The Home For Great Common Sense Business Ideas That Help!

If you have a small business and are often frustrated with 'challenges' that take away some of the enjoyment....

If you have a business where you work hard all of the time and it just never seems to quite 'make it' and give you enough headroom...

If you sit there tired frustrated and not yet rich enough to walk away...

then this is for you!

I shall share my thoughts and my ideas with the hope that they help. please, if you feel like you could do with a lift...contact me and lets talk it through! You know what they say, a problem shared is a problem halved!

Yours with love
Ben

Monday 17 February 2014

Show Don’t Tell. Are You Showing What You’re Saying?


Picture this…you are at a networking meeting or at a business exhibition and someone stands to speak as is expected…and what they are in fact doing is a mini ‘showcase’ and a ‘pitch’ so that they hope to encourage you to enquire as to using their services.

For the purposes of illustration, they are a business that does Presentation Skills and they will tell you that they help business owners get their message across in a sophisticated and effective manner…

BUT when they in fact stand you as a member of the audience see that the ‘slides’ are ‘text heavy’ as they have so many points that they wish to put across.

You see that they suggest that they can help a business in manufacturing but show nothing to align the slide content to the object or target business.

You see the presenter is himself referring to the slides for almost every point to be made thus conveying the impression of either considerable nerves or poor knowledge.



Would you be ‘sold’ enough to ask this person for help in your business presentation arena?

You’re right! Probably not!!

Now there might be extenuating circumstances such as a last minute standby person, but basically you expect that the ‘Presentation Skills’ message is not only preached but acted upon. You expect them to ‘walk the walk’ and demonstrate in all areas that they practice what they preach.

And the same is true for all of us. We look with different eyes and without being scathing or rude we judge and asses and form opinions.

We are asking ourselves “Are they good enough to impress me?” “Can they sizzle me and excite me that they might be the key that I am looking for to make more sales?” “Are they going to show me a technique or something that I know will be better than I am currently using?”

When we don’t see it, we switch off.

Thus my question is “Are there moments when we are out that maybe we aren’t ‘walking our walk’?”

For the illustration above, you would need to be impressive. Knowing your content, having an interesting and different style of presenting and probably using better tools in a more stimulating and engaging manner.

If you are selling print then have some print work of all types that shows off what you can do.
If you build websites demonstrate that your own site is exciting and different to look at but is winning you business.

If you are a coach demonstrate that you practice what you preach and if you are saying that you can make other people business better show evidence that yours is better?

The truth is there are a lot of ‘pretenders’ out there and you as a buyer are tuned into that …and your BS radar is pretty high! Expect everyone to have the same ‘guard’ before they buy or enquire from you and absolutely go out of your way to demonstrate what you do.

Show don’t tell.

Simple but hugely effective, and so rarely the case! Be the one that stands out for being congruent….and in doing so have an awesome week.

Yours with love

Ben x

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Show Me That You Care


You’re in business…you want more clients…you don’t know me and you don’t really care…and it doesn’t matter at the end of the day, you just need to get on with it and make some business happen.

Is that the best attitude to growing your business?

I wonder.

You see if I were buying, the strongest persuader in any persons arguments would be that you actually want to help me not merely sell to me.

Like you I am sure, I have had thousands of people say that they can sell me a solution that really will help my business and that they know will be a good purchase because they have a list of reasons and past performances to base that upon….

BUT in truth I don’t know them, they don’t know me and bluntly it is pretty certain that they will be giving me something almost ‘out of the box’.
I am not ‘out of the box’ I know that my business circumstances, pains and aspirations are different. You probably do too.

And so, f that were you being approached by a person selling their services, how would you feel?

Would you feel like buying? Would you feel that the salesperson is genuine or are they merely telling you what they tell everybody?

If you did buy would you be treated differently or lost amongst all of the other customers who paid for the solution? And how could you gauge this before you commit?

Sadly I still see so many people who are out there in small business world and whilst trying hard and meaning well they really are missing the mark. They really do approach a prospective client with a pretty formulaic and non-personal solution offering.

The personal skill are often quite high and they come across as nice and genuine…but cynically, when you step aback and question how you feel you possibly don’t feel as though this nice and attentive manner will be quite the same after you have purchased!!

Thus, I can only ever advocate one simple approach – be genuine and show that you care. When you are ‘selling’ or looking for new business, be deliberately and consciously mindful of how it feels when someone shows that you really aren’t cared for as a person and then turn that around. Care for the person. And don’t fake it. Be real. Care or get out.

You see, in my book, selling is a profession to be proud of. Selling is THE key ingredient that spins all of our wheels…but selling is only ever to be done when it genuinely helps the person buying.

To genuinely help it needs to be personalised…and it cannot be personalised if the selling process is speedy and the process generic.

You have to sell in order to make your business spin…and there is always some pressure on ‘numbers’ and ‘time’ as there are a million things to do…and so I appreciate the pressure but warn against speeding up.

Speed usually means less attention…less human more ‘business’…and I believe that more human means in the end more business.

So, try slowing down this week and try deliberately not talking about what you do or how ‘it’ might work for them. Try concentrating on ‘human’ not ‘solution’…and try to focus on the person and caring.

I recognise that you probably do care and that at core you aren’t a cold business machine…but that you find it challenging sometimes when there is so much to do…but I urge you to fight that and slow down.  When out ‘selling’, slow down and care.

You WILL create greater connection and spin more business in all areas eventually.

And besides, slowing down and engaging more is always nicer so you will enjoy your day more!

And with that thought in mind I wish you a more enjoyable and ‘human’ day and week.
With love always

Ben x