Everything needs a platform

A good study of marketing will bring about the use of "platforms" in your processes.

The best, the very best, platform is a blog. When people come into your internet world, it's your blog they eventually land on. When someone clicks on your profile in Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest or any other social media, they should land on your very purposeful thought-out platform - your BLOG.

I personally use Blogger because it is just so easy to get up and running, make changes on and "less" frustrating. But Wordpress is reported to be the biggest and baddest (bad in a good way) and no one explains the use of platforms and setting up a Wordpress blog better than Michael Hyatt. 

Read more about him and his writings at www.michaelhyatt.com

Jump, with Hope!

Those of you who've been through the classes this year have had a lot of stuff thrown at you. Some started in a 3 hour brain-dump and then a series of lunch & learns and workshops. 

Some have met with me one-to-ones, calls and webinars. 

This is a time of year that is good for reflection, it's good for planning....and it's good for purposing. It's a good time to think back over what you did, didn't do and wish you'd done. 

It's a good time to set goals and plan.

Make commitments right now , set dates, set appointments, pay for something you need to do next year...BUT!

Don't wait to "get everything ready."

Jump!

Start moving, reach, stretch. Yes, it might hurt. You will stumble. You will fail in some way, form or fashion...and when you do, get up and go at it again - QUICKLY!

And your lid will be lifted in the process.

Achieving the goal is great, but you won't really know all the details until you get started.

Ponder right now. Plan, set goals and dream, but put all that into action with a sense of HOPE and anticipation of victory.

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you LEARN to do it well.

Jump, with HOPE

Sharing on social media

Though a bit wordy, this is a good article on the impact of marketing/selling via social media vs sharing/building relationships with "like-minded" people. 

Thus, the process of Know, Like and Trust speeds up. 

I suggested read for the weekend - "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

Follow-through

Follow-through. The energy it takes to work your database can be exhausting for many of us. 

In a lunch and learn yesterday we were discussing the differences in being "victory vs defeated" focused/oriented (the overall subject was "hope").

This morning, thinking about my database, how I haven't been near as diligent in my practice to "never-waste-a-handshake," I realize that, in the context of the lesson I taught from Maxwell's book "Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn," that maybe I don't have enough HOPE.

Maxwell writes about being energized vs tired; Victory focused - you're energized, Defeat focused - you're tired.

So, by applying hope, will this change? Will I be more energized to do the follow-throughs, work my Contact-Circle Worksheets?

I recognize mining a database is heavily shaded in the admin area and outside my sweet-spot (I'm a high D/I, Choleric/Sanguine), but it's a period-the-end task to "never-waste-a-handshake."

Applying HOPE to the process. I'll let you know.

PS - I'm also pondering the stop vs never aspect of wasting handshakes. Which sends the better message?

Contact circle worksheet

"Never waste a handshake!"

Click image for download - 

Data mining to end the year well

A good marketing exercise is to casually look through the names of people you've met. These names are "ideally" in a database/CRM, but are likely in numerous places; business cards lying in/on your desk, contacts in phone, contacts in Outlook, emails, friends/connections on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Pinterest/etc.

Casually looking is a minor form of "Mining." Mining a database is a daily activity for Professional Marketers. You're likely a Business Owner or Sales Person that should practice Professional Marketer activities.

What is 'mining a database?' I'm going to give you a rambling approach to this, again, on the minor side.....

Data-mining, for many an entrepreneur, starts with thinking through the meetings, names, cards, emails you've had, collected, sent, received...reconnecting in your head and on paper with the people, who they are, what they need, what you can provide them, how you fit together, where's the win/win, is there a win/win. Data-mining is looking at the data you have and learning from it, extracting information and transforming it into understandable information...it's finding needles in haystacks.

Data-mining can be very sophisticated, but it doesn't have to be. A glance through my database this weekend showed me a list of people I could possibly add value to through an online tool.

Data-mining is a primary discipline Professional Marketers are constantly practicing. I'm using it in my Process as I finish-up 2013. I'm looking at "what" I could have done better, "where" I can improve and "how" it will need to come about.

I'm asking what, where and how questions about the past, not why and when.

I'm thinking about "if" I'd done some things differently, what that would "feel" like right now.

Once I have all that down, asked myself good questions, pondered and reflected....then I'll start working on 2014.

Friday Follow-Through Questions...

What have you done differently this week to make this week different?

Zig told me 25 years ago "I was going to be the same 5 years from then as I was then, except for the people I associated with, what I listen to and what I read."

Who are you associating with?
What are you listening to (watching)?
What are you reading?

If you're not where you want to be, do something different.

What are you doing "differently" to STOP WASTING HANDSHAKES?

Does marketing require you to ask for sale?

I was asked yesterday "does marketing require you to still ask for the sale?"

My answer was "yes."

I'd like to clarify -

Marketing well will make the "ask" easier and give you more people to ask.

"Should I take a leadership class to improve my marketing abilities?"

Leadership ability determines a person's level of effectiveness

- Law of the Lid, John C. Maxwell

Lids negatively impact all of us, everyday. Experts say the we typically go about our day working solely from our unconscious. In other words...on autopilot.

In a marketing class today I was asked "do you think we should take a leadership class to improve our marketing abilities?" My answer was "yes, nothing will help you more than to constantly improve your core leadership abilities. Improve your ability to lead and you improve your ability to trust yourself, others will trust you more, your spheres of influence will increase and your marketing impact will improve in direct proportion." 

Maybe not word-for-word, but something like that. read more

Questions to ponder, and then ACT!

1. What's your purpose today?

2. What's the benefit you bring to the table? What's your big so-what?

3. What target are you shooting at?

4. What 5 marketing weapons will you use to get your purpose done?

Choose. Choose to act. Choose to be proactive. Choose to CAUSE your results.

What do you honestly believe about your potential?

Think..."what do-I-honestly believe about-my-potential?"

One of my coaches, Christian Simpson, reminded me this morning that we can't manage and improve something "if we're not aware of it."

You have potential you're not using. We all do. Evaluating where you are now in life, your business, your leadership, your marketing....it seems trivial but it is THE important 1st step in your journey.

Again, "what do-I-honestly believe about-my-potential?"

I believe you have so much untapped potential it's mind-boggling!

How much abundance can I possibly stand today?

Coach @EdDeCosta asked this morning "How much abundance can I possibly stand today?"

I know Ed a bit. He's part of the JMT faculty and he's serious about that question.

How about this question, "How much abundance did I miss out of this week?"

That's a question I wonder about. Normally I'll look back over my shoulder, review my calendar, phone calls made and received (missed?!) and emails - on Saturday morning. Not Friday.

Today, I'm doing that so I can finish the week with a bit more abundance, a tad more purpose, and reach harder for my potential. And abundance.

Join me by looking back at your calendar, phone calls and emails. Let that exercise jog your thoughts, mess with what's "in-the-box" (your head and heart) and finish the week well.

Reach for abundance today.

CRMs and Processes; mining your database.

What CRM(s) do you use? Do you still use a paper version to supplement your software?

Are you on LinkedIn and not sure how to benefit?

A series of events

As we've covered here and in the classes, "marketing well is a series of events that lead towards a defined and intended result."

To reach these results, on a continuous basis, requires Change.

Habitually though, we over-estimate the power of the event and under-estimate the power of the process.

The power is in the process and the thinking you put into those results.

Any new process takes thinking new thoughts.

Your current results are a product of your thoughts driven by your current processes.

To change, develop new processes. To develop new processes, think differently.

Think into the results you want from your processes.

What is marketing?

Marketing is everything you do; how you show-up, showing-up (face-to-face and online), how you act, respond, look, etcetera, etcetera. 

Be purposeful and thoughtful about picking and using your weapons.

Marketing and The Law of Consistency

The 8 Essential Choices to Marketing Well

1. I choose to THINK INTO MY RESULTS

2. I choose to get ACCESS TO HIGHER EXPERTISE

3. I choose to get the RIGHT SUPPORT
4. I choose to get the FREQUENCY and REGULARITY
5. I choose to get the RIGHT ACCOUNTABILITY
6. I choose to get a CREATIVE INNER CIRCLE
7. I choose to get AWARENESS and KNOWLEDGE

8. I choose to get a WIDER AND DEEPER SOI (sphere of influence)

How's your marketing leadership?

Do you have a desk drawer full of business cards and you just keep adding more? Are you not sure what to really do with them?

What I mean is, how are you influencing people to know, like and trust you enough to buy your product or service?

You likely shook hands before taking that card. How often do you shake hands, take a card a wonder "now what?"

The "What", is to now follow-up with that person over the next few weeks in a natural and non-invasive process where he or she has the option to know, like and trust you enough.

Getting people to know, like and trust you is the essence of building relationships, the trigger that allows you to prove you can do the work, deliver the results, add benefit to lives.

We have regular, frequent and free events to help you learn and/or grow your Know - Like - Trust.

Let's have impact and start something today.


Stop wasting handshakes.