5 Free Tools to Operate, Market Your Business

 

Are you on a really tight budget, but need to run and market your business? 

Ordinarily, I’m big on appearances – creating professional first impressions. But some free tools can suffice well. 

Whether you’re a startup or established company needing services that work well but your budget is tight, you might wish to consider five free services: 

• Organization of tasks
• Email newsletters
• Manage your social media
• Spy on your competitors
• Distribute Internet press releases 

Yes, the services also offer paid plans with bells and whistles without the companies’ logos, but the free services are easy-to-use and work well. 

Here are five unsolicited suggestions: 

1. Wunderlist, www.wunderlist.com, can help you get organized in every phase. You can create separate lists, and within your lists you can prioritize your responsibilities. You can use it just about anywhere on your Android, iPad, iPhone, Mac and PC. What’s more, you can share your lists with anyone. This also means you can see how your employees are prioritizing their work, and get valuable input from your mentor.
2. Mailchimp, www.mailchimp.com, is an e-mail sender. Moreover, you can customize your approach with Mailchimp’s designs, and get a simple analysis of your customers. You can leverage your social media, too. “With MailChimp’s Forever Free plan, you can send 12,000 emails a month to a list of up to 2,000 subscribers, but there are a few features that are only available to users with paid accounts,” according to Mailchimp’s Web site.
3. Hootsuite, www.hootsuite.com, will help you with your social networking. Hootsuite will build, monitor, engage and analyze your social activities.
4. KeywordSpy, www.keywordspy.com, will check out your competitors on their use of key words in marketing their Web sites. This will give you ideas on search engine marketing and optimization. It helps to eliminate the guessing on keywords.
5. PRlog, www.prlog.org, is a search engine press release service that will distribute your messages online and will provide an authoritative link to your site. You can choose three categories and 10 key words. You can insert your logo and picture. In your press release, you can insert as many as three links to your site. PRlog.org will display your contact information and business profile, and provides an online pressroom of your releases. Almost immediately, your press releases are published on Bing News. It’s also respected by Google. (Note: This portal has benefitted from seemingly countless releases on PRlog.org.) 

From the Coach’s Corner, here are more resource links: 

Checklist: 14 Strategies to Rock on Google 

Why B2B Marketers Like Content Marketing – Study 

Best Practices to Optimize Your Brand, Manage Your Web Reputation 

Need PR, But No Budget? Here’s How to Leverage News Media 

“In marketing I’ve seen only one strategy that can’t miss – and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last.” 

-John Romero

 

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

 

12 Tips for Profits to Keep Your Business Dreams Alive

 

Most businesspeople agree the economy continues to be challenging. Signs of a lingering downturn are everywhere. Business activity is slow. Governments at all levels report low tax revenue and are restructuring, and not spending. Customers want you to cut prices.

With a high level of oversupply in many industries, high unemployment and reduced customer spending, many businesspeople face a highly competitive environment.

To keep your dream alive in this downturn, you must find ways to adapt and do it quickly. That means re-examining business plans, strengthening risk management initiatives, retaining top talent, and making internal changes and restructuring to increase efficiency and profitability – all while looking for new opportunities for growth.

How to improve your business position:

1. Be defensive. Protect your turf by taking the best possible care of your best customers. You can invigorate sales with customer retention strategies. Find out what they think of your company, and make necessary improvements. You might consider jettisoning high-maintenance customers. Upon careful review, you might find they’re not profitable for you. You don’t want to be in a position where you’re just moving money around.
2. Expand your customer base. By surveying your best customers, you’ll probably get some compliments. That’s a perfect opportunity to ask for referrals. Find low-cost ways of rewarding them for referring their associates, relatives and friends to you. Here are sales and networking strategies to build strong relationships.
3. Invest in your future. Keep your productive marketing going. Train your workers. Take advantage of innovations in technology. Consider the 11 strategies to keep your business floating above water.
4. Develop an employee-loyalty program. Make it a fun working environment. Even if you can’t give raises, learn how other businesses are successful in retaining their best employees.  Learn which employees are most-likely to quit. Be transparent with them. Explain your challenges and how they can help, especially in processes and with customers. Note the strategies if a valued employee wants a raise, and money’s tight.
5. Fine-tune your branding. The Eight Best Practices in Small Business Marketing. The key to remember – customers want value. Think 1930s for business success. Consumer attitudes are changing.
6. Give back to the community. Did you know that cause-related marketing can increase sales by double digits?
7. Review your pricing strategy. Determine how to get more return on your sales. There are eight simple strategies to give you pricing power.
8. Use best practices in managing your financials. If you’re struggling, here are the step-by-step solutions for a company turnaround.
9. Be creative in your receivables. If collections are a challenge, here’s how to ease debt-collection headaches.
10. If you’re small, make it work for you. Remember  size doesn’t matter but image, professionalism count.
11. Do your best for the environment. Eco strategies work with customers. Here’s a checklist for branding, selling your biz as green.
12. Become an innovator. You must constantly evolve. Here’s how successful companies innovate. Once you are running on all cylinders, consider buying your competitors – providing, of course, you can manage them.

From the Coach’s Corner, if you’re really in a survival mode, here’s a six-part series with tips on “Surviving Economic & Industry Downturns” for your Downturn Survival.

“Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.”

-Anita Roddick

 

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

Checklist for Branding, Selling Your Biz as Green

 

Consumers love environmentally sensitive businesses. You might think it’s a slam dunk for businesses to market themselves as green. Well, yes and no. There are precautions to take. They include educating your audience on your eco practices.

Before you embark on a green marketing campaign, here’s a checklist of basic questions to ask:

Are you really green? Merely supporting an employee carpool program doesn’t constitute green a green business. There’s certainly more to it. Think accuracy and transparency.

If your green-conscious customers find out you’re giving lip service to being environmentally sensitive, you will be faced with a PR nightmare.

You will be accused of greenwashing – or lying in your marketing messages, such as using too-narrow criteria to define your environmental practices, failure to provide proof, and providing misleading information. For more information, see The Sins of Greenwashing.

Do you know what your customers really want? While it would seem to be an automatic assumption, not all customers care whether you’re a green business. Some are more concerned about luxury or size.

Personally, I believe it’s good business to be green. But in your branding, be sure to touch all the concerns of your target audience instead of focusing on just your green value propositions.

Do you use benefit statements to explain your feature statements? Sometimes you have to super diligent in making your points; not all consumers will readily understand your messaging.

See to it they get it – your products and services are beneficial to their pocketbooks, families and the earth.

Are you a 100 percent green practitioner? Don’t miss any opportunity to use green practices.

Oh, and don’t be mundane, trite or patronizing in your messages. Don’t give it lip service. Be careful how you portray your environmental messaging.

Do you spread the message? Green practitioners who profit from being green should carry the environmental message to others. That means being vocal as a green advocate or engaging in environmental cause-related marketing.

Practice these principles and you’ll be on your way.

From the Coach’s Corner, here’s How to Win Your Major Marketing Campaign  and Why B2B Marketers Like Content Marketing – Study.

“I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?”

-Robert Redford

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

Top 11 Tips for a Great Elevator Pitch

 

Whether you’re looking for a job or trying to land more customers for your business — whatever you’re trying to sell – one skill you definitely need is a great elevator pitch.

You need to prepare for any opportunities that come your way after diligent research and prospecting. Don’t be caught off guard. Create an introduction describing the value you provide, be concise, customize it for your target audience, and really know it – so you can deliver a flawless elevator pitch.

You have to be prepared to quickly answer the basic marketing 101 “so what” question – that all prospects subconsciously ask themselves.

To pique the interest of your prospective employer or customers, it’s important to succinctly summarize the benefits you provide. That’s the purpose of an elevator pitch – whether you’re seated for a formal appointment in an office or actually riding an elevator when you suddenly have an opportunity with a key decision-maker.

Here are 11 tips:

1. Know your talents. Take an hour or two to analyze and write down your strengths.

2. Forge a benefit statement or value proposition for each of you or your company’s strengths – a minimum of five reasons to buy from you. Then develop a succinct overall summary – less than 10 seconds – of the value you provide. Set the table so you get another 60 seconds of dialogue – you’ll want a green light that shows the prospect wants to hear more.

3. Avoid trite, over-used buzz words (The Best and Worst Business Buzzwords, Jargon, and Cliches).

4. If you mention data or statistics, keep it simple. Very simple.

5. Rehearse your pitch but don’t appear robotic or wooded, as we broadcasters used to say. You want to have a natural, smooth presentation. How you introduce yourself is just as important as what you say.

6. Keep your branding fresh and up-to-date for the changing marketplace.

7. Be flexible. Be prepared to switch gears if your prospect divulges valuable information regarding a need you think you can fill. It’s all about problems and solutions.

8. Don’t focus on giving your ideas to the prospect. Focus on your value.

9. Do your best to have a presence in the room before your pitch. In other words, develop a strong image online and in the community. That will enhance your chances in making your pitch.

10. Watch for cues to listen. The most persuasive people talk 10 percent of the time and listen 90 percent. If the prospect says something, treat like it’s an event for you and listen intently.

11. If you get an objection, be sure to respond effectively.

Here are the three steps to overcoming objections:

• Get the person to restate her/his concern. Then repeat the person’s words, for example: “If I understand you correctly, you feel…?”
• Empathize: “I can see how you feel that way”…or “You know, someone said the same thing last week.”
• Overcome the objection with facts.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are related resource links:

Job Hunting? Tips to Land Your Dream Job with Style, Substance

Are You Committing The Seven Deadly Sins of Selling?

The Seven Steps to Higher Sales

“Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it’s not going to get the business.”
-Warren Buffett

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

Why B2B Marketers Like Content Marketing – Study

 

B2B marketers ostensibly get a satisfying return on content marketing because that’s the preferred choice for 82 percent of respondents in a survey.

The study, “B2B Marketing Trends 2011 Survey,” was conducted in 2011 by HiveFire.

The respondents’ preferences:

• 82 percent – content marketing
• 70 percent – search
• 68 percent – events
• 64 percent – public relations

Respondents also indicate the most salient goals of content marketing:

• 82 percent – engagement
• 55 percent – driving sales

“Content Marketing is now a more popular marketing tactic than search marketing, public relations, events, or print/TV/radio advertising,” wrote the study’s authors. “Twice as many marketers now implement Content Marketing as do print, TV and radio advertising. 

Naturally, HiveFire defines content marketing: “…the creation and publication of original content, such as blog posts, photos, videos, website resource pages, case studies or white papers to enhance a brand’s visibility.” 

More than three fourths say their goal is to generate sales leads. 

“But they have to do it without a lot of help: working with a limited budget (28 percent) and limited staff (23 percent) were the top two marketing challenges cited by respondents,” wrote the authors. 

Why is content marketing popular? It’s economical. 

“Content marketing is an essential role in B2B strategies but half (50 percent) of content marketers dedicate less than 30% of their budgets to it,” said the authors. 

Content marketing does make sense. The digital age has resulted in highly informed consumers. Content marketing works in branding because prospects get a sense of your business philosophy and approach, and is not costly. 

Caveats: It doesn’t work for all sectors. If content marketing is suitable for your business, remember E-mail Marketing Goes Better with Social Media, Study. And budget permitting and depending on your niche, I wouldn’t forget about traditional marketing as in business radio-TV programs or online business publications.  

From the Coach’s Corner, also:

Best Practices to Optimize Your Brand, Manage Your Web Reputation

Need PR, But No Budget? Here’s How to Leverage News Media. 

“I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.”                               

-David Ogilvy

 

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

 

Best Practices to Optimize Your Brand, Manage Your Web Reputation

 

As you no doubt know, the digital age has brought new challenges and opportunities. Best practices are critical in order to maximize your Web presence and to manage your online reputation.

The Key to Internet Dominance Is to Think Integration – naturally, the first steps include a quality Web site and synching it with your social media, business listings, inbound links and other elements.

Despite warnings here and other places, many small businesses have made a tactical error in thinking Facebook is the crème de la crème in marketing. A Facebook page can be helpful as part of your marketing mix, and a large volume of fans might enhance a site’s ranking on the search engines.

However, Aside from Privacy, Security Issues, Facebook is a Threat 2 Ways. It’s also worth noting that the majority of business Facebook fans aren’t local. Plus, fans usually change their minds. Within a month or so, they decide a business’ Facebook page offerings are boring.

As for advertising, it rarely helps small businesses to insert their ads on the social medium. It’s better to save the money or budget it for prospects to offer loss-leader discounts to try your products or services.

By virtue of its 800+ million global members, Facebook is highly ranked. Despite the Facebook buzz, it’s losing members in North America and Europe. Facebook’s growth is in emerging Third World countries.

Moreover, if not managed well, a Facebook page can and will dilute or cannibalize your Web site’s presence. You never want to let any social medium presence outclass your Web site ranking. You want to use a social medium to enhance your site’s presence and drive traffic, not have it stop there.

How to maximize your search-engine listings

In U.S. market share, according to the various ranking services, Google consistently has about a 65 percent share, and Bing and Yahoo each have about 15 percent. Of course, there are others but most use Google for search. Worldwide, Google has a 90 percent share.

So develop a quality Web site. If budget is a concern, it’s possible to use free online tools for an adequate site. Insert your Facebook, Google+ and Twitter widgets. If you cater to a professional clientele, include LinkedIn.

Otherwise, the big Kahuna to generate local customers is Google Places. If a consumer searches for a local product, Google weaves the top seven results at the top. Normally, the top three business listings attract the most customers.

So it’s imperative to maximize your Google Places’ presence:

1. Complete all the information – physical address, telephone number and your relevant categories.
2. Insert professional pictures and a video.
3. Synergize your listing on CitySearch, Local.com, Manta, Merchant Yelp, YP.com and mobile sites such as Foursquare and Facebook Places. Produce an informative video for YouTube.
4. Entice your best customers to insert reviews. If feasible, encourage them to take a moment to write a review before they leave your business.

Reinforce your Web presence

Even though you’ve done all the footwork to create a Google Places presence, you’re not done. Next, protect your turf. Yes, many businesspeople have been stunned to learn their local listings were closed on Google Places.

Here are the necessary preventative measures:

1. Regularly update your Web site. On your home page, every week make a change, even its small such as a loss leader or testimonial.  Again, include your social media widgets if you have a blog, insert the latest headline. Customers and prospective customers will notice. Just as importantly, so will the search engines.
2. Strategize with media centers of influence. Write search engine press releases and submit them to local media outlets if you have a newsworthy item. If you Need PR, But Don’t Have a Budget? Here’s How to Leverage News Media. In addition, insert a press page on your site and include your releases. The news media will be a big source of credibility.
3. With blogging success, others will want to re-publish your work it or otherwise link to you. Don’t allow them to do so, if they have an inferior Web presence. The first step is to check their site’s Google page rank.
4. Regularly monitor your Web presence with search-engine news alerts, especially with Google Alerts and Tweetdeck. Daily search for what’s being written about your business, and evaluate any changes to your search rankings and customer reviews. Respond quickly. So develop a prototypical emergency response strategy including templates. Why? Some competitors of businesses are gaming the system with false reviews for their gain or to badmouth others to enhance their online presence. They furtively do this and can quickly dominate the Internet by downgrading your presence. So keep a careful record of your business listings, and have template responses ready to insert in advertising along with key words ready to implement on the search engines and other sites. This includes responding to journalists, social media and other online forums.

Every business is different. These are merely the basics to cover most situations. But if you implement these steps, you’ll be well on your way for strong results.

From the Coach’s Corner, here’s another resource:

8 Tips to Optimize Sales with Social Media, But Beware of a Red Flag

“Long-term brand equity and growth depends on our ability to successfully integrate and implement all elements of a comprehensive marketing program.”

-Timm F Crull

 

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

Timely for Q4 Sales: Latest Trends in E-mail Marketing

 

Sept. 20, 2011

Just in time for holiday e-mailing campaigns, three recent published reports show the latest developments in e-mail marketing.

The Website Magazine reports show the most popular e-mail venues, e-mailing’s value, and tips for Q4 e-mail marketing.

E-mail trends. A new study by Litmus indicates the development of three trends in e-mail marketing over the past year (Study Reveals Email Viewing Habits).

Litmus, an e-mail research company, says the trends from July 2010 to July 2011, include:

• Most e-mails continue to be read via Outlook (37 percent of readers).
• Mobile e-mail is increasingly read by the target audience (15 percent).
• Web and desktop e-mail use is decreasing.

Trailing Outlook are Hotmail readers (11 percent), and Yahoo Mail and iPhone (10 percent), and Apple Mail (8 percent).

E-mail’s value. Website Magazine compares the marketing potential of Web sites and social media to the value of e-mailing (Picture Proof of Email’s Value).

There are 3.3 billion daily searches on the 463 million Web sites.

Facebook has more than 800 million members worldwide, of which there are 60 million updates daily.

Twitter has 300 million members who tweet 140 million times per day, but more than 50 percent of the accounts aren’t active.

Google + has more than 25 million users with 1 billion shares by the users each day.

But e-mail accounts, worldwide, total 2.9 billion – 42 percent of the planet’s inhabitants – with 188 billion e-mails sent daily. No wonder the U.S. Postal Service is in trouble.

In other words, e-mail is more promising for mass marketers because it represents the highest volume of traffic in communication.

E-mail marketing is king if it executes by accomplishing three goals: 1. The right message. 2. The right audience. 3. The right time.

Tips for Q4 marketing. John Murphy, the president of Chicago-based ReachMail, offers his strategies for retailers to achieve their goals in their all-important fourth quarter (Five Steps to a Successful Holiday Email Campaign).

Mr. Murphy starts by cautioning against sending repeat e-mails in the same category to a consumer who has already made the purchase. Subscriber preferences need to be taken into account.

In essence, his points:

1. Audit Your List – Don’t keep sending to inactive subscribers.
2. Update Preferences – Give options to your audience from which to select.
3. Audience Segmentation – Use the consumer’s history as a basis for sending the right offer.
4. Test Subject lines – Keep it simple and test different subject lines.
5. Offer Early Deals – Mr. Murphy suggests sending a “special messaging during October.”

These are all excellent points. Good luck!

From the Coach’s Corner, the only suggestion I’d add is maximize your message by including videos:

Need a Game-changer? Try a Good Video for More Credibility

E-Mail Marketers Plan to Greatly Increase Use of Videos, New Study

“Email is the greatest thing.”
-Wally Amos

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

Need PR, But No Budget? Here’s How to Leverage News Media

 

Social media is OK for promotion. But if you need blockbuster publicity, use best practices in marketing. Play a trump card — leverage the news media for public relations.

Yes, it’s true that increasing numbers of adults – especially the Millennial Generation – are using social media for their news and information, and for making buying decisions. However, don’t be misled.

In marketing terms, the media is still the most powerful center of influence on the planet. You, too, can benefit from PR in the media – just like Microsoft or Starbucks.

If you can’t afford a $5,000 monthly retainer for a public relations person or firm, you can still use the media as a powerful and economical resource to help you brand your business, and get your sales message published – with ultimate credibility and authority. That starts with a press release.

Salient elements of a press release:

• In journalism parlance, include details about who, what, when, where and why.
• Include contact information – telephone number, address, Web site address, e-mail address and name of the person you want contacted.

Use empathy

Like all marketing, PR is a marathon. Journalists are busy and it’s hard to get their attention. Mid-week – Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays – are best to approach them.

For print, learn and use the name of the feature or city editor. If you’re contacting radio or television station news departments, contact the assignment editor or news director.

Print and electronic mediums have different deadlines, so be cognizant of them and contact editors at the right time.

Many big-market media outlets prefer to be e-mailed. However, when I was in broadcast journalism, I noticed that personable PR people, who had deep media-relationships, hand-delivered their releases with success. So, that’s my approach for clients. Yes, with security guards screening visitors at media outlets, it can be difficult. However, I believe in doing the footwork – literally. Sometimes it’s been a successful strategy in achieving PR for my clients.

For success in print or on-air headlines, don’t mask mundane ideas as news. It must be newsworthy and transparent. If it is, you will also probably benefit from word-of-mouth advertising.

Hint: Journalists have egos. In some cases, it’s best to single out one medium to approach. Journalists often pride themselves on exclusive stories.

If your published item attracts the attention of Associated Press, other newspapers, radio and television stations will join the bandwagon. This means your submission will also be inserted on their Web sites, which might result in search-engine headlines. Presto, you will have hit a grand slam.

Feasible story angles to submit to journalists:

1. Promotions and retirements. Newspapers might print the item as a story. If not, they often have a category for promotions and retirements in their business section. If you have all-news radio stations in your market, don’t overlook them. If you’re a major employer, your odds are good, too. 
2. New or unique products or services. That’s especially true if you’re providing value to businesspeople or consumers. Include a product sample and pictures. If it’s a revolutionary tech or green product or service, it’s almost a fait accompli for PR.
3. Expansions or renovations. If your business is making big changes, include pictures and relevant data. Creation of jobs often constitutes a PR opportunity. 
4. Free products and services. Such announcements benefiting the public – especially, kids, senior citizens and veterans – almost always yield coverage. 
5. Contests. You might be able to create a contest for marketplace buzz. 
6. Events. A free how-to seminar or workshop is usually a winner. For less serious creative events, the keys are to have fun and be relevant.
7. Cause-related marketing. It’s one of my favorite PR approaches because cause-related marketing can increase sales by double digits via word-of-mouth. Plus, most journalists like a good cause. Even pro bono work yields good recognition. Just be careful so it doesn’t appear to be shameless self-promotion. When feasible, collaborate with the nonprofit to contact the media instead of you. Just make sure you get adequate mention in materials. When I worked full-time in the media, I loved cause-related marketing because it alleviated my stress amid all the negative-news stories. Civic-minded companies that help charities usually deserve attention.  
8. Scholarships. Another favorite approach of mine is to form a foundation to fund scholarships. It will effectively show your deep involvement in education and your community.

To improve your Web site’s prominence, consider using an Internet press-release service. If you don’t have $40 to $800 for an Internet press release, there are companies that will do it for free.

Your release won’t be as well read, but it will improve your online presence with these provisos:

• Make sure the press-release company is authoritative.
• Verify that the vendor has a better Google page rank than your Web site.

Insert enough of these press releases, and your online presence will improve dramatically. Your goal should be to become No. 1 in your strategic key words. In my experience, the top three sites make the most income.

So leverage the news media to help brand your business. The media is still the most authoritative center of influence to send business your way. Journalists are always looking for good stories. They, too, have inventories to fill. Probably unlike your inventory, theirs are time and space, which are valuable commodities.

P.S. You might also want to consider trade-outs. Radio stations, in particular, will often trade advertising for products or services. My clients have catered parties and provided prizes for station contests. Additionally, I’ve worked at stations that traded advertising for equipment and vehicles, but special strategies were necessary for such expensive items. Radio stations need revenue, too.

From the Coach’s Corner, consider these resource links:

Marketing Essentials on a Shoestring Budget

Fast, Easy Ways to Create Buzz

Secrets to Success in Recessions: Expand Marketing

25 Best Practices for Better Business Writing

“If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.”

-Bill Gates

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

 

Consultants / Service Firms: Why Hourly Billing Isn’t Best

 

One of the first lessons I learned in business-performance consulting was to sell results, not my time.

During the tail end of the 1990 recession, I had purchased a five-year-old print-marketing firm. Quickly, I realized I was overlooking opportunities for growth. My newly acquired company soon evolved into a full-service management consulting firm, which I incorporated into a vision plan.

Technically, it didn’t become a pure consulting firm, it was more of a hybrid – consulting and management services. Some clients required more than my advice and information. They needed some heavy lifting.

Here’s a case study:

One of my early clients was a big office-furniture retailer, which grew too big without proper planning. We did the retailer’s print-marketing projects, but in client meetings after the owner complained bitterly to me about his sales staff, I offered to set up a sales-management program.

It was an highly chaotic situation. The whole sales and customer-service culture had to be fixed.

Initially, my outsourcing services were labor intensive as the sales staff was dysfunctional, and it got away with a lot of nonsense, which was hurting profits.

For example, salespeople were desperate to make sales to indecisive customers. Often, a salesperson arranged for free delivery of an eight-foot mahogany conference-room table to the customer’s business for a 30-day trial look-see – without payment or any safeguards for the retailer. Half the time, the table was returned – with a big scratch. The sales-opportunity costs were enormous.

Therefore, in addition to showing the client how to conduct meetings, I literally had to provide ethics, communication, sales and management training.

Valuable lessons

But I quickly learned I hadn’t initially set boundaries with the client.

After solving the major issues – getting his staff to work better – I was anxious to turn my attention to other clients. But my client was so accustomed to my being there every day, he expected it indefinitely.

He also didn’t understand why I only trained and advised him so he didn’t have to fire anybody, which would have increased his payroll even higher. He didn’t get why I didn’t have legal authority and why I always used my own materials.

So, the lessons prompted me to use a different upfront process – to sell results with benchmarks, to train the client about how I deliver results, and to explain how I’m paid and the timeline to expect.

It’s a relationship that requires trust by both parties.

To facilitate the relationship-building process, I changed my focus with strategies to build trust with clients.

Businesspeople want strong results that include:

• Efficiency
• Information
• Innovation
• Objectivity
• Productivity

This means projects are completed on schedule, within budget, and with measurable results.

To be able to accomplish such objectives, I had decided against hourly billing – I had to charge enough for my time to cover my business expenses, but some prospective clients had sticker shock from hourly rates.

Sometimes, the prospective client didn’t value some services as others. They thought I should provide them with a multi-tiered billing depending on the services. I had to get it ingrained in my mind that my time, consideration and energy were just as valuable whether I was training a class, mentoring one-on-one or writing advertising copy. All services had the same value.

Value pricing

So unless it was a big prospect who insisted on hourly billing, I began to talk to each prospect about investing in projects for strong results. I saved a ton of grief and time by charging retainers. I began to work off the retainer without nickel-and-diming clients for miscellaneous charges. Only on occasion would I bill for miscellaneous expenses, after getting approval in advance.

In contrast, professional service firms like hourly billing. They use software to track time. Candidly, if I hired a CPA or attorney, I insisted on knowing in advance what their total charges would be. I had heard horror stories. For example, the timer wouldn’t be stopped when the professional ducked into the lunchroom for a cup of coffee or took a phone call – or the hourly increments would be rounded up.

Further, whether I was hiring a professional-service firm or quoting a project fee, I wanted the focus to be on the work at-hand. I didn’t want to hire someone to get paid for tracking their time. As a consultant, most businesses have never hired me unless they had challenges they couldn’t solve. So I wanted to spend my time on providing results, not watching the clock.

In other words, my reputation depended on my ability to prevent negative surprises, so I’ve always offered value-pricing based on a retainer. Oh, and I stopped spending my valuable hours on penning proposals. The prospect and I will chat about the situation, and I’ll present a short letter of agreement, but I won’t incur any sales-opportunity costs to write proposals.

Remember, clients don’t want to pay for your time.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are 60 ground rules for effective client service.

“Hiring consultants to conduct studies can be an excellent means of turning problems into gold; your problems into their gold.”

-Norman R. Augustine

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

 

Profits: Size Doesn’t Matter but Image, Professionalism Count

 

Appearances and professionalism can make your small business seem huge. If you look as though you’re substantial and that you can handle anything thrown your way – your odds for success improve dramatically. That’s especially true in this economy.

Clients and customers will often prefer dealing with you as a small firm – if the job doesn’t appear too big for you to handle. So it’s best to look the part.

First impressions are critical. In today’s business milieu, you have about three seconds to create a favorable first impression – whether it’s your advertising, Internet presence, in-person contact, or on the telephone.

It all starts with branding:

1. A simple, distinctive logo that tells your story about delivering desired results
2. A three-to-five word slogan also reflecting value
3. Five value propositions or benefit statements

Does your business card look professional? A meaningful logo with contact information on high-grade card stock will suffice. Your e-mail address should indicate your Web site’s domain name, not for example, joe smith xxx @sprinter.com.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, clients are very accepting of a home business, if you look professional.

If you have a physical location where people visit you, cleanliness and orderliness are paramount. Smart businesspeople have clean windows, sidewalks, parking lots, work stations and aisles every day.

Even if you have a home office and don’t receive visitors, cleanliness and orderliness will help keep your optimism and efficiency at a high level.

Is your telephone answered before the third ring? Do you have a person answering your telephone? You can certainly get by with an automated system and voice mail more easily if you have professional branding on and offline. (But a live person works best, even if it’s just a just a virtual or executive-office answering service.)

Return all phone calls from clients ASAP. Never let clients or important vendor feel as though they’re hanging by a thread while waiting to hear from you.

Ironically, if you’re a proactive businessperson, you’ll find clients won’t have to call you. I tend to best with some anchor clients complemented by other temporary clients/projects. In fact, I’ve had two full-time, anchor clients for 15+ years, and neither has called me more than once a year. Unless I’m in a meeting, I never let the person wait more than two hours for a return call.

Always remember that convenience is one of the five value perceptions on why clients will be motivated to do business with you.

In the case of an e-mail, it’s best to confirm receiving the message right away, even if you don’t have an answer to a question. (Naturally, make certain your smartphone is turned off when you’re in a meeting.)

Distinctive style

If it’s not customary in your industry to wear a suit and tie, do what’s best for your style, and be in distinctive, good taste. Remember Socrates’ statement: “Know thyself.”

However, as a business-performance consultant since 1992, I’m a dark suit person with a relatively small clientele on a regular basis. I’ve had both – an outside office and a home office. But now I like working from home – my commute is less than a minute in duration.

I want clients to know it’s a special event for me to work with them. That’s been the company uniform for employees, too. No matter what anyone says – it’s still the professional appearance that will command respect, and separate the winners from the wannabes – especially when a lot of money exchanges hands.

But I have occasionally encountered a client with a blue-collar or tech-casual mindset, who appeared uncomfortable when I’d typically wear my dark wool suit and silk tie with a white shirt. In such cases, the prospect and situation dictated my response.

Sometimes, I’d tell the person, “Yes, I understand how you feel, but you’ll find I deliver strong results by wearing my uniform, and this is my uniform.” Or I’d say, “I think much better while wearing my uniform.”

“In dressing casually, I’ve found I think too casually, and I want to be at the top of my game. I’ve promised you proven solutions for maximum profits,” I’ve added. “Even while working alone in my office, I work best with a tie.”

Humorous case study

Once, when a blue-collar marketing client seemed worried that I usually wore a business suit, I started to remove my coat and reassured him, “You’ll find I know how to roll up my sleeves to get strong results.” He was immediately convinced.

If such folks still seemed uncomfortable, they’ve always chuckled when I’ve said, “By nine o’clock, I always seem to spill coffee on my tie.” They appreciated my humanness and quickly relaxed. (It’s true about the spilled coffee.)

All such clients have accepted my preferred style. Moreover, they have come to expect it.

I’ll never forget when I’d been in business just a few years on a Friday afternoon at the start of a three-day holiday weekend, I was dressed casually when I dropped off a marketing document at a valued client’s office. Normally, I visited such clients two to three days per week in business attire. (This was a client who spent a hefty five figures a month with my firm.)

He seemed shocked. He took me aside and quietly asked me, “What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Where’s your suit? I’ve never seen you in jeans and boots. Is everything OK?”

I laughed and said: “Everything’s fine. This is how I sometimes dress when I leave town to visit my parents’ in rural Oregon, but today I wanted to make sure you didn’t have to wait for this paperwork before I jump on the freeway. I’m really just a cowboy at heart.”

We both chuckled and he was relieved. At that point, I learned how much he grew to value my uniform, which leads me to another point. Clients like consistency in all dealings.

For me, that also means consistently showing gratitude and preventing buyer’s remorse.

My client-meeting agendas always start by bringing up her/his concerns. This immediately alleviates any tension the client might have. I do my best selling when the client does most of the talking. I ask a lot of pertinent questions, list the results of my work, and never end a meeting without saying “thank you” with a handshake. The attitude and gratitude goes for all memos and e-mails, too.

If the client doesn’t thank me, I subtlety ask for strokes, too, such as: “So you like the results?” Over time, this grooms the client to show appreciation for my results. I’ve learned it’s vital to have appreciative clients.

If you don’t receive appreciation for results, you won’t be doing business with the client for very long.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are three resource links:

60 Ground Rules for Effective Client Service

Consultants – Strategies to Build Trust with Clients

Think 1930s for Business Success. Consumer Attitudes are Changing.

“The primary focus of your brand message must be on how special you are, not how cheap you are. The goal must be to sell the distinctive quality of the brand.”

- Kerry Light

 

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Terry Corbell is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

 

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