Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

How to avoid an ongoing cash flow crisis

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cash flow crisis, avoid cash-flow problem

A reader emailed me this morning, about his latest cash flow crisis. He asked me for some advice on how to overcome it. I promised I’d answer here, as it’s a very common problem for a lot of business owners right now.

My reader put his problem like this: “I need to sign-up 5 new customers by the end of December, to avoid another cash flow crisis”.

Here’s my advice, which is relevant to almost any business owner with an on-going cash flow problem.

The wrong focus blocks cash flow

In my reader’s case, if he does focus on getting those 5 new customers, there’s a reasonable chance he will make it happen. Or come pretty close to making it happen. I don’t have any details about his business. But I do know that in business, we tend to get what we focus on – good or bad.

So, whilst there’s a good chance that he will be motivated to get those 5 new customers, if he does get them, he will have also just planted the seeds of his next crisis! That’s because those 5 new customers will simply buy him some time until he’s in the same position again.

Here’s a far better way forward. It’s based around 2 adjustments that can radically improve your financial situation… and your life!

1. Fund your business correctly

Cash flow can be resolved relatively easily. But only after you understand that on-going cash flow problems are rooted in the way you feel, think and act regarding money. When you overcome this block, the cash starts to flow like never before.

Your accountant will be able to explain how successful business owners fund their businesses correctly. If you don’t have an accountant, ask your financial adviser or business banking manager. It’s extremely straightforward.

2. Set exciting, compelling sales targets

Always, always set motivating targets that correspond with a thriving business. The kind of epic targets that will lead you to a massively better quality of life. Never set targets that merely help you to scrape by.

Here’s why the right type of targets are critically important for you and your business.

  • Targets that inspire you to thrive are exceptionally motivating. They also cause you to make decisions based on what you want. They bring energy, ideas and confidence. Confidence that encourages others to buy from you, hire you and believe in you. These combine to dramatically improve your results. And fast!
  • Targets that are about surviving your latest cash flow crisis are motivated by fear. And even if you hit the target, you’re still in a precarious situation. You just scraped over the line. And you’re left waiting for the next cash flow crisis, because your underlying problem remains. So, you end up with anxiety and stress, regardless of whether you hit the target or miss the target. That’s a self-defeating loop, which makes it impossible to build a successful business.

In short, a poorly funded business, focused on trying to stay afloat, is guided by fearful, short-term thinking. It has an extremely limited horizon.

The answer is to resource your business correctly. And set exciting targets that motivate you to build a financially powerful company.

Going narrow and deep

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going narrow and deep, marketing, social media

If you find it hard, time-consuming or confusing, to be present on lots of different social media platforms, relax. You don’t need to! Today I’m going to show you a far better alternative. It’s based on the approach I use. I call it going narrow and deep. So, here’s how it works, and how you can benefit mightily from it.

This blog is in its 14th year. And I’ve been publishing a newsletter since the 1990’s! When I mention this to people they often ask how I have managed to update my blog and publish a newsletter, very regularly, for so long.

I really don’t do much

Sadly, I don’t have some kind of productivity super power. It’s a lot less impressive than that.

You see, my ‘secret’ is all about how little I do.

  • I don’t have a Linkedin account.
  • I don’t have a Youtube channel.
  • I don’t have a podcast.
  • I don’t have a Facebook Page
  • I don’t have a Facebook Group.
  • I don’t have a TikTok account
  • I don’t write books.
  • I don’t give many interviews.
  • I don’t have a business account on Instagram or Snapchat, either.

Lots of business owners do most of the things on that list. And I bet they produce at least as much information across those platforms as I produce for my blog / newsletter.

The difference is in what we choose to do with the content we produce.

They go wide. I go narrow

Let me flesh that out a little.

Having been involved in social media marketing since its inception, I’ve seen how easy it is to lose your account, and audience, on any platform you don’t own. And if a platform ceases to be popular, you can also lose your audience, or most of it, when they move to the next new, shiny thing.

Plus, it’s extremely hard to create a significant marketing impact, or foster deep engagement across multiple platforms. So, you end up with a wide spread of shallow encounters. That’s why I chose to go narrow and deep.

  • I own my blog.
  • I choose where it’s hosted.
  • And I can use any commercial email provider to mail my newsletter to subscribers.

The benefits of building your own platform are many and varied.

The best-known benefit of going narrow and deep

Maybe the best-known benefit is that you’re building your very own publishing business, which grows in value literally every day.

For example. Jim’s Marketing Blog has thousands of pages of marketing and business development information and a 14 year pedigree. It has built trust and a deep connection with thousands of people worldwide who read it regularly.

So today.

If I wanted to.

  • I could form partnerships with online training providers, promoting their courses here, for a commission on each place sold.
  • I could create a dedicated store here, providing products that appeal to my reader demographic.
  • I could cash-in. The last offer I received for Jim’s Marketing Blog was huge.

There are multiple revenue generating opportunities open to me, because I built everything here. Combined, they would easily create a significant enough income to become a stand-alone business. Imagine if I’d spread my ideas and work across social media platforms / social networks. None of the opportunities I just mentioned would exist.

So, consider the commercial value of creating your own platform. Your own publishing business. And I mean, seriously consider it. Because it could be worth a fortune to you.

The least-known benefit of going narrow and deep

I think the most overlooked benefit, is the incredible focus, clarity and freedom it gives you.

With the multi-platform approach, different types of ‘content’ work better on one platform and less well on another. All of a sudden, you need to add lots of tasks to your daily workload. So, you’re no longer ‘just’ running your business. You need to find time to be a photographer, broadcaster, video producer, audio creator, short-form writer and networker. Plus, there’s the time required to monitor all those different places every day for replies or responses.

You also need to be careful how often you publish. Most platforms will make your content less visible to your audience, if you publish what they deem to be too often. Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram are notorious for this. Blogs do the opposite, because fresh content is rewarded by search engines. It’s a sign that your blog is being supplied with new and updated material. A sign that your blog is worth recommending to those searching for up-to-date information.

With your own platform, you publish when you have something useful or interesting to share. That’s it. It’s extremely liberating.

In short, I probably don’t produce content more often than you or anyone else involved in marketing their business. I certainly spend a lot less time creating it.

I just put it in the same place and let it build steadily over time. Eventually, all those little molehills become a mountain.

Training your customers to spend less and leave you?

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special offer marketing, special offers, discount offers

If you run special offers at predictable times throughout the year, you need to be aware of the full cost.

It’s always more than the 20% or whatever your discount is.

That’s because there are two types of loss when you discount a price or fee. Not one. And the second loss, which most business owners are totally unaware of, can lose you and your business an absolute fortune.

The first loss you probably know

By discounting at predictable times, you train your customers or clients to wait. So that’s what they do. They hold off making the purchase they would have made at full retail, for the special offer they know you’ll run. In these cases, you only lose 20% on every purchase that customer makes of that predictably-discounted product.

You already knew that.

The second loss is much bigger

This doesn’t happen as often, but you take a huge loss every time it happens.

While waiting for your next special offer time to come around, some who would have purchased at full retail, won’t purchase from you now. Or ever again!

Here’s the scenario.

Rather than wait until your next special offer, they get tired of waiting and decide to buy elsewhere.

Why not buy from you at full retail?

Because you trained them not to. You’ve trained them that they’d be losing out if they buy from you now. That’s an extremely painful purchase for them to make, knowing they’re losing money. And many of them won’t make it.

So, they buy from one of your competitors instead.

That deal from your competitor may not be as good as your special offer, but your former customer can have it now. AND without all that pain. Assuming your competitor looks after them, they stand a great chance of retaining your former customer indefinitely.

The kicker?

Very few businesses that have this problem even know it’s happening to them. The overall cost to their business is the lifetime value of every customer they lose this way. And the business owner just assumes the customer left for some random reason.

There is a space in marketing for special offers or discounts. Major companies do it well, smaller businesses almost always make a mess of it and unknowingly lose a fortune right across the board; short-term, medium-term and long-term.

A couple of things to consider

Ideally, don’t discount anything. The only exception here, is if you’re looking to sell time-sensitive inventory that’s going out of date, or inventory items that are depreciating in value.

If you want to increase the number of sales you make or the number of new clients you attract, don’t lower the price or fee. Instead, increase the value of whatever you’re providing. Then increase the effectiveness of your marketing, until it’s utterly irresistible.

A value-packed product or service, with irresistible marketing will sell outstandingly well all year long. No special offers required.

Your sales figures. Going up!

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elevator pitch

Did you know that you can increase your sales in multiple ways, by using a great elevator pitch? Well, you can. It will work for you online and face-to-face. It will open doors for you and help you get noticed. It will help you be remembered by prospective clients or customers, too.

Here’s how you and your business can benefit mightily from this powerful, often misunderstood marketing tool.

It’s not actually a pitch

There are lots of variations, but a common definition of an elevator pitch will go something like this.

A sales pitch that can be delivered in a short period of time [the time it takes to ride an elevator].

That is incorrect. It’s a narrow, literal interpretation of what an elevator pitch is. You are never going to sell anything of value to a stranger in 20-30 seconds. What you absolutely can do, is give a compelling introduction to someone, which will motivate them to want to know more.

In other words, an elevator pitch is a pre-pitch. It’s a short, well-crafted message that inspires the person(s) listening to become interested. Interested enough to give you more time, where you can actually pitch your service or products.

Why you need an elevator pitch

Here are the core business benefits of having a short, well-crafted sales message.

You’ll create a great first impression, fast

When you connect with a prospective client for the first time, you need to be able to make a positive impact quickly. This is true whether it’s face-to-face or online. A motivating elevator pitch will allow you to do exactly that. People are busy and your pitch will ensure they hear what they need to know, with clarity and without delay.

Preparation

It takes time to develop a great elevator pitch. By the time you have it down, you’ll know it by heart. And because it’s a short message, it’s also an easy message to remember. That means it will stick. It also means that whenever you’re in a situation, where someone asks you about your business, you’ll have the perfect answer to hand.

And that’s not all. The feeling of being prepared and knowing you have a powerful message to share, boosts your confidence. And that confidence is then transmitted to whoever is listening, which makes your message vastly more compelling.

How to write your elevator pitch

I strongly recommend you don’t write one from scratch by yourself. Instead, find a free one from a credible source online and refine it, so that it’s directly relevant to you, your services or products. There are hundreds of free examples and templates for you to choose from via your search engine of choice.

Why refine an expertly written elevator pitch, rather than write your own? The toughest form of written marketing is what’s known as writing short. Even professional copywriters struggle with writing short. That’s because you have very few words and every one of them needs to count. You’re trying to motivate, educate and leave a powerful first impression, within those tight confines.

If at all possible, find an industry-specific example to refine. That’s because a different approach is required for every industry. Here’s what I mean. The pitch used by a family law firm will need to be different from that of an oven-cleaning franchise. The pitch used by that oven-cleaning franchise will need to be different from that of a private school.

It’s reasonably easy to create an effective elevator pitch and the benefits massively outweigh the time it will take you. Start with a good quality example or template to work from and you’ll be good to go in no time.

Seek context before you move on

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You heard what the customer or client said, the words they used. That doesn’t mean you also know what message they were trying to convey.

In our normal conversations, this is no big deal most of the time. But in an important conversation, it can create major problems.

Imagine someone tells you their business grew by 15% last year. They might want your congratulations. Equally, they might want your commiserations. Without clarity regarding the context, your reaction and response could be way off.

Always get the context before you respond.

How to break the cycle that’s holding you back

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You have a business problem. However, you’re not ready to talk about it with an expert.

You now have two problems.

Those two problems soon combine to create additional problems. These additional problems do the same.

The cycle begins.

Break that cycle

Advice and support from an experienced expert equips you to eliminate the problem, fast. This also protects you from the follow-on problems.

  • It breaks the negative cycle.
  • A new, positive cycle is created.
  • Everything improves.

Whatever your business problem is, erase it. Ask an expert for the solution and free yourself to move forward with clarity, enthusiasm and confidence.

The story you’re telling yourself that’s blocking you from getting expert advice, needs to be called out for what it is. It is not working FOR you. It is working against you. Causing you to waste time, lose momentum and miss out on opportunities.

Jim Rohn used to tell us that failure is so common because it’s so subtle. Another day on the wrong cycle doesn’t seem to matter much. But that day soon becomes a week, a week becomes a month, a month becomes a year, and a year becomes yet another year… or it doesn’t.

You can absolutely decide right now to break that cycle and thrive. But, as with solving every major issue in life, it starts with you taking that first step.

Elon Musk and price anchoring

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price anchoring, anchor price, marketing

Soon after taking control of Twitter, Elon Musk announced that he was going to allow anyone to have a verified Twitter account, for a monthly fee of $20. He knew he was never going to charge that much. He was simply using a very powerful marketing tactic known as price anchoring, which I am about to share with you.

Here’s how price anchoring works

Price anchoring is where an initial, high price is attached to a product or service. This becomes the anchor price. Then, a subsequent and much lower price is given as the actual price. Having focused on the $20 price Musk originally announced, the actual $8 price, in contrast, looked more attractive.

As is often the case, the late Steve Jobs provides us with a perfect example.

Jobs used price anchoring when he launched the first Apple iPad. As he gave his presentation, he said that the pundits suggested a retail price of $999. Jobs went on to say that his team had managed to produce it for a retail price of just $499. The rest is history. Note: You can watch the price anchor segment of Jobs’ presentation here. It runs for just over a minute and a half and is a masterful example.

Just about any product or service can be marketed using this tactic. The key is to determine your anchor price correctly. It needs to be high enough to seem realistically expensive. That’s what makes your actual price feel like such amazing value in comparison.

Price anchoring works equally well for products or services, and it’s equally effective when used in marketing or as part of a sales presentation. If you’re not currently using this tactic as part of your marketing / sales mix, I recommend giving it a try. It can significantly improve your sales conversion rates and increase the profitability of each new sale you make.

Are you marketing a fridge or a mobile phone?

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high impact marketing

The title of today’s post may sound a little weird. But it will all make sense and help you improve your sales results. So, bear with me.

I updated the operating system on my Macs yesterday. While they were updating, I decided to see if my 2014 Surface Pro 3 PC still worked. I loved that device and took it everywhere. However, I haven’t used it in years. Anyhow, I plugged it in, grabbed a coffee and started to get some work done. In fact, I decided to use it all morning and see what that 10-year old machine was capable of.

I discovered that it was able to do everything I needed it to. This included; writing a newsletter, then writing a marketing email for one of my clients. I used it for Basecamp and also did a Zoom call with it. Had I wanted to, I could also have hand-signed documents with it, streamed video or music while I worked and even some light design work and lots more.

Why am I telling you this?

Marketing can be powerful. Really powerful!

The hardware companies need us to upgrade our mobile devices every year or two. The challenge is that we don’t need to upgrade that often. This means they had to change things and decided to invest in high-impact marketing, to motivate us into a totally unnecessary rapid upgrade cycle.

The results have been utterly spectacular.

We still don’t need a new device every year or two. But now, millions and millions of people want one. Remember, it was iPhone sales that made Apple the world’s richest company — not computer sales.

What happened?

High-impact marketing!

Through the effective use of high-impact marketing, hardware companies are able to make that amazing device they sold us a couple of years ago, seem like a total dinosaur. Our new phone, laptop or tablet device makes a statement. It tells every other member of the ‘shiny new thing’ tribe that we’re one of them. We have the hot new thing. We’re in. As a result, even though our 2 or 3 year old device still does everything you need, we upgrade.

In short, people want to upgrade… and that want is born of marketing. Not of necessity.

To see how counter-intuitive that is, consider this.

Imagine if we used that same approach to buying, when we bought a refrigerator. Every 12 months, fridge manufacturers would release a new model, which is slightly thinner, or slightly lighter than the previous one. And every year or two, we’d feel the need to junk our perfectly good fridge, and buy a new one.

I know. People don’t buy fridges that way.

But back in the 1990’s, they didn’t buy their phones that way, either! That’s how powerful, high-impact marketing is. It’s also why smart business owners insist on it.

Thankfully, any business can deploy high-impact marketing. Here’s a tiny example of some I’ve worked with; accountants, lawyers, online retailers, software companies, high street retailers, training providers, designers, coffee-shops, photographers, dance schools, charities, freelancers, comms agancies, PRs and lots, lots more.

High-impact marketing and you

This begs the question: Are you marketing your business like a fridge or using high-impact marketing like a mobile phone company?

Because if you’re marketing isn’t high-impact, by default it’s low-impact. That’s a bad idea in any economy.

In the current economy, low-impact marketing is unsustainable.

Thank you Tom and 20i

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This is a little different. It’s a “Thank you” post. And it comes, following a problem I had here on the site.

web design, thank you

My subscriber forms vanished!

Saturday morning I woke up to find that my newsletter subscriber forms had vanished. The company who provided them, hosted the forms on their servers and for whatever reason, there was a glitch. This stopped the forms from displaying here.

On Monday, after a number of tech support messages, there was still no way for readers to subscribe.

I knew what to do.

I contacted Tom. Tom is the web design guy for one of my clients. I’d worked with Tom on a project and was really impressed with his knowledge and style of working. I emailed Tom with the problem. He emailed back with some questions. I replied with the answers. And just 20 minutes later, the problem was better than solved.

Better than solved?

Yes.

Tom incorporated the form design I asked for, so that it’s now safely stored on my rock-solid 20i web hosting. Total peace of mind. More than I could have hoped for. And faster than I thought possible.

Tom is now my web design guy and combined with my brilliant hosting provider, will ensure your experience here is both polished and reliable.

Thanks Tom and thanks again 20i!

Scale your business for success

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Scale business success

What’s the best way to scale your business for success? 

Here are my thoughts.

But first, I have a very quick question for you.

What do the following all have in common?

  • Kindness.
  • Honesty.
  • Caring.

The answer is that they’re attributes that are valued, extremely highly, by everyone. We are attracted to people who are kind, honest and caring. And given the opportunity, we prefer to do business with people (and brands), who are kind, honest and caring, too.

Now. Hold that thought.

Scaling your business to success

One of the BIG buzzwords right now, is ‘scaling’. Business owners are being told that it’s a cornerstone of commercial success. And that the best way to scale their business, is to automate pretty-much everything.

For example.

  • To let AI chatbots handle first-line customer service enquiries.
  • To have call trees handle incoming phone calls – especially customer service calls.
  • To automate their social media accounts.
  • To create impersonal, email / forum-based, drip-fed versions of their services.

In short: To cut back on the human touch as much as possible, whenever possible and wherever possible.

The huge limitation with that approach is clear. Automation software is…. well… software. And as such, is incapable of the human characteristics of kindness, honesty and caring.

The reason for the growth in automation-based scaling, is that it promises a lot and is extremely simple. It requires almost no effort. And it’s sold by the gurus pushing it, as a magic way to cut your overhead back to the bone, both in time and money.

Here’s the snag with automated scaling

As more business owners embrace automation-based scaling, prices and fees in their industries are being driven down and down. It’s a race to the bottom for those who’ve bought in.

Paradoxically, it’s also a race, which no one actually wants to win. This is why we hear these same business owners complaining about attracting fee-sensitive clients and how hard they find it to stand out and get noticed.

They’re discovering that it’s extremely difficult to build a successful business, with the most fee-sensitive clients, wafer thin profits and a customer base who will drop you in an instant, for a lower priced competitor.

That’s a toxic mix.

Another way to scale… that actually works

While some business owners embrace the race to the bottom, where the winner is the cheapest provider, others have identified a far more profitable way to scale.

It’s a different race. A race to profitability and success. A race, where the winners attract the best clients, work on the best projects and earn the best fees.

You see, it turns out that kindness, honesty and caring, scale. In fact, they scale to infinity. People tell their friends about remarkable service. So, the word spreads. And they remain loyal to providers, who go the extra mile to look after their needs. So, they keep their clients for way, way longer too.

Yes, the cheapest prospective clients in your marketplace will always shop for the bottom dollar provider.

That’s perfectly fine.

Because every marketplace has a large and massively profitable niche, who eagerly pay a premium fee for a premium quality service. People hate automation and only opt for it as a last resort.

And even the bargain basement crowd seldom remain with an impersonal service for long. They often realize their cost-cutting error, once they’ve tasted the frustration and expense, of suffering with a problem, which can’t be resolved by automation software and requires a person. And there’s no person available.

So my friend, I suggest you scale your business for kindness, honesty and caring. It’s an excellent foundation on which to build a sustainable, valuable business.