Playing The Right Cards

Peter Drucker Quote

Mike Coleman — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:28:04 +0000

“A business exists to create a customer. Because it’s purpose is to create a customer, the business has two – and only two – functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results. All the rest are costs.”

Playing The Right Cards Book

Mike Coleman — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:17:41 +0000

Just finished my first book – Playing The Right Cards: How To Successfully Market Your Small Business or Professional Services. Here is a brief overview of what you will find in the book.

At some point everyone who owns a small business or provides professional services struggles with their marketing. This is usually the result of not having a solid foundation in place that properly supports the business. This book will provide you with a clear, concise overview of marketing that will help you build that foundation.

You will learn how to:

Overcome both the internal and external barriers to marketing your business.
Consistently implement strategies that will build your business.
Clearly articulate what you do and who you serve.
Build strong, long lasting relationships.
Differentiate yourself and your services from the competition.
Put systems in place to build a better business.
Create the proper mindset for running a business.

You will also be introduced to the CARDS System. This system contains the five essential elements for building a successful business.

AVAILABLE on amazon.com

Rosalynn Carter Quote

Mike Coleman — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:27:00 +0000

“You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don’t win, at least you can be satisfied that you’ve tried. If you don’t accept failure as a possibility, you don’t set high goals, you don’t branch out, you don’t try – you don’t take the risk.” -Rosalynn Carter

Building Better Business Relationships

Mike Coleman — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:33:00 +0000

How strong are your relationships with your prospects, current customers, and previous customers? It is crucial to your business that you develop strong, long lasting relationships. I have listed six ways you can start developing those relationships.

1. Be a giver. Always look for a way to be of service to others. This is probably the most important step in building strong relationships. Most people adhere to the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) principle. When you are talking to someone at a networking event, their main interest is usually in what can you do for them. They simply want to know how what you do fits into their business or their life. They do not want to listen to you go on and on about how great you are.
2. Make the decision to like people. This is sometimes difficult because we meet people whom for whatever reason, we just don’t want to be around. There is not always justification for this. It is just a fact of life that we will get along with some people more than others. Either way, we can still make the decision and make the effort to like everyone.
3. Cultivate the art of listening. When making a sales call, the person making the sale should only speak 30% of the time while the person on the receiving end speaks 70% of the time. We get impatient in today’s multi-tasking, fast-paced world. This includes when we are listening to someone. Be considerate and give the person speaking a few minutes of your time and actively listen to what they are saying without thinking about the brilliant response you will have when they finish talking. Be interesting and be interested.
4. Find places you can go or events you can attend that will provide you with an ongoing list of people to call and follow-up with. Be careful how you spend your time. Some networking events are very serious about helping their fellow small business owners and growing their own business. Others are nothing more than social events. Nothing wrong with either of these. Both events provide the foundation for building the relationships we need in our businesses and in our life.
5. Develop a system for following-up with your prospects and clients. This is where most people miss so many great opportunities and cash. They go to networking events, collect business cards, and then the cards just sit on their desk or in a drawer with no action taken to follow-up.
6. Be flexible and be patient. Try to accommodate the other person when possible.

What one thing can you do today to make contact with someone? Put strategies in place to make it easy for you to make consistent contact with prospects and customers. Find events, associations, chambers of commerce, and other places where you enjoy the people and can get the contacts you need to grow your business. Look for opportunities to help others. Cultivate your circle of influence. Nurture your relationships. It does require some work on your part but your efforts will be rewarded. Above all, have fun and enjoy the process.

Do You Want Success (or just dream about it)?

Mike Coleman — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:04:00 +0000

John Maxwell said, “Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” How strong is your desire to succeed in whatever you are doing? Are you willing to do the hard work that most people aren’t willing to do? This is what will set you apart from the crowd because most people will not do what it takes.

Most people are not willing to do what it takes to be successful in business or in life. Most people would rather make excuses. “Im too old. I shouldn’t be doing this at my age.” “My parents told me I would be a failure.” “I don’t have the money I need to start a business.” Sound familiar? Get over it and stop whining. There is no easy road but there is a road. Set SMART goals, make a plan, execute the plan, see your dreams fulfilled. It really is that simple. Blow up your TV, start reading, start learning, and just do it. Expect success, not failure. Your thoughts will predict your future and what you get out of life.

Defining Success

Mike Coleman — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:42:00 +0000

This is how Paul J. Meyer, personal development and growth guru, defines success. “Success is the progressive realization of worthwhile, predetermined, personal goals”.

How do you define success? For some people it may be the accumulation of wealth. For others it may be to finally have their kids finish college. Still for others it may be retirement and playing golf everyday. Success is a personal thing and unique to each individual. Just as you should have clearly defined goals in place, you should also have a clear picture of what success looks like for you. It is difficult to measure success in your life without a clear picture of what success looks like for you. This should be done without the influence of others.

This brings up another question. Are you allowing other people to define success for you? Have family members, society, or friends defined success for you? Sometimes we get caught up in what other people have defined as success for us. We see the lifestyles of the rich and famous thinking that is the true definition of success. This may be true for some people but not for others. I would say you are successful if you are passionate about what you are doing and pursuing worthwhile goals in your business and in your life.

Give this some thought and write down what success would look like for you. Be very specific and don’t just say “I want to be a millionaire” or “I want to get my kids through college”. What would your family life be like? How much money would it take for you to feel successful? Write down an actual dollar amount. If you really look at how much money it would take to be financially independent, you will be surprised at how small this figure may be. What kind of car would you drive and what would your house be like? Get very specific with this and write down all the details. Look at each area of your life: health, spirituality, finances, family, and business. What would success look like in each of these areas? Once you complete this exercise, start writing down specific goals that will get you a step closer to building your success. I will address the topic of goal setting in a future article.

How would you define success in marketing your services or business? Again, you must be very specific and write down actual dollar amounts, number of clients, or whatever else you want to use as a measurement of your marketing success. It is crucial to know what defines success in marketing your services. Otherwise you may spend money in the wrong place and not know what type return you are getting for the dollars spent. Having a system in place to measure your marketing success is critical to your business.

Success means different things to different people. You are the only one who can truly know if you have attained success in your life. It should be the right thing for you whether it is success in the area of finances, family, spirituality, health, business, or whatever. Going through the exercises mentioned above will get you one step closer to being successful.

Are You Playing With A Full Deck?

Mike Coleman — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:52:00 +0000

Marketing is viewed by many people as a necessary evil. It’s something that must be done but not enjoyed by the majority of business owners. There are many reasons for this. One of the reasons is procrastination or you may just not know what to do first. Marketing doesn’t have to be difficult. Marketing is all about building the right foundation under your business that will create an unshakable structure in which your business can live and thrive. This can be done if you play the right marketing cards every day.
Some of you may be great poker players. I have to admit, I am not a good poker player because I never know which cards to keep and which cards to play. I just play whatever and hope it works out. This is how a lot of people approach their marketing. But in marketing my business, I have learned not only which cards to play but which cards will allow me to win the game of marketing.

Consistency
The first card is consistency. Here is the bottom line on marketing. I think we all know what to do but for whatever reason we just don’t do it on a consistent basis. What can you do consistently to move your business forward? Do one thing every day towards reaching your goal or moving your business forward. Make sure it is something that you WILL do. Decide what works best for you. You get consistency in your marketing efforts by building momentum. You build momentum by doing at least one thing every day towards the attainment of your ultimate goal.

Action
The second card is action. How do you know what action to take? You first have to look inside and find what you really enjoy doing. If you are marketing your business and using a strategy that is not in line with who you are, you will not be able to take action a consistent basis.

Results
The third card is results. When you work with someone, are you interested in their business or getting the results that you need? What are the real results of people working with you? This is an area where a good brainstorming session will work wonders for your business. Sit down at your desk and just start writing. Do stream of consciousness writing. Don’t think, just write. After you have filled up 2 or 3 pages, start filtering through and find the real benefits your clients will receive as a result of working with you.

Differentiation
What is unique about you? What is unique about your business? Again, do a little brainstorming. Research your competition and find what they are not doing that you could be doing.

Systems
There are a few systems that you need to have in place but the most important one is a contact management system. Following up with prospects and keeping in touch with existing and previous clients is probably the single most important thing you can do for your business. Having a system in place will help you track all of this. It does not have to be anything elaborate. If you have 50 to 75 contacts, you can probably get by with a 3-ring binder with contact sheets. But, I would recommend going ahead and getting a database of some type to do this for you and to automate the process.

I hope this gives you a new perspective on marketing your business and growing your business.

The Lost Art of Listening

Mike Coleman — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:51:00 +0000

I remember sitting under the shade tree at my grandmother’s house and having casual conversation about nothing in particular. Sometimes it was lively conversation and sometimes it was just talking about the weather. In both cases there were people listening and there were people talking but not at the same time. It was a two way conversation. One person listened while the other person talked.

Now let’s move up to the present. I am having a “conversation” with a friend of mine. I am listening and he is talking. There is a pause in the conversation and I start to interject a thought when he starts talking again as if I am not there. If I were not a confident and self-assured person, I may take this personally.

What happened to the art of listening? What happened to talking for a bit and then listening to what the other person has to say. If you watch the talking heads on some of the cable news networks, you will see a barrage of people having conversations. Sometimes having different conversations to each other! What is going on here? Have we become so inconsiderate of other people that we do not deem them to be important enough to listen to without interrupting them with our brilliant thoughts and dialogue.

Being a good listener is absolutely essential to being successful in anything. This is especially true in marketing and selling your services. Listening attentively is a form of respect for the other person. If you are engaging a potential client, being a good listener will take you leaps and bounds ahead of your competitor. It seems very few people posses this valuable asset. I’m not saying everybody, but I am saying some people could use a little improvement in this area.

Here are a few things you can do to be a better listener:

1. Put other thoughts out of your mind and focus on what the person is saying.
2. Shut up and don’t interrupt while the other person is talking.
3. Be mentally and physically ready to listen. If you have an important meeting, make sure you get lots of rest the night before.

Setting SMART Goals

Mike Coleman — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:38:00 +0000

Now is the time of year when everyone is thinking about setting their goals for the year. Some people want to lose weight, make more money, increase their business. We have to be clear on what we want to go in order to have any chance of getting there. A goal is not the same as a dream. “I want to lose weight ” is a dream. “Join a gym and work out 3 times per week” is a goal.

A goal must be:

- Specific – What? Why? How?
- Measurable – How will you know your goal is accomplished?
- Action oriented – Are there specific actions you can take to reach your goal?
- Realistic – Do you truly believe this goal can be accomplished?
- Time based – What is your timeframe for accomplishing your goal?

Another great exercise is to write down your goals as if they have already happened. Think about what your life would look like at the end of this year if you accomplished all your goals. For example: I make $150K a year, I am at my ideal weight, I have balance in my life, I work out 3 times per week, I am healthy.

Probably the most important part of attaining your goals is to write them down. Get them out of your head and onto a piece of paper. Put them on a 3×5 index card and keep them in front of you on your desk as a daily reminder. Never lose sight of your goals.

Remember, if your goal is not a SMART goal then it is just a dream. Having clearly defined goals will increase your confidence, self esteem, and drive your business forward in the coming year.

It’s That Time Of Year….Again

Mike Coleman — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:22:00 +0000

Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to make those New Year’s resolutions. I will lose weight. I will exercise more. I will save more money. I will leave this dead end job and start my own business. Does any of this sound familiar? Will you end 2008 with regret because you didn’t accomplish what you set out to do at the beginning of the year or will you make the decision now to make a change? How can you improve your chances for success this year?

Here is my New Year’s resolution. I will not make New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I have set a few specific, realistic, attainable, and measurable goals for my life and my business. These goals are set in several areas – financial, health, business, family/social, personal development, spiritual, and fun/recreation. Be aware of where you are currently in each of these areas and decide where you want to be in 30 days, one year, three years, and five years.

Ideally you will set your goals prior to the beginning of the year but it is never too late. So, how do you get started? Here are five tips that will help you.

1. Set aside an hour in the next three days and just get it done. There is no other way to get the clarity and focus that is needed to reach your goals other than simply doing the work and putting in the time. Don’t procrastinate on this because you think you are not clear enough on what you want. It is important to be clear on what you want but it is more important to just get started. Remember your goals are not set in stone. Sometimes they will need to be adjusted or they will change as your life or business changes.

2. Writing down your goals will dramatically increase your chances of success. Write your goals on 3 x 5 index cards that you can keep on your desk within easy reach so you can review them every day first thing in the morning.

3. Have a strong “why” for attaining your goal. Having a strong “why” will give you the determination and perseverance you will need to reach your goal in addition to giving you more focus. Ask yourself what drives you. What makes you get up in the morning? It is very important to determine your motivation for achieving a specific goal.

4. Don’t set yourself up for failure before you even get started. Make sure the goals you are setting are realistic and attainable. This is not to say you shouldn’t dream big but at the same time make sure this is something you will do and something you can do.

5. Set a specific and realistic date for accomplishing your goal. Without a specific date, it is highly unlikely that you will ever reach your goal.

Live your life on purpose, Write down your goals and start taking steps today to reach them. Align your goals with you passions. Visualize yourself at the end of this year with a feeling of success, accomplishment, and elation. Have fun, relax, and enjoy the journey.