Networking is one of the keys to getting to where you want to be.

Here are a few networking tips to help you make the most of your next event:

1. Set a goal before the event to give you a focus. For example, “I will make solid connections with seven new people tonight.”
   
2. Set a reward for beating the goal. “If I make a connection with eight new people tonight, I earn …..”
   
3. Consider wearing a fun accessory. If you wear a vibrant necklace or a unique tie, you’ll find that others compliment you, and it’s an easy way to begin a conversation. Just watch the fine line between clever and stupid for that accessory.
   
4. Use a compliment to jumpstart a conversation!
   
5. Be a connector. Did you meet two people who could help each other out? Introduce them, and you’re an instant star.
   
6. Have a compelling answer to “What do you do?”
   • Instead of “I’m Director of Operations at ABC Company” say something like “I help job seekers prepare for the job search and get a great job.”
   • Instead of “Nothing right now, I need a job,” say “I’m an HR Professional in transition. I’m seeking a great, new opportunity.”
     
7. Have three back up questions for that scary, silent lull. You know the one. Pick three questions that you can ask anyone in the room to get the conversation rolling again.If you meet someone who seems to know a lot of people at the networking event, ask him/her to introduce you to contacts. He/she most likely will feel flattered.
   
   • What made you attend tonight’s event?
   • What are hoping to get out of tonight’s event?
   • Do you see a lot of familiar faces here?
     
9. When you’re speaking with a group, try not to stand in a closed circle. A semicircle invites others to step in and join the conversation.
   
10. Entering a conversation sometimes can be the most difficult. Use the venue and easy one-liners to slide into the conversation.
    • I’ve been debating between the cheesecake and brownies all night. What’s your recommendation?
    • This view is stunning, don’t you think?
    • Alright, this is the smart group; you nabbed a spot in the shade
      

Provided by BCSG, LLC

When it comes to getting a significant amount of business by way of referral some companies are better at it. It’s not that they have implemented a better process for asking clients and partners to refer them it’s that they are simply more referable.

Businesses that create the kind of easy buzz that turns into business possess certain qualities at their very core. While these qualities may not come as naturally to some, they can be learned and instilled in any business with enough attention.

By studying the habits of numerous businesses that generate most of their business by way of referral you will find the follow qualities exist in all and contribute to their referability factor.

The most trusted option
In the business of referrals, trust is the most important reason a recommendation is made and, conversely, lack of trust the single greatest reason referrals don’t happen. There are countless ways that companies build and break trust with their customers, but most can be summed up with the term ‚”honesty.”

Trust is earned by keeping promises: tangible things like delivering on time, paying bills on time, and honoring guarantees; and less tangible things like authentic marketing messages, caring service, and a culture of respect. Are you the most trusted player in your industry?

Staff as customer
Your customers won’t ever tell you but you need to understand: Your employees probably treat your customers about the same way you treat your employees. Let that soak that in for a minute, and think about the ways your everyday behavior might be affecting your businesses’ ability to generate referrals. Organizations that easily generate a high number of referrals consider referral factors when they hire and treat their employees like prime target clients.

Hire for fit
One recurring thread in businesses is the idea of hiring the right people. And this starts first with knowing who or what that is. In much the same way a business might research and attempt to attract the ideal customer, referral-based businesses also focus on attracting the ideal employee. The company takes care of the staff, the staff takes care of the customer, and the customer takes care of the business.

Open dashboard
Another common trait among staff-oriented businesses is being open to communicating the financial aspects of the business. For instance, many offer stock ownership to their employees as a way to keep everyone focused on the growth of the company. Creating a “dashboard,” a simple one-page, high-level view of key strategic, marketing, and financial indicators allows even those in entry-level positions to be a part of the company’s success and strategic vision. It’s also a great way to keep everyone in the organization focused on key goals like referral generation.

A culture of buzz
Highly referred businesses are good enough to make people want to talk about them, but they amplify this natural desire by making word of mouth an essential element of the culture. Companies create buzz with great follow-up, T-shirts and other promotional merchandise, free events, outrageous acts of kindness‚ or anything that contributes to an overall culture of buzz. Companies that focus on creating positive customer experiences at every turn tap the power of buzz quite naturally, and this habit is something that can be learned. A culture of buzz is not created by attempting to do things that get attention; customers recognize publicity stunts when they see them.

Give to get mentality
There are a handful of golden rules, which vary depending on which set of books you were raised on, but in the business of referrals, those who give usually get. It’s not too hard to grasp this concept; everyone in business has experienced the‚ “what goes around comes around” phenomenon. But I’d like to suggest that something deeper exists in the true referral-based mind-set. When a referral strategy pervades your entire business thinking, you begin to approach customer relationships by asking “What am I here to give?” or “How can I serve?” as opposed to “What can I sell?”

Expect referrals
It stands to reason that a customer who comes to your organization by way of referral and then experiences your remarkable level of service is far more likely to become part of your referral team. Remarkable companies expect to receive referrals as a matter of course. In fact, they are confident something went wrong with their process when a customer does not voluntarily refer. If you find yourself saying, “I believe you get referrals by doing good work, not by asking for them,” then I’m going to suggest that you’re not really sure of the value of your products and services. Remarkable companies always ask for referrals, not simply as a way to acquire new business, but also as a way to help the most people get the results they are after.

Premium priced
Too often price is the first and only measure of differentiation when a prospect attempts to compare products, services, and organizations. In the eyes of a prospect, there is risk involved in any transaction no matter how large or small. The prospect thinks, if it doesn’t work out with the low-priced company, at least I didn’t overpay. Referred prospects, on the other hand, have the ability to factor value into the equation. When your business comes highly recommended by a friend, the role of risk is minimized, and that fact alone moves the significance of price comparison down the list. I have yet to find a business that relies heavily on referrals and low price leadership as shared strategies.

So, how did you do? Where are the gaps? What can you work on to be more referable?  

Success in sales starts with having effective prospecting techniques. So what is prospecting? Simply put, it is the process of identifying qualified leads or potential customers who have expressed interest in your products or services. Properly classifying your prospects will make the sales process a much easier task to undertake. Here are some useful hints to keep in mind when prospecting for new business.

SEVEN EASY STEPS TO PROSPECTING SUCCESS

1. Obtain a targeted list that closely matches all your business needs.
2. Get yourself mentally prepared to call. Block off time in your calendar, get organized, focused, and start calling!
3. Prepare a good script. Scripts give you the framework for your prospecting campaign. There are four main components to a good script: (1) introduce yourself and your company; (2) have a valid business reason or purpose for the call; (3) ask qualifying questions and be prepared to overcome objections; (4) attempt to schedule a meeting. Also have a compelling issue faced by the prospect that you have a solution for.
4. Know when to talk and when to listen. You have a much higher chance of setting an appointment if you can get your prospect to talk.
5. Get comfortable with the word NO because rejection is part of the game.
6. Be direct and ask for the appointment. Remember, your goal is to identify potential customers who have a real interest in your business offering.

Always follow through. If you tell a prospect you will send additional information this afternoon, do not wait to do it first thing in the morning. Not only will you gain trust and respect, but you will also separate yourself from the competition.

Is your business struggling in the current economy?

In the current economy and political climate many business owners have lowered their expectations, their goals, and their dreams. Unemployment is still rampant, foreclosures are at an all-time high, stores are closing, and businesses are struggling. Optimism for the future is at an all-time low.

The real tragedy is that people get dragged down by the tide of frustration, negativity, and hopelessness. Here is something very important for you to consider. There is absolutely nothing you can do to change the current downward economic slide. You can’t do it yourself. Powerful business leaders and politicians can’t do it. Special interests can’t do it. Nobody knows what to do to turn things around.

That is the bad news.

The good news is that you personally can change your individual circumstances and still be successful in your business, no matter what the economy is doing. This is true now, has been true in the past, and will be true in the future.

Despite the economic ups and downs, the Wall Street crash, Sept 11, the financial collapse of 2008 and the ongoing employment crisis, some businesses have consistently done well. This past year has been one of their best years.

This is due to having good, consistent marketing of their business. They keep creating products and services that serve a need and make a difference, and market them in a consistent manner. Good marketing is only one of the factors that lead to business success. There are a few others that are also essential.

 Factor 1
It is based on the quality and professionalism of your service. Therefore, the better your service is the higher the demand will be. The better the quality, the more success you will see. This doesn’t guarantee success but it is hard to have success without it.

Factor 2
The business owners’ mindset or attitude directly affects it. This isn’t about positive thinking, but thinking that is aware and awake. Those who can stand calmly amidst chaos and confusion, make good decisions and take effective actions, despite fears and doubts, will always triumph.

Factor 3
Do you have the ability to communicate the value of your services? Marketing is all about getting your message across in such a way that it generates enough attention and interest to move people into action. They want you to tell them more. Almost anyone can be a better marketer, but the worse the economy, the more important it is.

These are the qualities you see in the most admired and visionary business leaders. They embody these Factors. 

If you passively accept your situation, are resigned to the current economic realities, and sit around waiting for things to change someday, your chances of success are next to zero.

The only people I can really help are those who already understand the importance of these factors and are willing to do the work necessary to grow in each of these three areas.

It is simple, but not necessarily easy. What can you do and where can you start? Here are a few ideas that can be applied in your business.

1. Commit to continuous improvement. Know that you can always increase your knowledge, understanding, and skills. Learn something new every day that will strengthen your factors.

2. Look at your business though the eyes of your clients. What would they want? What would help them? How can I make my services better, easier, simpler, more valuable, and more fun? If I was a client, what would I want? And then work on one thing at a time to make it happen.

3. Know thyself. Make it a lifelong endeavor to learn your strengths and weaknesses and discover ways to work with more focus, energy, and inspiration. There is no simple formula for this. It can start with the question like this: “What can I do to improve my productivity, value, and personal awareness?”

4. Surrender to marketing. You can resist it forever, like eating your veggies or flossing your teeth, or you can just work on marketing a little every single day. Consistent learning, practice, and skill-building ultimately leads to mastering marketing.

5. Get support. If you think you can do this alone, you are deceived. You can’t. You need to be guided by those who have travelled the territory before you and who can save you time, energy, and money to help you get there faster and in one piece.

6. Learn about others’success. Much of your success can be built upon the stories of others who have succeeded. I’m always looking for specific, how-to strategies, and tactics that work consistently to produce results.

The Bottom Line: You can succeed beyond your wildest dreams, even in this economy. But it will not just happen. It takes a certain degree of commitment, work, and persistence to take each of the factors to the next level.

Provided by BCSG, LLC              

You might also call it “the law of small requests.”

The essence of the law is this: If you make a small request of someone to do something and then follow-up later with a bigger request about something similar, you will get a much better response than if you made the big request first.

The difference is often dramatic. This law is the foundation of an approach to marketing. Like many people, you may have discovered that making big requests end up in a lot of rejection. Over time, you may have discovered how small or incremental requests made the process a whole lot easier.

This is called “The Law of Consistency” because once people agree to do something small, they tend to be consistent with their words and actions when asked to do something bigger. One of the biggest keys to marketing success is to offer small things, make small requests and then follow these up with bigger requests.

Here are a number of examples.

You’ve just joined a chamber of commerce and many members are good potential clients. Contact them and say you’d like to take them out for coffee as you’re a new chamber member and want to learn more about their business. If there is a good connection, it will be much easier to ask for a sales appointment later. After talking to them, you will want to get the participants to sign up for your email newsletter. You hold up an article at the end and say, “I have an article that covers much of the material we talked about today.

Who would like a copy?” When you get a show of hands (the small request), you then make a bigger request: “OK, please give me your business cards; I’ll send you the article and also give you a complimentary subscription to my weekly eNewsletter.”

You want to get some good testimonials from your best clients.

Instead of asking for them directly (which is often a problem as people have a hard time writing them), you say, “I’m putting together a series of client testimonials. Can I show you a few I’ve gotten so far?” You send them and call back in a few days and say, “I’d like to have someone interview you for a similar testimonial. May I have them call you?”

You have very few prospects from networking and have concluded you need to go after prospects directly. But cold calling and asking for appointments is a big request and results in lots of rejection. Instead, you make “introductory calls” and ask if you can send a special article and complimentary subscription to your eNewsletter. A few weeks later you call back, make a deeper connection and set several appointments.

Do you see how powerful this law of consistency can be?

Think of all the times you have not approached a prospect because you didn’t understand this. You were afraid to make a big request (understandably), but felt that a small request wouldn’t get you anywhere. I hope you see the major difference this could make in all your marketing efforts.

The Bottom Line: Remember that it’s always easier to make small requests of prospects than bigger ones. But you can’t leave it at that. You then need to follow small requests with the bigger requests if you want results.

Provided by BCSG, LLC    

One of the most persuasive things you can do in marketing your services is to give away something for free.

When a prospect receives something free from you, they feel obligated to reciprocate in some manner. This law of reciprocity should be at the heart of all your marketing.

Giving things away can be controversial, however.

If we give away something for free, doesn’t that undermine its value? Not necessarily, if we do it right and see this as the first step in a chain of actions that can turn that prospect into a client.

Let’s look at one thing every business can give away to their prospects:

Free Information.
The first thing to understand is that to blindly give away free articles, reports, recordings, even books, isn’t going to to get you very far.
For instance, if you go to a web site and find links to a whole lot of articles, you may pick the ones that interest you, download and print them, and then click off that site, never to return. In my experience, that doesn’t work. Instead, you need to set things up so that there can be reciprocity on the part of the visitor. You actually want to ask for something in return for this free article – their name and email address.

This isn’t a lot to ask, and they will value the free information a lot more because there was a reciprocal exchange. That simple act of giving their name and email address also qualifies them as a future prospect. (They’ve put up their hands and said: “I’m interested, keep marketing to me!”)

Of course, those who request your article are also added to your email newsletter list. This leads to ongoing communication, more free information, and the opportunity to reciprocate by inquiring about your services or buying an online product.

You can use this same article in several other ways. You need to see this article as a valuable commodity that can stimulate reciprocity in the receiver. As you give, so shall you receive (but only if you do it right)!

When you meet someone in a networking or social situation and the topic of your business comes up, they might show interest in your services. Usually the most we do is talk a little about what we do and exchange cards. Unfortunately, this doesn’t get you very far. (What do you do with all those cards you collect?)

When you have someone’s attention and interest, they usually want more information. By giving your card, they may visit your web site, but why not be more proactive and offer to send them your article?

However, if you just send the article, don’t expect this person to call you up the next day, salivating to buy your services. No, you have to offer the article as an opportunity for them to reciprocate.

Here’s what to say: “I have an article I think you’ll find very useful. It goes into more depth about how to market your services more effectively. Can I send it to you?” Then use this article as an opportunity to follow-up: “Once you’ve read the article, I’d love to talk with you and find out more about your business and how the ideas it contains would apply to your marketing. Can I give you a call next week?”

In almost all cases they will be happy to receive the article, and will reciprocate by taking your follow-up call. If you do this in a low-key, non-threatening, conversational way, it’s easier than you can imagine. (But you MUST make that promised follow-up!)

If you are generous enough to give something away for free, this builds good feelings and trust. Then reciprocity is natural.

If you understand the law of reciprocity and take advantage of it, you can leverage every contact you make with potential clients. If you don’t take advantage of it, you leave the ball in the prospect’s court, where they are unlikely to do anything with it.

Does this seem rather cold and calculating to you? Even so, if you cannot get past the hurdle of trust, you may never have the opportunity to work with someone and make a difference in their lives. This isn’t about tricking people into doing business with you; it’s about paving the way to a relationship.

I promise that once you start using the law of reciprocity in your business, everything will get a whole lot easier.

The Bottom Line: Start using articles as tools to stimulate reciprocity: on your web site, in networking, at talks, etc. But never give away anything without setting up the opportunity for the prospect to reciprocate. If you do that, your response will increase dramatically.

Midsize companies increasingly find the need for outside consultants, but how do you find the right people and manage the relationship successfully?

Not every company has the internal resources to pull off every project. Midsize firms are just as needy as larger companies that frequently find themselves understaffed when it comes to developing and implementing sophisticated new systems. The most common solution is to get help in the form of consultants and other IT service partners.

But how do you evaluate, pay and manage these outsiders? With the right partner and a well-planned project, the result can be mutually beneficial for both sides. But bring in the wrong people, and you might experience an extensive—and expensive—bust.

Clients are scared of exorbitant hourly expenses, while consultants are afraid of being locked into endless time commitments.

Midsize companies with “reasonable” consulting budgets don’t have to take a back seat to their larger counterparts when it comes to securing top-notch IT service partner talent, says Michael McLaughlin, a principal with Deloitte Consulting in Portland, Oregon. Some people believe that the largest clients with the richest projects get the best talent, but McLaughlin insists that excellent consulting services are available to anybody who is willing to pay for them.

Assuming that’s the case, how do you find the help you need? As founder and principal information security consultant for Atlanta-based Principle Logic LLC, Kevin Beaver has had an insider’s perspective on many consulting engagements. He and others agree that the best way to find IT service partners is through word of mouth and referrals. That process can be expanded to include Internet searches and contacting professional organizations such as the Independent Computer Consultants Association. He also suggests checking out consultants who have written articles or books on various IT topics.

Do Your Homework
When it comes to evaluating consultants, Beaver says the key is to find someone with solid credentials and hands-on experience that you can trust. “IT consultants have their hands in very sensitive areas of your business, so it pays to do your homework early to reduce any liabilities and risks associated with hiring the wrong person,” he says.

Beaver also extols the virtues of service partners that have experience across multiple industries and both technical and business knowledge. These multifaceted individuals with business backgrounds have extra value, he says, because they “understand technical concepts and know how to balance that knowledge with business operations and financial decisions.” He maintains that business know-how enhances their ability to assess and overcome possible political and cultural barriers when integrating technologies within corporate infrastructures.

McLaughlin decries the tendency of some firms to put sales or businesspeople in front of would-be customers, and stresses the importance of meeting the people who will actually be doing the work before you sign any contracts. “That way you can begin to understand more than just their technical capabilities, but whether or not they’re going to be able to work with you,” he says. “Is there going to be a fit? Will there be some chemistry that will work?” He notes that initial references are almost always very positive and recommends asking for additional references to find more realistic information.

Evaluating Fees
Determining fee structures and fees is an inexact science at best. Clients are scared of getting sucked into a bottomless vortex of exorbitant hourly expenses, while consultants are afraid of being locked into a deal that leaves them with no protection against endless time commitments.

McLaughlin maintains that the standard hourly rate structure puts both client and consultant at a disadvantage, and instead espouses fixed pricing to “so you’re not spending time monitoring hours and the financial piece.” This scenario, he says, tends to work out because the consultant typically figures out approximately how many hours the project will take, attaches an hourly rate to that number and suggests an overall fee. The client gets a chance to reverse-engineer the process and determine if the proposed fee is reasonable. But, he adds, when using hourly billing, the smartest move is to check out the going rates in your specific marketplace and negotiate from there.

Buyer Beware
Many companies turn to their vendors to supply consulting services, figuring that’s a safer bet. But that’s not always the case. Jeremy Kahn, assistant vice president of IT at Hartz Mountain Industries, in Secaucus, New Jersey, one of the largest private owners of commercial real estate in the U.S., thought he had covered all the bases early in 2003 when he purchased a storage area network (SAN) and implementation services from a leading systems provider.

Kahn relied on a VAR closely affiliated with the systems provider, and enlisted the services of a reputable storage consultancy to evaluate products and guide him through the acquisition and implementation processes. But problems cropped up with the software, and he found himself watching helplessly while the implementation team brought out one new inadequate version of the software after another. The vendor was reluctant to stick with the process of making sure it worked properly when it became clear that the fixed implementation fee was not going to be profitable. Kahn was determined to persist until the job was done right, which eventually occurred only after a lot of nagging on his part.

Consultants and other third-party IT service providers can be valuable, affordable resources for midsize companies lacking the internal resources to organize and execute their own projects. Let the buyer beware, however: Finding, evaluating, managing and paying consultants is a task worthy of the same effort required for planning engagements once the outside help is in place. Kahn says that if he had the chance to turn back the clock, “I would have negotiated a contract that more specifically said that we were not going to be laying out monies until our end goals had been met,” he says.

Thumbs Up !

Here are some instant ways for you to bring in more customers and grow your business.

The following are 30 questions that will immediately pinpoint where your business is doing well – and where you can take action that will produce rapid results.

These are the questions that may help your business, if you are willing to spend a few minutes giving them serious thought – the results can be quite profound.

You should be aware that each question you answer ‘no’ to probably means that you are losing out on untapped profits. But the purpose of this process is not to have you feel bad – it’s to motivate you to make marketing a top priority. Have fun!

1 Can you and your team name three things that set you apart from the competition?

2 Do you communicate the benefits of your product or service in all of your promotional literature,
websites, letters etc?

3 Have you tested Telemarketing to attract new customers? Did you accurately measure the results?

4 Have you tested Direct Mail to attract new customers? Did you accurately measure the results?

5 Have you tested PR to attract new customers? Did you accurately measure the results?

6 Are your ads powerful direct response ads that compel the reader to contact you – or are they
mundane like all the competition?

7 Do you advertise in certain publications just because your competitors do?

8 When you speak to a potential new customer, do you use words that set you apart from the rest and
immediately capture the customer’s attention?

9 Have you tested pay per click search engine advertising?

10 Have you tested Internet Advertising?

11 Do you send regular email communications to your customers and prospective customers?

12 How much time each year do your key team members spend learning leading edge sales skills?

13 Do you have an excellent lead generation process in place?

14 Do you set up an ongoing communication with qualified leads consisting of phone calls, letters,
and emails?

15 Do you obtain and use testimonials from your best customers?

16 Do you have excellent referrals systems in place?

17 Did you know there are more than 90 ways of obtaining referrals?

18 Do you offer something of value to your website visitors in exchange for their contact details?

19 Do you know how to write a press release to instantly grab the attention of the person reading it?

20 Do you personalize your email newsletters?

21 Do you know the most important piece of marketing information there is – your clients’
birthdays!

22 Does your team understand that the best way to sell is to ask questions?

23 Do you rent or purchase mailing lists of your target customers?

24 Do you take amazing care of your current customers?

25 Do you know why it’s important to include a ‘PS’ in all of your sales letters?

26 Do you communicate by mail, email and telephone on a frequent basis to your current customers
to ensure they know what you have to offer?

27 Do you use just one or two ways of marketing to promote your business? Do you know why you
should be using between six and ten?

28 If you used ten ways to market your business have you any idea how successful you would be?

29 Did you know that if you follow up a mailing with a phone call you can increase response rates
by 100 – 1000%

30 Do you realize that your competitors probably answered ‘no’ to even more questions than you
did!

Now here’s a Free Tip. Pick just three of the above that are important to you and take some action today to improve those areas. Print this out and come back to the checklist in the weeks and months ahead. You can use it as a very good way of measuring your progress as you implement the marketing strategies that are going to make a difference.

Are you helping your referral sources?

Referrals are a great way to build a business, unless they’re not. Here is what I mean. We all love the referral that’s a perfect match. They have the right kind of need or problem, they know how we work and what we offer that’s valuable, and maybe they even expect to pay a premium to get what they’ve learned we have.

 But then we’ve all received that awkward referral – one that’s not such a fit at all, one that wants to know why they can’t get a deal.

 If your referrals, or perhaps your referral sources, don’t understand how, why and when to make a referral, chances are you’re not going build much momentum with your referral generation efforts.

 Below are five things that everyone that you may recruit to refer your business, customer and strategic partner alike, must be taught in order to effectively refer business. Don’t view this idea as a selfish act, teaching those who want to refer how to do it more effectively makes their job easier as well.

 1) How I would spot your ideal client
 Be prepared to describe in glorious detail the exact type of business, person or problem that fits your ideal client profile. Of course, this means you’ve got to have that narrowly defined description internalized in all of your marketing efforts, but this is step one in making sure you don’t get the wrong kinds of leads.

2) How to describe in simple terms what you do best
 Don’t tell your referral sources all the glorious details of your business and expect them to demo your business for you. Give them a core understandable and easy to talk about phrase or image that they can use to simply define your unique benefit, like they’re our outsourced CFO or they help us get paid faster. Keep it simple, benefit laden and short and teach them to use the simple and short version only. Do you really want a referral source explaining your process? Again, I hope you see that this requires you to understand what it is that makes you unique in simple terms. Hint: You probably don’t fully understand what it is, ask your customers to tell you what it is to them.

3) What phrases prospects use to trigger me to know to refer
 If you sell accounting software don’t count on a prospective referral asking his golf buddy if he knows anyone that sells accounting software. But, what he might share during a round of golf is his frustration over the fact that he can’t ever get a handle on his receivables aging or that his data is housed in two places and neither seems to be up to date. These are what I call trigger phrases. If you were in front of a prospect and they said something like that, you would know immediately that they needed what you have to offer. Create a list of these kinds of tell tale phrases and offer them to your referral sources in a kind of a – if you hear a business owner say… give them our card. Don’t know what these are? Ask your salespeople, I’ll be they do.

4) What your marketing process looks like
 The single greatest hold back when it comes to referrals is the unknown factor. So, if I give you the names of my book club buddies what are you going to do with those referrals? Spell out your marketing process step-by-step. First, we’ll invite them to an online seminar, then we’ll send them a guide to getting more from XYZ, etc. Show them you have a professional, special and non-threatening marketing process. And please, no phone calls during dinner!

5) What others say about you and your results
 It can be helpful to share success stories and testimonials as a way to offer a little social proof that you’ve gotten other people results. In some cases, these might be quotes from the referral source or success stories from specific industries.

You can create a formal referral marketing brochure, web page or even mini presentation on your iPad, but taking the time to educate your referral sources will produce wins for all.

Steven J. Beaman is the founder & principal owner of BCSG, LLC, a professional business advisor/coaching organization whose primary focus is independent professionals and small businesses. Steven helps businesses to determine the constraints that are causing them to become stagnant or unproductive. He also assists start-up businesses to determine the roadblocks or obstacles that they may not have perceived. He also guides organizations through the start-up process, rapid business growth, or a turnaround situation. He does this using his wealth of management experience gathered during his over 35 year career of managing a variety of business functions in both small and medium businesses. He has expertise in numerous types of businesses (for profit and non-profit).

Does your content stand out?

Tip #1: Don’t Stuff Keywords All Over the Place
Just don’t do this. It looks awful and your readers won’t appreciate it. It is fine, if you want to put your keywords here and there (whenever it makes sense) but don’t overdo it. Your goal is to get buyers, not just visitors. You will repel your visitors if all they see on your website is keywords.

Tip #2: Give Too Much Away for FREE
Many people are putting out good information these days. “Good” isn’t good enough anymore. You have to go the extra mile and reveal all your secrets. The good news is that most people will see your content and think “this is great. This person really knows what she’s talking about. But, this is too much work and I don’t want to do this myself. I’ll hire her to do it for me.” Don’t be afraid of people “stealing” your secrets. If you don’t reveal them, your competitors will.

Tip #3: Make Complex Things Simple
Nothing is new; everything has been written already. The problem is that most people out there are lousy communicators and they write complex and boring articles. Take complex information and lay it out in a simple “step-by-step” way that your readers can easily understand.

Tip #4: Be Yourself
Most people that find writing hard are trying to be someone else. Just be yourself. Write like you talk. People appreciate original personalities.

Tip #5: Have Two-Way Conversations
Ask for feedback and comments. Ask questions. It shouldn’t be about you; it should be about your readers. Get them involved and they’ll feel part of something. This will help you to find out what they are looking for.

Tip #6: Seven Proven Types of Content
Here are seven types of content that have been proven to work time and time again:

* “How To” articles (How to Read Faster, How to Save $100 per Week, etc.)
* Lists (7 Secrets, 5 Ways, Top 10, etc.)
* Demos and tutorials (don’t tell them how it’s done; SHOW them)
* Step-by-step guides
* Case studies (people love reading about others just like them who made it big)
* Expert interviews
* News (tie current events to what’s happening in your industry)

Steven J. Beaman is the founder & principal owner of BCSG, LLC, a general business consultancy and coaching organization whose primary focus is independent professionals and small businesses. Steven helps businesses to determine the constraints that are causing them to become stagnant or unproductive. He also assists start-up businesses to determine the roadblocks or obstacles that they may not have perceived. He also guides organizations through the start-up process, rapid business growth, or a turnaround situation. He does this using his wealth of management experience gathered during his over 35 year career of managing a variety of business functions in both small and medium businesses. He has expertise in numerous types of businesses (for profit and non-profit).