Why Do Customers Lie? How to Get Them to Buy Instead

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Customers....we love 'em right? We're in business to deal with customers and clients (no customers = no business) but sometimes it can be frustrating figuring out exactly what they want. And just when we think we have our customers nailed down...they still don't buy! What's the deal?

Problem: Customers...Lie!
Without sounding too harsh, ask a customer about pricing, competition, satisfaction and what they tell you...is probably not true. Why? As humans, we don't like confrontation and your customer is no different. Put someone on the spot and they are likely to give you the answer you want to hear. Most customers don't want to admit that your product is too expensive or that they like your competitor better or that your specials are on the products they don't need.  They won't say a word but they also won't buy or renew or upgrade. So what do we do?

Solution: Coach Your Staff (and Yourself) to Ask & LISTEN
We all know that when someone asks you, "how are you doing today?" - it's usually not an invitation to spill the beans on all of your problems. If you want to get real customer feedback, you need to ask the right questions - questions that require more than one word answers and invite honesty.   

• Have you tried this product before? Is there anything you would suggest to improve it?
• We've had some issues come up regarding [insert product or service] - what has your experience been? Any suggestions?
• I've heard that other companies offer [different product, service or guarantee] - does that kind of option influence your choice to buy?
• What is your #1 frustration with the [insert your industry]?\

Why it Works: Quantity = Trends = The Truth!
The more people you talk to, the more you're likely to notice a pattern. This truthful feedback can be used to increase your sales and conversion. Customers might not always be "right" but if you take the time to listen - they do have the "answers" you need.

Email Marketing is a Great Way to Nurture Customers into Buying - Need Help?

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How to Think Outside the Box as a Small Business

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The expression "Think outside the box," is synonymous with creativity, innovation and ideas. Everyone is looking for the next 'big idea' that could take a company from one among the crowd to leading the way to a whole new adventure. But as small business owners - we tend to think that in order to think outside the box - we have to have lots of...everything! We need more employees, more clients, more products and definately more money! Not true! Thinking outside the box is about fresh ideas and branching out from [your] normal mode of operation. You are perfectly primed to get your creative hat on BECAUSE you're a small business.

But here are some steps to get you out of the box.

Step 1 - Identify Opportunites
Opportunities lie everywhere you look in your business. Maybe it's your system of advertising, your style of customer service or the way you display your services. Start paying attention to your business flow and identify areas that are stale or where the 'same old, same old' isn't working like it used to.

Step 2 - Get Your Team Involved
Whether your business is made up of just you or a whole sales force - you have a team of people who support your business. This could include family, friends, managers, employees etc. These people want to see your business succeed. Get them involved in your crusade to think outside the box. Ask them to start thinking about areas that need work and encourage them to do so.

Step 3 - Focus on One Area
So now that you've been looking for opportunities for improvement - it's time to attack one. Pick an area or aspect of your business to focus on. Set a brainstorming meeting with your team and tell them the topic you guys are going to work on so they can hone their thoughts. Now your job is to focus on what you want to accomplish by attacking this one opportunity. Having a goal will help your team. If you want a different kind of customer - define who this person is. If you want to double the number of people who come to an event - be specific.

Step 4 - Unleash the Brainstorm
Get your team together and have a brainstorming session about how to improve your area of focus. Nothing is off the table here (unless it doesn't have anything to do with the opportunity). Don't worry about budget or the current system. No idea is a bad idea and brainstorming sessions tend to work better if the mood is light or funny. Give people crayons to write their ideas down. Print out a picture that illustrates your goal. Make your staff where goofy party 'thinking' hats. Sometimes it helps to have a word bowl (a bowl with random words written on pieces of paper) which can be picked from to stimulate new ideas - and possibly some humerous ones.

Step 5 - Practice & Polish
It make take some practice to hone the brainstorming skills of you and your team. Go for quantity versus quality. Get the creativity muscles working and the more you offer chances for unleashed ideas - the more easily they appear. Once you have your ideas - have a session that focuses on polishing a few of the good ones so that you can move towards implementing the idea into your routine.

Create An Easy & Fast Small Business Plan

Every business needs a business plan - no matter how small!

What information needs to be in your business plan? What is the order of information that will make the most sense to lenders and investors? You can answer these questions with the business plan outlines provided below.

What are the standard elements of a business plan? If you do need a standard business plan to seek funding — as opposed to a plan-as-you-go approach for running your business, which I describe below — there are predictable contents of a standard business plan outline.

For example, a business plan normally starts with an Executive Summary, which should be concise and interesting. People almost always expect to see sections covering the Company, the Market, the Product, the Management Team, Strategy, Implementation, and Financial Analysis. The precise business plan format can vary.

Is the order important? If you have the main components, the order doesn’t matter that much, but here’s the sequence I suggest for a business plan. I have provided two outlines, one simple and the other more detailed.

Simple Business Plan Outline

1. Executive Summary: Write this last. It’s just a page or two of highlights.
2. Company Description: Legal establishment, history, start-up plans, etc.
3. Product or Service: Describe what you’re selling. Focus on customer benefits.
4. Market Analysis: You need to know your market, customer needs, where they are, how to reach them, etc.
5. Strategy and Implementation: Be specific. Include management responsibilities with dates and budgets. Make sure you can track results.
6. Web Plan Summary: For e-commerce, include discussion of website, development costs, operations, sales and marketing strategies.
7. Management Team: Describe the organization and the key management team members.
8. Financial Analysis: Make sure to include at the very least your projected Profit and Loss and Cash Flow tables.

Build your plan, then organize it. I don’t recommend developing the plan in the same order you present it as a finished document. For example, although the Executive Summary obviously comes as the first section of a business plan, I recommend writing it after everything else is done. It will appear first, but you write it last.

Standard tables and charts

There are also some business tables and charts that are normally expected in a standard business plan.

Cash flow is the single most important numerical analysis in a plan, and should never be missing. Most plans will also have Sales Forecast and Profit and Loss statements. I believe they should also have separate Personnel listings, projected Balance Sheet, projected Business Ratios, and Market Analysis tables.

I also believe that every plan should include bar charts and pie charts to illustrate the numbers.

Expanded business plan outline

Here’s an expanded full business plan outline, with details you might want to include in your own business plan.

1.0 Executive Summary
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Mission
1.3 Keys to Success

2.0 Company Summary
2.1 Company Ownership
2.2 Company History (for ongoing companies) or Start-up Plan (for new companies)
2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

3.0 Products and Services
3.1 Product and Service Description
3.2 Competitive Comparison
3.3 Sales Literature
3.4 Sourcing and Fulfillment
3.5 Technology
3.6 Future Products and Services

4.0 Market Analysis Summary
4.1 Market Segmentation
4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
4.2.1 Market Needs
4.2.2 Market Trends
4.2.3 Market Growth
4.3 Industry Analysis
4.3.1 Industry Participants
4.3.2 Distribution Patterns
4.3.3 Competition and Buying Patterns
4.3.4 Main Competitors

5.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary
5.1 Strategy Pyramids
5.2 Value Proposition
5.3 Competitive Edge
5.4 Marketing Strategy
5.4.1 Positioning Statements
5.4.2 Pricing Strategy
5.4.3 Promotion Strategy
5.4.4 Distribution Patterns
5.4.5 Marketing Programs
5.5 Sales Strategy
5.5.1 Sales Forecast
5.5.2 Sales Programs
5.6 Strategic Alliances
5.7 Milestones

6.0 Web Plan Summary
6.1 Website Marketing Strategy
6.2 Development Requirements

7.0 Management Summary
7.1 Organizational Structure
7.2 Management Team
7.3 Management Team Gaps
7.4 Personnel Plan

8.0 Financial Plan
8.1 Important Assumptions
8.2 Key Financial Indicators
8.3 Break-even Analysis
8.4 Projected Profit and Loss
8.5 Projected Cash Flow
8.6 Projected Balance Sheet
8.7 Business Ratios
8.8 Long-term Plan

Business plan outline advice

Size your business plan to fit your business. Remember that your business plan should be only as big as what you need to run your business. While everybody should have planning to help run a business, not everyone needs to develop a complete formal business plan suitable for submitting to a potential investor, or bank, or venture contest. So don’t include outline points just because they are on a big list somewhere, or on this list, unless you’re developing a standard business plan that you’ll be showing to somebody else who expects a standard business plan.

If you need help with your Website Design, Social Media Marketing and Business Strategy - give us a call (800) 596-6218!

Create A Small Business Plan Outline

Every business needs a business plan - no matter how small!

What information needs to be in your business plan? What is the order of information that will make the most sense to lenders and investors? You can answer these questions with the business plan outlines provided below.

What are the standard elements of a business plan? If you do need a standard business plan to seek funding — as opposed to a plan-as-you-go approach for running your business, which I describe below — there are predictable contents of a standard business plan outline.

For example, a business plan normally starts with an Executive Summary, which should be concise and interesting. People almost always expect to see sections covering the Company, the Market, the Product, the Management Team, Strategy, Implementation, and Financial Analysis. The precise business plan format can vary.

Is the order important? If you have the main components, the order doesn’t matter that much, but here’s the sequence I suggest for a business plan. I have provided two outlines, one simple and the other more detailed.

Simple Business Plan Outline

1. Executive Summary: Write this last. It’s just a page or two of highlights.
2. Company Description: Legal establishment, history, start-up plans, etc.
3. Product or Service: Describe what you’re selling. Focus on customer benefits.
4. Market Analysis: You need to know your market, customer needs, where they are, how to reach them, etc.
5. Strategy and Implementation: Be specific. Include management responsibilities with dates and budgets. Make sure you can track results.
6. Web Plan Summary: For e-commerce, include discussion of website, development costs, operations, sales and marketing strategies.
7. Management Team: Describe the organization and the key management team members.
8. Financial Analysis: Make sure to include at the very least your projected Profit and Loss and Cash Flow tables.

Build your plan, then organize it. I don’t recommend developing the plan in the same order you present it as a finished document. For example, although the Executive Summary obviously comes as the first section of a business plan, I recommend writing it after everything else is done. It will appear first, but you write it last.

Standard tables and charts

There are also some business tables and charts that are normally expected in a standard business plan.

Cash flow is the single most important numerical analysis in a plan, and should never be missing. Most plans will also have Sales Forecast and Profit and Loss statements. I believe they should also have separate Personnel listings, projected Balance Sheet, projected Business Ratios, and Market Analysis tables.

I also believe that every plan should include bar charts and pie charts to illustrate the numbers.

Expanded business plan outline

Here’s an expanded full business plan outline, with details you might want to include in your own business plan.

1.0 Executive Summary
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Mission
1.3 Keys to Success

2.0 Company Summary
2.1 Company Ownership
2.2 Company History (for ongoing companies) or Start-up Plan (for new companies)
2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

3.0 Products and Services
3.1 Product and Service Description
3.2 Competitive Comparison
3.3 Sales Literature
3.4 Sourcing and Fulfillment
3.5 Technology
3.6 Future Products and Services

4.0 Market Analysis Summary
4.1 Market Segmentation
4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
4.2.1 Market Needs
4.2.2 Market Trends
4.2.3 Market Growth
4.3 Industry Analysis
4.3.1 Industry Participants
4.3.2 Distribution Patterns
4.3.3 Competition and Buying Patterns
4.3.4 Main Competitors

5.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary
5.1 Strategy Pyramids
5.2 Value Proposition
5.3 Competitive Edge
5.4 Marketing Strategy
5.4.1 Positioning Statements
5.4.2 Pricing Strategy
5.4.3 Promotion Strategy
5.4.4 Distribution Patterns
5.4.5 Marketing Programs
5.5 Sales Strategy
5.5.1 Sales Forecast
5.5.2 Sales Programs
5.6 Strategic Alliances
5.7 Milestones

6.0 Web Plan Summary
6.1 Website Marketing Strategy
6.2 Development Requirements

7.0 Management Summary
7.1 Organizational Structure
7.2 Management Team
7.3 Management Team Gaps
7.4 Personnel Plan

8.0 Financial Plan
8.1 Important Assumptions
8.2 Key Financial Indicators
8.3 Break-even Analysis
8.4 Projected Profit and Loss
8.5 Projected Cash Flow
8.6 Projected Balance Sheet
8.7 Business Ratios
8.8 Long-term Plan

Business plan outline advice

Size your business plan to fit your business. Remember that your business plan should be only as big as what you need to run your business. While everybody should have planning to help run a business, not everyone needs to develop a complete formal business plan suitable for submitting to a potential investor, or bank, or venture contest. So don’t include outline points just because they are on a big list somewhere, or on this list, unless you’re developing a standard business plan that you’ll be showing to somebody else who expects a standard business plan.

If you need help with your Website Design, Social Media Marketing and Business Strategy - give us a call (800) 596-6218!

How to Make 30 Second Commercial Magic

Would it surprise you to learn that most business people do not have a 30-second commercial (otherwise known as an elevator speech)? In my travels, even those at the highest level have not completed a few versions to suit any occasion in which they might be asked the age-old question, "What do you do?"

It is not only prudent but truly crucial that you be able to simply and quickly describe what you do and who your target audience is no matter the occasion. The purpose of your 30-second commercial is to tell who you are, who your company is, and what you do. In addition, it asks one or more power questions, makes a power statement that shows how you can help others and ends with why the prospect should act now.

Tips for Creating Your Personal Commercial

Follow your plan. When you write a business plan, you prepare the executive summary last because you can't effectively summarize something you haven't already thought out. The same holds true with your personal commercial. Write your personal business plan first. Then, align your personal commercial with your mission and the roadmap you have developed for achieving it.

Make it memorable. Apart from the need to exchange pleasantries, you tell other people what you do for two reasons: they might have a need for your services or they might know someone else who has a need for your services. In either case, they should remember enough of what you told them so that they think of you when the need arises. To make your personal commercial memorable:

o Use an energetic group of words that leaves them wanting more!
o Avoid using industry jargon unless it's absolutely necessary.
o Talk about benefits... "I help lawyers find ways to win more business from existing clients."
o Speak slowly, audibly and clearly.
o If possible, personalize it -- for example a trademark attorney speaking to someone who has expressed concern about cyber squatters might say "I protect companies from cyber squatters," in addition to saying "I am a trademark attorney."

Keep it simple. Test your personal commercial on a seven-year-old. If they can't understand what you do, then you need to do some editing.

Have more than one version. The level of detail you provide at a cocktail reception is often very different than the detail you provide during a client meeting. You need to be prepared with at least two (preferably even three versions) of your 30-second commercial. The first version is quick--perhaps one or two sentences. The second version is as long as one or two paragraphs and should expand on the information provided in the first version. For example, you might expand on your responsibilities or explain in greater detail what your firm does. The third version lasts one or two minutes and could include further explanation of the second version as well as key clients, case studies and other information relevant to the current audience.

Primary Goal of the 30-Second Commercial

To develop a series of sentences that take 10-30 seconds to articulate, sharing how you add value to your customer's business and life. The purpose isn't to tell the other person everything that you do. It's to keep them from saying: "So what!" "We've already got something like that." "We're all set." or "Good-bye!"

30-Second Commercial Outline

Name and Title ... Hi, my name is Honorée Corpron, Visionary, Business Strategist and Performance Coach.

Company Name ... My company is Honorée Enterprises.

Creatively say what you do ... I work with CEOs, senior level professionals and entrepreneurs to achieve profit-doubling growth in 60-80% less time than it would take them to do it on their own.

Insert your Power Question ... Wouldn't it be great to be able to reach achieve more goals in the next 12 months with support than you could achieve on your own in the next decade?

Insert your Power Statement (how you help) ... I think I might be able to help you. Let's get together to discuss ways to implement systems and strategies into your business to help you be the most effective and efficient you can be, all while maintaining balance in your life.

Why the prospect should act now ... Would you like to schedule a brainstorming session, or have lunch or coffee to see if I can be of assistance to you?

Creating your 30-Second Commercial. First, list five ways you improve your clients' business, save them money or money, and/or help them to get more of what they want. Then list five reasons why people do business with you. Combine the most important elements into your 30 Second Commercial.

Power Questions
The Power Question qualifies the prospect and sets up your response. Use these five questions when formulating the Power Questions in your 30-Second Commercials:
1. What information do I want to get as a result of asking this question?
2. Can I qualify my prospect as a result of this question?
3. Does it take more than one question to find out the information I need?
4. Do my questions make the prospect think?
5. Can I ask a question that separates me from my competitor?
Here are some lead-ins to Power Questions that will expose areas of need:
o What do you look for ...?
o What have you found ...?
o What has been your experience ...?
o How do you propose ...?
o How have you successfully used ...?
o How do you determine ...?
o Why is that a deciding factor ...?
o What makes you choose ...?
o What is the one thing you would improve about ...?
o Are there other factors ...?
o What does your competitor do about ...?
o How do your customers react to ...?
o How are you currently ...?
o What are you doing to keep ...?
o How often do you contact ...?
o What are you doing to ensure ...?

Using some of the lead-ins above, as necessary, make a list of 25 Power Questions that make the prospect think and give you the information you need.

Combining all of the necessary elements in creating your 30-second commercial, along with mastering your Power Questions will assist you in attracting more of the clients and customers you want to work with - and they'll know exactly why they should hire you right away!

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