September 2020 Issue
“New Normal” Back in the Office The Main Characters of Your Brand Story
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The Main Characters of Your Brand Story Have you ever wanted to create the characters of your own storybook? Well, this is your opportunity! If you don’t already have marketing personas in place (or don’t know what we’re talking about), stop everything else that you’re doing and keep reading. Personas are critical to ensure you’re effectively characterizing your target audience, determining how to sell to them, and making a note of some deterrents throughout the sales process. What is a Persona? It’s who you are marketing to! It’s the ideal client, the perfect lead. It’s everything about them that makes them the perfect purchaser of your product/service. Honestly, it’s the one you want to find every time because it’s an easy sale. Why Do I Need to Create Personas? I Know Who My Target Audience is. Having a target audience of “Middle-aged women in Chicago, Illinois” is a great start, but also encircles a large, diverse group of people. What age range is classified as middle-aged? Does your target audience have children? Are they stay-at-home moms, or do they work? Do they live in the city or the suburbs? What is their family’s annual income? Do you see how questions like that help you narrow down your target market into personas? This will help you save money when running ads because you can filter down your audience and put your ads directly in front of your ideal clients. Personas are also extremely helpful for your marketing strategy and content. Knowing exactly who you want to get in front of can make you or your marketing team’s life much easier – saving you thousands in time and money. How Do I Create My Personas? Ask yourself the following questions about your ideal client and answer in as much detail as you can. You should have at least 2-3 personas, so if there are different answers, split them up. Keep in mind that you are creating the ideal persona, not an actual person. 6 of 30
No one person is going to have all of the “perfect” traits, but knowing what qualities you are looking for and creating your brand characters is a crucial step in an effective marketing strategy. •
How old are they? Are they married? Do they have children? Do they have pets?
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What state/city do they live in? Do they live in a single-family home or an apartment?
Do they live in a community or on 3-acres of land? Do they live in the city, suburbs, or country? Do they have a car? • What’s their average annual income? What do they do? What level of education do they have? Do they work in an office or from home? What type of company do they work for? What industry are they in? • Are they a business owner or an employee? • What problem am I solving for them? What did they do before my product/service? What will they do after my product/service? Is my product/service a necessity or a luxury for them? Are they purchasing my product/service for themselves or others? • How tech-savvy are they? Are they up-to-date on the latest trends? • What are their personality traits? How does my product/service make them feel? • What are the barriers to them purchasing my product/service? Who/what can convince them not to buy my product/service? How in-touch are they with my competitor(s)? At what point in the sales process would they say “no”? • How much free time do they have to learn about my product/service? What is their attention span? Now, you can visually see your ideal client(s) and you have a better idea of who you are marketing to. If you’re not sure or you had a hard time with these questions, it may be time for a re-evaluation of your product/service. It may be outdated and just needs to be refined, or it’s time to launch a new product line or service offering! For persona examples and worksheets to help you build yours, please download it here. Every business should have at least 2-3 personas, and even more if you have a more extensive range of offerings. Once you have your personas detailed out, it will make your marketing efforts so much easier, and you will find yourself saving money in no time. The more you can dial in on your audience in marketing, the more time and money you can save. www.needham.solutions
Dr. Conte Terrell Founder/Executive Director Fresh Spirit Wellness For Women, Inc.
“No amount of me trying to explain myself was doing any good. I didn't even know what was going on inside of me, so how could I have explained it to them?� Sierra D. Waters, Debbie.
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No more FOG in your glasses while wearing your mask
More Conversions Down Selling So far in previous articles, we’ve only discussed 2 different lead generation strategies. Now let’s discuss two lead-conversion strategies… and let’s start with down selling. Do you currently use a down sell strategy? Down selling is nothing more than offering a prospect an alternative at a lower price when they decline your original offer. The goal is to turn the prospect into a client, so you not only realize some short-term financial benefit, but you gain the opportunity to do business with them again in the future. For example, local health clubs always try to sell new members a full one-year membership. If that fails, they will try to down sell them by offering a 90-day “health makeover” membership. If that fails, they may go to a 30 day or possibly a one week “trial” membership. They know if they can just get them to buy something the odds of them staying with them long term goes up exponentially. Consider the florist. Most guys show up at a florist to buy roses for their better half. Valentine’s Day, her birthday, their anniversary, Mother’s Day and so on. But suppose a dozen roses cost $50 and the guy doesn’t have that much money to spend. Since he has flowers on his mind, do you think he would consider an alternative that was just as romantic? Do you realize if the alternative costs only $25, and that florist only used that down sell once each day, which is highly conservative, that would add almost $8,000 in annual revenue for them? And that’s just one possible down sell opportunity. Suppose they had floral alternatives for weddings, lower priced options for funerals and so on. What’s your current price point for what you currently sell? Think you could come up with an alternative for half that price? How many of those would you conservatively estimate you could sell each week? Now multiply your reduced-price times your number of weekly sales… then multiply that number times 52 weeks to reveal your annual increase. And that’s just one down sell. How many additional down sell opportunities would you conservatively estimate you could easily develop? I recently found a business owner $65,000 in additional annual revenue through targeted down selling… and that additional revenue continues to grow year after year. If you’d like to see other ways strategies like this could work for you, take a look at our free guided tour at https://jeffheggiebusiness.com/guidedtour
Be sure you come over to my magazine “Jeff’s Shed” to learn more about Leads 12 of 30
Top 5 Tips To Reduce Stress and Take Your Life Back for Busy Mom Entrepreneurs Working From Home Although working from home has many advantages, it can be a cause of additional stress. It is especially true for mothers, who are already feeling a lot of pressure, stress, and anxiety from the overflowing plate of life/work obligations and even more in times like these. We may be feeling not enough and not capable of accomplishing everything that is expected of us. The key is to change the way you relate to yourself. Here are the five ways to do just that. 1. Be firm in defining and keeping your personal boundaries.
Check out Jeff’s Shed Issue for expanded version
If you are someone, who tends to put others’ needs and feelings first, even take responsibility and do the actions for others, you may want to start defining better personal boundaries. Learning to define better personal boundaries is a process of developing both verbal and non-verbal skills. It may start by: 2. Take time for self-care By taking time for self-care, you are taking care of your own needs and protecting your right to your personal space, as well as your time. That’s what self-love and self-care mean. I call it ‘making yourself a priority’. Getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and eating a healthy and balanced diet are essential for us to feel our best. 3. Concentrate on what really matters Stop and think about what’s most important to your health, for your career, which people are most important to you? When answering these questions, notice where you waste your time and energy. Do you use these valuable resources to what you really value? If not, what can you change? 4. Ask for, and accept help and support There is something that we call “a superwoman mentality”. We have to be a perfect mom, friend, partner, sister, daughter... We have to be able to manage everything - our homes, our families, our careers – and do it perfectly, and still look Pinterest-perfect at the end of the day. 5. When feeling stressed or overwhelmed, focus on the current moment – and breathe Stress comes from our inability to control our reactions to external events, and it is caused by our tendency to be focused and worried about three steps ahead of while planning exactly where we should be and what we should do 6 months in advance. That’s why it’s so important to learn to live in “the present moment” – which is pretty hard for many! When you feel in a hurry and upset, take 3 deep breaths! Svetlana Stankic, Women Empowerment and Relationship Coach Certified in Strategic Intervention Method of Coaching www.newZest4Life.com
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Avoiding Groundhog Day When Covid-19 decided to rear its ugly head in the United States, it meant big changes to our daily routines. These changes put major restrictions on what we could do. Instead of catching a Tuesday matinée or going to lunch with a close friend to break up the monotony of daily life, we were left with the options of kitchen or living room as our daily outing. For me personally, I was given the responsibility of either educating or entertaining 5 young kids within 2500 sq. feet of space… every… waking… minute. I felt busier than ever, BUT it was the same thing every single day! My ADHD mind was going to explode. My two oldest boys have been diagnosed with ADHD as well, and between the three of us I am surprised the house is still standing. If we did not find new ways to release our extra energy, tensions within our home were going to get to an extreme level. I was at a loss, and my life had turned into my own personal Groundhog Day. I needed to find a way to break the curse. Fortunately, school quickly came to an end and public places started opening again. The weather turned warmer and suddenly life didn’t seem so monotonous. I had hope that come fall the kids would be able to go back to school and we could ALL start experiencing life again. My hope changed to disappointment last week when I received an email from the school district that school would not be returning to normal and remote learning would be required once again…NOOO! Not this again! For about 24 hours I ranted and raved and bit the head off of anyone that tried to calm me down. Once I was done throwing an epic temper tantrum I realized that this fall didn’t have to look the same as spring did and that I could break the endless loop of Ground Hog Day this time. I quickly realized that for me the best way to defeat the Groundhog Day effect was to spend time every day learning something new. It seems so simple, but I couldn’t remember the last time I 18 of 30
studied a topic I had been wondering about. When is the last time you took time out of your busy day to study, or to learn a new skill? So often we tell ourselves that we will never be an expert at something so why even bother? This way of thinking is so dangerous! As humans we are created to grow and change. Our minds are incredible muscles that need to be used regularly or else they can cause problems like anxiety, restlessness, and other negative behaviors – kind of like a dog that gets cooped up and starts tearing apart your couch cushions, or the garbage. You have to take your brain for a daily walk if you don’t want to start tearing apart everyone in your life, especially your kids. The beauty of learning something new is that your options are endless. I personally am a bit of a nerd, so I signed up for an online course to learn Biblical Hebrew. Once a week I will be signing on to a zoom call with the professor for a 40 min lesson and for the rest of the week, spend 15 min a day studying that week’s lesson. I just had my first lesson and I loved it. I know this course is going to break the Groundhog Day cycle for me. For you it might be something more physical, like learning how to do the latest TikTok dance, cook a new recipe, or even find out something new about your family history. No matter what you choose to learn, make sure it is enjoyable, meaningful, and that you can use that knowledge or skill to make the world a better place. This fall may bring on another round of home-based learning for mom’s everywhere, but it does not have to make us feel like we are stuck on repeat, living the same day over and over. Groundhog Day makes for a great movie but none of us want that to be our reality. Elizabeth Baker M.O.M. Life
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delegates and their work, and overseeing unconstrained advancement costs, organize issues, and concerns related to cybersecurity and the ensuring of client data. This "new run of the mill" is certainly not normal, and information and best practices about how best to structure return to the workplace and how to safely carry on in the workplace will presumably change frequently. Firms ought to be versatile and responsive as information and best takes a shot at concerning the pandemic are invigorated by neighborhood governments and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Employees may be feeling anxious about being in the working environment enclosed by others; or due to individual or clinical reasons, they may be not ready to wear masks; or perhaps they are considered in putting themselves or their family in danger. These are obscure waters and endeavoring times for supervisors and delegates may be significant while overseeing laborer issues related to this pandemic. Making arrangements for employees returning to the working environment ought to be a quite deliberate methodology and one maintained by rules set by state and government prosperity specialists. As firms start the organizing method, there are a couple of things for thought in setting up the work environment and delegates for the unavoidable return to restrain a segment of the potential anguish centers. Offices/Cubicles should be developed to cover how the firm will change rules for physical isolating, office cleaning, social occasions, business travel, client collaboration, etc. The board and agents the equivalent ought to be enterprising in doing their part to ensure an ideal work environment. Corporations should develop processes for cleaning open spaces (break room, restrooms, lift, steps, lobby, etc.) and fuse visual advisers for stamp social isolating in high traffic areas. There should be areas designated for purifying wipes, gloves, and other personal protective equipment (based on the company). Given the various movements to the working environment condition and how companies direct business, it is recommended that organizations have each delegate look into an improved onboarding technique when they return to working in the work environment. During the onboarding methodology agents will be given an enhanced Offer/Rehire Letter and should be instructed for the methods the firm has taken to ensure the laborer's prosperity including, yet not obliged to, reconfiguring the working environment space, binding business travel, evading up close and personal social affairs, usage of tidiness stations, etc. Besides, the onboarding strategy would design wants for each agent in doing their part and set in the mood for pushing ahead similarly as coming back to any updates to the organization's courses of action. If potential, firms should review delegates to build a predominant cognizance of their inclinations in returning to "the same old thing." The chiefs should share the general responses and give advancement and analysis so employees feel affirmed and heard. 23 of 30
space, binding business travel, evading up close and personal social affairs, usage of tidiness stations, etc. Besides, the onboarding strategy would design wants for each agent in doing their part and set in the mood for pushing ahead similarly as coming back to any updates to the organization's courses of action. If potential, firms should review delegates to build a predominant cognizance of their inclinations in returning to "the same old thing." The chiefs should share the general responses and give advancement and analysis so employees feel affirmed and heard. An email should be sent to every employee on what returning to work will look like and schedules, necessities for face cover, sanitizing, office configuration, channels for delegates to impart concerns, suggestions, etc. An inside and out considered and point by point plan will ensure that unfathomably critical components are thought about, the risks to employees are regulated. Suggestions and needs from both the employees and the employer are clear.
www.behindthesceneexpert.com
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How To Build Trust With Your Clients
Regard Their Time As our general public, by and large, loses a portion of the kindness and regard past ages demonstrated each other, I think we are all around served to raise our attention to others' time, individual timetable, and necessities.
Adjust To Their Work Style You've perused how a few people get all their writing in as the chicken's crow? Or on the other hand, perhaps heard the expression "Call me whenever – I'm continually working"? Consider setting up correspondence inclinations part of your new customer onboarding process.
Keep Your Responsibilities This idea connects to regarding somebody's time, however goes somewhat further. Experts can't achieve work without input (criticism, substantial resources, assent, and so forth.) from customers. You can't anticipate that a customer should do their part to maintain a timetable in case you're not falling in line yourself.
Listen For Their Pain Points It very well may be difficult to burrow down underneath the essential obstructions to being more beneficial we as a whole offer – too brief period, an excessive number of gatherings, a lot of organization. Be that as it may, if you listen intently enough for the basic main driver, you may simply discover approaches to
Communicate Clearly And Openly It's actual: we as a whole have diverse abilities to focus and data prerequisites. A few people like to be carbon replicated on all actions, regardless of whether they don't have a doled out deliverable. Others don't need the full picture, possibly to be circled in if an issue arises. Maintaining a focal vault of messages and related records. For ventures or progressing tasks with customers (not a basic, speedy information trade), I depend on the venture the executive's instruments like Asana to be a "center point" with customers. We'll expound more on joint effort and venture instruments later.
Deliver The Unexpected This might be the place "ideal to have" truly increases the value of a relationship and goes far to cause trust. www.behindthesceneexpert.com
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