Jim Connolly Marketing

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

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.