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Browse published articles attributed to Diane Conklin, with full-archive search.
Every year for the past 6 or 8 years I have taken a Friday off in the middle of December and spent the day with my best friend in Atlanta doing some Christmas shopping. We always have a great time, being silly and having fun, while getting the majority of our shopping done for the season. We always start off the day with a nice breakfast.
Last week I was speaking to an advisor of mine. We had talked about writing and creativity. She perceived that I was a creative person. I told her that I grew up avoiding reading and writing because I was criticized and punished frequently by parents and teachers. Of course, I avoided working on those skills because I was weak in them. I convinced myself that I didn’t like to read, because I read slowly and couldn’t write because I couldn’t spell. This issue really affected my self confidence all through formal schooling and as an adult. As an adult, I was diagnosed as dyslexic.
Sometimes amazing things happen during our travels, but if you don’t take the time to notice and get excited about it, you might miss it. On a recent trip, something amazing happened. It was a long day. Up at 4:00am to leave for a long day of flying and connecting flights, no problems, until baggage, where there was a bunch of people still standing around when everybody else seemed to have picked up their bags and left.
The concept of upselling is certainly not a new idea. The goal of upselling is to increase your profit.
One of the biggest mistakes business owners and entrepreneurs make is not having business systems in place to run their businesses. Systems either run your business or people do. That might sound odd because it seems obvious that you need people to run your business systems. And, you are absolutely correct, you do need people to run the systems, systems you have in place for them to follow, systems that make their jobs simpler and more duplicatable.
If there’s anything you should make time for in your life, its reading and jou aling. You can learn a lot from books, whether they’re business books, marketing-related books, biographies, or even fictional stories. In addition to learning from reading, you will more than likely also find great stories and information you can pass on to your prospects and clients as well. But, you might be asking yourself, who has time for that reading, right?
Today we live and work in a very competitive world. Whether you are a brick and mortar retailer, an information marketer, an internet marketer a small business owner of any kind, you need to find ways to stand above your competition an all areas of your business. There are probably many other business owners who have products – services and niches similar to yours. Here are 5 tips to Stand Up in your niche and separate yourself from all others…. 1. Provide clear solution for your clients and help them achieve their goals.
You’ve seen the guy on stage spinning the plates. He starts at one end and gets a plate spinning, then moves to the next plate, and the next, until he gets to the end of the line of plates. The hope is that when he gets the last plate up and spinning, all of the plates are still spinning and then he can go stop each one, take it off the stick it’s been spinning on and all of the plates are in one piece. That’s success for the plate spinner.
When it comes to putting out new things, whether it’s a new marketing campaign, a product, a teleseminar, or webinar or anything for your business, you have to understand that you can’t just put out one message. People need to see and hear about your something new more than once. As a matter of fact, your clients and prospects need to hear about everything you’re doing in your business more than once.
In business, you often hear the phrase “under-promise and over-deliver.” This concept is a myth and can actually cause harm to your business. Don’t ever under-promise…just over-deliver! Promise what you’re going to give people, and then give them more… but don’t intentionally under-promise.
Do you ever think about the ripple effect of your actions or the actions of your business? In the image of the ripple effect, you have a pebble or a small stone, and that pebble is falling into this big source of water – maybe it’s a pond, or a lake, or maybe an ocean. Regardless of how big that water source is, the point is that there are always ripples. Those ripples keep moving outward and expanding outward, pushing other ripples into a course because of the action of one small pebble or maybe even one small drop of water.
par • a • digm (p r -d m , -d m ) n. 1. One that serves as a pattern or model. 2. A set or list of all the inflectional forms of a word or of one of its grammatical categories: the paradigm of an irregular verb. 3. A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline. You may remember the old story about paradigms?
You just made some sales, whether it was from the platform, on a teleseminar, after sending an email or your online newsletter, or from a direct mail piece. It doesn’t matter how you made the sales, you’re feeling pretty good about it. Most marketers think this is the end of the road, that their work is done. The smart marketers, like you, know this is just the beginning. This is where the fun starts. The real money is made after the initial sale, on the backend. Your follow-up system can decrease refunds by as much as 53% and increase backend sales 100 times, or more.
You hear a lot about purpose, mission and vision, and a lot of people struggle with what that means exactly. Most likely, you’ve created a vision for your business and maybe even a bigger vision for your life, or the world, regarding the changes you want to make. You may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with business? What does this have to do with marketing?” So, here’s the thing you need to think about… what’s the best way to set up your business so that it follows the same mission, vision and purpose you’ve set for your life?
There’s a lot of talk these days about being authentic – especially as it relates to your business. The question is, what exactly does that mean? Some business owners have taken this to mean they can say and do whatever they want to because it’s just them being authentic. Everyone’s talking about it in different ways lately, but it seems everywhere you go, somebody’s talking about being authentic. The dictionary defines authentic as “the quality or condition of being trustworthy or genuine.” It also uses words like genuine, real, and character.
When considering when to add additional income streams in your business, timing is critical. And, the right time depends on where you currently are in your business. Before adding additional income streams to your business, you need to really focus and hone in on the one thing you’re uniquely good at, or the one thing people know you for the best. When you get to that point is when you should be thinking about what’s next. Before you’re clear about these things, it would be premature to think about adding an income stream to your business, as it would more than likely fail.
Do you want to make more money while working less? We’re always looking for additional income streams in our businesses and ways to do things that generate money but don’t create more work. You’re busy and have enough work to do between staff and everything you’re managing in your business. Think about this…is there a way, in your business, right now, that you could create an income stream, or streams, where you are the conduit through which the product or service comes, but you aren’t actually the one providing the service?
A question all business owners should ask themselves, especially if they do their own marketing, is this - is my marketing manipulative or influential? In order for you to make that distinction, you have to know the difference between the two. Take a minute to think about what your business provides for people. Are you giving your clients things they want and need and things they can benefit from? Or, are you just convincing them to buy anything from you because you need to make money and it’s what’s best for you – with no regard for what will benefit them the most?
On an episode of Celebrity Apprentice, it became apparent to me that making decisions is something a lot of people struggle with – even very successful people … and celebrities. When asked directly by Mr. Trump who should be fired, nobody would give a direct answer. And, it’s important to note that this resistance is apparent in both the women and the men.
Information Marketing has actually been around since the Stone Age. Think about it….
Being consistent in business means building not only your credibility but also your dependability factor with your clients and others you do business with. Sometimes, credibility may seem like one of the hardest things to build in your business, but once you have it, it brings some of the most beneficial rewards.
Many business owners start by putting their product, or service, first when they in their business. If you’re thinking about starting a business, or even adding a new component to your existing business, starting by thinking about your product first is one of the biggest mistakes you will make.
Every individual has a personality, but did you know your business has a personality as well? Your business personality will take on the characteristics of your personality, or sometimes it will reflect the whole make up of your team. Often, just like your own personality, your business personality will have different facets. There may be times when things are playful and casual, and other times it will be more formal and serious. You have to decide which approach is most appropriate depending upon the different situations that arise in your business.
Do you have a pla B in your business? What if the things you’ve planned in your business, or that you’re working on today, whatever it is, doesn’t turn out exactly the way you wanted? What if your big launch doesn’t produce, or that email campaign doesn’t perform the way you want, or that team member you just hired doesn’t work out… do you always have a fallback position? What is your pla B?
Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees. I am always amazed when I see a client, marketer, or entrepreneur stop doing what’s working. And, sometimes I even begin to twitch when they give me the reason they stopped.
As marketers you don’t often hear us talk much about listening to your gut or your intuition, or whatever you call it. Mindset is a favorite for some. Whatever you call it, it’s something we’ve been working on a lot over the course of the last year or so and although we haven’t talked much about it, it’s been noticed. Many people have noticed the changes that are occurring. We still have a long way to go, but it’s a journey right? One we’re very much enjoying right now too.
There’s a lot of skepticism and questions about direct mail and more specifically about whether direct mail still works or not. A few of the things to consider when you’re thinking about sending direct mail is whether to use a live stamp or not? Should you use a live stamp or is it ok to use stamps.com or something similar? What about using the machine in my office? The answer is you want to use a live stamp every time. Every single time!
It doesn’t matter what level of marketer you are, you either have already, or will at some point in your career, make this mistake. You are going along and things are going pretty well. You’re in the middle of a marketing campaign and you’re getting good results with what you’re doing. You get through the entire campaign and have tremendous results – better than you ever got before with any program you’ve done.
As a business owner, sometimes you have to make tough decisions and sometimes you don’t want to make those tough decisions, but are forced to. The thing you have to remember is, it’s just business. I know you’ve heard people say that and maybe it sounds a little cold or doesn’t feel right from a business perspective, or from a personal perspective, but the bottom line is sometimes in your business you have to make tough choices.
Do you ever get stuck in your business? Not sure what the next thing is, what the next service is you want to offer, what the next product or products need to be, or when the next marketing sequence needs to go out? It happens to all of us. Here’s the thing to think about. The answers to those questions are typically in your numbers. Measuring and business numbers are typically things most small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t like and don’t really want to deal with. Do you feel that way? Measuring, measuring, measuring…knowing your numbers - it’s critical and here’s why.
Do you have a tendency to hold on to things in your business too long? Maybe it’s your team, staff or employees, maybe its programs that are no longer profitable. Holding on to things because they’re familiar or because it’s comfortable can get in the way of moving your business to the next level.
Let’s take a few minutes to discover just how important mindset really is, not only to the success of your business, but to your overall success and happiness in life too. Mindset is really the mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations. It’s about how you look at things, what you expect and how you respond – in every aspect of your life. Mindset and mental attitudes are important in these major areas in our lives: • Mental • Emotional • Physical • Spiritual • Financial
The easiest way to keep in touch with your client base, that’s prospects and buyers is to use an electronic newsletter or Ezine. Brick and mortar businesses of all kinds can also benefit from an online newsletter or Ezine. Why an Ezine? Generally, is free to deliver, only costs in your time or your assistant’s time to publish, it’s fast to put together when comparing to a print newsletter and you can deliver it more frequently.
Are you a ravenous student who just can’t seem to get enough books, tapes and courses in your niche, field, or in some topic area that makes a big difference in your business? Or, is the idea of reading a book, listening to an educational CD or DVD, or going to a seminar or workshop, to learn, appalling to you? If you’re reading this, it’s more likely you’re a ravenous student who just can’t seem to get enough, you devour books, you’re constantly listening to educational or self-help materials (even when you’re exercising or on an airplane), and you invest mightily in yourself.
Having good strategies in place is one of the biggest factors in making your business a success. With that in mind, are your numbers lower than you'd like them to be, and are you conce ed about them? Are you seeing less people registering for your events? Are you finding sales to be lower than normal? Are your percentages down? Maybe you aren't getting as many people are register for your teleseminars. Does any of this sound familiar?r
Consistency in your business is integral to its success. If you continually make good, sound decisions that move your business forward, you’re going to have great success. Consistency, over time, is a huge formula for business and marketing success. If you’re consistent in making the small decisions (the small “yeses” and the small “no’s”), and focus on the details of your business, this is where you’re going to make a big difference in your business. This is where you can set yourself apart from everyone else.
Are you a celebrity? Have you ever thought about using celebrities in your business? You might think it’s too expensive for you to use celebrities or that you can’t afford it. It can be expensive, if you’re looking to use names like George Foreman, Kathy Ireland or Barbara Corcoran.
Most business owners learn very early on that they need to delegate, and most need to delegate more business responsibility than they do. When you start delegating and your business grows, the challenge becomes how to delegate without abandoning your responsibilities. There is a line that all business owners walk, where you want to delegate, but you’re a bit afraid to – especially at first, because you think no one else can do things as well as you can, or you simply are afraid things won’t get done at all if you don’t do them.
One of the most common questions we get asked is “What exactly is Information Marketing?” What does that term mean? What is it all about? Some people call it information products, some people call it information marketing. It’s been a struggle to figure out how to describe what exactly Information Marketing is to people who don’t know. It’s sad too, because it is the best business in the world. Every business, no matter what business you’re in, you should have at least a part of your business be some sort of Information Marketing…whether you ever make any money with it or not.
How do you market your business? Are you doing the hope-and-pray method of marketing? Did you put up your sign, turn on the open for business sign, hand out your business cards, maybe put up a website, and then hope and pray that someone comes in or will do business with you? So you do all those things, and then what? Maybe new clients and business come, maybe they don’t. That’s not effective. And unless you’re Coca Cola, Nike, HP, or a company like that, you probably don’t have millions of dollars to invest in your marketing campaigns to compete with big businesses like that.
You may have heard it said before, many times – the adage that good enough is good enough – and it’s true, as long as you don’t put out junk in your business. So, the question becomes how do you make sure you’re not putting out junk. You pay attention to the little things in your business because the little things mean a lot.
Superbowl happens only one time every year, and I’m a huge sports fan, so I really enjoy that time of the year. For the first time in history, the Superbowl has just been granted to an “outside” stadium. This year, I was even more excited because I’ve followed Peyton Manning since he was in college at the University of Tennessee, where I am an alumnus. So, I am also an Indianapolis Colts fan too.
When you go places and do things, do you look for the marketing and business lessons that are there? Some companies will show you good examples and some will show you not so good examples, but you can learn from all of it…and all companies, no matter if they are large or small, they all have the potential to do things right and things wrong. Let’s first consider the hidden money in your business. And, then, we’ll find some other interesting examples of where other companies have found hidden money in their businesses and how they are capitalizing on it.
Having grown up on a 75 acre farm, nobody ever talked about working right. Everybody talked about working hard. As you can imagine, we worked hard on the farm. We got up early, and with 75 acres there are a lot of things that have to be done – most if it having to do with chickens, pigs, cows, and horses, gardens and fields. Growing up on a farm, was a great way to grow up, it was a great life, and a lot of fun.
How many times have you gone to a seminar and listened to a speaker and thought, or said to yourself, or out loud, what did that have to do with the seminar topic I came here to learn about? If you have asked that question, it is a result of the event promoter not spending enough time thinking about the message to market match between the speaker and the audience or it was a result of the event promoter not talking about the speakers ahead of time and building value for the topic they are talking about and selling on.
Authenticity! We hear a lot of people using that word these days and a lot of people are talking about being authentic in your marketing. It’s a very interesting concept to look at as you read headlines and study marketing. You’ve seen them. We’ve all seen those outrageous headlines that we all know can’t really happen but appeal to our sense of wanting things to be easy and to be able to get rich quick and all that. How about this one for example, “$12 Million in 12 Weeks” – saw that one recently and it actually made me laugh out loud.
How do you make money with live streaming at your events? There is certainly money to be made with live streaming at your events, if you do it right. The first thing you need to do is decide if you’re going to live stream your event. Now, there are some advantages and some disadvantages to live streaming, so you really need to think about those before you decide one way or another. If you already have a video crew at your event videotaping then live streaming is just one more service to add. And it’s an additional service that can add a stream of income to your event.
Are you and your business more like a fire hose or a dripping faucet? As marketers and business owners, we sometimes want to give everything we know to our clients, as soon as they come to us. That’s being the fire hose. You have all this information in your head, that you have accumulated over the years and you open up the fire hose and try to give all that information to your clients and prospects in the first ten minutes they know you. And, you want to give them everything you know, every time you talk to them.
Is there a difference between strategy and tactics? It probably depends on who you ask, but I see a big difference between the two. We talk a lot about and utilize strategy in our business and for our clients as well. So many things revolve around marketing and business strategy. Tactics has a negative connotation, like using a tactic to get you to do something. It’s sort of like the subtle difference between persuasion or influence and manipulation.
Hosting live events is something most people do at some point in their business, especially if you’re an Information Marketer, and for many people it’s one of the ways to catapult your income.