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Tag Archives: Marketing
Groove Web Marketing-SEO in the Groove
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W Herndon Consulting has joined forces with Sea life and we are forming a new venture. We are great at what we do, but coming up with a name has proven difficult. So Help us out and your biz or the biz of your choice could win $300 worth of web marketing. Go to our facebook page to submit your vote for your chance to win.
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5 tips for Marketing Your Small Business on the cheap!
How cheap is this?
My business mantra when working with a client is “More for less is more.” The idea behind this groovy little slogan is to provide the type of advice that brings the most exponential growth for the cheapest price tag. In other words, I help tight wads, cheap jerks, and broke folks market their businesses and products in the most efficient ways possible.
You can find marketing ideas all over the web, but most only give you a bird’s eye view of how to soap box your wares. Below are the details on a few proven and time tested ideas for marketing yourself and/or your business. Most of these ideas are either free, super cheap, or reap a quick return on invested dollars.
1) Yard signs. Depending on where you buy them and the artwork involved, yards signs can run you anywhere from $1 a sign to $20 a sign. Combined with man-power and properly chosen locations, these little bits of vision pollution can be extremely effective. Do some research on the best colors, notice what others are doing, and make sure the signs are readable from a distance.
There is nothing worse than paying good money for a smoking cool sign that can’t be read. Keep the sign as simple as possible. Place the signs in high traffic areas like malls, shopping centers or entertainment complexes. These areas work best because drivers are already driving slow or even stopping in traffic.
2) Flyers: Depending on what you’re selling, flyers can be a great way to get your name out. You can print and design them yourself, print it at home, and make copies for little of nothing. Especially if the ink is all black. Be sure, however, to use colored paper if that is the way you go.
You do, however, need to make sure you are targeting the proper audience. Warning: Do not leave your flyers on some counter of some store. Very few people actually see them there. Neighborhood or personal distribution methods work best.
3) Good Ole Business Cards: You’re going to print these up anyway, make sure you are giving them out. It’s okay to place these on restaurant bulletin boards or counters, but be sparing. The best practice is to put these in someone’s hand along with an introduction and your elevator speech. (see #4)
4) Develop an Elevator Speech: You should be able to define your business in a way that can be expressed in an elevator ride, and you should tell anyone who is willing to listen. Note: Don’t be too descriptive…leave them wanting to know more. For example, my elevator speech is “I help small businesses grow”. This generally brings the response, “how?” Now the person is engaged and actually asking me to tell them about my business. BEST PART: it’s free!
5) Local Search Engine Marketing: In my opinion, this is the absolute best way to spend marketing dollars. People are already searching for your products or services. All you have to do is get in front of them. If you are trying to be found in your local area, you can easily secure a first page placement on Google for less than $200 per month. If you have loads of time, patience, and ability, you may even be able to learn to do it yourself for almost nothing. If not, you can contact me, and I will get you there.
These aren’t the only cheap ways to market yourself, but this should get you pointed in the right direction. Basically, if you can spend some time each week doing at least 3 of the things above, your business will begin to boom. If you’d like some personal coaching on other cheap ideas, please give us a call at 850-710-5256 or email us. You can also visit our website at wesherndon.com
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Grow Biz like Somoa! Jump Into the Future to Grow Your Business.
Article first published as Be Like Somoa! Jump Into the Future to Grow Your Business on Technorati.
Are you w
illing to make some seriously uncomfortable changes in order to make your business grow more? What about trying to control time? Well, the Samoans are doing just that…
According to Prime Minister Malielgaoi, the Samoan Nation’s current place in the time continuum forces them to lose two business/trading days with the Aussies and Kiwis every week. By picking up their ball and playing on the other side of the International Date Line, they hope to more appropriately align their economy with that of their biggest regional trading partners. (NY Daily News)
Think this is crazy? Back in 2009, they actually switched to driving on the left side of the road. (Just in case you’re wondering, there were no accidents reported on the day the change took place.) This was another way of saying, “hey Australia and New Zealand, we’re gonna play ball by your rules, so remember to pick us before that kid with greasy hair and the nasty rash.”
Why is this important for you as a business owner? Adaptability and flexibility are necessary to continuous business growth. Samoa’s willingness to drastically adapt and evolve sends a message to their biggest customers, and their flexibility gives them an edge over those countries that are less flexible. In other words, they have captured their inner-crazy and are bringing it to the playing field.
A business specific example would be one of my most recent clients, Mrs. Diane (leaving out last names for anonymity). She owns a small beach gift shop in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida and is considering retirement, but still maintains the necessary adaptability and flexibility required of entrepreneurship. Her shop carries a nearly indescribable variety of items that has drastically expanded over her initial theme of local art, jewelry, and gifts. Her willingness to meet local demand has forced the possibly unwanted product additions, but also contributed to the growth of her business.
As a matter of fact, her business hours are a direct reflection of consumer demand. While other shops close at lunch on Saturday, she is open all day. Because elasticity has been a major component of her business strategy, she has strengthened her business and as a result, her retirement fund.
The real lesson here: adaptation and flexibility are essential parts of any business strategy. Sadly, most business owners have dropped growth related terms from their lexicons and have actually traded them for complaints and negativity. How about you? Are you willing to change how you do business in order to grow…maybe even change time? I would surely hope so.
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For more information on us and what we do, visit our website here www.wesherndon.com
6 More Tips for Building Relationships!
Lets be Friends!
Lately, I have posted a couple of articles about the importance of making genuine connections. (See “What Happened to Ole Fashion Conversation?” and, “Building Relationships like a toddler”) Every time I write on these topics, I set out with a certain intention, but the article always leads me in a different direction. Maybe I get my original point across, maybe I don’t. For some reason, however, I still feel compelled to continue the topic. If it feels like I am beating a horse past death, I apologize. I just think that friendships and business relationships cannot be separated, and as a result, can never be discussed enough.
If you really think about some of the greatest adverts over the years, you’ll notice that all of them have something in common: they stir some form of emotional response within us. Unfortunately, most of us running a “Mom and Pop” business or working in sales don’t have monster advertising budgets. Why would we want to manufacture an emotional connection anyway? Shouldn’t we just try to make a real connection with our customers?
So, how do we do this?
1) First of all, you have to care about people. Yeah, I know we all have some self interested reason for going into business or sales, but if you cannot genuinely care about those you serve, you’re doomed. Plus, you miss out on a lot of interesting friendships.
2) Find a common interest! Experience tells me that we all have something in common. Seek it out and be sure to bring it up. For those of us who are social animals, this is natural, but if you aren’t an extrovert by nature, it may take some practice. Oh yeah, their wallet shouldn’t be one of these topics.
3) Spend more time discussing common interests rather than the product or service you sell. Yeah, I know “momma needs a new pair of shoes”, but make a friend and the sells will come. No one likes someone whose only interest is selling something.
4) Be Positive, Complimentary, and Compelling! Momma always said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” In addition, people really are organically drawn to others who make them feel good about themselves. Now, I’m not saying you should stream together a bullet list of compliments, but if you see something worth mentioning, by all means, bring it up. Disclaimer: Please use taste and reason in complimenting others: Granny might have some really nice ankles, but you probably shouldn’t be mentioning it. Don’t want to see you involved in a harassment suit.
5) Non-verbal communication: Be aware of how your body language may be perceived. Smile, never cross your arms while talking to new people, and always look them in the eye. These actions make you more inviting, believable, and trustworthy.
6) Be human and not afraid to show vulnerability: Some of us are so stricken with our attempts to be perfect; we often forget how to be human. You make mistakes, own them. You trip, you stutter, you slip, and you stammer. We all do and it’s ok to let others see it. Just make fun of yourself, laugh, and move on. No one likes to hang out with someone who is “too” perfect or someone who lacks real human qualities.
Ok, I think the horse is officially beaten past his demise, and for now, I can finally lay this topic to rest..at least until the movie comes out. Now, go make friends.
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More For Less: Teaching non-sales folks to sell.
For more info on the below topic, please visit us at wesherndon.com
If you’re going to succeed in today’s small business realm, you really need to ensure that your entire staff is marketing your product or service. The days have passed where you can afford to have a receptionist filing his/her nails when a client walks in the door or gives you a ring. Everyone in the office needs to be in tune with the fact that selling new accounts/products and servicing those accounts/products are the essentials to growing the business and in turn, their paychecks. Below are three steps for converting that introverted comptroller into a valuable part of your sales team.
Buy In:
You’ve heard of this concept? Great! Now let’s implement it. If you want non-sales staff selling your products, then you need to explain to them why it’s important for them to participate. Different things motivate different people, but in most cases an explanation is a good starting point. Let them know that sales growth and happy customers keep the business open and in turn, everyone employed. This may seem like innate “home-grown” knowledge, but when we start assuming that everyone understands this concept, we get into some big trouble.
Another way to gain buy in is to tie dollars to it. I personally like the idea of an in-house referral fee. For every customer a non-sales staff member brings into the business, you should pay them a specific dollar amount on the sale. This can be a percentage of the sales price or a set amount, but this makes the idea personal. They gain the power to give themselves a raise, and you gain the benefit of a “production” based compensation model. No production, no additional compensation.
Tie an expected number of referrals into each position’s work objectives. Now I’m not saying that we should all be out cracking our friends and families over the head trying to force them into buying our latest widget, but it is important however, to have an objective for every person on the staff. This number should be an easily obtainable objective that requires only a partial conscious effort. We don’t want too much distraction from their essential duties, but we do want them motivated enough to ask others to patronize the business.
Engage them. By inviting them to the brainstorming table and letting them know you value their input on things outside their normal scope, you gain valuable insight and new ideas. The buy in becomes automated and you might find that many of the suggestions mentioned here become internally organic.
Create the process
You’ve got their buy in, now what? Since you are the business owner or manager, you probably have some form of sales skill set. You have done things, met people, or marketed in ways that has brought your business to this level, right? What methods do you use to ask others to spend their dollars at your establishment? Write them down!
The key here is to create an expected method or process that will allow you to teach others how to sell your products and/or services. You should have a glossary of terms that describe your business/products and a set of “tag-lines” or phrases that you deem appropriate in those descriptions. For example, if you’re in the pest control industry you might not call the pesticides you use “chemicals”…”Product” is a more customer friendly term. Another example within the same industry might be “treatment” rather than the negative phrase, “spraying your house.”
In other words, proper terminology and phrasing are essential to creating a positive image. As a business owner, you are automatically using this terminology….codify it and prepare to share it with those working for you.
If you prefer, you can hire a consultant who specializes in these things (Shameless plug). The money spent on proper advice is usually well worth the expense.
Train them up!
If you want employees to do something, not only do you need to tell them to do it, but you should teach them how. Training is always the difference maker for a business. In this particular case, the depth of training required to get a sales person ready to go out into the field is not necessary, but some basics are essential.
What they should understand when the training is completed:
The types of customers/clients you want. Who is your perfect client, or what demographic represents your most loyal customer? Either way, you should be able to define this in a way that is easily understood by your team.
The products and/or services you offer and how they work. Be specific. What are the features and advantages to your products?
What are the benefits of people using your products and services versus the competition’s? How do your products/services benefit the customer? Why should the customer want it?
What is the competition actually doing? Why is that an advantage for you?
Your team members should understand benefits of participating and/or the consequences of not participation. Reward/compensate them for taking part in sales.
What is the correct way to ask someone to spend their dollars with your organization/business? Asking for someone’s business is always an awkward situation for some sales people, much less those who do not sell things for a living. It is essential to teach them how to close the sale.
Got the ball rolling, now what?
Once everyone is engaged, it is important to constantly and consistently reiterate the process and program, track the results, and continue to look for more efficient/effective ways for them to participate. Communication is necessary, recognition is essential, and deliberate activity is imperative.
Be mindful that this, like so many other things in business, may not bring overnight results. But if you create and follow the process, exponential growth is not far behind. Good luck and Good growth!
If you should have any questions about these steps or want to share ideas on this topic, please feel free to email me at wes@wesherndon.com or post a comment below.
What Happened to Ole Fashion Conversation
Mixed Messages
Being a “real” person in the digital age is becoming a dying art. More and more, we seem to be hiding behind our little electronic devices, computer screens, and social media. Although people are sharing a heck of lot more than they probably should, I really do believe that communicating in this manner is a way for us to enjoy a pseudo anonymous life. Our devices create this invisible wall for us to hide behind, and even though we’re sharing many personal things about our life, we’re still hiding our emotions and feelings from others. Unfortunately, written communications can never adequately convey what the human voice and body can.
Don’t get me wrong. I am a social media junkie. I am hooked on texting, twitter, facebook, and linkedin, and I Spend entirely too much time on all of them. As you get to know me you’ll realize that much of what I write in these posts are as much for me as anyone else. That being said, I believe that digital or text related communication can be good and bad. On the good side: we’re reading more, catching up with old friends from years past, and even getting the scoop on a cousin’s prostate exam. What we’re truly missing, however, is the emotional and social bond that comes from good ‘ole fashion conversation.
As it relates to business and sales:
Digital tools are essential to developing business relationships, but should never be a replacement for true contact. Listed below are 5 reasons why true human interaction is essential to your business and sales.
1) As I have already mentioned, an emotional bond is essential to building relationships. In running a small business, your clients should be your friends and without voice to voice/face to face interaction, this will never truly happen.
2) Emails and text fail to adequately convey emotion and as a result, can often be misinterpreted. Not everyone shares the same level of reading comprehension, attention span, and grammatical skill. As a result, it is always best to deliver bad news or sensitive info via a phone or in person. The contact will be appreciated, will strengthen your relationship, allows for immediate communication on the topic, and as a result, immediate closure.
3) Sharing belly laughs: You’ll recognize LOL, LMAO, ROFLMAO as those nifty little text acronyms that tell us that we are sharing a laugh, being laughed at, or the like. Laughing alone while envisioning someone else laughing can never replace the sounds of someone else laughing with you. Think about it! A shared laugh is one of the all time coolest things that friends, clients, and family can share. It adds to your enjoyment of the situation, and if you’re like most people, you rather hang out with folks who share your sense of humor.
4) Loyalty: Your clients, friends, and acquaintances are more likely to remain loyal to you when they feel emotionally tied to you and your business. As humans, we have a natural tendency to be more forgiving of faults, shortcomings, and innocent idiocy when we are emotionally tied to someone. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in sales situations where I had a better product at a lower price and the prospect remained with their current service because of a friendship.
5) It’s good for you! We all need to be in the company of others from time to time. Sharing thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, and smiles are not luxuries but necessities. Yes, we can do some of this via social media, texting, and email, but these can never contribute to our emotional well-being like face to face contact.
In conclusion, I seriously believe that human contact is essential to business and a healthy personal life. Social networking, text, and emails can be great for catching snapshots of information, but if you truly want to be known or know someone, then get off your duff, go make some friends, share some belly laughs, and grow your business. And, If you ever want to chat, just give me a call 850-710-5256.
10 Tips for new Sales people…and old ones too.
Below is what I always use as a starting point for training new folks. These are fundamental to a successful sales career. I hope you find them useful.
Me having fun with faces
1) Stay away from the old guys (or at least their negative conversations). Most of the older sales people have forgotten what it’s like to be hungry, and as a result, do not face new challenges or obstacles positively. They have built their portfolios of business and as a result, only care about the easy sale. Sales that require building value or relationships are no longer within their area of expertise.
2) Regardless of the costs of your product, you can always sell. The average closing ratio/win rate across the nation is 25% for any product sold. In other words, you are statistically going to sell 2.5 widgets for every 10 presentations…Regardless of your price point. Concentrate on giving more presentations and the sales will come.
3) If your product/service is the lowest priced, you should still sell value. Building value diminishes the perception that your product/service is priced low because it’s crap.
4) Business to Business selling happens through building relationships. Face to face contact is the key to doing this…yep, I mean door to door.
5) Don’t be a secret salesperson. Live by the 5-15-25 principal. 5 business cards given to 5 new people daily; 15 thank you letters (asking for referrals) written daily; and 25 phone calls to potential prospects daily.
6) Set daily, monthly, and annual goals. Write a plan to achieve these goals and review both regularly.
7) Don’t be afraid to ask for the sale. 70% of the people who call themselves sales people never ask for the business. They present the product, build a great rapport, but fail to ask the prospect for a decision.
8) Educate yourself: Always know your products and services, but be sure to continue to learn more about selling and business management.
9) Be thankful. Gratitude is such an important part of being happy in life. If you can take a moment to genuinely appreciate where you are and what you have, you’ll always have a more attractive personality and as a result, people will gravitate towards you.
10) Approach business, life, and family with a giving spirit. Give without expectation or hope for return. You’ll get far more satisfaction out of helping others than by seeking what you may get from them.
Simplified Business Management!
As a small business owner it can be easy to get bogged down in the little details of running your business. These details can seem extremely important when they pop up, but if we were to create a hierarchy of what is essential to your businesses prosperity, we’ll find that many of these details are only moderately important distractions.
The essentials of every business are Sales, Customer Service (products), and Marketing. Every business owner’s and salesperson’s priority list should start with these things, and everything else should be glanced at through the goggles of these categories. In other words, how do those moderately important distractions help improve your efficiency in these areas?
I know, first hand, that this is a lot easier said than done. Nothing causes a big picture to lose focus more than being too close to it. That is why it is imperative to create processes and procedures that prioritize sales, service and marketing.
Would love to know what you think? Post comments
Wes Herndon 