“What plan can I follow to make sure I get the most profitable things done?”

I hope you write this down and use it when you are thinking about the best way to get big profits out of your small business.

This is what I said…..

Step 1. Look at your goal, whatever that goal might be.

Step 2. Then look at what needs to get done in order to reach that goal.

(if you are doing something that isn’t congruent with that goal.  Stop)

Step 3.   Figure out which of those steps you are most suited to fulfill, and which ones you are not

Step 4. You are always expanding your riendships and working relationships with people, so take the stuff that you are not best suited for and turn that into an opportunity for someone who is best suited for it (delegate).

Step 5. Shut the door.  Don’t take calls.  Don’t check any online communications and work focused on whatever you are trying to accomplish for at least an hour and a half or whenever it is finished.

A big part of this is constantly checking your personal and professional compass.

That is, figuring out ways to constantly use your goals along with your highest talents as guide posts for your actions.  Then, at the end of the day, hold your results up against your goals to plan out future actions.

Marketing your small business and getting any goal you want…… are a lot a like.

A. Decide what your goal is going to be.

B. Determine the effort you’re willing to put forth for that goal.

C. Test different actions for a result.

Don’t take the result personally but understand that your results are the ultimate feedback for how you should approach your next opportunity to move closer to your goal.

Always and forever move forward, believe in yourself as the person that can achieve what it is you want because if you were not that person, you would have never been able to dream it.

Towards the end of the training after we spoke about a couple simple strategies for bypassing the resistance of local prospects using social media,  I was asked a question by one of the business owners…..

“Whats the Fastest Way to Increase My Profit for my Small Business With My Local Marketing?”

Now to be candid, sometimes it’s hard to just keep my speaker hat on and not bring the audience member up on stage and start diving into their business from a consultative point of view.

But unfortunately, since we didn’t have time for me to learn all the ins and outs of their business and since I wanted to make sure everyone that was in the room got value from the talk, I gave an answer that I know you will get tangible, profitable value from  if you apply this to your local marketing of your small business.

2 very fast, simple ways to increase The Profit of your Local Small Business Marketing

If you have an existing business with a strong USP and your existing business is closing sales, and you don’t want to go find new customers to buy from you.

one of the easiest ways to increase profits is to…

Add an up-sell at the time of purchase.

No risk in a new investment for local marketing, just a simple question that will increase your profit if you do it correctly.

If the product or service up-sell is complimentary to the product or service you’re selling as your lead purchase, and you offer the up-sell using the right words and your price of the up-sell isn’t more than 60% more than what your customer is purchasing, you should have around 20-37% of your customers buy the up-sell.

Hmmm… 30% of your customers buying something that is worth 60% more than what they’re already buying….That’s not a bad bump in profit!  As a side note, this will work in the business-to-business local marketing world as well as the b-to-c marketing world.

Re-activating past local customers

Re-activating old local customers with a simple offer is another easy way to increase profits.  Because if you do your job well (and I am sure you do) your customers already trust, know and like you.

Most customer re-activation programs I have seen average 16-30% buying response with something as simple as a few emails, a couple calls or some letters in the mail.

The best local media(s) to use to re-activate your old customers depends on your market.

But if you have been in business for any length of time, a 16-30% surge in purchases wouldn’t be bad, would it?

And if you tap on the up-sell we talked about earlier, you’re not only re-activating old customers to the tune of 16-30%.

But you’re also getting 20-37% of those old customers to purchase your up-sell at a 60% increase in price above your original offer.

There is always a way to get the result you want with your local marketing.  It just takes finding a formula for growing your small business that has (recently) proven itself to be effective then thinking it though and testing it with your own local marketing until your business gets the results you want.

Anyway I wish you the best of luck.  I hope you found this helpful.  Feel free to leave any comment you think will add value to this topic.

So How in the world do you expect to communicate a message that earns a complete strangers trust?  At the same time, how do you influence them to pull out their hard earned money and give it to you when they have a memory about a bad experience they had when purchasing something else.

The truth is, when you make a claim about your business, your ideal customer sees only that….

A claim.

But when a satisfied customer says the exact same thing, it becomes a fact in the mind of your prospect.  Making your big, bold, promise in your marketing, the “truth.”

Customer or Client Case Studies Help establish instant credibility so harvesting them  is one of the most profitable things you can do for your customer-attraction tool kit.

What customers say about your product or service carries more weight than anything you tell them no matter how well you say it.

So here is a simple way to get your most satisfied customers to turn into your most profitable sales people.

• Ask yourself: What are the key benefits my customers or clients are looking for that would make them want to do business with you?

• Then consciously create a memorable, positive experience for your customers by providing those benefits the best way you realistically can.

• While your customers or clients are feeling the feelings that are generated from that positive experience of doing business with you, your establishment, or your team, talk to them about there experience and ask them if they experienced the benefits you thought of earlier (this primes the pump and makes them concisely aware of how great it was to invest in the experience of doing business with you).Then ask them if they enjoyed doing business enough to recommend you.

• If they say yes, give them a referral mechanism.  This will vary depending on your industry but an example would be two coupons for something free (one for them and one for the person they feel would get value for doing business with you).

• After getting their permission, get out a small camera if your face-to-face (just about any up-to-date camera has a video switch to take a few minutes of video) and ask them what there experience was like to do business with you….now you have a great piece of digital marketing material to leverage on your blog, website, facebook, ect…

Here is an example of one.

Hey Nate

My wife Julie wanted to say thanks for giving her her husband back and she is sorry for being so skeptical right when I told her I wanted to coach with you.

I missed out on the first part of my kids’ life because my business was brand new.  Then, when the economy started going sout,h I had to put on the after burners and work even harder.  But just after 7 months of coaching with you, I forgot that times were suppose to be tough for everyone because I just had 3 record months in a row and I spend more time with my family than I ever have since I started my crazy entrepreneurial journey.

I look forward to our Next Call!

Andy Y.

You can turn a video into audio, and audio into print, so always try to start with a video.

P.S If you get personal satisfaction out of giving value to your other friends that are Entrepreneurs, your welcome to share this with them.

Remember your product or service appeals to a particular definable type of person much more powerfully than it does to just anyone and everyone.  But most business owners only find their ideal customer by accident or by throwing enough advertising out there something sticks.

This is why so many small business-owners think that marketing is expensive.  Because it is expensive unless you are really investing your money with a targeted return.

Define who your product, business or service appeals to most and then target your message just to them.  Choose your Ideal Customer by segmenting possible customers by

geography, demographics or affiliation.

• Demographic target marketing – Reach out to groups of people who share certain demographic characteristics, such as age, income or career.

Places that sell advertising like Television, Magazines, SEO, Pay Per Click, radio or newspapers – provide specific data about the type of people who view the publications.

You can use these medias to send your message to the ideal demographic group that is most likly to buy your product or service.

Another option is direct mail (one of my favorites).   Think about renting a mailing list of prospects from your specific demographic audience.

• Geographic target marketing – Send your message into the area you serve. This works very well if part of the reason why your ideal customer would choose you is because of the convenience of your location such as drycleaners, banks, restaurants or the specialty knowledge you have of the area like real estate agencies, property and appraisers. Once you define your geographic area, get your message out as often and in as many ways as possible.

Send the right kind of direct mailings, purchase traceable advertising in local magazines and newspapers and become involved in the community.

• Target-marketing by “special interest groups or association” – create marketing messages to people who share your local group affiliations, such as religious groups, associations and civic groups.

READ ME FIRST:

Ok, this video isn’t the most professional video I have ever done….

When I made this video I was in a quiet corner at the Atlanta airport.  The funny thing ways, when I made this video so many people stopped to stare at the guy speaking into the microphone on his laptop…(that’s me) that I found myself distracted once or twice  ;  )

But either way, if you apply what I am teaching you here you will find a Free, Easy to Use Technique for getting a lot of new customers or clients by just using your twitter account correctly.

Of course I have to say for legal reasons that (results are not typical) but be aware this is so easy and the profit potential is so HUGE that some might not do it.

And over the last 6 months I have tested out what I am about to teach you here with 14 different clients in 14 different industries and the results where very impressive so don’t discount this just because its easy.

P.S.  You have my permission to forward this video to your friends or associates if your in a business networking group, You’ll be a hero to anyone wanting more customers or clients but has a low or no marketing budget.