I often tell clients to join local and trade associations - which is a good marketing strategy in of itself.  But the power of belonging to a group is multiplied tenfold if you can share your knowledge, get up and speak in front of the groups you belong to.  Public speaking provides a golden opportunity to market your business - but it’s often overlooked as a marketing tool because people fear public speaking. 

You have to remember that polished public speakers aren’t born that way. They take steps to develop their public speaking skills.

Tonight, I’m giving Toastmasters Speech 10 - fulfilling my requirements to become a Toastmasters Competent Communicator.  When I joined our Mission Viejo Toastmasters Club I was a decent speaker - but I had…um..ah…you know…like, I mean I had a lot of bad habits. (Well, hopefully not THAAAAT bad!)

When you speak for business, you are usually critiqued on the content of your speech.  In Toastmasters, the focus is on the delivery of your speech.  You may be surprised to learn that MOST of the professional public speakers you hear have been in Toastmasters - or had some other formal training in public speaking.   I joined Toastmasters to get rid of those bad habits so I could take my business to the next level - to do more public speaking and more group training sessions (which I’m now doing quite frequently!).   

I can say with 100% certainty that the Toastmasters training has paid off for me.  If lack of polish or public speaking confidence is holding you back, I encourage you to check out Toastmasters.  It’s fun. It’s affordable.  And it really can change your life.  To find a club near you, check out Toastmasters International.  If you’re near Mission Viejo, CA, you are welcome to stop by our Mission Viejo Toastmasters Club meeting tonight at 7:00.

I’m not a bad designer, but I’m a slow one.  Seriously, I’d make about $1/hour if I did graphic design myself.   You have to know what you’re good at, right?  I can whip out a press release or a case study in no time, but design - nope, I belabor every permutation.

As I was working on the logo, my 5th grade daughter sat down next to me and asked if she could play with the logo.  Sure! So I handed over the computer and watched as she randomly just hit buttons investigating what every little thing did.  In no time, she had found all these cool new features that I didn’t know even existed.  Here’s the logo she created:

(Don’t you love the tagline?!)

OK, so her logo is a little busy, but I love how she just jumped in and looked around.  I would never do that!

I wondered. When did I become so careful?  Why do I look in the help files before just messing around with the program?  But I think it’s just my nature.  Whenever I get a new gadget, I’ll sit down with the manual and read it cover-to-cover. 

I hate doing things wrong, but sometimes there is no wrong. There’s no consequence. The best thing is to just dive in.  

I think the lesson here is to watch and learn from others who are different than you.  Look what I learned from an 11-year-old.  Amazing!

The whole Mighty Optical Illusions website is pretty fascinating, but particularly their attention-getting ads and billboards sections. You may not be advertising on billboards, but certainly you can get some good ideas for thinking “out of the box” and getting creative with your marketing.  Optical illusions create memorable marketing! 

If you want to see more pictures like this one:

Go visit Billboard Optical Illusions  pages on the Mighty Optical Illusions site:

http://www.moillusions.com/2006/12/deceiving-billboard-ads-part-i.html

http://www.moillusions.com/2008/05/deceiving-billboard-ads-part-ii.html

I feel compelled to share this brilliant marketing / operations strategy Walgreens just deployed.  When I went to pick up my prescriptions this month, I was offered an auto-refill service.  What a idea!  It’s so brilliant and completely obvious that some Walgreens executive is probably knocking his or her own forehead with a big “D’oh!” With one minor change to their business strategy, Walgreens has been able to:

• Create customer loyalty - having an auto-refill service ensures customers will be coming back to Walgreens, not flipping between various pharmacies.
• Improve customer satisfaction - They’ve taken the task of calling in a refill off my plate - what a convenient time-saver for me!
• Increase revenue -Just this small adjustment of shortening the fill cycle by having patients come in every month like clockwork means more money for Walgreens. Not only are patients coming in more frequently, but they’ll probably pick up a few items while they’re there too.
• Reduce employee stress and administrative burden - I’m sure I’m not the only one whose occasional lack of planning has become Walgreen’ rush job. By creating this auto-refill option, employees can forecast purchasing, and fill schedules.

So if this idea was so brilliant, so obvious, why didn’t they think of it before?

I suspect Walgreens has had the idea for a long time but they didn’t have the systems in place to implement the idea.  If your business isn’t booming with business right now, I encourage you to take a hard look at all of your business systems.  Accounting. Sales.  Marketing.  Operations.  Sometimes minor tweaks can provide major benefits.  

My challenge for you today is to ask yourself, “What changes can you make today that will provide on-going benefits for many years to come?”  If you can’t think of anything on your own, ask your customers.  When I do customer interviews for my clients, we often uncover those “D’OH!” strategies.  Of course we should be offering service X!  Of course we should be highlighting product Y!  It’s amazing what you can uncover.

It’s Friday.  You deserve it!

When I grow up, I want to be a CRN Channel Champion…

You discover an urgent need with one of your customers or prospects.  They have budget.  They’re raring to go.  They are a qualified lead in every way - EXCEPT the product or service isn’t something you can deliver.  You either don’t have the training, you don’t love doing it, or it’s just not part of your business model.  What do you do? 

Sometimes, you can refer that client to someone you already know and trust.  Of course, you have a go-to business network that you can usually rely on.  However sometimes, you don’t have anyone in your Rolodex who is a perfect fit….but you want to be helpful.  You may gain future business from this client - and it’s just nice to be nice, right?

I’m encouraged to see lots of good online matching programs popping up to fill this void.

For any industry, check out Referral Key, which allows you to easily expand your circle of trust to give an receive qualified lead referrals.

If you are a Microsoft Partner, check out  Microsoft Matchmaker.  Microsoft Platform Partners will get paid $250 for every Microsoft Dynamics lead they enter into the system.   Use the link above to register for the free introductory webinar they’re hosting on April 30, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. PT. 

For dental industry referrals, look into DDS Weblink, a program that allows you to make sure your patient recieves the proper care and follow up. 

Know of any other programs that fit this niche?  Post a comment with a link to the referral lead service.  We all know that referrals are the BEST source of business.  The more you give, the more you’ll get!

Request a copy of our marketing kit!

Head on over to HP’s Small Business Marketing Guide to see the article I wrote on creating incredible, credible marketing materials.   I gave readers seven practical tips for creating do-it-yourself marketing materials.  Enjoy!

Today, Abra Gilman from Borek Business Solutions is writing a guest post.  Borek Business Solutions is a Microsoft Dynamics GP partner in Bend, Oregon.  Abra Gilman is their Existing Customer Sales Manager.  I used to work with Abra, and I can tell you she’s one of the best.  She’s deeply committed to her customers, and in return, they trust that she’ll lead them in the right direction. So for all you Microsoft Dynamics Partners, here are some tips for a strong year-end.

Microsoft’s fiscal year end is coming, how’s your forecast?

by Abra Gilman, Borek Business Solutions 
email: abra [at] borekbusinesssolutions.com

Abra Gilman, Customer Sales Manager at Borek Business Solutions

A timely email from my Microsoft PAM informed me there are 62 selling days left until the end of Microsoft’s FY09 year.  So, how do we keep the inspiration going from Microsoft Convergence last month, pass it along to our customers, and end this quarter with numerous existing customer add-on sales for our Microsoft Dynamics GP practice?

Through the years I’ve learned to start with the resources that Microsoft and our own staff have already created for our customers - and build upon them.  We know there are current promotions - so keeping that in mind, I did the following:

1.  I thought about the exciting news and products I saw at Microsoft Convergence that still excite me.  I’ve downloaded most of the Microsoft Dynamics GP, CRM, and SQL session material through my Convergence Session Builder. If  you haven’t done that, I encourage you to take a look.  The Microsoft Convergence site has a great overview of most of the concurrent sessions.  I picked a couple of the most inspiring sessions and looked for useful content within the powerpoints. For me this year, I found Smartlist Builder/Excel Report Builder to be of particular interest.

2. I emailed the presenter (email addresses are almost always listed on the last PPT slide), who was more than eager to send me her notes/steps to creating the actual demo portion of the session.

3.  I emailed my customer base and announced a free webinar to introduce and give Microsoft Dynamics GP Tips and Tricks using Smartlist Builder and Excel Report Builder (SLB & ERB).  We’d already told them through a ‘Post Convergence’ Newsletter that we had seen exciting features in this module while we were at Convergence - now we want to share what we’d learned with them.  We mention the benefits of SLB/ERB  to any customers when speaking to them, and add taglines to our emails for a couple of weeks to advertise the upcoming webinar to our customers.

4.  As attendees started registering, I made sure we geared the presentation to show the capabilities within those areas that SLB/ERB will extend (ie. Quantities in Inventory crossing several tables).

5.  During the presentation (which was simpler to create because I started with the Microsoft presenter’s materials), I used the current Microsoft promotion to make the product pricing more attractive.  We also offered 10% off installation/training for this module within the current month for attending the webinar (whether they already own the product or not).

Using this method, we usually get 2 sales of a product immediately. But following this example, we may also get:

• 2 customers upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics GP Version 10, or at least the latest service pack, to take advantage of the capabilities I’ve shown.
• Several hours of consulting for installation, planning, training, and implementation of the product.
• Another touchpoint with our customers through them even glancing at the webinar announcement or attending the demonstration. We’ve planted a seed throughout our customerbase of this product.
• Plus, we’ve made sure our customers know we are staying up with the latest enhancements so we are the “go to” resource for them for their ERP system.

We just met with a customer last week who wants to see a product we did this exact type of campaign for last year.  They saw it briefly and now want to plan for the implementation/rollout of it this quarter.

Next installment - using our Microsoft Dynamics ISV partners to extend our expertise and offerings to our customers…

Thanks Abra. Thanks Borek Business Solutions! 

 

If you’re in the Orange County area and you’re interested in learning more about how to use Twitter, the popular micro-blogging tool, to grow your business, come join us on April 29 for margaritas and networking at El Torito in Laguna Hills.  The cost = $10 bucks. 

To get more details or register, visit the OC Small Business & Entrepreneurs Group.

Also, tomorrow night, April 7^th, I’m speaking on a panel with other women entrepreneurs in Ladera Ranch.  We’ll talk about the lessons learned the first year in business.  If you are a woman entrepreneur, and you are interested in coming, please send me an e-mail.  The first two women to respond can come for free as my guest.  For everyone else, the cost is $15. (Sorry guys, this event is ladies-only).

I will be like the rain drop which washes away the mountain;
the ant who devours a tiger;
the star which brightens the earth;
the slave who builds a pyramid.
I will build my castle one brick at a time for I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.

– Og Mandino

When we realize the power of consistency, we can do anything we set our mind to.  When you decide that you really are devoted to growing your business, it will be by focusing on doing the right things every day, every week, every month and every year. 

Before you know it, you’ll have strong marketing muscles and a booming business.