1. Be really passionate about what you do.

If you're not excited, other people won't be either. When you're joyful about your work, hobby, etc., you're attractive to yourself. When you're attractive to yourself, you attract others. It's that simple.

2. Get over feeling you have to impress people.

Yes, you worked hard to know what you know and be where you are, but don't expect other people to appreciate that as much as you do. When you emphasize what you know or how far you've come, you run the risk of coming off as egotistical and patronizing. Worse yet, you can create such a distance between yourself and others that they'll write you off. Better to practice humility. On the other hand, when others know that you're a gold mine of talent or information about something and you withhold yourself deliberately even when you've been asked to help, you can get the same unpleasant result. The key here is to place yourself in other people's shoes and find out what it is they care about.

3. When people ask what you do, use real life examples of how you have helped others solve a problem, improve their quality of life, stretch themselves, etc.

When you use real life examples, you tend to get rid of the complexity and jargon that so often turn people off anyway. Moreover, using real life examples enables the person you're talking with to relate what you're saying to his/her own situation, wants, or needs.

4. "Tell it to a wise person, or be silent."

This line from a poem holds a great truth. The person who is ready to hear your message is the person who can make the most use of it. With those who are not receptive, your message just bounces off into the air, or, worse, triggers defensive reactions in the other person.

5. Eliminate jargon from your vocabulary.

When you use jargon, however meaningful it is to you, you risk turning the other person off because what you're saying is too cryptic to be understood or you appear to be showing off. When you have a conversation with another person based on his/her point of view, you naturally ease into using his/her vocabulary. It's that person's vocabulary which has meaning for him or her, and that's what you want to connect with.

Jeff@marketmagic.com

The Top 10 Extras to Give your Clients
1. Extra time that you don't bill them for.
2. A newsletter that's WORTHWHILE.
3. Education on how to make the most of your service.
4. Networking: Putting your clients in touch with others in your network, for mutual benefit.
5. A gift during the holidays or for their birthday, if appropriate.
6. A free annual review/meeting of some sort that's about the CLIENT.
7. Develop a bank of experts in many fields who are available to your clients.
8. Continually innovate/improve your products and services and keep your clients informed about why/how to take advantage of these.
9. Develop a reminder service of some sort to keep the client informed when certain things should be done.
10. An automated way for your clients to access of your resources--from appointment making to FAQs to policies to payment to account status.

 

Jeff@marketmagic.com

 

One of the most important elements of business success is not contacting prospects and customers to purchase what you're selling – but re-contacting them. This, however, is precisely what most business people don't do. They send some sales information to a prospect ... then wait. They make a single phone call to a prospect ... but never follow-up. They send a fax to a customer... and hope something happens, but don't send a second one. Get the picture? It's as if millions of people had decided to stake their fate on a single throw of the dice... on sending one catalog, or one brochure, or one letter, or one fax, or making one phone call. But this isn't the way to make MONEY! 

The overwhelming majority of people do not respond to a single marketing communication... or a single phone call... or a single fax... or a single anything else.

Jeff@marketmagic.com

As the owner of a family business, you may have more than a passing interest in the enclosed information.  It could help you avoid one of the primary family business errors.  Since you're a busy person, here's a summary of the information:

1. Less then 30% of all family owned businesses continue into the second generation and only 10% continue into the third.
2. The lack of an adequate plan for orderly succession is the number one reason for the failure detailed above.
3. The passing of the business torch from one generation to another does not come easily and must be a process as well as a commitment.

Jeff@marketmagic.com

Introduction to Networking

Networking.

The word conjures up all sorts of interesting pictures. Men in recliners smoking cigars and making deals in back rooms. MLM dealers cheering at training sessions and trying to recruit everyone who comes within 3 feet of them when they're done. Even computer wizards doing arcane things behind the scenes to make your Internet connection work.

Networking is about connections. For your purposes in business, it's making connections that bring you customers.

A couple of basic working definitions are in order.

Contact

Jeff@marketmagic.com 

 

A person with whom you have developed, or are developing, an ongoing relationship of trust and mutual respect, SPECIFICALLY REGARDING BUSINESS MATTERS.

Referral

The recommendation of a business to a person who knows the prospective customer well enough to have developed some level of established trust. Someone telling a friend or business acquaintance to do business with you based on their confidence in your ability to do the job well.

pro•mot•er 

pro•mot•er (pre-mo'ter) noun
1. One that promotes, especially an active supporter or advocate.
2. A financial and publicity organizer, as of a boxing match or an artistic performance.
3. Genetics. A DNA molecule to which RNA polymerase binds, initiating the transcription of messenger RNA.

pro•mo•tion 

pro•mo•tion (pre-mo'shen) noun
1. The act of promoting or the fact of being promoted.
2. Advancement in rank or responsibility.
3. Encouragement of the progress, growth, or acceptance of something; furtherance.
4. Advertising; publicity.
— pro•mo¹tion•al adjective
— pro•mo¹tion•al•ly adverb

Jeff@marketmagic.com

Cut Costs To Increase Profit

What do you think is easier to do … reduce your expenses by 5% or double your sales?
I think most would agree that reducing expenses might be easier. Why, then, do most business owners spend little time on attempting to reduce expenses?
Consider this: Your current profit margin is 5% - if you reduce costs by 5% your profits double! Of course, you can do the same thing by merely DOUBLING your sales!
It is amazingly simple to reduce operating costs by a few percent by being diligent. This article will provide you with a listing of some of the specific ways in which operating costs may be reduced. You may find that you can reduce spending considerably by observing only a few of the suggestions. And remember, the small stuff adds up! Think about saving each time you spend and you will discover your own ways to save.

Distinction: Goals Vs Shoulds
Definitions
Goals - something you want and are willing to work towards
Shoulds - something you think you have to get to get what you really want
Comparisons
comes from your being vs. comes from outside
Example
Irene set goals at the beginning of the year to exercise daily, to produce a new brochure for her business, and to pay off debt. These were things she thought would make her happier, but the goals didn't inspire her or connect with her at a deep level. When she set a goal to double the value she gave her clients and another to plan a dream vacation, she started having a lot more fun pursuing them.
Key Point
A goal is a result worth pursuing. With an authentic goal, you enjoy pursuing it, but you don't feel driven or attached to it. You feel fine about changing it or letting go of it. A should is what you've heard is the right things to do, or something which seems like the means to an end. A should goal has risk, potential consequences, and significance if you don't get it. A should-based goal is usually a little dull. It doesn't light you up.
Benefits
Shoulds are either hard to get or unfulfilling when you get them.

You have doubtlessly concluded your next level of
company performance requires a managerial change. And
hopefully, you have realized the changes necessary are with
you. As CEO (or, on a divisional or departmental level -
senior executive) your jobs include holding the vision;
inspiring your senior management and your staff; fostering
key relationships with customers, vendors, investors and
the public, etc. You now need to let go of some cherished
things like product design, hiring, perhaps day-to-day sales -
many things you handled in the past, often out of
necessity - and focus yourself on your role as CEO.
What about all these things you used to do? Delegate them.
Assign the job to someone else. This doesn't sound like a
big deal, why write a whole article on it? Do you delegate?
Of course you do. But do you delegate the important
things? The things you "know" you could do better? The
things you are "best" at? Probably not. The question is,
should you?

Introduction to Networking
Networking.

The word conjures up all sorts of interesting pictures. Men in recliners smoking cigars and making deals in back rooms. MLM dealers cheering at training sessions and trying to recruit everyone who comes within 3 feet of them when they're done. Even computer wizards doing arcane things behind the scenes to make your Internet connection work.

Networking is about connections. For your purposes in business, it's making connections that bring you customers.

A couple of basic working definitions are in order.

Contact

A person with whom you have developed, or are developing, an ongoing relationship of trust and mutual respect, SPECIFICALLY REGARDING BUSINESS MATTERS.

Referral

The recommendation of a business to a person who knows the prospective customer well enough to have developed some level of established trust. Someone telling a friend or business acquaintance to do business with you based on their confidence in your ability to do the job well.

Networking

Consciously developing contacts in an effort to increase the number of referrals you get for your business.

Networking, in the business sense, is nothing more complicated than working out ways to get other people to send you business, based on word of mouth or direct introduction.

Networking is the single most cost efficient form of advertising you can plan for. Yes, you may get some, or even a lot, of referrals without making a conscious effort at it. You'll get a lot more if you pay attention to the process.

It not only leads to more business, but it usually means better business. If a customer always pays their bills and never gives you hassles, do you think they're liable to send someone your way that is a deadbeat and a trouble customer ? Not often. The two types don't usually mix, and when they do, the good customer will normally value the relationship too much to jeopardize it with unnecessary bad referrals.