December 2011
Volume 1, Issue 5

Would Anyone Want to Buy Your Business?
Chances are, there are times even YOU don’t want your business. If that hasn’t happened yet, the ink may not be dry on your business license. The thought of someone else wanting your business enough to pay you for it might seem like a fairy tale – but it’s an idea that will serve you well if you build (or rebuild) your business with this ideal in mind.
It’s an easier concept for product-oriented businesses. If you sell shoes, a prospective buyer will consider your inventory, your location, and other tangible assets. But if you have a service business, you’ve got another set of elements a potential buyer will evaluate. The primary element would be… YOU.
No offense, but that’s a problem.
If you hope to one day sell your business and travel, start another business, play golf, or do anything else, you need to start now to reframe your business so it could continue and even thrive without your input.
You can tell how far you’ve got to go toward this end if you think back to your last vacation. When’s the last time you took one of those? How long were you able to go away for? How many times did your office contact you while you were away? What did you come back to when your vacation was over? Had everything come to a standstill? Did you spend the next few days or weeks putting out fires that sparked and smoldered while you were away?
If it wasn’t business as usual, you’ve got some work to do.

List Your Systems
Your business runs on systems – they’re all functioning perfectly according to how they were designed. The problem is never in a system not running as designed; the problem is always a design flaw, or the absence of a conscious design.
Businesses have and need systems for everything including planning and development, marketing, sales, project management, performing services or producing or delivering product, collecting fees, management of employees, planning and payment of taxes, and more.
List and document every system in your business, and you’ll have a head start on automatically making your business more appealing to a prospective buyer.
Easy Steps for Documentation
One process at a time, have the person directly responsible for the process create a document detailing who’s involved, what each person does, when it needs to be done, where any necessary resources are located, and how it needs to be done.
Next, that process creator should follow the written process document to complete that task. This is a good opportunity to add to or change the document.
Finally, have someone else in your company follow the revised process document to complete that task. A solid process document will yield the same results no matter who does the task.
Just having your processes documented can take your business up several notches in desirability to potential buyers.
January events and holidays for your marketing calendar:

1  New Year’s Day
3  Festival of Sleep Day
18 Winnie the Pooh Day
19 National Popcorn Day

“No Problem”
… Actually Is
Next time you go to Chic Fil-A, pick up more than a nice chicken sandwich. Go there for a quick lesson in customer service.
If you just say “thank you” to any one of the workers, you’re 99.9% likely to hear, “My pleasure!”
Not, “OK” or “No problem” or “No worries”. The workers are trained to answer “My pleasure” because it’s the best way to communicate a sense of being at your service, of being happy to help, of valuing your presence and your business.
This one small tweak any business owner can make to their own staff protocol will make a significant difference in how your clients experience doing business with you.
It may take some practice to make this change in verbiage, especially for people who’ve gotten used to giving any other reply.
Other responses may have the same intent – to acknowledge a “thank you”. However, they may leave your customers irritated, wondering whether their presence or request was an imposition instead of a welcomed event.
“My pleasure” will make your business stand out in a world where warm customer service is an unusual find. This alone could make your customers feel so welcome and so taken care of that they’ll spread the good word about you.
Most business improvement ideas are complex, expensive, or disruptive. Love this one? Glad to have it?
“My pleasure.”

November 2011
Volume 1, Issue 4

Will Your Elevator Speech Take You to the Top?
Yes, we’ve all heard an elevator speech before. If you have attended a networking event, or even answered a soliciting phone call, you’ve heard one. An elevator speech is that quick blurb you rattle off to describe your business. It’s your opportunity to convince those listening that your product or service is what they need and you are the one to deliver it to them. So, within the time it takes to get between floors on an elevator, can you deliver an effective speech that leaves them wanting more?

Develop a Great Opening
All great speeches begin with a powerful opening statement. Make sure they know who you are and what you can do for them. If you are a dentist, you may start by saying “My name is_____and I give people back their smiles.”

Describe the Biggest Solution You Offer
We all like it when someone can solve a problem for us. Describe what you can do for them. Make eye contact as much as possible and try to make an emotional connection. “Everyone is struggling to get more traffic to their website; I can help you get more traffic, more easily, and less expensively than you might imagine is out there.”

Don’t Tell Them Everything
Leave your audience wanting to find out more. Use statements like, “I can get your website on the first page of Google using tools I have developed.” You’re not telling them how, but that you can do it. If you give them all the information at once you will lose their interest and leave no reason for them to follow up with you after the speech. The idea of an elevator speech is to catch their interest to make them want to set up a follow-up meeting.

Simplicity Is Key
Be sure to use words they understand. You don’t want to leave them wondering what you meant. If you have an air conditioning company, you know what an air handler is, but your audience may not. Be precise and stay to the point. Don’t leave them guessing what you can do for them.

Practice Makes Perfect
Practice you speech in front of the mirror and on your friends and family. Watch their responses and body language. If someone is truly interested in what you are saying, they will lean forward and keep their eyes on you. If they are uninterested, they will look around the room and completely disengage from you. If you find this with your practice audience, then you will need to tweak your speech. Keep adjusting the elevator speech until you are sure you’ve got it right.
When you find your listeners grabbing your elbow and saying, “Hey, I’d like to hear more about this!” you know you’ve got a winner.

December events and holidays for your marketing calendar:
1  Eat a Red Apple Day
3  Roof Over Your Head Day
5  Repeal Day
7  Letter Writing Day
7  Pearl Harbor Day
8  National Brownie Day
21 Look on the Bright Side Day
24 National Egg Nog Day
25 Christmas Day
31 New Year’s Eve

Making Networking Work
Oh, the rubber-chicken luncheon! A chance to get out and about, meet other business owners, and get the word out about your business. Or, a colossal waste of time. It all depends on what you do while you’re there – and even more so, what you do after you get back to your office.
While many of the people you network with seem like they’re on a mission to give out all of their business cards in one day, it’s actually more important to GET business cards from the people you connect with. The reason is, your chances of a connection actually following up with you are very slim. But if you’ve gotten their information, you’re in the driver’s
seat. Follow-up is now under your control.
Of course, that assumes you actually follow up with those connections!
Your sole mission after attending a networking event is to add the information you’ve collected to whatever system you use to work your leads. Shoot a quick email, leave a voicemail, schedule a lunch or coffee date. Whatever the next step in your marketing funnel is, make sure you take action right away. This is a habit that comes naturally to some business owners, and requires self-discipline and practice for others.
Those few minutes invested in follow-up will make you stand out, and may be the start of a mutually-beneficial relationship. And that makes your networking time work.