 I moved from working in my business to working on my business!
Jim White, Founder Savor Dallas http://www.savordallas.com |
 I found a community of business leaders who make being in business a lot more fun and less lonely.
Jeannine Sandstrom, CEO CoachWorks International, Inc. http://www.coachworks.com |
 I now have a place to be open about my business success and future challenges.
Debbie Mrazek, CEO The Sales Company Author The Field Guide to Sales http://www.the-sales-company.com |
Archive for the ‘marketing’ Category
Tell us where to send it, and we’ll send you the number one
success book of all time.
My friends Vic and Lisa Johnson are doing this crazy marketing
test where they’re giving away Napoleon Hill’s "Think & Grow Rich."
I’m helping them with their big giveaway and wanted to make sure
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Feel free to pass this on to friends. They can get one too if they
act right away.
This is one of my favorite books. I know you’ll love it!
Tina Ferguson
P.S. Vic and Lisa are actually shipping these so you need to give
them your address before they run out.
Details here:
http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/rapidsuccessnow
I often get asked by business owners about Online Marketing Strategies. Many of my customers find information about MLM or Network Marketing when searching in Google for Online Marketing Strategies, and then ask me what a “real” business needs to be doing to drive Online traffic.
I am here to tell you – the 2 business models have no difference when it comes to Online marketing.
Here is a marketing strategy that I use in my business:
- Write a Blog post
- Create an article
- Go to Hellotxt.com and make an update
- Bookmark your blog post
- Create a Squidoo and Hubpage on a similar topic
When you create your Blog post keep in mind that people generally skim blogs and remember to keep the post brief. Be sure to include lists and headings to make the post easier to read / skim. This also gives you an outline for a more in depth article for either EzineArticles, Squidoo, and Hubpages. After completing your post/articles go to HelloTxt.com and make an update referencing your post. This will send your message throughout the social sites that you participate in. Bookmarking your posts is best accomplished by participating in a Digg or Del.i.ous group so that you are not bookmarking (spamming) your own content. Bookmarking sites frown upon listing your own content and you risk the site deleting you account if you get caught bookmarking your own content.
All of these steps will help to drive traffic to your website or blog and it will also get more of your content listed in Google when people are searching for your topic. Be sure to do some deep linking to more of your content as well as relevant content produced by friends/colleagues.
Setting Up Your Online Strategy
To follow the above Marketing Strategy You need to have a Hellotxt.com account set up. Go to HelloTxt.com and register for a new account. Set up your profile with an image of yourself and a short bio. Then link all of your other Social Sites to you HelloTxt account through the registration form. Make sure that all of your usernames and passwords are correct. Once this account is set up then all you have to do is log onto your HelloTxt account and send a short (140 characters or less) update – it will be distributed throughout your Social Sites. Be sure to include a link to your new content within the HelloTxt update.
HelloTxt will cover Social Sites that allow Profile Updates like:
- MySpace
- Plaxo
- Tumblr
- Flicker
- FriendFeed
- Total of 42 Sites
What is missing from the list are sites like Ning Social Networks, Blogs, Modular Type Sites and any other Social site that you have some control over the content.
Examples of these types of sites are:
- Any Ning Site
- Blogs
- Websites
For these type of sites use the Twitter Widget to reach these sites at the same time as the Profile updates. The Twitter Widget can be found in the Settings of your Twitter account. There is a link half way down the settings page that references adding Twitter to your blog. Click the link then follow the steps for the “other” type and then just walk through the setup for the Flash Widget. At the end you will get code to copy then paste it into your various Social Sites, Blogs, and Websites. Taking this extra step will greatly expand the HelloTxt strategy to include your entire Online social network.
Dotty has spent the past 2 years building her brick and mortar web design business online as well as offline. She teaches other business owners how to get their businesses found on the Internet and gives them working strategies for building traffic, sales, and clientele on the Internet. To find out more about her business you can visit her website at Premium Websites or her blog at Attraction Internet Marketing
By Valerie Love
Facebook is an Internet marketer’s dream, if used properly. This article focuses on financial advisers who may be starting out or who want to expand their online marketing strategies.
If you’re wondering how to become a financial adviser, the info at the end of this article will help you evaluate your business options.
Note: I’ll assume that you already have a free Facebook account. If you’ve been living under a rock somewhere, and don’t have a Facebook account yet, head on over after reading this article and set up your account. It’s free and it’s a no-brainer for any business owner. I’ll also assume that you’ll begin searching for your existing client base on Facebook, and that you’re actively inviting them to be your friends.
Another note: Make sure you check with compliance about your company’s rules for online client interaction. If your compliance department is anything like mind was, they’ve got a book on it.
Let’s get started:
Strategy #1: Start a Facebook group. The advantage of starting a group is credibility. Set up a group that’s relevant to the area of being a financial adviser, that would appeal to clients. Make it a Getting Wealthy Club or an Investing for Great Returns Club.
When you set up the group, clearly state your ‘credo’, which is a statement of purpose for what this group is all about.
Once you start the group, invite your clients to join the group.
Then, visit the group daily, posting your comments, ideas and/or wealth building strategies. You’ll gain credibility and your clients will gain knowledge and a closer connection with you…which means more money. Financial planning success is built on relationships.
Strategy #2: Comment daily on your own feed with your meaningful thoughts. That means to go daily to your own Facebook page and post a meaningful thought for the day-one that will appeal to your clients.
As a financial adviser, you want to stay top of mind to your clients. This is a great way to interact with them, without selling something or seeming pushy.
Important Note: Do not post what cereal you’re having for breakfast or any of the other minutiae of life you’ll find on Facebook. That’s not effective marketing. You want to make your posts meaningful to your clients.
Strategy #3: Keep your clients on a separate list on Facebook and respond meaningfully to selected posts. Creating a list is easy, and it means that only those who are on the list will see the feeds for that list. You don’t want to mix your friends.
This is very important!
Keep your clients separate from your friends/family! Business is business and play is play. Keep this boundary in place. Then, when your clients post things that are going on in their lives, take note. Comment when you feel inclined too. Otherwise, keep the info in mind, for instance, a kid’s graduation, or a client who’s preparing for a marathon.
People share all kinds of personal info on Facebook with their friends, and you can use that info to create deeper bonds, because you care.
Strategy #4: Search for people in your niche market and invite them to be your friends. Facebook folks don’t seem to mind who invites them to be friends, it seems that most people on Facebook are open. There are some who are picky about friends, but they are by far the minority.
Facebook is one big party, so invite people who are in your target market to join your party. That way, they’re being exposed to your skill and expertise as a financial advisor on a daily basis. Sooner or later, they’ll connect with you personally.
Hint: you can find people in your niche market by the droves by searching the existing groups on Facebook.
So there you have it, 4 Facebook marketing strategies that are easy, and the best part is, you can begin today!
I wish Facebook had been an option in the days when I was getting started as a financial adviser. It wasn’t. But today, you can use this powerful medium to market yourself effectively, for free, and add to your client base, while solidifying existing relationships.
Good fortune to you!
Valerie Love is a Wealth & Prosperity Coach who teaches the art and science of wealthy living, personally and in business. If you’re looking for a unique and powerful way to add an additional four figures of revenue to your monthly income, visit: http://www.WealthCreationInternational.com or connect with Valerie via e-mail at: valerielove@liveyourdestinytoday.com.
Do you ever imagine yourself lying on a beach enjoying the sun or hiking in the most beautiful forest imaginable, or spending the holidays relaxing and sharing good times with your family and friends? We all daydream and picture ourselves in places we would like to go or doing things we enjoy, but can that daydreaming bring us success in business?
What do you do next if you want to make your daydream a reality? When you want to take a vacation you start by thinking about where you want to go. You look at pictures, you surf the net and you see yourself in that place. You reserve your hotel, you buy your plane tickets, mark you calendar and dream of the day you will leave. When the date arrives you head off to enjoy all of your daydreaming and planning.
We hear all the time how athletes do this before any game or competition. They imagine themselves sinking that 3-point basket from half court or sinking a “hole in one.” As they prepare, they see themselves doing each move to perfection and then standing in front of the crowd with their trophy or a medal around their necks.
Visualization may apply to planning a great vacation and to winning athletic competitions. But can it help you succeed in business? Yes, I believe it can.
Did you hear about the Harvard Business School study where recent graduates were asked to write down their goals and then surveyed ten years later? The result of visualizing their success and writing down their goals was incredible. Graduates who had clear goals in mind were making two to ten times more money as their classmates who did not visualize or write down their goals. Well according to some this is a true story and according to others it is totally false. Either way, it does make sense that what we concentrate on most will manifest. Because as the saying goes, “be careful what you wish for, as it just might happen” can very well be the most powerful statement yet.
You probably have heard about “The Secret” and the powers of the Law of Attraction. Visualize it, feel it as if you have what you want, and before you know it, it shall be yours. True to some, hearsay to others, but isn’t it better to concentrate and “see” the positive things you want to happen in your life than the negatives.
I say “YES” absolutely…YES!
So why not put this strategy to work; do some “daydreaming.” Picture yourself there, feel yourself having it, engage yourself in the power of as if it were happening now.
Your Goals
Create a vivid image in your mind of what success means to you. Write down the answers to the following questions about your image of success:
• What will you be doing with your time?
• Who will your clients and customers be?
• How many clients and customers will you have?
• How much money will you be making?
• How much can you afford to give to your favorite cause(s)?
• What will your lifestyle be?
Your Objectives
You will need to identify a few specific marketing goals:
1. How many clients or customers do you want or will you need to be working with each month?
2. How many new clients do you want to add per month in order to bring in new clients?
3. How many prospects do you want to target each month?
4. How will you find them?
Your Marketing Strategy
You need a plan. Most small businesses owners struggle with this and don’t make a plan other than wanting their plan to be to make a lot of money. Making money is great, but how? Begin by asking yourself:
• What can I do to attract attention and prompt interest by potential customers?
• What can I do to increase the number of qualified leads I generate each month?
• How can I build the credibility of my company so customers will trust that we will deliver?
• How can I ensure they remember my company when they have a need and are ready to buy?
• What are the decisions potential customers need to make to become clients?
Your Marketing Tasks
Just having a marketing message, or an advertising campaign or a web site does not ensure you of anything. Each of these needs to achieve the specific goals and objectives that you have set. The best way to evaluate these efforts is from your prospects perspective. Ask yourself these questions:
1. What are my prospects concerns?
2. Are my marketing messages interesting to potential customers?
3. What would my response be to my own marketing calls?
4. Without mentioning the name of my business, its credentials or products, is what I provide clear to potential customers?
5. What do I want people to do when they visit my web site?
Just visualizing your success will not get you there over night, but it is an effective way to begin planning and seeing the big picture of what you can accomplish. Determine your marketing goals, your strategy, your objectives, and the tasks from this big picture and you will create a plan that will lead you to success.
Visualizing is VERY important, BUT writing down your goals is the key! By putting them down on paper, you will be giving your subconscious a clear vision of what you are wanting to accomplish and putting it out to the Universe. By visualizing it, writing it down and believing that you can accomplish your goals, the Laws of Attraction will take over, and anything is possible. Spend about 15 minutes each morning and about 15 minutes each evening “daydreaming” and seeing yourself in whatever place you want to be. Think it, believe it, live it.
Marketing certainly has its roots in large and expensive campaigns intended to reach as many people as possible. This type of ‘mass marketing’ helped develop corporate branding but was completely ‘product focused’ and treated all customers as if they had the same needs and buying preferences. Compare this to what the direct marketing folks are now doing with target marketing, relationship marketing, permission marketing, event-based marketing and even location-based marketing.
It’s interesting to see how these different strategies actually evolved.
Mass Marketing – The goal here is to reach the largest number of people and ‘hope’ they have interest in your product/service. Mass marketing uses mass media such as TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, etc. This type of marketing is (was) characterized by big budgets, national campaigns, and very little actual data to measure marketing efficiency.
Direct Marketing – Mass marketing was flipped around when direct marketing started directly contacting consumers (using direct mail, telemarketers, etc). This new evolution (around 1960) also was the start of test-marketing to gauge the effectiveness of different advertising campaigns.
Target Marketing – Soon after computers became widely used, marketers began gathering data on who was buying their products and why. This led to targeting their promotional strategies directly towards consumers who are most likely to purchase their product. This market segmentation divided up customers and prospects according to their demographics, age, income, etc.
Relationship Marketing - Many businesses realized that it was just as profitable to ’sell more to each customer’ as it was to ’sell to more customers’. This led to (around 1990) marketing that communicated with customers ‘as individuals’ with tailored information geared towards their unique buying experiences and preferences. Obviously this requires lots of data on customer behavior patterns, profiles, etc. which helped launch the development of new business CRM applications and marketing automation tools.
Permission Marketing - As consumers began to get bombarded with email spam, many businesses realized the benefits of spending more time marketing to consumers who have specifically shown interest in your product/service and (effectively) have given you permission to market to them (in a way they want to be marketed to)! This is most commonly done when consumers sign up (i.e. give out their email address) to download product information or receive a newsletter. The importance of having good customer data to personalize your marketing is critical since these prospects can remove their permission anytime (by opting out).
Event-Based Marketing- Imagine someone just supplied their personal information and downloads information about a new vacation resort. This event triggers an marketing automation tool to send out a targeted promotional offer that is customized, timely, informative, and useful. Everyone potentially wins. The consumer gets something they were actually looking for – when they want it! This type of marketing is heavily Internet focused and relies on good automation tools.
Location-Based Marketing – Now that cell phones have Internet access AND they have embedded location devices (i.e. GPS locators), we can expect to see mobile advertising based on location. Of course this will also be personalized and permission-based but imagine you are leaving work for lunch and you receive a text message with ‘2-for-1 lunch deals’ at restaurants in your immediate area. Over time the system also realizes you prefer Chinese over Mexican, etc.
Take-aways from this marketing evolution …
- Mass Marketing is moving to Relationship Marketing
- Few Large Campaigns are moving to Many Customized Campaigns
- Product Focus is moving to Customer Focus
- Short-Term Revenue is moving to Long-Term Customer Loyalty
Resources …
The CRM Handbook – great book on CRM implementation, especially read Chapter 2 (CRM in Marketing)
Post from BNET on the subject of Broadcast Marketing and why it doesn’t work anymore.
Steve Moore – Business Growth Consultant (http://www.SPMsolutions.NET)
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_E_Moore
There are five key factors that are essential to today’s decision making:
•Intuition – concerning the direction events may follow.
•Flexibility – concerning a willingness to accept foreign information.
•Initiative – in problem solving, decision making, and creativity.
•Creativity – in opening wider ranges of alternative ideas.
•Adaptability – to new conditions not anticipated earlier.
Intuition: Our expanding technology is daily making available a wide range of new potential products and services on one hand. On the other hand, our expanding and mobile population is daily creating demand for new types of products, thanks to new needs and desires. To decide what your company wants, and to blend it with what the customers want, requires value judgments.
Key executives know that in choosing between broadly separated alternatives, they must often rely on intuition in blending the insufficient information available for decision making. How, for example, can a hosiery manufacturer be sure the trend is to longer or shorter skirts? No decision-maker can ever be sure!
As the output of technology advances and as the interactions of communications are speeded up, permitting reports on mass tastes and trends at an overnight pace, the level of intuition required in these areas to make future value judgments must rise. This is an apparent contradiction with the widely held image that new management skills in the information-gathering area are dramatically reinforcing decision making as a science.
The fact is that the new tools of specialized knowledge in such areas as technology and market research, when compiled with the emerging computer technology, are broadening the known choices for a decision-making executive. An executive must be prepared to work to develop intuition and must not be afraid to act intuitively as information streams around him or her.
Flexibility: In the use of one’s executive intuition (in solving a problem or in reaching a decision), when “all the information is in that we have time to
gather,” we do well to remind ourselves of the need for flexible thinking. We can dam up our intuitive capacities if we become rigid concerning areas we are willing to include in the search of alternatives in the problem solving and the decision-making processes.
This flexibility is close to creative thinking – but not quite the same: the creative process applies largely to the creation of alternatives to our decision making process, while flexibility applies more to the problem solving area.
As we attempt to define the cause or causes of our problems, we benefit by staying flexible. If we prejudge a cause of a problem – or restrict our search for causes – we cut the ground out from underneath the subsequent decision making process.
Initiative: In both problem solving and decision making, a high level of personal executive initiative needs to be exhibited.
• A desire to look for solutions to problems.
• A desire to examine alternative actions.
• A spirit of discontent to fuel creative wonderings.
The subject of initiative is subjective. It is one thing to know the techniques involved in executive decisions – it is quite another to want to enter these processes with both feet.
“Initiative,” “verve,” “drive,” motivation,” or whatever you wish to call it, continues to be the prime variable in the competitive arena – between companies and between executives (assuming all other factors to be relatively even: i.e., personality conflicts, no nepotism, no great educational variables, no great intellectual variables, etc.).
Creativity is a key that can in degree be learned and cultivated as a habit. A person with initiative can become a more creative person by initiating a feeling of discontent with things as they are. Also, a naturally creative mind can prod its “body” to take more initiative in order to see fulfillment of its creative impulses.
Analyze your strengths in both areas – and use one strength to help you raise your sights in the corresponding area.
Adaptability: Behavioral scientists tell us that the true measurement of intelligence is the ability to adjust or adapt quickly to a changing situation. To this extent, adaptability to a changing situation is different from flexibility of thought; it can be said that we should be flexible in our adaptability.
A rapidly changing marketplace may require an executive to adapt to conditions created by his or her competitors. In the process, he or she is hopefully:
• flexible in examining his or her alternate methods of adapting to conditions, and
• flexible in determining what the real cause of his or her problems may be.
All strategic decisions in the executive arena require a degree of adaptability to changing events both inside and outside the company. The complexities of today’s marketplace dictate that rapid adaptability must be a characteristic of the contemporary businessperson.
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By Kevin Dervin
How would your clients and prospects describe your marketing personality?
Every small business person has a number of qualities and characteristics that make up their unique marketing personality. Are you conscious of what kind of marketing identity you’re projecting… in other words, how people see you?
This really came to my attention in observing behaviors at a recent Home, Lawn & Garden Show in Kansas City. I spent some time supporting my friend and business partner’s booth at the trade show.
Now trade shows are a little bit of a different animal, but it was unmistakable observing the various marketing personalities. For several of the small business owners displaying, trade show marketing is no doubt an important piece of their overall marketing efforts.
Before I cover some of the marketing personalities that were observed, let’s discuss why this is even important.
One of the ways I’ve always encouraged small business clients to think about marketing is to picture a wall. There is the side that you see because you’re inside your business. But, there’s also another side to the wall that your clients, prospects, and potential referral partners see.
Are your marketing efforts designed from the outside in, or from the inside out? If you only focus on what you see and what you like (i.e., your side of the wall) in your marketing efforts, there’s a decent chance you won’t connect with all the prospects that are possible. Because they’re looking for what’s important to them, and not what’s important to you.
I’m not saying to try and be something that you’re not. It’s more a matter of being conscious of your marketing personality so you can set your marketing processes & systems up to best leverage it.
OK, here are some of the marketing personalities that I observed at the Home, Lawn & Garden Show:
- Extreme Introvert – One individual sat in his booth and I never saw him engage a single person unless he was spoken to or asked a question first. It appeared to be a “Field of Dreams” approach. “Well my display is beautiful. If people want what I have, they’ll come and ask me for it.” It was as if he didn’t want to impose on anyone, not even the people who clearly stopped to learn more about his service.
- Look at ME! Look at ME! – OK, I didn’t see the rainbow colored afro wig. But, you do see some things that are clearly set up to try and draw as much attention as possible. What strikes me is the lack of focus on a clearly defined target market. It didn’t seem to matter whether people needed the product/service or not.
- Extreme Extrovert – Everyone was a friend. Smiles and, “Hello, how are you?” were plentiful. This was different from the Look at ME type. I suspect some these folks did well assuming they focused on engaging in conversations with visitors that fell within their target market.
- Oblivious – Ever been involved in a one-way conversation? It was wild. Questions were not answered and a dialogue was clearly not engaged. He had the things on his mind he wanted to communicate and that was that.
- Attentive – This was my favorite to observe. This person was clearly mindful of the traffic. Smiles, nods and hello’s were given, but not necessarily with the intent to stop anyone. When someone stopped at the booth, if the hesitation was appropriate then he engaged. The conversation was polite, but focused with a clear call to action at the end of the discussion.
There is no scientific conclusion here to say who did better than anybody else at the trade show. It was just observation of the various marketing personalities I noticed.
The things is how does this marketing personality carry over to other marketing tactics like networking, direct mail or social networking? Something to think about.
And now I’d like to invite you find more FREE articles and resources to increase your own small business marketing effectiveness at http://www.MarketingActionClub.com Just come have a look around to see what all is available.
Kevin Dervin is co-founder of the Marketing Action Club and creator the the Get More Great Clients marketing system.
There is no such thing as job security, especially in the IT industry. It matters not whether – like me – you have thirty-plus years of experience, an MBA, are a Certified IT Project Manager, have published a book, or any other past accomplishment. Potential clients or employers only care about the value you can bring to their organization today. It was this way in 2001 when the tech industry tanked, and is again in this economy, forcing us to continuously adapt, retool, rethink and re-behave.
No longer is it “safe” to rely on a single source of income. No longer is it a “sure thing” that our 401-Ks will even retain their values, let alone provide gains over time. According to IRS statistics, 93% of public stock market traders lose money each year. According to the Social Security Administration, over half of Americans must continue working at age 65 or later to supplement their retirement.
In an environment where our “superior” resumes are thrown in a stack of thousands for consideration, we must change our approach. Recruiters are overwhelmed with sellers and a tiny fraction of buyers.
The solution is to think strategically, but from from new angles; to find new ways of attracting customers or clients; to become the hunted rather than the hunter.
We do this by becoming mentors, experts in our field, leaders willing to educate and train our prospects without expecting anything in return. Only by first earning trust and respect will our prospects be willing to do business with us, hire us, or invest their precious capital. This concept is called Attraction Marketing, and it’s no longer the exclusive domain of network marketing plans and affiliate programs. It is based on a long-held principle that, helping others achieve their financial (or life) goals automatically helps you achieve yours.
In years past, relying on a single employer to provide for our families was a point of honor and virtue. Today, it’s a case of “what have you done for me lately.” In today’s economy, we need a second source of income just to cover our teenagers’ text-messaging bills, let alone to stock up a lagging retirement fund.
It is time for managers and professionals — technical or administrative — to become entrepreneurs, to find one or more alternative source of income, and to automate that source so that it consumes a minimum amount of bandwidth. Can Attraction Marketing do all that? It certainly can!
For example, you can have a full-time job while mentoring others online in your spare time, building your expertise and followings on various Social Networks. It may not provide instant cash, but the lifetime dividends this “investment” returns can be enormous.
So, what is your passion? What is your favorite hobby? Do others think you’re already an expert in something? Are any ideas coming into your head as you’re reading this that you believe others would find interesting? Are you willing to share your expertise for free in order to attract a loyal following on the Internet? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you qualify to build an Attraction Marketing business. If built correctly, it will take little of your daily time — in fact, much of it can work on auto-pilot — allowing you to continue with your job and life.
The bottom line is this: In this economic climate, how are you going to retire at any age without multiple streams of income? Your job consumes forty-plus hours per week. If you could invest one hour per day to build a lifetime of revenue, would it be worth it?
Something to think about.
Dan James is Senior VP at LarkinSoft (http://www.LarkinSoft.com), a consulting firm specializing in systems that help businesses thrive on the Internet. See Dan’s blog, and more information on Attraction Marketing, at his website, http://www.DLJames.com
Why is this so important?
Building and maintaining adequate cash flow is obviously essential to keeping your business running, enabling you to meet your financial obligations, meet your payroll, accounts payable and loan payments. You may decide that in order to do this, you need to obtain a business loan in order to insure that you are able to maintain a steady stream of cash flow. The Relationship Manager can be the key to helping unlock your access to many of the banking products that you are seeking to help grow your business, such as:
· Most efficiently obtaining loans, mortgages, and lines of credit to help you purchase equipment, expand facilities, finance space, and more.
· Helping you to establish “lines of credit” which can enable you to finance your short-term business needs, giving you access to cash for one time expenditures (acquiring new business assets or receivables, for example) or long-term finances (like permanent working capital or cash flow management).
· Guiding you in obtaining Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, which can offer you the credit you need with lower than average down payments, longer repayment terms, and lower monthly payments.
· Helping to guide you through the bank’s offerings for obtaining Business Credit Cards, free Business Checking, fee-free transactions, reduced maintenance fees as well as special equipment leasing offers.
· Providing you with a set of cash management tools designed to make managing your business finances easier and more convenient.
The benefits of having one individual coordinate your business’ entire financial portfolio can prove to be invaluable in opening the possibility for obtaining better pricing, whether it’s through loans or deposits, because of the totality of your relationship. They can work on your behalf to internally persuade loan officers and mortgage lending professionals look at your total banking relationship, pricing your relationship with the bank as a whole, rather than simply by isolated transactions. This can translate into a great deal more leverage and open the door to preferential pricing on loan rates and mortgages, preferential CD rates, based upon the cumulative dollars you have invested within the institution.
However, beyond the obvious lie many other benefits that you may be overlooking, which can also prove beneficial as you build and expand your business empire:
· The Relationship Manager can provide you with valuable advice; knowledge of your total financial picture will enable your professional to give you guidance regarding financial planning, as well as improving your business structure.
· They have a strong working knowledge of the local marketplace and have internal and external contacts for both expansion and/or eventual sale of your business.
· They can help you to consolidate all of your business accounts, making it easier for you to review your business finances and facilitate wrapping things up during tax season.
Adding your bank’s Relationship Manager and their colleagues to your team can instrumentally aid you in building a successful business, leveraging your relationship and profitability, thus ensuring your solid financial future!
© 2008 Cathleen R. Pratt. All Rights Reserved.
Cathleen R. Pratt is President & CEO of The Revenue Generators, a South Florida firm specializing in coaching, marketing, communication and negotiation. She is the author of the soon to be released book “The Achievement Factor: Seven Strategies for Success in Weathering the Current Economic Storm”, which draws from her many years as a sales and marketing executive with ABC, CBS and The Discovery Networks International. Cate can be reached at http://www.TheRevenueGenerators.com
By Wayne Turmel
When most of us think about speaking professionally, we imagine being on stage in front of cheering people, looking up at us with tears of gratitude as we dispense our wisdom, motivation or sage advice. Then we wake up.
These days, you’re as likely to be invited to speak to groups over the web (usually for free) as you are to be asked to speak to the local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary club. There are two ways to look at this: either from a position of scarcity (“they aren’t paying for travel any more”, “they are too cheap to bring me in”) or you can look at it as an opportunity to expand your brand and your business. One of these is infinitely more constructive.
According to our research, there are 4 reasons speakers hate webinars:
1) We don’t have a great relationship with technology
2) The logistics of setting up a webinar by ourselves can be daunting
3) We aren’t confident we can market them effectively
4) Here’s the dirty little secret behind a lot of the griping- they aren’t nearly as much fun as being in front of an adoring throng of live human beings
The fact is that “webinars” are a great way to increase awareness of your expertise and your brand, expand your database and create free content for your website. The fact that they save a ton of money in time, travel and hotel room rental make them hardly the worst compromise you can make.
Technology
Most speakers have a love-hate (to be charitable) relationship with technology. The idea of having to present while also staring at a screen and trying to remember which button to push, and what happens if it all comes crashing down, and I can’t see them and what kind of voodoo is this anyway… there’s no shortage of internal dialogue around the topic.
The fact is, that the technology component is not as big a deal as you’d think. The platforms are becoming more and more stable and intuitive all the time. Like most tools, it is a matter of using them until you become comfortable. Practice is critical- the first time you present your webinar should NOT be when you have live prospects on the line.
Logistics
The logistics of putting on any presentation are daunting, and when you add the unfamiliar technology component, it can seem like more trouble than it’s worth. Take the time to plan out your webinar from concept to follow-up. Give yourself plenty of time (we recommend 6 weeks for all the planning and other activities, but that’s just a suggestion). Remember there are 4 essential components to ensure you are moving your speaking business forward:
1. The webinar is designed to move the right people to purchase your service.
2. You integrate the plan with your overall website and marketing strategy
3. When you deliver your presentation it supports your brand and makes you look like the professional you are
4. Your follow-up is fast and professional and you SELL
Marketing Your Webinar
As with all marketing, you want to invite as many qualified prospects as you can. The nice thing about webinars is they lend themselves to electronic (mostly email and newsletter) marketing, which is time intensive but mostly free.
If you don’t want to rely on your own email list or database, a great technique is to partner with associations or organizations that regularly provide webinars to their members and are always looking for compelling, interesting (low-maintenance) speakers. Yes, they don’t pay but you do a lot of free speeches now to less qualified groups and you can do these without leaving home or even taking off your bunny slippers.
Finally, there is a lot of free marketing for these events available through social network tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and many others.
They’re Not as Much Fun As Face to Face Presentations
Nothing beats the energy of a live crowd. Applause is addictive. If you think of webinar presenting as sitting alone with a phone or headset talking to your laptop, you’re right. How much fun can it be?
If you look on this as a “necessary evil” or a bad compromise, you won’t have any fun with it. If, on the other hand you see it as just one more way to get your message in front of an audience your perspective will shift. The possibilities are actually many.
Hey, it won’t be the same as that conference keynote, but there are things you can do increase the interactivity of your presentation and make it closer to a face to face event. Some of these include:
a. Use webcams
b. Opening the audio lines to let people speak, comment and ask questions by voice
c. Use interactive features like chat, written questions, polling and other tools (depending on your platform).
You’ll be amazed how willing people are to be part of the presentation and not simply passive observers.By increasing the interactivity you’ll find yourself enjoying the process more. Many presenters are surprised at how much fun they have presenting online.
At the very least, it won’t suck as badly as you think it will. I promise.
Whether it’s as lead generation, establishing your expertise, or driving people to your books, seminars or other products webinars are an important new tool in any speaker’s business plan.
You can hold your nose and do them reluctantly or you can see the possibilities, lower your stress level and have fun while building your business brand.
Wayne “The Cranky Middle Manager” Turmel is a speaker, writer and expert on web presentations and training through his company, http://www.greatwebmeetings.com. His book, “6 Weeks to a Great Webinar”, is the industry’s leading guidebook to putting on powerful marketing webinars. He’s also the host of The Cranky Middle Manager Show podcast, one of the world’s most popular management programs and can be found at http://www.crankymiddlemanager.com.