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. ***********

---

Janitorial Cleaning Service: Getting Started

A janitorial cleaning service is one of the best businesses... Read More

Three Ways to Add Leverage to Your Small Business

Remember those drawings from science class of how a lever... Read More

Understanding Franchise Releationships in a Franchised Business

Now that you have invested your time, energy and money... Read More

Small Business Survival

In today's economic climate, the first priority for the small... Read More

Bad Regulators Cost Small Businesses

When a regulator finds a target to go after to... Read More

A Business Tail: Veterinarian Foams at Mouth, Chases Tail, Learns New Tricks--Case Study

Many self employed professionals find themselves overwhelmed, frustrated, and confused... Read More

What Help is there for Veterans Starting a Business?

Some of the very qualities that attract people to the... Read More

5 Good Reasons a Self-Employed Professional Should Take Vacation

So you think you're not justified in taking time away... Read More

Small Business Credit Card Advantages

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

Competition in the Market Place and Over Disclosure Regulatory Burden

The Federal Trade Commission is assisting competitor to cheat and... Read More

Canon City, Colorado - Good for Small Business

Canon City, Colorado is known for it's 6 Prisons; State... Read More

Creating Lists to Learn About Yourself, Your Business and Your Customers

I love lists. I make them for everything. And I'm... Read More

Promote Yourself More Successfully

One of the great challenges for independent professionals and small... Read More

If You Want to Work from Home

Here are some important points to take note of if... Read More

Small Business Debt Collection Laws

In your small business debt collection laws will eventually become... Read More

11 Things Small Business Owners Can Learn From Punxsutawney Phil

1. Look Over Your Shoulder ? Of course, Punxsutawney Phil... Read More

The Perilous Franchise Agreement: What Did You Sign?

Purchasing a franchise has become one of the most popular... Read More

Trailblazer Interview with Diane J. Levin, Partnering Solutions

Today is a Red Letter Day! It's special because today... Read More

Small Business No How - Dont Give Away the Farm

You're pretty proud of yourself! After all, only four months... Read More

How to Use Graphs and Charts in Your Business Plan

Many people ask how many graphs or charts they should... Read More

Pressure Washer Concrete Cleaning Equipment

Cleaning concrete is tough and there is an easy way... Read More

How to Avoid the Most Common Reasons for Small Business Failure

The life cycle of the typical small business is short... Read More

Small Business And The Ability To Find Market Place Opportunities

Marketing is one of the four corner-posts of a solid... Read More

If You Want Business - Be Consistent

Why does consistency in the message have an effect on... Read More

Pressure Washing Market Niche

Those who are in the pressure washer business should not... Read More

How to be Annoyed and Make Money

When do annoyances in a relationship become too much to... Read More

Small Business Grants - Tips from the Pros

Every business starts with an idea or a dream. To... Read More

Get Free Payroll Forms Download from the Internet

Having a successful business means also having a good working... Read More

How to Profit Handsomely From a Secret Business Model Virtually No Small Business is Using!

Have you been searching for the perfect home-based business? I... Read More

Five Quick Ways to Speed Up Cash Flow

At one point or another, almost every business runs short... Read More

Window Cleaning Business Future Challenge With Self Cleaning Glass

Self-cleaning glass has been talked about a lot, with such... Read More

Pressure Washing of Paving Equipment and The EPA

Many pressure washing companies will be glad to take on... Read More

Carwash Manual Sample Outline

Car wash businesses are unique to other businesses. In fact... Read More