Small Business Marketing Secrets: Look Like Sizzle, Be The Steak

You've heard marketing and advertising gurus quip, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." Advertising initiatives best reach their target audience with benefits and the "wow" effect, not the value or features of their product or service. This may work well to get customers in the door. But once they're in, you better have some substance. How can you ensure you uphold the integrity of your business and still maintain the "Wow Effect"? It just takes well executed strategic steps for business AND personal development:

1. It's Already Done

Act like the goals you are working so diligently to achieve have already been reached. Walk with that confidence. Treat your leads like customers, your customers like guests in your home, and your staff like family. When you approach goals like a "done deal", you open up creativity reserves to think outside the box, access resources you didn't know you had and create opportunities for success previously unforeseen.

2. Get There From Here

It is not enough to act like you have arrived; you also get to devise a strategy map to get you there. Ask for your customers' input through surveys, polls, feedback forms. Pay customers' a visit, just to see how things are going. Send a birthday card, send flowers, and send an article clip that can prove useful to a client. Never miss an opportunity to create relationship. The best way to ensure you don't miss opportunities is to create a plan.

3. Who Cares?

Ensure that your work is fun and fulfilling for you and those who might work for or with you. Keep your duties aligned with your skills and interests, and invest in your own personal development. Volunteer in the community. Build a house for Habitat for Humanity. Run a marathon or half-marathon. Sponsor a scholarship with your local high school and recommend alliance partners or contractors to be part of the selection committee. It increases your visibility and theirs, and you both get to be a good corporate citizen. All for a good cause. Invest in yourself and in your community. Show you care.

4. Say What You Mean, and Mean What You Say

Address issues as they come up or as soon as appropriately possible. Sometimes we let things slide or leave things unsaid. This devalues what's important to you and insults the intelligence of the other person. Be open in your communication.

5. Create Win-Win Solutions

The belief of "looking out for number one" is so embedded in our collective consciousness that we have forgotten we are ALL #1 because we are all one. When you create win-win solutions, you not only generate good will among peers and supervisors, but you develop a reputation for fairness and professionalism. Everyone collaborates with a collaborator.

6. Acknowledge the Feedback

When customers take the time to write a scathing letter or make an irate phone call about horrific customer service or product quality, they are providing you with a valuable opportunity: Free feedback that you didn't ask for, didn't pay for, didn't market for or followed up on. It just fell on your lap. So thank your customer for being committed enough to your company to give you feedback on how you can improve your service. Give something away or at a steep discount. You have a choice: Swallow your pride, or dwindle your profits.

7. Go Back to Kindergarten

When you take lunch, take a walk to a park, eat leisurely, and come back to the privacy of your office for a quick 20 minute power nap. You'll feel refreshed and replenished. Don't have an office? Take a nap. Make it fun and, most importantly, nourishing.

8. Tie Up Loose Ends

Pay the parking ticket. Write that letter. Clean out your files. Make up with that client. Enroll in school. Back up your computer systems. Run the Clean Sweep Program on yourself, then the company (for more information, email us at monikah@ogandoassociates.com).

9. Give Yourself a Makeover

Lose the 15 pounds. Get that haircut. Buy fresh makeup. Reinvent your wardrobe. Give your car a paint job. Rearrange the furniture in your office or lobby. Give away old clothes. When you get in the habit of installing new practices and letting go of old ones that no longer serve you, you generate and circulate fresh energy.

10. Keep Your Commitments

When you say you are going to do something, do it, or else renegotiate another arrangement. Very few things are as difficult to earn back as your credibility and the trust of those who deal with you.

11. Play a Big Game

When setting your goals, ask yourself if you are stretching. Set your goals high enough to have to stretch for them. Make your growth systematic and strategic. If your goal is to call 20 leads this week, to close one sale, what would you have to do and believe about yourself to make it possible to call 50 and close three sales? If your goal is to go to dinner with your brother, just to reconnect, how about stepping it up and actually saying "I love you?" You know you are playing a big game when your first reaction is a big whine "I can't do that!" Yes, you can. Surprise yourself.

12. Be a Contribution

How can you make your customers' life more livable, your work more enjoyable, and your community more cohesive? Everyone wants to know, what's in it for me? When you focus out, you immediately speak their language and enroll them in playing yours. No one plays with you if they think you are not on their team. So join them. And they will join you.

Copyright 2004, Monikah J. Ogando, Ogando Associates, Inc.

____________________________________________

Monikah Ogando is a highly skilled facilitator and charismatic speaker. With workshop and platform experience, she continues to inspire her audience through her expertise in Business Development, leadership effectiveness, individual accountability and the values that guide excellence. Monikah believes that the new workplace, with shifting values and technology, calls for authentic leaders to partner with people in order to energize their hearts and enhance their performance.

Partnering with many industries, such as retail, communications, and online and financial services, her clients include Fortune 500 companies such as Charles Schwab and TNT Express Worldwide. She practices what she speaks: an entrepreneur, Monikah leads her own two companies, consulting firm Ogando Associates (http://www.ogandoassociates.com), and Exodus House Publishers and is a Team Member of Solo-E (http://www.Solo-E.com).

_____________________________________ _______

*********** Find more articles like this at http://www.Solo-E.com ? Keeping Solo Entrepreneurs Juiced in Business and in Life. Our team of Solo Entrepreneurs are comprised of small business experts who support others in finding business success with the flexibility and freedom to have a life, too. Network with other freelancers, self-employed and Solo Entrepreneurs in our forums, enjoy our articles and newsletter, and find other online training opportunities. ***********

---

Small Business Credit Card Advantages

Obtaining a business credit card enables the small business owner... Read More

Beginning an Internship Program

CONSIDERATIONS FOR YOUR INTERN: Specify the number of hours the... Read More

10 Cardinal Rules for Business Growth

After over 30 years of participating in hundreds of businesses,... Read More

A Small Business Must Have a Solid Foundation

We all know that a building has to have a... Read More

Batting Cages Business - Making Profits With The Swing Of A Bat

There is a Batting Cages Business for those people who... Read More

Procrastinate Your Way To A Successful Small Business

What will your business look like a year from today?If... Read More

Small Business and Over Regulation

Over regulation of small business is so intense it is... Read More

Is Your Business Property Safe and Secure?

Security Professionals provide the products and services necessary to create... Read More

How Do I Choose The Right Business Opportunity For Me?

First you have to start with knowing your budget and... Read More

Sample; Territory Reduction Policy for a Franchise Company

I propose this thought on the subject of Franchisee territory... Read More

The Workers? Compensation Situation in this Country is Nuts, Arnold in CA Takes Action

The Workers' Compensation situation in this country is unbelievable. Why,... Read More

The Business Failed, But Did You?

Q: After years of dreaming about starting my own business,... Read More

Keep TRACK of your Business Relationships and Gain Profits

How do you know when an alliance needs to be... Read More

Most Franchises Are Small Home Businesses

Many of our nations 400,000 franchisees run their businesses out... Read More

Local Search and Internet Yellow Pages - A Whole NewVocabulary for Small Businesss

Buyers want both online and local information about where to... Read More

Small Businesses With Work Trucks; A Warning

If you are a non-operator owner of many work trucks,... Read More

Mobile Detailing Environmental Concern in the Deep South

Macon, GA goes after garage-gas station conversion detail/hand car washes... Read More

How the Humble Ice Cube Made Business History

Gather round while I tell you the story of Kennebec... Read More

Going Public: The Process for Small and Mid-size Companies to Go Public

It's the dream of every person who starts a business... Read More

Do Your Best; Hire the Rest

One of the hidden perks of raising six children is... Read More

What is Rule 15c211 and Reverse Merger

Rule 15C211Under SEC Rule 15C211, a U.S. securities broker or... Read More

FTC Franchise Rule if Enacted will Trigger Hardship for Private Sector

The FTC Franchise Rule maybe changed, as the Federal trade... Read More

Auto Detailers and Competitive Aspects of Automobile Detailing

There are both fixed and mobile detailers. Consumers often will... Read More

Increase Your Profits with a Point of Sale (POS) System

Whether you operate a chain of restaurants, a mom-and-pop convenience... Read More

The Skills Gap: It Pays to Use Experts

By outsourcing to skilled professionals you'll be able to grow... Read More

1 Overlooked Key to Small Business Success

Is this you?You dreamed of owning your own business, doing... Read More

Small Business Health Check-Up

If your home business is not performing the way you... Read More

Why Do Most Online Small Businesses Fail?

Search Engines account for almost 90% of all web traffic!In... Read More

Making Direct Mail Work for Small Businesses

If you own a small business, then you know the... Read More

Setting Up as an Electronic Repair Authorized Service Center

If you plan to upgrade your workshop into an Authorized... Read More

Business Debt Collection Letter Writing Secrets

Debt collection letters--an overview"Debt collection letter" in the singular may... Read More

How To Make Sure Your Customers Still Trust Your Small Business

The stock market is still on a wild roller coaster... Read More

Pressure Washing Aircraft Hangers at the Airport

If you are looking for a way to own your... Read More