Business Development Archives | Page 2 of 219

How to have inspiration, ideas and answers on demand

September 10, 2020 by Jim Connolly

How would you like to have access to inspiration, ideas and answers whenever you need them? That’s what this brief post is all about.

I found the above note in an old Apple Notes file. I think it was part of some research I did, for a blog post I never published. Anyhow, discovering that note this morning reminded me why I take (and keep) lots of notes and how extremely valuable they are.

I thought you might find it useful, so I’ve decided to quickly share it with you.

Now, as you can see, that note by itself is just a snippet of an idea.

But that note isn’t by itself. It’s part of a massive body of ideas I’ve jotted down over the past 20 years. They’re mostly pen and paper notes, though I also have thousands of digital notes, like the above example.

It’s this stack of ideas and observations, in note form, that’s extremely valuable for anyone involved in problem solving; which is every person reading this.

Inspiration and answers on demand

As a marketing professional, I can’t ‘wait’ for inspiration to arrive. When work starts, I need to command inspiration to appear. If I’m more than one coffee into my day and I’m struggling to get into the flow, that’s where the notes come in.

I grab a notebook or search my digital notes and usually within 5 minutes, my brain is in a highly creative state.

An old note with a nugget or two of information, soon points my thinking in a massively more productive direction. That new direction helps me focus on new ideas and new solutions, which I couldn’t possibly have accessed otherwise. I use these to help my clients build great businesses, develop new products or services and spot windfall profits they never even knew existed.

More importantly, just think how valuable that kind of asset would be for you and your business. Imagine you were able to know in advance, with confidence, that you could tap into a powerful source of inspired ideas and answers.

Start by collecting ideas. The sooner you start, the sooner your stack of ideas will grow. And don’t just collect your own ideas, but ideas from others (like this one). And definitely spend more time on ideas from outside your industry. Grab ideas from books, movies, artists you love. Don’t limit yourself. Collect your ideas in a format that’s easiest for you.

And most importantly, make it a daily habit.

Viral marketing: What every business owner must know

September 9, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Viral marketing is something I get asked about a lot. It’s actually pretty easy to understand.

Every piece of viral marketing consists of 2 things.

It goes to someone. (They received it).
Then it goes through them. (They share it with one or more people).

For both of those steps to happen, a marketing message needs to be easy to share and remarkable in some way.

Allow me to explain.

Easy to share

As I mentioned last week, the Kentucky Fried Chicken strapline is an excellent example of an easy to share message. It’s just 3 words long. Finger lickin’ good. That’s easy to remember and share.

The marketing message from Apple is even easier to share. When someone is using one of their products in public, there’s a highly visible Apple logo pointing at everyone who can see them. Until recently, the Apple logo on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models was illuminated on the lid. Today, those logo’s are (like those on iPhones) highly polished mirrors.

Remarkable

What makes viral marketing viral, is that it doesn’t spread from the vendor to the marketplace. It spreads from person to person.

This means viral marketing not only reaches a lot of people, but unlike advertising, the people sharing the message are those we know and trust.

Here’s an example I mentioned a while ago. Jennie knows I take lots of notes. So, when she discovered a note-taking app that blew her away, she emailed me with a link, so I could see it. Within 10 minutes, I’d bought it too. Jennie’s remarkable experience provided her with the motivation to share what she’d found with her huge circle of friends. I’ve now shared it tons of times, too. Plus, I blogged about it.

Then there’s my former client, Greg. When Greg recommends my services to his friends and contacts, he tells them; “Jim doubled our turnover in 5 months”. Greg’s experience of my results is what motivates him to tell people. And his message is just 7 words long, meaning it’s also easy to share.

What about you?

If you want to attract massively more word of mouth referrals or go full-on viral, your message needs to do the same. To go to people and then through people. Take some time to consider how clear your marketing message is. And how remarkable it is. Then look for ways to improve it as much as you can. The more remarkable it is, the more widely it spreads.

It isn’t easy.

And yes, you’ll probably need some expert help if you want to get it right.

But it makes no sense to ignore, or merely dabble with, the most powerful form of marketing on the planet.

Waiting for the right time?

September 7, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Waiting for the right time is a sensible thing to do. However, it can also be an extremely risky business philosophy. After all, we only know if we’ve acted at the right time, when we look back and join the dots. It’s rear view mirror stuff.

Let’s look at why this happens and why it’s almost always an accident. I’ll also share something you can do, to help overcome the challenge.

Accidentally stalling

Usually, when a small business owner tells you they’re waiting for the right time, they’re accidentally stalling.

Accidentally?

Yes, of course!

They’re not intentionally stalling. They’re very seldom even aware of it and the waiting is a source of frustration to them. They’ve simply set the bar so high for what ‘the right time’ means to them, that it never seems to happen.

However, even though the stalling is unintentional, it still makes decision taking extremely difficult; especially big or tricky decisions. This directly hits their business results, as opportunity after opportunity is missed, and problems that needed addressing, get worse.

Overcoming the challenge

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The reasons behind setting our bar too high are many and varied. They range from fear of loss at one end, to fear of success at the other. (yes, many people fear the perceived problems they associate with success).

One thing we can all do, is learn to identify if we have this challenge… if we too are accidentally setting our ‘right time’ bar too high. Identifying we have this challenge, is key to overcoming it. Thankfully, it’s really easy to do.

Here’s a quick overview:

Think of a decision you’re currently putting off. One that you’re waiting to act on, until the time is right.
Next, write down what the right time would have to look like, in detail, for you to do whatever you’re currently putting off.
Finally, you need to honestly determine exactly how likely it is, that those things will all fall into place, in the correct order, when you have the money, stability and time required.

If you fully believe you will be in that ‘right time’ scenario in a time-scale that’s reasonable, you’re definitely not stalling.

If you believe the likelihood of all those variables connecting in a reasonable time is low (or non-existent), you’re stalling. You then need to work on why… why you’re avoiding doing what’s required.

Overcoming this issue has always been important for business owners. However, with today’s unparalleled challenges, it’s absolutely essential.

Right now, there have never been more reasons or excuses to stall. At the same time, the risk of standing still has never been greater.

Sam urgently wants to spend $90,000. Here’s why this matters to you

August 30, 2020 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 very 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 the heck 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 coronavirus, the economy, etc. They’re hunkering down and waiting for things to improve.

Why this is your problem too

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

Now, maybe you already get these high quality, eager-to-proceed enquiries regularly.

But let me tell you, the majority of small business owners don’t.

Most people reading this are suffering from an unpredictable flow of new clients. This makes it impossible to plan ahead with any real 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. So, learn how to stand out, then communicate it effectively. Or find someone, who can show you how.

Anything less and you’re leaving a fortune on the table, needlessly.

Bring me your problems

August 25, 2020 by Jim Connolly

There’s real power in the following 4 words: Bring me your problems.

Why?

Because everyone has problems. And nobody wants them. That includes your prospective clients. What they want (and need) are answers. They want to get unstuck. They want to free themselves from frustration. They want reliable service providers, who they can trust. And this is extremely important to them.

In short, your prospective clients are highly motivated to get their problems solved.

Okay. Hold that thought for a moment.

Now let’s look at the service you provide

Your service is the answer to a problem. Or a series of problems. How do I know this? Simple. Every service provider is a problem solver.

So, I’d like you to answer a question: When was the last time you asked people to bring you their problems?

Sure, every service provider markets the services they provide. They have them listed on their websites, they mention them when they speak with prospective clients, they may even mention them in a newsletter, blog, vlog, podcast or on social networks, etc.

But that wasn’t what I was asking.

My question was a lot more literal than that.

In very literal terms, when was the last time you used these four words [bring me your problems] in your marketing?

Bring me your problems is a powerful, direct request. It bypasses all the fluff. It cuts right to the chase. It strikes at the core of what your prospective clients want and need. And this is especially the case when those 4 words feature prominently, in the right place.

Here’s how it works

It looks a lot like this.

Your prospective client has a problem.
She finds your website (or any of your marketing assets).
She can see that the services you provide are related to her problem.
She then sees a direct request, asking her to bring you her problems.
Boom! Your message has engaged with her needs like a laser.
You’re now massively more likely to have motivated her to contact you and hire you.

Easy?

Absolutely.

But no one said that powerful marketing had to be complicated.

How to make the right decisions, just like the world’s top entrepreneurs

August 21, 2020 by Jim Connolly

The best decisions you ever made all had one thing in common.

Can you guess what it was?

They were BIG decisions! All of them.

Think about it… the decision to start a family, to buy a home, to spend a year travelling the world, these decisions are huge. Life-changing, even. And they’re risky, because they come with no guarantee of success.

Business success and decision making

The same is true in business. Major success only comes, after you’ve made breakthrough decisions. And breakthrough decisions are big. Big enough to break through the challenges that are holding your business back.

Here’s the thing: Every big business decision will always carry an equally big risk.

That’s because it’s the size of the risk that determines the size of the decision. This explains why making small decisions is so easy. They carry little or no risk, so they feel safe.

In working with business owners, I find that ongoing business problems can always be traced back to a big decision, which is being avoided.

It looks something like this.

They know there’s a persistent or recurring problem in their business.
They also know something needs to be done about it.
The decision to do what’s required (usually to make an investment or make a significant change) feels too risky.
So they decide not to do what’s required.
Instead, they do something that seems easier (less risky).
The problem persists.
The business continues to struggle.

The entrepreneurial mindset

One hundred percent of the most successful businesses, in every niche, are directed by people with an entrepreneurial mindset. That’s because entrepreneurs evaluate risk in a massively more effective way.

Entrepreneurs know that letting a problem persist is always riskier, than making the necessary decision. They know that ignoring the smoke bellowing from the rear of their car doesn’t make the problem go away. And a business problem that gets ignored, is a business problem that gets worse.

Interestingly, the entrepreneur is still avoiding risk. All that changes, is what they attach risk to. They define risk correctly, make far better decisions and achieve far better results.

In short, if you want the right results for your business, you need to make the right decisions for your business. And if your business growth has levelled off, there’s almost certainly an important decision somewhere, which you really need to make.