I came out with this phrase during a client session last week.  Not sure why I was thinking about food (!) but I was on a rant about about creating value and stuff that stood out.

The problem with buffets, where you offer everything all at once, is that they can be over whelming.

I am sure you all love a good all-you-can-eat buffet at certain times.  It feels good to go up and cram as much as you can on to one plate.  But the problem is that you probably don’t want to go do it again very soon.

Buffets can look sad and tired very quickly.  Especially after several people have been up to pick before you!  They are often the cheap option when catering for large numbers of people.

It’s easy for buffets not to be very special 

We went to Antigua last Easter and stayed in a wonderful all inclusive beach resort.  The buffets were lovely.  But after a few nights, well … we ended up going to the a la carte restaurants.  Even though we had to pay an extra surplus for our meals, the buffet concept wore thin very quickly.

So why was I talking buffets with my client?  My client was launching a new programme and was offering a free webinar to promote it.  We got on to the topic of content for the free promotional webinar and she explained she was planning on offering a taster of the 3 modules of the programme.

No!  (I started my rant!!)  Don’t offer a bit of everything.

Where’s the value of that?

Far better to focus the time you have (in a promotional webinar you’ve only got 20 to 40 minutes) to make a real difference to your potential clients’ lives.  Cover one topic in detail.  Give them something useful.  Something practical. Something that they go away and do right there and then.

Because if you can give them something that works for them, they will want more.  And more is what you can give them with what ever programme you are offering.

If they don’t want more, that’s perfectly OK.  Not everyone will buy, of course not.  But these people will more likely go away and rave about what it is you offer to others.

Be laser focused with your promotional offer.  Cover one topic in detail and you will see better results than trying to lay out the whole programme as a buffet before them.

Doreen knew it was time to get someone in to do her recycling!

How to hire a VA

I was interviewed earlier this week by Carmen MacDougall, one of the leaders in the UK Virtual Assistant industry.  She was putting together a book for VAs looking to build up their client list and wanted to find out how I went about hiring my first VA.

It was more than 4 years ago that I took on my first VA – someone who helped me with my business remotely, without the need of coming to my office or offering an employment contract. (And no – a virtual assistant is not one of those virtual animated people who pop up on websites to offer assistance as one person admitted to thinking!)

The interview reminded me of the struggle and confusion I felt when I first decided to take the plunge.

You see, I bet we are alike.

You run your own business.  And you probably are, like all good entrepreneurs and business owners, a bit of a control freak!

When it’s your business … your clients, your blood, sweat and tears … it’s really hard to start handing over some of that responsibility to someone else.  Someone who – let’s be frank here – you are not sure you can really trust.

What happens if they send out the wrong email to the wrong person?   What happens if they end up offending a new client which results in them cancelling the contract you’ve just agreed?

What happens if they lose all your files and mess up your accounts system?

All over-the-top, drama-queen emotions – yet perfectly reasonable thoughts from a business owner like me and you.

But if you carry on running the business in the same way you are at the moment, you probably know that you are going to drop some balls yourself.  Trying to do it all by yourself is guaranteed to result in you being the person who sends out the wrong email and messing up your invoices.

So when is the right time to take on some extra help and hire a VA?

Here are some of the danger signs:

• You have become a slave to your inbox.  Every time you respond to an email another 5 magically appear, which means you never have a chance to get on with business development.  Or writing that book you’ve promised yourself you are going to write!
• You are missing messages on your phone.  You are out with clients and it takes you at least 3 days before you manage to phone someone back … and you are losing potential new projects on the way.
• You are spending hours sending out information to clients such as training packs, terms of engagement letters, quotes and proposals.  You sit by the printer waiting patiently for everything to come off before you dash to the post office to get it in the last post of the day.
• You have projects such as “set up email newsletter” or “get Facebook Page sorted” on your to-do-list for week after week.
• You find yourself sat at your desk on a Saturday morning working out the last 6 months of business receipts whilst your family go out for a day trip to a local park
• You are missing out on having that “every other Friday” that you promised yourself to spend with friends – working for yourself meant that you were you own boss … but it feels like you are chained to your laptop and can’t get away.
• You forget to send out this month’s invoices … because you are too busy!  Cashflow starts to look a little tight.
• You are frustrated by your website as several of the pages are so out of date that you have stopped sending potential clients there to look at it.
• You struggle to find the time to book plane and train tickets and often find yourself missing out cheaper seats because you’ve left it too late to organise.

And the reason why I know these danger signs is because I have had them all at some point in my own business.  Got all of those T-shirts!

This was one of the big things that I shared during the interview with Carmen earlier this week.  By the time I came round to getting someone in to help with my business, I was in such a whirlwind of thoughts and big ideas that trying to explain what I needed help with was tough.

When it’s all in your head and you’ve trained yourself to thinking “it’s quicker if I just get on and do it” – you know you’ve got to slam on the breaks and take the time out to get some help.

Because if you don’t you will only end up suffocating your own success.

So when is it the right time to get a VA?

Before you begin that new project.  Before you decide to launch that 6 month VIP programme.  Before you launch yourself in to a frenzy of project juggling.

Break off one small part of your business – such as your live events, book project or new product you’re planning to launch – and focus on getting help on this.

If you do, you will find it far easier than trying to get help with that whole mountainous business of yours.  And you will have stronger foundations to take on more clients and projects without taking more of your precious time to do it.

It can take 3 or 4 months to establish a good working relationship with a VA but once it’s there, the sense of freedom is wonderful.  Knowing that there is someone else to do the things you hate to do and not able to do so you can concentrate on what really matters.

And you never know – you could find yourself working that 3 day week after all

If you are thinking about hiring your first VA or you’ve already had your confidence knocked when someone you’ve hired just hasn’t worked out – then check out my quick and easy course “How to Hire a VA“.  Follow the steps and you will find the right person for you in a matter of weeks!

Whether you are in the business of selling services or products, nothing quite beats having live events integrated in to your business model.

Live events can be one the most challenging parts of a business model to get right – after all, I’m sure you’ve grimaced at the thought of standing at the front of a room full of empty chairs, wondering why no one turned up.

The mere thought turns my stomach to knots, too!

But live events can be one of the most energising and proactive marketing activities a small business can make.

It’s hard to make a business successfull without taking some calculated risks.  And live events are one of those calculated risks that, if you have got the guts and energy to take them on, can push a business forward and make a real difference to your revenue potentials.

Here are the reasons why I love live events and recommend that they added to the business models of many of my clients.

1. It gets you right in front of your potential clients: Whether you go for the free or paid-for event option, getting in front of your clients works.  They see the whites of your eyes.  They see how passionate you are about what is you do.  And it’s a lot easier to build that rapport and trust when your clients can “experience” you.
2. You get to experience your potential clients: Getting instant feedback from what you are saying and demonstrating, can speed up your product development and help you create something that people love.  If your attendees are sitting back in the chairs and stiffling yawns, you know you’ve got it wrong.  But seeing them scribbling notes, asking detailed questions and leaning forward with interest, means you are getting those all important buying signals.
3. They create a sense of urgency in your own marketing: Putting a date in the diary, sharpens your mind and clears all clutter because you know you have to get on with the marketing plan.  You have to get things done – you can’t afford to faff!
4. They create a sense of urgency with your potential clients: Your clients have to make a decision in order to make the time to attend your event.  They can’t put in to next month’s plan or review because the event will have been and gone. Offering a live event can help swing certain people to commit to what you are offering.
5. They don’t have to cost you much to run: Hiring a room at the nearest Holiday Inn and forking out £5 a head for coffee can make some events impractical to run.  But using one of the many web based conferencing tools makes running virtual events simple and easy.  I’ve run both physcial and virtual events over the years, and there’s something very lovely about being able to communicate live with potential clients (and paying clients) wearing my PJs and not bothering with my hair : )
6. They test your commitment to your business: Running live events is not right for everyone, but if you want to “put yourself out there” and take charge of your future success, the risk of running live events can pay off massively.  For every “failed” event I have run, there have been 15 or 20 successful events.  And each one has taught me something new about what I should do differently and how to improve my offerings to my clients.

Running live events or workshops can be a risk – but have the right plan and processes in place, they can sky rocket your business!

One of those processes to have in place is ensuring you can take payments online.  Confirming workshop places upon receipt of a cheque or promise of cash on the day is not only hard work for you, but makes it hard work for your clients.

Check out this month’s Web Tech Training Session and all will be revealed on how to be able to take credit card payments from your website.  Click here for more info.

I am sure you all know that testimonials are a great addition to your website, leaflets and brochures.  Rather than bleating on about how good you are, let your clients tell it in their own words.

They work because its “social proof”.  The same way that 8 out 10 cats prefer Whiskers, your potential clients want evidence on why they should spend money with you.

But instead of getting evidence, most small business owners end up with pretty poor excuses for a testimonial.

“Steve was a really wonderful trainer.”

“We had such fun working together.”

“The widget is lovely to use and I wholeheartedly recommend it.”

Lovely words, but as testimonials they absolutely stink!

The demand for personal recommendations is getting higher and higher every year.  And with wishy-washy testimonials like these are, quite frankly, a waste of space.

A wasted opportunity!

For a testimonial to work effectively for you, it has to explain the benefits of what you deliver.  Here’s an example of one my testimonials that I have displayed on my business coaching page, kindly given by Lisa Turner from Pyscademy last year.

“I started working with Karen because although all the bits of my business were working they weren’t really integrated with each other. Karen helped me get some real clarity about the processes and steps I needed to make to achieve my goals.

After only a single session I achieved my first two goals – to start running teleseminars and to get bookings for an upcoming course. With Karen’s support and advice, I set up and ran my first ever teleseminar and as a direct result got bookings on an upcoming course. I am absolutely delighted with the result and how easy it was with Karen’s help.”

Why does this testimonial work harder?  Let’s break down the 3 key questions that were answered:

What was life like before working with me? Bits of Lisa’s business were working, but they weren’t integrated.  If I really wanted to push this testimonial further, I would have probably asked Lisa how that felt and added that, too.  Would it have been frustrating?  How much time did Lisa waste?  This helps a potential client to relate to the story being told.  “That’s just like me” you want them to say.

What process did we follow? I helped Lisa get clarity and we figured out some steps to take.

What were the results? Lisa got her teleseminars up and running, plus got clients booking on her course as a direct result of running her teleseminar.  And the whole process was “easy”.  Most of my clients come to me because they struggle to attract the right clients so this testimonial highlights that I can solve this problem, as well as make everything easy at the same time.

Make sure your testimonials provide the answers to these 3 key questions and your testimonial will speak volumes when it comes to evidence.

One final tip – don’t expect your clients to know this.  Most clients find it very hard to know what to write when asked for a testimonial.  This is why most of you end up with one of the “really lovely person” quotes.

Ask them these questions on the phone or in person, write down the answers and ask them if you could use these words as a testimonial.  Present them with this pre-prepared testimonial based on the exact phrases they said to you, and you’ll get testimonials working harder for you.

Footnote: For businesses trading in the States, you may also be interested to read this blog post here from Joe Comm who commented on the new rules & regs brought in by the FTC last year.   Evidence is important, but do make sure you know the laws of the country you trade in.  Overcooking is not only poor practice – it can be illegal!

When you are marketing your business, you can’t help get passionate about what you do, do you?

It can be all too easy to tell all your potential clients about all your products and services, all of the time.  After all, you want to make sure they know everything about what you do, don’t you?

This is a common mistake that many small business owners make.  Just think about many of the high street shops are gearing up for christmas at the moment.  Promotional signs up everywhere – and yet which are the shops that you decide to go in to?

If a shop window is full of messages and big red signs shouting different messages, it is confusing and you will walk by.  A shop with a very clear message “50% on all stock” will attract a higher number of walk-in customers.

When marketing your own business, have the courage to promote one product and one service at a time. It may feel like you are missing out on opportunities to make a sale, but by giving your customers one message at a time, they will be clearer on what it is they need to do to “walk in to your shop”.

Got a question you want to ask about your current promotions? Submit your question in the comment box below.

One of the easiest ways of making your business more profitable is to stop offering lots of choice and put your prices up.

Offer “affordable” and “low-cost” solutions to your clients and it is easy to get caught in the trap of constant promotions.  You can see this happening on the High Street at the moment.  Big retailers are offering pre-christmas sales and slashing their prices.  But the low margins mean that they have to get large numbers of customers through their doors to hit their sales targets.

When you run your own business, this is a strategy that rarely works.  It’s hard to attract the high numbers of clients you need to make the profits you want.

Here is a simple example using workshops to show you what I mean.

Half-day workshop tickets sell at £45
Delegate rate & room hire cost you £10 per person
Gross Profit per person £35

To make a total gross profit (and remember you still need to take in to account all the cost of promoting the event, work book printing, admin support, etc) of £500, you need a minimum of 15 tickets sold. 

Full-day workshop tickets sell at £195
Delegate rate & room hire cost you £40 per person
Gross Profit per person £155

To make the same £500 gross profit, you only need to sell 4 tickets.  If you sold 15 tickets, you would make a gross profit of £2325.

You would have to run at least 4 half day workshops to make the same gross profit as running one full day workshop.

Which workshop programme do you think will take less of your time to make £2,000?

(Please note, these calculations are highly simplified.  Do make sure you work out your net profit carefully when running events and don’t get caught out by focusing on your gross profit per person!)