Simply Business Coaching

Making the Time Right

I often don't know what I'm going to write about until I start typing!  Sometimes I feel as though I'm rambling - and then a blog post or article starts to take shape, one which might not have not have come into existence unless I had started typing....

The saying "If you wait for the right time, it will never come" is both true and false.  It's true because we need to push beyond what is holding us back and take action if we are to achieve our goals.  It's false because sometimes we have to get 'stuff' out of the way before we can act.  I'm often pleasantly surprised when clients call to book coaching, sometimes months after we originally spoke, because the time is now right for them to be coached.  On the other hand, I've learned not to take is personally when an enquiry seems to come to nothing - the time isn't right for that person just now.

If the time isn't right, what we're often saying is that we're not ready to face our fears.  A useful question I ask clients at this point is: "What needs to be in place to make now the right time?"  This gets all the 'stuff' out in the open and, like shining a bright light into a corner, reduces the fear of what is lurking there.  Listing what needs to be in place puts the fears into perspective - perhaps some of those fears belong to other people?  Others may be old limiting beliefs which can be dealt with .... before you know it, you're taking action and turning now into the right time.

Waiting for the time to be right, if it means allowing our fears to hold us back, is giving away our power and our dreams for a pittance to the lowest bidder.  Taking action, however small, is so empowering that we are encouraged to keep going - and now truly does become the right time.

A Challenging Question

Whenever I'm asked to describe my style of coaching, I say that I challenge my clients.  A long time ago, I used to think being challenging was simply a matter of asking questions like "What's stopping you?" or "What is it costing you to ...?" 

However, now I know there is more to it.

Challenging means I encourage clients to take actions that will move them out of their comfort zone, increase self-awareness and move them forward towards their goals.  You see, I know something they don't.

I know we are all capable of so much more, and while a pinch of realism is necessary so as not to set ourselves up for failure, the goals we usually set ourselves simply aren't big enough.  They're puny goals that don't excite or get the adrenalin flowing. They're safe goals we don't feel motivated enough to strive for.

Successful people don't succeed by staying in their comfort zones, they succeed by challenging themselves every single day.  You may have noticed they often publicly announce their goal months before it becomes a reality - if that isn't challenging themselves to make it happen, I don't know what is!

If I were to challenge you to do one thing this week that will move you nearer your biggest goal, what would that be? 

Go on, I challenge you to do it!

Doing More and Achieving Less

It seems to me the more labour and time-saving tools we have available to us, the more overwhelmed we feel.  Not only that, I believe we're actually becoming less productive too!

How is it possible to be getting almost the opposite results to those promised by the inventors of these wonderful new tools and systems?

The first problem has to do with increase in choice as the internet has made is possible to access answers to just about any question you can think of!  The sheer number of information products is making decisions harder and delaying action while we try to weigh up which product will best suit our needs.

The second problem arises as clever people invent more and more 'new and cool' tools for us to try out.  People jump on each one eagerly, wondering if this will be 'the one' that makes the difference they want.  But assessing each new tool and system takes time.  Time taken away from the 3 core activities every business owner needs to work on - every day, which are:

Client Work - serving current clients and keeping them happy which encourages repeat business and referrals leading to new business.

Looking for New Clients - marketing activities which involve making direct contact with new prospective customers.

Developing the Business - planning ahead and getting very clear on where the business is going.

It's important to ensure these core activities are given priority in every business, before allowing 'new and cool' stuff to distract us.

As a life-long learner, and generally curious person, I'm often distracted by new & cool, bright shiny objects on the internet when I should be working.  What's your biggest distraction?

How to Get More People to Market to

If you have a website and/or blog - and if you don’t why not? - they are excellent places to showcase what you do and to give away something in return for your visitor’s contact details.  The fact these people are visiting your site means they’re already somewhat interested in your field. 

What you give away is up to you – but inviting people to sign up to your newsletter alone isn’t enough these days.  Remember how overloaded people’s inboxes are?

You need to tempt them with something interesting and valuable, and which they can access immediately – instant gratification is important!  I offer an action guide called ’10 Ways to Boost Your Business – How to get the stuff that really matters to you!’  which has 30 pages of valuable tips and self-coaching exercises.  What could you offer?

Writing articles and submitting them to different directories and publications, both offline and on the internet, is another great way to get more people to market to.  Readers who find your articles through these directories, will then visit your website to find out more about you if they like what you have to say.

Direct mail is still a useful, tried and tested, if more traditional way to attract more potential clients.  Carefully crafted letters and postcard mailings are good for this and need to be included in your marketing campaign.  Again, make sure you’re mailing to a targeted list or you’ll be wasting both effort and money.  Don't forget that sending email promotions to people you don’t know is ill advised and regarded as Spam (which is illegal).  So save emails for your warmer lists of interested prospects and clients.

Another very effective method of finding more people to market to is good, old fashioned Networking – online is OK too – but you still can’t beat going out and meeting people face to face.  Not only can you get to know if they’re in your target market, you’ll come across possible Joint Venture partners too.  These are people who are in non-competing businesses to you, but who are targeting the same audience.  A JV could see you cross-promoting to each other’s lists and both your messages reaching lots more people.

But - in your newsletter, articles, blog, as well as your free give-away – you must provide good, interesting and valuable content.  Just throwing together any old rubbish isn’t going to give a good impression of your business.  Also if that content is of inferior quality readers will, by association, think the rest of your products or services are inferior too!

The Heart of Your Business

Your list of contacts is at the heart of your business and, just as you take care of your own heart by exercise and healthy eating, so you need to devote time to giving your list lots of care and attention too.

Some people get very hung up on the size of their list, and the number of followers they have on the social networks.  They operate on the principle of ‘it’s a numbers game’ and try to connect with as many people as possible in the hope that a few may be interested.  Perhaps that used to work in the past, but I don’t believe it does any more – let me explain.

Everyone is bombarded with so many marketing messages these days – there is so much information to wade through that people have become ever more discriminating what they choose to spend their time reading.  So, if they receive too many messages from a source too frequently, or find the subject matter not to be relevant to them, they’ll delete, unsubscribe or bin it without a second thought.  Having a big list isn’t of much use to you if most of them don’t want what you’re selling!

When you want to have more people to market to, you need to be looking for the RIGHT people to add to your list.  To find them you must be very clear on your target market, this is Marketing 101 so I’m assuming you already know who they are.  Just don’t get side-tracked into building numbers for the sake of quantity.  It’s far better to have a smaller list of targeted people than a large list which brings you disappointing results.

Wellbeing: There's something missing ....

What I've really enjoyed about this Easter holiday weekend isn't the chocolate (delicious though it is!), nor the long lie-ins in the morning (never been one for those).  In fact, it's taken me until almost the end of the long weekend to realise why I'm feeling relaxed, even though I've spent quite a few hours working and tackling a rather large 'elephant in the room' (more of that in another post!).

What has made this an enjoyable few days for me, is a lack of pressure, almost like a weight being lifted from my shoulders.  It's a similar feeling to being free from a nagging ache - you don't always realise it's gone straight away, but just know something's different, better than it was.

With most businesses closed for the duration, the phones have been quiet (though not in a worrying way); the volume of emails has eased off; many project deadlines have been suspended or put back; and there's no point in worrying about things when you can't reach anyone for a few days.

This blissful lack of pressure got me wondering how I can extend it after the end of the holiday.

How would you do it?

But I already knew that!

Was the comment from a business owner I'd been speaking with about developing her online presence. Judging by the tone of voice, she wasn't too happy to find out that I didn't have a magic formula to transform her business without any extra work on her part.

The trouble is, there's a big gap between knowing what needs doing and actually doing it!  And it got me thinking. 

I've been guilty myself, in the past, of having a lot of 'shelf help' - buying lots of how-to books, training programmes, and attending many seminars.  All in the vain hope that I would stumble across the missing part to build my business effortlessly.

One of the problems is the sales copy accompanying events and product launches.  They all promise the earth - and then deliver ..... you guessed it ..... stuff I already know about!

So I've made 2 promises to myself.  The first that I will not buy any more products or download any new information, without first checking my groaning bookshelves (real and virtual) to see if I haven't already got an equivalent.  The second promise is that I will systematically work my way through each of the programmes in my possession instead of leaving them to gather dust.

Once I've taken action and done the work, it will be interesting to see how much further forward I am in my own business.  I think that business owner's comment may have done me a big favour!

What about you?  Do you keep finding 'new information' you already knew about?