Entrepreneurs
Pay it Forward – It does comes Back!
One of the things I did in 2008 when I started networking online for my business was to set a goal of helping others online. If I see someone who looks like they were hacked, have a typo in their BIO, you know, the little things… I try to help by letting them know how they can fix the situation. If I see someone asking a question, needing help I point them in the right direction. It’s my way of paying it forward ( the concept of asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead – ie. if you help 3 people and they each help 3 people, it’s just like word of mouth or viral marketing, but instead people helping others) for all the help I got in my life from others and especially when I started my business.
It’s the little things that I see when I am networking online – looking at new followers, chatting on a Facebook page, and talking to people. Really, it’s the same as you would help out people in person too (well, except for the old one of someone’s ’fly being down’ and never knowing if you say something or not – can’t see that situation happening online!) – just being kind and helpful.
Anyhow this past week I ran into a different type of way I could help someone. It started when I got my mail and my new Moo Cards were in there. Whoohoo – More Moo! And the Bonus was these were the 100 FREE mini moo cards I got from a Klout Perk. They were even free but for the shipping. I flew in the house all excited to open the package and see them (and by the way if you are wondering what a Moo card is, you have obviously never held one in your hand. They are a delight to hold and touch and feel. If you want to see one live and in person, send me an email with your address and I will mail you one of mine! Seriously, I will)
…. back to the story
I get the package open and then open the little box they come in … and the first one is usually a reference card for the order, I look past that and it is another odd card, I keep looking and then finally it dawns on me… they are all these odd cards and not mine! UGh! All the excitement for nothing!
I had someone else’s cards! I called Moo Customer Service and we go through the order numbers and they realize that I have someone else’s cards and someone out there probably is getting mine. A little shipping mixup. No big deal, they tell me to chuck the cards in the garbage because they are sending me a rush order, as well as this other person whose cards I have in my hands.
Chuck them out??? No way - they are Moo Cards. Mini or not – they are too nice to put in the recycle bin. Luckily the cards had the twitter id of the company – @QuipMag (and the special order reference card had the name of the person who made the order) – so I looked them up on twitter, got their website, then found the right person on the “About” page.
I emailed and said what happened, that she would probably get an email about an order problem and that more cards were coming… but in the meantime – what is her address so I can mail this box of cards off. (I could not in any way throw them out).
She was so happy I emailed and very appreciative that I was willing to mail the cards. I did, she got them last week and was so grateful I took the time to send them. We also got to know a little bit about each other’s business in the process.
A little help and a little pay it forward – it always comes back I say…
So today I got a tweet from Kateryna:
@timeontaskva So guess what, I just got your cards! Will mail them tomorrow please DM me your address
Pay it Forward, It ALWAYS comes back one way or another and not always from the recipient as was the case today – but somewhere somehow it will come back to you.
PS. Don’t forget to send me an email if you want a sample mini-moo card. The postage is on me!
A Special Blog Post
Today, I needed to vent a little about some stress I have been having… it involves our dog, Lola and some other unnamed creatures.
Sooo… Lola is our adopted dog.. a beautiful dog in looks, temper and personality. We’ve had her for four years now and everyone loves her. She has always been a suspected Rat Terrier breed mix, but we have never known for sure… until now.
We had some renos done in our basement and apparently that stirred up a few critters. (And God help me, but I did not tell my mother about this while she stayed here over Christmas! Hopefully she does not subscribe to my blog!) We think they are in the walls/bathroom heaters in the basement … or so I thought, until yesterday.
When I woke up I heard that sound I had been hearing during the nights lately… the sound of a mouse – or something, as I have not sighted anything yet – in the main floor bathroom. It was no longer in my imagination. My husband has been telling me this every night in the middle of the night – along with yells of “Go back to sleep, there’s no mouse!”
Everyone heard it today. Something is in that main bath heater for sure. The fact that the dog, who before this has never really spent much time in the basement or bathrooms, has been there too much; pawing at walls, heaters and more. She would not leave the bathroom and was sniffing at the heater and trying to get IN the heater (we are talking a baseboard heater) and was shaking like a leaf in excitement at whatever was making the noises in the heater… well… all this tells me, we in fact do have a mouse.
And Yes, I know the drill… there is not one mouse. I can hear you all saying it now: “Kathy, there is NEVER one mouse” We owned two homes before, that were both over 70 years old. We are good at catching mice… I am just very terrified of them too. They make me yell and swear … oh wait, the mice make me yell, the kids who go “MOM! What’s THAT by your feet!!!! – well, that is what makes me swear – and the kids laugh hysterically.
Anyhow for a little fun and deviation from my normal blogging about business… here is my boring, yet somewhat funny video of my little rat terrier and her persistence in our bathroom heater. And, heaven help me… the tub as well! (You can’t imagine how on guard I am while having a shower lately – I have been showering with my glasses on!). Warning… there may be the start of a little swearing near the end, I apologize, but as you will see it was not my fault. I will not be sharing the video the kids took of me while they were scaring over and over, the first day we realized what may be happening (but that one could win on America’s Funniest Videos).
Needless to say, Braemar Pest Control visited my house today and though Justin (very nice guy) feels that there are not many critters based on the ‘dropping’ evidence, he still wants to solve the problem before the few become many. UGH!
Suffice it to say, though I have all the confidence in the world in Justin and his bait traps. I am scared to use our washrooms now, those little traps stand out a lot under the heaters… and all I do is stare at them in pure fear of anything moving. I walk on guard throughout the house, mostly because my imagination can do more than anything else ever would! I work from home, so the days are a little freaky right now, I walk around making lots of loud noises as I go… trying to shoo my friends away. Again, I have not seen one mouse in person, but I sure feel their presence.
… Now to figure out how to keep Mom away from here until the problem is solved.
My New Year started off with a bang – or rather lots of little ones in my heaters.. how about yours???
Make Changes to Improve your Business
Last week in an email, one of my clients, a General Contractor in Halifax Nova Scotia, wrote a sentence that really struck home for me. He said:
If I do what I do time after time, obviously the results will always be the same. Something has to change.
I think it was the word ‘obviously’ that really makes this statement stand out. Especially this time of year – the year end is always a time where I am looking back at what happened this past year and thinking and planning about changes to improve for next. And “Obviously” if nothing changes nothing improves, unless you have reached perfection already!!
These are words that should ring true for any business owner. No matter what your business goals are, in most cases we all want to improve; to have increased sales and more business. Putting your plans and goals in writing, assessing where you are and analyzing past results are ways to make certain you are seriously tackling the issue of improving your business and not just keeping it at a standstill, a pipe dream.
The assessment and analysis is especially important. Without looking at what you did in the past you will have a hard time figuring out what worked, what didn’t and more importantly, what needs to change.
Here are a few simple steps to take you through the process of making changes in your business:
- Know your results to this point – Financial results and overall Business Practices.
- Have goals set in place and understand where your results have taken you with regards to these goals.
- Have your goals changed? If so, look at the new goals compared to the results.
- Look at what worked to achieve these goals – or what did not. Think about the obstacles (no matter how small) that got in the way of achievement.
- Develop new plans to help you overcome the obstacles and plans to build on what worked this past year.
- Set your goals for the coming year, taking into account all the changes to be implemented.
- Communicate these plans to all who are involved in your business and all who will be affected by the changes.
- Implement the changes and then re-evaluate during the year to assess results and make changes along the way (better than waiting it out til the next year end!)
4 Tips to Keeping Focus during a Sales Call or Consult
Consults, Sales Calls, Consultations…
They have different names but their purpose is the same for all…you spend time with a prospective client to determine if your services will fits the needs they have and if you want to work together (make a sale).
There is a point to every sales call or consult that is like the saying “sink or swim”. There are many ways to ruin a sales call and beating around the bush is just one of them. You need to make sure you get to the point and stay focused on the purpose of the call.
You don’t want to spend too much time during a sales call or consult or you risk the prospect losing interest and can also end up giving away too much information. This was something I found I did … A LOT! It’s easy to get talking and lose control because you are enjoying the conversation. But time was an issue for me and not wasting it, was a goal I had.
After a year in business I made a few changes with regards to my consults and since then I have been able to make much better use of my time during these calls. The solution?
A consult process and an agenda tick sheet for each call to be as effective as possible. 
Here are my Top 4 Tips to Keeping Focus during a Sales Call:
1. PRE-Consult Info: One of the most effective tools I do is to send a consult form to everyone looking to have a call with me. The form includes all relevant background information I am looking for when talking to prospective clients. I find this fills me in on a lot of the information that clients want to share about their business. I find if I have the info up front then I have a better idea of their business and their needs.
2. Consult Questions on a Form: The best way to spend time during a consult or sales call is to have an agenda. I created myself a consult form that contains a lot of the normal information I want to learn about a client and the questions I want to ask based on the background I already know. Most of the form is setup like a checklist, so I write less information as opposed to ticking or circling answers. With the form by my side I can keep on track during the call and better spend our time together. If the conversation gets off topic, I use this form to get me back to earth and to keep the focus during the call. It also helps that I have many areas I ask questions and have a lot of the standard answers. I only need to circle the answer from the client. Saves me time and helps me keep better notes.
3. Services & Benefits info: My consult form also has areas on it that remind me of the benefits I want to share about our services and how they can help the client. I keep a list of prices as well so I am not thinking about them as the list is right there in front of me.
4. Set a Time Limit: My consults are free but if I didn’t keep them to a time limit I would have many hours a month spent on these calls. Not every call converts into a client; so keeping them focused is essential to remaining productive. I let prospective clients know how long my free consults take. This sets the expectations up front as to how much time is needed. If it goes over (and occasionally it does) they are appreciative of the extra time I spent with them. The form helps a lot to keep me to a shorter time on the calls. It is easy to lose track of where you are and one look at the form and I know what to ask about next.
My process and form mean that I now have an agenda to follow and the time is focused on the real issues at hand. It keeps clients from getting confused with too much information and me learning how I can help solve their issues.
How do you make your own process and forms?
Look back at your notes from the last 5 sales calls or consults you have had. Take note of the common information you wanted to know and the questions you asked. Using this information you can setup two documents; one to gather info prior to the call and one to use during the call. Make certain to include a part on the form that lists your services, benefits and prices. You may not always refer to this part as you get more familiar with your process, but it’s always good to have the notes there to back you up.
Good luck with your Sales Process, and let me know how your first call goes once you have tried this method.
Peer Support is Vital to your Success
I was recently listening to a CD on delegation for small business owners and one of the points the speaker made was one of the top reasons businesses fail. Support.
As a small business owner you are everything to your business. Sales, Marketing, Operations, Admin, bookkeeping and many other parts. Having peer support is one of the things that can help you build your business.
Connecting with people of like minds, in a similar industry can really help boost your own business. You need a sounding board, you need someone who understands where you are and what outside influences can affect how you run your business.
For the past couple of years I have met weekly with an Accountability Group. We started as two then built to four people. All Virtual Assistants, in some way or another. We met to discuss plans, goals, issues and more. Being in the same industry we never felt like competitors, but more like colleagues and collaborators. We understand the issues that affect our specific businesses and the support we provide each other actually helps each of us continue to grow and build our own businesses.
Last spring, we decided to take this group a step farther and meet in person to dig deep into our businesses and do some intense concentrated work on our businesses. A time to step away from the daily work and issues that keep us from going deep into our plans.
And this is where I am right now… locked away in a house in Ontario working hard on new plans ( and in some cases old plans that never made it to completion) with 5 other fabulous women business owners.
We are intense into our Mastermind Retreat weekend and have been working hard every day. We scheduled time and specific As a small group we have been able to take time and listen to each others issues; sharing ideas to help, techniques, tools and in some cases confirming beliefs that have been sitting in the back of our minds and needed reassurance that yes it is time to change. 
(one of my contributions was the lobster dinner – direct from Nova Scotia! An experience for two of the group who had never tasted lobster before)
Peer Support is soooo helpful to entrepreneurs and small business owners. The inspiration and information you will receive and share in a group like this should (and will) propel your business forward. And networking is how you will find your own support group.
Whether networking in person or online (as I do a lot of mine), you can look for and discover people that you connect with, you resonate with and ones who will also have a different opinion to share with you. They do not have to be clones of yourself – that won’t always be helpful… eyes that have a different view on your business are more helpful to you than a clone.
Take a look around your business world and circle of contacts – who there do you see that appeals to you as a peer? Can you bring something to the table to help them? These are a couple questions to help you find and start your own Accountability / Peer Group. Get out there and be the instigator and create your own group. It may take some time to grow and find the right people; but it really will be a help to your business. Having the extra eyes and ears will become something you enjoy and look forward to with your regular meetings.
My peer group support this week has been invaluable! Thanks to all the Gals who committed to themselves and each other to make this happen!
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