I had the opportunity to be a part of a direct marketing firm in the wellness industry a few short years ago. I started my own business , marketed their products and did very well. Like many direct sales or similar marketing companies, they had a prescribed set of activities that if you applied them would almost guarantee your success. When I look back at them, I realize that at the root of the activities are the principles that can be applied to most businesses to reap great results.
So for those of you who are consultants, service professionals, solopreneurs, coaches, freelancers, authors, sales-based businesses and more, this is for you.
Here is what I recommend as the 7 Critical Business-Building Principles:
1) Build your list
Real Estate, direct sales professionals are usually told to make a list of at least 100 friends, family members, co-workers (past and current), neighbors, etc. That’s definitely a start. However, you need to keep building your list in order to add more people to your funnel who will buy your products or use your service . This needs to be a DAILY activity. This is the lifeline of your business. No leads, no prospects, no business, no money.
If you are going to be marketing your business online, your list needs be an opt-in list that you got from an email capture form like the one on my website in the right sidebar. So even if you tell an initial contact of 100 people about your new business, you need to invite them to opt-in to your email list, in order to keep marketing to them via email. An email list ideally should ideally consist of people who have at least a passing interest in your product or service, but needs to get to know you better. Once they have opted in and you continue to build a genuine relationship with them through email newsletters, articles, videos, they will eventually buy your product or service. For more on this topic which can make up a whole new blog post (or series), I wrote an article with 14 ideas to build your email list. You can read it for some immediately actionable tips.
2) Create videos
Video marketing is a VERY effective medium because it puts a face on your business that people can watch, learn from, interact with and most importantly, get to KNOW, LIKE and TRUST. It is like you are doing a presentation every time you do a video. When you make videos that share your expertise, help your target audience and talk about your products or services, it helps your credibility. The more videos you make, the more your market gets to know you, the less ‘salesy’ you have to be in order to GET the sale.
3) Stay in touch
This is called ‘following-up’ in direct marketing or direct sales circles. Keep your audience plugged in. You can follow-up in many ways:
Follow-up with your list with regular newsletters
Follow-up with your target audience with regular blog posts
Follow-up with your target audience by staying active on social media
Staying in touch should be consistent AND genuine. So if you decide that you will send e-newsletters and post to your blog twice a week, stick to it. You can be a little less rigid in terms of a schedule on social media. However, staying active on social media means posting every day and several times a day at that. You can use tools like, Hootsuite, Postling and SocialOomph to schedule some posts and maximize your time spent live on social media.
4) Hold regular teleclasses, podcasts or webinars
Regular events like these helps to build your list, promote new products, services or specials and keep those already on your list engaged. Make one or more of these events a regularly scheduled feature, whether Weekly, Monthly or Quarterly. Teleclasses and webinars can be very interactive. Podcasts are not as interactive, but it connects you with your audience in a different way than articles, blog posts and even videos.
5) Celebrate your successes
Pat yourself on the back every now and then. Mark your goal milestones with something fun and rewarding. Whatever tickles your fancy. It could be a mani/pedi, spa day, weekend staycation, drinks with friends, a new outfit or electronic gadget. This is good for your psyche and gives you something to look forward to. Plus it’s a great motivator!
6) Get involved in a mastermind or get an accountability partner
Working for yourself has its ups and downs. Surely having a boss is what many detest about working for someone else. But not having a boss can be a double-edged sword. For some, it enables them to slack off a bit, miss deadlines and not hold themselves accountable. For others, it pushes them to work even harder, especially knowing that they are creating their own pay day. For many, it’s lonely, sometimes frustrating and confusing.
However, when you are involved with driven entrepreneurs through a mastermind group or through an accountability partner, it can truly take your business to the next level.
If you can afford it, there are many paid membership mastermind groups. But if you are just starting out, you can partner with someone in your industry or with similar business goals. You can find partners through your interactions on social media or if you know someone local that would be great too.
I once had an Action Day with someone I met via social media. Basically we chose the date, shared our planned activities for the day and checked in a couple of times during the day to see how the other was coming along and motivate each other to stay on task to completion. It was a fun and very productive day.
The sooner you can add this activity to the mix, the better.
7) Lead by example
Walk your talk. Nothing else is better for business than showing your audience that you practice what you preach. Stick to deadlines, keep your promises, be goal-oriented, hard-working and DELIVER!
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