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Archive for October, 2008

Business Owners, Don’t Just Survive In Today’s Economy, THRIVE!

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

Over the past few months, especially few weeks, everyone from politicians, bankers, the Fed, and your neighbor are spewing advice regarding the state of the economy, your stock portfolios, and your own wallets. Sell, stick it out, pull it out, stuff your mattress, and more. I often feel compelled to do the same, the difference however is, it comes with a bit of tough love.

No one can or will deny that the evaporating stock market, rising costs and consumers’ tight wallets are impacting YOU negatively, disastrously. But take note, there are many businesses, small and large, that are not only surviving this so called ‘great depression’, they are thriving in it. Meeting with business owners every day, nine out of ten are crying doom and gloom, repeating verbatim, the drama of the media. The one out of ten  that are not falling prey to it, are keeping themselves informed just enough to understand what the impacts are; they are tuning out the drama, and they are focused on what they can do to keep the consumer and wallets coming to their business. And, they are succeeding. They are finding ways to minimize costs, reduce expenses, evaluate new products or services, change their marketing or sales approach, optimize their workforce, and taking stock of what is working or not working. Some are even taking advantage of reduced costs to buy new or additional businesses. They are leveraging this down turn to recreate themselves and they are THRIVING in this depressing economy.

So, your call to action Business Owners; stop wallowing, stop allowing the media to pull you down, and/or stop waiting for the consumer to come to you! Instead:

  • Get as informed as you need in order to get control of the things that you CAN control and forget all of the things you CANNOT. Every second you spend focused on those things someone is taking your customer and your money.
  • Step back and look at your entire business; expenses, processes, people, technology and systems:
  • Identify what is working, and continue doing it. Determine if it can be used elsewhere.
  • Identify what is not working, and either fix it or stop doing it.
  • Identify what is missing, and despite the need to spend money, if it generates business, buy and implement it. NOW!
  • Sales and marketing your business is king in times like this. If it has slacked or even eliminated, ramp it up!
  • Lastly, commit to yourself (and your business) TODAY, that you will be positive, motivated, and energized regarding what you and your business has the potential to accomplish. Do NOT go down with the depression - you do not have to. Attitude is everything!

Prove all of those naysayers wrong…take control of your business and success, and as Nike says, “Just Do It”.  If you believe that you can THRIVE, you WILL!

The full version can be found here: 

Business Leaders, THRIVE in today’s market!

 

 

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The Shortest Distance between YOU and $$$$ ? Network Calling!

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Did you notice I did not say Cold Calling? I said Network Calling….more on that in a minute.

Like so many people, when I went out on my own, I knew that my marketing plan would include various techniques; definitely networking, one-one close contact lead generation, referrals, partner programs, direct mail (maybe), third party telemarketing (maybe). But one technique I was not prepared to do, nor did not want to do was the infamous Cold Calling.

Whether knocking on doors, or picking up the phone, cold calling was just that. COLD!

Digging deep to understand my angst towards it, I realized I did not want to be one of those intrusive ‘dinner time’ phone callers, intruding on my dinner or family time. It was rude, and I would become rude, often hanging up on them. Why would I ever want to become ‘that person’?


Then three different experts gave me three different pieces of advice that changed my entire view on this specific technique:

 The first, Nancy Davis, President of Be Healthy, Wealthy & Wise –  Nancy had me play out in my mind all of the various (nasty, rude, abrupt, nice, easy) responses from ‘business owners’ that I expected to hear. Then she had me replay those images through a second, third, fourth, even fifth time. To my absolute surprise, by the second time, and definitely the third, the nasty, rude and abrupt (hang ups) responses I was receiving no longer had an effect on me….they were no longer a big deal, they no longer mattered.  WOW!

The second expert, Leslie Wells, of L Wells & Associates made me realize that ‘cold calling’ was NO different than the Networking that I was doing on a regular basis:

Walking into a strange room, restaurant or office, walking up to complete strangers and having a conversation with someone using my 1-3 minute introduction to inform and qualify someone as a prospect. I realized the approach was exactly the same on the phone, or walking through the door. And on the phone, you DON’T have to be face to face. That’s easy, right?

Lastly, the third expert, Linda Bishop, President of Thought Transformation, gave me the most impactful advice, as it hit where it means the most – my BANK ACCOUNT

She simply told me that ‘the shortest distance (and time) between me and $$$$ was a phone call!” When push comes to shove and you need to make money and get clients, get on the phone and get an appointment (or sell something). Plain and simple…it cuts out the time, travel and smoozing that go on with traditional networking.  WOW!

 So, my advice to you is, get over the angst of Cold Calling, and consider it Network Calling. Put your networking skills to work. And, if you do struggle with this, consider the Power of Mind workshop with Nancy Davis and Leslie Wells, two of the experts who helped me see the light. It will be a great investment that will return much greater results!!!!   CHECK OUT THE EVENTS SECTION.

And let them know The Boas Group referred you……like anyone, they love referrals.

 

 

Lastly, check out Sandy Weaver Carman’s blog for a related posting on Getting Past the GateKeeper…….http://www.voiceworkondemand.com/articles.html

 

GOOD LUCK, Bernadette Boas - President The Boas Group

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