7 Ways to Get More Customers

7 Ways to Get More Customers

The lifeblood of your business is your customers. You must attract them, meet their needs and keep them happy in order to build a thriving business. But how do you start the cycle? How do you find new customers for your business? Here are some ideas:

Family and Friends: The best place to start looking for customers is among the people you already know. You know what your products can do, so think about how they can meet the needs of your family and friends. Reach out to them, ask them about their needs and talk about how your products can meet those needs. And also ask your family and friends for referrals. Since they already know, love and trust you, they’re more likely to refer you and your business to others.
Community Groups: A great way to get to know new people who may be potential customers is to join community groups. Whether it be a town improvement committee, a local commission, or a church choir, look within your community for opportunities to serve and get to know others. This is not only a very satisfying use of your time, but it also enables you to meet people who may be interested in becoming customers of your business.
Online Interest Groups: Do you love cooking? Hiking? Swimming? Find online groups on Facebook, Google, and other websites dedicated to the topics you love, and become an active member. Get to know the people there, and start conversations. Over time, you’ll learn their needs as well, and may be able to privately offer your products in conversation.
Vendor Events: A great way to meet a lot of new people in a day is by joining a vendor event. Set up a table at an event with a chance to sample your product line and learn more about what you have to offer. Give people a chance to enter a drawing to win a free product in order to build your mailing list. Keep notes on the people that seem most interested in what you have to offer during the event. After the event, it’s important to follow up with the people that have left their contact information, starting with the people that have shown the most interest, and offer a discount for shopping with you the first time.
Community Service: There are many opportunities to serve your community and build your business at the same time. For example, a local ice cream store periodically hosts a blood drive, and offers a free ice cream cone to all who donate. This not only creates good will in the community, it also brings more people into the store and builds the customer base, which benefits the business. Think about the needs in your community, and sponsor drives to meet those needs.
Facebook Advertising: Facebook Ads enable you to target specific demographics who may be most interested in what you have to offer, and they don’t have to cost a lot. Set up a specific landing tab on your Facebook Page where people can fill out a form to get more information about your business (thus building your mailing list…a tool like Pagemodo will enable you to do this) and direct your ads to the landing tab. Just be sure to keep it brief, and be sure that your landing tab has only one conversion objective. Have a series of ads, and change them up regularly. This can be a great way to find new people who may have an interest in your business.
Sponsorship: A scrapbooking consultant annually sponsors her son’s Little League team. Her business is proudly displayed across the backs of each of the young players during games, parades and other Little League Events, in the Little League schedule when people check to see who they’re playing, and on the Little League website. For an entire season, her business gets visibility through her sponsorship. And she’s visible at those events, so people who are interested can purchase supplies and get more information about her business. Sponsoring teams, races, and other community events can be a great way to build visibility for your business along with goodwill, and help you find more customers for your business.

In order to find more customers, you have to get out there and be active in the community you serve. You’ll find that there are a constant stream of new people, the more involved that you get. Which one of these will you use today? What can you add to our list? We’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

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6 People Skills You Need to Succeed

6 People Skills You Need to Succeed

There are many people who are good at what they do, but there are always a few who are exceptionally successful. Often, these individuals are highly successful because they also possess excellent people skills. The good news is that we can learn these skills and make them work for us too. Here are six people skills that will help you succeed:

Learn to be calm and to think clearly. Have you ever seen a mother helping her child who just fell off a bicycle? She is calm and collected. It seems like she has practiced this moment hundreds of times and knows exactly what to do. In life and in business people who can stay calm, think clearly, and act quickly are better able to evaluate the situation and react successfully.
Acquire knowledge and build self-confidence. Have you ever heard the saying “knowledge is power”? Obtaining knowledge and then using it builds confidence in yourself and in your peers. People want to be around someone who is confident and has a proven record of success.
Develop communication skills and apply them. The key to being a great communicator is being a great listener. Take the time to really listen to people and think about what they have to say before responding. When you genuinely value people’s feelings and ideas, they will reciprocate and feel that they can trust you.
Develop a never give up mentality. There are many stories of people who ultimately became successful simply because they never gave up. People like Thomas Edison, who gave it a thousand tries before developing a working light bulb. His comment on his failures was that he successfully found 999 ways that a light bulb would not work. You must develop the same attitude, even if do not really believe it in the beginning. Practice this attitude until it becomes a part of your own beliefs.
Acquire a win – win attitude. We live in a very competitive society. There is almost always a winner and a loser. But this does not have to be. Especially, when it comes to business, you do not want your customers to feel that you sold them something they did not want. You want them to feel that they purchased a great product/service at a great value and that you helped them. Focus on converting every situations into a win – win for everyone involved and success will be the by-product.
Develop great networking skills and a network of supporters. Find out where your target market is and get involved with their dreams, needs and concerns. Learn how to talk to people and make them feel comfortable. Build relationships based on mutual respect, caring and benefit. The larger your network is, the greater your influence and success.

Most successful people possess all or some of these skills. For some of them these skills came naturally, but for most of them it was learned. Develop and apply these skills to help you succeed in your endeavors. What do you think? Did we leave any people skills out? Please share your thoughts and experiences with us in the comment below.

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Five Areas of Focus to Generate Sales

Five Areas of Focus to Generate Sales

There are many factors that go into the amount of sales you may generate in a given day, week, or month. Sometimes the difference between falling short of your goals and exceeding them is focusing your efforts in the right place. Here are five things to focus on that can help you generate sales:

Focus on:

People. Remember that you are in the people business, so focusing on the individual can greatly increase your chances of closing the deal. Figure out the person’s need or problem to be solved, reasons for hesitation, knowledge of the product or service, etc. Furthermore, remember that these vary widely from person to person. Listen carefully. Get a feel for what makes the person comfortable, and demonstrate your genuine desire to help. Being able to read people quickly takes practice, but will take you a long way on your path to success.
Results rather than effort. You may feel that because you have put in a certain number of hours or a certain amount of heart, that you are doing all the right things to generate sales. However, if your results are less than you’d hoped, all that effort may not be contributing to your success. If something isn’t working, look for different things you can try, and keep adjusting. Keep your results in mind to maintain motivation and continue moving forward.
Creativity. Although you may have a lot of competition in your business, there is only one you. Tap into your individuality to spark some creativity. Don’t be afraid to take more risks because playing it safe all the time may prevent you from learning and growing. For example, the owner of a dancewear shop has an extensive dance and singing background, which she incorporates into her business from time to time. During her slower times of year, she promotes certain items and puts them on special. Any time a customer purchases one such item, he or she is treated to a 30-second serenade by the staff. This seemingly silly practice has gotten the shop lots of attention and even more foot traffic.
Excellence and wowing your clients. A disgruntled client is usually one who won’t return. Make sure you put a great deal of focus on excellence and impressing your clients with your attention to their wants and needs as well as your ability to anticipate and extinguish any problems before they arise. Impressing your clients will keep them loyal and motivate them to recommend you to others.
Asking for the sale. So many people forget this all-important part of selling. You may have a whole strategy in place for making a prospective customer say yes, but none of that will matter if you don’t come out and ask for what you want. If nothing else, posing this obvious question will allow the customer to explain why he or she is saying no. Since each “no” can help you find a yes, don’t pass up the opportunity to hear it. And as is often the case, the customer wants to say yes, but won’t initiate that part of the conversation himself. It’s up to you to get it.

Ultimately, your main focus point should be the prospective customer. Incorporating these points, combined with improving your people skills, can have a profound effect on the sales you generate.

What would you add to our list? Please share your ideas below!

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Three Ideas to Improve Your Business Scripts

Three Ideas to Improve Your Business Scripts

It’s no secret that creating a script for a sales pitch or other type of meeting can be extremely helpful. A script can prevent you from forgetting to include important information, can make you feel more prepared, and can increase your confidence. All of these benefits increase your chances of achieving your desired outcomes. Here are some ideas for making those scripts even better.

Build in time to listen. Much of your presentation probably consists of you doing the talking and the audience doing the listening. However, there should be specific parts of your script where you engage the audience in a way that gets them thinking about something in particular. For example, you might pose a rhetorical question and give them time to silently come up with an answer for themselves. Encourage active listening as much as possible to maintain their attention.
Include a Q & A session. A question and answer portion of your script is a wonderful opportunity for you to gauge how effective you have been in presenting your information. The types of questions asked will give you some insight into how the audience perceives your message. Furthermore, a Q & A allows you to clarify important talking points and add new information where appropriate. To maximize the effectiveness of the Q & A, ask the client to be more specific with a question or to explain what is meant by it. This helps others who may have the same type of question in mind.
Allow time for your audience to process the information and provide feedback. Perhaps you can assign a small group activity where your audience breaks off into groups of 2-4 people to discuss a question you’ve posed to them. Doing so allows you to circulate, give each group some individualized attention, listen to feedback, and make suggestions and recommendations. For example, if you are training a batch of new employees on how to handle a difficult customer, consider assigning them a role-playing activity to act out and then discuss its outcome. As you circulate the room, observe each group, interject and guide them when necessary, answer questions as they arise, and offer positive reinforcement. All this increases the likelihood that your audience will get the most out of your message.

To maximize the effectiveness of your scripts, make sure they are well-rounded and allow the audience a variety of ways to engage.

What suggestions do you have for improving scripts? Please share your ideas below!

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4 Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking

4 Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking

If public speaking is a regular part of your role as small business owner, and you are like many people, it may be one of your biggest fears. Fortunately, it does not have to be that way. There a few easy ways to ease your public speaking fears and improve your skills at the same time. Here’s are some things you can do to improve your public speaking:

1 Prepare, prepare, PREPARE! There is almost no worse feeling than being unprepared. If you haven’t done the legwork before a public speaking engagement, you may feel flustered, nervous, and incompetent. These worries will be evident to your audience, so prepare as much as you possibly can. Write down or type out your content, and frequently rehearse using your notes; also, make adjustments where necessary. For example, if you find that you continually lose your place when reading from your notes typed on an 8 ½” x 11” sheet of paper, switch over to note cards, on which you can write just a few bullets before getting rid of that card. Find a system that works for you. You may also consider recording yourself on video to get a sense of your own body language, and how you appear to others.

2 Show confidence. This is easier than it may seem, especially if you have adequately prepared. You know the material, you are a successful leader, and you have been given the responsibility to speak in front of a group of people. Take pride in this role by holding your head high, making frequent eye contact, and speaking in a strong, clear voice. Give yourself a positive “pep talk” before going in front of the group, and tell yourself that you are well able to give your speech effectively. What you tell yourself matters!

3 Focus on key points, but provide personal stories to balance them. Your main focus should be on the key points, or main ideas, of your speech. If you nail those, the rest won’t matter as much. However, it is also important to give your audience a way to relate to you personally. So be sure to provide a few personal stories that will illustrate your main points. These are the things that people often walk away with as a result of your talk. So choose 2 or 3 of your main points, and plan a brief story you can tell that will illustrate those points.

4 End with a call to action. You don’t want your speech to fall flat because of a boring conclusion. End with a call to action from the audience. Doing so helps give your speech purpose and drives your point home. For example, if you are speaking to a team of employees about improving customer service, an effective call to action might be, “Ask your next customer for their honest feedback before you let them leave. Then the next, and the next, and so on. Make this your new protocol.” Concluding with a call to action also helps your audience figure out where to start.

With careful preparation, self-reflection, and a firm grasp on the content, public speaking can become yet another skill you master. And don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from others either in a practice setting or after the real thing. This will help you continuously improve your skills!

What else would you add to our list? Please share your ideas below!

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12 Tips for Successful Online Virtual Events

12 Tips for Successful Online Virtual Events

When was the last time you purchased or sold something online, or hosted an online gathering or meeting? There are many venues and sites out there where you can use to host events, from Facebook to Forums and more. As a business owner, the big questions about virtual events are: How do you get people to come? and How can you encourage people to buy from you once they get there?

Today it seems like everyone is connected on social media, and that makes virtual events more attractive than ever. People don’t have to live in your backyard to participate. However, there are some specific steps you should take to enjoy more successful events. Here are some tips:

Have a clear goal for the event. Will you be looking for sales? Encouraging people to network? Share an opportunity? Be very clear about what you want to happen so that people who come know what to expect.
Invite several ways. Don’t just set up a Facebook Event and forget about it. Text, evite, call (gasp!)…let people hear from you BEFORE you send the official invitation, so that they know that it isn’t just spam. And then send 1 or 2 reminders leading up to the event, including an hour or so before, so people remember to log on.
Make the invitation special and fun. If your event sounds boring they won’t come. So jazz up your invite with some personality, and make sure they know how much fun your event will be.
Special offers. Be prepared to offer a discount, promotion, or other special to encourage attendance. People are more likely to come when there’s something it in for them.
Be brief. Most online events are most successful when they are 30 minutes or less.
Pick up the pace. Online, pace is everything. So be sure to keep things moving with new content and conversation pretty regularly during your event, so people remain engaged.
Make it visual. Images and video clips can help your event remain engaging. Have several of these prepared so you can share them at the right moments during your event.
Don’t overwhelm. If you try to pitch too many products or too many details, chances are you’ll turn off your audience. Instead, focus on a handful of reasonably-priced products or a few well-chosen details and schedule follow-up conversations with those who would like to learn more.
Be social. Make sure you provide plenty of prompts and opportunity for conversation. People are more likely to convert if they are having fun interacting with others.
Provide a call to action. At the end of your event, be sure to provide a clear call to action related to your goal. If you want people to shop, tell them (and offer free shipping if they do so in the next 15 minutes(! If you want people to join, give them a link where they can do it. But be sure to ask for what you want, and provide an incentive to do it within the next 15 minutes.
Get their contact information. Online events are a wonderful way to make new connections, but be sure to follow up! The personal connection you can make with people comes after the online event is over. So send a message to each attendee asking if they have any questions, offering help based on conversations they’ve had during the event, and so on. The personal touch is likely to encourage those on the fence to make the leap.
Stay online after the event. Some people may not share their questions during the event. So be sure you let them know you’ll be around for another 30 minutes to offer personal service, answer questions, and provide help. The more available you are, the more likely it is that you’ll reach your goals for the event.

Today, online events are a part of the ever-evolving business landscape, and the ways we do business create great opportunities for those who can keep up and make business social. When you solve problems and position your business as easy and reliable, you can win customers who keep coming back, and refer their friends.

Have you attended or run online events for your business? What was the experience like? What would you like to improve about the experience? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments!

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Five Ways to be Unforgettable

Five Ways to be Unforgettable

The most effective networkers and salespeople have certain qualities that make them unforgettable. Whether you are meeting a prospective customer or presenting a new marketing campaign to your staff, it is important that you leave a lasting impression. Your impression is as important as your content, so keep the following tips in mind when you want to leave a memorable impression.

1 Maintain a positive attitude. Your own attitude about what you are saying is the first thing that people will notice. Not only must you truly believe in your words, but you must display a positive attitude and enthusiasm as well. Demonstrate this with your bright smile and light-hearted tone of voice. Most importantly, let your personality shine through, and your positive attitude will be contagious.

2 Use logic in your presentation. Using facts and reason injects logic into your presentation, and if done effectively, can eliminate any doubt or hesitation. For instance, in a sales pitch to a prospective customer about high end cutlery, one experienced representative always asks the customer to show him the drawer full of cheaper, lower quality knives that are no doubt stashed in the kitchen. The salesperson then asks how often the customer must replace the utensils and how much it costs each time. After showing the prospect on paper the amount that has been spent on low quality products over the last ten years, he then presents the cost of his product to show that because it never needs replacing, the customer is actually saving money in the long run. Numbers don’t lie, so this is an effective way to use logic in a presentation.

3 Tap into emotions. Logic will take you far, but not all the way. Your prospect needs to feel something about your content in order to take immediate action. The cutlery salesperson can tap into a customer’s feeling of accomplishment after preparing a delicious meal for her family with ease. A team leader can tap into the staff’s excitement about beating out the competition with the new marketing strategy. Do your research ahead of time to find out the best way to appeal to people’s emotions.

4 Be concise. No matter how infused your presentation is with a positive attitude, logic, and emotional appeal, it will all mean nothing if you go on for too long. Say only what is necessary, and don’t lose focus by going off on tangents or straying from the topic at hand. Be respectful of others’ time and mindful of average attention spans.

5 End with a creative idea that has impact or something visually powerful. The ultimate part of your presentation must be memorable. Don’t waste the opportunity to pack one last punch by summing up what you’ve already said. End with a creative call to action or a stunning visual that will solidify your overall presentation. The cutlery representative, for example, strategically places his different product samples throughout the customer’s kitchen during the pitch, and ends with asking him or her to take a good look at this new and improved cooking space. Having given the customer’s kitchen a makeover of sorts has a lasting impact and provides a visual that is hard to refuse.

The keys to being unforgettable are to truly believe in what you are presenting and to infuse your own individuality into your pitch. What would you add to our list? Please share your ideas below!

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Becoming a Money Wise Woman

We have only to examine a few statistics to understand why it’s important to become educated on financial issues and begin planning our futures now. Between raising children and taking care of parents, women are losing an average of 14.7 years from the workplace. A woman who is out of the work force for one year must work five years to recover lost income, pension coverage and promotional opportunities. In spite of our best intentions, between the 43% divorce rate and the fact that women tend to live seven to ten years longer than men, the reality is that if we aren’t already, most of us are going to be the sole person responsible for our financial security at some points in our lives.

Marcia Brixey

Women are by nature, caretakers. We take care of our children, husbands, partners, grandchildren and parents. We take care of everyone, but ourselves. But, ladies we need to be proactive and make an investment in ourselves. The investment we make now will determine our quality of life both financially and personally in the years ahead.

I wrote this in my first Kitsap Sun article – Becoming a Money Wise Woman in January 2003. Although 10 years later the statistics are still much the same, Money Wise Women has provided thousands of women with the tools and education to live financially healthy. More than 6,600 women have attended 70 Money Wise Women Conferences in Washington, California, Idaho and Oregon since November 2002.

Several years ago Money Wise Women joined forces with the Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF) to educate and empower women on their financial and business goals through the Money Wise Women Teleseminar Series. The free teleseminars (thanks to DSEF’s sponsorship) cover a variety of topics relating to finance and business. Topics include investing, credit reports, credit card debt, goal setting, time management and much more.

Each monthly listeners have the opportunity to listen live to my interview with powerful women who are experts in their field. We tape the teleseminar allowing women to listen and learn at their leisure in the comfort of their own home. Upcoming Money Wise Women Teleseminars include:

Treating Your Business Like a Professional with Deb Bixler
May 7, 2013
A Single Woman’s Guide to Retirement with Jan Cullinane
June 11, 2013
Calling All Super Complainers with Michele Corey
July 9, 2013
A Man is Not a Financial Plan with Candace Bahr and Ginita Wall
August 13, 2013
Business in the You Economy with Tara Gentile
October 8, 2013
Communicating with Many Generations with Jennifer Fong
November 12, 2013

If you’re ready to get financially healthy and/or take your business to the next level visit Money Wise Women Teleseminar website – www.moneywisewomengetsmart.com to listen to past teleseminars and sign up for upcoming teleseminars.

“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.” Goethe

About Marcia Brixey

During her 26 years working for the Social Security Administration Marcia Brixey met thousands of women who experienced financial difficulties resulting from a personal crisis – husband’s death, divorce, illness or loss of a job. In August 2002 she founded Money Wise Women Educational Services to ensure every woman is financially articulate, confident, secure and independent. Today she hosts and speaks at Money Wi$e Women Conferences throughout the Western United States. Marcia also hosts the popular Money Wi$e Women Teleseminar Series. She is the author of The Money Therapist: A Woman’s Guide to Creating a Healthy Financial Life (Seal Press). Ms. Brixey regularly blogs for Money Wise Women and Forbes.com.

Ms. Brixey’s been the featured speaker at numerous conferences including the Women’s Money Conference in Reno and Las Vegas; Central California Women’s Conference in Fresno, CA; Prudential Financial Stepping Out Conference in Santa Clara, CA and Chicago IL; Choice Hotels Convention in Orlando, FL; Oklahoma Society of CPAs Invest in Herself: Journey to Financial Freedom Conference in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, OK; Washington State Employed Women in Vancouver, WA; Today’s Woman Expo in Boise, ID; Invest in Yourself Strategies for Women Conference in Costa Mesa, CA; and Northwest Women’s Show, Seattle WA and Portland OR. She’s also spoken at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI.

Marcia is a former columnist for The Kitsap Sun newspaper, which serves the Kitsap Peninsula in Western Washington. She has been a guest on Northwest Afternoon (Seattle, KOMO TV), View from the Bay (San Francisco, ABC affiliate), Good Day Sacramento, About the Money (Seattle, PBS affiliate) and Sonoran Living Live (Phoenix, ABC15 TV). Marcia’s been interviewed on numerous radio shows and featured on CBS Report of the Week with Brian Banmiller. Marcia’s print media appearances include Quick and Simple, Redbook, Family Circle, Reader’s Digest, Ladies Home Journal, Puget Sound Business Journal, Seattle Woman Magazine, and US News and World Report. She is a member of the My Own Business Institute Advisory Panel. Ms. Brixey received the 2006 YWCA Woman of Achievement award in Kitsap County.

Marcia was inspired to take early retirement from her public relations job with the Social Security Administration in August 2002 after reading the quote “Our purpose in life is to find our gift, perfect it and give it back to others”. Ms. Brixey’s experience with the Social Security Administration includes District Manager, Supervisor, and Public Relations Specialist. She graduated from California State University, East Bay with a B.S. degree in Business Administration.