The business world is changing. Ten years ago, you would have never understood "sharing your contacts on the cloud." Two years ago Newsweek stopped all printed publications. Take a look around you. It's time to move your company forward.
Last week I spent three days learning about new trends in internet marketing. I'd like to share a few ideas with you that can help grow your business:
Thank YOU for reading my post and stay tuned for more growing your business ideas.
Sally Poole
Check out our Facebook videos to see Sally's Secret Ninja Facebook trick! Find it here.
Social media can be intimidating - especially as a small business owner with limited time. We've put together a series of steps - a recipe - to get you started! Let's get cooking!
PREP
Strategies are the bread and butter of a social media campaign. How do you develop one? Start with your target audience.
ORGANIZE
USE
Start using social media - but start small and build.
RELATE
Listen to your followers. Comment and respond – even to negative, especially to negative, feedback. Be relatable. This helps build relationships – which is the essence of social media. Share others posts. Just like you communicate with people on your personal page – communicate with them via your business page (just keep it tasteful and professional – remember this creates an image for your business!).
EXPERIMENT
Track and analyze your posts. Experiment with different times and days to find the best time to post that will elicit responses from your customers. Find out what types of content get the best results. Social media is constantly evolving, so your content should be too!
BONUS
Comment below with comments or questions! Please, share our posts with anyone you think would find it helpful!
Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book of Selling, 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
By Jeffrey Gitomer
I love this little book!! It may be the most direct, most helpful book on salesmanship ever. The no-hold-barred approach gets right in your face about what it takes to be uber successful in sales.
The author, Jeff Gitomer, links the book to his website to add more information and expose you to more opportunities to learn even more - to go deeper in to each topic.
The content is broken into easy to digest bites with clever cartoon illustrations and helpful graphics. The left sidebar column features a “ Red Whine” while the right sidebar column shows its counterpart “Red Selling Response” winner. Here’s an example: Red Whine: “They keep throwing away my brochure.” Red Selling Response: “They don’t want your brochure. They want answers to their situations and concerns.”
It’s obvious Jeff speaks from experience and his experience means you can leap forward if you follow his lead. Jeff recommends reading this book multiple times and committing most of it to memory! There are helpful checklists and information shared from other sales greats as well.
One of my favorite sections (pg 112 questions) talks about the power of smart questions. There are lead in suggestions for probing questions that will get you the information you really need to help your prospect get to the heart of how you can help them.
A few examples of good lead- ins for smart questions:
“Smart questions make you look smart. Dumb questions…”
The goal of these types of questions is to collect the information in this list of 9.5 benefits:
1. Qualify the buyer.
2. Build rapport.
3. Create prospect disparity.
4. Eliminate or differentiate from the competition.
5. Build credibility.
6. Know the customer and their business.
7. Identify needs.
8. Find hot buttons.
9. Get personal information.
9.5 Close the sale.
Jeff uses humor to look at the fun side of sales. And he is inventive about his sales tactics.
Late in the book, we are encouraged to figure out the “why” behind our sales efforts.
Who will you help with your sales? That’s the real reason you called. It’s the real reason you do business. It may take several layers of “why” to get to the real reason for you. Take the time to get there.
When you have your “why,” put it everywhere. Remind yourself of why you do what you do.
People buy for their reasons, not for your reasons. Make sure you know their “why”, too!
Full of humor and creative approaches tested by many years of success, The Little Red Book of Selling is more than worth the read. Our author reminds us that we all do sales in one way or another, anytime we want to win someone over to our point of view. It might be your spouse or your kids, your neighbors or co-workers but we all need to understand these principles regardless of our career.
Thanks, Jeff! I appreciate the help and the laughs!
Rose Anne Huck
Poole Communications Poplar Bluff Manager
For more information on this book and other works by Jeff Gitomer: http://www.gitomer.com/Jeffrey-Gitomer-Little-Red-Book-of-Selling-pluLRB.html
Advertising just doesn't work like it used to. It's expensive and isn't getting results. Worst of all it's difficult to track. Businesses don't know how to manage their marketing or advertising and don't have time to do it right. Word of mouth works and can still be counted on. That's why social media is growing fast.
Many small business owners would echo these sentiments. However, none of these statements have to be fact. While advertising can be expensive and time consuming, it has major benefits. On average, many small business owners cut marketing budgets first when they start having cash flow worries. However, it’s at those times that it’s even more important to keep your business brand front and center.
Social media is by far one of the most effective and affordable ways to reach your customers and build your brand, but it’s not the only way. Here’s our list of marketing tips and strategies to help you market your business the best you can, even when the budget is tight.
These eight tips are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing. But they are enough to get you started and help you out if your budget isn’t that big. Just remember, engaging customers and building relationships are the heart of your business and will be vital in your business growth. You don’t have to spend outrageous amounts of money on your marketing for it to be successful as long as you put in the time and effort and focus on what’s important to your customers.
Infographic: Freepik.com; edited by Poole Communications.
Ok, you're going to think I'm nuts, but today I'm talking about Gay Hendricks' book Conscious Golf. If you know me, you'll know I'm a new golfer and am terrible at the game although I have a lot of fun because it's so totally different from work and is wonderful stress release for me.
Mr. Hendricks wrote this book for business owners and it's honestly one of the best books I've read on business. It's short and concise. I highly recommend that you read the book yourself. Here's a brief overview - but please consider reading the book - it's worth it.
Time feels different for each of us. For instance spending an hour with someone you love feels like a very short period of time compared to an hour solving a difficult client issue at work. Einstein explained this experience of time. He pointed out that how we are in our daily lives affects how we work and how we view life. It's important to control our emotions and be in the moment. It's all about relationships with people - and with the golf ball.
First secret is to make sure you have hit the ball. Keep your attention on the project at hand. Finish it before you start something else. Don't let your attention wander. Stay focused on the most important tasks at hand. Incompletion saps your energy and stops you from accomplishing more.
TIP: Make a list of the 3-5 things you need to accomplish every day and get them done.
Second secret is to not get so caught up in hitting the ball that you forget the swing. Swing as in a playground swing. Have some fun, find your rhythm. It's not a hack or whack, it's a swing. It needs to come easily and be graceful. You won't always be in the swing of things, but you can get yourself back into the swing. This could also be considered sharpening the saw or taking a moment for a few deep breaths. As Hendricks' recommends, "don't push the river." When you're feeling uncomfortable or feeling fear, you are not going to be working at your best.
TIP: Take a few moments every day to take a few deep breaths, recenter and relax.
The Third Secret is that the ball doesn't go anywhere until you hit it. YOU bring the power and energy it takes to get things going - so do it. Life isn't hard or beautiful or tough or fair. "Life isn't ANYTHING until we IS it." If you're stuck in repeat patterns or not making as much money as you'd like in your business, rethink how you are working and make changes. Figure out what's stopping you and stop it. Don't focus on others and fixing their problems, fix yours. What things do you tell yourself that are no longer true or no longer serving you. Examine yourself carefully and get rid of old patterns.
TIP: Commit yourself to lifelong learning, not only about business or golf, but about yourself.
Now go buy the book and read it. I can't begin to do it justice.
Sally Poole
Poole Communications owner
For more information on this book, and other works by Gay Hendricks': http://www.hendricks.com/amazon/
Our goal is to serve you better. Help us serve you.
We want to make sure we’re covering the topics that YOU are most interested in. That said we need your help!
To know what information you need and want, we need you to tell us. We’ve put together a one-question survey just for you! Please take a few seconds – that’s all it should take—to answer this question for us.
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When you're done go to our Insights and pick up some quick tips for your business. Subscribe to our newsletter to be sent regular tools and tips.
Photo Designed by Freepik.com, edited by Poole Communications.
Rose Anne Huck, manager of our Poplar Bluff office brings you today's book review.
Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers.
By Seth Godin
Internet marketing pioneer Seth Godin says we must change the way almost everything is marketed today.
Our author, Seth Godin, speaks to us about the demise of the age of interruption Marketing with the arrival of Permission Marketing. In this groundbreaking book, Godin describes the four tests of Permission Marketing:
With case study after case study, Godin walks us through good and bad examples of using the power of Permission Marketing to grow a business and customer base.
We are encouraged to follow-up with a full “suite of follow-up messages” for permission given. The suite of messages is a leveraged sequence of communication designed to strengthen our position and build trust.
You can easily do the math. Drive traffic to your site to collect their contact information. For every x percent who give you permission, you’ll generate $Y in sales. To finish the equation all you need is your conversion rate which you may be able to pull from your sales and marketing records.
The key is not to focus on permission acquisition on-line but rather build to it into what you’re already doing in your marketing efforts.
Think of it this way: an Interruption Marketer is a hunter. A Permission Marketer is a farmer.
Seth Godin uses a charming analogy to demonstrate the differences between Permission Marketing and Interruption Marketing.
First Scenario: A man gets a new suit, shoes, all the accessories and heads to a singles bar. He has an engagement ring in his pocket. He proposes marriage over and over hoping for someone to take him up on his offer. As you can imagine, he suffers many rejections.
Second Scenario: A man chooses a likely prospective date. Asks her out to dinner and a movie (appropriate incentives). They spend time together. Go out again. Meet the family. Eventually he proposes marriage and gets an emphatic “Yes!”
This approach is about building quality connections where there is mutual trust which in the long-term should result in greater sales per contact than any other system.
When we look at it this way, it is hard to imagine doing marketing any other way. It is also obvious that Permission Marketing requires a greater investment of time and resources. Permission Marketing results grow over time. They is measurable. These are the opposite of Interruption Marketing.
One hundred years ago small businesses ruled the world. They were responsive, trusted and capable. They offered samples or use of products before purchase and the company owner or sales person spent extra time with customers before the sale. It would not have been unusual for the company owner to be your neighbor. Oh my, how times have changed for most companies.
The KEY to Permission Marketing is in building a series of steps designed to get prospects to take the next step in the process. Let’s take a look at this example: Camp Arowhon
At each step the goal is to expand permission, not to make the final sale.
By not focusing on the sale, marketers are able to get far more out of their expenditures. Response rates to free samples, an affinity program or birthday club is 5 to 10 times higher than responses pushing for the sale.
When you are making your offer, the less you ask and the bigger the bribe, the more likely the consumer will bite. This guarantees your chance to deepen the permission with the next level.
Three important keys to keep in mind:
The first sale is the beginning of the relationship, NOT the ultimate goal. The Ultimate Goal is mutually beneficial - a relationship which grows over time. You supply their need. They pay you. You provide more. They buy more and so forth and so on.
If you find need to start with high cost interruption marketing, you want to leverage the cost of the first interruption across multiple interactions. In this instance it definitely pays to approach your audience in as many ways as possible.
TRUST is EVERYTHING! Without trust there are no sales. Trust means the prospect believes in the product and the company. Think of it this way, you have a different level of trust with a high-end jeweler versus the guy on the street with a briefcase of jewelry.
Building trust is a Step by Step process which requires time, money and commitment. Frequency builds familiarity and familiarity builds trust. When you first run your ad 10% of your market will remember it. If you run 30 days in a row, by the law of averages, eventually everyone will remember your ad. Frequency causes the consumer to focus on the message. Like repeating yourself to a 4-year-old helps get the point across - or training a dog or horse.
Statistically when you increase your frequency by 100% you increase your effectiveness by 400%! Frequency and trust outweigh reach and its glamour.
This book is packed with the fundamentals needed to connect with you audience in a way that resonates with them and will lead to relationships that are beneficial for you both.
One of my favorite examples used in the book is the LL Bean catalog company. Their inventory stays relatively unchanged year after year. There are a few tweaks but nothing extensive. LL Bean sends out catalogs over and over again even though the last book you got probably has not changed very much. Their loyal followers welcome these new books and peruse them and continue to buy from them year after year. This is the relationship we all need. Customers and prospects who are happy to receive our sales message and who trust us to deliver quality.
Permission Marketing was written in 1999 but remains an authoritative source of information. Many if not most of Godin’s predictions have come true. He was and is so far out front that even now, we are still working to implement what he preached then.
One last suggestion: Read it and read it soon.
To find out more about Seth Godin's Permission Marketing book, visit http://sethgodin.com/sg/
We’re so excited for the opportunity to present a workshop at the Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce on May 29! The topic up for discussion is how to Make the Most of Social Media.
We know that Social Media can be a real headache. Especially for business owners who need to focus on business, but know that social media can be an integral part of business growth.
This workshop will give you the information you need to effectively manage your social media without eating up your time. You’ll learn how to use social media more effectively, best practices in social media and how to make it manageable. Plus, we’ll talk about content management, how to determine which networks and platforms are most beneficial for you, and when it’s time to hire someone to help you out.
The workshop will be from 10 a.m. to noon on May 29, at the Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce.
Fish Where the Fish Are
Spend your advertising dollars where the market is. The same concept can apply to social media. Use the platform the reaches your specific audience! If you’re customers aren’t using Twitter, but ARE using Facebook, put your time and effort there!
Also, browse our blog for more great marketing tips!
Do you want more tips?
Comment below and let us know what topics are really giving you troubles, or topics you'd just like to know more about!
Today's review comes from our owner, Sally Poole.
Enchantment
by Guy Kawasaki
Build your company by building trust.
“The best overall treatise on interpersonal relationships since Dale Carnegie wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
— Michael Gartenberg, Research Director, Gartner
If you haven't read anything by Guy Kawasaki, it's time to start. His books are entertaining and filled with usable information you can apply to your business or organization right away. Guy started out as the chief evangelist at Apple and he knows business and marketing.
In Enchantment, he talks about winning over people to your company, product or service. It's much more than persuasion or influencing. It's about providing a lasting benefit to others that transforms people and relationships. It cements customers to you. And the process is outlined in this book.
A few of the chapters include: How to Achieve Likability, How to Achieve Trust, How to Prepare, How to Launch, How to Overcome Resistance, How to Make Enchantment Endure.
I'm going to highlight pertinent points from a few of the chapters. Kawasaki talks about how to align yourself with others by becoming more likable through smiling, acceptance of others and even dressing in similar ways. He talks about building trust by being transparent and fully human. That means admitting mistakes and acknowledging personal flaws and passions. He suggests giving for giving sake.
He gives examples of products and companies that enchant, such as Virgin America, and Apple Macintosh. What makes them different is that they are deep, well designed, intelligent, complete, empowering and elegant. I personally love design and to me this is what great work is all about. Thinking a product or service through so that it provides the best possible experience.
I love this book because of all the working examples and the tools he gives you to succeed. One important part of the book is about giving to others. He suggests you give with joy, give early, give often and generously and give unexpectedly. This is part of what builds trust and relationships in business. He even gives you ideas of how to use technology in a better way. For
instance, the six sentence email. Many emails are too long and don't get read. I've even heard of a SIX WORD email. Try it and see what success you have.
Finally he talks about enchanting your employees, your boss and even how to avoid enchantment! Guy Kawasaki covers it all and you'll enjoy his style and information. It's a quick read and it will help you, your business or organization.
To find out more go to: http://www.guykawasaki.com/enchantment/
