Why You Should Stop Complaining And Start Marketing

A consistent flow of clients and customers are an essential component of life for business and there is no denying this single fact. But the reality of business is unusual. Even though many businesses know the importance of marketing, they just aren’t doing it! The simple fact is that if people don’t know about you then you don’t exist. And if you don’t exist, you don’t have a business.

Marketing. What’s The Big Deal?
Not too long ago I caught up with a good friend of mine who's in the business of design. His talent and passion for his craft is really inspiring to me, and to top it all off, his work is outstanding. But here’s the interesting thing – despite the stunning work he produces, he struggles to get new clients. This intrigued me. So much so that in that moment I couldn’t stop myself from steering the conversation to find out what the missing piece was. I came to realise that having a great product or service is only one part of the equation. Well let me explain. You and I could own a restaurant that makes the best food in town, but if no one knows about our restaurant, who’s going to eat there? And in the world of business, if we have no customers, then what business are we running?

Build Your Business One Customer Experience at a Time
So the missing chunk of the equation is getting your business recognised through marketing. And even though marketing has evolved tremendously with technology, one of the most powerful marketing tools is still word of mouth. And whether you are 5 years into business, or just started out, you have the power to build your business one customer experience at a time, starting today. A great place to start is to ask your self this, “when was the last time I experienced world class customer service that ‘wowed’ me?” I’m talking about service so great that you couldn’t help but tell the world about it. Some call it word of mouth business, but I like to call it creating raving fans. Having raving fans is definitely a good thing for your business because they tell all their friends about you which means more business for you! And the best part is that you have the power to recreate this experience for your customers, which doesn’t even cost you a cent in your marketing budget!

Create The Mindset of “A Customer For Life”
The journey to building your business one customer experience at a time starts by creating the mindset of ‘a customer for life’. Just imagine for a moment how differently you would treat a customer for a day versus a customer for life. You probably noticed how much more care and extra attention to detail there was when viewing the client as a customer for life. Now multiply this through to all your clients and watch in amazement as raving funs start to emerge.

Determine The Life Time Opportunity of Every Customer’s Interaction. 
Super successful entrepreneur John McGrath once posed a very powerful question that transformed his business. That is, “What’s the life time opportunity of every customer’s interaction?” And what he meant by this is sometimes you don’t know how well you should treat a customer until you know their worth to your business. So what may seem to be a $10 customer of a restaurant today could actually translate into hundreds and thousands of dollars in business over a year. And this doesn’t even take into account the fact that this very same customer will refer their friends and colleagues to your business! This shift in perspective can make all the difference in your business, from the way you greet your next customer to the way you attend to their requests.

Taking It Away

• Build your business one customer experience at a time
• Get into the habit of creating ‘wow’ experiences and raving fans. 
• Develop the mindset of ‘a customer for life’.
• Determine the life time opportunity of every customer’s interaction.

Did this post spark a thought within you? We'd love to hear from you so share a comment.

Work In Your Strengths And Delegate The Rest

Delegation – it’s Simple & Logical. But Why Aren’t Businesses Doing it?

Too often business owners are too busy trying to fix things and be everything to their business. They are the marketing executive, sales manager, project coordinator, customer service manager, lead consultant - and the list goes on. These people are the ones that are often heard saying “I can do it better than anyone else,” and “I don’t trust anyone with my work.” This is literally a recipe for disaster because it limits your effectiveness.

The best way to understand this is to think of a game of competitive team sport. It could be basketball, soccer or even volleyball. Logically, the position that each person plays should always reflect the individual’s area of greatest strength. For example, in a game of soccer, the best striker should play striker and the best defender should play defender. This strategy makes total logical sense, especially if the team wants to have any chance of being competitive.

Now in the business context, the same strategy holds true. Unfortunately, here is the bad news. As logical and practical as this strategy is, businesses simply aren’t implementing this. They’ve mixed up the strikers with the defenders; the sales people with the managers; the financiers with the administration. And the worst part about it is this – they aren’t even aware of it and as a result, they’re paying the price for it.

Being Great Is All About Working In Your Strengths
I want you to consider all the great sports stars that ever existed. One particular individual I have in mind is Tiger Woods. The strength of his game was always going to be in his amazing long game and putting – never his out of bunker shots. Not to say that Tiger Woods totally ignored his weakness, however, his likelihood of dominating the golf arena rested upon his ability to maximise and continually work on his strength rather than fixing his bunker shots (weakness). The same can be said about business.

The reality is that you are only one person. And at any given time, you can only do one thing or another – but never both simultaneously. By the same token, you can either focus on developing and stretching your key strengths, or work on fixing your weaknesses. Now if you’re serious about creating extraordinary results, then you have probably already realised by now that this can only be achieved by working on your area of greatest strengths. And the way to do this is to start identifying and noticing the things that you do in your business that only you can do, and that you excel in.

Putting It Into Practice
So for example, if you’re noticing that you have a talent for attracting new clients and building long term customer relations in your business, then you are going to want to devote more time in this area. And at the same time, if you are noticing that there are areas that are clearly weaknesses, be willing to manage around this by delegating these roles to other team members or outsourcing it. For example, accounting may not be your forte, so it is as easy as finding a suitable book-keeper or accountant to work along side you.

Make The Most of You
The momentum that this strategy will create for you and your business is phenomenal. Because in the moment you are able to manage around your weaknesses, you have just freed up more time so that you can shine and be at your best. This translates into more results for your business, more growth and therefore more money. Always have the mindset of being in the role and doing things that allows you to capitalise on your strengths rather than fixing your weaknesses. This also gives the right of way for other people to shine in their area of strength and together, you are able to create a much more effective, efficient and healthier business financially.

Taking It Away
• You can’t be all things to your business.
• Devote more time developing your strengths.
• Manage around your weaknesses and consider delegating where appropriate.

Let's hear from you. Why not share a quick comment with us. 

3 Easy Ways To Get More Web Traffic Absolutely Free

You've all heard similar stories about websites. People get super excited about having their new website pieced together and ready for launch. Then comes the launch date, followed by plenty of complements from friends and family. But not too long down the track they find themselves scratching their heads wondering why they haven't gotten any enquiries from their website. 

The biggest difference between a website that works and one that doesn't comes down in part to the website itself, and secondly, the amount of people visiting your site. Now you can't have a website without traffic and you can't have traffic without a website. They work in unison and if you execute both very well then you're left with a website that drives in bucket loads of traffic and captures plenty of leads that will become paying clients. 

Today there are so many different ways to drive traffic to your site, some of which are free and others are paid for. In my opinion, the best form of marketing is always free marketing. Simply because it works and it doesn't cost you a cent! The biggest mistake a business can do is to commit more funds than it should into marketing that doesn't work. It's just plain silly to do so because the goal of business is to make a sizeable profit. 

Regardless of what type of marketing you engage it, I believe that your marketing needs to allow you to communicate with your target market and consistently stay in front of them. So here are some quick tips on generating more web traffic without costing you a single cent.

1. Social Media

Social media has gotten a tremendous amount of attention in the past number of years and at this rate, it's only going to get bigger. There's not a day that passes that I don't hear or see someone talk about social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. And the reason why this has become such an effective and viable way of generating traffic for your site is because of the sheer number of people who are actively using this medium to connect with one another. In fact, statistics have recently shown that there are over 500 million active Facebook users around the globe!… So don't underestimate the power of social media. Study it. Understand it. And utilise it so that you can connect with your target market and have them directed back to your website which means more potential leads and sales. 

2. Blog

Blogging has been around for quite some time and only now has it become so easily accessible, user-friendly to set up and it's absolutely free. The most popular providers include Word Press and Blogger by Google. The goal of your blog should be to connect with your target market and provide them with blog posts that add value into their lives. When you can consistently blog quality information that is perceived to be of great value to your prospects then you will start to develop a loyal fan base. Every now and then, you can add in offers and promotions that your business is running. For the most part, just follow the rule of 80:20, where you need to add value 8 times before you can direct them to any other site such as your own website. 

3. Email marketing

This has been a long standing strategy which for some business is the core medium for doing business. Communicating and connecting with your target market is a powerful way of creating trust with them which takes you one step closer to getting the sale. Remember that your emails, just like your blogs, need to add value to your prospective clients in order for people to continue reading your stuff. Avoid spamming people with masses of irrelevant information and offers because people do not like being sold 'in your face'. Take your time because there is no rush. The great thing about email is that not only is it free, but you can direct your mailing list to wherever it is that you'd like them to go to on your website. 

Always remember that when re-directing traffic to your website, send them to a page that is relevant to what they are looking for. For example, if you were looking for a torch and I gave you a wrench instead, how would that make you feel?… It's frustrating to say the least! So don't do this to your prospective clients and instead, show them what they want. 

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Is Your Business Ready For 2011?

Stop. Plan ahead and thrive. With the new years still very fresh on our shoulders there couldn't be a better time to set the scene for your business in 2011. And if you're looking to create a bigger and better year in your business, setting clear goals will have the power to fuel your vision and turn your business desires into the real thing. Time and time again I find that business owners who fail to plan simply plan to fail. Can you imagine hopping onto the latest airplane filled with all the latest gizmos and navigational equipment, but not having a specific destination? The airplane’s technical marvel would serve no purpose without a destination.

The first thing to do is to have your goals written down on paper. Don't just have it stored in your mind because the physical act of writing your goals out establishes a strong level of commitment and is like a declaration to yourself. Ask any person who has achieved some major level of success, whether in their personal or business life, and they will tell you that the simple act of writing your goals makes all the difference. And once you've set your goals you need to get clear on "why" these goals matter to you. Your "why" is the backbone to achieving your goals because it keeps you going when the going gets tough. And it's true that even the clearest and most amazing goals would have no power and momentum without it.

To help you set goals that'll make 2011 your best year ever, i will highly recommend that you implement the SMART method of goal setting which is by far, the most effective and simple goal setting method that I have ever come across.

S - Specific
Often times when I ask business owners what they’d like to achieve, they give waffley responses which may sometimes sound like “I want a better business, more money, better staff” and the list goes on. But the question is how do you define each of these? Does earning an extra $1 qualify as ‘more money’ in your mind? This is why having specificity in your goals helps tremendously with giving you laser beam focus. Follow the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ model. That is, define ‘what’ your goals are, clarify ‘why’ this is important to you and then detail ‘how’ you are going to achieve it. For example, it could be that you want to increase your net profits by 25% or earn an extra $50,000 in business.

M - Measurable
You want to make sure that your goals can be measured so that you can keep track of your progress. Most major goals (especially year long ones) would normally involve a number of shorter term goals in order for you to reach the final one. So instead of writing down “I want to make more money”, you can write “I will increase our business’s weekly sales volume by five a week”. The key is to monitor your progress so that you continue to work towards your goals.

A – Attainable
This is to ensure that your goals are within your reaches of being achieved. For example, aiming for a 1000% increase in sales volume in one week is not practical and can only set you up for disappointment.

R - Realistic
Having realistic goals gives you momentum and the rule of thumb is that there should be a 50% chance that you can achieve your goal. For example, if you’re currently earning $70,000 and your goal is to earn $1 million in the next year, this is highly unrealistic. However, if you say you’re looking to increase your earnings by 50%, then there is a higher chance that you will achieve it.

T - Time
A goal without a time frame becomes a nice wish. In order for things to become real, you need to schedule in a time frame that’ll have you getting off your back side and working towards that goal. Make sure that the goal is not set too far out because it loses its sense of urgency which breeds complacency.