Content Is King

We live in a new economy where content is a marketing vehicle. The days of pushing your product or service are over. Thank goodness! Today, sharing valuable information with your audience is the way to grow your business.

When you share your knowledge, as well as the knowledge of others, you position yourself as an expert and a giver. Potential clients get the opportunity to learn about you, develop trust in you, and decide to work with you. Today, everyone Googles what they want to know. Consumers are more informed because they can be. 

So, how are you showing up?

Try this process on for size:
1. List 3-5 topics within your business that you have expertise in; things you could talk about.
2. Create subtopics under each of them
3. Pick a day to create some content
4. Decide if you are going to write blog posts, create videos, or both
5. On that day, create a handful of items
6. Throughout the next couple of weeks disperse those items on your blog, on social media, and in your newsletter (if you have one)

Using this process can keep you on track and consistent with your content. Pay attention to the results you start to realize. And remember, it takes time to make an impression so don't stop! 

Let me know how it works out for you and what you've decided to share! And have fun - it'll make it easier to implement.

What You Need To Know About Sales

Where to begin? With Michael Johnson, the publisher of SalesDog.com! He'll be my guest on Accelerate Your Business Growth on Monday, May 13th at 1pm ET. Michael will share secrets obtained from over a 30 year period in sales including tips in leadership, marketing, telephone sales, and pitfall to avoid. 

Michael is a successful entrepreneur with decades of sales and business leadership. Among his many business activities, he is publisher of SalesDog.com, a website for sales professionals. Among his accomplishments, he has taken a small publishing company from three employees and two products to a multinational corporation with hundreds of employees and over 100 products. As a master salesperson he has founded several successful businesses and published hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. He is also author of the bestselling book Rules of the Hunt which is available at Amazon.  

Today's show is sponsored by The Opportunity Network. This structured, non-competitive referral program is designed to help B2B business leaders grow their businesses through meaningful referrals and coaching conversations. Visit www.SeizeThisDayCoaching.com/Networks to find a chapter near you.

I'm a proud to say that Accelerate Your Business Growth has been named on the list of the Top 100 Podcasts of 2013. 

Change of Scenery

Networking is a critical part of sales and marketing. I'm going to assume that you are actively involved in some sort of networking activity. With so many options to choose from it can get confusing.

There are some guidelines that I use when deciding where to go.

1. What is the intent of the event or organization?
2. Who are the attendees?
3. What are the logistics?

What is the intent of the event or organization?
The questions speaks to the goals and intended outcomes of the group putting on the event. Is it a group looking for exposure and they are inviting a variety of people? Maybe it's a structured networking group where the intent is to help the members connect with potential prospects. Maybe it's a true networking event where the goal is for people to connect with referral partners.

Knowing the intent can help you decide whether it is a worthwhile use of your time and energy.

Who are the attendees?
This is very important. You don't want to spend time with people who you can't help and who can't help you. There are tons of events going on all the time. And your associates and contacts are going to want you to go to the things they are interested in and think are important. 

However, you have to decide for your business which groups make the most sense.

What are the logistics?
You want to know what the format, timing, commitment, and expectation is. It can sound like a good idea to go to an event or meeting until you find out that the timing is bad for you, or the level of involvement is more than you are prepared for.

Find out.

Now that you have those guidelines under your belt consider this - you want to explore so you can find out the answers to those questions. Once you've been doing some networking for a while it can get stagnant. Don't be afraid to explore other venues - even if you've tried them in the past. They may be different now.

Periodically challenge yourself to explore new opportunities. This will help you keep your outreach fresh and interesting. And don't be afraid to leave an organization or group you've been with for a while. Sometimes it is time to move on. You still like those people and will most likely stay in contact with the ones you've made a real connection with. A change of scenery can be just what your sales and marketing effort needs!

What Can You Do?

• What can you do this week to connect with your current clients? 
• Are you in conversation with them on a regular basis? 
• Do you know what's going on with them?

It's easy to get busy doing client work, filling orders, prospecting for new business. Depending on where our focus is, we can find ourselves neglecting our current clients. I don't mean that we aren't doing the work we said we'd do. I'm saying that we aren't building the relationships with those clients.

These relationships are important. When we know what's going on with our clients we can continue to help them. We can connect them to other resources. We can reinforce our value to our clients. Moreover, our clients want to know that they matter to us. When we are communicating with them we are letting them know that we care about them, about their success.

If you aren't in front of your clients building those relationships you run the risk that your competition is. And then when they need something new, guess where they'll go? Right! To the person who is paying attention to them.

So, what can you do this week to reach out to your current clients and let them know you care?

When It Comes to Your Biz Plan Wear Rose-Colored Glasses

When it comes to business plans, most business owners don’t realize that it’s not about the plan, it’s about the act of planning. Don’t get stuck navigating obstacles while planning. Put on your rose-colored glasses and think “Perfect World”.  Join me and my guest Susan Swartzwelder on Accelerate Your Business Growth radio show on Monday at 1pm, as we explore this critical topic.

Susan is a small business specialist serving the special needs of start-up companies and growing businesses ready to take a fresh approach to reinventing themselves.

Since 2010, Susan has been developing new workshops to teach simplicity around business and strategic planning. Her mission is to get owners to focus on the action rather than the object. And she believes if you aren’t having fun, you should change your approach.

In June 2011, Susan launched a networking group for business women in Geauga County called The Red Key Network. Its primary function is to support women in business in the local community. The group has grown from 10 to 70 members in just 18 months. 

Today's show is sponsored by The Opportunity Network. This structured B2B referral program is enhanced with peer discussions around business topics. Visit Opportunity Network to find a chapter near you.

Creating Systems to Gain Time in Your Business

Wondering how to gain time to do more in your business? Join me on Monday, April 8th at 1pm ET for Accelerate Your Business Growth Radio Show. My guest, Tina Forsyth joins us to share tips and techniques for creating systems and processes in your business. When you are looking to add time to your days, this is the show to listen to!

Tina Forsyth is the CEO of a virtual training and consulting company, author of The Entrepreneur’s Trap and creator of the Automate Your Growth™ Formula, where she teaches entrepreneurs her proven step-by-step process to set a strong foundation for business growth. As a formerly overwhelmed entrepreneur and recovering control-freak, Tina is passionate about sharing her experience and helping other entrepreneurs setup the right systems, team and leveraged revenue streams that allow them to stop working so darn hard and have a business that can run without them.

Today's show is sponsored by The Opportunity Network. This non-competitive, structured referral group provides B2B businesses with a unique process of lead generation and business development coaching. 

Sales Plan Implementation

When a small business owner is their own sales force they can struggle with consistently implementing their sales plan. I hear it all the time! Small business owners talk about how they start and stop their sales plan. This leads to up and down sales, crazy cashflow issues, and anxiety over where new business will come from. 

One of the most important things to do in a business is implement a consistent sales plan. When you realize the importance of consistency you will but the plan on the top of the priority list. Remember that sales is something that must be done all the time to prevent the lack of opportunity many businesses experience.

So, how do you set up a plan you can implement on a regular basis? Follow these steps:

1. Determine the target market you want to pursue and gather a list of prospects within that market.

2. Search your networks to see if you are connected to any of them. If so, ask for introductions. If not, send an introductory letter.

3. Schedule phone calls to those prospects. The purpose of these calls is to secure appointments. You are not seeking to sell them on the phone. You want to meet with them to determine if there is a need and a fit.

4. Devise a follow up policy that is straightforward and easy to follow. If you have a CRM system you can use it to schedule follow up calls and communications. If not, use Outlook. The goal is to put the follow up activity on the calendar so you receive a reminder notification.

5. Put all these steps on the calendar and treat them like sales appointments. When you think about it, the meetings we don't cancel are the meetings we have with prospects and clients. So, when you treat your sales activities like sales appointments you will give them the same importance and priority. In this way, you guarantee they will get done.

Lastly, never believe that you can stop prospecting. You can't. When you implement your plan on a consistent basis you will find that business acquisition happens more consistently. And isn't that what it's all about?