The longest path in the world is the path of least resistance.
Anyone can join it.
There’s literally no barrier to entry.
However, there’s no winning line, either.
The right path?
Massively increase your sales with tiny improvements
I have a beautifully simple, yet powerful marketing tip to share with you today. It’s all about how you can spectacularly increase your sales, by making some tiny improvements.
Let’s go!
Though it was years ago, I vividly recall speaking with the owner of an office supplies company. I’m going to call him John. He was introduced to me after a talk I gave and said he had something he’d like to share with me.
He explained that for years, he’d been frantically trying to work out why his biggest competitor was doing so well. That’s because on the surface, they seemed very similar to John’s business. And yet they’d grown 5 times bigger than John’s business, serving the same marketplace.
Then he discovered their secret!
John hired a former employee of his successful competitor. He quickly discovered the root of their success. It wasn’t any one thing or tactic that made that competing business so successful. Instead, it was the cumulation of lots of little things. These little things compounded, just like compound interest. It resulted in an outstanding difference, which their customers adored and their prospects were attracted to.
It was also undetectable to the competition, including John.
John had been looking for a mountain and totally missed the many molehills, which made all the difference. With a large number of relatively small improvements, John was able to significantly increase his revenues and profits.
In short, if you create enough molehills, you end up with a mountain. By looking for small improvements to the way you look after your existing customers, and the way you attract new customers, you can achieve spectacular sales results.
Lists dominate content marketing. Here’s why you should use them
Ever wondered why so many articles, videos and newsletters are based around the idea of a numbered list? It’s because lists are extremely popular. People love them. Today, I’m going to explain why, and how, you should incorporate lists in your content marketing.
Why then are lists so popular?
Lists promise ideas. Lots of ideas. And fast!
Lists promises a number of bite-sized ideas or suggestions. And quickly. So when we see “21 Business habits of highly successful people“, we’re not expecting an in-depth examination of 21 habitual characteristics of people who have achieved business success.
No.
We’re expecting lots of ideas. And we hope that at least one of those ideas will help us in some way. If it does, it will repay the 3 or 4 minutes we invested in reading it. That’s a good return for just a few minutes of our time.
Now, I have a question for you. Does your content marketing mix contain list-based content?
If not, I suggest you give it a try. Lists are perfect for sharing, which makes them ideal if you want to expand your reach on social networks. New readers who discover your work through list content, will then get the chance to see your more detailed work. Others will follow you on the social networks, where they see your lists shared. Many of my most shared blog posts are lists.
Lists can also be very powerful, when it comes to increasing your email marketing open rates. Email marketing that has a list in the subject line, can result in significantly increased open rates.
Here’s why.
Most small business owners are not expert copywriters. As such, the subject lines they use for their email marketing tend to under perform. And poorly written subject lines result in low open rates. This means no matter how good their marketing message is, very few people will see it.
Using an average list title as the subject line of a marketing email, will always, always out perform an average, regular subject line.
Should you focus exclusively on lists?
No.
No you shouldn’t.
Seriously.
Don’t!
Allow me to explain.
True, there are YouTubers making a fortune from creating only list-based videos. And yes, there are sites that attract millions of page views, who rely very heavily on list-based content. The business model behind both of these examples is primarily advertising. If your business sells ads based on open rates, keep churning out the lists.
However, for every other kind of business, relying exclusively on lists is a bad idea. And they should be used sparingly.
For example, I could have written this article as a list.
- It would have taken me a lot less time to write.
- It would have been shared a lot more on social networks.
- And the email version of the post would have been opened by a lot more people.
However, I wanted to dig a little deeper into one subject; the content marketing effectiveness of lists. I didn’t want to weaken that focus with “10 Reasons why lists dominate the internet”.
Going a deeper than a list
Sometimes, you need to offer more substance around one subject. Other times, an issue could be impacting your audience and you need to address it. And there are times when you want to share one really useful idea, which wouldn’t work if you broke it down into a list of sub-ideas.
The surface level approach that makes lists so popular, renders them ineffective for anything that requires depth.
So mix it up. But include lists as part of that mix.
In short, if you haven’t already used list-based articles, videos, podcasts episodes, posts or newsletters, give it a go.
Experiment. Test different types of list. Measure the feedback. Check the numbers, including; sales, client enquiries, open rates, social shares and new subscribers, etc.
And let the numbers be your guide.
It’s a ‘6 word secret’ to business success
It’s simply this: In business the winners get moving.
Here’s why those 6 words are critically important to the success of your business.
- Every business owner has ideas and occasionally great ideas.
- Every business owner is presented with opportunities to succeed.
- Every business owner can choose to be a leader.
- Every business owner can instigate, rather than wait for someone else to move.
- Every business owner has potential to be better today than they were yesterday.
- And every business owner has the same 24-hours available to them every day.
It’s what we DO that counts.
- Not our intentions.
- Not our network of business contacts.
- Not our cutting edge technology.
- Not our plans.
- Not our targets.
- Not our qualifications.
- Not our competitive edge.
- Not our ingenuity.
- Not our skills.
Intelligent action always precedes success. That’s why in business, the winners get moving.
Can you see the money?
A former client of mine has just sold a business for over $5 million. When she purchased it in 2020, it was valued at $250k. Her short story contains an extremely valuable business lesson.
To start, I’d like you to ask yourself the following question. If I work hard and smart for the next 4 years, what’s the maximum I could sell my business for?
Here’s why that question is so valuable
My former client, Jill, called me on Monday. She had some good news. The sale of her business went through. She bought it for $250k in January 2020. And sold it for $5.8 million.
I was working with Jill when she bought the business. It was already in pretty good shape. It didn’t need any meaningful capital investment. What it needed was an owner who could see the financial potential of the business. As she told me at the time; ‘He just can’t see the money.’
- The previous owner saw the potential value of his business as $250k.
- Jill saw the potential value as $5 million.
- Interestingly, they were both proven to be right.
What happened over those 4 years to make all that money? The core difference was that the previous owner made decisions based on a $250k payday. Jill made decisions based on a $5 million payday.
Our beliefs
When we believe that our business has the potential to sell for a certain amount, we act accordingly. It looks like this.
- Jill believed that the business she bought was potentially worth $5 million, so she bought it.
- As owner, she made $5 million decisions… decisions consistent with her valuation.
- Her decisions led to $5 million actions, actions consistent with her decisions.
- And her actions saw her make $5 million.
The key here is that we need to be able to see the money. That’s the spark. We need to genuinely believe in the potential value of our business. Only then will our decisions and the actions we take, be consistent with achieving the potential.
How do we find out if we’re underestimating the value of our business?
A good place to start is to ask a trusted adviser. Someone you know, if at all possible. This could be your accountant or maybe your business banking manager. If they can’t help you directly, ask if they know someone they can recommend.
This is a situation where trust is essential. Without trust we struggle to believe. And belief is what opens our eyes.
Average beats excellent
Here’s a very common marketing problem, along with a free marketing resource to help you overcome it.
Let’s go.
Here’s what we know. There are prospective clients or customers out there who truly need what your business provides. And there are lots of them, too.
So far so good.
The challenge comes with the next step. Your prospective client absolutely needs a new service provider… but unless they want to buy from you, someone else will get their money.
Fortunately, if you’re not attracting enough new clients there’s a proven answer. You need to look at how big a want your marketing is creating, when measured against your competitors want.
- How convincing is your value proposition, compared to theirs?
- How engaging are your various service levels or product bundles, compared to theirs?
- How compelling is your messaging, compared to theirs?
- How attractive are your payment terms, compared to theirs?
Next, you need to avoid making what I call ‘the excellent mistake’.
The excellent mistake
Never assume that just because your service is excellent, you must be getting your fair share of the market. That’s not how it works.
An average provider with excellent marketing, will almost always beat an excellent provider with average marketing.
So, motivate your prospects to contact you. Inspire them to become clients. If you think your marketing is already doing this, yet your results are telling you something different, take heed. Follow the numbers. The numbers will lead you in the right direction. Every single time.
Here’s that free help I promised.
I’ve put a marketing guide together, which helps countless business owners make more sales, every day of the week. You’ll find it here.
4 Proven ways to quickly attract more customers
Photo | Miguel Á. Padriñán
How easy do you make it for prospective clients or customers to spend their money with you?
That may sound like an odd question. After all, every business owner should be making the purchasing process as effortless as possible. As we all know, this is often not the case. In fact, we regularly encounter challenges that stop us from choosing a particular vendor.
Thankfully, it’s not that hard to significantly improve your sales or client acquisition numbers. Here are 4 things we can all do, to massively improve things.
1. Make it as easy as possible for people to contact you
A common mistake most business owners make, is to require too much information on their contact forms. When someone is making an initial enquiry from your website, you need their email address, name and message. That’s it. Just the most basic details so you can contact them.
Every additional piece of information you’re asking for, loses you enquiries from prospective clients.
Ask for the minimum amount of information to get the maximum amount of enquiries.
It makes absolutely no sense to have unnecessary hurdles in the way, which are reducing the number of enquiries you get. And as you know, fewer enquiries means fewer clients. Remember, you can get whatever information you need, after you’ve connected with them. At that point, it’s a lot more comfortable for the prospective client to give the information you need.
2. Be open for business when they need you
Most businesses copy the opening hours of their competitors. A better model, is to base your opening hours on the needs of your marketplace.
If you’re available when your marketplace needs you but your competitors are not, you win. Being available doesn’t mean using a call-handling firm to take details. It doesn’t mean having an AI bot on your website. It means having a member of your team available, who can provide an informed, human connection.
Sounds like a bit of a pain, right?
Exactly!
That’s why your competitors aren’t doing it. And why the opportunity to gain a huge advantage could be staring you in the face.
3. Provide flexible payment options
I’m often amazed at the limited payment options offered by small businesses. That’s never a smart move. But in the current economy it’s a very expensive error.
Thankfully, it’s totally avoidable.
In the years since the pandemic, a massive number of new payment providers have come along. It’s never been easier to accept payments. Plus, the rates are exceptionally competitive because they have to be! If you haven’t checked out how low the charges are lately, take a look.
4. Use Risk Reversal
I do this with my Pick My Brain service and people love it. It works like this. If someone uses the service and doesn’t believe it’s worth the fee, I offer them an immediate, 100% refund. It means they can hire me with total peace of mind. No one has ever requested a refund, but the offer shows how confident I am, that I will provide massively more value than they pay for.
Clearly, this type of risk reversal doesn’t work for every business model. However, if you think it could work for you it’s definitely worth exploring.
Take a moment to review the suitability of those four options for your business. Any one of them could potentially bring a significant improvement to your business.
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