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Mortar Makes It Happen – Does It REALLY???

No one denies that setting good foundations for your business is important. I have read so many pages about ‘rules of business’, ‘setting THE right foundations’, ‘laying the concrete blocks’ and so on…

The truth is – it all works great in the beginning and then for a while. Until it is no longer great and it is like that for a while. Then WHAT??? Where do you start to remedy?

The thing is that once foundations are laid biz owners rarely re-visit them because they are ‘set’ – the rules say – ‘in mortar’, so they can not be flexed or reshaped or changed and that’s that. But doesn’t that sound as if they have red-taped themselves and don’t know that there are other ways?

OK – let me lift the blindfold!

There are the three keys to business development and they are not rules or bricks or mortar. You need them three at all times to move forward. They can be as flexible as your imagination and creativity and you can use them as often as you like and as much as you like – the more often the better. They are:

Innovation

Innovation should not be confused with creativity, which is the expression of ideas. Innovation is taking these ideas and putting them into action. This is where a large amount of your focus should be in the beginning and throughout your business’ entire lifespan.

Quantification

This, of course, refers to the numbers. We are talking about the value of your innovation. The best way to measure this is by your customer response. Look to positive responses for what you are doing right-and keep doing it. Look to your negative responses to find out what you’re doing wrong-and fix it. This will enable you to keep growing and progressing with the needs of your customers and business climate.

Orchestration

Once you’ve had a chance to find what areas are working, you can narrow down those areas and concentrate on making them the stand out ideas. You shift your focus here to get the most out of your business and to meet the needs of your customers.

We can help you work through these three areas to put together your flexible cycle during your FREE strategy consultation and look into the 7 specific areas you need to consider in your development process:

• Primary Aim
• Strategic Objectives
• Organisational Strategy
• Management Strategy
• People Strategy
• Marketing Strategy
• Systems Strategy

These 7 areas will fine tune further your plan for the ultimate level of success.

Telemarketing Is NOT The Anti-Christ…. Anymore

I know, the word “telemarketing” might as well be four letters, but there is a way to help customers feel like they are getting personal attention WITHOUT them blocking your number! I personally had a fair share of rage wave over recent PPI and Accident Claim nuisance calls, and not against the callers but their bosses’ LACK OF KNOWLEDGE on how to call people who will be interested to listen  (the qualifying customers).

With the right knowledge, steps and focus Telemarketing is being and can be used politely and ethically as a powerful and personable marketing tool for your success. Telemarketing is best for high priced, high margin products/services. It can also be used for local promotions and friendly introductions to pre-agreed prospects. Extremely effective when used by small businesses.

Here are the key steps to putting together a highly effective direct mail marketing program:

1. List all benefits customers will get from the purchase of your products and services.
2. Pick the single most powerful benefit out of that list and build an attention-getting headline around that benefit. Remember to use emotion-fulfill the desire to be young, wealthy, desired, popular or successful.
3. Develop a sales letter using the headline you created to grab attention, provide information and motivate customers to act.
4. Put together supplementary items, such as a brochure, order form, reply envelope or note that encourages them to read the letter.
5. Rent or purchase a mailing list.
6. Compare cost of mailing vs. cost per order.
7. Continue to test and refine your direct mail marketing plan.

You can see how direct mail marketing can help you find a local or even country-wide target market to send letters or postcards to and draw in new clientele and customers. Fine-tuning your marketing campaign will bring better results and therefore lower the overall cost of the campaign.

To be successful in telemarketing you need to:

• Have a plan and know exactly what you want to accomplish during the call.
• Develop a list of 3 topics to discuss and the questions you want to present around these topics.
• Input verbiage checking to see if you are calling at a good time.
• Include enough questions to keep the conversation interesting, but not too many to sound like you are interrogating. Explore commonality – situations, lifestyle, avoidances and attractions.
• Start with broad open questions and narrow your focus as the conversation continues – chunking down.
• Offer feedback to show them you are paying attention and appreciate their time.
• Don’t insult their intelligence or manipulate them.
• Listen first, talk second.
• Be relaxed and conversational.

Telemarketing doesn’t have to be the trauma it’s made out to be. You can put together an honest, personal and effective telemarketing campaign with a script that is endearing, informative and gets the job done. Think of how you would want to be treated on a marketing call. Ask your friends and family what they hate most about the telemarketing calls they get and work hard to craft your plan in a better way.

“When selling by telephone, you have approximately thirty seconds to convince the customer to listen to you. You need an opening statement that captures their attention, conveys who you are, what you want and why the prospect should listen.” Jay Abraham

It’s easy to see how direct mail marketing and telemarketing can positively affect your business by bringing in new customers and increasing the level of awareness about your products, services and company branding.

Our FREE test drive offers the resources and tools you need to work through these processes, put together the best call-scripts you can and get over with the anxiety of making your first calls – all designed to get YOU results!

To your Success!

Are You On The Right Path?

How to prep yourself and business to approach the best clients you WANT to work with…

It can be overwhelming and stressful having the responsibility to choose the right path for your business. All sorts of emotions get involved – testing your mindset, abilities, skills, doubts, beliefs and limitations… So let’s make it easier for you!

There are a number of factors to take into consideration when prepping yourself and your company to approach the largest clients you’ll ever work with.

Here is a brief look at the three paths every business faces and I’ll explain which one is the path to success. Then we’ll talk about the mindset it takes to attract the big fish.

There are three major paths a business can take:

Snail Speed

Shooting Star

Catch the Big Fish

Most business owners end up working themselves into the ground without much reward or success. This is what happens when you fool yourself into thinking you will find quick success. You may also find yourself following this path when you fear change.

This describes a business that shoots to the top so fast you are overwhelmed and don’t have the right resources in place to adapt. This can also happen from being overwhelmed by small clients and not taking the time to find large clients, which will sustain your business after the small client sales slow.

This is the path that allows you to build at a steady pace that you can manage by not allowing your customers to outpace you.

You can do this by putting these tips to work:

1. Attract, keep and lock in big clients.
2. Integrate “big business” culture into your company and employees.
3. Acquire the expertise you need to grow.
4. Have the courage to make changes as you grow.

But let’s transition a bit and talk about the “big fish” mindset.

It may sound easy to just find and catch that big fish, but if you are stuck in the small business mindset, you may find it harder than you think.

Think of all the benefits of aiming at bigger clients:

• Inexpensive
• Highly Profitable
• Longevity
• Security

In order to catch the big fish, you need to believe your company can make a difference with theirs. It’s easy to get into the thought that a large company doesn’t need anything from a small business like yours, but this is entirely wrong!

Once you take a look at how big companies operate, it’s important to know which ones are the best fit with your company. One of the best ways to get in the door is by knowing someone on the inside who can put in a good word for you.

If you’re not sure where to start and feel a little intimidated about catching big fish, try our FREE test drive to get help from our amazing business growth system that guarantees the results you need and desire.

The THIRD Secret Revealed – HOW TO DELIVER + 1 (Part 1 of 2)

I was somehow surprised last week when it was announced that Vodafone was fined by £4.6 million for POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE and thought how could such a huge corporation let the ground slip beneath their feet? What was it they missed to act on?

Recently I spoke with a business owner who lost 8 major clients in just 10 days blaming the Brexit asking for ideas how to manoeuvre better in the new set-up. After some in-depth conversation with him and directors it became clear that the fail was in providing their customer care service.

The thing is that this IS A PAIN ISSUE and if you think your customer service operations are up to scratch – well, CHECK AGAIN – before it costs your business some profits.

In the last posts I shared with you two of the secrets that make a strong customer service foundation of a business. After all without customers businesses can not be and those who understand their customers best – succeed. We also talked about how to understand what your customers want out of a positive shopping experience.

Today I will share with you the third secret – the concept of Deliver +1 and how this concept can take your customer service to the next level. I’ve decided to split up this post so the next one will cover the +1 Rule.

The key to any great customer service experience is Consistency. If you want to take your satisfied customers to Raving Fan status, you have to go above and beyond the average customer service experience.

There are three ways to develop consistency:

1. Avoid offering too many customer service options.

We sometimes get so caught up in giving customers what they want that we get away from our original vision. Instead, stay true to your vision and offer one or two solid customer service techniques that will set you apart from the competition.

You need to fine-tune and perfect the current systems you are using before you can add anything to the mix. There’s nothing worse than launching a new program when you haven’t even worked out the kinks of an old system.

2. Put solid systems into place.

Once you know what you’re going to offer, you need to have a system in place to execute it flawlessly every time. This system needs to consist of the right people in the right roles with clear responsibilities and technology that guarantees a positive experience every time. Emphasis needs to be placed on the results, which ultimately is the satisfaction of the customer.

3. Good training is the key.

Once you have your system into place you need to train your every member of staff to use it properly and efficiently. Never underestimate the potential of your staff to attract or deter your customers. This helps your people deliver the results your customers are looking for. Also while training is essential for the system to work and for all your people to work together cohesively, appreciation will go a long way.

I hope this has given you a look into what you need to do in order to have a quality customer service system in place.

I would love to hear about your challenges – leave your comments or questions.

TUNE IN FOR THE SECOND PART WHEN I’LL TELL YOU ABOUT THE +1 RULE .

Antonina Manev

Helping business OWNERS DO MORE BUSINESS AND DOUBLE THEIR PROFITS

Always Dedicated to YOUR Success!

ANOTHER SECRET REVEALED

WATCH VLOG HERE

In the last post we talked about the first secret to building a solid customer service foundation.

Today I will share with you the SECOND SECRET in taking your satisfied customers to raving fans.

You must know what your customers want.

Know who your customers are and you will know better how to serve them.

Demographics are really important here. But Psychographics tops it all. A woman in her 30’s is going to have completely different expectations than a working class man in his 50’s when shopping from you. And why is that?- you may wonder.

Remember – People make choices based on their emotions! So learn to read, pace and lead their emotions right and you will have a loyal customer.

There are FOUR MAIN AREAS you need to consider and plan when figuring out what your customers want:

• Listen to Your Customers
• Ask Your Customers Sincerely
• Offer More than Just a Product/Service
• Know When to Ignore Them

These are all important when deciding what your customers want out of their shopping experience.

Listen to Your Customers

You need to listen to both what they say and what they don’t say. Customers may say they want one thing and really mean something else. For example, if your customers are begging for lower prices, you may find out their real priority is quick delivery.

Also, listen to your “silent” customers. These are the customers who don’t bother to complain because the service is so bad they’ve just given up and don’t feel like their voice matters. They feel unwanted and when a competitor shows up, they’ll be gone.

Lastly, you need to listen to customers who only reply with “fine”. These customers are similar to the “silent” customers in that they are so used to bad customer service they only give a monotone response.

Ask Your Customers Sincerely

If you aren’t sincere when you ask their opinion, they are going to see right through you. You may be thinking, “What about the customers who aren’t saying anything?” You need to ask them sincere questions that get them thinking about their experiences. Make them feel like you really care, and you should!

Offer More than Just a Product/Service

Your customers are looking for much more than a simple product or service, they are looking for an experience that makes them feel good. They gauge every step of the process with a value. When you take this into consideration and treat them like people, they will feel like they belong.

Know When to Ignore Them

You may think this goes beyond providing good customer service, but in reality you can’t give them everything and some people you will never make happy. You have to set limits and stick to them. If your vision and company don’t meet the needs of the customer, they will be best suited somewhere else.

These are the steps and tricks to figuring out what your customers want and how you can use them to work on your customer service vision and plan.

Don’t waste your chances to do MORE business, try out our vast knowledge library of strategies, tactics and let us help you through the process.

ALWAYS DEDICATED TO YOUR SUCCESS!