Grow Your Business: Friends & Strategic Partners

 

Your marketing strategy will be more powerful when you build a network of trusted friends. This is a very different category than personal friends. Many women who get involved with a direct marketing line – as well as many marketing pros – will tell you that the fastest way to grow your business is to make a list of all your friends and family, and then start marketing to them first. But have you noticed that when you try that approach, they rarely seem to want to buy from you? It’s frustrating, isn’t it?

So a trusted friend is different. A trusted friend is someone you hold a business relationship with—and with all the advertising we get every day, this is an important strategy. Think about it! Are you more likely to read that SPAMMED email sent to you anonymously, or an e-mail a trusted friend sent, saying they thought you would be interested? Then imagine your trusted friends forwarding e-mail from you to others. Powerful concept!

Trusted friends are business partners who:

• Know your business and respect what you do

• Understand and value the small business owner

• Believe in relationships and referrals

• See potential clients for you in their own daily business

• Will, if the opportunity presents itself, refer business to you

• Are often willing to advertise you on their web site

• Over time, may package and bundle with you

Another way to describe a trusted friend is as a “strategic partner.” Strategic partners are people who are in alignment with your business, and are not in competition; their customers often need what you offer.

Entrepreneurs struggle with this concept. At networking events where I ask, “Who are your strategic partners?” I often hear, “Everyone who wants to be healthy.” Or: “All women are my strategic partners.” No, “everyone” is a lead or someone who might buy from you. A trusted friend mayNEVER buy from you, but is committed to growing your business in alternative ways.

The key is to build a network of trusted friends. How do you do that?

First, determine who they are, and then you will be able to network by asking to meet them.

Once you have met them, it is time to build and nurture a relationship that will turn into a partnership:

• Show interest and care about what your trusted friends do. You must remember to give!

• Keep in touch on a regular basis. Remember birthdays, and milestones. Don’t forget to send things that they will find informative or interesting.

• Be willing to reciprocate. As you meet people, keep them in your mind, can refer to them!

In late 2007, my coaching and speaking business started to feel the effects of the economy. Many clients were canceling business dates, and contracts were not getting renewed. Then, in January 2008, one regular client, who had over 20 days of business already booked in the coming months, slowly started cancelling them all. Suddenly I had no revenue, and I was worried about paying my team – let alone paying myself.

I reached out to my network of trusted friends. Through working my relationships with them, my business is now better than what it was projected to be.

I commonly hear small business owners say, “I just do not have time for it, Ann.” I am glad I took the time to build a network of trusted friends, because the payoff is tremendous! So make time for it, and you too will benefit!

Source: excelle.monster.com

Why Your Team Matters More Than You

Ilya Pozin, Contributor

Contrary to popular belief, the success of a business isn’t ensured by an amazing CEO or even the work of a few all-star employees — it’s all about the team. Even without your key players, your business should function without change.
In light of the recent news regarding the health of Google CEO Larry Page, companies everywhere should be considering how their business would function if their CEO stepped out of the picture. Would you “keep calm and carry on” as usual, or would your company take an irreversible stumble? One thing’s for certain: a strong team will keep you afloat in a variety of both foreseen and unforeseen situations.
The future of your company shouldn’t depend on you–whether you’re the manager, CEO, or unanimous company superstar. It depends on a well-rounded, unwavering team. But working for your team, rather than having them work for you, isn’t so simple in the heavily structured, management-focused settings companies have come to thrive in today.
Kick your bad habits and put your team first. Here are seven ways to ensure every employee is able to step up to the plate without a second thought:
1. Build a strong foundation. Set the teamwork bar high from the beginning. If your company culture and mission don’t encompass the power of team-focused efforts, there’s no way to ensure your company’s strength will lie in the team. Your employees need to know that you work for them, and not the other way around.
2. Empower your employees. Every one of your employees has something they can bring to the table. Since you work for your team, it’s your job to find out where your employees excel individually. Highlight their strengths and challenge them to set an example for others. This will not only increase their interest in staying on top of their game, but also motivate them to live up to their reputation. Even when you’re not in the office, they’re still going to want to retain their image.
3. Establish goals. You can’t have a team without a vision. Throw out the idea of your employees acting as task-doers and let them collectively achieve goals within teams. Establish your company’s teams and give each one a goal to accomplish in a short timeframe. This will allow your employees to focus on the big picture, rather than accomplishing smaller tasks. Working toward team goals will benefit your employees sense of ownership and responsibility — positively impacting your company from the inside out.
4. Learn to delegate. Place your trust in your employees. If you’re a micromanaging perfectionist, you can kiss your team-focused culture and project ownership goodbye. Set your teams on the right path by delivering the big picture message and the measurable outcomes — the rest is up to them. Your delegation efforts will allow them to work creatively to get things accomplished, and they may even surprise you in the process.
5. Let them figure it out. If you swoop in every time there’s a problem, how can your employees ever solve things on their own? Giving orders to your employees may seem easy, but it leaves them out of the decision-making process. Stop telling your employees what to do and start asking them how they would do it themselves! You will immediately increase team autonomy, responsibility, motivation, and create a powerful change in the way your employees make decisions.
6. Recognize their efforts. Praise is the key ingredient for boosting motivation and engagement. Want a more inspired team of employees? Tell them what they’re doing right and encourage them to continue onward. Too many employees think of their manager or CEO as the most critical member of the company. Remove this stereotype and be the person to give the necessary pat on the back. This also makes the occasional call for improvement easier to swallow.
7. Remove hierarchy. Your teams don’t need a manager, I promise. “All for one, one for all” should be your employees’ new motto. By removing the project manager or supervisor, your staff will feel empowered to work together as a team and the structure will form naturally. Your employees will want to go the extra mile for the good of the entire team and the accomplishment of a goal. Why? Because there’s nothing worse than letting down your entire team.
If you let the power of your business lie in the hands of one or two people, you’ll be certain to fail in their absence. Build a team-focused business to keep you afloat under any circumstance.


Source:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2013/05/22/why-your-team-matters-more-than-you/

Recruiting and Molding Leaders

4/09/2013 @ 7:36AM 

"A product or service is only as good as the individual people behind the solution. A firm’s most substantial asset comes into the office every morning and leaves every evening"

All companies will face setbacks, but it’s those who mold leaders that will be successful and that are going to endure the downs and fully take advantage of the ups. Leadership should resonate throughout any great company and that leadership begins with you.
While hiring the right managers will put your organization on the right track, the long-lasting, most successful organizations build leaders, show the good how to become great and, ultimately create an environment conducive to confidence, competitiveness and company dedication.
This can start today and here are 4 ways to do so:

1. Allow for creativity – Leaders are optimists that are consistently looking for better processes and who are not afraid to take risks. Leaders are creative; they have a multitude of ways to reach the desired goals and when your firm allows implementation and open collaboration regarding these processes, you’ll begin to see significant growth amongst your employees.

2. Have a core vision and relentlessly pursue it – The best companies serve a purpose. They stand for something and the employees embrace these visionary ideologies.
Specifically, they preach innovation, integrity, respect for individual initiative, tolerance for honest mistakes, product quality and reliability, reward based on merit and continuous improvement.

3. Let the employees know where they stand, recognize success and confront failure – Where positive reinforcement is due, provide your team with that positive energy. Where improvement is needed, voice those concerns. Give constant feedback and differentiate amongst your top performers and laggers.
Leadership is built on differentiation. For employees to grow, they need to know where they stand and they need an authentic, visionary boss to constantly provide feedback…both positive and negative.

4. Teach resilience – Every leader makes mistakes; every leader trips and falls. The question is whether you can motivate the individuals to regroup and get going again with a renewed energy. Resilience doesn’t happen overnight nor is it present in average organizations.
Rather, great companies take the time to mold employees who can lose an account, get their confidence shaken, but then get right back on track. Never giving up is best done by example, not words.
In the end Surround yourself with people better, faster and more intelligent than you. Hire the right employees and, from day one begin to grow them on both a personal and professional basis. It takes no additional money and is the best use of your time as the true leader of your company.

Ken Sundheim, Contributor

"I live, write and love sales, marketing, recruiting and small biz."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensundheim/2013/04/09/recruiting-and-molding-leaders/

Getting to Know Your Networking Partners

by Kelli Holmes 

Once you have begun your journey of doing better, smarter business with Relationship Marketing, there will come a time when you need to take those relationships to the next level.  You have worked on building relationships with your “Power Partners” and other members in your networking group and with the professionals in your local chamber of commerce, perhaps also a community service organization or in your own personal/social sphere.  But do you really know them?  Better question, do they really know you? 

Getting together for a meeting once a week or once a month is good, but what would happen with your relationships if you invested the time to meet with your networking partners outside of the normal networking meeting, business mixer, committee or board meeting?  At TEAM Referral Network we call these meetings “Coaching Sessions”.

“Coaching Sessions”

For your networking partners to refer business to you, they must first get to know who you are and what you have to offer.  Meet for lunch or coffee with a different member of your group(s) each week. At this meeting, use the time so you can each share information about one another. Getting to know your networking partners will help you give more referrals and receive more and better referrals.
 

Here is a guideline to use when you get together:

• Share information about who your clients are, where they live, work, etc.
• Share with each other your background, education and any recognition/awards you’ve received.
• Tell each other about your family life, hobbies and interests.
• Talk about other organizations you participate in.
• Exchange literature and/or selling tools.
• Schedule a visit each others place of business.

Take the opportunity to make these “Coaching Sessions” part of your marketing plans for the next year.  The investment of time will pay off in growth for your business!

The Importance of Strategic Partnerships

from: the National Federation of Independent Business

Strategic business partnerships allow small businesses the opportunity to grow their customer base and improve their business.

Small business owner Scott Schnurr, of Plainfield, Ill.-based DRF Total Property Solutions, a professional property solutions business, has seen the benefits of business partnerships firsthand. He’s been working with big-name companies like Sears, Home Depot and RainSoft Water Treatment Systems to better serve his current customers and to gain new customers.

“The main objective [of partnerships] is the true synergy of one plus one equals five instead of two,” says Schnurr.

But gaining new customers is only one of many reasons for forming partnerships. A partnership could mean your business will have access to new products, reach a new market, block a competitor (through an exclusive contract) or increase customer loyalty.

Some prefer to use partnerships to strengthen weak aspects of their business. Schnurr’s mentor, Rob Slee, founder of MidasNation, an aggressive business mentoring community, says small businesses should use strategic partners when those partners can better serve your customer. “What do you really know how to do in your business?” asks Slee. “Do those things extremely well and outsource everything else.”

Schnurr identifies his customers’ pain points and finds partners that can resolve them. Some of his customers were working on large projects that required several contractors. He partnered with contractors who had skills his customers needed—like painting or electrical work—so his plumbing customers, for example, could get all the services they need from one trusted name.

Want to get started? Here’s how:

Map out a plan. What is your purpose in forming a business partnership? Your purpose will drive who you decide to partner with.

Determine prospective partners. This will require a bit of time and digging. A few factors to consider:

• Brand alignment. Do they share similar brand values? Are the cultures of your companies similar? Because Schnurr’s business is faith-based, he’s careful about which companies he partners with. “We’d never want to be in a meeting and have [a partner] say, ‘We need to find a way to rip off our customer,’ when every day [DRF is] trying to find a way to serve our customers,” says Schnurr.
• Location. Is the potential partner in close proximity to your business? Will time zones and long distance travel strain the partnership?
• Complementary products. This might work well if you’re a service business and can partner with a product you commonly use. Schnurr’s business installs water softeners. He partnered with RainSoft , a water softener manufacturer, and North American Salt Company, a water softening salt producer. They get access to his customers, but DRF gets valuable educational materials that he can pass on to his employees and customers.
• Ability to deliver. Both you and your partner must benefit from the relationship. “If [both parties] can’t see what’s in it for them, why would they want to play?” says Slee. Be sure the business is successful and mature enough to partner with you. Schnurr finds that companies equal to or greater than your company in size and strength are best to partner with.
• Target audience. The business must have the same customer profile as yours.

Pitch your idea to the prospect. “A lot of times people are going to think you have ulterior motives,” says Schnurr. “But a true collaboration has to be win-win. Everyone has to benefit.” Clearly lay out the benefit for both parties. You may explain your idea verbally at first, but make sure you put the agreement in writing, says Schnurr, so there’s no confusion about the purpose of the partnership.

Determine objectives and metrics. It’s better to set metrics in the beginning, rather than let a partnership fail due to unreasonable expectations. “What would define success for both parties? If you agree upon that up front, you don’t have surprises,” says Slee.

Don’t be afraid to get started. “If you have substantial market know-how and have a system that’s fairly effective at something, you can do partnerships,” says Slee. “Most people are scared, saying, ‘I’m just a small firm. Nobody will take me seriously.’ If you have a compelling value proposition, that speaks for itself.”

Increasing Business with Strategic Partners

by Laura Lake

In business, it's important to align yourself with strategic alliances. For example, this week I received a call in my office of someone seeking marketing advice. "Laura, I have a company that has a small mailing list of approximately 2000 people. This list is broken out into two groups - one being those that have purchased our product and the other are those who have not yet purchased but have interest in a contest that we were running. What can I do with this list?"

While the company carries an interesting product, it is only one product. So how can we market to this list? More than likely the people that have purchased the item and they are not in need of an additional one at this time.

Many small businesses are in this same situation they offer one product or perhaps one service and do not the have or time to create new offers - so what do you do with those lists that you've accumulated?

The answer is easier than you think, you find other companies that cater to the same audience that you do, but are not direct competitors. For example, let's say that you are specializing in renting wedding gowns - your list has grown and you get fantastic referral business but how can you drive revenue from past customers. You find another supplier or merchant that is catering to your same target market. Take for example a photographer or catering service. Your list would of interest to them and their list could be of interest to you. Although, timing would be the key factor in this situation.

Let's take a look at another scenario. You specialize in selling art. The artwork that you sell has a specific target market. They are professionals with an income range of $150,000 to $300,000 per year. The pieces you sell are very rare therefore carry a steep price tag. While you continually market to your clients and enjoy repeat business, you'd like some fresh prospects. How about finding an interior decorating that is interested in joint venturing with you. It's a win-win. You both exchange lists and send out a special offering to the interior decorator's clients and she does the same. You could also just create a special offering and split the advertising and marketing costs.

The key is knowing who your target market is. Learn who they are:

• How old are they?
• What is their income range?
• What are their occupations?
• What other interests do they have?

If you don't have the answers to these questions it's time to create a market survey and find out this information. By not having it you are d opportunities that could increase your revenue and drive you new business at minimal cost.

When you've gathered the information above it's time to so some brainstorming. Who else markets to these people? What other businesses around me have the same target market?

Then pick up the phone and get in touch with these companies. Ask them if they would be interested in joint venturing with you and creating a win-win business situation. If they say no, time to move on to the next. There will be some who are not interested - but to be honest you find more that are.

What's a Strategic Business Partner and Can I Be One?

by Erika Andersen

I hang out with a lot of HR folks.  Given that much of what we do at Proteus is in support of employees’ professional development – executive coaching, management skills training, team development – we very often work closely with the HR teams in our client companies.

Over the past ten years or so, I’ve noticed that ‘being a strategic partner’ has become a kind of mantra for HR people everywhere.  Generally, they seem to mean, “we’d like to be included the conversations where the future of the business gets determined, and have a real voice in those conversations.”

Lately, I’ve observed that the IT folks, the finance people, and the communication and PR groups are saying the same thing.  And I suspect that younger people in any function who want to advance in their careers are thinking or saying some version of it, too.

So, how do you get invited into those organization-critical conversations?  And – perhaps even more important – what does it take to become an actual participant in them?

One way NOT to do it: force yourself in. I’ve seen people try to do that in all kinds of ways: get the CEO or some other senior person to mandate HR’s inclusion; wangle it into the company policy; use various threats and/or forms of coercion.  This never works long-term. Never.   People will simply have meetings and “forget” to invite you, or pointedly ignore you at the meetings you do attend.

The best way I know of to be treated like a strategic business partner is to think and act like one.  Which means:

- understand the business. Know what makes your company work and what gets in the way of its working.  Get clear about how all the different parts operate together, and – again – what gets in the way of their smooth operation. Become knowledgeable about the competition, and understand how your company is better and worse than they are.  Be able to articulate your understanding.

- get out of your box. If you look at what the company needs only from the perspective of your own function (HR, IT, marketing – whatever it is), you will be seen as tactical at best, and an impediment to the business’ success at worst. Step back and think about what would best serve the business overall. Speak from that vantage point.

- be useful in a big way. Help the line business people in your organization meet their goals. Either do stuff that makes it easier for them to achieve those goals, or come up with and share ideas that support their achievement of them.  If good things happen for the business as a result of you being involved in projects, you’ll be invited back.

- listen.  The best way to do all three of the things I’ve noted above is to start by really, truly listening.  Get deeply curious.  Summarize to make sure you’ve understood.  When you get new information, listen very carefully to hear how it relates to what you already know and what it says about the person who’s speaking.

Finally, remember that reputation and influence are built over time.  If you start behaving in these ways, you’ll begin to be seen as a great person to have around. The more you fulfill that positive expectation, the more it will be reinforced.

And eventually, people will be saying they want to be a strategic business partner just like you…