Let’s face it: we all have days when things just don’t go our way. If we feel strong, we can manage how that affects us emotionally, and what we choose to do about it. But what about when something you’ve set up perfectly suddenly doesn’t work? Even automated technology can fail sometimes, causing us time and effort.

I don’t like to admit it – but it happened to me recently. A few days ago one of my websites failed – for no apparent reason. It also affected my emails attached to that domain name and caused me to lose about 3 days worth of emails, perhaps very important emails. After spending an hour on the phone to my web hosting company, I learnt that ‘someone’ had changed my name servers. It was a manual error, but we have no idea who did it – and as a result my website and emails had crashed, costing me potential business, some stress, and a couple of hours of my day to get it fixed.

The one thing about technology is that it works brilliantly to make our lives better, however it requires human input and intervention to make it work.

How can I avoid this happening again? I honestly don’t know. It’s one of those spanners that stopped the wheels… but it doesn’t have a clear answer, with nobody officially to blame.

This kind of thing happens rarely, and when it does – we just have to get it sorted quickly and with the least amount of fuss. There’s no point investigating who was at fault because the problem has now been solved. And there’s no process I can put in place to save it happening again.

So in my ‘outsourced’ world built on automation and efficient systems, even I succumb to problems that cause the wheels to stop.

When a spanner is thrown in your works, do you feel safe in the knowledge that the providers you’re using are doing the best they can? I believe that having trust in your providers and keeping calm is the fastest way to get on with the business of making money and having a life.

When it comes to talking to your prospects or customers online, do you come across as yourself or as an automated purchase taker? Do you make it personal or keep it all business? Do you find a new prospect and try to sell them your big ticket item on the spot?

The best piece of advice a mentor gave me on this topic is this: See your prospects as though you’re dating them for marriage… you don’t go to fourth base on the first date – you’ve got to go on quite a few dates before you take it to the next level!

I often see business owners try really hard to make a sale by blasting out an offer on the spur of the moment, then sit by the phone and wonder why it’s not ringing.  Have you ever been sold to by someone you haven’t heard from in a while but ignored the offer?

Statistics from recent research tell us that it takes on average 7-9 touches to make a sale.  I have prospects who have taken longer than that, and who have required MORE than just an email every week.  My prospects like to communicate with me personally and get a sense that I understand them and that I’m adding value to them and their business.

How are you ‘courting’ your prospects?  Asking for fourth base on the first date?  Or are you taking your time to get to know them?  The truth is in the sales results.

As our web-based communication age continues, we are being challenged more and more to find new ways to promote and sell our products and services.  Remember that it’s not all about the latest design and pretty pictures.  It’s more than a great offer.  And it’s more than power words repeated ad infinitum.

It’s a mixture of ALL of these things, and the magic ingredient of the human touch.  People want to buy from people – and that’s who you are after all.

The Ladder of Loyalty

The Direct marketing system is built around a five step ladder of customer commitment, dating back to the 1930s.

On the bottom we have Suspects – people we think should have an interest in doing business.

Once they show interest in our business they become Prospects – we communicate to them to encourage a sale. Once they buy something they become Customers. But this is not where it ends.

If you continue the communication, giving Customers added value and real  information, they move up to the Clients level. So they are happy to buy only/mostly from you when they need those products or services.

By asking these Clients to refer friends who need your services, they then become Advocates. Advocates willingly encourage their acquaintances to try your products/services.

All businesses should nurture the customer through to the Clients and Advocates level – where most leverage happens. After all, look at your business you will likely find the Pareto Principle at work – 80% of the business comes from the top 20% of all people you trade with. These are your clients and advocates.

“Simplify, streamline, automate”.

They’re words you’ve heard before and might attribute to large corporate exercises to cut costs, save money and downsize.  True in some cases, but streamlining is not just reserved for the corporate world.

Where small business owners suffer is in the constant grind of daily tasks, never-ending work, and responding in a reactionary way to requests and problems. This leads to ending each workday feeling drained and uncertain about what progress, if any, has been made.

As the 4-Hour-Workweek describes, it’s not only a possibility to leverage yourself out of your business, it’s a creative choice.  Moreover, to get there takes some work – it doesn’t happen in an instant.

Keeping life simple is a golden ideal most of us have. But in our business, how can we possibly keep it simple?  To truly be ready for leverage and automation in your business, you must first go through certain steps to simplify things.

Simplify = understanding who you are, your business drivers, goals and strategic vision is a good start.  Know what excites you and what drains your energy.  Create a schedule to keep you on track, and employ methods that support your daily work.

Streamline = outsource the things that you don’t do best but that take up much of your time.  Consider your common tasks and activities and see where you can consolidate them.  Look at your marketing and sales processes, ask pertinent questions of your best customers, and then create better ways for your customers and prospects to experience your business.

Automate = use technology and systems to make life easier for you and take the guesswork away.  This will enable you to outsource more functions to others, because the processes are already set up.

Unless you’re an expert organiser (the top 2%) this can all be a headache to learn, and because of unfamiliarity it can be very slow.  Why not outsource it to those who are experts… enabling you to get on with making money in your business.

Just recently I faced the herculean task of beginning to prepare for a move interstate (both business and family).  Being a project director in a previous career, I methodically began setting out all the tasks and applying dates, resources, and times to them all.  That was the fun part of the exercise.

As my partner and I were getting quotes and narrowing down our preferred providers for different services, I was amazed at the difference in standards by business owners in different service businesses.  We experienced people not showing up and some answering their phone with nothing more than a “Yes?”… Aren’t businesses TRYING to make money these days? It is baffling.

One thing we both had in mind was to outsource anything that we couldn’t easily do ourselves, and which would take time away from our businesses and increase our stress.  That was our ‘strategic vision’ for the move, and it proved to be a wise one.

One example is arranging a proper quote for professional cleaning. I was instantly impressed with the cleaning company and felt confident that the job would be done to a high standard. And, if I wasn’t satisfied with it, they guaranteed to come back and keep cleaning until I was happy. Now there’s a guarantee that rings my bells!

We applied the same rules for outsourcing in our business to outsourcing all the functions of our move – one of life’s most stressful activities.  Most importantly, we were able to achieve our vision for the move, not just because we decided to keep our stress levels low, but because we chose the right people to help us.

What About Your Outsourcing?

In business there are many providers of services who can do the work for you… and there are many levels of service standards too.  I’ve heard some awful stories from business owners about who they trusted their work to, but I’ve also heard good stories.

It pays to get an example of their work, have a trial, AND get testimonials before trusting your work to someone else.  Keep your standards high and ensure you trust where your money goes.  Remember that the whole purpose of outsourcing is to leverage your time to enable you to make you more money.  So if it’s actually costing you in time, re-work and stress – then you better go back to the drawing board and look for better providers.

I was at a conference last weekend with about 70 other business owners, all brought together by their connection to Human Resources (HR).

They are a great bunch of people, and the room was abuzz with ideas and connections. Most of the business owners are solo operators, while some of them have support staff and consultants to assist with their business.  A large member organisation runs the conference and supports the development of HR in the SME sector in Australia.

What I love about being with these people is that they really learn from each other.  It reminds me how important it is to have people around you who can provide objective feedback and qualify your own ideas about what’s best for your business.  It proves the concept, “the power of three minds is the equivalent of five solo minds”.  You can learn and accomplish so much more with others who are passionate and motivated to succeed: just like you.

It’s tough sometimes as a solo business owner to get the same level of stimulation you might get working in an office with many others, each with their pros and cons. All the sessions and topics presented were informative and useful, yet I realised that most of these people come to the conference simply to mix with others and hence learn from each other. The jewel in the event is the ability to network in a group of like-minded individuals who can help you on your journey.

Too many business owners forget the benefits of mixing with other business owners. Sure, we have competitors who we may not want to be close to, and we are busy and focussed on our business responsibilities… but we all need opportunities to mix with others like us.  Personal development, professional development, networking, mastermind groups: there’s lots of ways to do it.  Just be sure you do – it’s really important!

I know, you don’t really want to outsource your whole life, just the tedious and difficult bits, right? I’ve been re-reading Tim Ferris’s book, “The Four-Hour Work Week”. Compared to the average small business owner’s week of 45 to 80 hours – just FOUR does seem fanciful, even ridiculous. It all comes down to how to make more money with less time in the business, freeing you up to do a variety of things you enjoy. (The book has been updated/expanded in December 2009).

When following the steps outlined in Ferris’s Dreamline worksheet, the cost for those things that we put off every year (a great holiday, a car upgrade, a gardener, etc) are typically not that much in total monthly income — remembering that figure is on top of the usual household costs. In fact, some of my “costs” also could provide an income, if using a low-cost virtual assistant. (Part of the outsourcer’s work could be billed to clients, or at least free me up to do more billable projects.) Tim Ferris blog – Ideal Lifestyle Costing has all the necessary calculators to work out costs of your own ideal lifestyle.

Also, qualified remote support staff can be outsourced for as little as US$300 per month (around $2 an hour) and they can do a variety of things like follow up calls, invoice creation/reminders, link building for your SEO, etc… all those things that eek away your daylight hours. Because they are working specifically for you on the projects you need, there won’t be any staff time wastage or double-instructing. See www.remotestaff.com.au for ongoing administrative tasks, or ask about the specialists at Infusionoz.com.au for higher level tasks like web design, e-marketing, CRM implementation, and content writing (also offering good value/prompt attention services and located in Australia).

Of course, remote outsourcing goes hand-in-hand with automated technology and streamlined systems. Great systems means higher productivity. Higher productivity for the average small business owner might mean more billable hours, with less stress and chaos in their lives. For a Mumpreneur it might mean more time to spend with family because her income doesn’t drop with periods away from the business.

So many business people are still stuck in the paradigm of exchanging time for money – what is my hourly rate, how many hours can I bill?

But when we see our business as a marketable entity – with products (passive income), Intellectual Property to record and protect, and a brand to promote – we start to see it as an Asset. We may even have a saleable asset, if someone else could take over the systems and product sales down the track and continue the revenue streams. Does that sound worthwhile?

You can do 50 different things to bring people to your website. But what about actually MARKETING to those prospects so that they eventually buy from you? 

One business owner I know had a website in a very crowded marketplace – gift baskets. Her site was nice enough but her conversion was very poor. If you’re in the gift basket industry in Sydney, you’d better be ahead of the game. If studies show that it takes an average of seven contacts from a business to convert a sale from a qualified lead, why do website owners often expect the people just browsing their site to instantly buy? Capturing people’s emails (with a tantalising offer just for subscribers) was my first piece of advice to her.

Where is Helpful Advice on Email Marketing?
Although there is a plethora of info on attracting people to your website, actually marketing to them and getting action (sales/calls/bookings) is often left to chance. 

Email marketing has been around for awhile now, but it is rare to get advice on what to send, how often, how to segment your list, and how to get a great response. So most business owners just send untargeted offers, which seriously under-utilises this low cost avenue for customer acquisition. (Of course I work with Infusionsoft, the tool to use to get those high performing results you want).

In addition, pay-per-click advertising to attract customers can get quite expensive if 95% of the prospects sail away before any contact. Email marketing works brilliantly with PPC advertising because it allows businesses:

• to tell them more details about the services/products
• to learn more about their visitors’ real interests
• to offer value through information prior to purchase (i.e. handy tips, news, events)
• to keep the relationship between business and prospect alive, right after they showed interest

Fortunately, I am working on a solution to help end the marketing confusion generally circulating in the small business world. It will be an exclusive Business Builder’s membership program. Stay tuned for some interesting, results-focussed advice.

Some E-marketing Tips

You need to encourage people to give you their email address, so what do you give them in return? While it is the most popular, you don’t necessarily have to offer a newsletter. Other options are: a free white paper with some facts about your industry, a free consultation or evaluation, or a free webinar or teleseminar.

Thank them for signing up to your list (automatically of course), personalising this message based on their encounter with your website. Once they read your newsletter/email, track which links they clicked on, and then target mailings to their interests and habits. You can even segment people who found you through search engine marketing in a separate mailing list from your general list.

Why do most blogs not make it past the first three months?  Perhaps because most authors start with a few ideas of what they want to say, but then they lack the skills to continue and develop a audience. Pro Blogger mentor Darren Rowse (of ProBlogger.net) reckons that many of his blogs did not reach their tipping point (of success) until about two years in – i.e. only the determined survive!

Blogs must show a consistency of voice. A voice that is perhaps not always going to be completely Politically Correct, but sometimes bring up a salient point that no-one has hitherto suggested, or break a new story. This is why blogging is different to writing web page content – sharing, helping, and throwing out ideas is the MAIN aim. Promoting is secondary. Get it?

Some Key Blogging Tips

Remember that the habit of posting has to be done like clockwork, through busy times and lean times, through computer meltdowns and people meltdowns. Outsourcing will take that load off you, but make sure the writer is clued into your audience and your core topics.

Don’t get bogged down in the blog posts. It’s meant to be fast.

“Think of your blog as a thick marker – and each blog post a single idea designed to inspire, engage and stimulate.” - Gavin, Servant of Chaos (pro blogger)

Learn yourself from the best commentators/bloggers, and then educate your audience. Snippets of other author’s comments, or related facts, makes each post interesting. While blogging may seem lonely at first, soon real comments from readers and a great social media strategy will get you past the blogging blues.

Stats:
While Technorati states it is tracking over 112.8 million blogs (figures in 2009, and exclude China), only around 21% are actually active.

More about Blogging for Small Business and a book you can buy at Servant of Chaos.

I was thinking today about the rise of the Guru in internet marketing. If we are to achieve our goals, do we need to follow a Guru? A coach? Or do we tread our own path?

Let’s look at what the most successful entrepreneurs tend to do. They research and learn from others. But a critical difference is that successful entrepreneurs do not ‘buy in’ to a guiding Guru’s opinions. They have their own. They question common preconceived notions (this often leads to new markets or new products).

Many successful entrepreneurs today have followed their passion with true grit and a real mission to complete. They face adversity, as you will, on a daily basis, and learn to make decisions quickly and not get caught up in second-guessing themselves.

Entrepreneurs learn from experts in other fields in order to shortcut their learning. They surround themselves with the best specialist consultants, contractors and employees, since they cannot DO everything.

Examples of single-minded entrepreneurs (no groaning please):
•    Anthony Robbins of Robbins Research International (Booklist on Amazon)
•    Sir Richard Branson (latest book: Business Stripped Bare)
•    Bill Glazer (book: Outrageous Advertising)

“Richard is the only person in the world to have built seven billion dollar companies from scratch in seven completely different sectors” (Amazon).

My point is, you can learn a lot from the work and success of others, as long as you remind yourself that you are taking steps along a path and that no-one is the final figure of authority.  Of course we all need some support along the journey, and some people choose a coach for that.

What role can a Life/Business Coach play?  A coach is a sounding board and guides you to practical, time-saving methods and smart business practices. Sometimes they are the sole encouraging voice, someone to help you achieve your goals in small steps. But they are not the final authority, you are.

You don’t have to wait for all the answers to get started on that lifetime dream, because you learn as you go along. If you learn from others who have built businesses, while promoting your own unique qualities, then you will surely become a business success.

CRM software is great isn’t it?  If you’re out visiting clients, it still sends out email follow-ups, builds trust through rich information, and sends out time-limited offers… doesn’t it?  Oh… yours just stores information that you’ve collected.

This problem came up recently with a prospect who is using SugarCRM. He says that it doesn’t DO anything for him; it’s just another place to store data.  After forking out his valuable time in setting up this system, he now realises that he needs something EXTRA that is going to automatically communicate to people, based on what they buy and what they request on his website.

This busy business owner wants to save time and effort when communicating to people in his database, so he is looking into Infusionsoft for both marketing and customer relationship management purposes.

The Right Tool
I guess the basic problem is having the right tool for the job. Also to be considered is, a lot of Customer Relationship Management systems available, especially Enterprise CRM, were designed for large companies with various departments. They are too cumbersome and expensive for the one-person to five-person small business.

Managing Opportunities
There is another segment of CRM which focusses on Opportunity Management.  Recording sales opportunities is important in most businesses, so every good CRM should include this facility. You can note multiple tasks against each contact, record activities likes meetings and calls, and note possible sales. Reporting tools also help you keep up with progress on a weekly or monthly basis.

Marketing is Left till Last
Save the best till last… while most large CRM systems are used with Enterprise Resource Planning, tracking customer data, and even recording all sales force activity… they do not automatically send out information, offers, and newsletters (by SMS, email, fax). That’s the work of yet another external system and an administrator as well.

So that’s why, when my new customers have got to the stage of seeing the Infusionsoft demonstration on automating their marketing to a segmented list, it’s like the light bulbs go on – because they realise it’s all simple enough for just one person to manage. Hooray.