Biz Coach Steve

Tag: Growth

  • When Should I Review My Business Plan?

    When Should I Review My Business Plan?

    A business plan is often the cornerstone of a company’s launch. Entrepreneurs invest countless hours crafting these detailed documents to secure funding, establish direction, and define goals. Yet, far too often, that painstakingly prepared plan ends up forgotten, tucked away on a shelf or in a drawer. However, a business plan should be a living document, regularly revisited and updated to guide your business through changes and challenges.

    So, when should you review your business plan? Here’s what you need to know.

    At Least Annually: The Bare Minimum:

    Every business owner should review their business plan at least once a year. Leading publications like Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Inc. advocate for an annual update to ensure your plan reflects the current state of your business, industry trends, and future goals.

    An annual review allows you to assess progress, identify emerging opportunities, and address challenges. It’s a chance to realign your strategies and tactics with your overarching vision. Think of it as your business’s annual physical exam—essential for long-term health and success.

    Monthly: Staying on Track:

    For even greater effectiveness, consider reviewing your business plan monthly. This proactive approach can help you ensure your company remains aligned with its objectives while allowing for timely adjustments.

    For example, during my time growing a large business, we committed to monthly reviews of our business plan. Each department revisited the plan, assessed performance against goals, and adjusted strategies as needed. The results were remarkable—every department consistently exceeded expectations. The key was maintaining alignment and focus through regular check-ins.

    Every Quarter: Staying Agile:

    Some companies, like Apple, take an even more dynamic approach by updating their plans quarterly. This allows them to adapt quickly to shifts in market trends, technological advancements, customer behavior, and regulatory changes. A 90-day review cycle ensures your business remains agile, giving you the flexibility to seize opportunities and mitigate risks as they arise. FYI Apple has a business plan department, and they are working 3 years out.

    When Major Changes Happen:

    Beyond scheduled reviews, certain events warrant an immediate update to your business plan. These might include:

    • Shifts in the marketplace: New competitors, regulatory changes, or disruptive innovations.
    • Company growth: Adding new products, services, or locations.
    • Financial changes: Securing new funding, significant revenue fluctuations, or altering your pricing strategy.
    • Ownership or management changes: Bringing in new partners or key team members.

    Your business plan must reflect the current landscape and internal dynamics. By staying up to date, you can ensure that your plan remains relevant and actionable.

    Why Regular Updates Matter:

    A current business plan offers numerous benefits, including:

    1. Clear alignment among stakeholders: If your company has multiple owners or partners, regular updates help ensure everyone shares the same vision and priorities.
    2. New opportunities and threats identified: Revisiting your plan regularly allows you to spot emerging competitors, potential collaborators, or untapped customer segments.
    3. Goal evolution: As your business grows, your objectives will change. Your plan should evolve to reflect these shifts, providing clear and measurable targets.
    4. Improved profitability: Consistent reviews keep you focused on financial performance, helping to identify cost-saving measures or revenue-boosting opportunities.

    Think of your business plan as a GPS for your business. The route you mapped out when you launched may no longer be the best way forward. Regular updates ensure you’re always navigating the most efficient and effective path.

    Involve Your Team:

    In the early days of your business, you likely prepared your plan alone. But as your team grows, their involvement becomes crucial. Engaging your staff in the review and update process fosters buy-in, alignment, and accountability. When your team has a hand in shaping the plan, they’re more likely to embrace its implementation and contribute to its success.

    If you don’t have a team, get with some fellow business owners to bounce ideas off them and receive feedback, input, and resources.

    Making It a Habit:

    To keep your business plan alive and relevant:

    • Set a recurring date for your reviews—annually, quarterly, or monthly.
    • Identify key metrics to evaluate progress and success.
    • Involve your leadership team and other relevant stakeholders.
    • Be honest about what’s working and what isn’t.

    By making plan reviews a regular practice, you can keep your business aligned with your goals and better prepared for the future.

    Dust It Off and Dive In:

    If your business plan has been sitting idle, it’s time to dust it off. Pull it out, review it, and update it to meet the current and future needs of your business. Whether you conduct annual reviews, quarterly updates, or monthly check-ins, the important thing is to make it a habit. A living, evolving business plan is one of the most powerful tools you must ensure your company’s continued growth and success.

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

  • Are You Open to Getting More Sales?

    Are You Open to Getting More Sales?

    Isn’t it curious that sales, the lifeblood of every small business, is so damn hard to get right? You started your business because you believed you could make or do something that other people wanted, but then you struggle to find a way to talk about it with them so they’re moved to say, “How can I get some of that?” You want so badly to connect with prospective customers. You want so sincerely to experience your salespeople connecting with them. And it hardly ever feels like there’s enough connection going on, enough excitement about the product or service you’re so invested in, and enough prospects turning into customers.

    If you want to turn that around, first think about building a sales system in your company. Then consider this rarely appreciated notion: Sales is not about closing. Closing is an ‘old school’ idea that may work for those ‘hard-core’ salespeople, but it leaves everyone else feeling like everything that just happened was ‘wrong’.

    Sales is about opening. It’s about facilitating prospects with care in opening about what they really want and need. It’s about giving them room to feel what they’re feeling. Of course, prospects want things like product knowledge, insight, and solutions from the people they buy from. But, if you want your sales process to feel both meaningful and fun, and maximize your lead-to-sale conversions, you have to learn how to give your prospects an opening experience.

    Fortunately, the problem and the solution are one and the same. People—all people including prospects—speak in symbolic expressions. A symbolic expression is a ‘shorthand’ people use to capture a set of experiences and the meanings they associate with those experiences.

    Let’s look at an example, a symbolic expression may be: “We’ve made some mistakes in hiring.” It means something very specific to the prospect that he or she isn’t sharing. If you receive those words, without entering your prospect’s reality, you’ll create horizontal or superficial movement in your sales conversations. When you assume you understand people—when you really don’t—you leave them feeling disconnected from you, whether they’re conscious of it or not. Horizontal movement is what happens in most sales conversations. It looks like this:

    Prospect: We’ve made some mistakes in hiring.
    Salesperson: Hm, how many employees do you have?

    Prospects express something that has meaning to them that they’re not revealing, and the salesperson barely registers it and then changes the subject. The more prospects experience that you’re not curious about what they mean—again, whether they’re conscious of it or not—the less they’ll feel your interest in them. Your interest in them—your willingness to enter their reality—is the most meaningful gift you have to give your prospective customers, whether they buy it or not. Because, most likely, no one else is interested in their reality and they’re starved for it.

    Every symbolic expression is an opening opportunity, an opportunity to help prospects open up about what they really want, what they really need, and how they are really feeling. Opening opportunities create vertical movement in a sales conversation that takes people on a journey that is new, real, and alive. Here’s what vertical movement looks like:

    Prospect: We’ve made some mistakes in hiring.
    Salesperson: Oh, what mistakes?

    Sounds simple, but if you were to listen to recordings of your sales calls or those of your salespeople, you’d be shocked to find out what a tiny fraction of the time that level of ‘contact’ is happening. If you start orienting your listening to hear the symbolic expressions/opening opportunities offered by people in conversations—whether they’re with your prospects, employees, friends, or your spouse—you’ll begin to see how much people say that’s a door to a deeper level of what’s really living in them. When you can hear these expressions, try asking questions like:

    • What do you mean?
    • Can you tell me more about that?
    • When does that most often happen?
    • What’s that like for you?

    With practice, you’ll start to connect with people and enjoy your sales conversations in ways that would have never happened otherwise.

    One thing you’re likely to discover in the process, though, is how often people deflect or avoid answering the question you’ve asked. When people answer a different question than the one, you’re asking, notice it and find a way to ask the same question even a slightly different way—with as much real care as you can muster. Just because people aren’t accustomed to someone being interested in them doesn’t mean it isn’t worthwhile learning how to enter their reality and connect with them there. They may be surprised and even a bit uncomfortable, but they’ll appreciate it, whether they express it to you or not.

    If you’re not satisfied with the sales results you’re getting—if you and/or your salespeople aren’t connecting with enough of the prospects you get in front of—then do yourself a favor and assume there’s something you’re not creating in your sales conversations. Connecting with prospects means putting your reality aside long enough to meet your prospects where they are. Everything you want to accomplish in your business depends on it.

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

  • 3 Elements of a Successful Coaching Engagement

    3 Elements of a Successful Coaching Engagement

    Just pick up any business periodical, view them online, read industry journals, blogs, and posts, to see the hundreds, if not thousands of articles stating the benefits of executive coaching. Executive coaching has now become a buzzword and something many high-performing organizations are using within their business.

    Executive coaching is still often misunderstood in terms of how it differentiates itself from performance management and other leadership development offerings. The International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment.”

    A professional coaching engagement helps improve performance and personal effectiveness while reducing stress. It offers a rare opportunity to stand back and take a fresh look at the experiences and assumptions of a lifetime. Keep in mind that a professional coach is potentially the only person one interacts with who has a single focused agenda: the success of their client.

    The coaching process is highly personal, and structured to meet the needs of both the leader as well as all the staff within that organization. Different leaders focus on different goals; different approaches or methodologies are effective for different leaders; and different coaches are needed for different leaders.

    The Harvard Business Review conducted an online questionnaire for coaches and consultants to provide feedback on their insight into their own practices.  The results showed 3 main factors that are critical to a successful coaching engagement.

    Level of motivation of the executive. According to the survey, executives who get the most out of coaching are those with a fierce willingness to learn and evolve – these individuals are often referred to as “coachable.” Leaders who are motivated and prepared to make changes are more likely to make dramatic positive results within their businesses.

    Chemistry between coach and leader. The relationship and dynamic between the coach and the leader is critical to ensuring success. Allowing the leader, the opportunity to meet several coaches in person, or to consider their biographies, allows the leader to make the determination of which coach is best suited to working with them. There are many factors that are involved chemistry on the part of the coach – background, advanced degrees or training, expertise or niche, etc. This alliance will allow the coach and leader to build trust and rapport.

    Commitment from the leader or top management. The final key element to a successful coaching engagement is support and commitment from the leader and their organization. There must be a desire to develop and retain the leader who is taking part in coaching; at the same time, there must be alignment on the goals and objectives that the leader is undertaking during the coaching program. Conversations with key stakeholders, such as the leader’s manager or Human Resources business partner, ensure buy-in and support.

    These elements are just three of the many factors that are critical to support coaching engagement. Others include utilizing appropriate assessments to understand personal leadership capabilities and environmental dynamics; creating an individual development plan with actionable or SMART goals; and having an underlying methodology or process to follow, with milestones to track progress.

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

  • 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

  • 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.”

    #

    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