Author Archives: freelancetheconsultantsdiary

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Make Email Subject Lines Pop

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Email marketing is an all-star player in your outbound marketing lineup. During the 15 month pandemic shutdown email marketing which, BTW, includes your blog posts and newsletters, became even more important as business leaders struggled to maintain communication with clients and prospects.

Think about it—-before you can schedule a video call to launch a full-on sales presentation, you need to establish contact with would-be prospects and open the door to the buyer’s journey. LeadGen is how to keep your sales pipeline filled and the process deserves a comprehensive inbound and outbound approach.

The challenge with email marketing is getting your message opened and read, even when the recipient knows your company. The powerful decision-makers you need to reach are pummeled with dozens of emails every day, Monday to Friday (and sometimes on the weekend). To manage the inflow, your decision-maker prospects are constantly prioritizing their inbox, often setting up filters and other gateways to organize messages that help them respond to important and urgent notes as efficiently as possible.

If you expect to persuade your intended prospect to click on your email in the midst of a typical deluge, it’s imperative that your email stand out in the best way. The way to do that is to create a stop-and-read subject line, an irresistible headline, that acts like a magnet. The subject line is the single most important part of an email because the opportunity to tell your story is lost if your email is sent to trash. The success of your marketing strategy is tied to the open rate of your sales/ marketing emails.

So, how does one create an intriguing, arresting, read-me email subject line? While every subject line is unique, there are guidelines to keep in mind as you write. In short, your subject line must tell recipients that your email contains information they’ll consider valuable, or somehow interesting, maybe a tad controversial or unexpected.

Eye-catching

Words such as free, limited offer and new are among those that can potentially make your subject line grab the reader. Providing a contrarian or surprising fact or statistic that challenges a common belief can likewise be compelling. Info that concerns a recent change in the industry is an update that many clients and prospects will appreciate.

Call-to-action

A call-to-action asks the reader to do something — learn, win, sign up, give feedback, for example. Many emails that drop into the average inbox lack an interesting, appealing subject line. It’s so easy for the eye to slide over much that is sent.

Devise an amusing, novel, or practical call-to-action that will both grab attention and either inspire or dare your intended reader to read on.

What’s in it for the reader?

Do you sell a product or service that can help your email recipients make money, save money, or save time? Can you help the reader’s organization achieve a mission-critical goal faster, more easily and maybe at a lower than expected cost? All of these scenarios offer value to your recipient and are enticing benefits to include in your subject line.

Be concise

Your subject line must do a lot of work in a small space. It must grab attention with a call to action, tempt the recipient with what could be in it for him/her and concisely getting to the point.The ideal length of an email subject line varies between mobile, desktop, and tablet devices, so keep this in mind as you craft the perfect one-liner for your sales email. On average, the maximum subject line is about 40 characters so that it can be seen in its entirety on phone, tablet, laptop, or desk model devices.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Attention grabbing front page headline in the Roswell (NM) Daily Record July 8, 1947 issue

Professional Development , Leave a comment

8 Great Business Reads for Summer 2021

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This summer seems tailor-made for staying close to home. International travel remains a difficult proposition as COVID-19 rages on, causing the Tokyo Summer Olympics to ban the presence of a live audience. Weather across the U.S. has been a problem, with the East Coast repeatedly doused with heavy rain while western states suffer through dangerously dry conditions and temperatures ranging from the 90s to beyond 100F.

We cannot control the weather, but we can control our response to it. Whether summer finds you in your back yard or a park in the city, vacationing in the mountains or near the water, why not crack open a business book or two and pick up some pointers on how to grow your business skills? Please take a look at the recommendations below.

Rise and Grind (Daymond John with Daniel Paisner, 2018)

Shark Tank investor Daymond John reminds readers that anything worth having is worth working for. He tells the outrageous truth—if you want to create real success in business, then be prepared to out-think, out-hustle and out-perform the competition. In 1992, John and three friends in his hometown of Queens, NY founded FUBU, a casual apparel line that become must-have street style fashion.

In this New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book, John shares behind-the-scenes stories of how he overcame adversity and went on to co-found and become CEO of a company that now generates nearly $6 billion in annual sales worldwide. https://www.goodreads.com/pl/book/show/35083562-rise-and-grind

The Art of the Start 2.0 (Guy Kawasaki, 2015)

Kawasaki made a name for himself in the 1980s, when he helped launch the Apple Macintosh computer. He’s an entertaining writer and presenter and his book is filled with practical advice, particularly for those who’ll need venture capital. Whether you’re leading an existing business or planning to launch a new venture, you’ll find Kawasaki’s cut-to-the-chase business building blueprint useful and inspiring.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-art-of-the-start-20-guy-kawasaki/1120058655

Marketing Made Simple (Donald Miller, with Dr. J.J. Peterson, 2021)

New York Times best-selling author Donald Miller details how to create and implement a marketing plan that will bring qualified prospects to your door. Readers learn the fundamentals of lead generation, how to build a sales funnel, how to recognize and optimize key customer touch points and how to develop and communicate an authentic brand story that builds trust and loyalty.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/marketing-made-simple-donald-miller/1132751806

Uplevel Your Business, Uplevel Your Life (Kristen S. David, 2020)

Discover the four pillars of successful business management. Ms. David gives Freelancers and small business owners a roadmap for scaling or growing your venture. Learn to recognize growth opportunities and push them forward with smart action plans. Learn to accurately monitor progress with relevant quarterly goals. Understand the types of operational support systems and processes that will enable you and your team to build and sustain a thriving, profitable venture.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50390493-uplevel-your-business-uplevel-your-life

Eat What You Kill (Donald Williams, 2020)

In 2005, Williams launched the eponymous Williams Accounting and Consulting in New Orleans, LA and in 2006, he opened a second location in Atlanta, GA. Small business owners are the principal customer group served. Guiding clients as they grow their ventures is Williams’ mission and he provides for readers valuable money-saving and money-making strategies that will enhance your financial management and future.

Donald Williams’s “Eat What You Kill” Promotes Financial Empowerment

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work (Michael E. Gerber, 2004)

The author is credited with revealing the distinct differences between working in and working on your business. Gerber has more revealing insights to share in this influential book, including the common fantasy that just because you enjoy and may even excel at doing something—cooking, for instance—does not mean you are prepared to operate even a modestly successful restaurant. Just because you are good at something doesn’t make you qualified to turn your hobby into a business.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81948.The_E_Myth_Revisited

Your Next 5 Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy (Patrick Bet-David, 2020)

At age 10, Bet-David and his parents escaped war in Iran. The family traveled to the U.S., earned citizenship and Bet-David eventually joined the Army and served in the 101st Airborne Division. After his tour of duty, he worked in the financial services industry. Before his 30th birthday, Bet-David successfully launched PHP Agency, Inc., an insurance sales, marketing and distribution company, which has become one of the fastest-growing ventures in the financial services sector.

But when Bet-David created the video The Life of an Entrepreneur in 90 Seconds, it went viral. The 30 million viewers his educational video received inspired Bet-David to found Valuetainment, which quickly became the #1 YouTube channel for entrepreneurs.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50542735-your-next-five-moves

The Lean Startup (Eric Ries, 2011) Ries has a long history with start-up ventures, variously serving as a start-up employee, adviser and founder and this book is a long-time best seller. While a college student, he founded Catalyst Recruiting, a platform on which students could create and share their professional profiles that could bring them to the obtaining a job after graduation. The venture failed, because he didn’t understand the needs of his customers. Ries eventually learned that in order to build a great company, one must begin with addressing the needs of target customers.

Over time, Ries connected the dots on what he’d learned about launching a new company. The lean start-up methodology favors experimentation over writing the traditional, elaborate business plan, direct customer feedback and iterative design over traditional “big design up-front” development. Although the lean startup strategy is just a few years old, its concepts—such as “minimum viable product” and “pivoting”—have quickly taken root in the start-up world, and business schools have already begun adapting their courses to teach them.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lean-startup-eric-ries/1100642052

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Books that beckon at The Last Bookstore, the largest independent bookstore in Los Angeles, CA https://www.lastbookstorela.com/about

Business Strategy Leave a comment

Kick-off FY 2022

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Hello July! Fiscal Year 2022 has arrived and happy new year. Calendar year people are greeting the second half of 2021. As businesses throughout the U.S. shake off the shutdown, we can be confident that nearly every business owner and leader is working to decipher what the post-COVID landscape looks like for their enterprise and how to make it profitable. It’s time to double down and make up for revenue losses.

In-person encounters are on the rise. Work from home policies are receding and employees are being asked to return to the office, if only for two or three days a week. To position your organization for a fourth quarter recovery, July and August are the time to put pedal to the metal and revitalize your company.

First thing, if you haven’t done so already, is to determine how much revenue was lost during the shutdown. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but that information will greatly support your recovery plans. When you know about how much revenue was lost, you’ll know how much revenue you’ll need to generate to get back on your feet and you can start to think realistically about how you might be able to do that. Use your 2019 year- end P & L figures as the 2Q 2020 – 2Q 2021 benchmark.

Focusing on the marketing and operations functions of your company will be useful as you develop rebooting strategies. The typical Freelance consultant is familiar with marketing and may even dabble in it, at least in the social media realm. However, operations is often outside of our B2B knowledge economy comfort zone. It shouldn’t be.

Operations encompasses whatever it takes to acquire or produce your product or service, get it into the clients’ hands and do so efficiently, with a goal of maximizing productivity and minimizing costs. If your clients have made adjustments in how they do business, how they serve their clients, you may have to change along with them. Changes in how you provide your products and services is an operational issue.

Pivoting to videoconferencing from in-person meetings when clients opted to work from home was an operational change for all involved. The response to that change entailed not only a change in communication but also technology and skill set upgrades (or the meeting tech was outsourced, at a price).

You’ll continue to work the operations angle as you consider the financial, technical, educational and even networking resources and activities you may need to launch your recovery, as well as the timeline. You may need to confront the reality that while some clients were able to adjust to the pandemic restrictions and bounce forward, with some having resumed working with you at some level, others may be gone forever. In other words, assess the size and likely revenue potential of your client list.

Operations will look different in every business but in your B2B service venture, be aware of operational processes, which also include invoicing and getting paid. Use the post-pandemic reopening process to rethink what you do, how you do it and for whom you can do it now that maybe a couple of big clients aren’t working with you anymore. Do you need to revamp your business model and reevaluate your value proposition? How will you you reach out to clients now?

Ramp up marketing with content and PR. Increase the name recognition and visibility, credibility, trust and perceived expertise of your business venture (and you) with text, audio, or video content that reaches out to current and prospective clients to educate, inform and engage with them. Content is still king but distribution is now queen. You must create content that persuades prospective clients to follow-up with your organization in some way—-listen to your webinar or podcast appearance, read a case study, request a free 30 minute consultation.

Include distribution in your your PR/content strategy. Not every prospect will find your content through your website or social media and that is why sending a press release to print or digital publications that are trusted by those who could potentially buy from you is important.

Work on finding good speaking engagements and use them to create a compelling PR roll-out. In-person events are being restarted. Let that inspire you to pick up the thread and reach out to organizations where you’ve appeared before, or contact those on your wish list. You could be a keynote speaker or moderate a panel. Podcasts and webinars are still a thing. Just get yourself in front of a good audience, so you’ll generate buzz in the right circles.

Your PR strategy might consist of first, confirming that the host organization will do a PR campaign to publicize your appearance. On your end, you’ll post the notice for your talk on Alignable, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. Post your event in the local Patch if the location where you’ll speak is part of that community and also send a press release to local community newspaper. Be advised that if the editor chooses to include your story, many community newspapers will simply publish your press release so make sure that your story is concise and compelling.

As your name and your company’s appear in various online media, there will be positive impact on search engines. Google favors companies that EAT—expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness—and that’s who gets the highest page rankings.

An online presence makes your company more prominent and brings those looking for your category of products or services to your website and social media pages. That is precisely what you want, whether or not you’re rebuilding your business, because leadgen is always a priority. As you attract new potential clients, your updated operations will greet them with a seamless and pleasant experience, that may result in referrals.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: © Associated Press 1996 created by Lynne Sladky. Carl Lewis qualifies for the long jump finals at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA (USA).

Administrative , , , Leave a comment

Why, When and How to Delegate

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WHY? Because you have a boatload of things to do and there aren’t enough hours in the day to complete them all. Because you may not have the expertise or inclination to do everything that needs to get done. Because removing certain tasks from your plate will improve your productivity and also lower your stress level.

The best leaders know how to delegate. There is an art to delegating, though, and to do it well takes practice. Some leaders resist delegating because they assume it will take as much time to explain to someone how to do what needs to be done as it would to do it themselves. Others are so buried in work that they’re unable to recognize what only they, the leader, can do and what someone else can do.

Those who have employees should also realize that delegating certain tasks to the team represents skills-building opportunities for them. Delegate selected tasks and you acknowledge the expertise within your team and demonstrate your trust in their professionalism. Employee job satisfaction will increase, as will the quality of work they do, because your employees will feel valued and respected.

Delegating can be a win-win for all, but upfront planning and maybe also a tutorial will be necessary. Furthermore, you’ll need to decide who you’ll delegate to and why.

WHEN? First, take an honest look at your to-do list and the timetables involved. Do you have the time and bandwidth to do it all? Then, determine which tasks can be called executive functions that only you can do, like meeting with clients or writing proposals and contracts. Next, acknowledge your primary skill set and own up to those tasks that you simply hate doing.

Now you’re ready to figure what you might delegate. Rather than muddling through and forcing yourself to take on what you either don’t do well or hate doing, do the smart thing and delegate to employees or to a Freelancer who has the expertise needed.

Bookkeeping, graphics, payroll and video meeting tech help are often outsourced. Do you have an important client proposal to prepare? If you’ve been invited to submit a proposal that may win you a new client, ask a team member who has a talent for creating data presentation graphics to turn the numbers you’ll include in the financial section into easily understood and visually interesting charts and graphs. Train a team member who has an affinity for technology to run and manage the tech requirements for videoconference meetings and webinar.

HOW?

Communicate expectations

Be specific about what you would like to be done. If there is a deadline attached, make it known. Create project milestones to help guide and pace the project and ensure that the final deadline is achieved. Commit directions to writing, so that everyone understands and you remember what you asked for. Verify that the person(s) to whom you delegate understands what to do, the process you would like him/her to follow and the deadline for completion. If you delegate to a team, appoint a project leader.

Provide resources

Empower the person or team to whom you delegate and give them full access to all necessary information, budget, authority and all necessary support to come through for you. Provide the context of why their work is integral to the overall success of the larger project, if that is what is delegated, or explain why the routine task you have now passed along may seem mundane but is nevertheless vital to operating or managing the company.

Verify and give feedback

Ask questions about the progress of the work and examine what has been done. If a mid-course correction is needed, show patience as you point out what must be redone and why. Were your directions not understood, or were the required tools or resources not made available? If everything is going well, be generous with your praise.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Chefs training in the culinary arts program at the University of Hawaii

Marketing Leave a comment

Storytelling Basics

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We all know that bringing to market a desirable product or service is the foundation of every successful business. It would seem that alone would guarantee the ongoing presence of loyal paying customers but we also know that other factors can influence business viability. Business location and pricing may immediately come to mind, but there are less obvious factors involved as well and those factors can potentially play a significant role in creating a successful enterprise. Their absence or mishandling can tank it.

One factor that can convert an occasional customer into a repeat customer is the right brand identity that is articulated by a brand story that resonates. When a business develops an appealing brand identity and delivers a brand story that seeds an emotional connection with target customers, brand loyalty will be the likely result. Feelings of empathy and belonging drive the process.

According to Gerald Zaltman, emeritus professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School, 95% of customer buying decisions emanate from the subconscious and are fueled by emotions, not logic. In 1997, he received a U.S. patent for the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, which is used to explore the unconscious thinking that drives behavior. Based on Zaltman’s research-backed theories about what motivates customers to buy, or not, we might infer that an effective and accessible way to create an emotional connection that draws current and prospective customers to a company and its products and services is a good brand story.

Now like every other marketing strategy, a powerful and effective brand story requires research and planning. You have to figure out what to say and how to say it. Mostly, a compelling brand story will focus on the customer, s/he who makes the purchase. We’re talking B2B products and services here, something meant to benefit an organization, even if used by just one department. Still, it’s important to remember that the buyer is an individual (representing the company) and s/he is often (but not always) one of the users of your product or service.

Think P2P, person-to-person, and incorporate personal, individual benefits and user experiences as part of your storytelling—-brand narrative, buyer’s journey, or selling points—-that make the story relevant and memorable to potential buyers. Logic-based reasoning and key statistics are helpful but they’re not the story. Bullet points and numbers quickly fade from memory.

Remember as well that buyers today have a finely-tuned sense for authentic and inauthentic storytelling and authentic means that the brand story will validate what the listener already believes and also reflects your own values. Wrap your products and services in the context of a story and your narrative instantly becomes far more memorable and trustworthy than a digital banner listing your current sale prices and website address.

The emotional connection that leads prospective customers to identify with the hero of the story and root for his/her victory is a big part of why case studies and testimonials are such effective tools. Presenting a story that shows the personal benefits someone enjoyed through your brand helps potential customers to visualize how your products and services could help them, too. Real-life stories that are presented in a compelling manner will make your brand far more memorable and valuable in the minds of your customers.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 1882 – April 1945) was elected President of the United Stares four times—1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944. His pioneering “ Fireside Chats,” broadcast on coast-to-coast radio, set a new standard in how political leaders communicate with the citizens.

Marketing , , , 2 Comments

Trendspotting: 5 Sales and Marketing Benchmarks

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Your prospects are continuing to increase their control over the buyer’s journey, enabled by the internet and the work from home culture. That said, it makes sense for marketers to confirm our understanding of how buyers respond to your marketing activities. A few key data points, culled from a large and well-selected cohort, can provide to Freelancers and others who oversee marketing or sales functions valid insights into how buyers are responding to commonly used inbound and outbound marketing tactics in the post-COVID marketplace.

The content marketing company HubSpot, based near Boston, MA, began collecting marketing and sales outcomes data from its 100,000 + customers in January 2020 which was, as it turned out, a most interesting time to begin. Barely three months later the world would change radically. Billion dollar industries, most notably travel, hotel, restaurant and fitness, would crater. Those enterprises lucky enough to have survived, or thrived, have entered a changed business environment.

Benchmark data can provide guide posts that help you to get your bearings in the new business environment. The post-shutdown business climate demands a recalibrated understanding of customer expectations. How do prospects and customers want to experience the buyer’s journey now? How do they want to be sold? Find answers here in May 2021 data.

  • Sales meetings. The number of sales meetings in May 2021 (overwhelmingly made by videoconference call) was 21% higher than what was done last May and have risen 18% since March of this year. Knees were buckling in March 2020 and nearly every company was reeling, including those that were emerging as winners, such as grocery and liquor stores. Small business owners and leaders tended to reach out to customers sooner than larger companies. It is theorized that small business owners immediately realized that if they wanted their venture to survive, it was imperative that a plan to generate revenue had to be put into action, which usually meant figuring out a polite way to contact customers (I did the same). May 2020 was not the time to pursue new business, but rather to offer empathy and reinforce relationships that one hoped could be leveraged at some point, including relationships with those who cancelled contracts just 60 days previously.
  • Prospecting. Small business (1-25 employees) got busy prospecting at a frequency that was 31% higher in May 2021 compared to May 2020 and up 26% as compared to March 2021. Companies with 26-200 employees also saw an increase in prospecting activity of 18% as compared to May 2020, with a 17% increase as compared to March 2021.
  • Website traffic. Perfect your landing page! Website traffic was 34% higher in May 2021 than it was in May 2020. Further, website traffic increased by 25% between March and May 2021. Online shopping of various kinds, from home decor at Wayfair to the take-out dinner you’ll pick up in 20 minutes at a favorite local restaurant seems to have accounted for a big chunk of the increase. Software companies accounted for 51% of website traffic seen by HubSpot customers.
  • Chat bot. Speaking of your website’s landing page, a useful tool to add there would be a chat bot. Business moved online in a big way in March 2020, but the trend has been building for 20 years. Business owners and marketers are stepping up the functionality of company websites and adding a chat bot is a leading upgrade. Customers appreciate them because through chat, they’re able to get basic questions answered quickly and without paging through the website, which can be time-consuming. The volume of chat conversations rose 16% year-over-year May 2021 compared to May 2020.
  • Marketing emails. Reports of the death of email marketing have been greatly exaggerated and marketers are reinvesting in the genre (again!). Since the start of the pandemic shutdown in mid-March 2020, marketing email volume has increased 49% through May 2021 and is 52% higher pre-COVID volume. The open rate hovers at around 15% and that is 10% – 20% higher than April 2021.
  • Sales outcomes. U.S. Businesses adapted extremely well to the numerous protocols required by the shutdown, most dramatically demonstrated by the quick and often well- executed pivot to working from home. America means business! However, unreliable cash-flow prevented many customers from buying and that resulted in sluggish sales revenue in many organizations. In April 2020, sales outcomes bottomed out at 36% lower than 1Q20 benchmarks. Positive sales outcomes rose gradually throughout 2020 and May 2021 finished with a 10% increase in deals done (national or international companies). Deal creation (proposals) climbed 35% above benchmark.

So how do these statistics apply to you? They definitively show that the shutdown has ended, that money is being made agin and that you can make money again, too. Reboot your operation by using what have become standard marketing and sales strategies and actions.

Develop a powerful digital presence for your company. Employ Inbound and Outbound marketing and sales tactics. Optimize your website to help prospects easily find information about your products and services. Post and distribute relevant marketing content to confirm your expertise. Send emails to promote engagement with customers and prospects. Work hard, work smart.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: A young lady gets serious about researching benchmark data.

Sales , , , Leave a comment

5 Smart Sales Questions

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“To get the right answers, you have to ask the right questions,” said business strategy and management expert Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005), author of pioneering management insights and founder of the Drucker Graduate School of Management at Claremont College in California. When your goal is to sell a product or service to a prospective client, knowing which questions to ask and when to ask them can make a big difference in your ability to make sales and generate revenue that keeps your company alive. Actionable information is worth money, even when you learn that who you hoped would be a prospect is not. Knowing when to cut bait and pursue other avenues is a good thing.

Ask a handful of questions that first, confirm that your prospect is ready to do business and next, guides the prospect through the sales (buying) journey is a pillar of the thriving company you want to build.

“How long have you been in business? Who are/ what kind of customers do you serve? What big plans are in the works now?”

Set the stage for your sales conversation by obtaining background info that gives context to why there is a need for your product or service and the role it would play in achieving company objectives, or solving/ avoiding a problem.

“You appear to have steered your company successfully through the pandemic troubles. Was there a big change, or two, that you decided had to be made to adjust to the new business reality?”

The coronavirus pandemic left no business unscathed, not even those that saw a big increase in profits, like liquor stores and delivery services. That you’ve thought to ask this question and the preceding demonstrates to the prospect that you’re interested in the business and that it’s success means something to you. Successful sales professionals, including business owners and Freelance consultants, usually aim to become a collaborative partner, a reliable and trusted resource, for the client.

“Did anything fall through the cracks as you shifted gears during the pandemic? Is there anything that was not previously a worry now emerging as a challenge?”

Here is the question where the pain is revealed. Now you’ll learn what’s keeping your prospect awake at night and what your solution must address. You continue to earn your prospect’s trust, which is invaluable. You are closing in on the sale because you’ve shown that you care enough to want to understand company leaders are grappling with and are trying to do.

“So, what will success look like?”

This question helps the prospect to define the desired outcomes and deliverables of the project, something that, surprisingly, the prospective client and his/ her team may be a little fuzzy on, Maybe the decision to ask for a meeting with you was to find out what you, and perhaps a competitor or two, can offer in terms of helping the company achieve necessary outcomes?

“What’s new? What’s next? What help might you need to make it happen?”

A question designed to do more business with clients you’ve worked before, that is, repeat business. It really is easier in terms of time and money spent to do more business with clients who know you than to bring in new clients (but a business needs both types of clients).

“What’s new?” lets the client update you on what’s been happening with the business since the last time you’ve worked together. “What’s next?” opens the door to the future—- what initiatives are on the drawing board? “What help might you need to make it happen?” is, you guessed it, a way to help the client envision a role for you as plans for a sustainably profitable future are made.

Whether you’ll speak with your prospect on line or face2face, the questions presented here will politely and unambiguously get the sales process flowing in the right direction. Your prospect will be called upon to reveal his/ her intentions about doing business. In an always-appreciated show of empathy, your questions will invite the prospect to acknowledge the impact of the pandemic on his/ her organization.

Describing the pain point that (could be) a factor driving the necessity of the project you’re there to discuss and clarifying the expected outcomes (success) and the deliverables of the project will be confirmed. If you’re trying to get back in the door and get repeat business, the final 3-part question will help you and the client to segue into that possibility. You can continue on with question two and address the impact of the pandemic or question three and get an understanding of pain points that may be driving factors. You’ll have a good chance of making a sale!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Spices and rice bring women to the market.

Sales , , Leave a comment

Make Doing Business Easy

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Do you know what business you’re really in? I have asked this question of readers before. It remains a question that every Freelance professional or business owner should periodically explore and confirm the answer. The unspoken motives that bring clients to your door (or website) are powerful. They will evolve and adapt to the times. In order to maximize the success of your venture, those motives must be understood in the present. The drivers that brought in clients five years ago may not be persuasive today.

Add to the mix that attention spans are short and seem to be getting shorter. We are used to 140 character tweets, sent by everyone from middle school teens to captains of industry. On August 25, 2020, it was announced that there were 100 million active TikTok users each month in the U.S, uploading and viewing 60 second cell phone videos.

Everyone wants what they want now, bring it to me fast and make the way to get it easy. Instant gratification. Folks have been working from home for more than a year and they’ve come to enjoy sitting at home in their jammies, only reaching for a professional-grade shirt when a video meeting demands their presence.

Online ordering and home delivery of everything imaginable rules the day. Despite the gradual lifting of pandemic restrictions across the states, it appears that many pandemic-driven customs will remain. Whatever is fast and easy-peasy —-convenient—-is now an expectation and that’s what it takes to win the hearts and wallets of customers. Anazon CEO Jeff Bezos is well on the way toward reaching his stated goal of becoming a trillionaire.

In other words, no matter what business you determine that you’re in, the operational aspects of the buying process must be easy, seamless and convenient as customers perceive it. Let’s look at how you and your team can set that into motion.

Technology to the rescue

The right tech solutions are your ticket to making it easy and convenient for prospects and current customers to do business with your organization. The right tech solutions can also make it easy and convenient for you, Freelancer or business owner, to more efficiently manage your company by utilizing targeted software, if you will, for certain routine tasks. You and your team can then apply the time saved to working on the business—-analyzing Key Performance Index data and using the findings to develop strategies and action plans that will most likely be effective, for example.

Bring convenience to your website visitors by installing a chat bot, programmed with a half-dozen concise answers to common questions that prospects ask, that make it easy and convenient to find what’s important while in the initial stage of their decision-making process. Add links written in a bold font and brightly colored lettering that call attention to links for company contact info, the blog or newsletter, case studies or white papers and your upcoming podcast or webinar appearances. Devise an appealing Call to Action and you’ll persuade visitors to learn more about your products, your services and you.

Check website tabs to make sure that visitors can intuitively find company press releases, articles published by you or about the company, customer testimonials and any business awards, nominations, or recognition your company has received. Get site visitors to decision-influencing information quickly and easily.

Enable the sale by installing e-commerce software that you’ve determined is a good fit to make ordering, shipping and paying easy to navigate and secure with encryption.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Hugh Laurie (l) as Bertie Wooster, British gentleman and member of the Idle Rich, with Stephen Fry as Jeeves, his sardonic but loyal butler, in the BBC-TV adaptation of the P.G. Wodehouse Jeeves stories.

Business Strategy , , , Leave a comment

Go Agile

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Life brings change and it seems as if change occurs at a much faster pace these days. Then again, the same observation was probably made in the Middle Ages or even when the pharaohs ruled. The world continues to turn and every day is new and brings a unique set of circumstances. How we respond to fluctuating conditions has a big impact on our fortunes in life.

The ability to move quickly, whether to take advantage of goodies that unexpectedly appear or dodge something unpleasant, is a skill known as agility and it is worth cultivating. In business, the ability to incorporate agility into strategy, management and culture enables company leaders and team members to facilitate smart decisions that enable beneficial changes that can be instituted quickly and efficiently. This capability delivers a number of advantages, often making a business more competitive, sustainable and ultimately, more profitable. During periods of generally adverse business conditions, agility often makes the difference between keeping a business viable or presiding over its failure.

Benefits of an agile business 

  • Responding to new market conditions or competitors. Every business will at some point encounter a wily competitor or challenging market conditions. When agile practices are baked into your organization, the leadership team will be better prepared to adjust to evolving conditions. You expect change—you monitor the Key Performance Indicators, you pay attention to the competitive scene, you follow industry developments that help you anticipate what might impact your organization, for good or ill. You are accustomed to making decisions and changes to accommodate new realities. The agile business is resilient.
  • Solving and responding to problems. The pandemic shutdown has been Problem #1 for most of us. Hollowed out industries, disappearing clients, supply chain delays and difficulties in finding help thanks to the stimulus payments that have made staying home more profitable than working for some. These and other disruptions can prevent you from efficiently serving your customers. But leaders of agile businesses have been training like a prize fighter, giving the entity quick reflexes, effective offense and defense strategies and stamina to weather the storm. You’re able to recognize what may become a problem and proactively institute alternatives that will soften the blows and limit damage. The agile organization is prepared to defend itself and prevail. 

Tools of an agile business

  • A Robust data streams. Agility won’t help you unless your decisions and actions are based on 1.) objective data and 2.) you measure what it makes sense to measure. Accordingly, your first goal should be establishing credible and relevant streams of data for key aspects of your business. You should consistently measure your performance in every department, and across the entire business. Analyzing and interpreting the data will help you figure out which actions to take next.
  • Fast decision-making. Agile businesses are capable of making important decisions quickly. That capability requires both preparation and courage. If a problem arises, a quick decision can mitigate its impact. If a competitor emerges, your agile business may be able to pivot in a matter of weeks, instead of months. This usually means avoiding the development of slow, bureaucratic systems in favor of those that support decisiveness and action. Good data, especially in the form of well-chosen KPIs, is essential, as is the willingness to act on it.
  • Flexible systems. Flexibility is crucial for agility. If your technology infrastructure and operational workflows can’t accommodate rapid-fire changes or expansion, they’re not going to support agility.
  • Innovation. Your organization also needs a mechanism and encouragement for innovation. For agility to be effective, it needs to foster and support novel ideas, including ideas for new products and services.

Practices of an agile business

  • Encourage entrepreneurial thinking. If you’ve built a good team, you’ll be able to extend to them a degree of autonomy. Empower your employee in to develop a sense of ownership and behave as if a steward, a stakeholder, of the enterprise. Encourage them to solve their own problems and allow them to make their own decisions whenever possible. The more autonomy your employees have, the faster they’ll make decisions (and the more agile your business will become).
  • Foster clusters of small teams. Big, hierarchical organizations have some advantages, but they’re inherently unagile. Instead, it’s better to work closely together in small teams. Try to avoid becoming overly bureaucratized.
  • Avoid becoming too accustomed to anything. Don’t get too attached to anything in your business, including people, software, workflows and even the company culture. You need to remain flexible and willing to incorporate new ideas.
  • Cut whatever isn’t working. Whether it’s a new tactic or a strategy with a long history of producing results that at one time pushed the company forward, you need to be willing to cancel whatever isn’t working. If it doesn’t provide an objective benefit to your organization, get rid of the dead weight.
  • Check in regularly. You should have reliable metrics to inform you of your progress and check in with them regularly. While you’re at it, ask for feedback from your employees and ask how they think the organization could be made even more agile in the future.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Olga Korbut, superstar gymnast from Minsk, Belarus (formerly USSR) at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, (West) Germany. Korbut won four gold and two silver medals at the Games.

Marketing , , , Leave a comment

Self-Promotion that’s Savvy, Not Shameless

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If you do not put the word out about your talents, achievements and (perhaps discreetly) your ambitions, or if you do so ineptly, you are leaving money (and also a satisfying life, I think) on the table. Despite what some people would have you believe, no one finds success on their own. The self-made man is a myth. You are going to need some help along the way and to rally influential people to your side, you must let them know what you can do.

Bill Gates’ mother held a job at IBM that gave her access to a powerful person in the company, who agreed to meet with her son and his friend Paul Allen so that the two could explain the special project they were working on. As we know, their project eventually became Microsoft.

How to deliver your self-promotion

Effective self-promotion is a subtle and powerful communication skill. I consider it an art. It can be learned. Maybe we should start with what to avoid?

It’s frightfully easy to come off as obnoxious when telling others about how fabulous you are and the riveting details of your long list of magnificent, truly enviable, accomplishments. Most of us know that outright bragging is not cool, but we have also heard more than enough hyper-ambitious people pretending to be modest as they trot out a humble brag act at every opportunity.

Witnessing either spectacle usually induces an eye roll, if not a headache. But how can you show finesse and talk yourself up in a way that doesn’t turn off friends and colleagues?

A good Karma method is to be generous and share credit for your successes with those who helped you achieve them. There is a huge benefit associated with this generous act—- you gain allies. Your allies, because you’ve made it clear that you value them and their work, will be inclined to do you the enormous favor of promoting your magnificent achievements for you, which gives you much more credibility and influence than if you say it all yourself. So as you climb the ladder, not only will your allies help you, they’ll recruit more allies for the cause.

When to self-promote

Choose the politically correct time to self-promote. There are situations when one is expected to do so, but be aware that there are only so many opportunities available. Employees are invited to discuss their accomplishments at their annual performance review, when campaigning for a raise, or when seeking to interview for a promotion. Freelance consultants, when speaking with prospective clients or writing proposals with the aim of winning projects, are expected to spell out and sell their competencies, relevant experience and achievements.

What to promote

Make it known that you’ve earned a new educational degree or professional certification, the date, time and place of an important presentation you’ll deliver, or should you be invited to join a prestigious board.

Other self-promoting without penalty opps include announcing your appearance on a podcast, webinar, or panel. Announcing that you’ve written and published, or edited, a book is also a self-promoting bow you’re expected to take. Launching a workshop (that you must sell!) is another self-promotion gateway.

Where to self-promote

Especially since face2face events remain limited, savvy people know that social media is an acceptable self-promotion tool. Update your profiles as you upgrade your skills and announce your showcase events as appropriate.

Again, bring in some good Karma and acknowledge the achievements of your connections and contacts as they appear in your feed, so that your communication is not all outbound. Self-promotion, no matter how skillfully delivered, still requires good relationships in order to capitalize on your good work.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Steve Martin in The Jerk (1979) directed by Carl Reiner and written by Steve Martin