Professional development Archives - Page 3 of 27

How to have great business ideas

By Jim Connolly | July 15, 2024

Photo | Steve Johnson Pexels.com

Today, I’m going to show you how to have great business ideas and how to put them to work for your business. This includes a step-by-step guide that you can easily follow.

Think about it: Behind every successful business are a series of ideas. Great business ideas, which open up new opportunities or set the business on a more fruitful path.

The challenge with great ideas is that they often look like average ideas, until after they become hugely successful. As a result, most great ideas never see the light of they.

In fact, I bet you have a few tucked away right now, without even knowing it.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

How a great business idea was mocked

In 1985, The New York Times announced the death of laptop computers, in an articled entitled; “Whatever happened to the laptop computer?” They wondered why laptops never became popular (seriously). Here’s how one of the greatest business ideas in history, was openly mocked:

“[…] I.B.M. never legitimized the market with its much rumored ”Clamshell,” probably because the company realized that laptops are a small niche market, not a mass market.”
Erik Sandberg-Diment. New York Times 1985.

And when the electric light bulb was invented, most people said it would never become a mass market product. It was thought that there was no affordable way to get electricity to enough homes.

How to have great business ideas that win!

Business owners sometimes ask me what I think of an idea they have. The challenge here, is that it doesn’t matter what I think or what their friends think. Great business ideas are not anointed. If you want to know how good your idea is, you need to get it out there.

If you do, you will find it’s almost impossible to fail.

Really?

Yes, really!

It’s a win win thing.

If it is a great business idea and it flies, you’ll have a success on your hands.
If it flops, you’ll learn something. Something that you can invest in the next idea and greatly increase your chances of success.

Ironically, the only way to guarantee a business idea will fail, is to try and protect it from failure by locking it away.

It’s a lose lose thing.

The idea you fail to ship can’t succeed.
The idea you fail to ship can’t teach you anything new.

This not only insulates you from success, it also insulates you from learning and growing. This used to be a major problem for me when I started out in business. I was in my late 20’s and lacking in confidence. I’d sometimes have a great business idea, but I wouldn’t put the idea into action.

I knew I needed to do it. I also knew it couldn’t work if I didn’t ship the idea. But for me, putting an idea into action, even one I thought was great, felt way too risky.

Thankfully, I discovered a way forward, which I’m now going to share with you, step-by-step.

Here’s the business idea strategy, which worked for me

I’ve shared this strategy with countless people over the years and the results have been amazing. It’s actually really simple.

My breakthrough came when I figured out that the part of my mind responsible for putting ideas into action, was weak. It needed strengthening. I thought one way to do this, would be to treat it like a weak muscle. To make a weak muscle strong, you start off by working with very light weights. As the muscle grows, you slowly increase the weight you’re working with. Eventually, the muscle becomes strong.

Here’s how it worked

I started by acting on what I considered to be small ideas. Ideas that were unlikely to set the world on fire if they worked, but where there was relatively little downside if they failed.

I’d get a business idea.
Every time I put one of these ideas into play, I’d write it down in a journal, along with the results.
With each new business idea in my journal, my idea muscles grew a little.
I also noticed that even with these small ideas, my business was starting to see some very encouraging results. This further built my idea muscles!
Pretty soon I found it easy to get great business ideas, big, meaningful ones, and ship them.
Every day since I’ve eagerly looked for ways to get great business ideas to help me make opportunities or solve problems.
And if they’re interesting, I always put them into play.

As the frequency and size of the ideas you act on increases, so does your ability to get great ideas. This is reflected in the development of your business.

And something else happens. Business in general becomes a lot more interesting. That’s because working on new business ideas, even small ones, is extremely invigorating. It causes you to think differently, meet new people and explore new opportunities.

Just remember to start with small ideas. Slowly build it up. And be sure to chronicle your results, so you can see the progress you’re making and also learn from the feedback.

In short: How do you get great business ideas? You put the small business ideas you already have into play. Each time you do, your ability to have great ideas and ship them increases.

Opportunity is banging loudly on your door. Let it in!

By Jim Connolly | July 13, 2024

woman in black long sleeve shirt sitting on chair

Photo | Andrea Piacquadio.

The pace of change is accelerating faster than ever. This is creating a multitude of exciting opportunities for business owners. Including you.

Here are just a few of the opportunities you might want to explore.

New needs and wants are emerging. This means you now have masses of new prospective clients (or customers) you can serve. It also means you have the opportunity to offer more services or products to your existing clients.

New ways to access knowledge are at your fingertips… for free. With AI, you can get a detailed summary of every best-selling business book ever published. You can then question the summary, so it explains whatever parts of the book you’re most interested in learning from. As I write this in July 2024, that service is freely available from services like Google Gemini, Perplexity AI, ChatGPT and many others.

New and improved ways to work smarter are available to you. You can decrease stress whilst simultaneously increasing your productivity. That’s a huge win win.

New ways to sell your services are available to you, thanks to the newly-competitive payment provider sector. This makes it easier for clients to hire you or buy from you. Plus, it’s more profitable for your business, too.

New partnership possibilities are springing up. All this change brings almost unlimited potential for you to radically expand and improve your partnerships. Joint Venture opportunities are everywhere, just waiting for you.

It’s utterly exhilarating

I work with small business owners daily. Based on the results I’m seeing month after month, I firmly believe this is a golden age of opportunity for small business owners. I’ve never seen anything even vaguely like it, in almost 30-years of serving small business owners. It’s utterly exhilarating. Don’t let yourself miss out.

You’re better. They’re more successful. Why?

By Jim Connolly | July 11, 2024

marketing balance, marketing tips, marketing ideas

Photo | Andrew Draper

Today, I’d like to help you avoid maybe the most frustrating thing in business. I’m referring to watching your less capable competitors gaining more of the market, and making more money, than you do.

It all starts with understanding the following.

The most successful provider and the best provider, are seldom the same provider. In fact, it rarely happens.

That’s because being the best doesn’t automatically mean people will notice you, believe you, buy from you or hire you.

Why is that?

Commercial success requires a critically important balance.

You need to balance the development of a great service, with the development of a strategy to earn the attention, trust and business/patronage of your marketplace.

Here’s why that balance is essential.

If your prospective clients don’t know you exist, it doesn’t matter how exceptional your service or product is, because you’re not an option for them.
If your prospective clients DO know you exist, but your marketing doesn’t inspire them to trust you, they won’t hire you or buy from you.
And if your prospective clients know you exist, and they trust you–but your marketing doesn’t motivate them to take action, they won’t hire you or buy from you.

Without that balance in place: Trying to grow a business is extremely frustrating, as less capable competitors grab your share of the marketplace. You will already know competitors in your space, who are nowhere near as good as you, yet they’re flying.

With that balance in place: You get all the rewards your hard work and dedication merits.

Thankfully, this is directly under our control as business owners. And it’s easy. All it takes is a decision. The decision to adjust the balance, so our business attracts the volume and quality of clients we deserve.

But here’s the challenge

It’s even easier to ‘keep on keeping on’ and hope things just get better. Which is why this message is ignored by most people I share it with. It’s why there are business owners still whining about how unlucky they are 5 or even 10-years after they started their business.

It’s not luck.

It’s a decision. THIS decision.

And as business owners, it should be the easiest, most obvious business decision we ever make.

From? To?

By Jim Connolly | July 9, 2024

Photo: Nick Fewings

Today, I’d like to share a very powerful marketing strategy with you, which few, if any, of your competitors are aware of.

Every business provides a product or a service, which solves a problem for the customer. In order to solve their problem, it needs to create a change. To move the customer from something to something.

For example.

From worried to confident.
From vulnerable to safe.
From broke to wealthy.
From discomfort to comfort.
From bored to entertained.
From struggling to succeeding.
From confused to clear.
From sad to joyful.
From scruffy to glam.
From lonely to connected.
From loss to gain.
From ignorant to informed.
From stressed to relaxed.
From pessimistic to hopeful.
From lost to guided.

Now, here’s the part very few business owners get right.

You need to figure out the change your prospective customers are looking for. Their ‘from what’ and their ‘to what’.

Warning

The biggest danger here is believing the answer is obvious. It almost never is.

Seriously.

For instance, no successful coffee shop focuses on changing you from thirsty to quenched. None of them.

They change you by creating an attractive atmosphere. An atmosphere, where you can go from stressed to relaxed, or from tired to restored, or from lonely to connected, from stuck to creative or from bored to entertained.

The world’s top coffee shops know this. It’s what their marketing focuses on. It’s why we see very little emphasis placed on the coffee beans used, yet huge emphasis placed on the welcoming, positive atmosphere.

Here’s another example.

The world’s most expensive restaurants don’t focus on taking you from feeling hungry to feeling full. You can go down the street and get the same number of calories from a burger joint for pennies. Instead, these restaurants focus on their exclusivity. They take you from feeling normal to feeling like a star.

You get the idea.

Your product or service

Determine what change or changes your prospect is truly looking for.

Focus on the ‘from what’ part. Your marketing message needs to meet them right there. It needs to talk to their current situation. It needs to address the discomfort they’re feeling. This means your message will be on the very same wavelength that they’re on. This dramatically and profoundly increases the sales impact of your marketing

Then focus on the ‘to what’ part. Your marketing needs to illustrate how your product or service transitions them to their end point. To the very thing they desire.

This marketing strategy is designed to directly address the wants or needs of your prospects and position you as the answer. Almost no small business marketing does this and amazingly few medium-sized businesses.

Make 2024 your best year ever, even if you’re struggling today

By Jim Connolly | June 26, 2024

Business results, reflection, take action

Next week marks the 2nd half of 2024. If you want to finish the year strong, no matter how things are going for you right now, today’s newsletter is exactly what you need.

What follows is based on almost 30 years of experience, helping small business owners achieve their best results. It’s a very straightforward approach. And it works in every industry and profession.

And it starts with us taking a look at how our business has performed over the first half of 2024.

Reflection and action

If we reflect on our progress and discover we’re on course to hit or smash our 2024 targets, we need to take action.

To stay focused.
To persevere.
To carry on doing the right things, correctly.

If we reflect on our progress and it looks like we’re not on course, we need to take action.

To accept the urgency of the situation.
To decide that more of the same is not an option.
To get strategic. Important: Most business owners don’t know what an effective strategy is. Here’s a short, brilliant explainer video, by Professor Roger Martin.
To make better decisions.
To take better actions.
To finish strong and turn things around.

And here’s the GREAT news

Whether we’re on target or off target, we can still make this a very successful year. Equipped with the right strategy and support, our decisions will improve, our actions will improve and our results will improve.

The key is to act. And to act in accordance with the results we’re currently experiencing.

Lots of small business owners get this wrong. Many of those who are off target today, will stay focused, persevere and carry on… with more of the same. They’ll stick with what they’re doing and hope that things will improve.

Over the years, I’ve helped thousands of businesspeople to transform their results. In every case, their turnaround success started after they took that number one step above. They accepted the urgency of their situation, which inspired them to make the required adjustments.

Yes, I do this same exercise myself

On a personal note, the only reason my own business has been successful over the years, is that I have learned to review my progress, or lack of progress, and then to act accordingly.

If I was using the same approach to my business in 2024 as I was using even a few years ago, my own business would be contracting today.

We all need to reflect on where we are, and then act accordingly. So please take time to see where your business is today, look at its direction of travel, and make the required adjustments.

Photo: Richard Stachmann on Unsplash

10 Proven ways to get free publicity, starting now!

By Jim Connolly | June 20, 2024

People will happily share your message for free. Below are 10 proven examples. Look for those that you can adapt, to gain free publicity for your products or services.

If it makes them look clever. This is why social networks are packed with Einstein quotes.
If it makes them look compassionate to their contacts or community.
If by sharing it, they believe they will benefit directly or indirectly.
If they care about you and they believe sharing your message will help you.
If it says something they aren’t brave enough to say for themselves.
If they believe it’s helpful or valuable and that their friends need to know about it. My newsletter is spread by people who find something useful in it, which they want their contacts to benefit from.
If they think it will make them look ahead of the curve or well-informed.
If it’s remarkable. Extremely satisfied customers tell their friends when they receive an amazing service.
If it makes them appear generous to their friends.
If they are part of your community and want others to join them.

Buying or attracting?

As I tell my clients, you can hire salespeople and buy advertising, or you can use a little creativity and build a growing crowd of advocates. That’s a crowd who have the attention and trust of the people they’re sharing your message with.

Trusted people, spreading your message with their friends, for free, is an exceptionally effective way to grow your business.

When was the last time?

By Jim Connolly | June 17, 2024

Photo by Fox on Pexels.com

When was the last time you tested different pricing models?

When was the last time you were contacted by a media outlet, for your professional opinion?

When was the last time you tested a new marketing tactic or strategy?

When was the last time you did something radically different from your competitors?

When was the last time you undertook detailed competitor research, so that you know what you’re actually competing against?

When was the last time you received a great referral from one of your customers?

When was the last time you updated your marketing materials?

When was the last time you took the lead in your industry?

When was the last time you took an idea that’s common and successful in a different industry, and applied it to your business?

When was the last time you seriously challenged one of your long-held business beliefs?

When was the last time you partnered with another business on a project?

When was the last time you updated your business goals and targets?

When was the last time you added a new product or service to your portfolio?

When was the last time you looked for new ways to solve problems, for your customers and prospective customers?

When was the last time you seriously asked yourself, if your business is growing as fast and as profitably as it could be?

When was the last time you saw a significant, sustained increase in profits, and what did you learn from it?

When it’s been too long

If it has been too long since you last did, or experienced, some of the above, now would be a great time to put that right.

Make a list. Then work your way through it. Some of these will be more challenging than others, but all of them are important enough to invest the effort required.

An important lesson from the last 7 days

By Jim Connolly | June 6, 2024

Today, I’d like to share a profoundly important marketing and business development idea with you, which is often ignored.

What makes it “profoundly important”? It’s literally (not figuratively) essential if you want to build a successful business and a very bright financial future! That’s why I am also going to show you how to get started.

I need to begin by asking you a question. How many of the marketing or business development tasks you worked on last week, were due last week?

Your answer to that question is important. It’s a great snapshot of how long-term or short-term your current horizon is.

The next 6 months, 12 months and 36+ months

It’s natural to focus on making your next sale or getting your next customer enquiry. It’s really important, too. However, it’s profoundly important to come up for air and look to your future. To work on the foundations of your marketing and business development, which will determine your success over the next 6 months, 12 months and 36+ months.

This might include answering key questions like.

How can you greatly increase the number of sales you make, in the next 6 months, 12 months and 36 months or more?
And how can you increase the profitability of those sales?
What could you be doing in order to significantly improve your customer retention rate and the number of customer referrals you receive?
What valuable, new product or service could you be working on, for your current and future customers?
Who are the useful people you need to introduce yourself to now, so you’ll have an existing relationship with them in your medium and longer term? There is a direct link between how well connected you are, and how successful your business will be. There’s more information on this here, (in the 3rd marketing tip).

Today’s important tasks absolutely need to be worked on. But the only way to build a spectacularly bright future, is to work today with our future in mind. We need to regularly make time to think, plan and work on our longer-term success.

This means resisting the temptation of being so wrapped up in today’s business challenges, that we have too few foundations in place, for the future success we are capable of achieving.

Plant a seed today

Make time today, even if it’s just 15 or 20 minutes, to advance a business idea you have. In doing this, you’ll be planting a seed for the future success of your business. Then tomorrow, plant, water or feed another seed. And again the day after.

When harvest time comes, you’ll be very glad you did.

Photo by Stas Knop on Pexels.com

Give yourself a huge competitive advantage… that’s rarely mentioned

By Jim Connolly | May 22, 2024

Empathy business, marketing, relationships

Empathy is rarely discussed when people talk about building a successful business. However, empathy is one of the most important components of effective marketing.

Think about it.

The vendors you feel closest to are those who understand you.
The vendors you value the most are those who appreciate you.
The vendors you’re most loyal to are those who take the best care of you.
And the vendors you tell your friends about are those who eagerly go the extra mile for you.

Why does this happen?

It happens because business is all about people.

More specifically, it’s about how people feel. That’s because our feelings are what drive the decisions we make, and our decisions are what lead to the actions we take. Feelings are what cause people to hire you, buy from you, trust you, recommend you and remain a loyal client or customer.

You truly care. So don’t keep it a secret

Yes, you care about your clients. And they know it.

But what about your prospective clients? Does your marketing reflect the fact that you’re passionately committed to helping them? If you’re not sure, try this.

Take a look at your most recent marketing or the content on your website, through their eyes. Does it leave the prospect in no doubt that you care about the people your business serves? If not, get to work on it.

A lot is said about the importance of out-smarting our competitors, yet little is ever said about out-caring them. Ironically, one of the smartest things we can do, is to make darn sure that our prospects know how much we care.

Why?

Because very few of your competitors, even those who care a great deal, will make it a core part of their marketing. They just take it for granted that prospects will know.

So, give your business a huge competitive advantage. Make it clear that you genuinely care about the people you serve. It will massively improve the way prospects feel about you. And those feelings are what drive their decisions and their actions.

Why didn’t I get the contract?

By Jim Connolly | May 13, 2024

Thousands of business owners find themselves asking that question every day. They’ve lost out on a big sale, an important contract or massive project and they want to know why. Why didn’t they land it? Why was a competitor chosen instead?

There are a multitude 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 and massively increase our odds of success.

We start by replaying every situation where another provider was picked. We then unpack it and 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, or sales pitch have maximum impact?
And is it memorable?
Are there enough trust building assets included — enough 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.

Be an engaged observer

And finally, decide to become an engaged observer. Pay attention to the most effective individuals you encounter, including those who sell their products or services to you or your business. Look for things they do that you can test in your own presentations. Also, look for things they avoid that you can test removing from your presentations. Oh, and when you’re is a situation where someone else is being ‘pitched’ to, observe what you can.

It’s highly probable that you’re just one or two adjustments away from a significant improvement in your conversion rate. So give it a try.

Photo by Ann H on Pexels.com

Proven ways to boost your sales. Plus examples

By Jim Connolly | April 30, 2024

agile marketing, marketing opportunities, small business marketing

Today, many small business owners are prospering like never before. They’ve tapped into an amazing opportunity. I want you and your business to do the same. That’s why I’m going to share one of their secrets with you, along with some examples to help you get started.

So, what’s their secret?

They’re making tweaks or additions to their services, so that what they offer is a superb fit for their prospective clients and existing clients.

What does this look like, Jim?

Well, it depends.

For example, some have developed a new type of service, which has opened up a whole new segment of their marketplace. Others have created add-ons that compliment their current services, which are being purchased by their existing clients. Then there are those who have looked for, and discovered, brand new niches for their current services. I could list dozens and dozens more examples.

My point is that they’re not thriving simply by working harder or working longer hours.

They’re working ON their business, instead. They’re uncovering opportunities that radically increase how attractive and valuable their services are to their prospective clients.

You can do the same for your business.

Spotting and creating new opportunities

Here are some general ideas to get your creativity flowing.

Look for new problems or challenges that the current economy is creating for your clients or prospects, which you can solve for them.
Explore how services (or products) that you currently provide could be combined, to create a bigger and uniquely valuable new offering.
Do your clients or customers tell you that there’s a certain strength you have, which they really value? If there is, look for ways to greatly magnify it. Own it. Make it a unique and valuable feature of hiring you or buying from you.
Do some research on the pricing / payment options offered by your competitors. Then consider how you can provide a pricing strategy, which is attractive to you, attractive to your prospects, and unique to your business.
Consider great service providers outside your industry. Think about what you like most about their service, then see how that can be incorporated into your own service.
Check out the range of services being offered by your competitors. Look for a gap in the market; a service that isn’t being provided, which you can provide and your prospects will love.
Look for opportunities to use new technologies, which will give you a competitive advantage in quality, speed, rigour, capacity, scope, reduced overhead, etc. .

I hope you find something here, which inspires you to create opportunities to increase your sales, your revenues and your profits. If you do, don’t just find it interesting. Give it a try. Put it to work in your business.

Build a better contact network, starting now

By Jim Connolly | April 23, 2024

building business contacts, better contacts

They say it’s not what you know, but who you know that counts. That’s because knowing the right people is essential for business success. It’s also why you’ll never meet a successful person who hasn’t built an extremely valuable contact network. Today, I want to help you build an equally valuable network of your own.

It starts with a question: How many business contacts do you have?

You can easily get an approximate figure by adding together your LinkedIn contacts, your social network followers/friends and the contacts in your address book, etc. For some reading this, the number will be in the hundreds. For many it will be in the thousands or tens of thousands. And for others it will be a hundred thousand or more.

Here’s a far more meaningful question: How many business relationships do you have?

Business relationships are harder to count. These are the people you connect with on a deeper level. Not just numbers on the social networks you use. Not just names in your address book, who you have no real history with.

Vanity metrics

Building more and more contacts can be intoxicating. These contact numbers are often referred to as vanity metricks, because most of the numbers are visible to others, such as our social network contacts, and how many followers or online friends we have.

It’s a way for normal people (like me) to finally be like one of the popular kids at school. Even though we know hardly any of these people, we have the BIG contacts number. Go us!

Business relationship building

The number of meaningful business relationships we have is a lot less public than our vanity numbers, but a lot more meaningful and massively more valuable. With this in mind, how much time do you dedicate each day or each week, to building and nurturing business relationships?

Here’s a tip to help you get started.

I want you to imagine you already had meaningful relationships, with 6 people who are useful and/or influential. Now write those 6 names down. Next, take time over the coming week to learn a little about them and how to get in contact with them. Finally, get in touch with each one, introducing yourself and letting them know how YOU can assist THEM.

[Important] Read this: Bring your seed, not your need.

The number of positive replies you receive will depend on lots of factors. This includes things like, how useful your assistance is to the other person, how effective your initial introduction is, how interesting you make yourself sound, and even how good your timing is, etc.

But if you stick with it, always seeking to improve your approach, you will find yourself building extremely useful, mutually beneficial business relationships, with amazing people.

Plus, they’ll get to see just how awesome you are, and introduce you to their contacts.

They know they need it. So why aren’t they buying?

By Jim Connolly | April 20, 2024

It’s so frustrating. A prospect has seen your marketing. They’ve spoken with you and had all their questions answered. They admit that they genuinely need what you’re offering. However, they still don’t make the purchase.

Typically in this situation, the temptation is to provide additional reasons why it’s exactly what they need. But that’s not what’s stopping them. When the prospect tells you they need what you’re offering, what’s stopping them from buying is that they’re not ready to buy.

At this point, you need to switch your focus away from the benefits of the product or service. Instead, focus on uncovering why the prospect is not ready. There’s always a reason. And it’s usually extremely easy to overcome. Tip: A great place to start is simply by asking them.

So take a little time to find out why they’re not ready. Then remove the barrier. When you do, you’ll make the sale.

How to know what your prospects REALLY want from you

By Jim Connolly | April 8, 2024

Here’s what we’re told. The key to business success is to give the marketplace what it wants. That sounds easy enough.

We ask them what they want.
We provide them with what they want, and we do this to the best of our ability.

The trickiest part there is step one. That’s because history assures us that people tend not to tell us what they actually want.

Some will tell us what they think we want to hear.
Some will tell us what they think makes them look smart.
Some will tell us what they think makes them look considerate.
And others will tell us what they think makes them look edgy, unique or creative.

If we really want to know what people think, we need to study what they do. Their actions speak louder and with greater accuracy than their words. That’s worth taking into account, the next time you’re tempted to survey people.

Here’s an alternative approach.

Try this instead

Social media provides you with a wonderful way to see where the attention of your marketplace truly is. You can see what they’re excited about, what they’re worried about, what they’re investing in and what their challenges are, etc.

This can give you valuable feedback, equipping you to make better decisions and spot new opportunities.

Photo by Ann H on Pexels.com

Why you need a story. From the original Mad Man

By Jim Connolly | March 18, 2024

Someone asked me why her business needed a story. She thought it was, “a load of trendy nonsense”.

When I answered her question, she emailed me back to say it had changed her perception completely. She said it would improve her approach to marketing forever.

So today, I decided to share my answer with you. I hope you find it just as useful.

Why your business needs a story

My answer begins with a quote from advertising legend, David Ogilvy. Ogilvy was the inspiration behind the hit TV show, Mad Men.

Here’s what he had to say.

“There isn’t any significant difference between the various brands of whiskey, or cigarettes or beer. They are all about the same”. “[…] The manufacturer who dedicates his advertising to building the most sharply defined personality for his brand will get the largest share of the market at the highest profit”.

That message isn’t new. It was written decades ago, as you can tell from the examples he uses. But it’s even more valid in 2024, than when Ogilvy shared it.

Think about it. Apple’s iPhone is the best selling mobile phone in the world, despite being one of the most expensive. It doesn’t have the best display, the best camera, the best signal reception or the best battery life.

But it does have the best story.

Emotions drive decisions

Your prospective clients or customers are motivated by emotions, far more than logic. The way they feel about you and your brand, is what will drive their decision to hire you, buy from you and recommend you. And it’s your story, which determines how they feel about you. (I explain why in this post, Does your business pass the coffee shop test?, which you might find useful).

Build a story, my friend. A story that people will embrace and share.

Is it easy? No. It takes a little creativity.

Is it possible? Yes. Very possible.

Is it worth the effort? Absolutely.

Stability through impact

By Jim Connolly | February 25, 2024

There are 3 ways you can guide the direction of a business.

You can aim for stability.
You can aim for impact.
You can aim for stability through impact.

Here’s how those 3 options pan out, and why one of them gives you the best chance of fully unlocking the maximum potential of your business.

Primary focus on stability

Business owners with a primary focus on stability, plan and act with a safety-first mindset. This often blocks them from making the improvements they need, even when their business isn’t growing. If something ‘kind of works a little’, they’ll hold onto it tight.

They do this rather than try something new, which has vastly greater potential.

Primary focus on impact

Business owners with a primary focus on impact, plan and act with a mindset that’s driven by the desire to make a meaningful difference. They have a vision of the impact they seek to create and are motivated by the desire to see that vision become a reality.

Within this broad group are business owners who are well-prepared, with a thoroughly researched idea, which they are passionate about.

However, this group also contains business owners who have a deep belief in their idea, but their idea hasn’t had the necessary rigour applied. There’s little or no demand for it. The numbers don’t stack up.

We see this all too often, when a new business opens with an expensive launch, lots of bold claims and in no time, they’re gone. It’s heartbreaking.

Focus on stability through impact

The business owner whose primary focus is stability through impact, understands something that the vast majority of people totally miss.

They’ve figured out that a balance needs to be achieved.

They know that hunkering down, avoiding change and hoping things will magically improve is a terrible strategy. You can’t hope your way to the top. Or to the middle.
They also know that stability is essential. If you’re only focusing on making an impact, without ensuring you have a stable foundation, you’re very likely to fail. Nothing of value can be built on flimsy foundations. You need that stability. It’s a must.

So, what do they do?

They decide what impact they want to create. In other words, they choose the thing that they want to be known for — the difference they want to make to their marketplace or the world. Then they do the research, create a strategy and put a plan together. A realistic, costed and robust plan.

Then, they get to work.

With the stability of working to a solid plan, and fuelled by the motivation of making an impact, you can fully activate your maximum potential, whilst minimizing your risk.

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Ten times ten, times ten

By Jim Connolly | February 10, 2024

colorful plastic numbers for kids to learn from

Ten times ten, times ten is a thousand.

Do that another three times and you get a million.

Those who manage to make a million are the ones who can get motivated when it’s just $10, and then stay motivated when it’s only $1000, or $10,000.

Because the jump from $10,000 to $100,000 isn’t that hard. And from $100,000 to $Million it’s even easier. And from a $1Million to $10Million is even easier than that.

Whether someone is building a business, building a fortune or building a subscriber base, there is a common thread.

The work at the beginning is disproportionately hard and unrewarding.

That’s a major reason why so few people achieve massive success with their business, their finances and their subscriber base.

The way you navigate that difficult, early period is critically important. It’s what determines whether you reach the part of the journey, where everything is easier, and the rewards are earth-shattering.

Don’t rush the process

By Jim Connolly | February 8, 2024

time lapse photography of brown concrete building

One of the best pieces of business advice I ever received, is just 4 words long. And today I’m going to share it with you, so you can apply it to your marketing. It’s simply this: Don’t rush the process.

I know. Without a little context, it doesn’t sound particularly useful. But over the years it’s helped my clients achieve amazing results.

Don’t rush the process (with context)

Business owners tend to be a pretty motivated bunch. We have to be, right? Not only are we motivated, we also believe in the value of our product or service. When you combine motivation with belief, you create a potent mix. An essential, high energy blend that keeps us moving forward and inspires us to persist even when things are tough.

And that’s great!

However.

Sometimes that mix of belief and motivation can work against us.

Really?

Yes, really.

For example, we speak with a prospect and immediately see that our product or service is the perfect match for them. We know we can provide exactly what they need. So we’re eager to help them make the right decision.

Here’s the thing.

There’s a thin line between encouraging someone to make the right decision, and rushing someone to decide.

When that line is crossed, it seriously damages how the prospect feels about us. It quickly lowers their confidence, creates uncertainty and makes them feel extremely apprehensive.

How to avoid this, before it happens!

Based on almost 30 years of experience and observations, I’ve found that this is most likely to be a problem during the follow-up process.

You need to be very mindful regarding how soon and how often you follow-up with an email or call. That’s because there isn’t a universally ideal time or frequency. Different industries and different cultures have different expectations. So, you’ll need to test and measure. Take into account things like the size of the decision your prospect is making financially, plus the number of people involved with the decision-making process, the size of the overall risk, etc.

Don’t rush the other processes

Obviously, the ‘don’t rush the process‘ advice has much wider utility than the example I’ve mentioned here.

Important note: Don’t confuse rushing the process with being appropriately proactive. There are times when we need to be swift. To move quickly. Most opportunities in life and business come with a use-by date. If we take too long, we’re often too late.

The advice is don’t rush the process.

Fast is fine.

Too fast is rushing.

I hope you find this idea useful. More importantly, I hope you do something with it.

Photo by Zhang Kaiyv on Pexels.com

How to access proven marketing ideas

By Jim Connolly | February 3, 2024

Today, I’m going to show you how to access an endless supply of powerful marketing ideas. And that’s not all. You will have already, personally seen them working, before you even use them! It’s a process I call engaged observation and it can massively improve your sales results.

Here’s a very quick example of how engaged observation works. It can be applied to every type of marketing. However, here I’ll show how you could apply it to improve your social media marketing results.

Engaged observation example

The next time you’re scrolling through LinkedIn, Facebook, X, etc., and notice that you’ve stopped to read one of the posts, as an engaged observer you would look for what it was that motivated you to stop and take notice of that post.

Perhaps it was the kind of image used.
It might have been the audio.
Maybe it was the relationship you have with the person or brand posting it.
It could have been the headline.
Or the topic of the post.
And it may have been something totally different.

Whatever it was, you personally witnessed its effectiveness when you were motivated to stop and give it your attention. You know for absolute certain that it works.

Once you’ve identified what attracted you, for instance the kind of image used, you have a starting point. You now have an opportunity to improve your marketing, based on what you experienced. In this example, you can try using a similar kind of image. Then, test and measure the results.

Engaged observation can be used on anything, where you have been motivated to take action. For example, ask yourself:

What motivated you to fill in the enquiry form on a website?
What motivated you to spend more than you had budgeted on a new product?
What motivated you to try a new brand of shampoo?
What motivated you to add more items to an online shopping cart?
What motivated you to believe the product reviews on a certain website?
What motivated you to listen to a whole advertisement, rather then press skip?
What motivated you to hire your last adviser, coach, trainer or consultant?
What motivated you to try a different restaurant?
What motivated you to click on a call to action link/button?
What motivated you to tell your friends about a service provider or brand?
What motivated you to subscribe to a newsletter you receive?
What motivated you to call a particular service provider for a quote?
What motivated you to trust the last service provider you used?
What motivated you to buy the latest book, from an author you’ve never read before?
What motivated you to switch to your current phone network?

Behind each of those actions is a motivating factor. Something that inspired you to take action. Something that could inspire your prospects to take action. Something you can identify, adapt, test in your own marketing and measure the results.

Each time you use engaged observation, instead of starting from scratch with a new marketing tactic, you start with something you know is effective. This saves you time and helps you get it right, faster.

What I’ve done here, is show you a tiny number of examples, to open your mind to the huge number of marketing improvement opportunities open to you.

I hope you find it useful. Because if you use it correctly, it can profoundly improve your sales results.

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