Business Development Archives | Page 2 of 198

Wanted?

September 4, 2018 by Jim Connolly

What are you doing, to make people want your services?

Bob may need to relax, but unless he wants to relax at your coffee shop, the place down the street gets his custom.
Bob may need a new service provider, but unless he wants to hire you, someone else will get his custom.

If you’re not attracting enough new clients, start by looking at how big a ‘want‘ your marketing is creating, compared to your competitors.

Then make sure you’re visible to prospective clients. This means being where their attention is.

Because when prospective clients want the service you provide and they can easily find you, you win. Again and again and again…

Never underestimate the power of being first

August 29, 2018 by Jim Connolly

It’s 2018, yet we still remember Roger Bannister as the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes.

Apple became the world’s most valuable company, largely because of profits from the iPhone; the world’s first smart phone. (Here’s the original iPhone press release.)

There are 2 useful lessons here:

When you are the first to do something, it’s remembered for a very long time. We remember Bannister, even though Australia’s John Landy broke Bannister’s record just 6 weeks later. Landy was faster, yet remained relatively unknown because he wasn’t the first person to go sub 4 minutes.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. The first iPhone was really buggy. It even lacked a basic copy and paste facility for over a year! However, it was extremely useful.

This begs the question

What product or service could you be the first to create for your marketplace?

Fortunately, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. For example, a service which is common in another industry may be unheard of in yours. It just needs to be new to your industry, profession or marketplace.

And it absolutely doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be useful.

Stop working so hard. Seriously. It doesn’t work

August 27, 2018 by Jim Connolly

It’s true. When you’re working hard to build a business, and you’re not achieving the results you want, working even harder is never (ever) the answer.

Over the years, I’ve worked with some amazingly successful people. People who went from zero to great financial wealth. People who not only succeed at work, but also enjoy a great family life and social life. None of them work any harder than the average business owner.

They work differently, sure. But they don’t work harder. And they certainly don’t work longer hours. Far from it. In fact, the most successful business owners work far fewer hours, than struggling business owners.

How can fewer hours lead to massively better results?

When a business isn’t developing the way you need it to, the tendency is to try and compensate by working longer hours and working harder. If you’ve tried this for any period of time, you’ll know it doesn’t work. It can’t work.

Think about it:

If you’re rowing a boat in the wrong direction, the harder you row, the further off target you become. Longer days, spent working harder, simply pushes you further and further off target.

What’s needed is an escape plan. A plan to escape the cycle of long, hard days that result in too little reward.

A proven and infinitely better alternative

If your current approach isn’t growing your business, stop. More of the same is not an option.

Next, find out what needs to be done from someone who knows. Then do it. It’s what my clients do every day. And it works. Beautifully.

With a proven strategy and the support you need:

High-energy, super-productive days replace long, hard days.
Progress replaces movement.
Clarity replaces confusion.
Excitement replaces apprehension.

The difference this will make to your business (and you) is huge.

As business owners, we have permission to create whatever kind of business we want. We also have the agility to put new ideas into play, better ideas into play, and watch them blossom into something amazing. It starts with the decision to let go of what we have, so we can replace it with what we want.

Here’s the challenge.

It isn’t easy. In fact, it’s darn hard!

Don’t let anyone tell you the decision is as simple as it sounds.

It isn’t!

Sure, on paper, it sounds easy. But if it was easy, every business owner would fix what’s wrong with their business and thrive. The jump from doing what’s familiar (even when it’s failing) to something new (even when it’s better) is scary. It’s a leap into the unknown.

I’ve worked with small business owners since 1995. And I’ve found that it usually takes something major to happen, before a business owner will switch.

Though not always.

Sometimes it can be something as subtle as a birthday. Or the right words from someone, at the right time. And that’s what I hope this message will be for at least one person reading this: the right words at the right time.

5 Things to start today, which your future self will thank you for

August 22, 2018 by Jim Connolly

Here are 5 practical things you can get started on today, which your future self will thank you for. They’re in no particular order.

Let’s get started!

1: Look for the hidden gold dust that’s under your nose. What was the last marketing email you received, which you opened? What was the last marketing message you read, which motivated you to make a purchase or make an enquiry? By decoding what prompted you to take action, you can get ideas, to make your own marketing more effective. There’s gold dust all around you, if you choose to look for it.

2: Look for trust-building opportunities. Trust is the foundation of every great relationship. We earn trust from what we do, rather than what we say. So show, don’t tell. Tip: This strategy works great.

3: Look for better problems to solve. By solving better problems, you increase your commercial value. Increasing your commercial value is the starting point, to attracting the best clients and earning the best fees. The good news is that most of your competitors will deliberately avoid the tricky stuff. They’ll avoid solving the problems that require additional effort. This presents you with a wonderful opportunity. An opportunity to set yourself apart from your competitors and position yourself as a highly valued provider.

4: Look for the main barrier to your success. Then invest the time and effort required to remove it. Once you’ve removed it, what used to be your second biggest barrier to success will be the new number one. So, invest the time and effort required to remove it. Repeat.

5: Look for outreach opportunities. Right now, there are people who already have the trust and attention of your prospective clients. These trusted people are of massive value to you and your business. Identify who they are. Then, figure out why they should introduce you or recommend you. Get this right and the results can be amazing.

I hope you find at least one thing here, which you can get started on today. If you do, your future self will thank you.

5 Simple ideas that can massively improve your business

August 16, 2018 by Jim Connolly

I jotted a few ideas down for an article I’m writing and I thought you might find them interesting. So, here they are.

If you hear yourself wishing for better luck, remind yourself that what you really need, is a better strategy.
A business succeeds when there’s congruence between what the business owner wants… and what the business owner does.
Everything your business does is marketing. Yes, everything.
Never complain about the economy or other outside factors. Adapt. Adjust. Put your success in your own hands.
To achieve any kind of meaningful success, your business needs to be meaningfully different.

That’s it. Short and sweet. Have a great day my friend!

You have no clients. Seriously. Not even one!

August 13, 2018 by Jim Connolly

You don’t have any clients.

You also don’t have any customers, email subscribers or readers. Oh, and you don’t have anyone connected to you on social networks either.

You don’t have them. They’re not your possession.
Instead, you borrow them.

Once you’ve earned someone’s custom, trust or attention, it’s just the beginning. If you want to retain their custom, trust and attention, you then need to keep on re-earning it. The moment you begin to think otherwise, you risk becoming complacent.

Closing the sale or opening the relationship?

For decades, sales trainers talked about the importance of closing the sale. Some still focus on it today, though mainly in high-pressure sales environments. Closing the sale was all about closing tactics, which you could use to motivate someone to buy from you or hire you.

Once this was achieved, the deal was closed.

Today, we know better.

The smartest business owners don’t focus on closing the sale. Instead, they focus on opening the relationship. This is the mindset that says when a sale has been made, a new client acquired or a new subscriber gained, it’s only the start. It’s the mindset that compels us to continuously seek to re-earn their custom, trust and attention.

Let your competitors become complacent. Let your competitors wrongly assume that the people doing business with them, are THEIR clients or customers.

But not you.

Instead, remain focused on opening relationships, being useful and constantly delivering value.