Aug 13 2015

I KNOW WHO YOU ARE

uncle sam GOTCHA!

 

The other day, I received a “How Your LinkedIn Posts Are Doing” email and was curious enough to click it. I was fascinated to learn that YOU (yes, YOU!) are among those who sometimes follow my ramblings, and that when I put all the clues together — I gotcha! I actually know who you ARE.

I examined the subject matter detail lurking beneath the surface of some of my targeted posts and came up with a description of YOU. Uh huh, YOU. (Isn’t this better than your favorite suspense movie?)

In fact, if you’re still reading, you’re certainly getting more revved up from the intrigue of what’s to come than what may have been prompted by news of the latest tech discovery: that a new device can now “read your iris and identify you FROM 40 FEET AWAY!” Good Grief! Do we even want to imagine what’s next?

So back to who YOU are. Let’s start with some good adjectives that definitely describe you, at least in part. Stay with me now. We’ll work up to the good magical stuff in a minute.

Let’s see — by every indication, I have determined (and for the paranoids: no, this is not psychoanalysis!) that on numerous occasions you are: rambunctious, risky, frisky, focused, frenzied, ingenious, inventive, innovative, impatient, volatile, excitable, rebellious, and welcome growth over stagnation. How we doing so far?

Well, if even just some of that sounds familiar, I will venture to guess that you have a strong urge to change things up, but that your forward motion thinking has had a tendency to get somewhat muffled, distorted, stuck, or obscured along the way. Yes? Okay, so it’s get-back-on-track time, or not? Seriously? Of course!

Oh, almost forgot . . .

here’s what I deduct about you:

YOU ARE:

A “FEARLESS” 40-50-something

salesperson (or salesy person)

who’s hooked on SHARK TANK!

You might even be an entrepreneur!

 How’s that? Look at it this way, you likely visited at least part of one or more of the following LinkedIn posts . . .

. . . and/or you probably visited one or more of the hundreds of posts at www.BusinessWorks.US on the subjects of sales, salesmanship, entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurship.

SO . . . On target or way-far-away? If it’s on target, you are at least thinking like an entrepreneur, and maybe even acting like one. You might actually be one! If it’s way-far-away, you are probably way-far-away too (!), and lack the lightheartedness to even read the last two paragraphs — you might consider just clicking off this post now and finding some calmer, more regimented (like government?) career recruitment site.

You’re still with me? I hope so. Because if you are, you’re also tough and stubborn — great entrepreneurial indicators. Now make it all come together for yourself (that’s “for your SELF”) and make your ideas work! It just takes commitment and acceptance of the fact that your behavior is your choice.

You already have whatever else there is that it takes! Not sure? Throw a few business words in the www.BusinessWorks.US Search Window (Some non-business things like: “Are You Breathing?” work well too!) and check your SELF out! Go for it! Oh, and keep reading my posts, thank you very much.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

God Bless You and Thank You for Your Visit!

No responses yet

Apr 22 2012

I have what you need and want now!

You are not what you sell.

                             

You are what you solve.

              

True business professionals who dwell in the world of sales, and all small business owners (who live there too) know instinctively that they are not really salespeople pushing their wares and services on others.

They recognize that they are actually problem solvers who listen carefully to customers and prospects and respond with solutions. They focus on building relationships.

The problem is that solving the problem is often glossed over, dismissed, and sidetracked in the process of communicating with a customer or prospect. How often have you heard a store or organization or company rep start out (or jump to her or his safety net when a positive response is not evident) by rattling out a long list of product or service features?

It’s human nature to talk about all the strong points and unique features of a product or service we want others to like, and want, and dive into their pockets for the money we hope they’ll produce. But human nature doesn’t move sales. Customers and prospects don’t buy features. They buy benefits.

How long will this product or service last? How economical is it? How does it work? What colors are available? How spectacular is the price deal? How great is the supplier company or organization? These are all very nice kinds of things to get across because they help purchasers justify their decisions to others (bosses, spouses, friends, etc.) BUT . . .

None of those kinds of features will trigger a purchase.

Features are rational objective things. People are motivated by emotions. Maybe they’re simply charmed by the rep, or maybe they’ve been convinced that the personal benefits to be had outweigh the expense . . . because the product or service solves their problem!

We buy benefits: how easy and convenient this makes your life, how much your friends and neighbors will admire your good taste, how great you look with/in/next to it, how terrific your garden will be when this thing keeps the deer and rabbits away, what you can do for your children’s/grandchildren’s future with the savings from this policy, how wonderful this will look in your living room/dining room/kitchen.

And how do you get someone to this decision point? 1) By listening carefully (prompt customers and prospects to talk 80% of the time!), and 2) By processing what you hear and see to show how what you have to offer can solve their problem.

Anyone can ram features down someone’s throat. This loses more sales than anything else. It takes patience, understanding, and sitting (mentally and physically) on the same side of the table, working in concert to solve the buyer’s problem.

For immediate, focused, affordable sales help, call me now: 302.933.0116

# # #

 With thanks to my LinkedIn friend Kevin Kempler for inspiring this post

# # #

FREE blog subscription Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

No responses yet

Nov 10 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…” S”

Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

“S”…SALES STRESS 

 

Looking for the competitive edge? Want to make a difference? Small business owners and managers  can never have enough input on the “S” subjects, sales and stress. There are plenty of other key “S” subjects, like stick-to-it-ive-ness and startups, and social media and SEO … but there are also a ton of resources available on each of these subjects.

Well, I guess there are also plenty of info bites out there on the subjects of sales and stress, but it seems to me that these two S’s stand head and shoulders above the other topics for daily, immediate concern, and the need to have new info and input on an ongoing basis.

Besides, one creates the other.

                                         

Sales (the career, the quotas, the goals, and the act of selling) produce enough stress for one business owner or manager as would be needed to probably topple any six corporate muckity-mucks or any 200 government employees!

And “stress”? Actually stress –when it’s properly channeled– can be a great incentive and catalyst for sales. Stress, remember, is not always negative. We need a certain amount of stress just to sit up straight in a chair, or to be productive with our  computer keyboards (or with one another.

Dealing with negative, or over stress or distress, is typically handled by professional therapists with one (or a combination) of these tools at their command — guided imagery, deep breathing, exercise, meditation, Yoga, laughter, psychoanalysis, or role-playing, among others.

If you REALLY want to sell, get your target market to exceed the five senses (speaking of “S”). Here, for example, are mine:

Taste………. sushi

Touch…….. sex

Sight………. puppies, flowers

Sound…….. the ocean

Smell……… red wine splashed over barbequing beef

When a marketer can top –or even come close to– any of these triggers, I’m sold.

                                                

What are the triggers into YOUR five senses? How about those of your target market? How can you use words and illustrations to represent the five senses. What about “scratch ‘n’sniff” print ads, piles of ice or foam on a billboard photo, commercial background music or natural sound effects? A fast-paced “click-to” video?

Even with all of today’s instantaneous communication capabilities and daily information overload existence, nothing has ever even come close to duplicating the sales appeal of the five senses. To capture just one of these, triggers others. If I get you to imagine tasting a food product, you might very well also smell it.

Every purchase is the result of igniting an emotional buying motive. So, while burning down a small cardboard house may sell homeowner insurance, it’s also over the top. The challenge is to stay within the boundaries of good sense and reasonability when you reach out to ignite fuses to the five senses.

What is your business doing right now that takes advantage of your product or service ability to appease or enhance one or more of the five senses? How can you build on that? In other words, is “Mmmm-mmm, good!” enough… or should you also show steam rising from the soupbowl? Smiling faces of cherub children? 

                                                                           

# # #

FREE blog subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

No responses yet

Sep 01 2011

Generalist? Priceless. Specialist? Worthless.

Marketing, advertising,

 

PR and sales

                                  

industry-specific 

 

experience?

                  

Worthless.

 

An Opinion 

SALES

Give me a guy who can sell ketchup, propane, decorative plants, dental insurance, or rubberbands any day over a techie geek to sell your iPads, TVs, Wii programs, or Kindles. Geeks sell geeks. Sales pros sell people. Why think small when your opportunities are big? The geek market is small. Find people who are experts at serving customers, and teach them product/service knowledge.

Looking for an exceptional salesperson for your new snack products? Stop looking in the snack product industry. Find someone who sells railroad cars full of dorm furniture to universities. Surgical supplies? Get your search engine out of the med school dropout arena and find a classy cosmetics presenter with a sparkling, eager-to-learn  personality.

Oh, and remember that great salespeople don’t make great sales managers. Only great managers make great sales managers.

                                                 

PR

Find a freelance writer who has some psychology background and who can write some slam-bang persuasive headlines and sentences for all kinds of products and services– someone who is tenacious in follow-up efforts. Forget about established, specialist PR firms and groups who tend to be more interested in their names than yours. 

The public relations field is a breeding ground for con artists. I’ve seen top PR firms charge $25,000 a month and produce zero. If they can’t make what you have to sell be exciting, you lose. If they can’t follow up fanatically to get writers, reporters, editors, producers, and publishers pouncing on your story, you lose. You can teach someone with diverse quality PR experience about your industry media. 

                                            

ADVERTISING

Skip right over any provider who claims expertise in your field, unless you’re willing to spend lots of money to make no impact. Hospital advertising is a great example. It’s pathetic. Does “Excellent People” and “We Care” float your boat? Hospitals and banks are the perfect examples of advertising waste.

Get a person or small team on board who want to help you make a difference, who know how to ignite and cultivate creative thinking applications that get results. Just because something looks nice and is clever or informative doesn’t mean that it works. It may only mean that the agency is seeking to win a design award.

Don’t settle. Do your homework and due diligence. Then teach her/him/them about your business and industry.

                                    

MARKETING

Not “marketing” like healthcare people think: physician office visits with armsful of popcorn, candy, 6-foot subs, sports and concert tickets. That’s called payola, as in bring ’em gifts and they’ll prescribe or recommend or buy your products. It’s also called bribery, and it borders on STARK Law and other ethical violation issues. 

And not marketing like Fortune 500 companies hellbent on analysis paralysis before even considering a potential packaging design, pricing structure, promotional flyer, merchandising gimmick or ad headline. Part of why big companies have too much at stake to be entrepreneurial has to do with the astronomically wasted expenses involved in frivolous product and service development and meaningless market research.

You don’t need an army of “experienced (Fill in any specialty here) marketing pros.” You need a person or small team who have a proven track-record for producing results in a variety of fields. Diversity, flexibility, and common sense abilities to work with an Objective/Strategy/Tactics framework in all types of media are what count more than “industry-specific.”

P.S. Beware “Social Media Marketing Experts” who don’t understand marketing. There are plenty of them. 

                                    

THE KEY

It’s easy to teach experienced marketing/advertising/sales/PR people what they need to know about your product or service to most effectively represent it. But it’s nearly impossible to teach industry and professional practice-specific experienced people how to market, advertise, publicize and sell.

                                        

Specialization Closes Minds 

                                        

# # #

  FREE blog subscription: Posts RSS Feed

  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

Aug 06 2011

Are YOU “Downgraded”? (+38 other questions)

With America’s ship

 

sinking, and “Captain”

 

 Obama busy arranging

                                

 deck chairs, is YOUR

                        

business credit rating

                           

on its tippy-toes?

 

                    

Would it matter? What would you (or are going to) do about it? What’s in your best interests? Your family’s best interests? Your customer’s and employee’s best interests? Is that concrete or quicksand beneath your feet? What are your personal circumstances that cornerstone (and that undermine) your business?

To what extent should you care about other’s opinions and evaluations? If your answer to that question is that it depends on whose opinions and whose evaluations, can you identify those “influentials” and jot down their names on scrap paper? Can you rank them 1-10 in terms of importance?

Can that list serve as a priority action plan target for you? 

                                                 

What’s your best guess about how long ’til you can bolster or reverse your current business situation? Do you think this is another “that depends” answer? If so, what exactly does it depend on? Do you truly believe that, or are you just making convenient excuses? 

Is it worth it to answer all these questions? (It is if you’re a real entrepreneur!) Are you a real entrepreneur who has cut out your own path in the world? Or are you a make-believe entrepreneur who’s simply been in the right place at the right time to inherit someone else’s (parents? grandparent’s?) dream? Or are you making that dream reality?

Are you shifting back and forth through the gears, or coasting along in cruise control? How committed are you to your SELF and your ideas and your business . . . really?

                                                          

What if anything do you need to do right now to shore up your small business or professional practice enterprise to withstand the increasing fragility of marketplace, industry, and national government credit rating downgrades? What do you need in order to get these steps started? How will you get there? 

Are you really paying enough attention to sales? Are your sales efforts as productive as you want them to be? How can you boost these efforts? Are you focusing all your resources on growing sales or on growing debt? Have you considered that your business will never make money by turning off light switches?

Can you increase revenues by courting existing and past customers more often and more attentively? Are you putting too much energy, and time, and money into trying to open new markets and gain a new customer base? Do you know that such efforts are probably ten times less effective than focusing on past and present business?

Are you tired of answering these questions? Did they make you think?

                                              

# # #

Your FREE subscription:   Posts RSS Feed 

Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116 

 Open minds open doors

 Thanks for visiting.     God bless you. 

  Make today a GREAT day for someone

No responses yet

Jun 30 2011

4th of July Sparklers

Seeking sales fireworks?

                                      

Check your sparklers!

 

                                

Business owners constantly want more sales results than they’re typically ready to put their shoulders to the wheel for, in terms of the marketing words (their “sparklers”) that they use.

The average response to meeting the need for coming up with the right sets of marketing words to represent business products, services, and ideas is a lazy one. Most small business owners, it seems, either wing it to save money, delegate it because they’re afraid of it or want to “give someone a chance”

. . . OR they hire some fancy high-priced group of self-proclaimed experts to get it done.

What works? None of the above.

                             

When you wing it

. . .  it’s like not fastening the screws that hold your product parts together, or not providing the terms of the services you offer. It’s a great deal more than that because you’re dealing with peoples’ brains and that delicate experienced edge of psychological savvy mixed into the creative pot is what makes the difference.

You are not in business doing what you’re doing to be a great marketing writer any more than you’re in business to be a great lawyer or accountant (unless of course you’re a lawyer or accountant!).

So why waste time and energy (and ultimately money) trying to be something you’re not, when you have the option to be driving your business to a successful destination by applying your full resources to operations, finances and sales? Okay, so promise you won’t wing it, okay.

                                                        

When you delegate it 

. . . you’ll hand it off to that assistant of yours . . . you know, the one who’s always writing some book, or poetry, or funny Facebook posts. When you delegate the task, regardless of what you think might be signs of talent rising up from someone on your staff, you should expect to get the inadequate results you will get.

I can assure you after seeing years’ worth of these dynamics, what you get back will simply not be professional enough a representation of your business strengths. Nor will it be put into the customer-benefits language you need in order to succeed at producing the sales results you seek.

What you get, in fact, could very well end up undermining your other sales-building efforts.

                                          

When you hire a fancy group

. . . an advertising or marketing or PR agency — you should know that this choice delivers about 85% odds that the group you hire will be very skilled at not letting you know that they are more preoccupied with winning themselves some type of marketing, advertising or PR award than they are with helping you make sales.

When “getting sales” is what’s important, being “pretty” and having the best designs don’t always count for much.

Odds are also that they will be fantastically talented at not letting on that they don’t really know how to help you make sales. Ask them if they’re willing to work on a expenses plus performance incentive basis. That question usually separates reality from fantasy.

                                              

If the words you’re using don’t sparkle enough to spark action, find a wordsmith. Do some homework and scout around for an experienced individual who has a proven track-record in writing words that get sales results. Find someone who demonstrates interest in your business but not an “expert” at it. An expert writer is what you want.     

You need fireworks? Start with someone who knows how to spark sales with “sparkler” words . . . words that attract attention, words that create interest, words that stimulate desire, words that bring about action, words that prompt satisfaction.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” 

[Thomas Jefferson] 

# # #

Your FREE subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

 Open minds open doors.

Thanks for visiting. God Bless You.

God Bless America and America’s Troops.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

Jun 21 2011

Lovin’ Sales

There comes a time

                          

in the life of 

                                  

every business owner 

                                  

where lines become

                           

BLURRED  

                                      

 between love and sales!

                                                                  

 

Even though with one of these, you fall into it, and the other you never want to have fall at all, there are endless similarities. Just consider a few musical messages when you substitute one for the other:

Put A Little Sales In Your Heart . . . Sales Make The World Go ‘Round . . . All You Need Is Sales . . . Sales Is A Many Splendored Thing . . . Silly Sales Songs . . . Sales And Marriage . . .  They Call It: Puppy Sales . . . Sales, Sales Me Do . . . Makin’ Sales In The Afternoon With Cecilia . . . Sales Are In The Air . . . Sales Are But A Little Boat Upon The Sea . . . Sales, Sales, Sales . . . When A Man Sales A Woman . . . What’s Sales Got To Do With It? . . . Sales Will Keep Us Together . . . Feel Like Makin’ Sales . . . To Sir With Sales . . . Give Me Sales . . . Stop, In The Name Of Sales . . . Chapel Of Sales . . . Game Of Sales . . . A World Without Sales . . .  Sales Letters In The Sand . . . Takin’ A Chance On Sales . . . You’ve Lost That Salesin’ Feeling . . . Will You Still Sales Me Tomorrow . . . Sales Me Tender . . . Can’t Buy Me Sales . . . Sales Will Keep Us Together . . . You Get The Best Of My Sales . . . April Sales . . . Young Sales . . .  

If you’re here looking for a great list of love songs

with “love” in the title, I don’t want to disappoint you:

 GO HERE!

__________________

                                                                             

Ah, but –fun aside for a moment, there are a couple of really huge “Lovin’ Sales” problems to consider:

1)  If someone who holds control over you or your business –like the government or a major customer, investor, supplier, or partner– hasn’t a clue about real entrepreneurship, and what it’s like to love your work, you’ve got troubles. 

These are people and entities who need to see your work as a committed relationship — in much the same way you might offer up testimony as part of a business plan and budget to impress lenders. I mean, I did once have an accountant who lectured me that my business was a legal entity that needed to be thought of as a separate person.

(That assertion of course simply reinforced my conviction that accountants lacked human feelings, and made me think that maybe my business was the one person in my family who was not dysfunctional! Kidding ;<) er, almost.) 

The point is that if those with control don’t appreciate your relationship with your business, you are losing sales you deserve to make, and income you need to grow.

2)  If you’re not 100% tuned-in to the reality that without sales, there is no business, you are living in fantasyland! In other words, your business cannot survive and thrive if you keep it locked in orbit around your great business idea at the expense of a monumental sales effort on your behalf. This is 2011. This economy will not tolerate you sitting.

(The alternative of course could simply be to apply to your state DOT or local roads department for cone placement training — security, benefits and no brain use!)

If you’re staying in the game, you need to devote more time and energy to selling than you have been. Nobody else can sell your business as well as you. It’s your baby. It’s your DNA. You feed, finance, insure, staff, and nurture it. Now get out and sell it. If you make 3 calls a day, make 10. If you make 10, make 20. Whatever it takes.  

If you’re not lovin’ your sales every day, no one’s going to be lovin’ to buy what you have to sell. Period. 

 

                                                     

# # #

                                                   

Your FREE subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

Jun 04 2011

Moments of No Return.

Your salespeople may be

                                                         

costing you more

                           

than sales!

                                            

 

Not unlike a new puppy, new (and old) salespeople who aren’t trained properly are likely to mess things up. In the end, they’ll cost you more than sales. Remember it’s your name, your image, your integrity, your authenticity, and your reputation on the line every time one of them opens her or his mouth or taps out a keyboard message.

 _______________________________                                                     

For your (actual, but names changed) Scenerio Pleasure . . . 

“Good Morning.Thank you for calling B. Bigg Sportswear. This is Sally. How may I help you?”

“Hi, Sally! I’m Larry from LLL –that’s Little Losers Limited– and I’m looking for B. Bigg, please; can you connect me?”  

“Er, no, B. Bigg is not here. In fact, ther…”

(Stepping on the end of her sentence) “Well when will ‘B.’ be back?”

(Realizing she has a sales spammer on the line, and smiling, since “B. Bigg” is a fictitious brand name) “Oh, eight and a half weeks!”

She chuckles and starts to explain that she’s kidding, but Larry interrupts her again . . .

“Alright,well, since I met with B.Bigg downtown there the last time I was in the area, I’ll just call back then; no need to leave a message.”

“Right.Well you have a nice day, Larry from LLL!” (now laughing to herself as she hangs up since –on top of there being no B. Bigg– the “town” has only 450 residents in it and the only place to meet is the gas-station-convenience-store).

Sally can’t wait to tell Mr. Star (company president, and retired world-class athlete with lots of industry connections) about the call. He will no doubt comment on how befitting Larry’s company name is.

_______________________                        

We all know about no such thing as a second first impression, but how often do we take the trouble to monitor the first impressions our salespeople are putting out. Appropriate, targeted, perceptive training short-circuits these “moments of no return.”

So, what’s the solution? Be –and stay– on top of your salespeople until you are confident that they are representing you and your business in as professional a manner as you want them to. This doesn’t mean “get on their case.” What it means is to make sure you provide them with the proper training (and re-training) and support — ongoing!

In life and work,

one-night stands never work!

                                                                             

A bad economy is not a legitimate reason to slack off in this pursuit. Just consider where you’d be without sales and with a bad reputation. Reinforcement at every level is critical in sales management.

If you are too busy owning and operating, or if you’re just not cut out to be a sales manager, go get one. Get the best person you can find –NOT the best salesperson — the best sales manager.

Great Salespeople Do Not

Make Great Sales Managers!

                                                          

Some outstanding resources you can count on to steer you in the right direction:

Doyle Slayton www.SalesBlogCast.com

Jonena Relth www.TBDConsulting,com

Meredith Bell www.YourVoiceOfEncouragement.com  

 

# # #

                                                   

Your FREE subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

No responses yet

Apr 27 2011

WAITING?

You really have 20 seconds!

                                                                              

A back alley. The front seat of your truck. A corner of your garage. Your kitchen counter, A fancy reception room or hotel lobby. A sunroom, chicken farm, TV room, airplane hanger, cornfield, Grand Central Station, a website, or the excavated mud puddle of a construction project

                                                                  

. . . How it looks and how it feels must be appropriate to your business or profession and represent the image you seek to project. You already know that, right? But do you remember to stay on top of it? And did you know that whatever your waiting area may be, it gets “scoped out” in 10 seconds!

YOU get scoped out in the next 10.

There you are: 20 seconds to make it or break it.

                                                                             

Much is said about the first ten seconds of a sales encounter with someone, or group, but little is made note of about the surroundings, environment, and setting of the place where those first interpersonal seconds actually come across, or have the stage be set.

The set and setting of the place people wait is critical to creating a mood of receptivity in the minds of those who wait for you –even if it[‘s for less than one minute. If the place is a mess, so are you, and so are the products and services and ideas you have to offer (in the mind and eyes of the beholder).

If everything is neat and clean and organized, so will what you have to offer be pre-judged to be that way.

It can’t be emphasized enough that regular ongoing (preferably daily, even hourly in some high-traffic areas) taking of inventory will make a big difference in how people assess you and your business . . . to the extent it can give you a positive and competitive edge in that first ten seconds of personal interaction.

Consider the last 5-6 business locations you visited (including doctors’ offices), and what do you come up with?

                                                                            

What, in your waiting area, needs tending toongoing maintenance? Start with torn and ragged old magazines and newspapers (trash them!), and dead bugs in overhead lighting units (especially bad if you’re a dentist, massage therapist, chiropractor, OB/GYN, or shrink!).

Dead leaves on plants? (Plastic plants are just as unacceptable; no matter how great they look, they communicate phoniness and lack of reality.) Dirty carpets? (How hard is that? It’s called a vacuum.) Dusty countertops, outdated calendar pages, inaccurate clock time?

Here’s the biggy: KILL YOUR TV and radio if:

A) They are staticky

B) They are tuned to mainstream media networks (it’s not about what you or your receptionist think people want to watch; it’s about the mood you want to create)

C) They are tuned to news channels or channels that offer regular news updates (blood and gore and tragedy are not particularly great graphics or content to be filling people’s heads with while they wait for you, or eat a meal, or are medically stressed)

Put the radios on elevator music. The more relaxed visitors are while they wait for you, the more receptive and less-stressed they’ll be when you step into the spotlight 

# # #

                                                         

Your FREE subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

No responses yet

Mar 12 2011

Stop Running Scared!

This is an attitude message, not a sign-up or recruitment decree

                                                                                   

Don’t let the media  

                               

and the White House

                           

bully you around!

 

                         

It’s your business.

You’ve captained it through rough seas before.

You’ve made it this far.

You know in your heart that –as bad as this economy continues to be (in spite of all the White House and media protestations to the contrary)– you can survive the present turbulence by holding your ship steady and running the engines full ahead.

                                                                  

Why this message now? Because I see and hear about many small businesses getting weak-kneed and starting to actually consider caving in to all the psychological bullying messages that continue to run rampant out of the White House and the federal government’s puppet media, who have abandoned reporting for propagandizing.

Political manipulating has clearly replaced the reality of what it takes to turn around the economy. Don’t be bullied into buying all the nonsense spewing 24/7 out of the army of talking heads. Small business holds the only key to economic turnaround with genuine new job creation — real jobs that provide real career opportunities! 

I’ve had conversations with three business owners this past week (one retail, one manufacturer, and one service) who are claiming to be on the verge of abandoning most if not all marketing efforts to save money. “So board up your doors and windows too! Just toss in the towel now!” I was tempted to exclaim, but realized I’d simply be fueling the fires.

The L~A~S~T place to cut corners is marketing!

T h e   L~A~S~T   p l a c e.

No marketing, no prospects.

No prospects, no customers.

No customers, no sales.

Is that rocket science?

“Oh,” they say, “but we just can’t afford it anymore; marketing costs a fortune.”

                                                                        

No marketing doesn’t cost a fortune! Maybe the kinds of marketing you’ve historically done is proving too expensive to keep afloat in this killer economy, but good marketing does NOT have to be expensive.

In fact, really great marketing can be done for free or close to free when someone knowledgeable and experienced is handling it.

“Yes, but then there’s the expense of retaining those kinds of services!”   

First of all, the “Yes, but’s” run in the woods with the “Rabbuts.”

Secondly, and most importantly, there are VERY many resource people out there who have the know-how and the experience and the creative talents to put together a marketing program for you that is free or minimal expense, and that works, for far less money than you’ve been pouring into your earlier-days efforts.

Stop running! Stop doubting! Start searching! Be a detective!

If you are intent on marketing your business successfully for minimum expense and you are willing to focus a chunk of energy in finding the right individual or team who can do this for you, you will succeed!

And won’t that surprise your competitors? And (ahem!) the White House?     

CLICK Posts RSS Feed NOW FOR YOUR
  FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THIS BLOG

# # #

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

One response so far

Next »




Search

Tag Cloud