Finding Leads and Referrals for Your Business
Business advice for women entrepreneurs and small businesses
As I prepared a speech for a presentation to college seniors who are ready to embark on their first professional job search, I told them, “Every single one of my jobs and professional career successes from the time I was 21 to 50 came from knowing people who knew of openings, opportunities or other important people.” Even thought I applied for many advertised positions, made cold calls and sent out introductions letters, it was the personal connections that opened the doors in my career and still does.
It is the same when you own a small business or are a woman entrepreneur the economic doors don’t just fly open. They can be shut solidly not releasing until you realize customers do not just show up knocking at the door unless you bought into a well known brand franchise like Starbucks. For the money to start flowing into your enterprise you must network, market, promote and ask others for leads and referrals. In my opinion, asking people you know and trust or satisfied customers for referrals or leads lands last on most business owners marketing list.
Today’s blog post is to help you change that priority by giving you some easy, useful tips to get referrals to open the door to your business:
* Look at everyone in your immediate circle – family, high school friends, college friends, neighbors, your children’s friends’ parents, members of community organizations you are connected to, etc. and create a mailing list or call list so you can contact them about referrals for your business. They might be the target or maybe they know someone someone who could be good prospect. Don’t forget to look at your LinkedIn Community to see who is connected to you in your first and second circles.
* Before you make your calls, make a list of benefits people get from doing business with you. Figure out why your current customers use you. Look at testimonials. Understand the “problem” you fix for people that buy your product or service; then use those benefits to start a conversation with a potential lead. Make sure to ask them about their needs first so the conversation is not lopsided or too “pitchy.”
*Create a referral list, a call list and a calendar of call backs or action items to follow through after you have your first interaction with someone. I know sometimes it takes 5 sales calls or meetings to turn someone into a client or to have them return a call. By creating the system, you can stay on track to turn your referrals into revenue.
I hope these tips open your own economic doors to a brighter business future or professional career.
Dedicating More Time to PR
Business advice for women entrepreneurs and small businesses
There was a common thread that ran through three recent emails that tied into a powerful visual or vocal message. The first was a photo of 60 Easter baskets with purple bows being delivered to sick children at Golisano Children’s Hospital by Syracuse University football players. The second was a recorded interview on WAER giving tips on protecting homes and businesses from spring flooding. The third was an invitation by the owner of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Company to join her at a private dinner. The universal cord in these emails was the importance of how different aspects of public relations and publicity efforts create powerful images and opportunities.
Susan Bertrand of Maureen’s Hope Foundation discovered by sharing the photograph of the easter basket delivery on Facebook provided her organization with the most views and shares she has ever had before – a powerful testimony to how sharing photos of your company’s goodwill can create extensive viral marketing.
Sheri Osborn of Redeeming Restoration learned the value of landing a radio interview with WAER simply by sending out a press release with tips to help the station’s listeners when spring rains arrive and cause flooding damage. Not only did she receive the interview but social media marketing shares as well.
The Chicken Soup for the Soul event was a reminder to me that writing and submitting stories to national publications can produce a combination of valuable writing credentials and also future business and writing opportunities.
The time commitment by the these women entrepreneurs to perform or participate in these public relations activities was minimal compared to the maximum exposure they received from performing them. Keep in mind, public relations is defined as an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment. These three PR stories are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ways to create positive press for a company.
Today’s blog post is meant to stir a desire within you to learn more about ways you can promote your company to brand its name and create awareness about your services, products and mission by using public relations. Where does PR land on the list of important communication duties you perform for your business? Should you be learning more about it or using it more often to share good news about your company? Like any task in business it must become a priority in order to receive its benefits.
I hope you keep the images of purple bows, spring flooding and chicken soup in your mind today and then dedicate more time in publicizing your own company.
Business Advice for Women Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners
About ten years ago, I received a phone call from P&C grocery store telling me I had won a ham for Easter and to come get it. I quizzed the person on the phone for 15 minutes because I did not believe it. The call came in on April 1st the most suspicious day of the year.
I remember doubting the call but for some reason felt the need to go to their front desk after shopping the next day to ask if I won a ham. Of course the answer from a giggling employee was, “What? Won a Ham? No, we did not have any contests.” I knew the moment the words left my mouth I had been duped. I had some choice words for my sister when she called me laughing since this was not the first time she had gotten me on April Fool’s Day.
So what is the reason for sharing this story with you today besides it being April Fool’s Day? It ties into the trust we put in people in our lives and our business community. We automatically trust people we have known most of our lives including our family, friends and neighbors. We reach out to them in good times and bad for them to listen, offer advice, or share good times. It is the same in business. We establish short and long lasting friendships, business partnerships and alliances that offer us support, information and kinship. Just like it would be hard to survive in life without friends and family, we could not survive in business without positive relationships.
What I know to be true about what I try to do for every woman I meet is to be some level of support for them in their entrepreneurial journey. Whether it is answering a quick email, talking to them on the phone for 15 minutes or having lunch for an hour, I make myself available to lend advice, support and guidance if someone needs it. In the end a successful business survives based on the strong relationships they create, the trust they have with others and the integrity of their core business principles.
Today’s post is to inspire you to take a look at the relationships you have created in business. Are all your relationships based on trust? Do they benefit you and the other party? Are you involved in any narcissistic relationships that are too one sided? Do your customers trust you? Do you have a good reputation in the community? Look at who you are involved with in all aspects of business and make sure you are aligned with the right people with intellect, insight and connections to help you.
I can guarantee you one thing for sure today – you will not receive a fake phone call inspired by me telling you to pick up your free ham at your local super market. I hope you trust everything that Women TIES stands for and believes in because we exist with the purest and best relationship intentions in mind to benefit you and other women entrepreneurs.
An Empowering Business Habit to Start Your Day
Business advice for women business owners and small businesses
Yesterday I had an unexpected conversation with one of our members as we spoke about her business during her annual Women TIES membership renewal call. She said, “I know I should be doing more social media marketing but honestly I love being out on sales calls more.” I told her she was lucky to have such a strong love for sales since so many women entrepreneurs prefer social media marketing exercises over direct sales activities.
I asked her where her comfort with sales came from and she said, “When I started working for my father’s company my first job was making collection calls. I did not love making those calls but honestly it made me much more comfortable in sales once I had my own business.”
I learned something from my conversation with her that I wanted to share with my readers today:
* We must embrace hard tasks – no matter what they are – to become more comfortable with them in the future. We already know what we are not good at. We are keenly aware of subject areas where we lack confidence. We certainly know the business tasks we avoid. Why not commit starting today to perform one difficult task every single morning. The small change will soon become a positive habit and make us more successful. More importantly the change will empower us as we start our day every morning.
* Pay attention to where you spend your time in your business. Social media marketing can be a time consuming activity that can distract entrepreneurs from a mirage of duties. Chart how much time you spend doing specific tasks for a week – like social media marketing – and see where you spend and value your time. You might find an imbalance in your sales and marketing duties. By becoming aware, you can adjust your work schedule to include more direct sales.
* Only in doing what we are afraid to do, do we become less scared and more confident to take on larger challenges. One of my favorite quotes is, “If you don’t try, you can’t fail; but if you fail, you get right back up and try again.” Success is in trying and failing. What are you willing to try and fail at today to have a more successful business day?
Recognizing and Sealing Business Profit Holes
Business advice for women entrepreneurs and small business owner
As I listened to a woman entrepreneur who runs a million dollar in sales company talk about ways to keep a business afloat in difficult economic times, the word “profit holes” was introduced to my vocabulary.
The speaker discussed how small businesses are threatened by profits holes that undermine their business by sucking out hard-earned profits. Most business owners can identify large profit holes and stop them pretty quickly because they create a lot of attention that cause an obvious impact on the survival of the business.
But most companies can’t or don’t identify small profit holes or money that trickles out every month. Taken individually, none of the small holes have a tremendous impact on the business, but collectively, they amount to a small fortune.
No matter if you want to double your profits or at least starting making a profit, identifying and plugging little profit holes within your enterprise will help you greatly. Here are some suggestions for identifying and dealing with profit holes:
* Produce a monthly Profit & Lost Statement which shows every dollar spent within the month. Make sure to analyze spent money within the business. Compare monthly P&L statements to make sure costs aren’t rising. Make adjustments where necessary. Ex: In 2012, I spent $8,000 on roses for my events. Never realizing how much money they were costing me, I have adjusted my floral selection and quantity to significantly reduce that cost without getting rid of the expense completely.
* Challenge yourself to find opportunities to increase pricing; even if it takes you a little bit out of your comfort zone. Consider raising prices to afford specific profit holes. Most entrepreneurs are fearful of raising prices. Even a small 3% increase in price might be enough to make your company more profit.
* Set new revenue savings goals while you are plugging profit holes. Remember every single dollar in reduced expense equals a dollar for dollar increase in your profit. Savings can carry over year-to-year which further compounds the return on your investment.
By dedicating time, focus and control over your expenses should increase your company’s profit and value. Make it a priority starting today.
The Affect of Risk Taking in Business
Business inspiration and advice for women entrepreneurs
Headlining the news this morning is Angelina Jolie’s decision to have a medical procedure that will considerably lessen her risk for ovarian cancer. Jolie candidly explained her personal decision in an op-ed a few days ago. A couple years ago she wrote a similar piece when she decided to have elective breast surgery.
Jolie has created, what the media and medical community is calling the “The Angelina Affect,” because of the increase in mammograms and elective surgeries since her first announcement. When a star as popular as Jolie shares her personal decisions, other women can be inspired to make similar health decisions for themselves.
The take-away for me when I thought about Angelina’s decision was not about her bravery to share such a personal story in a world that craves information on celebrities; but her decision to face risk head on which so many of us avoid. By taking her medical decisions into her own hands, she considerably lessened the risk of facing cancer one day and possibly missing a future with her children.
Women entrepreneurs are faced with risk all the time. We face it in our own personal decisions, we feel it when we let our sons and daughters make their own choices as they get older, and we feel it when we start a business. Risk is everywhere all the time in every situation really. Sometimes it renders us powerless and other times it catapults us into bravery. Our tolerance for risk might depend on our genetic make-up, our personality, our age or current situation. What feels risky today, might not feel so a year from now.
Today’s blog post is meant to have you think about the risks you have taken that have turned out both good and bad. When faced with risk today, do you look back at the outcomes of past risky decisions and how they can help you now? Have you ever not taken a risk and wished you had the opportunity again? If so, it was an important lesson to learn.
As Angelina so elegantly stated, “Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.” What do you need to take control of today? What risk do you need to minimize by acting now as bravely as Angelina did?
Business Transformations
Business advice and inspiration for women entrepreneurs and small business owners
The first day of spring arrived yesterday and depending on where you live it might be hard to tell looking out your window. Yesterday might have also been a day when you noticed something stirring inside you. It might have been the itch to get outside, a craving for something new to happen in your life, or a transformation ready to bud. People like nature are always in the state of change. Women entrepreneurs are not any different.
Over the past 20 years of my entrepreneurial career I have spoken, counseled and advised hundreds of women going through change. Changes happen the moment they open up their business doors, during the pivotal three year mark when business starts taking off, and during the seven year itch when they start wanting to make corporate adjustments. Often times when a big date is approaching like the fifth, tenth or twenty-fifth anniversary of their company, they start reviewing their accomplishments and creating plans for new ones.
When we witness a caterpillar in its cocoon as it beings its transformation from a bug to a colorful flying insect, we know being tightly wrapped up in its own space for a period of time is necessary to emerge different. It’s the same in business when we notice a need to change. We might need to be wrapped up in our own thoughts, be alone and listen to how we are feeling. We might need to set up a cocoon like setting for our transformation.
Just like the crocus knows when to pop up above the snow, and the leaves on the trees start to bud, we know when it is time to emerge and break open to a new way of doing business. The transformation time period can be painful but only after emerging do we look back and recognize the need for that restless season.
If you feel like it is time to spread your wings like the beautiful butterflies, or pop out like the crocus and tree buds, do it and do it confidently knowing that the hush that has been shrouding you is gone and only bright, beautiful new sounds and sights await you. It’s time to emerge into a more brilliant, bountiful business season.
Pancake Breakfast Business Inspiration
Business Advice for Women Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners
As I drove out of a local nature center known for their hiking trails, serene environment and diverse animal visitors, I saw a large yellow sign that said “Pancake Breakfast This Sunday.” I knew this center used fundraisers to support their non-profit organization but advertising and hosting a pancake breakfast was a new revenue stream for them.
Sometimes it takes a large yellow sign as a signal for us to pay attention to the message too. My ever-entrepreneurial thinking mind right after witnessing the sign immediately thought of ways businesses can create their own revenue opportunities to increase dollars in their bank accounts. Some companies add a new product line to their existing service business, while others add services to a traditional product based operation. Some add both.
The companies that creatively add new sources of income might get fresh ideas from customers requesting something from them or client problems that need fixing. Other times a competitor offers something our customers ask from us after seeing it. Often times we witness a national trend in our industry and want to bring it home to sell. What is important is not the way we were motivated to create something new for our company, but rather being aware enough to notice.
Today’s blog post is meant to inspire you to look for the bright yellow pancake breakfast signs along your own travels, to listen to the questions being generated by your clients and to seek inspiration from national sources about new revenue producing business ideas for your enterprise. The great thing about being a business owner is our ability to add new offerings, when we want and then selling them to make more money.
Be wise and do your planning when it is time to add your own Pancake Breakfast service to your existing menu and then enjoy the taste of your new offering.
Business advice for women entrepreneurs and small business owners
As I sat across from my sophomore year college son listening to him describe a crossroad he has arrived at in school, I empathized with him. As a sophomore in college, I struggled when I knew I needed to change majors which meant time, money and an end to one career dream.
I explained to him that throughout life we come upon crossroads or intersections wondering which way to go. The options are to continue straight ahead on the path we started on or to turn right or left at the intersection towards another direction. The one place we really can’t go is backward. We arrive at the crossroad with knowledge to move forward.
Later that day, as I crossed over 4 bridges deep in the woods on my last cross country ski of the winter, I traversed over streams of water ready to burst out of their frozen state. I realized I could not get from one side of the stream to the other if it wasn’t for the bridge.
In business as in life, we are faced with intersections and bridges throughout our expeditions. The road is not always flat and straight. It curves, dips, raises and veers. It is up to us to travel it making adjustments along the way. A wise woman once said to me, “You start a business anticipating the road will stay straight but along the way, the road naturally curves and it is up to us to figure out if we want to follow the curve or keeping going straight.”
Today’s blog post is to remind you that nothing about business or life is consistent, familiar or without struggle. It is the opposite. To manage the tough roads ahead, to make the right decision at the intersections, and to cross the bridges successfully from one side to the other, takes keen awareness of where you have been, where you stand now and where you hope to go in the future.
If you need to change direction in your business today, do so with thought, understanding and anticipation that a better horizon awaits you ahead. You can’t go back – only forward towards a different but bright future.
One Woman. One World. Inspirational Blog Post
Business post for women entrepreneurs
The opening of the One Woman. One World event in Saratoga Springs yesterday started with a moving song produced by the UN Women. The song was launched on International Women’s Day, March 8th, 2013 and displays the singing talents of women from China to Costa Rica, from Mali to Malaysia who came together to spread a message of unity and solidarity. The song is a rallying cry that inspires listeners to join the drive for women’s rights and gender equality.
As their website states,”’One Woman’ was written for UN Women, the global champions for women and girls worldwide, to celebrate its mission and work to improve women’s lives around the world. It reminds us that together, we can overcome violence and discrimination agains women and look toward a brighter future: We Shall Shine!”
The women at yesterday’s event were reminded that all over the world ordinary women are doing extraordinary things to improve the world for women and girls. Women are taking action in their own personal ways, missions and styles to positively make a difference.
Lisa Woodruff, author, mother and CBS This Morning contributor who created a foundation to help wounded veterans, shared four truths about women she sees in women all over the world.
* Women are built to survive because they have a steel rod within them that makes them strong.
* Women have faith which is important in tackling any hardship. Faith is like a trampoline that won’t let us go too low when we come down.
* Women have friends surrounding and bolstering them up whenever they need them.
* Women have humor to take the sharp edges off any circumstance and lighten up any situation.
Realize if you are reading this today that you are part of a world of women who live every day to make a unique contribution. Remember we have sisters around the world who need us to continue to fight for equal rights. We are “One Woman. One World.” Rejoice and learn more about International Women’s Day, watch the video and song and be proud to be female.
Women TIES 