Biz Coach Steve

Tag: Leadership

  • Manage Yourself 

    Manage Yourself 

    Business leaders often get caught in the weeds within their business and may lose sight of the big picture. Leaders juggle many different items/crises a day and they should examine each crisis in three steps. 1) Fix the problem, 2) Find out how the problem became a problem, and 3) Make sure that problem never happens again.  This management tip has been passed down from many different sources, but still holds in running a business.

    Here are just a few tips to assist you in “defining the problem.”

    • Make your calendar your best friend.  As soon as you book an appointment or meeting, also book a date to prepare for it and make a to-do list for the appointment. Take time and prepare for the appointment or meeting.
    • Don’t waste precious time sweating over the small things out of your control. There will be items that “pop up” over which you have little or no control.  When that happens, go with the flow and don’t fight it, just work through them and get it over with.  
    • Manage the function, not the paperwork.  Remember that your job is to manage a specific function within the company, whatever that may be.  There might be a lot of paperwork that goes with the job, but don’t let that distract you from your real responsibility.
    • Get out of your office.  Make yourself more approachable and walk around your organization. You find out what is really happening and will get information firsthand from your staff.  
    • Delegate out the easy stuff.  Right now, there are people within your organization that will be more than happy to handle the small easy items that will eat up your time if you do them. Focus on the hard stuff. 
    • Don’t get caught up in “looking good.”  Appearances can be deceiving.  Don’t try to act big.  Don’t exclude rank-and-file employees.  And don’t think you know it all.  Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honest. Getting out of your office will assist with this.
    • Learn from the mistakes of others.  Benjamin Franklin believed you should learn from the mistakes others made, so you don’t do them.
    • Open your ears and close your mouth.  You have two ears and one mouth, so you should be listening twice as long or more than talking. Listen to what your associates, your employees, your suppliers, and your customers say, they all have something of value that will assist you.  Listen to the people around you.  You will never learn what it is if you drown them out by talking all the time. Shut up and learn.
    • Practice what you preach.  To lead, you have to lead by example.  Don’t go on an office spending spree for yourself and then tell your people to watch their expenses.  Walk your talk.
    • Know your numbers. Always be looking at your financial statements to know how your company is performing which will avoid those, “I should have looked at the financials more.”

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    Steve Feld provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. This is accomplished through one-on-one coaching in an environment of continuous learning, positive support, and results-driven accountability.  Steve also conducts workshops and training on a variety of subjects for business owners, executives, and their staff which he customizes to every organization to provide the greatest positive impact. Steve has spoken to a large variety of organizations in different industries of all sizes.

    All businesses have the same foundation and that is what Steve focuses on. Growing and getting positive results in the business, the leader of the organization as well as every else involved within the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you to grow your business, at 602-750-3017. He is in the business of business.

  • Don’t build on borrowed land

    Don’t build on borrowed land

    This is great marketing advice. Don’t build ANYTHING on borrowed land.

    This means if you don’t own the platform (or have control), then don’t focus all of your marketing efforts on that platform.

    Do you remember a few years ago when Facebook went down for 3 days?

    I had a client that was doing all his business on Facebook and not one penny on any other platforms. He was grossing around $30,000 a day (yes, you read that right) selling products (affiliate marketing). He focused on placing targeted ads and putting people into funnels, which turned into sales. He had around 90 funnels going. His ad spend was shall we say – a crazy ridiculous high number.

    Then his business world ended all in 3 days.

    On the first and second days, his funnels were cleaned out. All those people in his funnels are done. They either purchase something or they will not be contacted for another month. But not one new person entered any of his funnels for 3 straight days.

    By the end of the third day of no Facebook. All his funnels were dry. His daily sales were close to zero.

    When Facebook came back, he had to rebuild all his ads and funnels. Everything was wiped out. This took him another 45 days to get set up. His business started recovering to the pre-black-out daily sales a year later.

    He built his entire business on borrowed land.

    When people connect with you on any social media site, work on moving them over into your database. Get them in your newsletters, anything you can control.

    Think of where you have the most followers, likes, subscribers, etc., and then think about what would happen to your business if that platform decided to shut down tomorrow.

    It could happen.

    Microsoft could close LinkedIn.

    The Zuck could shut down (or be forced to shut down) Facebook and Instagram.

    Elon ends Twitter.

    And so on.

    Don’t build your business on borrowed land.

    #

    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

  • Do you have a Customer Pipeline?

    Do you have 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.

    Having a sustainable pipeline structure is essential to the long-term viability and growth of your business. It is impossible to be too aggressive in this area.

    Many business owners lack the essential knowledge of what an effective customer pipeline entail. Items such as why I need a solid pipeline. Do I have to invest in more programs and services? How will I manage the pipeline? Do I have to hire someone to set a pipeline up?

    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. There are many forms of customer pipelines. We are going to look at an automated pipeline.

    The goals of a customer pipeline include creating awareness, generating leads, converting leads to sales, boosting transaction value through upselling and cross-selling, and increasing frequency through reorders and repeat sales.

    Start 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 them. It’s easy to look at “Low-hanging fruit” at a lower price, but you should be thinking about what you can offer at a higher price that may eventually provide you with a greater return on your investment.

    Any pipeline process needs to include measuring the performance of each stage (phase) of the process. Set benchmarks against existing performance and establish the potential for improvement. Knowing your numbers will allow you to make any adjustments and plug up any “leaks” in your pipeline and be able to “boost” performance in other areas.

    Gathering, analyzing, and leveraging customer information are critical activities for your pipeline.

    Here are 7 key stages in an effective customer pipeline.

    1. Offer your target market a free offer (guide, book, video, worksheet, etc.) to entice them to “opt in” to learn more about you and your business.
    2. Make the offer low-risk so they can easily “opt-in.” Just get their name and email.
    3. Once they ‘opt-in” get them what you offered to them ASAP without having them perform any additional steps.
    4. Have a “drip campaign” for your new prospect to get to know you better. Provide them with more relevant information – NOT selling to them.
    5. Introduce a new offer to them within the drip campaign. Sign up for a workshop, get another video or book, free consultation, etc.
    6. Once they take advantage of your second offer, they are now more likely to purchase a higher ticket-priced product or service from you. Now you can obtain more demographic information about your customers.
    7. Now you can offer a high price point product or service from you.

    Don’t forget to measure your activities. How many people opted-in to your offer? Stayed enrolled in your drip campaign? Took advantage of your 2nd and 3rd offers?

    One key to a successful pipeline (other than measuring results and making necessary adjustments) is to be consistent with your marketing efforts to always be bringing in more prospects into your pipeline.

    What automated customer pipeline do you have in your business?

    #

    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

  • 7 Marketing Strategies that will Skyrocket your sales and profits

    7 Marketing Strategies that will Skyrocket your sales and profits

    I know what you are thinking.

    OMG… not another marketing program that costs lots of money.

    Nope. Just 7 simple marketing strategies that you can use to grow your business.  There are literally thousands of different marketing strategies that you could be using to grow your business, but only a few that you need to do it consistently and that will allow you to make all the money you desire.

    Strategy #1: Create a Marketing Parthenon

    The only constant in business is change. Therefore, you need to be brilliant at the basics.

    A marketing Parthenon means having multiple different sources of revenue and lead generation instead of relying on just one. What worked yesterday, may not work today.

    To give you an example, we have private coaching, group coaching, mastermind, automated courses, book sales, speaking revenue, affiliate programs, and a formal referral program.

    What is your revenue Parthenon?

    Strategy #2:  Consistency

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

    If you just mailed out 200 postcards, then you should be working on the next round of mailing out the next 200 postcards.  Just like running an ad in the local papers, or online. You need to create momentum and be seen. Not one and done marketing strategies that so many businesses perform. 

    Strategy #3:  Sequenced Mailings

    This is probably the most important marketing strategy you could implement, yet very few businesses put systems into place to allow them to tap into the power of consistent sequenced mailings. ** This also goes for email marketing – drip campaign.

    Here’s why this one is so powerful. Most people are gathering information before they purchase some items. If they see your ad once, they will forget you when they are ready to purchase. But, if you keep in touch with them through a consistent marketing program, then you will be top of mind when they are ready to purchase.

    Most marketers believe you should “touch” (not physically) your prospects 11 to 15 times before your message breaks through and they are ready to buy. Why do you think fast food restaurants advertise so much – repetition?

    Strategy #4: Monthly Newsletters

    Do you send out a monthly newsletter to your clients?  This could also be done via an email newsletter.

    It’s easier to re-sell to an existing client than to sell to someone who doesn’t know, like and trust you.

    Interesting stat: Did you know that you lose 1 ½ of the value of a client every 30 days you don’t communicate with them?

    It’s not just selling stuff but providing your clients with content that they can use and that is related to your product or service.

    Just keep in touch with your clients.

    Strategy #5: Create Joint Venture partnerships for your business

    As I just said, it’s far easier to re-sell to an existing client than to an unknown prospect.

    You’ve spent money and time acquiring a client, it’s relatively inexpensive to send them a letter promoting another product or service that is RELATED to yours.

    You can send (including email) a guide on behalf of your JV. If anyone from your list purchases anything from your JV, they will pay you a flat rate or percentage of the sale.

    This works for complimentary products and services to yours.

    Strategy #6:  Testing

    It is surprising how few marketers actually “test.”

    One example of this is A/B testing.

    • Test one marketing piece against another
    • One headline against another
    • One price against another
    • One guarantee against another
    • One medium against another (local papers versus city papers, Facebook versus Instagram, etc.)

    The list goes on.

    Most of the time no one tests to see what resonates with your target market to have them buy from you.

    I have done this before and it saved me $2,500 a month if I would have gone with one postcard with a negative return, versus a postcard that cost $100 a month and had over a 20,000% return. Yes, you read that right.

    Strategy #7: Create a Deluxe Version

    Airlines have “First Class,” nightclubs have “VIP” rooms, and hotels have “Suites.”

    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.

    Put those extra bells and whistles into the “Premium” service and create a much higher “Perceived Value” and I GUARANTEE most of your clients will choose the “Premium” service.”

    Give your clients a “Yes” or “Yes” decision NOT a “Yes” or “No” decision.

    Which strategy will you implement in your business today to grow your business?

    #

    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

  • Start today to change EVERYTHING

    Start today to change EVERYTHING

     Think about where you were 5 years ago.
     
    Seems like only yesterday, right?
     
    Are you where you thought you’d be 5 years later when you looked forward back then?
     
    Are you leading the life you envisioned?
     
    Do you have the income, lifestyle, freedom, health, relationships, poise, and skills you thought you would have by now?
     
    Guess What?  Now you get another chance to look forward to the next 5 years
    Over the next 5 years, you can accomplish what people spend a lifetime trying to do. How do you visualize your life to be in 5 years? What job do you have in what industry? How much money are you making? What city do you live in? What kind of car are you driving? What kind of house/apartment/etc. do you live in? Who are you within your relationship? How are you viewed in the community?

    Be as specific as possible. Take the time to visualize all areas of your life. I only mentioned some of them. Write them all down and look at them every month, week, and even day. Start today moving to where you want to be in 5 years.
     
    A Goal vs. A Promise
    It makes a big difference if you turn your goals into promises.  That’s because most of us have set goals and know of other people that have set goals and didn’t fulfill them.  Our mind tends to see goals as something to strive for, something to aim at…but if we don’t “hit the target”, it’s fine because “we’re not the first or the last that have set goals and didn’t achieve them.”
     
    On the other hand, when we promise someone that we’re going to do something, our mind goes to work for us and we do everything that’s in our power to fulfill that promise because we don’t like to feel the pain, shame, or embarrassment of letting somebody down.  Our integrity is such that a promise means more to us than setting a goal.
     
    The Power of Accountability Partners
    Commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it in has left you.
     
    The pressures of life will not come to an end just because you have decided to begin this program.  It has been my experience that those who have the most success with the program are those who had 2 or more Accountability Partners (not within the same household) doing the program also.
     
    Some benefits of utilizing Accountability Partners include:

    • Assistance in organizing ideas, thoughts, and tasks into specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic goals
    • Assistance in prioritizing an effective and consistent plan
    • Ensuring accountability for task follow through
    • Mentoring through difficulties and indecisiveness
    • Sharing advice, personal knowledge, and experience
    • Follow up on your success


    During your search for appropriate Accountability Partners, keep in mind that the right person should be someone who will challenge, engage and evoke a sense of accomplishment in you.  Confidence, creativity, and strength are all traits that will be useful to you.  Also, consider choosing an Accountability Partner who you trust to keep confidence as you may get into financial and personal discussions that are confidential in nature.
     
    Promise yourself and your Accountability Partners that you will become a better person and achieve your goals.
     
    Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
    Unlocking your full potential for Wealth, Success, and Achievement
     
    Your THOUGHTS,  your WORDS, and your ACTIONS are building blocks to creating the life that you want!
     
    Doing the same things over and over expecting different results is insanity.  The only way to get different results is to change what we do.  The process of change begins in our minds.  Our thoughts help shape and create our circumstances in life.  “As A Man Thinketh, So Is He.”  When we change our thinking, we change our lives.
     
    What does it mean to change?  Change = to transform or convert.
     
    When we find ourselves stuck in a rut or not quite where we want to be in life, it is time for a change.  Old habits, old thoughts, and old ways of thinking must go.  We literally have to cleanse our minds of negativity, scars, conditioning, and mental blocks.
     
    Living Your Dream is a continuous process of training and transforming our minds to achieve optimal living.  There are many ways to begin the process of changing the way we think.
     
    What we feed our minds affect how and what we think.  When we bombard the mind with negative images, fears, bad news, violence, pain, and suffering, etc.…our mind responds by conjuring up matching thoughts.  When we feed our minds with positive images, good news, peace, happiness, and prosperity …our mind responds accordingly.
     
    Our mind will produce thoughts based on the information we provide it with.  The thoughts that our mind produces set a wheel of events in motion.  Thoughts are creative and whatever thoughts we find ourselves preoccupied with always manifest in our lives.
     
    What you do with your life is up to you.  Life is what you make it.  You have everything you need to create life, destroy life, improve life, and touch the lives of others.  For every cause, there is an effect.  Every life represents a mission, a purpose, and a cause.  What will be the effect on your LIFE?

    I promise you if you commit today to reach your goal with the help of accountability partners, and change your thinking to positive thoughts you will be in a much better place in 5 years.

    How do you visualize your life in 5 years?

    All long journeys start with one step.

    What one step are you going to take today?  

    #

    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.

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

  • START 2023 OFF RIGHT

    START 2023 OFF RIGHT

    14-DAY GOAL SETTING

    “Any road will get you there if you don’t know where you are going,” – Lewis Carroll

    ” A goal without a plan is just a wish” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    As they say, a goal with a plan is just a dream. Do you often find yourself daydreaming of having something-whether that’s a brand new car, increasing your monthly income-personal and for your business, but then never working towards that goal?  That’s because you don’t have a plan of action.

    This 14-Day Goal Setting exercise is for anyone who is looking to achieve a specific goal in their personal and professional life, no matter how big or small. If you’re unsure of how to go about starting on a path to achieving your goals, then this exercise is for you.

    By completing this exercise, you’ll gain clarity into exactly what you want to achieve in every area of your life and determine a clear-cut plan for how to achieve those goals. We will be focusing on your BUSINESS goals. Of course, you can apply this exercise to your personal life as well.

    The 14-Day Goal setting exercise outlines exactly what you need to do during each day of the challenge to be successful. We want you to set yourself up for a fantastic 2023 and take your business to the next level and beyond. Over the next year, we will be expanding on your business goals and providing you with some more information that you can use to achieve your 2023 business goals.

    Day 1 – THINK: Think about your business as it is now and write down the things that are most important to you for your business.  I.E. What do you want your revenue to be at the end of 2023? How many new customers do you want to have every month?

    Day 2 – IMAGINE: Imagine that you could wave a magic wand and make your business perfect in all areas. What would it look like? I.E. Having a team that is all on the same page, working effectively to grow your business.

    Day 3 – WRITE IT DOWN:  Using your thoughts from Day 2, write down each goal you’d like to achieve in your ideal business. Make your description clear and detailed in every sense. I.E. You need to make X number of calls a day to close Y number of clients that equal Z number of revenue per quarter, per month, per week, or day.

    Day 4 – DECIDE UPON YOUR MAJOR DEFINITE PURPOSE: Ask yourself: If I could achieve any business goal on this list within the next 2 weeks, which one goal would have the greatest positive impact on my business? I.E. Upgrade the computer system to streamline the sales process.

    Day 5 – SET A DEADLINE:  Think of a reasonable date for you to achieve your goal. If your goal is big enough, set sub-deadlines. I.E. Will upgrade the computer system on X day and test it out on Y day, everyone will be on the new system on Z day.

    Day 6 – IDENTIFY ANY OBSTACLES: Identify any potential obstacles that you will have to overcome to achieve your goal. Determine how to overcome each of them.  I.E. Getting the IT department to install and upgrade the system. Find an outside IT firm that can do the job within the next couple of days.

    Day 7 – IDENTIFY THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS YOU’LL NEED: What one skill if you developed and did it consistently, in an excellent fashion, would help you the most to achieve your most important goal? I.E. If you are not well versed in accounting, speak to your CPA or take a basic accounting class so you can understand your numbers to make better decisions within your business.

    Day 8 – MAKE A LIST: Make a list of everything (every step) you will have to do to achieve your goal.  I.E. Just start a list of each step that needs to be taken to move your business from where it is now to the goal. 

    Day 9 – ORGANIZE YOUR LIST INTO A PLAN: Organize your list into a series of steps from the beginning through to the completion of your goal. I.E. If you need to make 10 calls a day, then your list should be made the day before on who to call with their contact information the day before, why you are calling, and even have your call script ready to go.

    Day 10 – WRITE YOUR PLAN DOWN IN AN AGENDA: Write down each phase of your plan in your agenda through the completion of your goal. Plan each day, week, and month.  I.E. Block time in the day to make the calls, then put the result of that call in your sales tracker.

    Day 11 – DETERMINE YOUR SUPPORT SYSTEM: Make a list of every person in your life that you will have to work with or work around to achieve your goal. I.E. Contact your CPA to have them explain your numbers. Contact an IT company to upgrade your system. ETC.

    Day 12 – MAKE YOUR GOAL PUBLIC: Tell others what goal you intend to achieve and by when, especially those in your support system.  I.E. Get a Score mentor and tell them your goals along with the result you want with the date you are going to accomplish the goal.  Join a mastermind group.

    Day 13 – PRACTICE VISUALIZATION OF YOUR GOAL:  Create clear, vivid, exciting, emotional pictures of your goals as if they were already a reality.  I.E. Visualize yourself, and your business after you achieved your goals. What does your business look like? How does that make you feel?

    Day 14 – DO YOUR FIRST TASK:  The hardest part is starting. On the last day of this exercise, complete the first task you’ve outlined for yourself and get started on the path to success.  I.E. JUST DO IT!! Your first task may not be perfect, SO WHAT?  Just do it! Do not put this off and start taking action TODAY.

    Following this 14-Day goal-setting challenge, it will get you to develop your 2023 business goals. Be as descriptive as possible with realistic deadlines. Get the people in place to help you achieve your goals.

    Every month we will give you more information to keep you moving forward in your business, but you need to know where you want your business to go before anything else. An archer needs to know where the bull’s eye is on the target before they pull the string back and fire an arrow.   Start today to be successful in 2023.

    #

    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 #entrepreneur #stevefeld #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • Justifiable

    Justifiable

    I was speaking to a group of business owners and had the opportunity to have lunch with some of the participants. 

    You know how those go.  

    “What do you do?”

    “How’s business?”

    And so on.

    When I had the chance to ask questions to the business owners around the table, I asked them, “What issue/problem are you currently experiencing in your business that you are hiding from yourself?”

    That stopped the conversation.

    One of the business owners looked like they were about ready to break down in tears. He composed himself to say that he has been ignoring having a candid conversation with an employee that is killing this company.  Then he went on to justify why he has not had that conversation even though he knows this one employee is causing customers, employees, and vendors to leave him. 

    The question now is “is it helping you and your business by justifying his staying?”

    It’s easy to justify our mood or our actions based on how we’ve been treated by the outside world, or how we want to be perceived. Justification is not the goal. It’s effectiveness that matters.

    We get to pick how we act, and it seems as though choosing what works, choosing what makes us happy, choosing what makes the world the place we want to make it – these choices are more useful than any justification we can dream up. 

    He was choosing not to have the crucial conversation versus saving his business and then justified it with a million reasons why that employee is still working at his business.

    I am going to work with that business owner to help him be the leader he wants to be and stop justifying poor behavior.

    What issues, problems, and challenges are you justifying in order to avoid solving them?

    #

    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 #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • 5 mistakes to avoid on LinkedIn

    5 mistakes to avoid on LinkedIn

    It seems people have been talking about LinkedIn quite a bit lately.

    They tell me, they love LinkedIn, but get lots of spammy messages and they are not finding prospects on LinkedIn. What I am finding out is that these people are complaining about the spam they get, but in turn, they are spamming others in the same fashion.

    Most people try to add and accept meaningful connections on the professional network.

    Still, there are reasons why you might not be making the connections you are hoping for.  Here are 5 simple mistakes to avoid on LinkedIn.

    1. You’re not sending a personalized message

    If someone walked up to you at a networking event and said, “I’d like to add you to my professional network,” you would probably give him a confused look. Sending a generic LinkedIn invitation to a stranger without introducing yourself is a big mistake.

    Instead, check their profile and find a meaningful interest that you share. Start by introducing yourself, and then mention the thing you have in common. Your potential connection needs to understand who you are. It is also crucial that they see how they, too, can benefit from this professional connection. Make sure it’s someone you want to connect with. Stop just inviting the world.

    2. Your profile is lacking significant information

    Hand down this is the simplest item to fix and the biggest mistake I see on LinkedIn. If you don’t have a headline or a professional profile photo, chances are your connection requests are going to be ignored. Having a complete LinkedIn profile and optimizing it for search help potential connections to know that you are legit.

    Don’t say in your message you are LinkedIn lead generation guru and your profile is not complete or use archaic phrases and show you are working at a fast food place.

    Make sure you have these important components:

    • Headline. Describe what you do and whom you work with.
    • Summary. This is arguably the most important element on your profile. The LinkedIn algorithm searches for keywords on your page, so take full advantage of the 2,000-character space to tell people what you do. Jazz it up by adding mixed media, such as images and videos.
    • Experience. Your profile will seem incomplete and humdrum if you don’t go beyond what’s on your résumé. Adding relevant images, videos, presentations or articles will help your profile stand out and enhance your credibility.
    • Endorsements. Unfortunately, our competitive society loves numbers. Opting out of endorsements or having very few will make your profile seem suspicious. Reach out to family members or co-workers to boost endorsements.
    • Connections. When someone is considering your invitation, they think, “How will this connection benefit my network?” Ten to 20 connections are a small, unimpressive network. Try connecting with friends, co-workers, family members, neighbors, fellow alumni, and former colleagues before you send connection requests to prospects and recruiters.
    • Customizable LinkedIn URL. You can create your URL based on your first and last name or the industry in which you are knowledgeable.

    Although there is no one right way to craft a LinkedIn profile, you will be more likely to connect with prospects and recruiters if your profile is complete and optimized.

    3. Your spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are flawed.

    If you have improper spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, people will be inclined to delete your request. Most prospects and recruiters will call you out for it every time. On a professional network, you must clean up your mistakes and have a polished profile. PLEASE DO NOT USE ALL CAPITALS IN ALL YOUR TEXT ON LINKEDIN.  That’s yelling and very unprofessional.

    4. You’re spelling their name wrong.

    Check and double-check the name of your potential connection. If you misspell their name or call them by the wrong name, you will be ignored.

    5. You’re trying to sell something.

    If you want to sell something to a prospect on LinkedIn, do not try to do so on your initial request. Many prospects and recruiters want to cultivate their professional networks. They don’t want you sending some crappy sales pitch to all their connections. Try having a more meaningful conversation rather than sending a template sales pitch.

    No matter how you change your approach to connecting, some people will not accept your request. Don’t take it personally; users have varied philosophies. It might just be an indication that your targeted person isn’t seeing what they would gain by connecting with you.

    Why do you accept or reject LinkedIn connection requests?

    Update your LinkedIn profile. Connect with your true target market using personalized messages. Don’t sell your stuff in your first message to someone.

    To your business success.
    Biz Coach Steve

    #

    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 #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • Do you shelve Knowledge?

    Do you shelve Knowledge?

    This past week I attended an annual conference for over 120 high-performing coaches from all over the world.

    Yes, it was amazing.

    All the presenters were coaches sharing their knowledge, wisdom, strategies, and tactics so we can learn from them and help our clients in a greater capacity.

    I know many of you have attended a conference of some kind. Maybe it was for your company. Your industry, or a conference/convention where you can gain more knowledge to help your own business grow or improve your life.

    As I am preparing for my first TEDx talk, I do mention how we as attendees to events like these, shelve our knowledge.

    We take the time to travel to these events and spend money on the event, hotel, transportation, food, etc. Sit in a cold conference room, and drink bad coffee. Listen to speakers that are giving away gold that could help us in our lives or business. Get the workbooks, handouts, etc. Take copious notes. Maybe even buy the presenters books or programs.

    The event is over. We go back home, tired, and excited, and do what 98% of the attendees do with that information.

    They put it on a shelf or in an electronic file and say, “I will get to implementing everything I learned – one day.”

    Sad to say, that day never comes for most people.

    Shelving knowledge.

    No one will get around to implementing what you took away from the event unless you block time out after the event to develop a solid plan of action to implement all that knowledge you just gained into your business or life.

    One technique I learned a long time ago was to block out time immediately after the event. As soon as the event was done, block out time to create a plan on what I wanted to implement in my business and my life from everything I just learned.

    I had everything down to less than one page.  Then rank each action item from 1 to 4.

    • 1’s are items that can be implemented very fast without doing anything else and would give me and my business the biggest impact.
    • 2’s are items that can be implemented that would lead to a big impact but may need to have to do something first before implementing.
    • 3’s are items that would time some time to implement.
    • 4’s are long-term action items that can be completed after all the 1’s, 2’s, and 3’s are done and may need some outside assistance to get them implemented.

    Once everything is ranked, then put a due date or timeline for each action item. Now put those tasks in your calendar to get them completed.

    One tactic I have heard (and it works very well) is to block out the first business day after the event to create and implement your action plan.  No matter what, just block out dedicated time to look at your notes, and all the materials, put down what you want to implement in your business and life, then rank them in the order to accomplish the action steps, put them in your calendar and start implementing those great ideas.

    One great idea that I took away from the conference was building a new Podcast – Experts over coffee.

    This podcast will be different than our current podcast – Biz Coach & Coffee.

    Looking to launch it in January of 2023 and have started booking business owners who are experts in their industry to share their expertise to help all the listeners grow their businesses and improve their lives.

    So, if you own your own business for 5 or more years, have more than 3 employees (who are not relatives), and are willing to be interviewed on the podcast. Then let me know. Or if you know of a great business owner that fits our criteria and would like to be our guest and talk about their business and industry, please let me know.

    If you have that shelved knowledge. Book some time on your calendar. Get that material off your shelf or computer files and look at it again. See what you could use to grow your business or improve your life. Then create an action plan and start implementing that knowledge.

    Un-shelf that knowledge.

    #

    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 #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • Are you a good Negotiator?

    Are you a good Negotiator?

    I was having coffee with a fellow business owner, and he was telling me that he is expanding his office into the suite next to his current office and he is about ready to start negotiating with his landlord. He confessed he has never had to negotiate anything like this before and was worried that he will not get everything he wants with the larger space.

    Many business owners just accepted a lease from a landlord and never entered into negotiating with them, which is normal.

    In a sense, all of life is a negotiation.

    You are always negotiating in some way. When you drive from one place to another, you negotiate through traffic, letting other people get in front of you and you get in front of them. When you go to a restaurant you negotiate, to get a table and then get the kind of table you most like. You negotiate all the elements of your work life and all the things you do or don’t do. You negotiate prices, terms, schedules, standards, and a thousand other details all day long. The process is never-ending.

    Your ability to interact, communicate, persuade and negotiate with others determines your income more than any other factor It is therefore well worth your while to do everything possible to be very good in this area.

    It is not really a question of whether or not you negotiate. The only question is, “How good of a negotiator are you?”  If you want to get things in life faster and easier then you need to be better at negotiating than the other person.

    How many times have you heard someone say, “I am not good at negotiating.”  The reason they feel this way is that negotiating is a learned skill, just as learning how to ride a bicycle.  They may not be good at negotiating because they were never taught how to negotiate.  Learning how to be an effective negotiator takes time and practice.

    Why does everyone hate to negotiate with a car salesperson? Because the salesperson has been taught how to negotiate and usually has the upper hand in the discussion.  Now, if you were trained as they were on how to negotiate and understood the rules of negotiating, would you dread negotiating with a car salesperson?  Probably not.

    The primary purpose of negotiating is to come to an agreement between two or more parties and then fulfilling that obligation.  That’s it. Simple right?

    Your ability to negotiate will for yourself and your company will make an enormous difference in the quality of your sales and the degree of profitability you achieve for your organization. So being an effective negotiator will make a great difference in your life.

    There are many rules for negotiating. 

    Rule #1) This is a shocker – AVOID IT!  Yes, that is correct, avoid negotiating. If the other party is good at negotiating and you feel you’re not, then why go into a negotiation with that attitude-you’re not going to fair too well on the outcome.

    Rule #2) Delay negotiating as long as possible. You must first have a desire to buy before offering concessions. Never use negotiating as a substitute for salesmanship (value).

    Rule #3) Negotiating is a sales tool – use it as one. Early concessions have very little impact on the deal and decrease the attractiveness of your product or service.  Early concessions create an appetite for more & bigger ones later and the first person to concede will usually concede again & again.

    Rule #4) There are several requirements for negotiating.  All parties involved must first have the authority to negotiate as well as to uphold what has been agreed upon. Many times, you may enter a negotiation, and come to an acceptable outcome only to find out that the person you have been negotiating with must get someone else’s approval.

    Rule #5) Some primary aims of negotiating in sales.  Remember if you don’t need to negotiate, then don’t.

    • Negotiate only when it’s necessary to get the sale
    • Negotiate to build a long-term relationship
    • Negotiate to find a way to satisfy both parties

    There are only six outcomes of negotiating.  If the outcome is NOT a Win/Win or No Deal, then end the negotiation. You may win in a Win/Lose outcome for now, but the party that lost will not be doing business with you after that deal.

    1. Win/Lose
    2. Lose/Win
    3. Lose/Lose
    4. Compromise
    5. Win/Win
    6. No Deal

    Finally, always prepare to be successful at negotiating. Remember negotiating is a skill that can be learned, and you need to prepare and practice before entering a negotiation. Some ways to prepare are;

    • Lawyer method:  Prepare your position from the other party’s point of view.
    • 20 Idea Method: Write out 20 benefits for the other party and when negotiating present those ideas.
    • Research the other party: Many times, this simple step is avoided.  Find out what they are looking to gain from the negotiation.
    • Get the fact before you enter a negotiation:  Make sure you are clear on why you are entering the negotiation with the other party and what they are willing to offer to enhance the negotiation.
    • Ask the customer for the information you need to negotiate effectively. Pretty simple, but how many times have you just asked the other party for their information?

    The next time you must enter into a negotiation with another party, be prepared, practice, do your research, qualify them to make sure you are dealing with the decision maker, research them (talk to some of their customers), and only accept a Win/Win or No Deal as the outcome.

    Good luck negotiating.

    #

    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 #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme