by Yoon Cannon | Business Growth Tips Blog, Success Mindset
Self-doubt can sure kill your business success and prevent you reaching your full potential. But, it does not have to. To help you overcome self-doubt in a healthy, productive way, practice my 6 tried-and-tested approaches to helping you conquer your gremlins, so they stop getting in the way of your business success.
Expect that self-doubt is going to happen.
Whether it’s in sports or in business when we don’t expect the attack that’s when we knocked off our feet. Self-doubt is normal. Don’t be so surprised when it happens to you. Attacks of self-doubt are a part of the game. Even the most talented entrepreneurs experience self-doubt at some point throughout the year. Being aware and expecting self-doubt will happen makes this invisible missile, visible, so you can see it and fight back to extinguish it.
Push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Many entrepreneurs subconsciously respond to self-doubt by retreating into their comfort zone. They lose faith in their ability to take on new challenges, and learn new skills – and even deliberately hide from them. It’s crucial to remember that nothing incredible ever happens within your comfort zone. The most life-changing business opportunities all happen in unfamiliar circumstances. Leaving your comfort zone is part-and-parcel of being successful – and remembering that will help you overcome self-doubt.
Quit beating yourself up.
Entrepreneurs are notoriously hard upon themselves, especially in times of failure. But, being your own harshest critic is a double-edged sword. It helps you win when it drives you to set hold high expectations of your self. The other side, however, can stab your business success if you keep beating yourself up for every business failure that happens.
Stop thinking you failed because you weren’t good enough – that only sets you up for failing again. In other words, self-doubt is borne from low self-esteem. Thankfully, we can combat this. Realize when your negativity is fueled by your own judgment, and make a conscious effort to be kind to yourself. Have some self-compassion.
Blame the tactics, not the talent.
Many of my entrepreneur clients hire me for business coaching because they are frustrated with their flat sales. I understand though, that your frustration goes beyond just seeing depressing numbers on the board. Those flat sales can make you feel like you fell flat on your face. That can be a huge blow to the gut and our pride.
Failing to reach your goals doesn’t have to be such a hard pain to recover from if you shift your focus to:
- Re-evaluating your TACTICS instead of re-evaluating your TALENT.
- STOP drawing false conclusions that a failure is a reflection of your talent.
I’m here to remind you and SHOUT to you – it’s not true.
Get expert TACTICAL guidance.
Let’s say you believe you’re a terrible cook. What makes a meal a success or failure has more to do with factors like whether you’re using a good or bad recipe, fresh or processed ingredients, cheap or quality-made cookware, cooking time, and temperatures – you get the idea.
Half the battle with your business success starts from showing up each day with the right mindset. The other half has more to do with your approach. It’s important to re-evaluate the tactics in your business growth strategy. An outside expert can also give you better feedback on how well you’re executing on those strategies. Executing the wrong strategies can easily fuel that self-doubt. Implementing the right strategies can suddenly make you look and feel like a rock star.
Build your inner circle.
Feedback from your friends, family, and peers can help you to improve your abilities; but it can also weaken your own faith in yourself. Often, well-intentioned constructive feedback, coming from a non-expert, ends up being the wrong feedback.
As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to isolate yourself from growing your business alone. But, isolation is where self-doubt flourishes. We all need to have an inner circle of 2-3 people who understand our industry and our challenges and can contribute insightful perspectives on your strengths and strategies.
Get busy, and stay busy.
Productivity can help you extinguish self-doubt. When you’re working flat-out to make a deadline, you don’t have the time to reflect on your work; and you’re too busy to let negativity creep into your emotions. Reflection leads to self doubt, and self doubt leads to inaction. It creates a vicious cycle of doubt, where you become paralyzed by the fear of failure, and unwilling to start working again. To overcome self-doubt, make sure your schedule is packed with productive plans to keep you working towards definite deadlines.
Get some momentum.
Many entrepreneurs have a tendency to seek perfection. Every blog post, email, brief, design, and pitch has to be ideal – and nothing less will do. These high ideals can help inspire you to new heights, but they can also be the very thing that keeps you from moving the ball forward.
Perfection isn’t always attainable, and in these instances, it’s crucial to start moving forward. Remember that ‘done moderately well is better than not done at all’.
Success is about getting results. You don’t get results by simply standing still. You need to go up to bat and keep swinging. If you keep at it, while focusing on your approach (and not doubting your talent), you will eventually hit a homerun!
If you are tired of struggling with self-doubt and want to finally stop getting in your own way, so you can grow your dream business I invite you to schedule a complimentary discovery coaching call with me here:
https://stage.paramountbusinesscoach.com/coaching/coaching-call-sign-up/
If not now, when?
© Copyright 2021-2022
by Yoon Cannon | Business Growth Tips Blog, Time Management/Productivity
How to Start a Business
Every entrepreneur imagines their business concept growing into a successful international company. Global corporations like Apple and Microsoft may have started with big ideas, but they became successful because their founders followed up with solid action. Budding business leaders such as yourself can take some of these steps to transform ambitious ideas and dreams into reality.
You Have an Idea for a Startup Biz
Brainstorming a new business idea is clearly the first step. Now that you’ve passed this point, it’s time to lay the real groundwork. Make a business plan to outline what you’re going to do, how you intend to do it, and of course, how you’ll make money by doing it. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has a great page with plenty of details about all of the things a business plan should contain. Among them are the company overview, market analysis, production and sourcing, financial projections, marketing plans and other essential aspects of business.
Business plans are often required by lenders and investors, but another big reason to write one is for your own benefit. You may be surprised at how many aspects need to be considered. It’s easy to allow some integral business components to fall through the cracks if you begin your startup without developing an organized and detailed plan.
You’ve Got a Business Plan
Now that you have a business plan, it’s time to figure out how to fund your new endeavor. Venture capital, bank loans, SBA loans and even grants can be considered. A small business credit card can offer short-term capital as well as business-friendly rewards.
One of the best ways to get funding is to seem like you don’t need it, according to Forbes. Instead, try asking for advice from potential investors, and make your pitch as you do so. This will make the investor more likely to tell you to go ahead—and provide some funds to allow you to do so.
You Have Funding and Are Ready to Hire Employees
Working for a startup often requires long hours. It is also risky for employees because many startups don’t get to the next stage. Therefore, you need to look for a special breed of person to work with you during this energetic and uncertain time. To find the perfect person, you will need to ditch some of the conventional wisdom.
Instead of seeking people who can answer your questions in the perfect way, have them perform a task for you without direction, suggests The Daily Muse. Look for the person who can actually do the task or who shows the most potential. After all, anyone can learn how to respond to common interviewer questions by reading advice on job sites. You need to find the person who can back it up.
Lose the notion that an advanced college degree always signifies a better candidate. In many cases, eager and energetic young people who have not yet completed their degree are better matches for startups.
This advice is merely the tip of the iceberg as you develop your business from an idea to a profitable company. You’ll find that many steps come naturally as you progress. Be persistent and use your common sense, and you will have a fighting chance of ending up with a successful business.
Be sure to grab my free printable checklist on How to Start a Business here.
About Yoon Cannon: Top business coach Yoon Cannon has helped thousands of small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and sales teams achieve dramatic results in growing your business. Over the past 25+years Yoon has started 6 different businesses and sold 3 of them. She offers fresh insights as a seasoned business growth expert. Yoon delivers proven process for your sales, marketing and management development. To book Yoon to speak at your next event email: YoonCannon(at) ParamountBusinessCoach.com To schedule a complimentary business coaching consultation call book here https://stage.paramountbusinesscoach.com/coaching/coaching-call-sign-up/
© Copyright 2021-2022
by Yoon Cannon | Business Growth Tips Blog, Marketing and Sales Blog Posts
If you want more customers to grow your small business get more clicks to your website. The easiest page to drive more clicks to your website is to focus on getting more clicks to your blog. If you don’t yet have a blog, just ask your webmaster to add one to your navigation bar. Your website is an essential tool to attract, engage and convert more customers. It even works 24/7 for you, 365 days a year. The main pages in your website typically serve as a brochure that talks mostly about you and your services. Your blog however, is all about your visitor and helping them solve their challenges. Your blog is where you can showcase your expertise by sharing your knowledge, answering common questions and educating your consumers. Let’s assume you have populated your blog with lots of great, high quality content. Great content helps you to stand out among your competition. Publishing new blog articles to your website is key to helping you engage and convert new customers. But, if you are getting very little traffic there just won’t be enough visitors to convert. Here’s 5 simple strategies to helping your get more clicks to your website and blog:
1. Start with the right keyword phrase.
Choosing the right keywords is a big factor in helping you get more clicks. What most people don’t know, is when it is referred to as an SEO keyword, it can actually be a keyword phrase. As a matter of fact, you’re better off using a phrase instead of just one word. By using just one word as your keyword (also known as a vanity keyword), your search is going to be too broad and your site will get lost in the mix. By making it more specific, you will have a greater chance of showing up towards the top of the search. Not sure what keywords you should use? Start capturing the exact language your prospects and clients use when they ask you questions. Jot down your top 10 most commonly asked questions and you can pull 2 word and 3 word keyword phrases to start blogging about.
2. Brainstorm compelling headlines
A headline’s main job is to get people to click the article. If your title is boring or reads exactly the same as everyone else’s headline, it’s more than likely that person will pass your site over for the more interesting sounding one. Writing headlines is a lot easier when you know your audience. You want to know what types of words and phrases would grab their attention. Two quick tips to keep in mind when it comes to coming up with compelling headlines to help you get more clicks to your blog and website: First, people love list articles. It has been researched that headlines that use odd numbers outperform and gets more clicks than even numbered ones. Use the digit instead of writing it out. (i.e.: 7 instead of seven) If you want to get more bang out of your headline, make sure you use your keyword phrase at the beginning and also use power words, such as smart, critical, powerful, and surprising. Second tip: people are motivated by fear of loss or desire to gain. You can get more clicks to your site when your headline identifies a very specific benefit or loss.
3. Decide on a great title tag
Your title tag is how your blog post will appear in a search result. Often times, your title tag is the same as the headline for your blog article. Occasionally, you may decide to alter the title tag slightly from your blog title. Keep your title tag under 55 characters as anything longer will get cut off. To get more clicks, your title tag should include your keyword phrase. Here’s an example of one of mine where my keyword phrase was “LinkedIn Marketing Tips”. I decided on a headline that speaks to the fear of loss:
4. Get more clicks with a meta tag description that sells your content.
There is another important tag that should be utilized in your site’s optimization. Meta tags are important in search results. They add a description to the site/page under the link on the search page. When writing the your description, make sure not to mislead your readers. If it is not what was described, they will use that back button to get out of there and go to another site. Mainly, you want to use the meta tag description to your advantage as a short sales pitch. And even though you might be tempted to utilize your keyword or keyword phrase in your meta tag, don’t stuff keywords in there (use multiple times). Search engines are smart and will see exactly what you are doing. Also, make sure you keep your sentences here under 155 characters because if it goes over that character count, the description will be cut off. I like to use a free tool called “Letter Count”. It makes it fast and easy to confirm whether it’s too short or too long. 
5. Choose an attention-grabbing image.
It’s important to have an image that goes along with your blog post. When you share the blog post link in your social media having an image that was published with the blog will have it appear in your network’s feed. The image helps your blog post take up more real estate than just a link. Here’s an example of how it looks on social media: 
Remember, people are visual, so you want to choose an image that relates to what you talk about in your blog post. Also, try to choose an image that evokes some type of emotion. Just as we spoke about earlier, people are motivated by fear of loss or desire to gain. Look for images that project the negative emotions your target audience would like to escape as well as images that convey the positive emotions they are pursuing.
An image that immediately resonates with your ideal target market grabs attention and get more clicks. Start implementing these 5 simple strategies. By employing these ideas, you can start seeing more traffic coming into your blog and website. Remember, sales is first a numbers game. If you want more customers, you need to generate more leads. If you wants more leads, get more traffic to your website. If you want more traffic to your site, get more clicks to your blog.
QUESTION: What is your biggest challenge or question when it comes to getting more customers from your website?
Want to achieve FASTER results from your website and marketing efforts? Book a complimentary discovery coaching call with me here:
ABOUT YOON CANNON, Founder, ParamountBusinessCoach.com My mission is to encourage, equip and empower entrepreneurs to help you grow a thriving business and life you love! For the past 25+ years I have started 6 different businesses and sold 3 of them (both B2C and B2B), so I completely understand the struggles you go through whether you’re starting from zero or growing a 6 and 7 figure business. I invite you to book a free sales growth strategy call with me below. https://stage.paramountbusinesscoach.com/coaching/coaching-call-sign-up/
by Managing Editor Yoon Cannon | Attract More Customers, Business Growth Tips Blog, General, Lead generation
Copywriting Secrets to Generating More Leads for Your Business
Copywriting is a key player in any business’s lead generation process. Every campaign email, advertisement, blog, or landing page you write must be engaging and impactful enough to convert your visitors into leads, and those leads into sales.
The trick to achieving this lead conversion is to create content that captivates your visitors. You need to get them interested in your products and services, keeping their interest long enough to convince them to invest in what you offer.
Here are 6 essential tips to create copywriting that generates more leads for your business and boosts your bottom lines as a result.
1. Bear Your Customers in Mind
Your copywriting should always focus on the needs, interests, and demands of your target audience. If your headings, topics, and calls to action aren’t converting visitors into leads, it may be time to consider updating your content strategies. If your content grabs the attention of your visitors, this will reflect in your improved conversion rates.
One effective way to ensure that your copywriting strategies are to take the reviews and opinions of past customers into consideration. Read up on past testimonials, reviews, and customer communications to find out the most notable benefits of your products and services from their points of view. You can incorporate these strengths and benefits into the future copy to ensure that you’re highlighting your business’s offerings in a positive and compelling way.
The copy on your sales pages should showcase customers’ positive reviews and experiences with your products in a way that tells your leads exactly what they can expect when they invest in them. Your sales copy or content copy can also touch on how you have addressed past product concerns or updated your offerings to meet the changing needs of your target market, showing that you’re attentive to your customers’ preferences and open to their suggestions.
For example, instead of headlining your landing page with a simple headline such as
● ‘Freelance Job Finding Tool,’ you could use the headline
● ‘Instantly Find Great-Paying Freelance Jobs Online with Us.’
The latter benefit-based headline immediately tells visitors they can expect excellent service from your business and that they can benefit directly from buying your offerings.
Creating captivating written content that increases your lead generation rates will also require an in-depth knowledge of your core audience. You need to know your target market in and out if you want to be able to use the right persuasive language to convert them into customers.
You can write your content using certain personas to help you engage with your audience more effectively. This approach allows you to address specific age groups, demographics, interest groups, and pressure points with content that’s relevant and approachable to them.
Approachability is key when it comes to lead generation, and by writing using a persona, you can make your brand’s identity seem more relatable to potential customers while offering them persuasive media that truly resonates with them.
2. Focus on Calls to Action
Calls to action (CTA) are an obviously crucial element in any business’s written copy. However, what many companies don’t realize is that their copywriting strategy should have its basis on a single, focused CTA rather than multiple, general directions.
You can use focused, imperative language to instruct potential customers on which steps they should take next. CTAs like:
● ‘call us now,’
● ‘book your spot now,’ or
● ‘sign up for a free trial today’
are all effective, as long as a single, clear action gets priority in your text. Terms like ‘inquire’ and ‘contact us’ may suit B2B businesses more, while B2C companies can use CTAs such as ‘buy today.’
Don’t suggest further reading, flood your readers with pop-up ads, or bombard them with unnecessary actions.
Use your sales and service web page copy to tell them the benefits of your product or service and instruct them to take direct action to reduce the incidence of choice paralysis. This is one trait of being a good copywriter.
In contrast, your blogs must offer useful and actionable information that adds additional value to the products and services your brand already offers, like how-tos, guides, and relevant news.
3. Work on Your Customers’ Emotions
Copywriting is as much an art as it is a science. Using emotive language can go a long way in pointing out the benefits of your products and engaging your audience.
Headlines like ‘Take the Stress Out of Supply Chain Management’ allow your content to resonate with your readers’ potential stress points and give the impression that your brand empathizes with them. It’s crucial to word your copy in a way that highlights the fact that your readers’ lives will be easier if they invest in your products and services.
4. Be Generous with Your Visitors
You could offer your website visitors a free eBook, guide, or digital download in exchange for their email addresses or contact details. Free gifts like these act as a lead magnet to convert visitors into leads, and they also enhance your brand’s reputation, which could generate even more valuable leads in the future.
5. Focus on Readability
Today’s online audience has a short attention span, and you need to capture it quickly lest you lose it forever. You can make your content more readable by using brief sentences and paragraphs, easily legible fonts, and bullet points to help get your information across quickly and concisely.
Tools like the Flesch reading ease test can help ensure that your content is as readable as possible. This tool measures readability and grade level, helping you find out whether your content will reach the intended audience.
The trick to making your content readable and engaging for your readers is to model each page of written content after a step-by-step process. Use a combination of headings, brief paragraphs, infographics, block quotes, and lists of imagery to keep them immersed throughout. This will also keep your content skimmable.
Using descriptive headings will allow your audience to find the areas of your content that they’re
most interested in.
6. Create and Stick To Strategy
Your copywriting strategy should always focus on creating a copy that generates leads and converts them into paying customers. Once you’ve gained a keen understanding of your audience, use specific strategies to stand out and highlight the benefits of your offerings in a relatable way.
Copywriting Tips for Writing Emails That People Open
Use these 8 elements of high-opening email subject lines to craft emails that people are more likely to open.
#1. Self-interest
Using terms like ‘you’ and ‘your’ allows you to address your readers directly and to engage them with communication that speaks to their own interests.
Examples include:
○ ‘Simplify Your Life with These 3 Time Management Apps’ or
○ ‘Pressed for Time? How [your tool] Can Help You Streamline Your Work Schedule
Today’.
#2. Curiosity
Email subject lines that get people curious about what the mail contains are a great way to ensure that your emails actually get read. You can draw your readers in by
adding intriguing headlines like:
○ ‘Open for a Surprise’ or
○ ‘You Won’t Believe Our Festive Deals This December’.
Give your readers just enough information to arouse their interest and then leave the real explanations for the body of your mail.
#3. Offer
Nothing catches someone’s attention quite like a great deal or a special offer. Your email subject lines for offer-related emails need to be short, concise, and catchy in order to
distinguish them from the many other emails your target audience receives daily.
Headlines to use include:
● ‘Spring Sale—Offers Just for You’
● ‘Get 15% Off on All Purchases Today’ or
● ‘Sale Alert! Up to 40% Off Your Favorite Beauty Products’.
#4. Urgency
Conveying a sense of urgency in your email subject lines will compel your readers to click immediately. It’s essential to persuade your readers to read your promotional emails
the second they receive them, as most people don’t go back to review past emails. Examples of urgency include:
● ‘24 Hours Left on Our Special Offer—Don’t Miss Out!’ and
● ‘Only One Week Left to Take Advantage of Our Free Webinar Program’.
#5. Humanity
The personable language will prevent you from sounding robotic in your sales emails and allow your readers to better relate to your brand’s identity. Terms like:
● ‘oops’, ‘our bad’, and
● ‘woohoo’ can add a human touch to your email correspondence.
#6. News
Most people will appreciate updates on your business. You can use subject headlines like:
● ‘We’re Open Late This December! Our New Holiday Shopping Hours’ or
● ‘We’re Going Online—Here’s What You Need to Know About Our New Online Store’ to share important news about your enterprise.
#7. Social proof
People are more likely to trust a brand that others have rated positively before them. You can make your emails more persuasive by adding subject headlines like:
● ‘It’s Overwhelming How Much Love We’re Receiving!’ or
● ‘Here’s What Chicago’s Best CFOs Have Had to Say About Our Products’.
Remember to include photos and designations of the people giving the testimonials in your emails, as this adds credibility to the message you’re sending your target audience.
Tips for Writing Attention-Grabbing Headlines for Blog Articles
Your blogs’ headlines have the power to captivate your readers—or drive them away. Catchy headlines are especially important if your goal is to gain more leads.
Attention-grabbing headlines will motivate your audience to click on and read your blog posts. They may even convert potential customers into active ones, which is crucial to your business’s success. Readers who are bored by your headlines will likely go elsewhere, and it may take more effort to recapture their attention in the few.
Here are our top tips for writing attention-grabbing blog article headlines every time.
1. How-to headlines
‘How to Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines for Your Blog Articles’ is a good quality headline for a blog article. It addresses your readers directly and focuses on people’s
need to gain valuable new skills.
Computers, mobile devices, and the internet have made it easy for people to find answers or information. All you need to do is determine what problem your product addresses, and what the solution is. Once you have this information, point your readers in the right direction with how-to guides designed specifically to answer their most pressing questions.
2. List headlines
List articles are popular because psychologically speaking, humans crave certainty and predictability. A blog headline like ‘10 Ways to Earn Money Online While Traveling’ tells your readers precisely what they’re in for—that there are 10 different ways to earn money online while they travel. They can also decide if they have the time to read all ten listed methods.
3. Curiosity
This is another psychological copywriting tactic that plays on people’s natural curiosity. Your readers want to learn, and they want to know what their peers know too. Questions
are an effective form of writing a copy for headlines as they prompt readers to think about the answers to the questions. For example, a headline reading ‘Are You Really Ready for Marriage?’ would get plenty of attention from single people, people in relationships, and even those who are engaged who want to make sure that they’re ready to take the plunge.
4. Threat and warning headlines
When it comes to writing topics to attract more audience, these headlines are extremely compelling to readers, most of whom want to avoid problems before they occur.
Headlines like:
● ‘Do You Recognize the Warning Signs of Early Dementia?’ or
● ‘Here’s Why Social Media Addiction is the Next Great Health Crisis’
promises essential tips to help your readers avoid these issues before it’s too late.
Headline Template Hacks
Last but not least, these headline templates are all based on highly effective content writing strategies like the ones listed above. Use them in your next blog posts to captivate your readers and improve your blog engagement rates:
● What [#] Studies Have to Say About [Subject]
● [#] [Noun] That Are Proven To [Desirable Outcome]
● [#] Ways To Be [Adjective] When You Don’t [Verb] [Adjective]
● How To [Verb] An [Audience] With The Best [Subject] Tips (+[#])Free [Resources])
● [#] Data-Driven [Noun] From [#] Of The Most Popular [Noun]
● [#]+ Easy Ways To [Verb A [Noun] That Will Skyrocket By [#]% In 1 Year
● How To Use [Noun] To Increase Your [Desirable Outcome]
● The [#]-Minute, [#]-Step Solution For The Best [Noun]
● How To Rock A [Noun] That Will Save You Tons Of Time/Money
● How To [Verb] Your [Noun] For Massive Growth
● To The [Role] Who Will Settle For Nothing Less Than [World-Class Outcome]
● Break All The Rules And [World-Class Outcome]
● How Your [Service Provider] Is Ripping You Off And What To Do About It Right Now
● I Found A [Adjective] Way To [Get Incredible Outcome]
● See Why We Have An [Adverb] [Adjective] [Social Problem] In Just [Short Time]
● [Influencer Or Celebrity] [Emotional Reaction] [To Thing That Basically The Whole World Already Understood]
● Is This The World’s First [Good, Bad, Or Desirable Thing]?
● How To Survive Your First [Good, Bad, or Desirable Thing]
● Who Doesn’t Like [Somewhat Accepted Taboo]? [Unexpected Answer With Tease About Why]
● I Spent [Time] [Working Toward Goal]. I Just [Quitting Statement]. Here’s Why.
● I Don’t Regret __________. But Here’s What I’d Do Differently
● Would You Do [Unimaginable Thing]? I Just Did.
● Who Else Wants __________?
● The Secret Of __________
● Here Is A Method That Is Helping __________ To __________
● Little Known Ways To __________
● Get Rid Of [Problem] Once And For All
● Here’s A Quick Way To [Solve A Problem]
● Now You Can Have [Something Desirable] [Great Circumstance]
● [Do Something] Like [World-Class Example]
● Have A [Or] Build A __________ You Can Be Proud Of
● What Everybody Ought To Know About __________
● How To __________ Every Day
● How To __________ As a [Role]
● Give Me 30 Minutes And I’ll Give You [Desirable Outcome]
● Try These 5 [Tactics] For A Week, And Be Twice As [Productive].
by Yoon Cannon | Business Growth Tips Blog, Attract More Customers, Marketing and Sales Blog Posts
How do you stand out from the competition? What is your strategy to win new clients? Do you have one? We all know that the best prospects to focus on are the people who are already looking to hire someone like you. But, all too often when I search on the Internet for various professionals – whether I’m searching for a photographer, an electrician or a chiropractor, I see very few businesses (if any) whose message truly stands out. If you managed to land on page one on your prospects’ Google search, you can celebrate getting to first base. But, you still need to get to second base. Before you can win the customer you have to first win the click. The key in winning the click is standing out among the competition. Here are 5 simple steps you can implement today:
1. How to stand out from the competition? Communicate the outcome that your customers or prospects would like to achieve when working with you or buying from you.
It’s not enough to simply tell people your occupation or industry you’re in. If you want to stand out among the sea of sameness go further and tell people what specific problems you solve. For example, one of the members in my Marketing Coaching program is a registered dietician and nutritionist. Understandably, that’s what she wrote on her LinkedIn profile. But, what was much more effective at helping her stand out from the thousands of other nutritionists on the Internet was simply communicating the key problems she solved and who she solves it for. Her tagline now included “weight loss specialist for busy entrepreneurs”. This immediately got the attention from the right people she was looking to reach on LinkedIn. Her specific outcome message distinguished her from thousands of competitors who simply stopped at stating their occupation.
2. Offer a result based guarantee.
Offering a guarantee takes the risk out of doing business with you. At the same time, having a unique guarantee that competitors do not offer is a great way to help you stand out and differentiate. The restaurant chain, Olive Garden, offers the 45-minute pronto lunch guarantee. If your lunch is not served in 45-minutes it’s free. One of my private clients is the leading expert in sports facility construction. In their industry the standard warranties for installing running tracks are one to five years. My client differentiated among his competitors by offering an unprecedented level of protection with their ten and fifteen year warranties. This level of guarantee is truly unheard of in the sports construction industry and is one of the factors that make his business stand out. What are some guarantees you could offer that no one else in your industry would dream of doing?
3. Communicate the difference.
When I work with small business owners to help position them as the go to experts I often hear my clients ask things like, “How do I stand out when we all really do the same thing?” One dentist told me, “Teeth cleaning isn’t rocket science. I’m sure all the other dentists in town are competent at cleaning teeth.” We didn’t focus on the service. Instead, we focused on the experience – specifically, taking the fear out of the experience by making a visit to the dentist fun! He turned one of his storage closets into a small, cozy game room that fit 3 full size arcade games. Kids now loved coming to the dentist since their reward was unlimited free games in the arcade.
4. Leverage your past experience.
One of the members in a mastermind group I lead is an IP attorney. She is also a former competitive cellist. One of the niche markets she serves is the creative community. Musicians, artists and other creatives instantly bond with her because of her past experience as a trained musician herself. Although her market has access to a dozen other IP attorneys she is the clear stand out because of her past experience helps her understand the unique needs of their creative businesses.
5. Make a unique offer.
You want to put yourself in the shoes of your own customers. Imagine them trying to compare and choose between you and five of your competitors. Take a look at what others are offering. (You’ll be surprised some of your competitors aren’t making any offers!) By you making a unique offer you are helping your business stand out among your competition. A memorable unique offer I came across was of a CPA – 100% refund tax guys. Clients receive 100% refund on their tax preparation when they refer 4 new clients to the firm. Once you’ve developed a list of what makes you stand out among the competition you want to articulate that message into short sound bytes that you can use as headlines and sub headlines on your website, print brochures and business cards. For specific tips and tricks to helping you get the click from Google search results, check out this related post on “How to Get More Clicks.”
6. Get Published in a Magazine
Whatever your industry, find a magazine that caters to your businesses niche. For instance, Lawyers have Super Lawyers. These magazines already have a built in audience that you can cater to. Contact a niche magazine and ask about advertising or having an article written about your business.
QUESTION: How do you communicate your difference when you explain what you do? Share your elevator pitch here:
If you want expert help in re-positioning your brand, crafting your wow factor and building a lead generation machine, I invite you to book a complimentary discovery coaching call with me here.
https://stage.paramountbusinesscoach.com/coaching/coaching-call-sign-up/
by Yoon Cannon | Build Your Dream Team, Business Growth Tips Blog, Create Your Dream Business, General
One significant trait that stands out with successful businesses is the simple factor of having the right teams behind them. It means that they take their recruitment process seriously. They use well-thought strategies to evaluate carefully each individual who applies to work with them. They do these tasks to ensure that they get the right fit to join their teams not just in terms of skills but character as well.
Why is it necessary to have the right team in place for your business? Well, having the right team will positively transform your business in many ways. If you have always been in haste with your recruitment process, here are six reasons why you need to slow down and ensure that you hire the right people for your team.
Reason #1: Time-saving elements
Managing your team takes a lot of your time. A workforce that is dedicated to offer their best and display a good performance will facilitate your work. People who are self-starters don’t need you to remind them of what they need to be doing. The right fits in the team will collaborate well to ensure that they meet deadlines and drive results. It means that you only put a little time into managing them, giving you a chance to focus on growing your business the rest of the time.
Perhaps what can save you even more time is leaving the recruitment process to the professionals. If your business’ location is in Canada, for instance, you can partner up with a Canada PEO to help you find the best candidates in Canada. With their extensive network across the country, you can be sure that they can find the best fit for you in record time and compliantly. This strategy will save you the tedious recruitment task, allowing you to channel that effort to other elements of the business.
Reason #2: Maintains your good name
Building a business reputation is very crucial for any business. If you are to attract people to your service and turn them to return customers, you need to be mindful of the experience you give to them. Your employees act as the middlemen between you and your business. If you have the right people in place, they will portray professionalism when dealing with your customers. They will offer quality service that will leave the customers delighted and spreading good words about your business. This factor will grow your reputation significantly, drawing more people to your business.
Reason #3: Builds strong teamwork
Teamwork, communication, and collaboration are very crucial keys for any team to be successful. These aspects are important because team members have to work together in harmony towards a common goal. However, for this to happen, all members need to feel connected or at least be they should be able to work together in solving problems and completing projects. These results can only happen if all individuals fit well in the company’s culture.
When every team member feels at home with the rest of the team, working in that environment becomes pleasant. They can find happiness and job satisfaction, which are essential in growing employee engagement in the company. And when employees are engaged, you can be sure of increased productivity, sales, and profits for your business.
Reason #4: It is economical
How does hiring the right people save you money? Posting job ads needs money. Communicating with new prospects takes money and time. Training new employees requires money. The list can go on and on. When you hire the wrong fit, it is only a matter of time for them to leave your company. Once they leave your company, that will mean lost sales as you try to replace them, as well as spending additional money in recruiting a replacement.
On the other hand, when you hire the right people from the word go, you avoid going back to the drawing board for a very long time. Hiring the right people right from the start saves you employee turnover costs. But it also saves you the time you could otherwise be using going back and forth in the recruitment process.
Reason #5: Cultivates the best customer service
Hiring the right people will foster the best customer service experience. Employees who possess excellent interpersonal skills are the best fit for this section. And undoubtedly, giving the best customer service means growing your business success overall. The candidates must be aware that the top priority of your work delivery is keeping your customers content and pleased.
Reason #6: A trusted team gives you peace of mind
Think of all the data that you possess, the passwords, Slack channels, social media accounts, even customer contact information, would you trust all that info to someone that will later leave? When you hire someone, you are immediately trusting them with all this data. Hiring the right people means you won’t have to worry about what you are sharing with them.
Conclusion
Many say that your employees are the facets of your business to the outside world. In this case, you need to have individuals who are motivated to invest in your brand. These are individuals who are willing to grow their roles as your business grows. Their dedication and engagement are essential to transform your business positively. If you have been hiring following a hunch, the above points should give you a reason to be mindful of who you bring into your business.
QUESTION: What is your biggest challenge when it comes to finding the right person for your team? Share your comments and questions below.
