For most business owners and independent professionals, the
key to success is attracting more customers willing to pay
higher prices.
It sounds simple but, if you run your own business, you
know it's easier said than done.
The problem is that there are only 24 hours in the day and
you have to spread yourself around a whole range of
different tasks - looking after your clients, finding new
ones, planning for the future and carrying out all the
day-to-day duties of running a business. Each of these is a
full-time job on its own.
Studying highly successful business owners and
entrepreneurs suggests that a combination of two factors is
needed:
Firstly, the right "success mindset" or way of thinking.
Secondly, effective marketing that easily attracts lots of
customers and lets you charge higher prices.
Maybe the first of those sounds like the usual 'positive
thinking' psychobabble. But the reality is it's what
successful entrepreneurs do every day with fantastic
results. And the rest fail because they don't have it.
So let's put it to the test. Grab a sheet of paper now and
answer a few quick questions.
I promise this will help grow your business.
Success mindset is based on two things - knowing what you
want and taking focused action to get it.
So, to start, consider these two questions.
1. What exactly do you want your business to have achieved
in 3 years time (e.g. in terms of sales, profits, size or
reputation)?
2. What proportion of your time each day is spent on
activities that are focused on these objectives?
If the answer to the second question is too low, maybe you
need to give something up.
When you have the right mindset, the next step is making
your marketing as effective as possible.
The trouble is that most business owners don't think of
themselves as being in marketing.
But, whatever business you're in, marketing is its
lifeblood.
It keeps your business growing, and can allow you to enjoy
your dream lifestyle.
Yet most business owners either don't pay enough attention
to marketing, or they spend so much time and energy on it
that they don't have time to make money.
Some gurus would like you to think that marketing is a
complicated process that requires lots of specialist advice.
Truth is it can be quite straightforward if you put in a
bit of thought and planning.
Being able to give powerful answers to these five questions
gives you the keys to increasing your profits.
1. What problems do your prospects and customers have that
you can solve or what do they want to achieve that you can
help them with?
2. Who are your ideal customers, taking into account how
you can reach them and how well you can give them what they
want?
3. Why should they do business with you rather than someone
else?
4. How can you get your message across to them using what
media?
5. When exactly will you communicate with them using each
of these tools?
These may seem quite simple but most business owners
struggle to give good answers to all of them.
If you spend a few minutes answering each of these
questions, you have the basis of a powerful and effective
marketing plan.
Then, as you act on it, you can keep reviewing it based on
the results and improve your answers.
Combining these good marketing answers with the right
mindset from the first two questions above, you are well on
your way to success.
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Robert Greenshields is a marketing success coach who helps
entrepreneurs and independent professionals to develop the
right mindset and marketing strategies for higher profits.
Sign up for his 7 free secrets of making your marketing
more effective at http://www.PersuasiveMarketingPower.com
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