Blogging has become very popular in the last few months and even the most non-technical of my clients are now talking about using a blog to promote their businesses. But, what exactly is a blog and should you set one up?
You’ll see lots of slight variations in what a blog is if you have a look, but I like to think of a blog (or a web-log) as an on-line diary, where you can record your thoughts, opinions and useful information. You can set one up for free using sites like www.blogger.com and getting started is fairly easy even if you’re not technically minded. Many people are also setting up blogs instead of a website too – you can’t blame them – it’s quick, free and you can add and change the content whenever you like!
Setting a blog up though is the easy part. Then you have to look after it. I updated my blog once a week, but many blogging experts would tell me that’s not enough. Ideally, you should be updating your blog three to four times as week. Granted your blogs don’t have to be long, but it’s still a time-consuming activity in your busy world.
And then there’s the problem of what to write about. I tend to get inspiration by talking to my clients and contacts and writing about something they’ve said that has interested me, but I have to admit that sometimes I sit there and think what should I write about this week? Having said that, if you write a newsletter or articles, there is absolutely no reason why you couldn’t post this on there. I also express my opinion about various things in the news or things that have annoyed me – being careful of course, not to betray confidentiality or give away any names!
The other consideration is whether you will get business from your blog. Well, you can certainly monitor whether or not it’s being read and where people have found out about your blog. But whether you’ll get business from it is another matter – what it does do is build your credibility as an expert within your field and give people an idea of what you’d be like to work with. People may very well decide to use your company as a result of seeing your blog – but don’t expect instant results.
Finally, you’ll also have to think about promoting your blog to make sure people actually see it – the blog will automatically be sent to search engines like Google, but often that’s not enough (as there are thousands of blogs out there). So, many people choose other ways to promote and tell people about their blog like adding their blog to their website and email signature and business cards to name, but a few.
So, should you blog? You should certainly consider it if you like writing and expressing your opinions and realise that a blog will help you establish your credibility rather than give you immediate customers. You also need to put it into your diary to update it on a regular basis so that you don’t forget – there’s nothing worse than a blog that has been set up 3 months ago and not updated since.
If, on the other hand, you hate writing; have no time to spare; and are not sure what to write about, I would say blogging is probably not for you and you should have a think about other methods to promote your business. Blogging should definitely be used in combination with other marketing methods and not in isolation.
Still not sure whether or not it’s for you…that’s fine. Go onto sites like www.blogger.com and have a look at some of the blogs that have been written – you can even search for blogs that are related to your industry. Don’t forget that you can post comments to blogs that interest you, so start doing this first. This will give you an excellent way to get your name out there and also decide whether or not blogging is for you.
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) gives help and advice to established small businesses on their marketing and to people setting up in business.
Wednesday 25 June 2008
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Why you should stick to one business idea
Something that’s really common amongst small business owners is running two or more businesses. I see people who own a massage therapy business also run a greeting card company or someone who owns a networking company who also own a florist and so on. Two or more businesses happen usually for one of two reasons:
1. Either the first business isn’t making as much money as the person would have liked and they believe another opportunity will be the one that will make it big, or
2. The first business is hard to get going and the business owner gets bored and frustrated with it. When the second idea comes along, it’s more exciting and interesting and the person’s motivation levels are rejuvenated again.
Or it could happen for a combination of these reasons. The problem occurs when the second business idea doesn’t meet expectations and then the business owner creates a third or even a fourth idea. I’ve met business owners who are running seven or eight business ideas and suddenly reach crisis point because they don’t know what they do anymore.
So, why then should you stick to one business idea? Perhaps, these people are right – maybe it does take two or three ideas before you make it big and isn’t it possible to be able to run several different businesses simultaneously?
Well, here’s the thing – and you may disagree here (all opinions welcome), but I’ve worked with hundreds if not thousands of business owners and I really, honestly can’t recall a time when I’ve seen two or more business ideas work simultaneously. The best and most successful businesses work when the business owner concentrates on one thing and one thing only.
But, I hear you cry – what about those people who are doing PR and training or coaching and management consultancy and are really successful? Well, I would argue that if you look closer at their businesses, you’ll find they are running one business in different ways. For instance, a PR professional that I know teaches PR, works on PR on a one to one basis with her clients and has e-books on her site about PR which she sells successfully. She’s even just branched out into offering workshops to teach PR professionals how to be successful. But, everything revolves around PR – if I was recommending this business owner, I’m very clear on what she does.
Also take the example of a successful coach who also does training. It’s not just any training though – it’s training involving coaching. She’s also involved in a coaching network and speaks on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD) on coaching. Anyone who meets her knows she is a coach and knows how she can help them.
So, bearing that in mind – here’s my top 3 reasons why you should stick to one business:
1. Taking on a new business is the same as starting a new business.
Your new business will take time, effort, focus, motivation and possibly money to start up and get off the ground. You’ll need to give it at least 18 months of undivided attention and treat it like it’s your baby. OK, I’m absolutely sure you can do this…but, what happens to your first business while you’re doing this and what happens when you get bored of this new business idea or it doesn’t get off the ground as quickly as you want it to? Will you then start another business?
2. No-one will know what you do.
When people ask you the question of what do you do – what will you tell them? Will it be I do x and I also do y and sometimes I do z? Or will it be, I do x and here’s how it can help you? If you have two or more business ideas, believe me no-one will be quite sure what you do and how you can help them. If you don’t believe, try asking a few of your trusted contacts who will give you honest feedback…
3. Jack of all trades, master of none
One of the reasons that’s often given to me as a reason for not choosing just one business is the fear that they won’t be able to use all the skills they have. This is absolutely not true – just look at the PR and coaching examples above – they will use all their skills and much more. If you focus on one thing and take this one idea to the market in different ways, you’ll be amazed at the results and the difference.
OK then, if you already have two or more businesses what do you do? My first suggestion is to stop and decide which one of these businesses you’d really like to focus on – and then (brave step this), let go of all the other businesses and really throw your heart and soul into this one business. If you’re not sure which business you should focus on, get the help of a coach or a business mentor to help you.
And if you’re considering taking on another business – stop and really think about it. Are you sure that’s the best decision? Are you prepared to drop the other businesses you have and focus on this one 100%?
Think very carefully about taking on a new business – I know it’s exciting and improves your motivation, but it may only be a short time until you get bored with this one too and then are you going to be looking for that next big idea?
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides help and advice on marketing and business planning for small businesses and people starting up a business.
1. Either the first business isn’t making as much money as the person would have liked and they believe another opportunity will be the one that will make it big, or
2. The first business is hard to get going and the business owner gets bored and frustrated with it. When the second idea comes along, it’s more exciting and interesting and the person’s motivation levels are rejuvenated again.
Or it could happen for a combination of these reasons. The problem occurs when the second business idea doesn’t meet expectations and then the business owner creates a third or even a fourth idea. I’ve met business owners who are running seven or eight business ideas and suddenly reach crisis point because they don’t know what they do anymore.
So, why then should you stick to one business idea? Perhaps, these people are right – maybe it does take two or three ideas before you make it big and isn’t it possible to be able to run several different businesses simultaneously?
Well, here’s the thing – and you may disagree here (all opinions welcome), but I’ve worked with hundreds if not thousands of business owners and I really, honestly can’t recall a time when I’ve seen two or more business ideas work simultaneously. The best and most successful businesses work when the business owner concentrates on one thing and one thing only.
But, I hear you cry – what about those people who are doing PR and training or coaching and management consultancy and are really successful? Well, I would argue that if you look closer at their businesses, you’ll find they are running one business in different ways. For instance, a PR professional that I know teaches PR, works on PR on a one to one basis with her clients and has e-books on her site about PR which she sells successfully. She’s even just branched out into offering workshops to teach PR professionals how to be successful. But, everything revolves around PR – if I was recommending this business owner, I’m very clear on what she does.
Also take the example of a successful coach who also does training. It’s not just any training though – it’s training involving coaching. She’s also involved in a coaching network and speaks on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD) on coaching. Anyone who meets her knows she is a coach and knows how she can help them.
So, bearing that in mind – here’s my top 3 reasons why you should stick to one business:
1. Taking on a new business is the same as starting a new business.
Your new business will take time, effort, focus, motivation and possibly money to start up and get off the ground. You’ll need to give it at least 18 months of undivided attention and treat it like it’s your baby. OK, I’m absolutely sure you can do this…but, what happens to your first business while you’re doing this and what happens when you get bored of this new business idea or it doesn’t get off the ground as quickly as you want it to? Will you then start another business?
2. No-one will know what you do.
When people ask you the question of what do you do – what will you tell them? Will it be I do x and I also do y and sometimes I do z? Or will it be, I do x and here’s how it can help you? If you have two or more business ideas, believe me no-one will be quite sure what you do and how you can help them. If you don’t believe, try asking a few of your trusted contacts who will give you honest feedback…
3. Jack of all trades, master of none
One of the reasons that’s often given to me as a reason for not choosing just one business is the fear that they won’t be able to use all the skills they have. This is absolutely not true – just look at the PR and coaching examples above – they will use all their skills and much more. If you focus on one thing and take this one idea to the market in different ways, you’ll be amazed at the results and the difference.
OK then, if you already have two or more businesses what do you do? My first suggestion is to stop and decide which one of these businesses you’d really like to focus on – and then (brave step this), let go of all the other businesses and really throw your heart and soul into this one business. If you’re not sure which business you should focus on, get the help of a coach or a business mentor to help you.
And if you’re considering taking on another business – stop and really think about it. Are you sure that’s the best decision? Are you prepared to drop the other businesses you have and focus on this one 100%?
Think very carefully about taking on a new business – I know it’s exciting and improves your motivation, but it may only be a short time until you get bored with this one too and then are you going to be looking for that next big idea?
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides help and advice on marketing and business planning for small businesses and people starting up a business.
Wednesday 11 June 2008
Free recordings on starting your own business
We've busy recording a series of three recordings which will be "Planning your own business", "Writing a plan and getting funding" and "Kicking off your business". Better still, they're all completely free, and I'll tell you how to download them below. Feel free to pass them onto any of your contacts that might be interested too.
This month, we've released the first of our free recordings "Planning your own Business". To download it, simply go to http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/Own-business.php
Feel free to pass this onto any of your contacts who are also starting their own business too - but make sure you tell them to fill in their contact details using the form if they haven't already done so - otherwise I won't know that they also want to receive the other two free recordings as well.
This month, we've released the first of our free recordings "Planning your own Business". To download it, simply go to http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/Own-business.php
Feel free to pass this onto any of your contacts who are also starting their own business too - but make sure you tell them to fill in their contact details using the form if they haven't already done so - otherwise I won't know that they also want to receive the other two free recordings as well.
Monday 2 June 2008
Are Sales People Born or Made?
When I started this business, five and a half years ago, I think I would have given up very quickly if I thought sales people were born. I was terrible at sales – it was very definitely a skill I had to learn. I’m sure like anything else, there are some people who don’t need to be taught anything about sales – they just naturally know what to do and how to do it. But, not me. It was something I had to learn how to do.
I read books, went on courses and spoke to my dad (who was a top sales person in his company for a long time), but none of these really helped. And then, one day I went on a course where the tutor said “All sales is, is listening.”
That was the light bulb moment. From that day forward, I stopped talking and started to listen. And then, when the person had finished talking, I just asked a few questions and listened again. Very soon I realised that if I just listened chances are that the person would just tell me exactly what they wanted and how I could help them. Listening helped hugely and started to make selling an easy process for me. That is, until I encountered my next problem…
People started asking me questions and ones that I didn’t have an answer too off the top of my head. Questions like “Exactly how would the service work” and “How much does it cost?” My standard answer tended to be “I’ll come back to you with that”.
The problem with not having the answer there and then was that I would leave the person assuming what the answer would be – so if the price was actually £500, the person would assume that it was much lower, say £200 and therefore get a shock when I told them the real price.
After the penny dropped that this was happening, I drew up some frequently asked questions for myself; putting down all the questions I was often asked and then writing down and memorising the answers. This way I could give people the answers they wanted there and then and it saved a lot of hassle in the long run as people could immediately tell me whether they were interested in what I could do for them and whether the price was ok.
The third main problem I faced was timewasters. I have lost count of the times I’ve spent 2 hours in a meeting for it to have ended with “I’m sure I can refer people to you” and no sales. For a long time, I prided myself on getting two meetings a week, but realised after a while that there’s no point in having a meeting if I hadn’t made sure beforehand that they were actually serious about buying my services.
How do I do this now? Well, first I have a chat with the person on the phone to check whether there is anything there. 15 minutes on the phone is very different from 3 or 4 hours in a meeting! If I’m still not sure, I’ll send them a short questionnaire to complete and send back to me. If they do this before the meeting, chances are high that they’re pretty serious.
My final tip and something that’s really helped me is to review my sales after each meeting. I always ask myself four questions so I can learn what I’m doing right and what’s gone wrong. They are:
1. What exactly happened and why did it happen that way?
2. What did you learn from the process?
3. Did the person buy? If so, why did they buy? If not, why didn’t they buy?
4. How would you do it differently next time?
I’m not a natural reviewer. My style is generally “Ok, it didn’t work. What can we do now?” instead of “Ok, it didn’t work. Why not and how could we do it better?” But, I have to say that reviewing what’s happened and being honest really helped me see what the problems were in my sales process and get some idea of how to fix them. And as usual, it’s the little things that make the difference.
So, if you’re sat in your business, thinking that you need to get more business into the pipeline, I’d encourage you to ask this question – if you sat down with 10 people, how many of them would you turn into business? If the answer is don’t know, find out! If it’s less than 7, you need to look at your sales process as I have and work on increasing the number who turn into customers. There is no point increasing the number of people in the pipeline, if you’re going to let 8 of them get away when you sit down to meet them.
Good luck with your sales. Let me know how you get on.
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides marketing and business planning advice and support to small businesses and people starting their own business.
I read books, went on courses and spoke to my dad (who was a top sales person in his company for a long time), but none of these really helped. And then, one day I went on a course where the tutor said “All sales is, is listening.”
That was the light bulb moment. From that day forward, I stopped talking and started to listen. And then, when the person had finished talking, I just asked a few questions and listened again. Very soon I realised that if I just listened chances are that the person would just tell me exactly what they wanted and how I could help them. Listening helped hugely and started to make selling an easy process for me. That is, until I encountered my next problem…
People started asking me questions and ones that I didn’t have an answer too off the top of my head. Questions like “Exactly how would the service work” and “How much does it cost?” My standard answer tended to be “I’ll come back to you with that”.
The problem with not having the answer there and then was that I would leave the person assuming what the answer would be – so if the price was actually £500, the person would assume that it was much lower, say £200 and therefore get a shock when I told them the real price.
After the penny dropped that this was happening, I drew up some frequently asked questions for myself; putting down all the questions I was often asked and then writing down and memorising the answers. This way I could give people the answers they wanted there and then and it saved a lot of hassle in the long run as people could immediately tell me whether they were interested in what I could do for them and whether the price was ok.
The third main problem I faced was timewasters. I have lost count of the times I’ve spent 2 hours in a meeting for it to have ended with “I’m sure I can refer people to you” and no sales. For a long time, I prided myself on getting two meetings a week, but realised after a while that there’s no point in having a meeting if I hadn’t made sure beforehand that they were actually serious about buying my services.
How do I do this now? Well, first I have a chat with the person on the phone to check whether there is anything there. 15 minutes on the phone is very different from 3 or 4 hours in a meeting! If I’m still not sure, I’ll send them a short questionnaire to complete and send back to me. If they do this before the meeting, chances are high that they’re pretty serious.
My final tip and something that’s really helped me is to review my sales after each meeting. I always ask myself four questions so I can learn what I’m doing right and what’s gone wrong. They are:
1. What exactly happened and why did it happen that way?
2. What did you learn from the process?
3. Did the person buy? If so, why did they buy? If not, why didn’t they buy?
4. How would you do it differently next time?
I’m not a natural reviewer. My style is generally “Ok, it didn’t work. What can we do now?” instead of “Ok, it didn’t work. Why not and how could we do it better?” But, I have to say that reviewing what’s happened and being honest really helped me see what the problems were in my sales process and get some idea of how to fix them. And as usual, it’s the little things that make the difference.
So, if you’re sat in your business, thinking that you need to get more business into the pipeline, I’d encourage you to ask this question – if you sat down with 10 people, how many of them would you turn into business? If the answer is don’t know, find out! If it’s less than 7, you need to look at your sales process as I have and work on increasing the number who turn into customers. There is no point increasing the number of people in the pipeline, if you’re going to let 8 of them get away when you sit down to meet them.
Good luck with your sales. Let me know how you get on.
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides marketing and business planning advice and support to small businesses and people starting their own business.
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