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For new ideas, inspiration and actionable advice designed to help small business owners and entrepreneurs soar, visit the Creative Business Strategy Blog at http://blog.billgluth.com
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For new ideas, inspiration and actionable advice designed to help small business owners and entrepreneurs soar, visit the Creative Business Strategy Blog at http://blog.billgluth.com
There is a new business trend that has emerged. It is based on an authentic and heart centered sales and marketing approach.
This conscious personal brand approach focuses on marketing your talent, knowledge and passion rather than focusing on your services or products.
We all know that people buy from people they know, like and trust.
Today, with the proliferation of social media and content marketing strategies, people learn to know, like and trust you through the messages and personal stories you create and share.
To get in touch with your conscious brand story there are really just 5 basic questions that you will want to answer.
The 5 basic questions that will help you create a conscious personal brand that is focused on your talents, knowledge and passion are:
1. What am I all about as a human being?
2. Who am I in business?
3. How do my best clients describe the value I provide to them?
4. What is the one thing must I accomplish in business and life to find deep fulfillment and true happiness?
5. What value can I create to enhance the life of someone else that allows me to do work that matters most to me, personally?
If you don’t have an answer to these five questions, you are and probably having a hard time of it.
To reverse the trend, do some soul searching.
Start by building awareness.
When people ask you about what you do for a living, do you relate a job title or company name? If so, your work probably feels more like drudgery than joy.
Tell them about your personal mission, your greatest talent in business, your extensive knowledge and the passion you have for what you do instead.
All it takes is admitting where your deepest passions truly lie.
Look at your testimonials and analyze them to find the common threads. What do most people say about the value you have given them?
Having spotted this trend, I developed Coach Bill Gluth.
My passion, knowledge and talent is helping you use your passion, knowledge and talent to create a happy life and a business you love that makes a difference in the lives of other people.
Basically, the purpose of this new service is to help you use your greatest strengths to add value to the lives of others.
I even started writing a book about conscious life and business.
The first installment is a free manifesto called 8-Powerful Secrets to a Happy and Fulfilling Life. Check it out and see if the ideas resonate with you.
Now more than ever:
Your talent, knowledge and passion is needed by distinct groups of people.
You can lead a tribe and help them gain what they want out of life, no matter what you do.
The best personal brand you can ever create now and in the future is one that focuses on how your authentic talent, knowledge and passion enhances the lives of other people.
Like it or not 2010 has started and is underway.
In this new decade, if you hope to achieve all that you desire you have to realize a very important fact.
That fact is if your business is not built on your greatest talent, deepest knowledge and genuine passion it is going to fall flat as we move into the “future”.
It can be a hard fact to face but also ran’s and commodities will be ignored more than they ever have before.
Buyers want authentic.
They need your knowledge to grow.
And they are attracted to passion like a strong industrial strength magnet.
Miss one of these elements and you are missing the key to business growth in 2010.
If you’re not sure what your strengths, talents and knowledge are you can easily learn by asking your clients.
Ask the simple question “What do you feel is the greatest value you have gained from my service (or product)?”
Their answers will be very revealing. Just analyze them. Find the common threads in their replies and learn to see your business through your clients eyes.
For example, in my new Coach Bill Gluth Web site I posted testimonials on the side of each page to share client comments.
In gaining those comments I learned:
That clients find value in the fact that I help put them in action to get business building things done.
I help clients understand the value that their clients see in them.
I am blessed to know that my clients see that I truly care about them and their outcomes.
And I take them down a path of peace, fulfillment and happiness in business through the work we do together.
All great things. All things that came from the words my clients shared with me when I asked them what value they’ve received from my services.
Try it.
Just send a personalized email to all of your clients. Do NOT send it as a bulk mail with “Undisclosed Recipients” in the To: line.
Make the subject line: Can I Ask For Your Help?
Tell them the truth. “In 2010 I am revamping my business based on my client feedback. Will you please reply to this email and let me know what do you feel is the greatest value you have gained from my service (or product)?”
Easy.
All you have to do is take action. That can be the hard part.
If you need help, I personally know the “Conscious Life and Business Coach”. He can certainly help you.
More to come in the New Year. New directions, new services and new inspiration for a brand new decade.
It’s inevitable in any small business. There will be people you take on as clients who will bug you.
Maybe it’s because they are demanding. Perhaps they have a hard time making a final decision. Or they hire you for your expertise but don’t actually follow through with the direction you provide them with.
Whatever the reason, you have to realize something very important about clients who bug you.
That realization is it’s not their fault they bug you, it’s yours.
OUCH. Harsh to hear, I know. I can hear you all the way over here in Surprise, AZ.
“Hey Bill, they bug me, they don’t do this or expect that. How is that MY fault?”
Here’s the thing I’ve learned over the past 30-years in business.
Expectations are set by the seller and not the buyer.
The buyer tells you what they need. You need to listen and fully understand. First, be sure you understand their expectation. Make sure it’s realistic and you can deliver.
Understand past challenges your client has had in advance.
Find out how decisions are made as the project progresses.
In other words, understand your client, their working style and decision making process. When you do you’ll avoid being bugged mid-project every time.
Remember, being a great vendor is up to you. It is not up to your clients.
Be the preeminent choice in your market because you care the most about client results.
Make the effort to understand how your clients like to work. Know how they make decisions at the onset of the project.
When moments arise that bug you coach them. Help them to see how they are reacting. Point them in a direction that gets the project completed, meets their expectations and helps them reach their goals.
After all, every client wants one thing. A result.
No matter what business you are in you always have to realize your true role. You are a vendor, expert in your market niche, provider of service, coach, consultant and sometimes psychotherapist.
Above it all though, you are always the person who cares the most about the results your clients achieve and the value they receive from working with you.d