Archive for Business Advice

Have you heard of the COVID -19 generation?

While many employees continue to be laid off, despite the furlough scheme, our young people are in danger of becoming the forgotten victims of this vicious pandemic.

 

I doubt the world wants to see its citizens slide away from the economic comfort they have enjoyed over the previous half century, so what steps can we take to minimise the negative effects that COVID-19 threatens to impose on our young people?

 

What skills are they going to need to survive and thrive in the “new normal”?

 

What will it take for them the become the successful business owners of the future and ensure continued prosperity beyond the recession we are about to endure?

 

What role will IT and communications technology play in their success?

 

Are entrepreneurs born or made?

 

Should we as a nation provide resources for the Coronavirus generation so they can develop the skills they are going to need, or do we leave them alone to find their own path through the difficult times they face ahead of them?

Coaching FAQs. What is Coaching All About?

 

Coaching FAQs

What is professional coaching?

The international Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach’s responsibility is to:

  • Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve
  • Encourage client self-discovery
  • Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies
  • Hold the client responsible and accountable

This process helps clients dramatically improve their outlook on work and life, while improving their leadership skills and unlocking their potential.

How can you determine if coaching is right for you?

To determine whether you or your company could benefit from coaching, start by summarizing what you would expect to accomplish in coaching. When an individual or business has a fairly clear idea of the desired outcome, a coaching partnership can be a useful tool for developing a strategy for how to achieve that outcome with greater ease.

Since coaching is a partnership, ask yourself whether collaboration, other viewpoints, and new perspectives are valued. Also, ask yourself whether you or your business is ready to devote the time and the energy to making real changes. If the answer is yes, then coaching may be a beneficial way to grow and develop.

How is coaching distinct from other service professions?

Professional coaching focuses on setting goals, creating outcomes and managing personal change. Sometimes it’s helpful to understand coaching by distinguishing it from other personal or organizational support professions.

  • Therapy: Therapy deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or in relationships. The focus is often on resolving difficulties arising from the past that hamper an individual’s emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and dealing with the present in more emotionally healthy ways. Coaching, on the other hand, supports personal and professional growth based on self-initiated change in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. These outcomes are linked to personal or professional success. Coaching is future focused. While positive feelings/emotions may be a natural outcome of coaching, the primary focus is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one’s work or personal life. The emphases in a coaching relationship are on action, accountability, and follow through.
  • Consulting: Individuals or organizations retain consultants for their expertise. While consulting approaches vary widely, the assumption is the consultant will diagnose problems and prescribe and, sometimes, implement solutions. With coaching, the assumption is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.
  • Mentoring: A mentor is an expert who provides wisdom and guidance based on his or her own experience. Mentoring may include advising, counseling and coaching. The coaching process does not include advising or counseling, and focuses instead on individuals or groups setting and reaching their own objectives.
  • Training: Training programs are based on objectives set out by the trainer or instructor. Though objectives are clarified in the coaching process, they are set by the individual or team being coached, with guidance provided by the coach. Training also assumes a linear learning path that coincides with an established curriculum. Coaching is less linear without a set curriculum.
  • Athletic Development: Though sports metaphors are often used, professional coaching is different from sports coaching. The athletic coach is often seen as an expert who guides and directs the behavior of individuals or teams based on his or her greater experience and knowledge. Professional coaches possess these qualities, but their experience and knowledge of the individual or team determines the direction. Additionally, professional coaching, unlike athletic development, does not focus on behaviors that are being executed poorly or incorrectly. Instead, the focus is on identifying opportunity for development based on individual strengths and capabilities.

What are some typical reasons someone might work with a coach?

An individual or team might choose to work with a coach for many reasons, including but not limited to the following:

  • Something urgent, compelling or exciting is at stake (a challenge, stretch goal or opportunity)
  • A gap exists in knowledge, skills, confidence or resources
  • A desire to accelerate results
  • A lack of clarity with choices to be made
  • Success has started to become problematic
  • Work and life are out of balance, creating unwanted consequences
  • Core strengths need to be identified, along with how best to leverage them

What has caused the tremendous growth in the coaching industry?

Coaching has grown significantly for many reasons, among them:

  • Rapid changes are taking place in the external business environment.
  • Downsizing, restructuring, mergers and other organizational changes have radically altered the “traditional employment contract.” Companies can no longer achieve results using traditional management approaches.
  • With the growing shortage of talented employees in certain industries, companies must commit to investing in individuals’ development.
  • The disparity between what managers were trained to do and what their jobs now require of them is widening due to increasing demands for competitive results.
  • People are wrestling with job insecurity and increased workplace pressures to perform at higher levels than ever before.
  • Companies must develop inclusive, collaborative work environments to achieve strategic business goals and to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.
  • Individuals who have experienced the excellent results of coaching are talking to more people about it.
  • People today are more open to the idea of being in charge of their own lives. Coaching helps them do just that.

In short, coaching helps individuals and companies focus on what matters most in life and business, and so the industry continues to grow.

How is coaching delivered? What does the process look like?

Coaching typically begins with a personal interview (either face-to-face or by teleconference call) to assess the individual’s or business’ current opportunities and challenges, define the scope of the relationship, identify priorities for action and establish specific desired outcomes. Subsequent coaching sessions may be conducted in person or over the telephone, with each session lasting a previously established length of time. Between scheduled coaching sessions, the individual may be asked to complete specific actions that support the achievement of one’s personally prioritized goals. The coach may provide additional resources in the form of relevant articles, checklists, assessments or models to support the individual’s or business’ thinking and actions. The duration of the coaching relationship varies depending on needs and preferences.

  • Assessments: A variety of assessments are available to support the coaching process, depending upon the needs and circumstances of the individual or business. Assessments provide objective information that can enhance self-awareness, as well as awareness of others and their circumstances; provide a benchmark for creating coaching goals and actionable strategies; and offer a method for evaluating progress.
  • Concepts, models and principles: A variety of concepts, models and principles drawn from the behavioral sciences, management literature, spiritual traditions and/or the arts and humanities may be incorporated into the coaching conversation to increase self-awareness and awareness of others, foster shifts in perspective, promote fresh insights, provide new frameworks for looking at opportunities and challenges, and energize and inspire forward actions.
  • Appreciative approach: Coaching incorporates an appreciative approach, grounded in what’s right, what’s working, what’s wanted and what’s needed to get there. Using an appreciative approach, the coach models constructive communication skills and methods to enhance personal communication effectiveness. He or she incorporates discovery-based inquiry, proactive (as opposed to reactive) ways of managing personal opportunities and challenges, constructive framing of observations and feedback to elicit the most positive responses from others, and visions of success as contrasted with focusing on problems. The appreciative approach is simple to understand and employ, and its reach can be profound, opening up new possibilities and spurring action.

How long does a coach work with an individual?

The length of a coaching partnership varies depending on the individual’s or team’s needs and preferences. For certain types of focused coaching, three to six months of working may work. For other types of coaching, people may find it beneficial to work with a coach for a longer period. Factors that may impact the length of time include: the types of goals, the ways individuals or teams prefer to work, the frequency of coaching meetings and financial resources available to support coaching.

How do you ensure a compatible partnership?

Overall, be prepared to design the coaching partnership with the coach. For example, think of a strong partnership that you currently have in your work or life. Look at how you built that relationship and what is important to you about partnership. You will want to build those same things into a coaching relationship. Here are a few other tips:

  • Interview more than one coach to determine “what feels right” in terms of the chemistry. Coaches are accustomed to being interviewed, and an introductory conversation of this type is usually free of charge.
  • Look for stylistic similarities and differences between the coach and you and how these might support your growth as an individual or the growth of your team.
  • Discuss your goals for coaching within the context of the coach’s specialty or the coach’s preferred way of working with an individual or team
  • Talk with the coach about what to do if you ever feel things are not going well; make some agreements up front on how to handle questions or problems.
  • Remember that coaching is a partnership, so be assertive about talking with the coach about any concerns.

Within the partnership, what does the coach do? The individual?

The coach:

  • Provides objective assessment and observations that foster the individual’s or team’s self-awareness and awareness of others
  • Listens closely to fully understand the individual’s or team’s circumstances
  • Acts as a sounding board in exploring possibilities and implementing thoughtful planning and decision making
  • Champions opportunities and potential, encouraging stretch and challenge commensurate with personal strengths and aspirations
  • Fosters shifts in thinking that reveal fresh perspectives,
  • Challenges blind spots to illuminate new possibilities and support the creation of alternative scenarios
  • Maintains professional boundaries in the coaching relationship, including confidentiality, and adheres to the coaching profession’s code of ethics.

The individual:

  • Creates the coaching agenda based on personally meaningful coaching goals
  • Uses assessment and observations to enhance self-awareness and awareness of others
  • Envisions personal and/or organizational success
  • Assumes full responsibility for personal decisions and actions
  • Utilizes the coaching process to promote possibility thinking and fresh perspectives
  • Takes courageous action in alignment with personal goals and aspirations
  • Engages big-picture thinking and problem-solving skills
  • Takes the tools, concepts, models and principles provided by the coach and engages in effective forward actions

What does coaching ask of an individual?

To be successful, coaching asks certain things, all of which begin with intention. Additionally, clients should:

  • Focus on one’s self, the tough questions, the hard truths and one’s success.
  • Observe the behaviors and communications of others.
  • Listen to one’s intuition, assumptions, judgments, and to the way one sounds when one speaks
  • Challenge existing attitudes, beliefs and behaviors and develop new ones that serve one’s goals in a superior way
  • Leverage personal strengths and overcome limitations to develop a winning style
  • Take decisive actions, however uncomfortable and in spite of personal insecurities, to reach for the extraordinary
  • Show compassion for one’s self while learning new behaviors and experiencing setbacks, and to show that compassion for others as they do the same
  • Commit to not take one’s self so seriously, using humor to lighten and brighten any situation
  • Maintain composure in the face of disappointment and unmet expectations, avoiding emotional reactivity
  • Have the courage to reach for more than before while engaging in continual self examination without fear

How can the success of the coaching process be measured?

Measurement may be thought of in two distinct ways: external indicators of performance and internal indicators of success. Ideally, both are incorporated.

Examples of external measures include achievement of coaching goals established at the outset of the coaching relationship, increased income/revenue, obtaining a promotion, performance feedback that is obtained from a sample of the individual’s constituents (e.g., direct reports, colleagues, customers, boss, the manager him/herself), personal and/or business performance data (e.g., productivity, efficiency measures). The external measures selected should be things the individual is already measuring and has some ability to directly influence.

Examples of internal measures include self-scoring/self-validating assessments that can be administered initially and at regular intervals in the coaching process, changes in the individual’s self-awareness and awareness of others, shifts in thinking that create more effective actions, and shifts in one’s emotional state that inspire confidence.

What factors should be considered when looking at the financial investment in coaching?

Working with a coach requires both a personal commitment of time and energy as well as a financial commitment. Fees charged vary by specialty and by the level of experience of the coach. Individuals should consider both the desired benefits as well as the anticipated length of time to be spent in coaching. Since the coaching relationship is predicated on clear communication, any financial concerns or questions should be voiced in initial conversations before the agreement is made. For more information on how coaching can help to transform your business, contact Ology Coach David Preston today. (davepreston@ologycoaching.com)

Business Growth Masterclass 16 – How to Calculate and Lower the Cost of Your Customers

Hello there and welcome to the 16th instalment of my Business Growth Masterclass. The step by step guide to building the business you always wished you could have.

 

Today, we’re going to look at how to calculate the cost of your customer and a few techniques you can use to lower that cost and increase the profitability of each of your customers, both old and new.

 

As ever though, before we get our teeth into today’s material, lets just check on actions from the last Business Growth Masterclass:

Did you do your homework?

  • You have a system in place for measuring your conversion rate on a daily, weekly, monthly and by-campaign basis.
  • You have chosen two new strategies to implement for an increase in conversions, and are measuring the results.

Great. Homework done. Now let’s get started with today’s Business Growth Masterclass.

When you buy a product, you want to receive the most for your money. The same is true for customer acquisition.

customers

Generating leads and converting those leads into paying customers is a process that costs you money. You can attribute a piece of your marketing and sales costs to each of the customers that you successfully attract and convert.

Essentially, you buy customers for your business.

Let me repeat that: essentially, you buy customers for your business.

Please read this again and understand it on a very basic level. If I sent you to the store with £40 to buy a white t-shirt, you would be successful. Well you can do the same thing with GOOD clients (ones that pay, stay and refer). Do not be scared to go into the business of buying good clients. This one distinction can completely change the way you do business and your level of success.

So when you think of your customer as your most valuable asset, you’re absolutely right. They’re an investment in your business that you expect to see a return from.

As with any investment, you not only want to see a return, but you want to see the greatest return possible. In this case, you could try to reduce your marketing budget, or boost your profit margins, but the easiest way to minimise the cost of a customer and maximise your return is to increase the number of times each customer buys from you.

In the five-step process, this is called increasing the number of transactions in your business. Instead of constantly chasing down leads and buying new customers, your work is to keep the customers you have bought coming back to spend more money.

In this Business Growth Masterclass we will cover:

  • The financial impact of repeat business
  • How to figure out the average number of transactions of your business
  • How to calculate your average customer acquisition cost
  • The lifetime value of your customers
  • The 80/20 rule and letting some customers go
  • How you can lower the cost of your customers to boost profits

Increasing your repeat business is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to boost your bottom line.

Turning a single transaction customer into a repeat or lifetime customer is one of the simplest ways to boost your bottom line. It costs very little and is largely based on the experience you can create for the people who buy from you.

With a little bit of time and thought, you can turn single-transaction customers into loyal patrons, or even big fans of your business. This not only translates into returning customers, but also earns customers that refer you to their friends.

Financially, the more times a customer buys from you, the lower their acquisition cost becomes. You only have to buy customers once, so when that figure is spread over several transactions it goes down.

Here’s a chart of how a 10% increase and 30% increase in average number of transactions can impact your bottom line.

STARTING POINT 10% INCREASE 30% INCREASE
Leads 4,500 4,500 4,500
Conversion Rate 30% 30% 30%
Customers 1350 1350 1350
Transactions 1.3 1.43 (10% increase) 1.69 (30% increase)
Average Sales Value £140 £140 £140
Revenue £245,700 270,270 319,410
Margins 24% 24% 24%
Profit £58,968 £64,864.80 £76,658.40

What is the average number of transactions for your business?

If you have a system for managing customer accounts and tracking purchases, this next step will be really straightforward. If you have a computer-based point of sale system, your reporting functions may even be able to calculate this figure for you.

To figure out the average number of times each customer buys from you, you need to choose a time period (the last 12 months is a good starting point) and a sample of customer accounts with the number of times each has purchased from you. Take 50 at random, or all the customers starting with the letter “T” as an example to illustrate the point.

Then, add up the total number of transactions for each of the customers in your sample, and divide the total by the number of customers in your sample. This is your average number of transactions. For example, if I have a sample of 10 customers, my calculation might look something like this:

4 + 5 + 2 + 8 + 5 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 6 = 32 32 / 10 = 3.2 average number of transactions

If you don’t have an existing data source for this information, survey your customers or start your own tracking system to use over the course of a week or month. Note on your customers’ accounts when they purchased and what they purchased, or keep a tally at the cash register. If you can’t survey your customers or create a viable database, then just estimate the figure based on your observations over a week or over the history of your business.

Remember that the average number of transactions is going to be different for every business. Grocery stores will have far different figures than furniture stores, computer stores will have dramatically different numbers than coffee shops based on the frequency that people need those products or services.

What is the average customer acquisition cost for your business?

Do you know how much do you spend – on average – on each customer you acquire? To calculate this, simply divide the amount of money you spend per month (or per campaign) on lead generation by the total number of sales in that month (or campaign duration).

For example, if you spend an average of £5,000 each month on advertising, and you generate about 250 unique sales per month, your average customer acquisition cost is £20. Or, if you spent £10,000 on an ad campaign over three months, and generated 400 campaign-specific sales, your customer acquisition cost would be £25.

To evaluate this figure, look at it as a percentage of your average sale. Of the 250 unique sales in first example from the paragraph above, and say the average purchase was £75, £40 of which was margin. Subtract the customer acquisition cost from your margin, and you’ll have the average profit of each sale, in this case it’s £20.

What is the lifetime value of your customers?

Now, assuming your average customer acquisition cost is £20, let’s take a look at what would happen if you turned that customer into a lifetime customer. What value does that customer have to your business?

First let’s look at the value of a single transaction customer:

Customer Acquisition Cost £20
Number of transactions 1
Average value of each transaction £75
Average profit margin £40
Margin minus acquisition cost £20
Total value of customer £20

Then, assume that an average customer ‘lifetime’ with your business is about five years. Calculate as you did above, spreading the customer acquisition cost over the total number of transactions.

Customer Acquisition Cost £20
Number of transactions 15 (assuming 3 per year)
Average value of each transaction £75
Average profit margin £40
Margin minus acquisition cost £38.67 (£40 – [£20/15])
Total value of customer £580

Here’s a more in-depth look at cost of a single transaction customer, in comparison to a tripe transaction customer or a lifetime customer:

ONE TIME YEAR LIFETIME
Customer Acquisition Cost £20 £20 £20
Number of Transactions 1 3 15
Average Value of Each Transaction £75 £75 £75
Average Profit Margin on Each Transaction (excluding acquisition cost) £40 £40 £40
Actual profit per Transaction (profit margin – [customer acquisition cost / # of transactions]) £20 (£40 – £20) £33.33 (£40 – (£20/3)) £38.67 (£40 – (£20/15))
Lifetime Value of Customer (in profit)(actual profit per transaction x # of transactions) £20 £100 £580

Based on the chart above, you can see that the lifetime customer who purchased from you 15 times over five years brought your business £580 in profit, in comparison to the single transaction customer who brought your business £20 in profit.

Both customers cost you the same amount – £20 – but there is a £560 difference in return on investment! Repeat business – the average number of transactions per customer – makes a huge difference on your bottom line.

Give yourself permission to fire some of your customers.

Everyone has a group of customers they enjoy doing business with and are pleased to continually serve (our A-list). Likewise, we all also have a group of customers (our C-list) who are a pain to deal with. They may consistently complain, only take advantage of special offers or never spend much money after a bunch of hassle.

Like a good business owner, I bet you treat every customer with respect, and give them the attention they need – even the C-list. Here is where the 80/20 rule applies: 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. That 20% of your customers is what we call your A-list.

The important point here is that while you’re busy trying to make your C-list customer happy, you’re missing the opportunity to give your A-list customer the level of service they deserve. Since the majority of your revenue comes from your A-list customers, that’s where you should be focusing your efforts.

So, give yourself permission to fire your C-list, and stop bending over backwards to address their concerns. Don’t let them rule your time. Spend your efforts making your A-list happy, and their purchases will more than make up the difference.

Let’s look at some strategies that will help you boost your repeat business, and your bottom line.

Customer Service

Everyone- even businesses with high customer service standards – can improve the service they provide to their customers. This phrase is used a lot, but it’s true: Under promise and over deliver.

If you’re looking for new ways to impress your customers with service, conduct a survey of your existing customers and ask them how you can enhance or streamline their experience dealing with your company.

When you establish standards of customer service, make sure they are:

Consistently implemented by everyone in your business. Every customer who walks through the door experiences the same level of service, and receive that same service every time they walk through the door.

Convenient for your customer. Make the purchase process seamless for your customer. Think of all the steps your customers has to take from driving or walking to the store until they leave with their purchase, and try to eliminate any inconvenient elements.

Driven by the needs and wants of the customer. Understand how your target market wants to be treated when they’re purchasing from you. What do they value most from the experience? High end linens, or fast service? One-on-one assistance, or ample space and time to browse?

Newsletters

Use newsletters to establish and maintain regular contact with your customers. This is an easy, time-effective and cost-effective customer retention strategy

You’ll spend an upcoming Business Growth Masterclass learning how to create and send effective newsletters, but the most important point to remember is that the newsletter (just like all other marketing materials) needs to be focused on the needs and interests of your target audience.

The most popular and environmentally friendly form of distribution is through email. This is highly cost effective, as some web-based programs start at just £10 per month, and can be customised to your business’ graphic standards.

Here is a list of the types of content you can include in your newsletter:

  • Expert advice or opinion
  • New product or service features
  • New offers or promotions
  • Company news
  • Customer surveys
  • “Missed you!” emails
  • Event or closed-door sale invitations

Added Value

Find ways to increase your customers’ perception of value so they feel that their money goes further at your business compared to the competition. Value added products or services not only add to your average Transaction value but create repeat customers by:

Making a great first impression. Providing a customer with more than they expected – something goes beyond meeting their needs – establishes a solid first impression of your business. They learn to associate the experience of shopping at your business with pleasant surprises, which is a huge draw for returning customers.

Giving them a reason to come back. The perception that your products or services have a higher value than the competition will convince your customers to purchase from you, and refer their friends. The addition of new value-added products or services will keep them coming back.

Here are some examples of added value:

  • Free shipping/delivery with minimum purchase
  • Premium product or service line
  • Bonus gift with minimum purchase
  • Complementary product packages
  • Guarantees or risk-free purchases

happy customer

Incentives and Customer Loyalty Programs

A common form of customer retention is to provide incentives to customers to entice them to come back and buy from you.

A systemised form of incentives is called a Customer Loyalty Programme – and I bet you’re part of several. Loyalty programs work because they provide a consistent visual reminder of your business through a card, key fob, rewards vouchers, or other such items, and give the customer a financial incentive to purchase from you instead of your competition.

These programs vary from simple cards to complex rewards structures, but they don’t have to be complicated or costly. Plus, once they’re in place, they’re super easy to maintain. Loyalty programs are also great market research tools because you can collect a wealth of information on the signup form, maintain a detailed database and monitor their purchase habits.

You’ll spend an entire Business Growth Masterclass learning how to set up a loyalty programme from start to finish, but here are the basic structures to give you an idea:

Loyalty Cards Provide a wallet size card and use a stamp or punch to track their purchases until they reach 10. When they reach the magic number, the next product or service is free.

Rewards Dollars Return a certain percentage of each purchase to the customer using coupons that can only be spent with you.

Rewards Points Award a certain percentage of each pound they spend to a points account. These points can be used to spend in-store, or on special items brought in for points-holders only.

Membership Amenities Produce membership cards, and give your members access to services, discounts or amenities that other customers do not have access to.

Remember, each of your customers is a valuable asset that you have purchased to grow your business.

Treat your customers like you would treat good friends, and offer them the perks and rewards they deserve for their loyalty. I find that this approach is also a lot more rewarding because I get to know my customers, and some of them actually become friends.

Of course, there will always be a few clients you’ll never please, so keep the 80/20 rule fresh in your mind. Don’t be afraid of firing the customers who drain your time and your resources. Your A-list will more than make up the difference in revenue.

In the next Business Masterclass, I’ll show you a ton of ways you can add value to your product or service, and boost the pound value of each and every sale.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

You can  use the contact form below to discuss and get help with the topics covered in this, or any of the previous Business Growth Masterclasses.

Until next time, good luck!

Business Growth Masterclass 15 – How to Improve Your Conversion Rate

Create More Success

Hello there and welcome to the 15th instalment of my Business Growth Masterclass. The step by step guide to building the business you always wished you could have.

Today, we’re going to look at a few tips and tricks to increase your conversion rates from lead to paying customer or client.

As ever though, before we get our teeth into today’s material, lets just check on actions from the last Business Growth Masterclass:

Did you do your homework?

  • You have implemented two persuasive writing techniques in your marketing materials.
  • You have elaborated on your list of emotional trigger words and phrases that will inspire your target market to take action.

Now that your target prospects are answering your call to action, how can you get them to actually become your customers?

conversions funnel

A big part of your focus to date has been on identifying who your ideal customers are, deciding how to reach them, and how to communicate with them so that they take action and contact you. Converting leads into customers is your next point of focus, and step two of the five-step process. You’ve spent so much time and money enticing the right people to raise their hands and identify themselves that now all you and your staff need to do is convince them to become your customers. Generally, how your potential customers perceive your business and your staff, as well as how much trust you can build and how fast you can build that trust are the two key factors that impact conversion rates. Secondly, the strength of your sales process and scripts as well as the level of risk involved in purchasing your product or service also have a powerful impact on conversion rates. But before we get into ways you can improve your conversion rates, let’s take a look at where conversions stand in your business right now. I’ll also show you how to evaluate whether you have a strong conversion rate or not – it’s not as black and white as you think.

In this Masterclass we will cover:

  • How your conversion rate impacts the bottom line
  • How to measure your conversion rate
  • How to evaluate your conversion rate
  • How trust and qualified lead generation impacts conversion rates
  • Strategies for improving your conversion rate

Your conversion rate is the second factor in the customer equation.

A conversion rate is simply the number of transactions divided by the number of leads during a specific time period. It’s a ratio between the number of people you attracted with your lead generation strategies, and the number of people who purchased from you and became your customers. So if 150 people come through your store in a day, and 50 of them make a purchase, your conversion rate is 33% for that day.

Converting leads – which is essentially the sales process – is likely the core of your daily business efforts. You’ve spent time and money setting up lead generation systems and strategies, so it stands to reason that you should put equal time and energy into converting those leads into loyal customers. I’m going to show you in a few minutes how you can improve your conversion rate with a few simple strategies, but first I want to show you how increasing your conversion rate alone will have a dramatic impact on your bottom line. Using the five-step formula, here is an example of how a 10% and 30% increase in conversions can impact your total profit.

Starting Point 10% Increase 30% Increase
Leads 4,500 4,500 4,500
Conversion Rate 30% 33% (10% increase) 39% (30% increase)
Customers 1350 1485 1755
Transactions 1.3 1.3 1.3
Average Sales Value £140 £140 £140
Revenue £245,700 £270,270 £319,410
Margins 24% 24% 24%
Profit £58,968 £64,864.80 £76,658.40

What is the average conversion rate for your business?

To figure out your conversion rate, choose a specific time period (day, week, month, campaign) and then divide the total number of sales transactions by the number of people who inquired about your product or service (leads) and multiply by 100. This is a percentage value of your conversion rate. For example, 50 transactions / 150 leads x 100 = 33% conversion rate. Now, if I wanted to look at conversions over a specific time period, the rate would vary:

Leads Sales Conversion Rate
Day 150 50 33%
Week 910 286 31%
Month 4050 1196 29%

If you’ve been tracking your leads over the past few weeks, you’ll be in good shape. All you may have to do is look at your lead tracking sheet, and divide into it your total number of sales over specific time periods. You’ll be able to analyse what your conversion rate looks like over the course of ad or direct mail campaigns, as well as over various weeks in the month. If you haven’t started tracking your leads, you’re going to have to start in order to understand what your true conversion rate is. In my experience, many business owners overestimate what this percentage actually is, so I feel this is an important step in the process.

Keep track of the following items in your conversion rate measurement sheet:

  • Start date and end date of the measurement period (by ad campaign, week, or month)
  • Total number of leads (divided by source – telephone, in store, online, etc.)
  • Total number of sales transactions
  • How trust and qualified lead generation impacts conversion rates

If you’re starting to track leads and sales today, by the end of a week you’ll have a reasonable understanding of where your business stands.

How do you evaluate if your conversion rate is “good” or not?

I have clients ask me this all the time, ‘Once you know what your conversion rate is, how can you tell if it’s “good” or “profitable”?’ Unfortunately, the answer isn’t a black and white one. The truth is that conversion rates vary and depend on the product, service and customer base. Different businesses can have dramatically different rates, yet both rates can mean the respective companies are highly successful. For example, a thriving pound store may have a conversion rate of almost 80%, while a profitable furniture store may have a conversion rate of 30%. Other businesses might have rates of anywhere from 4% to 99%. You can put it into perspective if you think about how differently these businesses operate. Pound stores generally have a high volume of foot traffic and offer a wide variety of products. The price point is low, and most people who walk into a pound store buy something. Furniture stores, on the other hand, offer products of a higher value that usually require more thought prior to purchase. The store generally advertises to attract leads that are looking for specific items and features. Lastly, the product requires a much more substantial investment. So, instead of focusing on how close your conversion rate is to 100%, you need to think of conversions as relative to your break-even point – either for a campaign or for regular business operations. To do this, you need more information than the rate itself. You need to know how many leads you need to convert into customers to see a return on investment. You need to know how much money each lead costs you, on average how much they spend, and how much of their spend is actual profit. For example, if you have £4,000 to spend on advertising and you want to see £20,000 in sales, will a 20% conversion rate be enough to do the job? To answer this, you need more information on other measures in your business. You need to know your average pound sale and average customer acquisition cost. In this example, let’s say your average pound sale is £42 and your average customer acquisition cost is £2.50. (You’ll look at customer acquisition costs in the next Masterclass). If you take your £4,000 advertising budget and divide by your £2.50 customer acquisition cost, you’ll expect to generate about 1,600 leads. So 1,600 leads with a 20% conversion rate would equal 320 sales – not bad. Now, take the 320 projected sales times the average pound sale of £75, and you’ll get £24,000 in revenue. That’s a reasonable ROI for a £4,000 investment! But is the 20% conversion rate a ‘good’ one? To answer this, you’ll have to factor in your profit margin to determine the answer. You wanted to achieve £20,000 from your £4,000 advertising investment. Let’s say your average profit margin is 45.3%. So, on each £75 sale, you made £34 profit. So, let’s look at your actual profit after costs:

320 sales x £34 profit per transaction= £10,880 in take home profit.

So, when the rest of your business measures are factored in, you actually only achieved a 272% return on investment, which is about half of what you were targeting. Therefore, in this case, a 20% target conversion rate isn’t necessarily a strong one for your business.

Now, before you dive into any conversion rate boosting strategies, focus on building trust and generating qualified leads – the cornerstones of a profitable conversion rate.

You probably already know that trust is a huge factor in any exchange with a potential customer. When you first learned about sales and the selling process, you learned about building trust and rapport with the people who are giving you their money. So, trust is therefore a big factor in having a healthy (and profitable) conversion rate. Your prospect needs to trust in the value of your offering, as well as the credibility of the business and the knowledge of the people who work there. The issue here, of course, is the length of time it takes to truly establish trust, or credibility. With all your new leads – practically strangers – walking through the door and picking up the phone, you need to establish instant trust and credibility in order to make the most of the time you spend with each prospect. The other important point I want to make is about the role that qualified leads have in your conversion rate. It’s one thing to have hundreds of leads contact you on a daily basis, but if they’re not qualified leads, they’re less likely to buy, and are therefore potentially wasting your time and squashing your conversion rate.

Here are five ways you can boost your conversion rate with little improvements to your business.

satisfied_customers

1. Build instant trust.

Use testimonials. Ask happy customers to write testimonials about their experience at your business. Use their words (or even their whole letters) in your marketing materials, or post them in your place of business. Testimonials boost confidence in what you’re offering and establish trust in the eyes of prospects.

Showcase your good news. Post awards, accolades, media articles and other ‘proof’ of your credibility around your business and on your website.

2. Create an image of quality.

Consider the appearance of your staff. How do you and your staff members dress? Does your appearance communicate the right message to potential clients about your offering? You don’t need to show up in a suit every day, but make sure everyone’s appearance is professional and appropriate for your business.

Improve the perception of your business. This includes the physical state of your place of business, as well as the quality of your marketing materials and the quality of the service customers’ receive when they purchase from you.

Give merchandise displays a boost. Can you make your products look more attractive through the way they’re displayed or arranged? Put complementary products together, and create feature product displays to create variety and interest.

3. Train and develop your staff.

Give staff conversion targets and incentives. Remember that you’re not the only one who can contribute to an increase in conversions. Involve and support your staff in tracking and boosting conversion rates. Give them individual targets, and incentives for meeting them.

Review and improve sales process. Everyone can improve their sales skills, and refine the process they use to close sales. Take an opportunity to watch and give feedback to your staff members, or hold a brainstorming session to discuss what techniques, phrases, objections are most effective when selling your product or service.

Develop and continuously update scripts. If you’re not using scripts, it’s time to start (you’ll see why in an upcoming Masterclass). If you are using scripts, make sure you’re revising and improving them on a regular basis based on what you and your staff experience during the sales process.

Focus on customer education instead of sales. Face it, no one likes to be ‘sold’ to. Focus your sales process on building a relationship with and educating your customer on the benefits and solutions of your offering. The more they learn, the more they’ll believe what you have to say, trusting the business enough to make a purchase.

4. Improve your offering.

customer-service

Increase quality, exclusivity or range. Can you improve the quality of products or services that you offer? Carry a more exclusive product, or extend your range of products? Take a look at your merchandising mix and service menu and identify areas where you can expand or specialise.

Make great offers. Strong offers can also serve as an incentive for a potential customer to complete the sale. Offer great perceived value, or exclusive and time-sensitive products or services, and you’ll see a spike in your conversion rate.

5. Take away purchase risk.

Provide free trials and demonstrations. Allow your customers to test out your product or service for free, with no obligation to purchase. Or, offer free demonstrations so your customer can see the benefit or solution your product or service provides.

Guarantee product or service performance. Take away the purchase risk from your potential customer, and you’ll have a powerful strategy for closing sales and increasing conversions. This is also an immediate trust and credibility booster – you are so confident in your product or service’s results that you’re guaranteeing them.

Work with your staff on a daily or weekly basis to consistently measure and increase conversion rates.

Post a calendar in the staff room or common area, and track your targeted and actual conversion rates on a daily and weekly basis. This will give you and your staff a visual reminder of the company’s goals, as well as an indication of how the team is performing. You don’t work in your business alone, so involve and motivate your team to support you in growing your business. Give them incentives and help them develop their sales skills, and I promise you’ll see an impact on your conversions. The next step is about customer loyalty – how to keep your clients coming back to make new purchases, instead of continuously trying to buy new clients. As always, let me know if you have any questions.

You can  use the contact form below to discuss and get help with the topics covered in this,or Any of the previous Business Growth Masterclasses.

Until next time, good luck!

A Little Coaching Exercise for the New Year

Hi everybody,

 

Each year as we approach the close of one year and the beginning of another I go through an exercise with my coach which I find extremely beneficial and rewarding. I have asked if I can share it with my clients past and present, and other close contacts.

 

This is way beyond creating New Year resolutions and is much more about moving on to the future with renewed optimism and focus. I hope you have the chance to do it rather than just read it. It is important that you write down the answers rather than just think them through especially as it is a really enjoyable exercise to complete.

 

Step One

 

Look over the past year and:

A)   Make a list of all the wins, successes and breakthroughs in the past year. Look at all areas of your life. What do you want to celebrate and acknowledge?

B)   Make a list of all the losses, disappointments and breakdowns in the past year. What do you want to forgive yourself for and release?

C)   Bring this list to our session. We will discuss what it means to be “complete” with each item. Incompleteness holds us back from taking on the next exciting opportunity.

Step Two

 

Looking over the past year, what are the 5-7 lessons you have learned?

Choose the lessons that you want to carry over into the New Year.

What learning is there to deepen?

Some examples of learning:

  1.   I learned to windsurf, play bridge or speak Spanish
  2.   I learned that my mistakes do not mean I am a failure
  3.   I learned that more is possible for me than I ever imagined

 

As you review your goals and commitments for 2014, which areas do you want to maintain, bring into the New Year, revise, be complete with?

 

Step Three

 

Consider these questions as you prepare your vision for 1 year from now:

  • As you stand on one of the peaks looking forward, what future is calling?
  • What is the essence of what is next for you?
  • What do you want to achieve or accomplish?
  • What risks and challenges will you take on?
  • What more of you wants to be expressed — for example, self-love, self-compassion, self-value?
  • What self-lies (e.g., “I am not powerful.”) are you ready and willing to end?
  • What new level of abundance and success are you willing to embrace?

 

Imagine one year ahead, and write a list of all the wins, successes and breakthroughs for the coming year. What would you like to learn or accomplish by the end of the next year? Write this list as though it has already happened. Make it as long as you choose, and be sure to look at each area of your life.

Prioritise the list. Look at how each item fits with your values, make plans and set accountability for the next year.

 

Step Four

 

Much like the Chinese tradition that gives names to each year, choose a name for this coming year. Use images, symbols or ideas to name the coming year. What image allows you to step more fully into what you want to be, and are already becoming? Find a name that stretches your imagination and moves you into greater possibility.

Examples: Year of Balance, Year of the Soaring Eagle, Year of the Wild Woman Set Free, Year of the Creative Genius, etc.

Step Five

 

Finally, consider where we are in our relationship:

  • What do you want more of, less of, the same of?
  • In what ways might this relationship and our work better serve you?

 

Please try PRINTING IT OFF and DOING IT… it may not be as artistic or colourful as a Greetings card but I guarantee the positive attitude, actions and focus will last for a whole year.

Have some great time off and a prosperous new year.

Cheers for now,

 

David T Preston

Business and Executive Coach

Business Growth Masterclass 13: Marketing Materials – Ads

Hello there, and welcome to the 13th instalment of my Business Growth Masterclass. The step by step guide to building the business you always wished you could have.

Today, we’re going to look at the importance of high quality advertisements in your overall marketing mix.

As ever though, before we get our teeth into today’s material, lets just check on actions from the last Business Growth Masterclass:

Checkpoint:

  • You have created a list of words to use in your marketing materials that will target your potential customer’s emotional motivators.
  • You have practiced writing headlines, and are working to strengthen the headlines you have been using.

For many small business owners, advertising is a confusing, expensive marketing strategy that delivers mediocre results.

We’re surrounded by advertising everywhere we look. From TV commercials and Google Adwords to local newspaper and radio spots, everyone is vying for your attention and the money in your wallet.

So, as a small business owner, how do you weed through the big corporate marketing campaigns and your competitors’ ads, flashy design and high budgets, and figure out what you should do for your own business?

In this Masterclass I want to show you how to create clear, cost-effective ads and placement campaigns that get results for your company.

I use a few hand picked templatesfor my coaching clients and I’m going to share some of this material with you today. They’re not going to win any advertising awards, but they don’t need to because they’ve generated hundreds of thousands of pounds for small business owners just like yourself! At the end of the day, do you want an advertising trophy, or thousands of pounds in the bank?

In this Business Growth Masterclass we will cover:

  • Types of advertising
  • Print advertising for lead generation
  • Steps to creating effective (and inexpensive!) print and classified ads
  • Testing and measuring your ads
  • Examples of effective ads

Successful advertisements are those that have been designed with a clear purpose, and for a specific target audience.

Successful ads are successful because they pay for themselves with the sales traffic they generate. They bring in leads, promote products and services, and maintain awareness of your business.

So, like all of the lead generation strategies you’ve been working on, effective advertising is rooted in a strong understanding of your target market and how to motivate them to do what you want them to do.

Successful advertising, no matter what its specific purpose is, always:

  • provides a benefit, meets a need, or solves a problem
  • targets an audience that wants or needs the benefit or solution
  • offers a product that is closely tied to the benefit or solution
  • clearly communicates the message (the benefit or solution) and is easy to understand
  • pays for itself by generating a high volume of sales traffic

Every business should have an overall strategy or purpose for their advertising over time. This will not only allow you to save money by making bulk ad purchases, but will keep you from advertising on an infrequent basis, or in an ad hoc fashion.

Align your advertising with your business growth or positioning goals, and map out a six month or year-long strategy. Do you want to position your business as the expert in the industry? Double your lead generation? Sell a specific product or service? Announce new products or services? Maintain awareness of your company?

Here are some forms of advertising that each have a separate purpose:

Information Advertising is a common form of advertising that features the company in question in a positive light. Be careful not to misuse this form, as no reader is going to be interested in an ad that is too “me”, “me”, “me” focused. Always provide something of interest or benefit to your reader.

Image Advertising is a type of advertising that reinforces your brand name and image. It’s a less aggressive strategy that aims to keep your business at the top of customers’ minds, even if you have no specific message to communicate. It might include running frequent small ads with just your business logo and phone number or email address.

Ads That Sell convince a prospect to make a purchase before they’ve even identified themselves as prospects. These are more rare forms of advertisements, and harder to create. Lead generation ads are a more effective way to generate traffic.

In this Masterclass, we’re going to focus on advertising for lead generation.

Ads that have been created for lead generation have a strong “call to action” and are focused on motivating readers to respond.

You may want prospects to pick up the phone, bring in a coupon, enter their contact information in a contest, call for free information, visit your website or visit your place of business. At that point, they enter the formal sales process and you can work to convert them into loyal repeat customers.

Use the emotional motivators you’ve been focusing on the previous Business Growth Masterclasses to speak to your target audience, and focus on getting your readers to do something that identifies themselves as potential buyers.

1. Design your advertising strategy. Advertise to your target market in the places they go to most often for information.

Using the information you gathered in your market research, determine the publications that your target market accesses most often.

  • Do they read the local newspaper? If so, which section?
  • Is there a community newsletter or neighbourhood publication that would also serve as an effective vehicle for your message?
  • Is there a local listing publication that would serve as an inexpensive way to test and measure your offer?
  • Can you create a YellowPages ad that generates leads?

Once you have determined the publication (or publications) that you wish to target, make contact with the sales representative at each. This person is a great resource for you to use to your advantage – ask questions about size, specs, deadlines, proofs, changes and other expectations. Newspapers often use their own systems for layout, and have their own requirements for file preparation.

This person will also have demographic information on the publication’s readership, so gain access to that data and use it to inform your campaign.

When you are establishing a relationship with the publication, make sure to spread your advertising budget out to maximise your investment. Publications will often give you discounted rates when you buy in bulk, or commit to a certain budget over the year. Keep in mind that you will need to test and measure which ads are effective, and which aren’t, so try to structure your contract in a way that allows for flexibility.

While you are looking for a good advertising rate, remember that advertising is an investment that you make into the growth of your business. That money is used to ‘buy’ customers, whose purchases become your return on investment.

Ad placement is also an important consideration, but you will have varying degrees of influence over the final placement. Always request placement that is well forward and in the top right-hand corner, preferably in the section of the paper that best relates to your industry.

Advertise frequently – or at least regularly – to see the highest return on investment. There are a number of reasons for this:

  1. People need to be reminded constantly of your business (even big household names like CocaCola advertise regularly)
  2. There are always new customers to market to
  3. The people who are actually looking to purchase your offering are a percentage of your target market that rotates regularly
  4. People need to see your advertisement regularly to build trust and belief in credibility

Make a plan for regular advertising that suits your budget. You may want to alternate between large and small ads, or between display and classified ads.

2. Write copy for your ad that speaks to the emotional motivators of your target audience.

Use the writing and persuasion skills you’ve been learning in the past two Masterclasses, and apply the same principles to writing your ad copy. The next Masterclass will take an in-depth look at copywriting; so more help is on the way!

Like you learned in the headlines Masterclass, the most important part of your copy is your headline. You need to start with a headline that catches their attention with emotional triggers, and then gives them a reason to keep reading and care about what you have to say.

In advertisements it’s especially useful to follow your headline with a subheadline that is equally interesting and engaging. The remainder of your copy should focus on communicating the benefits or solutions that your product will provide, and deliver on any promises you made in your headline. Tell your prospects why they should take action, and what they’ll get when they do. Use the emotional trigger words to hit their ‘hot buttons’ and keep them reading.

A final tip in writing ads for lead generation is about weeding out unqualified leads. Make sure you include enough information in your ad to deter unlikely customers from making contact with you. For example, be up front about price and you’ll avoid dozens of phone calls from people who can’t afford to purchase your offering.

3. Ask your customers to take action.

Since the purpose of your ad is to generate qualified leads, your call to action has to be prominently featured so your readers know what to do and how to do it.

  1. Ensure the way you want them to contact you is a larger font size than the rest of your contact details, or the only contact method.
  2. Tell them how to receive what you’ve promised – free information, a special offer, preferred status. For example – Call 0845 6669997 right now and ask for Ted; Visit www.newco.com and sign-up to start receiving your bonus guide; or come to the store and ask for your membership card.
  3. Link your call to action to copy that mentions customer benefits and rewards. Phrases like, Call now and start receiving: lists of benefits are particularly strong motivators.

4. Layout your ad using these guidelines.

Remember that it is the strength of your message and the clarity of the layout that will determine how effective your ad will be. Resist the urge to get really creative and stick to a clean and simple design.

Layout should be kept simple and allow the message to come through clearly, not the formatting. Keep all type horizontal, and avoid the urge to get too creative.

Headlines are absolutely essential to successful ads. Create a powerful headline that draws in readers, and make it stand out from the rest of the ad.

White Space gives your reader’s eyes a place to rest and will keep their attention on your ad longer. If you cram too much copy or too many images into a small space, your readers will move on.

Type needs to be easy to read, but also stand out from neighbouring newspaper copy. Stick to a maximum of two types of font, and avoid font sizes below 9pt. ALL CAPS and reversed type (white on black) should also be avoided.

Images need to be professionally taken in order to be reproduced in newspapers. Take care that black and white images are not too dark, or too light, and choose photos the will clearly communicate your message.

Color can boost the response rate to your ad by almost 40% over a black and white one, so use it if you can fit it into your budget.

5. Make sure to be aware of and set yourself apart from the competition

Pay attention to what your competitors are doing so you are aware of what they are doing well, doing poorly, or not doing at all. With this awareness, you can make choices to set yourself apart, or improve on your own strategies.

Without copying their strategies (you don’t want to be a “me too” business), look at their messages, layout, placement choices and offers. What can you do to give your offer or your ad an edge? Is there something they haven’t thought of?

You may want to get into the habit of clipping their ads out of the newspaper, and making observations about the messaging or design. Use this information to improve your ads and distinguish your business, but stay focused on your own purpose and messages.

6. Test and measure each and every ad, every time you run it.

Like I said above, successful advertising is advertising that pays for itself.

It is helpful to think of advertising as an investment, rather than an expense. You are investing money in your business and using it to ‘buy’ customers. Ideally, those customers will offer you a favorable return on your investment by purchasing from you on a repeat basis (we’ll look in detail at customer acquisition costs and lifetime value in an upcoming Masterclass).

The only way you will know if an ad is paying for itself is if you track and measure the results it generates. You need to know where your customers are coming from, how they found out about your business, and why they decided to take action.

You can use your lead tracking system to do this, and then assess the results at the end of a fixed time period. You can also put codes or “keys” on your ads to indicate where your customers came from. This includes actual codes on coupons that tell you which publication the ad was placed in and in which week, as well as different offers and bonuses: Buy 2 get 1 free vs. Free gift with purchase, or Guide to Home Energy Savings vs. 25 Ways to Save Money on Energy Costs.

Remember, effective print and classified advertising rarely needs to be flashy or clever.

Get into the habit of always asking yourself, “what am I trying to accomplish with this ad?” You can even write your purpose on a sticky note and put it on your computer screen to keep you focused. Then, make sure that your headline, message and unique offer all cater to that purpose.

Effective advertising doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or even cleverly designed. Like all aspects of lead generation, it really comes down to a strong understanding of your target audience, and knowing how to communicate with them.

So, in the next Business Growth Masterclass I’m going to help you become a better copywriter. You’ll build on the skills you cultivated creating strong offers and writing effective headlines, and learn how to craft persuasive text.

Oh, by the way, if you would like some help with the ideas discussed in this, or any of the previous Business Growth Masterclasses, or to get expert help with any other aspect of growing your business, use the following form to get in touch: (Listen, I know some of you don’t like filling in forms like this, but I promise you it will be worth your while. Go ahead!)

Thanks for tuning in!

Business Growth Masterclass 12 – How to Write Marketing Headlines That Stop Them in Their Tracks

Hello there, and welcome to the 12th instalment of my Business Growth Masterclass blog. The step by step guide to building the business you always wished you could have.

Today, we’re going to look at how to write headlines for your marketing material which will stop your target customers and clients in their tracks.

As ever though, before we get our teeth into today’s material, lets just check on actions from the last Business Growth Masterclass:

  • You have created at least two offers that you can use as lead generation tools .
  • You have begun to test and measure the strength of your two strong offers to evaluate which is more effective.

Everybody done that? OK. Let’s get on with finding out how to write attention grabbing headlines.

This may sound obvious and may also sound simple, but all your headline needs to do is convince your reader to keep reading. But simple is not always that easy…..

Just like your lead generating offer, your headline has one job. It doesn’t need to close sales, or win copywriting awards, it just needs to grab and hold your reader’s attention long enough to keep them reading.

Studies have shown that around 80% of people read headlines when they’re looking through the newspaper, but only about 20% actually read the ad or article.

Your headline is the only tool you have to get the rest of your copy read, so you’ll need to focus the majority of your copywriting efforts on catching and holding your readers’ attention. The rest of your copy only matters if you can get them to read it!

In this Business Growth Masterclass we will cover:

  • The role of strong headlines in all of your marketing materials
  • Headlines as emotional motivators
  • How to create strong headlines for your audience
  • Examples of strong headlines
  • Headline templates
  • Testing and measuring headlines

Headlines shouldn’t be limited to advertising alone – they’re essential elements of sales letters, direct mail cards, websites, newsletters and brochures.

Headlines are used to grab and hold reader’s attention in ALL marketing materials – not just advertisements in newspapers. Most readers take only a few seconds to decide if they want to spend any time reading what you have to say, in an email, website, sales letter or direct mail postcard. Just like you, your audience is bombarded by information every minute of the day, so if you haven’t convinced them to care in a few seconds or less, they’ve already moved on.

Your subheadline is almost as important, because it’s your second chance to tell the reader why they should care and keep their attention. It also creates a transition between your headline and the body of your letter or advertisement, and acts as a teaser.

Every headline should:

  • Grab the reader’s attention
  • Be something the reader cares about
  • Offer your reader something
  • Trigger emotional reactions
  • Incite curiosity

Headlines need to trigger an emotional response and motivate your reader to keep reading.

When you’re writing, you have to put yourself in the mindset of your audience. People are pressed for time, so your headline has to offer something to them that is going to solve their problem, make their life easier, or give them information that they know they need. Otherwise, they’ve already turned the page.

For example, if I were to write a headline like this – Give me three hours of your time and I’ll show you how to double your annual income by creating a passive income stream – I’m probably targeting overworked, overwhelmed, underpaid professionals who are struggling to provide for their families. I’ve tapped into their emotional motivators and caught their attention.

There are a few categories of basic human needs that most purchase motivations come from. When you are aware of these, you will be able to incorporate them into your writing and appeal to your target market’s emotions.

By identifying your target market’s needs, wants, and desires, you’ll be able to identify the words and phrases that will effectively trigger emotional reactions, which will motivate them to take action.

Using the list of basic human needs below, identify which apply to your target market and create a list of words that will trigger the emotions related to these needs, wants and desires.

  • Personal, financial and emotional security for self and family
  • Convenience and time management
  • Freedom from worry, including peace of mind, comfort
  • Self-improvement, including spiritual, intellectual, physical
  • Acceptance and recognition from others, including self esteem, achievement, attention, respect, companionship
  • Basic needs, including food, shelter, clothing, love, personal maintenance

When you begin writing your headlines, you will discover that certain word combinations are also very powerful. You can combine your list of emotional trigger words with these power words in all of your copywriting.

According to a Yale University study, the top two rows of words are the most powerful words in the English language.

Love Money Health Discovery Proven Save
Safety You Easy Results New Guaranteed
Breakthrough Profits Discover Incredible Shocking Shocked
Ultimate Free Master Uncovered Hidden Secret
Revealed Scientific Your Powerful Suddenly Miracle
Now Magic Announcing Offer Introducing Quick
Improvement Amazing Wanted Sensational Challenge Remarkable
Compare Startling Bargain Hurry

Here’s how you can write effective headlines for your business in a few easy steps.

1. Identify who you are trying to target.

You need a clear understanding of who you’re writing for and what their motivators are before you can attempt to reach them. This is the target market you identified for yourself in Business Growth Masterclass Instalment 7, published in  April 2013.

If you are trying to target a more specific group within your target market, you can chose to segment your market into sub-markets by demographic or behavioural characteristics. For example, you might choose to focus on only men, or only women with children under five years of age.

The more specific you can be with your market, the easier time you will have identifying and reaching their emotional ‘hot buttons.’

2. Identify what you are trying to communicate.

Once you know who you’re speaking to, clearly define what message you want to communicate to them. Be specific, and even write it down in plain language before you start drafting your headlines.

To clearly articulate your message, ask yourself questions like:

  • Do you have a solution to their problem?
  • Do you offer a new product or service that they need?
  • Can you provide the information they’re looking for?
  • Do you have a better option for them?

3. Identify the motivators or “hot buttons” that will elicit an emotional response from your audience.

Take the list you drafted above, and highlight or write down the words that will pique your target market’s interest, or trigger their ‘hot buttons’.

If you’re selling vacuum cleaners to young mothers, you’re going to want to identify words that would appeal to her desire to keep her home germ free for toddlers, and make her cleaning efforts easier and less time consuming.

When you’re writing for sales and marketing, always try to paint a picture for your audience. Carefully select descriptive words they will relate to and resonate with, and strong power words like the ones listed above. For example, phrases like “challenging outdoor experiences” would appeal to physically fit readers, but not those who don’t like to exercise.

4. Choose a type of headline that will work best based on the emotional motivators you have identified.

Direct Headlines clearly and simply state the offer or message, without any attempt at humor or cleverness. Pure Silk Scarves – 40% This Weekend Only | Brand New Security System Just £99 Per Month

Indirect Headlines are subtle, and often use curiosity to pique a reader’s interest before providing an explanation in the body copy. Clever puns, figures of speech and double meanings are often used. The key to weight loss success lies in your backyard.

News Headlines mimic a headline you would read in the newspaper and are a great option for a new product announcement or industry scoop. These work best when you actually have news, and can stay focused on benefits, not features. Newco launches the ultimate timesaver for new moms

Question Headlines ask the reader something they can closely relate to or would need to continue reading to discover the answer. Questions are easy to read, and can immediately tap into your reader’s emotions.Are you tired of worrying about your children’s education fund? | Do you know what’s in your fruits and vegetables?

‘How to’ Headlines indicate that the rest of the copy or the offer itself will describe a step-by-step process of interest or use to the reader. These two words create headlines that work wonders. How to find a job in a recession | How to start a profitable internet business from scratch.

Command Headlines are similar to direct headlines, but always start with a strong verb or command for action. It usually focuses on the most important benefit you offer your reader. Triple your energy in just three days | Stop wasting money when you travel.

‘Reasons Why’ or ‘Ways to’ Headlines precede lists of tips, suggestions, product benefits or even mistakes of interest to your target audience. Keep the list to a reasonable length or you’ll run the risk of losing your reader. Eight ways to save money around the house | 25 mistakes you could be making at the grocery store.

Testimonial Headlines use other people’s opinions and expertise to persuade a reader to keep reading and begin to build trust. Quotation marks are used to indicate that the words are a testimonial, not the words of your business, and they can increase readership by almost 30%. “ToneYou Bootcamp completely changed the way I look at my body” – Miley Cirrus | “I never thought I’d get out of debt before I discovered Money Saver Inc!” – Grace LePage

5. Draft at least ten different headlines using the templates below, and pick your best three to test and measure.

I often get asked how long a headline should be. This is something that is debated in the marketing community quite a bit, but I always tell my clients not to worry too much about it. Use the number of words you need to get your point across, without writing a paragraph. Remember that your headline needs to do one thing: get the reader to keep reading.

Don’t be afraid to draft pages of headlines or sift through the pages of a thesaurus before you get yours just right. Sometimes you’re only a word or two away from transforming a boring headline into a really effective one. If you’re having trouble, you can rely on the headline templates I’ve included in this Business Growth Masterclass.

Headline Templates

  • How to become the smartest _____ in _____
  • How to end ______
  • How I improved my _____
  • How to develop _____
  • Seven ways to add to your _____ without cleaning out your bank account
  • How to begin _____
  • 12 innovations in _____ design
  • How to enjoy _____
  • Introducing the four key rules for _____
  • How I _____
  • Six things to check when buying a new _____
  • How to conquer _____
  • Complete these three simple steps for a _____
  • How to start_____
  • Five hints to make your _____ rise above the rest
  • How to have______
  • How to become _____
  • Announcing eight powerful answers to your “what _____ to buy” dilemma
  • Which _____ do the experts use?
  • Powerful ways to update your _____ for free
  • How to keep _____
  • The four components that make up a successful _____
  • How to improve your _____
  • Six essential questions to ask before you buy a _____
  • How to get ______
  • Three clever ways to impress _____ without breaking the bank
  • The six warning signs you don’t want to miss in _____
  • How to get the most out of ______
  • Nine tips from the _____ experts
  • How to avoid _____
  • How to stay ahead of business _____ trends in _____
  • How to get rid of _____
  • Five proven advantages that _____ enjoys over the competition
  • How you can _____
  • Finally! The latest _____ secrets revealed!
  • Learn how xxx has improved since you bought your last _____

6. Always test and measure the effectiveness of your headlines. Try two at a time and compare which generates the best results.

As always, you will need to test and measure the strength of your headlines. Try to test at least two “hot buttons” in different media to determine where your target audience’s reaction is the strongest.

You can leverage off of the information gathered from testing and measuring your powerful offer as well. For example, if the offer geared to safety and security concerns was a roaring success, headlines that tap into those motivators will also be successful.

You can apply these headline writing techniques to all your marketing materials, as well as your copywriting.

In our fast-paced society, nearly everyone has become a skimmer instead of a reader. Strong, well-written headlines are the only way you can lure a browser into reading your message – so use them on every piece of marketing material you have.

In future Business Growth Masterclasses, you’ll work on creating brochures, newsletters, direct mail pieces, sales letters and sales scripts – all of which need strong headlines to get noticed.

In the next Business Growth Masterclass we’re going to work on a really popular lead generation tool that also relies on effective headlines for success – ads. You’ll focus on how to use print advertising to bring in qualified leads, as well as how you might benefit from trying some inexpensive forms like classifieds ads and Yellow Pages.

See you in the next one!

Dave

Oh, by the way, if you would like some help with the ideas discussed in this, or any of the previous Business Growth Masterclasses, or to get expert help with any other aspect of growing your business, use the following form to get in touch: (Listen, I know some of you don’t like filling in forms like this, but I promise you it will be worth your while. Go ahead!)

94% Government subsidies for Your Business Coaching and Skills Training Costs.

A brilliant new programme for businesses, charities and social enterprises with the capacity to grow.

Would you like to employ more people in your local area?

Or grow your profits by 20% year on year?

Well, now you can claim back some of that hard earned money you’ve paid to the Government to help you do just that.

If you would like to benefit from up to 7 days of coaching and six half day workshops plus a free IP audit from as little as a one off £600, then please read on. This government funded programme is aimed at growing your organisation in the number of staff, net profits or assets. If you have less than 250 staff and do not have a larger or foreign parent company, then this is the scheme for you. If this is not for you, but you know others who might benefit, please pass this information on.

Companies with less than 10 staff will pay £600 for this programme, those with 11-50 staff £1500 and organisations with 51-250 staff pay £3000 for a package worth £10,000!

If you are accepted on this programme, you can also claim £2000 of match funding per member of staff in your organisation for leadership and management training.

Here are two examples:

Example one: Two man company:
Pay £600, claim £10K’s worth of coaching and workshops. If one of you wanted to do an MBA or other leadership qualification, you can claim £2K towards those costs too. Total package of £12K for a one off outlay of £600. Companies with less than 5 staff get the benefit of an intensive one day strategy planningworkshop plus around 4 days worth of coaching in this programme.

Example two: 200 staff company:
Pay £3000, claim £10K’s worth of coaching and workshops. If you get 20 of your staff to do leadership or management training, you can claim another £40K in costs. Total package of £50K for £3K. Companies with 5-49 staff get around 6 days worth of coaching, companies with 50-249 staff get around 7 days.

The scheme is even available to Sole Traders!

For a full list of the workshops, more information on the coaching or eligibility, please contact me using the form below as soon as possible. For the best chance of getting on the programme, please make your enquiry at the earliest possible opportunity.

Government subsidises 94% of Your Business Coaching and Skills Training Costs.

A brilliant new programme for businesses, charities and social enterprises with the capacity to grow.

Would you like to employ more people in your local area?

Or grow your profits by 20% year on year?

Well, now you can claim back some of that hard earned money you’ve paid to the Government to help you do just that.

If you would like to benefit from up to 7 days of coaching and six half day workshops plus a free IP audit from as little as a one off £600, then please read on. This government funded programme is aimed at growing your organisation in the number of staff, net profits or assets. If you have less than 250 staff and do not have a larger or foreign parent company, then this is the scheme for you. If this is not or you, but you know others who might benefit, please pass this information on.

Companies with less than 10 staff will pay £600 for this programme, those with 11-50 staff £1500 and organisations with 51-250 staff pay £3000 for a package worth £10,000!

If you are accepted on this programme, you can also claim £2000 of match funding per member of staff  in your organisation for leadership and management training.

Here are two examples:

Example one: Two man company:
Pay £600, claim £10K’s worth of coaching and workshops. If one of you wanted to do an MBA or other leadership qualification, you can claim £2K towards those costs too. Total package of £12K for a one off outlay of £600. Companies with less than 5 staff get the benefit of an intensove one day strategy plannign workshop plus around 4 days worth of coaching in this programme.

Example two: 200 staff company:
Pay £3000, claim £10K’s worth of coaching and workshops. If you get 20 of your staff to do leadership or management training, you can claim another £40K in costs. Total package of £50K for £3K. Companies with 5-49 staff get around 6 days worth of coaching, companies with 50-249 staff get around 7 days.

The scheme is even available to Sole Traders!

For a full list of the workshops, more information on the coaching or eligibility, please contact me using the form below as soon as possible. For the best chance of getting on the programme, enquire as soon as possible.

Business Growth Masterclass 10 – How to Create Marketing Materials that Work!

Create More Success

Hello again everyone, and welcome to the 10th instalment in my series “Business Growth Masterclass”

As ever, before we begin, lets recap on the main points from the last Masterclass.

Checkpoint:

  • You have established which of your three draft marketing messages is the strongest, and incorporated it into all of your existing marketing materials
  • You have implemented a lead tracking and management system and trained your staff to use it effectively

Your marketing materials are an extension of you and your company.
How are yours working?

You can have a lot of fun creating marketing materials for your business. It’s an opportunity to work on a project that isn’t a spreadsheet, or a graph or an order form. You can really get creative!

Your materials get distributed in the world to send out a particular message (or messages) about your company and what you sell. They’re ambassadors for your business because they speak to your potential customers when you’re not there.

As you probably know, it’s easy to get carried away with marketing collateral. You’re surrounded by flashy, clever advertising everywhere you look, and when the time comes to create your own, you can’t help but feel that you have to keep up with the joneses.

Most of the time this doesn’t work. You spend more money, and see less impressive results. In this Masterclass, I’m going to show you some proven strategies for simplifying and strengthening your marketing materials, and focusing on the materials you need not the materials you think you think you should have.

In this Masterclass we will cover:

  • The marketing materials you really need – and the ones you don’t
  • The mistakes you might be making now
  • The elements each piece of marketing collateral should have
  • What you need to know about the design of your materials
  • What you need to know about testing, measuring and making mistakes

It’s easy to want to match your competition piece by piece – but when you’re trying to stretch your marketing budget, focus on the materials you actually need.

Just because your competition has an eight page, glossy colour brochure, doesn’t mean you need one to run a successful business.

When one brochure has the ability to eat your entire budget for marketing materials, you have to prioritise what’s essential and what’s just a “wish” or want. You need to make sure you’re spending on the items that are going to bring in the most return on investment.

Your marketing materials need to communicate your message to your target and motivate them to act. Do you really need a glossy brochure when black and white flyers will be just as effective? Think about this when making decisions about your marketing items.

Make choices based on how your target audience prefers to receive information. Do they prefer paper newsletters, or electronic ones? Are they environmentally conscious, or technology savvy? Do they appreciate personal contact, or just need to see information in a newspaper? Remember that how you communicate is often just as or more important that what you communicate.

Make green choices – your customers will appreciate it. Choose recycled paper and envelopes when you can, and print double-sided. Produce marketing materials in electronic format (like newsletters), and print limited runs of hard copy materials (like brochures).

What are the marketing materials that your business needs, wants and would like to have?

  • Logo
  • Business Cards
  • Brochure
  • Website
  • Newsletter
  • Catalogue
  • Advertisements
  • Flyers
  • Fridge Magnet
  • Branded Items (pens, memory sticks, etc.)
  • Employee Clothing
  • Cloth Bags
  • Product Labels
  • Signage
  • Email Signature
  • Blog
  • Letterhead + Envelopes
  • Thank You Cards
  • Notepads
  • Seasonal Gifts
  • Company Profile
  • Internal Templates (Fax Cover, Memo, etc.)

Create a list of your essential marketing materials then, below it, create a list of your “wish” marketing materials. You can use your “wish list” when you have a little extra budget, or are looking to create a “wow” piece. The list above is for you to use as a guideline – you may not need all of these items, or want to add your own ideas to the list.

Take your existing marketing materials through this audit, and look for opportunities to improve and strengthen.

Are you fighting for their attention with a powerful headline?
You have about four seconds to grab the attention of your reader with your headline. If you do, you have a few more seconds to convince them to read your subheadline. If you’re successful in doing that, you have a few more seconds to get them to read further. See what I’m saying?

Make sure your headlines:

  • Offer to take away pain or give pleasure
  • Hit your target market’s hot buttons
  • Bring up emotion
  • Are bold, dramatic, shocking or unbelievable
  • Answer the questions – what’s in it for the customer? why should the customer care?

Are you triggering an emotional response to a problem, fear, need or want?
Once you have their attention, you need to continue to keep it. Shake up their confidence in what they’re doing now, or the urgency with which they need to solve their problem. Put their fears, concerns and desires in black and white text in front of their eyes:

Ask them if they:

  • Are doing enough?
  • Can wait any longer?
  • Can sacrifice any more?
  • Are paying too much?
  • Are getting the best product or service for their money?

Are you building their trust or confidence in your ability to meet their needs?
You’ve got their attention, and tapped into their emotions, now you need to build their confidence in you ability to solve their problems and meet their needs. You’ll need to show them your solution, and prove that you can be trusted to do what you promise.

Tell them how:

  • You’re different from the competition
  • You’re highly qualified
  • You have documented results
  • You have a high number of happy customers
  • You get recognised from others in your field

Are you wowing them with your competitive edge?
You may be the best at what you do or have the best product but if your customers can’t get a hold of you when they need you, how valuable are you? Here are some examples:

Tell them how you do more than the competition:

  • 24-hour hotline
  • Housecalls, or free delivery
  • Customer rewards program
  • Other convenience services

Are you overcoming their objections before they’ve raised them?
It makes no difference what business you are in; there will always be objections to buying what you are selling. Most often the biggest objection is the price. You should confront them head-on by explaining why it’s worth paying your price. You need to put their fears to rest before they will be ready to buy.

Are you providing an element of risk reversal with a strong guarantee?
Stand behind what you’re claiming about the quality of your product or service, and offer a guarantee in your marketing materials. Typically, the strength and length of the guarantee indicate the quality of the product in most customer’s eyes, so create a strong one.

You can guarantee:

  • Performance
  • Benefits
  • Longevity
  • Satisfaction

Are you showing them what other people have said about your product or service?
Use testimonials to speak to your credibility and merit. Let the testimonials show your potential clients how trustworthy you are, and how much benefit they’ve received from your product or service. Make sure the testimonial addresses the problem that your customer had before they used your product.

Are you giving them an easy way to contact you?
Make it easy for customers to be in touch with you, or get more information. Clearly display your phone number and website address on everything you produce, and consider including a map of your store location so you’re easy to find.

Each piece should provide the following contact information:

  • Location (with map)
  • Phone / Fax / |Mobile Phone Number
  • Website
  • Free phone number
  • Email address

Are you giving them a reason to act NOW?
The last job your marketing piece has to do is motivate your viewer to take action. You need to make them want to call for more information, visit your website, or just come into your store. Invite them to take action on every page.

To motivate customers to act, you can:

  • Offer special “bonus” offers to quick responders
  • Make a time-sensitive offer
  • Tell them how rare your product is, or what limited quantity you have
  • Offer limited-time added value

Are you telling them what your product or service will give them?
Your customer doesn’t care about the features of your product or service, they only care about the benefit that feature will provide them. Customers buy benefits, not products or services. A client is looking to buy some more confidence from a new hairstyle, not a haircut.

Are you telling viewers the story of your product or service?
Remember that you are painting a story to tap into the emotions of your viewers. Detailed technical descriptions should be replaced with descriptions of how the customer may enjoy the benefit, and how they might feel.

The story will help the reader picture:

  • How they’ll feel after using your product or service
  • What they’ll look like using your product or service
  • What they’ll have time to do once they buy your product or service
  • The relief they’ll experience after purchasing your product or service

Are you giving them a reason to keep your marketing piece?
Give your customers a reason to keep your business card, brochure, newsletter or direct mail piece, refer to it, and pass it on to others to see. If you are selling hair care products, you can give your readers tips on how to combat split ends, frizz, unruly curls and heat damage. If you sell kitchen products, you can provide recipes that use your cookware or tools.

Some ideas for keep-able marketing pieces are:

  • Top 10 lists
  • Tips for product caretaking and longevity
  • Recipes
  • How-to’s

Flashy design is not important to your marketing campaign – but clear and professional looking materials are absolutely essential.

When it comes to the visual presentation of your marketing materials, you need to strike a balance. On one hand, you don’t want to spend all of your budget on design and production. On the other hand, the cost of sending out materials that don’t look and feel professional is usually much higher.

Going back to our discussion on time management, you’ll want to check in with yourself and see if your time is best spent designing your brochures, ads, flyers and direct mail, or if you should hire other resources.

Resources for marketing collateral design and layout include:

Graphic Design Agency This is generally the most expensive option. However, if you can find a small to medium sized agency you’ll typically be able to work within a reasonable budget. This can also be a resource to use for “wow” pieces, or design projects that require a little extra flair.
Freelance Designer Freelance designers don’t carry the overhead that agencies do, so typically their prices are a little cheaper. Try to find a designer you work well with and build a long-term relationship. Ask your network for referrals, or try listings like Craigslist.
In-House Designer If you don’t have the time to design your own collateral, but have heaps of marketing collateral and signage to design on a regular basis, hiring a dedicated employee may be your most cost effective option.

If you’re designing your materials in-house, here are some guidelines.

Consistency Your materials need to be cohesive and look like they come from the same company. Be consistent in your colour choices, font, headline styles and logo placement.
Simplicity Keep your materials simple and easy to read. This will save you money, as little details like full-bleed printing and die-cut edges are more expensive.
Information Hierarchy Think about the information that you need your customers to receive, and the information that is less important. Structure your page so that the most important messages jump off the page, and less pertinent details are at the bottom.
Colour Choice Colors give a visual message to your readers, and have many meanings including cultural connotations. Choose your business colors carefully, and stick to two or three.
White Space Every piece needs enough white space to give viewers’ eyes a place to rest when taking in information. The point here is not to crowd your piece with text and copy.
Photo Choice Put some thought into the photo you select, if you choose to include photos in your marketing materials. Details in the photo can unintentionally communicate messages about your business, so make sure they’re the right ones.

If you’re going to try something new – test, measure and make mistakes in small batches, or online.

You will need to constantly be monitoring the success of each piece of marketing material and looking for opportunities to strengthen and improve it. Since you already have your lead tracking and management system in place, this is a matter of sitting down on a regular basis and reviewing the leads each piece generated, and how many turned into sales (we’ll review this when we get to conversion rates).

Remember, always test, measure and then make choices.
If you’re not sure about a new strategy, do a test run to a limited distribution area, or test the message out online. Do small production runs of brochures or flyers you’re not sure about, so you don’t end up with heaps of flyers that didn’t work.

In the end, the strength of your marketing piece is in what you say and how you say it.

Too often, flashy design gets in the way of the message and you miss an opportunity to attract a customer. Simple, clear marketing materials deliver an easy-to-understand message to your target audience, and result.

If you would like some help with the ideas idiscussed in this Masterclass, or to discuss any other aspect of your business growth strategy, use the following form to get in touch:

In the next Masterclass, we will look at the role of your offer in motivating your audience to take action. A powerful – even irresistible – offer can act as an ace in the hole for your lead generation efforts. I’ll show you how to put one together.

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