Bill Gluth's Creative Business Strategy Blog

The Idea That it Takes Money to Make Money is Dead

In the old days (before 2003), people would spend a ton of money to get their business in front of a lot of people.

Big national brands spent a BAZILLION Dollars getting their name in front of everyone. The idea that it takes money to make money grew.

Smaller businesses, with limited advertising buying power, tried to emulate the national giants in some form or the other and failed miserably.

It’s easy to understand why.

It does NOT take money to make money. It takes sales to make money.  Sales is the lifeblood of business and where the focus must be for small businesses.

Pull don’t push to gain valuable attention

Attracting attention with relevant messages saves both time and money. Pull people toward you rather than trying to push them into listening.

Only sales, combined with marketing designed to attract attention, can break through the clutter of messages. Interaction is the answer and it’s inexpensive as well.

Instead of screaming your advertising message to everyone, ask permission to communicate to people who have reason to care.

Your costs go down while your sales increase. That’s a return on investment that everyone can live with.

Sales Tips: Always Leave Your Phone Number Twice

Here's something that makes me crazy in a sales situtation. Someone calls. It's a marketing touch. They are trying to sell me something. I may even be interested. They leave a telephone message.

Somewhere in the message they quickly rattle off a telephone number. They never repeat the number. If I want to call back, I have to listen to the message again.

Make it easy on the person you're trying to reach. Always leave your telephone number twice and you'll probably get twice as many return calls.

Anyone else have phone message stories (good or bad)? Share them in the comments section.

Farm Don’t Hunt

When it comes to business building and sales, you have two distinct choices. You can be a farmer or a hunter.

The problem is, few business owners ever consider they can change and become more productive. They continue to hunt, because that’s what they’ve always done.

What can you do if you are a hunter who would rather farm?

Just develop a consistent client relationship management (CRM) program once. Then follow it consistently throughout the year.

Start with the basics.

Stay in touch. Communicate that you care consistently.

Treat clients like the best friend they are. Don’t complete a sales and then vanish, only calling again when hunting slows down and you become desperate for business.

During the course of a project, be on the watch for indications of when to make the next sale recommendation.

Once you plant the seeds, tend the field, and continuously harvest the crop of more business.

What's a Phone Book

Does anyone remember when we used to use phone books? I stepped outside this morning and found a phone book sitting in a yellow plastic bag in front of my door.

I immediately took it to the recycle bin. I didn't even consider keeping it on a shelf.

But then I wondered why. The first answer that came to mind was, "It's useless."

This is just one instance that brought me to that conclusion.

Yesterday I was watching the NFL Championships on TV. By the end of the AFC game I was craving a gyros sandwich.

No problem. I went on line, typed in Gyros sandwich and my zip code and POOF. Two close by contenders popped up.

I called one, found out how late they were open, jumped in my car and scored a sandwich to carry out.

I didn't even think to use a phone book and I'm in their target demographic age wise.

Dex, Yellow Book people, anyone else selling a print directory we are not listening any longer.

Does anyone out there ever use a printed phone book. If so, let me know. The comment line is now open ...

What Did Seth Godin Mean Again?

There were a couple great comments to the Seth Godin idea today. The one I thought was worth commenting on further came from Stamford Talk.

She asked:

"The more people you reach, the more likely you're reaching the wrong people."
OK, that sounds good, but when I think about it, it makes no sense.
Does it mean, if many people like it, the influential critics won't?
That makes sense, but I don't think that's what he meant.
I would like an EXAMPLE of what he meant!

The best example would be the business owner who says "Everyone is my customer" when asked who their target customer is.

Energy happens in tight niches. The tighter the better. If everyone is your customer, your message is too generic and may not appeal to anyone.

When you're trying to sell to a large volume of people you're missing the opportunity to sell to the people who need you most, almost all of the time. As a result, your sales effort is diluted.

For more great thinking on niches, be sure to check out David Meerman Scott's ideas on the New Rules of Marketing and PR at http://www.webinknow.com/

This is a MUST read book with more excellent thinking on niches and marketing for 2008. 

Simple Ideas Are Powerful

Everyone who knows me, knows that I'm a BIG fan of Seth Godin's ideas and work.

The reason is, he breaks business down to its essence, the simplest terms. Like today on his blog, the headline is "The more people you reach, the more likely you're reaching the wrong people."

Check out the post here. Great food for thought from one of the most preeminent business thinkers today.

The Future of the American Economy

Author Seth Godin is famous for saying, “Small is the new big.”

As a small business owner or Solopreneur, you are the future of the American Economy. You are one of the brave pioneers, in the trenches of entrepreneurial activity, building success in a business of your own creation one day at a time.

Big companies with huge start-up costs are out. Anyone with talent and ideas, who is passionate and determined, can succeed in the future world of business.

All you have to do is channel your passion to create a value that makes a difference in the lives of other people. Then spread the word aggressively.

Small business success depends on a few simple principals

Principal One: Create a value that makes a difference in the lives of others. Don’t sell widgets or services. Sell the value they provide.

Principal Two: View your business from the client’s perspective.

Principal Three: Communicate to groups of people who have reason to care consistently.

Principal Four: Be passionate and determined. Focus on spreading the word about the value you offer every day.

Talented small business owners and Solopreneurs are primed to accept their place in business history. You are expanding the economy and creating a bright future for our children and grandchildren.

It’s a new paradigm called living life on your own terms. Thank you for your courage and commitment to changing the world, one created value at a time.

Take Time to Grow

Fnding time to attract prospects into your sales pipeline consistently is among the most important and the most often overlooked task in building a business.

The Secret is to Keep it Simple

1. Delegate tasks you can’t or don’t want to do yourself.

2. Hire experts to help you whenever possible

3. Understand that marketing is not sales. Marketing attracts clients. Sales turns attraction into money.

4. Make sure one person in your company is assigned as the designated marketer. Give that person the time they need to do the job.

5. Do one thing every day that is marketing related. Consistency is the key.

6. Spend 60% of your marketing time reaching current and past clients.

7. Remember, marketing is most successful when you do simple things consistently.

Tracking Marketing and Sales Results

Tracking the success of your marketing and sales campaigns does not have to be difficult. ROI is simply answers the question "How much does it cost you to generate X dollars?"

Here’s the formula we use to for simple sales results tracking

How many contacts to create interest to communicate the sales message (permission tracks this very effectively)

How many interests to set 1-appointment

How many appointments to a close

What is the average sale (over 10 to 12 sales)

What is the cost of the leads

What is the cost of the marketing program to attract qualified prospects

What is the cost of closing the deal (travel, addtional touches, lunches, etc)

All added up this equals what is the cost of a sale. That tells you how much you can afford to spend to create a new client.

That’s all we ever need to track. If we know those numbers, we can project how many contacts to make per day to make $_____ per year. FUN!

The Two Things it Takes to Build a Successful Business

When it comes to building a business, how to do it is often pretty basic. However, before anything can happen to build a successful business, two simple things must be in place.

1. Commitment to the business concept

2. Excitement to produce results

After these two things are in place, the rest falls around it.

If they are NOT in place, procrastination, stress and worry about lagging revenues replaces the success mindset.

Are you ready for success or are you still on the fence?