Are You the Market Expert in Your Industry?

In today’s tough competitive market place there are a lot of businesses seeking out business help to change the perception of  their business of being a commodity to a business that is unique and provides something of value to the market place.  

One way of standing out and providing value to your industry and your local market is by positioning yourself as the local market expert.  You are the one everyone goes to for information on your industry.

Here are 3 tips to help turn you into the market expert

1. Tell your Story – We all have a story to tell.  What’s your story?  Why did your choose the industry you are in?  What challenges did you face while creating your business?  How does your story (your past experience) help you to be a problem solver for your clients?  Using stories to help clients relate to your vision & mission of being in business will help you to begin to create trust with your prospects and your market at large.
   
2. Create a personal identity brand – What do you stand for?  If you stand for something that means that you must stand against something.  What is it that makes books and movies interesting to read and watch?  Conflict!  Without conflict, we say that book was boring and predictable.  There was nothing to hold your attention.  The same is true for your own personal brand.  By standing for something or against something in your industry or market place will make you an interesting person for people to follow or write about.  In other words be an advocate for your clients and prospects.  Be the person that is really looking out for their best interests and don’t be afraid to ruffle some feathers.
   
3. Brand your process – In creating your USP (unique selling proposition) you need to not only differentiate yourself from your competition but you need to be able to communicate in a way that your prospects and clients understand how it will help them.  Identify the steps in how you serve your clients, then explain each step and develop a “brand name” for the process.  Try to develop your own proprietary phraseology to explain your process.

Becoming the market expert won’t happen over night.  You need to think thru your story, your personal identity and your process and develop your plan to introduce that into the marketplace.  Remember, nothing happens until you take action!

As an ActionCOACH, I advise business owners on how to increase profits and cash flow, work less hours, and develop their team to they get their business working so they don’t have to.  We coach you to create a commercial profitable enterprise that works without you.  For some business owners that might be hard to believe.  To help them understand the process we have developed ActionCOACH’s “6 Steps to a More Profitable & Valuable Business”.  Breaking our coaching process down in to six-steps makes it easier to understand and believe how it works.

If you're curious to benchmark your company on growth potential and the other seven factors that drive your company’s value, take 13 minutes and get your Sellability Score here: 

The Process is More Important than the Plan

Identify your goals.  Make a plan. 
Save money, time & energy.
It's key to your business success!

Written plans are an important part of your business success.  

But, you might be thinking...

What do I need a plan for?
I’ve been through the planning process before, why do I need to create another plan?

I’ve been to an ActionCOACH GrowthCLUB planning day before,  and I can create my own plan. Why should I go again?

Let me share the results of a study conducted by Inc. Magazine.

A group of businesses was selected.  The 1st group created action plans stating what they needed to achieve in their business.  The 2nd group just reacted to the events as they occurred in the day-to-day operations of their business.  A few years later, Inc. Magazine went back to look at the success rates of those businesses.  As you might have guessed, the group that planned was vastly more successful than the 2nd group.  The group that was too busy and winged it everyday with no plan were almost all floundering, bankrupt or out of business.

What they found was the successful group didn’t necessarily look at their plan every day, but it was just the act of taking the time to plan that made the difference.  Writing a plan clarifies your goals and focuses your daily activities, even if you don't consult the plan everyday.  Brian Tracy in his book Goals!, says the lesson is simple with the 6 P’s.... Proper.. Prior.. Planning.. Prevents.. Poor.. Performance.  

Here are 7 reasons you should act now and participate in ActionCOACH’s GrowthCLUB planning days:

1. It will force you to organize your thinking to focus on all issues needed to be addressed in the next 90 days.
2. It will allow you to think through what you must do to accomplish your goals, allowing you to plan your actions carefully before you begin.  This preparation will save you enormously in terms of time, money & people.
3. You will learn what questions to ask that will allow you to discuss and evaluate your plan, determining flaws & errors that could prove fatal to your business.
4. You can identify weaknesses in your plan and make provisions to compensate.
5. You can identify strengths and new potential opportunities that you can take advantage of to increase the likelihood of success.
6. You will be able to focus your time and money on the resources, which will allow you to achieve the 1-2 objectives that will make your business successful over the next 90 days.
7. It will save you hours- weeks- months of confusion, mistakes and losses of your money, time, & energy.

To check the date of our next GrowthCLUB Planning workshop and to register, visit www.growthclubjax.com 

Business Advice: Top 10 Rules for Marketing Success

In business you can’t wake up one morning and say, “I want more customers”.  

My background is in sales, marketing, and marketing research but one of the first things that I learned when becoming an ActionCOACH is that most businesses don’t need more customers, what they really need is more Profits.  

To learn about increasing profits check out “What Actions Lead to Profits?”

Now back to marketing... Even though more customers are what most businesses want, most don’t have a marketing plan that will help them achieve that goal. Marketing is not difficult, but most of us don’t take the time to think through the process carefully enough.

Here are our 10 Marketing Rules (or premises) that you need to think about before creating your plan.

1. We are in the Profit Business!
2. Marketing is Math
3. Marketing is an investment where you measure and test your results
4. Spend more time producing income instead of reducing costs
5. Put 50% of your time, effort & investment into distribution and, more importantly, the other 50% into sales & marketing
6. Buying customers is an investment, so set your marketing budget by your acquisition costs
7. Never chase market share. Go after wallet share instead.
8. Establish the long term view of our customers' value and their lifetime value
9. Always aim to reduce your acquisition cost and raise their lifetime value
10. Measure & Test Everything
11. Use a marketing plan and don’t wing it

I know I said 10 but I always strive to provide added value.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below...

Developing Your Unique Selling Position

Selling customers on the value of what your business offers is a great idea.  We can agree on that.  However, translating that idea into action can be challenging.  Businesses tend to fall back on the price cut strategy  because they truly do not know how to differentiate their business from the competition.

3 Reasons Not to sell on price:
1.  On any given day a competitor can meet or beat your price. Many businesses offer a price match guarantee.
2.  You run the risk of cheapening the image of your product or service.
3. You are working harder for the same amount of profit.
Creating a Niche for your products and services gives you the ability to sell on value.
At ActionCOACH  we define Niche as “No Price Competition”.
The ActionCOACH system coaches clients through the process of determining their USP, their unique selling proposition.

You can begin by asking yourself these 6 questions

1. What makes you special?
   Do you understand the solutions your clients’ are seeking?  What do they need?  Does that differ from what they want?  Are you able to deliver those solutions in a meaning way to your client?
2. Can you explain it to your customers in a way that they understand how it helps them?Are you effectively communicating your solutions to the customer? You may have the perfect the best widget for that client’s need.  If you are not communicating that in a way they understand, it will not make a difference.
3. Does your customer or prospect know why they should buy from you?Do not say customer service! Everyone says they have the best service. You have to prove it. Make sure it is easy to do business with you.  Do they truly know what makes “you” different from the guy down the street selling the same product or service.
4. What do you do better than your competition?
   If I ask you, “ Why I should buy from you instead of your competition?” you better be ready to give me 5 real reasons immediately. After you come up with those 5 ask yourself, “Could my competitors be saying the same thing?” (i.e., we offer great service). If the answer is yes, you better be ready to prove your excellence beyond a shadow of doubt. The best way to do that is through relating examples of how you deliver “excellent service” or are “problem solvers”.
5. How is your competition better than you?
   Understanding their strengths does not mean battling them head on.  Can your incorporate their strengths into your business model?  If not, highlight what you do best and do that better than anyone else. 
6. What is your written guarantee? A strong guarantee will help lower your prospects resistance to doing business with you at a higher price. In addition, it reassures your current customers and makes them feel good about recommending you. A strong enough guarantee can make you a market leader and force your competitors to change the way they do business.

Wishing you great success,
Coach Steve

Click here to find out how to get  a ½ hour telephone coaching session to get clarity on your unique selling proposition.

Our Top 5 Rules for Successful Marketing Success

www.buyingcustomers.com 

When business owners are asked what their greatest need is, the top answer is more customers. Is this necessarily true? For many businesses more customers will not increase bottom line profits but, that is for another post.

All businesses do need new customers. Do you have an effective marketing plan in place to attract new customers? What is a successful marketing plan and how is it created? Developing an effective marketing plan is not rocket science but, does take careful consideration.

Here are our Top 5 Rules for Creating a Profitable Marketing Plan:

1. We are in the Profit Business!
   Marketing is Math. Understanding the costs of acquiring new customers is a key element to creating your marketing plan. 
2. Marketing is a Long Term Strategy
   Putting effort into understanding the current target markets of the business and which new markets to focus on will yield better results. Spend the 60% of your time on the target, 30% developing the offer, and 10% creating copy. Remember, the copy is the sizzle, the target is the steak. 
3. Marketing is the Pull, Sales is the Push
   Marketing plans are an investment and initially cost more than sales initiatives. The goal is getting customers to seek out your business. Spend 50% of your time on running the business and 50% of your time on marketing your business. 
4. Know how much is cost to buy a customer 
   Marketing is math. When you understand that marketing is all about “buying customers” you begin to change they way you look at your advertising and marketing. When you know the acquisition cost of a customer, you can begin to create an unlimited marketing budget and buy as many customers as you want.
5. Understand the Lifetime Value of Your Customers 
   Increasing share of wallet and increasing repeat transactions reduces acquisition costs. Are your customers aware of everything you offer? Are they recommending you? Are you showing appreciation to current customers to prevent them from choosing a competitor? 
6. Work the Plan 
   Make scheduled reviews part of the plan. Test and measure offers and communication vehicles. Marketing plans should be fluid. Always be open to updating the plan as your business, your customers and the and the market changes. 

I know I said 5 but when it comes to marketing you should always strive to provide more value.

To learn more about Buying Customer check out Brad Sugar's new book coming out December 4th.  www.buyingcustomers.com 

Wishing you much success,

Coach Steve



Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below...

Recipe for Creating a Successful Marketing Campaign

Someone once told me that sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. This is definitely true when it comes to advertising and marketing success.

Many small and medium sized businesses are not getting the desired results to their advertising and marketing efforts because they do not take the appropriate amount of time to focus on the 3 main elements of creating a successful marketing program. The 3 main elements are determining the target market, creating the offer and developing the copy to communicate the offer. Typically, more time is spent on creating the copy than on the on the other 2.
 
Here is the recipe for creating a successful Marketing Plan:

60 % Determining the Target Audience

• Who Are They?
  Are there current customers with great potential in industries are not currently being targeted?  What are the growth industries in your area?  What would it take to turn your “B” customers into “A” customers?
• Where are They? Who do your customers buy from? Forming strategic alliances with suppliers can be an effective way to find new customers. Are there training programs specific to your targeted industries?  Think beyond your normal networking efforts.

  30% Creating the Offer

• What do your customers need? 
  What solutions are your customers and potential customers seeking?  Are they aware of your entire product offering? What do your sales people suggest?  What added value do you/can you offer?  Develop different offers for the different target markets.  Go beyond discounts and giveaways.  Think outside your comfort zone.
• Test and Measure  One of the benefits of the ever expanding internet is that it is easy to test offers quickly.  Training your staff on recording tracking information will enhance the accuracy of the test. 

10% Developing the Copy

• Communicating the Offer 
  Where do your customers get their information?  Is your staff aware of every offer?  How do you want your customers to respond? 
• Test and MeasureUse a variety of vehicles to test the message.  Always include a code to track response and make your staff aware or recording the code. 

Marketing is a long term, ever evolving process.  By taking the appropriate time in each of the Target-Offer-Copy area you will speed up the success of your marketing and advertising campaigns and achieve the desired results from your plan and for your business.
 
Wishing you much success,
Coach Steve
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below...