Actual for You - Business

How-to Triple Your Tourism Referrals and Sales With Easy Staff Training - Without Spending Money
Can you imagine if you could lower your marketing costs while increasing your sales?Profitable hospitality and tourism professionals know that staff training to enhance customer service and staff attitude is one of the best returns on investments you can make. We are in a customer service/ hospitality industry and it shows up in your staff both on the job and in your remote travel marketing. If your staff is happy, excited and a team player, their ability to represent and effectively promote your destination or tours goes way up. A great place to use happy motivated staff to promote and increase sales is in travel trade shows.Trade shows and public presentations are great opportunities for knowledgeable field staff to enthusiastically communicate face to face with prospective clients. Who else can share with prospective visitors your great trips or destinations, better then field guides?Tim’s Tip: Role-play here with your staff is key. Also check out “Travel Trade Show Success" audio course. Don’t consider exhibiting without listening to this. This can increase your success and revenues ten fold. Travel Trade Show Marketing------------------- Phone Sales Tip ----------------Phone sales present another opportunity to engage your staff effectively. Field staff know your product better then anyone, but not all staff is suited for phone sales. Use judgement fo

You've got tons of options here; either join an existing group, or start your own. You can work with a coach, or find a buddy who will provide reciprocal coaching. Not many rules to this solution, except that the support must be consistent and regular (ideally, every week for the first six months of your start up or business building process).

Reason #5: You don't truly believe you can do it, so you're not "ready" for clients. If you feel that you're not really ready, you're not, so stop whining and go back to sitting on the sidelines. But unless you're practicing a trade that requires a specific license that you haven't got, chances are that there are people out there who are willing to accept your level of expertise, no matter how new you are to the business. And the best way to get experience is by doing. So quit making excuses, and find those people! You may have to...

Solution #5: Work for free. If you're truly so insecure that you feel shy about charging for your services, offer to perform your services for free until you've got some experience, positive feedback and confidence. And don't stop with one or two free clients; get as many as you can. Just one caveat: Set a limit on the free deal, either in number of hours or weeks/months of service. If you've provided adequate v

The Psychology Of Leadership - Understanding The Influence Of Inspirational Leaders (Part Ii)
THE 8 ASCENTS OF THE ULTIMATE LEADER (Continued from Part I) are the Psychological foundations of what makes a great Leader, they are...1. Master Your Rules of Engagement• In War, "Rules of Engagement" are what you do when you engage the enemy.• The enemy in this case is experience of when your surroundings don't match your perception of ‘what should be'• Psychological "Rules of Engagement" exist as reaction responses to these surroundings and the experiences, if you become more aware of what they are, you will have a foundation to influence your actions and reactions, you will Master your Rules of Engagement2. Increase Your Circle of Tolerance• This is the measure of your ability to deal with things "intelligently" and without reaction. The more rules you have about the way things should be, the smaller your Circle of Tolerance• If you have a large Circle of Tolerance, you can deal with more situations intelligently and make better decisions.• Things that happen outside of your Circle of Tolerance usually trigger your Rules of Engagement3. Remove Your Colored glasses• There are 4 primary "Brain Processors" that interpret the world in very different ways. A "Colored Brain" perception is like looking though colored glasses. A leader who can remove his colored glasses, can see past his own perceptions and bring out the best in others who process differently.• To discover what colored glasses you are wearing, take

Go ahead and blame the economy if you want to, but if you truly want to know why you don't have any clients, I'm happy to tell you (and even happier to tell you what to do about it). Or perhaps you're thinking that if only you had more of a budget for advertising, you'd be in the money?

Let's be honest: Stupider people with less to offer the world than you have made successes of their small businesses, so if you don't have any clients, what needs "fixing" is you, your attitudes or your behaviors, not your ad budget. But don't worry! I'm not one of those "think yourself to success" people; I believe that doing, even a little, is better (and more effective) than sitting around just wishing.

So if you really want to know why you don't have any clients, take a look at this list to see if anything sounds (uncomfortably) familiar, and then start thinking about what you can do about it:

Reason #1: You haven't got a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. Before you start sputtering that indeed you DO have a clear vision, riddle me this: How many clients do you have in your vision? What hours do you work? What problems do you help your clients solve? How did you get these clients? What does success look like to you? Is it a number of clients, an income level, or something else? Well? If you don't know the details, you haven't got the vision, so what you need to do is...

Solution #1: Create a vision of success for yourself (and by create, I mean write it down!). Be as specific as possible. One of the easiest and most compelling ways to do this is to choose a day in the near future (say six to twelve months from now), and describe in vivid detail what's going on in your business and life. Frame the statement in the present tense as if it were already true, using these questions as a guide: What day is it? What time is it? Where are you? What are you doing? What specific goals did you reach? What happened as a result of reaching those goals? How do you feel?

Just remember to ground your vision in reality. If you haven't got a single client, please don't sabotage yourself by envisioning a multi-million-dollar business within six months. Make it real, make it reasonable, and make it worth your while to achieve. See it, feel it, and then go for it!

Reason #2: You haven't got a written plan. How will you know if you're on the right track if you have only a fuzzy idea of where you're going? Once you've written it all down, you can start making choices about how to spend your time and energy to get what you want. But until you do that, you're just stumbling around in the dark, and any successes you may have are pure dumb luck. So unless you're feeling very lucky, if you want to make a success of your small business, you must...

Solution #2: Document your plans. Don't tell me that you're keeping it all in your head; that's just an excuse for not doing your due diligence, and you know it. Write it ALL down, including what service(s) you offer, who needs it, what packages you've got, how you plan to market your business, what your goals are (in terms of both income and number of clients or whatever makes sense for your business), when you're going to do whatever it is you do to market your business, and so on. If you need some help, take a look at my web site for an easy and very basic marketing plan, or if that's too overwhelming, then start by answering my Top 10 Marketing Questions. You CAN do it, and you'll thank me for it, I promise!

Reason #3: You don't (or can't) clearly articulate your value to your clients. Can you distill the essence of your value to a particular and specific customer base in seven to nine words? I can, and let me tell you, it works wonders! Let me be blunt: Nobody cares about your title (coach, consultant, king of the world), your process (facilitating, coaching, teaching, empowering), or your education (CC, MBA, PhD, Harvard or Hogwart's School of Witchcraft & Wizardry). All your clients truly care about is what you can do for them, or more specifically, what benefit they will receive as a result of working with you. What that means is that you need to...

Solution #3: Create an absolutely killer "elevator" speech. An elevator speech is a short sentence that distills the value of your services and benefit your clients get when working with you. It answers the question "what do you do?" which is really "what CAN you do for ME?" Add your name, your title if you want, and you've got a great introduction. To create your own killer elevator speech, download my Killer Elevator Speech tool.

Reason #4: You don't have the support you need to get where you want to go. Doing all this on your own is more than tough--it's overwhelming! Having a group of people PLUS one partner or buddy who are/is familiar with and supportive of your goals enough to offer regular support, ideas, and feedback helps keep your energy and momentum up, and provides you with the strength you might need when the going gets tough. Doing it all alone doesn't make you a hero, so why don't you...

Solution #4: Get a coach, and join or create a group of people who are in the same situation (building a business) as you. You've got tons of options here; either join an existing group, or start your own. You can work with a coach, or find a buddy who will provide reciprocal coaching. Not many rules to this solution, except that the support must be consistent and regular (ideally, every week for the first six months of your start up or business building process).

The Purpose of Ad Campaigns - Part 1
PURPOSE OF CAMPAIGNEstablishing ReputationAdvertising is not always required for the purpose of increasing the sales of a product, although that must be the final effect of the advertising if it does its work. It frequently happens that business organizations at various times in their careers need advertising for the extension of values along more general lines in connection with the organization and its market. Sometimes it is necessary to forestall difficulty by establishing relations of confidence with the public, not merely in connection with the product but in connection with the organization itself. It is frequently necessary to find other uses for a product and impress them upon the consumer.In the last 15 years of rapidly increasing activity along the internet lines, many concerns which have started and gained a considerable amount of business have been obligated to set themselves at work to devise advertising for the purpose of establishing an organization reputation. This has been particularly the case with organizations making a number of products, where the sale of the one product cannot altogether carry the sale of another product, but where an established organization's reputation can increase the sale of both. It is obvious that the plan of action will materially differ if this is to be the central idea. Every piece of copy and every piece of printed matter must be selected physically with the same idea so tha

e? Well? If you don't know the details, you haven't got the vision, so what you need to do is...

What's the Score?
You may be aware that in a basketball game the assistant coaches keep an almost unending list of personal statistics for each player. Rebounds, assists, points, minutes played, etc. Why is that? Because they know that these individual statistics all add up to the bottom line. The final score. If they can achieve even a small incremental improvement in these individual statistics for each player this will have a compound affect on the final score. And of course, it helps them know which players to give the most playing time too. In marketing your business you should be just as disciplined. Which products and which ads and which media should you give the most playing time? Do you know? What’s the point of designing and implementing an advertising campaign if you don’t know if it worked or if it was better than the last one? What a waste. How do you know where the best place is to spend your advertising dollars? By tracking everything. Incoming calls, emails, walk-ins, website visitors, etc. Train yourself and your staff to always ask these questions. Where did they come from? How did they hear about you? Which ad did they call on? Here is an example: Let’s say you place a classified ad in the newspaper at a cost of $135.00 offering a free report on your product. You could track the incoming calls in many ways (f

umbling around in the dark, and any successes you may have are pure dumb luck. So unless you're feeling very lucky, if you want to make a success of your small business, you must...

Federal Employment Screening Laws
Nowadays, there are lots of companies that conduct employment screening as part of their hiring process. Some companies even hire private investigation agencies to conduct background check of the applicant to verify the information stated in his or her job application. However, these private agencies have to follow certain rules and regulations while conducting the background searches. These regulations are often stated in various federal employment screening laws.Federal employment screening laws are designed to protect the welfare of the applicants to some extent when the employer or the private agency hired conducts background investigation. That is why, companies should be aware of these laws as well as the different employment screening companies that provide pre-employment screening services.The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990The Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA is one of the federal employment screening laws administered by the Employment Standards Administration. Under ADA, no employer, employment or recruitment agency, or any labor organization shall discriminate a qualified applicant with disability. When screening the disabled applicant during job interview, questions pertaining to his or her disability should not be asked especially if it has nothing to do with his or her job application. However, information like academic records, personal references, credit cards, and social security number can be accessed during the background check.<

(CC, MBA, PhD, Harvard or Hogwart's School of Witchcraft & Wizardry). All your clients truly care about is what you can do for them, or more specifically, what benefit they will receive as a result of working with you. What that means is that you need to...

Conflict at Work: The Root Causes of Workplace Conflict Are Often Systemic
When I'm asked to enter an organization and help people talk things out, I'm often asked to fix things like this:Those two just can't get along. Would you see if you can help them get past their differences with one another. They don't seem to be very good communicators.One of our senior teams is in a real rut since a new VP came on board nine months ago. I don't think they like him and they're acting out. We could really use some clearing the air.We're trying to move the organization forward and we've got a few people who aren't good with change. Can you help move them forward?I'm asked, essentially, to fix people. And it's rarely the flawed human that's the real problem. Conflict research reveals that the roots of unhealthy workplace conflict and increased organizational costs come most often from these systemic causes:Lack of information. Even with email, newsletters, reports, and staff and company meetings, conflict arises from lack of information or knowledge in how to use it effectively. It no longer surprises me how frequently in workplace mediations I hear the phrase, “Why didn’t anybody give me that information before now?”Skill deficits. Most of us were didn’t learn the “Fourth R” in school. We learned reading, writing and 'rithmetic, but were not formally educated in relationship. Building relational skills, such as those associated with effective negotiation, interpers

Reason #6: You're not focused on your goals and doing the work. Maybe you've got your vision and plans documented, but you haven't looked at them in weeks (months?) and you don't recall off the top of your head exactly what your marketing tactics are. This is not good (but you knew that, right)? What you need to do is...

Solution #6: Focus and act! Constant attention to your goals helps keep your eyes on the prize and the finish line in view. Remember, the greatest threat to progress is inertia. Keep your goals visible (in a notebook on your desk, posted by your computer, etc.) and do at least one task that is designed to move you toward your goal (this would be one of your marketing tactics) every day (yes, I really mean every day!), not just when you feel like it. Your progress may be slow, but the good news is that a slow and steady accumulation of small tasks will eventually get you where you want to be.

Reason #7: You don't know who your best client would be. If you're still stuck in that rookie trap of thinking that "everyone in the world" would want your service, it's time for a dose of reality. The bottom line is that if you can't identify the person who would benefit the most from your service, then you may never get a clientele worth having. The best cure for that is to...

Solution #7: Create a profile of your best client. Start by asking yourself this question: Who would benefit most from my services, and why? You want to know the age, gender, income level, interests and other defining characteristics so that you can find and speak directly to that person in your marketing efforts. If you've got a good idea who your best client is, but you're not sure, then interview a dozen or so people who fit the profile you've developed, and find out from them what their greatest concerns and needs are regarding your product or service. If you still haven't got enough information, then keep asking questions until you get some answers, or consider working with a coach or buddy to tease out the information.

Reason #8: You've tried a bunch of things, but nothing seems to work. Maybe you tried a postcard, but that didn't work as well as you had hoped. Or you put up a web site, but nobody's visiting, or if they are, they're not calling you. Or perhaps you ran an ad once, but nothing much came of it. Knock knock! Who's there? Reality calling! You're not handing out free $100 bills, you're marketing, so that means you've got to...

Solution #8: Give your plans time to work. If you're going to do something only once, you'd best be sure that that the offer is so compelling that people will break down your door to get it. What works best in the long run is repetition and consistency. If you think a tactic is good, then give it three months or so before you abandon it. Did you know that most people do not respond until they've seen a message at least seven times, and that most ads require 27 (yes, 27!) impressions before they are acted upon? You will be bored with your marketing long before your clients are, so when you make good plans, stick with them until they stop working, and don't dump them before they start!

Reason #9: You don't ask for the business. You expect people to ask you to work for them, but that's not the way it works, pumpkin. Most people aren't mind readers, so your potential clients won't know that you want to work with them unless you say so. I know you don't want to hear this, but what you need to do is...

Solution #9: Ask for the business. Remember back in the olden days when you were a young jobseeker? What was the one thing that you were told to do at the end of the interview? That's right, express your interest in the job, and if you were bold enough, ask for the job. It worked for me back then, and it still does today. Let it work for you, too.

Reason #10: You're letting fears get in your way. If this is true of you, you certainly have my sympathy. Anything new can be intimidating and scary, but please believe me when I say that once you start doing what you need to do, you'll be too busy to remember to be fearful. If your fears become overwhelming, perhaps it's time to consider the services of a mental health professional. But if those fears are just fears of the unknown, all you need to do is...

Solution #10: Get over yourself. You are neither the first nor the last person to start a small business, so stop thinking about your poor little baby self and start thinking about all those people (clients) whose lives you are going to enrich with your wonderful products or services. When you start focusing on your clients rather than your own petty fears, your business will take a quantum leap forward, and you'll feel a bit sheepish when you remember what a scaredy cat you were when you first started.

Veronika (Ronnie) Noize, the Marketing Coach, is a successful Vancouver, WA-based entrepreneur, writer, speaker, and Certified Professional Coach. Through coaching, classes and workshops, Ronnie helps small businesses attract more clients. For free marketing resources

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People who have a chip on their shoulder manage to hurt everyone around them. Their attitude of disrespect and lack of team work makes others work harder and pick up the slack. It's immaturity at it's worst, and it's harmful for any organization. Hopefully, if people recognize their own bad attitudes and seek to correct them, the whole department can improve.

Not everyone is cut out to be a mortgage processor. Find out if you or a team member has what it takes to be a dynamic processor.

Business management is a very important subject and with business management comes financial and fiscal responsibility. The most difficult places to manage are those places, which have the most unethical people and employees working within their organization.

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Actual for You - Top 10 Reasons You Don't Have Any Clients (And How to Change That)

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