As business owners, we are well aware of the importance of marketing – “thank you very much”. Conventional advertising, word-of-mouth networking, email campaigns, pay-per-click, etc. etc. Our options can far outweigh our budget. So, I’ve decided to do something different - for me anyway. I’m going to host a workshop. (I’ll use the term workshop throughout the article; however you can substitute one for the other as you read. Depending on your definition, a workshop tends to have more audience participation whereas a seminar will likely be more of a speaking event. Many seminars have workshop breakout groups with audience discussions or exercises.)

The workshop, while once thought of as strictly for training or educating, is now becoming an effective marketing tool. If you sell products - let’s say cookware – you might host a cooking workshop teaching participants how to master the art of French sauces – using your cookware, of course. Do you remember the Evelyn Wood speed reading school? For years, they advertised workshops regularly where you could attend a demonstration of a speed reading lesson for free – along with a sales presentation for the full course. ...And how about these ‘real estate riches / for no money down’ workshops?

The high-pressure sale, the traditional “salesperson-customer” relationship are often seen as adversarial rather than even as neutral. Sales and marketing efforts of years-gone-by are yielding fewer and fewer successful results.

Why? Consumers today are more educated and savvier than ever before. They are aware when they are “being sold” and are not afraid to question authority. As this evolution continues, consumers continue to shift from being passive buyers to being informed buyers. Marketing yourself, your product, service or small business by giving a workshop accomplishes a few things:

1. It educates your prospects and clients about your product, service or company which fills their need to be informed.


2. It positions you and your business as expert and gives the consumer a venue where they can find information without the perception of “being sold”


3. If you sell a product, you can do a demonstration – a powerful sales tool in itself.


4. Local newspapers and journals usually run notices of upcoming workshops, providing you free publicity.


5. Following up with workshop attendees, your follow-up calls and future sales efforts will likely be better received.

Workshops are a great deal of work, are not inexpensive, and require advanced planning. There are also many factors to consider:

• To charge or not to charge;


• Promotion – getting seats in the seats;


• The agenda and the format;


• The venue;


• Self-hosted or sponsored;


• and so on.

If done well, however, a workshop can be an effective marketing tool to promote yourself, your products and/or services and your small business. I’ll keep you posted on my upcoming workshop (11/9). I’ve still got many miles to go before I sleep…

If you have hosted or are considering hosting a workshop I would love to hear your story, suggestions and advice. What do you think about using workshops as marketing tools?

Until next time – Bold Results start with a Bold Vision! Go out there and Be Bold!

So, you need to build your business, make more sales, and increase your revenues. It’s universal; what business person doesn’t? I know I said this article would be about using workshops &/or seminar as a sales and marketing tool. However, I've had so many people mention their frustration with the state of business recently, I felt a need to address this point now. I'll follow up with a second article on Friday about the workshops. Until then...

Did you know that one of the most effective, easiest and least expensive things you can do to accomplish all of these is also one of the most overlooked sales activities?

Follow-up. Yes, FOLLOW-UP!

How many networking events, client meetings, etc., have you attended where you made solid contact with someone that is a candidate for your services or products? They may not have run at you with their check book, but they fit your “good client” profile. What did you do? Trade business cards, chit-chat and then… what? You took all those business cards you collected back to your office and added them to the box, the folder, the heaping pile of other cards from other events….. If you’re really good you may have actually entered the prospect’s information into a contact database. But, do you have a process in place to follow up with these people, especially those who weren’t ready to write you a check on the spot?

A successful sales person has a process – an order taker does not.

For example: In the early to mid-‘80s Fidelity and Vanguard funds were THE 401(k) provider of choice. This was, in large part, because Fidelity and Vanguard started the “bundled 401(k) program” by including all the participant recordkeeping, compliance and administrative services for “free” if their funds were the plan’s exclusive investments options. For the next decade, Fidelity and Vanguard needed “order takers” to sign up new clients; people who understood business and 401(k) programs. There was no selling involved. Their “sales” reps were fielding calls left and right and if they didn’t follow up on an inquiry, there would be ten other calls coming in the next minute. Ah, those were the days…

Alas, things change. Fidelity and Vanguard are still leaders in the mutual fund industry today. They are not, however, the only game in town any more. Fidelity and Vanguard actually have to sell their services these days; they have to differentiate themselves, articulate the benefits unique to their investment philosophy and yes; they are even known to negotiate on price now and again.

If you’re business is not the only game in town and responses to your audio logo or elevator pitch don’t normally include “Yes! That is exactly what I need; how much?”, I guarantee you can increase your business significantly by just following up correctly.

Selling is all about trust and relationships. When you follow up it is important to:

• Be consistent. Follow up is a process. It isn’t a single call. You want to develop an ongoing and positive relationship with your target market. You and your business should be first-in-mind when the need for your product or service arises. Consistency is the key here.
In addition, follow up isn’t just for prospects. For most companies, developing new business with existing clients costs less than half of what it costs to win new clients. Don’t forget your current customers!

• Be genuine. People like to do business with people they like and trust. Get to know your client and prospect and develop an understanding of the issues and challenges they face. Don’t try to be something you’re not and don’t misrepresent your product or service. This might sound like a no-brainer, but even the slightest omission or exaggeration can kill a relationship.

• Focus on adding value, not on closing the sale. Follow-up doesn’t mean ‘close the sale’. You follow up to stay in touch, provide information and develop the relationship. Doing all of these things will bring you closer to closing the sale, but you and your prospect will arrive at that point together; you won’t be dragging them there. Going for a ‘close’ before your prospect or client is ready is one of the biggest mistakes small business owners and sales people can make.

For all of you self employed and small business owners who hate to sell, you will see your business increase if you’ll just follow up according to these 3 principals. If you haven’t already, it’s important that you invest in a database; a single, computer/PDA-type repository of all your customer / prospect information (name, contact and business information, past call reports/communications, specific interests, etc.) ACT!, Goldmine and Outlook are three well- known contact databases out there. As your client and prospect lists grow, you’ll be thankful you made the investment in a quality contact database AND in learning to use it!

If you do nothing else to improve your sales and business growth this year, show a genuine interest in your prospects and clients through consistent follow up with a focus on helping them find solutions to the challenges and issues they face. You will see your business take off.

Yea, yea, I know you’ve heard this before – but you know what? IT IS TRUE.

Nothing about business today is “as usual” and you shouldn’t invest any of your hard-earned money or valuable time on anything “off the cuff”. Developing new business is no exception. You need a plan.

First, there's a result you’re looking for; what is it? Without having a clear purpose in mind, the reason you’re going through the effort and expense, how will you know if the money and time you invested was worth it? You say you’ll “know”? You’ll “feel it”? Wrong.

Follow these 6 steps for any project or goal you have and you’ll not only have a good plan, but you’ll see the results you want, too. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

1. Why: Define your goal(s). What is the outcome you want? It’s important to be S.M.A.R.T. here. (25 new clients in October, $7,500 in new revenue by the end of the year, 20% increase in sales in 2006, etc.)

(Make sure any goal you set is S.M.A.R.T. – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound)

2. What: What programs (i.e. promotions, speaking engagements, workshops, etc.) will you use to achieve the above results? Let’s say you own a small café. Yes, you could advertise in the local paper or magazine, but so do most of your competitors. Other ideas that you can implement with or perhaps in place of traditional advertising might be: Participating in a fundraising “Cook-off”; join forces with a local gourmet store and offer one, or a series, of cooking lessons; write a cook book, etc.

3. Who & When: Create an action plan. Who’s going to do what when? Make sure you complete your plan including a timeline and “champion” for each step. A champion is the individual responsible for accomplishing that action step. They may not be the actual person to DO the task, but they have the responsibility to make sure the task is completed.

4. Now do it. Execute. Put your plan into action. Nothing happens if nothing happens – get it? A tip for you on this one. Eliminate the words “Yea, but….” from your vocabulary. “Yea, but my key sales person quit….” “Yea, but traffic was way down because of the gas prices….” “Yea, but …” blah, blah, blah. You’re in business. Make your plan based on what is best for your business and execute the plan.

5. Review the results as you go along, make adjustments as needed, resume. Nothing is set in stone. If the situation changes, adjust your plan accordingly. HOWEVER, don’t make major changes mid-stream unless something major has happened to warrant it. Be disciplined and stick with the plan, but use your gut and common sense. Don’t lose sight of your goal.

6. Celebrate! When you see success, even little victories along the way, celebrate. Let’s face it; you know marketing and advertising is a long-term effort. Chances are you won't see breakthrough results over night. It can be discouraging spending so much time and effort and not seeing an avalanche of new business right away. It’s important to Trust the process and Celebrate progress . Acknowledge little successes along the way.

Remember, having a plan is critical, but it’s about more than planning. It’s about you, your determination, your perseverance and your passion to succeed. Put it all together and you’ll get the results you need to compete and thrive in your marketplace.

Next week: Workshops & Seminars as a marketing tool.

If you learn just one lesson from all you read to improve your business, this is the one that will have the greatest impact on your success in business and life in general. That lesson is:

Your attitude effects the actions you take.

Change your attitude, change your business; change your life.

Putting as much energy into keeping your mind positive and focused on what you want is as critical as the actions you take; perhaps more so.

On the other hand, you've got to do what needs to be done, even if it is difficult or uncomfortable. So, if you're feeling great about yourself and the possibilities for your success but still aren't reaching your goals, you probably aren’t taking action on something you know you need to do. Maybe you've been cutting corners or avoiding that tough call.

Imagine having to make sales calls to build your business. (What business person can’t imagine this?) You sit at your phone and dial number after number, talking to prospect after prospect (action). All the while your attitude is, "I HATE making these calls. No one wants to talk to me and even if I am able to engage someone in a conversation, what's the chance of that one person accepting an appointment anyway!" With that type of attitude, you may as well not make any calls. Your lack of enthusiasm and your "I hate to do this" tone of voice will travel over that phone line delivering a message to your prospect that says "I really don't want to talk to you and I hope you’ll just say "no" so I can get this over with faster."

If your thought process was: "I offer a quality service that can solve my prospects’ problem. It's all a matter of timing; not everyone will be ready for my solution today, however someone out there is ready. Each "no" I get is one more call closer to that yes." With this kind of tape playing in your mind, the prospect on the other end of the line will hear a positive message in your voice that says: "I want to help you solve your problems." The responses you get can be dramatically different.

It's a fact: What you focus on is what you will get. The unbeatable combination of the right attitude and the right action enables you to take meaningful steps and keeps you moving toward completion of your most important goals. Simple? Yes. Easy? No, absolutely not. However, it is worth the effort because it WILL make the difference. Put the Foolproof Formula to work for you and you will be unstoppable!

If you think you are beaten you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you want to win but think you can't;
It's almost a cinch you won't.

If you think you'll lose you're lost;
For out of the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in a state of mind.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger and faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

-- Author Unknown

Posted by Lynnelle Bianco at 12:00 PM
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