Blogging is one of those social media “fads” that is not going away. If you ever feel skeptical and wonder if there is any reason for you to be blogging, check our these statistics from Social Media Today about blogging:
Seventy percent of consumers find companies through blogs and online articles
A business that blogs generates 126% more leads than one that doesn’t
More than 60% of all consumers in the United States have make a purchase based on a blog post
These numbers don’t lie when it comes to reasons why you should take up the blogging mantle. If you don’t know where to begin, there are any number of blogging professionals (our company is one!) who can help you get started and keep going!
These 5 “tips” are strategies that have made the efforts of many great people grow exponentially.
What are you doing to stay ahead of your business competitors? There are steps you can take to edge them out and here are just five of my favorites:
Believe – Believe in yourself and your success. What you tell yourself is a self fulfilling prophesy. Tell your self great things!
Failure Is A Lie – You can’t fail if you do not quit! Do NOT quit! Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start over.
Maintain Integrity – Have a strong work ethic for yourself and your staff. Be the compass others around you use to find their way.
Be Decisive – Putting off decision-making leads to stress and will cause you to miss many great opportunities that you are exposed to every day.
Become and Stay Healthy – Operate at peak levels all the time! Take care of your mind as well as your body. Rest, eat right, exercise. Realize your most creative moments come from a healthy and rested mind.
Make these 5 things your daily experience and I assure you you will prosper at levels you never knew were possible. This is a great start in staying ahead of your competition!
2015 is fast approaching and it’s the ideal time to make plans for your 2015 networking strategy. Networking events not only help grow your business, but they get you out of the office and meeting new people and exchanging new ideas.
Here are tips to assure your networking efforts bear fruit:
Understand who will be at the events and in which areas they practice to uncover who you might want to meet. Pre-planning means knowing what you hope to accomplish: To collect and pass out business cards? Make meaningful connections?
You don’t want to tell a new connection who you are and what you can do for them (although that is certainly part of it). Instead, ask open ended questions to get to know the other person. When you meet someone for the first time, it should be a give and take conversation. He should give you time to tell who you are and what you do and you should have the opportunity to do the same.
Pay attention when the person is talking. Don’t be scanning the room for the next person you want to speak with.
Mark your calendar now for networking events to attend that will kick your new year off right.
If you want to grow your business, one ideal way I have found to do that is through speaking engagements. If you have a niche area of expertise and want to reach an audience — in a group setting — that is your ideal client base gathering them all in one room to talk with them is a great way to make the most of your time, money and efforts.
When you’re sending in a speaking request you will be asked to supply a bio to the group for whom you will be speaking. Do you have a business bio at the ready? If not, here is information you will want to add to it:
Keep your audience in mind. What portion of your area of expertise do you want to highlight? Make that prominent in the bio you submit. If you’re being asked to speak at a conference, it might make sense to inquire as to the make up of the audience itself — its interest, business or trade and the conference theme.
Look at LinkedIn profiles of those in your profession and see how they present themselves. Use their profiles as inspiration for your bio.
Brainstorm on your top three qualifications and what inspired you to hone in on those qualifications. In other words, what sets you apart from the competition. What makes you the most qualified person to speak on the topic of XYZ Widgets at this conference.
Keep it short. While you don’t want to short change yourself when attempting to sell yourself on a speaking engagement, you don’t want to send a 5,000 word manifesto of your experience since grade school. Touch on the most salient points and those points which, again, highlight your qualifications for speaking to this particular audience.
Take time today to write your business bio — you never know when you’ll need it!
When someone calls your office do they reach a real person or an automated voice mail system? Do they have to click through a menu in order to real a live person? If that’s the case, you may find that you’re turning some of your prospects off.
What can you do to encourage prospects to call you back? Here are some of my tried and true methods:
Answer your phone during working hours. Yes, you may take off for the lunch hour, but for the most part if you’re sitting at your desk you should answer you phone.
If someone is calling you, answer the phone with a smile in your voice.
If you’re calling on a prospect, make certain you speak clearly and also make certain you leave your phone number more than once so they don’t have any wonder at what your number was.
If you leave a message, don’t ramble. Get to the point. Write down your points if necessary. Don’t waste a prospect’s time by making him or her listen to a long message before you get to the point.
While you may bring with you an impressive resume, you don’t need to drop every name of every client into your voice mail. There will be time to share that information when you connect.
End the call with a “call to action.” Whether that call to action is, “I will call you back at 2 pm,” or “I’d love to hear from you and I will be in the office until 5 pm to discuss your XYZ need,” you should leave them wanting to call you back with a plan of action in mind.
Before you make your next call to a prospect, listen to your own voice mail to see if it is inviting when a prospect calls you and whether it shares pertinent information.
