February 14, 2020
Sometimes, as a sales person heads out to make cold calls, it feels like they are trying to storm a castle. They prepare to battle their way in the door. My sales coach, Matt Nettleton says it doesn't have to be that way.
Armed with a series of strategic questions, and a willingness to really listen to the answers, a sales person can actually encourage prospects to lower their defenses and actually invite the sales person in.
More than a Few Words is part of the Digital Toolbox from Roundpeg.
February 11, 2020
When you face a challenging situation, before you look outward, our guest Lauralee Hites suggestion you use the process of introspection, to look inward.
She defines introspection as the ability to examine your mental and emotional state. And the process is easy if you start with three questions.
1) What is the story I am telling myself?
2) What am I doing to contribute to this problem?
3) What tools(s) to I bring to this problem?
More than a Few Words is just one small business resource in the Digital Toolbox from Roundpeg,
February 7, 2020
You're familiar with Braille lettering on signs and blue rimmed parking spots which make it easier for people who are differently-abled to access traditional physical brick and mortars spaces. Now we're seeing this same idea of accessibility being addressed in the online world.
In this conversation we look at ways you can make your website more accessible to all people.
In a effort to make this episode more accessible, you can find a transcript on our website
February 4, 2020
Ready to leave your nine to five job behind? Before you do, our guest Anna Lundberg suggestions you think about the following five elements necessary to create a sustainable business.
1. Create a vision for you business. And this is unique to you. Re-imagine success not as defined by others, but what you want your business to look like.
2. Get your mindset right. This is about developing the confidence to face the ups and downs of your business
3. Create a business model. Define your services and target markets, and how you will generate revenue.
4. Define your brand. It is easy to get caught up in the day to day, focusing on the next sale, but some of your effort needs to be focused on building your brand platform. This platform will set up up for long term success.
5. Find work life integration. This doesn't mean balance and an even split between work and the rest of your life, but it is about defining how your business will fit into the rest of your life.
January 31, 2020
We talk, write and create messages all day long. But do our messages actually create the impact we're looking for?
That was the topic of the conversation with Patrick Donadio. We discussed a six step process for communicating with IMPACT! Patrick shared a simple acronym to make it easy to remember the six steps. .
I stands for intention. So why am I having this conversation? Or why am I creating this content?
M is the message and the methods you will use. What do you want to say and how will you deliver the information?
P is for the person the message is for. How do you personalize the message based on who the receiver is going to be?
The first half the process is all about planning the content. The second half is about how you plan the reception or delivery?
A is for activate, bringing the message to life. How do you engage people in this interaction or communication and how you keep them engaged?
C is for clarify. It is one thing to deliver the message and something entirely different to confirm the recipient understood.
T is for transfer and transition. How will the communication change or transform the person or the situation?
January 28, 2020
Before we get into the how, let’s talk about the why. Well, the easy answer is that employee profiles are great content! They are the perfect light-hearted, human-interest kind of piece that folks love to see on social media and in email newsletters and they are a great way to regularly inject content into your blog. They really don’t take that much effort, don’t have to be that long and can be finished (from interview to finished article) in an afternoon.
The bigger reason to write employee profiles? They are the perfect way to gain trust from your community. An employee profile portfolio is a valuable collection to have at your disposal particularly for businesses in the home service and any other service industry that entails a lot of 1-on-1 communication with customers.
By having an opportunity to meet and learn more about your staff through these blog posts, you help customers become more comfortable with scheduling an appointment, inviting them into their homes or putting their trust in you.
So how do you write a good employee profile?
A good way to start an employee profile is with a simple introduction. Your first round of questions should be some nice soft ball questions to help ease your subject into the interview. Get some baseline information. Start with their name, even if you already know it, making sure to get the correct spelling. This can help establish some rapport, not to mention avoiding a misspelled name right at the top of your bio.
Questions you can ask:
- What’s your name?
- What’s your title?
- How long have you worked at (insert company name here)?
January 24, 2020
As a business owner, every day you make choices about how to spend your time, dividing it between the mundane things that have to get done, and the interesting things that move your business forward.
If you find that you’re spending too much time on the mundane, then maybe it’s time for a virtual assistant.
In today’s conversation Jennifer Crawford, the founder of Sparent, shares some thoughts and how to decide if you are ready to hire a VA and how to prepare for a productive relationship.
KEY TAKEAWAY: If your growth is slowing down, because you are bogged down with mundane tasks, it may be time to look for a little help
About Jennifer
ennifer’s passion is helping people grow their businesses. In addition to business and conference consulting, she is also the co-founder of a recently launched company, Sparent–a virtual temp agency staffed by stay at home moms with skills to spare.
When she is not all up in your business, she performs with The Improv Imps, produces the Podcasting Smarter Podcast for Podbean, and listens to podcasts, of course!
She lives with her hunk of spunk husband, Thor and their 140 lb. drool beast, Meatball in Fairfax, VA.
January 21, 2020
Being a successful business owners depends on lots of things, but this week's guest Henriette Danel says it starts with just three things. Mindset, Strategy and Action.
In this episode, she explores how these elements build on each other as you develop a strategy to attract new customers and grow your business.
More than a Few Words is part of the Digital Toolbox from Roundpeg.
January 17, 2020
Great content does not happen by accident. The more planning you do up front, the better your results will be. In this episode, Lorraine sat down to chat with Sam Von Tobel for a timely conversation about content planning including creating your calendar, a new tool, Sharekit.io to improve the look of scheduled content, setting goals and measuring the results.
As you start your planning, think about the rhythm of the year. Do you have a seasonal business? If so you may want to plan content themes to match the seasons or the products that are more popular in those seasons. Maybe you are going to run an aniversary promotion a calendar will help you anticipate all the assets (images, social share graphics, custom blog posts) you will need to make a large impact.
This conversation was sponsored by Sharekit.io. More drink recipes can be found here. All reviews and opinions expressed in this episode are based on our assessment of the tool.
Key Takeaway - Make your calendar meaningful by outlining specific objectives for each of your actions. Then mid month and at the end of the month you can evaluate how effective your actions were and make changes rolling into the next month.
