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Are you excited about your business? You should be. Here’s why!

By Jim Connolly | November 26, 2018

attract best clients, great clients

How excited are you about your business?

Here’s why I’m asking. It matters. It really, really matters. That’s because people notice. They notice when you’re enthusiastic and just as importantly, they notice when you’re going through the motions.

The thing about enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is highly contagious: When someone talks to us with enthusiasm, we feed off their excitement. We lean forward and pay attention. We feel more confident about them. It’s a positive experience, which leaves a powerful impression on us.

However…

A lack of enthusiasm is equally contagious: When someone talks to us about their business with too little enthusiasm, we feed off their lack of interest. We politely nod. Our interest drops. There’s no energy. We soon forget them and whatever they said.

We can’t expect our customers, contacts or the marketplace in general to be enthusiastic about our business, if we’re not. It starts with us. So, don’t hide your excitement. Don’t keep it a secret. Let it shine through everything you do.

I’ve had some ideas. And now they’re yours. You’re welcome

By Jim Connolly | November 17, 2018

marketing, pick you, choose you

I shared a few ideas with business owners this week, which they found useful. So, I thought I’d share them with you.

Here they are in no particular order.

Become a proactive collector of ideas

When you get an idea, stop what you’re doing and capture it. Then set a little time aside at the end of each day to focus on what you’ve captured.

I usually grab ideas using the voice recorder on my phone. Especially if they come to me whilst out walking, which is where most of my best ideas come from. Later, I get them down in writing. This allows me to dig a little deeper. If an idea still seems like it could be useful, I keep it. By the way, this post is the result of an idea I had yesterday.

Invest in something your business needs

Invest in something today, which you know your business needs. Succeeding in business it challenging enough, when we give our business everything it needs. If we choose to starve our business of these resources, it’s impossible to survive… let alone thrive.

Make a tricky decision

Find a decision you have been avoiding and take action on it. Indecisiveness destroys progress. It’s also a major source of stress and unhappiness. It’s no coincidence that the most successful business owners are all proactive decision makers.

We need to remember that the decision to avoid a decision (to do nothing) is also a decision. By proactively making decisions, we regain control.

Share something useful

Publish something today, which will be useful to your marketplace and showcase your expertise. This might be a blog post, vlog, newsletter, social media update… whichever you prefer. The key is to make sure that what you’re sharing is useful (to them) and not just a sales pitch.

Useful, knowledgeable people are always in demand. Think about that for a moment.

Start a new book

Start reading a book today, which will educate you or inspire you. The internet is useful for lots of things, but nothing quite beats a book, for delivering the written word with the focus and detail required.

This need not be a business book.

None (literally not one) of the most useful things I have learned from a book, came from a business book. They came from books on; faith, art, design, psychology, comedy, sport, music, history and lots more.

I’m not saying business books have no value. Just that the big lessons tend to come from outside the narrow business arena.

For example, a business owner who’s starting with very little money, will probably learn more from a book about the amazing success of Andy Warhol, than a business book. Plus, it’s extremely hard to get noticed, if you feed your mind on the same ideas from the same business gurus as your competitors.

I hope you found at least one of these ideas and suggestions useful, my friend. If you did, the next step is to put it into action and measure the results.

Unforgettable kindness

By Jim Connolly | November 13, 2018

focus, marketingYour friends, colleagues, customers and contacts have something in common.

They’ll remember what you did when times were tough for them. They’ll recall how you treated them when they needed a break… when your support meant everything.

Yes, even those who fail to say thank you, will remember you. Not everyone finds it easy to show gratitude, especially when they’re embarrassed by their situation.

On a personal note, I still remember people who helped me when I was starting out in business. I remember those who believed in me, when no one else did. I remember those who introduced me to useful contacts. And I remember those who mentored me and guided me.

Of course, the opposite is also true

People soon forget yet another pat on the back, when they’re going through a boom period. And they’ll quickly forget yet another offer of help, when they clearly have absolutely no need for it.

As a business owner you already know that your time is scarce. So, use it wisely. Where it can have the greatest impact.

Australian business owners topped my list

By Jim Connolly | November 12, 2018

As regular readers will know, I have long been an advocate for adopting a global approach to business. It’s not something that works for every industry, but where it’s possible, it’s exceptionally effective. That’s because it affords you greater protection against economic conditions, whilst also providing you with a wider spread of business.

I was mindful of this earlier today. I discovered what I’d already guessed: That the biggest market for my paid services in 2018 has been Australian business owners. If you’re interested, here’s the top 5.

  1. Australia.
  2. UK.
  3. Canada.
  4. Ireland
  5. New Zealand.

The United States has topped my list, every year for almost 20 years. But things change in business. And the rate of change has never been greater. Which is why as business owners, we need to adopt an agile mindset. Because what looks certain today can change in a heartbeat.

3 Fantastic opportunities

By Jim Connolly | October 29, 2018

Here are 3 fantastic opportunities, which are available to you today.

  1. The opportunity to make promises and deliver on them. Set deadlines. When you tell a client; “It will be with you at 3pm Thursday”, it has a much bigger impact than saying, “It will be with you later this week”. This is a powerful way to earn trust and build a great reputation. (More here).
  2. The opportunity to invest in others. In short, leave people better than you find them. It doesn’t have to cost you a dime. If you find an article, which you think a contact or client will find useful, share it with them. Even something as simple as a smile from you, can have a positive impact on another person. It could be the only sunshine they see today.
  3. The opportunity to learn something new (and useful). Access to knowledge has never been easier or less expensive. Here’s why this is such a great opportunity: There’s a direct link between what you know and the size of the problems you can solve. Those who earn the highest fees, solve the biggest problems.
  4. The opportunity to do more than people expect from you. Those who over-deliver are always in short supply. That’s why there are no traffic jams on the extra mile.

Opportunity is knocking. Today and every day.

16 Examples of how the most successful business owners think differently

By Jim Connolly | October 25, 2018

When we examine any industry, including yours and mine, we see something extremely valuable. And today, I’d like to share it with you.

Marketing different

It’s a pattern.

  1. Only a small percentage of business owners build a valuable community around their work.
  2. Only a small percentage of business owners look for opportunities to inspire and encourage others.
  3. Only a small percentage of business owners create a story worth sharing.
  4. Only a small percentage of business owners proactively look for big problems to solve.
  5. Only a small percentage of business owners invest enough in their education.
  6. Only a small percentage of business owners are eager to lead.
  7. Only a small percentage of business owners listen to their marketplace and build experiences around what they hear.
  8. Only a small percentage of business owners are truly committed to go the extra mile.
  9. Only a small percentage of business owners selectively choose their clients and ignore the rest.
  10. Only a small percentage of business owners are willing to make tough decisions and back them up with action.
  11. Only a small percentage of business owners refuse to surrender their focus to the never-ending stream of interruptions.
  12. Only a small percentage of business owners strive to out-care their competitors.
  13. Only a small percentage of business owners intentionally take time, every day, to look after their mind and body.
  14. Only a small percentage of business owners care enough to create or share a useful blog post, newsletter, vlog or podcast.
  15. Only a small percentage of business owners are willing to visibly stand out from their competitors.
  16. Only a small percentage of business owners are committed to do work that matters, rather than work that pays the bills.

I could go on.

That pattern matters. It matters because it’s also only a small percentage of business owners who succeed in any meaningful way.

And that’s no coincidence my friend.

The marketing impact of premium quality images

By Jim Connolly | October 21, 2018

As regular readers may have noticed, I’ve recently started using Shutterstock images in my blog posts. They reached out to me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I’d partner with them. Shutterstock has given me access to their 225 million-strong image library, in return for exposure on Jim’s Marketing Blog.

Note: If you haven’t already heard of Shutterstock, they are headquartered at The Empire State Building with an IPO value of over half a billion dollars. In short, their service lets users find and buy images, vectors, videos, and music.

What interested me, was the opportunity to test, and then share with you, if using ‘paid for’, premium images would have a positive, measurable impact on my marketing results. So, I’m going to use their images until January, then I’ll report back to you with my findings.

Previously, I’ve used images from freely available image libraries or made my own. The obvious challenge with free images, is that they are used everywhere. In theory, because premium images are less commonly used and look better, they should be more effective at capturing attention.

Some immediate feedback

There is one immediate, measurable improvement I can share with you already. And that’s speed.

It’s massively easier to find exactly the right image, when you’re searching a huge professional library, with powerful indexing. To qualify that, it has often taken me as long to find the right image for a blog post, as it took to write the post. And the image tended to be, at best, ‘okay’. With Shutterstock, it takes just a few minutes and the image is always highly professional. That’s allowed me to spend 100% of my blogging time actually writing.

It remains to be seen whether the visual impact will move the dial, from a marketing perspective. Rest assured, you’ll be the first to know my results.

Is too much choice destroying your marketing results?

By Jim Connolly | October 18, 2018

How many different levels of service or pricing options do you offer?

That’s a really important question. Because if, like many business owners you offer too many options, it’s needlessly ruining your sales results.

Allow me to explain.

Here’s what happens when we offer too much choice.

  1. The more options we put in front of someone, the more choice they have.
  2. The more choice they have, the harder it is for them to decide.
  3. The harder we make their decision process, the less likely they are to hire us or buy from us.
  4. So, they move on. And we lose a client enquiry. Ouch!

In short: Clarity sells.

Too much choice and ‘toxic complexity’

Too much choice adds what I call toxic complexity to a marketing message.

Toxic, because it causes confusion.

Complexity, because it makes our message too complicated for a prospective client to easily understand.

One of the oldest sayings in marketing is, “A confused mind always says no!”. In other words, when faced with a buying decision, a confused prospective client will not proceed. They’ll say no. And we are the ones who pay the price for their lack of clarity.

The solution?

Seek out unnecessary complexity. I recommend you look at the number of service levels, pricing options and packages you provide. Remember to take into account how many items are listed within each option or package.

Then consider whether you actually need to offer so much choice, so much complexity, so much potential for confusion. And if not, reduce. Everything that needs to be there should remain. But nothing else.

By simplifying the decision making process for your prospective clients, you make it easier for them to hire you or buy from you. And when that decision is easier, more prospective clients will become actual clients.

7 Proven ideas to help you attract more clients

By Jim Connolly | October 10, 2018

Look at the 7 ideas below. Each one represents something, which your clients and future clients are attracted to.

If you currently attract too few sales or client enquiries, you’ll almost certainly be missing one or more of the following.

  1. People love to succeed: What are you doing, to help them achieve their dreams?
  2. People love to feel secure: What are you doing, to help them avoid risk?
  3. People love to learn: What are you doing, to educate them on something important to them?
  4. People love to belong: What are you doing, to create a community for them?
  5. People love to save time: What are you doing, to help them reclaim wasted time?
  6. People love to talk: What are you doing, to give them a story worth sharing?
  7. People love to relax: What are you doing, to reduce the stress in their lives?

Are any of those areas missing from your marketing message? If they are, look for ways to incorporate them.

Business development 101: Success leaves tracks

By Jim Connolly | October 9, 2018

marketing, success leaves tracks

Following this post, a number of readers asked if I had any business predictions for 2019.

There’s one prediction I can make with a massive degree of certainty. The business owners (and leaders) who thrive in 2019 will be the same as those who thrive every year.

These include.

  • The business owners who do all the work. Not just the stuff they feel comfortable with. They know that when you’re just 1% away from switching a light on… you’re still in the dark!
  • The business owners who persist intelligently. Here’s what that looks like: They persist with what’s working. They desist what isn’t.
  • The business owners who back themselves. When they believe in something, they take decisive action.
  • The business owners who focus on what’s important, rather than what’s noisiest. They’re very aware that when you flitter your focus away, you flitter your time away, too.

Thankfully, we don’t need to guess what works. That’s because success leaves tracks. And when we follow the tracks, we see the same core methods of operating, again and again and again.

Content creation: Music, coffee and prayer

By Jim Connolly | September 27, 2018

marketing ideas

People often ask me if I follow a routine for content creation.

I do. It’s pretty basic. It’s built around music, coffee and prayer.

  • Music: When I write, I always have music playing in the background. I find lyrics distracting, so I listen to instrumental work. Right now, I’m listening to Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. Other writing companions include John Coltrane, Moby, Bach, Skrillix and Tchaikovsky.
  • Coffee: Once the music is on, I grab some coffee. (By the way, most of my blog posts are 2 coffees long). I’ve seen various studies regarding how coffee works on the brain. I’m not sure there’s any neurological benefit whatsoever. I drink coffee because I love the taste. As a type 2 diabetic, I don’t add sugar. Just a splash of cream.
  • Prayer: This is obviously a very personal part of my routine. Before I start, I say a very simple prayer, asking God to inspire me. I used to try and do everything myself and found it a lot harder.

That’s pretty-much it.

Your content creation routine

Obviously, you need to find something that works for you. And one size does not fit all.

For example, many of my friends can’t have music playing when they work, they don’t drink coffee, and most of them are atheist. There are others I know, who have to write from a coffee shop or café, because the atmosphere gets them into a resourceful state.

The key is to experiment. Try different inputs and atmospheres. Keep what works for you. Discard the rest. You’ll be amazed how much easier your content creation becomes, when you have an effective routine.

By the way, a lot of you have told me that you found the 6 Idea Trick extremely useful, for generating content ideas. If you haven’t tried it already (or you read my stuff via Gmail and never saw the post), give it a try.

NOTE: Gmail users typically miss over 40 percent of my posts. Here’s how to stop that from happening to you.

Viral marketing 101

By Jim Connolly | September 24, 2018

viral marketing

Every piece of viral marketing you’ve ever experienced, consisted of 2 things.

  1. It went to you. (You received it).
  2. It went through you. (You shared it with your friends or contacts).

For both of those to happen, your marketing message or story, needs to be easy to share and remarkable in some way.

How easy is it?

The marketing message from Kentucky Fried Chicken is simple. Just 3 words long. Finger lickin’ good. That’s easy to remember and easy to share. Regardless of what you or I may think of their food, they’ve given their most dedicated customers a simple message, which speaks powerfully about the taste of their food.

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 their phones) highly polished mirrors.

How remarkable is it?

Remember Jennie? I wrote about her recently. Jennie knows I take lots of handwritten notes. When she discovered a note-taking app that did everything she wanted, and more, she emailed me. She also told all her friends about it. Jennie’s remarkable experience turned her from a customer into a raving advocate.

When Greg recommends my services to his friends, he tells them; “Jim doubled our turnover in 5 months”. Greg’s success was remarkable to him, so he shares it. His experience of my work is what motivates him. And his message is just 7 words long, meaning it’s easy to share.

Why not take some time today, to consider how you can make it easier for your message to go to people and through people. Consider how clear your message is. And how remarkable it is. Then look for ways to improve it as much as you can. It’s impossible to overstate the power of clear, easy to share, remarkable stories.

Capture. Earn. Motivate

By Jim Connolly | September 20, 2018

earn trust, capture attention, motivate them to buy

I discovered today that a local business is about to close down. The owner told me it was due to a lack of trade. This is happening, even though their service is provably better than many of their competitors.

So, why does it happen? Why does an above average business fail, when their lower quality competitors in the same town are thriving?

It happens because there’s an important difference between being the best quality service and the best selling service. This holds true in every industry.

In order for a business to thrive, we need to get strategic. The build it and they will come mantra is a lie. We need to build it, then market it correctly. That’s because being great at what we do, doesn’t mean people will magically notice us, trust us or want to spend their money with us.

We need to capture their attention, earn their trust and motivate them to hire us.

Because the business owner’s balance was wrong, they carried on working hard, wondering why things were not improving.

Once a business is delivering a great service, there’s no reason for it not to thrive. Just be sure to get the balance right: Do great work. But remember to capture attention. Earn trust. And motivate people to hire you or buy from you.

The results you need are only a mile away. Just 1 mile. Yes, really!

By Jim Connolly | September 19, 2018

marketing

There’s a spectacularly powerful marketing idea for you in today’s post. But you’ll need to use your imagination a little, in order to see what it means to you and your business.

Picture this

What if a business owner decided that as from today, they’d take the following radical action:

To eagerly go the extra mile for their clients, as standard.

By liberating themselves in this way, the business owner would be free. Free to pay greater attention to the needs of each client. They would also be free to care for each client as an individual and not simply as a client… one of a group.

The business owner would find themselves building stronger relationships with their clients. And because business is all about people, this would massively improve the culture of their business; for clients and staff alike.

  • They’d retain their clients for longer.
  • They’d retain their best staff members too.
  • They’d attract the top talent, because people would want to work in that amazing culture.

Plus, their existing clients would tell all their friends about the remarkable service they receive. Here’s why!

There’s a very strong business case for going the extra mile. Especially in an age where your competitors are looking to automate, scale and cut corners.

I recommend you let your competitors carry on with their race to the bottom. While you, my friend, rise to the top.

How to lower your marketing spend… the right way!

By Jim Connolly | September 18, 2018

cheap marketing

There are lots of ways a business owner can lower their overheads. Some will make the business more profitable. Others can be extremely expensive mistakes.

What does this have to do with marketing?

Everything!

Small business owners regularly come to me with serious marketing problems, caused by making cost-cutting decisions, which were supposed to improve their profitability.

Here are a few obvious, marketing-related examples. Just to give you an idea of what I mean.

  • Some will have outsourced their inbound phone calls to a call handling company. It’s cheaper than hiring someone. Right?
  • Some will have their signature pre-printed on their letterheads. It’s cheaper than spending 10 seconds to personally sign their letters. Right?
  • Some will have designed their own company logo. It’s cheaper than hiring a professional designer, who knows what she’s doing. Right?

It’s a GREAT idea to regularly look for ways to reduce your overhead. The smartest business owners regularly review everything. However, they make their decisions based on the medium and longer-term. Not just the immediate, lower expenditure.

Here’s what their thinking might be, based on the above examples.

Before outsourcing their inbound calls

They look at the longer game. How many existing clients could they lose, because the outsourced call-handler is winging it, rather than building rapport? How many potential, new clients could be lost, because the outsourced call-handler was reading from a screen, rather than truly understanding the prospective client’s needs?

There’s a huge cost attached to lower client retention and fewer new clients. This means they may only consider outsourcing to the very best call handling providers available. At which point the expenditure gap between hiring someone and outsourcing, even in the short-term, is way narrower. And that’s factored into their decision.

Before pre-printing their signature on their letterheads

They look at the longer game. They consider what the medium to longer-term cost will be, of failing to offer clients the personal touch. It’s very unlikely that this one cut-back would lead to a significant issue. But they may ponder where that lack of personal attention could lead to, if it penetrates other areas of their service. Cheaper coffee for their clients at the next meeting, maybe? An online ticket system for client enquiries?

Before designing their own company logo

They look at the longer game. They consider what the medium to longer-term cost will be to their reputation, with a DIY logo representing what their business stands for. They may also look at the negative feelings they have, when they see an amateur logo, and not want their business to be seen in such a negative way. And some will remember being told what branding actually means, because they seem to recall it’s about much more than just a logo.

Then. And only then. Will they make a decision.

Balance

As with most things in life, it’s all about balance. Before we outsource, automate or dabble with DIY, we need to look at the full picture. We need to consider the wider costs associated. That’s how we make the best decisions and avoid cutting back in the wrong places.

I just received a very angry email. And I have to share it with you

By Jim Connolly | September 15, 2018

marketing, unbelievers

Nicola (not her real name) was really angry when she emailed me. With her permission, I’d like to share her story with you. And a powerful business lesson, too!

Nicola had spent a ton of time over the past 2 weeks, looking after the needs of a prospective client. (She’s a web designer). The prospective client told her he desperately needed a new website. He understood his current site was ugly and hurting his reputation.

After a morning-long meeting at the prospective client’s office, a chunk of time spent creating a proposal for him, then several further emails and some phone calls, he finally told her:

He knew he urgently needed a new site. He knew her work was great. He knew her fee was reasonable. But he just couldn’t justify the expense to himself!

Nicola said she was “really, really angry” and asked me what she was doing wrong.

Now, I don’t know Nicola. She’s a reader. And said she’d emailed me out of anger and frustration. The guy sounded so keen. She was expecting a new project. And the disappointment was clearly hurting her.

It’s entirely possible that Nicola has lousy marketing. If she had professional marketing help, she’d ask them what wasn’t working. Rather then me. So yes, it’s possible her prospective client wasn’t motivated to become a paying client, because she handled it poorly. I have no idea.

However, there’s a super-valuable lesson here.

Here’s what prompted me to share this with you

A lot of small business owners wrongly blame their fees, their marketing or their negotiating skills, when they fail to land a new client. Yes, getting it wrong in any of those areas will lose you business. Lots of business.

But sometimes, it’s the prospective client’s mindset. And I believe this is a perfect example, which is why I wanted to share it with you.

Going back to Nicola’s original email, I noticed something interesting. The prospective client explained that he knew he urgently needed a new site. He also said he knew Nicola’s work was great and her fee was reasonable, yet he couldn’t “justify the expense” to himself.

I think it highly probable that this guy was simply one of the unbelievers.

Unbelievers?

Yes!

He knew on an intellectual level that he needed her services, but he didn’t believe it on an emotional level. And as emotions drive decisions, he was never going to hire her.

He sounds like many small business owners, who have an employee mindset when it comes to investment in their business. They know they need expert help, but on an emotional level they’re scared to invest. They believe it’s safer to do nothing. They know… but fear stops them from doing what they know they need to do. Note: He called her fee an expense, not an investment

It’s not your fault

It’s often not your fault when a prospective client walks away.

If you’re using professional marketing, rather than dabbling. If your prices or fees match your promises. If you’re offering real value, and they still decide not to hire you or buy from you… it’s very probable you never had a chance.

So don’t be too hard on yourself, the next time an unbeliever decides to waste your time. It’s them. Not you.

The marketing power of exceeding expectations

By Jim Connolly | September 7, 2018

exceeding expectations, exceed expectations
Photo credit: Notability

If you’re looking to get massively more client referrals, today’s post is just for you.

I was prompted to write this, after my friend Jennie email me earlier. She was excited. I could tell, by the way she started her email.

“Jim, I have to share this with you!”

So, what was all the excitement about?

Jennie knows I take lots of handwritten notes. She’d just found a note-taking app for the iPad Pro and it blew her away. So, she wanted to share it with me. The app is one I already use, Notability. I love it and regularly recommend it.

Let’s unpack that for a moment:

  • I use the app daily and have told thousands of people about it on Twitter.
  • Jennie has a very senior position in one of the world’s best known tech companies. When Jennie talks, people listen.
  • This is happening because the product significantly exceeded our expectations. Neither of us have been paid in any way to promote the product. We’re simply customers, sharing something with our friends because it’s share-worthy.

The marketing power of exceeding expectations

In business, every person we connect with has an expectation of us and our industry. They know what they expect.  When we meet their expectation, we achieve the baseline. The minimum required. Unremarkable and certainly not worth talking about.

However, when we significantly exceed expectations, we break their preconceptions. It jolts them! This is sometimes called the wow factor. And it has a powerful impact.

  • The way people feel about us dramatically improves. All activity is preceded by feelings. Including the decision to buy from us, hire us and tell their friends about us.
  • The experience that exceeded their expectations becomes a story. When we give people a story worth sharing, they spread the word.
  • We retain our clients (or customers) for longer.
  • Our clients also become a spectacularly valuable source of new clients.

Clearly, exceeding the expectations of clients should be a primary business activity for every business owner. It should be something they dedicate a great deal of thought and attention to.

It should be, but our experience suggests it isn’t. Think about it:

Of all the service providers you’ve used in the past 30 days, how many have exceeded your expectations enough, for you to tell your friends about them?

Maybe 1 or 2 percent? Here’s the thing: most, if not all, of the service providers you’ve used in that time, care about the service they provide.

  • They want you to be a happy client.
  • They want you to stay with them.
  • They want you to tell your friends.

The question is, why did so few of them exceed your expectations?

The 3-point explanation for why this happens

Over the years, I’ve helped countless business owners to overcome this problem. In almost every instance, they had 3 things in common, prior to hiring me.

  1. The business owner cared a lot about their clients and was working hard to look after them.
  2. They got very few complaints from clients, so assumed everything was okay.
  3. However, they also got very few referrals from their clients. They’d say they wrongly thought it was because their clients ‘just weren’t the type of people who recommended service providers’.

The very fact they were not getting regular referrals from their clients, was undeniable proof they were not exceeding expectations. Clients recommend service providers, but only when their expectations have been blown out of the water.

“Okay” isn’t good enough to motivate clients, who already pay for a service or product, to tell everyone how amazing the provider is. Okay isn’t amazing. It isn’t remarkable. It’s just okay.

Our task is to go beyond what’s expected. Our task is to settle for nothing less than exceeding expectations. The rewards for getting it right are transformational.

What next?

The process starts by baking ‘the wow factor’ into the product or service you provide. Then, backing it up with a daily commitment to create opportunities to exceed expectations.

Never underestimate the power of being first

By Jim Connolly | August 29, 2018

marketing ideas

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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

By Jim Connolly | August 27, 2018

marketing, business development

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

By Jim Connolly | August 22, 2018

business development

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.

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Hi! I'm Jim Connolly and I help small business owners to increase sales, boost their profits and build amazing businesses. Read more here.

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