Confidence + Goodwill = Success

Asking current clients for referrals can be difficult, but for moving forward it is an absolute necessity. What holds you back from asking? Your confidence: that's what! So how do you move through this confidence challenge? By looking back and identifying which of your clients had the greatest success. These individuals will be (and will continue to be) walking testimonials and advertisements for you and your business. Here are three tips to improve your business confidence and savvy while increasing your client base!

Take Stock & Boost Confidence
Your first priority is to gather all the positive feedback, comments and notes from current and previous clients you can find. Next, make a list and read through it a few times. Reading over your list of positive feedback will allow you to establish a mental and emotional connection based on positive thoughts and experiences. This allows you to reach out to each of these individuals more confidently. Asking for help is never easy, but when we make a positive emotional connection with those to whom we are reaching out, we can design a new thought pattern. With a new pattern in place, you create new beliefs—and your new beliefs increase your confidence level!

Using the positive comments from your clients in your communication, remind your clients of how much they appreciated what you have done for them. Then ask them for referrals to associates, family and friends who could use your services.

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Leadership and Marketing

As a leader, main man, top dog or any other pet name you can think of for yourself when referring to your role as decision maker, there will be times you will be faced with when to refocus, redefine or repurpose the financial resources of your organization depending on the challenges you may be facing. Change is all around you, and keeping a steady course during those times is a challenge all in itself. One of the common areas that most entrepreneurs will immediately look at cutting is the area of marketing. As an entrepreneur your budgets (if you follow one) are not normally as flush as those of Fortune 500 companies. As a result, your ability to refocus or repurpose resources becomes a lot more stressful and difficult to do.

We’ve heard of the different types of marketing, and it can be very confusing. I'd like to support you in reducing your stress regarding marketing; there are amazing marketing coaches out there who can support you in creating a full marketing plan, outlining what is specific to you and your organization. But today let's bring your focus back to the basics so when you decide to hire that coach or consultant, you have an idea of what marketing means to you and your business.

So what is marketing, or a marketing budget, and why do you need one? Simply put, marketing is defined as the process used to determine which products or services are of interest to your clients and outlines the strategies best used in the sales, communication and development of new business. Okay, that wasn't so simple; but basically, it means matching your product or service with your client. The budget piece is the estimated cost of running these programs and projects. The "why" is basically all about transparency and empowering you to stay focused and moving forward in the right direction with each decision you make regarding spreading the word about your wonderful products.

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Downside of Social Media?

A tool is as good as its user; that rule applies to social media as well. Though social media is a wonderful and relatively cost-effective marketing tool, it does have a few downsides. Through my experience I have come to realize there are always two sides to every thing, every experience and every exchange. Social media is definitely not an exception to the rule, and the following ideas are just a few alternative perspectives that have come to mind while I have been exploring the wide world of social media.

Time is Money, Honey
Building your social networking pages and writing articles and blogs takes a lot of time and effort. Your business’s brand value depends largely on the kind of content you create. False information, tall and baseless claims, or overtly promotional language can backfire on your business. Therefore, you must use social media with great care. When creating your content, remember it may be the first impression for some and for another confirmation of your brand and message. If you cut corners on the creation process of your message, it may cost you more than just the time it took to create it.

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Client Referral Systems

Any small business owner worth his salt will tell you word of mouth publicity is one of the best ways for securing more business. Client referral systems are based on this very thought. Generally, when a satisfied client refers your name to someone chances are good the person will end up becoming your client as well.

However, you can’t depend only on the whims of clients to refer you to their friends. To secure referrals you may have to offer your clients incentives. A lot of businesses successfully use an incentive-based system to get more client referrals. The following are five of the most recommended and used client referral incentive programs or techniques currently being used.

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Goodwill and Social Media

The Internet has provided us with a free platform to market our products and services. Smart marketing, however, involves subtle techniques of convincing people you truly offer the best products or service because you are an expert in your niche. To build this kind of brand value you need to sound authoritative and knowledgeable. For instance, when you send out newsletters and emails, use a tone that says “I know what I am talking about” without sounding arrogant or pompous. Your posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites should also carry the same note of authority.

Sounds great, right? I know; it sounds wonderful to me too! As Therapy in Transition continues to move through the ebb and flow of its journey, I have come not only to live and breathe but also love the idea of social media and what it means to us as an organization. Originally I joined the world of Facebook to connect with family and friends who live at a distance, only to quickly learn that as a business we can also be connecting with current clients, potential clients and strategic partners. But navigating these new waters opened up a whole new world. Here are three concepts I’ve learned as a business owner and would like to share to hopefully allow you to embrace using social media a little more effectively.

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Starting Your Own Business?

The idea of doing their own thing has seduced many men and women into chucking their jobs and trying their luck at entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, not all people have been able to succeed at running their own businesses. The problem more often than not lies in the fact that most people plunge into the deep waters of entrepreneurship unprepared. Ideally, before you start your own business you need to ask yourself the following questions. The easy step is asking; providing a truthful, honest answer is the difficult part.

Do you have enough capital and cash? Money attracts money. If you do not have enough capital and liquidity, it won’t be easy for you to sustain your business. Therefore, before you decide to start your own business you must be clear about your funding options. Do you want to borrow? Can you borrow money, and if so, from where? What are you willing to give in return for the investment? If the funds are not from a bank, then private investors are looking for ownership and a return on their investment.

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DIY Coaching

Life keeps throwing one challenge after the other at us, and to stay ahead and keep your focus intact you need to coach yourself to stay disciplined, set achievable goals and monitor your progress constantly. This, though, begs the one word question: How? When partnering with a life, business or personal wellness coach isn’t in your budget, there are a few things you can do for yourself that can kick start your way to achieving your desired goals and dreams.

A great place to begin is by asking yourself what goals you would like to achieve and by when. Your answers will help you in outlining your plan and formulating the steps you need take to get there. When writing down your answers, be sure to be very clear about what the end result will look like. The more specific you are, the easier putting the steps to get there in place will be. An example of one goal you might write down is, “By this time next year my client base will have increased by 50%.” This is a very clear goal: it provides a time frame in which you want to achieve it (year from now), establishes a measurable result (50%), and identifies with what you will be working (client base).

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Free Publicity and Your Business

There is no better publicity than free positive publicity! Having your business’s name mentioned in articles, TV stories and blogs can help you build your brand value and credibility. However, to get free publicity you need to understand how the media works so you can use it to plug stories favorable to your business.

The media, whether print or electronic, needs stories that will sell; i.e., stories in which their readers/viewers would be interested. So in order to get free publicity for your business, you need to figure out how can you contribute to or create stories in which the media would be interested. This may sound complicated, but if you embrace some of the basic public/media relations principles listed below, you’ll find it easier to attract media coverage.

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Management Tips for Small Businesses

As an entrepreneur, do you get a little confused when people start interviewing you on “business management”? Not surprising, since it’s probably based on the belief that the word “management” is more suited to big business and multinational conglomerates. From one perspective that might be true, but from the perspective that you want your business to grow, thrive and be successful, then it is the wrong approach.

Efficient business management is the foundation of a successful business. In simpler terms, small business management is a mix of many things: that is, the juggling of many hats like advertising, marketing, administration, HR and sales. If any one of these elements if managed incorrectly or with a lazy approach, then it can, in fact, make or break a small business. It is therefore extremely important to draft and execute governing policies—yes, even if you are the only individual—very carefully.

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Budget Marketing

Marketing on a Budget
They say a business is as good as its marketing plan; we agree. They used to say the most direct and appealing marketing media were television, radio and newspaper advertisements and commercials, but as of late this list has begun to include the necessity of including social networking on the Internet. So we did, and we do agree again. To top it all off, they say if you don’t have a big marketing budget your business is a sitting duck waiting to be eaten raw by the bigger businesses. Well, here we totally disagree. We may be a small business, but we are most definitely not the only one.

Yes, advertising today is a huge cost with no guaranteed returns. The competition is cutthroat, and it has become increasingly difficult to be one of the few shining stars that outshines the others. However, if one ponders deeply, there are numerous channels to promote your business that may not be very expensive while being extremely effective. The following are few suggestions.

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Getting Back to Basics

I am sitting here nursing my son and reflecting on my first day of training yesterday. I have three more full days and I am beginning to see how I needed to begin again and get back to the basic of rebuilding my business after taking some time off to be with my son.

Earlier this week we decided to inject a base amount to cover the next six months worth of expenses as a loan to the company. My intention is to build a strong enough marketing plan to provide a full client base by October 1 and then I can begin repaying the loan back with a goal of a repayment period of a year.

This has been an interesting exercise since I am having to balance caring for my son and two dogs with the business research and planning. Not the easiest when we are stilling getting him into a sleeping schedule etc. But I will survive :)

I made the decision last night that in order to make sure I get enough practice of what I am learning this weekend to offer free craniosacral sessions to the local LWL members. This acts two fold - obviously - one to gain practice hours in and two give exposure of one skill set to potential clients. Within an hour I had four women email and request a booking. So this makes me both excited and nervous all at the same time. I have a woman who will come over and look after the baby and dogs while in these sessions but the doors have not been installed and the 'decorating' of the practicum room has been on hold due to giving birth. The benefit of these four appointments is it will act as motivation to make changes in there weekly to ensure as more members come and then discuss with each other their experiences they will be noticing the changes to the environment as well. I am confident more women will be contacting me to take advantage of the offer. I am excited as this one step/approach has me fulfilling at least three goals I have set.

Jumping on twitter https://twitter.com/kmkleinwort has forced me to really become aware of how I am spending time - thanks twitter! Please follow me by the way and I will follow you too! I have decided because of this new found awareness that my blog postings will begin to be and need to be more of what my original intentions were - focus on the building of my business - what is new and exciting while giving some of my business wisdom away and offering tidbits of guidance on how to handle change in our lives.

My goal is to keep these short as well. So until next time ... embrace your inner wisdom!

Thanks for reading.

Namaste,
Karen

Parents Arriving and Other Thoughts

Today my parents arrive from Spaniard's Bay Newfoundland Canada; they were suppose to arrive last night but they were delayed due to fog. A little dissappointed? Yes but I would rather they arrive safely than not at all.

Starting your own business can be extremely stressful. There are many decisions to make and in most cases with limited funds. I have been a management consultant for the last four years and as a result I do have an income already. These funds are obviously useful to pay ongoing bills but it is enough to allow me to have a little extra for starting this company.

We decided one of the most important elements to inject some of our hard earned savings into is the logo - you know - the icon which gets burned into consumers minds so they instantly recongize you. Through a resource directory - The NW Women's Directory - I found an amazing young woman - Kelli who is a graphic designer. We hit it off with immediately, she is extremely talented and also very reasonable on my wallet. We are excited about this new partnership and how positively it is going to support our business plan.

Why at this point might some of you ask is the importance of spending a few thousand dollars on such an item? Well it is all about setting yourself apart, making yourself instantly recognizable, establishing yourself only once, and effectively communicating who and what you are. This ladies and gentlemen is called Marketing 101. One of the biggest mistakes a new company can do is to keep changing their 'icon' or their main visual message(s); doing this keeps your consumers confused and in the mind set that your organization is not established. This lends to your target audience (the people you would like to have use your goods/services) to go somewhere else. As you know yourself the last thing you want to do is go into a partnership (the moment you exchange any goods/services with another you enter into a partnership - it is just the length of the partnership which becomes questionable) with another individual/company that is unstable. It is because of this we are choosing to invest, yes it is an investment, into our new company these funds to ensure our message to our audience is clear, concise, consistent, and effective.

Well, I am off to write and establish policies today before my parents arrive ... fun eh?

Embrace your inner wisdom!

Until next time, I'm in gratitude for all you do.
Karen