Is Your Business Messaging Clear?

I was at my least favorite place in the world...the pediatrician's office. I was there with my son and we had been there for three hours with no cell phone service. It was a lesson in patience. 

I had all the time in the world to take in my surroundings. I noticed that on the wall, they had very clearly listed their mission, vision and values. 

I left knowing exactly what it is they do, why they do it and what I, as a consumer, could expect. What is the difference between those three things and why are they so important?

Small businesses need to know what these things are because it's our home base for everything:

• Your mission is what you do. 

• Your vision is what you want. 

• And your values are the guiding principles for your company. 

It might seem daunting to get all of these nailed down.  If you are a new business, these will likely change over time...it’s important to start somewhere. If you are an established business, this is a great opportunity to solidify what you do, so that you can communicate it clearly to your customers.

Get your mission, vision and value nice and solid and the people you serve will have more confidence in you.

Tupperware

Who wants to buy more tupperware? 

This is a question that is not going to get us very far. Once we have sold said tupperware and after we are totally sure we have given them the most amazing experience possible, we might find ourselves saying "Hey, do you know anyone who could use more tupperware?" 

But what we have done is this: we have posed a closed question, which means they can only answer yes or no. This gives us a 50% success rate. But, we can increase that success rate by changing the way we ask our question. 

After we have added amazing value, we can say "Cindy, you have been a great client to work with. Who is like you, that would also benefit from tupperware?" This does two things:

If we don't get an immediate answer:

1. Cindy is going to think about who needs tupperware and when she does, she is going to think about you.

2. It gives us a great reason to circle back around and say "Cindy, thank you so much for thinking about that, who did you come up with?" 

Change the verbiage of your referral pitch and you will get the success you are looking for. 

If you would like to sit down and talk about your sales process, send us a message today. 

Sales

Let's talk about lead generation. Those of you in sales know this is one of the hardest parts of the process. Some numbers for you to consider today:

Someone who visits your website for the very first time, is only 4% likely to buy something. 

To close a deal, on average, you have to have nine touch points with someone.  

But, if someone is referred to a product or service, they are 92% more likely to buy. 

Those are some good numbers.

Cold-calling isn’t necessary to be successful in sales.  It still has its place.  What if you’re a small business with limited resources and cold-calling isn’t your jam? 

This is where you should be investing your time instead: build on the clientele you already have. There are three reasons for this:

1. It costs you a lot less

2. You will already have qualified leads and we all know that is half the battle

3. Referrals lead to more referrals

Focus on your current clientele and how you can build from there and you will get the leads that you want. 

Where do you go from here? How do you make this work? Well, you will have to come back next week for another article talking about referrals. 

But, if you like to get some more information in the meantime, head over to the Business Lab with Laine Schmidt Podcast and listen to Episode 1 with Mateo Martinez. 

Social Media

There are 3.5 billion people on social media. It's no wonder you have spent so much of your time and money on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, the list goes on.

The thing is, not all the social media platforms are created equally. They have a different audience, a different language, and a different purpose. 

You CAN free yourself from the craziness that is the social media vortex. The vortex that is sucking away all your time and energy. How? Focus on one or two platforms.

Learn all about them. Figure out who's there. Figure out what they want. Commit to building relationships and adding value. At the end of your trial period, assess, look at your metrics. Have you gained more followers? Have you gained more engagement, more customers, more consultations? 

If the answer is yes, congratulations you have figured it out. If the answer is no, move on. There are a million other platforms to try. Focus on one or two social media platforms and you will get the results you want without losing time and money. 

Check out our Instagram feed to see the differentiators between the different platforms. Leave a comment and tell us which has been the most productive platform for you.