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Month: June 2020

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Marketing Personal Development

Is a Book Trapped Inside You?

According to surveys, up to 80 percent of Americans think they have a book in them. For the vast majority, those books will remain inside. Consequently, if you can sit down and write a book, you’ve joined those few who will realize their dreams.

Writing and publishing a book doesn’t always yield material wealth, but it can enhance your reputation as a leader and influencer and publicize your company. Most importantly, a book that contains valuable information can help people. If that’s your principal goal, you will have a source of inspiration that will see you through to the finish line.

The Book May Already Exist

It doesn’t exist in finished form, but the raw material probably does. You may have a collection of podcasts, blog posts, articles, newsletters, how-to pamphlets, and other types of source material.

Stop for a minute and reflect on that good news. It tells you that, without knowing it, you’ve been writing your book all along. All you need to do now is gather its elements into cohesive and entertaining form.

Focus is Everything

I recently read that focus is more important than intelligence. Ideally, a writer will have both, but I agree that intelligence without focus leads to scattered thinking. It does not lead to the completion of a book.

Begin with the question: “What do my clients/customers need to know that I am uniquely positioned to provide for them through a book?” Take your time with this question. It’s analogous to the foundation of a building. It must be substantial. In terms of getting the writing done, it must inspire you.

You can even ask your clients what they’d like to learn. They’ll appreciate your reaching out in this way and will likely give you useful answers.

Once you’ve built your foundation, write a rough outline. Then sift through your source material: the podcasts, newsletters, blog posts, collecting those that relate most to the subject you want to address.

Organize this material. You will probably find gaps, which will point you to areas you need to research. You may want to interview other industry leaders, which provides the additional benefit of networking.

You may be saying at this point, “But I don’t know how to write a book.” No one knows how until they do it—and help is available.

If you are a self-starter and self-paced person, look for a book or course that teaches the fundamentals of book writing. If you need more direct guidance and someone to hold you accountable, find a more hands-on course, i.e., one that meets in real-time or hires a writing coach.

And if you falter or fall into discouragement, remember that, ultimately, this book isn’t about your ego or self-gratification. It’s about those clients who can benefit from your years of experience and understanding of their needs. Think about their appreciation, and your inspiration will return.

 Pat Iyer is a ghostwriter, book coach, and editor who helps businesspeople share their knowledge in a book. As a C Suite Network Advisor, she works with experts to make writing a book possible. Contact her through her website at patiyer.com.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Skills

Podcasts are not only for listening

You may wonder why I include podcasts in a series about the importance of written communication with your clients and customers. People listen to them, right?

They do, but many non-auditory people who would like to enjoy and learn from podcasts—or any form of information transmitted in an audio format—end up feeling frustrated by their inability to absorb and review this information. This occurs because people learn in different ways.

Experts in learning theory have identified several forms of learning. The forms most relevant to the question of podcasts are listening and reading.

Without going into the technical and scientific aspects of how people learn, I’ll say that some people learn more thoroughly when they hear information.

People who are used to obtaining their information through reading may “lose the plot” more readily when they are listening. If they’re used to going back and re-reading what they’ve read, they may get even more lost. If they are really impressed by the material, they may want to print it out and highlight key passages.

The Time Factor

It always takes longer to listen to a podcast than to read a transcript. This isn’t a problem when someone is listening while driving to and from work, for example. It’s an efficient use of time.

However, many people have told me that, if they have a choice between listening to a podcast and reading it, they will always choose the latter. This gives them the additional benefit of skimming through portions that they find irrelevant to their needs and focusing more intensively on those areas that have extra relevance for them.

Always Provide a Transcript

You and the people within your company go to a lot of work to create a podcast. If you’re interviewing someone, you have at least one preliminary conversation to create a focus for the question and answer format. In a non-Q&A format, you must prepare a script or at least an outline.

This means that you want the maximum return on your investment. You don’t want people saying, “Oh, no transcript; I guess I won’t bother.” You also don’t want the further possibility that they will resent that you didn’t consider their specific learning needs. (People are like that; accept it.)

Two Additional Benefits of a Transcript

The first may initially humiliate you. When you read over the transcript, you are going to find out how many times you say “really,” “kind of,” “actually,” and other empty phrases. Trust me on this; I’ve edited many podcast transcripts. One transcript I saw had 80 instances of “you know” In 30 minutes.

The big benefit here is that you can recognize these habits and learn to eliminate these words from your operating vocabulary. Those who listen to your future speeches and oral presentations will be far more appreciative listeners.

The second benefit is that those transcripts can form the basis for a longer work in the form of a bonus pamphlet or a book. I created eight books to date from podcast transcripts. They require substantial editing, but I’ve found this to be an excellent way to repurpose material.

Get the most from your company podcasts by offering transcripts (which also builds your mailing list) and permits you to repurpose your work.

 

Pat hosts Writing to Get Business Podcast, carried by the C Suite Radio Network, the world’s largest business podcast platform. Connect with Pat on patiyer.com.

 

 

Categories
Best Practices Culture Growth Personal Development

How We Define Wealth in a Post-Pandemic World

If one point of agreement exists among influencers and business leaders, it is that how people do business in the coming years will change.

In practical terms, the age of the huge conferences where many business people met clients may be over, at least for a while. Business trips may also be mostly a thing of the past. The question of how people will make business connections in the future requires immediate attention.

In my own business, I addressed this need by designing and giving a course on online networking in April 2020. The class filled quickly (evidence that many are recognizing the value of online solutions to networking), and the attendees participated with commitment and enthusiasm.

The success of the course has encouraged me to develop additional projects in this vein. It also brings home once again, the principle that has guided me for decades in my various businesses.

I have clarity about my priorities. One of these is to provide innovative services that my potential clients need. Another—and this goes to the heart of my business philosophy—is that my customers, clients, students, and authors are my wealth.

They’re Your Wealth, Too

More than has been true in recent history, potential clients and customers, both corporate and individual, are hurting financially. They will be spending more carefully and looking for the best value for their money.

They will also be looking for businesses that genuinely care about their needs, that want to help them to prosper. The time has come for any business that wants to succeed to recognize this:

  • The true wealth of any business is its customers and/or clients. Nurturing these relationships is more important than any other practice related to your company.
  • Businesses must find new ways to communicate and expand established successful practices.
  • Videoconferencing and other online techniques will continue to flourish. We can expect to see innovations and improved technologies and security.

However, companies will also need to develop increased expertise in written methods of communication. Blogs, newsletters, podcast transcripts, and books will proliferate.

To preserve and strengthen your business will take imagination and focus. Written communication can provide a valuable way to connect meaningfully with the wealth represented by your clients and customers.

Pat Iyer is one of the original 100 C Suite Network Contributors. She hosts Writing to Get Business podcast, found on the C Suite Radio Network, the largest business podcast platform. Connect with Pat at patiyer.com.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Best Practices Culture Growth Personal Development

Do you Have Trouble Making the Transition from Work to Home?

Try this fast and free method.

Unless you usually work at home, the atmosphere and demands of work versus home are very different. It can be a challenge to make a smooth transition. Some people have a drink to relax. Others watch the news, but neither of these methods addresses the probability that too often when we come home from work, we bring remaining problems and issues with us.

Consider this simple and short writing exercise instead. It serves several purposes.

  1. You can give yourself the freedom to say anything you want.
  2. You can read over what you wrote later on and often see that the issues that troubled you either resolved themselves or weren’t as big as you’d thought.
  3. This no-pressure method can ease you into writing.

How It Works

  1. You can either write by hand or in a text file. Do whichever comes most naturally to you.
  2. Set a time limit for how long you will write. I recommend five minutes. If you find that you want to write longer, do so.
  3. This is freewriting, which means to write freely. Don’t check for errors. Don’t try to write well.
  4. Write without censoring yourself. No one will ever see what you write.
  5. Think of this as unloading. The thoughts that are racing around in your head need to come out of that crowded space and land on the page (physical or electronic).
  6. Don’t judge yourself for the thoughts that emerge. This is crucial.
  7. I usually re-read what I write every two weeks. If you do this, again, ignore typos and other errors. Focus on the essence of what you wrote. See if you have any new insights, and, if you do, write about them.

Why This Has Value

I referred to this process as unloading. This example may make that more clear.

You’ve been sitting at a desk all day, and your back hurts. You might start off writing, “Stupid back. Why do you have to hurt so much?”

Physical pain often reflects mental/emotional issues. You might ask yourself questions.

  • Who is a pain in my back?
  • Who do I feel has been kicking me?
  • Am I wearing a sign that says ‘Kick me’?”

Patience is Helpful

The questions and their answers may not initially come quickly. Once you’ve practiced the five-minute writing exercise for a while, you’ll find that the channel to understanding opens. The more you ask the questions, the more you’re telling yourself, “I want to know; I really do.”

Sometimes it may help, instead of saying,” my stupid back,” to say “my stupid life.” Then you decide what’s stupid about your life. Reminder: Do not judge yourself for your thoughts. Everyone who ever had a thought has had a lot of stupid ones.

Beneath the Garbage Lies Creativity

Although you may not be planning to write a novel or a self-help book or a memoir, five minutes of freewriting can jump-start your ability to work on the project you’ve chosen. This fast exercise, by helping you to give up judgment about your thoughts, will allow a new level of creativity to develop in a way that’s analogous to brainstorming. Thus, it can also enhance your ability in writing associated with your job.

Enroll Your Family in Your Program

Let them know your new plan. Explain that your engagement in five minutes of writing will make you a better and happier parent and spouse. Take it a step further and encourage them to try the five-minute writing, too.

Once you’ve unloaded, then you can relax with your family and turn home time into a time of refreshment and renewal.

Pat Iyer is a ghostwriter and editor who Is one of the original 100 C Suite Network Contributors. Check out her podcast Writing to Get Business on the C Suite Radio Network. And connect with her at patiyer.com.

 

Categories
Best Practices Growth Leadership Personal Development

Learn How to Write with Your Children

Homework is part of a child’s life. Not every child needs help in starting and completing it, but every child can benefit from a parent’s encouragement and participation in the homework process. A parent’s interest can make the burden of homework, making it more enjoyable.

Participating in a child’s homework can benefit a parent, too, particularly in the areas of grammar and writing in general. Far too many adults have forgotten the grammar, punctuation, and spelling rules they learned as children.

This forgetfulness can lead to reports, memos, and other writing riddled with errors that detract from their value.

Sharing in a child’s homework can help you to revive your familiarity with these rules.

Set Guidelines

Unfortunately, some parents think the way to help children with their homework is to do it for them. Do not fall into this trap. You and your child will get into trouble if the teacher discovers this practice. Far worse, your children won’t learn to think for themselves, and this is a much higher loss.

Instead, set guidelines at the beginning. Make it clear that you will answer questions, read essays, and reports that the child has written. You will make suggestions and look over the finished writing.

Make It Fun

The odds are that your grade school teacher didn’t do this. Maybe she never taught why commas are necessary or how much difference it makes whether you use it’s or its.

You can demonstrate to your child how a comma adds drama by creating a small pause. Read this sentence aloud:

“When we got to the woods,”—then pause before continuing—“an army of mosquitoes attacked us.”

Reading aloud can also teach a child the value of the Oxford comma.

We laughed,

We danced,

And we said we’d always be best friends.

Hearing how punctuation makes writing sound teaches a child the music of language.

Online References

Grammarly.com compiled a list of the 10 best grammar resources for English language learners. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/10-best-grammar-resources-english-language-learners/

Another good source is Grammar Girls at https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl. Writer’s Digest has frequently named this among the 101 best web sites for writers.

Essays, Book Reviews, and Reports

Do your best to find out well ahead of time if your child has to write one of these. Putting words together to make a point, especially for a younger child, can be challenging. You can help by saying that the first draft can be very rough and add that its quality has nothing to do with the child’s ability to write. (This could be an excellent reminder for you, too.)

You can also encourage the child by asking him to tell you what he wants to say. For a book review, ask him to tell you what it’s about and what he thought of the book. Then have him immediately write down what he said.

Towards the end of the writing process, build on the punctuation lessons by having him read his work aloud. This will not only help him to identify errors but will build on an appreciation of the music of language.

With patience and attention, you and your child can learn together and share a special time.

Help your children with their writing/reports homework. Not only will this provide valuable family time, but you may get to learn the rules of grammar along with your children.

Pat Iyer’s children learned how to write well, in part because she read so many books to them.  Pat loves to write, edit, and ghostwrite. Connect with her at patiyer.com.

Categories
Entrepreneurship Leadership Personal Development

When Is Your Most Creative Writing Time?

When you work in an office, it’s difficult to map out time for creative thinking or for writing a proposal, blogs, or drawing up a long-term strategy. Interruptions fill your day, whether they come in the form of meetings, phone calls, or people with questions.

Sometimes you must bring your work home. The man or woman who values family life and relationships with a partner or spouse wants to keep this to a minimum. The way to do that is to discover your most effective creative time.

If you work at home, set up a schedule for yourself. Teach your family to respect your work time. Learn to find the best rhythms for your work.

Early Rising Encourages Creativity

Multiple sources that I consulted agreed that science states early mornings are the best times to exercise creativity. Without going into the details of how the brain works, we can see the logic of this.

In the early morning, shortly after you get up, part of your awareness remains in the dream state, which is a source of unlimited creativity. Creativity means finding new connections. Dreams loosen hard-wired connections, thus allowing us to see new ways to organize our thoughts.

Salvador Dali used to take naps with a spoon in his hand and a tin plate beneath his chair. When he became totally relaxed and dropped the spoon, the sound of it falling onto the plate would wake him. He then noted whatever ideas or images that he remembered.

You don’t have to be a world-famous artist to wake up and write down any ideas that come into your mind.

Early morning may also be the quietest time in your home. If you get up an hour before the rest of the family, you’re less likely to be interrupted. That hour can yield greater productivity than longer stretches of time when interruptions are more likely.

Note: If you’re going to adopt this schedule, make sure you go to bed earlier than you did. Chronic lack of sleep does nothing to foster creativity.

Evening Fosters Critical Thinking

One way to see the difference between early morning and evening writing is to think of the differences between the intuitive activity of the right brain and the logic of the left brain. Early morning is right-brain time. In the evening, rational thought processes—which you’ve probably been exercising for most if not all of the day—become dominant.

Evenings are good times to look at your creative ideas with a critical (but not over-critical) awareness. Say to yourself: “This is a great idea. Now, how am I going to bring it into reality?” You make lists, come up with various alternatives, and give your ideas solidity. If you’re working on a writing project, evenings are best for editing. Now you can focus on grammar, punctuation, and spelling. You can see how to tighten up and clarify your ideas so that others will understand them.

Honor the Exceptions

Even though science and logic favor the morning-evening divisions I’ve described, it’s important to make room for those whose brains may be wired differently. Some people don’t fit the mold, and if you’re one of them, don’t try to alter yourself.

Experiment and find the creative pattern that works best for you.

Pat Iyer enjoys writing in the morning and editing in the evening. Businesspeople work with her so they can share their expertise with the world without having to do all the hard work of writing. Connect with Pat to discuss her editing and ghostwriting services. Go to patiyer.com.

Categories
Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“Beware Of The Ultimate Authority You Give To Authority” – Negotiation Insight

“Beware of the person that claims authority. For what they claim is only theirs if you grant it.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert    (Click to Tweet)

Click here to get the book!

Beware Of The Ultimate Authority You Give To Authority”

 

 

People don’t realize; they’re always negotiating!

 

When does someone have power? Answer – when others relinquish it or have it taken from them.

 

I can’t ask him to increase his rate; he’s a lawyer. The doctor cast a stern look at the nurse, and the nurse sheepishly slinked away. The nurse had a humiliating feeling of belittlement, which led him to think, “I better not question the doctor again. That was very discomforting.”

How many times has someone with authority caused you discomfort? If the event envokes terrible memories, do you still have challenging times when dealing with authority figures? If so, you need to be mindful of how you interact with such people. One way to do that is to realize you have authority too. And there’s power in it.

When dealing with those that have authority, remember the following.

 

Setting The Stage

Every interaction you have with someone assists in creating the environment of your next encounter. And the more interactions you have with people possessing traits of authority, the more you’ll act the same with other individuals with similar characteristics. That’s why you should be cautious about your response to such individuals, especially if you supplicate yourself to them when negotiating.

To break a spiraling downward cycle of self-degrading, when dealing with people of authority, consider:

 

  • not supplicating yourself because of their perceived status

 

  • establish new relationships on mutual respect based on your value

 

  • Re-establish prior relations on the amount of value you’ve added to it; if need be, discuss how you may have received the low end of past deals.

 

  • highlight the benefit of longterm relations based on mutual respect

 

  • talk about the ‘value-add’ you bring to engagements and how that person’s influence will become enhanced by the outcome you assist in achieving

 

Remember, if you think you can’t challenge people with authority, you’re permitting them to continue their behavior. Thus, if you want them to alter their behavior towards you, you have to initiate that change in them. And the way you do that is by standing up for yourself.

 

Know Your Value

Before a negotiation begins, who determines the value of what the negotiation entails? And, what variables do you consider to determine an item’s value?  Do you ponder the authority someone possesses based on their credentials – the status conveyed by the letters behind their name, their degrees? If you give weight to your assessment, based on those variables, you may be needlessly heightening their credibility. Your perspective becomes worse when seeing yourself, as being incapable of refuting such individuals when negotiating.

When speaking with someone about your services or product, as long as they’re talking, they sense value. If you think, because they’re a lawyer, a doctor, or whatever, that you don’t have power in the engagement, you’re giving away power, which is a form of control. And the more control you relinquish, the higher the probability the other person will control you.

Before entering a negotiation, know the value of what you possess. If need be, be prepared to discuss how you arrived at your value proposition. But only do so, when a client or prospect is committed to addressing your value in good faith. That’s to say, don’t answer questions about how you arrived at it until the other person is committed to genuine engagement.

The point is, negotiations are about control. And the person in control is the one asking questions; that’s because receiving information can be more beneficial than giving it, depending on how you use it. Thus, you must be cautious about the information you provide, when you give it, and the timing of its release. If done too hastily, your response might become perceived as being flippant. If done with deliberation, the other person might view that as you not having much thought about it before he asked the question. Always be mindful of the degree of control you have in a negotiation. And that’s displayed through your mannerisms when asking or answering questions, along with the timing of those questions.

 

Positional Power

During a negotiation, power flows back and forth between negotiators. That means you have more power than your counterpart at certain times. It’s during those times when your influence is most substantial that you should press the other negotiator. Those opportunities may occur due to the positional power you have. And that may stem from your leverage during specific periods.

Therefore, assemble points of leverage to use during the negotiation before the talks begin. To do that, gather information about the party with whom you’ll be negotiating from your associates and his. You should look for points of information that will cause the other party angst or relief, depending on what’s called for in a situation.

An example of causing angst with a lawyer who’d reach out to you to solicit your business might be reminding him of the less-than-stellar reputation he has for not paying his invoices on time. After issuing that reminder, pause. Don’t be the first to speak. Let him experience the angst you just placed upon him. If you observe him becoming somewhat deflated, that’ll signal the momentary control he’s given you. And that will also be a point in which you’ll have authority in the negotiation. That’s the time to suggest an up-front payment for him to engage your services, which could be his beginning stage of relief.

 

Reflection

As you engage anyone with whom you initiate business opportunities, be it attorney clients, doctors, or whomever, never give unfounded authority to their status or station simply because of their perceived status. If you do, you’ll place yourself in a weak negotiation position. Always remember that you possess value when negotiating. Instead of supplicating yourself to someone with perceived authority, highlight the value-add you bring to the environment. That will strengthen your position. And everything will be right with the world.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

 

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Negotiation Insight” click here https://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

 

 

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Categories
Marketing Personal Development

Sales and Marketing Tools – Best-of-Breed Time Savers

Marketing Tools

Online marketing is a technical sport that requires a lot of administration. That said, marketing tools are essential for managing your website and social media. Thankfully there are a lot of solutions out there to help you with your daily tasks. However, deciding which of these solutions to use is the tough part.

Every business is different. Because of this, I cannot recommend the exact marketing tools you need without knowing your business. However, my personal list will at least get you down the right path.

These are the tools that my customers and I use today:

Website Health Check

Diib starts as a free tool that checks the health of your website in terms of industry ranking. Amazingly, it will tell you what your website’s potential revenue earnings should be and what to do to get those earnings. It even provides social media objectives to improve your traffic.

Website Appointment Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling is a product that integrates into your website and allows people to make an appointment with you online. It syncs with your calendar to show people when you are available so they can choose a time that works for them. Once a time is chosen, they will receive a calendar invite, and you will simultaneously have an appointment in your calendar. Voila!

Acuity Scheduling is highly flexible and feature-rich. I recently used this for a website I did for a massage therapist because she wanted to be able to take SOAP notes in the application.

SEO

SpyFu is a highly robust tool. It analyzes the SEO of your website, content, advertising, etc. More than that, it has a clever function that allows you to enter a competitor’s website URL and research their SEO. It will show how your competitors rank, the search terms they are using, and how they compare to your own website.

AnswerThePublic collects keywords or keyphrases from Google’s auto-suggestions. Auto-suggestions is what you see when you begin to type in words or phrases into the Google search engine. Simply type in your term or phrase into this tool, and it will give you a report with all the related suggestions, including ranking.

Wordtracker is a keyword research tool that retrieves 1,000’s of profitable long tail keywords with up to 10.000 results per search. Very fast and easy to use.

Social Media Management

SocialPilot is a tool that allows you to post to multiple social media profiles. Not only that, but you can customize your message for each social channel then schedule everything in minutes. Furthermore, they just added the ability to boost posts on Facebook. There are many competitors in this space, but I have picked this one because it offers more social media integrations. More specifically, I like that they support Google My Business (Google’s answer to the retired Google+).

Tailwind is another excellent social media management tool, but it is specific to Instagram and Pinterest. Since IG and Pinterest are image-based based channels, they require different strategies. One of the most delightful features in Tailwind is how they support hashtags. They have a ‘Recently Used Hashtags’ function that will suggest highly-ranked hashtags and allow you to save your hashtags for future posts. Then there is their SmartLoop feature, which is a way for you to repost your most successful posts regularly.

Email and App Management for Multiple Profiles

Shift is an email and app manager for those that have multiple accounts. With this single tool, you house your multiple email accounts, social media profiles, financial solutions, CRM, and more. To my delight, it does NOT consolidate all my accounts into one account. Rather, it puts everything under one house while keeping everything separate. Very clever!

Email Marketing and Automation

ActiveCampaign is one of many email marketing tools out there today. I have chosen to use this tool for a specific functionality – email automation. Imagine someone signing up with you online, and then you can have ActiveCampaign send relevant email communications to them without you having to lift a finger. On top of that, the price is right! It’s only a few dollars a month.

Password Manager

Keeper is a top-rated password manager app and software that allows you to securely keep all your passwords in one place. We can all relate to the massive amount of passwords we have to keep track of on a personal level. Now just imagine what it’s like when you have the added complexity of tracking business passwords. One of the added benefits of Keeper is its browser extension, which automatically signs you in on websites that are in your Keeper Vault.

Royalty-Free Images, Videos & Music

Shutterstock has over 300 million royalty-free images, videos, and music tracks. While it’s always best to create your own visual and audio assets, not everyone wants to take the time necessary to do that. That said, this platform is one of the best in the business.

Envato Elements is your ultimate creative asset subscription. Get unlimited downloads of themes, plugins, graphics, photos, fonts, and more from just $16.50/month. Everything you need for your next project at one low price.

Graphic Design

Canva is a graphic design tool that anyone can use without spending big bucks on Adobe products. I often use this tool to create posts or infographics and publish to all my social media channels. It doesn’t stop there though. You can design and print business cards, flyers, brochures, and more. It’s free to get started, so check it out.

PlaceIt by Envato enables people of all skill sets to make beautiful designs, logos, mockups & videos in seconds. Our selection of design makers means no design skills or software is required to create professional results.

Prospecting

Sellhack is an online email collector. Have you been burned by buying email lists? The problem with lists is that they are old, while LinkedIn has the most up-to-date career information available. Sellhack allows you to pull email addresses from LinkedIn, verify them, and download them into a spreadsheet for use later. With the Google Chrome Extension, it is insanely easy to use.

Outbound Lead Generation

Replyify is a cold email solution. Traditional email marketing systems are for marketing to existing customers or people that have signed up for something on your website. Replyify is specifically made for the sales prospecting part of the business. It plugs into your email client so that the emails are coming directly from you (a person, not from a system). At the same time, you can create different personalized templates and schedule a series of automated emails. Once you’ve set it up, just load up your email list, schedule the times, and let the Replyify do the rest.

GMass is another cold email solution that is solely for Gmail and Google Docs users. This solution is excellent for companies that are boot-strapping. Their free version allows you to mail-merge and personalizes each email to 50 contacts a day. When you’re ready to invest a little money, it will give you unlimited contacts and auto-follow ups.

Copywriting

Grammarly is an excellent tool to check your writing. It checks your grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation. More than that though, it helps me keep my writing at an easy reading level for better SEO. It plugs into almost anything like your browser or computer and can inspect nearly any platform you are writing in.

Lead Generation & Conversions

Funnelytics is one of the marketing tools that help you plan, launch, and optimize your online marketing funnels. To boot, they provide funnel templates that others have had success with. If you’re a visual learning person, this is the tool for you!

Proposals

Better Proposals is an online resource to create great-looking electronic proposals. This product has a load of templates you can use, tracks your prospects’ activity with the proposal, and allows for electronic signatures.

I hope you find these marketing tools valuable. For more information, please contact us at KakVarley.com

Kak is a proud member of the C-Suite Network!

Categories
Entrepreneurship Marketing Personal Development

The 4 Levels of Marketing

When it comes to marketing, there are four things that you need to focus on, four levels if you will.

The four levels of marketing are:

  • Strategy
  • Tactics
  • Initiatives
  • Action steps


When you hop on a webinar, when you ask your mastermind group for help, even when you start searching the web for answers and tools to grow your business, the number one source of overwhelm is when you’ve heard a whole bunch of strategies, a whole bunch of tactics, a whole bunch of initiatives, a whole bunch of actions steps — and you don’t know the difference.

There are three reasons why this short-circuits your brain:

  1. You can’t do them all
  2. You can’t prioritize or figure out how to start to think about them
  3. You can’t distinguish why or how it might work for your particular business


A strategy is a big picture area of your business. It could be a marketing strategy. It could be a sales strategy. It could be a financial strategy.

Let’s say you come across someone who tells you Instagram is an amazing marketing platform and you’re really missing out if your business is not on Instagram.

She is using it and it fits her business beautifully, and you respect this person and you admire her successful business.

And now you’re thinking, “Oh man, it’s all about Instagram, Instagram, Instagram.”

“If she built her business on Instagram, I can probably build my business on Instagram.”

Well, let’s back up and analyze that as far as the four levels of marketing.

Internet marketing is the strategy. In other words, Internet marketing is the big giant umbrella over Instagram.

The tactic under that would be social media. There’s a lot going on via the internet, folks, that’s not social media.

For example, Search engine optimization, your website, the structure of your web presence, blogging, podcasting, email marketing, dozens of internet marketing strategies. Social media happens to be one bucket under that, so social media is the tactic.

An initiative would be “I’m going to start using Instagram.”

This is level three now. I’m going to start using Instagram. I’m going to start understanding it. I might read a book. I might go to some websites, I’m going to grab a copy of Instagram 101 or Using Instagram for Business, all those fabulous resources that are out there for free.

Now, the action step – here’s level four, the action step always takes the form of verb, noun, date.

  1. Set up my Instagram account by Wednesday
  2. Prepare my first 10 posts by Friday
  3. Find 25 influential people to follow in my industry by Saturday
  4. Identify the top 5 hashtags to attract prospects by Monday
  5. Set up Plannthat.com to schedule posts by next Wednesday 

Those are action steps.

And the action step can also go on your calendar.

So it really takes it down to “What are you doing today?” 

What’s on your priority action list today?

Your to-do list could be 50 things, but what are your top three most important things that you need to do based on the strategies you’ve selected, based on the tactics that you’ve chosen, based on the initiatives that you’ve designed, what are the action steps to put on your calendar and get it done?

So right there, just unpacking those four levels, you’ve gotten some insights through which you can start to filter and sort all of your ideas, notes, all of those webinars you’ve listened to, all of those tactics and tools and light bulb moments, all those nuggets and sound bites that you may have swirling around in your head or on your “someday, maybe list.”

If you start to sort them into these four levels; strategy, tactic, initiative, and action step – you’ll get a much clearer vision for ALL your marketing going forward this week, this month, and for the rest of your professional career.

How will you put the 4 levels of marketing to work for your business this week? What strategies, tactics, initiatives, and action steps are you working on? Send me a private message – I really want to know. And I read every single one. Yes me. No minions. No elves :o)

Categories
Entrepreneurship Negotiations Operations Sales Skills Women In Business

“How To Avoid These Deadly Negotiation Mistakes” – Negotiation Tip of the Week

“Do errant actions derive from mistaken thoughts, or does a lack of thought feed thoughtless actions? Think about the way you think.” – Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert  (Click to Tweet)

Click here to get the book!

 

“How To Avoid These Deadly Negotiation Mistakes”

 

 

“People don’t realize; they’re always negotiating!”

 

The plan was to have one team member open the negotiation, and wear down its opposition. At some point, a hand signal would indicate when a different member would assume the leading role. This group of negotiators was going to play a version of good-cop, bad-cop. Because they’d negotiated with their counterparts in the past, and the negotiations had always been contentious. So when they planned the talks, they considered mistakes they might make, and developed alternative actions to control their concessions. They felt very confident as they entered the negotiation.

And then it happened! It occurred at the 37-minute mark in the negotiation. Their lead negotiator made a colossal mistake! He lost his composure, became irate, and missed the hand signal that was supposed to indicate a change in negotiators. Both sets of negotiators engaged in verbal altercations, which almost led to physical clashes.

It’s easy to make mistakes in a negotiation. They can occur for a multitude of reasons. Some stem from misperceived actions. But a lot emanate from what someone did not do. And those can be the trickiest of mistakes to address in a negotiation.

Guard against your negotiation from being knotted-up, by observing the following ‘nots’ – they’re not in any order of priority.


Not Realizing You’re Always Negotiating

Good negotiators know they’re always negotiating. That means they position themselves correctly to be perceived in a particular manner before the official negotiation begins. You’ll lose positioning perception if you don’t realize you’re always negotiating.


Not Planning Sufficiently For Pitfalls And Diversions

You should prepare for a negotiation to the degree you’re committed to its outcome. Thus, by not planning effectively, you’ll expose yourself to the whims of chance and luck. And that’s a recipe for a less-than-stellar result.


Not Checking/Managing Egos

Many negotiations have met their demise due to the egos of the competing negotiators. And, in some cases, the negotiators were on the same team. To safeguard your negotiation, remind everyone to keep their egos in check. And be prepared to bring them back in line before someone’s ego gets out of hand and wreaks havoc on the negotiation.


Not Knowing The Value Proposition

The value proposition a negotiator has is the perspective he brings to the table about the value of what he’s negotiating.

 

  • Not knowing your value – No matter your offerings, you should recognize how the other negotiator perceives value. Because if he’s negotiating with you, there’s a reason he’s doing so, and you should know that reason.

 

  • Not knowing the worth of your offering – Value is worth, and the perception someone assigns to worth is its value. If you don’t understand how valuable your offering is to the opposing negotiator, you could be setting yourself up for a significant loss – you’d do that by leaving more value on the table than you receive. Not only should you know the importance of what you have, but you should also be careful about who sets that value because that’ll determine its worth.

    Not Getting Researched Proof About Assumptions

An assumption is nothing more than a guess. To improve your outcomes, research your ideas. Seek to verify to what degree they’re valid. Doing so will give you leverage to refute some claims and reinforce others.


Not Considering Phases Of The Negotiation

Hopefully, you wouldn’t walk in dangerous environments without protection or support. And yet, by not considering where one phase of the negotiation leads, you could be moving into dangerous territory without protecting yourself. Moving without intent can leave you vulnerable to your negotiation counterpart. Always know the purpose of your actions, and where they may lead, when making offers and concessions during your negotiation.


Not Closing Correctly To Prevent Backdoor Escapes

Depending on its outcome, a negotiator may not like the deal. If so, he may seek ways to improve it later. That’s why you must confirm the covenants of the negotiation at its conclusion. You should also be aware of how the other negotiator appears as he’s responding to his understanding of what he and you will do next. If you sense any apprehension, address it sooner than later.


Not Recognizing Others You’re Negotiating Against

Some negotiators fall prey to the ploy of thinking they have a deal, and later discovering someone else has to make the final approval. At the beginning of your negotiation, verify that the other negotiator has the authority to conclude a deal. And inquire about those that are not at the negotiation table on whose behalf he may be negotiating. Don’t be blindsided by, ‘Oh, I forgot to tell you that I have to get approval from Miss Jones.’


Not Using Leverage Properly

Leverage gives you the ability to exact more influence in a negotiation than the capacity you possess alone. The opportunity to use it always exists. Once you identify it, to give it more potency, apply leverage when it gives you the highest return. To do otherwise is to weaken its value.


Not Projecting The Right Demeanor

When you’re negotiating, you’re role-playing. That means you should cast an effect that affects the behavior best suited for the talks. Doing so correctly enhances your negotiation efforts. To project the correct attitude, don’t under or over position yourself. Thus, the best persona should be one that assists you in reaching the goals you have for the negotiation.


Accepting A Statement/Offer And Not Assessing Its Premise

If I tell you a story, will you believe it? Your answer depends on the narrative, your belief system, and whatever additional information you choose to make your assessment. And that same thought process is what you should undergo before accepting someone’s premise as a truth. By not challenging someone’s statement, you exclude the possibility of other thoughts, offers, or solutions to a problem. Be careful of what you accept as the truth. Everything that glitters is not gold.

 

Reflection

So many mistakes can take a negotiation in the wrong direction. By observing the ‘nots’ mentioned, you can keep your negotiations from knotting up. In so doing, you’ll avoid the traps that ensnare most talks. And everything will be right with the world.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

 

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Negotiation Insight” click here https://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

 

 

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