you do it for, and the potential benefits of working with you in a clear and concise way. Would this increase your edge in picking up new clients?

One of the mistakes I see people making when constructing their statement is to make it too vague and more complicated than it has to be. The greatest factor is creating a successful defining statement is to make it conversational and repeatable. If someone else cannot easily repeat your defining statement, then it is useless. Use simple wording that can be understood by anyone. Pick up a copy of Mark LeBlanc’s book “Growing Your Business” for information on creating a great defining statement.

The Balancing Act

2007-10-26T23:33:00.000-07:00

There is a balancing act that we have to perform daily if we are to have success in any service business. We must achieve a balance between the daily operations of our business, dealing with clients, and marketing. Whether you are an accountant, realtor, attorney, insurance agent or any other service professional, you must incorporate balance into your business and into your marketing game plan.

Many service professionals are out of balance due to the feast or famine syndrome. We have all been there. This is where you are working for months with more clients than you can handle, everything is going well, and marketing your business is the last thing on your mind. You are almost to the point of being overwhelmed with all the work you have to do. Then you wake up one morning with maybe a couple of things to do for the day and you start wondering how you are going to market your services because you just don’t have all the clients you need to sustain your business at the moment. The clients you were servicing for the past few months are gone. You have delivered what they needed and now there are no clients to replace them. A good example of this is when realtors are in a housing market that is great and they have to do very little in the way of marketing because clients are calling them. They have all the listings they can handle and eager buyers to buy the homes they have listed. Then one day circumstances beyond their control start impacting their business. There is a change in the economy and they have no clients. Either the interest rates have gone up or the local economy is suffering or some other event out of their control has caused a downturn in the housing market. Now after months of not marketing their services, all of a sudden they are struggling to get clients. Does this sound familiar?

It takes months for most marketing strategies to produce any significant results. If you are in the situation of the realtor that was not marketing their services when the housing market was great, you are probably going to struggle with having decreased income and trying to figure out what to do next. Your stress level increases, self doubt about your abilities creeps in, or you start considering another career. It does not have to be this way. Wouldn’t it be great if you could reduce the chances of being in this situation? Nothing is guaranteed but if you have balanced your marketing efforts along with the daily tasks of running your business and dealing with clients, the chances of you being in this situation a greatly reduced.
No matter how busy we are, there is always time to market our services. You can make 1 cold call every day, go to 2 networking events each month, develop a newsletter to keep your name in front of your clients on a monthly basis, ask for referrals from every satisfied client and start building a database of these potential clients.

There is a long list of things you can do on a daily basis that require very little time. The key to marketing success for service professionals is finding a few simple things you can do that you feel comfortable doing, and do them consistently. Don't make this harder than it has to be. Literally a few minutes spent on some aspect of marketing your business on a daily basis will pay off significantly in the coming months. The key is to do something every day related to marketing no matter how busy you are. Take 2 minutes to make a phone call to a potential new client or take one hour out of your week to attend a networking event and you will develop habits that make it very easy to balance your marketing with your day-to-day operations. You can master the necessary balancing act that is so essential to being successful in your business.

Become An Expert

2007-10-19T23:31:00.000-07:00

People seem to be attracted to businesses that fulfill a very specific need. Clients are looking for a specific service for a specific reason. Just take a walk through a local mall and you will see many “specialty” shops that cater to a very narrow market. In the area of service professionals, you will find attorneys who specialize in certain areas of law. They may specialize in helping small businesses or personal injury cases. Generally the individuals who operate these businesses or deliver these services are experts in whatever they are delivering (or that is the hope of the client). How important is it to be an expert in your field and how do you become an expert in your field?

Here is a list of 4 key elements to becoming an expert.

1. Passion - It is very difficult to become successful at anything if you are not passionate about what you are doing. Make sure you are in a business that excites you. That enthusiasm and excitement carries over to your clients and gives them more confidence in the fact that they are dealing with the right person for their current needs. You will need passion for what you are doing in order to do the necessary work required to become an expert.

2. Dedication - Without dedication to your chosen field, you will not find success. Without passion you will not be able to dedicate yourself to the tasks that are required to succeed in your field. Dedication could be something as simple as finding 3 books on your chosen field of interest and committing to reading one book every 2 weeks. Devote 30 minutes to one hour every day to reading. Just 30 minutes a day will allow you to finish at least a book every month. One hour a day will allow you to read one book every two weeks.

3. Focus - A narrow, laser like focus will be an essential key to becoming an expert. I am sure you have talked to people who tell you they can help everybody with anything. How much confidence do you have in this person that they can solve your problem? Some people are afraid of developing a narrow focus for their business, but you cannot be all things to all people. By narrowing your focus, you may initially exclude a few people from your business. This is a scary thing for a lot of people, but in the long run you will attract more clients because you have become the expert in a specific area. This gives people confidence in your ability. You develop the know, like, trust factor from your clients and they feel more comfortable recommending someone else to you. For example, my current my focus is on realtors. This does not mean I am excluding everyone else from my business. If an attorney or accountant needed my services, I would welcome the opportunity. But by focusing on realtors, I can read books, do research, talk to realtors about their challenges and concerns and go more in-depth learning about realtors and their specific needs. This is very easy for me because I have a strong interest in real estate and it is a fun challenge to learn more about this specific field. Find a specific market that you can service and learn all you can about that market and you will provide a much better service for your clients.

4. Be a lifelong learner - Always strive to learn more about your chosen field. There are so many resources available to us now. Books on every subject, the internet, classes are all resources we can use to develop our knowledge. Take advantage of all of these and more. We are living in an age of great opportunity if we will just take advantage of everything that is available to us.

Being in a service business requires passion, dedication, focus, and the desire to be a lifelong learner. All of these key elements work together to drive our business and to drive us to be better as individuals. Take a moment to reflect on each of these and then start your journey to becoming an expert in your field. You will be happier in your business and the payoff will be tremendous.

Book Review: Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port

2007-10-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

I was recently introduced to Michael Port's work when I picked up a copy of Book Yourself Solid. The inside cover states "Book Yourself Solid is a one-of-a-kind, step-by-step guide to building a successful service business from the ground up." That statement pretty much sums up what this book is about.

The book is divided into 3 modules. Your Foundation, Building Trust and Credibility, and The Book Yourself Solid 7 Core Self-Promotion Strategies. Each chapter is filled with written exercises.

In the first module, Your Foundation, Michael talks about choosing the ideal clients you want to work with. He calls it the "Red Velvet Rope Policy". Nobody gets past the Red Velvet Rope unless it is someone your truly want to work with. You want to work with people that inspire and energize you. This means working only with people you truly enjoy working with. Your clients are an expression and extension of you and your business. All of us sometimes struggle with wanting to fill the pipeline at any cost when in reality we need to be focused on clients that truly want and need what we have to offer. He shows you how to create a Red Velvet Rope Policy. He discusses "investable opportunities". Along with identifying your target market, and understanding your target market's urgent needs, you should also uncover and demonstrate the benefits of your investable opportunities. They must feel they receive a greater return than the investment they made. He also talks about developing a personal brand. He helps you develop your "Who and Do What" statement and your "Why you do it" statement. The last part of "Your Foundation" discusses how to talk about what you do. Instead of just a standard elevator speech, he shows you how to create a long, mid-length and short "dialogue".

Module Two talks about building trust and credibility. Topics include becoming a likeable expert in your field, building relationships of trust over time through your sales cycle, developing brand building products and programs, and having effective sales conversations. The sales cycle works when you know who, what, where, when, why, and how. He discusses developing products and how to talk about what you do. Developing brand building information products could include everything from writing articles to creating an e-zine. The written exercises you find the right product for your business and your target market. The final chapter in this module concerns "Super Simple Selling". Ask more questions than you answer, listen more than you speak, and visualize the outcome. We have heard some of this before but he gives you exercises you can use to reinforce what you may already know along with a new perspective on how to implement the "Super Simple Selling" techniques.

Module Three covers the Book Yourself Solid 7 core self-promotion strategies. Networking, outreach strategy, referral strategy, web strategy, speaking and demonstrating strategy, writing strategy, and the keep-in-touch strategy. As I stated earlier, a lot of this you may already "know". But if we know all of these things, why are we not doing them on a consistent basis?

There are many tried and true methods in this book but there are also a few new ways of looking at marketing a business that anyone in business or thinking about starting a business will find very useful. Communication is key in disseminating this type of information and Michael Port is a master communicator. The entire book is also filled with written exercises and everything is discussed in an easy to follow step-by-step process. He does an excellent job of involving the reader every step of the way. The workbook is a free download for anyone who purchases the book. You can download the workbook from the Book Yourself Solid website. This is one of the best investments any business owner or professional could make to grow their business or to start a new business with all the right marketing tools at your disposal.