SimplifySmallBiz.com

Simplifying Small Business

Small Business Coach

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Preparing content for your website

If you are a small business, every resource is precious. Everything you do requires strategic attention. If you agree, then approach your website with strategy in mind.

Think of the world wide web as a massive market place filled with noise. Among the shoppers in the market place are those who want what you have on offer. But not everyone at the market wants what you have. So you need to make it clear who you are serving.

Here is a suggested approach for developing the content for your website.

  1. Who is your ideal customer?
    • Get fairly specific. If you try to be everything to everyone, you land diluting your marketing efforts and attracting no one.
    • If you have a broad offering, pick one or two of your services that make you unique and market those. You can always experiment with this, and as you grow, you can strategically marketing additional services as your marketing budget grows.
  2. How do you solve their problem?
    • Consumers like to see a plan of action. Create your approach to solving their problem.
  3. Credibility
    • Identify why you can be trusted. This could be based on education, qualifications, experience, or testimonials.
    • This is a work in progress. When you begin, you may only be able to market yourq qualifications. The more mature your business is, the more you can add to increase your credibility.
  4. Cost
    • Like it or not, people want to know how much they may have to spend. And don’t worry, among potential consumers, there will be many that think you are too expensive, and there will be many who think you are too cheap. Then there are those who think your price is just right. Don’t believe this? Then ask yourself why some business owners within the same industry seem to have greater success with the wealthy, and others have success with a different socio-ecomic market segment.
  5. How can you be contacted?
    • Make it easy for consumers to get in touch with you. Options are
      • A contact form
      • Telephone number to call or text
      • Chat from your website
    • You may not be ready for all of these but at a minimum you can include a phone number and a contact form.

Click here to answer these questions and have your responses emailed to you.

Drive traffic to your website, not away from it!

Unless your website is being seen, it is best kept secret. It is your responsibilty to market your website to your target market.

If you are successfully driving traffic to your website, be cautious about what you do with those eyeballs once they are on your site.

You do not want to drive traffic away from your website after spending your resources to get them there in the first place, so think strategically about what you include on your website. For example, it is not always in your interest to drive traffic away from your website to your social media resources unless your social media resources are optimized to concert eyeballs into prospects.

It is simpler, especially when you are starting out, to drive all other resourcs to your website, and then use your website to convert eyeballs into appointments.

So, thinks strategically with what you put on your website!

Prospecting Activity Ratio’s

Prospecting refers to the ability to convert a lead into an appointment

What to measure

  1. Attempts
  2. Contacts
  3. Appointments

Definitions

Attempts refers to any effort made to contact the lead regardless of whether the attempt is successful.

Contacts refers to a contact made with a lead. The contact made can be verbal or electronic communication. Contact refers to two way dialogue. The lead responded to you.

Appointments refers to appointments scheduled with a date and time, even if that date and time is right now.

Ratio’s

  • What is your ratio of Appointments to contacts. That is, how many contacts do you make in order to be able to schedule an appointment.
  • What is your ratio of Attemps to Contacts. That is, how many attempts do you make in order to make a contact with a lead.

Tool: Activity Tracker

You can print the Prospecting Activity Tracker and use it each day to compile your Prospecting List and record your activity. The sheets in the google sheet include

  • Template to print for use
  • An example of how to complete the Prospecting Activity Tracker
  • A definition of the ratio’s that can be determined using the data from the Prospecting Activity Tracker totals and sub totals.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1h71FkIy8PxM7bHHEFWVjsc3uCE6AB35emRInF43hnvg/edit?usp=sharing

Increase your productivity

I learned from Stephen Covey that it is important to only do what you should be doing. And not to do anything you should not be doing. There simply is not enough time.

I apply the following qualifier to decide if I should be doing something

KADD

Kill, Automate, Delegate Do

  • If a do item is a waste of time, and I have confirmed it is a waste of time, KILL it.
  • If the do item is repetitive in nature, find a way to AUTOMATE it.
  • If someone else can do the do item, DELEGATE it
  • Finally you are left with items only you can do. DO IT!

Skill: Decision Making

OBJECTIVE: The prospect makes a decision

The skill of helping others make decisions is measured by your ability to:

  • get decisions from prospects
  • in optimal time frames

To be proficient at this skill, you develop your ability to:

  • Ask questions that make decision making simpler
  • Assist others to think through doubts and concerns

You know you are proficient if as a result of your questions your prospect:

  • Identifies their concerns to you
  • Makes decisions that benefit their business

A framework for getting decisions includes the following bases:

  • Asking for the decision
  • Overcoming Stalls and Objections

How to ask for the decision. (Keep it simple).

  • At a minimum, just ask for it
    • Do you want this?
    • How would you like to pay for this?
    • Can I deliver today?
  • Offer alternative choices
    • Would you prefer option X or option Y?
    • Would you prefer to pay cash or put it on a credit card?

How to Overcome Stalls and Objections

  1. Clarify the stall or objection
    • What specifically would you like to think about?
    • What are the specific things you need to think over? Is it the price of the solution? Are you concerned that the solution will not be able to do X or Y? Or is there something else?
  2. Isolate the objection
    • Other than X, is there anything else holding you back from making a decision right now?
  3. Trial close the objection
    • If I can resolve this to your satisfaction, would you then agree to go ahead with placing the order? (If not, go to #2)
  4. Answer valid objections and ask for the order
  5. If still unsuccessful, use the withdrawal close
    • It seems like what I have is not for you. Thank you for making time to meet with me and for listenting to my solution. (They may draw you back in).

Skill: Presenting

OBJECTIVE: The prospect understands your solution and how it solves their problem!

“I will practice, and improve, and polish the words I utter to sell my goods, for this is the foundation on which I will build my career and never will I forget that many have attained great wealth and success with only one sales talk, delivered with excellence.

Mandino, Og. The Greatest Salesman in the World (pp. 70-71). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The skill of presenting is measured by your ability to explain your solution in such a way that:

  • your prospect understands:
    • your solution
    • how your solution solves their problem
    • the financial implications of implementing your solution
    • the financial implications of NOT implementin your solutions

To be proficient at this skill, you develop your ability to:

  • Explain complex ideas in a simple way
  • Ask questions that confirm understanding.

You know you are proficient if as a result of your presentations your prospect:

  • Can explain your solution it back to you
  • Can explain how your solution solves their problem
  • Can explain the cost benefits of implementing your solution
  • Can explain the cost of not implementing your solution
  • Experiences a positive emotional shift in favor of your solution – they become a champion of your solution.

A framework for presenting covers the following bases

  • Present features
    • Explain the components that make up your solution
  • Present Benefits
    • Clearly identify to the client how each feature solves a problem the prospect has identified in such a way that the prospect see’s the benefit of the feature in relation to the problem they want to solve.