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Posts Tagged ‘clients’
Keep it Real – Become an Authority
An interesting conversation with a new client yesterday threw up a very interesting outcome. The question and scenario that we were addressing was one of how best to establish Authority – and Authority in respect to the way we position ourselves in our respective field of expertise.
If you’ve read Dr Robert Cialdini’s work on Influence you’ll know that he describes ‘Authority’ as one of the key principles of influence. If you’ve not read Cialdini, you seriously must; it’s one of, if not THE most important books on human psychology and how we relate to it in terms of marketing and sales communication. [Here’s a link – Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
The vital part to remember about Authority is that firstly you really do need to know what you’re talking about – if you think you can wing-it, forget it, you’ll get caught out sooner or later. Authenticity is one of the key elements that builds trust and forges strong bonds in every human relationship, and vital in a professional context. Through my experiences in business networking I often come across people who are desperately seeking acceptance but instead of simply being themselves, they believe that they require a mask of personality that ‘fits’ with what they believe everyone else expects of them. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I don’t want to know who you think you should be, I want to know the real you – what makes you tick, what gets you up in the morning, what excites you, what provokes you!
Trying to create a personality that ‘fits’ with the accept norm is a myth anyway. Reflecting on this the other day I realised that many of the people I value most in my life are actually a bit odd, strange and some are clearly quite barking… I’m not sure what that says about me! However, they are all completely comfortable in their own skin; they’re not trying to be something or someone else. I see the real person and connect with them. We all possess a most basic human ability to pick up on the subtle signs that others are faking it. Sure, there are some great actors out there and it could even be argued that we’re all actors in one form or another.
Nial Adams - The 'Barking Blogger'..!
The main reason that people struggle to build Authority is actually not because they have a lack of knowledge, experience or skill in their chosen field but because they have a lack of personal awareness of what that knowledge is worth to others and how to value it. We all know so much and world serves up to us, on a minute-by-minute basis, more information, knowledge and learning than we could ever hope absorb in one lifetime. What’s more, we probably only use a fraction of our knowledge and experience in our daily lives. So it’s not a lack of knowing that holds us back, it’s a lack of knowing how to harness it, for our benefit and for the benefit of others.
Stop for a moment and consider the life experiences that have brought you to where you are today. Remember that you’re at the very leading edge of human evolution; although sometimes it may not feel like it the morning after the night before! These experiences have been successful, enough to keep you alive until today and that is no small feat. Now stop and consider how those experiences and the learning you have can benefit so many other people around you. It might not be in a professional context, it could be to the benefit of those close to you, a friend who needs a caring ear and soothing words of kindness, or it could be that child who looks to you for guidance as they go forward in the world. Above all share who you really are and in this way you’ll build the trust and ‘authority’ that sets you apart from the crowd.
– Be, Do, Have…
Steve Gaskin of Right Angle Events
We’re dellighted to share this fantastic testimonial with you from Steve Gaskin of Right Angle Events in Norfolk.
“I have known Nial Adams for the past three years, having originally met him through the Antidote Network and attended one of his marketing presentations.
Prior to forming and running our company, Right Angle Events, I was a Senior police officer in London. Since starting the business we have experienced good growth and have won several awards. Like all good companies, we carry out strategic reviews of all aspects of the business, it helps us stay focused and improve. Our marketing was highlighted as a clear weakness.
If, when I was in the police force, we identified a weakness we knew it had to be dealt with. It is the same with marketing! I don’t want to be caught again!
Last month I became an inaugural student on PUSH Marketing Academy, run by Nial Adams and his team, based in Drayton, Norwich, Norfolk.
Together with other local business people, we started the Experience in October 2010. I use the word “Experience” because a marketing “course” sounds bland and uninspiring.
Nial has designed an experience which is practical and is meant to have a rapid and direct impact on the business. His experience and enthusiasm is infectious. This instils a great feeling of positivity and has given me even more confidence to develop our marketing.
In fact, after the first course meeting and listening to Nial I followed his advice and I secured a new contract in London for nearly £1000, just 48hrs later. This is just the start of an exciting experience over the next few months.
I would highly recommend this different, exciting and inspirational Experience, which has and will continue to increase my bottom line!”
Steve Gaskin
Co-Director of Right Angle Events
Steve Gaskin of Right Angle Events
We need more Sales!
This is the perennial cry we always hear from the Managing Director, the Senior Managers and everyone else who has a serious interest in the bottom line of our business. Of course, that’s totally understandable; essentially every commercial venture lives or dies on the basis of sales activity and the resultant income that in turn translates into profit in the bank.
However, I’ve often wondered why so many people seem to miss the undeniable link between sales and marketing. For many people the answer for more sales is simply to turn up the heat on sales activity, push more through the pipeline and in many cases, dial up the pressure on the salespeople who sit at the coalface.
If sales is the workhorse then marketing is mostly seen as the racehorse; perhaps an expensive extravagance that looks good, tells the world that we’ve got a bit of money to throw about but in general it’s costly to run, can be temperamental and very few people know how to handle properly.
The answer to more sales could be just to drive the workhorse a little harder each day, aim to get a little extra value from our investment and there are endless ways of trying to achieve this. A large number of organisations, large and small, will restructure the rewards and incentives for each sales person, or being even more blatant just move the goal posts by telling the sales team that more is expected of them… end of!
Salespeople of quality and ability know this and play the game in return; but when the pips start to squeak and the remuneration is no longer enough to maintain their interest they’ll be off to hunt in new pastures. Why do you think that the very best salespeople are so hard to find and even harder to keep?
This scenario will probably very familiar to you, irrespective of which side of it you come from. Sales is a tough game and only the strong survive but is it really the best place to focus all your energy on if you want more transactions flowing through your business?
I often ask clients ‘If you had just uncovered a spare £50,000 in your business (and you had to spend it on your business!) where would you allocate it?’. More often than you might imagine the reply is ‘on better marketing’… you see, at an intellectual level many business owners know that better marketing is needed and actually crave it.
So why is it that so few people stop to consider that if you want more sales the best place to start is at the very top of your sales funnel… with your marketing?!
It’s not just a case of aiming to get more results from your marketing, trying to get a bigger bang for your buck has (and always will be) the never-ending objective of every good marketer but how about changing your marketing to create better quality and not just quantity. Another much overlooked element of good marketing is that it actually influences the sale process significantly.
As every good salesperson will know ‘qualifying’ your prospects is vital to ensuring a smooth and successful progress through the sales process towards secured business. Marketing is the very first step in properly qualifying your leads; this process of ‘self-selection’ is a powerful way to weed out the tyre-kickers and allow you to focus on those with serious intentions of buying from you.
The lesson here is clear and I hope you’ve already started to join the dots for yourself; marketing is wedded to sales and better marketing will help you increase sales potential. If you knew, with complete conviction, that better, more effective marketing could increase the flow of potential sales, and that you could enhance the quality of those leads wouldn’t you pay more attention to it?
If your workhorse is looking tired, unlikely to give much more output and you’ve already realised that you might need a better tactic, perhaps it’s time to up your game, improve your skills and saddle up your thoroughbred and be prepared to hold on tight to the reigns.
It could just be the ride of your life!
Nial Adams
If you want to increase your sales and feel that your marketing could be the right place to start then I’d encourage you to consider our PUSH Marketing Academy – you’ll find everything you need to know HERE.
The Money’s in the List!
A phrase I often heard from one of my mentors; “Nial, remember, the money’s in the list!”. What he meant was that the list of contacts, prospects (or even ‘suspects’), customers and clients we have is where the real value is in our business and the same is true of just about every business.
Smart business people understand the value of data and place a great deal of importance in it. Some businesses are designed simply to harvest data and little more else. I remember someone saying to me just a couple of years ago “so what’s facebook all about then; how are they going to make any money out of it if it’s free?!”. We could all laugh now at that statement but it was a valid point back then. I often find business owners who have great ideas but have actually put very little thought into how they can monetise their business proposition. One element that every business should focus on is the value and integrity of their prospect/client data. This is essential.
In March of this year (2010) facebook was estimated to be worth something in the region of $11Billion. With over 400 million subscribers (and growing fast) it’s interesting to see that this value is based purely on advertising revenues; remember facebook doesn’t actually sell anything, other than advertising to its list (nor does it have any sales people!). You might also be surprised to know that this year facebook’s advertising revenue is estimated to peak at $1.1Billion. Not a bad business model eh?
What’s more, a value of $3.60 was placed on each facebook fan to the various commercial fan-pages that exist. So even before we’ve ever bought anything through facebook we’re already a statistic and a valuable asset to the advertisers and facebook alike.
So, it’s fine to throw around these large numbers and unless you’ve got the next facebook planned out the point could be lost in all the excitement. No matter how big or small your enterprise is I would strongly encourage you to ensure your business model has a focus on your client/subscriber data. If you’re not doing much or anything about it right now, stop and take note. There are some key reasons why you list will be vital to you as your business grows:
Re-sales and repeat orders are a significant profit driver in every good business. Unless you have a product that can only be sold once and once only, you need to ensure that your business has an element that creates repeat sales. As you’ll no doubt have heard; it’s six times easier to resell to an existing customer as it is to find a new one. Whether this statistic is accurate is not the point here but the theme is critical. Too many business owners focus on sales and marketing that is ONLY directed at finding new customers, while they leave existing potantial profits on the table. Worse than this, if you don’t service your customers, keep them happy and help them buy more from you, you’ll see your competitors take them away from you.
Create a customer for someone else. I’ll be writing more about the power of communities soon but here’s something for you to think about now. Every time you attract and retain a new customer they are joining your community. At the same time there will be other businesses out there who could sell to your community. These would be parallel but non-competing. For example; we sell marketing services but our clients may also need accounting help, or staff training. Just think of the value you could already have in your list. Of course you must follow the rules regarding the sale/transfer of data but think about how many other businesses could gain value from working with your community and importantly, vice versa!
A friend and professional colleague just said to me the other day “selling data is a bit like prostitution, you get to sell the same thing over and over again!”. As an entrepreneur who has created a business worth over £2million (within four years) I’d say he’s got a point!
So my point is simple; if you’re not currently focusing on the data in your business, remedy this immediately. If you need some help to understand how to do this effectively and appropriately; then get some help (contact me for a start).
And remember, the money’s in your list..!
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