5 Simple Ways Entrepreneurs Can Attract Customers To Their Business You have a great product or service and yet you seem unable to attract customers to your business and makeRead More
The post 5 Simple Ways Entrepreneurs Can Attract Customers appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>5 Simple Ways Entrepreneurs Can Attract Customers To Their Business
You have a great product or service and yet you seem unable to attract customers to your business and make a sale. Almost every new entrepreneur faces this challenge after they start off a small business.
And the root cause of this problem is often your inability to reach out to your customers.
The lack of advertising and marketing your product or service may be drawing you back from your customers. But for a small business, with limited funds, it is often difficult to allot a substantial amount for advertising and marketing.
In such a circumstance, what do you do? Simple; you just focus on the ways to do it right. Let’s take a look at some simple ways entrepreneurs can attract customers to their business:
Tip 1: Rely on word-of-mouth. This tried-and-tested option never fails! If you can build an army of satisfied customers, it will work much better than a couple of billboards or television ads. They are the best tools of advertisement you may find.
To turn a customers into satisfied customers, you have to work on the three premises:
• Offer a great product/service – the basic necessity for a successful business
• Ensure great customer service – remember, always serve with a smile
• Offer a reward for referral – the bigger the incentive, the better your opportunity
And soon you will have a good number of spokespersons at no added cost!
Tip 2: Involve and engage. When a prospect walks in, make sure you turn them into a customer. How do you do it? Interest them with an offer, give them a free sample, request them to enter a contest, and use any other means you can think of.
People love free stuff. They also love offers and discounts. And when they get something at no cost or maybe low cost, and are happy with it, they are sure to come back and pay for it. And they are sure to talk about your business to their contacts.
Tip 3: Build a website. If you aren’t online yet, you need to be – NOW! A website isn’t a luxury anymore; it’s a necessity. If you aren’t online, you are missing out attracting the prospective customers who stick to their PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, et al.
You don’t really need to invest thousands of dollars to ensure a web presence. Just make sure someone who knows how to do it right does it. Otherwise, you will be stuck with a site that doesn’t work for your business.
Tip 4: Connect on social media. When Mandie Miller started off her business Got What It Cakes, she built a website. But the business only picked up once her sister put up a Facebook page for it.
Lesson learned: While a website is essential for your business, no business can ignore the reach of social media these days. Create a page on Facebook, get an account on Twitter, or add images on Pinterest and Instagram – do whatever it takes to enhance your reach.
Tip 5: Get involved. While you will always have competitors, and you will always have to keep a lookout for them, you also need to focus on collaboration. Make a list of complementary businesses and promote each other to your respective clientele.
Also, don’t forget about the community; after all, you are a part of it. Give back. Charitable or environment-friendly work never goes unnoticed. And once you are part of something big, you’ll get people interested in what you do.
It is possible to get the attention of customers; you just need to know how to do it right.
1) Lean Customer Development by Cindy Alvarez | Listen to my interview with Cindy here
2) It’s Not The How Or The What But The Who by Claudio Fernandez-Araoz | Listen to my interview with Claudio here
3) A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger | Listen to my interview with Warren here
4) Traction – A Startup Guide To Getting Customers by Justin Mares | Listen to my interview with Justin here
5) The Seven Levels of Communication by Michael J. Maher | Listen to my interview with Michael here
The post 5 Simple Ways Entrepreneurs Can Attract Customers appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>Latest Books for Entrepreneurs in September 2014 The Entrepreneurs Library presents the latest books for entrepreneurs in September 2014. These books are brand new to the market and the authorsRead More
The post Latest Books for Entrepreneurs in September 2014 appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>Latest Books for Entrepreneurs in September 2014
The Entrepreneurs Library presents the latest books for entrepreneurs in September 2014. These books are brand new to the market and the authors are in line to share their insights with me. Stay tuned this month for the release of the interviews with these great books and the authors.
The Seven Levels of Communication by Michael J Maher
The Seven Levels of Communication tells the entertaining and educational story of Rick Masters, who is suffering from a down economy when he meets a mortgage professional who has built a successful business without advertising or personal promotion. Skeptical, he agrees to accompany her to a conference to learn more about her mysterious methods.
Rick soon learns that the rewards for implementing these strategies are far greater than he had ever imagined. In seeking success, he finds significance. This heartwarming tale of Rick’s trials and triumphs describes the exact strategies that helped him evolve from the Ego Era to the Generosity Generation.
This book is about so much more than referrals. This is about building a business that not only feeds your family, but also feeds your soul.
Learn more about Michael J Maher | Buy The Seven Levels of Communication on Amazon
Invent, Reinvent, Thrive by Lloyd Shefsky
Invent Reinvent Thrive offers all the answers you need to get your business where you want it to be. You’ll learn exactly where new and multi-generational business owners fall short and miss incredible opportunities, why they fail to take the plunge or innovate–and how you can rework, revitalize, and reinvent your business not just to avoid the most common perils but to lead your business to the apex of your industry.
In Invent Reinvent Thrive Kellogg School of Management Professor Lloyd Shefsky provides the inspiration and insight any entrepreneur or family business needs for long-term success–and he backs it all up with proven models of what works and what doesn’t.
Shefsky reveals the common thread of all business success stories: reinvention. He explains not just how to reinvent concepts and ideas from the start, but ways to continuously innovate and reinvent your business to meet today’s constantly changing marketplace conditions. In addition to his own expert insight, Shefsky provides firsthand advice through case studies derived from dozens of original interviews with entrepreneurs and family business giants, consisting of the leaders of some of today’s most successful companies, including:
“If you think business books are boring, this is your chance to prove yourself wrong. Storytelling is an art, and Shefsky brings that art to business. Invent Reinvent Thrive is a treasure trove of valuable lessons.” – Stan Kasten, President and CEO, Los Angeles Dodgers
Learn more about Lloyd Shefsky | Buy Invent, Reinvent, Thrive on Amazon
Overfished Ocean Strategy by Nadya Zhexembayeva
Overfished Ocean Strategy offers five essential principles for innovating in this new reality. Zhexembayeva shows how businesses can find new opportunities in what were once considered useless by-products, discover resource-conserving efficiencies up and down their value chain, transfer their expertise from physical products to services, and develop ways to rapidly try out and refine these new business models.
She fills the book with examples of companies that are already successfully navigating the overfished ocean, from established corporations such as BMW, Microsoft, and Puma to newcomers such as Lush, FLOOW2, and Sourcemap.
The linear, throwaway economy of today—in which we extract resources at one end, create products, and throw them away at the other—is rapidly coming to an end. In every industry, creative minds are learning how to make money by taking this line and turning it into a circle. Nadya Zhexembayeva shows how you can join them and avoid being left high and dry.
Learn more about Nadya Zhexembayeva | Buy Overfished Ocean Strategy on Amazon
Sell Your Business for an Outrageous Price by Kevin M Short
In Sell Your Business for an Outrageous Price, investment banker Kevin M. Short — who for over twenty years has advised parties on both sides of the closing table — presents a structured playbook for sellers to win big. You’ll find out why some businesses sell for “outrageous” amounts — at least twice the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) multiple of an average company in their industry — as well as how to minimize your risk going to market.
The book introduces you to the author’s Proactive Sale Strategy, a rigorous process for positioning your company to sell to a well-financed buyer at the best possible price. You’ll find out how to prepare yourself and your company for sale, understand your asset and how it benefits prospective buyers, and identify and remediate any issues that could prevent a sale or drive down sale price.
The book then helps you go to market. It guides you step-by-step through the Outrageous Price Process, designed to:
Learn more about Kevin Short | Buy Sell Your Business for an Outrageous Price on Amazon
Hello, My Name Is Awesome by Alexandra Watkins
Every year, 6 million companies and more than 100,000 products are launched. They all need an awesome name, but many (such as Xobni, Svbtle, and Doostang) look like the results of a drunken Scrabble game.
In this entertaining and engaging book, ace naming consultant Alexandra Watkins explains how anyone—even non-creative types—can create memorable and buzz-worthy brand names. No degree in linguistics required. The heart of the book is Watkins’s proven SMILE and SCRATCH Test—two acronyms for what makes or breaks a name.
She also provides up-to-date advice, like how to make sure that Siri spells your name correctly and how to nab an available domain name. And you’ll see dozens of examples—the good, the bad, and the “so bad she gave them an award.” Alexandra Watkins is not afraid to name names.
Naming a business or product has always been challenging—and sometimes costly— for entrepreneurs and inventors, but it’s one of the most important decisions they have to make. Alexandra Watkins presents a foolproof model that anyone can use to create and evaluate brand names like a pro.
“Zappos.com originally started out as ShoeSite.com, but that limited our potential future growth. A company’s name can be vital to its success. Reading the tips in this book can help anyone avoid the pitfalls.” —Tony Hsieh, New York Times bestselling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO, Zappos.com, Inc.
Learn more about Alexandra Watkins | Buy Hello, My Name Is Awesome on Amazon
The post Latest Books for Entrepreneurs in September 2014 appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>A summary of things you should know about The Seven Levels of Communication according to Michael Maher: Introduction In this episode Michael J Maher takes a deep dive into hisRead More
The post A Preview of The Seven Levels of Communication with Michael J Maher appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>In this episode Michael J Maher takes a deep dive into his book, The Seven Levels of Communication, which is the perfect guide for entrepreneurs who need help becoming an effective communicator and building strong relationships. The purpose of this sales book is to help you quit marketing to strangers and start communicating with friends. As a best-seller for over 4 years, 7L teaches you that giving generously and allowing time to build relationships is the key to establishing a successful business.
The main thing is it’s a sales book based on generosity. This book is truly about attracting and not chasing to get the business. I truly believe that now is the time to quit marketing to strangers and start communicating with friends.
I think one of the reasons the book has been a bestseller for almost four years is because it’s a book with a ton of depth. The first way to read it is to open it up and read it to see how the story ends. And read it again for the resources.
Give generously and receive appreciatively.
This book is not about real estate so if you’re looking for a real estate book, my book is not the one for you. If your goal is about building great relationships, having a legacy when you pass away that carries on the philosophy of generosity, Seven Levels is the book for you.
In Seven L. you get to know Rick Masters who is in real estate that has just suffered a really difficult time. Chapter one is called The Lunch of a Lifetime. In this chapter Rick meets with a real estate professional for lunch and you will see there are many referral strategies within this conversation. Michelle (the real estate professional) invites Rick to see a speaker named J. Michaels who is a leader of the generosity generation. Rick attends the event and hears a lot of great strategies about how to lead with generosity instead of getting on the chase cycle and converting it to communicating with friends. Rick has a very expensive decision to make, whether to pursue coaching or not and makes the decision to invest in himself and the generosity generation.
The next seven chapters his coach takes him through the Seven Level system. We get to hear Coach and experience with Rick the difficulties that he has in implementing and the reasons that he is being taught the certain things from his coach. Through these seven chapters of learning we are in a people business, not a numbers game, Rick learns the power of locking off time to build relationships.
My favorite chapter is chapter seven which is on Communication plans. When I netted nearly a million dollars in my third year of real estate, I did not have marketing or business plan, I had a communication plan. Coach takes Rick through the Communication plan in this chapter.
Chapter eight is about electronic communication and social media. We teach that you should never ask for referrals. We have a social media piece that is over the top. We have over 65,000 likes and fans on our Facebook page which is more than most trainers and speakers just because we have a social media plan within our communication plan.
The story hits home in chapters 10, 11 and 12 when J. Michael speaks again. Rick has been transformed and we wrap up with another lunch of a lifetime. You never know which lunch is going to be the lunch of a lifetime. How many lunches would you go on if you knew that the next one you went on could be the lunch of a lifetime?
“It’s time to quit marketing with strangers and it’s time to start communicating with friends.” – Michael J. Maher
“It is time to replace our insatiable appetite for what we don’t have and replace it with an insatiable appreciation for what we do have.” – Michael J. Maher
For many years I made the American dream come true for buyers of homes and helped them create the ultimate client experience. I have a real estate company in Kansas City and coach, train and oversee over 1,500 real estate personalities. In 2004 I was introduced to the world as North Americas most preferred real estate professional and once that happened I started speaking about how to generate referrals. Ten years later and my last audience had over 50 different professions, entrepreneurs and small business owners. The Seven Levels of Communication has been #1 on Amazon for almost four years. And we are re-launching the second edition on September 2nd.
I was introduced as North Americans most preferred Real Estate professional by Howard Brinton and he made me a Star Power Star which in real estate at the time was an ultimate achievement. When he did that my phone rang off the hook, e-mails blew up and everybody was asking me questions of how I got to that point. I decided I need to write a book with the answer instead of giving them a tidbit of information.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
Buy The Seven Levels of Communication by Michael Maher on Amazon today
Follow Michael Maher on Twitter and Facebook
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: Charisma On Command by Charlie Houpert | Hello My Name Is Awesome by Alexandra Watkins | EDGY Conversations by Dan Waldschmidt
Relevant advice and tips: How to Become an Effective Communicator in the Business World | 7 Steps To Improve Networking Skills For Entrepreneurs
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
The post A Preview of The Seven Levels of Communication with Michael J Maher appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>