By Joyce
Business Masteries LIVE! in Denver this past week was a huge success. I met an incredible amount of wonderful people wanting to grow their business to the next level. I suspect in the end we will work together and a few of them may even become good friends……”synergy” as I call it.
The most curious thing is, I had a lot of people in Denver come up to me and want to discuss with me how they can take their business online so they can prospect better.
Why do they ask me this?
One, I know a lot of online marketers and entrepreneurs, some I consider close confidants. They teach me what they know. I apply it to offline business owners. I discovered this past week a really dangerous, radical new theory:
1. Business owners are intoxicated by the notion of Social Media and the hype about free or no cost online prospecting.
Heck, I am too!
2. Very few people are doing this successfully.
Dangerous. Many Internet marketers and online business owners will not agree. They will even get angry. I know most of them.
Radical? No. Its just “The Emperor Has No Clothes” and many are not telling him or her. I guess I will. (sigh)
If your business structure is flawed offline, say you are a real estate or mortgage professional, then going online to prospect is going to sap your time, focus and revenue generating activities with little results. If you are reactive, scattered, lacking a system of prospect generation and referral depth offline, you will not be able to put one in place effectively online.
Just a theory I have, not backed by data, just my observations.
If your business structure is solid, you can still go online to prospect with little results because you may not know the right actions to take in the right way at the right time.
It’s a shame really, as to the few that are doing it well are getting very good results. These are the results that can be duplicated, replicated and expanded at will with a logical pressure point analysis. This is rare.
For every single person I talked with I recommended some offline business strategies first. There was one man I actually encouraged to expand his LinkedIn exposure and do a few things with some targeted groups and connections.
I also told the others to put away their Internet Marketing “follow these easy steps” to traffic and money programs. They are the online equivalent of fast and easy “dreams come true,” what I call morphine shots or IMLM – Internet Marketing MLM’s.
Solid business, built a solid way takes time. The fastest I’ve seen it is 2-1/2 years. It’s not overnight but t is enduring and profitable for years.
By Joyce
This week, join me in Denver for a live Business Masteries event! Wednesday, August 26, 2009 I could be guiding you personally, one-on-one through some real tips and skill building for your business. Details here: Denver
Why would I jump on a plane, leave my family behind and do this?
My business goal is simple: I want you to have greater success in your business.
What’s the secret in helping you?
It’s also in my ability to ask you the right questions, in the right way, at the right time.
Ask the right questions!
Do you think of yourself as the president of your own company? Do you view yourself as an investment for a company? Do you have a passion to generate the largest financial return for the company of other employee? Do you have a desire to give 10x, 100x, a 1,000x times return to the company you are employed by?
The content I have, wisdom, and insights come from over three decades of experience in interviewing, recruiting, managing, and mentoring individuals to achieve success in their careers and every area of their life.
My ideas, while terrific information, work so well because it is NOT a “quick fix” . . . it’s a journey that every one of us must take. The more success we see in our careers/life the more we know we don’t know. “As a retired architect, I find it’s just like building a sky scraper. We need to have a strong plan and then implement that plan properly. With that we can build and start with a solid foundation. We need to do the right actions, in the right way, over the right period of time.
Our success will only be as strong as our weakest point in the career process. To see success in each area we need to understand and apply the natural laws.
We believe that this is a journey . . . not a destination. We believe, the more we know . . . the more we know we don’t know.
Good reading . . . see you in Denver!
By Joyce
I am a fan of Epictetus….are you of your own vision?
“You see yourself as a small, insignificant member of our society. Therefore you feel that you should try to be like everyone else, to conform, and to not distinguish yourself from the rest. But I wish to be exceptional, striving to realize my potential so that I may better serve others. Why would you want me to remain ordinary? And if I did, how could I be exceptional?”
Be exceptional with this tip: There are five major areas within every business. Most business owners, even the most successful ones, may not understand them or that they even exist. Ignore them, and you cannot sustain any long term success. Know them , honor them and work them as if they were your children and you can achieve anything you desire and dream of financially and business-wise.
Through an in-depth examination of your business, I can quickly identify which of the five areas will bring the greatest value with the least effort, investment, and time.
By considering each of these five areas, you can more fully understand how and where a partner and or a business coach or coaching team can provide the greatest assistance in the least amount of time with the smallest investment.
Here they are:
Area 1: Suspects/Marketing
This area covers how to generate more and better prospects. It covers marketing
and getting referrals from current and past clients as well as other sources. One small
adjustment in this area can double your profitability.
Area 2: Pre-Sales
Most companies invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into marketing (Area
and then only convert one out of ten leads.
Why?
There are many reasons, which is why it’s so difficult to know how to correct or change
these numbers. By using our unique processes, systems, tools, and technology, we’re able to help you quickly identify where you may need to make key changes. If we can help you convert just one more lead out of those ten, you could double your sales
with no additional work, leads, or efforts.
Area 3: The Sale
This area is an art and a science. It’s the hardest part to truly understand and duplicate.
By improving Areas 1 and 2, Area 3 will automatically improve. By teaching you and your team how to identify an individual’s personality in 15 seconds, your sales people will experience a new-found excitement, energy, and effectiveness. By using systems, tools, and automated processes along with technology and media, the way you do business will be changed forever.
Area 4: Servicing
Most companies look at servicing as a cost center rather than a profit center. I know,
by studying natural laws, that strong servicing of one’s business can actually
produce more new sales opportunities than Area 3: The Sale.
Area 5: Client for Life
This is the dream and passion of every entrepreneur and CEO. We must aim to keep our clients for life if we’re going to grow and maintain profitability. This is a combination of two key elements:
1. A company culture that believes and practices natural laws for success, and
2. The proper implementation of technology, training, tools, systems, and the
development of people.
A “client for life” mentality will bring the other four areas into a symphony of
success for our clients, vendors, employees, and stockholders/owners.
By Joyce
One of the biggest reasons for my success in any business venture I undertake, is that I approach them, each one, even the most complicated ones, with a simple, three step process.
The simple, three-step process to success is:
- Step 1: Examination
- Step 2: Solution(s)
- Step 3: Implementation
Why? The answer is simple, too. I call these the “Three Steps to Anything.”
Step 1: The Examination
I’m not a doctor but I model my process after one. A doctor would never present a solution without doing a thorough examination. It’s a pretty good model, too, despite what you may think about doctors. You must do a thorough examination of the facts of any simple business situation.
It is critical you complete an effective examination. This step may involve a simple, short series of questions. Or it may entail a much more comprehensive, thorough series for an in-depth examination. It should really but up to the complexity of the situation or the client.
Step 2: Present Solutions
Anyone who is presenting solutions without doing a thorough examination is selling you something rather than seeking what’s best for you. Run the other way! At the same time, understand your client has the same perception. Ask questions first, formulate solutions to those specific answers your client or prospect gave you.
I like presenting solutions in groups of three: a basic, an intermediate, and an advanced plan for their success based on the examination. Which plan they pursue is their choice. I can deliver all of them.
Step 3: Implementation
Implement the best solution for your client, no matter which level they picked. Some clients have a great sense of urgency and want to implement a solution immediately. Others take their time and ease into their new strategy.
I find that individuals and companies who tend to see the greatest success in implementation have a high sense of urgency coupled with being powerfully motivated, open-minded, trusting of themselves and me, and quick to respond. In business, I have found that the slower you react, the more money it can cost you. These people tend to take on intermediate to advanced solutions in the implementation phase of things.
Individuals who tend to procrastinate often don’t trust themselves to “fail successfully” and likewise won’t trust me. These typically take on no or basic level solutions. To overcome procrastination, at times I must push them to take action without all the data and without supporting evidence. Such a step often feels counter-intuitive, risky, and doomed to failure.
Remember, waiting to gather all the data before implementing a solution can be just as risky! Sometimes we need to trust our intuition—our “gut feel”—and just take action! My best business students don’t ask for a plan or for more detail. They will simply just ask, “What is the one action you’d recommend that I take right here and now?” because they watched me take them through the “Three Steps to Anything.”
