Sales Leave a comment

Map Your Customer Journey

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By analyzing your customers’ behavior, Freelancers and other business owners and marketers come to understand their needs, priorities and concerns, a point that’s often noted in these posts, as regular readers know. When those responsible for marketing understand those factors, you are then able to create marketing and sales messages that speak with authority to your intended audience and also broadcast those messages through marketing channels that your typical buyers trust and follow.

Plus, an accurate understanding of customer behavior helps you to anticipate and deliver customer service and other post-sale needs more effectively, giving you a third benefit to take to the bank. The more familiar you become with the behaviors of your typical customers as they engage with your organization, the more business you will do with them.

Several metrics can give reliable insights into customer behavior and it’s a smart idea to examine all aspects that your data tracks. Today, we’ll examine what you’ll learn when you analyze how visitors to your website or social media accounts react to the customer journey you present to them. The point of this exercise is to figure out how to persuade more prospects to become customers.

From the first encounter with your organization, to digging in to research and compare your product or service to the competition and finally to making a decision to give you the sale, or not—-are you answering prospects’ questions or do they lose interest and abandon you? Where in the customer journey are the biggest drop-offs? How might you coax prospective customers to return to your site to research and evaluate your company’s products and services, so that they’ll realize your organization is capable, trustworthy and prepared to deliver solutions that solve problems and achieve goals?

The function we’ll study today is known as mapping the customer journey and it will be instructive. First, break down the steps that customers in decision-making mode will take, the through-line that begins with their first encounter with your organization and all the way to the sale. Every touch-point, or interaction, that happens along the way makes up the customer journey. There is a beginning, middle and end and interesting tidbits of information will be available for prospective customers at every stage.

Next, evaluate the persuasiveness of the information offered. Information at each stage must be chosen strategically, to help prospects trust and recognize the value of what they read, hear and see. You want them to buy, to become customers. Mapping your customer journey reveals how customers engage—or not—-with the content you’ve made available to them, as documented by your website analytics.

BTW, you’ll probably notice that the customer journey closely resembles a sales (or marketing) funnel. First encounters with your company correspond with the top of the funnel (TOFU). Visitors who are increasingly curious about your products or services will stick around to enter the middle stage, the mid-funnel (MOFU), as they venture beyond landing page info. Maybe they’ll read your blog or newsletter, or accept your offer of a free e-book? The most serious prospects, those who are finalizing their choice, are with you until the final stage of the customer journey, which is comparable to the bottom of the funnel (BOFU).

Early stage

As you’d guess, initial encounters with your organization are mostly filled with non-committal window-shoppers. Early stage potential prospects often cast a wide net. They may be in the process of confirming and defining the challenge or problem that must be resolved and they’re usually compiling a list of companies that offer what appears to be the most effective product or service at the best price. Maybe they’ll check you out on social media, too, and read the About Us page on your website.

Early Stage prospects may have discovered your organization through one of your marketing channels, by referral, or maybe in a personal encounter with you when you taught a class or participated in a webinar. Most early stage encounters do not lead to a sale. Some potential customers may not be certain that they’ll commit to a solution in the near term.

Middle stage

Expect window-shoppers to abandon here. This stage is a natural turning point in the customer journey because it’s moving toward commitment. Those who seriously research and evaluate your product or service advance to the Middle Stage of the customer journey because they have a goal or problem in front of them and they have to do something.

These folks are real prospects. They have a good idea of what they want and how they want it. They demonstrate their resolve by remaining on the customer journey, in search of detailed specifics that will rule you in, or out.

That means you have an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the unique, defining attributes of your product or service and communicate where using your offering is especially well-suited. Here is where you can really shine and build credibility and trust and convince prospects that you are The One. Your e-book, podcast or webinar appearance link, and/ or customer reviews can demonstrate your expertise, convey the respect that industry colleagues and customers have for you and build a strong case for your organization.

Final stage

Ideally, the customer journey you present will get you on the short list of companies that might effectively address your prospects’ needs and goals. You either inch closer to the sale and eventually win, or the prospect steps away to pursue another solution. Prospects in the Final Stage of the customer journey will either fish or cut bait, commit to a purchase and become your customer or tell you goodbye (or go silent).

Your task here is to make a very compelling and appealing last ditch pitch to win the sale. A powerful case study could be an effective deal-closer, as could a free upgrade (that costs little to provide) or, perhaps most of all, a personal appeal from you, in a telephone or videoconference call or a face2face meeting. Do whatever seems reasonable to cross the finish line and win your sale.

The moral of this story is, the more you know about the typical challenges and goals of your most frequent customers, the more adept you will become in developing content to communicate that your solutions are effective and your organization is dependable.

Your customer journey doesn’t end once you’ve welcomed and onboarded your new customer! After-sale and other types of customer service are, collectively, the communication that is essential to building and nurturing the best customer relationships. You will be wise to design an experience that encourages still more purchases, plus referrals, positive reviews and good word of mouth advertising.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Hannibal’s map to victory in the 2nd Punic War. Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps in 218 BC was one of the major events of the war and one of the most celebrated achievements of any military force in ancient warfare.

Marketing , , , , , Leave a comment

Get Noticed: Tactics to Spotlight Your Brand

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If you’ve been trying to increase the visibility (and in the process, credibility) of your brand and Freelance consulting business, you’ve probably realized that standing out against competitors is difficult to achieve. The noise level in the marketplace is deafening and big fish grab nearly all the PR. But all is not lost. There are a few smart moves that will help us little fish to make a splash. Below are a half-dozen mostly low-cost and often successful marketing tactics that you can consider and maybe enact over the next four quarters.

Get On a “Best of” list

PR pros love the fast pay-off and long-tail benefits that getting added to a “best of” list brings. Every business that’s won a “best-of” award over the last 5 years (or more) shouts it to the rooftops. The citation is placed above the fold on website and social media landing pages.

Investigate local or regional “best of” lists, especially those featured in popular or prestigious publications. Some choose candidates by an open nomination process. Touting your inclusion on a “best of” list is cat nip when promoting any other of your marketing tactics—-speaking at a business or professional associations, teaching a class, appearing as a panel speaker or moderator, becoming a guest blogger or a guest spot in a webinar or podcast.

A “best of” list is a great opportunity to be discovered by people who’ve probably never heard of you and your business. Receiving a “best of” award allows you to reach and attain instant credibility among a whole new group of potential customers. “Best of” list readers customarily browse list categories when they’re looking to do business, from finding the best ice cream parlor to the best five best business blogs in your area.

Now listen to this— if you are a contributor to a particular publication, with your publisher’s or editor’s approval, you can launch your own annual “best of” list! While you’re at it, you can also create an advertising campaign around it and make your editor or publisher twice as happy. Creating a “best of” list has the potential to facilitate building and sustaining relationships with ambitious movers and shakers and greatly expand your influence and credibility.

Enter a business award competition

This tactic has a not insignificant cost of time and money, but it’s often a reasonable avenue to pursue because there are more ways to win than you might think. Sponsoring organizations are typically generous with the number of awards and categories they choose to honor. More awards and more categories are an incentive for business owners and leaders to become contestants because there will be more opportunities to win.

Be advised that as with any marketing campaign, there are expenses involved. You’ll be required to join the sponsoring organization. You must pay the award entry fee for every award category that your company pursues—-best new product launch, business of the year, best workplace, social responsibility award and so on. You must buy one or more tickets to the ceremony (even when it’s virtual). The awards process could represent the entirety of your outfit’s annual marketing budget.

After compiling a draft list of possibilities, check the award entry criteria. It’s likely that candidates must join the organization in order to compete for an award and that will be your first expense. Annual dues may run from a few hundred dollars to $1000 or more, depending on the sponsor. Confirm also when new members will be eligible to compete for an award. Next, investigate other entry facts—-the entry application deadline, the fees and whether candidates must be nominated to compete for the award.

Be a podcast guest

There are dozens of podcasts popping up like wildflowers after a summer rain and every host is on the lookout for smart, savvy and entertaining guests. That can be you!

So how can you make that happen? Keyword search podcasters that cover topics you can address. Listen to a few episodes to get a feel for the host’s interview style, listening audience and guests. Instead of sending an email to make your pitch to the host, devise a personal and impactful appeal by creating a video or audio clip to present your proposal. Tell the host:

  • Topics you’d like to cover
  • Why you think podcast listeners will find the information relevant and the insights and benefits that will be derived
  • Elevator Pitch-style info about you to communicate your credibility—-expertise, experience, noteworthy clients and popularity—- you’ve written a book, your blog has 5000 followers, you’re a contributing writer for a respected publication, you’ve won a business award

Identify podcasts that maintain an online archive of episodes, to increase the long term accessibility of your appearance. As well, you should post the link of your podcast guest appearance on your website landing page and on the landing pages of your social media accounts. Because you’ll have the program link, you’ll add to some impressive, trust-building audio content that you can edit or serve up in its entirety.

Podcasts, whether you are the host or the guest, deliver numerous benefits to your brand and business. On the most basic level, it’s a networking and relationship opportunity for you and your host. As you negotiate your way through scheduling and topic selection, to say nothing of the interview itself, you and your host get to know one another and learn about one another’s capabilities. Potentially, a mutual referral source can ensue.

During the interview, podcast guests speak in depth about the product or service you provide, without becoming sales- y. You also describe the customers you usually sell to or work with and explain what motivates prospects to come to you and present a broad-brush overview of how you provide the solutions your customers need.

Communicate the story well and you’ll establish yourself as an industry expert, a thought leader who’s a cut above competitors. You’ll position yourself as a highly capable and dependable professional. You’ll build both brand awareness and brand trust.

Two final preparation steps for your podcast (or webinar) guest appearance will ensure communications. First, be certain that helpful technical equipment is in hand— you’ll need a decent microphone and headphones so that host, you and audience members can clearly hear one another.

Second, you’ll be expected to promote your guest spot and help your host to do so as well. Four weeks ahead of your appearance, post the podcast notice on your website and social media accounts. Help the host to promote and also introduce you to the listening audience and send a media kit three to six weeks in advance of the show.

Contribute articles

Since 2014, I’ve been a staff writer at Lioness Magazine , an online publication whose primarily female target readers (75%) are entrepreneurs, self- employed professionals and corporate or not-for-profit sector executives. How did I do it?

Starting in about 2012, once a week I posted a business how- to article on a large self- publishing website Ezine Articles. As luck would have it, the co- founder and Managing Editor of Lioness Magazine was using the site as a place to buy good content for the new magazine. There are perhaps 100,000 articles posted in the business category and by some miracle, my articles were discovered. After purchasing several of my articles from Ezine, the Managing Editor contacted me and asked to buy articles directly.

Building a solid online reputation is essential for your business (unless you are very well connected and don’t need it. I know such people). First, when prospective clients search you online, you want them to find good content. You present yourself to prospective clients as an expert and your articles are one persuasive way to back up that claim.

Second, the Google EAT algorithm (expertise, authority, trustworthiness) still impacts our SEO ranking in 2022. When you publish presumably useful, accurate articles on a regular basis, it’s a favorable act in the eyes of powerful opinion maKer Google.

Do you read business publications— local, regional , or national? If not, I recommend that you do. There is sometimes an appeal to recruit aspiring contributors. If you’re a reasonably competent writer, give it a try.

Speak (or moderate) on a panel

Appearing on a panel as either a speaker or moderator is a golden opportunity, a wonderful way to demonstrate your expertise and ability to think on your feet. Appearing on a panel is also a gateway to receiving featured and keynote speaking engagements. Seeking out programs where panel discussions are regularly featured is an excellent marketing strategy.

There is an art to panel discussions, whether you are the moderator or a speaker and if you want to be invited to participate a second time, make sure that you perform well the first time.

Make sure that you know the subject. You’re invited to join the panel to share your deep knowledge and experience and/or your intriguing and compelling perspectives regarding the subject matter. You are there to inform and enlighten the audience.

Donate to a charity auction

Many charitable organizations auction off products and services donated by local businesses to raise money at their annual fundraiser, which in most cases will draw a minimum of 100 supporters. If I might, I’ll apply the surprisingly accurate Pareto’s Principle here, commonly known as the 80/20 Rule, and predict that for every 100 guests at the charity’s fundraiser, 20 will be your prospects.

Much will depend upon your product or service line and B2C goods and services have the advantage. Research the online auction items available at any 501(C)3 fundraiser and get an idea of what bidders find interesting and what Development Directors tend to accept. You may be able to create a special service that you only offer through your charity auction marketing campaigns.

Contact the Development Office after you’ve checked the organization website to learn the approximate date of the next fundraiser and ensure that its mission aligns with your brand and values. If your in-kind donation receives a couple of auction bids, the organization may contact you to donate again next year.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Slim Aarons/ Hulton Archive (1955) Paintings on sale at the Portobello Road Market, London

Administrative Leave a comment

Get the Most Out of Your Meetings

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The ability to run a good meeting signals to others that you are a competent professional and a good leader. An on-point, crisply presented meeting that has the right agenda, invites the right people and results in a list of actionable items, will confer to you great respect, if not admiration. Your meeting facilitation skills can help you win a client, a promotion, or a raise.

Is the meeting necessary?

Before you reserve meeting space and plan the agenda, ask yourself a big question—-might the information or result you’d like to obtain be accessed by way of, say, a 15 minute phone call or a couple of emails? In other words, before you call a meeting, remember that meetings are expensive; they cost time and money. If your objective can be met through e-mail, videoconference call, or even a one-on-one discussion, skip the meeting altogether and conserve valuable resources.

If holding a meeting emerges as the most effective way to share or obtain important information or provide a forum for a group discussion and consensus decision-making then by all means schedule a time, choose a format or place (virtual, in-person, or hybrid), plan an agenda and round up the stakeholders and decision-makers.

Determine objectives

A clear objective will set the tone for the meeting and determine its agenda. The desired outcome(s) should be specific and measurable. If you’re expecting attendees to brainstorm their way to a solution or course of action, ask them to arrive with a list of ideas.

Schedule strategically

Schedule meetings for a day and time when those you want to be in the room are most likely to attend. In most cases, scheduling Monday morning or Friday afternoon meetings is inadvisable. You want meeting participants to be fully present and not overwhelmed with the work week or daydreaming about weekend plans. I’ve learned that it’s helpful to contact the most influential participants on your proposed attendees list and confirm their availability for a potential meeting dates and times.

Invite decision-makers.

The most effective meetings involve stakeholders to ensure that:

1). The decisions made will be accepted and not challenged or voided.

2). Decisions can be made immediately and they’ll be implemented.

As noted above, confirm a couple of potential dates and times to ensure the presence of heavy- hitters who have the power to green-light. If a key decision-maker is unavailable, ask a subordinate to attend. Ideally, this person will be able to speak for their supervisor, and–at the very least–take notes and report back.

Prioritize agenda

To ensure that high priority objectives are met are fully discussed, address the most important issues first. That way, if someone needs to step away or leave the meeting early, you’ll still have accomplished that which is most urgent or time- sensitive.

Stick to the agenda.

The agenda is a roadmap that keeps everyone on topic, guides and maintains the meeting’s pace and flow and in that way enables the full examination and assessments that facilitates good decision-making. It helps it to adjourn on time, with the desired results in hand.

Furthermore, the agenda discourages off-topic conversations that sabotage the attainment of meeting objectives and participants’ time. If an unanticipated topic surfaces and is deemed relevant, the meeting convener should politely but firmly interrupt the conversation and suggest that since the matter is important it deserves another forum, which can be arranged. Alternatively, the topic can taken up at the conclusion of the meeting after the agenda items have been discussed.

Wrap up, follow-up

At the end of the meeting, the meeting convener should remind participants of any decisions and deadlines and clarify any follow-up action required. All meeting participants should understand exactly what is expected of them. Schedule any follow-up meetings immediately. Send meeting minutes to all participants and to stakeholders and decision-makers who were unable to attend (but you’d like to keep them apprised of important actions and decisions).

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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What the Elevator Pitch Must Do in 2022  

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Yet another pandemic-era reboot that everyone who earns a living would be wise to make is how you introduce your professional self to prospective clients, a potential new employer, or your colleagues and peers. In-person meetings and events are reappearing and your clients are returning to the office, maybe reluctantly and just a couple of days a week. There are advantages to getting back into the swing of things, but your face2face interaction skills may have become a little rusty from lack of use.

I recently attended a virtual meeting of about 15 people and since we didn’t really know each other, we were asked to introduce ourselves and say a little something about our professional background and current role—- in other words, everyone gave an Elevator Pitch. Most of us were a little flabby because that muscle hadn’t been flexed in many months.

But hitting the restart button and expecting your 2-fer Elevator Pitch/ self-introduction to slide off your tongue the way it did in January 2020 is magical thinking. Navigating life and business in the New Normal requires a skill set update.

Remember that the purpose of an Elevator Pitch is to facilitate the growth of your network and your business. In a good Elevator Pitch, you persuasively communicate your value proposition and help prospects understand what you can do for them. A well- worded pitch will express the purpose and usefulness of your business and make clear what sets it apart from alternatives offered by competitors.

Craft your Elevator Pitch to:

1). Capture the attention of prospects and entice them to devote valuable time to listening to you tell them why your product or service might interest them.

2). Help prospects see a possible role for your product or service in their organization.

The prospect

In-depth and continuously updated knowledge of your target customer groups is a given, so you’ll know who you’re selling to. What do you offer that they might need and value? How can your product or service help them to either achieve objectives or solve/ avoid problems? What might your prospects find worrisome in 2022 and how have they managed that challenge so far?

Taking a few moments to think about these questions will help steer your pitch in the right direction and lead to what you’d like prospects to remember about you and your business. The goal is to make your pitch powerful yet succinct, clearly articulating why prospective customers should choose you.

Your value

What are the unique attributes and selling points of your product or service? Understanding the value you deliver will bring to the forefront talking points that prospects want to hear. Keep your customers, competencies and your competitors in mind as you develop your value proposition. Your task is to recognize and articulate what differentiates your company and how you are uniquely positioned to more effectively, quickly, or inexpensively solve problems and help customers achieve objectives, as compared to the competition.

BTW, your main competitor is inertia. Doing nothing is a popular “solution” because it’s easy and people think they’re saving money. Can your pitch motivate listeners to become customers? Assess the response your pitch receives from different customer groups and make adjustments where necessary.

How you say it

Experts recommend that you limit your Elevator Pitch to about 30 seconds and 75 words. Ideally, your little story will be clear, concise and compelling. Fine tune the wording to ensure that you express your company’s (and your own) unique value proposition in uncomplicated language that resonates. The ideal pitch will also be adaptable and easily made longer or shorter to fit different contexts.

Do it well and you’ll make a memorable first impression on a potential client (or new employer). A good Elevator Pitch in your back pocket makes it easier to start conversations off on the right foot, with the ultimate goal of discovering or creating opportunities. The process needed to create your pitch will take not only time, but also face2face experiences before you get it the way you need it.

In 2022 and beyond, all sales and marketing messages must be digestible in mere seconds if you intend to hold a listener’s attention. Clearly and concisely roll out a maximum of three or four selling points known to intrigue prospective customers and become persuasive and memorable takeaways.

  • What you do

Identify the need for your product. Encourage your listener to become interested in your products and services. Show that there is demand for what you provide.

  • For whom you do it

Describe your product-market fit with a powerful sound-bite that sums up in a sentence or two the customers you usually work with and why they do business with you.

  • The value delivered

The listener is more likely to trust your solution when it’s presented as an easy-to-picture remedy that gets the job done. After you establish the need, briefly explain how or why your solution works, based on real-life examples.

When and where to pitch

To more consistently recognize circumstances when it would be appropriate to present your elevator pitch, train yourself to be hyper-aware of your surroundings and the people you meet. Opportunities to deliver your Elevator Pitch don’t always occur where and when we might expect. Do not overlook casual settings as places to meet and interact with potential customers or employers. A wedding you attend, a running group or book club you join, a summer holiday barbecue, or chatting in line at the grocery store can lead to a door-opening, satisfying or lucrative discovery.

Follow-up

Conclude your Elevator Pitch with a call-to-action when the listener shows an active interest in the use and outcomes of your products or services. Ask for a card and offer yours, so that everyone’s website and social media sites can be viewed. Better still, offer to send the link to a newsletter, podcast, blog post or other source that addresses the topic or questions that were raised. You’re looking to establish legitimacy and expertise, build a relationship that leads to trust and rake in some billable hours.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Associated Press President John F. Kennedy visited Tirana, Albania while on a state visit to Europe June 23 – July 2, 1963.

Professional Development , , , , Leave a comment

The Story of Your Presentation

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Human beings love a good story. Almost any topic will do. If the teller of the story communicates well, s/he will find an attentive audience, eager to be informed or entertained, shocked, surprised, moved by sentimental emotion and perhaps stirred to action. Our attraction to stories fuels our appetite for movies, plays and television shows.

Throughout history our leaders—kings, generals, politicians— have often been masterful storytellers. Thousands of years after the lives of game-changing leaders such as the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar and the Athenian statesman Pericles, we are still in awe of their bold, insightful and inspiring speeches. In fact, we consider exceptional public speaking ability—-storytelling—-to be a sign of capable leadership and a brand-enhancing skill. The ability to tell a story well, if only simply, is a proficiency that Freelancers and business leaders would be wise to develop.

The secret to becoming an effective public speaker is understanding the subtle but profound differences between delivering a presentation and telling a story. Maintaining awareness of those distinctions as you prepare to address your audience will help you connect with them and make them inclined to feel that your talk was relevant and memorable. Your audience may even be inspired to take action (if that is your purpose). Almost anyone can give a presentation but the most effective communicators are also storytellers and that’s what we’ll learn to do today.

Stories humanize and energize

Bullet points and logic are how you present facts and give a recognizable beginning, middle and end timeline arc to a presentation. A story is a connected series of events told in words and/or pictures. A story has a theme, attention-grabbing moments, a challenge, heroes, villains and a resolution. The content of a presentation, no matter how ably delivered is, sadly, often forgotten. The memory of a good story, however, can be long-lasting.

To be blunt, most business presentations are torture and we all know it. They rely heavily on slides filled with bullet points and numbers that make our eyes glaze over. The presenter reads the slides. The effect is brain-numbing.

The problem is that business executives don’t get that delivering a presentation is not only public speaking, but also a performance. A truly skilled speaker is also a storyteller and is not shy about looking to the entertainment world to level up public speaking skills.

To inject meaning and energy into your presentation, you must reveal to the audience its underlying message—-the story—-that the bullet points and numbers exist to communicate. In many cases, the story behind those terse statements you’ve bulleted (ouch!) and the intimidating Excel spreadsheet of numbers you copy/pasted to create your slides can be translated into a story that your audience wants to hear in three or four sentences, tops.

Telling that story is worth the effort. Telling the story is why you’ve been invited to speak. No one needs you to read slides to them, we can do that on our own. To become a first class public speaker, focus on crafting and communicating the story behind the slides, in words and pictures.

Every picture sells the story

Researchers have found that listeners typically remember about 10% of the points made in a talk if the information is presented with words alone but when images accompany words, listeners will retain 65% of the information. Therefore, including a selection of images to visually communicate pivotal aspects of your story is a must-do.

Directors of the television, plays and movies that we watch first read the script to find the story line they’ll tell. Next, they identify action and other key scenes and then they literally sketch those scenes on paper, mount them onto what are called storyboards and document the scenes they plan to show in the performance. You can do something similar as you prepare for your next talk. Public speaking pros who know there is a story to tell make sure to think through the elements of their content and put together an engrossing narrative to communicate that story.

  • Review the information that is necessary to share with the audience.
  • Decide what information should be included on the slides, as a bare bones framework of the story.
  • Choose images — graphs, charts, other images—- that visually communicate the story.
  • Write story notes, the narrative that will become your script, to link and integrate the three components of your talk. Edit well and get very familiar with your talking points.

Practice makes perfect

Most business execs merely page through their slides and pass it off as a presentation rehearsal. It’s common and I’ve often done it, but it’s not enough. Real storytellers rehearse out loud. They practice vocal delivery and experiment to find the right tone of voice, figure out the timing of pauses and modulate the pace of their speech, all to perfect the delivery and power of their story. They want the audience at the edge of their seats, anticipating what will happen next. Block out three days and devote at least two hours a day to rehearsing.

Finally, public speaking pros who appreciate the difference between a rote presentation and a riveting story will also conduct a walk-through rehearsal at the venue and will rehearse while using the delivery platform of their talk. If you’ll stand in front of an audience, rehearse standing up and anticipate your approach to audience eye contact. If you’ll deliver the talk virtually, rehearse sitting down and figure out how to position your device and the lighting. Public speaking stars are usually made and not born!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Kenneth Branagh (center) as Henry V (September 16, 1386 – August 31, 1422, monarch of England 1413-1422). Branagh directed and starred in the 1989 film based on the Shakespeare play written circa 1599.

Uncategorized Leave a comment

Build the Best Sales Funnel

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Shall we start with the most obvious question—- what is a sales funnel and why do you need one? Also known as the marketing funnel, it is the process a business uses to make its products, services and even the entity itself known to and trusted by potential customers. The purpose of the sales/ marketing funnel is to generate sales. To that end, the funnel process is built on a strategy designed to convert browsers into buyers.

The funnel can operate simultaneously on your website and social media platforms. It’s seeded with relevant and tempting information known as content that beckons to site browsers and convincingly demonstrates the efficacy and dependability of your organization and its products and services.

The content offered should become increasingly more specific and compelling so that browsers, who as they linger may be considered legitimate prospects, can deepen their understanding of your products and services. Content presented in the sales funnel should illustrate how your product or service can deliver solutions and help users (customers) achieve objectives. Using inbound and outbound marketing techniques will help you to more quickly build an efficient and successful sales funnel that delivers paying customers, the lifeblood of a business.

Inbound marketing

Reaching out to prospects and customers by creating and disseminating content they will likely value and trust is the purpose of inbound marketing. The strategy employs blog posts, social media posts, infographics, e-books, case studies, webinars, email updates and other information that will attract, educate and persuade prospects to take a chance on you. When inbound marketing functions well, your company will become visible to those interested in the topics the content addresses and some will be persuaded to investigate your products and/or services further and ultimately become customers.

Inbound marketing centers largely around prospects who’ve self-selected, opted-in, and for that reason the ROI is much higher than outbound marketing ROI. Inbound marketing tactics are usually either no-cost or low-cost to launch and maintain. The biggest cost of developing inbound marketing content is your time (and it’s worth money!).

The downside of inbound marketing is that it often operates at a snail’s pace. It can take months or years to build a robust email list of viable prospects who have the money and motive to do business with you and/ or make referrals. But you can grow your prospect outreach much faster when you pair inbound marketing with outbound marketing tactics.

Outbound marketing

Outbound marketing reaches out to the general public. It’s unsolicited, not highly targeted. Advertising of all types, cold calling and telemarketing, cold email campaigns (maybe you bought a list?), pay-per-click ads and public relations (earned media) that might result in quotes of yours or an article that you’ve written being published.

Winning or receiving a nomination for an award presented by a business or professional association, speaking or conducting a skills development workshop at a business or professional association, or becoming a sponsor of a popular local charity are also potentially effective public relations moves that often serve as components of an outbound marketing strategy. Writing a (probably self-published) book is another excellent outbound marketing tactic, one that confers great credibility.

OK. So now that you understand the recipe you can bake your (funnel!) cake. See directions below.

TOFU: Top of Funnel

  • Purpose: Name recognition

Social media posts, PR earned media

  • Purpose: Educate

Blog posts, infographics, newsletter, your published articles

Winning or receiving a nomination for a business award, teaching a class in your field of expertise at a college or business incubator, speaking engagements

MOFU: Middle of Funnel

  • Purpose: Evaluate

Podcast, webinar (i.e. videos), e-book

At this stage, collect a name and email address to facilitate follow-up, know who’s checking you out and build your email list.

BOFU: Bottom of Funnel

  • Purpose: Action/ decision

Customer testimonials, case studies, your book

Here’s the money shot. You’ve got a fish on the line and you want to reel it in. Time is money. Depending on what you’re selling, you might cross the finish line by offering a short free trial (maybe 7-14 days), a discount (maybe 10%), a free premium post-sale service upgrade for a couple of months—- what customer hot buttons can you speak to? A really good case study can also be helpful at this stage, to help the prospect envision more realistically how the product or service will deliver immediate and sustained benefits. A phone or video call is in order and a face2face meeting is even better. You’re ready to seal the deal!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Brock Clay March 23, 2022 funnel cloud over Moscow, MS

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Course Correction: Tacking Through Headwinds

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When you decide to become a Freelance consultant or business owner, your mission is to build and launch a successful and sustainable entity. To that end, there will be Important Things you must do very well and a corresponding list of Big Mistakes you must avoid and summarily correct if you fall into the trap. Our old friend the SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) reminds us that when leading a venture there’s always something to analyze, fix, capitalize on, or avoid. Below is a list of usual suspects that can tank a business. Be on guard!

Failure to understand the customer

Apologies for hammering this topic in nearly every post, but it’s impossible to overstate the fact. If you plan to become self-employed or open a business (and you must make a plan, even if it’s an outline scrawled on a cocktail napkin), you must be assured that you:

1). Have an accurate description and understanding of the customer segments you expect to buy from you and

2). Verify that your choice of prospective customers has a need, if not compelling reasons, to buy your product or service at a volume that will sustain your venture. In short, you’ll need a critical mass of paying customers.

Failure to research the marketplace

First thing you do is research the chosen industry and confirm that your sector is on an upward slope because under no circumstances do you want to enter a shrinking market. Also, search for announcements of new products and services that will soon be released, to verify that a competitor will not make your product or service obsolete. Furthermore, search for updates that may reveal potential new customer groups for you, or shifting demand for current products and services. In other words, customer loyalty can wax or wane, new iterations and uses of what’s available can develop and nothing is static and forever.

Failure to choose a good business model

Create your roadmap for customer acquisition and achieving profitability. Included in your assessment will be how you’ll source, create and bring your goods or services to customers. Decide also the payment methods you’ll accept and when payment will be made (billing after the product or service has been delivered to the customer or payment when the goods are ordered?).

Failure to develop a coherent marketing strategy

It will be tremendously helpful to create a multi-prong marketing strategy in which you’ll outline basic promotional goals for what you’re selling—-sales/marketing funnel, newsletter, blog, social media, branding, PR, website messages. All paths must travel in the same direction. All elements , text and images, must advance and support the same story.

Failure to create an effective customer acquisition and retention strategy

Identifying the customer groups that you’ve confirmed are a natural fit for your products and services is only half the story (sorry!). You then need a plan to reach out to them— that’s what your marketing and brand appeal exist to do. The value of your products and services, plus the efficiency of how you deliver to the customer, along with your diligent quality control, customer service and post-sale support impact customer retention and referrals.

Failure to anticipate required cash-flow

Posts on March 15 and April 19 addressed pricing and cash-flow, as regular readers will recall. The objective is to lay the groundwork for generating sufficient revenue to pay expenses, pay employees, pay yourself and reinvest in the business. Timing is everything and money must be available when you need it most. If there are gaps, corrective action should be taken immediately.

If invoicing is how you generate revenue, take steps to invoice on time. Insert on every invoice a polite phrase to indicate that payment is due upon its receipt. Give yourself an infusion of cash by asking for 15-20 % up front on projects where you anticipate billing $1000 or more. Worse case scenario, you’ll have to take an under-the radar unglamorous part-time job or get lucky and score an adjunct teaching gig at a local college or business incubator (BTW, I’ve done all of the above).

Failure to price appropriately

Pricing is an integral component of the marketing strategy but it often gets treated as an afterthought. Your revenue projections will underperform if you don’t price appropriately. Prices must support profitability as well as be perceived as reasonable to prospective customers. They must reflect your brand, whether luxury/premium, mid-market or discount. Think carefully about the message that your prices send to prospective customers.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: On the rocks, aftermath of a nor’easter at Lewis Wharf in Boston Harbor, October 17, 2019

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The Rise of Soft Skills

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In locations such as Davos, Switzerland and Sun Valley, Idaho, billionaire business leaders gather to attend conferences where they participate in important conversations. Many discussions, so I’ve read, focus on leveraging ground-breaking technological advancements such as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and 5G data networks, plus minimizing carbon footprints and, always, maximizing profits. However, the unexpected arrival of the coronavirus and our responses to it not only preempted those momentous conversations, but also pushed to the forefront trends that not long ago were only distant drumbeats.

You may recall that telecommuting, now rebranded as Work From Home, began slowly about 20 years ago and existed mostly in the high tech space. The much more recent phenomenon known as the Great Resignation has seen 38 million+ workers quit their jobs since 2021 and skimmed 4.4 million employees from the U.S. workforce in February 2022 (most switched employers). Meanwhile, yet another trend has been slowly building in professional development and leadership circles since about the 1980s, the importance of traits and competencies known as soft skills.

The WFH and Great Resignation disruptions have left managers struggling to simultaneously retain talent and lure employees back to the office. According to a survey by Glassdoor, what can be summed up as a toxic work culture (mostly insufficient pay, limited chance of advancement and lousy bosses) is fueling both occurrences. Workers are mounting a spirited pushback and the bosses can’t help but notice. They know it’s time for a workplace culture reboot. Bring on the soft skills.

Like wisps of fog slipping in at daybreak, talk of the traits and competencies known as soft skills slipped onto the radar screens of business thought leaders with little fanfare. Soft skills can perhaps be best defined as empathy, or Emotional Intelligence (E.Q.), the ability to understand and acknowledge the feelings of another.

In your personal and professional spheres, it is now of paramount importance that you commit to understanding the perspectives of others and figure out how to acknowledge and accommodate their values, priorities and experiences. Soft skills traits and competencies—-work ethic, communication, problem-solving, adaptability, delegating, resilience, analytical and motivational ability, collaborating and decision-making—-will put you on the path to achieving that goal.

In our New Normal business environment empathy, that is, E.Q., can bring a competitive advantage to your organization. When you think about it, the ability to see the world from the viewpoint of others has always been among the most valuable resources in your your business toolbox. Let’s consider how empathy will cause you to act with compassion and strengthen your relationships with clients and colleagues and become a foundational element of business growth.

Build trust, inspire loyalty

Soft skills will play a central role in your ability to attract and retain clients and receive referrals and recommendations. The purpose and benefits of your products and services, their environmental and social impact and your diversity, equity and inclusion advocacy are factors to consider within your Freelance consulting practice. How you integrate these messages into your various communications formats, including website text, social media posts, blog and/ or newsletter, marketing emails, images, packaging, shipping and strategic partnership choices and demonstrate your relatability, reliability, authenticity and expertise will add (or subtract) clients from your roster.

Use your communication soft skills, in particular asking questions and active listening, to discover what your top clients feel is important to them now and assess how their perspectives and priorities may have changed since 1Q 2020. Soulaima Gourani, co-founder and CEO of Happioh, a Silicon Valley software company and author of Take Control of Your Career (2016), suggests that a good way to cultivate self-awareness, a component of empathy and other soft skills, is to invite feedback from your clients. Gourani says, “Feedback is not easy to a lot of people and it is an essential component of change. You have blind spots and it is like ‘you’ve got broccoli in your teeth …’ You need people to tell you that, because you can’t see it.”

It’s probably safe to assume that in these turbulent, war-torn, inflationary times, reliability, expertise, transparency and efficiency are at top-of-mind for clients and prospects. Support your clients with follow-up, creativity, training and encouragement—- humanist behaviors that sustain healthy relationships.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Fred Rogers (1928 – 2003), creator of the children’s television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, poses with the Neighborhood Train. The series aired on PBS 1963-2001.

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Making Cash Flow

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We’ve just passed the deadline for filing annual taxes. Are you feeling a little cash-poor? Should we talk about how to put a little extra $$ into the revenue column? I suspect that landing a big client will have the most positive impact on your earnings, but counting your pennies and smart planning are always a plus. You just need to discipline yourself to adopt those good habits. Once you do, they’ll become part of your regular routine, the standard way that you do things.

Price right

Don’t be afraid to request adequate payment for the valuable services you provide. Low-balling never got anyone anywhere. I understand that when the cupboard is bare you just want to get a project in-house, fast, and it may seem as though a bargain price will entice prospects to quickly hire you. The problem is, prospects inclined toward cheap labor tend not to respect those whom they hire. You could find yourself in the mix with a difficult client who’s not only a low-revenue client, but also a slow payer. Respect yourself and your abilities and don’t go there.

Pricing B2B services is tricky, though, and benchmarking your price range is difficult. You can’t go online and research what competitors charge for a similar service. Who you know and who knows you, along with work experience in your area of specialty, number of years in business, university degrees and professional certifications and your client list are among factors that potentially impact how you can price. Your unique way of packaging and selling your skills and experience can be another determining factor. You might refer to the March 15, 2022 post Is It Time for a Price Increase for more thoughts on pricing B2B services.

Invoice on time

Freelancers don’t get paid to invoice, but you don’t get paid until you invoice. You must get serious about collecting accounts receivable. Get into the habit of preparing your more detailed invoices a little at a time throughout the month and consider sending invoices during a certain week—like the first or last week of the month. On all invoices, state that payment is due upon receipt. In general, payment is due within 30 days, but a 15 day grace period is typically extended, meaning clients legally have 45 days to pay. If you haven’t received payment by day 48, resend the invoice.

Furthermore, track the time that you spend on projects billed hourly. It’s very easy to underestimate how may hours that you work. I recently reviewed the amount of time that I spend on a recurring hourly project and was shocked (and embarrassed) to realize that I’ve been billing slightly more than half of the time that I should be billing. Corrective action will be gradually taken. I don’t want to give my client sticker shock, but I will discreetly align my invoices with the time spent working.

When discussing the work agreement with a client, ask for a 15% – 20% upfront payment on projects that you’ll bill at $1000 or more. Schedule payments to align with project milestones and leave no more than 30% outstanding for the final payment. On your invoice, indicate how you would like the check made out. If you accept credit and debit cards, electronic checks , direct deposits , or PayPal, include those options on your invoice as well.

Anticipate expenses and set money aside

Create a spreadsheet to help yourself anticipate and plan how to pay predictable expenses, fixed (e.g., quarterly tax payments, utility bills, health insurance) and variable (business association dues, professional development courses you’d like to attend), to minimize the arrival of unpleasant surprises landing in accounts payable. Next, calculate your expected accounts receivable. The document you’ll create is called a cash-flow forecast and is used to predict and plan ahead for 12 months.

Are you coming up short now and again? Figure out how to fix the problem. There are near term and long- term remedies that may be feasible for you. I recommend that you look to money raising opportunities that are related to what you do. But if you must tend bar, for example, do so if the money is good and you won’t run into clients.

  • Are you qualified to teach? Becoming an adjunct professor at a local college pays fairly well and it’s an excellent addition to a Freelancer’s CV. Teaching implies expertise and will enhance your brand and perceived value. Most schools will require that you have a master’s degree, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be related to subjects that you teach. Entrepreneurial incubators also hire instructors to teach subjects such as finance, tech and marketing. Do some investigation. Your real world experience can be leveraged.
  • Do you have good writing skills? If so, there are a number of money- making avenues to explore, including blog or newsletter ghost writing and marketing content for websites. Writing social media posts is another possibility. Join and browse writing and editing Freelance gig work on sites such as Fiverr and Upwork.
  • Align the payment due dates of your significant accounts payable with the part of the month when you usually have the most money. If you have a payroll to meet, W2 or 1099, time your accounts receivable payments to paydays you must guarantee
  • Call the companies you must pay and ask to change the due dates to stagger them or schedule your payments to that sweet spot in the month when you have the most money. You can also apply for a business credit card that can be used to pay certain expenses, but do keep an eye on the balance because credit card interest rates are exorbitant.
  • As a long-term tactic, review your inbound marketing tactics and amplify that which is not bringing in good prospects. For example, do you have two good client testimonials on your website? If not, consider who might be willing to go on record to sing your praises. Re:outbound marketing, consider dropping into your local chamber of commerce to see if those you’d like to meet are known to attend events. If possible, join for a year and see who you meet and what you learn, Buy a small ad in the chamber newsletter to raise your profile and maybe get the opportunity to speak or present a one hour course.
  • The best move is to build up a rainy day fund when your cash finally starts flowing. My fund saw me through the barren early months of the pandemic shutdown. I was still skimping, but I made it. Aim to save for a 6 month cushion.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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When Your Client Goes Hybrid

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You’re a Freelance consultant and well aware that continually demonstrating your value to clients, prospects and potential referral sources is an ongoing must-do. You may agree this is especially true when you recently arrive at an assignment. Your new client may throw a curve ball, maybe as a test or maybe because s/he is crazy busy. Whatever the motive, you’d better not fumble.

Increasingly, the ability to function effectively in a hybrid work environment is a competency that Freelancers and company leaders and their teams must acquire. Those of you who specialize in process improvement might even be hired to help a client institute systems and protocols designed to enable a hybrid team to operate well. Others may discover—-surprise!—-that you’ve arrived at a gig where the team is in the midst of going hybrid. Don’t be surprised to see that it will be up to you to figure out how to interact with both at-home and office-based staff and still hit your milestones and meet the deadline.

So in your back pocket it’s a good idea to have a road map to guide you through the hybrid landscape, a blueprint designed to minimize any awkwardness or missteps between the at-home and in-office crews and you. The objectives are to demonstrate your project management and political skills, produce the deliverable you’ve been hired to produce (on time and on budget) and, most of all, increase the odds of getting called back for another project. You can do it.

Martine Haas, Ph.D., professor of management and organizational behavior at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School, notes that the most common challenges resulting from hybrid teams originate from what she named 5C Challenges: communication, coordination, connection, creativity and culture. You can study her 5C guideposts as you prepare to encourage hybrid team members you’ll work with to bridge the divide between working from home and working in the office. Do that and you’ll support efficiency and productivity, enhance the success of your project and lower your stress level, too.

Communication

Sometimes, a team member who should be included in an email is accidentally omitted. That little error can result in that person being unintentionally dropped from an important conversation. The error might also result in that person being excluded from an important decision. This type of unfortunate consequence is disproportionately borne by those on the WFH shift.

Freelancers might consider developing a list of primary and secondary contacts and stakeholders and making note of who is present or absent from communications and also when decisions will be made. Politically savvy and practical Freelancers take steps to ensure that all who can contribute valuable work and perspectives will participate when you need them most.

More often than in-office teams like to admit, WFH team members are also prone to be omitted from informal discussions and minor decisions made by those who are working together in the office. The problem lies somewhere between out of sight, out of mind and the logistics of bringing WFH folks into the conversation.

Connection

In addition to technological and logistical coordination, the importance of the team’s social interactions should not be minimized. It’s vital to also encourage social connections between in-office and WFH crews, although composition of each may vary depending on the day of the week. Life and work are about building and nurturing relationships. Our networks contribute quite a bit to the success and happiness we achieve. There’s a reason that most people consider networking to meet peers or potential mentors, partners, investors, or sponsors so important.

Because a WFH schedule physically separates coworkers and has the potential to isolate and cause relationships to wither, occasional informal videoconference meetings could provide a helpful balance. Freelancers should be able to schedule an informal video meeting or two without appearing to over-reach. Nurturing relationships within your working team will make the experience better for all. Speak with your primary contact and propose an ice-breaker introduction video call designed to bring your project team together and set the stage for positive 5C experiences.

Coordination

Hybrid teams bring a greater risk of snafus than working face2face. The most common downside is the gradual onset of a rift between the in-office and WFH crews. Freelancers would be wise to apply extra effort to coordinate and follow-up with team members who work remotely. Without diligence, WFH team members could slip out of the loop.

That could result in the WFH crew not being completely on board with certain assumptions or adjustments that the in-office crew has agreed upon, for example. Freelancers working in a hybrid environment would be wise to take whatever necessary steps that bring in-office and WFH crews into agreement and on the same page. Freelancers usually depend on certain information, access, approvals, or actions to reach project milestones. Agreement and coordination are essential to success and must be enabled.

Creativity

It was probably discovered a few centuries ago that conversations spark creativity. It’s becoming apparent that teams working together in the same physical space experience a sort of collective creativity that arises organically when co-workers spontaneously begin to discuss a problem or opportunity. Scheduling a videoconference to conduct a brainstorming session is just not the same. It’s so much better to bounce ideas around with others or work intensively on solving a problem together. If it’s possible to bring WFH team members into the office once or twice during the project timeline do so. All 5C metrics will get a boost.

Culture

The phenomenon known as The Great Resignation, which was discussed in the September 7, 2021 post, has had a profound effect on working in America. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that in February 2022, U.S. businesses had nearly 12 million unfilled jobs.

That means once cohesive teams are in danger of weakening as people exit. When experienced employees leave and new ones arrive, another challenge of the WFH era is how to onboard newcomers and integrate them into the company’s culture, the expression of its brand and respect for its values. If a fluid but essentially constant percentage of a company’s workforce will remain in WFH mode, rarely or never working side-by-side with colleagues or spending time together to talk shop, how can a company’s unique “personality” be maintained or communicated? Back-channel, off-the-record. tellings are powerful. Institutional memory is a precious resource.

One fact is clear about the future of work, at least in the near term and that is, the hybrid workforce will be the norm for many organizations large and small and we’d better learn to navigate them.

Thanks for reading,

Kim