Biz Coach Steve

Tag: Business

  • Difficult Conversations – Use your coaching skills

    Difficult Conversations – Use your coaching skills

    Many owners and leaders have confided in me that one of the most difficult aspects of their job is those difficult conversations that have to have with their employees. A lot of those leaders either ignore them or hope they will go away by themselves. But wishful thinking is not managerial thinking. To face up to personal employee habits that may upset customers or colleagues, team leaders need to have a strategy, a plan, and the skills to confidently know how to put things right. As with everything, there are right ways and wrong ways to have these sensitive discussions and I hope you choose the right way.

    Difficult Conversations: A 5-Point Plan

    The following plan can be applied to any difficult conversation with an employee whose habits need to be changed. These include employees with unpleasant personal habits, such as poor personal hygiene, as well as employees with attitude problems.



    1. It’s Only Difficult If You Think It Is

    Drop the idea that this will be a “difficult” conversation. Look at it in terms of a performance issue. Focus on the desired outcome which is always to bring the person up to the standards required of everyone. Remember that you have the assertive right to raise the issue if it is something that affects you or the people you are responsible for. You don’t have to justify, explain, or excuse yourself.



    2. Even When It’s a Personal Issue, Don’t Make It Personal

    Many “difficult” situations arouse strong emotions in people which in turn make the exchange appear personal. The only feeling you should have is a desire to help the other person. If you are feeling angry, anxious, or embarrassed, stop. Connect your head to your heart. Discuss what the person is doing and what they can do differently. This is not about who they are.



    3. Ease Your Way In

    In any conversation that deals with personal issues, it is best to ease your way in while not misleading the person about the subject under discussion. One good route into the personal is to start with clichés, such as “How’s things going?”, then move on to facts, proceed to their views, and finally to how they feel. Do this without skirting around the issues or trying to sneak the issue in under the guise of something else.



    4. Link Your Feedback to a Business Issue

    If you are the team leader, you need to relate everything in the conversation to business issues, e.g. “Your appearance (manner; hairstyle; hygiene; grooming; attitude) isn’t what our customers expect from a business like ours”. While they may want to explain why they are behaving as they are, “why” is not what it’s about. Acknowledge their reasons, but don’t go there. For you, it’s more about “what” – what they are doing and what they can do differently.



    5. Have a Neutral Spot Where You Can Both Go If Things Become Awkward

    If people become defensive, you’ve likely hit a raw nerve. It’s at this stage that you need to back off by going to a neutral third spot where you can both look at the behavior dispassionately. Don’t challenge them by saying something like, “Your personal hygiene needs to be improved”. Instead, say something like, “Let’s try to figure out why you and I see this issue differently”.



    Difficult Conversations: You Can Succeed

    Difficult conversations are unavoidable in the workplace but, given the right approach and the right skills, they can be managed. You should aim to put emotions, stress, and personal issues aside and bring behavior, performance, and the business center stage. Keep your composure, be compassionate, and be determined to create a successful outcome.

    Whatever you do, don’t avoid these conversations otherwise the issue will grow and fester. It will impact more of your business operations than you know. Develop a plan of action before having these difficult conversations and you, the employee and the business will be much better off.

  • 5 Sales Myths to Get Over-NOW!

    5 Sales Myths to Get Over-NOW!

    Don’t think of sales as a special, natural-born talent, and other misconceptions that are getting in your way.

    People who are afraid to sell fail at it. That’s a fact. Fear makes you stumble through your pitch, freeze up when you hear objections, and miss opportunities to close the deal. So how do you sell if you are one of those people who cringe when it’s time to make a pitch? By changing the way, you think about sales. Get over these five misconceptions to modify your mindset, and you, too, can be a successful seller.

    Myth #1: “I am not good at being pushy–and salespeople need to be.”

    Think about the best experience you, as a customer, have had. In that instance, did you find the salesman pushy? Doubtful. More than likely, you thought he was informed. He probably knew a lot about his product and was able to answer all your questions. When you are ready to sell, keep that personal experience in mind. Do your homework before you make a sales call. Know all the advantages and disadvantages of your product and your competitors’ products before you pick up the phone or arrive for the appointment.

    Myth #2: “I don’t know how to reach the person who buys my product.”

    While the person answering the phone may not always be the person who makes the final buying decision, they can often provide you with great insight on the business itself. Don’t see them as an obstacle. Engage them with a few open-ended questions about the business that have to do with your product. Most people are happy to be considered important enough to inquire with, and willing to give you valuable perspective that can help you structure your approach with the end decision-maker.

    Myth #3: “I don’t want to bother the customer.”

    You are bothering a potential customer only if you are calling someone for whom your product has no value. If you know the customer can benefit from your product, he should be happy to hear from you. Structure your call around how your product or service can be of use to your customer. Can the product save them time? Can it save them money? Can it change the way they live or work? If you can answer yes to at least one of these questions, you have not only the right, but also the duty to contact your customer with the good news–and sooner rather than later.

    Myth #4: “I am not fast on my feet.”

    Stop worrying about what you are going to say and focus instead on what the customer will be able to tell you. Think about each call as a fact-finding mission. Your job is to ask questions and then listen carefully to the answers the customer provides. If you already know your product well, you will be able to easily explain how your product can address the needs the customer outlines for you. Sales is not about being fast, it’s about being thorough.

    Myth #5: “I can’t find the right words to close the deal.”

    Don’t be shy about taking the final step and asking for the sale. Find out when the customer will be ready or able to purchase your product or ask how soon they imagine wanting to get the benefits of implementing your service. If you have adequately shown the customer how your product can be useful to them, the deal should be easy to close.

    All of these myths are obstacles that otherwise competent salespeople create for themselves. Stop thinking about sales as a special talent that only “natural-born salesman” possess. There is no reason to fear making potential clients aware of the great product you offer. Selling is only the process by which you call on the right people and match them with the right product.

    Now go out there and sell.

  • What did you learn in 2023?

    What did you learn in 2023?

    What lessons did you learn this year?

    Were they positive lessons? Or negative lessons?

    Recently I read the Fast Company magazine on their top 30 most productive people, and I found some very interesting similarities within ALL of these interesting people.  Here they are (in no particular order):

    • They all get adequate sleep. Anywhere from 6 to 8 hours. If you have not been exposed to the mounds of research showing that sleep is very important for us, then here is a summary. You need to get at least 6 to 9 hours of good REM sleep per day. Being sleep-deprived and proud of it is not a positive thing.
    • They all have set schedules made in advance. They know before they go to bed what they are doing the next day, and then they review it in the morning to stay focused and productive.
    • They all have filters on their email and social media. Having a set routine on when they look and respond to emails as well as setting up filters to avoid junk improves their productivity. Same with social media. They all stated they do look at social media, but narrowed down which sites they look at, for what reason, and only in small doses.  They are not scanning Facebook looking for cool GIFs.
    • Most of them exercise. They do some form of exercise, whether it be yoga, working out, etc. Some of them even told us their food habits, which works well for them.
    • They all read – BOOKS. Yes, real paper books.  Studies have shown we retain and process words better on paper than on a tablet, computer, phone, or any other electronic device.  So, set some time out of the day and read.

    Speaking of books. I do a mix of real paper books along with audiobooks within my schedule. Do yourself a HUGE favor and stop listening to the talking heads on the radio while you drive and educate yourself with an audiobook. As Brian Tracy says, turn your car into a rolling university by listening to books while you drive. In 2023, I have read/listened to 67 books.  Many times, I will be reading one book and listening to another in my car.

    Here are some great books that I read/listened to in 2023 (in no particular order):

    • Think and Grow Rich lost secret – Vic Johnston.  This is a great expansion to think and grow rich with a lot of deeper insight into the original book by Napoleon Hill.
    • The One Minute Millionaire – Mark Victor Hansen. Great insight into how to achieve extraordinary wealth and success. Easy to understand examples of wealth creation.
    • The Coaching Habit – Michael Stanier. If you own/lead a business or manage anyone, then this should be on your reading list in 2024. It provides great insight on how you can be a better leader/manager and get more out of your people just by asking great questions.
    • Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg. You may have heard that to form a habit, you need to do it for 21 straight days. This book is right up that alley and gives some great advice on how to develop that positive habit a little easier.
    • ABC’s of Success – Bob Proctor.  An older book, but still very relevant today. Great for new business owners and those business owners looking to get a reboot within their business.
    • Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill. This is always on my annual reading list and it should be on yours as well.  Reading this “Workbook” every year will keep you on your path to success.  Get into a mastermind group to get the most out of this book and improve your life.

    No matter what, we all have learned something this past year. If you haven’t learned one or more new things, then make a plan to learn something new in 2024 and put it into practice to grow your business, or improve your life, maybe move up in the company you work for, get a new job, mentor someone, share your time by volunteering for an organization that you have no affiliation with.  Just learn something new.  I learned how to use a new CRM in 2023.  What did you learn?

    By continually learning you are growing as a person.  Right now, decide what action you are going to take to learn something new in 2024. Read more real books. Take an educational class. Learn a new computer program. Learn martial arts. Just learn.

    I wish you much learning success in 2024.

    Let me know what were your favorite books that you read/listened to in 2023 and why.

  • Successful Activities for Growth

    Successful Activities for Growth

    If you are serious about GROWING your agency and achieving whatever GOALS you have, there are some simple but effective activities you MUST adopt, or you simply will not achieve the level of success you desire.  In any sport, athletes have coaches who constantly observe their performance and recommend changes to maximize the performance and success of the athlete. Oftentimes even professional athletes will subconsciously make small changes and get away from the correct “basics” which in turn will hamper their performance. More often than not, these changes to “The Basics” are not monumental but when proper adjustments are made, they have a significant impact on the performance of the athlete. 

    Our business is no different and if you want to achieve a higher level of performance than you currently are at, the following items are critical to adopt (they are all about the basics) and will move you to a higher level of performance but, only if you accept the fact that YOU must make some simple changes. 

    Keep Score-You WILL NOT WIN unless YOU KEEP SCORE

    1. You must set some realistic GOALS and Track the following:

    2. Marketing activity levels:  Use a CALL SHEET to track your current activity level. Most of you will be surprised at how few times you actually make (proactive outbound calls) to attempt to make new sales. This sheet is for YOU and YOU ONLY.

    3. Quotes:  Use the QUOTE TRACKER and AGM to see how many “new quotes” you are preparing every week/month. Chances are, if you don’t quote you won’t sellJ

    4. Sales:  Use a SALES RECORD BOOK to see how much new business you get from proactive activities and where you are monthly compared to your GOAL.

    5. Growth:  Use the AGM tracker monthly to see how much growth you have versus your growth goal. If you know where you are at you will know if adjustments are needed.

    6. Agenda:  Use on EVERY client/prospect meeting to make sure you ask ALL the right questions and take advantage of cross-sell opportunities and REFERRALS.

    These may seem “over basic” to some of you, but I CAN PERSONALLY GUARANTEE if you commit to and make these simple changes you will have a better understanding of your business and you will make wiser choices in terms of marketing and daily activities.  Ultimately, YOU WILL BE MORE SUCCESSFUL! What gets measured gets attention and what gets attention gets DONE.

    Now is the time to make these basic changes and start to FOCUS on the activities that will improve your performance, your business, and your bottom line. Let’s work together and get it done.

  • Don’t stop working during the holidays

    Don’t stop working during the holidays

    The Holiday Season is upon us and for sales professionals and sales managers, this time of year adds special challenges for maintaining focus on sales productivity.

    Being an entrepreneur has lots of challenges between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. The familiar music, parties, seeing old friends, and spending time with family. In the midst of a joyous season, the sales environment can be brutal.

    During the holiday salespeople and business owners struggle to maintain activity targets while prospects and customers routinely put off decisions until the New Year. The good news is, that despite the challenges, you can take control, maintain your focus, and still close deals. The key is in staying true to the fundamentals of selling and maintaining self-discipline combined with a sprinkle of creativity.

    One of the hardest things about selling during the holiday season is getting customers to act on buying decisions. They say they just want to wait until the New Year to make any decisions. To them, it makes logical sense to wait. Far too many salespeople willingly accept this excuse as logical too. However, if you’ve been around selling long enough you know, by the time you get to January, most of these deals will be cold.

    To have any chance of closing these deals you have to strike while the iron is hot. You cannot allow emotions to wane. So, during this time of year, you have to give your prospects and customers a more compelling reason to make a decision now than to wait until later. This means getting creative with your offer, price, value-added services, or signing bonuses. You may have to give up more to get the deal done than during other times of the year. 

    In sales, like it or not, activity is everything. If you are not prospecting, questioning, presenting, and closing you will fail – no matter what time of year it is. Of course, with all of the wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) distractions of the holidays, it can be easy to slack off, and let your self-discipline slip away from your normal daily routine. 

    This slip has two consequences. In the short-term, it hurts your closing ratio during December. In the long term, it impacts your sales pipeline during January, February, and March which can have a major impact on your future income.

    To keep this from happening to you, you must sit down with your daily planner right now and ensure that you have your calendar blocked properly for daily prospecting and lead generation, as well as information gathering, presentations, demos, and closing meetings. Take into account all of your holiday activities and build them into your planner. You may have to do some workarounds, but the key here is to get everything planned out in advance. To stay on track, set daily activity targets and commit to reviewing those targets each morning and afternoon. You will be amazed at how powerful this planning process is for keeping you on track and focused during the holidays.

    Most importantly, by planning and developing creative ways to close more business, you will find that you feel less stress, cash bigger commission checks, and have plenty of time to enjoy the holidays with the ones you care about the most.

    One thing I cannot stress enough is to be open as much as possible during the holiday season and answer your phone. Just that alone will separate you from the rest of the pack. Keep moving forward, do not take the season off and your business will benefit in the first quarter of next year.

  • The Perceived Value of a Chamber

    The Perceived Value of a Chamber

    The primary goal of all chambers of commerce is to obtain new members and retain their membership base. Everything else is secondary – the lead/referral groups, ambassador programs, public forums, awards, networking, mixers, advocacy, government forums, leadership programs, boards, committees, and philanthropy are all secondary and even tertiary.

    Without members, none of those program’s matter. Members are the lifeblood of all chambers no matter in what town, city, or country they are in. Therefore, the CEO and chamber staff should be respectful and thankful for their members (AKA Clients).

    Having been a member of many different chambers they all have the same properties. Usually, a dynamic CEO, some self-serving staff, some caring engaged staff, similar events/programs, and of course the cliques within the membership and staff.

    The chambers all bank on those non-active members. You know, those members that never participate in anything complain they don’t get any business from the chamber but keep paying their membership fee. Why they keep paying is for another time.

    The chamber has a love/hate relationship with these types of members. The staff complains about those non-participating members but loves them around renewal time. The chamber is always wondering how to engage them in the chamber but fails to do the simplest thing in the world. Ask those members what they would like to get out of their membership.

    How do I know this? Well, a few chambers along with a few other networking/referral groups had me investigate their programs on why membership engagement is declining. What I found out could be related to any social, fraternal, industrial, or trade group/association. The results were always the same, which will be covered in another blog.

    Chambers need to show value to their membership base – real or perceived. The real value may be that the chamber is your advocate in getting the zoning changed for your business to expand. Going through the normal process may cost you thousands and thousands of dollars and lots of aggravation. The chamber could use its influence with the local city/county/state officials and assist you with that zoning change. The chamber could even set your business up to be a preferred vendor for a large company that is moving into your area since they were actively engaged in getting that company to move to the area.  These are real dollar values.

    The perceived value may be those networking events. The members love them because they get to network with other business owners to create long-term relationships. I say this type of event is preserved value because if the member added up all the time they spent at this event throughout the year (including travel time), they multiplied that number by their hourly rate (annual gross income divided by 2,080 (work hours in a year)) and add all the fees or costs associated with this one event. That number is usually greater than the total amount of business they received from that event.

    I’ve presented this preserved value to many different groups and the audience always says, “No Way!” and then proceeded to argue with me that they are getting real value out of that event.

    I just ask them what their return on their investment (ROI) for that event is not even taking into consideration their annual fee. The answers are usually made up of lots of embarrassment in their voice.  Don’t be embarrassed. This is because 99% of business owners do not measure this activity. They should be tracking costs versus income because this program is a marketing activity.

    Now if they measured this activity, it would be a “real value” and not a “perceived value.”

    For an experiment, years ago, I tracked all my costs associated with one chamber including all membership fees, my time, all additional chamber costs (lunch and learns, award programs, donations, etc.), as well as all direct sales to fellow members and all sales from member referrals. This was easy to track since I asked every customer how they heard about us and put that data in the point-of-sale system.

    The results were shocking. That membership was totally a perceived value, not a real value. I was very active and engaged with the chamber and the other members. I had to drop that membership because it was a smart business decision. Other chamber memberships have only had perceived value and I have stayed a member because I really enjoyed being part of that chamber, its members as well as its staff. In another chamber I was in the results were completely different. I had a 5x ROI. Yes, I renewed every year in that chamber.

    So, if you are thinking about joining a chamber, think about what you would like to get out of your membership-obviously, sales is the number 1 answer, or are you looking to network and build a referral sales system? Talk with the Chamber CEO and let them know what you’re looking for out of your membership. Only the expanding chambers will ask you, all the others you must tell them because they will never ask you. I am a huge supporter of chambers, but every chamber has a different agenda (political, social, community, etc.) and you need to find the right chamber that fits what you want out of the chamber.

    Measure your ROI on your chamber membership – the results may shock you.

  • Seven Idiot-Proof Marketing Strategies That Will Skyrocket Your Sales and Profits

    Seven Idiot-Proof Marketing Strategies That Will Skyrocket Your Sales and Profits

    Business owners are experiencing some of the most turbulent times in history. Inflation, Pandemic, Gig-Economy, the Great Resignation, etc. The Internet has created a whole new economy. And this is just the beginning…

    I get asked all the time, “What are a few marketing strategies that I should be doing right now to grow my business?”

    This a logical question that every business owner is asking.

    Here are just a few simple marketing strategies that will skyrocket your sales and profits.

    Idiot Proof Strategy #1

    Create A Marketing Parthenon

    A Marketing Parthenon means having multiple different sources of revenue and lead generation instead of relying on just one and not 100’s.

    There are literally thousands of different marketing strategies you could be using to grow your business but only a few that you need to do consistently that will allow you to make all the money you desire. It’s sometimes hard to find just 3-4 strategies that bring you the highest ROI. Most business owners are trying around 15-20 marketing strategies and are struggling with keeping up with all those strategies. Look at your current marketing strategies that have increased your business the most and just stick with those. Lose the rest.

    For example, let’s say your primary method for generating new business is through direct mail.

    What happens if, for whatever reason, your postcards, fliers, or FREE Reports stop working tomorrow? How will that impact your business?

    The same thing can happen to you if you don’t diversify your business.

    Start now by conservatively testing other methods of marketing so that if one method stops working, it won’t put down your entire business.

    Idiot-Proof Strategy #2

    Consistency

    This one seems so easy, yet so many people fail to be “consistent” in their marketing efforts.

    For example, we get calls all the time saying things like “I just mailed 200 postcards, now what do I do?” The answer’s pretty simple…

    Mail 200 More Next Week!

    You can’t do just one mailing, run just one ad, do just one joint venture, and expect blockbuster results.

    Marketing doesn’t work like that!

    Create a marketing plan and a marketing budget for the year and stick to it.

    For example, maybe your plan calls for mailing 200 postcards a week, developing, and maintaining an internet website, running 2 small ads a week in local newspapers, and setting up one new joint venture per month.

    If that’s your plan, you must stick to it.

    Over about 90 days, you will create momentum, and sales and profits will start to roll in.

    And if, for some reason, one of your marketing methods stops working…

    Change Your Approach!

    Don’t just give up on direct mail or advertising entirely – test a new ad or sales letter.

    Whatever you do…

    Be Consistent!

    Idiot-Proof Strategy #3

    Sequenced Mailings

    This is probably the most important marketing strategy you could implement, yet very few marketers have put systems into place to allow them to tap into the power of consistent sequenced mailings.

    There was a famous marketing study done several years ago that determined that over 70% of all people who respond to an advertisement (or letter) will ultimately buy the product or service being offered.

    Here’s the interesting part…

    Almost All of Those People Will Purchase The Product Or Service From Someone Other Than The Original Advertiser!

    Why do you think that is?

    I’ll tell you why… because people buy when THEY are ready to buy not when YOU are ready to sell.

    So, what does all this mean to you?

    It means that sending out one FREE Report to a leader is not enough.

    When a lead calls an 800# to get a FREE Report, all they are basically saying is that they are interested in buying what you have to offer (but NOT necessarily ready to buy yet).

    “Yet” is the important word here. This means that at some point in time, they will be ready to buy, and the company that gets the sale will be the one who stayed in front of them until they were ready to buy.

    Idiot-Proof Strategy #4

    Monthly Newsletters

    Do you send out monthly newsletters to your clients?

    If not, why not?

    Did you know it’s far easier to re-sell an existing client than to sell to someone who doesn’t know and trust you?

    Did you also know that you lose 1/12 of the value of a client every 30 days you don’t communicate with them?

    So, knowing these two facts, what’s the easiest, most profitable way to maintain relationships and re-sell existing clients?

    You guessed it… you’re reading one now.

    So, if someone becomes a client after reading a FREE report, offer them more FREE reports on other things that you offer.

    But whatever you do, make sure you keep in touch with your clients at least once a month!

    Idiot-Proof Strategy #5

    Create A Back End for Your Business

    As I said earlier, it’s far easier to re-sell to an existing client.

    It’s also…

    Far More Profitable!

    Think about it…once you’ve spent the high upfront costs to acquire a new client, it’s relatively inexpensive to send them a letter promoting another product or service.

    The list is endless. The sky is the limit.

    Now it’s up to you to either offer these services yourself or set up Joint Ventures with other companies who already offer these services and split the profits.

    Idiot-Proof Strategy #6

    Testing

    It always surprises me how few business owners and marketers actually “test.”

    For example, have you ever tested one price against another to see which price pulls the most sales?

    I’ll bet most of you haven’t.

    Well starting today, here’s a brief list of the most important things to test:

    1. Headlines (in ads and sales letters)
    2. Price
    3. Guarantees
    4. Offers
    5. Mailing Lists
    6. Newspapers

    And the list goes on. There are an endless number of variables you can test in your business.

    Here’s the exciting part: One “minor” change can have a major impact on your business.

    For example, let’s say you test charging $700 instead of $500 for your services and your sales remain the same. Let’s further assume you’re selling approximately 100 new clients a year.

    The $200 extra dollars per client multiplied by 100 clients or …

    $20,000 Extra Dollars Per Year with No Extra Work on Your Part!

    That’s the power of testing. Put it to use in your business today.

    Idiot-Proof Strategy #7

    Creating A Deluxe Version of Your Service

    Airlines have “First Class” tickets. Nightclubs have “VIP” rooms. Hotels have “Suites.”

    Are you starting to get the point?

    Give your clients more than one option. Offer them the “No Frills” service for one price, and the “Premium” service for a higher price.

    Add extra bells and whistles to the “Premium” service and create a much higher “perceived value” and I GUARANTEE most of your clients will choose the “Premium” service.

    You want to give your clients a “Yes” or “Yes” decision NOT a “Yes” or “No” decision.

    So, if you aren’t already offering a Deluxe service, start doing it immediately!

    What are you going to start doing today to create a marketing machine that increases your sales and profits? It doesn’t have to be 100 different marketing strategies. Start with one, be consistent with that strategy, test it, measure it, adjust it, and profit from it. Then start with the next one.

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, and Author, a coffee enthusiast, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations and conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #business #stevefeld #smallbusiness #smallbiz #entrepreneur #marketing #leadership #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #businesssuccess #businesscoaching #businesstips #entrepreneurship #success #entrepreneurlife #keynotespeaker #podcast #author #smallbusinessowner #speaker

  • TODAY!

    TODAY!

    There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

    One of these days is Yesterday with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.  Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.

    All the money in the world cannot bring back from Yesterday.  We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said.  Yesterday is gone and should be forgotten.

    The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise, and poor performance.  Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.

    Tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds—but it will rise.  Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

    This leaves only one day – Today.  Anyone can fight the battles of just one day.  It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities – Yesterday and Tomorrow – that we break down.

    It is not the experience of Today that drives us mad – it is remorse and bitterness for something which happened Yesterday and dread of what tomorrow may bring.

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, and Author, a coffee enthusiast, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations and conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #business #stevefeld #smallbusiness #smallbiz #entrepreneur #marketing #leadership #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #businesssuccess #businesscoaching #businesstips #entrepreneurship #success #entrepreneurlife #keynotespeaker #podcast #author #smallbusinessowner #speaker

  • Building a Customer Pipeline

    Building a Customer Pipeline

    There are several good reasons why every small and medium-sized business needs to build and maintain an effective customer pipeline, but perhaps the most important one is that failing to do so can jeopardize your financial stability, says Yoon Cannon, a business growth expert, author, and keynote speaker. “If 80 percent of your company’s annual revenue is riding on 20 percent of your total customer base, then you risk a devastating hit to profitability from losing just one or two of your biggest clients,” she says. Grant Cardone, author of Sell or Be Sold: How to Get Your Way in Business and in Life, adds that a pipeline structure is “essential to the long-term viability and growth of your organization. It is impossible to be too aggressive in this area.”

    The thought of building a customer pipeline can be off-putting to some business owners and managers, but that is most often because they lack knowledge about what the process entails, says Hunter Belington, a principal at Closer Consulting, which specializes in the recruitment and development of sales professionals. “They aren’t sure what goes into one or how to manage it.” But building a customer pipeline doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult, especially if you break the process down into a series of key stages.

    The goals of a customer pipeline include creating awareness, generating leads, converting leads to sales, boosting transaction value through upwelling and cross-selling, and increasing frequency through reorders and repeat sales. You should begin by mapping out the sequences that best align with your ideal target market profile and the products/services you would most like to begin or continue offering, Cannon suggests. “The low-hanging fruit is often your lower-price offerings in the early stages, and that’s a good place to start. But you should begin thinking about what you can offer at higher price points that might eventually provide a greater return on your investment,” she says.

    The pipeline creation process should include measuring performance in each stage of the process, setting benchmarks against existing performance, and establishing the potential for improvement. The pipeline must provide you with accurate metrics so that over time your understanding of the process and your ability to measure and boost performance will improve, says Jeff Connelly, a professor at the Acton School of Business and president and CEO of CMIT Solutions. “It is important to break down the process into phases so that you can measure each one. You can only improve it when you are able to measure it.”

    Gathering, analyzing, and leveraging customer information are critical activities, says Cannon, who breaks the process down into seven key stages. Stage one is prospects who respond to a free offer, indicating a willingness to learn more about you and your business. A subgroup of people who express interest in a low-risk offer emerges in stage two and is further refined by those who complete that transaction in stage three. “From the prospects in the first three stages, you should be able to identify those likely to be interested in your mid-price offerings. The ones who complete that transaction become stage five customers,” she explains. The final two stages are the high-price-point interest group and the high-price-point customer group, typically representing about 20 percent of your customer base but up to 80 percent of your profits.

    It is important to note the nature of the customer information that is most valuable in an effective pipeline. For the most part, general demographic information provides little value; it is customer contact data, information requests, and purchase patterns that are most useful. This crucial information can be leveraged through a segmentation process such as that described by Cannon, as well as through customer relationship management (CRM) and direct marketing. With CRM, employees answering incoming calls can know exactly who the customer is and what he or she last ordered. The same data can be used to do a better job of targeting direct marketing efforts, regardless of media channel.

    Finally, building a culture of performance, learning, and continuous improvement is essential to wringing maximum value from your customer pipeline. Metrics and performance benchmarks are part of that effort, but incentives, morale-building, and fostering an enthusiastic atmosphere that is conducive to your business goals are at least as important. “For many SMBs, a culture of performance means a change in behavior to consistently measuring performance metrics for the first time,” Cannon says. “Continuous improvement is about a consistent focus on a daily or weekly basis to monitor results and change variables as needed in order to better meet your target market’s needs and do a better job of motivating them to become customers.”

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, and Author, a coffee enthusiast, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations and conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #business #stevefeld #smallbusiness #smallbiz #entrepreneur #marketing #leadership #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #businesssuccess #businesscoaching #businesstips #entrepreneurship #success #entrepreneurlife #keynotespeaker #podcast #author #smallbusinessowner #speaker

  • 11 Simple Ways to Develop a Daily Discipline

    11 Simple Ways to Develop a Daily Discipline

    A business owner I recently reconnected with, who in my opinion is one of the most disciplined business owners I know.  As we were talking, I had to ask him how he stays so disciplined in his business and personal life.

    He shared with me some simple ways anyone can be disciplined. He even stated he does struggle with his discipline every now and then, but he also knows if he stays disciplined, he reaches his goals faster.  He understands how discipline works, and how it shows you are in control of your life. It’s the path to getting anything you want.

    So how do you maintain discipline? By combining an automated brain program—doing whatever needs to be done—with an incredible commitment to your goal.

    It becomes increasingly harder to be disciplined in a society that prizes instant gratification. We are more concerned about feeling good all the time, so we seek immediate pleasures, whether it’s a new car, an exotic trip, or a new partner. Our long-term goals are not so important anymore. We get comfortable and wait for a special event to give our lives meaning, happiness, and success.

    Discipline is the difference between being in control of your future and letting your environment dictate your destiny.

    Discipline means freedom and happiness. It gives you the ability to do what you want because you know you can learn how to achieve any dream you set your mind to3.

    Discipline teaches you how to control your thoughts—and how to be happy in any situation, to visualize positive emotions and triggers, and optimistic mood.

    Discipline builds self-confidence, and mental and physical strength, and inspires you to grow as a human being. With growth comes the ability to enjoy life in deeper, more meaningful ways.

    Anyone can develop discipline. It’s a skill and it’s not complicated—you just must train yourself for it.

    Here’s how:

    1. Set BIG goals. When you challenge yourself to achieve bigger goals, you dedicate yourself to the craft. The more time you spend on it, the harder it becomes to quit. Once you have spent so much sweat, time, and effort on it, if you quit, it will be for nothing. The bigger the goal, the more invested you become.
    2. Set CLEAR goals. Clearly define what your goal means to you and what you will specifically do to achieve it. If you set a goal to live healthier, for example, will you go running every day? At what time and for how long? If there is no clear goal, there is no opportunity to create the specific steps you’d need to do to accomplish it.
    3. Know that everyday matters. When you wake up in the morning, do you know what’s most important for you to accomplish that day? Every goal, every priority, you have set for yourself has to be done – it will determine whether your dream lives or dies.
    4. Don’t argue with the plan. If you want to go to the Olympics, each training session matters; there isn’t one that’s less important than another. It’s the same with everything else in your life. When you start the process, you cannot question it, you cannot hesitate, you cannot back down—you must work hard every single day to reach your dream, full force.
    5. Build a no-matter-what mindset. Build the mindset that no matter what, you will accomplish things when you said you would. No matter what. You must create pressure on yourself, otherwise, nothing will get done. There is good stress and bad stress, and you must make sure you are operating under good stress – butterflies in the stomach, and manageable adrenaline that stimulates you.
    6. Plan a routine. Create a routine that becomes second nature, automatic, and normal. Athletes, for example, know what hours they train, when to break for lunchtime and dinnertime, and when to rest. In training, they know they must do warm-up, main training, cool-down, and recovery. By following the same routine, it becomes second nature—the discipline preps them to win. Planning your routine—and sticking to it until it becomes automatic—can prep you for success, too.
    7. Commit. Maybe your parents told you this when you wanted to join an after-school activity. “Be careful in choosing where you will spend your time because you won’t be able to quit. You will have to follow through with it until the end and do it well.” So, I really considered whether I would be able to commit to something for a long time. And when I knew, when I chose the one thing I wanted to do, it made me want to figure out how to keep getting better at it—it made me want to commit.
    8. Understand the transformation process. Your body and brain will do everything they can to resist change and growth. You need to know that it’s natural to feel lazy and undisciplined—but you also need to know that you have all the power to fight it. Start with your thoughts.
    9. Go above your feelings. The hardest part about discipline is maintaining the actions needed to achieve your dream or state of happiness. It requires constant hard work and fighting against comfort and instant pleasures. To do so, you must separate yourself from the feelings that stop you, like fatigue, laziness, or self-pity. You must go above them, even if your feelings tell you that you are tired, stressed, and alone in this struggle. Discipline is the direct training of a fighter.
    10. Resist the brain. All people are lazy, even the most successful businesspeople, the most accomplished athletes, and the most talented actors. But it’s not simply laziness—it’s your brain saving energy for you. Any movement takes energy, and the brain is doing everything to stop you from moving by sending body signals about how hard it is to move and thoughts about how scary it would be if you fail. But you can trick your brain. Imagine your body is a beautiful machine and you are operating it as a higher force from above. Separate yourself from your body. Play it as a computer game. You are the one who commands your body to accomplish tasks.
    11. Find pleasure in the hard work. Shift your focus to the process and concentrate on getting the work done faster and better every time. Speed is important; you must move quickly to achieve perfection in a set amount of time.

    So many people quit too early. Success is all about persistence, and discipline is what gets you to your destination. It’s the realization of your dream. The more you learn about your craft and your capabilities, when you start seeing yourself improve, the results will make you hungry for more. Self-improvement is an amazing drug.

    Self-discipline is a source of power. It is an engine that helps us understand and explore our capabilities and life’s opportunities. Discipline is not boring; it’s the freedom to put all our energy into creating something meaningful and beautiful.

    It’s up to us to choose life with discipline or without, with a goal or without, with a dream or without.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, and Author, a coffee enthusiast, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations and conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #business #stevefeld #smallbusiness #smallbiz #entrepreneur #marketing #leadership #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #businesssuccess #businesscoaching #businesstips #entrepreneurship #success #entrepreneurlife #keynotespeaker #podcast #author #smallbusinessowner #speaker