The Secret Behind Making a Sale
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

A few thoughts on the secret behind making a sale...

Making a sales pitch is like describing a secret recipe. You have entice people with the taste of what your offering without giving away the secret ingredients. 

It's important to listen to the interests and needs of your clients before you start to communicate what you do, and what you could offer them.

It's important to know the impact of your services i.e. ask your clients what they get from your product or service to find out your impact on their business or life? It is important to capture this in your sales pitch.

You should be able to describe your service/product and it's impact in less than three sentances...again just give them a taste and they should ask you for more if they are interested.  

You need to think about your different audiences, and come up with a sales pitch which meets their different needs.

Encourage your customers to talk about you, as their view and opinion is seen as independent and unbiaised. Your clients are your best sales tool.

A little food for thought...

Best Wishes

Heather

4:04 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

How to Succeed in a Competitive Market Place
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

Following our successful Striding Out Event in May, Harry Briggs of Firefly Tonics gives us his ten top tips.

Lesson 1. Choose a niche
Find a niche consumer, think about who are we for? Who are trying to serve? Find a new category for your product.

Lesson 2. Focus
Pick one category and stick to it, don't try to serve too many markets at the same time. Get yourself known for one thing and be very good at it. Strong brands stand for a single idea.

Lesson 3. Stand out from your competitors
Pick different colours, images, or any other cues that will make you look different to your competitors.

Lesson 4. Name short and unique
Pick a name that is recognizable and simple; don't use something too long or complicated. Choose something different that your consumers can remember.

Lesson 5. Be personal
In your literature, emails, etc. Think of real people when you write about the product, on your labelling, website and so on.

Lesson 6. Be authentic and candid
Big companies aren't trusted. Being honest is disarming and creates trust.

Lesson 7. Being first in a category gives you publicity
If your company is the first or the best at something in particular, shout about it. Magazines and papers like to hear from unique stories and being the "first at" or the "best, only at"

Lesson 8. You can be global easier than you think
Because of the modern world that we live in, it is easy to find a "global niche" that will be drawn to your product.

Lesson 9. Share your vision
Don't be scared about sharing your idea with other people. Having a good product or service will not guarantee you success, its also the way you go about building your company and your brand.

Lesson 10. Your product is the best Marketing Communication you have
If you have a product get it into people's hands, take it with you everywhere.

2:09 PM - 1 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

Pitching to Clients
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

During April, we held an insightful event on how to work with corporates, with a couple of excellent speakers - Nick Jankell Elliot from Being Elemental and Rob Geraghty from Languages at Lunch. Here are just a few tips they shared on the evening on how to pitch to clients:-
1. Don't let yourself fade into the hundreds of other small companies - Don't send a glossy pack, make yourself stand out by giving away something valuable for free (an idea or your service, not complimentary chocolates!)
2. Always look for ways to give added value to the company. - How can you directly and indirectly benefit the company as a whole, and the individuals you are dealing with?
3. Know about their future strategy and industry trends. - This will make your pitch relevant, and it shows you have taken an interest in them.
4. Don't hassle your contact - Remind them of your existence by sending through some relevant news that might interest them.
5. Remember who's just been in the room during the pitch. -You have to pitch and deliver above and beyond the best competition.
6. Don't give up - Some companies will be more receptive to ideas than others.
7. Save the best idea till last. - If you have a killer idea, give away the not so hot idea first, so all the negative resistance is executed already.
8. Listen to your client - Don't just reel off a pre-written pitch, but start out by finding out what they want or need to achieve, and then tailor the pitch to that.
9. Ask for referrals - People are usually happy to give them and it can give you a bit of weight with another pitch.

www.stridingout.co.uk

3:09 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Creating a Virtual Team
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

Running a business requires you to have a whole host of skills, whether it's administration, marketing, PR, logistics, finance, legal, HR, event management, IT etc. and it's impossible for you to do it all on your own. At this point you might say…'but I can't afford to employ someone'... but there is an alternative way of looking at it.

Instead of employing someone why don't you create a virtual team…

A virtual team consists of self-employed people who are skilled in the areas that you are not. They only have to work on your command so you can manage your financial outlay.

Investing in professionals with the right skills will be financially better in the long term as it will give it the lift to make it fly.

So what is the best way is to create a virtual team? Well it goes back to networks really…joining networks gives you easy access to the skills and services you require.

Striding Out members are connected to other members in the network who offer a range of complementary skills to enable them to create a virtual team to suit their needs.

For example…

If you need a PA, Stephanie Windsor runs www.chaos-to-calm.com offering Administration and Marketing support to small businesses. Alternatively you could use a virtual PA service such as www.needmoretime.co.uk.

If you need Branding and IT support, we have Nicola and James who run www.kinked.co.uk,  Zac who runs www.milkitdesign.co.uk and Sam who runs the www.tomatonetwork.co.uk

If you need PR support, we have Beth, who runs a PR agency www.hugepromotions.co.uk or Paula who provides advice on doing your own PR www.doyourownpr.com

If you need Event Management support, you call on Tim at www.innerplace.co.uk or Sarah of www.wonderland-media.com

If you need financial support, check in with Dean of www.mmi-online.co.uk  or legal advice, call David at www.dg-law.co.uk.

When exploring who to work with, check out their experience, values and knowledge of your industry. It's important that you get on with them socially as well as having the right business acumen.  

Best Wishes

Women who are Striding Out in Business
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

I have to say, I have been really impressed by the number of women i've met who are striding out on their own. It definately shows a sign of the times where women are more ambitious than ever before to start their own business and make it work. The talented women we have within the Striding Out network is fabulous, not only are they intelligent, smart, and quick witted, they are also really nice, genuine and willing to help others.  

Seeing the strides that some of the women have made in the network is really inspiring. To give you an insight...

Bethanie Lunn is the fashion PR guru behind www.hugepromotions.co.uk, Founded 3 years ago, she took her first big stride at the age of 23 to start up Huge, as a specialist PR agency working within the fashion and lifestyle industry and she is still as ambitious as ever. Since then it has grown from strength to strength and she is well respected within the industry, so make sure you get her in for any fashion related work.

Lucy Hutchings is the lady behind www.marmaladya.com and she is a champion for women friendly networks. Having set up an urban WI in Fulham in her 20's, she launched the concept of MarmaLadya, a glossy online magazine to inspire, entertain and nurture women across the UK in all areas of fashion, style, business, career and life at the age of 28. The magazine now reaches out to 1000's of women across London and the articles are fabulous.  

Nicole Bremner, is the retail diva behind www.brittique.com an online fashion boutique that strives to rival it's competitors by promoting the best in UK design. Nicole is a busy girl, running around exhibiting at retail parties across London or building her online empire through her affiliate scheme. She's moving quick so watch this space and definately check our her clothes, they are to die for.

This is just a snapshot of some of the women in our network, and you can find out more at www.stridingout.co.uk

As part of our role to inspire and nurture women into self-employment we are working with Enterprise Insight, on their Girls Make Your Mark Campaign. If you fancy getting involved or finding out more check out www.girlsmakeyourmark.org

Best Wishes

Heather x

12:19 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The Art of Conversation

Imagine you are at an event, someone approaches you and immediately launches into promoting their service or product. They then give you their card and waltz off to find someone else and you are left wondering who they are.

Exactly, it doesn't work does it, so you shouldn't do it either. Networking isn't purely about selling your business, it's about conversation.

If you can get your ahead around this, you will put yourself in a space where it feels more natural. In an art form…

It's about asking someone what they do and what brought them to the event, in return they should ask about you and your business (.. if they don't converse with you, then move on to the next!)….if the conversation flows you can exchange knowledge, ideas, contacts and explore ways to work together.

Networking is a valuable way to build relationships with people through conversation. It shouldn't be a purpose driven with specific objectives to hand out as many business cards as possible; in fact it's the opposite. Your purpose should be focussed on talking to a fewer number of people in more depth, establishing rapport and building good relationships; the outcomes will be much greater.

Of course, it is likely that you will go to events with an intention to meet individuals working in certain areas, e.g. you may need a book keeper, or you might want to partner with some on running events? To ensure you meet the right people make sure you approach the network leaders and tell them who you'd like to meet. This way they can introduce you to the right people, which will add significant value to your networking experience.

Through Striding Out we regularly connect and introduce people at networking events and we have seen business relationships and partnerships form as a result.

Best Wishes

Heather

Business Coach and Founder of www.stridingout.co.uk

1:06 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Reinforcing your Online Connections
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

When you say online connections, immediately you think of myspace, facebook, bebo etc, but this time I'm not talking about social media, I'm talking about websites….it's back to basics.

With every client you work with, partnership you create, stakeholders you engage with, you should look to create a relationship which can be turned into a future business opportunity.

All you need to do is ask if you can exchange links and a paragraph of text to represent your business on each others website. This exchange could be purely on a voluntary basis or if you want to take it a step further you could use an affiliate programme, where you give the referrer a % of income created.

The paragraph about your business needs to be short and sweet, capturing people's attention so they want to find out more. The paragraph could be in the form of a testimonial or a description of services, followed by your weblink.

This exchange will not only be a great promotional opportunity for both of you, but it also boost your reputation in terms of who you work with, and it will also boost your rankings on search engines such as google. Overall it will have a positive impact on your marketing and PR strategy.

Measuring the impact of your website referrals is easy; you just need to use online measuring tools such as Google analytics.

One great example of this relationship is where www.stridingout.co.uk has worked with www.beunpackaged.com. Unpackaged was one of Striding Out's participants on Big Leap Competition, and our recent promotion of the competition led to a press feature on the www.treehugger.com website. The feature directed people to Cath's website, which in turn referred people to our site from a weblink on the Be Unpackaged website.

So every month reflect on who you've worked with and see how you can reinforce your online connection with them. The positive impact will not only strengthen your existing business relationships but also your new ones, as referrals from trusted sources are always best.

Best Wishes

Heather

7:59 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Making Connections through Connections
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

How do you encourage people you know, to talk about you and your business?

One of the strongest marketing channels is word of mouth, because of the value of personal recommendations, so how do you stimulate it?

·         Is it about maintaining a presence in front of your contact i.e. through giving them a branded pen, business card holder or other business gimmick so they will always have it with them when talking to others and remember you?

·         Is it about creating an opportunity so they will be motivated to talk about you i.e. offering them a financial discount or gift on their next order if they recommend a friend?

·         Is it the use of a sticky catch phrase about your brand, that sticks in people's minds, and they use it in conversation with others, which in-turn brings about your name in conversation?

·         Is it through a great promotional event that pulls in a crowd, encouraging your contacts to bring colleagues and friends to get involved?

·         Is it about giving your contact list promotional discounted cards or flyers to hand out to their associates or friends?

Different approaches will work well for different type of businesses. If you have an experience or recommendation to share, please do comment!

Best Wishes

Heather

Business Coach and Founder of www.stridingout.co.uk

7:35 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Don't be afraid to ask - Approaches to finding a business partner
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

10:05 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Making Industry Connections
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

Connecting people working within the same industry is always an interesting one... I am currently working on a market sector initiative for the North West Development Agency, and also seeing market sector groups develop within Striding Out, so at the moment I am exploring approaches to mobilising these market connections in the most effective and productive way!

At first some entrepreneurs can be adverse to it, as they feel a threat of sharing knowledge and ideas with competitors, but at the same time it also opens a forum for sharing experience and collaboration, to help improve the quality of business performance. Networking with others within the marketplace can mobilise partnerships for bulk-buying or tendering for procurement contracts, it may stimulate mergers to generate new commercial strands or investment raising, and it also encourages innovation and raises benchmarks for the industry.

For example two entrepreneurs working in the same industry could share alot about their experience of marketing channels! It's one of the best routes for wasting money when you run a business so sharing knowledge of the most effective marketing routes is always a good idea....at the end of the day it's not going to be the marketing channel that win's you the business, it's going to be your brand and the quality of the business behind it.

I think it's important to remember that the sea is big enough for everyone and there are plenty of fish to catch, the emphasis has to be on creating your own individual brand and quality of service that makes your business appeal to the audience you want to attract. The best will come out on top....healthy competition can help to raise the quality of your service.

One of the other strands emerging from this work, is the importance of campaigning tools to raise a profile of a market sector with a focus on Strategic PR. This is particularly relevent to the social/ethical enterprise sector as they set out to make a positive difference. Campaigning is a tool that Anita Roddick used to launch the Body Shop from an high street cosmetics shop to an international cosmetics brand.

Within Striding Out I am really excited to see the emergence of one particular market sector focussed on Responsible Tourism. Within the community, we have entrepreneurs directly running or selling responsible travel holidays including Amy from www.bespokeexperience.com , Ben from www.tribewanted.com , and Tom from www.travelroots.com . We have campaign and awareness raising entrepreneurs including Helen from www.globalsense.org.uk and Stephen from www.maketravelfair.com and we also have entepreneurs who have previously worked for Tourism Concern and Responsible Travel. Together they are sharing experience, expertise and connections, which is very exciting.

Alongside this, we are seeing the development of other market sectors including Fashion, Online Retail, Natural Health, Online Business, Media etc. within which entrepreneurs are sharing knowledge and approaches.
Through the work I am undertaking I will create the key essential strands to creating a prosperous market sector learning group, so watch this space.

Best Wishes

Heather

3:31 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment