The 3 Point Series: 3 Mistakes

I picked up a directory the other day - you know, the ones where businesses are listed in various categories and businesses buy space for their ads? I was looking through the ads to see whether the ads were effective, and it struck me that most of them made the same three mistakes.

We all agonize over how to market our business - all the options are well presented and we hear anecdotes about how this worked and that worked. But when we do it, the results are fuzzy. So to get the most out of those print ads, here are the three key mistakes to avoid:

Don’t put your company’s name at the top! You may think that is the most important information - after all, you want the reader to know about your business. But nobody cares who you are until they have a reason to care. Instead, you should identify the pain you will fix - snow removal, leaky pipes, up-to-date will. The top third is the most valuable real estate in the Ad - Get their attention and then tell them who you are in the bottom third.
No call to action! You have about 4 seconds to get them to decide to take action - give them a reason. “Call today for a free consultation.”, “Free trim with a window replacement.”, “Be in to win a prize.” You need to give them an incentive to take action. Put this in the center of your ad.
Too much information! We think that since we spent that money, we should jam as much info as possible into the space. You don’t have to tell them every service you offer, every product you carry. Have a clear message you want them to absorb and tell them how to get hold of you.
Bonus 4th: Don’t be cute! Some people try to get cute. One ad had a football field in the background, but it was cluttered and was just noise in the ad. Good graphics are wonderful - they should draw the reader in and support your message, but avoid littering the ad.
Next time you do a print ad, large or small, review your copy for these three mistakes. It will help your results dramatically. Good hunting!

How’s your marketing going? Have you competed the 8 step path to successful marketing? Let’s discuss it!

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Ever seen a ghost? I have! I was in college and working as a janitor for a local company. One of their clients was the YWCA which was then in a huge, old Victorian mansion by Creighton University. Spooky place - secret passages, locked rooms with rumors of crazy residents. Legends of murders. We cleaned at night, when no one was there.

One night I was vacuuming in a large office on the second floor. I had all the lights on ’cause ghosts don’t like lights. No one there, just me. Vacuuming. As I worked, looking at the floor in front of me, I saw something in the corner of my eye, run by the window, outside.

But I was on the second floor. There was no “outside” to run on. I waited and watched. Nothing. Started vacuuming again, pushing the old machine around. Suddenly, there it was again, going the other way. I jumped! Watching again, saw nothing.

I got brave and went to the window. Yep, second floor, no balcony, no ledge. But I had seen something zooming by the window, outside. I vacuumed some more, and yes, saw it again. Totally spooked, heart pounding, I moved slowly to the side of the room - and then I saw it — it was me!

This old Victorian mansion had curved glass in the windows, so my reflection moved in the opposite direction I did. As I was vacuuming, the fast motion was me reflected in the curved glass.

In ActionCOACH we define FEAR as False Expectations Appearing Real. This is what happened to me. I had a false expectation of scary things and they appeared very real to me. It froze me, kept me from working. So the question is, What False Expectations appear real to you? “Employees don’t care.” “I have to work 70 hours a week.” “The economy is too bad to build my business.” I’ve heard all of these and the business owners are frozen - can’t make a decision, can’t see how they could change.

That’s what a coach does - helps you see reality, helps you make a plan to begin. Holds you accountable to work on your goals. It’s powerful - but it’s scary. Change always is. But fear is usually based on false expectations.

Are your windows curved? Let’s straighten them out over a cup of coffee.

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When I meet business owners, I try to determine where they are on my Business Health graph. Try rating yourself on your Enthusiasm for your role as a business owner and the Profit performance of your business. You’ll find yourself in one of the Quadrants - A, B, C or D.

If you’re Low Enthusiasm/Low Profit, you are in Quadrant C: Crisis. You need to make some fast changes or you risk losing the business or your sanity or both! Let’s meet to discuss whether your business is worth saving or whether there may be a better role for you.

If you are in Quadrant B: High Profit/Low Enthusiasm, you may have inherited your business or maybe the business has just lost the fun. You may be working too many hours or struggle with Team issues. In this area, you need to address your “Be” (borrowed from Zig Ziglar’s Be x Do = Have formula). You need to clarify your goals and understand your role as a business owner so that the business has new interest for you. You may need to reconsider your Team structure. As your coach, I can lead you through this discovery process.

If you are Low Profit/High Enthusiasm, Quadrant D, you are likely in a Startup phase or maybe you just have a Hobby, not a business. In this quadrant, you need to Do some things quickly to generate cashflow. I can show you the 5 Ways you can boost profits quickly.

Finally, if you are High Profit/High Enthusiasm,Quadrant A, you are “in the Action zone” and things are going well. But now is the time to step back and determine how you can take your business to the next level. You need to document your Systems and develop your Team so your business can work without you directing every action. We can walk through Action’s 6 Step Checklist to find the next step for you to take.

No matter where you are on the graph, a coach can help you achieve your goals. Let’s discuss where you are.

Want specifics on where you fit on the graph? Take my free Business Health Check.

When I was a young assistant manager at a fast food outlet, I would often feel a bit unproductive. The crew members were working hard, pumping out food and sometimes I was just watching the action. So I would step in and restock positions, empty the trash, wash the dishes. I was productive and making my team more efficient.

One day, my area manager visited and, after watching me be “productive”, pulled me aside and chewed me out royally. He wasn’t paying me my huge (lol) salary to wash dishes and sweep the floor. He was paying me to MANAGE. He then gave me an assignment I’ve never forgotten - run the restaurant with my HANDS IN MY POCKET!

Whoa! No more lifting, carrying, sweeping, packaging, washing. If I had something I wanted done, I had to use my team to do it. Reassign the positions, cover the missing person, then send them to do the work. I had to think about available resources, determine the most efficient use of the staff available, anticipate the customer patterns, clearly communicate what I wanted done and the time frame I expected. I had to MANAGE.

How about you? Can you run your business with your hands in your pockets? Or are you unloading the truck, doing the payroll, and, yes, emptying the trash? Your role as business owner is NOT to do the work. Your role is to plan, direct, design, encourage, make relationships and prepare. That’s the leverage you provide - getting more out of your people and assets. It’s what your team needs from you.

I challenge you to rethink how you spend your time. Training, planning - thinking! is the goal.

Let’s talk about your role - I’ll buy the coffee if you bring the topic!

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The 3 Point Series: Common Marketing Mistakes

Business owners generally feel they should do marketing, but a surprising number do none. They have tried some things before which didn’t seem to work, so they are reluctant to spend more money. But a nagging thought remains that they should be doing something. Let’s look at three common marketing mistakes.

1. Undefined Target Market. Business people often think they can sell to anyone. If they have money, they could be customers. But the question isn’t whether someone COULD be a customer. The question is who is most LIKELY to be my customer, making my marketing spend most efficient. Think demographics but also think of other characteristics of users of your products. Older men with pickups, Teenagers who have iPads, Dog owners living in apartments. These are beyond demographics and their needs/wants are fairly definable.
2. Choosing Media before clearly defining the strategy. Business owners often think “I’ll do some Radio.” or a magazine salesman shows up and we buy an ad. Choosing the media is the last thing you do in your marketing plan, not the first. Only after you have done all the planning and defining are you in a position to decide which media will deliver your target.
3. Not Testing & Measuring. Too often people decide to advertise and then go big right away. Bet the wad, roll the dice. Not a good strategy. You need to experiment with some small tests first to determine if a strategy works. Send 100 letters instead of 10,000. Design 10 sales scripts and test them before rolling out the campaign. Research offers to see which have the most appeal to your targets. Then, once you’ve determined the most effective message and target, you can go big, with confidence.

Marketing is key to driving your business. It includes everything from large TV ad campaigns to you, the owner, chatting with someone on a sales call. You need to have a clear process to prepare for success and avoid these three mistakes.

If you’d like to discuss the 7 steps to a successful marketing campaign, you can CLICK HERE.

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If you’re a business owner, this year is over. The plans you’ve laid, the training you’ve done, the structures you’ve installed will determine how the rest of the year goes. There are many things you can do to improve the outcome, and you should prepare your 90 day plans to do this. Your ActionCOACH can help you. But to make 2012 dramatically different from 2011, you need to begin to work on next year, now.

Taught your child to ride a bike? Where do they look? At the road right in front of them. But that’ll cause some skinned knees! You have to teach them to look out ahead - 20 feet, 30 feet, even down the block. They’ve got to see things in time to make changes, alter their course. What’s right in front of them will come, no matter their view. To get better results, they have to raise their horizon.

So do you - Look out ahead a month, a quarter, a year. That’s your job as the owner. Prepare the way, set the course. Your employees are there to follow the path you lay out - that’s not your job. They are counting on you to avoid the pitfalls.

This is difficult - we all want to look at our feet. But we’ve go to lift our eyes and see the vision. Because this year is over.

If you conduct meetings of any kind - employee, sales, strategy, etc - then there is a good chance that you have wasted some time. People get off track, they argue, they are too negative or shy. So many business owners stop having them. Easier to put out a memo or talk to people one on one.

But, of course, the memos never get written and we don’t get around to everyone, so some people are uninformed. What to do?

I’d like to introduce you the the 6 Thinking Hats! We’ve all heard of the Thinking Hat, and here are six of them! The concept was developed by Edward de Bono, a brilliant observer of human thinking. He suggests that meetings be led by having all participants ‘think’ in a certain way for a time, then shift to another way of thinking. This keeps everyone on track and enables the group to come to conclusions more quickly.

What are these 6 Hats? Here they are:

• Blue - Blue sky, planning, organizing. Agenda, process.
• White Hat - Information. Just the facts. Focus on what is known.
• Red Hat - Emotions. What do we feel about the topic, ignore the facts, just gut reaction.
• Black Hat - Negative. What is bad about the idea, the Con.
• Yellow - Positive. What is good about the idea, the Pro.
• Green - Creative. Brainstorming, new ideas, new angles.

The leader calls for everyone to “wear the same color hat” for, say, 10 minutes. No negatives in the the Creative section, no facts in the Emotion section. Keeps everyone on track.

I have used this technique with extreme success. It may be the answer to your meeting frustrations!

This concept is detailed in the book, “Six Thinking Hats” by Edward De Bono. If you’d like to discuss how this concept could work for you, let’s talk!

The 3 Points Series: The Most Dangerous Phrases

Here are three phrases I consider the most dangerous in business: How?, I Know, and Not Now.

1. How? Ever have a great idea and tell someone about it? Did they ask “How are you going to do it?” If so, chances are you were totally deflated. Without a solid answer, you felt a bit foolish, a bit scared and most certainly discouraged. You probably gave up the idea. The question “how?” is powerful enough to sink the greatest idea. Don’t listen to that question. Focus on the What! You will find a way if you believe in your goal.
2. I Know. This statement (either spoken or thought) instantly closes us off to new ideas, innovative approaches, possibilities. We’ve heard it before, tried it and it didn’t work, can’t see the How. We just KNOW. So we don’t let our minds chew on the potential. Delete this thought from your head! In its place, try this phrase: “Isn’t that interesting.” By taking this approach, you leave yourself room to consider it, explore it. You haven’t agreed yet, but you have avoided closing your mind to a new idea.
3. Not Now. You’re too busy, you’ve got to think about it. No time, not available. We often miss our opportunities by procrastinating, delaying. Or we lose the impact of a new idea by not implementing it quickly. Delay means lost customers, lost sales, lost money. Don’t just add things to the pile. Don’t say, “I’ll get around to it.” Make room on your calendar to consider your opportunities, have daily, weekly and monthly planning times scheduled, right on the calendar. Make an appointment with yourself to examine your possibilities and make a decision.

These three phrases cause untold loss and discouragement to people every day. You can change your life by deleting them from your vocabulary and focusing on how to be more effective. But Not Now because you Know you can’t see How you’ll do it.

The 3 Point Series: Repeat Business

Repeat business is the ultimate goal of your business. To generate an initial lead is expensive and time consuming. Think radio, tv, cold calling, etc. There are times when these efforts are necessary, but a key way to increase sales is to find ways to bring past customers to you more often. Let’s look at three strategies to bring ‘em back for more:

1. Newsletters are an effective way to keep your company’s name and products in front of your past customers. They are relatively inexpensive and have a wide variety of ways to pique interest in users of your products. Email newsletters are popular and work well - just do your research on the best techniques to get people to read them. Paper newsletters are out of fashion, but can be very effective - think in terms of how you deliver them and what value you add. Here’s one tip on how to maximize your newsletter: send them to prospects who didn’t buy, as well as customers. These people are interested in your products and may well buy from you next time they are in the market.
2. Closed Door Sales: You can make a special event for a select group of customers. If you have a retail shop, do a special after-hours event. If you don’t have a showroom, hire a room and bring in a special speaker. Serve good food and drink. Make them feel special and part of an elite group.
3. Loyalty Strategies: Very common, now, but still attractive. Think in terms of what benefits regular users receive over casual users. It’s a club, a special society, who get your best service and offers. Of course, everyone can be a member!

These are just three strategies to increasing Repeat Business. If you’d like to discuss others, or learn more details on making these three work in your business, let’s meet.

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The 3 Point Series: Communication

I would guess that the biggest cause of frustration to business owners is miscommunication. When things aren’t done as expected, when people fail to act as we expect or we make decisions on incorrect information, we are faced with failure or, at best, having to redo a task.

I define communication as the results you get. What you see is what you said, in fact. No matter what you THOUGHT you said - the responsibility to communicate is on the communicator - not the communicatee. If they don’t do what you expected, you failed to communicate sufficiently. This is a bothersome concept - we’d like to blame others, deny we screwed up. We want someone else to “listen better, pay attention, or ask questions”. They are our employees - they are required to understand me!

But the fact is, we lay the foundation. If it’s weak, the house won’t stand. We have to protect ourselves by communicating better.

There are many tips I could share to help you improve your communication, but here are three good ones:

1. Think before you communicate. Work out in your own mind what you will say and how it might be misconstrued. Imagine all the ways they can misunderstand and change your message to eliminate the potential problems.
2. Ask confirmation questions as you communicate. Have them repeat your message back to you, repeat it back to them in their own words. Assume you have not communicated well and look for confirmation.
3. Set checkpoints and milestones. How will you know your project is on the right track? What will tell you early on if they misunderstood. Don’t wait until the deadline to see if things turned out well.

By following these three suggestions, you’ll find your communication more successful.

If you’d like to discuss other ways to get more done, give me a call!

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