Business development Archives - Page 61 of 83

How to crush the competition!

By Jim Connolly | April 6, 2018

Joe emailed me with a very direct question. As lots of you may have a similar challenge, I’ve shared the question below, along with my answer.

Hi Jim. What’s the best way for me to crush my competitors? I’m going to lose my business soon unless I turn things around and I’m sick of missing out to competitors that are no better than me.

I think crush is a strong word, but it certainly gets Joe’s frustration across.

How to beat the competition

There are a couple of proven options. I’m going to highlight them, then offer a more powerful alternative.

1. Most business leaders will tell you that the best way to beat the competition, is to outsmart them. This means spotting or creating opportunities before they do. This is a very effective approach.

2. Some enlightened business leaders will tell you that the best way to beat the competition, is to out care them. This means focusing heavily on customer care. It means truly going the extra mile. It means showing the marketplace that you care enormously about what matters to them. This is also very effective.

However, I’ve uncovered a 3rd and massively more powerful alternative. You can out manoeuvre your competitors by doing both of the above!

By outsmarting them and out caring them, you leverage 2 enormously powerful strategies. You set yourself apart from all the rest. This makes you a lot more visible. Moreover, it makes you more visible to the right people; those who value what you do. And as my clients can confirm, it’s a spectacularly effective way to build a high-profit business.

Is the out manoeuvre approach easy? No. It takes a little additional effort.

Is it possible? Yes. Of course it is. I do it every day.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. You see, this approach not only helps you attract great clients or customers. It helps you retain them. And a business that’s regularly winning great new clients, and seldom losing any, is pretty-much unbeatable.

[P.S. Here’s a recent interview I did with the team at The University of Northern Iowa. I hope you find it useful!]

We need to talk about your entitlement mindset

By Jim Connolly | March 28, 2018

There’s a very common mindset among small business owners. It’s the entitlement mindset. And almost NO small business owner is aware of it, until it’s explained to them. That’s what this post is about, along with lots of ideas for how to put things right.

What does the entitlement mindset look like?

The mindset tells the small business owner that they’re entitled to success. They think they can be average, yet still succeed. They believe they can just keep on doing the same ineffective stuff, and over time, things will “somehow” just improve.

It’s little wonder the vast majority of small business owners fail, and the vast majority that survive are going nowhere. Spinning their wheels. Waiting for the break they never earned, to arrive.

The wake-up call of our age is this: We’re not entitled to anything! We have to earn it. And that includes the attention of our prospective clients. They call it paying attention for a reason.

Remember when I shared this with you?

Your blog doesn’t have subscribers, your newsletter doesn’t have readers, your Facebook Group doesn’t have members, your podcast doesn’t have listeners and your Youtube channel doesn’t have viewers.

You don’t own anyone’s attention. It’s borrowed. You have to earn it. Then re-earn it.

As this blog approaches it’s 10th birthday, this is something I’m focusing on a great deal. If I decide to commit to an 11th year, I will also need to commit to digging deep, to find ways to re-earn your attention. Again and again. That means I need to be as useful as possible to you. Knowing that if I fail to be worthy of your attention, you’ll take your attention back.

In other words, your attention is not something I am entitled to.

Okay. [Imagine dramatic music in the background] Now the bad news!

The same is true of your marketing

Sorry. But if your marketing fails to offer something worthy of your prospective client’s attention, they’ll take it elsewhere. You only have their attention on loan. And if you lose their attention, you’ll also have lost the opportunity to do business with them. You can’t afford that. It’s low leverage. It’s unsustainable.

In short, once you’ve earned the attention of a prospective client, it makes way more sense to work on retaining it. This is how you build a spectacularly valuable communication channel with them.

So share ideas, stories and suggestions with your prospective clients, which THEY will find useful. 99.9% of small business marketing doesn’t do this. It’s self-serving, from the entitlement mindset. It doesn’t attract attention and it certainly doesn’t re-earn attention. It’s usually a dull series of thinly disguised sales pitches and special offers.

They think they are entitled to the attention of people, when in reality, they’re not entitled to shit!

A quick look at the way things were

Old school marketing was all about interrupting people. It was about sales pitches. It was about big brands paying fortunes to get their ad in front of you while you were trying to watch TV or listen to the radio. The huge problem with that model, was that you had to start from scratch every time. It was expensive. Really expensive. This put it beyond the reach of small businesses. However, it was the backbone of the highly lucrative advertising industry for over a century.

The advertising industry today is undergoing a huge change. Brands are embracing the value of earned attention. They’re shifting from demanding your attention, to commanding it. They’ve moved from pestering you, to sharing stories with you.
Read this» Demanding attention versus Commanding attention.

The anti entitlement mindset alternative

Focus on what matters to your prospective clients. Then, use your marketing to share useful ideas with them. Here are just a few suggestions.

Show them how your product / service can save them money.
Show them how your product / service can save them time.
Show them how your product / service can help them attract more customers.
Show them how your product / service can make their life easier, less stressful or both.
Give them useful industry insights.
Give them useful tips, which have worked for others in their industry (or situation).

This model turns your marketing into a valuable asset for your marketplace. Guess what? That’s the kind of marketing that people share and talk about. It’s the kind of marketing that builds trust and generates sales. It’s an anti-entitlement approach to marketing.

It’s also the kind of marketing you need to embrace.

Why?

Because pushing sales pitches at prospective clients, who are already suffering from information overload, is less and less effective.

And unlike the past, your prospective clients have technology today that lets them block you, filter you from their inbox or unsubscribe from you.

What about marketing to your existing clients?

You’re not entitled to the repeat business of an existing client or customer, either. You need to re-earn it, again and again. So a similar, them-focused approach is required. Only this time, create marketing that’s useful for your clients, which includes (but isn’t limited to) how to get more from your products or services.

Apple provides us with a world-class example of how to do this right. Their dedicated Apple Support YouTube channel doesn’t sell stuff. Instead, it adds value to the Apple products you already own. This makes you more inclined to stay with their brand.

Here’s why this works so well.

Let’s assume you’re an iPhone user. When you fully understand how your iPhone works, via those helpful videos, you’ll get more value from it. This makes it massively more likely your next tablet will be an iPad, (which uses the exact same operating system). And with an iPhone and iPad, the Apple Watch makes more sense than buying a different, less compatible brand.

Can you see what Apple are doing? They’re marketing to existing customers, sharing useful information, because they know they’re not entitled to the repeat business of their customers.

Apple are the most valuable company on the planet. However, unlike the average small business owner, Apple does not have an entitlement mindset.

In summary

Your business and mine share one thing in common, my friend. Neither of them are entitled to anything. It’s when we accept this reality, that our mindset to marketing shifts from entitlement to earned attention. And when that shift happens, it manifests itself with a totally different approach to marketing.

So get out there and contribute to your marketplace. Bring radical value. Be as useful as you can as often as you can. And take absolutely nothing for granted.

I hate marketing. Yes. Really!

By Jim Connolly | March 14, 2018

I once heard a comedian make an unexpected, yet interesting statement. He was being interviewed on the radio. The interviewer asked what the comedian’s pet hates were. High on his list was marketing and people who worked in marketing.

The interview was part of a media campaign, to promote (market) his latest stand-up comedy tour. He seemed genuinely unaware of the irony… as he took every opportunity to share the venues, dates and ticket prices. All of which was, of course, marketing.

I think I know what the comedian meant, though. And he had a point.

Some marketing really sucks

Hate is a strong word. However, there are parts of marketing that I hate. For instance, I hate the way junk food is deliberately marketed at kids. I hate the way tobacco companies market cigarettes, to encourage more people to smoke. And I think pretty-much everyone is sick and tired of all the spam emails and cold calls we receive, from people pushing junk at us.

In each of those cases, marketing is (mis)used to motivate people to make bad decisions. There are lots more examples too. And it sucks. It really sucks.

As a result, many business owners feel conflicted about marketing. Their negative feelings about much of the marketing they experience, becomes a barrier to the promotion of their own business.

It would be easy to hate marketing, if that’s all marketing did. But it isn’t.

Marketing is so much more than that

Marketing is also used for good. And we see powerful, positive examples all day every day.

Marketing is used to encourage people to make better lifestyle choices, through public health campaigns. It’s used to motivate people to use their democratic right to vote. It’s used to promote the good works of charities. It’s used to educate children on how to stay safe online. It’s used to encourage people not to drink and drive.

And it’s also used to help small business owners, like you, build successful, rewarding businesses.

In reality, marketing is neither good or bad. It’s what you market and how you choose to market it, which defines how people feel. If you want your marketplace to embrace your marketing and connect with what you have to say, market your business accordingly.

That means stepping away from sucky, predictable marketing. Then crafting your own, value-driven marketing — marketing that people WANT to receive.

If you don’t think that’s possible, remember that every message you receive from me… is marketing.

Marketing that people email me to thank me for. Marketing that they share with their friends. Marketing that’s linked to by some of the world’s leading websites and brands.

The bottom line here is simple. The way you feel about marketing your business will have a direct impact on your success. So make sure your attitude to marketing is aligned with what you want to achieve.

What a difference 20 minutes can make

By Jim Connolly | March 7, 2018

A reader emailed me with some great news. He used the advice from one of my blog posts and it’s worked extremely well. There’s a powerful idea behind what he did, which I’m going to share with you. It can help you achieve similar (or even better) results.

Here’s what happened.

Danny is a partner in a medium-sized accountancy firm. After reading this, he decided to open for business 20 minutes earlier than his competitors. So, instead of 9:00am, he and around half the team are there from 8:40am. He then emailed all his clients to let them know.

The response was immediate.

He said, “I had replies back in minutes Jim. Clients loved that they could call us before their own businesses opened. They also said it was really useful, that they could pop in on their way to work. It created a wave of good feeling toward us. In the 3 months since we started, client recommendations have increased by 87% on the same period last year.”

Why it worked

Danny increased the value of his service, in a meaningful way.

Clients were immediately able to see the benefit. Most of his clients are in retail. They could now speak with an accountant, not a call-handling company, before the client’s own business opened its doors. It was a story worth sharing. So his clients told fellow retailers, knowing they’d find it useful too. Some of these retailers switched. Danny’s team bought into it too. They appreciated the flexibility of being able to start and finish work, 20 minutes earlier.

That’s an 87% increase. For the sake of 20 minutes. Think about that for a moment.

How to make it work for you

The real lesson from Danny’s story is NOT about opening 20 minutes earlier. That’s just a tactic.

No.

It’s about understanding the importance of constantly looking for opportunities to make your service remarkable. Remarkable enough to get people’s attention. Remarkable enough to talk about. Remarkable enough for your clients to truly value the extra something you provide.

The end result is massively more referrals, far better client retention and never having to sell based on your fee again.

Here’s the post, which gave Danny his idea.

Consider increasing your fees by at least 500%. Yes. Really!

By Jim Connolly | March 5, 2018

Would you like to develop a new and extremely (I mean EXTREMELY) profitable service? If you would, here’s a great place to start.

I want to begin by asking you to imagine something. I want you to imagine that a new client comes along and they’re paying you between 500% and 1,000% more than your current fee.

What kind of additional customer service would you be able to give them?
How much more of your attention would you be able to give them?
What additional problems would you be able to solve for them?

Here’s a suggestion: Consider building a new, premium version of your service, which offers those amazing advantages. Then charge for it accordingly and market it correctly.