Lessons

Lesson Info

Class Introduction

me tell you the real story about myself. I've had three businesses over the last 20 years. The first business went out of business. The second business. I was kicked out by my two partners about two weeks before my first son was born and the third business, which I actually started two weeks after my first son was born. Fortunately in July of 1999 and we'll remember that that was the Internet bubble, especially around here. I was able to sell that business. I was able to pay back the bank the $1.3 million I owed them, and my wife tells me I got her back just about the same time. So it was definitely up and down. That's really that That's the real story, Chris. The first thing I want to dio, and I really appreciate everybody here being in the studio and everybody out there joining us for 25 ways to jump start your business. The first thing I want to do is congratulate all of you because you're not repeating the same thing over and over again. You've taken a step, you've taken some actio...

n and you've gotten out of your office out of your desk. You're not doing what you always a day and you're gonna make a change. That's the first thing I want to do for you because that is so important. Because where the magic happens is you have to get outside of your comfort zone. We go to office every single day. We do the same thing over and over and over again. And, you know, somehow, some way we expect to get different results and nothing really happens. No change really happens. So we've got to do something different now. There's this great quote from Albert Einstein. He said about insanity. Does anybody know what he said about insanity? Miyoko keep doing same thing and expecting different results, doing the same thing over and over again and somehow to expect if results. Now, I know that serenely were saying, Ah, we'd never do that. But you do. You do the same thing over and over again and think, Well, no, today is gonna be different. What we're gonna do with the next two days is to help you jumpstart your business by getting you outside of your comfort zone. That's really critical and the way you do that actually starts with two monks now. They didn't go into a bar, right? So they're these two months there, sitting by a river, and they're talking about the sheer power of their Zen masters of their teachers, The first monk says by Zen Master. He's so powerful he can walk across that river without using a bridge Pretty good. It's only happened once before, right? The second monk says. Well, he doesn't say anything. He just kind of breathes, you know, my Zen master. He's so powerful that when he chops wood, he chops wood. When he cooks rice, he cooks Rice. All right, Raina, What does that mean? I think he does what he says he's gonna do. That's what is going to do. Carol, what do you think? And he does it with minimal effort. He doesn't mill effort. What do you think? It's present in the moment. He's president a moment. Listen, the good thing about a Zen parable, Sally, is because they're all right. It could have any answer, any interpretation. What I take away from that is that we can get incredible power in our businesses and our lives by focusing on one thing at a time. And that's becoming increasingly difficult because you have to admit we're raising a generation of attention deficit disorder individuals. I know some of you out there are watching this webinar right now, but you're doing 16 other things at one time. Just focus on the webinar. Just do this right now. You get incredible power in our lives. So that's what I really want to do. Over the next two days in each section, I want you to pick the one change that you want to make to jump start your business. Just one change. No, we write down all these different things, and then the next day we go into work and what happens? Absolutely nothing. But if you pick one thing in each of the areas we're talking about, you have more of an opportunity to effect that change. So we're gonna start off with a quiz because, of course, we want to know who here in the audience knows. The answer is where we are in getting our small business going and the people out there that are watching. So let's take the 1st 1 all right? And I'm gonna go around the room, and you can answer all these different questions. So what is the best way to keep your customers? This is multiple choice, so don't get nervous. It's not fill in the blank. I know, Chris, you're a little nervous over that was going fill in the blank, right? So let's do right. So is it how to keep What's the best way to keep your customers, keep prices low, bill relationships or send them an IPad? Go ahead. Be be build relationships. That is of critical importance. Why is that so important? Karen? Oh, Rina. Rina, I I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Did you just switch terrors? Know Rita? OK, um well, building relationships. When you build a relationship with somebody, they will remember who you are and they'll know, like, and trust you. And then from there, exactly talking about a little bit later is that people buy, they know, like and trust, right? Right. And if you don't get there, you're nowhere. All right. Next question. What is the best way to keep customers advertise? Find two. As the pain you solve, send their kid an X box. China. What do you think? Advertise, Advertise Old your second answer. Be fine. Who has the pain? You. So there you go. Very, very good Because people buy when they're in pain and they have money to solve the pain. So hold onto that thought, because that's going very important later which social media tools are best wherever my customers are. Facebook Twitter, LinkedIn asking a teenager, Karen, what do you think? Wherever my customers are, wherever might cause, right? Exactly. It doesn't really matter the tool your using its just wherever your customers are really talking about. Things are, Let's go to number four. What is s e o? Spam email, obliteration, search engine marketing or so exceptionally obvious milk A what do you think? Be modernization. We talk about why that is so important. Because if you're gonna get chosen by a customer, do business with them. You've got to get found and people can't find you through S e o than the next topic. ECM What good is it gonna be? Remember that movie just because you build it doesn't mean people are gonna come. So what is ECM serving? Egotistical managers Search engine marketing read. I know you're gonna know this one. Sell everything Monday. Thank sell everything, nok thing. This She's getting into the scheme of things. Your Christmas sale. Here we go. B B search engine marketing. Exactly. This is when you pay, actually to come up higher in the search. And that is Oh, that's wrong. Oh, this slide is wrong. Believe me, I would not panic out there. The slide is wrong. All right, here we go. What type of paid advertising do I buy? The cheapest Onley. What is traceable and trackable? Whoever offers me free tickets. Karen, what do you think? I'd say? It depends on where the tickets are to go. I'm going to go with B, especially when you're from Billings, Montana, right. Be what is traceable, intractable. The good news is, the good news is today is we spent a lot of money on marketing and we said, You know, the old saying I am on my marketing is working. I just know which part of it's working. Now. You can actually find out what's doing well and what you should really can next question What does search Google search value? The most new brand content keyword tags are advertising dollars. What do you think Shane, What do you think? Tags keyword tags. Would your second answer be always? Go with your second answer old your second answer your second answer. Be advertising dollars. What would your third answer baby Brand career we go. It actually does not a keyword tags, but most is new brand content. Every single time you post new content your website, you go up a little Maurin search engine and optimization. What do you do when customers talk trash about you? Now I know Sally in your business. No one's ever talked trash about you. But what would you do? Ignore them. Respond with empty a solution. Hacked their email. I don't do what Sally would do because she would probably do see right exactly hacked their email. What? What do you think you dio What should you do? Who wants to answer that one? Raina. Well, as a compassionate woman that I am, I don't go with B B. Of course, I want to respond with MBIA solution. If you ever look on Yelp or trip advisor, the companies that we notice are not the ones that get criticised because there's always gonna be unhappy customers. It's the ones that respond and say, Hey, I want to try to find a solution for you And then finally, how can I get my business found? All right, meal. Go ahead with this one. Super Bowl ad. Build a systematic marking plan or GPS. Be right, bill. The systematic mark plan. And that's really the first thing that we're really going to talk about today. But first I want to see where we're stuck. Let's find out where we're gonna move our business forward because we want to focus on those areas. So let's take let's go through this survey. And if we can move over to that Ari, here we go through the use of technology, and I think that everyone should have the URL out there if they want to follow along. So I'm gonna do that. Let's do one section for each. So, Sheena, let's do you first. Okay. In the sales and marketing area, right? So I'm gonna read a statement and you tell me whether you agree or disagree for your business. All right, so the first question is, I only do sales and marketing when business is down. I need more customers, agree or disagree okay. My business alternates between being very busy with customers and being very slow. Agree? Okay. And you can take this at home and there we go at the mouse. Now, here we go. I do not have a systematic plan for sales and marketing everyday. Agree? Okay. I am unable to spend part of everyday doing sales and marketing. Disagree? Disagree. I do like I do not like to sell, mainly because I do not like rejection. Disagree. All right, so out of a possible five, your score and this is too. So you hold onto that, right? This is not good or bad. This is just where you are, right? All right, Serena, Let's do you next. The right. This is in the area of my money. You know about money. No, I don't. You need to know more about money, right? Okay, here we go. That's when the reason you're here, that's why I'm wearing a green shirt today. Right? There we go. The color of money. I do not review my financial statements every month. Agree? Agree. Like so many other people, I don't understand how to read my profit and loss statement. Angry. Ok, I do not understand or can't read my balance sheet. Angry. I can't read my cash flow statements. Agree I do not have a budget for my business Or don't check it monthly. Agree? What do you think your score is gonna be? I failed miserably. So it's not matter failing. It's where you're stuck, right? So this is really great. So this is an area where stuff which we're actually gonna be talking about. I think you get a lot of it. You are in good company. Because as I travel around the country on Lee, 50% of small business owners can read their profit and loss statement. Onley. 25% can read a balance sheet, and only 5% can read a cash flow statement. And, you know, meal go in her business as a financial advisor, you probably run a lot into this. All right, Karen, you're next. Where is your business stuff? This has to do with team. I mainly hire for skills and look for attitude. Second, to hire for skills or attitude, I tend to hire more for attitude. Okay, so that's a disagree. Disagree. I hires quickly as a position opens up and becomes available. Disagree. I hate to fire people, so I delayed for a long time agree. It's such a problem for so many of us, right is important for me to monitor the most. The important support for me to monitor the important activities in the company and make all the key decisions agree. All right, this is very little to there's very little time to train people. They need to hit the ground running. Agree? All right, so all right. So remember, your your score is your score is gonna be three. All right, you'll go your next. All right, This is in social media, all right. I am constantly puzzled by the role social media plays in my company. Agree? Okay. There are no rules and how to use social media at my company. Yeah, I would say there's probably a lot of rules at Merrill Lynch when I post on social media. Very few people respond, Disagree. Social media is mostly for telling others about my company and what we sell. I disagree. My company participates in at least one social media tool every day agree from All right. So your score in the social media area is too all right. And we have one mawr. And for this one, we're going to use Chris. All right, cause Chris, I know you are a productivity maven. Is that unusual? And this is this important? Because where you want to start to jump start your business, Chris's where you're stuck the most right where you get the most bang for your buck. And if you take this quiz where you have the highest score, that's where you really need to get started. So you can focus on that part of of the session today. So, productivity, Christie. Ready? Let's do it. I am always busy, but don't always get what I want to accomplish every day. I'm gonna agree with that. All right? I said a priority of what I want to do each day, but things interrupt my ability to consistently accomplish them. Agree? All right. Just like so many of us. I check voicemail, email, social media at the beginning of every day before you do anything else. No, that's a disagree. All right. My job at the company is to solve problems for employees and my peers agree. Okay. At least part of day do not allow electronic devices to interrupt me. Oh, yeah, I agree. All right. So, Chris, you remember your score is four. Okay? All right. And this just go. This is just a place to figure out where we're gonna get stuck. So the first place that we could actually let me give you an overview of the areas that we're gonna cover over the next two days, we're going to talk about an area that most small business owners care a lot about. That sales and marketing again as I travel around the country. What people say to me is, how do I find new customers and I keep the ones they have? Is that sound familiar? Because that's really the lifeblood of a lot of businesses. We're also gonna talk about second life blood, which is really a little more hidden. And that's building a team that lasts. Remember, if you don't build a team Ah, culture that works for your company, you're always gonna have a job. You're never gonna be able build a company. The third area we're going to talk about is what Chris and I were just discussing, which is productivity. So many of us are busy, but we're not productive, and we think that all these electronic devices will make us more productive. But a lot of times they just keep us busy. The next thing is how do we finally make the money that we expected to make when we started this business? We wanted to do it because we wanted to wear own boss, right? We want to have the independence, and it hasn't quite worked out the way we had hoped and many times were paying ourselves last. Not first is when the month goes on. And finally, customer service with social media now really is the new marketing. You know, I used to be able to tell 10 people have had that customer service. Now, if you're like me, you go right on Twitter and you're telling a 1,000,000 people. And so we've got to be careful about that. So let's jump in. Let's start talking about how to increase your sales without ever, ever, ever, ever, ever selling again. Who would like to do that? Is the nurse inhabit out there? Would you like to that? So it all starts really with McDonald's, all right? And so my question about McDonald's is, why is McDonald's one of the most successful franchises in the world? We all admire McDonald's. Why is it now Why Reno, Why is the nation its location? Okay, why else consistent will talk about the meal. Go. Um, you know exactly what you will get at the price Exactly. If you go to if you have a McDonald's in San Francisco or you have McDonalds in Plano, Texas, right then it's gonna taste exactly the same. And so they have a system where they do the same thing over and over again to get the exact same results. And that's what we lack in a lot of our businesses. And we look at sales and marketing. We have no system because many of us in small business, especially if we're solo preneurs, we've got to be the hunter. We gotta go out and find the business, and we also have to be the gatherer, right? We've got actually do the work. So we alternate between doing and hunting. And so what happens is you get this idea of what's called the double helix trapping. Let me draw this on the board for you. So in many of our businesses. Things are really busy, and then it becomes really slow. Is that happen to people? And then it becomes out here, becomes very busy and then becomes slow because busy comes in slow. And what we do is we only do sales and marketing when we're not busy. So we're really busy. We don't doing sales and marketing. Oh, we have no business. We better do some sales and marketing. We got some business. Let's not do sales and marketing wants to sometimes marketing, right? And so what happens is our business stays flat, and I call this getting stuck in the double helix trap and your business is going nowhere. You've got always do sales and marketing. So your pipeline is always full. And it's got to be a systematic way to unfortunately, small business as a whole. And I just don't mean the owner, a single person as a whole. They only do five hours of sales and marketing a week out of probably a 60 80 hour work week. It really isn't enough, and the reason isn't enough is because you lose In the end, I don't know if anybody's my kids when I was when they were little. They always went like this, right? They said, You know, you're a loser. My mind the only one. Or you have your kids to that too, right? So here the fax, you lose 10% of your influence with your customers or your prospects every month you don't contact them. And that means that most small business owners over three year period of time lose 50% of their customers. And we all know that that seven times harder to get a new customer to sell to the existing customers. That's really a problem. So there's a lot of things that hold us back in sales. And although Shana said it wasn't right, many of us don't like to sell because we feel rejection right when someone says no door Proctor service. I think they're saying no, tow us and it makes us really feel bad. So what I want you to do is I want you to forget everything you've ever learned about sales. Can you do that? Okay, That didn't take long, did it? Everyone out there forget everything. Ever knew about sales? Right? I'm gonna teach you three new rules of sales. The 1st 1 is that people buy when they're in pain and have money to solve the pain. Remember, people always buy painkillers. They always don't buy vitamins. So when I go to the movie theater and I buy a bottle of water for $4 Karen, what do I do that one? And get the store for a buck? Because you know you're thirsty. We'll let you bring one. And exactly what I was Actually, years ago, I was actually on the cover when I turned 50 years old. I was on the cover of AARP magazine next to President Obama because they were interviewing people about when we would know the recession would be over. Karen and I said, I know the recessional be over when I stop sneaking popcorn and water into the movies so they really like that. Like that. Answer. So on an airplane, you could be flew here from Billings, Montana. Why do we spend $10 on a pretty lousy sandwich? Because we're hungry. That's always all we got, right? So if you've ever taken, I look at Ticketmaster. They saw a lot of tickets all the way around. When you get to their check out screen. What is so interesting is you have several ways to check out one. The ways to check out is if you want to do through its standard male, they'll send you your tickets in the mail. It says here within 10 and 14 days. But if you like to print out your tickets right now on your printer, you can use their copyrighted method called Ticket fast, and you can print your tickets out on your printer. They're charging you $2.50 to use your printer. Why can they do that? Geno? Why can they do that? Because it's the immediate satisfaction, right? What's the pain? I want it right now. You want it right now, you don't actually trust the U. S. Postal Service and you may be the concert is tomorrow you're going to a baseball game or something like that. So they tap into what that pain is. When I was just recently, I was in Las Vegas at a place called Well, I won't mention the name of the hotel, but I had breakfast and usually for breakfast, and I know Sally's gonna want to know about this I have a bagel and a banana and I get the bill. Sally and I look and they charge me $3 in 95 cents for a banana. And that's what's by reaction. Exactly On DSO. I bring the server over and I go $3 in 95 cents for Banana. Really? So she looks to me. She says, Honey, this is Las Vegas. Anything is possible. But why did I buy it? Well, because I had the money and I want to have a banana for breakfast to get my day off the right way. So Rule number one is people buy when they're in pain and have money to solve that pain. The second rule is we actually can't sell anything to anybody. We just have to be there when people array to buy. That's why sales and marketing are so important because if I don't have the pain, I can't sell it to you. But I want to be there. I want to get put into what I call the maybe pile one of three people you're considering to use, because if you want the three people, you have a 33% chance of getting chosen. That's pretty darn good. And the third rule is and I use this picture. There's a pretty old picture of my Children at the Chicago Gob Cubs game go. Cubs were no longer in last place. We're so excited about that. But what was that movie with Kevin Costner? Right, Uh, field of dreams. Remember? Eso what they say? What was the famous line from that? If you if you build it, they will come. So, arena, is that true? If you build a website, people will come. No, Right, cause how are they gonna find you if you can't be found when customers or prospects are looking, How you ever gonna get chosen? So that's the important part about that. Those are the three new rules. Now, where you start is you set up a systematic relationship system and what I want you to do is I want to understand that most the people we meet are really pretty random, and we meet people. We give out cards and things like that. But we never know what's gonna happen. And one of the problems is when I get a card where usually ends and you've all seen this. This is the business card graveyard that's behind each one of our death. So I get a card from Yoko, right? And so I say, Miyoko is very nice to meet you. And then where does it go? Goes in my pocket, Right? Who's the next person to see that card? Definitely not my wife. I can show you the washing machine or the dry cleaners. Or if I'm really good, I take it out and I emailed me Yoko and I say It was really nice to meet you. I hope we can do business together sometime, right? And that's not really building a relationship because relationships are based on trust and unfortunately, it goes into the business card graveyard. And so what you really need to do is you have to collect all those business cards in one place. And these aren't just clients and prospects. These are influencers and connectors, people that actually bring you business. And then you choose the top 100 off these Now, why do I say 100? Ah, 100 is we can contact five of these people. A day for the month is usually how many business days in a month for a small business. Owners like 33 Chris 34 something that, let's say, there's 20 right? It's five a day. I want to focus on limited number of people that I can do business with, and I have to collect them all in one place and you might have a database. You might have an Excel spreadsheet. You might look atyour personal contact list or you might look atyour sent email file. But get him all in one place, and then what we're gonna do is when you send them something of value. Now, when I'm sending something of value, what I'm not doing is I'm not saying Here's a new course on Yogi Yogi Stream, right? Or here's a new financial instrument, a new fund I want to get you into. I'm not telling you about my products. This is not group on sales. Groupon is a great company. We're not selling based on we're gonna give them a discount. We're trying to create a relationship with them so we can be there when people are ready to buy. So give an example. You can send him a note that says follow, you know, Will you come. Please come to an event I'm having. Or are you gonna go to this event? Or here's someone I'd like to introduce you to, or Here's a really great resource. So I'll give you some titles which are critical importance. We're going talk about a little later today. How important the title of any contact really is. So I saw this and thought of you. I know you'd appreciate a good book. A resource. I have an idea. Here's a great connection. Few. Now, my most successful email open rate last year was My wife thinks I'm having an affair. Dot, dot, dot was intriguing. You'd open it up arena. Right? So what do you think the punchline was given that my brand is I helped small business owners. My wife thinks I'm having an affair with somebody else. Let's let's edit that out, okay? When? When my wife watches this. Okay, so So let's go to somebody else. All right? Karen, what would this be? Because I never come home because I never come on because I'm having an affair with my business. Right? And so this is so is very, very intriguing. Why? How you said this was really about how you separate your business and your personal life. That was really important. One of my success ones last year was why stupid people make more money than you. There's actually five reasons and just intrigues. People open up and you give them some information. Now let's think about for a second what emails you could send what kinds of subjects you could send in your business. So in Yogi Stream, what could what kind of information could I send Karen? That would be interesting and not selling my stuff. Does your back hurt today? Does your back hurt today? Perfect. Or you have a neck ache or something like that, and you can show them different ways that they could actually improve that right miracle. What kinds of things have you sent? Um, we have been meeting a little people with questions on stock options. Write what you know what is a stock option? Something like that. Again, you're giving them education. You're not really selling them something. It's your building relations over a long period of time. I have a client in Chicago that runs a table tennis company called Killer Spin, and I have not known the CEO, but he had got my list two years ago, and finally he emails me and says, Barry like to get together with breakfast for you. So I got together with breakfast from And then he says to me, As soon as we sit down, he goes, I feel like I already know you I had never met him. And why is B's been getting my email, My authentic emails over a long period time. So we've got to do this systematically. And the reason that this is of critical importance is that before the Internet, I used to take seven impressions for someone to remember your company. Now it takes 21 because it's so many junk that's really flowing through us.