Three Tips for Increasing Productivity

March 5th, 2010

If you’re serious about getting more things done, it’s time for a major mindshift. It’s time to stop being a “doer” and start being a “producer.”  Here are 3 tips to get you started on changing your mindset to accomplish more in your life.

1.  Change Your Mindset and View Yourself Differently
Before you can make a change in how you run your business, you must first see yourself differently. Rather than clinging to the idea that you have to do everything yourself, consider how Oprah Winfrey runs her show. Can you imagine Oprah sitting down and calling prospective guests to book them for future shows?

Of course not! She has producers to line up each show’s content. Those producers, in turn, break down what needs to be completed and assign it to other people. They understand that Oprah brings unique skills to the show and it would be a waste to have her booking talent. Surrounding herself with great teams of producers to get things done is one reason Oprah has become so successful.

2.  Visualize and Plan Your Team
Even before you hire some help, you need to visualize and plan your team.   Think about those big projects you don’t have time to start. Outline how you’d like them to be. Break down those projects into smaller bites and imagine what kind of person could take them over. Imagine how much more smoothly your business would run if you weren’t taking care of every detail.

That’s an important point to reach, you need to visualize and plan what you can delegate.   Let go of the idea you’re the only one who can do every little task. That change shifts you from being the doer to being the producer.

3. Start Delegating
Once you’ve visualized and planned your team, start making it your reality. Get serious about breaking down the work you’re doing now into individual tasks. Let go of the idea that you have to do it all. Choose a task that’s wasting your time, that you don’t enjoy doing and that someone else could do easily. Find a way you can afford to have someone else to do it.

Take another look at projects you’ve been putting off. Determine what’s keeping you from getting started. Decide which pieces someone else should be doing. Visualize the project from start to finish, the way a producer would do. And then find the help you need to get it done. That’s the only way your business, and your income, can expand to the next level.

Being in business for yourself can be overwhelming, especially when you’re stuck in “lone ranger” mode. Allow yourself to visualize what life would be like with a competent team helping to achieve your goals. Learn to look at your business the way a producer would, and you’ll finally experience the satisfaction of getting it all done.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Three Tips for Increasing Productivity

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Posted in Business Plans, Business Success, Home Business, How To Make Money, Internet Business, Marketing, Personal Productivity, Success Secrets, Systems, outsourcing | 1 Comment »

Get A Better Response From Your Joint Venture Partners

February 21st, 2010

You’ve chosen your potential joint venture partners. You’ve sent them a compelling email that gives them all the information and creates lots of excitement about your promotion. Now you’re waiting for the positive responses to come in.

But what if they don’t?

There will be people who say no, who aren’t interested in the partnership. There may also be some who don’t respond at all – maybe they didn’t receive the email.

Don’t be discouraged. They aren’t necessarily lost causes.

If someone says no, or doesn’t respond, try to maintain the personal connection you established in the email. Phone them and say what you put in your email.

During the call, outline your idea. If they express interest, get into the details of how the promotion works. And then just ask them, “Are you onboard?”

Don’t assume the answer is negative if you don’t get a response. You’ve got to follow up. This is your business. This is you thinking big and wanting to partner with big players. So you’ve got to act big to do that, and you’ve got to take what you’re doing really seriously.

There are also times when a little creativity might help. For example, you may work in an industry where there aren’t many potential partners, and those you would like to approach are really “big fish” who might be too busy to work with you. Sending an email probably won’t make much of an impression on them. So be creative about how you get their attention.

You could mail them something catchy. I’ve seen people mail things like fake money or fake checks with a note saying, “This is play money but I’m hoping to send you real money soon. All the details are inside.” Wrap it up in a box so it stands out from the other mail and gets noticed.

I don’t recommend sending an actual product without permission. Some people get totally bombarded with products that they haven’t asked for and that take up space in the office. You don’t want to do something that will be a nuisance to them.

Also, some people may want to view your product before they endorse it. But do ask permission. Don’t just send it to them unannounced.

Unfortunately, you are going to get some no’s. Not everyone you contact will say yes. But don’t get discouraged. Just keep going and don’t give up.

Expect that some people will say no.  Aim for more partners than you think you’ll need. Update and add to your jv list constantly in order to be sure you’ll have enough joint venture partners on board.

Once you get the ball rolling the excitement will really begin. The promotion and partnership will build momentum.  And it will become a self-fulfilling energy that will keep you inspired to continue with future partnerships.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Get A Better Response From Your Joint Venture Partners

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Posted in Advertising, Business Networking, Business Plans, Business Success, Internet Business, Joint Venture, Marketing, Website sales | 1 Comment »

Automatically Close More Sales

February 18th, 2010

If there’s one challenge new entrepreneurs share, it’s the need to close more sales. They work very hard, but never seem to meet with enough people to reach their desired goals. There’s a better way to meet your goals and it’s called “sales automation.” Once you learn to automate some or all of the sales process, your closing ratio, and your income, will increase dramatically.

Getting Past Your Objections to Automation

When we’re talking about “sales automation,” it simply means putting your sales process into a format that doesn’t require your physical presence. That may mean writing a great letter that causes prospects to want to buy without needing to meet with you. It could also mean setting up a website and email system that reaches out to prospects and makes your offer in a compelling way that leads them to buy.

Right now, you might be saying, “Oh, no, selling my product requires face-to-face interaction!” Here’s the thing— there are only so many hours in a day and so many prospects you can meet with personally. If your company’s success remains tied to your ability to shake hands with every prospect, you’re severely limiting your future income.

Instead of being the bottleneck to your company’s success, find a way to package what you’re offering so that the sales process can be automated. When you do, you’ll be on the path to a big jump in income. Learning to use automation tools like sales letters, webpages and brochures as your sales force will increase your closing percentage exponentially.

Packaging Your Offer for Automatic Sales

The first step, is packaging your product so it fits in an automated process. Even if you’re the product, as coaches, consultants and other professionals often are, what you’re offering the client can still be packaged.

What do you say when sitting face-to-face with a prospect? Pull that together into a package that can be presented over and over without your actual involvement, and you’ve got the key to automated sales.

Get started by creating a sales letter that focuses on your product and the need it meets in your target audience.

There’s a lot of discussion about how long online sales letters can be, but it’s important to remember you must answer every question when you aren’t physically in front of the prospect. Otherwise, they’ll simply move on to the next offer.

So, practice writing your prospects a letter that answers every possible objection and points them toward a sale. Open that letter on your website, and make sure the sales process is completely automated. A well-written online sales letter can become a powerful “sales force,” automatically selling your product without any involvement on your part.

There are other ways to make sales more automatic. A carefully written brochure that moves the prospect from initial interest to “I’m ready to buy!” can eliminate the need for personal sales call.

Moving the people toward a sale really doesn’t require being eyeball-to-eyeball with them. It simply takes packaging what you do in a compelling message. Move past your own objections to sales automation and let it help you grow your business.

By putting your products in front of more people, without requiring your own time and effort, a good automated sales process can increase your sales dramatically. Find a way to package your product and increase your exposure dramatically through sales automation.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. She publishes a free, weekly newsletter for trainers, speakers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Automatically Close More Sales

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Posted in Direct Marketing, Email Marketing, Internet Business, Marketing, Niche Marketing, Online Marketing, Sales Motivation, target audience | No Comments »

Declare Yourself the Expert

February 11th, 2010

Are you waiting for permission to be considered the expert in your field? Are you lingering at one level, waiting for someone’s approval to move on to that expert status?

Good things do not always come to those who wait. You need to stop waiting for permission and approval. No one is going to come along and deem you the expert or hand you an award. This is something that you must step up and claim.

Only when you have the guts to step up and claim it, will you be thinking and acting like a winner.

When I began my first business, at 26 years old, I had no track record. I had no past clients and no success stories to talk about. I had no marketing experience, and no budget.

I basically had every possible disadvantage.

The one thing I did have was alot of enthusiasm and a very positive mindset about what I was doing. I started positioning myself and calling myself an expert – long before anybody else came along and awarded me that title.

To think and act like a winner, you need to keep your focus on where you’re heading, not where you’re starting from.

Many people get crippled by this. Don’t be one of them. Don’t get caught up in this cycle of looking for some type of approval or permission that will suddenly make you step up and be the expert.

Once I chose to define myself as a cold-calling expert, I started acting like one and before too long, I did indeed become one. I was honest about it; not arrogant and thinking I knew it all. I brushed up my skills and learned the things I needed to in order to claim my expertise.

The same holds true for my friend, Carrie Wilkerson, who has an absolutely huge following on Twitter. A big part of how she gathered that following was that she just acted like the expert. Before long, people started treating her like the expert and inviting her to speak at events.

A lot of people call her “the overnight expert” because she went from zero to a million dollars in less than 12 months.

You have that ability too. The thing that you need, first and foremost, is a positive mindset. You need to be confident enough in your skills and your knowledge to step out in front and make yourself known.

You also need to be astute enough to research and master all of the things that your area of expertise requires. Make a list of exactly what an expert in your field needs to know in order to be considered “the expert.” You probably have all of those qualities and requirements already.  If you don’t, you will at least know what you need to do or improve upon to claim the role.

Once you know that you have what you need, you can begin to act the part of expert. Then you can pass on all of that expertise to your clients.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Declare Yourself the Expert

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Posted in Business Plans, Business Success, Internet Business, Marketing, Motivation, Niche Marketing, Online Marketing, Personal Productivity, Success Secrets, Words Of Inspiration | 6 Comments »

9 Resources You May Already Have to Start Your Online Business

February 10th, 2010

Is something stopping you from starting your online business and moving forward to achieve success in your life? Successful online entrepreneurs didn’t let their circumstances prevent them from getting started. No matter where you are starting from, you already have many of the assets and resources you need.

If your reaction is, “I don’t really have any,” I am going to prove to you how wrong you are. You’ll be surprised at how much you bring to the table.

You don’t need to have a huge marketing budget. You don’t need the technical know-how. You don’t need to have a website or a facility for taking payments online yet.

What you do need is an awareness of the resources that you can tap into.

•   Life experiences. Your experiences in life count for a lot. Make a list of all the jobs you’ve ever held, and all the work you’ve done for those jobs. All of this adds value to who you are right now.

•   Existing prospects. Do you have a list of people that you’ve been in contact with who have expressed an interest in your services? If you don’t, or if it’s a small list, you need to begin to build that up.

•   Existing customers. Your list might not have hundreds of customers, and it doesn’t need to. If you have a customer list, of any length, that’s an existing resource that you can use to get you started.

•   A  network. You have a group of people that know you, that like you, that value you. While they may not be direct customers for your business, there’s a good chance that they will participate and help you.

•   Email. Just send an email out to your prospects, past and present customers, old colleagues and other network lists saying something like, “This is a new project that I’m starting. I would really appreciate if you could hook me up with other people that might be interested.”

•   Your willingness to ask for help. Yes, this is an asset. Don’t take the path of least assistance. If you’re going to build a successful online business, it’s essential for you to get comfortable with asking for help. You’ve got to be okay with that. It’s not a sign of weakness. It’s actually a sign of strength.

•   Existing products or programs. You might already have something that you don’t even recognize the value of. I turned copies of sales proposals I had used years ago to win training contracts, into valuable materials that I could share and sell. That was material that I had been undervaluing.

•   Your know-how and experience. Maybe you’re very good at what you’re doing and getting tremendous results, but can’t explain what you do. That’s okay. That can be pulled out of you and turned into training or a product that can give people similar results, without you having to work with them in person. Or you could map out what you know into a process that you can sell to other coaches. There are lots of opportunities to utilize your know-how.

•   Support and help. Do you have someone who assists you with admin? Or someone who helps with the technical work? If you don’t, it’s easy enough to get hooked up with that.

These are the some of the resources you likely have ready have access to.  You can build a successful online business if you have these.  Take inventory and see where the gaps are. The more resources you have to start with, the less time it’s going to take for you to profit. If you’ve got fewer resources, you have less of a margin for error, so deploy them wisely.

9 Resources You May Already Have to Start Your Online Business

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Posted in Business & Money, Business Networking, Business Plans, Business Success, Internet Business, Marketing, Online Marketing, Personal Productivity, Small Business Ideas | 3 Comments »

Role Models Help Develop Your Business Model

September 8th, 2009

When you turn to someone for help or advice, you more or less expect that person to make your situation, whatever it may be, better. They may not be able to fix the “problem” completely, but asking for help from a particular person because they have knowledge or experience in the area in which you’re having trouble is a wise decision.  Your ultimate goal is to come out of the situation with more clarity and knowledge than you had when you went in.

That’s what a good role model does – or should do. Set a good example for you to follow and provide you with the basic knowledge and guidelines you need to follow in their footsteps.

It’s the same for your business. One of the most important things you can do in order to make your business successful is to model the people and businesses that are already producing the results that you want.

The odds are that these successful people and businesses have stumbled upon the same road blocks you have, asked the same questions, made the same mistakes. So, whatever you think your limitations are, whatever you think has been stopping you from growing your business, they can help you to blast every one of your excuses right out of the water.

Do you need to get your message out to a bigger audience? Then model someone who knows the most effective way to network. My friend, Carrie Wilkerson, for example, whom you may or may not already know, is very well known with social media. By that, I mean things like Twitter and Facebook.

And she is big into relationships, with about 65,000 followers on Twitter.  She uses social media to be herself, but to be herself in a much bigger way. And so if you wondered about how you could share your message with a larger audience, then Carrie, or someone like her, is a great person to show you how to do it.  (Carrie is a guest speaker at my upcoming More Leads, More Clients, More Sales event)

The key thing is to look for a role model who not only excels at what you need, but can give you practical steps and advice to follow. Another thing about modeling people and businesses that are already successful, is to choose those that are coming from the same place as you. By that, I mean model businesses and people that share your values and your attitude, and your lifestyle.

If you are a single parent with four children, trying to manage your own business, emulating the successful business model of someone who is married with no children is not likely to result in the same success for your business. The great thing is that you’re always going to have plenty of different role models to learn from.

When you find the ones that have the same attitude and values that you do, they are generally more than happy about sharing what they’ve learned with you.

I guarantee there is somebody out there that is going to be able to show you a roadmap that’s right for you.

Role Models Help Develop Your Business Model

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Posted in Business Plans, Business Success, Home Based Business, Home Business, Internet Business, Marketing, Money Making Ideas, Motivation, Words Of Inspiration | 1 Comment »

Lead Generation Secrets

August 3rd, 2009

You know that saying, if you keep on doing things the way you’ve always done them, you’re going to keep on getting the same results?

Well, as obvious as that may sound, I am stunned by the number of people who continue to rely on just one or two places for leads.

Let me share this story with you. Someone asked marketing expert Jay Abraham, “Where is the best place to get leads?” And he said, “I can’t tell you one place that’s going to bring in hundreds of leads. But I can tell you hundreds of places that are going to bring in one or two leads.”
Meaning that you simply have to expand your lead sources. Generating more leads is the key to doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling your income. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in your business is not having enough lead sources.

Where are you getting your leads right now? What are you doing to get new prospects for your business?

If you’re hanging out in the same old places, advertising in the usual spaces, and you still aren’t bringing in the volume of leads you need to grow, the solution is right in front of you.

Seek out new sources of leads for your business.,

Start going to new places. Test and utilize new media

The solutions are closer than you think. Often right at your fingertips.

Something that’s really hot right now, and could make a massive difference in your business, is social media like Twitter and Facebook, Ecademy, LinkedIn. Start exploring video to attract traffic to your web site. That’s absolutely huge right now. So is blogging.

Test doing things online and offline. A new magazine or publication might be a good place for you to run an ad to reach your target audience. Or think about doing something more with articles.

These are just a couple of examples, things you might start to think about. Decide which ones are right for you. But the bottom line is, always keep a look out for new sources of leads for your business.

Lead Generation Secrets

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Posted in Advertising, Business Networking, Email Marketing, Internet Business, Sales Leads, Sales Motivation | No Comments »