Leadership is Not a Title

I used to be one of those people who admired others who worked for themselves because of their perceived freedom. They could choose who they worked with and their hours were flexible. They had business expense write-offs and could take time off whenever they wanted. Of course, that was all too innocent of me.

Any  self-employed person will tell you that you don't know what it's like to work for yourself until you work for yourself. That doesn't let you off the hook if you work for someone or own a large enterprise.

Selling You is Hard Work

Developing your own brand, offering or services can be tough if you don’t have a team to lean on or a established company to back you up. Scaling your expertise can be as difficult as deciding what you will offer in the first place. But we need to remember we still have a team which comprises of our network of helpful humans. The business model is expanding far past any building walls.

One may think that selling a product is easier than a service and it’s not. There are millions of brilliant people developing necessary products who can confirm the hill is just as steep. I’m often asked “what do you do?” and I prefer to say “here’s how I can help”.

B2B + B2C = C2C

We portray a strong image through profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and more. The keyboard can make us brave but earning business is hard work. You not only have to prove you can provide the services you promise but you must give a prospect a reason to hire you and work with you.

If you work for yourself, be proud of your accomplishments. There are good, bad, scary and busy days. None of us escapes them, including those who started large enterprise. From Henry Ford to Carol Bartz, Oprah Winfrey to Michael Dell, they all had to start somewhere. We reside on both sides of the counter, so we all work for someone.

So How Can You Help?

Kneale Mann

image credit: freelanceswitch | original: jul 2011

27 More Business Ideas

This began as a personal list but thought I’d share here.

• You are your USP
• Do your most dreaded tasks in the morning
• Book think time every single day
• Be crystal clear on what you offer
• Really wanting it, is not a strategy
• The best social network is talking with people
• Build a strong mastermind group
• Opinions are a distraction
• Choose with whom you do business
• Trust is earned not bought
• Stop asking for permission to be successful
• Get out of your own way
• You can't change the past
• Take breaks
• Focus on your business
• Yes you can do it
• Your Klout score is irrelevant
• Playing it safe won’t get you there
• Keep your energy on positive momentum
• Work with the best, period
• Don’t let distractions take you off your game
• Ask for help
• Deliver what you say you will deliver
• Avoid naysayers at all costs
• Collaborate with the best people you can find
• Trust your gut
• This is supposed to be fun

Kneale Mann

image credit: educatorslife

The Product is You

You're the Boss

I used to be one of those people who admired others who worked for themselves because of their perceived freedom. They could choose who they worked with and their hours were flexible. They had business expense write-offs and could take time off whenever they wanted. Of course, that was all too innocent of me.

Any  self-employed person will tell you that you don't know what it's like to work for yourself until you work for yourself. That doesn't let you off the hook if you work for someone or own a large enterprise.

Selling You is Hard Work

Developing your own brand, offering or services can be tough if you don’t have a team to lean on or a established company to back you up. Scaling your expertise can be as difficult as deciding what you will offer in the first place. But we need to remember we still have a team which comprises of our network of helpful humans. The business model is expanding far past any building walls.

One may think that selling a product is easier than a service and it’s not. There are millions of brilliant people developing necessary products who can confirm the hill is just as steep. I’m often asked “what do you do?” and I prefer to say “here’s how I can help”.

B2B meets B2C meets C2C

We portray a strong image through profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and more. The keyboard can make us brave but earning business is hard work. You not only have to prove you can provide the services you promise but you must give a prospect a reason to hire you and work with you.

If you work for yourself, be proud of your accomplishments. There are good, bad, scary and busy days. None of us escapes them, including those who started large enterprise. From Henry Ford to Carol Bartz, Oprah Winfrey to Michael Dell, they all had to start somewhere. We reside on both sides of the counter, so we all work for someone.

So How Can You Help?

Kneale Mann

image credit: performancerules

The Allure of Twitter

Patience is a virtue not a business plan but often people get onto the social web and expect instant results. For some reason, the online world can be a tempting mistress for hard work. She can give clues that one more tweet or blog and all those nice things others are saying will turn into revenue.

What is often forgotten is that the online world is the real world in one person increments. Those connections, followers and friends are actually real people hoping they can make a connection too.

Twitter is an interesting and rapidly growing channel that is an exciting place to find similar people along specific thought silos void of geographic constraints. But it is not a bottle of diet pills. There are no short cuts.

Business is conducted constantly on this and many other social networking channels with people who have taken the time to get to know each other.

Nice to meet them.

If someone invites you to a backyard barbecue and they are the only one you know at the party, it’s clear you wouldn't show up with a box of business cards. So it is essential to let others get to know you.

Be genuinely curious about them.

We read words such as authentic and trust all the time with reference to channels such as Twitter but the only way you can truly define those for your own experience is to put in the time. If I don’t know you, how can I trust you and why would I buy from you?

We reside on both sides of the counter. 

We are all providers and customers. Give thought to how you want others to approach you before you approach them. If you don’t want spam, then don’t spam. If you don’t want someone to go directly to the sale or talk about themselves, reciprocate.

If you do the work and remain yourself, you can build relationships that you would never have elsewhere. Twitter is the conduit. It is the people that make it a living entity. Respect and decorum go a long way.

If your goal is to simply get to know people, then be patient and let them get to know you. If you want Twitter to help build your business, it requires just as much work and time as building any other relationship.

What are your thoughts?

knealemann | email



Join me for Movember.
image credit: twitter

Difficult Clients

I had a heart-to-heart with a colleague last week about one of her tough clients. She prefaced the conversation with “this is just my side of the story".

After half an hour of railing, I asked her what she was going to do and she said she was going to leave them alone.


You can’t get ‘em all

This is not to suggest you give up during the sales process – and yes, we are all in the sales process – but once you can be completely honest with yourself that you did your best then perhaps you need to leave them alone.

Early in my media career I worked with a fantastic sales manager. This guy got the product as much as anyone creating it. He priced it properly, he didn’t bow down to difficult clients wanting a better deal and he was fiercely protective of the entire team.

Not right now

Years later, as I began my consulting career, I called him up to get his advice on prospecting and he simply reminded me that most people you speak with won’t want to buy from you, today. And he’s right. That's why it's called a process and you need to earn their trust before you can sell anything.

If you bat 1.000 with every prospect meeting, you must be counting your billions. It simply doesn’t work that way. That is even more so in our customer driven economy.

This does not mean the client is always right or has to be rude. Conversely, it doesn’t mean they will buy today – or ever.

Here's a list of ideas from eHow

Listen carefully. 
By asking calm questions, see whether you can discern what is bothering the client.

Don't interrupt immediately.
Unless the client is abusive, it pays to hear what they're saying in full. If someone is abusive, politely ask them to tone down their language.

Keep records.
Document all your dealings with difficult clients and steps you have taken to deal with their concerns. This will help you with future difficult clients.

Client's point of view.
No matter how unreasonable or how irrational he or she seems. What seem to you to be nagging, repetitive phone calls may simply be an expression of the customer feeling stressed for reasons that have nothing to do with the work you're doing.

Avoid arguments.
Your goal is to come to an understanding, not to win a confrontation.
Acknowledge different viewpoints.

Be encouraging.
Often people become hostile when they feel frustrated or confused.

Stay calm.
If you can't stay calm, terminate the call or meeting until you can respond less heatedly.

What do you do about difficult customers?

knealemann

image credit: thinklikecenter

The Art of Prospecting

Finding The Gold.

I am always fascinated by how people build their business. I’m a content guy at heart so it’s not enough for someone to say they want to grow their company.

We all do.

I like to get into their heads to see what will they actually do to get where they want to be.

So I posed a simple question on LinkedIn in the Canadian Marketing Association group.

Q: What is your best tip for prospecting new clients?

Here are some responses…

Todd Falkowsky • The old fashioned way, get on the phone. I am still amazed at how many tools have been developed to break the ice with new clients, but the tried and true is still the best. Looking forward to hearing some other thoughts!

Ron Kipp • Todd is right on and if you outsource cold calling to a boutique contact centre you can invest your time more cost effectively.

Jody Steinhauer • Referral Referral Referral!!! If you do a great job, don't be shy to ask for a referral. We have built our entire company on referrals and no cold calls. It works! We are growing and need more people to help take good care on the inside.

Loic Jeanjean • Hi Kneale, I agree with Jody. We have also built our organization along referrals. Clients that have been happy with our services have been our best brand ambassadors since day 1. We have also been attending local conferences in our target market and provided 30-45 min educational workshops.

Dennis Meharchand • Depends upon what's being sold - Theoretically Cold calling should work well for products and services where there is not much pain associated with buying wrong whereas referrals from trusted sources should work well for high pain decisions. Given all that's changed in communications the last 10 years maybe it's time for a new edition of "How to Make Friends and Influence People"!

Ron Kunitzky • Networking and Referrals and Partnerships with companies that have relationships with your target audience.

Paul Provost • All are great comments that I agree with. We've built ourselves to where we are based on our referrals but it started with getting out there (networking) and reaching out (cold calls). One note on referrals - they work great if you have customers but if you start from zero, smart and targeted cold calling (and not just open the white pages) works.

Jeannette Marshall • Kneale, as a seasoned sales pro ... I'm going to say that there isn't a one-point answer. Many of the comments have been excellent. What I would suggest first is examine your existing customers, ask why they use your service, importantly what value they've gained (i.e. % saved, $ increase in revenue, etc.) - your best tool is those already in your tool belt.

And my response…

Kneale Mann • These are all excellent points, thank-you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. Most of the prospecting advice I see is from a mechanical approach - which is necessary - but the relational side is one not to ignore. It takes longer, it takes patience and trust, but referrals don't fall from the proverbial sky, they come from good work and nurtured relationships. Keep the conversation going!

What are your thoughts?

knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

image credit: nevada outback gems