This week I was reminded about how important it is for us to really focus on and believe in the H.C.I.S.Y Business Model. The How Can I Serve You business model has slowly been coming to the surface now for the past few years – finally!  It may be the model you already follow or it may be the model that you are moving into.  Which ever it is – Welcome!

It hasn’t always been this way, and I remember when first starting out in business nearly twenty years ago, how an ‘expert’ made me feel wrong for wanting to focus on my clients success, rather than the money I could make. 

In this particular business training course, we were asked the reason why we were in business.  Most answered that they wanted to make money, whilst there were a few of us who actually spoke about our passion for being in business and the difference we felt we could make. 

It’s seems strange doesn’t it that you would want to be in business to make a difference and add value to others! 

At the time, we were almost laughed out of the room, and told that we probably wouldn’t be in business for long.  So I started to wonder if my focus needed to change.  After all, he was the ‘expert’ and we had all paid a lot of money to be there that day. 

Against my ‘inner judgement’, I took his advice and started to focus on the sale, the money – and it did start to work (for a while). But it was a hollow win. I stopped being excited about my work and it started to feel like a chore, a job. The freedom that first drove me to work for myself was taken from me, and the passion was being constricted.    

After a while, I decided that trusting myself was more important and bringing back the passion into my work was going to be the focus. You see, we know that being the best you can for your clients and supporting them well, that the money will come.

And I was reminded of this again earlier this week when on a call with Guy Kawasaki, who wrote the book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions.  On this call, he said, “Money is a natural outcome of doing something well, so focus on your passion when building your business.” 

It’s so true, don’t you think?

Are you in business and following your passion?  Or are you doing what you think you need to do to make money?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you don’t want to be making money (otherwise, there will be removalist trucks at your front door before you know it!).  I’m just saying that when you focus on serving others, delivering results, and being passionate about the value you add – then the natural outcome will in fact be financial success…

What are your thoughts?  Do you engage in the H.C.I.S.Y Business Model or are you stuck in the outdated W.I.F.M Model

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Every once in a while, life hands you a lesson about something you teach your clients every day...

Over the past few weeks, I had been cataloging all my training audios and webinars, thinking about how I can add more value to these products for you.  One thought has been to have them transcribed, so not only will you have the audio or webinar available in audio/video form, but also as text.  I've been keeping a look out for someone who I can trust and rely to transcribe them for me.

A funny thing happened last week when I noticed a post on Facebook, where a friend mentioned that he recently had an interview transcribed by a contact of his.  Bingo – I’ve found someone to contact in relation to transcribing these into the written word.  It was a recommendation from someone who I not only respect, but trust.

It also made me think about this; How do we make purchases?  Now, I know there is a complete theory around the buyers’ journey (which I will be presenting to the North Sydney & CBD Athena Network in Feb ;-)). For now however,I'm going to keep this simple and ask: "Do you buy from people you trust, know, and like when you have a specific need?"

Let’s have a look at three ways in which people will buy from you….

1)  Current client.  If you are already satisfied with the service and experience you currently receive, you will buy again.  And you will most likely continue to buy as long as you stay satisfied. 

As the supplier of this service it is up to you to make sure that your current clients are in fact satisfied. I would take this one step further and encourage you to look at the experience your current clients are receiving.  As you have no doubt heard me say many times before, your clients will stay with you because of the experience they receive from you. It’s important to make this experience worth staying for!

2)  Referral source. This is what happened for me when I was starting to look for someone to transcribe my programs!  Normally, if I have a need for something, I will ask those within my immediate network that I trust, if they know of or have used someone suitable.  I may also send it out on Twitter or Facebook, which usually takes just a few minutes to give me a number of names I can follow up with.

A question to ask yourself:  "Are you on the top of people’s recommendation list for your industry?  If not, what can you do to be at the top of this list?"

3) Have a relationship, but have not yet purchased.  You may belong to a networking group, where other members may like you and trust you, but they have not yet purchased from you. This may be fine for the moment, but when they do have a need for your particular service, how can you make sure you are the first person they think of calling?

These are only three ways in which people may purchase from you, and I know you may have more ideas about this.  What I like about these three methods, is that there is already a level of trust involved in the purchasing process, as well as an established relationship. You can cut through many buyers' objections when you have this level of trust in your relationship.  And for me, I would much rather spend the time to develop strong, trusting relationships when doing doing business...

What do you think?

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This week I was lucky enough to be at the same networking event as two of my VIP – Fast Track Mentor Clients, and was able to hear them speak about their businesses.  It was great to hear the clarity in their voice as they succinctly described why you would want to use their services.

The ‘elevator speech’ can be a powerful business-marketing tool, especially if there are a number of similar professions in the one room, like there was this week. 

We had two Mortgage Brokers in the room and without being disrespectful – the first Mortgage Broker stood up and spoke about the wonderful features that her and her company could provide us.  She continued to say how they were the number one mortgage broker in Australia, how she would travel to you and that they had 25 lenders to draw from, etc.  Not very exciting and it didn’t really entice you to want to find out more about what she did.

When it came time for my client to speak, she clearly and concisely described not only the features of her business, but also how she could work with you.  She described who she worked with, what challenges they could face in securing a home loan, and how she took the time to make sure she provided the right solution for each client.  As you listened, it was clear she had a real passion for her business, and she would work to get the right result for you or anybody you may refer.  So as opposed to the first speaker, who simply gave you the 'what' of her business, my mentor student also provided the 'why' and 'how' - giving a much more complete picture.

An effective elevator speech needs to communicate immediately to your ideal clients what you can do to solve their problems or challenges.  The outcome being that within the 60-second period, this person will not only want your business card, but will also want to speak with you further about your services.

It’s important to take the time to develop your ‘elevator speech’ and if you don’t get it right the first time – that’s okay.  Keep working on it and make the necessary changes, and it will come together. 

So how do you create an effective elevator speech?  There are numerous ways in which you can pull this together, but below are the guidelines that work best for my clients.  But before we get to that I thought I would share with you, the elevator speech that my client used this week- bear in mind that you have only a short period of time to make a real impact with what you say:

“My name is Kim Wight from Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers and I help you finance your property purchase with the right loan structure and interest rate to meet your requirements.

I do this by taking the time to personally understand your current needs and future plans, and provide you with the best advice and outstanding service to satisfy your needs now and into the future.

If you know anyone thinking about finance or worrying about rising interest rate they would benefit from speaking with me.”

That was Kim’s, now it’s your turn:

• Begin with your name: 

• State who you work with: 

• Speak about some of the challenges that they may be facing:

• Talk about the solutions you provide for these challenges:

• What is the call to action you would like?

I find that it is useful to develop a number of different elevator speeches, and then you can determine which ‘speech’ best suits the environment you are in. Don’t forget to have one that is fun and light-hearted!  Take time to prepare, and make sure you also practise your ‘speech’ as well.  If you feel comfortable enough, why not ask the person sitting beside you to provide you with feedback after the meeting?

Let me know how you go in developing your ‘elevator speech’, in fact, why don’t you share it with us all, in the comment section of my blog

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That’s right I did – I came kicking and screaming to the whole social media platform.  Even after 12months of working from this platform – I feel as if I am still learning.  I often wonder if one will ever not stop learning when it comes to Social Media – it moves so quickly, that at times I feel like I’m just not keeping up.

But, Twitter has begun to make an impact on my business!  Over the past few months I have been having some great conversations with others on Twitter. In fact, I’ve also meant a few amazing people for coffee that I would never have met if I wasn’t tweeting away. 

One in particular is Janna Fikh from Fletcher Tax (@fletchertax) and as an accountant, I believe through her tweets, Janna’s followers have benefited greatly from her.  She provides great accounting tips, updates on financial and tax information as well engaging in conversations with those that follow her. Janna says, “Twitter has been an incredible tool for my business growth and development. It has allowed me to keep up to date with things in my industry but more importantly with issues my prospects and clients face in their daily lives. I highly recommend for all businesses to at least check if it is a useful medium for their business.”

I asked Alexandra Popovic from VIP Virtual Solutions (@VIPVirtualSols) to guest present to members of my Business Building Blocks Club around the impact that Social Media and in particular Twitter can have on your business.  Alex herself has had great success on Twitter and so has the growth of her business.  Alex says, "Twitter is a part of the current online communication revolution which is social media, and not to be overlooked. Over the past 2.5 years I've watched it evolve into such a powerful and easy way of networking and marketing, providing so many benefits to its users both on a personal and professional level. It's such a simple and fun platform, that it has become an essential tool in your marketing toolbox.”

Here are some of the main points from Alex’s presentation:

1. Build your presence – be consistent with your Tweeting.

There is so much ‘white noise’ on Twitter that a single tweet every now and then couple of days is not going to get you noticed, create a loyal following or develop a community.  To build your presence, you want to be consistent, but you don’t have to be tied to your Twitter account all day.  Choose a time of the day that suits you to regularly tweet for five minutes.  Maybe every morning once you’ve done your emails or three evenings a week, and stick to it. You only have 140 characters to get your message across, so be articulate, conversational and listen.  This will ensure you give a great impression with every tweet, and will also bring in more followers.

2.  Tweet quality – add value to those who take the time to follow you and be appreciative. 

Take time each day to think about what is the message about yourself and your business that you want to send out into the ‘twitterverse’. How can you make yourself stand out, and add great value to those who follow you?  What can you share with them around your particular area of expertise?  Speak with them, rather than at them.

If someone has a challenge or problem and you can help them, take the time to reply.  Contribute to conversations that you find interesting, as people are there to engage with others.

3.  RT ~ Retweet content that you find valuable.

If you read something either on twitter itself from someone you are following or an article from a blog, news site, YouTube or wherever you may find it – retweet it if you feel it is of value.  When constructing your own tweets, try to keep them to 120 characters, as this will allow others to retweet to their followers, leveraging the tweet more effectively with the possibility that it may go viral. And above all else:  Be YOU.  Don’t try to be someone you’re not.  Give your thoughts, give your opinions, and talk about your interest.  Be respectful and have fun while you are tweeting.

Above all else:  Be YOU and have fun!  Don’t try to be someone you’re not.  Express your thoughts, opinions & tweet about your interests.  Try to be positive, informative but don't make it all about marketing or business. It's about crafting your own community, so it really is what you make it!

Let me know how you go.  In fact why not join in my conversation at @debpilgrim1.  See you there!

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Client Satisfaction - What are your ideas/strategies for extraordinary client satisfaction?

Would love to know what you think......Please take a moment to share your thoughts. Tweet

By Alexandra Popovic

Are you one of those business owners who is quick to pass off social media as just another online fad? It might be time for you to reconsider your thinking. Because the truth is, if you invest in learning how to leverage it properly, the opportunities on social media are endless.

So the choice you must now make is either embrace it, or risk being left behind. Rather than focusing on the hottest tools, I believe it is essential to firstly emphasis one’s approach to this new medium, and the importance of creating valuable online conversations whilst developing worthwhile communities.

This is central to your success, so here are ten do’s and don’ts to consider before entering the socialmediasphere:

1. Don’t jump on the social media bandwagon just because it’s trendy. You’ll only wind up wasting your time and money if you don’t commit properly, or believe in its value. Take the time to educate yourself first, find worthwhile bloggers to subscribe to who also use social media, and develop your strategy, or seek advice from someone who can help you. You must however, be clear on the outcomes you want to achieve through your Social Media strategy.
 
2. Many delude themselves thinking their "brand” will impress the masses, but that’s just superficial packaging. The person behind the brand is now the focus. You’ll receive credibility and respect only if, and when, it’s earned. Do this by supporting and adding value to your online community, speak with them and not to them.

3. Forget about using Social Media as just another way to broadcast your marketing "message” en masse. If you do, you’ll only wind up being ignored and popular with “me, myself, and I”. It’s about engagement of your audience, so listening and engaging in conversation is key. In fact, why not create your own community via some free tools that make it easier and more manageable? Check out: Seesmic and Tweetdeck.

4. Don’t put emphasis on being popular, obsessing over statistics and analytics of how many likes/followers/connections you have. Focus on what makes you so ‘younique’; showcase your character, values, personality, knowledge and experience. Remember it’s quality over quantity, as the number of followers bares no relation to the number of possible opportunities.

5. What worked for you and your business 5 or 10 years ago is now irrelevant in this new arena. This new age form of customer service is all about people to people, so remember to invest in learning techniques on how best to present yourself to ensure you make a positive and lasting impression.

6. Don’t construct what you think is a compelling personality to attract your "target market”. Those that succeed in social media are authentic and transparent about who they really are, and understand the true value of their services/products. They know that building Social Media relationships, like any worthwhile relationship, takes time and they are willing to work at this for the long haul.

7. Strategy is definitely not “one size fits all”, so what might work for someone else, may not for you. Research other business case studies for inspiring examples, but bare in mind that the needs of your business should be assessed, and a practical, productive strategy customised exactly to these needs.

8. Don’t sit behind your Social Media accounts and rely solely on it for all your business networking. Yes, use it as a quick icebreaker, a learning tool,  and to start conversations, but meeting prospective clients and partners face-to-face can never be replaced. You can use Tweetups (Twitter meetups), and meet others in your local area. If you are traveling, tweetups are being held all over the world nowadays, so do a search for one happening in the place you are traveling to in advance and connect online with other attendees. In fact, why not take the initiative and create one of your own?!

9. Don’t use Social Media in place of your marketing strategy, it is only a piece of the marketing pie. Plan realistically what your business, marketing objectives, and goals are, and integrate your social media objective into your overall plan. Remember to measure your progress, so you can change your strategy if and when necessary.

10. First impressions really count, and you have less than 5 seconds! Put your best profiles forward, be consistent with your business branding and make sure your information is always informative and up to date.

Visit Alex at VIP Virtual Solutions to take advantage of her FREE social media evaluation – this is available to the first ten Biz Booster readers who contact her. Or check out her other services in relation to social media management and training.
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Marketing is key to business success - what is your #1 marketing tip?

Would love your thoughts, so please take a moment to share! Tweet

 

  Do you have a mission statement?  If so, what is it and how
  does it help/assist you with your business success?

  Would love your thoughts, so please take a moment to share!  Tweet

I’m about to state the obvious - the key to success for any business, is your clients, your customers, those people who do business with you. And most people will start working with you, or buy something from you because of a service or product you provide that solves a challenge or problem for them. But it is the experience that they get from working with you that will keep them there, and will turn them into raving fans.

The above statement is something that I believe in, and is something that I tell my mentor clients as well as my business building blocks members whenever I can. It’s something that I want to live up to for my readers of this newsletter as well. Reading the results of the survey has really helped me better understand the needs that you have, the challenges that you are facing, and how I can support you in your business growth.

I’ve been where a lot of you are currently at, a new-start up – struggling to understand how to best market your services to your ideal clients, wondering where the next client was coming from, and thinking about where you could actually find these clients. At the five-year plus stage, when my business was growing, I wasn’t sure what my next step would be. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted or needed to do to take my business to that next level that would allow it to grow and develop into what it is today. But at each stage, I was supported by mentors and colleagues who would listen to my questions and concerns, and provide me with the information I needed to keep moving forward.

To give you a snapshot of what you have been telling me from the survey, the following areas are where you would like to see improvements:

· Knowing how to market your product or services - 73.3%
· Getting new customers or clients – 60%
· Taking your business to the next level – 53.3%
· Professional development programs – 40%
· Pricing of products and services – 33.3%
· Achieving work/life balance – 33.3%

You would like further support, ideas and information on:
· Sales,
· Marketing,
· Networking,
· Building strong referrals,
· Understanding clients/customers better,
· Social media, and
· Staying motivated and being supported, to name but a few.

Many of you stated that you would love to work with me, but don’t have the budget to work with me one on one in my Fast Track Success Program. That is okay. Over the next few weeks, I will be letting you know about a group-mentoring program I will be offering to support those of you hungry to move forward. This program will be open to only five business owners and it will be very cost effective. So if you want to know more, or reserve your spot NOW, email me at deb@debpilgrim.com with ‘group-mentoring’ in the subject line, so that you are the first to hear about it.

I am also pulling together leaders within the areas of sales, social media, networking, personal development, internet marketing, web design, client retention, and client satisfaction, to run content-rich programs for you. Most of these will sit within the mentoring programs, and my Business Building Blocks monthly membership calls, but I will also be running some free webinars to support my Biz Booster readers. These experts are also excited to be sharing their information within the article section of Biz Booster as well.

My commitment is to support you in building the business you desire. Please keep talking to me, and sending your questions through via email and I will continue to support you. There are so many great resources out there that I am committed to bring to you the best of this information. I do hope to hear from you soon.
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Yesterday I was skimming through the news headlines on the home page of Ninemsn, when I came across a heading that looked familiar. The heading was “Four steps to regaining self-belief”. The reason that it was familiar was because it was the title of the article I had written for Flying Solo, which has been released last Friday (2nd Sept) on the Flying Solo website.

My curiosity was piqued, and I clicked onto the heading to take a look and see what this article was about. Well, you can imagine my surprise, when I began reading the article and realised that it was in fact my article from Flying Solo. Who would have known that Ninemsn would pick up my article in Flying Solo?

Who is Ninemsn? Well, I’ve taken this directly from their site: “Ninemsn is Australia’s largest online content publisher with 10.3 million people (March ’10) visiting the site each month – reaching 69 per cent of the online population.” To reach a possible 10.3 million people, all it cost me was my time, and knowledge and I want to let you know that it is something that you can do as well.

I encourage most of my mentoring clients to write articles, as it is a great way to establish credibility with clients and prospective clients. To get started, why not use some of the following ideas.

1. Look at some of the issues and challenges your clients are facing at the moment. Write an article discussing these challenges and ways that you would solve them. Put together a tip sheet, a top ten list, or you could us this information to write an article of interest around these challenges. Aim to have the word count in your article at a minimum of 300 words and I would say no longer than 1200 words.

2. Once written, use my ‘rule of three’. By this I mean, post your article in a minimum of three places. One would be your newsletter, a second place could be your blog, and then after that you could try article directories, industry magazines (both online and hard copy), ask your joint venture partners if they would like to use it, and forums to name a few.

There are a number of free article directories out there that you can use to place your articles, a couple that I use are: Ezinearticles; Articlesbase and Selfgrowth.

Research industry magazines, and find the email address of the editor. Write to the editor, letting them know that you have attached an article for their consideration. If it's an editor that I haven’t been in contact with before, I will let them know the current word count, and if this was an article of interest, that I would be happy to increase the word count if they required. Editors that I currently have a relationship with, I will forward them my current articles, tell them that if they would like to use these articles, then I will increase the content to reach their required word count. I find that different magazines have different word count requirements.

3. Track your articles. You can do this by using google alerts to see where your articles are being place. If you place your articles on your blog, make sure that readers are able to forward your articles on as well to all the social media outlets. On my blog site, I use a service called ‘addthis’ and each week I receive an update of what articles have been forwarded, to where, and if there has been any click backs. If an article is being published in one of the magazines I currently write for, I have a specific landing page dedicated to each magazine, so that I can track how many people have gone from reading my article to checking out my website.

There are a number of added benefits of article writing; one is that it is free publicity, especially if your article is picked up for a newspaper article. Media mentions do position you as an expert in your industry and one of the things that I have learnt from my colleagues in PR, is that television/radio producers will scourer the print papers for stories. It also adds weight to your website when you include your media profile, and you could get paid for writing and this does happen – read the next paragraph!

Last year I was working with a mentoring client, who works within the health and wellness industry, her focus with clients is helping them to understand the missing link between mindset, your thoughts and weight loss. In one of our calls, I mentioned to her that I thought it was time for her to begin writing articles and submitting them to various industry magazines. This suggestion was meant with a very firm “No, this is something that I don’t feel I can do.” I explained the reasons that I thought this would benefit her business, and that all it would take was her time and knowledge. She still wasn’t interested, so I decided to let the conversation go at this time. Over the next few months, I would bring the conversation back to article writing and finally she agreed to write her first article. Well, fast forward 12 months and not only is she published in various leading print magazines here in Australia, but she is being paid to write for a health and fitness magazine in the UK. It’s something that she never imagined was possible.

Now matter what you do, it’s time for you to give writing a try, and who knows where you may end up! If you do currently write articles for your newsletters or blog, challenge yourself to make contact with industry magazines, and see what you can have published. I would love to hear what happens for you, so let me know…. Tweet