Persisting With Determination

When Failure Is Not An Option

Ninety-five percent of all new businesses go out of business within the first five years or less. Which group do you want to be in? The 95% or the 5%? Persisting with Determination is the key differentiating factor between these two groups.

Thomas Edison persisted through 4,999 different attempts to invent and perfect the incandescent lamp. He finally succeeded on his 5,000th attempt. This is a recorded fact.

What do you suppose he had that others didn’t have? Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.

What Is Persistence?

It is the power to hold on in spite of everything, to endure—this is the winner’s quality. Persistence is the ability to face defeat again and again without giving up—to push on in the face of great difficulty. Persistence means taking pains to overcome every obstacle, to do all that’s necessary to reach your goals. Persistence is to go on resolutely, in spite of difficulties. It is to demonstrate endurance and have a fixed purpose in all that you do.

How does this apply in your business? Persistence in your business means to have a business plan, research your industry, competition and potential accordingly, decide on your business objectives and goals, and draw a map on how to get there. Once you have this in place, stick to it. In Business Success Circles, you will often hear “a bad business plan with persistency is always better than a great business plan with no persistency.” Believe in what you are doing, do it well, and keep going. Keep your ears to ground and your eyes open at all times. Keep educating yourself in your business. When you encounter failure, analyze it, figure what you did wrong, learn from it, fix it, and continue moving ahead. You will make several mistakes along the way before you are successful. However, with persistency it will happen.

Remember: There Are Three Kinds Of People in the World.

People who make things happen – people who watch someone else make it happen – and people who don’t know what’s happening. You have decide who you are!

Marketing Strategies – Lead by Example
Success in business does not come with you being able to take Action and be a leader. You need to demonstrate this in two ways:

1) To your customersBe a user to whatever it is you are selling. If you do not believe in your product or service, how can anyone else. When you believe in something, it shows. Your customer will see this in you naturally. If you sell land in the mountains, buy some for yourself. If you sell flowers, ensure you send some to your spouse often. With our business, we sell website, we have built several for ourselves, we sell our SEO process, we have optimized our own sites for the search engines, we sell email marketing, we use it for our own business, we do lead generation for businesses, we generate leads for ourselves. You can have the greatest product since slice bread and you can have the best price, but if you have no conviction you will not be successful, at least not in the long term.

2) To your employeesLead by example to your employees. If you want your employees to go the extra mile, do that yourself, if you want them to report to work on time, get to work on time yourself. Generally speaking, employees have no vested interest in your business and they will only do their jobs. However, just doing a job will not make you successful. You need to do a great job. You need to give your employees incentives to work hard. You cannot do it by yourself. To be successful, seek good help, lead by example, and go the extra mile for your employee. Their loyalty will prolong your success.

Secrets Revealed – How Lack of Responsibility Affects Your Business.

By Ourmilla Sharma, Guerilla Marketer

Dear Fellow Business Builders,

The success of your business depends on many different elements such as your location, your clientele, your marketing strategies, your competition and their marketing strategies, seasonal factors, and much more. Unfortunately, many of these elements may be outside of your control. Fortunately, there is one undervalued, yet critically important element, that we have 100% control of and this is Taking Personal Responsibility For Your Business. In order to be successful in your business, you must first take responsibility for exactly where your business is today.

If your business is highly successful, give yourself a pat on the back, you have done a good job. If your business is not where you want it to be, maybe it is time to sit down and conduct some introspection on your skills as a business owner and a marketer. You will unearth some facts that have led to your current position that you may not like at all. The first tendency is to blame others such as the weather was bad for most of last year, we lost a lot of customers because we did not have a website and our competitors did, the housing market was down and this affected our business, etc, etc, etc.

You will not be able to overcome your current situation until you get yourself to a point where you take full responsibility for all these things. Yes, you have no control over the weather, but as a business owner, you must have contingency plans in place to prevent seasonal factors from affecting you. Yes, your competitor started advertising on online and you did not. Again, as a business owner, you must have a sense of your competitive landscape with your ear to the ground, understanding the ever changing dynamics that are affecting your business. Yes, the housing marketing has taken a hit but as a business owner you must understand how economic factors affect your business and how you can prevent these things from happening.

How do you take responsibility for where you are in your business?

• First, accept to yourself that my business is where it is today because I have made some bad decisions.
• Second, accept this and be okay with it. No need to punish yourself.
• Third, set forth a goal to do the following:

1. Truly understand and put in writing why you are in business
2. Determine what exactly you are trying to achieve
3. Determine your unique selling point (why should I choose you?)
4. Assess your competitive landscape
5. List your top competitors
6. Analyze what your competitors are doing best
7. Determine if you can do that too and what it will take
8. Review your marketing strategies
9. Determine if they are in line with your business goals
10. Determine if you are targeting the right customers
11. Review your offering, is it the right offer? Is this what I do best?
12. Put all of this in a business plan and set review it on a daily or at least weekly basis.

After you have done all of this, do the following things to ensure you are on track. Be honest with yourself, never lose sight of your goals, keep persisting without exception even if it is hard, and truly offer a product or service that has valuable benefits. Find these benefits and show them to your customers, and at the end of the each day, take responsibility for what you have achieved that day!

Discover the Secret to Increased Conversions.

You and I both spend a significant amount of our marketing budget in sending out direct mail pieces, placing ads in newspapers and magazines, printing brochures and flyers, and more. And, then we wonder how come we are not getting the response we anticipate. 90% of the time, the reason for this is the way we state our offer and it is very simple. We have a tendency, as a business owner, to tell our customers what we can do for them, how great we are, how long we have been around, and how good we are at we do. This is boring! Consumers do not want to know about you, so what happens, your direct mail piece or brochure goes pop into the garbage pail. Why? Because consumers will only take time to read your piece if they can see the benefits right away. Therefore, the headline in your ads must all paint a mental picture in the mind of the consumer about a benefit they will get from using your product or services. I have prepared some examples for you below:

1) A Restaurant

Instead of “We are the best restaurant this side of town” change to “Enjoy a delicious meal with that special someone after a hard day at the office, without leaving town” See the difference….tell the consumer what benefit he can get from coming to restaurant.. in this sentence, he gets enjoyment, relaxation and does not have to travel.

2) Car Dealer

Instead of “Huge Sale, $2000 cash rebate if you hurry! Offer ends April 30.” change to “think how good you will look and feel in our new, sleek and shiny 2007 xxxx with $2000 in your pocket.”

3) Florist

Instead of “Beautiful arrangements. $15 coupon, good for April” Change to: Put a smile on her face and save $15 at the same time.”

4) Service Industry

Instead of “When you need us, we are there.” Change to “Imagine never having to worry about that leaky pipe again! Call us now at xxx, we will be there!”

I hope my examples demonstrate the difference in writing about yourself and screaming the benefits your customers will receive in your ad.

I will be happy to look at your current marketing piece and offer you some suggestions. No Obligations. Give us a call.

The Importance of Frequency in Marketing

It is important for every business owner to put aside a reasonable amount of the annual budget for marketing and advertisement. More importantly, once you have come up with a well-thought out marketing plan, it is important to be patient and let your marketing plan fall into place. Consistency and frequency are the most important aspects in marketing. It is well-known by most top marketers (online and offline) that a poor marketing plan with consistency and frequency is better than a great marketing plan with impatience.

What is important to do (as you put your marketing plan into action and start running your ads, email marketing, banners, billboards, or whatever avenue you choose) is put yourself in the shoes of the target audience. Think of what they might be thinking and you will see your ad in a different light. The key is not to leave the viewer of your ad wondering what you are all about, although this is the first step. The key is to expose your ad so much that after a while, the viewer absolutely must have what you are selling, hence, making the sale. This is your ultimate goal.

Let’s review a list of reactions that a viewer of a specific ad will experience as determined by pioneer Thomas Smith of London, in 1885. These were true back then and even truer today.

1. The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.
2. The second time, he does not notice it.
3. The third time, he is conscious of its existence.
4. The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before.
5. The fifth time, he reads it.
6. The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it.
7. The seventh time, he reads it through and says, "Oh brother!"
8. The eighth time, he says, "Here's that confounded thing again!"
9. The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to anything.
10. The tenth time, he asks his neighbor if he has tried it.
11. The eleventh time, he wonders how the advertiser makes it pay.
12. The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a good thing.
13. The thirteenth time, he thinks perhaps it might be worth something.
14. The fourteenth time, he remembers wanting such a thing a long time.
15. The fifteenth time, he is tantalized because he cannot afford to buy it.
16. The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy it some day.
17. The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum to buy it.
18. The eighteenth time, he swears at his poverty.
19. The nineteenth time, he counts his money carefully.
20. The twentieth time he sees the ad, he buys what it is offering.

When marketing your business, remember 3 words, Commitment, Consistency & Frequency.

The Fortune Is In the Follow-Up
by Ourmilla Sharma

One of the reasons businesses lose customers is the lack of a customer contact strategy. When customers buy your product or use your service, they are being loyal to you. In turn, you have to be loyal to them. Consumers are bombarded with 1000s of advertisements each day showing new products and alternatives to what they currently have. From TV Ads to radio ads to magazines to newspapers to billboards, consumers are given new choices every single day. While consumers enjoy new choices and options, what they enjoy even more is the comfort of knowing that the person or company they are doing business with is helpful, resourceful and sincere. Consumers have demonstrated that they will even pay a higher price in order to get these important qualities from their business counterparts.

Unfortunately, business owners spend tons of marketing funds investing in various forms of media and lead generation and after they get leads, they fail to follow up and establish a relationship with the lead. You always have to remember that over 80% of today consumers are in research mode. However, this 80% represent future potential customers for you. By visiting your store, filling out a contact form, or accepting an invitation from you, they are expressing a desire that they are interested in your products or services. But they are not convinced at this time that you want to buy your product or use your services. This is your job. Your job is to prove to your prospect without an iota of doubt that you are the best person for the job. This can only be done by demonstrating professionalism, integrity, business ethics, knowledge of your product and service, and an open desire to be helpful.

Below are a few important ways you can do this:

1) Follow up with a “Nice Meeting You” letter immediately after a meeting or telephone appointment. This letter should not be a sales letter, just a short note saying that it was a pleasure meeting you.

2) Send A Gift Certificate To Your Business while your client is in the decision mode

3) Start an email marketing newsletter on a monthly or bi-weekly basis that offers valuable information in your industry as well as inform your customers of promotions, new products, coupons, and specials( i.e The mortgage tips offered by www.bestrateforbuyers.com)

4) Send a Thank You letter after making a deal with the client. Thank them for the opportunity and reassure them that they will not regret choosing you

5) If you see an opportunity to help a client out, do it. Do not hesitate.

6) Most importantly, be genuine and truly want to make a difference in your industry. Set yourself apart. Make your clients enjoy working with you so much and they keep on referring you to others.

Remember, businesses do not sell to business nor do businesses sell to people. Always, People sell to People.

Our readers have been benefiting from several strategies we have shared over time, many of which has been derived from our training with Guerilla Marketing. With Guerilla Marketing, we develop ideas, tips and tricks on how to effectively market your product and services, even if you are on a shoestring budget. While these tips may appear simple, these are highly effective and will leave a lasting impression for your product and services. Below is a list of simple and easy to implement marketing ideas to help you promote your business from the Father of Guerilla Marketing, Jay Levinson.

20 Marketing Ideas
1. Send unusual postcards.
2. Request testimonials from good clients.
3. Go on a local talk show.
4. Refer business to a client.
5. Test offers with small classified ads.
6. Put a "take a card" holder in a neighborhood business.
7. Give a guest lecture at a local school.
8. Send a lottery ticket with a note: "If you want better odds, talk to us."
9. Find a new online discussion group.
10. Have a contest for the best and worst of something related to your area.
11. Try to bring back an ex-client.
12. Give evening seminars in your offices.
13. Create a flier and pay kids to pass out copies of it.
14. Approach a competitor about mutual referrals.
15. Sponsor a talk by a visiting expert on a topic for your clients.
16. Call ten people you've been meaning to talk to.
17. Find a marketing mentor and meet with that person regularly.
18. Put a company logo or sign on your car.
19. Change your phone greeting to "How can I help you?"
20. Take a client to a ballgame.