How come getting new business isn’t as clear to me as getting a new car?

When you decide to get a new car your emotions get involved. We start focusing on the car we want and we can see the shiny paint color, smell the leather, and hear the roar of the engine. Basically, we see ourselves driving it and emotionally we begin to crave this product. Very quickly, our minds become trained to notice these cars more often and soon we begin to see the same car everywhere!

Funny thing is, there aren’t any more of these cars on the road now then when they first peaked your interest. Your brain has just started to “pay more attention” now. This is human nature; the more thought and emotion you put behind something, the more your brain figures you want it, so it starts picking out and noticing those kinds of things.

Think about your business, do you put this much energy and emotion into getting new customers? If not, that may be why you’re not getting as many as you would like. Start projecting out all the benefits and enjoyment you will have by adding new customers to your business. Think about how happy those new customers will be enjoying your products or services and the positive experience they will receive working with you or someone else on your team. Do you find it hard to get emotional about this? If so, you’ve found your answer: lack of passion.

Time to re-invigorate and remind yourself about all the reasons you went into business for yourself in the first place! All those same emotions and passion need to resurface so your brain can once again get excited about it. Remember, you get what you focus on, so focus on the right things! Make it happen!

© 2010 eMarketing 4 Business LLC

What are the top 3 financial questions you must be able to answer about your company?

1) Are you making money?

In many new businesses, the owner is putting so many of the companies expenses on credit cards that answering this question is more difficult than just looking at the business check book balance. They never spend the time to create a profit and loss statement to figure out if they are REALLY making money! Whether you are or not, the profit and loss statement should give ideas of where to focus your time. That may mean watching expenses or increasing sales of more profitable items.

2) How much does a new sale cost you?

I am always surprised at how many business owners can not answer this question. To get the answer, you need to add up all of your expenses associated with a sale. Many people want to just include the price of the lead, but don’t forget to include items such as: costs of leads that didn’t close, other advertising you do, salaries/commissions for sales staff, cost of item sold (product or service). It is best to know these costs per product/service line. This helps you know if the selling expenses associated with a particular product/service is eating up all your profit margins for that product/service.

3) What is the future value, in terms of revenue, of each of your customers?

This means how much business can you plan on getting from each of your new customers in the future? If you have consumable products, how often can you expect each customer to reorder? If you provide a service, when can you expect to do more work for each customer? Knowing the amount and frequency of repeat business allows you to better plan your company’s growth with each new customer won!

Having the answers to each of these questions will help keep you on top of the financial well being of your company.

© 2009 eMarketing 4 Business LLC

How fast should I return phone calls and emails?

As soon as you can. By getting in the habit of returning your phone calls and emails as soon as practical, you will get more things done and less things will fall in the cracks. For sure there are times when you need to do some research, think about things before you do it or commit to it but in general you want to respond sooner rather than later. I know people who like to wait several hours or a day before returning emails.

Keep in mind you are setting an expectation with the people you communicate with that it is okay to wait half a day or a full day before responding to any communication from YOU. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Be careful what message you are sending to people with the way you return calls and emails.

When in doubt, always respond as soon as possible.

© 2009 eMarketing 4 Business LLC

Marketing 101: Don’t blow your shot!

Who doesn't love a good massage? I feel very fortunate I am able to get one of these stress relieving, knot reducing, self indulging acts on a regular basis to ease the pain from all this typing! When you think of massages, marketing typically doesn’t pop into your mind but for many masseuses marketing is a key tool for obtaining a full clientele base.

I have used the same masseuse for many years now, not only out of loyalty but because their services were bar none. More recently, I was approached by a new therapist who heard about my frequent massages. She attempted to sell us on her services raving how her techniques for deep tissue massage were second to none and that is was absolutely necessary we give her a try. Since deep massages are my forte and this therapist seemed to really understand the concept to giving deep sports type massage I thought I would be willing to try out her services.

As the new therapist's luck with have it, my current masseuse needed to change my schedule around, which did not work out for me and so I decided to contact the new therapist. I made several attempts to contact her via phone and email a couple days ago and I still have NOT HEARD FROM HER!

This brings up a very serious question. Why would the new therapist spend an intense amount of time trying to obtain my business and when the opportunity presented itself she completely dropped the ball? The answer remains a mystery but because of her lack of dependability, she blew it. If this is how she is treating me as a potential customer, how will I be treated once she gains my business when she no longer has to work for it? Unfortunately, she will never get the opportunity.

Not only do you never get a second chance to make a first impression, with some customers you'll never get another chance period. Keep this mind when marketing you services and products. Don’t spend the time to obtain potential customers if you don't plan on staying consistent with your business etiquette.

© 2009 eMarketing 4 Business LLC

Is there room for new strategic partners?

While we all try to survive the economic downturn, it might be worthwhile for you to open up your playbook and consider entering into some new strategic business relationships. You may not be as busy as you once were, and now could be a good time to not only seek out new strategic partners, but to re-visit some of the past partnership ideas that you originally passed on.

Perhaps you were too busy a year ago to pay attention to another small business that wanted to work with you. If you still have a contact at that company, reach out to them and ask them how business is going. Something like a word of mouth referral is worth your time.

It would be a good idea to have your own ideas about how you can make the alliance an effective one, but be more of a listener when you approach the other business. You don’t want to step on anyone’s feet, so listen to what avenues they are willing to explore and be ready to adjust your position on how you can help each other to be successful.

The best way to prepare when approaching these companies is by familiarizing yourself with what they do. What is their company history? What is their mission statement? What is their service and who are they trying to help? Who are their current partners? Visit their website and polish up on your general knowledge about the company. This makes you conversational and credible when speaking about potential business ventures.

Whether you end up trading contacts, providing each other with leads or website links, a little can go a long way during difficult times. Dig up those old business cards and go through your old emails, you never know who might help your small business get back on its feet!

© 2009 eMarketing 4 Business LLC