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Other Added - Marketing Without Ego
Take a moment to reflect on the current reality of your business. Is it everything you dreamed it would be or is it more like a nightmare?Regardless of the current reality, your business can always improve. But how do you grow your business from its current reality to the business of your dreams?In order to take your business to new heights, you can't just take steps towards improvement... You have to take a leap!Here are some tips to help you create the business of your dreams:1. Increase Your (Ideal) Client Base:Take some time to create your ideal client profile. Yes, your profile will include such attributes as: pays on time and easy to work with. But dig much deeper than that. Do you want a client who is respectful of your time?What about a client who values your services and what you have to offer -- and is willing to pay for that value? And speaking of value, don't limit your ideal client attributes to someone who can afford to pay for your services. Include such qualities as: passionate about their business, has integrity, and believes in treating people with respect.
3. Serve others instead of ourselves. Most of us are in business
With client expectations higher than ever before, and the gradual industry recovery ahead, consulting firms will need to focus more than ever on carefully identifying and serving the right clients.Based on a recent interview with Brad Smith, VP of Research at Kennedy Information Inc., industry growth data prove that this is a great time to “niche thyself” and capitalize on targeted industry opportunities.Consulting industry growth has been declining for three years, and more consolidation is ahead. According to Smith, “Systems integration and consulting industry growth is expected to grow only 1% in 2004, 3% in 2005, and 4% in 2006.”For now, the double-digit growth of the late 1990’s is a distant memory. Thankfully, three industry sectors are looking quite attractive for IT leaders and consultants to pursue.Healthcare is projected to grow between 8%-9% between 2005-2006. Public Sector is estimated to grow between 4%-5%, and Financial Services between 3%-4%.Another strategic trend to seriously consider is that the services behemoths are getting bigger--and are willing to take on more risk.The new CEO of Accenture, Will
If it’s all about us, then it isn’t about our customers. It’s imperative that we are aware of how we conduct our selves and the impact it may be having on our success.
Our ego, however, can serve us as well. Our ego can help us in setting boundaries and standards of performance. It can give us the confidence to know we can make a positive difference for our clients. If we can’t believe in what we do, no one else will.
Ego, in a healthy way, is about playing to our strengths and not to our weaknesses. How can we step away from our ego and market our business more effectively?
1. Maintain an open mind. When we come from a place of ego, we tend to be narrowly scoped. Usually we have difficulty seeing beyond what we can understand. We think we know the only way, that we have all of the answers. Business success, however, demands that we see the bigger picture. We must be open to new ideas, trends, opinions, and most importantly, to the variety of potential customers or clients with whom we’ll undoubtedly interface. An open perspective may lead us to developing new and innovative products or programs. It may allow us to seek out others who we might otherwise dismiss, possibly creating the opportunity for strategic business alliances or partnerships. An open mind opens us up to opportunities.
2. Listen more than you speak. It’s been said that we were given two ears and one mouth so that we could listen twice as much as we speak. While there is definitely merit to this statement, it really goes one step deeper. Almost every single time we speak, we are speaking from a place of ego. We are talking about ourselves, something we saw, something we did, something we have an opinion about. While that is all good and fine, when it comes to business we need to make some adjustments. Business is about serving the needs of others, specifically your target market. It’s all about them. To be successful, you need to listen to what they say. What are their biggest problems, needs, and desires? What are they looking for you to do for them? How can your products or services solve their problems? The only way to determine that is by listening closely and carefully. When you speak, come from a place of inquiry and curiosity. And, make sure that everything you speak about relates back to the client in some way.
3. Serve others instead of ourselves. Most of us are in business
Any entrepreneur knows that being an business owner is more about sales than anything else, whether it is hot tar roofing, algae scraping or pooper scooping. It doesn’t matter what you do, you must be a sales person to make a business work. One method that has continually proven successful for many businesses, including mine, is regular networking.Now I know what you all are thinking, “if I have to eat one more rubber chicken dinner with a bunch of people that I will never hear from again, I am going to poke my eyes out with a spoon”. Fear not, I have the magic steps to make networking one of your most successful investments.Do I have to eat the food?Ok, so the rubber chicken isn’t the best bang for your $50, but it isn’t the grub we are after is it? We want to see that cash in our pockets at the end of the month. We want to build our current client relationships and make new ones while they are all in one room, not by making 50 different cold calls to 50 different offices. So get your Imodium and your business cards ready!Here are 7 steps to make networking work for you!1. Sign up for at least 2 different networking groups and
Ego, in a healthy way, is about playing to our strengths and not to our weaknesses. How can we step away from our ego and market our business more effectively?
1. Maintain an open mind. When we come from a place of ego, we tend to be narrowly scoped. Usually we have difficulty seeing beyond what we can understand. We think we know the only way, that we have all of the answers. Business success, however, demands that we see the bigger picture. We must be open to new ideas, trends, opinions, and most importantly, to the variety of potential customers or clients with whom we’ll undoubtedly interface. An open perspective may lead us to developing new and innovative products or programs. It may allow us to seek out others who we might otherwise dismiss, possibly creating the opportunity for strategic business alliances or partnerships. An open mind opens us up to opportunities.
2. Listen more than you speak. It’s been said that we were given two ears and one mouth so that we could listen twice as much as we speak. While there is definitely merit to this statement, it really goes one step deeper. Almost every single time we speak, we are speaking from a place of ego. We are talking about ourselves, something we saw, something we did, something we have an opinion about. While that is all good and fine, when it comes to business we need to make some adjustments. Business is about serving the needs of others, specifically your target market. It’s all about them. To be successful, you need to listen to what they say. What are their biggest problems, needs, and desires? What are they looking for you to do for them? How can your products or services solve their problems? The only way to determine that is by listening closely and carefully. When you speak, come from a place of inquiry and curiosity. And, make sure that everything you speak about relates back to the client in some way.
3. Serve others instead of ourselves. Most of us are in business
The carwash business is all about customer service and without good customer service you can expect that no customers will ever come back again. If you do a lousy job on someone's car then obviously they are not going to be in any hurry to bring their car back to you next time and pay between $8 for a basic wash up to $20 for the executive deluxe special.Without good customer service, fewer customers will go for add-ons and extras such as an oil change or perhaps an automotive detail. How do you give good customer service at the carwash? Well, you have a Greeter who personally talks with each customer who comes in and finds out exactly what they want or need and answers all the questions if they have any.Next you need a cashier who greets them with a smile and also can answer their questions. Additionally, you must ensure that you do not make them wait too long and most of all; the car has to be clean and free from any dirt.Good customer service does not include an illegal aliens standing in front of their car with their handout for a tip after doing a barely passable dry off job; blocking them from getting in. Good customer service is no
2. Listen more than you speak. It’s been said that we were given two ears and one mouth so that we could listen twice as much as we speak. While there is definitely merit to this statement, it really goes one step deeper. Almost every single time we speak, we are speaking from a place of ego. We are talking about ourselves, something we saw, something we did, something we have an opinion about. While that is all good and fine, when it comes to business we need to make some adjustments. Business is about serving the needs of others, specifically your target market. It’s all about them. To be successful, you need to listen to what they say. What are their biggest problems, needs, and desires? What are they looking for you to do for them? How can your products or services solve their problems? The only way to determine that is by listening closely and carefully. When you speak, come from a place of inquiry and curiosity. And, make sure that everything you speak about relates back to the client in some way.
3. Serve others instead of ourselves. Most of us are in business
In today’s competitive environment, hiring has increasingly become a key link in establishing and maintaining your company’s edge. By attracting and hiring the best people, your company can move quickly and grow steadily. On the flip side, however, poor hires cost you precious time, money, and opportunity. Poor hiring could cost you your company.Unfortunately, hiring candidates who can do what they say they can do is getting tougher. A whole industry has sprung up in the past ten years helping job seekers land a job — sometimes at all costs. You can’t afford to hire someone who can’t do the job, do it with minimal direction, or do it quickly. Fortunately, there are techniques that you can use to ensure that the candidate you select can do the job. We will examine four techniques here — demonstrations, simulations, problem solving, and testing — and introduce a powerful interviewing technique — High Performance Interviewing — that we will cover in more detail in the next issue of Performance News.DemonstrationsIdeally, the best way to see if a candidate is able to do the job is to have them actually do the job. To have them, in other
3. Serve others instead of ourselves. Most of us are in business
Research indicates that we retain only 10% of what we hear; 20% of what we see; 65% of what we hear and see; but 90% of what we hear, see, and do.Every day at work we demonstrate Hear-See-Do when we use a combination of our knowledge, wisdom and skill to perform a task or plan what we will do at a later date. This combination of intellect, insight and ability is called experience.ExperienceOne of my favorite sayings is, “It’s not what you know that counts; it’s what you do with what you know that counts.” In other words, knowledge by itself is useless and unproductive. It’s only when we act on the data, facts and information and apply them in a particular situation or circumstance that we in fact gain experience.Here are a few simple yet profound truths about experience: We learn from our experiences. If they are positive, we tend to repeat them again and again until we become proficient and our skill levels increase. If they are negative, we file them away in the back of our minds as cautions or red flags to be recalled when a potentially dangerous situation
3. Serve others instead of ourselves. Most of us are in business to make money. That end is worthy and necessary to meet our goal of making a living. But, in order to create a successful business our orientation must be from the standpoint of serving others. It is by serving others that we serve ourselves. Of all of the business blunders, this is probably the one that leads the way to slow growth or to eventual business failure. Each day, we need to evaluate our activities. Certainly we must handle various administrative and operational tasks for our business. But, aside from these, all other activities need to be focused around serving our clients. Ask yourself the question: Is what I’m doing serving or going to serve the needs and requirements of my clientele? If the answer is “no”, re-evaluate why you are doing it. You may be wasting time, money, and energy pursuing activities that will have no value. Orient everything you do around serving others and you’ll naturally end up serving yourself as well.
4. Practice humility. Humility or the state of being humble is an absolute must in business. For no matter what we do in life, there will always be times when we cannot control what is happening around us or to us. By developing an attitude of gratitude and being thankful in the moment for things going well, we’ll be able to weather the storm much better when things go awry. Practicing humility means that we must face our own failures and imperfections. It also means that we must know our place when it comes to dealing with others – that we must treat others as we would like to be treated. It demands that we set aside our ego and realize that we are no better and no worse than anyone else; that we are on our own path that is unique to us and for us. There is no place for ego in a humble heart.
5. Don’t get attached to outcomes. Being attached to outcomes is a surefire path to disappointment and a waste of our mental energies. It is our ego that fuels our intense desire to create specific outcomes. And, just like clockwork, this type of attitude leads to disappointment when the desired outcome fails to manifest. No one can control the outcome of a situation. All we can do i
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