Marketing tips Marketing help

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.

An important reminder

August 22, 2020 by Jim Connolly

If you have any concerns about the growth of your business in the coming months, I have an important reminder for you.

It’s simply this

There is a major benefit of owning a small or medium sized business when the economy is down. I’m referring to speed.

You can get an idea in the morning and sketch it out in the afternoon. If everything stacks up, you can put it into play within days. Often sooner.

Why am I reminding you about this?

When the economy is tough, that kind of agility is like a superpower for small business owners. If things are not going the way you want them to, you can switch direction. And you can do it fast, before any real damage is done.

In short, you can very quickly improve your fortunes.

A lot of business owners are concerned about the coming months. That’s okay, because a degree of concern is actually useful. It can act as a powerful motivator to get things done. However, once the motivation hits you, stop worrying and tap into your super power.

Remember: You’re never more than one idea away from the breakthrough you need. Better still, as a small business owner, you can act on that idea fast and turn things around.

P.S. If you’re looking for fresh ideas or things you can quickly improve, here’s a large (4000 word) marketing tips guide, with lots of examples.

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.

The 3 step process that can double your sales results

August 20, 2020 by Jim Connolly

I recently helped a training company to increase sales by just over 180% in 5 months. The strategy I used can be summed up in just 3 words.

Assess.
Improve.
Execute.

Here’s how it works.

Assess

The first step to boosting your sales results is to assess your current situation. We need to discover what’s currently blocking you from getting the sales (or attracting the new clients) your business needs, in order to achieve your goals. The main hurdle to overcome here, is that the business owner usually can’t see this for themselves. If they could, they wouldn’t have the problem. So, you need to figure that out, ideally with the help of an informed, outside perspective.

In the example I mentioned earlier, I spent some time digging into my client’s sales and marketing process. I identified her company’s primary problem pretty fast. It turned out they were talking to too few prospective clients. One of the basic rules for increasing sales is to speak with more, great prospects.

Think about it.

Regardless of your conversion rate, you will double your sales by doubling the number of targeted prospects you speak with.

Once we identified the root of her problem, it was time to improve things and free my client to dramatically increase her company’s sales results.

Improve

There were a number of areas in my client’s marketing and sales process, which were under-performing. This is why she wasn’t generating the volume of high quality enquiries she needed. She knew her marketing wasn’t great. But like many business owners, my client assumed the enquiries they attracted were about average in number and quality. She was wrong on both fronts. A common mistake, which had been losing the company a fortune, without them even knowing it.

Overall, my client’s marketing had been quite similar to their competitors. Moving forward, this was wonderful news. Why? Because it meant they were competing against lots of providers who were dabbling with their marketing, rather than using an expert, strategic approach.

By making a couple of quick improvements at the very beginning, we were able to considerably improve her company’s results. And fast. I remember the easiest adjustment I made, was to improve the focus of their sales message. It had previously focused on what their business did, how well they did it and how great their team was. It’s a common mistake.

If your marketing has a similar focus, it’s a bad, bad idea!

And here’s why.

No one buys a service or a product. They buy the result.

You don’t buy exercise equipment. You buy looking and feeling great.
You don’t buy the services of a virtual assistant. You buy the additional productivity, freedom and flexibility of handing-off certain tasks.
So, sell the result of hiring you or the result of investing in your product.

Anyhow, we then dug in deeper and uncovered a series of similarly untapped, marketing opportunities. We wrapped these up into a plan and were good to go.

Execute

Oh man! Without doubt, this is the stage that excites me most. This is why I do what I do.

It’s where we execute on the new marketing strategy and measure the feedback. There’s something wonderful about the energy I get from clients, as they see their business performing the way they always wanted it too. And often far, far better.

An important point: Just as no two people are alike, their businesses are a complex mix too. Your business is as unique as your fingerprint. Others will be similar, but none with your unique make-up. This is why marketing seminars, marketing training, marketing books etc., are so limited. My client had previously wasted 7 years spinning her wheels, following general marketing advice, when like every other business owner, what she desperately needed was specific help in key areas.

Assess. Improve. Execute. Focus like a laser on those 3 steps and watch your business grow.

Whose plan are you following today?

August 19, 2020 by Jim Connolly

I shared an idea recently with some entrepreneurs, which I think you may find useful. It’s a powerful, yet very simple difference in how the most successful business owners run their day. It’s about the need to plan your work and work your plan.

Note: I’ve also included a tip, which you can use to accelerate the growth of your business.

Let’s go!

It starts with an observation I’ve made, time and time again, since starting my business in 1995. When I speak with business owners, who work hard for too little reward, they spend a lot of time reacting. Specifically, reacting to the demands of their clients / customers and colleagues. As such, they spend too little time developing their own business.

This scenario is most commonly expressed in that often-repeated business advice; “You need to spend more time working on your business and less time working in your business.”

Of course, every business owner needs to respond to the needs of their business. What I’ve discovered is that the most successful business owners respond differently from their average counterparts.

It looks like this.

The smartest business owners remain focussed on their plans. This means they do what’s required for their clients, colleagues etc., and then refocus like a laser on their own plans. They plan their work, and work their plan. As a result, each day brings progress. Some days more than others. The key thing is they move their business forward every single day.

The average business owner also has a plan or at least a to-do list. However, they find their plans are often derailed by the demands of others. This means that although they start their day correctly, their plans often go out the window. They work hard, but make little if any progress on their plans. Before they know it, a day of too little progress becomes a week of too little progress, a week becomes a month, a month becomes a year…

What’s the answer?

The short answer is that we need to plan our work and work our plan. It’s the second part that’s tricky. As I mentioned a moment ago, most business owners have a plan of some description.

The challenge is sticking with the plan, when the day-to-day needs of their business come along.

Here’s what worked for me: I used the following, simple approach, to ensure my focus returned to my plan for the day. I set a reminder on my phone, which went off every 3 hours during the work day. When the alarm went off, a message would appear on my phone, saying work your plan.

Did you notice how the previous paragraph is in the past tense?

That’s because after a couple of weeks, I didn’t need the alarm. I learned to automatically refocus on my plan for the day, as soon as I’d completed an off-plan activity. It’s hard to overstate what a huge, measurable improvement this has made to my business and the businesses of many I have shared the idea with.

So, plan your work and work your plan. Harder then it sounds, sure. However, it’s extremely valuable my friend.

How to overcome the apathy that stops people hiring you

August 18, 2020 by Jim Connolly

I’d like to introduce you to your main competitor.

Oh, and it’s almost certainly not the competitor you’re thinking of. Whilst there are a few (very few) exceptions, your main competitor is not an alternative brand, vendor or service provider.

No.

Your main competitor is apathy: The decision by your prospective clients (or prospects) to avoid the risk, hassle and stress of switching to you, from their current provider.

Small business marketing almost always fails to address this effectively. It focuses on reasons to hire them or buy from them, without even addressing the huge leap of faith required by a new client. This is especially the case for service providers and those selling high ticket goods.

Your marketing needs to simultaneously build trust in you AND convince prospects that switching to you is easier, than enduring their current provider.

The smartest business owners ensure their marketing clearly demonstrates the following.

Why people can trust them. For example, by showcasing their “trust assets”. (I put some of my trust assets here).
Just how frictionless it is for prospectives to switch to them.
That they’ll handle the whole on-boarding process for the prospect.
All the promises and guarantees required, to give their prospects total peace of mind.
How prospects would be nuts, not to upgrade to their vastly superior service.

I recommend you do the same, and also introduce it into your sales conversations.

Another type of apathy

There’s a second apathy challenge you need to be aware of. It’s not about switching. It’s about hiring you, rather than doing (whatever) themselves.

For example, many business owners who hire me have never had expert marketing help before. So, they’re not switching to me from another provider. They hire me, rather than continue to dabble with ineffective, DIY marketing and suffer lousy results. They switch from apathy (with the status quo) to action.

And it’s still vitally important to make their switch from apathy as frictionless as possible. Otherwise, the fear, risk or doubt that’s held them back will carry on doing so.

Tip: Whenever I speak with a prospective client, I make sure they know that I look after them, personally, every step of the way. I call this partnering with my clients. It gives them great peace of mind. And that makes the decision to hire me massively easier for them.

You should do something very similar for your prospective clients or customers.

Moving forward

Never wait for a prospective client to tell you they have doubts, before you address the subject. By that point, a barrier to doing business with you will have already been created. And you’ll find yourself facing an unnecessary uphill challenge. Ouch!

Instead, take the initiative. Give them the peace of mind they need, in advance. Let them know there are no barriers to hiring you or buying from you. Get this right and you will have overcome your main competitor. Apathy.

Plus, you’ll have created a major marketing advantage over competing providers, who are failing to address apathy correctly with their marketing.