Professional Development , Leave a comment

Freelancer = Team Leader

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The observations and experiences of leadership gurus, whether academic or in the field (i.e., on the job), indicate that hiring the most talented and qualified candidates for a job or project is just half the story. Those who study performance in the workplace learned long ago that other than professional expertise, plus a basic ability to work cooperatively with others, the ingredients needed to cultivate and development a high-performance team that achieves excellent outcomes are psychological.

Decades of research has demonstrated that when workers and team members feel psychologically fulfilled, they tend to be happy and productive. Autonomy, competence and camaraderie lead the list of conditions and attributes known to give rise to the best teams, Respect (emanating from the team leader and fellow team members), trust and ____. These are the supporting pillars of team spirit that inspires cooperation, collaboration, creativity and enthusiasm for the project and realization of the full expression of goals.

Successful leaders create the conditions that beneficial relationships on the teams that they lead, using the usual resources available—communication style, showing appreciation, productive meetings, and deeper friendships, every workplace has the ability to fuel people’s basic psychological need for relatedness and lift team performance.

Leaders of high-performing teams hold productive meetings

It’s no secret that poorly run meetings contribute to are a waste of time. They are are also demoralizing, they sap enthusiasm and creativity and contribute to diminished outcomes, work ethic and worker satisfaction. Studies of workplaces indicate that the leaders of high-performing teams run good meetings. Smart leaders avoid the inadequate planning associated with poorly run meetings by incorporating practices shown to make meetings worthwhile.

Those leaders/ meeting conveners take the time to develop the the right agenda. Further, they invite only those who should to the meeting who should attend—-team members plus key stakeholders, as needed. Next, the team leader/ meeting convener will ask for reports to be sent out with the meeting agenda aand expect meeting attendees to read the reports and contribute information or ask questions. Finally, the team leader/meeting convener will open the proceedings with a round-robin progress check-in that invites team members to give a concise update on their work that creates the benefit of keepsing fellow team members apprised of the big picture of the team’s progress.

By ensuring that time together is both efficient and collaborative, leaders of high-performing teams don’t just make better use of their meetings, they also set the stage for more positive interactions, contributing to shared information, cooperation, group problem-solving where necessary and good relationships.

Leaders of high-performing teams pick up the phone

While telephone calls are, unfortunately, much less common in the workplace in general, that’s not the case with leaders of high-performing teams. Research has found that the best leaders communicate more frequently in general, and they are significantly more likely to communicate with colleagues using the telephone than their less successful peers (10.1 vs. 6.1 calls per day on average).

While studies have found that most people expect that telephone calls will be somehow awkward or uncomfortable, that’s a misperception. Not only are phone calls no more awkward in practice, they also tend to strengthen relationships and prevent misunderstanding, contributing to more fruitful interactions among teammates.

Leaders of high-performing teams show appreciation

A key reason the need for relatedness contributes to better performance at work is that it makes us feel valued, appreciated, and respected by those whose opinions we prize. It’s why recognition is often a more powerful motivating force than monetary incentives.

Within our study, members of high-performing teams reported receiving more frequent appreciation at work — both from their colleagues (72% more) as well their managers (79% more). Critically, they also reported expressing appreciation to their colleagues more frequently (44% more), suggesting that within the best teams, appreciation doesn’t flow from the top down. It’s a cultural norm that’s observable in peer-to-peer interactions.

Leaders of high-performing teams support authenticity

Members of high-performing teams are significantly more likely to express their thoughts, ideas and values with their fellow team members. In emails to the team, they use exclamation points and add a personal touch to messages by including emojis. They’re also more likely to compliment, joke with, and socialize outside of the office with their teammates.

Incidentally, members of high- performing teams also complain, when they feel the need and they’ll get sarcastic, too. They feel free to be themselves, while holding fast to respect and professional behavior.

By incorporating simple, evidence-based practices that yield better communication, more productive meetings and deeper friendships, Freelancer/ team leaders have the ability to fuel people’s basic psychological need for cooperation and camaraderie and support the achievement of excellent team performance.

Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving,

Kim

Image: Mountain climbing on the Arctic Team challenge adventure race in East Greenland

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Shorten Your Sales Cycle

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We’re at the halfway point of the 4th Quarter, that time of year when many businesses expect to bring in the lion’s share of their revenue. You have only a few short weeks to motivate prospects and current customers to do business with you before the calendar year ends. Best case scenario, you’ll have until Wednesday December 22 seal your deals. But time is only one obstacle in your path. A much more formidable adversary you face this year is inflation and its noticeable impact on the price of everything is fueling nervous talk of impending recession. The recent lay-off of 11,000 workers announced by Meta (Facebook) can only rev up the recession drumbeat and its a tune reflexive clamping down on budgets.

There’s been plenty of debate about whether or not we’re in a recession now, but whether we are technically in a recession or not, many Freelancers are worried and with good reason. Difficult economic times do not make it difficult to generate sales. Businesses cut spending and conserve cash. The threat of a recession, in particular, one that could be prolonged, can make it very difficult to fill your sales pipeline.


That said, businesses are still doing business. Decision-makers are just being cautious about spending and that makes sense during times of economic uncertainty. Your best defense to combat any anticipated or actual tough slogging is to take an active role in increasing your revenue potential by optimizing your lead generation activities. Step One is to figure out what really motivates customers to buy from you and relentlessly appeal to that motivation in every communication channel that your prospects follow and trust—print media, newsletters, webinars, marketing emails, social media and your website.

Next, do yourself a favor and revisit / follow-up any promising prospects you tried to reel in earlier in the year. They are warm lead prospects because they’ve already dipped into your sales funnel. For whatever reason those leads did not convert, but reaching back to hit the restart button is a sensible tactic when your goal is to wring the most out of your sales pipeline and shorten your sales cycle as you do.

Implisit, a San Francisco, CA based company that uses predictive analytics to boost sales organizations’ performance and revenue, analyzed the sales pipelines of hundreds of companies and found the average length from Lead to Opportunity (otherwise known as Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) to Sales Qualified Lead [SQL]) was 84 days and the average length from Opportunity to Close (otherwise known as Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) to Deal) was 18 days. So the average Lead to Close length is 102 days. However, this varies hugely based on what the source of the opportunity was. Whatever you can do to speed up the timeline is money in the bank. Here are four steps to ensure you set your 4th Quarter leadGen strategy up for success.

  1. Create a proper sales system: First, make sure you have a proper system in place to track and follow up with prospects. This could mean using a simple Customer Relations Management or sales pipeline tool. Click https://sellingsignals.com/best-sales-pipeline-software/ to explore six sales pipeline options that will help you to generate revenue faster and more efficiently.
  2. Engage with leads quickly: Once your sales pipeline system is in place, begin following up with your leads as soon as they express any interest and return to those that were promising but for some reason did not convert. The sooner you reach out, the better, but taking a second look as you close out the fourth quarter can yield a pleasant surprise or two. You have a short window of opportunity to close a sale after you’ve made initial contact with a prospect.
  3. Personalize your messages: When you contact prospects by way of marketing emails, always address them by name and tailor your offer as specifically to their needs or priorities, as possible. One-size-fits-all emails that make a generic offer are destined for either the spam or trash file. When you’re returning to a previously worked lead you’ll have the advantage of history, to which you can refer to customize your message and make yourself more credible, trustworthy and, perhaps, better positioned to make a sale this time.
  4. Continue warm leads follow- up: Finally, don’t walk away after a single follow-up. According to research by RAIN Sales Training, a global sales training headquartered in Boston, MA, an average of eight touch point interactions are required to convert a lead to a sale. Stay the course, but be sure that you don’t come across as too pushy, or you may risk turning off a potential client entirely.

Remember, other marketers might be packing it in for the 4th Quarter due to limited budgets and the holidays on their minds. But this is your perfect opportunity to double down on your lead generation efforts to finish the year off on top.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image :© Joao Souza. Fish market in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil February 12, 2021

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5 Ways to Keep Prospects on Your Website

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Persuading potential customers to visit your website is a big step. You have a shot at winning a customer, but first, you’ll need to do a few critical things right. Your objective is to supply the information that prospects want (and need) to become customers.

Your website must deliver—in clear, enthusiastic and reassuring language and images—that portray your products and/or services as effective, easy-to-use and eye-candy visible. Create a yellow brick road journey that moves webiste visitors through a trust-inspiring buyer’s journey that has a real Hollwood ending—a sale!

1. Landing page

No one wants to waste time trying to figure out what your company sells, how they can buy it or other essential information. If they don’t find what they’re looking for in what they feel is a reasonable amount of time it’s click and they’re out of there. Disappointed site visitors will leave you and find someone who makes it easy for them.

Think objectively about what you would want and need to see and learn about your products or services if you were searching for a solution. Your landing page should include the big picture basics of why your products and services make sense and it’s all got to be right there at eye level.

2. Decision-making info

Especially for B2B products and services, prospects will conduct extensive research and compare the offerings of two or more competitors before committing to buy. Make information about who you are and what you do easy to find. You can add more content to your website by starting a blog, adding more web pages and ensuring all the essential information a customer needs is there. Further, ensure your website is uncluttered and easy to read, so that prospective customers are drawn to keep browsing and reading your content.

3. Call-to-action

A single CTA on your landing per page, no matter how appealing, may not grab the attention of site visitors who do a quick scroll through your site as they search for specific info. Someone who might do business with you might skate by during a hasty tour of your site, no matter how bright and eye-catching your CTA. Be smart and proactive and include multiple calls to action.

Tie your CTAs to specific steps in the customer buying funnel—click to receive a case study that helps you understand how we help customers get the job done; click here for a 30 minute free consultation: get started with a one month free trial here.

4. Purposeful content

Include content that demonstrates your expertise because that’s the information that supports decision-making (in your favor!). A regularly published newsletter or blog, white papers and /or case studies, customer testimonials and articles about you and your your organization that appear in the press, including your hyper-local neighborhood publications are validations of your expertise. Everything that you post onto your website is there to be in service to persuading a prospect to become a customer. This is not about window dressing.

5. Trust and authenticity

The best way to combat distrust is to demonstrate your relevance, ability to do the job and authenticity. Personalizing your website with real photos and details. If you can’t afford to hire a professional photographer, take photos of your staff, office and products using what you have at your disposal — even if that’s just your cell phone camera (making sure that your photos are clear and not blurry). Adding personal details like photos of yourself as the owner, a street view of your location, etc. will elicit more trust from online shoppers.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Vogue Magazine Collections app for Apple iPad and iPhone

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Use Customer Service to Grow Your Business

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The quality of customer service that your organization delivers reveals more than you may suspect about your organization— the quality of the products and services offered, your commitment to quality control, your respect for those who buy from you, your appreciation of the value of building and maintaining good customer relationships, your brand and your management skills.

Of the many tasks that a business owner must examine and address, few are more representative of your business acumen than customer service. You owe it to customers, prospective customers (you want to convert them, yes?) and yourself to analyze your company’s buyer’s journey and after- sale service and ensure that every customer touch point reflects your commitment to providing a solution to the needs of those who might become your customers and your goal to promote confidence and trust in your company.

Encourage customer feedback—-distribute a survey when you send an invoice, initiate conversations about what might make doing business with you even better. Read on and remind yourself of why customer service matters.

It’s good business

While there are many factors that contribute to the success or failure of a business, good customer service is always a positive. When customers are pleased to do business with your establishment, they’re likely to say good things about you, your team and your products or services. Remember to ask your happy customers to write online reviews, make referrals and also contribute testimonials or participate in a case study.

Prospects, too

The buyer’s journey requires the engagement of you or your team once prospects move from stage 1 Top of Funnel to stage 2 Middle of Funnel. As prospects become more serious about doing business, personal interaction begins. Prospects may want to have a 30 minute (free) consultation, or they may have a question or two. You and your team must respond to inquiries from prospective customers promptly, professionally and pleasantly.

Prospects who’ve maintained an interest in your product or service and entered stage 3 Bottom of Funnel are especially deserving of superior customer service. It can help you win the sale, or cause you to lose it, if you don’t perform to expectations. Converting someone from consideration to commitment is a careful balancing act that’s eased along with good customer service.

They remember

The customer may forget what they bought and when they bought it, but memories of the interactions between you, or your staff, and the customer will have a long life. It is therefore in your interest to take all possible steps to leave customers and also prospective customers, with pleasant memories of your establishment. I’m sorry to say that memories of poor customer service have the longest life. Many marketing experts estimate that 12 positive experiences are necessary to make up for just one unsatisfactory customer service experience.

They matter

Providing good customer service is the ultimate demonstration of courtesy and respect. Part of the value that you deliver to customers (and prospects) is communicating that you value their business and their interest in doing business with you, even if you ultimately cannot fulfill their need at this time. Treat customers and prospects well and you’ll leave them with a good feeling. They will trust you and will be more likely to refer you to others who may become your customers.

They return

Depending on which study you believe, and what industry you’re in, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. Research done by Frederick Reichheld of Bain and Company in Boston, MA concluded that increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.

Good customer service is an important ingredient of your customer development strategy. It encourages good customer relationships, good online reviews, good word of mouth, repeat business and referrals. In other words, good customer service is worth money. I believe making money is why you went into business?

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Nick Briggs, Carnival Film & Television Ltd. Members of the Downton Abbey household staff

Marketing , Leave a comment

Semiotics Storytelling

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Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols in verbal and nonverbal communication— language, gestures, or clothing and images. Semiotics explains meaning and reveals how we instinctively interpret the messages we receive, wherever we encounter them. The field of semiotics has plenty of lofty academic associations (maybe that’s why I never considered becoming a semiotics major), but I’ve discovered that the field has boots on the ground implications for marketers, too.

Your typical marketing professional is unlikely to realize it, but semiotics is the foundation of everything we do, from creating marketing messages to logo design, encompassing calls to action and all sorts of customer persuasion campaigns that are intended to influence buying decisions.

Laura Oswald, author of of Marketing Semiotics: Signs, Strategies and Brand Value (2011) and Founder/ President of Marketing Semiotics, a boutique brand strategy and research firm in Chicago, IL says, “Semiotic theories and methods can be used to identify trends in popular culture, to understand how consumer attitudes and behavior are formed in relation to popular culture, including brands, and how marketing and advertising programs can best meet the needs of consumers by improving communication with the end user.”

The decisions we make are often influenced by our emotions and those emotions are often guided by our subconscious interpretations of words and images. Semiotics can help decode those subconscious messages and marketers can use that awareness to create messages and branding that draw in the target audience.

You tap into semiotics as you articulate the brand identity, brand communication style and also your brand ethos, i.e., your company’s reputation and how customers (current and potential) perceive your brand. The quality of the products you sell or services you provide, along with the customer service and customer experience your company delivers, are the essence of brand ethos.

You rely on semiotics to create or select all of the marketing sytories and symbols that represent and promote your business—the behavioral, verbal and visual identities. To ramp up the power and broaden the reach of your brand, with a goal to inspire or strenghten customer loyalty to your brand, marketers are also advised to incorporate selected preferences and values that are popular with your target audience into your brand symbols.

So let your ads, social media posts, website and marketing emails echo the terminology or slang, images and colors most meaningful to your target audience loves. In addition to the colors that represent your company’s visual packaging and brand identity, even shapes carry meaning.

In particular, the shape of your logo communicates more than you may have thought about your company. Circles communicate friendship, unity, inclusion, safety and warmth (but you knew that!). Squares symbolize power and professionalism; those straight lines telegraph strength, dependability and also tranquillity.

So tap into the resources that semiotics provides to marketers and discover the secrets of how your audience may interpret what you communicate and learn the best ways to appeal to those you want to persuade.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Kim Clark October 2021

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Your Short, Sweet Self-introduction

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When you think about it, this should be one of the easiest things you’ll do all day. You’ll join a meeting of some sort and, of course, everyone will introduce him/herself. That should be the easy part—-but when the person running the meeting calls on the group to go around the table and say a few words about yourselves, why do you get so nervous?

You could be in an online meeting or seated around a boardroom table. The meeting leader asks everyone to briefly introduce yourselves and suddenly, your palms begin to sweat and your heart beats faster. What should you say about yourself?

Many of us dread introducing ourselves, whether in a videoconference or in-person meeting. Self-introductions put you on the spot; you’ve gotta get it right and you only have 20 seconds. You feel pressured to portray yourself as well-spoken, intelligent and friendly —and worthy of being at the table. Why is it so intimidating to get the right words out?

You could use some help and here it is—-a quick and easy template to follow that will lower your stress hormones and guide you to make successful self-introductions, online or in-person, for business or boardroom. To make it work, all you’ll have to do is remember a timeline.

  • Present
  • Past
  • Future

The next time you’re in a meeting and someone says, “Let’s go around the table and introduce ourselves,” you know what to do. Take a slow, deep breath, and think, “Present, past, future.” Then smile and listen to everyone else until it’s your turn. You’ve got this!

Because your meeting is in the here and now your introduction will begin in the present. You might say something like, “Hi, I’m Frank and I’m a landscape architect. I’m self-employed and I design the exterior green spaces for residential and commercial properties.”

Of course, what you share will depend on the situation and on the audience. If you are not sure what to share, your name and job title is a great place to start. If there’s an opportunity to elaborate, you can also share other details such as a current project, your expertise, or your geographical location. Notice that your self- introduction is not dissimilar to your elevator pitch. But whereas your self- introduction is structured along a timeline, addressing when you’ve done or will do certain things, your elevator pitch follows a format of what —what you do, for whom you do it and the outcomes and benefits derived.

Next, refer to your history and share a sliver of the depth or breadth of your expertise with a reference to what you’ve done in the past.

In this section add two or three quick points that will provide your new colleagues with relevant details about your background. Now you can trot out your bona fides and establish some credibility, show them why you can be in the room. Consider your education and other credentials, past projects, employers and accomplishments.

“Hello everyone! I’m Grace and I’m a data scientist. At a couple of different companies, I worked with big data to better understand and leverage brand loyalty in the hotel industry.”

The third element of the template addresses the future. Now is your opportunity to demonstrate enthusiasm for the expected outcomes of the group’s goal when they are achieved. In this, the conclusion of your self-introduction, you express your interest and confidence in the meeting’s purpose. If you’re launching a project with a new team, express your excitement for being part of the process.

“I’m happy to be on the team, being invited to bring such an important goal to life.”

I’m excited to work with your company and help with the launch of a product that can improve how we live.”

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Mao Zedong (1893-1976), founder and Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, greets President Richard M. Nixon, who in 1972 became the first U.S. president to visit China since the 1949 communist revolution.

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Recipe for Great Content

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For several years now, the marketing gurus have been telling us that Content Marketing delievers results. Everything that you do to promote your business and your brand is useful, but Content marketing has emerged as an especially powerful strategy. But for the best Content marketing ROI, your content must address what matters to your audience–their pain points and priorities—and deliver what they value. Take care to produce content that brings these benefits to your intended audience:

  • Value: after reading or viewing your content, the Alternatively, your content may have helped them solve a problem.
  • Relevant: your content needs to relate to your audience’s life situation. Perhaps it helps them in their career, solves a relationship issue or serves to entertain them during a break. All three scenarios are perfect examples of content relevant to the person consuming it.
  • Consistent: publishing an award-winning newsletter of blog post post once and then never again does not constitute high-quality content marketing. Consistency  requires regular content of similarly high quality.

The guidelines above can help you develop a content marketing strategy that your current and potential customers will be drawn to. This is one of the most important aspects of Content Marketing—it’s all about your audience.

Furthermore, as you consider the platforms and delivery formats for your content, start by considering your audience. If social media will be used (and it most likely will be used), pay attention to the platforms that your target audience follows and trusts. Successful content provides value. In sum, you can better fulfill customer needs by understanding what they want from your business.

Updating existing content should be part of your content marketing strategy if your business has already started content marketing. Plus, updating existing content will benefit other aspects of your digital marketing strategy, including search engine optimization.

Keep your content engaging and easy to understand. If your Content Marketing Strategy includes longer blog posts, whitepapers or eBooks, they must be well presented and easy to read. Content that is hard to digest because it is challenging to understand rarely goes viral. Short sentences almost always beat long-winded explanations. If you offer video content, think about your presentation style and the technology used to record your content.

Content marketing is a great way to connect with current customer base and reach new ones. As with every form of digital marketing, a strategic approach is the most likely to succeed. Content marketing means being consistent, relevant to your audience, delivering value, most of all.

Evergage’s 2019 Trends in Personalization Survey Report found that 88 % of marketers felt personalization helped them deliver superior customer experiences, while 59 % felt it increased loyalty, and another 50 % saw a measurable ROI from personalization efforts.

Personalization doesn’t just mean dropping a customer’s name into an email. It means making your brand story come alive through relatable content and storytelling that connects on an emotional level, personalized to the customer’s current relationship with your brand.

In case you hadn’t noticed, customer-generated content carries great credibility and is a powerful for creating meaningful and influential content. Testimonials that feature your devoted customers can be used on your website. Positive online reviews are also very helpful, but the detailed and personalized stories presented in testimonials are known to surpass good reviews.

Your customers are sophisticated enough to realize that the goal of your marketing is to increase sales and leads; that knowledge can cause some to question the trustworthiness and authenticity of what you present. That potential for doubt is why successful Content Marketing Strategies include user-generated content to communicate first-person, relatable, credible experiences with your products and services.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: New Orleans, LA by way of New Bedford, MA chef Lagasse showcased his talents during Grand Cayman’s January 2018 Cayman Cookout, a premier culinary event.

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Do It Better: Perfecting the Customer Experience

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In today’s competitive business world to delight your customers, rather than simply satisfying them, is critical to the success of your venture. Customer delight is the new standard. To delight your customers means exceeding their expectations and creating a highly positive and memorable experience with your product or brand. Delight calls upon your entire team , customer-facing and back office, to smoothly collaborate to deliver timely, efficient and pleasant service to customers by focusing on their needs, challenges, questions and preferences.

Satisfied customers are good for your company, but delighted customers help you much more. Customers who carry the memory of their delightful experiences with your organization are more likely to become loyal customers and brand advocates who enthusiastically make referrals, give testimonials and reward your company with glowing online reviews. They become extensions of your marketing department.

When you accomplish this, you’ll build a strong relationship with your customers that makes them want to remain loyal brand advocates and promoters. Read on to better understand how your organization can achieve this level of service.

  1. Personalize every customer experience—Start at the top by addressing all customers and prospects by name in each marketing email. Furthermore, the product or service that you promote in those emails should be something that the recipients might possibly use. Obtain this information by resarching your customers. As always, knowing the customer is key.
  2. Quick response and follow-up—A critical aspect of solving problems for customers is responding to them ASAP — meaning, a big component of customer delight is the ability to be available and responsive whenever your customers reach out. Whether the issue is big or small, show your customers that you’re always prioritizing them by responding quickly.
  3. Resolve customer problems fast—The first and most important thing your organization needs to do is solve whatever problems your current and prospective customers are experiencing. Offering your customers a solution to a challenge they’re facing, or a way to achieve the goal they’re working towards, is what motivated them to do business with you — so don’t disappoint them. Offer your customers solutions that align with their individual wishes, needs, and preferences. The same goes for prospects and potential customers. Even though they aren’t paying customers just (yet), potential customers require you to solve their problems as well. not only should you solve customers’ problems in the short term, but you should think ahead for their future needs, too. Going beyond the immediate solution to provide information and ways to help your customers manage their challenges — and teach them to do so on their own, if and when possible — is how you can solve for the future, too.
  4. Help customers have the best experience possible—Make sure you understand why people are buying your product or service to determine how to help them succeed. When you truly understand what it is people need from a product or service like yours, you’ll be able to target those pain points and solve for them to exceed customer expectations. It can also be on a smaller scale, like the way you train your new employees to handle customer questions. Additionally, help customers succeed by providing them with the right educational resources so they know how to reach out to your service and support teams, get the help they want and need, or find answers to questions on their own.
  5. Listen to customer feedback—It doesn’t feel good to hear feedback that’s critical of your company, but if you’re serious about delivering the best possible customer service, you must face the unvarnished truth about how your product or service meets expectations, or doesn’t. You must learn what disappoints. Then you can fix it. Then you become more aware, smarter, faster and more successful. Your customers will tell you, one way or another. Listen to honest feedback, take chronic complainers ith a grain of salt.
  6. Loyal customers receive preferential treatment and perks —Loyal customers are the bedrock of your business and it would be inconsiderate and unwise to take them for granted. Keep their business by giving them VIP treatment and communicating to them that you understand and appreciate their business and also them, as individuals. Offer them perks such as discounts, service upgrades, speedy delivery, invitations to special in-store events and other benefits as appropriate. A strong customer loyalty program will make your customers feel appreciated while securing their future business. Did I mention that your loyal customers also make referrals?
  7. Surprise, delight and please —Enable your company to stand out from competitors, then you need to make a lasting impression on your customers. While your primary goal is to solve the customer’s problem, you can create a memorable experience by giving customers more than they ever anticipated. Customers expect to see their needs fulfilled, but are truly delighted when your team goes above and beyond in the customer experience.
  8. Easy to find company contact info—It’s so annoying to have to hunt down a company’s contact information. Customers should be able to get in contact with you easily. Even more importantly, they should have several avenues for reaching you, such as email address, telephone number and social media sites.
  9. Be enthusiastic—In every interaction with current and prospective customers, be sure that you (and your employees or anyone who represents you) displays a positive and welcoming demeanor that complements your brand. Always provide a real, warm, welcoming, helpful and personalized interaction that respects your customer’s time and leaves them happy, satisfied —and with a better understanding of the value of your product or service.
  10. Build a community—Humans are social beings and we enjoy the feeling of belonging to a community or group. Your community might be used as a resource for sharing useful information or act as a medium for users to submit customer reviews. No matter what your community’s function is, creating a space where customers can interact with one another and you and/or your employees adds value to the customer experience that your company provides and continue to delight these people.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Experience a luxury safari at Jao Camp in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

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Fix the Flaws in Your Tactical Plan

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Look at it this way—if every time you and your team develop goals for your organization all of the goals are achieved every time, take it as a sign that you should be more ambitious. Goals should challenge! Working toward goals should test you and make you grow.

But if the opposite happens and it becomes clear that your strategies and actions are not moving you toward success, you’ll need to stop and discuss. You must understand why things aren’t happening and decide what you can do about it. For sure, a change will have to be made, but how might you figure out what to change?

Today we’ll break down the elements of working toward goals — the actions taken, the strategies, which are pathways, and finally, the goals themselves. Our objective is to recognize what part of the plan is fatal and what is fixable. Spoiler alert–everything is connected. Each component of your plan must support, and be supported by, the other components.

Actions and strategy

It makes sense to start by examining actions—closer to ground level. Every action you or your team takes should be devised to align with and support a specific strategy. All actions should have a purpose that is readily identifiable as a cog in the wheel that carries out a strategy. So if the wheel stops turning, it will not be too difficult to pinpoint the problem and make whatever necessary adjustments.

You may also benefit from rethinking the metrics used to monitor the efficacy and progress of the actions. Are you tracking and measuring the right data? Does the data provide an accurate picture of how your action items contribute to reaching the goal? If not, reevaluate and substitute more meaningful metrics.

Strategies and customer priorities

What matters most is that customer preferences and priorities are tied to and reflected in your strategies. If you’ve analyzed your team’s performance and your actions are on target as regards the plan, then the problem may well lie in the strategy, the wrong path. Perhaps it’s no longer viable?

Or maybe you’ve overlooked other data that indicate customer needs and interests are evolving? If that’s the case, you’ll need to update to ensure that your strategies align with what matters most to customers. You may not need to revise your goals but rather, revise strategies.

Verify the alignment, or lack thereof, between your tactics and strategies. Remember that your actionable tasks are designed to further a certain strategy. It is therefore essential to confirm that you’re using the right tactics to impact the strategy.

SMART Goals

If you’ve taken a cold, hard look at both the strategic and the tactical plans without pinpointing an opportunity for making a timely and productive shift, then it’s time to reconsider your choice of goals.

The problem with your goal may be situational — i.e., what was a valid, realistic goal has lost its luster. The world has turned and now you need to play catch-up and align with the current environment and market. Or it could be that there’s nothing wrong with the goal itself; you just haven’t fully identified, defined and fleshed it out. Reality test your goals by asking yourself the following questions:

SPECIFIC: Specific means “Show a revenue increase of $X and growth in profit of Y% by the end of the current fiscal year,” and not “show an increase in revenue and growth by the end of the fiscal year.”

MEASURABLE: What are the metrics you’ll use to document your progress (and why are they relevant)?

ACHIEVABLE: Is your goal attainable and realistic both in the absolute sense and within the resources—-time, expertise, money—-you can devote to its achievement?

RELEVANT: Does your goal make sense? Does it align with your values and mission of your organization? Does it get your company closer to where you want it to be, in market penetration, referrals and repeat business, revenue earned, or profits made?

TIMELY: Is the time right to pursue and benefit from the attainment of this goal? Also, do you have a clear starting point and metrics targets or deadline date to assess the final result of your initiative?

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: ©Winslow Townson, Associated Press. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the huddle at the December 17, 2017 game against the Steelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA

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Getting Started With Financial Projections

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Whether you are starting a new business, expanding or scaling an existing venture, or searching for investors, creating realistic financial projections is a vital component of the process. You’ll rely on those projections to make informed decisions as you execute the plans for your business. It’s imperative that you have a very good idea of the amount of money you’ll need to move forward with your intentions and how much money you can expect to earn as a result—-and also about when the expected revenues will arrive.

So, what is involved and where can you begin when your goal is to create financial projections for your business? The answer is—- surprise!—-do some homework first. Below are factors to research and help yourself create financial projections that help define the path to success that will work for your organization.

Your financial projections will be detailed in the basic financial documents—the Profit & Loss (Income) Statement, the Balance Sheet and the Cash-flow Statement. The Break-Even Statement will help you predict how much revenue the venture must generate to break even in terms of revenues versus expenses and when that’s likely to occur.

Something to keep in mind when you contemplate the need for financial projections is the distinction between projecting versus budgeting. Think of financial projections as a prediction, and budgeting as your plan. When you do a financial projection, you see what direction your business is headed in, based on past performance and other factors and use that to anticipate the future.

When you create a budget, you plan how you’re going to spend money based on what you expect your finances to look like in the future (your projections).

How big is your target market?

Start-up costs

This is the beginning in terms of your research and big question to answer. Understanding how to build a profitable business starts with determining the size and revenue (sales) potential of your market; if there aren’t enough buyers available, you’ll be unable to succeed. Most industry associations publish research regarding the size of their industry. Identifying three or four close competitors is also useful. Competition is a good sign, confirming that there is money to be made. You need to understand the annual sales volume expectations of your venture.

Expenses are much easier to predict than revenues. Start building your forecast model by outlining your fixed expenses, meaning rent, utilities and insurance. Next, consider the variable expenses, such as salaries, cost of goods sold (or the estimated value of the time it takes you to produce the service you offer). Business permits, required certifications and a marketing budget, for example, are other variable expenses to account for.

Also factor into your start-up costs your best estimate of site buildout and/or necessary equipment—coffee making machines, cash registers, computers, printers, online booking software, online payment or mobile payment plan, desks and chairs—in your financial projections.

Revenue projection

Thinking about how much revenue the venture will be able to generate, i.e., creating a sales forecast, attempts to predict what your monthly sales will be for up to 18 months after launching your business. Start-ups can make their predictions using industry trends, market analysis demonstrating the population of potential customers and consumer trends.

A pricing strategy is an integral component of a revenue projection. Research average industry pricing to ensure your prices are reasonable. Start by identifying the top players in your market. Then visit their locations or websites to determine how they price their products and services.

Cash-flow

A cash flow statement (or projection, for a new business) shows the flow of dollars moving in and out of the business. This is based on the sales forecast, your balance sheet and other assumptions you’ve used to create your expenses projection. If you are starting a new business and do not have these historical financial statements, you start by projecting a cash-flow statement broken down into 12 months.

Identify your assumptions

Any forecast requires you to make assumptions about possibilities that are outside of your control. The best way to manage these assumptions and avoid subconscious bias is by explicitly identifying and documenting them in writing.

The assumptions you should list include how much the market will grow or shrink, based on your research about the industry and local or national economy, changes in the number or activity of your principle competitors and/or technological advancements that will impact your business.

Break-even point

Together, your expenses budget and sales forecast paints a picture of your profitability. Your break-even projection is the date at which you believe your business will become profitable — when more money is earned than spent. Very few businesses are profitable in their first year. Most businesses take two to three years to become profitable. The Break-Even Statement will help you consider and plan for how long and how much revenue the venture must generate to break even in terms of revenues versus expenses and position the business for profitability. In other words, you’ll map out the scenario of pulling the business out of the red and into the black.

Thanks for reading,

Kim