Happy New Year

It’s a new year, so I want to give you a tip that you can add to your list of goals for 2011.

• Build relationships with all prospects and clients

That may seem so simple, but many people don’t do this as often as they should.

That’s the main goal I want you to concentrate on as you start the new year. How do I know this is important?

When I was in high school, I sold Avon. Yup, I sold makeup to my friends and face cream, body lotions and lipstick to the elderly in my neighborhood. Well, I sold more than just those, but they were the most popular items.

In high school I knew absolutely nothing about running a business or marketing. I just did what came naturally to me. I never made enough to live off of (After all, that’s what my parents were for ). I did always have plenty of spending money for clothes, movies, music, and my own makeup and lipsticks.

In looking back on those days, I realized that many of my customers were repeat customers. I had people who bought from me once or twice a month on a regular schedule. Amazingly, there were a few things that I did in that business that are considered great marketing strategies. I didn’t know at the time, that they were. I just knew that what I did gave me business, so I continued it.

Building relationships was the most important strategy I used then. I have used this strategy successfully in every business I have had since. My best customers were the ones that I would spend the most time with. I had several old ladies who would buy a bunch of Avon products everytime I was putting in an order. They couldn’t possibly have used up all the products they purchased. I didn’t really notice if they even used what I sold them at all.

The thing is they weren’t really paying for the products; they were paying for the company and companionship they received from me when I dropped off their orders. Sometimes I would sit for an hour or more with a customer just chatting about their week, or talking about my newest boyfriend or their grandchildren. During the process we became friends. They were paying for the customer service that they received for each order. It made them feel good, so they kept buying. Those were my elderly customers.

I also had several customers from school. They mostly bought lipstick and makeup. We would chat about which colors looked good and what the newest trend in makeup were. They always bought just a few things, but the whole group would all buy the same thing. Again this was about relationships. What products were going to make them feel and look cool? What was my opinion of certain products? My best customers at school were not even my close friends, but we built a relationship around Avon.

The next time you want to sell to someone, partner with them or even just suggest how you might be able to help them, build a relationship with them around their interests. Build the relationship first, and then continue with that relationship as long as possible. What are they most hoping to achieve from your service? It may not even be what you expect. Everyone has different needs.

I can guarantee that when you sell a service, you are selling your personality and your best qualities. They are paying for you, as much as they are paying for what you are offering. Otherwise, they may as well go to one of your competitors.

Have you ever seen a child on Christmas morning when they see all the presents under the tree? Can you picture that excitement? What do you think would happen to your business if your clients were that excited about what you have to give them? 

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This time of year, we all can get very busy. There’s so much to do with preparing for the holidays, attending holiday parties, attending activities with the kids. Sometimes it feels like we will never get it all done.

A few years ago, I went through a period of major burnout. I was at my wits end. I felt like it was more than I could handle just to get through my day. I rarely ever had time to think more than 2 days in advance. I was so behind with everything I had to do. Christmas shopping was done 2 days before Christmas. Christmas eve was always spent wrapping. I ignored old friends because "just calling to chat" didn’t fit into my days.

Everyone kept telling me to just take some time for myself. JUST take some time. I mean, who were they kidding! If I took even just one hour for myself, I didn’t get everything done that day to just be able to stay afloat. My business model and my personal lifestyle at the time, didn’t allow for ANY time off. I built a life for myself that I just couldn’t keep up with. Something had to change.

This period of time affected me in many ways. I was miserable, physically, mentally and physchologically. I was a mess. I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come back out. Of course, I didn’t do this because so many people were dependent on me, especially my 3 children.

The biggest thing I learned from that period of my life was that I MUST always take time for myself. It is essential that I give my mind and my body what it needs. This is so important, I can’t stress it enough. I just wish I wasn’t so deep into my problems at the time to see a way out.

So how did I get out of my mess? I decided that something needed to go. Actually many things needed to go. Some of my priorities I dropped to a lower level, despite the fact that those things were important.  I had to make a decision about what was the absolute most important things to me and what were things that I was giving a high priority that didn’t need to be. I let go of everything that didn’t have to come first. I let go of some of my beliefs about raising my children, as well. There were some beliefs that were important, but other beliefs just weren’t serving us the way that I wanted them to. I let those go. I let many things go.

This letting go was extremely hard for me to do. I had the mindset that I could do it all. I also had the mindset that I had to do everything perfectly.

On the other hand, this letting go was also the most important decision I have ever made. I realized that I was doing things that were much less important than MY HEALTH. I always told myself that my heatlh was a high priority, yet the choices I was making contradicted that everyday!

I am in a much better place with my renewed lifestyle now.  I take time for myself everyday. I realize that it’s important to listen to my body and to do what is required to stay healthy and happy. I encourage and challenge you to decide what is most important to you, and to rearrange your lifestyle to match those priorities. Don’t learn things the hard way like I did. Build your business model and your life around what works for you. Not the other way around.

If you are struggling to build a business model that will match your priorities, then you may be interested in my complimentary Discover Your Marketing Barriers Breakthrough Session.

Here are some of the benefits you will receive from this session:

• Create a sense of clarity about the business of your dreams
• Find out the essential building blocks for having the business of your dreams
• Discover the #1 thing stopping you from having the business you want
• Identify the most powerful actions that will move you towards the business you desire
• Leave the consultation with the excitement of knowing EXACTLY what to do next to create the business you truly desire.

Some of my clients have a common fear of success. This fear can stop you from growing your business because you may be afraid that you will become overwhelmed or too busy to handle all the work and the clients. Another reason for this fear is that you may be trading dollars for hours. Once you reach the limit of the amount of hours you are putting in, there are just not any more hours to work. Your income becomes maxed out. Watch this video to learn how can you setup your business to avoid these situations.

After you watch the video, please post your experiences here. The more we share with each other, the more we can learn from each other.   

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Please post how are you managing to make more money without investing too many hours? Or if you feel you aren’t managing this well, post your questions and challenges, I will personally answer them.

You spent weeks or months putting together a new package or product. Maybe it is an ebook, workshop, audio program, training module, or something similar. You spent hours putting together the sales page and other marketing materials. You are even getting the traffic to come to your new sales page, but…

NO ONE IS BUYING.

The first thing to realize is that you are not alone. This problem happens to everyone, including the professional internet marketers. So what do you do about it?

1. Take a look at your product. Are you sure it is something people are willing to actually pay for? Is it unique? Is it packaged in a way that your target market is hoping it will be packaged? Take a good look at what you are selling and make sure that it is in alignment with the needs and desires of your target market.
    
2. How well do you know your target audience? You MUST get into the minds of your target audience. What makes them tick? What attracts their attention? What gets them to read farther down the page? What makes them buy? The words on your sales page really need to speak directly to your audience. Each and every phrase on your sales page is important and should move the reader down to the next phrase.
    
3. Your most important points that you want to get across should be a headline. Some people only read the headlines, so take advantage of the larger font. You don’t want to use large font throughout the whole page, so really think about the headlines. What is it your prospect really needs to hear?
    
4. Emotion is what sells. The more emotion you can add to your sales page, the better it will sell. Does your current page contain any emotion? How can you incorporate even more? There are two sides to every emotion. There is the frustration, struggle or pain that your prospect is experiencing. Then there is the relief or release that your prospect would experience after using your new product or package. Your sales page needs to paint the before and after picture of what they are experiencing. Start your sales page off with the pain, and end with the feeling of relief.

If your current sales page isn’t brining in the sales that you really want, then take a better look at your sales page. Sometimes just minor tweaks to your headlines can change your conversion rate. Other times, rearranging the flow of your page can make a difference. Test out different changes to see what works better.