Entrepreneur Excellence

Think back to when you graduated from high school.  Didn’t you know everything?  I sure did. 

Are you a lifelong learner?

• Then I got to college.
• Then I started my career.
• Then I travelled.
• Then I became a mom.
• Then I started my own business.

It seemed that with each new role, I learned how much I had to learn.  I went from knowing everything to knowing just how little I really knew. 

To be successful in marketing, it seems like you have to become a perpetual student, because the game of marketing is always changing.  People’s preferences and tolerance for marketing is continually shifting.   Plus, marketing has become increasingly technology dependent, so when there are advances in technology or you want to use a specific tool, you have to learn a whole new thing.  I’ve always been curious about marketing, so being a lifelong student of marketing comes naturally to me.  (I also love teaching marketing!)

Recently, I went outside of my marketing comfort zone, and spent a weekend in Phoenix learning about sales and leadership from Blair Singer.  I wasn’t sure what to expect – and whatever I expected, I certainly didn’t get it.  The weekend was intense, with hands-on exercises that drove the points home.  I loved the interactivity, and plan to bake more of that into my own training sessions.  But more than that, I really “got” what holds me back.  Some of the lessons I learned that I’d like to share with you are:

• Hold yourself and your team accountable for the numbers.  The balance sheet. The number of sales calls.  Even the bathroom scale.  You can’t manage if you don’t know the numbers.
• Avoiding confrontation only leads to trouble.  Confront things when they’re small, and you won’t have big messes to clean up.
• Create a code of honor.  I loved this part so much that I’m kicking myself for not buying a couple of books for clients.  I’m definitely taking aspects of this and implementing it at work – and at home.

Now, none of those lessons were rocket-science type of lessons.  I knew them to be true at some level, but Blair’s teaching style makes you “get it” at a level that you won’t be able to easily forget, that compels you into taking action because you can’t now “un-know what you know.”

That’s always my wish for my students and my clients.  Take action!  Do something different.  What are you learning?  Are you pushing yourself out of your comfort zone?  What classes/teachers do you recommend? I’d love to hear.

(By the way, a.k.a. shameless plug, if you want to learn about blogging, we just broke out the WordPress blog training as a separate class. $39.00)

I spent New Year’s Eve with my parents this year.  My dad is recovering from open heart surgery and had a tough year overall.  Our New Years’ toast went something like,

“To hell with 2009.  May we never see your like again.  To a bright new future in 2010.”

We weren’t alone in that sentiment.  2009 was a tough year!  But it wasn’t all bad.   And sometimes the good gets forgotten.  We set our New Year’s Resolutions on what we want to improve, but we forget to pat ourselves on the back for the goals we did accomplish.   

Personally, I achieved two huge goals in 2010. 

1. I moved my family across the country to a location where I wanted to live.
2. I launched a second business, The Art of Online Marketing, focused on one-to-many marketing training. 

What did you do that WORKED this year?  What went right?   Is there a way that you can continue to capitalize on what you did?  By focusing on the positive and reinforcing your ability to create what you want, you just might be inspired with the confidence you need to make other changes.   In marketing.  In life!

By the way, if one of your goals is to figure out this “social media stuff,” we have an intro training session coming up on January 20^th at 10:00 a.m. PST.  Find out more at http://www.theartofonlinemarketing.com

While getting people to “buy stuff” is at the heart of most marketing efforts, I believe that most small businesses and all professional service firms would benefit from thinking of marketing a little bit differently.

But before I explain, I want you to do this little exercise:

1. Think of the last product or service you bought that made you really mad.
2. What was it that made you so upset?

For me, it was a car I rented.  I asked if I could keep the car for an extra day at the same rate and the gal at the desk said “SURE!” but when I got my bill, the extra day was double the price.  Customer service’s response?  “Sorry ma’am.  The price is right there in your contract.”  Why was I so upset?  Because they didn’t properly set my expectations.  Sure, I should have read the contract, but I trusted their representative to give me the right answer.

In the scenario I just described, the car rental company did make the sale.  They did keep my money.  But am I happy?  No. Will I be more wary of that company next time? Absolutely! So did they do an effective job of marketing to me?  I say NO!  I have lots of choices in car rental companies, and I’ll just take my business elsewhere.

So back to my original point, rather than just thinking of marketing as just a means to a sale, I’d like for you to think about marketing as a way of setting expectations.  Many times it means having to lower expectations.

Yes, marketing may mean LOWERING expectations.

If you want happy customers, you need customers who understand your limitations.  Too often, sales people feel so pressured to make a sale that they’ll do so at nearly any cost – but for small businesses, and especially in consulting type of organizations, this short-term sales mentality hurts your overall profitability.

How do you know if marketing is not properly setting expectations?

There are five clear warning flags that indicate that your marketing message and the reality you are delivering to clients is out of sync.  You can either fix your marketing or fix your delivery – but ignoring the problems will not make them go away.  It’ll just make it worse.

If only the warning signs were this obvious!

The 5 Warning Signs Are:

1. You’re seeing more returns and complaints.
2. Customer satisfaction ratings are dropping.
3. Referral sources and repeat business is drying up.
4. Your delivery team is getting  “burnt out” on impossible demands.
5. Company morale is down the tubes.

If you see yourself with any of these 5 problems, there’s no time like the present to get started on the solution.  I can’t fix delivery.  I can’t make you a better consultant, accountant, dentist or lawyer.  Maybe you can’t either.  But you can fix how you represent yourself.  This is why I am so passionate about authentic marketing, truly representing your strengths, and finding your ideal client who sees that what you do best fits with what they need most.

Every marketing strategy needs to begin there, by knowing – Who’s your ideal client? What makes you different?

Any tips to share?  How do you set expectations up front  – and still make sale – so that you get raving fans?  I’d love to hear your ideas on this.

The other day I was using Adobe Illustrator to design a logo.  Normally, I pass on this work to one of my go-to graphic designers (always a good call) but this was a special project and I had a strong idea of what I wanted. 

I’m not a bad designer, but I’m a slow one.  Seriously, I’d make about $1/hour if I did graphic design myself.   You have to know what you’re good at, right?  I can whip out a press release or a case study in no time, but design – nope, I belabor every permutation.

As I was working on the logo, my 5th grade daughter sat down next to me and asked if she could play with the logo.  Sure! So I handed over the computer and watched as she randomly just hit buttons investigating what every little thing did.  In no time, she had found all these cool new features that I didn’t know even existed.  Here’s the logo she created:

(Don’t you love the tagline?!)

OK, so her logo is a little busy, but I love how she just jumped in and looked around.  I would never do that!

I wondered. When did I become so careful?  Why do I look in the help files before just messing around with the program?  But I think it’s just my nature.  Whenever I get a new gadget, I’ll sit down with the manual and read it cover-to-cover. 

I hate doing things wrong, but sometimes there is no wrong. There’s no consequence. The best thing is to just dive in.  

I think the lesson here is to watch and learn from others who are different than you.  Look what I learned from an 11-year-old.  Amazing!

Are you part of the Orange County Duct Tape Marketing Group yet?  Our March topic is Blogging for Business!

If you’re not blogging about your business, you are missing out on one of the most effective and affordable ways to promote your business online! Blogging is the foundation of social media marketing, providing fresh conversations. In this meeting, you will learn why blogging is should be a foundational part of your marketing mix. We’ll also discuss:

• Why blogging is an extremely effective marketing strategy for small businesses right now.
• Finding keywords that will bring the most traffic from search results.
• How to develop persuasive, compelling content in just minutes.
• Leveraging your blog to influence friends in online social networks.
• How to develop persuasive, compelling content in just minutes.
• Etiquette, tips and tricks that make you look like a pro!

Why should you attend?

Blogging is an easy and fun way to promote your business – BUT if you don’t have your blog set up right, you won’t be getting the full business benefits.

Register to learn about Blogging for Business

MEETING AGENDA:

5:30 Welcome and Networking – Appetizers Served
6:00-7:30 Marketing Meeting
7:30-8:00 Wrap Up

Come mingle with other small business owners, marketing and sales professionals as you learn how to apply Duct Tape Marketing’s principles to your business. Veteran marketing professional, Adrianne Machina of Tornado Marketing, an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Coach, will facilitate a discussion on the practical steps you can take to market your business affordably and effectively.

Are you having a hard time writing a tagline?  I’m a BIG fan of taglines, because they give you an extra few words to describe your company and what you do.  But if you read the taglines of many professional service firms, they begin to all sound alike:

• We believe in quality (or service or honesty)
• Your trusted advisor
• Your one-stop stop
• When experience counts

When you’re boiling down your entire company’s experience, it IS truly hard to pick just 3-5 words.  Believe me.  The trick is to pick the one thing that matters most to your company and try to distill it down to it’s essence.  Do you provide – Speed? Convenience?  Security?  Safety?  Start with ONE word that best defines you, and build from there.

Then to support your tagline, you need to build out your marketing story.  Tell HOW your tagline defines your differentiation.  If your “people make the difference” tell me how! Is it because they’re smart?  Do you have a story that showcases how smart they are?  Do you have a testimonial or case study where someone else will tell me how smart they are? Do they all have Ph.D.s from highly-regarded universities?  Give your buyers proof.

When we’re buyers of professional services, we know there’s a difference between companies.  That’s why some hairdressers, dentists, doctors and accountants are backed up for months, and others take walk-in appointments. 

When we’re sellers of professional services, we need to be able to articulate how we’re different than our competitors - and that begins with HAVING a difference.   If you don’t have a way to differentiate and dominate, you’ll be stuck competing on price.  And that’s a problem, because there’s always someone willing to lower their prices, and go out of business faster than you. 

Remember the olden days when you were taught your ABCs….meaning Always Be Closing?

Yuck!  Let’s change it to Always Be Contributing.  I know that sounds a little cheesy, but the truth is that referral marketing, relationship marketing, word of mouth marketing and social media marketing all depend on people LIKING YOU.  If they don’t like you, they’re not going to recommend you to their friends.  And they’re not going to like you if you keep pushing your agenda, and you never contribute anything interesting or meaningful.

You might be genuinely excited about what you’re offering! You’re not trying to be a pushy sales person.  It’s just that your enthusiasm is being misunderstood. (I’m sure we’re ALL guilty of that at times!)  If that’s the case, you can make a minor course correction.  But when people start avoiding you, stop returning your phone calls, and block you as a Facebook friend, you need a major wake-up call.  Let me bring  you some self awareness.  You are “THAT GUY” if:

• You never call your friends, clients or associates to say “Hi” or “How are you?” without leading with some “Buy This!” or “Oooh, I need a favor?!” message. 


• You give only with the ulterior motive to get something in return - “Buy-that-lady-a-drink!”


• You only ask self-serving questions on LinkedIn – Would you like a solution that does XYZ at a fraction of the price of our competitor? Oh, we do that!


• You only comment on blogs to say – “Great post! Come visit my blog at XYZ.com”


• You do all the talking – and not enough listening.  You don’t truly converse with other people. 


• You ask questions at a conference with the sole purpose of getting the microphone so you can tell everyone about your company.

All of us who are in sales and marketing walk a fine line between letting people know what we do – and shoving it down people’s throat.  (Do the former; avoid the latter.)  It’s OK to be excited about what you sell – you should be!  Just don’t expect everyone to jump on board before they even know you. Pay attention to the feedback you’re getting and adjust appopriately.

Contribute.  Educate.  Give.  Resolve to do one nice thing today without expecting anything in return. 

Always Be Contributing!

You know I’m a fan of online social networking, but I am also a HUGE fan of the good-old-fashioned in-person real-life shaking-hands type of networking.  

Before Twitter or Facebook or any of the ‘new media” sites, I built my business (and several previous employers’ businesses) by getting out there and meeting people face-to-face.  Networking is one of the lowest-cost, highest-impact and most-sustainable marketing efforts you can do on a consistent basis.  Are you doing enough real-life networking?  Or are you hiding behind your computer, waiting for business to come to you?  I encourage you to get out there – and I have just the place in mind.

If you are a small business owner and live in or around Orange County, California, I want you to come out and meet me this Thursday, October 2nd from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.! Not only will you get an opportunity to mingle with other new and accomplished entrepreneurs from the Orange County Entrepreneur’s Center, but I’ll be sharing with you the 7 steps you need to take to create affordable, effective marketing programs for your small business.   The event is FREE if you are an Orange County Entrepreneur’s Center Member, and only $20 if you’re not. 

REGISTER HERE!  http://www.ocentrepreneurs.com/networking/ 

Yes, I know it’s Thursday night, which means it’s must-see-TV on NBC, but you have Tivo or Cox’s DVR service, don’t you?

What do bags, shoes and jackets have to do with small business marketing?  Prioritization. 

Like most people, I love to shop, but I have to watch my budget too.  I will spend a disproportionate amount of money on bags, shoes and jackets because (1) they are worn more often (2) have a greater impact on the overall look and (3) when I buy quality, I can keep them longer.  

The marketing equivalent of bags, shoes and jackets are your website, business card, and marketing folder (used to hold your marketing kit materials.)  I’m continually shocked by how much time and effort will be devoted to nit-picking a direct mail piece, when the website looks like it was developed in 1995, and the business card doesn’t even tell me what the company does.  I refresh my business cards about every six months!  Once you have these fundamental marketing pieces in place, THEN you can look for other ways to market your business and generate leads.  These pieces function to generate awareness and leads, while they raise your credibility level. 

Clients and friends are always asking me, “How much of my time and money should be spent online?”  In most cases, I recommend about 75% of a small business’ marketing effort should be invested online – but there are exceptions.  For example, you may have a tradeshow that’s a cornerstone of your marketing plan.  If that tradeshow drives above-average awareness and sales activity, you should be spending more time and money on that tradeshow.  If there’s a magazine that with a long shelf-life that’s avidly read by your target audience, you should be in it.   But in all cases, small businesses need to focus their marketing efforts where they’ll get the biggest bang for their buck.  Make sure your website, business card, and marketing folder look as polished and professional as you do – you’ll quickly reach your goal of getting people to KNOW, LIKE and TRUST you.

How do you prioritize where to spend your marketing dollars? Are you focusing on the right things?