Want to generate more business leads? Then stop selling | Sales & Marketing | Resource Centre | Entrepreneur. Prospecting for new sales leads sucks. That’s because the return rate on that time-consuming task tends to be abysmal. Generating new business leads can also be a deflating and often counter-productive task that diverts CEOs of small-to-medium-sized businesses from the core duty of operating and growing their businesses. Those challenges are only amplified for smaller companies that lack a dedicated team to handle sales. At the same time, it’s utterly crucial for ensuring company-wide growth. But what if sales prospecting sucked less and actually worked?
I didn’t think it was possible until I started researching more effective tactics to drive new sales leads and wound up improving my conversion rate from about five per cent to 40% — all without doing any selling at all. How? It’s relentless, and lost along the way is the human side of selling. I think we can all agree that no one likes to be sold to in the traditional sense. The secret is in the process. Here’s how we did it: Coming from a loud place. » Boomers: Stay young. Start a business. » Trudy Van Buskirk – Marketing and Technology Coach for Women Business Owners.
We all know that as baby boomers we are the largest group in the population. As a result as we age there has been no end to products and services directed at us (I’m a boomer born in 1950. You can do the math to figure out how old I am.) There are ads on TV and in magazines that will help you look young. There are articles about how to stay young. There is even software you can buy that will stimulate your thinking and keep you young. Everything is about anti-aging.
(Picture courtesy of: FreeDigitalPhotos.net ) Have you ever thought that starting a business will keep you young? I know that running a business is a lot of work but women business owners that I interview in my blog category called Women Business Owner Interviews all say that what they like most about being self employed is the freedom it gives you.
Why start a business to keep young? Don’t listen to your friends and relatives. Listen to the words of the song “Young At Heart“. What are your thoughts? MAXIMIZER. 3 Reasons Good Strategies Fail. We've all experienced the frustration of realizing that a highly prized, hard-fought-for, innovative strategy has gone south. You know the pattern: Hopeful execution is followed by poor results; then there's an initial period of denial, after which you double down on execution; then comes the pang of recognition that this just ain't gonna work; and finally the painful process of unraveling from what you now accept was a flawed strategy to begin with. Sound familiar? I see this pattern repeat frequently in the leadership teams I work with, but I've also noticed something else.
Around two-thirds of the time, there's nothing actually wrong with the strategy itself. The core problem lies elsewhere. Here are the three most common reasons good strategies go bad, and how to fix them without ditching the strategy itself: 1. Sometimes--often, in fact--we get the hiring wrong. And, as a result, the strategy fails or seems to. 2. 3. The problem wasn't with the strategy. 3 Habits of Highly Unsuccessful Businesses | Inc. 5000. Plenty has been written about the characteristics of highly successful businesses. We think it is worthwhile to understand the traits of unsuccessful companies. If you identify the factors that are limiting your business's success, you may generate new ideas about how to earn a better return. There are three key inhibitors to any management team's ability to build a successful business.
They believe that their circumstances are unchangeable and therefore don't act.They do not set milestones for their journey.They do not reevaluate along the way. "Unchangeable" Circumstances There are always options and choices. In our experience, when successful management teams objectively view the facts, they are able to see options and flexibility. Lack of Milestones Milestones let us know we are heading down the right track. When we plan for what we want, we get there a lot faster. Lack of Follow-up Perhaps your strenuously developed strategy isn't working.
"If you knew what I know..." From general to specific (or vice versa) There's no doubt that it's easier to start an organization (or a project) around specific. The more specific the better. When you have a handful of ideal potential clients and a solution that is customized and perfect for them, it's far easier to get started than when you offer everything to everyone. Not only that, but the specific makes it easier to be remarkable, to overdeliver and to create conversations, because you know precisely what will delight the user.
Once you master your specific, you can do the work to become general, because you have cash flow and reputation and experience. The flipside of this is interesting: if you have somehow, against all odds, managed to succeed in the general, the move to specific is almost effortless. If you can change your reflex action that consistently pushes you to mass, the market you've chosen will embrace the fact that you, the general one, are now truly focused on them, the specifics. TRUST. MomBizCoach On How She Grew Her Brand with BTR 08/14 by MarketingClub. 4 Ways to Discover Your Strengths. Mad Men's Don Draper is exceptionally good at saving a deal gone sour. When a client dislikes an ad campaign, the fictional ad exec can weave the perfect tale to change their minds. His storytelling ability is a gift that no one else at his agency has. To become a successful business leader, identify your own strengths and talents and foster them. Your strengths are ultimately the keys to your success.
"When we do things we're already good at, our business acumen is quicker," says Todd Kashdan, a psychology professor at George Mason University and author of Curious? "When it comes to the best way to leverage your ability, it's (best) to go through your strengths. " he says. Using these four tips, you can learn to recognize your core strengths. 1.
Related: How to Train Your Creative Mind Ask a close mentor when you appear most animated or observe yourself for a day. 2. For example, one executive wanted a more creative, innovative workplace but wasn't the man to do it himself. 3. 4. 10 Top Reasons Why First-Time Entrepreneurs Fail. Image credit: Shutterstock "For entrepreneurs -- especially those just starting out -- businesses succeed as much as they fail.
I’ve seen this time and again as a mentor and entrepreneur. But statistics also suggest that the failure rate for new startups within the first five years is as high as 50 percent. Of course, real entrepreneurs treat business failure as a milestone on the road to success. Here is my list of 10 top startup failure causes -- and how to avoid them: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. What was the best tip you’ve learned from others’ mistakes? The author is an Entrepreneur contributor. Martin Zwilling is a veteran startup mentor, executive, blogger, author, tech professional, and angel investor.
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From NFL Innovator Steve Sabol. Many of us hope to influence and inspire others to pursue their dreams. The late Steve Sabol, who died this week at the age of 69, not only affected those who knew him personally but most anyone who's been watching football over the past several decades. His entrepreneurial efforts helped revolutionize the sports broadcasting industry. In the early 1960s, along with his father Ed, Sabol co-founded NFL Films, the Mount Laurel, N.J. -based studio that creates commercials, television programs, feature films, documentaries and other programming for the National Football League. Sarbol and his father are credited with advances in production techniques such as reverse angle replays and setting highlights to pop music.
Sabol's storytelling, creativity and passion for the game inspired young athletes, artists, sports fans and even entrepreneurs like myself. Related: What Sports Can Teach You About Running a Business 1. Every entrepreneur has a story to tell. 2. 3. The worst kind of clock. Curiosity was framed. CHOICES. I want to put you in a category. When I meet you or your company or your product or your restaurant or your website, I desperately need to put it into an existing category, because the mental cost of inventing a new category for every new thing I see is too high. I am not alone in this need. In fact, that's the way humans survive the onslaught of newness we experience daily.
Of course, you can refuse to be categorized. You can insist that it's unfair that people judge you like this, that the categories available to you are too constricting and that your organization and your offering are too unique to be categorized. If you make this choice, the odds are you will be categorized anyway. But since you didn't participate, you will be miscategorized, which is far worse than being categorized. So choose. What is this thing? Make it easy to categorize you and you're likely to end up in the category you are hoping for. The people who came before you. The simple power of one a day. There are at least 200 working days a year.
If you commit to doing a simple marketing item just once each day, at the end of the year you've built a mountain. Here are some things you might try (don't do them all, just one of these once a day would change things for you): Enough molehills is all you need to have a mountain. Jumpstart Your Startup Marketing Strategy. The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. If you want to get paid for your freelance work. ...then access to tools is no longer sufficient. Everyone you compete with has access to a camera, a keyboard, a guitar.
Just because you know how to use a piece of software or a device doesn't mean that there isn't an amateur who's willing to do it for free, or an up and comer who's willing to do it for less. ...then saying "how dare you" is no longer a useful way to cajole the bride away from asking her friend to take pictures at the wedding, or the local non-profit to have a supporter typeset the gala's flyer or to keep a rock star from inviting volunteers on stage. ...then you ought to find and lead a tribe, build a base of people who want you, and only you, and are willing to pay for it. ...then you need to develop both skills and a reputation for those skills that make it clear to (enough) people that an amateur solution isn't nearly good enough, because you're that much better and worth that much more.
Scarcity is a great thing for those that possess something that's scarce. HABITS. Two questions behind every disagreement. Are we on the same team? And What's the right path forward? Most of time, all we talk about is the path, without having the far more important but much more difficult conversation about agendas, goals and tone. Is this a matter of respect? The reason politics in my country is diverging so much from useful governance has nothing to do with useful conversations and insight into what the right path is.
If you feel disrespected, the person you disagree with is not going to be a useful partner in figuring out what the right path going forward might be. Deal with the agenda items and the dignity problems first before you try to work out the right strategic choices. Small Business Strategy: 4 "Aha" Moments. During the Small Giants International Summit earlier this month, I asked attendees if they had any "aha" moments. What I discovered was that most of the "aha" moments weren't groundbreaking or large in scale. They were bits of wisdom or information that, upon reflection, resonated deeply. It was great to see how a little bit of perspective helped turn moments into powerful tools for change.
Here are four lessons you can learn from the "aha" moments of other leaders: Your biggest heroes made bigger mistakes than you did--and survived. As an exercise during the conference, every attendee who made a financial mistake was asked to stand up until the size of her largest financial misstep was called out. The "aha" moment didn't come from the last person standing.
Take on outside investment and your culture will be on the line. I learned this a few years ago, but it was driven home by one start-up attendee who was facing the prospect of bringing in outside capital. The Most Important Small Business Article You’ll Ever Read. How much do you value your life, dear Reader…? Recently, I encountered the most mind-boggling story. Picture an Internet marketer spending numerous hours so determined to respond to hundreds of blog comments in a weekend that their fingers AND HANDS swell from the effort.
Wow, talk about dedication. Right? Dude. Seriously…?? If we’re being realistic, this is truly bizarre. Reader, when was the last time you had an entire hand swollen? Okay, when is the last time this occurred merely as a result of… your typing? Exactly. So to say that a person has done so due to a personal commitment to “always respond to every comment left on their blog” — as in this case — and to spend the entire day doing so until you can physically no longer continue… well, that, to me, is just bananas. I don’t understand that sort of compulsion to do everything on one’s own– Well… not true. Why would a person be so unhealthily bent upon doing something all themselves? Hey, don’t judge me.
“Wha–! As a backstory… Hmm. What to obsess over. They use stopwatches at McDonald's. They know, to the second, how long it should take to make a batch of fries. And they use spreadsheets, too, to whittle the price of each fry down by a hundredth of a cent if they can. They're big and it matters. Small businesspeople often act like direct marketers. I think for most businesses that want to grow, it's way too soon to act like a direct marketer and pick a single number to obsess about. The reason is that these numbers demand that you start tweaking. I'd have you obsess about things that are a lot more difficult to measure. What are you tracking? 12 Most Laudable “L” Labels of Great Leaders. More boomers aspire to careers with social purpose. Thinking about supermodels.
The soapbox and the city. Second Act Careers And Reinventions On HuffPost Live. » How Fishing Is Like Entrepreneurship » Trudy Van Buskirk – Marketing and Technology Coach for Women Business Owners. Yield. Make Your Life a Mission Not an Intermission. Is workplace boredom 'the new stress?' Why 'follow your passion' is bad advice. Quest for success: be the hero of your career. Work skills you'll need to survive the 'conceptual age' How seeing the big picture could bring success, fulfillment. 52 Great Blogs for Self-Publishers – A Clickable List. LinkedIn Unleashed. DESTINY. MARKETING. Focus on what you can control. Different genes. Advertising's bumpy transition (and why it matters to you) PRINCIPLES. Senior Poverty: Food Insecurity Rising Among Older Americans. Social Media: How to build a large, valuable network!
As if your life depended on it. REVITALIZATION. Persistence and possibility. Barbara Corcoran's 8 Lessons for Entrepreneurs. Eboo Patel: How to Build an Inspirational Business. 3 Tricks for Making Time to Think. Lean Start-up: Testing Your Product the Eric Ries Way. A Job, a Career or a Calling. How well should I know someone before going into business with them? Start-up Mentor Brad Callaughan. Elizabeth Gilbert: Your elusive creative genius. How to Use Social Media as a Sales Tool: 4 Tips. Everything Marketers Need to Research & Create Detailed Buyer Personas [Template]
I’m Not A Good Boss » Brass Tacks » professional development. 8 Steps to Building a Strong and Fulfilling Blog. DRIVE. Older women donate more than men do to charity, IU report says. What others are saying . . . - Pueblo Chieftain: Editorials. Tattoo thinking. The Case for On-Again, Off-Again Retirement. IMAGINATION. True Secret to Success: Gratitude. 10 Secrets of Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur | Inc. 5000. 7 Tips for Creating Your Own Destiny | Inc. 5000. 5 Signs That You're an Entrepreneur at Heart | Inc. 5000. 5 Entrepreneurship Lessons From Obama and Romney. As Boomers Let Go We Live | Baby Boomer Generation. 12 Most Unintended Consequences of Defaulting on Your Dreams. CNBC to Tasti CEO Jim Amos: Why Are Franchise Owners Heroes? | Jim Amos Blog. Is Selling Evil? Age of the Attention Hog. Baby Boomers are STILL the Largest Consumer Group in America -------- Even in a Recession. Boomers haunted by fear of debts | Realestate | Real Estate | Property & Real Estate.
CONNECT. 20 Impressive & Inspiring Productivity Experts on Twitter. Stuck? HOPE. Are you holding back your own business? 4 tricks to overcome the fear. A life of ‘I wish I had’, or ‘I’m glad I did!’ Boomers Retiring the Idea of Retirement. Baby Boomers Journey On The Road Of Life | Baby Boomer Generation. PERSISTENCE.