Some of the more common challenges come with:

• Not identifying your ideal client demographics well enough.
• Not identifying what your ideal client thinks and their purchase motivation (Psychographics)

Demographics give you their characteristics that identify their abilities, needs and interests of your customers; Psychographics identify their motivation or reason for making the purchase.

Demographics: who is buying your service

Psychographics: why they are buying your service

Where are you missing the mark?

All too often we see people jump straight into the sales process without building a relationship with that potential customer or even communicating with them in a way to suit their pace and relationship style.

If we are to look at this further have you really defined your ideal client Demographics and Psychographics enough?

To define these further we need to also look at when and how they communicate.  The type of language they use, at what speed and format it is delivered in, where they source this information from and how much creditability they place upon it.

By examining it further you may well discover that the information you have for your ideal client is too long and wordy or not even in a language they understand.  Worse yet you may be selling the benefits or features of your product rather than how your product or service actually provides a solution for their unique challenge.

If you convert this to lost leads, this may be the reason your marketing information is not performing as well as you wished.  Is it in the wrong language at the wrong speed for the wrong audience selling features not solving challenges?

Take the time to revisit your ideal client profile.  Once this is streamlined and perfected, you can then duplicate it across to another service or product.  Just like most franchises do, they start with one systemized product and then drop an almost identical product into their client base.   The language they use to capture the young children is much different to the language etc  used to capture the family meal market.

Sit back, Take a moment to reflect and get some outside perspective on your Marketing.

John Burkhardt

• Why don’t we sell our service or product quality?
• What are you competing on?
• What is your differentiation in the marketplace?
• Why are your clients dealing with you?

Society has been conditioned to barter or ask for a discount.  Why bow to the pressure of discounting.  Look for alternatives to sell your differentiation or Unique Selling Proposition (USP).   Are you able to offer better quality and service; add options of extended warranties, payment plans or upgrade bonuses?

Explore and extend your unique product or service experience by marketing that which is your advantage.  (Exploit it)

By having a marketing communication plan, you will have already looked at the positioning of your product/service and its rightful place in the marketplace.  A pricing strategy is critical for long term business viability and the covering of business overheads in addition to cost of goods (COG).

Sit back and reflect as to why you are really discounting.

Don’t get me wrong, certain times call for a form of discounting. Bundle services with an applicable saving; pass on freight savings due to volume discount you receive on larger deliveries.  All great selling points are where your service now takes the focus off the price.  The customer is getting quality service as well as a competitive price.

Don’t sell yourself short and compete purely on price.

John Burkhardt – Gold Coast Business Coach

I was reading a book last night of which one chapter was on the ability of some scientists to create a whole “model” of something from just a tooth or bone fragment.

I occurred to me that we do this everyday!

We see one part or perspective of something and quickly arrange all the data in our mind, from our conditioning over the years of social, generational, emotional and physical influences and rapidly form our “Opinion” or “Perspective” of what it is.  We then justify it and reinforce to make sure it matches up our previous experiences.

We see a young lady struggling with threadbare little children, no wedding ring and what do we think?  Our perception takes over.  How often would you think that all have been sick and she is really just surviving at the moment, the children are sick, she can’t wear rings due to a skin condition and hubby is away for a week on a big business deal?  Or do we see something else?

Do we question what our mind is doing or do we just let the process happen, justify that is the way it is (Your Reality) and it must be true?

As with the scientists, they were able to create a whole “missing link” with the theory of human evolution, when really investigating the tooth and skull fragment they found would have identified a pig.  Sometimes we have our own agenda or goal to achieve or reality to protect that we can’t allow anything else in!

Food for thought!

What however if we could turn this process around or even be aware of it to question it and look for solutions out of it?  You may even come to the same result, however you question the validity of the information and the process by which you arrange and quantify it.

Could thinking about that lady and offering her a quick coffee break and help with the children be enough to change your perception of who she is.  You may even create a friendship and a valuable business contact with her husband for your business.

Being aware of our agendas and filters is the first step in the process to allowing us to process the information we receive.

Stop, Think, Respond.

John B

Apart from the initial limbic response of their brain to weigh up their environment and consider the immediate response of stay or fight/flight, there is a considerable portion of their communication style which may not connect to the way you are communicating your message or ideas?

I hear you saying, “what are you talking about” – EXACTLY.

As I may waffle on and include the details and facts of this, are you:

Just get on with it… give me the facts and move on OR

Yeah I hear you, but can’t we slow down a bit and get to know each other OR

Yep, Yep; Ok just shorten it and lets go for a drink so I can tell you a bit more about me OR

Yes, I understand that, maybe a question or two on the limbic system………….

Does one of these messages resonate with you?

This is effective communication, all I need to know is how I communicate best and then how you communicate best and adapt my style to match or at least get closer to the way you are communicating.

• Are you missing this with your niche target market and those ideal clients?
• Are you talking to them in your communication style and not theirs?
• Is the language structured to suit them and what they would prefer?

Communication (or lack of it) is the basis of all relationships and happens nearly as quickly as the Trust component.

To learn more about your Communication style, visit FACE-Matrix and do a quick, fun and easy to understand profile.

Have fun with it, share it with your friends and if you want to know more, then the best buy is the FACE, The Global Language e-book

Learn to love it and embrace it.

Let me know your results and what you think.

John Burkhardt - Amplio Business Solutions

The format will include:

Information session – Communication, Business Functions, I.T., Marketing etc
Fellowship & Networking
Brainstorming and much more!

They will be run in a regular fortnightly format to cover group requested items.  This is also a platform for Christian fellowship and a regular meeting may include prayer or ministry if it is requested by an attendee.

More information shortly!

The group is run by experienced business people with coaching qualifications.  It is only $10 per night (first time free) and covers business mindset and a great broad coverage on all aspects of business based on the e-Myth (Michael Gerber) models complimented by real life scenarios and coaching models.

If you wish to be on the meeting list for updates email David Beard here.  We can also forward on information about MasterMind Groups in Brisbane.

Do you have a quiet place to relax? A place where you can be just yourself without the mask imposed on you by society?  Increasing in coaching we come across not only the lack of balance in our life/work but also the lack of balance in our relationships within both areas and the realization that we need to enhance that to better the relationship.

Some strategies we help implement are:

Time management – helping you learn and apply decision making, prioritizing and effective tracking and planning of your limited tool – Time!

Blocking out quiet time – in either your business or personal time to be just you and to do the things you want to do.  A time used for enjoyment, reflection and spiritual interaction.

Communication Profiling – participating in a fun communication tool which easily and effectively helps you recognise your communication type and also become clearer in identifying how others you communicate with regularly are wired and want to partake in communication.  Get a free communication profile at www.facematrix.com.au and let me know what you think via email. (P.S. also enter in the facilitators’ code of FF001AU.

Getting into a Support Triage – Have you got a support structure for your own sanity?  Do you have regular meetings with business colleagues’ or friends where you can get impartial input into your challenges and decisions knowing that they will be open, honest and share willingly whilst respecting your privacy and confidentiality?

The implementation of these strategies is to get you walking in the sunshine enjoying your life as it was intended.

With our business connections we come into a many and varied group of people and their business’s.  If you are after a referral to a business, it is more than likely we know someone who can help you or put you onto someone who can.

Some other professionals we can recommend include:

Accounting and Tax Agents
Business Consultants
Car Sales
Child Sponsorship or Mission work needs
Christian Businesses
Communication Consultants
Computer Technicians
Cosmetic Procedures
Credit Control Services
Debt Reduction Services
Drafting Services
Electricians
Financial Planning
General Insurance Brokers
Hairdressers
Health Food Shops
Investment Property Services
Marketing and Branding Firms
Mortgage Brokers
Musicians
Natural Food Stores
Painters
Psychology
Roster Software for Business
Second Hand Book Distributors
Timber Merchants
Website Developer
and many more!

Have you signed up for our Complimentary Business Newsletters with a range of business tips on:

• Business Management Tips
• Website Marketing Strategy
• Small Business Marketing Strategy
• Business Marketing Tips
• Developing Business

And MUCH more!

Move to the NEWSLETTER SIGNUP Panel on the right hand side and enjoy complimentary business building tips > > > >

Thank you for signing up!

As your business grows you will be faced with challenging functions that you either have no or a limited skills set in. This could be marketing, accounting, financial invoicing, form design or any other business function.

A basic thought process for good outsourcing is looking at whether you can delegate, eliminate or leverage the function.

A good starting point is asking yourself where your skills set places on a 1-10 scale for the function required to be most effective and efficient.

Secondly, are you wanting to do this function?  Is it something that you wish to learn more skills for?  Is it something that having that skills set will be part of your long term role and business goals?  Do you need to know just a little more before you delegate or outsource the function?

Answering these will quickly show you your attitude to the function and will allow you to emotionally move past “hanging onto that function”.

Delegating

Can you delegate the function to someone else within your business? Is this time and resource effective?

Can you delegate to outside contractors either within the local area or via ecommerce outsourcing such as ODesk or eLance?

Are you prepared to be very specific as to what you expect and to set the boundaries and KPI associated with that function?

Eliminating

Can you eliminate the function altogether?  Scary thought, but sometimes we do things because that is how they have always been done and no-one has ever questioned if it is necessary to the end product/service or if there is a better way of doing it.  There have been cases of 12 page documents being reduced to 2 pages and obtaining the necessary information to do the required task.  Sometimes we just have to get out of the forest to see the trees.

Leverage

The most common way to leverage is by allowing someone with these skills sets to do the function much more effectively and efficiently that you ever would.  In doing this you pick up a larger time period, reduce your stress and actually make money to offset the outsourcing or delegated tasks.  The most common example is bookkeeping, artwork and form design.

The effective use of your skills set to concentrate on your passion and talents will quickly be rewarded.

Should you create an entire system, HR support etc for functions that aren’t the core of your business or leverage your time and resources by contracting a business who specializes in that area. e.g. Information Technology, Marketing, Graphic Design etc.

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

There is scope for coaching particularly in setting up the business goals, direction, vision etc and about looking at the mindset of the owner, customers and staff, challenging and stretching that thinking and the thought processes involved.  In this area we sometimes touch on consulting items and vice versa.

Consulting supports the business owner by providing a structured framework to grow their business.  The focus is to work ‘on your business’ rather than working ‘in your business’.  Like Business Coaching, the initial phase includes analysing your personal and business goals, but the difference is from a strategic and operational viewpoint.  Our recommended Consultants will work with the business owner to create a practical strategic business plan and through on-going performance management, will be there to ensure successful implementation, no matter how long it takes

Should you wish to contract a consultant, we have great relationships with top quality consultants who work from the ground up.  We compliment them with engaging the owner, management and staff in regards to the mindset and thinking.

We are proud to recommend consulting with:

Susan Draper – Full consulting service (Susan’s profile is available here)

Statistics from www.internetworldstats.com have just been released for the quarter to December 31^st 2009.

There are now 1.802 Billion internet users of a world population of 6.767 Billion people!
Australia (and oceanic region) has a 60.8% internet penetration rate of its 34.7 Million population. That’s over 21 Million internet users locally. Although they only represent 1.2% of the world’s internet users, they represent 100% of our local markets.

If you don’t have internet representation and use it as a critical point in your marketing and business development, your competition will be!

If you are considering a website or giving your current one a makeover, make sure you download and go through this presentation first.  It is about understanding the internet and some basic statistics and how to use it.  You need some knowledge before you start using the world’s fastest marketing medium.

Understanding IT Website Terms

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

I have numerous requests for marketing advice and as such have the following critical steps prior to you getting to marketing and sales:

1. Know what your Goal is and where you are heading first. Plan with the end (or exit) in mind
2. Know your Product or Service
3. Know your Pricing structure
4. Know what place to find your client – the product market
5. Know everything about your client  – their habits, challenges and where they get information
6. Know your clients distribution channel – where to connect with them
7. Know the benefits to your client of solving their challenges
8. Know how to structure a compelling message – Headline, sub-headline, challenges, solutions, call to action etc.
9. Develop and implement a promotional strategy

Missing any of these steps will lead to a lot of wasted time, energy and money.  This is quite a short list of the steps to developing effective relationship building via marketing.

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

I found a book at QBD for $6.99 called Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell, based on the principles taught at the world-renowned Disney Institute.

It is a bargain at this price!  I have just finished reading the first couple of chapters but already it has great insights on leadership and how different methods affect your results in relating to people.

Well worth the time to go and get it!

A lot of time is wasted and relationships formed during meetings.  So what is the answer for a balanced productive meeting to achieve your objectives and to ensure all parties are happy with the result?

Some Simple Guidelines to Effective Meetings (Time Management):

Have an agenda – Issue it before the meeting, ask for input, stick to it.  (Set the meeting context)

Start and finish on time – A little hard to have a meeting by yourself, but respect yourself and your time.  If the other party/s is consistently late or doesn’t turn up, move on.  Is this the type of relationship you want to have?

Keep great notes and circulate them to the attendees/invitees straight after the meeting.  If someone has a problem with the content, let them address it straight away.

Don’t get sidetracked by “fluffy talk”, issues not on the agenda (put them on the next meetings agenda) and keep to time.

Make sure the meeting addresses what the next action step is, who is responsible for it, the outcome desired and when and where the feedback on the action is to go to.  Leaving a meeting without setting responsible and accountable action steps is really a waste of time and energy for everyone.  You call that a social outing!

Keep people honest. If they are going on an ego trip or talking BS, just tell them that and move on.

Set a time, date and agenda for the next meeting before leaving the first one.

I hope this helps, there are lots of templates out there for running a meeting, but keep it simple and stick to the guidelines.

Regards,

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions