Professional Service Firm Marketing Tips & Strategies

Referral Marketing - Managing Your Activities

Fellow Duct Tape Marketing Coach Joe Dager recently had a nice post about using the marketing hourglass to determine your marketing constraint. In his post, Joe discusses the importance of knowing your conversion rates and what they tell you about the effectiveness of your marketing system.

As I was reading Joe's post, I was reminded of a lesson from my Sandler Sales Training course:

Never manage your numbers, manage your behavior.

Let's look at referrals as an example. When we look at it realistically, we don't have any control over when and where someone gives us a referral. There are lots of activities (behaviors) that we can do to encourage people to send us referrals, but we don't have any control.

What the Sandler rule above means (at least to me) is that rather than focusing on "getting" 5 referrals this week, I need to focus on activities that will improve my chances of receiving them. These activities may include:

• asking for referrals
• providing referrals to others
• working with customers to send out endorsement letters
• requesting endorsements on LinkedIn

These are all things that I can control. If I have a system in place to track my behaviors and the results of those behaviors, I will understand the conversion rates that Joe posted about, and I can adjust my behaviors accordingly.

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Deciding not to do anything is a decision, and like all of our other decisions, comes with consequences.

Most of us have big dreams when we start our business. We want to solve a big problem. Have more free time. Live a certain lifestyle. After a while, it is easy to get sucked into the day to day activities of our business. As Michael Gerber says, we get stuck working IN our business rather than working ON our business.

Many business owners that I speak with are “doing ok” although they would like to be doing better. They are busy, working hard, but don’t feel they are ready to leave their comfort zone in the short term even though, intellectually, they know it will help them in the long term.

If your business is your vehicle for reaching your personal goals, then what are the consequences of accepting the status quo? Are you resigning to working harder than you wanted when you first started your business? Do you have the time you had hoped to spend with your family? Do you travel as much as you would like?

Whether considering a marketing system or hiring a new employee, the next time you are faced with an uncomfortable decision about your business, consider the consequences of doing nothing.

KC Area - Networking for Results

This Thursday, Aug 20th, the ACA Marketing & Sales Club workshop will be discussing the do's and don'ts of business networking.

You have a networking event coming up - don't know what to do, why you're there or how to get any value?  This is the place to learn.  Bring your best Networking Event Strategy, Technique or Tool and let's learn.
 
Here are the particulars

Facilitator / Subject Matter Expert: Bill Brelsford & Participants
Web-Site - www.rebarbusinessbuilders.com/ 
 
Thursday - 08-20-09, Bill faciliates this VALUABLE discussion.
 
Meeting format:
15-20 minute presentation
10 Q & A
45 Work period focusing on topic
15 Wrap-up
 
The meeting is from 11:30 AM to 1 PM at the Shawnee Library located on the southwest corner of Pflumm and Johnson Drive in Shawnee.

For mor info - http://www.acanetwork.org/clubportal/EventDetailPublic2.cfm?clubID=1259&EventID=100678

Inbound Marketing Cookbook

Inbound marketing activities are those activites that help you "get found" by people looking for your products or services. Like any marketing tactic, inbound marketing activities are most effective when they are done consistently and systematically. Using a marketing cookbook is a great way to help you stay on track (and avoid becoming overwhelmed) with your inbound marketing activities.

Your inbound marketing cookbook contains your "recipe for success". It is a list of your daily and\or weekly goals that help you achieve your longer term goal becoming known as the go to person in your field of expertise.

To get started on your cookbook, select marketing activities that, when done on a consistent basis, will help you get found. These activities may include (but are not limited to) things like:

• Optimizing pages on your website for certain keywords
• Creating posts on your blog
• Leaving comments on other blogs
• Answering questions on LinkedIn
• Contribute to a conversation on Twitter
• Create whitepapers, e-books, and other great content to give away on your web site
• Record a podcast
• Update your Facebook fan page

Once you have selected your activities, set some goals related to how often you will do those activities. Which ones do you think you can commit to daily, weekly, or monthly?

Once you have set your goals write them down and track your progress. You don't need anything fancy for this. I use a weekly sheet that has my various marketing and sales activity goals on it. I use a simple hash mark to indicate when I have completed a task for that day.

Exit Planning for the Family Business

Allied Business Group, Vold & Morris, and Ryan Poage & Co. are sponsoring a half-day educational workshop for business owners, attorneys, accountants and financial advisors on creating an exit plan for your family owned business.

Attendees will learn about: determining a company’s value, transferring ownership to the next generation, finding an outside buyer and deferring taxes on a sale.

The workshop will be held on the following dates:

• September 24, 2009
• September 30, 2009
• October 9, 2009
• October 13, 2009

For more information and to register Call: 913-897-3599 or Email: info@AlliedBizGroup.com

Referral Partners - Do You Struggle to Reciprocate?

Creating alliances with strategic referral partners is a great tactic, particularly for professional service providers, to grow your business or practice.

Some professionals struggle with building referral partnerships because, for a variety of reasons, they are not able to give as many referrals as they receive.

For example, if my primary source of new customers is referral from bankers, insurance agents, and financial planners, it may be hard for me to reciprocate because my clients all ready have these relationships when they come to me. This can lead to the feeling that the relationship is one-sided - sometimes leading to the ending of the partnership.

If you find yourself in this position, here are a few suggestions that may help:

1. Explain the situation up front - I believe many people have the assumption that if I send you referrals, you will send so to me as well. If you know it will be difficult to provide referrals to your strategic partners, talk about it up front, before a misunderstanding develops.
2. Help your partners look good to their current customers - would your referral partner's customers benefit from your knowledge and expertise? Can you help your partner deliver extra value by sharing your expertise with her customers?
3. Help your partners acquire new customers - many professionals give talks or seminars as a way to develop leads. Conducting a joint seminar with your strategic referral partner can be a good way to draw a larger crowd, split the amount of work, and help both of you make contacts you may never have made working by yourself.
4. Don't limit yourself by thinking you can only refer other professional service providers. We all have busy lives and need help in our personal lives as well. Do you know a great plumber? Favorite dry cleaner who delivers? Do any of your clients have children who like to babysit? Once again, do you share these resources with your partners in a manner that will help them look good in the eyes of their customers?

What other ways do you help your strategic referral partners grow their business?

Twitter - Finding People To Follow Part 2

If you find "following" people on Twitter a little too stalkerish, think of it as finding people you would like to have a conversation with. In the offline world, we often seek ou people in our area that share one or more of our interests. This is also a good way to find people on Twitter to follow.

Start by clicking on the "Advanced Search" link on the Twitter search page (http://search.twitter.com)

This will take you to the Advanced Search form. You will notice that one of the search criteria you can specify is location and distance relative to this location. In this example, I am searching for anyone located within 15 miles of my zipcode who are discussing "marketing".

How can this lead to new business?

I recently heard a story about someone who felt they were being mistreated by their auto repair center. They tweeted about their issues while sitting in the waiting room. Another repair center owner down the street saw the tweets, and started a conversation with the car owner. The car owner ended up getting his keys back and driving down the road to the shop owner he had "met" on Twitter.

Your customers are having conversations on Twitter - are you part of the conversation?

SHBC 2009 Entrepreneurial Expo - Reminder

SHBC Entrepreneurial Expo - Let other businesses know about you! Have a booth!

Showcase your business, sell your services or products and let people know about what you have to offer. The Entrepreneurial Expo is the premier event for Kauffman Foundation's Global Entrepreneurship Week in KC!

When: Thursday, November 19, 2009 10am to 6pm

Where: Johnson County Administration building (Clock Tower building)111 S. Cherry StreetOlathe, KS.

Booth costs are:
Non-electrical: $75 for members, $125 for non-members
Electricity: $100 for members, $150 for non-members

Booths are going fast! For more information visit www.KCSHBCEXPO.org or contact Lou Ann Donovan, SHBC Expo Booth Rental Chair at ladonovan@comcast.net

Twitter - Finding People To Follow

So you've been hearing about Twitter everywhere you go and you decided to jump in and create an account. Now what? A common question I hear is "who should I follow?" or "how do I find people to follow?".

There are lots of ways to find people on Twitter. If you are new to Twitter, one service you will want to check out is Twellow.  "The Twitter Yellow Pages", Twellow organizes people into categories just like you would expect in the old fashioned Yellow Pages (remember those <g>).  So you can search under cateories like "Law" or "Business Services" or "Real Estate".

Once you find someone you want to follow, just click on the "follow" button underneath their photo..

While you are on their site, make sure you register and add yourself to the appropriate categories so people can find you.

Google Local Business Center - August Newsletter

The August newsletter is available on my website. This month's main article provides a quick review of the Google Local Business Center.