5 Steps to Acquire New Customers

We will discuss:

• The types of Sales events you should host
• How to personalize your product or Service
• When to prepare for Rapid Growth
• How to "Advance" the sale to get customers to purchase more
• Loyalty and Referrals

Women Business Owners Ask Great Questions

By: Stan Washington

Date: March 03, 2015

"But how do I build my audience?' one aspiring entrepreneur asked me. Mary at www.amtenterprisesinc.org is in rapid growth mode and she wants to take her concept to a very large audience. She wants to meet new potential clients and grow her business but has a few questions about building the audience.

How do I build my audience? How do you keep track of all these people? What's the right amount of time for follow up? Should I buy an expensive ad? Many questions like these were discussed. Here is what I suggest.

Deliberately Build Your Audience. Get out of your house and meet people. There are no deals in your house. Identify your target market and get out and meet them. Shake their hand and shake their baby's hand. Stop hiding behind the comforts of your home if you have a home based business. Meet the people and then go back home and provide the service they need.

Don't Rush. A quality audience is better than a large audience of strangers who could care less if you succeed or fail. Meet people and document where you met them in Honor Services Office or other CRM. Build your relationship with your audience and treat them with "Personal Engagement." 

Follow Up. I try to follow up that day, but if at all possible following up within twenty four hours is acceptable. I personally like to send an email after I step out of the meeting. This is important to me because quite honestly I would forget!

By deliberately taking your time, building your audience, and following up, you can purposefully grow the right type of audience who will remain loyal. 

Small Businesses are Marketing Better Than Large Corporations!

By: Stan Washington

Date: January 08,  2014

2014 is going to be a great year for small business! I say that because large corporations are turning to tactics small businesses are already using, namely e-mail marketing.  In a recent Forbes article, even our competitors are developing a strategy to tailor marketing to smaller audiences to increase sales.  

Check out the Forbes Article. 

Here are a few things to do in 2014:

Plan on increasing your audience

As I have stated before, referral only business is too random and therefore you cannot plan for the revenue very well. Take time to identify your audience and nurture the relationship with some sort of Customer / Client relationship manager.  Be organized and know your audience.

Market through e-mail
E-mail is still the top when it comes to technology.  Yes we get waayy too much and adding to the noise seems counter-intuitive. Research shows, however, that one of the most effective modes of marketing is by contacting your audience directly.

Get out of your shell and market through e-mail. Have a compelling message and they will buy from you! Be confident about your product and service and tell people what you have to offer.  Is your product or service unique, superior or extremely useful? If so, then why don't people know what you do or better question, why aren't more people buying your product?

Market to you audience and explain what you do and why it benefits them!

Follow up

Make sure you follow up with potential clients!  One of the biggest complaints I hear from people about various companies is they do not follow up in a timely fashion.  Follow-up in 24 - 48 hours.  If you will be away, then tell the person when you will follow up and make the time acceptable to your potential client.

You Talkin' to Me? (How are you treating your potential clients?)

Original picture and Article from Mashable:http://mashable.com/2013/11/25/customer-relationships/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-bus-link

By: Stan Washington
Date: November 26, 2013

What Sales Approach Works?

I recently spoke to a number of small business owners and they had different ways to approach sales. One person was very bold and direct and another was shy and timid. Both had sagging sales and both need to consider rethinking how they handle their potential client

Pressure Cooker Approach
"What would it take to get you in one of these?" seems like the cheesiest line from the used car salesman. The pressure sales tactic leaves a terrible taste in everyone's mouth. After a while you get a reputation that you are only there to sell your house with the leaky roof built on a graveyard.

Whisper and Run Approach
"I have a product to try" whispered the shy person. When people said "No!" they ran for cover! This shows a lack of confidence in your own product. People will try to test to see if you believe in your own product. If you don't then they will run away from you and your scary service.

Bad Mouthing the Opponent Approach
"They don't have what I have! They are bad and I am good" makes the potential client ask "How can I trust you?" This approach seems slimy and uncomfortable. It seems like you will do and say anything to get my cash.

All the approaches listed above use one common style. They talk "AT" the potential client.

Build the Relationship Approach
"Let's address your problem together" is the statement that resonates with your potential client.  By understanding your clients' needs, you can provide a great solution to even the simplest problems they face.  This requires keeping notes on each potential client and client.

Yes it's easy to remember facts about 10 or 12 clients but when you get over 50 forget it! Some small business owners had 2,000 and 3,000 people they had to keep track of and there was no way to do it without software!

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Try keeping powerful notes on each potential client to land the deal with at http://www.careercoachoffice.com. Try it FREE today!

Is the Facebook’s Graph Search a positive or a negative?

(Photo by Kevin Smith - Some Awful and Hilarious Stuff You Can Find Out About People Using Facebook Search)

Facebook has come up with another way to create a strange perception that will be difficult for employers and coaches to manage.  It’s called “Graph Search” and it is on the horizon. This new technology will let you search the public to get “opinions” on almost any subject you would like to search on.

The problem is the data can be incomplete or unscientific and may cause people to form assumptions based on skewed information.

Here is what you should do if you are a Facebook user:

• Change your privacy settings
• Have your close friends modify their settings
• Review your timeline every once in a while to see how your name is being used and what you are associated with.

Did I call your daughter Zack?

Business was going quite well.  I had made a lot of connections and prided myself on knowing my clients. As I spoke to one of my referrals for the second time I just knew I was going to get a new client. We started discussing children. “How’s Zack” I asked.  From the awkward silence I sensed I had said something wrong. 

“My daughters’ name is not Zack.”

From there the conversation went downhill.  My business had experienced growing pains and I could no longer keep all the information about my potential clients in my head.  The names were too similar or circumstances too parallel.

PHONE NOTES ARE DIFFERENT THAN CONVERSATION NOTES

When I have a conversation with someone I like to document where we had the conversation and list any pertinent information that would help me serve them better.  Usually the actions are longer term so I don’t have to act upon them right away.

When I’m on the phone I like to capture action items and place them in an organized place where I can find them. With separate notes I can see how many times I made contact with the potential client.

GET RID OF THE FANCY NOTEPAD

I called myself organized until I had to find the phone number of someone I was going to refer to one of my clients. I fumbled, flipping through pages and pages of notes but to my chagrin I could not find the information.  Turns out I had written it on another notepad. I discovered the number two weeks later!

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) HAD TO BE EASY

Career Coach Office offers CRM specifically built for coaches but can be used by any business. Keep track of notes and document the number of times you contact that potential client. List action items and keep the relationship flowing towards your business.

HR consultant and Coaches...Try Career Coach Office for free! Go to http://www.careercoachoffice.com.