Marketing tips Marketing help

Build your ideal business. No selling required. None. Zilch!

By Jim Connolly | June 6, 2023

I’m going to share a powerful marketing idea with you today. It’s all about how to attract high quality clients or customers. With no selling required.

These leads will come from people who already know you, who already value your work AND who really want to work with you.

Let’s go.

I need to start by asking you a question: Over the past 6 months, how much valuable, free information have you given to your prospective clients?

I’m specifically referring to things like newsletter articles, blog posts, videos, Zoom sessions, podcasts etc., which offer useful and valuable information… rather than thinly-disguised sales pitches.

Here’s why that question is critically important to building your ideal business.

No selling required

If you want an endless stream of high quality clients or customers, you need to be front of mind when they have a requirement. You need them to be thinking about you. This means you need to regularly give them something, which they will value. Something useful. Something that makes them interested in what you have to say.

Most small business owners waste their time, trying to get their marketplace excited, using sales messages and special offers. They haven’t figured out yet, that they need to develop a relationship with their marketplace, in advance, if they want to attract the very best enquiries.

Notice I said ‘attract‘ enquiries?

That’s right.

When you stop selling and start helping, your prospective clients come to you. I haven’t sold my services to anyone in over 20 years. But people hire me all the time.

And the difference this makes is huge.

Engage and inform: Don’t just sell

The secret to attracting high quality inbound sales leads, is to focus on engaging your marketplace. Educate them. Inform them. Inspire them. Help with their problems. In short, become a valuable resource. And do this before they even need you.

By engaging in this way, you’ll quickly begin to build relationships and credibility with the people who pay for the exact kind of service or products you offer. And if you tailor the information you provide, so that it’s directly relevant to your IDEAL prospective clients, that’s who you’ll attract enquiries from. (Note that word attract again?)

Through the distribution of valuable, free information, you position yourself as an authority in your field. You also build a relationship with your prospective clients, where they naturally think of you as the source of the help they need. This makes you a safe pair of hands. It also makes hiring you or buying from you way less risky when they need a new provider.

Make no mistake, if you embrace this marketing idea and do it correctly, the results can be breathtaking. You can build your ideal business, working with great clients who value you.

And with no selling required.

Photo: Shutterstock.

7 Essentials for business success

By Jim Connolly | June 1, 2023

In just a few weeks time, we will be half way through the year. So, how’s things? Are you on track to hit or smash your 2023 goals?

If you would like a little help, you’ll find this useful. It’s something I’ve shared with thousands of fellow small business owners over the years. It’s 7 essentials we need to regularly remind ourselves of, if we want to build a successful business.

Don’t wait for permission. You don’t need it, so you’re free to get started.
Don’t wait for inspiration to appear. Command it to appear.
Don’t wait for the right opening. Create it.
Don’t wait for someone to pick you. Pick yourself.
Don’t wait for the perfect time. The time is never perfect.
Don’t wait for the initiative. Take it.
Don’t wait for opportunity to knock. Go and build a door.

All 7 of those essentials can be compressed into 1. It’s simply this: Don’t wait for things to happen. Decide what you want to achieve, then get moving.

That’s the only way to take control of your results and get from where your business is right now, to where you want it to be.

The question is, what exactly are you waiting for?

That isn’t a rhetorical question. If you’re not enjoying the level of success you want, there is definitely something that’s blocking you. This is guaranteed to help you find it. And fast!

There’s a world of opportunity out there, which is yours (yes yours) for the taking. So get moving.

Jim, why have my sales numbers dropped?

By Jim Connolly | May 29, 2023

Have you noticed an unexpected drop in sales or new clients?

If you have, you’re not alone. It’s a challenge, which business owners regularly reach out to me for help with. Their sales numbers are down, but they haven’t changed anything. And they’re looking for answers.

If this is happening to you, or you want to stop it from happening to you, today’s post contains a few of the most common culprits, along with some ideas on what you should do next.

So, what gives? I’ll explain in a moment.

But first… the elephant in the room

The economy is certainly in bad shape. However, it’s in bad shape for all your competitors, too. And as you probably know, there are businesses in every sector, doing massively better than the rest. Many have thrived. I know this, because I’m working with them; making them as compelling and valuable as possible.

Here’s what we know. When times are rough, people think a lot harder before they spend their money or their budgets. They spend it were they see the greatest value. The most compelling provider wins. And they win big.

Now, let’s look at some very common reasons for an unexpected drop in sales.

Advertising roulette

This is becoming a huge problem for small businesses.

Someone is out-bidding you for online ads (GoogleAds, Facebook Ads etc.). So, the prospective clients who would have clicked on your ads are now clicking your competitor’s ads. You can also experience the same drop, if a competitor has created a more compelling ad.

In either case, they get your buyers or client enquiries. In 2023, advertising (buying sales) is a spectacularly risky way to grow a business. It requires constant monitoring, eats into an indeterminate percentage of your yearly profits and is extremely volatile.

Better competition

A new, agile competitor has arrived, or an existing competitor has hired expert marketing help. In either case, your clients and prospects are now being expertly marketed to, with compelling messages that grab their attention and convert them into paying clients.

Consequently, a number of the sales leads or client enquiries that would have been yours, are now theirs.

A well-funded competitor

A well-funded competitor is targeting your clients and prospects, offering very low prices. The competitor usually commits to losing money for between 6-months and 24-months, in order to gain as much market share as possible. They also bank on a number of their competitors going broke. When handled correctly, this strategy can be extremely effective.

Well-funded businesses, ranging from independent coffee shops to international service providers, are increasingly using this ‘last one standing’ approach.

Value proposition jump

A competitor has found a way to significantly increase the value of their products or services. And it’s selling like crazy.

So, even though your quality or range of services is just as good as ever, it’s no longer as compelling, when measured against the newly improved competition.

What’s the answer?

The threats I’ve just shared with you are only a few of the more common ones. The key is to do some research. Identify what’s happening, then put a strategy in place to overcome it.

The best advice here is this: Be proactive.

For example.

Massively reduce or eliminate your reliance on paid advertising. I haven’t spent a penny on advertising since the 1990’s and you don’t need to either. It’s essential that you regain control over getting your sales message out there and acted on.
Don’t wait for an agile competitor to turn up, before you seek to increase your value to the marketplace. Do it now. It’s easy. And you’ll win big. I can usually find 5 ways in as many minutes.
Adapt fully to whatever challenges the economy is throwing at you. When you do, you’ll not only grow your business, you’ll have a bigger slice of the marketplace. Why? Because your fearful competitors will be hiding from reality in their comfort zones. Scared into inaction. Actually, scared stiff.
Get a marketing strategy for your business, which a well-funded competitor can’t penetrate. Then, build a wall of financial security around your business, which a well-funded competitor can’t penetrate. Grow your business. Get stronger financially. Repeat.
Become an engaged observer, so you know exactly what you’re competing against. It’s never been easier. Social media lets you see what your marketplace is saying about your competitors. Competitor websites and competitor social media accounts show you what you’re marketing against.
- Come on. In the past, business owners had to guess. You can just take a look and see what’s going on!

In business, everything happens for a reason. If your sales numbers are down, once you identify why, you can adjust accordingly and turn things around.

This holds true in every economy (including this one) and for every small business owner (including you).

3 Essential things you must tell your prospects

By Jim Connolly | May 22, 2023

Before you pull the trigger on your next marketing effort, here are 3 questions your prospective clients or customers need you to answer.

I’m busy. Why should I give you my attention?
Your competitors all claim to go the extra mile. They all claim to offer a great service. What meaningful reasons are there, for me to risk switching to you from my current provider?
I’ve never done business with you before. Why should I trust you?

By answering all 3 questions clearly and correctly, you can massively improve the effectiveness of your marketing and your sales. You’ll also set yourself apart from the vast majority of your competitors.

You’ll capture attention, create a motivational message and build the trust required, to inspire your marketplace to respond.

Your future is as bright as you think it is

By Jim Connolly | May 16, 2023

I’ve been working with a lot of small business owners, who are prospering mightily right now. Today, I’m going to share a common factor that worked for all of them, and can work equally well for every small business owner reading this.

Yes, including you.

It can be summed up in 2 steps.

1. A shift of focus

We started each time, by helping them to focus on a bright, prosperous future. This sounds obvious, but it absolutely is not! Many small business owners, probably the vast majority, are in survival mode.

The problem with survival mode?

There are many.

The most obvious problem with aiming for survival, is that if you miss your target, you literally fail to survive. Another problem with aiming for survival, is that it’s very hard to succeed in a small business, when your motivation is based on fear. Fear motivation is destructive and exceptionally stressful.

2. A proven plan that they’ve never used before

Once the business owner was focused on knocking it out of the park, we built a clear, simple plan for them to prosper.

Then, we followed the plan.

How?

The small business owner examples I’m sharing with you, all came to me with an urgent need to improve their results. Their industries are all under pressure. Nothing seemed to work. Their sales pipelines and funnels were dry.

So, I used a superfast strategy.

We looked at business ideas from other industries, which are thriving right now. We then adapted them into my client’s small business. Their businesses NOW have a unique proposition to offer prospects. It improves everything. Even though in real terms, they’ve hardly changed! This works in every industry and profession, even the most strictly regulated ones. And it works amazingly fast. I’ve been doing this with clients for decades and I cannot understand why more small business owners aren’t doing it. (Note: That’s just one of the dozens of strategies I use).

Plan for survival and if you hit your survival goal, your ‘prize’ is another year treading water.

Plan to prosper mightily instead. Because your future is as bright as you think it is.

Stop focusing on more sales leads. Really. Just stop

By Jim Connolly | May 7, 2023

What do you think is the most common problem that business owners ask me to help them with?

It’s a version of this: “Hi Jim. I need to get more sales leads (or client enquiries)”.

However, in over 25 years of working with business owners, I have never met or spoken to one whose actual problem was a lack of leads.

Their core (or root) problem is always a lot more obvious and a lot more direct. It’s THAT core problem, which needs their attention.

Not more sales leads

Their core problem will be a need for bigger revenues and profits, or a need for more high-value sales, or perhaps a need for more high-quality clients. That’s their actual problem. Instead, they are looking for answers to their “more leads” question. And it causes them all kinds of frustrating challenges.

Their incorrect focus points them in multiple, fruitless directions. It also confines their thinking around one, solitary aspect of marketing. And it misses their core problem completely.

When I explain this to business groups, I use the following scenario.

Imagine someone owns a car and notices the smell of rubber whenever they’re driving.
Their core problem is not the unpleasant smell of burning rubber.
Their core problem is that something in their vehicle is either burning or drastically overheating.
However, they focus on getting rid of the burning rubber smell.
They decide to drive with the windows open, but that doesn’t work.
They decide to buy an air-freshener, but that doesn’t work. They then buy a few more and none of them work, either.
They decide to have the vehicle completely cleaned inside and outside. That doesn’t work.
They then decide to plug their nose. This gets rid of the smell, but they can taste the rubber in their mouth.
Finally, their smelly car refuses to start. Its electronics have burned out. And their vehicle is trashed.

Focus on your core problem

Then look for effective ways to overcome it.

Just to get you started, here are some useful questions to help you redirect your thinking to successfully resolving your core problem. Use them as a starting point and add your own great questions.

What adjustments can I make to my product or service, which will open it up to a new, massively profitable marketplace?
Who has already achieved what I need to achieve, and how can I get them to show me the way forward?
How can I increase my average customer spend by x%, starting next week?
What new, high value services can I provide to my existing clients?
How many ways can I think of, to increase my referral rate by XYZ%?
How can I motivate customers to buy from me more frequently?
What 5 money-making lessons can I learn from (insert name of a successful company outside your industry)?
What are the best ways I can find to radically improve my client or customer retention rate?
Who are the people that my marketplace already trusts, and what’s the best way to get to know these trusted people?

I hope that helps provide you with some additional clarity, as you plan to smash your business targets.

Your opinions, voice, uniqueness and AI

By Jim Connolly | April 25, 2023

Opportunity is knocking. It’s knocking loud and it’s knocking clear.

The best part? To benefit from this spectacular opportunity you just need to be yourself.

Allow me to explain.

It starts with a statement of fact: Your opinions are exactly that. They’re yours. They’re as specific to you as your unique blend of life experiences and lessons.

Conversely, artificial intelligence doesn’t have an opinion. Everything about its knowledge base is artificial.

Instead, AI is fed with masses of data. And it’s trained by groups of AI experts. One of the primary tasks of AI trainers, is to keep their AI as neutral to everyone as possible. And in seeking not to offend anyone, AI lacks even an artificial opinion.

In stark contrast

No person who has ever lived is neutral. Unlike AI, we not only have an opinion, we have countless opinions. This includes the opinions and feelings we have regarding the way we do business. And it impacts everything, including:

The business tactics we rule in or rule out.
The atmosphere we create for our clients or customers.
The way we sell or negotiate.
The value we place on our products or services.
The baseline quality of service or products we provide.
The type of staff we hire and the way we look after them.
The suppliers we choose.
The profile of customers we want to attract (and those we want to avoid).
The type of promises and guarantees we provide, etc., etc.

Your business, opinions, voice and uniqueness

Your opinions matter. They always have. They’re what give you your unique voice in the marketplace.

I firmly believe that today, and for the forseeable future, that uniqueness is a powerrful way, maybe the most powerful way, for your business to gain your biggest ever slice of the marketplace.

How?

A growing number of your competitors are switching to AI for their voice. For example, AI tools are creating and guiding their business plans; what to do and what to avoid. Chatbot apps are handling their frontline customer service. Chatbots are also guiding or shaping (and in many cases providing) their; newsletter content, blog posts, video / podcast scripts, advertising copy and social media interactions, etc. In short, everything that prospective clients or customers use in order to judge these businesses, is bland and lifeless.

I’m suggesting that you adopt a very different aproach to AI.

The most savvy business owners I know are also using AI. But the way they use it, excludes every area of their business that carries their DNA. Their opinions and their voice remain 100% human. It’s what guides their messaging, their priorities, their values, their commitment, their customer service and their willingness to go the extra mile. Their businesses have a pulse and personality. They are extremely easy to connect with. They are easy to relate to. And on a very human level, they’re easy to trust. Because they are human. And so is their brand. Not dull and lifeless like the previous example.

Very soon, you’ll be able to stand out and get noticed, in a way that wasn’t possible before. The opportunity is knocking. But only for those who choose to take notice of it.

Sales Targets: You’re doing it all wrong

By Jim Connolly | April 19, 2023

There’s something a lot of business owners get wrong about sales targets. It’s simply this: They usually misunderstand the reason for setting these important targets. And in doing so, they miss all the important stuff. The stuff that helps them achieve spectacular sales results, month after month and year after year.

Here’s why you need to set sales targets, along with 13 examples.

Why sales targets are essential

The reason you need sales targets is to improve the sales effectiveness of your business.

Not to motivate you to work harder.
Not to motivate you to do more of the same, only faster.
Not to treat it like the daily steps target on your smartphone app.

No!

You need to make changes in order to:

Improve your knowledge of the marketing strategies and tactics that work best today.
Improve the quality of prospects you attract.
Improve the story people in your marketplace have, when they talk about your business.
Improve how you measure the sales-effectiveness of your marketing activities.
Improve the commercial value of your contact network.
Improve the experience of doing business with you.
Improve the way your business looks to the outside world. Design, photos, use of social media, etc.
Improve your marketing response rates.
Improve your awareness of the problems your prospects are most concerned about.
Improve the way you handle inbound enquiries from prospects.
Improve how visible you are to your target market.
Improve the number of advocates your business has.
Improve your marketing decision making.

And carry on improving, until you get the maximum return from all your marketing and sales efforts. When you do, you’ll start to benefit from compound marketing. Compound marketing does for your sales results, what compound interest does for your money. It grows at an accelerating rate.

When it happens, your business will experience exponential growth. So set those sales targets, and let them inspire you to make the improvements required. You have everything to gain.

Increase your value. Then market it effectively

By Jim Connolly | April 6, 2023

If you’re a service provider, your income is based on just 2 things.

1. The value you bring. This is what determines how much your clients pay you. Between the best paid and the lowest paid, there can be a factor of 10x and often much more. Much more? Absolutely. My friend hired a photographer for a product shoot in London recently. The person he hired charged £17,000 for the shoot. The lowest quote for the same shoot, was just over £900.

2. How effectively you market the value you bring. This is what attracts the attention of your prospective clients. It’s what communicates your value in a way that motivates people to hire you.

Each of those areas can be improved. And by focusing on both areas, they leverage one another. When this happens, it radically improves everything for you.

Leveraged for spectacular results

That’s right. You get the financial reward of charging 5x, 10x, 20x… or whatever. Plus you’re also attracting more clients. These combine and compound. The results are transformational.

The best part?

All of this is possible, by focusing your attention and activity on just 2 things.

Business owners who work on those areas correctly, don’t just improve their results. They dramatically improve their results. So, refuse to settle for less than you deserve. Increase your value and then market it effectively.