Simply Business Coaching

The Power of You

Do you speak in the first person on your small business website or do you use the royal ‘we’?  I know when I launched the first website for FrontLine Results in 2005, with the intention of working with larger companies; I set out to give the impression of being more than a one-person business. Even my email newsletter was stilted and full of 'corporate speak'. 

But then, as my target market shifted back to sole traders and small business owners (the people I really love working with), that approach wasn’t appropriate anymore.  And once I got started with social media and blogging (from 2007) I made a conscious decision to just be me, so I became @LouiseBJ and began sharing my views and opinions and some personal information about myself (my love of good coffee, chocolate and chilled white wine for example!) on Twitter, this blog and my newsletter.

I find this personal approach actually makes it easier for me to communicate my marketing message because I know who I’m ‘talking’ to and am able to imagine chatting with them over a coffee.  I’m no longer trying to pretend to be the large company I’m not.

If you want to be different from your competitors (see my post earlier this week) you can do that most easily and effectively by simply being yourself.  You are a unique individual and if you start letting your personality shine through in little ways, you will be able to start building more authentic relationships with your contacts.

Over to you.

Do Business Cards still Matter?

At a recent event I was handed a business card which listed some of the owner’s online networking URLs on the reverse.  It got me wondering if, as the number of people involved in social networking grows, this trend will become more commonplace.  Actually I hope it doesn’t and here’s why I say that.

Business cards are still very collectible when you’re at face to face networking events.  They provide an aide-memoire of who you met, where & when, and what line of business they’re in – as well as a means of staying in contact.

The back of a business card is a very valuable piece of marketing real-estate, although it's often overlooked.  It can carry an explanatory message about your business, ask questions that will resonate with your target market or offer a compelling reason for people to visit your website.

We now have so many ways of connecting with and staying in touch with people online that we’re spoilt for choice.  But provided we have one website address, it should be possible to go there and find details of the social networks, blogs etc, they belong to.

I really think it’s such a waste of a marketing opportunity to put nice-looking social network avatars and personalised URLs in the space where you could be reinforcing your marketing message. It’s almost as bad as not putting anything at all on the back of your business card!

Another much overlooked position for a short marketing message is your Email Signature, but I’ll leave that one for another time.

What do you think - do business cards still matter?

Look at it another way .....

As Albert Einstein said - ‘You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.’

One of the challenges of being the only person in your business is that it can be difficult to find a different ‘level’ or way of looking at a problem in order to solve it!  Then again, even larger companies with the attitude ‘that’s how things have always been done around here’ will struggle to break away.

I’ve been reading a lot about differentiation lately and the need to stand out, or at least slightly apart, from our competitors.

But it’s no wonder we find it so hard to do.  As small children, we are expected to behave in a certain way and to conform to the rules in order to fit in.  By the time we reach our teens, we go to extreme lengths to be just like our peers in how we dress, what music we listen to, what causes we support.  Adulthood sees us conforming again, building the corporate career path & the marriage, mortgage and children personal path. 

But rebellion can strike at any time & thank goodness it does!

College drop outs and non-conformists often go on to become successful entrepreneurs.  Think of Sir Richard Branson or Steve Jobs.  Not only did they found their global corporations on innovative thinking, they know that they need to keep being different to stay ahead of the game.

What problems are you facing in your business?  How do you think Richard Branson or Steve Jobs would tackle them?

(I recently interviewed Paul Sloane, author of several books on creative and lateral thinking.  You can listen to the recording here)

Make time for networking online!

 Since the end of the summer holidays, the pace of networking has picked up again!  I’ve been out and about meeting with local business owners, giving a few talks and running the odd workshop.  On each occasion the subject of social networking has come up, which proves to me that awareness is definitely there (which wasn’t the case at the beginning of this year).

What puzzles me is that, rather than embrace social media as a brilliant new marketing tool, most of the business owners I meet are citing lack of time as an excuse for not getting involved.

These are probably the same people who visit networking groups when the mood takes them rather than planning events into their marketing strategy.

Of course, if they don't want additional business, they need not trouble themselves with the extra work networking entails.

But so many of them are relying on word of mouth referrals to keep their order books full and do very little else in the way of active marketing.  It’s as if they expect customers to miraculously find them!

Do they really think that those of us who use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. have magically found more hours in each day?  Of course we haven’t.

However we have recognised the need to be involved and are prepared to put in the additional effort and make the time to learn, to take part, to reach out and make new contacts.  For us, the return on investment of our time is worthwhile.

How long do you spend networking each week – both online and offline?

(for more tips on networking, take a look at the Confident Business Networking System)

Reduce your unwanted Emails

 One of the best investments I made a couple of years ago was to subscribe to Spam Arrest, a web-based spam filter.  It’s inexpensive (less than $30 for 6 months) and takes only a short time to set up and ‘teach’ which email addresses to allow through.  And you can protect several email addresses within your account.

My stress levels were immediately reduced as those inappropriate and unwanted emails no longer arrived in my Inbox!  I estimate it now captures around 250 spam messages each day, and actually used to stop about 4 times that number until I instructed my ISP to remove the catch all email address facility.

Occasionally new contacts (for reasons best known to themselves!) don’t respond to the verification request message and I have to visit the mail store and manually authorise their email addresses. 

A recent side benefit I’ve found, since I became more involved in social networking, is the filter also traps unwanted marketing messages, invitations to join groups or attend events, all of which are sent out in such bulk the originators don’t bother with the verification process – and their messages don’t reach my inbox either!

I don’t receive any commission for recommending Spam Arrest, but it’s the only filter I’ve used so far and it works for me.  Do you have a preferred provider?  Let me know and I’ll compile a list.

How to make the sun shine in your business

Have you noticed the effect sunshine has on your mood?  Here in the UK we’re possibly more obsessed with the weather than some other countries and, as I write this post, the sun is shining on a chilly autumn morning.  When the sun shines I feel energised, enthusiastic and optimistic; but when the day dawns grey, cloudy or raining, I’m more likely to be stalked by lethargy, doubts and negativity.

As busy business owners, we can’t afford to be affected by overcast skies, so here are three suggestions to make the sun shine in your business, whatever the weather!

Collect together all your testimonials from satisfied clients (print them out if electronic) and keep them in a file.  Reading through them on a grey day will reaffirm how great you are.  Also, if you receive any thank you greeting cards, store them in the same file.

Keeping a record of achievements will help chase away doubts.  Evidence that you have succeeded in the past is a great morale booster, and one we don’t use enough.  We always seem to be looking for the next goal and forget to congratulate ourselves on where we are right now.  Each milestone deserves its own celebration.

Giving thanks and appreciating the little things in life is an excellent way to stop pessimism in its tracks.  Stop and be grateful at least 5 times every day – for that perfect cup of coffee; for the love of your family; for being able to work from home & avoid those long commutes; for the stunning autumn colours on your morning walk and for the sweet birdsong that accompanied you.

How do you keep the sun shining in your business?  Please share your tips by leaving a comment below.

Being on your best behaviour

Back when I worked in corporate land, I was responsible for hiring sales support staff and making sure they provided the vital back-up services to the sales team out in the field.

The candidates I employed were always very keen to please and would be on their best behaviour – for the first couple of weeks!  Then the timekeeping would start to slide (always with great excuses); they’d forget to pass on messages or even miss the post with urgent quotes (this was in the days before email!).

What I could never understand was why they applied for the job in the first place if they weren’t prepared to do it well – all the time.

Unfortunately now I have my own business, I find many suppliers behave like this too; the size of the operation is irrelevant.  Not only is it disappointing to receive sub-standard products or services, it’s incredibly stressful for the consumer who really doesn’t want to have to keep checking up or chasing something they’ve paid good money for!

Anyone who’s on their best behaviour just to get a job or win a new client is wasting everyone’s time.  It’s also a sure-fire way to get a reputation for being unreliable or providing slipshod service. 

Before the advent of social media, it was well known that a dissatisfied customer would tell many more people about their experience than would a satisfied customer (unfair but true).  Social media enables us to write about our customer service experiences, both good and bad, and broadcast to hundreds or even thousands of people. 

So to those suppliers who are only on their best behaviour for a short while, I say think carefully what you want to be known for!

Related post:
Who are your VIPs?

Get Ready for Success

 A lot of the business owners I work with are destined to always be the owners of small businesses.  They’re so focused on just getting by that they don’t allow themselves to imagine what it would be like to be the owner of a successful business.

I want you to try an experiment with me.  Tomorrow (or the next full day you have in the office), act as if you already have a successful business that brings you what you want from it.  You may want more clients, higher turnover, more forward orders. (What would Donald Trump do?)  Or perhaps your successful business is about being able to work less hours and have more time to spend with family or on hobbies. (What would Richard Branson do?)

If you were already successful, think about what you would be doing during your business day.  What would be on your To-Do List?  Who would be working with you?  Who would be advising you? 

If you find it difficult to act as if you are already successful, ask yourself what your business hero would do if they were in your shoes right now, then do that thing!

If you always think and act like the owner of a small business, that’s what you’ll always be.

I dare you to think and act bigger – and get ready for success!

Don't Order too many Business Cards!

Let me explain what I mean before I start getting hate mail from all the printers out there!  Every time I decide to have new business cards printed I face the same dilemma.  The more I order, the better deal I get as economies of scale kick in.  But on the other hand ..... I don’t want to be stuck with out of date cards because ..... I like to play around with my marketing message, try out new ideas – and it’s so wasteful (not to mention expensive) to do that if you order thousands of cards at a time.

Just because you had the business cards or brochures printed doesn’t mean you can’t keep refining and polishing your message and developing your brand.

Now I realise that you don’t have money to burn so how about these low-volume, high quality printing options?  Vistaprint have premium option cards which are very reasonable, as do Moo – so there’s no excuse!

And of course, when you’re happy with your message (for the time being!) and you need lots of cards, perhaps for a trade show or to attend several networking events, then ordering a higher volume of cards from your regular printer makes economic sense.  Just don’t order too many.

You may have guessed that this post isn’t only about business cards – it’s about not standing still in any area of your business.  I worked for the Toshiba corporation many years ago and learned of the Japanese term ‘kaizen’, which doesn’t have a direct translation, but means making constant and never-ending improvements. 

Take a look at your business cards, your brochures, flyers, website, blog - and any other marketing materials you may have.  What improvements do you need to make to better reflect what you do now?

Are You a Workaholic?

A workaholic is someone who is defined and obsessed by their work.  If you took their work away from them, they wouldn’t know what to do.  A workaholic uses their work to avoid the rest of their lives, most often relationships.  A workaholic is not a happy person because they are constantly in fear of losing the one thing in life they are successful at – their work.  While it is great to be passionate about what you do, it’s important that your work isn’t a way of avoiding living the rest of your life.

Overwork is different to workaholism.  Overwork is when you have too much to do at work and you have other interests and relationships outside of work but not enough time to spend on them.

However, being a workaholic or being overworked do have one thing in common – they both cause stress.  Stress can lead to physical and/or emotional health problems which in turn are going to lead to a drop in performance levels, and which can directly affect your company’s sales and profitability.

Keeping a healthy balance between work and the rest of your life means you and your employees will be more effective.  You will be able to be totally focused on getting those sales and delighting your customers during business hours and enjoy being with your family and friends outside of work.

Quick Check - Answer the following questions:

1.    I won’t delegate because no one can do the job to my standards.
2.    I find it difficult to relax.
3.    I often work late and/or at weekends.
4.    I have missed or cancelled arrangements with family or friends because of work, on several occasions.
5.    I feel most comfortable at work.

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions you need to take care that you are giving enough attention to the other important areas of your life.  The more ‘yeses’, the more urgent it is that you take action quickly.