Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Publish the process: A quick note about notes

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Jim Connolly notes

Here’s one of those publish the process posts I promised. The photo above is an example of how I take notes at my desk, when using pen and paper. I thought I’d share it today, along with some tips, and a look at how I take notes.

Some notes on note taking

You may notice it’s written in capitals. I do that deliberately. I write extremely fast in cursive, but it can be really hard for me to accurately read what I’ve written afterwards. Writing in capitals slows me a little, which also seems to result in better notes.

Although I used a fountain pen for this note, I use ballpoint pens the majority of the time. Also, when I use ballpoints, I tend to use different pigments in the note. I always have a BIC 4-in-1 (red, green, black, blue) ballpoint pen at my desk and in my bag.

I only write the main points down to begin with. This lets me get the big picture on the page, while it’s still vivid in my memory. And I peg the detail onto the main points afterwards. It works for me.

If you’re wondering, those particular notes were for a blog post. I added the detail to them later, then typed it up into WordPress for the blog.

That notebook was really cheap. I only use cheap notebooks now. I used to invest in expensive, branded notebooks ones, but found zero additional value. I find some people treat their notes like works of art. Not the content of the note. Just the overall design! Many of my best notes were scribbled onto a napkin or a scrap of paper. And some of those scribbles are still perfectly readable, 30 years later!

Almost all the handwritten notes on my client sessions are written into an iPad Pro, using the Apple Notes app. I have my pre-session notes typed up into the app. Then, notes from the session are quickly jotted down onto the same document. I switched to this approach around a year ago. It’s been a huge productivity win.

I’ve found that the key piece of advice regarding note taking, is to find what works best for you, and not to follow every so-called breakthrough in note taking. It’s the value of what you capture that matters. Not the tools. Not the design.

I hope you found something useful there.

Ignore the masses. You don’t need them!

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directly relevant marketing, targeted marketing, ignore masses

Image: Shutterstock.

Here’s a very straightforward, proven way to build a successful service-based business. I’m going to suggest you ignore the masses.

All right. That’s the intro finished. Let’s go!

Depending on the service you provide and your location, there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of prospective clients.

Except, they’re not really your prospective clients at all.

Whilst you may be able to provide a degree of service to some of them, for the vast majority you won’t be a very good fit. You can’t possibly be. None of us can.

After all.

  • Some will require a boutique style service.
  • Some will want a more local provider.
  • Some will demand the lowest priced provider.
  • Some will insist on the absolute premium, and happily pay the maximum to ensure it.
  • Some will need a provider that speaks a certain language.
  • Some will want a provider with a rare, highly specialist knowledge.
  • Some will require a provider who charges annually in arrears.
  • Some will only hire a provider with offices in multiple locations.
  • Some will want unlimited phone access at no extra charge.

Given you can’t possibly serve the majority of your marketplace, I have a strong recommendation for you. I recommend you adopt a much more focused strategy.

Here’s why. Along with how it works.

Ignore the masses

The temptation is to try and have as wide an appeal as possible, so you get a shot at as many prospective clients as possible. That’s a very common approach, but it’s wrongheaded. And a very expensive mistake.

Why?

Because by trying to be somewhat relevant to everyone, you fail to be directly relevant to anyone… including your actual prospects.

Your actual (genuine) prospects need to see your marketing and immediately identify that you’re talking to them. By weakening that message, you lose them.

They’ll assume you’re not what they’re looking for… when you’re exactly what they’re looking for and exactly what they need.

So my plea to you is simple.

Ignore the masses. They’re not interested. They’ll waste your time. They’ll want ‘this’ when you offer ‘that’. And you’ll go nuts trying to make them happy, let alone keep them happy.

Embrace your ACTUAL prospects instead

Focus on being directly relevant to the prospective clients you can absolutely delight with your services. These are the people who will hire you, pay you the correct rate, recommend you to their friends and stay with you for years and years. These are the clients you can confidently build an amazingly successful business with.

These are the clients you need. And they need you. They really need you!

Now, go and let them know! Focus all your marketing, so that it’s strikingly obvious you’re exactly what they’ve been looking for.

It’s a strategy that improves everything, because your marketing will be speaking directly to the right people. And marketing that speaks directly to people, is marketing that motivates people. And motivated people are the people who hire you.

Marketing tip: How to turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes’!

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turn rejection into success, loss to success, how to

When a prospective client or customer decides not to hire us or buy from us, how can we turn their no into a yes? And how can we do this, even when they’ve had their objections or concerns fully answered and they still say ‘no’?

Faced with that kind of rejection, there are 3 broad ways we can choose to respond.

  1. We could just leave it. They’ve made their decision. End of story.
  2. We could contact them and tell them why they’re wrong and make sure they know they’ve made a big mistake. If we know the competitor who won, we could also include all the bad stuff we know about the lousy dirt bag.
  3. Or we could contact them and be more genial, helpful and good-natured to them, than if we had won the contract!

Yes, it’s number 3 I’m going to focus on.

Turning a prospect’s no into a yes

Imagine how the following might work, as a massively more effective way to respond to a prospect’s ‘no’.

  • You contact the prospect and thank them for the time they spent with you or with your proposal.
  • You also let them know, up-front, that you respect their decision. This is important. It shows you’re not doubting their ability as a decision maker.
  • You could also add that as a result of their decision, you’re working to improve your proposal or presentation.
  • You then find something generous to say about the competitor who won, so long as it’s true. Nothing sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek, but truly gracious.
  • And finally, you let them know that if they ever need anything, you’re there for them and happy to help.

Here’s what we know for absolute certain. Very, very few people respond with that type of good-natured, yet professional strategy. But when they do, they get remembered for the very best of reasons.

Here’s what can happen

Here are just some of the outcomes this can generate for people, who were originally rejected!

In many cases, the prospect who rejected them suddenly wonders if they made the wrong decision, in choosing the other provider. I’ve (occasionally) seen this result in an immediate about-turn, with the rejected provider winning the deal.

Much more commonly, I’ve seen the rejected provider given the contract, as soon as the winning provider screws up. It’s almost as if the prospect is unconsciously looking for their original choice to fail, after becoming fully aware what a wonderful provider they rejected. By respecting the prospect’s decision and leaving the door open to them, the rejected provider makes it extremely easy for the prospect to contact them.

But that’s not all!

Ask anyone who uses this ‘turn a no into a yes!‘ strategy, and they’ll confirm that it also results in a number of referrals, from the prospects who didn’t change their mind about hiring the rejected provider.

Given the fact we have this third way to respond, it makes sense to use it and maybe turn a no into a yes!

8 Small business tips, from a recent Zoom session

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Here are some of the small business tips I shared, on Monday’s Zoom session with local business owners. These are just the the bullet points, so you’ll need to fill any gaps so you can apply them to your unique situation.

In no particular order.

small business tips, Zoom notes
  1. Fire any client or customer, who regularly pays you late. As a small business owner, you simply can not afford to be their interest-free, cash flow solution. The time you gain after firing them, can then be invested in finding a new high-value client to replace them.
  2. Grab yourself life long, unlimited, free access to the world’s highest paid marketing writers. I explained it here.
  3. Take note of how much time you spend reacting today, rather than initiating. Make sure you get the balance right.
  4. What’s the biggest hurdle to your commercial success, right now? And how do you plan to remove that hurdle?
  5. Do your business hours reflect the needs of your clients or are they similar to your competitor’s hours? If the latter, you can achieve a HUGE win by adapting to your client’s needs instead.
  6. Do something today, which your future-self will thank you for. Do it tomorrow, too. Just by doing one small thing each day, you’ll radically accelerate your progress. Try it for 30 days. That’s what I did back in the 1990’s. I gave it a month… and I’m still doing it.
  7. You can’t hit an invisible target. Start replacing general wants, with measurable, numeric goals. For example, how many referrals a day do you want? What should next month’s income / profits be? How many new clients should you gain over the next 30 days, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months… numbers please.
  8. Answer this question, in detail: “If my business was perfect in every way, what would it look like?”. Remember, you’re describing your absolutely ideal business, not an even slightly watered down version. Think big.

I hope you find at least a few of these small business tips useful.

How to avoid the worst mistake in business!

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marketing idea, marketing opportunity

Image: Shutterstock.

One of the greatest barriers to business success, are our undiscovered mistakes. I’m referring to those errors we make, without even knowing it.

Undiscovered mistakes are especially dangerous. That’s because we don’t know we’re making them, so we’re likely to inadvertently repeat them. Again and again.

How do we stop these mistakes from happening to us?

My mentor’s advice to me

Here’s something one of my mentors shared with me over 25 years ago. It’s simple and quite brilliant.

  • He told me to undertake a review, every time something of any importance goes wrong. Today we’d call this ‘unpacking the problem’.
  • He advised me to do this in as much detail as possible, and as soon after the mistake has been spotted as possible, and that it was essential to do it in writing.
  • By unpacking the problem soon after noticing it, we can still remember it clearly. So we’re less likely to miss anything. Usually, it’s a small or minor-looking detail that’s causing the mistake.
    • IMPORTANT: Often, the minor detail is something we’re missing or doing incorrectly in multiple activities or strategies. Identifying it in ONE mistake, can dramatically improve our business results, when we eliminate it from all future activities and strategies.
  • By writing it down (especially on paper), rather than thinking it over exclusively in our head, we put space between us… and the problem.
  • He explained that the space between us and the problem, is where answers are born. This last step sounds almost poetic. However, it’s exactly what I’ve found happens. By looking at the problem on paper, and thinking it through in my mind, that space in-between is like fertile soil from which answers sprout up.

I have no idea as to exactly how this strategy works. I only know it does, and with surprising frequency. That’s to say, it’s worked for me again and again over the past 25 years. And I’ve literally lost count of how many others I have shared the idea with, who have seen equally good, or better, results from it.

Give it a try the next time something meaningful goes wrong. You have nothing to lose from the additional clarity the strategy will bring. And you could find it saves you a fortune… or helps you make a fortune.

Either way, it’s certainly worth trying.

Why not me?

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marketing tip, get picked, get chosen

Someone, somewhere is asking that question today. And there could be a number of reasons why they didn’t get chosen.

  • Their proposal was very professional. But someone else’s proposal gave 3 recent, checkable examples of exceptionally high quality work.
  • Their presentation was really good. But the CEO’s best friend personally recommended another provider.
  • Their meeting with the prospective client went well. But their marketing caused the prospect to assume the fee would be lower, so the prospect hired someone cheaper.

It’s natural for our initial reaction, when we miss out on something, to be externally focused. We tend to look for reasons why another person wasn’t smart enough to see how good we are and hire us or buy from us. That’s certainly how I used to think.

But not any more.

Get picked or chosen

Experience has taught me, that it’s a great deal more profitable to look for ways to improve. To focus on how we can do better the next time.

Get feedback whenever possible. Though the quality of the feedback is often inaccurate. That’s especially the case in situations such as the first 2 of my examples.

Above all, seek out ways to increase your odds of success the next time. Replay the situation where someone else was picked. Unpack it.

Look for all possible opportunities to improve. For example.

  • Could your opening be stronger?
  • Do you check for clarity (often enough) before moving on?
  • Does your proposal, presentation, sales pitch or introduction have maximum impact?
  • And is it memorable?
  • Are there enough trust building assets; reasons for a prospect to trust you?
  • Are you leveraging your contacts?
  • Do your testimonials inspire confidence and desire?
  • Could you improve with expert training?
  • Is your content, proposal, follow-up, etc., professionally written or DIY?

Those are a few of the most obvious places to start looking for ways to improve.

And keep on improving, until you manage to get hired, get the account or get the contract, 10 out of 10 times.