By Karen Post, on February 3, 2011

The TV broadcast industry does it with news scoop.

Tabloid papers do it with rumors of dirt.

Email marketers do it with headlines.

Flirty people do it with compliments.

Online marketers do it with time sensitive offers.

And dancers do it with a boa.

They all give you just enough to peek your interest, get your attention and then hook you in for more.

Now bloggers like me are doing it.

The next 5 days are going to be really big.
Some of the best blogging I’ve ever done. Check back and you’ll get some never before shared secrets, the skinny on this years Super Bowl commercials, full details on my next book with a major publisher and why I’m going to the Middle East.

Stay tuned. I won’t disappoint you.

For more on conquering customers, view: 3 free ways to help connect buyers to your business.

By Karen Post, on September 23, 2010

There should be a new song, “Who let the moochers out” because they are everywhere. They are friends which are the worst kind, because they manipulate you, because they are your friend. And then there are  strangers you meet networking and they are super, friendly, nice folks too.  I ran into three this week. They want your time and expertise, but don’t want to pay for it. And HELLO!!!, this is what you do for a living.

They are no different than another crook you learn about in the media, except they are stealing from you.

Many service providers face this ugly group often. Some of us fold, because we feel guilty about sticking to “we are in business to make a fair profit in exchange for value we deliver”,  or sometimes we feel sympathetic, because these moochers cry “I’m poor (that’s not your fault) and others convince themselves that this giving of time and talent will translate into new business (sometimes it does, 80% of the time it doesn’t), and others like me, will just say NO! and stop the time sucking, energy and value wasting drill and get back to business.

Here are the clues friends and other nice people don’t value your stuff enough to pay
They want to meet for lunch. In the invitation chat or call they don’t offer giving you anything back like: leads for your business or even indicate they may buy your services in the near future. But they do stay focused on what they hope to get from the lunch, your expertise at no cost to them.

You tell them you are happy to meet for a small consulting fee and they back off, even when your fee is less than a round of golf or a few bottles of wine. If a company or professional can’t shell out a couple hundred bucks, this is big red flag.

You tell them about a low cost investment, an ebook or service that you offer that is in line with their goals and they don’t buy one. If a company or professional can’t shell out 10 or 20 bucks, this is big red flag.

Please don’t get me wrong, giving is good, generosity is golden, but not knowing the difference between a moocher/time and talent crook and a flat out homeless business person, is a crime.

If you truly believe a friend or contact is interested in buying from you (they have the money, they are a decision maker and they value you) then it may be worth giving a bit, before you ink the deal, but when you put out some fairly low cost investments and they don’t move on it, it usually means they don’t value you.

It’s also important to note that there is a big difference in someone who has no money and someone who does not want to part with their money. After nearly 28 years in business, I learned to spot the tire kickers from the buyers.

If you do a great job in communicating your expertise and knowledge and they don’t buy in to a small fee or product, you are asking for trouble.

You and I both know expertise and experience are not free to acquire.

Here’s a great clinching question.
When a friend or stranger wants a couple hours of your time, before your shell it out and do the pre research on their issue and tap into your brain which you invested thousands to be so smart. . .

Ask the moocher if they’d give you $500 of their product before you begin your free session or maybe ask them to contribute 2% of their weekly pay to this project or your favorite charity.

If that does not  help you say NO!  Just think about the five other things you could be working on that will earn you revenues while that time/talent crook steals from you.

Thinking about starting a consulting practice so you can earn what you are worth?

Tired of giving free speeches? Get paid to speak.

By Karen Post, on September 8, 2010

Seemingly in every business category today, more businesses are being commoditized by the sheer abundance of choices customers have. It’s customers who decide who leads and who fails. How competition-proof is your business right now?

When customers have abundant choice, competition is always fierce. How do you differentiate your business in ways that matter to your customers? How do you command premium prices and greater profit margins when everyone else is discounting prices fighting to break even? More importantly, how do you, a creative entrepreneur, gain radical advantage over your would-be competitors in an ultra-competitive marketplace? I’m absolutely sure these questions swirl around in your head on a daily basis.

Here are six strategies that are fundamental to creating a competition-proof business– one that’s aligned to your greatest passions, talents, vision and life goals. For many entrepreneurs, (myself included) creating more value for people through creativity and innovation is a burning passion, and a fabulously cool way to travel through life’s journey.

Strategy One- As you think, so it becomes!
The seed of all great innovation is thought. If you fear your competitors, and believe their presence controls your success, they will. On the other hand, if you believe there is always an abundance of opportunity available for all, and your thinking is always in that inspired direction, opportunity will always be present for you.

Strategy Two- Do what matters to you and serves others!
What do you love? You must engage yourself in what you love–in what brings meaning and joy to your life. More importantly, what brings meaning and joy to you must serve the good of others as well. When you do this, you begin to realize there are no limits to your growth and success. You delight in asking yourself ” how far can I go?” Your business is the creative venue for this expression!

Strategy Three- Be different, and make a difference!
What do you stand for? To be competitive-proof, your business must be good–and different. Radically different! To radically differentiate your business from the slush pile of good, you must position your value proposition (what value and benefit you provide to people in need) within a deep and narrow focus. Your product/service must be highly specialized, and solve specific problems with better outcomes than people are currently experiencing.

Strategy Four -Provide more use value than you receive in cash value!
Here’s the source code for zero competition: whatever the amount of cash your customer pays you is always reciprocated with an experience of greater use value. Whenever customers perceive greater value in the (experience) use of a product or service than they paid in cash for it, they become raving, loyal customers, if not outright non-paid advocates of your business.

Strategy Five- Focus on your genius, delegate everything else!
The force multiplier in value creation and business growth begins when you elevate yourself to a place where all you focus on is opportunity to create value. Everything else is delegated (outsourced). Give yourself permission to allow the unique genius in you to run the show. Haven’t tapped into your genius yet? Here’s a clue: It feels so natural to you, you hardly give it any attention at all. You are so amazing at it, you don’t even sense it’s power to transform your current circumstances– and you have never been without it!

Strategy Six- Turn customers into your non-paid sales force!
To attract opportunity, create value for others first. The marketplace rewards those who earn and deserve, never because they desire or need business. It can’t be said enough–always make the customer successful first! When you do, your customer’s will be life-long ambassadors of your success.

When you develop the disciplined thinking and action required to implement these important strategies as a daily practice, you’ll be astonished at how fast your breakthroughs in growth will occur. It will be in quantum leaps rather than incremental spikes.

The reason is simple. When you free yourself to focus only on your most important activities, relationships and opportunities–increased revenue and profits are the natural result.

Thomson Dawson helps creative entrepreneurs and solo professionals gain more clarity and confidence to pursue their best opportunities for a bigger, better future. Get your FREE Guide to Building a Competition Proof Business: www.whitehotcenter.com

By Karen Post, on September 5, 2010

Jump in your customer’s shoes today, and you can.

If you have a marketing role as an entrepreneur or a professional, you’d better be able to get in those customer shoes or you are in big trouble.

Today’s marketers of the most successful companies have a special skill.  Call it enterprising empathy—an astute ability to walk in the shoes of customers, see the world like they do, own their values and feel their most important needs, desires and pain.

This week, I’m in Aspen CO, a very elite mountain town and resort community. I’m staying at a several million dollar condo, surrounded by wealthy guests who sport everything from designer Prada garb, to Rolex bling, to Gap brand distressed jeans and no name flip flops. Nothing is inexpensive. There are masses of fit and attractive people every where and you experience an extreme attitude of quality and thoughtful service.

Businesses that do well here, even in the recent tough economic times understand the values of their market and know what makes them tick. They put on the Cole Haan and Jimmy Choo shoes, no matter how they personally see the world.

Is marketing to the affluent about entitlement, status, design, attention to detail? Or maybe a mix of all? Likely it depends on what they are selling to what affluent segment.

As a marketer or entrepreneur, especially if you are a successful one, it can be easy to put on the shoes that best represent and fit you. You are successful and affluent, you live a lux life, it’s a natural way to serve your customers the way you want to be treated.

But here’s the challenge, your customer or clients may be very different than you. They might be unemployed, have less disposable income, wouldn’t know great design, if it bit them in the butt or even be flat broke. They can also be older and have a very different set of values.

Yet many marketers and entrepreneurs try to push their values and preferences on their customers and wonder why sales are weak. DAAH!

Empathy is truly essential in effective marketing. Doing things just the way you like them can be the kiss of death, unless you are a mirror image of your customers, which often we are not.

On your next marketing challenge, try these strategies.

1) Loose all your beliefs
What matters is what your customer believes.

2) Don’t fall in love with your first idea.
First ideas often come from values you embrace.

3) Have an open mind to things that seem weird, stupid and crazy.
A Gen Yer views the planet, technology and TV advertising completely different than a 75-year old grandmother.

4) Shut up. Watch and listen to the target market.
Marketers tend to talk too much, often filling the heads of their research pools with their beliefs and then the market pool or research subjects will just agree with what you’ve thrown at them.  This will not produce gems of relevant marketing brilliance, but more of what you like.

When creating marketing plans for clients or your own business, think about what the buyer really wants and will respond to.  A Walmart fan may not even know who Frette is and most senior citizens are not digitally dominated. And don’t forget the importance of gender wiring. There is a huge gap in how women want their info and what men think and don’t think about.

For the most effective marketing ideas, jump into the buyers’ shoes. Leave your boots, heals and running shoes at home for your personal journey.

By Karen Post, on August 30, 2010

I have worked on both large and small marketing and branding strategy projects. As one would expect, the larger ones, by nature of their size, require lots of time and energy. Not always. Here’s some lessons I’ve learned about managing projects, clients and expectations.

I am not sure if this is an anomaly, or something that others have experienced, but on more than one occasion, I’ve had small clients who were paying smaller fees but who were more demanding than the larger clients. I found that if I broke down my fee for the project by the hours spent on the assignment, I was making much less hourly than on the larger project. I also felt beaten up, overworked and under appreciated by some of my smaller clients. They were getting a lot more out of me than they paid for.

So, how do you manage your time and your clients’ expectations? I always aim to provide outstanding service, but on a few occasions, I’ve felt like I’ve given my services away. Has this ever happened to you?

Here’s the scenario that caused me to develop some guidelines for future clients. I should have seen it coming. The beginning of the relationship started with me crossing the 50 yard line. The client balked at the price of the project. I said I couldn’t do it for less and they said, “well, if you find that you can, give us a call.” It had been a slow month and the project pipeline was less than full, so I reapproached the potential client and discounted my price. But, I offered the same services. I felt like I was on call 24/7 and each communication from the client included phrases such as, “can we also do X,Y and Z.” Email by email the project scope was becoming gargantuan. I was harboring resentment against said client and wanted to, on several occasions, let them know that they were getting high quality work at a bargain basement price. Thankfully, I was able to contain my composure and project a cheerful attitude toward the client through the duration of the assignment. My trusted canine office companion dutifully listened to my colorful venting.

The client was delighted, but I decided that I did not want to experience that again.  So, I sat down and put pen to paper to create some rules.

Have an initial meeting to discuss their needs to that you can create a document that will outline the scope of the project. Have your client be candid about their budget so that you can work with them to best allocate their funds. Perhaps you can do things in phases to work with the timing of their cash flow. This is a wonderful way to provide value and to become a trusted partner. You are working in their best interest and not ripping them off.

Allow the client to review the document and make any changes before you start so that you can price the project properly. Make sure everyone is on the same page before said document is signed, even if you have to discuss it five times. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

As part of the planning, establish who will be responsible for what and make sure that this is crystal clear.

Establish a routine for communication. Promise to return calls in a timely fashion, for example, within 24 hours. Also, establish the best way to contact you (phone, email, etc.). Do not disappear; radio silence will kill a relationship.

Have the client agree to send organized communication daily whether it is one voicemail with a list of questions or one email as opposed to a constant stream of one-off questions. Try to avoid having them track you down via every available communication portal (IM, text, facebook, linkedin, email, Skype, fax, carrier pigeon). Establish one main line of communication and one back up.

Unfortunately, extra items cannot just be “tacked on” to the original proposal. I have been on the other side of a signed agreement SOW and was annoyed by “change orders,” but I can see why they are necessary. This goes back to points 1 and 2, careful advanced planning will, hopefully, avoid this.

Create a timeline with reasonable, achievable deadlines and establish how you will review progress with your clients. In person meeting, conference call, Gotomeeting. Deliver everything on time and keep excellent records. Get good feedback at each checkpoint and make sure that expectations of each party are being met.  Organization is your friend. Create a separate inbox in your email for correspondence with the client, document phone calls, send follow up email with notes from phone calls to confirm what was discussed.

Hey, stuff happens. If you screw up, or there is a delay, inform the client IMMEDIATELY. Don’t cover it up. The truth will out. Hopefully, you will be able to find a solution and prevent it and your client will understand. Try to encourage your client to be upfront if they experience any delays or setbacks on their end, too. And, when stuff happens, don’t make it personal. Even if your client is being a bird brain and you are tempted to pull a Steven Slater, remember this “focus on the problem, not the person.” If you solve the problem, you will likely improve your client’s mood and be able to get back on track.

As the project is coming to a close, create a final checklist to make sure that all deliverables are on track. Try to find something to exceed the expectations: an earlier than promised completion date, a roadmap for phase II, an extra mock up in addition to what was promised, a winning lottery ticket.

Follow up after the project and make sure that the client was (at a minimum) satisfied. Dig for constructive criticism. If there is something you can fix that will leave the client happy and perhaps put you first in line for future projects, do it.

I learned that communicating expectations before any work got started and learning how to communicate the value I would be contributing, as opposed to what dollar amount the client would be handing over, vastly improved the experience for all parties involved in future assignments.

Other resources that can help
Creating your own consulting practice Ta-Do list