Business Success – Lead with Enthusiasm (Part 5)

Last week in this business success series I gave you a simple process to help you execute with focused effort, definable activities and measurable results.

Unless you are operating by yourself, you will have a supporting cast to help you move forward with focused effort, definable activities and measurable results.

Your business success is built on the foundation of your business leadership skills.

When you think of your role as a leader or motivator for business success, think about how you help you will create phenomenal teamwork within your company.

A positive attitude on your part is a start.

It may seem simple to have a “positive attitude”, however this outward display of passion helps your ability to lead your team and it’s essential to your present business success and future progress.

Here are 5 key elements to consider that will impact your teams success:

  1. Shared values
  2. Mutual trust
  3. An inspired vision
  4. Complementary skills
  5. Rewards

My Enthusiasm to Lead for Business Success

Great marketers are those with energy and drive; that’s basic to success in business.

You have to believe in what you are offering, and you have to believe in yourself.

Why would anyone put their faith in what your offering and you should no confidence in it yourself?

When you meet someone that talks enthusiastically about anything from products to movies, and vacations to food… the enthusiasm is so contagious you can literally feel the transference of the feeling from them to you.

And that’s what you want within your team and it’s certainly what you want when communicating your marketing messages to your audience.

The great thing about enthusiasm is that it is infectious. Enthusiastic people are people whom you would want to hang out with.

More so, they are the people who can inspire you.

Thus, when you’ve managed to inject more positivity and optimism in your world just for having something to rave about, you create more success for yourself!

This success is not just in business but in your personal life as well.

So here’s what we’re going to do next.

Below are some personal assessment questions about enthusiasm.

Reflect on each one and give your responses in the space provided.

Define what enthusiasm is for you in behavioral terms (behavioral terms mean what you do and what others see in you when you are enthusiastic e.g. your voice is strong and firm, you go to work in time, etc.). How do you know when you are enthusiastic?

What are your top 3 main sources of enthusiasm?

Call up 3 people who know you personally. Ask them to rate your enthusiasm on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 as the most enthusiastic. Ask them as well to describe your enthusiasm using three adjectives. Write their responses below.

What can you say about other people’s view of your enthusiasm? Do they reflect your personal view of yourself?

Business Success  Needs Team Enthusiasm

How you act as a motivator of others is also an important aspect of being enthusiastic.

A great marketer can sell not just products and services, but sell visions, sell the future and sell a totally different way of thinking, feeling, believing and living.

Think of three people in your business or in your life who in your opinion can use more doses of enthusiasm.

What can you do or say to get them all warmed up? Write your responses below:

PROCESSING QUESTIONS

Does your team have the 5 keys to success?

  1. Shared values
  2. Mutual Trust
  3. An Inspired Vision
  4. Complementary Skills
  5. Rewards

If yes, which ones do you have?

If not, what is keeping you from having the ones that are missing?

Overall, how would you rate yourself in your ability to motivate others? What works? What needs improvement?

Next week we will shift gears in an exciting and productive way with some rock solid tips on being a Rainmaker in your business.

So stay tuned for that.

Until then, be sure to complete the above exercises.

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Business Success Marketing Mindset (Part 4)

In this part of helping you business a Business Success System, we want to look at your Marketing MINDSET.

You should think about marketing every day, and at all times.

Making certain things a habit or mindset can produce returns sooner than you would expect ordinarily.

Marketing is not something that you think about only during your product launch.

If you want to draw the financial rewards from your efforts, you must think about marketing 24/7.

Make it a habit to read about trends, to contact prospective and current clients and leads, and even pick one or two different items from your personal checklist to concentrate on during a specific length of time.

Your marketing schedule should include activities such as, visiting a competitor’s website, writing a press release or composing an email sales letter, starting a direct mail campaign and designing an incentive campaign… just to name a few.

If you have a team of people or you outsource your marketing, then you must have a Marketing Huddle to discuss, assign and hold people accountable for results scheduled every week.

Planning is the key.

Study all your options and check which are most cost-effective.

And if you are a bit wary on investing a lot of time, money and effort on something that you are not yet familiar with, you can always begin work on a small scale.

Things You Could Try Out

Let’s have a brainstorming session. Sometimes the best way to get your creative juices going is to just start listing possibilities without analyzing first which would work and which wouldn’t.

So come up with as many ideas as you can!

What are the ways you can improve your marketing that you haven’t tried before?

What are the things that you should read about to get a better grasp of the trends? The marketing process? Your customers?

Who are the people you should consult/talk to? (Include customers, team members and field experts.)

PROCESSING QUESTIONS

Were you able to come up with many possibilities? It will also help to gather your team around for this process and solicit their ideas. If you have time, you can do some internet research.

Once you’re done, revisit the entire list that you made. Rank them in terms of the order in which you’d like to do them. Consider program effectiveness, resources needed and preference when deciding which you like the best.

Summarize your top 3’s below:

Creating Marketing Habits

Congratulations for successfully listing the things that you can do to improve your marketing.

Now the only thing to do is try to see if we can make all these things into marketing habits.

Remember that Powerteam Weekly Action Planner I gave you 2 weeks ago?

Now you can put that to use. If you need it again, you can download it here.

I would make 12 copies of these which would represent your schedule for the next 3 months or 12 weeks.

Your Weekly Preview

The Weekly Preview is all about setting yourself up to win by identifying high value activities, focusing on them, scheduling them and completing them.

In the “Important Notes/Reminders” section write down all the top 10 things that you can do in the coming week to improve your marketing.

Be sure to use the insights that you have from the above activity for your reference.

For example, you can make reading a particular business magazine a weekly Wednesday routine.

You can make every first Friday of the month your time for experimenting on your untried ways of improving your market.

You can make every Monday your “talk-to-a–customer” day.

Our objective is for you to develop at least one productive marketing habit every week.

The more you make marketing part of your daily ritual and schedule, the sooner it will become part of your mindset.

Make certain you go back to your list at the end of each week to see what habits you have successfully developed!

Okay now…

From the top 10 items you listed, pick the top 3 you are committed to doing and put those top 3 for the week in the “Major Focus Area For Next Week”

In the “Action Plan For The Week” section  write out the individual task required, who will do them and when they will be done by.

This is giving you the micro view on the task to make sure you follow-through on your top 3 you are committed to doing for the week.

Your Weekly Review

Your Weekly Review is about recapping your wins and challenges from the previous week and giving yourself a score based on the results your produced.

To do this, grab a fresh copy of the Powerteam Weekly Action Planner.

In the “Last Week’s Achievements” section right down the top 3 things you are most happy about that you achieved or made major progress on.

In the “Last Week’s Obstacles – Barriers To Success” section, make note of the #1 obstacle you battled with during the week. Also make note of how you dealt with it.

Now, is you go to the “Major Focus Area for Next Week” want to consider that obstacle. Has it it been handle? If not, do you have the strategy in place to handle it?

It’s also a good idea to anticipate any possible obstacles so you can incorporate contingency activities in your “Action Plan For Next Week.”

This single sheet of paper will provide you with focused effort, definable activities and measurable results.

So let’s get to it and I’ll see you back here next with the #1 thing you can do right now to have greater influence as a marketing leader in your industry and in your business.

So, see you next week as we continue building your own…

Business Success System!

 

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Business Success System (Part 3)

Business Success System Part 3

Here’s the next installment in helping you create your own Business Success System.

Are you ready?

Cool!

Let’s get to it.

This week will be a short lesson because this is more about reflecting instead of reading.

That being said, please don’t let the short lesson and the simple exercise that follows to fool you.

It’s so critical to business success you won’t find one single success Business or Owner or CEO who doesn’t practice this in one form or another.

Last week in this Business Success Series I asked you the question:

“Is Your Marketing TRANSPARENT and CAN IT BE EVALUATED Anytime?”

That answer to that question is important because it’s the means by which you gather, analyze, filter and use data for your product and service creation and marketing.

Today we want to gather some data to create a “Motivational Profile” of the most important person in your business…

Your Customer… Clients… or Patients.

Without them, you have no business.

So here’s what to do next…

Imagine yourself as one of your most faithful clients or customers.

By putting yourself in his/her shoes, you can better connect with their personal meaning, why they buy from you and what they ultimately get from you.

QUICK NOTE: Doing this easy exercise regularly will help you to develop an instinct for how you can best serve your market that will lead to growth in your business.

I want to stress again: visualizing your client is about more than being able to empathize with them.

When you really connect with your purpose in business, like a Doctor connecting emotionally to how he/she saves patients lives.

It can energize you in your journey towards continued success in ways nothing else can!

You will keep going when things are tough and you’re tired.

You’ll find a way when it seems like there is no way.

The reason why is because you will fully understand why your business exist… beyond giving you and your family a financially powerful lifestyle.

In fact, every financial gain you get from your business is a reward for successfully serving your market.

So let’s continue…

By being able to feel your customers enthusiasm and wholehearted support for your product or service, you’ll have that easily accessible source of drive to keep you pursuing your vision.

It’s empowering to know that your efforts are being appreciated.

You are not just in business to earn money; you are in business to make a difference in people’s lives.

So let us document and process some of what you visualize.

Complete the questions below:

Name of the customer that I envisioned in my mind:

________________________________________________________

What did he/she wish to accomplish by buying your product/service?

What made him/her choose your product/service instead of the competition?

Describe how he/she felt upon satisfaction with your product.

From your visualization insights, name four affirmation statements that can help you focus on your vision during those challenges times:

No take some time to look over what you have written down.

This is the fuel for why you’re in business… the reason why you must be a Rainmaker.

You see, by being a successful Rainmaker, that means you are reaching more of your market and they are giving you money in exchange for the value you provide.

The more value you provide, the more money you make.

True Rainmakers know this and they practice the art of knowing who their customers are, why they buy and what they ultimate what to feel and experience from buying.

Okay now…

Why would I present this to you as an exercise as part of your business system?

Pretty simple actually.

You see, as a business owner, you are faced with many challenges.

It’s very easy to focus on the frustrations, the problems, the conflicts, the competition, the economy… and so on.

It’s not that the competition and the economy doesn’t matter… the question is “what matters most?”

The moment you lose site of our customers and the people you are in business to serve, that becomes the beginning of the end.

Let me leave you with these three simple words.

  • Attitude = What and how you (the business owners) thinks.
  • Servitude = The way you deal with the Customers, Clients and Patients you have agreed and consented to serve and provide value to.
  • Altitude = How well your business grows in sales and profits from the combination of your Altitude and Servitude.

So take some to to connect with this.

Your business success literally depends on it.

To further help you build a powerful and profitable business success system, in the next installment we will get into the “Marketing Mindset.”

I’ll have some pretty cool exercises and worksheets for you that will help your fine tune your marketing mindset so you can think like a strategist.

So stay tuned.

By the way… have you taken this survey to discover your #1 Profit Bottleneck.

Check it out… it’s an absolutely free survey!

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Business Success Series (part 2)

Before we get started today I want to introduce you to the most powerful single piece of paper you will ever get.

It’s called the “Powerteam Weekly Action Planner.”

I want you to click here to download it now.

Just hold on to it because later on in an upcoming post I’m going to show you how this single piece of paper can 10X your productivity, and double if not triple your revenue and income.

It completely changed my life and business and I’m pretty sure it will do the same for you.

So grab it real quick here and let’s get started with Part 2 of this Series.

In part one of this Business Success Series, we looked at the principle of ‘the right marketing message for the right market’ as one of the most fundamental principles in business.

I know you want to get to making sure you are targeting the right market.

However, there is something important we need to cover first.

In an up coming post, I promise you will get a slam dunk way to ensure you are targeting the right market.

For today however, in Part 2 of this Business Success Series we want to look at how you are evaluating your marketing.

Real quick though…

There are a few guiding principles  about “marketing” I want you to keep in mind.

Marketing is not an event, but a process.

It has a beginning, middle, but never an end, for it’s a process.

You decide it, create it, improve it, perfect it, change it, innovate it, manage it, analyze it and even pause it. But you never stop completely.

It’s an ever-changing series of good and sometimes bad decisions and a unique set of adjustable plans that should over time get better and better as you learn and see yourself evolving and being reinvented continually.

Think of it as an on-going experiment and a fluid reaction and adjustment to fluid needs and changing times.

Always ask questions along the way and remain open to change and study.

At Powerteam International, we focus on the processes which produces the outcomes you desire.

We are about helping you to understand what the process looks like and how to use it in your business so you too can become a master marketer… a kick-ass money maker.

What we call… a Rainmaker!

So let’s get it going here today.

Marketing does not begin and end with identifying the right market.

In fact, I don’t think you can ever retire from marketing.

As long as your business is in operation, you can always innovate on your marketing strategy.

The most successful businesses are those that are flexible enough to change and adjust along the way.

It is important that you and your team can clearly tell whether your marketing is working or not, and how well it is working.

Only with regular and accurate feedback can you fine-tune your approach.

So make sure that you take the time to study your sales progression and results.

More importantly, get in touch with your clients, customers or patients.

Ask them relevant questions.

Being able to genuinely connect with those who trust you enough to give you their money in exchange for the value your offer, can help you unearth insights that you likely will not find in any paid surveys or research.

Is Your Marketing TRANSPARENT and CAN IT BE EVALUATED Anytime?

Constant evaluation is a key element in marketing successfully.

This goes to the “analyze it” as I mentioned above.

You must always check whether or not your efforts are working the best that they possibly could.

Because markets can change fast, what worked today may not work anymore tomorrow.

Transparent criteria are a key element for effective evaluation.

A good performance indicator should be something that can be understood by everyone in your team.

More so, it is not subject to one person’s bias and stereotypes.

For your marketing efforts, consider the following questions:

How often do you evaluate your marketing efforts? Do you feel that you are evaluating your strategies as often as you should? If yes, why? If no, why not?

What are your performance indicators (e.g. unit sales, optins/subscribes, unique visitors, rate of conversion etc.)?

Are these the best performance indicators for your product/service? If yes, what makes you say so? If not, what else is missing?

What are the sources of your information?

Are these sources reliable? How can you confirm their validity? What do you think could be other valid sources of quality data about your marketing?

How about the role designation in your team? Complete the following:

  • Who is in charge of…
    a) Gathering data?
    b) Organizing data?
    c) Studying this data?
    d) Creating new ideas from the data?
    e) Developing an action plan?
    f) Implementing this action plan?
  • When is he/she supposed to do this task?
  • Does he/she knows that this is his/her job? (yes/no)
  • Does he/she complete his/her task satisfactorily? (yes/no)

Is the evaluation of your marketing decisions well-assigned to responsible team members? If yes, what works? If no, what needs to change?

Finally, create an evaluation plan for your future marketing strategy.

How Has Your Marketing Evolved Across Time?

One way to tell if you are open to change and study is to see how your product/service, as well as your marketing strategy have evolved across time.

Were you able to successfully adapt to the changes in the market?

Were you able to incorporate the results of your evaluation?

Let us take a moment to track the changes that you have made to your product/service and or marketing strategy since the time you started in business.

Inside each of the arrows below, track the different versions that you have of your product/service or marketing approach.

For example, if your business is selling baby shoes, your responses may look like this:

(1) sold baby shoes in retail outlets -> (2) built a website -> (3) added free parenting ebook per purchase.

Underneath the arrow, write down what factors prompted the change.

Was it to match a competitor’s idea?

Perhaps to raise dismal sales?

What influenced your decision?

PROCESSING QUESTIONS

Overall, do you consider your marketing as open to change and study? On a scale of 1 to 10, if 1 is the least open and 10 is the most, how would you rate yourself? What made you choose this rating?

In hindsight, were there times when you knew you should have innovated but didn’t? What made you ignore the feedback then? What makes you say that you should have pursued change?

If you were to repeat this activity, this time documenting your most successful competitor’s product/service and marketing strategy, what did they do that you didn’t? What important feedback did they not ignore?

Okay, man…

That was a lot today, wasn’t?

The reason why we want you to tackle these questions is because business is really a battle of the minds of the business owners.

You must first out-think your competitors to be able to out-maneuver them.

You must know how to take insights and turn them into income for your business.

I fact, remember this.

Insights -> Implementation -> Income!

By the way, if you want a quick way to discover your #1 Profit Bottleneck. I suggest you click here to take a quick survey we designed that will give you instant feedback.

Coming up in the next installment of this Business Success Series, we will actually get into one of the critical parts of effectively targeting your market.

In fact, I’ll give you a simple set of questions that will help you fine-tune and master your marketing instincts.

It’s these instincts that will lead you and your company to victory on today’s business battlefield.

So I’ll see you back here next week.

In the mean time, take a few minutes and click here take a survey to discover your #1 Profit Bottleneck.

It’s an absolutely free survey!

 

 

 

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