Leverage your time by creating systems

Did you know that Burger King started before McDonalds however Burger King has never grown as fast, earned more per store or annual sales and is failing to prosper versus McDonald’s?

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, revolutionized the regular “hamburger stand” by systematizing all of the processes of the “burger joint” and changed the way fast food restaurants are run.

The most important lesson to learn from McDonald’s?  The system beats the taste everytime.  Arguably, Burger King has a better tasting burger but they consistently lose to McDonald’s.

As a business owner, you have to be selective about the actions that consume your time.  They must be made with specific criteria and high expectations.  You must select programs that have:

–       Proven Strategies

–       Ease of Implementation

–       Straight Forward Directions

–       Suggested Timelines

–       Flexible Expense Options

–       A Plan for Success

I can see Russia from here… AND other crazy statements.

 Some people were shocked to hear the great stories of Mark Hussman, the featured entrepreneur in the documentary I helped film.

They laughed at him for not taking a$35million offer.  And I wanted to caution you a  minute, you might be doing things equally foolish!

 When we started the discussion about how Blogs can help your businesses, the room filled with energy, notes were taken and it appeared as if you have found the next shiny object.

It is the tri-fecta of marketing tools,

       It is the latest buzz on the internet

       Sounds interesting and your friends and family have heard about it so it sounds like you know what you are doing

       And its FREE.  What better….

As we discussed, the next shiny object syndrome can be dangerous.  If you have not taken care of the foundation, anything you do is not going to work effectively.  The next shiny object is not going to give you the big boost you are hoping for unless you focus on the basics.

For example, in the lobby, I overhead some people talking about the economy.  Why you are scared to talk about the economy in front of me is understandable….  But before you blame things on the economy let’s review what you are doing in your business now…

1.  Do you have an alarm that goes off when a customer should return and buy again?

2.  Do you have a system in place to activate when the alarm is sounded?

3.  What are you doing monthly to stay in touch with your customers?

4.  What data are you requesting, storing and using to become more aware of your customers?

5.  Do you upsell, downsell, keep selling to your existing base?

OK – this is getting painful.  Before we move into the summer months.  Let’s focus on building your foundation.  Finding the hidden acres of diamonds in your own back yard.  It will focus on what you need to be doing right now with your existing clients to make sure that this year is your best.

How to Use Multiple Media for Optimal Results

When getting a prospect, I like to get the most information from them as possible. As well as with existing customers. Get their phone, fax, email so that you can contact them in multiple ways.

Just like the power of the sequential mailing increases results, using multiple media increases your results exponentially.

For example, see below how to use multiple media:

1. Day 1 – Email: be on the look out for a special offer that is coming in your mailbox

2. Day 3 – direct mail piece with offer

3. Day 6 – direct mail, postcard with reminder of offer

4. Day 10 – fax reminder of deadline

5. Day 12 – call to the prospect, reminder of the deadline

By contacting the prospect 5 times over a 12 day period by email, direct mail, fax and telephone, I can almost guarantee that your results will be much better.

Can you see how this works much better than one 4×6 postcard?

My favorite company to use is INFUSION!  Double Your Sales Guaranteed! 

Do the math: A software tool that guarantees to double
your sales for as little as $199/month. https://crm.infusionsoft.com/go/double/a1683/

Be Somewhere, Be Somebody and Do Something

We are a quarter of the way through 2010, how are you doing?

Here’s Your Best 2010 Tip:   Be Somewhere, Be Somebody and Do Something. 

 I have been cleaning out my garage, my office and going through old notes to finish my marketing strategy session for the year and I noticed a great note written after the Advanced Coaching and Consulting Workshop given by Dan Kennedy a few years ago and he said, Be Somewhere, Be Somebody and Do Something.

At first when I realized that it cost over $11,800 to be there and it’s this simple, I started to say – Hey Wait a Minute…  but after Dan finished I was convinced.

Let me share some of his suggestions…

1.  Be Somewhere!

 If you want to make 2010 your best year yet, you have to be somewhere.  You can’t sit in the office hoping and wishing your business to be better.  You must be out networking, speaking, donating time, making connections, helping other business or organizations and just being out in the thick of things, you will be able to notice more and more opportunities.

2.  Be Somebody!

 Basically, its time that you stop hiding and become the Expert in your industry.  How to do that, by speaking, writing articles, writing books, being quoted by your industry journal, providing expert information for case studies.  But, you can’t be an expert in your office to just your employees.  The world needs to know that you are important.

3.  Do Something!

 Well, Creating plans, journals, thinking, dreaming, hoping, waiting for the Secret to attract the right kinds of clients, just won’t cut it.  Implementation makes an ordinary business into an extraordinary business but it is up to you to do something.

If you are waiting until you are ready – Guess What???  Ready never comes.

If you are waiting for the project, the ad, the sales letter, the thank you note to be PERFECT?  Guess What???  Perfect never comes.  Just get it done!

If we have learned any lesson for 2009, it is USING WHAT YOU GOT.  Making the most out of every opportunity and never ever giving up!

Remember, Be somewhere, be somebody and do something!

When Should I Market?

This has got to be my most favorite question–

It is kinda like – when should I begin a diet? On Monday? – when the week is just starting? Or Sunday – so that it is a full 7 days?

I get asked more often when should I start marketing? Then, I hear, I am just too busy to think about marketing my business. I like to do it in my down time.

That’s when I start to get nervous! So here’s my answer that I can put in print and not get blocked by SPAM filters.

Put the burger and fries down now – and start the diet right this moment! Why dig the well, after you are thirsty?

Biggest mistake business owners make – not having a concrete marketing plan. I know, I am a go after it kind of girl who runs before she walks however, it is important to map out month by month what should happen in your business. And there should NEVER I mean NEVER be a time where you say, SKIP this month.

The main reason – hello, your bills don’t take Summer Skips or Easter Skips (like my Aunt Dorie says) They come every month – just like your marketing campaigns should.

Need extra help? I have 2 programs that might work for you.

1. The Ultimate Marketing Plan Tele-Class, which is an 8 week tele-class where we break down your plan month by month and develop an implementation program for you. This is limited to 8 people and the next one is starting soon – well as soon as I can fit it in my schedule – looks like late August. Email me if you are interested.

2. I have teamed up with my friend Brenda Prinzavalli from Balanced Organizing Solutions and the featured Organizer on More – Fox’s Television Show to develop an incredible online/telephone coaching program to put everything together for you called Marketing Organized. We break down my fundamental strategies with her specialized organizing expertise for entrepreneurs and BINGO it’s a winner! It is an annual program with a 12 month in depth review of principles, a little nudging if you slow down, and down right, kick ass skills to lead your business into BIG MONEY. Send me a quick note if you think this program would be good for you. Check out Brenda in her latest segment for Fox5 Las Vegas
http://www.fox5vegas.com/video/15065049/index.html This program is a winner – see you there!

Recently I had the privilege of meeting with Chef Beverly Lee

We call her Chef Bev for short who owns an interesting business.

www.sensesrecreationalcookingschool.com  Talk about thinking

out of the box, she holds team building training for Fortune

500 Corporations.  It is innovative, it is a way to train their

staff on working together.  She assesses the individuals into

different vegetables categories and assigns characteristics

according to the individuals in the team.  So before you laugh,

before you pass judgment on what the Fortune 500 companies are

doing, I want you to take a good look at her business, and how

she built the perfect business – with a competition free zone.

1. The business is Unique – Not the regular, outing where you

leap off a pole and trust your team members to catch you

2. Perfect Target Market – A group who is kinda querky,

spending other people’s money and willing to take a chance

with a new experience

3. Creative experience – instead of just a bunch of lectures

that people hate …especially the team, she creates an

experience to remember for a lifetime.

The other thing that is so great about Chef Bev is that she

does have additional income streams.  She teaches classes for “golf

widows” and also for people who love to cook as much as she

does, but was willing to get additional marketing education.

So during our meeting today, we talked about maximizing every

opportunity.  She told me that she is a featured Chef at the

North Las Vegas Farmers Market.  She told me that she enjoys

this part of her business but can’t really see the opportunity.

Then, with my “Fresh Eyes”  I told her about several other

ways to make money there plus, get additional business.

Here are just a few of the ideas:

• She already gives away discounted classes, so I told her to

keep the cards that were entered into the drawing to build her

“herd”  – these people have already raised their hands to say

that they are interested in her cooking classes, then Market to

them until they DIE!

• Video the demonstrations for her website and monthly

newsletter

• Use the list to get pre-orders for her cookbook

• Sell her cookbook – (yes, the one that is sitting on the

table and half done)

• Have a book signing at the Market – send to her email list

• Offer a class at the Farmers Market for later in the day

–from her “herd’ announcing that she will be there and available for

classes and from people who come by the booth.  Make it like

Emeril Live with a big audience

• Allow everyone who entered the drawings to “win” second prize

which would be a discount coupon off your services

Now, these are just a few of the ways to get the most out of a

free opportunity.  I talk about doing this for your business

and I show you ways to do this at my monthly meeting.  But what

I want you to see, is that, you can build your business, with

low cost ideas.

Dan Kennedy says, If you can’t make money without money, THEN

you probably can’t make money with money.

Work on your business segment:

List all of the places where you are presented with an

opportunity – like the North Las Vegas Farmers Market for Chef Bev

Are you asked to speak to others?

Are you helping your kid’s soccer team, dance lessons, etc.?

Do you volunteer for a charity?

Brick & Mortar Business vs. Multi-Level Marketing Business

  A brief confession, a couple of months ago, I was asked to speak on a
  tele-seminar and I was asked Why did I decide to buy a brick and mortar
  business when if I was looking for a proven business model, I wouldn’t
  just buy into a Multi-Level Marketing Business or MLM. Sometimes
  they are called Direct Sales businesses. Such as AMWAY, Pre-Paid
  Legal, AVN, World Ventures, YTB, Warm Spirit, Noni Juice, Metaluca…
  and the list goes on and on. How it works – you recruit people under
  you to sell the business too and you receive a portion of their sales.
  Sounds good? In a perfect world, this works, however, most of the
  time, making sure that the recruits continue to sell is difficult.
  Many buy the dream but never deliver the goods. The ones at the top,
  make lots of money and the ones at the bottom hope to make lots of money.
  I like some of the sales strategies – I wrote a whole article about what
  I love about the MLM businesses however, they do not teach you to create
  a target market or a niche and focus on the niche. Instead, they
  teach , make a list of all of your friends and relatives and send them
  a DVD of the opportunity. Next, get a sign for your car and then,
  talk to people in the grocery store, bank line and even people on the street.
  This program is for everyone. AND basically it is not. BUT
  – before I digress, here’s what happened.

  Well, my answer kinda shocked the facilitator of the call because apparently
  my audience was full of MLM business owners. I happen to think that
  you can make more money following a traditional model than using the “proven”
  MLM model

  Here’s what I know: When I was still working for the telephone company,
  my account was Maxxis Telecom. The top level guys with Excel (MLM
  long distance company) left to start their own telephone company.
  They brought over their downline (all of the people attached to them, that
  they received a portion of the profits from) and we built a $1million dollar
  a month business very quickly.& My company provided all of the back
  office. We carried all the calls, built a special switch and helped
  with billing customers. My staff processed new orders and took customer
  service calls. I also traveled with the owners to help at “opportunity
  meetings”. I attended and talked about the telecom side of the business.
  The business folded in 18 months. Not enough money to go around.

  I know a great Direct Sales Manager – she brings in a great living about
  $11,000 per month. She has 1500 in her downline. She receives
  so many emails, she hates them. She constantly has to coach, counsel,
  listen, answer and help her downline. Her husband, he too is involved
  in a Direct Sales company where he quickly was bringing home $3,000 per
  month and a few months ago, the company folded. No more checks. All
  that work for nothing. My friend Susie was a manager for Weekenders,
  she saw her monthly commission check dwindle from $11,000 to $3,000 then
  to nothing. Weekenders also filed for bankruptcy.

  I spent the same energy building my business and with 1500 customers,
  I was generating $1.5 million per year. Same effort, different money.

Why is Marketing So Hard?

When the phone does not ring like its supposed to, more business owners are blaming it on the economy but it may be because essential business basics are not the priority. Let’s start with the essentials. Marketing is not about being funny or clever, it is about testing to see what works. My favorite marketing guru – Dan Kennedy has really put it into a form that makes sense to me. He says, “If your marketing is not working, 99% of the time it is because you did not follow this simple formula”.

The Formula is a Equilateral triangle ( all 3 sides are equal length)

Side 1 – Market: figuring out the who first. Not deciding to market after the product is done. Figure out the who first and then how do you reach them. Most business owners do this backwards. They read traditional stuff that says – do what you love and the money will follow–but what I love to do is watch TV (as many of you know) and eat Mexican food. That job is taken by the Taco Bell Chihuahua and even he got fired.

Focus on who is going to buy your product or service. Think through this one. Even at the telephone company – everyone needs a telephone right? Well, I was crazy trying to reach everyone. I didn’t have enough money to fight with the existing telephone carrier, the 33 other small ones like me and then Cable entered the market and I was doomed. I have to find a niche a target.

Once I found a target, then, I could consistently talk directly to them for less money. I could effectively reach a certain group that made us famous!

Side 2 – Message: Getting your message right. It should be focused and laser sharp so that your target market after reading your ad, hearing your presentation, walking into your store, will say – this is for me. Hey, it seems like they are talking to me. Since my target market is credit challenged customers, they typically have other challenges. They tend to borrow money from relatives to get them out of a bind. My radio commercial was a girl calling her aunt asking to borrow money. My customers would come in and say – I did that last week. My mother hated the commercial said it was demeaning however, my customer did not have a problem. Even my offices, they were not fancy in a fancy building. They were in a strip mall, or one was inside of a pay day loan company for years.

Side 3 – Media: This should be the last decision you make. Choose the media after you have determined your market and message. My customers were not readers so I had to figure out another way to reach them. There weren’t any magazines or newspapers that they read. So I chose radio.

A Lesson in Taking Care of ALL your Customers

Last August, Devyn asked can we go to the park, can we go bye-bye. All I can think about is the fact that it is 110 outside. SO I told her after her nap. As soon as she woke up, she said….Park…Park… I told her yes, or else I would have to hear park for the next 3 hours. Not that it gets any cooler after 5pm. It does not cool down this time of year until well, September! At midnight it is still over 100 degrees.

We dressed for the park and packed the car, put on her sandals, packed toys, lots of bottled water and headed for the park. I decided that we would have sandwiches instead of the normal McDonalds because it was just too hot for a hamburger. I went to a local Italian pasta and sandwich shop in a strip mall, that I have ordered sandwiches from before and every time I received bad service. The owner is behind the counter, mad that the business is not flourishing… and just plain grumpy.

Hannah Montana’s Wig
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that Devyn’s favorite TV show was Hannah Montana. I know, she was only 2 but loved when Miley puts on the wig and changes into Hannah. Well, Devyn puts a baby blanket on her head to be her wig.

I know we look crazy going into the sandwich shop. Me – with the George Forman t-shirt on that is 2 sizes too big and my favorite weekend jeans with a hole in the knee, and Devyn as cute as she is with the doggone blanket on her head. I certainly don’t look like a million dollar business owner. Or the leading authority on business building for women….

Standing ordering in the shop were a group of seniors out on a Sunday. They ordered pasta dishes that included salads. It was time for me and Devyn to order and the owner took my sandwich order and told me it would be 15 minutes. .. 15 minutes????? For a sandwich?

Who are you $7…. And your kid has a blanket on her head?
He basically said to me that he wanted to take care of his other orders first. Even though, he could have made their salads and then made my sandwich. They were there to socialize and enjoy each other’s company. It would have been ok to have them wait , but he figured. Who is this girl with the $7 sandwich? And the kid with the blanket on her head??

Turns out, as I was waiting…the group commented on how cute Devyn was and I asked do they go out each Sunday. They replied, yes, they try out different restaurants. I then asked how often do you return to a restaurant. They told me NEVER because Las Vegas has so many. After 10 minutes and he still had not started my sandwich, I decided to cancel my order and leave.

What was the owner really losing?

The lesson – Be careful taking right now money – it may not be the best for your business.

I have been to this shop with a client (bad service then too) , I returned for a consultation with the client and instead of making dinner that night, I ordered again. And this time was my third trip.

Here are his top 3 mistakes:

1. Not taking my information the first time I entered the store and encouraging my return visits by giving me a coupon, a rewards card, something to identify me as a repeat customer.
2. Being grumpy in the first place – if you can not handle every customer as if they are the POPE, hire someone who can
3. Assuming that the group’s money was more valuable than mine. Basically considering me as a little fish and throwing me back in the water. I had spent combined in the 3 times I visited more than the group spent on their one occasion.

A final lesson – remember there are only 3 ways to grow your business.

Add new customers
Get customers to return more often
Have customers spend more

I was number 2! But, it is his loss. We don’t plan to return with or without the blanket.

Why aren’t you getting free publicity?

The piece your missing in your press releases might shock you! The traditional way of getting free publicity all changed in 2005. The growth of the paparazzi , selling pictures of babies, the Britney effect. The world has now changed and so has news. Or what producers and editors believe is news.

The top 3 stories of February, 2007 based on internet searches, reported newspapers, television, radio…drum roll please… I bet you would not guess:

1. Great Britain withdraws from Iraq
2. Anna Nicole Smith Dies
3. Britney Spears Shaves her Head

For years, big business understands the use of celebrity but small businesses have not taken advantage of this perfect way to get publicity. Look at the night clubs right here in Las Vegas. Each week, Extra, Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight report about celebrity sightings at night clubs. Hallmark created a Paris Hilton Card that read—That’s Hot! They were sued by Ms. Hilton, but sold so many cards, it was worth it. They pulled the card but it was so much better than, hiring Ms. Hilton and having to pay her hefty fee. The event was reported by over 15,000 outlets getting Hallmark, free ads…

Now, that I have convinced you that adding celebrity to your business is essential, what are you going to do to add the celebrity to your business. Celebrity branding is the new way to insure a success. Attaching your business to a celebrity or making you or your customers celebrities, has a better effect on your bottom line than regular advertising.

Tags: Celebrity Branding, free publicity, marketing, Nick Nanton, small business marketing, women of color