Business Lesson #1 from FEARLESS! The Musical . . .

 “Nothing Is Ours But Time”

Song Title From: “FEARLESS The Golden Love Musical” ©2016 Valerie Connelly and Nightengale Media, LLC.

So, how do you make the most

of what time you have left when you

don’t know how much time you have left?

If you’re in your twenties or thirties and have been thinking you have plenty of years ahead to spare, you may want to do some googling on the subject of reality. If you’re lucky enough to still have a living grand- parent, you may want to solicit some of her or his ideas about “time.”

Or—like many (perhaps most) corporate and government executives —in case you thought that your long-range business and career plans will actually work, you’re probably wrong.

And unless you’re in a “first responder,” scientific research, or space exploration position, you’re likely to discover at some point that the plans that work best are almost always those that are informal, immediate, initiated with reasonable spontaneity and constantly adjusted “on the fly.”

Why?

Because “Nothing Is Ours But Time,” . . . and GOOD LUCK! with trying to hold back time or make that clock stop.

When you trust yourself to be fearless, to act (instead of pretend, instead of talk, instead of endlessly analyzing the data), you make the most of the time you’ve been gifted with.

Even when it turns out to be wrong, some action is always better than no action. Taking steps forward increases your odds for success.

Taking action also increases your odds for success of one thing you care most about: to make a difference with your life!

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION          Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

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Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

Business Decision Time:

COMPRESSION or EXPANSION?

Sometimes it’s a clear-cut conscious decision. Other times, it’s like deciding to eat more or eat less depending on your mood, the notches on your belt and what’s put on the table in front of you.

But the bottom line is that –in business–  while many factors and variables need to be weighed, too much time is often wasted deliberating, which serves to host that dreaded government disease: “Analysis Paralysis” . . . where nothing ever gets done, or even decided.

When you look carefully at the downside possibilities of either a business expansion or compression option (vs. potential rewards) –and determine that the risk involved is reasonable— AND when you see a clear path for taking a first step: take the damn first step!

If it doesn’t seem to be working as you imagined, make adjustments — to the path and/or your imagination.

Change The Towel!

Are you convinced the direction is right? Whether you answer yes or no (unless you see insurmountable financial or legal odds stacking up), don’t be so quick to throw in the towel when something goes awry. Instead, change the towel!

What do you learn from listening (which needs to be 80% of the time) to what your existing and prospective customers say about the towel? What’s their take on the changes you make in product or service or facility or staff or pricing or value?

Take away what you hear and learn and adjust the size, and/or the shape, and/or the color, and/or the consistency . . . then take a second step.

“Nobody counts

the number of ads you run;

they just remember

the impression you make.”

— William Bernbach, All-Time Madison Avenue Ad Agency Guru

[With special thanks for the reminder and source to @DigitalShawn on Twitter]

And get yourself in stride for what may turn out to be an endless road of adjustments. While government decision-makers (and competitors of the same mindset) assess and evaluate and review and consensus- seek and never move forward, you can be light-years ahead.

Go for it! It’s all a matter of choice. And the choice to stand still, or to shrink or expand your business is always yours! Don’t belabor it. Be FEARLESS! Trust yourself.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

Why Millennials and salespeople 

need to NOT  start every response 

with “So…” and then– to top it off

— fail to answer what’s asked. If

you’re in the job market, or a sales

presentation, it would be like not

 taking a shower for a few weeks!

Q. Who is your very best friend?

A.  So… Jeremy and Charlie and Kim and Sheila are the people I see most often.

———————

Q. What was your Mother’s most important advice?

A.  So… my Mother always made me eat all my cereal.

———————

Q. When did you leave the house today?

A.  So… I never actually went home last night, y’know.

———————

Q. Where do you work?

A.  So… my company is in the city and yesterday I had to drive in.

———————

Q. Why did you do that?

A. So… I think there are lots of ways people can respond.

———————

Q. How much money is in your pocket?

A.  So… my wallet is in the car.

Go ahead and ask a reasonable fact-fetching question of one of the 80 million people born between 1977 and 2000.  The odds are good that –no matter how specific your inquiry may be– the answer these days often starts out with “So…” and then proceeds to not give a direct answer.

Do these “So…” first-responders imply disinterest? Evasiveness? Insecurity? Incompetence? Un-socialability? Dumbness? Distrust? Early dementia? Lack of self-esteem? Poor listening skills? Disinterest? Societal disconnect? Snobbishness? Perhaps some. Perhaps all.

First of all, according to Jane Solomon’s post on DICTIONARY.com, “So” can be used as an adverb, a conjunction, a pronoun, an interjection, or an adjective. And the “spread” of it into popular use today as a sentence opener, especially among young people, is “probably due to the tech boom” and specifically, “programmers,” according to NPR’s Geoff Nunberg. The GRAMMARLY Blog suggests Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is partly to blame for “notoriously using ‘So…’ to start sentences.”

It’s been suggested that “So…” is the new “Um…” or “Uh…” or “Er…” nervous hesitancy used to fill the verbal air while momentarily thinking about what to say prior to responding, but I am doubtful. “Um” and “Uh” and “Er” are simply sounds.

“So” is an actual word. It is a connecting word. It is not a question/ answer connecting word. It is a cause-and-effect connecting word, and is used to connect a thought, word, or action with a consequence.

A BBC host says that at the beginning of a (non-consequential) sentence, using the word “So” is an attempt “to try to sound important” and “intellectual.” A popular psychologist calls it a “weasel word” used to “avoid giving a straight answer.” Not a good practice for any business, and especially for small business, which is much more vulnerable to “beating around the bush” than corporate types who often seem to thrive on being indirect.

FAST COMPANY says “So…” at the beginning of an answer “Insults your audience… Undermines your credibility… and Demonstrates discomfort with the subject matter.”

Mark Mason in The SPECTATOR, says it’s due to “accommodation” because we try to be part of groups and often simply do and say things that others in the group do and say. It, he says, “spreads like the flu.” He cleverly ends his (“It’s SO Annoying”) post  on the subject with:

“As ye so, so shall ye reap”

So it’s contagious! Some top TV news analysts have begun integrating the (shall we call it) evasiveness into their summary statements. And it’s inching it’s way into the 40+ crowd. Personally, I have no problem with starting a sentence with “So…” unless it’s the beginning of a sentence that is answering a direct question.

Bottom Line: If someone in a job interview or “sale size-up” meeting says, “So, tell me about your (or the product/service) background, you might consider it an endearing attempt to help you feel comfortable, but if you respond (or answer ANY direct question) by starting with “So…” your job (or sale) prospects may very well be doomed. It can easily be received in the same fashion as you folding your arms and staring at the door! Not giving a straight, direct answer can be taken as a mixed message.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

DEAR BOSS:

What can the matter be?

Gallup Research says odds are that your

employees may be costing you a

lot more than you think.

How so?

Fewer than a third of employees , says Gallup, are “Actively Engaged” with their work! (Does that furrow your brow?)

And more than half are “Disengaged” from their work! One out of five is, in fact, Actively Disengaged! (Does that make you snort?)

If you think it’s not true, maybe it’s because some of your people are just good actors! (Does that make you applaud as the cash falls from your pockets?)

But guess what? YOU are the boss. YOU are responsible. You can delegate authority, but you canNOT delegate responsibility.

Bosses who try to “pass the buck” inevitably fail. Bosses, however, who accept full responsibility and who lead by leading instead of by telling, who make genuine ongoing efforts to create a bond with their employees are the ones who help ensure and foster active employee commitment and –in the process– help ensure and foster black ink on their organizations bottom line!

So where do you start?

You start with the decision to start. This is a typically easy and quick step. You either want to be a better leader or you don’t.

Assuming your screen-tapping fingers are still capable of the task, START with a WRITTEN-ON-PAPER-WITH-A-PEN goal of where you’d like to end up, and if your goal statement is ever to work, it MUST be:

Specific       Realistic      Flexible     Due-Dated

If you stick to working through this in any meaningful way and steer clear of attempting shortcuts, this is a typically hard and slow process. But don’t be discouraged, the harder you work at this, the better your odds for success.

Next, review your goal statement at least daily. Sometimes hourly is necessary. Change it as you open new doors, uncover new problems, discover new directions, meet new people, discover new techniques. Remember, a key criteria is flexibility . . . a sudden storm can quickly disrupt a leisurely canoe trip and force a change in direction. Unexpected removal of a roadblock can shorten and speed up a long drive. When you get this far, check out: HOW to make your goals work.

BUT

Believe it or not, don’t share your goals with anyone else who doesn’t also have written goals, or who isn’t working with you on a shared goal. Why? Many people are either consciously or unconsciously invested in seeing others around them who strive to succeed, become failures. Doubt this at your own peril.

Assuming you’ve kept your homework out of the dog’s mouth and actually done what you’ve accepted as necessary, and are getting into the swing of real handwritten-on-paper goals that are flexible, realistic, specific and due-dated, and that you are constantly upgrading them, and carrying them with you all the time and reviewing them as often as you check your wristwatch or smartphone messages, you need to start teaching your people to do the same thing for themselves.

Start them out with a deeeeep breath!

THAT process is a good beginning. But it can only start if YOU start!

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

YOUR MEMORY CAN KILL YOU!

No, huh? Memory can kill? Of course it can!  STOP reading for a minute and recall your biggest life upset… go ahead, but just for a minute. That’s all you need to get the idea.

The more we dwell on past events and behaviors and thoughts, the deeper we dig into the world of neurosis, and the sicker emotionally and physically that we make ourselves.

Memories serve a couple of valuable purposes when they are used productively in the present moment.

• Recalling something pleasant can actually soothe the neurological system.
• Recalling a mistake can help us make a corrective adjustment to a current course of behavior or activity and help ensure greater odds for success going forward.

But when we get ourselves lost in our memory banks, even in the process of engaging positive past experiences, it’s as easy to slip out of the reality of the present moment as it is to take off a glove. The difference is that removing a glove has some conscious awareness attached. Focusing on a memory can easily suck us into a tunnel of no return.

You think this is not about you? Think again. All of us have an inherent instinct to recall past events, thoughts, actions, experiences a few times a day. Some of us are actually paid to do this and build careers around it: archaeologists, CPA s, historians, history teachers, researchers, scientists, therapists, and detectives all come to mind.

And doesn’t everyone fantasize about something that was once great and, conversely, about something that was once terrible?

So what do we do with all this awareness and how does it relate to entrepreneurial leadership?

What we need to do –to be maximally productive at work and in life– is to consciously use past memories as tools for enhancing present moments and for planning future events. And then STOP! When a memory goes beyond present-moment consciousness, it can cause accidents and illness. It’s just like worrying about the future! Both cause stress, actually: DIStress!

Okay, so now that we have that sitting on the table, what do we do to make our memories work for us instead of against us? And how can we help those we are responsible to for servicing with “leadership”?

• Work harder at staying focused and more tuned in to the present moment as much as possible.
• Keep our sights set on what is happening right now in front of us.

And your 5 best “Make Memories Work FOR You” Tools

1) Breathing Deeply (it need not be conspicuous!)

2) Exercising regularly (it need not be strenuous!)

3) Eating foods and food portions with genuine (vs. advertised) nutritional value

4) Sleeping enough to wake up feeling rested and alert

5) Anchoring your soul in a faith-based harbor!

Is that so hard? Well, if we choose for it to be hard, it certainly will be. But since all behavior is a choice, we can instead choose for it to be easy. Think like an entrepreneur about your SELF as well as about your ideas. Be innovative. Challenge. Rise to the occasion. These aren’t just guidelines for building businesses and professional practices. They’re guidelines for life!

Because without a solid foundation of being focused on the here-and-now present moment as much as possible, we will –like an abandoned enterprise– quickly become then-and-there.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

Cold Calls Jolt Business

With FEARLESS! Reality

Love it or hate it, there is nothing like a bunch of cold sales calls to snap a ho-hum corporate or entrepreneurial business attitude into a realm of FEARLESS! reality. (Sorry, had to sneak in the link to my big project!)

It’s the place where the proverbial rubber meets the road, but typically gets dismissed as trivial, or “jittery” or time-wasting (“Other people are paid to do that!”). It’s oh so easy to wave it away with comments like: “I already did that stuff” or “I’m way past that” or “who needs it?”… or some other lame excuse.

But truth is that –something like a cold shower– it’s a great wake-up experience, a terrific way to recharge batteries, and it will definitely flash you back to what’s really important in business: HOW you communicate with a prospect to turn her or him into a grateful and loyal customer.

This does not happen with marketing automation.

It does not happen via email.

It does not happen on Twitter or LinkedIn or Facebook.

It doesn’t happen with clever advertising or cataclysmic branding lines.

Those may all be contributing factors that lead up to a purchase decision, but –in the end– it happens in the flesh, in person or on the phone, or through a referral from someone who’s been sold in person or on the phone. It often occurs when an online-generated order is easily and pleasantly placed — or bungled. A prospect becomes a customer when perceived value of your product or service rises to the surface.

If your marketing program is not delivering the sales you believe are possible, lead your support team to the sidewalk and make cold calls. Have them all make cold calls. Be reminded of the importance of listening 80% of the time, of addressing energy to the prospect’s concerns, issues, questions, observations, not yours. If your team needs some refresher points or sales training first, do it. Or bite the bullet and recruit some outside help. A fun/challenge attitude helps!

Then talk about the process, about what happened with each encounter, about the time and effort involved, and start to adjust your sales program and approach to reflect what you and your team learn from the experience . . . 2-3 days of pounding the pavement will be well spent, even as it may seem wasteful.

The best time to put this exercise to work is when things aren’t working the way you think they should. Can you and your team spare the time? The next question is the answer: Can you spare the lost or inadequate sales? Remember when you strip away all the decorations, the reason for being in business is to engage and nurture and please your customers. And even when this consciousness is present, there’s a tendency to overlook street smarts learning.

Cold sales call selling is like an electric jolt reminder. And if you stay open-minded and pay hard attention to what you and others learn from the process, your business will grow.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

BLOWING  OFF  STEAM

Is For Steam Irons & Engines,

Man-Holes & Rock Star Stage Crews

“Hot Head” behaviors have no place in the workplace (including offices, vehicles, locker rooms, sport facilities, or military missions). Why? Because –besides the increased odds of someone getting hurt– it’s a useless waste of energy that deals with something that is in the past (longer than a second ago!) or the future (more than a second away!).

The past and the future are both fantasy.

This exact split second moment as you’re reading this is the only reality. If what you’re upset with is older than a second, it’s over and you can’t do anything about it. If it’s more than a second away, it hasn’t come yet and may never come. [If any of that creates commotion for your brain, you may want to read this paragraph one more time.]

This is not to say that any time, anger or upset feelings get the best of you that you need to be jacketed directly to the nearest psycho ward. It DOES mean that you need to do a better job of self-control by keeping your mind 100% in the present moment every passing moment as much as you possibly can when you do feel your tolerance level dissipating — or be prepared to face the consequences of losing your job, relationships and others’ trust.

Being a hot head is nothing to

 have cold feet about dealing with!

And this is experience talking, because I have done all of the above at different times in my life, including yelling in an office and banging locker room doors, and making the mistake of dismissing the idea that it mattered. Of course it matters. Leave emotional eruption behaviors to Hollywood where people are paid to pretend.

In case this line of thought strikes you as easier said than done, it’s not! Self-control –even under fire– is really quite simple to achieve in (could anything be more descriptive than what my father used to say): “Two shakes of a lamb’s tail!” if you are willing to own up to the fact that making it happen is worthwhile and that it is, in fact, your choice.

It’s useful to remember that all of your behavior is the result of your choice, or the result of a choice you once made . . . and that if you really want to change, change is a choice!

Okay, so what’s the magic answer? No magic! Just some increased awareness of what triggers your upset feelings and then doing something that you do every minute of your life in a slightly more pronounced way. That’s it. You’ve read this far and want the quick free (no-sales-pitch/no-gimmicks) steps that will work for you right this minute? TAKE THESE STEPS NOW

# # #

Keep your head cool and your feet warm . . . and thanks for your visit!

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

hal@businessworks.US

Your Role In History As An Entrepreneur

F I N A N C I N G 

Adapted from the book 30 DAYS TO THE NEW ECONOMY written and published by Peggy Salvatore

We already explored the potential of the effect of the changing financial realities of the New Economy on your Internet business. Some of the old gatekeepers of investment capital have been supplanted by the ability to reach out directly to potential investors.

For small entrepreneurs, you may only need a few thousand dollars. With the amount of free and low-cost resources at your disposal, you can start a substantial business with little startup cash. That means many people can build their business out of pocket.

There are many benefits to funding your own enterprise. You have no debt except to yourself. You retain control of the business and you own it 100% outright. And you spend your time on your business, not court- ing potential investors. If you can do it, self-financing is the way to go.

If you need to attract investors for a larger idea, you can go directly to individuals. Wise investors (which is what you want) will vet you and help you by making sure your idea is viable and you are able to execute it professionally. Consider wise investors another advantage that you take into your venture.

You may be the person who imagines the concept, but you don’t want to go it alone. Wise investors will look at the credentials of your support system as well as your own ability to execute your ideas. The more advisors and team members you have in your corner, even those part-timers and professional friends, are very important to your success.

You want others to help you hone your ideas, promote your products and services, and be your cheerleaders on days when you need one. When you are looking to attract capital, that team will make or break your ability to do so.

Be strategic about your partnerships. A geek with sales skills might be able to sign up customers and design websites but not write content. A strategic partnership  with a content writer (who may even be in a different country!) who has no site design or sales skills, can accomplish more than either can working alone.

And there’s no legality (besides perhaps a dated, mutually-signed “letter of understanding” to set forth what’s agreed) involved, and no complicated financing involved. What there needs only to be is separate skilled businesses or individuals with mutual trust and ambition. It can work like barter with a split-fee arrangement.

Build bench strength where you have weaknesses

Make sure the human resources you have on board support your mission and can conduct all the internal business processes required to operate legally, ethically and with solid financial plans.

Finally, be realistic about the amount of financing that you need. If you overestimate, you will spend your time raising money for things you don’t need or could easily and more quickly do yourself. If you underestimate, you will get only partway to goal.

A great realistic plan is to start your business in small and manageable chunks with the resources and financing at your disposal, and when the marketplace responds with interest and orders, you can raise the stakes.

# # #

C’mon back TOMORROW 10/9 for Day 24 —

Are you your own Department of Internal Revenue?

# # #

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LIMITED SEATING COACHING WEBINAR:

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Get fresh, informed, proven insights geared specifically to your business market, your biggest problems, your biggest opportunities.

With Hal and Peggy’s wealth of business coaching experience, you’ll learn how YOU match up with what successful entrepreneurs are thinking and doing RIGHT NOW. Get ideas you never imagined. Gain the traction you need within 2 hours — not days or weeks or months. Simply call 931.854.0474 Central Time: 11AM to 4PM Monday-Friday for details, to explain your business pursuit focus and to reserve your seat! $99 total for 2 hours. Satisfaction Guaranteed.

———-

For more information on Peggy Salvatore’s book: 30 Days to the New Economy [© Peggy Salvatore 2015. All Rights Reserved.] click on ENTREPRENEUR NEWS or visit ow.ly/RysnP for the E-book

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US      Peggy@Businessworks.US

Open Minds Open Doors

Thanks for your visit and make today a GREAT day for someone!

Your Role in History as an Entrepreneur

IMAGINE YOUR

LEARNING ORGANIZATION

Adapted from the book 30 DAYS TO THE NEW ECONOMY by Peggy Salvatore

The rapid acquisition and deployment of knowledge means that all organizations that plan to survive also have a process for knowledge acquisition, retention, management, and transfer in their business plan. Forward thinking organizations today consider themselves learning organizations.

As an entrepreneur in the New Economy, even though you may be small, your responsibility is to not only know what is going on but to contribute to the body of knowledge.

• Remember: All the Internet Joe’s around the globe are learning and building this ship together so sharing what you’ve learned and what you are developing (without, of course, revealing trade secrets like product ingredients and proportions or your intended branding or marketing approach) is part of that responsibility and defines in part your value as a member of the global business community.

There are TWO PARTS to this knowledge acquisition and sharing. One is the internal knowledge of your individual product or service and the second part is the external learning about the infrastructure you are building either deliberately or inadvertently by participating in the New Economy.

PART ONE: Internal knowledge

Whether you are operating alone, with a handful of close team members or a cast of 100s, you need to store and transfer knowledge about product development, marketing, deployment and all other aspects of your business to assure continuity.

When you’ve built a global community of customers, they will have questions and need support. Codify, iterate, revise, update, repeat. Consider yourself in a constant state of beta.

• Remember: We said that one of the advantages Internet Joe has is the ability to be agile and nimble. This requires a state of continuous learning which is a mindset of quality improvement. Because you aren’t taking a large organization with you, when you learn something new, as an Internet entrepreneur you are able to capitalize on that information and pivot instantaneously.

PART TWO: External knowledge

The intimate relationship you develop with your customers through their personal communication devices is the basis of your ongoing learning. You are learning what works, what they like about your product and service, what needs improvement and when you haven’t hit the mark.

Your systems and connections are creating the need for the kind and amount of infrastructure required to build the New Economy. When you share what you need and what you’ve learned about commerce with others in the online business community, the network grows.

What we know changes every minute!

. . . and what you do with it will be different

than what someone else does with it . . . So consider

recording it . . . sharing it.  That process puts the next

step on the ladder within reach for all by raising

the net worth (and the stakes) for all players.

# # #

C’mon back TOMORROW 10/7 for Day 22 —

“Financing Your Business” isn’t like car dealership

or retail mattress and furniture “Financing”!

# # #

SPECIAL   A N N O U N C E M E N T

Sign up NOW for NOVEMBER 29th (Sunday Night after Thanksgiving)

LIMITED SEATING COACHING WEBINAR:

“ENTREPRENEURS ARE AGENTS OF CHANGE… Accelerating Your Business”

Get fresh, informed, proven insights geared specifically to your business market, your biggest problems, your biggest opportunities.

With Hal and Peggy’s wealth of business coaching experience, you’ll learn how YOU match up with what successful entrepreneurs are thinking and doing RIGHT NOW. Get ideas you never imagined. Gain the traction you need within 2 hours — not days or weeks or months. Simply call 931.854.0474 Central Time: 11AM to 4PM Monday-Friday for details, to explain your business pursuit focus and to reserve your seat! $99 total for 2 hours. Satisfaction Guaranteed.

———-

For more information on Peggy Salvatore’s book: 30 Days to the New Economy [© Peggy Salvatore 2015. All Rights Reserved.] click on ENTREPRENEUR NEWS or visit ow.ly/RysnP for the E-book

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US      Peggy@Businessworks.US

Open Minds Open Doors

Thanks for your visit and make today a GREAT day for someone!

Your Role In History As An Entrepreneur

I M A G I N E     S A L E S $ $

Adapted from the book 30 DAYS TO THE NEW ECONOMY written and published by Peggy Salvatore

Organizations frequently couple sales with marketing, and we’ll do that here, too. When you’ve defined your markets, you have the basis of a sales program. When your market is global, your sales program can actually be UNcoupled to some extent.

As noted yesterday in “Imagine Marketing,” your customers are connected to you by a personal communication device that delivers content which is highly individualized. Your sales strategy needs to be the same.

For example, if you are selling a weight loss system, you aren’t reaching a single imagined customer concerned about his or her weight with standardized sales material content. You reach an individual with personalized content. You can deliver emails customized with the name of prospects by leveraging the power of email lists.

(We’ll explore the mechanics of this in the next book.)

You can also individualize your approach using your website with a “click here for patients”, “click here for physicians”, “click here for caregivers” approach to sales. As your potential customers “click here”, they can further individualize their search for your products and services by drilling down into your website.

It is possible to individualize your approach to customers for a very low cost per touch using email and websites.

As discussed in earlier posts in this 30-Day series, this is where Internet Joe holds an advantage over large corporations as an entrepreneur. By leveraging social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram, your product automatically has viral potential. Internet Joe makes personal connections with people around the globe and they are all potential customers.

With a few power users among your followers,

you can get exposure to 250,000 people . . .

which very quickly expands to millions.

 On a planet with already 3 billion Internet-connected individuals, you have tapped into only a small fraction of potential customers and already have exceeded a 20th Century salesperson’s wildest fantasies.

Bricks and mortar . . . Uber-ized* and Bnb’d**

Even if your business is based on live customer interactions, such as with a restaurant or hair salon, your bricks and mortar enterprise needs an Internet presence to exist. If someone visits your town and looks for pizza, they will search for restaurants online and your business needs to be there. As a plumber, you may not think you are an Internet Joe, but online presence still makes the difference between survival and massive opportunity.

• *Think of the online/chargecard-based Uber* (private driver car service) business model . . . for drivers plugged into the system, Uber provides income previously only possible with the reach of the old “looking for a ride to California” bulletin board postings.
• **Consider the online/chargecard-based Air Bnb** (temporary home rentals) business model . . . for homeowners plugged into the system, Air Bnb provides income previously only possible for local realtors.

Sellers can be anybody with an Internet connection, but Internet Joe is a true entrepreneurial businessman leveraging the power of the Internet to grow sales opportunities with the immense power of global markets.

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C’mon back MONDAY 10/5 for Day 20 —

Do you believe humanity’s advances solve humanity’s problems . . . OR

that problems are not solvable because all that can be

known doesn’t meet everyone’s needs?

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S P E C I A L    A N N O U N C E M E N T

Sign up NOW for NOVEMBER 29th (Sunday Night after Thanksgiving)

LIMITED SEATING COACHING WEBINAR:

“ENTREPRENEURS ARE AGENTS OF CHANGE . . . Accelerating Your Business”

Get fresh, informed, proven insights geared specifically to your business market, your biggest problems, your biggest opportunities.

With Hal and Peggy’s wealth of business coaching experience, you’ll learn how YOU match up with what successful entrepreneurs are thinking and doing RIGHT NOW. Get ideas you never imagined. Gain the traction you need within 2 hours — not days or weeks or months. Simply call 931.854.0474 Central Time: 11AM to 4PM Monday-Friday for details, to explain your business pursuit focus and to reserve your seat! $99 total for 2 hours. Satisfaction Guaranteed.

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For more information on Peggy Salvatore’s book: 30 Days to the New Economy [© Peggy Salvatore 2015. All Rights Reserved.] click on ENTREPRENEUR NEWS or visit ow.ly/RysnP for the E-book

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Hal@Businessworks.US      Peggy@Businessworks.US

Open Minds Open Doors

Thanks for your visit and make today a GREAT day for someone!