Archive for Marketing

How to Lose Money with Groupon

By Stand Out Results · Comments (0)
Wednesday, May 1st, 2013


If you talk to many of the small businesses who decided to try to Groupon to increase business.  They will tell you that they received a generous spike in sales however, hardly any of them converted into lasting, repeat customers.  The success to making Groupon work for you depends on your follow-up marketing process.   Groupon seems like a great idea at the on start; sign up and receive an influx of customers resulting in higher sales.  However, are they really customers or just one and dones taking your staff away from your current clients and losing money for your business.

Groupon, for many businesses, is an exercise in bending over to pick up a $1 and dropping $5 out of your pocket.

If you want to lose money while using Groupon, then continue down the “no customer conversion strategy” path.  However, if you’re interested in making Groupon work for you, increase your sales and create lasting clients; then read on.

Strategy Before Tactics

If you’ve been reading my blogs, heard me speak or had a conversation with me, you know that I preach “Strategy Before Tactics” endlessly…and for good reason! – The above is a prime example.  If you have no plan, you have no path.  Without a path, you have not opportunity to obtain the end goal.  I’ve outlined an effective Groupon marketing strategy for you so your next campaign can be both a spike in sales and a lasting, consistent influx in customers.

  • Decide what you are looking to achieve with your Groupon campaign.
  • Understand who your target market is and what type of people come from Groupon campaigns. – This will give you insight into what they value.
  • Create an educational experience for your Groupon prospects. – This includes educating them on what you do, how you do it and what benefits they value that you can provide.
  • Determine what your next stage TRY is going to be for your Groupon redeemers – Groupon is great for getting people to KNOW & LIKE you but they are still trying to build TRUST with your business.  By offering another, longer TRY package, such as “Groupon redeemers only – Sign up today for an unlimited drop-in month pass” or “Sign up today for six additional sessions”, will allow them to gain that familiarity with your company even further.
  • Develop your final offer to fully convert your Groupon prospects into full fledged clients.  - You already have packages that your loyal customers partake in, make sure to let your Grouponers know about them.  Remember to explain the solutions that you are providing for their desires and frustrations so they remember it’s about them.
  • Work with a professional Marketing Consultant and Graphic Artist to create your package flyers so they accurately reflect your company brand so that your business continues to build authentic credibility consistently across every touch (employees, phone message, showroom, website, logo, business sign, cards, etc.).  Remember:  Nothing erodes sales faster than eroded trust and when a brand isn’t consistent, you loose trust extremely quick.
  • Train your team. – If your employees don’t understand the end goal and the strategy attached, they won’t follow the plan you’ve created.  Help them get on board by including them with the process, training them on how to use each step and offer an incentive for each Groupon prospect they convert.
  • Follow through when the Grouponers use your service.  - It’s easy to create the plan and marketing pieces but if you don’t follow through, it was wasted effort.
  • Listen.  - Listen to your employees on the reasons why the prospects didn’t move to the next stage, re-evaluate and adjust accordingly.
  • Track your conversions. – To determine if Groupon is a viable lead generation for your business, you need to track the conversions.  Within your CRM system, mark your Groupon prospects and analyze how far within the conversion process they got.

That’s it!  By adapting a marketing strategy, I know you can make your next Groupon campaign really work for your company and bring in more lasting clients.  And, I want to hear about it!  Share with us how your Groupon strategy resulted in more loyal customers and continued increased profits.

Stand Out Results

About Vicki James

Stand Out Results collaborates with their clients in the small to medium size professional industries to stand out from their competition by creating strategic, systemize marketing processes for more qualified lead generation resulting in higher sales and profits. Vicki M James, Growth and Accountability Partner at Stand Out Results, is an expert in internal and external branding, strategic marketing and customer experience. Working for local and national companies ranging from family owned to corporations for over twenty years she has developed an unique collaborative consulting style guiding her clients through a cohesive marketing system that results in clear messages and higher sales. When she's not sharing her knowledge about marketing, Vicki is sharing her passion of being socially conscious serving on the YWCA Empowering Women Luncheon Committee and the Rochester Women's Network (RWN) Executive Board where she represents the Marketing Committee as the VP and Chair.

Comments (0)
Categories : Consulting, Sales
Tags : , , , , , , , ,

Two Words: Fast Follower – Is It For Your Business?

By Stand Out Results · Comments (0)
Friday, April 12th, 2013
Stand Out Results Marketing Strategy Fast Follower

 News flash!  No one cares if you thought of the idea first.

The public is more interested in who is doing it better.  This is why so many companies take the “fast follower” business and marketing approach.

A fast follower company will pick a successful brand and model themselves similarly against it benefiting from the model company’s research, education and brand awareness dollars, all while swooping in and taking some of the main company’s market share by doing virtually the same thing.

For example, Wendy’s fast Marketing Fast Follower, Wendy’s, riding on McDonald’s site location heels food chains position themselves within a half mile, or most often across the street, from a McDonald’s.  Look at Lowe’s and Home Depot, they do the same thing, allowing the one to scout the market and area and then quickly follow with a location of their own in the same vicinity.  This type of market strategy is often seen by generic beauty products.  The name brand invested in the research of the product development, creating the overall brand value and created a demand for the product.  The generic brands, borrow all knowledge, package the product so similar to the original that many consumers don’t notice the difference and undercut the price allowing for more sales at very little acquisition costs.

Completely giving all your marketing strategy up to your competition to fast follow will result in disaster.

However, here is the note of caution.  Completely giving all your marketing strategy up to your competition to fast follow will result in disaster.  Think of this: Wendy’s positions themselves locally near McDonald’s because they share the same general target market.  However, that’s where the similarities end.  Wendy’s are looking to attract a more influential client that is looking for a more sophisticated taste and healthier food choices.  McDonald’s is about selling food fast and cheap for the consumer on the go.  This distinction is why narrowing your target market so severely is imperative in creating a successful business.  If they both were targeting the same exact market, their advertising and message would be so similar that the consumer wouldn’t be able to identify the difference between the two providers and loyalty would drop and price wars would ensue as that would be the only criteria that the customer would have to compare the two brands.

What’s your takeaway?  It’s OK to track and study your competitors but it’s more important for you to narrow your target market as much as possible and create a marketing strategy that fits within the market and your differentiation.  To find out more, download our FREE ebook, 7 Steps to Marketing Success.  Or if you want to learn how create an effective and successful lead generation marketing plan with a professional, call or email Vicki@Stand-Out-Results.com us today.

Stand Out Results

About Vicki James

Stand Out Results collaborates with their clients in the small to medium size professional industries to stand out from their competition by creating strategic, systemize marketing processes for more qualified lead generation resulting in higher sales and profits. Vicki M James, Growth and Accountability Partner at Stand Out Results, is an expert in internal and external branding, strategic marketing and customer experience. Working for local and national companies ranging from family owned to corporations for over twenty years she has developed an unique collaborative consulting style guiding her clients through a cohesive marketing system that results in clear messages and higher sales. When she's not sharing her knowledge about marketing, Vicki is sharing her passion of being socially conscious serving on the YWCA Empowering Women Luncheon Committee and the Rochester Women's Network (RWN) Executive Board where she represents the Marketing Committee as the VP and Chair.

Comments (0)
Categories : Marketing Strategy
Tags : , , , , , , ,

Working ON vs. IN Your Business

By Ann Gusiff · Comments (1)
Friday, January 18th, 2013

As you grow your business it’s important to distinguish between working ON and IN your business. Without budgeting  how to spend your time, you’re not likely to move toward your goals. For many small businesses and solopreneurs, working IN the business is all that happens. I liken it to the hamster on a treadmill. Over time, not much changes and the wheel keeps needing four little feet to keep it moving. How do you know if you’re working IN your business? First, working IN the business is working much like an employee would.

You’re working IN your business if you’re:

  • Doing the work yourself
  • Selling
  • Serving clients
  • Paying the bills
  • Collecting outstanding invoices
  • Writing sales or marketing materials
  • Managing employees

Working ON your business requires more thought and is what enables an organization to grow.  In this analogy, the hamster would have to find another hamster to fill in and keep the wheel moving so he could spend some time working on developing some new ways to grow his wheel, or improve the speed. But enough of the hamster wheel analogy. Working ON the business is the type of work that is not easily delegated, and for good reason.

You’re working ON the business if you’re:

  • Doing strategic planning
  • Building strategic relationships
  • Developing and installing systems
  • Hiring key employees
  • Identifying new areas for growth
  • Monitoring key measures
  • Leading the organization

How much time should you spend ON vs. IN your business? For starters, plan for about 20% of your time. I realize that you don’t have that time to give up. Or do you? Remember, working IN the business includes all sorts of tasks that can be delegated or outsourced. Yes, it requires some money to do that. This is one of those times when the adage “you’ve got to spend money to make money” holds true. By investing to give you the time to work ON your business, you are building for future growth and success.

Undertaking a marketing strategy would be working ON your business. Many people I interact with want to grow their business. They desperately need a marketing strategy and plan. However, even thought they may want it, many have trouble finding the time in their schedules to actually commit to make that happen. (Hmm, kind of sounds like the good intentions I have about going to the gym and the disconnect I have with actually making the time to get in there as often as I should. Guilty as charged.)

Have you ever thought about the difference between working IN and ON your business? If so, I’d love to hear from you. If you haven’t, maybe it’s time to take advantage of the complementary marketing audit and make time to work ON your business.

Ann Gusiff

About Ann Gusiff

Ann is an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She's dedicated to her clients' success in mastering their own marketing and is a firm believer in the Duct Tape Marketing principle of "Strategy before tactics". She is also a Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert and is an active speaker. Ann is the founder of Clothes The Deal, a Los Angeles based 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides interview clothing to needy job seekers. She earned an MBA from UCLA Anderson. A little-known fact is that Ann speaks Mandarin Chinese and studied at Beijing University.

Comments (1)
Categories : Consulting, Marketing Strategy
Tags : , , , ,

Trouble Finding Investors or Prospects? Maybe It’s Your Marketing Strategy Message

By Stand Out Results · Comments (0)
Friday, January 11th, 2013

Trust is the number one motivator in getting prospects and investors to take action with your business.  However, how do you build that trust?  And once you have the trust, how do you retain it?  The subject of trust really resonated with me this past week through two separate instances.  The first was at a networking event where I met for the first time, a software developer of a six year start-up company.  While he rambled on about how his business was different from the other companies that I had heard of doing the same thing, he couldn’t complete in a short ten word statement what his benefit was and the core differentiators.  Since software is by far my strong suit, I grasped at the few phrases that made sense in my world and then tried to make it fit to the information I already knew.  All the while, missing important key information because we weren’t talking the same language.  Now, you are probably wondering why the title of this post isn’t about networking, branding, unique selling proposition or core differentiation.  And those all are at the root problem of the message from the person I was connecting with but, the bigger issue was that he shared they were having trouble securing investors.  ”OOOHHH”, I thought, “I completely understand why.”  Investors were having the same trouble I was, we couldn’t understand the key factor of what they were doing that made them unique.  This is a trust issue.  When the message of your differentiation isn’t clear, concise and valuable in the eyes of your ideal client; you’ve lost the sale and become white noise among all the other businesses marketing to the masses.

Stand Out Results helps you grow your business through marketing strategy and brand awareness

So, as a “give to gain” philosopher, I asked this connection if they had a marketing person on staff or working with strategic marketing partner.  His reply was that the CEO did all the marketing and could present the product much better.  However, that’s the crutch with the situation and reason for this blog post!  This connection was the one out and about networking, talking to the public about the company and handing out cards.  It is just as imperative that he was able to explain in a short, ten word statement what his benefits are as it is from the marketing CEO or brochures that they had created.  EVERYONE in your business must be able to clearly and concisely communicate your unique selling proposition.  When they can’t, the trust factor erodes immediately.  So, if a client accidentally dials the wrong extension and receives the staff accountant on the line and said accountant isn’t living and breathing the brand identity created by the marketing, advertising and sales professionals, the experience quickly

resembles a rouse with the “man behind the curtain”.  Clients start to wonder which experience is the true one.  And allowing them to doubt for one minute that your marketing strategy wasn’t sincere, costs you residual sales and additional clients, ultimately resulting in a significant revenue loss.What happens when the entire company is living and breathing the brand identity, expressing the core differentiation in the same language as the people listening and utilizing the marketing strategy?  Trust occurs.  And when trust happens, money flows and referrals are recommended.  Why?  Well, because when an investor or prospect trusts what your business is offering, they don’t question the price it’s offered at and you can even afford to offer it at a premium.  In addition, you also stop competing on price with your competitors because now you stand out among the crowded marketplace.  Lastly, clients and investors want to spend money with people they know, like and trust and when they have found that, it’s almost an innate need to share the information with others that they are centers of influence (COI) with.  And here lies the second instant where trust became a factor for me last week.  My computer had a virus, come to find out several nasty viruses.  I needed an expert to quickly and

completely eradicate these viruses.  I contacted a trusted center of influence and asked if they knew of anyone that I should call.  Low and behold, they still do this type of work .  Yippee!  Now I have someone to take care of my frustration that I know, like and trusted.  In addition, whatever they were going to charge me was going to be okay because I knew them, trusted them and felt that they would take care of me and my problem with minimal incident at the maximum efficiency.  This expectation is the epitome of trust.In closing, if you notice that you aren’t closing any proposals or landing any investors, review your message to ensure you are communicating in a way that builds trust at every level of your business.  Once you have this solidified, the sales and money will follow.

Stand Out Results blog posts are written by:  Vicki M James, Growth and Accountability Marketing Strategy Partner and Duct Tape Marketing Consultant

Stand Out Results

About Vicki James

Stand Out Results collaborates with their clients in the small to medium size professional industries to stand out from their competition by creating strategic, systemize marketing processes for more qualified lead generation resulting in higher sales and profits. Vicki M James, Growth and Accountability Partner at Stand Out Results, is an expert in internal and external branding, strategic marketing and customer experience. Working for local and national companies ranging from family owned to corporations for over twenty years she has developed an unique collaborative consulting style guiding her clients through a cohesive marketing system that results in clear messages and higher sales. When she's not sharing her knowledge about marketing, Vicki is sharing her passion of being socially conscious serving on the YWCA Empowering Women Luncheon Committee and the Rochester Women's Network (RWN) Executive Board where she represents the Marketing Committee as the VP and Chair.

Comments (0)
Categories : Lead Conversion, Lead Generation, Sales
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Your Differentiation Really Different or Just an Expectation?

By Stand Out Results · Comments (0)
Friday, December 14th, 2012

While supporting Small Business Saturday this weekend, I asked the main street shops what made them different – what was going to compel consumers to shop at their stores rather than the big box ones?  Some had really good differentiation, they catered to special needs children and educational-based toys, others didn’t know and were like everyone else; an orange among many oranges.

Stand Out Results helps their clients stand out from their competition

Since you aren’t truly setting yourself apart from your competition, you are perceived as the same.  Once perceived as the same from your competition, the prospect and customer immediately finds ways to differentiate you on their own and usually price is top on the list.  If you want to be viewed and regarded as the professional industry expert it is imperative that you find a valuable and compelling reason that you are different from everyone else in the marketplace who is doing the exact same thing as your business.  I like to call this the “Janet Jackson Factor”.  As in, “What have you done for me?”.  When looking to find your differentiator within marketing your business you need to look at your business through your client’s eyes and often getting your current clients involved is the best way to move from expectation to true unique core difference.

By interviewing your current “A” ranked clients; those that you enjoy working with, value your services, pays on time and refers you, on why they started to work with you in the first place you gain immeasurable insight to what makes your business different.  Ask them what you do better than anyone else like you and what they say to friends and colleagues when they refer you.  Once completed, you’ll quickly notice the commonality of the responses and understand who you are to them and how your business helps their core frustrations.  You can now, create your true core differentiation and unique selling proposition (USP), positioning your company brand to stand out among your competition and allowing you to charge a premium for you services and products.   Let me warn you however, what you find out may not sound unique or sexy.  Often, it’s a company’s way of delivering an experience; the people, guarantees offered, packaging , brand promotion or special touches.  It’s how the company positions its business to solve a problem that everybody in the industry is having that motivates people to buy.   A good friend of mine, on the first time we met, told me about her commercial janitorial company.  The unique differentiator that stuck in my mind was their philosophy of cleaning the bathroom; if you had to get sick at work, you wouldn’t mind laying on the tiles.  Now THAT is commitment to extreme cleaning and a true testament to what they stand for and the quality of work they provide beyond what all the other commercial janitorial companies are offering.

In conclusion, my challenge to you is to really look at your business with a critical eye and determine if you core differentiation is truly something that is unique or simply an expectation.  Decide if your unique selling proposition is the apple among the oranges to stand out within your crowded market place.  Ask you clients, power partners and employees what you do best.  Remember, as John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing guru best put it, “while it’s very logical to try to find your point of differentiation from a product, package or price feature, some of the greatest marketing strategies reside in tapping the underlying culture of the organization itself.”

Stand Out Results

About Vicki James

Stand Out Results collaborates with their clients in the small to medium size professional industries to stand out from their competition by creating strategic, systemize marketing processes for more qualified lead generation resulting in higher sales and profits. Vicki M James, Growth and Accountability Partner at Stand Out Results, is an expert in internal and external branding, strategic marketing and customer experience. Working for local and national companies ranging from family owned to corporations for over twenty years she has developed an unique collaborative consulting style guiding her clients through a cohesive marketing system that results in clear messages and higher sales. When she's not sharing her knowledge about marketing, Vicki is sharing her passion of being socially conscious serving on the YWCA Empowering Women Luncheon Committee and the Rochester Women's Network (RWN) Executive Board where she represents the Marketing Committee as the VP and Chair.

Comments (0)
Categories : Lead Generation, Marketing Strategy, Sales
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What Strategies Are You Changing Now to Make 2013 More Profitable?

By Stand Out Results · Comments (0)
Monday, December 10th, 2012

I know you don’t want to face it, but 2013 is much closer than you think.  Have you created your goals and strategies for the new year yet?  Have you decided the next level you want to take your business?  How are you going to get there?  How are you going to get there with the least amount of work and the highest amount of return in profit?

Strategy through planning Stand Out Results

Strategy before tactics will provide the highest amount of profit with the least amount of work

This week’s post is designed for you to be more reflective and create that strategy plan you think about producing every year but never dedicate the time to complete.  I also encourage you to include several levels within your organization to enable you to have the most robust view and highest by-in by all that are involved.  When you have actualized a plan with strategy in mind, keep it out on your desk where you can view it everyday and communicate it with your staff in a way they can be reminded of where you’re looking to take the business; this approach will raise the probability of implementation and success.

Take a look at every aspect of your business and determine what is working and what needs to be tweaked.  Are you carrying more inventory than needed; can you move to a just-in-time process?  Are your employees happy and engaged with their work responsibilities; is the culture one that reflects your brand and core values?  Is your billing process as tight as it could be; are you making it extremely easy for your clients to pay you on time, every time?  Are you trusted advisers helping you grow you business; are they at the next level you’re looking to move towards?  Is your sales cycle easy for your prospects to sell themselves; have you educated your clients on how to refer more qualified business to you?  Do you have a marketing plan in place with strategy before tactics; are you educating through the Marketing Hourglass™ rather than shoving them through the sales funnel?

How you determine to grow your business for 2013 will result on how well you can reflect on what went well and what didn’t in 2012.  Allow your company and staff to be flexible to make the needed changes to provide the profitable success you’re looking for to take your business to the next level in 2013.

Stand Out Results

About Vicki James

Stand Out Results collaborates with their clients in the small to medium size professional industries to stand out from their competition by creating strategic, systemize marketing processes for more qualified lead generation resulting in higher sales and profits. Vicki M James, Growth and Accountability Partner at Stand Out Results, is an expert in internal and external branding, strategic marketing and customer experience. Working for local and national companies ranging from family owned to corporations for over twenty years she has developed an unique collaborative consulting style guiding her clients through a cohesive marketing system that results in clear messages and higher sales. When she's not sharing her knowledge about marketing, Vicki is sharing her passion of being socially conscious serving on the YWCA Empowering Women Luncheon Committee and the Rochester Women's Network (RWN) Executive Board where she represents the Marketing Committee as the VP and Chair.

Comments (0)
Categories : Consulting, Marketing Strategy
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Unaligned Expectations Impact Repeat and Referral Business

By Stand Out Results · Comments (1)
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012

To build your business with the least amount of time, effort and money; repeat and referral business is an important aspect of your marketing plan.  However, when expectations of customers and vendors negatively aligned, the client experience is deeply impacted.  If the experience you provide for your customers isn’t exactly what they perceived was to happen, you’ve affected your ability to have repeat business and the opportunity for referrals.  So, how can you ensure that you are delivering in the exact way that your client expects?

  1. Ask for anticipated expectations - You know what you feel are the expectations for the project but it’s really about what the customer feels.  Ask them to list their anticipated expectations for the projects so that both parties are on the same page.
  2. Review expectations before starting – When signing on the dotted line, commit in writing what you plan on providing for your client.  Review this list with your client and make sure they understands exactly what it means.
  3. Check in – Once the work has started, check in with your client to make sure that they perceive you to be on track and within their expectations on how the work would be completed.
  4. Post Mortem – At the end of the project, inquire from your customers if they believe everything you discussed at the beginning of the project was completed and in the manner expected.  If not, ask them to expand on the disconnect and review to make sure you didn’t miss something or if the expectation wasn’t really discussed.  This can be a tricky part.  If you truly feel the customer is now asking for something that wasn’t reviewed at the beginning; have an open and honest conversation about it.  Request that they share with you how that expectation fit within the ones identified.  Upon review of the conversation  if you can see how the expectation could be misconstrued; then relent and provide the service.  If the additional service is too costly, talk with your client about splitting the costs with the reasons why.  If the expectation is completely out of the realm of the project scope and not cost effective to complete anyway; discuss this with your client and offer to create an addendum to the engagement, again detailing all the expectations from both sides.

By continually reviewing client expectations at the beginning, end and throughout the project; you significantly reduce surprised perceived differences and increase the customer experience.  When a client knows and trusts that you will be checking in with them during the entire engagement, you immediately give them the opportunity to relax and enjoy the process.  And as you know, once the client enjoys the process, the work becomes easier for you, repeat business is automatic and they’ll be raving about your business to their friends and business colleagues.

Stand Out Results

About Vicki James

Stand Out Results collaborates with their clients in the small to medium size professional industries to stand out from their competition by creating strategic, systemize marketing processes for more qualified lead generation resulting in higher sales and profits. Vicki M James, Growth and Accountability Partner at Stand Out Results, is an expert in internal and external branding, strategic marketing and customer experience. Working for local and national companies ranging from family owned to corporations for over twenty years she has developed an unique collaborative consulting style guiding her clients through a cohesive marketing system that results in clear messages and higher sales. When she's not sharing her knowledge about marketing, Vicki is sharing her passion of being socially conscious serving on the YWCA Empowering Women Luncheon Committee and the Rochester Women's Network (RWN) Executive Board where she represents the Marketing Committee as the VP and Chair.

Comments (1)
Categories : Marketing Strategy, Referral Marketing, Sales, Uncategorized
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

4 Tips to Make Your Professional Membership Work for You

By Stand Out Results · Comments (0)
Monday, November 19th, 2012

You’ve joined a professional group; now what?  Getting the most out of your professional association is the ultimate goal when you joined.  However, now you’ve paid your dues and don’t know how to proceed forward.  Or, you think you’re getting the most out of it but you’ve only just touched the surface. 

The number one thing you need to do is get involved;  join committees, help with special interest groups, see if there is a position open on the board.  The connections you make here will be the lasting and most significant ones for your career.  Why? Because when people decide to buy your product or service they need to know, like and trust you before they act.  When you’ve spent several hours together demonstrating your skills for a joint project and goal, you’ve created that trusting bond that makes it easier for you to become their “go to person”.

Upload your bio and picture immediately! This is your introduction to the entire group and you don’t want your first impression to be “I’m really not committed to this group or my career because I don’t care enough to share who I am.”.  Don’t skip out on this and don’t just do one or the other.  Your bio doesn’t need to be three paragraphs long, it can be as easy as your elevator speech or unique selling position.  You probably already have one for your work website; talk to your Marketing Manager for help.  People are visual and will remember you much better by seeing your photo with your bio.  Ensure to use a recent, professional focused picture of yourself.  Yes, your wedding photo from five years ago is amazing, but that’s best used for Facebook.  Make sure that the picture still represents who you are and what you embody now so that when people see it they remember the current you.

Review the member list and contact five people who you could help with their career.  Yes, I said who YOU could help.  Networking is about paying it forward.  When you turn the situation away from your business and onto someone else’s they will listen harder to the solutions that you provide and feel more comfortable referring you because they like and trust you.  Invite them out for coffee and learn about their business and what they offer.  Listen and determine who you can connect with them for possible sales or power partnerships.

Lastly, attend events as frequently as your schedule allows.  When you go, have a great attitude and presence that you want to be there.  Be prepared; have plenty of business cards, know your unique selling position and elevator speech and look to talk to as many people possible.

When you make your presence known among the members, you’ll see better results with your membership and soon, it’ll pay for itself.

Stand Out Results

About Vicki James

Stand Out Results collaborates with their clients in the small to medium size professional industries to stand out from their competition by creating strategic, systemize marketing processes for more qualified lead generation resulting in higher sales and profits. Vicki M James, Growth and Accountability Partner at Stand Out Results, is an expert in internal and external branding, strategic marketing and customer experience. Working for local and national companies ranging from family owned to corporations for over twenty years she has developed an unique collaborative consulting style guiding her clients through a cohesive marketing system that results in clear messages and higher sales. When she's not sharing her knowledge about marketing, Vicki is sharing her passion of being socially conscious serving on the YWCA Empowering Women Luncheon Committee and the Rochester Women's Network (RWN) Executive Board where she represents the Marketing Committee as the VP and Chair.

Comments (0)
Categories : Lead Generation, Marketing Strategy, Sales
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Small Changes Can Result in Big Improvements For Your Business

By Joe Costantino · Comments (0)
Wednesday, October 17th, 2012

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step”

Lao Tzu

Sometimes business owners can mistakenly fall into a trap by believing that when business gets challenging, you need to make drastic changes to improve, grow and ‘right the ship’.

I just completed a book called Small Changes, by Susan and Larry Terkel. This easy-to-read book, provided me with a timely reminder and a fresh perspective on the fact the some of the most effective and long-lasting positive changes people make in their lives is done on a very small scale or with baby steps.

I thought the book did a fantastic job of recognizing and outlining that any change is better than no change at all.

In fact, the strategy espoused by the authors in the book was the view that the secret to success is to focus on making small or incremental changes, rather than these major changes that rarely if ever stick for very long.

I think the point here is valid. when I work with coaches, consultants and professional service providers, most of the time they are doing many of the ‘right’ things to grow their business. They just might not be doing these things consistently enough or haven’t taken the necessary time to develop a systematic process for successfully positioning themselves and their company in the marketplace.

Small changes, while not always easy, are easier than big changes or massive makeovers. And here is the great thing . . . .

Small change adds ups.

I have found it is difficult for business owners to make big changes, so there is a tendency to do nothing. We all learned in our high school science class with the law of inertia that objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and objects at rest tend to stay at rest.

Small changes are simple and easy to implement. I have learned if it’s not easy, people will not do it.

What are the takeaway here?

  1. Look closely at what you do in your business everyday. Develop good work habits. List the 10 most important things you need to accomplish for each day, and then do these first.
  2. Make only one change at a time. Make one small change at a time, before going on to the next change.
  3. Make small change a constant in your life. Repetition creates mastery in life. My father-in-law was a professional accordion player. He practiced everyday until his death. Everyday!
  4. Trust the power of mall change, and remember, it will add up.
  5. Enjoy making small changes – Reward yourself for making positive changes in your business/life.

Now, go change your life and business one small step at a time.

Joe

Joe Costantino

About Joe Costantino

Joe Costantino is the founder of Business Marketing Success, Inc. and is President and Managing Partner of Duct Tape Marketing Coaching, LLC. Joe Costantino help coaches, consultants, and independent business professionals turn their professional expertise into money, magnificence and meaning. He does this by packaging their expertise, properly positioning them in the marketplace and utilizing the best tools to attract more qualified leads and turning those leads into paying clients.

Comments (0)
Categories : Marketing Strategy
Tags : , , ,
Next Page »

Authors

Duct Tape Marketing Consultant
1800 Central Street, Ste 203
Kansas City, MO 64108
866-DUC-TAPE (382-8273)
Copyright © 2013 All Rights Reserved
iThemes Builder by iThemes
Powered by WordPress