Professional development Archives | Jim's Marketing Blog

An incredibly easy way to turn time wasters into gold dust

May 21, 2018 by Jim Connolly

How do you feel about people, who either ask you questions about your service or look around your products, then leave without buying?

Some business owners get angry. They perceive these people to be time wasters. In doing so, they miss out on a massively valuable opportunity. They leave a huge business asset on the table, untapped.

I’m referring to the feedback, which so-called time wasters can provide you with. Feedback, which can help you dramatically improve your marketing and sales results.

Allow me to explain.

You attract time wasters for a reason

If you’re attracting lots of the wrong type of enquiries, there’s a reason. It’s usually a sign that:

Your marketing message needs to be improved.
You are marketing to the wrong people.
Or both.

It’s extremely easy to learn which applies to your marketing, so long as you ask for feedback. Armed with this valuable information, you can then adapt and improve your marketing so you attract the right kind of enquiries.

Before they end the call or leave your premises, ask something like: What was it that prompted you to (visit or call) us today? This will give you some outstandingly valuable feedback to work with.

For example

If people often say they were looking for a low-priced whatever, (yet your prices are average or above average), you need to review your marketing message. Take a look and see if you are overstating how low your prices are.
If you are not overstating how low your prices are, then you could well be targeting your marketing message at people with too small a budget.

You get the idea.

The key is to get as much feedback as you can from those who fail to hire you or buy from you. It will help you improve your marketing message, improve your targeting and generate more business!

So, reframe how you think about time wasters. Speak with them. Listen. Learn from their feedback. Then, make the necessary improvements to your marketing. Don’t just assume that someone is a time waster and therefore of no value to your business. Their feedback could be commercial gold dust.

In fact, it usually is.

How to find winning ideas for your business AND put them into action

May 17, 2018 by Jim Connolly

In today’s post, I share a strategy with you that can help you have more, winning ideas than ever before.

Think about it: Behind every successful business are a series of ideas. Winning ideas, which open up new opportunities or set the business on a new path. The challenge with winning ideas is that they often look like average ideas, until after they become hugely successful. As a result, most great ideas never see the light of they. In fact, I bet you have a few tucked away right now, without even knowing it.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

Some experts thought laptops would never become popular

In 1985, The New York Times announced the death of laptop computers; “Whatever happened to the laptop computer?” They wondered why laptops never became popular (seriously).

“[…] I.B.M. never legitimized the market with its much rumored ”Clamshell,” probably because the company realized that laptops are a small niche market, not a mass market.”

And when the electric light bulb was invented, most people said it would never become a mass market product. It was thought that there was no affordable way to get electricity to enough homes.

Ideas that win

Business owners sometimes ask me what I think of an idea they have. The challenge here, is that it doesn’t matter what I think or what their friends think. Winning ideas are not anointed. If you want to know how good your idea is, you need to get it out there. If you do, you will find it’s almost impossible to fail.

It’s a win-win thing.

If it flies, you’ll have a success on your hands.
If it flops, you’ll learn something, which you can invest in the next idea and greatly increase your chances of success.

Ironically, the only way to guarantee an idea will fail, is to try and protect it from failure by locking it away.

It’s a lose-lose thing.

The idea you fail to ship can’t succeed.
The idea you fail to ship can’t teach you anything new.

This not only insulates you from success, it insulates you from learning and growing.

When I started out in business, I found it very hard to put my ideas into action. I knew it made sense. I knew I needed to do it. But it’s one of those pieces of advice, which is ‘easier said than done’.

Thankfully, I discovered a way forward, which I’m going to share with you.

Here’s the strategy that worked for me

I’ve shared this strategy with countless people over the years and the results have been amazing. It’s actually really, really simple.

My breakthrough came, when I figured out that the part of my mind responsible for putting ideas into action, was weak. It needed improving, conditioning, strengthening. I thought one way to do this, would be to treat it like a weak muscle. To make a weak muscle strong, you start off by working with very light weights. As the muscle grows, you slowly increase the weight you’re working with. Eventually, the muscle becomes strong.

I started, by acting on what I considered to be small ideas. Ideas that were unlikely to set the world on fire if they worked, but where there was relatively little downside if they failed.

Every time I acted on one of these small business ideas, I’d write it down in a journal, along with the results. With every new journal entry, my ‘idea muscles’ grew a little. I also noticed that even with these small ideas, my business was starting to see some very encouraging results. This further built my idea muscles. Pretty soon I was working with excitement on big ideas. Today, I actively look for them. I seek them out. And if they’re interesting, I put them into play.

As the frequency and size of the ideas you act on increases, so does the development of your business. And something else happens. Business in general becomes a lot more interesting. That’s because working on new ideas, even small ones, is extremely invigorating. It causes you to think differently, meet new people and explore new opportunities. Just remember to start with small ideas. Slowly build it up. And be sure to chronicle your results, so you can see the progress you’re making.

I hope you found this useful. If you did, please share it using one of the options below.

This is totally, utterly unreasonable

May 16, 2018 by Jim Connolly

I’ve had an idea that could help your business in multiple ways. It’s an unreasonable idea. Yes, I know that sounds weird.

Allow me to explain.

If a product or service is only reasonably good, it’s nothing special. It’s just okay. It’s certainly not good enough to motivate people to buy from you, hire you or tell all their friends about you.

This got me thinking

The opposite of reasonable is unreasonable.

So… what if someone decided to embrace an unreasonable mindset to their business and the services they provide?

I believe it could lead to massive improvements, across their whole business. Here are just a few examples of what an unreasonable approach might look like.

The business owner could choose to:

Be unreasonably committed to customer service and the happiness of their clients.
Show unreasonable persistence, when it comes to keeping their promises.
Have an unreasonable attitude to life-long-learning.
Set the bar unreasonably high, on the quality of work they’re willing to ship. [This will help you get it right]
Have an unreasonable passion for helping others to succeed.

Any business operating from that kind of unreasonable mindset, is going to get noticed. They’re going to retain their clients for longer, too. And yes, they’re going to give their clients and their marketplace something to tell their friends about.

If being reasonable isn’t working for you, you now have an unreasonable alternative to consider.

How to build a subscriber list that builds your business

May 14, 2018 by Jim Connolly

People often ask me for tips on how to build a bigger list. They want more subscribers; more readers, more listeners, more viewers, more followers, etc.

The short answer is simple. It’s this.

Do something useful, which is worthy of people’s attention and make it easy for them to subscribe.

If you do that, you’ll attract more people and because your “something” is useful, many of them will subscribe. Think about it. That’s the exact process, which motivated you to subscribe to every list you’re on. Something attracted you, you found it useful, you subscribed.

This begs the question – If the answer is so simple, why is it so darn hard to build a large and valuable list?

Here’s the answer.

The advice is simple. The process is tricky!

There’s some tricky stuff between you and that massively valuable list you want.

Finding something useful to share, on a regular basis, is tricky. Remember, if you just churn out the same stuff as others in your industry, you won’t attract subscribers or retain them. This means you’ll need to be willing to do some research. You’ll need to become a regular note-taker. A collector of ideas. It’s interesting work, but if you’re not already someone who studies and takes notes, it can be a tricky transition.

Finding the time to create content is also tricky. You’re already busy, right? Developing content around all that interesting material you have, takes time. That time is easy to justify when you have a huge list. It’s harder to justify, when your hard work is being consumed by just a small number of people. You’ll need to push through the tumbleweed and crickets of the early stages. And I know from personal experience, that can be a real challenge. [I explain why here].

Summoning the courage to publish your stuff is tricky. Why? Because if you do it right, you’ll attract critics. Someone once told me that we have a choice to make. We can either be criticized or be ignored. If we’re being ignored, we’re invisible. That’s not good for any business. The alternative is to not only expect criticism, but to welcome it as a positive sign that we’re no longer being ignored. Don’t set out to attract critics. Set out to be useful and worthy of attention. But see criticism as an inevitable part of becoming visible. Tip: Here’s why people criticize you and how to deal with it.

Once you know what’s involved, building a valuable list is pretty easy. And the rewards are huge.

Picture this: Just imagine what a difference it would make to your business, if you were in regular contact with thousands of prospective customers. Not via advertising, which is usually seen as an unwelcome interruption. But via a subscription to your content, which people proactively requested because they WANT to hear from you.

The opportunity is amazing. And it’s right in front of you. Right now.

The big strategy behind every successful business. Here’s how it works!

May 11, 2018 by Jim Connolly

You deserve a business that fills you with energy. A business that motivates you to do your very best. A business, which is so inspiring that when you tell people about it, they feel excited.

That’s why I’m going to give you a proven, BIG strategy. A big strategy, which could be exactly what you need right now. And the best part? It makes sense on every level and is spectacularly easy to understand.

It starts with this…

Think big. Really, really BIG!

This isn’t just “positive thinking” nonsense. It’s grounded in fact. And it’s extremely powerful. Here’s how it works.

By thinking really big, you find yourself making bigger plans than before.
The power of making bigger plans, is that they inspire you to make bigger decisions.
The power of making bigger decisions, is that they motivate you to take action. BIG actions, which are the actions that lead to transformational results.

Here’s the thing… No one gets excited or motivated by average plans or puny ideas.

If you’re not feeling motivated right now, it’s only because your plans are not big enough, exciting enough or compelling enough for you.

So, try this: Start thinking really big. For example, instead of thinking about how to grow your business by 20% over the next 12 months, add a zero. Shoot for 200% growth. Sure, you may miss your target by 50%. But your business will still have doubled.

Stop holding back. Give it everything you have. Blow the lid off your thinking. It’s the only way to achieve your full potential.

Sam’s problem. And why her problem is YOUR problem too

May 9, 2018 by Jim Connolly

If you’d like to see a surge in new, high-quality clients, then today’s message is written just for you. It all starts with Sam and her problem.

Sam is a successful business owner. She needs a great new website for her business. She has a significant budget and is eagerly looking to invest.

However, Sam’s now presented with a huge problem! All the web design providers she’s found have snazzy looking websites, as you’d expect. And on these websites, they make the same lofty claims about their services.

They say they have a great, experienced team.
They say they use the most up-to-date design techniques.
They say they understand the needs of their clients.
They say they will give you a dedicated account manager.
They say they will build you a site that engages your marketplace, drives sales and gets your business noticed.
They then provide predictable case-studies or testimonials.

How is Sam supposed to choose?

In essence, none of these providers have given her any reason, why Sam should hire them, as opposed to their identical looking competitors.

And these same web design companies are wondering why business is so slow. They’re sitting there, right now, blaming the time of year, the economy, etc. They’re hunkering down and waiting for things to improve.

Why this is YOUR problem

Whatever industry you are in, right now, there are people in Sam’s position desperately keen to hire you. Money is not a problem. Plus, they are really eager to get moving! They just need to know that hiring you is the right decision.

Maybe you get these high quality, eager-to-proceed enquiries regularly?

The majority of small business owners don’t.

Most people reading this suffer from an unpredictable flow of new clients, which makes it impossible to plan ahead with confidence. They’re working hard. They’re darn good at what they do, too. Yet to their marketplace, they look way too similar to their competitors.

You’d think the answer was obvious

And it is. They need to look at what their competitors are doing, then build a service that’s meaningfully better and market it correctly.

But that’s not what allows the problem to persist. What allows the problem to persist, is that too many small business owners think it doesn’t matter!

Among them are the web design companies in Sam’s marketplace. Who are capable of delighting Sam with their service, yet who are missing a (minimum) $90,000 web design project. Of course, they’re missing out on countless other great clients too. All the time wondering why business is so quiet.

We need to be smarter than that.

Because a casual approach to business, causes casualties.