What is the best piece of advice you have received as an entrepreneur?

Would love to know what you think......Please take a moment to share your thoughts.

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Today’s article is a quick tip and I want to focus on one recurring question that is coming up in the responses to the survey. This is about marketing your products and services to clients and how to have clients understand what you are saying.

So I’ve put together these quick tips to assist you:

1. Make sure you really understand your audience. If you don’t know what your prospects or clients need from you, ask questions. You can do this very simply by doing something like what I have done this week. Survey your clients, ask them what you want to know and try and find out what they need from you. I’ve used a tool called Survey Monkey to help me understand more about you! It's easy to use and the information you receive is valuable in relation to how you can better support your clients.

2. Make sure you have the right offer in place. Once you know more about what your clients want from you, then you can make them an offer that speaks directly to their needs and wants. An offer that will allievate any issues or challenges they may facing

3. Ask yourself, “What is the outcome I want from this offer, from this newsletter, from this……?”. Make sure you understand how your audience wants to be spoken to. Than, be very clear on the messages you are sending out. Track and test your messages, and see which ones are having the greatest impact.

Remember, clarity in the understanding of your clients, in your offer, and in your message will support the continual growth of your business. If you're not sure where to start, don't stand there waiting, organise a Just-in-Time call with me, so that together we can get you moving in the right direction.

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If you could have support for 90 days to grow your business, what area/s would you focus on?

Would love to know what you think......Please take a moment to share your thoughts.

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How good are you at listening? Is it something you really think about? Is listening really that important to running a successful business? I think so! You spend time developing clear messages for your prospective clients to read and hear, how often do you stop and really listen to what they have to say?

Listening is an important to skill to learn, and one that requires practise, especially to listening empathetically. When listening at this level, you can have a dramatic impact on your sales conversion. But, lets start by looking at the five levels of listening:

1) Ignoring – making no effort to listen,
2) Pretend listening – giving the appearance you are listening,
3) Selective listening – hearing only the parts of the conversation that interest you,
4) Active listening – paying attention to what the speaker says, and comparing that to your own experiences or requirements, and
5) Empathetic listening – listening and responding with both the heart and mind to understand the speaker’s words, intent, and feelings.

What type of listener are you? Most people will either listen selectively or actively, but to really understand and hear what someone is saying we need to listen empathetically. Few people really listen empathetically, and not only does empathetic listening involve a deep shift in paradigm, it requires practise.

We typically seek first to be understood. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They are either speaking, or preparing to speak. They are filtering everything through their own paradigms, reading their autobiography into other people’s lives.

“Oh, I know exactly how you feel!”
“I went through the very same thing. Let me tell you about my experience.”

These listeners constantly project their own home movies onto other people’s behaviour.

To listen effectively we need to put our egos to one side and focus on helping the other person express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. The important thing to remember is that listening to someone is not the same as agreeing with him or her. We often feel that we give our power away by listening to someone else, but in fact listening is empowering. Learn to listen with your eyes, your heart as well as your ears.

To support your move into empathetic listening, here are the four stages you need to consider:
· Mimic the content of communication: simply repeat exactly what is said.
· Rephrase the content: put their (the other’s) meaning into your own words; this takes
thought or mental processing.
· Reflect feeling: we listen and look to the nature of the emotion behind the
communication, observing facial expression, body language, voice (tone, intensity,
volume), etc.
· Rephrase the content and reflect the feeling: we put both the other’s verbal meaning
and emotional content in our own words.

So the next time you are in a conversation with someone, stop and think about what type of listening you are doing. If you’re not listening empathetically, are you really listening at all?

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Do you see yourself as an Entrepreneur or a Business Owner?  Do you see a difference? 

Would love to know what you think......Please take a moment to share your thoughts.

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This week my new assistant Alex began working with me. As I began thinking about her first week, I looked at what I could share with her that would quickly bring her up to speed in relation to what DebPilgrim.com stood for. There’s the usual focus on the description of her position, desired competencies, and how we would work together, but for her to have a strong understanding of who we are, I went back to what I’ve always worked on with others - creating a culture.

Creating corporate cultures was something I had been doing for years with some of our largest organisations. In most cases, when a strategic planning day was organised for focusing on developing mission statements, the response was a mix of blank expressions, disinterest, and lack of involvement by members of the organisation. This was because the participants knew that in most cases, at the end of the day the mission statement would be something that collected dust on the wall.

Well, remember the classic scene from Alice in Wonderland?

Alice was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire cat on the bough of a tree a few yards off.
The cat only grinned when it saw Alice…
“Cheshire Puss”, she began, rather timidly…”Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the cat.
“I don’t much care where-,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that” said the cat,” if only you walk long enough”.

The Cheshire cat is right. If you don’t know where you’re going, or what your business represents, then any path will do. But once you know where you’re headed, and what your brand means to you, you are able to focus your resources and motivate and inspire your people to get the work done, which allows you to represent your company as you intended.

This is what I love about supporting the creation of cultures within small businesses by developing your mission statement; you can actually make a living document. It’s something that can really create a legacy when you give it wings.

Do you have yours?

If not, why not start with thinking about why you started your business? What is the purpose of your business?

From here, you can look what needs your business is addressing, and how you best do address the needs of your potential clients. In simple terms this is being clear on what activities you engage in on a daily basis. Focus on the verbs that describe the core activities of your business.

The final part of a strong mission statement is about being clear on the values of your business. This is often harder to pin down than your purpose or what you do, because it’s not something you may see on a daily basis. But these values are important because they describe what is important to you.

Developing a mission statement is not something you can really do in an hour. It takes time to develop, and your first draft will not be your last. In fact, your first draft may not look anything like the final statement. But as you work through this process, begin to pull everything you have together and put it into a single sentence that describes your business purpose, actions, and values. Remember, your mission statement needs to be clear, concise, and compelling.

If you want to get started on your mission statement, why not book in for a 1 hour "Just in Time" session with me?

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Have finally started my Sunday Night Question.........

What was your initial reason for becoming self-employed?

Take a moment, to leave your comment and I look forward to reading the reasons for this fabulous jump!

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They turned towards each other, bowed and then the whistle blew – it was time to focus on the task at hand. Concentration was high and the competition had begun, the Dojo was quiet.

A block here, a punch there, another block, there’s a grunt, a kick, another block.

Oh, there’s Mum, I’ll just give her a quick wave, and smile for Dad while I'm at it. I’ll just take a quick look at the other competitors waiting for their turn, there’s my friend Seb, quick smile to him as he waits his turn.

Okay, gotta remember to concentrate back on the competition. Another block, a punch, the whistle blows. It’s all over.

Well that’s how I imagined it sounded in the mind of my five year old, Laura, who was competing in her very first Karate competition on the weekend. What’s a girl (or boy) to do - there was lots happening, not only the competition but there were judges, participants and of course the crowd cheering on the competitors.

Fast forward to Monday, and I was reminded of Laura’s competition when listening to a colleague who was telling me about all these amazing projects she had in the pipeline. She was doing this, doing that, and wondering why things were slipping between her fingers. Her core business was suffering and she was wondering why her new products and services were not flying off the shelf, so to speak.

It sounded as if she was stuck in the second/third of Laura’s competition! Pull together a quick program here, a workshop there, and oh I better remember to focus on what my main business is before the whistle blows.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for pulling together programs, workshops or whatever you need to support your clients' needs. But….

Check for demand. If you are hearing from a few clients that they need something specific – great – but what real need is there? If I am going to take the time, energy and resources to create a program, or add a product or service that will provide solutions to a specific problem, then I want to know that prospects and clients will be knocking down my email to either attend or buy it.

I’m going to test for the demand, and I have to say, this is something that I have learnt the value of over the past year from working with MaryEllen Tribby - ‘Never launch a product by using the “I Know Best” approach’. It’s just not going to work.

Does it fit who you are? And by this I mean your brand. You’ve spent the time identifying your ideal clients, working out the benefits you provide, and you’ve established yourself as the expert or go-to-person for a specific problem or service. Now you want to do a 180 and provide a product or service that really has nothing to do with your core business or your style.

Stop, breathe and remember that you don’t need to be all things to all people. Don’t get caught in the second/third of Laura’s karate competition. Develop new products and services, but do the due diligences to make sure they are best for you, your brand, and your clients.

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“I’m not sure where to start.” “What is it that I need to do?” “How can I get going and take my business to the next level?” These are a few of the emails that have been coming in since I spoke at the two events (St George/Sutherland BEC Sales & Marketing Forum & Sydney Women’s Network) last week. There’s a common theme running through the emails, as there was when I was speaking one on one with people after the events. The theme being: most people want to get running, but don’t know where they need to start. So....what's the first step to take?

Well, starting at the beginning is always good. But asking "What is it that I need to do?", is not what I have found to be the best starting point that guarantees you business success. I have found that identifying the core purpose and intention of your business is the very best way to start. This realisation should be your key starting point for all your business outcomes, which will ensure you build such a strong business that it attracts exactly the type of clients you want. By default, this will boost your bottom line - producing the financial results you desire, while maximising your use of time and resources.

Let me show you what I mean.

Ask yourself the following questions:

· How committed are you to growing your business?
· Is this something you really want or is it something that you think you want?
· What does a successful business look like to you?
· What is the reason you began your business? and,
· Could you clearly articulate this, if I was to ask you?

I’ve shared with you that the reason that I started my business was initially because I had a need and desire for freedom. Freedom allowed me to work how I wanted to work, when I wanted to work, and with whom I wanted to work with. As time progressed and things changed within my life, more needs evolved, which kept me focused on continuing to be successful in business. This need is to be a strong role model for my daughters, and to show them that they can do anything that they put their minds to.

If you are clear on why you're in business, then you will make sure you take steps that drive your business positively in the direction of success.

To assist you in achieving this success, let’s look at three of my very simple yet effective strategies to move your business forward:

- Commit to making your business a success. Let’s face it - business at the end of the day is about making money. How many hours do you work diligently to grow and build your business? I’m here to tell you that it takes work and commitment to really grow a business; there is no easy option here. So how much time and effort are you willing to commit to your business success? Decide on what this looks like, stay focused and don’t get distracted. Think about it, if you were working for someone else, would you step out to do your grocery shopping in the middle of the morning?

- Be clear on your Business Development Days (BDD). These are the days, where you work ON your business. Know exactly what day/s of the week you are dedicating to be BDD. Be clear on your outcomes, know what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve them. Do you know what activities you need to include in these days? If you have been doing the same thing and nothing different is happening, now is the time to look at what you need to change, and plan how to do it.

- If you’re still not sure what to do….give yourself a kick-start and work with a mentor. Investing in my mentors has been the best money I have spent on myself and for my business. Not only am I constantly learning, I’ve committed myself to being strategic about how I work to develop my business further. When I get stuck in a place of: “What do I do next?”, I ask the question, work through this with my mentor, and then roll up my sleeves to achieve what is next for me.

So, let’s commit to stop standing still. Write down what you want from your business and then look at what and who you need to help you achieve it. Take a stand and make a difference.

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The phone rang at 4.30 last Monday afternoon and it was a colleague of mine that I had spoken to earlier in the day.

“Deb, I just wanted to check in and see how you are feeling. When we spoke this morning, you didn’t sound too good and I was concerned.”

I said that I was fine, but really I was feeling totally wiped out! It was school holidays and I had been in bed for most of the weekend with a virus, but had woken up Monday morning, knowing that I needed to be up and ready to go. On top of this, my two-year-old daughter, Giaan, had woken up and I knew she had another chest infection coming on – the second within three weeks!

So, as you sometimes do, I raided the medicine cupboard that morning, took G to the doctor and got on with the day. When my colleague called the second time, I began to realise that I wasn’t actually feeling the best, but I knew I had a solid week booked with both family and business commitments. I couldn’t let anyone down!

As the evening wore on and I tried to concentrate on some work I needed to complete, I began to realise that Tuesday may in fact need to be a day of rest. But it was the second Tuesday of the month and I was was very much looking forward to this particular Tuesday. You see, I had spent the most part of the previous month re-designing my Business Building Blocks Membership and the first new and improved webinar was happening the next day, and I didn’t want to let anyone down.

Can you see what I was doing? I was so caught up on making sure that I didn’t let anyone down, that I realised by not canceling the webinar I actually would be letting everyone down. It took me most of the evening to come to the realisation that I needed to cancel the webinar and my other appointments for the day.

And that sometimes, Life Happens!

In relation to business, once I made the decision, I realised that I could do two things.

Firstly, I could beat myself up for canceling Tuesday and allow myself to sit in negative self-talk. This would probably of sounded like: “This is so unprofessional, what will my members think?” “Can’t believe that I canceled, really you’re not that sick.”; “What will my colleagues think?”. Etc, etc, etc.

Or

Secondly, I could acknowledge that Life Happens & I was not feeling the best, that my throat was sore and the level of concentration I needed for my members was not going to be there. That it was okay to cancel Tuesday, take care of myself, and my family. That I didn’t need to put this pressure on myself to be all things to all people.

I chose to do the later. I contacted all my members with an email letting them know what was happening, and then made a conscious decision to accept that life does happen and it is okay.

The reason I wanted to share this with you, is to let you know that there are those times when it is okay to let go and say “Life Happens". Be honest with what is happening for you right at that moment and know that those within your community will support you, as the members of my community did. It’s a great lesson that we can give others.

So the next time “Life Happens” for you, don’t go down the road of beating yourself up. Choose to acknowledge what is happening for you right now and ask yourself what you need to do to support YOU.

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