Blitz Ezine #277 ~~ December 4th, 2007

Small Business Help - How to Start your Day

The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 277, December 4th, 2007

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Blitz Comments
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We want to take a moment and wish you and your family a wonderful, fun filled holiday season.

Every day or two we talk some about promotion (as well as fun things too on our blog)
http://smallbizpromo.blogspot.com/

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In this Issue
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- Balancing Marketing and your Services
- Two ways for starting your day.

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Food for thought
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"No man is ever whipped until he quits in his own mind." - Napoleon Hill.


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How To Balance Marketing and Delivering Services To Clients
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I just got this email from Hector:

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Hi Bernadette, I work with clients to help them use Information Technology to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and eliminate waste. I manage their IT projects for implementation of information systems, software development, and business process improvement.

The problem has been that while I'm working with a client I'm not able to market my services, and while I'm marketing my services, I'm not working with a client.

I am great in developing a rapport with a client but do not have the skill set to find new clients. Can you help?'

Yes, I certainly can.

Sooner or later most solo service providers find themselves in the frustrating catch-22 that Hector describes. Here is my four-part plan to help you make your 'great escape'!

1. Replace 'manual labor' prospecting with automated and low maintenance prospecting techniques

If your main way of generating new enquiries are time-consuming techniques like cold-calling and networking, then it's time to replace them with prospecting and lead capture which can be automated. For example, targeted advertising or direct mail which drive interested prospects to a web page where you make an attractive offer in exchange for their contact details and permission to contact them. Imagine having 20, 30 or even 100 people give you their names without you making a single cold-call or going to any networking meeting.

2. Automate your follow-up processes

Surely one of the greatest inventions of the late 20th century was the 'auto-responder', the technology that enables you to automate your follow up and send a sequence of ongoing messages and offers to prospects. Before I started using an auto-responder, my follow up was a calendar reminder of phone calls or 'keep in touch' notes. It took hours to maintain, and just like Hector, when I was working with a client, my follow up suffered. The beauty of an auto-responder is that it will follow up on your behalf whether you are working with a client, on holiday, or even sleeping! This is an essential tool for every solo-preneur.

3. Create 'off-the shelf' solutions that can be sold without you having to write laborious proposals every time

If winning a new client means a detailed written proposal every time, then you are doing something wrong. While there will almost certainly be situations where a customized proposal is required, the 80/20 rule dictates that 80% of what you do for clients is duplicated. So why not save yourself some stress and effort by creating fixed price 'packages' to offer prospects?
You'll be stunned at the difference this can make to your business, as not only does it cut down selling time, it makes your offer more tangible to the buyer, and that can increase sales too.

4. Automate 'closing the sale'

For people like Hector, there's a good chance that to close the sale requires several phone calls, face-to-face meetings and tailored proposals. All that time adds considerably to your cost of sale and eats into your profit margins. (Which is why sometimes even when you're winning business you can still feel like your not earning enough compared to the effort you put in).
The advantage of creating 'off-the shelf solutions' is that you can often sell these solutions with a really strong sales letter or webpage and eventually fire yourself from your sales team!

As someone who had been trained in face-to-face selling techniques, I initially resisted this advice and argued that it wasn't workable in my business. But when I finally tried it and saw those orders coming in without me speaking to a customer, I was hooked. You will be too if you give this a try, and you'll wonder why you struggled doing it the old way for so long.

(c) Bernadette Doyle, 2007. Reprints welcome so long as by-line and article are published intact.

Bernadette Doyle publishes her weekly Client Magnets newsletter for trainers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, then get your free tips now at http://www.clientmagnets.com/. Join Bernadette on her free preview calls for her "Launch Your Information Empire" workshop at http://www.clientmagnets.com/informationempire.asp

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Two Ways to Start Your Day
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Start Your Day - Two Ways

I believe we all can be much more productive if we look at how we start our day.

The first is to dive in; tackling whatever is in front of you. You might check your emails. This is an interesting beginning as it is always possible something fun and new came in since you last looked.

Next thing you know you two hours have gone by and you are still answering your mail. It is natural to attempt to take care of these mails, as they are right in front of you and seem important. All of a sudden you feel hungry, look up and it is lunchtime. You have just spent half your day dealing with emails!

Of course you could also be firefighting. Firefighting is when you work like a dog to solve all those emergency situations that seem to be coming at you from unknown sources. Again - time flies and your day gets chewed up fast!

Let's look at an alternative method of beginning your day.
First, remember that this day is a gift. You have the choice what to do with it. Why not choose to do the important -but-not urgent tasks first? These are the tasks that will advance your life goals, and ensure success for you as you have defined it. If you do not prioritize and do these tasks first, you will almost certainly fail to do them. Here is how.

What is an alternative method of beginning your day?
Remember that this day is a gift to you. You can choose what to do with it, but you only get it once. What if we do the important -but-not urgent tasks first? These are the tasks that will advance your life goals. Prioritize and complete these tasks first and you will almost certainly complete them. Here is how.

2. At the beginning of each day, look at your weekly goals.
What will you accomplish today to advance your weekly goal?
List this (these) tasks.

3. Scan your emails - don't read them! You will get bogged down! Also, scan your phone messages, faxes inbox and anywhere else you receive communication. The goal is to get an idea of what new items will require your attention today.

You should have spent no more than 30-45 minutes and gathered up the information required to plan your day. You know what you have to do, and are already planning it in your mind. You don't have to worry about forgetting something important.

4. On a clean sheet of paper, or index cards, prioritize 10
-15 things you intend to accomplish before the end of the day. Be realistic. You will not be able to do much more than this. From the 10-15 highlight 4 or 5 items that are important-but-not urgent and critical to your long term goals. Prioritize these items first, and then follow with the remaining items in some sort of order. Put an estimated time to complete each item beside it. At the end of the day, your review of what got done and the actual time it took will be a great education and experience for future planning. With practice, this skill will serve you well.

5. Now complete one of your highlighted tasks, one you enjoy if you can.

You should be into the first 90 minutes of your day, and you have achieved a step towards your 3-5 year plan. What would happen if you did this every day? Your day is planned according to priorities you have set, and you are comfortable knowing you have not missed anything of importance.

Once you begin to do the important-but-not urgent items on a daily basis, there will be less urgent items surprising you. The sense of achievement will be strong encouragement for you as you continue to strengthen your skills in this area.

Now you have two ways to begin your day. Which do you choose?

An acknowledged expert in the field of coaching and consulting, Miami Phillips had developed a powerful, no nonsense training that guarantees the fundamentals needed for every business owner to succeed:
http://www.smallbusinessexpertise.com

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Links you can use -
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A good HTML Color reference -
Click Here

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Some Fun Links
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Like anagrams then you will love this site -
http://anagramsite.com/

As we're heading into Winter you may find you have more birds around as they look for food. This site will let you help them.

http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/
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Useful links
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Ezine Archives links to all our past issues (well most of them) in one place.

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Next Issues
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Our next issue will be January 8th, 2007

Tim and Lisa Hamblin
Tisa Enterprises
PO Box 221
Hazard KY 41702
http://www.blitzpromotions.com
http://www.crochetnmore.com
http://www.webpageplanner.com
http://www.ineedlinks.com