Have You Created an Impossible Business?

It's easy to think that any business can be successful if you work hard enough, but there are many situations where this just isn't so. Consultants, coaches, and other service professionals often start a business believing that all they need to do is charge a "reasonable" fee and sell "enough" of their time. But unless you do the math to prove or disprove your assumptions, you may be creating a business that can never succeed.

New consultants, coaches, and other professionals almost always overestimate how much they can earn and underestimate the amount of time and money required to successfully market themselves. They also forget that they will have to cover not only their living costs and business expenses, but pay self-employment tax, buy their own health insurance, provide for their own retirement, and allow for unpaid vacation and sick time. If earning a decent living as a self-employed professional sometimes seems impossible to you, start asking how it could be possible. What can you change about how you are marketing yourself, how much you are charging, and how you are packaging your services? While it could be that success will come if you just work a little harder, it's more likely that you first need to start working a little differently.

Making Time for Marketing

"I don't have time to market." It's a common complaint from self-employed professionals. When you are the only one who can serve the clients, manage the business, and perform all the sales and marketing functions, time becomes the most precious commodity you have. How can you find time for marketing with so many other important priorities? There are many time management techniques at your disposal, of course. You can defer tasks or delegate them, chunk down projects to smaller steps, and set aside time on your calendar for making calls, writing letters, or updating marketing materials. Perhaps you have already tried all those methods and discovered that time is still scarce.

Maybe the real answer is not to find more time for marketing, but to MAKE time. Every day, you take part in many time-consuming activities that don't include marketing. What if you could integrate marketing with all those things you are already doing?

Here are some examples of how that can work:

1. Attending workshops, business mixers, and cultural events. Whenever you plan to attend an event like this, consider inviting a business contact to join you. Just extending the invitation will contribute to building a stronger relationship between you. If your contact decides to attend, you can often get to know each other better in a more relaxed way than meeting one-to-one.
   
2. Having lunch or coffee with a prospect or colleague. If you are already planning to take time meeting with someone, add a third or fourth person to the party. Those invited will usually appreciate the opportunity to make new contacts themselves, and you may find conversation flows more easily when there is a group.
   
3. Traveling to another city. Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, arrange to meet for lunch or dinner with a client or colleague. On a business trip, this is usually much more enjoyable than dining alone. As a tourist, a meal you would be eating anyway takes no time out of your vacation schedule, plus you'll often get local tips about where to go and what to do.
   
4. Taking a walk, visiting the gym, and other forms of exercise. Meetings with business associates don't have to take place in the office or a restaurant. Invite someone to join you for a walk in the park, run around the track, or a game of tennis. You don't have to learn to play golf in order to get exercise and do business at the same time.
   
5. Reading an article. Any time you read an interesting article in the newspaper, a magazine, or online, think of three people you could send it to. Writing a short "thought-you-would-be-interested" note and forwarding the item will take only a moment, but can make a big impression on the recipient.
   
6. Shopping, dining, or running errands. Every time you leave your home or office, you meet new people. They are behind the counter at the office supply store, in line at the coffee shop, sitting at the next table, or shopping in the same aisle. Whenever you find yourself chatting with strangers, remember to introduce yourself by name and occupation. You'll be surprised to discover how often this will lead to a connection that can result in business.
   
7. Attending social events. The best business relationships often begin casually in social environments. Keep your business cards in your pocket when you attend a wedding, housewarming, holiday party, or your child's soccer game. After you ask, "How do you know our hosts?" or "Which child is yours?" make your next question, "What do you do?"
   
8. Relaxing. You may have a long list of marketing projects that will take time but not your full attention. Consider doubling up these mundane tasks with a fun activity or some pleasant company. Enter business cards into your contact database on your laptop at the beach. Make phone calls from the hot tub or a park bench. Review your prospect list while watching old movies or listening to music. Ask your kids to help you stuff and address envelopes. Take your project to a friend's house so the two of you can work together on marketing.
   

As you can see, there are many ways to include marketing activities in your busy life. So instead of wishing you had more time for marketing, why not make marketing a part of the time you are already spending?

From C.J. Hayden, for About.com

Generations at Work and Why We Collide

The term "generation gap" came to prominence in describing the disparity between kids of the first postwar generation and their parents, sometimes called the G.I. Generation. But another gap inevitably exists on the other side of the Boomer generation. This gap, created by differing sensibilities and economic realities, has put passing the leadership torch from Boomers to Gen X-ers low on the priority list. For the past 20 years, Boomer-led organizations have been highly focused on cost cutting and downsizing, often to the detriment of emerging leader training and mentoring programs. Furthermore, Boomer culture tends to emphasize competitiveness, self-importance and youthfulness-qualities that may make it hard for Boomers to grasp their responsibility to mentor and prepare their successors. In fact, some organizations are choosing to invest in short-term solutions, such as retirement postponement incentives that keep knowledge-rich Boomers in the workplace longer, rather than in long-term training and development initiatives for future leaders.

Given the lack of consideration or preparation for the future that most organizations have demonstrated to date, it is quite likely that Gen X-ers are going to find themselves suddenly in the driver's seat and expected to steer organizations through complex, chaotic and uncertain terrain, prepared or not. How can this next generation of leaders take charge and seek out the knowledge that they will need to lead well? How can they step up and prepare for their future? It is unlikely the status quo will change. As has been the lifelong truth for those who grew up as latchkey kids, Gen X-ers must continue to figure out what to do to take care of themselves. In short, if you are just waiting in the shadow of the Baby Boomers, push aside the apathy for which Gen X is known and use the coping skills you grew up with to effect positive change.

Self-knowledge is the most important tool that good leaders possess. When you are aware of your strong points and have insight about your shortcomings, you can chart a path for yourself to advance and succeed. Resist the compulsion to be overly self-critical; you are simply taking an inventory of your abilities and what you need to learn. Consider how your values, such as a desire for work/life balance, can be leadership strengths, and how a lack of political savvy may be a limitation. Successful leaders need to understand how to inspire people to work toward meaningful goals, and these skills can be learned if you are willing to do the work.

Excerpt from Donna Hickey

Special Quote #1

It's not what you do, but how you do it!

Sales and Marketing Must Work Together

In this economy, it is more important than ever to capture and nurture every sales lead and to pass only the most qualified leads to Sales. Salespeople can't rely simply on a consultative approach because it is time consuming and reactive. Marketing can't focus on simply generating leads and hope that sales can close that gap between "vague interest" and "fully qualified opportunity alone." Sales and Marketing must work together to make the sales process more proactive. Marketing must expand its role to pick up where the consultative salesperson falls short by blending the proactive nature of marketing with the consultative selling approach.

There is a significant change taking shape in business-to-business selling. We are seeing in business the rise of Marketing to supplant Sales' dominance. It is a dramatic and rapid evolution changing the way suppliers and buyers initially contact, interact and then transact business. This requires an interactive dialogue and interaction between buyer and supplier across all channels of communication. Website, blogs, trade shows, sales team, support, customer counsels, social network marketing, and touch points which have yet to be conceived, every touch point must be integrated, consistent and proactive.

This is not the first dramatic shift in business-to-business sales and will not be the last. This approach benefits both parties in a sale by minimizing the interactions required to make a buying decision.

Customer First Perspective for Web content

How do you define good Web content? The push to make all content look as though it came from one person is what used to drive marketing campaigns and make companies rich. However, this created enormous disconnect between the customer and the company. Your customers just aren't into that anymore. They do not want to be condescended to; they're an incredibly sophisticated, increasingly impatient and skeptical audience. They expect to be written to (and understood) by their content providers. What Customers Want: Short lists The ability to search for information easily To offer feedback on what they like and don't like Scannable articles, with bullet-points and images (nothing gratuitous though… only if it serves the content) Humor (they don't want to have to take you, or themselves, all that seriously) Authenticity (phoniness on the Web is as obvious and transparent as that flash content that, come to think of it, seems to have died down…) If you work on Web content and are interested in people and their opinions — and are comfortable with giving up some control — you'll be okay during this transitional time. It's a messy, subjective process.