Dramatically Improve Your Productivity- Hire a Small Business Coach

If you run a small business, does this scenario ring a bell?

You get up, rush through your morning routine and hurry to the office. (store, warehouse, etc). You've been thinking of the important things you need to accomplish all last night and as you prepare for your day, you felt a certain sense of control and purpose about what you were ready to do. This was the day you planned to move the boulder forward and get some things done!

Since you are the first one to your place of business, you need to make coffee. While you are making coffee, you see the message light blinking on the office line extension so you pick it up and listen to the messages. There are no messages for any new orders but several from past customers or suppliers that are not happy and want your immediate attention. You scribble down a few notes, hang up the phone and grab the first cup of coffee as you head to your office.

One of the requests is for a pending order. To check this, you need to log on to your company's computer only to find out it is frozen from someone who used it to web surf the night before. So you do an end run on the problem and start searching through the stacks of unfiled orders on your desk. At that moment, the phone rings and you answer it. What happens next will take about 3 hours to resolve.

What happened to your zest for accomplishing the things you stayed awake all nightthinking about? You had good intentions. You even came into work early before anyone could get you involved in their problems. All you know is, at the end of this day you will go home with the same important things you wanted to do still needing to be done.

If this sounds like an average day in your life, you are not alone. In my small business coaching practice, I work with this issue a lot. If your business is not big enough for employees, you end up doing everything yourself. If you have employees, they all seem to need you to help them with their problems. If you are like most small business owners, you may just be of the mindset that no one can do it as well as you so you do it all yourself.

This cycle of unfocused involvement with everything in your business is not only creating havoc with your intended routine but prevents you from focusing on revenue generating activities that your company needs to grow and stay healthy. So, what do you do?

As a small business advisor, here are a few things you can do to stay more focused on the important tasks.

1. Define your goals- Once you have determined in your mind what you need to get accomplished, write these tasks down. Resist the temptation to create a 'grocery style' list. Too many tasks will inevitably create the same unfocused results. Write down no more than 3 items that must get done that day.

2. Set a time frame- Determine how much time is needed to complete these tasks. This will be an estimate at best but it serves to frame out your focus for whatever amount of hours you project. It also gives you permission to do nothing else during this time than the tasks you have scheduled.

3. Know your peak work period- Decide when during the day you will address them. Most people are prone to working on the important stuff when they feel mentally alert (morning person vs. night time person). Remember, that the later in the day you schedule your focused activity, the greater chance you will cancel or reschedule because you got caught up in something else that is taking longer than you thought. If you deicide to address your tasks in the afternoon, consider leaving the office to reduce distractions.

4. Look forward to being more productive- Treat your 'task time' like a vacation. If you were going on vacation to a place you were really excited about, you'd start getting ready to leave early. Don't schedule or take on a large project right before your scheduled time.

5. Remove all temptations- Once you are focused on the project at hand, eliminate all distractions. Turn the phones over to someone else. Turn off your cell phone. Tell people that work for you that you must not be disturbed. Unless your building is on fire, everything else can wait for 60-90 minutes.

6. Eliminate real time distractions- While working on your computer, shut your email service down. Having little signs pop up with 'You've got mail' is torture to some folks. I would even close my calendar book or software to prevent looking at the next days schedule and feeling like you need to prepare for the meeting you've arranged.

Focus is about eliminating all the distractions that cause you to deviate from your plan. It's also about not being clear about what you need to do and why you have to do it today. Addressing both of these areas will greatly improve your ability to concentrate and increase your productivity. Start by doing this exercise once per week. Once you get comfortable that you can devote time to the things you want to accomplish and your business will still be standing when you return, you will start doing it more often.

There are, however, some work place environments that are prohibitively difficult to control. If your productivity and sense of priorities is consistently being undermined by distractions, problems and dependent employees, consider getting a business coach or a small business mentor to help you reshape your daily operation. In a short period of time, a business coach can perform a business assessment on your situation and immediately begin moving you in the right direction. The return on your investment can be monumental.

Truly successful business owners realize that it is the time you spend working 'on' your business that drives growth, profitability and personal reward, not laboring away 'in' your business day and night.

Verbal Marketing: Is Your Networking Message on Queue

Several times a week, I make my rounds to the various networking organizations I belong to for the purpose of continuing to drive my business through referrals. As the owner of a small business coaching and consulting business, I rely on other people who know me and recommending their colleagues to me. It's time consuming but less expensive than buying news print or magazine placements. It also insures that people continue to see me, especially in the role of an experienced business coach. I've learned that as long as people see you out and about working your business, they know you are still in business. It's one of the most difficult things a small business has to acheive during the early years of operation- visibility.

Of course, if you are consistent with your message and the delivery of your product or service, visibility will lead to credibility. Now, none of this activity is of much value if you have difficulty telling people what you do. Helping small business owners develop highly effective marketing strategies so they can grow their revenues, client base and profits is something I can't afford to mess up on when another person says, "tell me what you do"?

Every networking event that I've been to incorporates common activities to get the crowd comfortable with each other. And of course, we're all there to find business so making introductions seems to be the best way to accomplish both. Here's where I find many business owners losing ground in the message and credibility department.

No one knows your business as well as you do. So, if you have difficulty explaining who you are and the benefit of what you do in 30 seconds or less, how can you expect other people to know what to look for. My best referrals have come from people who know exactly what I do, how I do it and what the benefit is to the small business owner. They know this becuase they have worked with me or been associated with me for a period of time. In a networking meeting, you don't have the luxury of time. You have to peak the interest of strangers and entice someone to ask, "wow, how do you do that".

It's called a 30 second commercial or an elevator pitch. Either way, it's what you say to someone who asks you what you do. Here are a few techniques for perfecting your pitch.

1. Start with something that lasts about 10 seconds. Identify a problem or issue that your target client has and state what you do to address it. The reason I say start with 10 seconds is because you want to be able to remember it so it sounds natural when you say it.

2. Don't be concerned about getting every detail out in 30 seconds. I hear this all the time and it end up being so rushed, jumbled up and unclear, you lose your audience. People's attention spans are about 8 seconds on a good day. If you don't capture their interest right up front, you've missed it.

3. The purpose of a commerical or elevator pitch is to pre-qualify your listener. In networking environments, the challenge is meeting people who can help you find more clients. If they're not interested in you, don't waste time on them. You can find this out in 10 seconds by how they respond to your commercial.

You can have the best business in the world and if you can't clearly tell others who you are and why they should do business with you in 10 seconds or less, consider investing in magazine ads and newspaper listings. And save money of the networking events to.

My business involves helping people with their marketing message. If you would like a complimentary session to find out how good your message is, visit my website and request a business assessment. http://www.BusinessCoachingThatWorks.com

Showing Sukhraj Beasla how to use a casket key

Your Mindset: Friend or Foe?

How’s your mindset right now? Do you see your future as a glass half empty or a glass half full? Is your mind a portal to what you want from your business or a reminder of what you have not been able to accomplish?

2009 has been brutal for many small business owners and a real challenge for just about everyone who has to earn their own way in business. And while we all tend to rely on the more tangible of business building resources; money, time, know-how, plans and support to name a few, the biggest asset any of us has is our ability to control our mindset.

Your mindset influences your thinking, your perceptions, your beliefs and behaviors. It’s the little voice in the back of your head that seems to have an opinion on everything you do or want to do that determines how you feel about your current situation. As a small business advisor, I frequently encounter small business owners that are questioning their ability to move forward and figure out how to do business in a market that has thrown out all the rules to the game.

The reality is; we have a tough economic situation. Many businesses will not survive this protracted belt tightening because they could not see a successful outcome. It’s difficult to watch fellow business owners fade away, especially if they were enjoying robust growth a few years ago. The fact is, some businesses will survive and even grow stronger once the marketplace returns. Will you be among the ones who dominate their markets in 2010?

Right now, I’m watching the Biggest Loser. There are some unbelievable accomplishments from people who were so disparaged, they had lost all hope. What they all have in common is they reached out and learned how to improve their mental and physical situations. They got the support and accountability to stay the course until the results came. They believed in what they once were unable to see. This same transformation can happen for business owners and is being enjoyed by the clients of my business coaching program.

The difficult part of creating a successful business mindset is learning how to control the automatic negative thoughts that are triggered whenever you expose yourself to something that your subconscious mind has remembered from the past. It can happen without warning. Suddenly, the little voice becomes a chorus! Your head may become light. You might even experience physical disorientations. This is your mind trying to protect you from an experience it recognizes from your past.

Take a look around you. What are you watching and reading? Who are you listening too? Do you have the support and encouragement to push through it or are you letting the ‘little voice’ remind you of what your past has produced?

Getting control of your thought patterns and overcoming the limiting beliefs that tend to keep you in a holding pattern is the greatest benefit you can give yourself. A positive mindset will enable you to get much greater returns out of just about everything you do or invest money in. It’s the best friend you’ll ever have!

Having a successful business mindset starts with changing your thinking and connecting with your passion for the business you work so hard to grow. If you think you can, amazing things can happen. If you think you can’t, you are already there.

Addressing the ‘Price’ Question: Sell, Don’t Defend

A few years ago, consumers were buying all kinds of products and services, many without much thought to cost. After all, money was plentiful, available, cheap and easy! That was then but today is a much different story. Today’s consumers are much more consciences of what they are paying for products and services.

So what do you say when the first question a prospective customers asks is, “How much do you charge?” Pricing questions will eventually come up during the course of a purchasing transaction. If they are first on the list, however, this is a clear indication that the consumer has little idea of what you provide that’s different than their idea of the basic service provided by anyone in your type of business.

As a California business growth advisor, I’m consulting with companies in a state that saw more than its fair share of run-away consumer purchasing. Now, most business owners struggle to get past the dreaded questions about their prices and why they aren’t cheaper than the company that the consumer called before them.

Pricing questions are an opportunity to differentiate your business. A full 70% of consumers make purchasing decisions based on the value they perceive vs. the price of the purchase they are considering. These value decisions don’t change over time. The only thing that changes is the availability of money. If you receive a call and the first question is about your price, its likely the consumer doesn’t really know about you or what you do that’s different.

If you are experiencing an increase in ‘Price Calls’, here are some things to do to overcome them:

1. Review all your marketing materials. What message are you sending? Are you leading with price? Do you base your entire ad on discounts or ‘lowest rates around’? Does your website convey a quality service or a price service? Do you have particular ways of delivering your service that your existing customers like, but is not mentioned anywhere in your marketing? If so, change your message.

2. Check your top 3 competitors marketing message. What are they promoting? Are their services in line with yours or are they focused on other services? Are there any areas that they are missing that could provide an opportunity for you? Find a way to differentiate your business from the competition in an area that you know is important to your customers.

3. Have a script for the folks who answer the phone. When someone asks about price before they understand how you do what you do, simply mention that you can provide accurate quotes once you understand what they need. Then, immediately ask them if you could ask a few questions. The questions you ask should strive to understand exactly what they want and what’s important to them so you can sell them on the benefits of your service. If they persist in wanting to know what your price is before knowing any more, give them a range to work with. Don’t defend your prices. This usually has little effect on their willingness to pay the price you ask. Don’t volunteer to drop your price right out of the gate. This only adds suspicion to your entire business. If you feel the need to match a competitor, do so only after you’ve had a chance to understand exactly what they want and what their other price was based on.

4. Be prepared to let the business go. This is extremely hard for businesses that need the sales to stay in business. The danger of accepting low prices from consumers who want to negotiate your prices down is doing work that may cost you. If this goings on long enough, your businesses reputation will be hooked to the low price service you can’t afford to continue with.

The bottom line is; if you’re getting too many people who want your product or service cheap, they are either not your ideal client or there’s something in your advertising that leads them to believe your service is not worth what your prices suggest. In either case, continuing without getting help from a business growth advisor to fix the problem could be the express lane to going out of business.

Successful businesses build their brand images on distinctive, unique or quality approaches, not price. Effective sales and marketing strategies that focus on unique positioning, identifying the right customers and creating compelling messages are the tools that will reduce the ‘Price questions’ and make you more confident about holding the line on price concessions.

Is a Seasonal Business Right for You?

What do Christmas trees and campgrounds have in common? They are both products of a seasonal business! And while they share a common trait of generating revenue during a specific time during the year, they differ in that the Christmas tree lots can be closed after Christmas while the campground has operating costs throughout the year. If you’re thinking of running a seasonal business to take advantage of short term revenue opportunities, make sure it’s more the ‘Christmas tree’ kind of business.

Seasonal businesses have been around for years and encompass all sorts of immediately recognizable ventures from pumpkin stands and fire works stands to ski resorts. Each has a particular reason for being and a defined time of year to generate sales. With the exception of the ski resort, which has to be maintained year round, many seasonal businesses take advantage of limited time opportunities and have little long term obligations once the season is over.

If you’re the entrepreneurial ‘purist’ and like to make money without being tied to ongoing established operations, finding a seasonal business maybe a good direction for you.

Seasonal businesses have their challenges which include having enough cash, advanced planning and getting through the maize of municipal approvals and paperwork. So, if you have the design to try a seasonal business, make innovation the cornerstone of your business plan. As a small business advisor, I can’t emphasize enough the need to thoroughly work through the business idea to insure it’s viable.

Most seasonal business opportunities rely on some holiday period, major event or recreational activity to create demand. Many major seasonal event hosts don’t have the bandwidth to provide a product or service for every ancillary sales opportunity. As long as the product or service is legitimate and adds value to the event in question, you stand a good chance of getting support.

Seasonal businesses also provide a great way to test drive your business building skills or a small business marketing strategy without incurring long term commitments should the venture not be a good idea. If you think the idea through, plan well in advance and create a system that will optimize the day to day running, you will insure the greatest degree of success.

If you have a small business success story, tune into blogtalkradio this Friday where Cash Miller from SmallBusinessDelivered.com and Steve Smith, Orange County Business Coach for OneCoach will discuss what it takes to be successful running a seasonal business.

Marketing Communications: A Story of Tappers and Listeners

Effective communications depends on two factors; a clear message and an optimal channel to deliver it. Over the last 10 years or so, tremendous improvements have been made in the delivery end of the communication spectrum- cell phones/PDAs, text messaging, high speed internet, wireless, instant messenger, GPS and the list goes on. The message clarity side of the equation, however, has not advanced at the same rate.

Whether you are giving direction to your employees, presenting an idea to a client or creating new marketing copy for your website, the quality and clarity of your message is the key to getting others to do what you want them to do.

As a small business advisor, I frequently encounter advertising campaigns which are meant to get people to take action but are so nondescript, they get completely ignored! Regardless of how well you think you know the value of what you offer or what your customers want, sending a clear, straight-forward message using your print or digital media can be a serious challenge.

Consider a study conducted by Elizabeth Newton in 1990. Ms. Newton earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford by studying a simple game in which she assigned people to one of two roles: “tappers” or “listeners.” Tappers received a list of twenty-five well-known songs, such as “Happy Birthday to You” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” Each tapper was asked to pick a song and tap out the rhythm to a listener (by knocking on a table). The listener’s job was to guess the song, based on the rhythm being tapped.

The listener’s job in this game was quite difficult. Over the course of Newton’s experiment, 120 songs were tapped out. Listeners guessed only 2.5 percent of the songs: 3 out of 120.

Here’s what made the result worthy of a dissertation in psychology. Before the listeners guessed the name of the song, Newton asked the tappers to predict the odds that the listeners would guess correctly. They predicted that the odds were 50 percent. The tappers got their message across 1 time in 40, but they thought they were getting their message across 1 time in 2. Why?

When a tapper taps, she is hearing the song in her head. Go ahead and try it for yourself — tap out “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It’s impossible to avoid hearing the tune in your head. Meanwhile, the listeners can’t hear that tune — all they can hear is a bunch of disconnected taps, like a kind of bizarre Morse code.

In the experiment, tappers were flabbergasted at how hard the listeners seem to be working to pick up the tune. Isn’t the song obvious? The tappers’ expressions, when a listener guesses “Happy Birthday to You” for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” are priceless: How could you be so stupid?

It’s hard to be a tapper. The problem is that tappers have been given knowledge (the song title) that makes it impossible for them to imagine what it’s like to lack that knowledge. When they’re tapping, they can’t imagine what it’s like for the listeners to hear isolated taps rather than a song. This is the Curse of Knowledge. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. Our knowledge has “cursed” us. And it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can’t readily re-create our listeners’ state of mind.

In my Orange County Business Coaching business, part of the process is to reveal the message that’s received from the consumer or client point of view. All too often, the business owner’s inside knowledge of his/her business prevents them from fully understanding that their marketing message needs to change.

The tapper/listener experiment is reenacted every day across the world. The tappers and listeners are small business owners and employees, teachers and students, politicians and voters, marketers and customers, writers and readers. All of these groups rely on ongoing communication, but, like the tappers and listeners, they suffer from enormous information imbalances. When a business owner advertises “the value of his service,” there is a tune playing in his head that the customer can’t hear.

It’s a hard problem to avoid — a small business owner might have thirty years of daily immersion in the knowledge and delivery of their business. Reversing the process is as impossible as un-ringing a bell. How do you get the tune in your head to be understood by someone who doesn’t know what you know?

Most marketing programs- phone books, flyers, coupon mailer, etc have a return below 1%. This is even less than the tapper experiment in terms of communications getting desired results. In many cases, it’s not the delivery vehicle but the quality and clarity of the message in it.

Successful small business marketing strategies depend on the owner’s ability to tap out a clear, concise message that’s immediately understandable by the customers they want to attract.

So the next time you get ready to launch that new ad campaign or update that website, get someone who doesn’t know anything about your business to tell you what they heard. Most marketing programs are way too costly to be taking a chance on not getting the message delivered!