Time management and productivity - Marketing techniques for results driven entrepreneurs

Jan

Gulp – one month down.

1/12th the year is near gone… are you 1/12th the way to reaching all your goals?

The days and weeks fly by so fast, it sometimes feels like you are moving faster backwards than forward.

That said, there are still 11 months left, and some fantastic opportunities out there for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Some rules of engagement for 2011:

Rule #1 – Focus. Take a long hard look at all of your projects that you have on your plate. Write them down. Each. One. This is difficult to commit to – and the results will SHOCK you if you are honest. Write down every single project you have on the go right now. Honesty will set you free here.

a) Get rid of those that have no residual or ongoing revenue. Is this a one-hit-wonder project? Or is there something here that you can repurpose and leverage for years to come? A winning promotion can easily be run again next month – or next year. As long as you have new, fresh leads coming in, your promotion will continue to work for you.

b) take a look at the remaining projects. If they are niche or narrow in reach then sell them or close them down. Only look at projects that have a broad reach (can affect many).

Rule #2 – Get your priorities straight. Your main goal this year is…? Number one priority is YOU, then your family, then your business. You cannot run a successful business for the long term if your health is falling apart, you are stressed out, and an insomniac. And if you aren’t looking after yourself, you won’t be looking after your family properly. And if you aren’t looking after yourself or them, your customers certainly won’t be ‘feeling the love’. And if they aren’t feeling it… your main goal doesn’t have a chance!

a) Take daily time for you (rest + play). Make sure you are getting a decent sleep, are eating properly, and getting in some daily exercise (if you are in Calgary, and looking for a like-minded workout partner, I would love to have you join me in my M/W/F Tae Kwon Do Classes (12-1) – let me know if interested). You need to be fully exploiting your downtime, and you need to start doing fun stuff with fun people on a regular basis.

Me and my daughters waiting for the 'old guy' to finish the Black Belt Test

Full disclosure: For far too long I have avoided going out to local networking events in Calgary. I had a good reason – 3 years ago there was nothing really solid in the entrepreneurial space here for meetings. That was 3 years ago. Just last week I went to a fantastic event with over 100 entrepreneurs. Great people – a great event – and a realization that things HAVE changed in the past 3 years. Resources like meetup.com have changed this space. It is now easier than EVER to find like-minded people to talk to… use this service for finding others… and setting up your own meetups.

b) Appreciate your spouse and children. If your home life is a mess, your business life won’t be any better. Give them time, and a FOCUSED you. Not you with nose buried in a crackberry or iphone. You. Just you. No technology.

My daughters LOVE going for walks with me and the dog – no ipods or phones allowed. We talk. We laugh. We solve all of the world’s problems. Create a one hour rule.

My Assistant, 'Casino'

One hour of family focus time a day on weekdays – and MUCH more than that on weekends. Again… if your home life is a mess, your business life won’t be any better.

c) Are you working harder for others or for you? Stop running on adrenaline. This is an exhausting treadmill to be on. Constantly pushing to help others, do good, be more, connect more, etc. All sounds good in theory – but if you aren’t worrying about your own good (and ability to pay the bills), the rest doesn’t matter.

Serving and helping more people is a great thing… but change things if it isn’t paying the bills. Now is NOT the time to get deeper in the hole, while you wait for the miracles to happen. Get busy helping others, as long as it is helping yourself as well!

Rule #3 – Say NO! Lots. For many entrepreneurs, this is one of the toughest things to ask of them. We all LOVE new ideas. New ventures. New possibilities. But that love for ‘new’ costs us all dearly. You know it. I know it.

a) Decide what you want in 2011 and don’t want. Are you going to launch a new venture? Then launch A new venture – not 5. Are you re-focusing your marketing on your top 3 products? Then narrow it down to ONLY 3 products and create new marketing campaigns for ONLY those 3. Get rid of everything else – not an easy thing to do – but a necessity!

By far the most empowering thing you can do in 2011 is to start saying no every single day to new distractions. Keep track of how many times you say no a day. How can you double that?

b) Manage your time and STOP letting others manage your time. Emails. Facebook. Twitter. Phone calls. Instant messages. Texting. I get exhausted just thinking about it all. The biggest lesson? You have NO control over your life and business if these so-called ‘tools’ run your life.

If you can’t go to the bathroom without a phone in your hand…or you can’t eat dinner without checking email…or you can’t sit and enjoy dinner without the phone ringing… you AREN’T the one in control of your life. Electronics and clients are… and something needs to change.

c) Think BIG. Successful CEOs don’t tackle it all at once, or on their own. They quickly figure out if the project s leading them in the right direction or not. Either turfing the idea overall, or delegating it to someone else who can implement the idea. Implementation is the nemesis of most entrepreneurs… taking on too much and not picking up the pieces after. CHANGE THAT THIS YEAR. If you are always saying yes and trying to do it yourself, then you are in the mud all the time and someone else is making the money off of your hard work.

Rule # 4 – Must take action on a daily basis. Sounds easy… but most of us don’t take the proper actions on a daily basis. We start the day with email… then fight fires answering emails and letting them direct the rest of our day.
Eugene Schwartz gave us one of his greatest secrets – a timer set to 33 minutes and 33 seconds. Let that little electronic device determine the direction of your day.

Start blocking off your day with the help of that timer and you will get more done in 5 of those 33 minute blocks than you normally do in an entire day, maybe WEEK!

All it

takes is one thing a day…

* Write an email to your clients
* Send 1 card to 1 prospect
* Write one press release and submit online
* Ask one person for a referral
* Write one blog entry
* Ask one person to endorse me to their list
* Write one article for your newsletter
* Compliment one person who has helped you
* Add one page of content to your website
* Send one monthly promotion to your clients
* Test one new upsell offer today
* Bundle 3 products into one and create a new name
* Ask one customer for their feedback
* Ask one customer what else they would like to buy
* Create a customer survey to find out what they want
* Offer one free bonus “just as my way of saying thanks”
* Find out what your clients fear the most
* Offer your clients a teleseminar – ask them for content
* Offer your clients a live seminar – bring in guest speakers
* Visualize your perfect business and life for 5 minutes
* Ask 5 clients if you can take them for a brainstorming lunch

Simple… right?

That is exactly what you need to do to make the most of 2011.

One.
Simple.
Thing.
A Day.

Real success is NOT about shiny objects and miracle pills. It is all about systematically doing the right things that pull you one step closer to your goals. It doesn’t happen overnight… rather one simple step at a time.

Here’s to a fantastic year ahead!

I would love to hear YOUR additions to this list!

What is your greatest tip to getting more done in less time?

To your success,

Troy White

PS: If you are ready to rock and roll the rest of the year – get your Cash Flow Calendar and have me help you create the perfect marketing plan for 2011. All the details are at Cash Flow Calendars… The Ultimate Marketing Plan (also very much underpriced – according to many, many buyers who used it and got 20:1 returns on their investment the FIRST time they used it.

2011 Marketing Calendar, Marketing and promotional plan for small businesses.

Wacky marketing ideas galore! Over 1,200 marketing prompts, templates and blueprints

Nov

Focus and productivity for entrepreneurs

By Troy | Copywriting, Entrepreneur, Main Content, Story Selling, Success, Time management and productivity

Feeling Stuck or Confused In Your Business?

By Troy | Entrepreneur, Success, Time management and productivity, Wacky marketing ideas

2 Comments

Most times the answer is right in front of you

You ever felt lost, dazed and confused?

Can’t see the answer to that nagging business problem?

It happens to all of us.

To me quite recently.

I was struggling with an idea and what to do with it.

So I tossed and turned.

Mindmapped it.

Lost sleep over it.

and then…

…lo and behold… the phone message I got pried open the door I was looking for.

I returned the call – and got some seriously GREAT additions to my idea.

Additions that will help my clients and help me build my own business.

All because I was overlooking my most important asset – the people I know.

If you are lost or confused and need help, have you gone out to your network of people?

Not with an email.

With a real live (gasp) phone call.

Something amazing happens when ear meets phone – a connection is made and big things start to stir.

Sometimes minds and melded and breakthrough ideas come forward.

Other times the person on the other end sees something (good or bad) in your problem or idea.

Many times they know exactly who you should next talk to.

…or, in my case, where I could find the exact model to do what I wanted to do.

As I have shared before, I can be a major recluse.

It’s easy.

Keyboard and computer can be my communication tools… and the phone gets neglected.

Which means I am neglecting my contacts, my friends, my family.

What about you?

Are you stuck?

Then pick up the phone and make that call.

Get in touch with the person you know that might have insight for you.

See where it takes you.

Yes, phone calls take much longer than blasting out an email.

But the connection is deeper and amazing things happen when person-to-person communication over the phone takes place.

…a CHALLENGE for you.

Over the next week, I encourage you to pick up the phone and call someone you never call.

Someone that might be able to help you through any business challenge you might have.

One call.

30 minutes of your week.

Who knows where it will take you!

In my case, it gave me the clarity I wanted and the plan of attack I needed to follow.

All in 30 minutes.

Compared to the hours I had wasted stewing about it.

One call.

That might be all it takes.

I DOUBLE DARE YOU!

Jul

Is it getting more difficult to get sales?

By Troy | Affluent buyers, Copywriting, Direct Mail, Entrepreneur, Leads Generation, Marketing on the web, Neighborhood Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Social Networking, Success, Time management and productivity, Wacky marketing ideas

1 Comment

One thing about today’s economy… you had better be tough to make it out better off than you went in.

The media makes sure you hear all the disturbing trends.

That’s how they make their money.

But their fear mongering won’t help you build your business or live a better quality of life.

You have to take responsibility for that.

So what do you do?

People aren’t spending like they used to.

They are spending less than they used to (only the top 5% income earners are growing their personal expenditures by any significant amount).

They are making buying decisions based on a new criteria that they have set.

They aren’t reading the yellow pages in print.

They aren’t responding like they used to when they saw newspaper and magazine ads.

Now it’s summer and people are paying less attention to all the online commotion.

Again, what do you do?

If you are looking for new ways to grow your business in turbulent times like this, you must start looking at unusual ideas.

Completely different marketing ideas.

New media to place lead generation ads in.

One of the best places to start?

Go FAR outside of your industry…

…to a land far far away.

If you sell computers, look to the restaurant business.

If you run a restaurant, look to the clothing industry.

You sell life insurance? Well, stop looking inside your field, and look to the publishing industry.

The point is that you need to, right now, STOP thinking about you being a computer tech, or a restaurant owner, or a life insurance specialist.

And you need to start thinking like a marketer.

Marketers look for opportunity in the weirdest of places.

When they see something working elsewhere, they don’t say (in a whiny voice): “that won’t work in myyyyyyyyy industry… my buyers are different”.

Yes, your buyers are unique people… but they are people and people buy based on similar patterns and habits.

And if they are buying over there in a wacky promotion going on, you had BETTER get testing ways to take that wacky promotion and make it work for you.

So get busy looking at what promotions catch your eye – online, offline, it doesn’t matter.

Things that stand out to you in the newspaper or magazines you read.

Success stories you read about.

People you talk to who are doing well in business.

Figure out what they are doing, how they are promoting it, and then FIND WAYS to make it fit your offerings.

Tools needed?

Pen.
Paper.
Phone.
Ambition.

That’s it.

Now get busy.

I took a simple little 2 pager that was written for a completely different industry.

I modified it to fit my client.

We got over 15% response.

I modified it again for another client and we saw a 20:1 return on their marketing investment to mail the letter out.

(how many times would you be investing $1 if you knew you would roughly get $20 back? as many as freaking possible, I would hope!)

The letter came from an industry I do not like.

One few people like.

But it worked.

And I modified it to make it work in multiple industries.

It didn’t work every time the first time, but through testing was made to.

If you are interested in a copyright free version of this letter that you can use for your own business… let me know how to get ahold of you and we can talk.

I have to charge you for it – everyone else paid for it.

BUT, I promise it will be a minuscule investment compared to the results it can give you back.

The best ideas come from places you would never think of.

This might be one.

I am offering 10 copies of this letter, one per industry.

Email me at troy@smallbusinesscopywriter.com if you want to find out more.

And keep your eyes open for those wacky marketing promotions that catch YOUR attention. If they work on you… the odds are good they are working on others!

To your success. Troy

Jun

7 Critical Email Marketing Rules

By Troy | Copywriting, Direct Mail, Entrepreneur, Leads Generation, Marketing on the web, Neighborhood Marketing, Social Networking, Success, Time management and productivity, Wacky marketing ideas

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Here’s how you can increase your sales numbers and attract a better quality client

Email marketing has transformed the way we can grow businesses. From the costly (yet still highly effective) direct mail world with the postage and printing costs… to the new age of instant delivery and little out-of-pocket costs for a mailing.

Email can bring life to your marketing mix and give your prospects and customers an insiders peak into your personality and business endeavors.

That said, email marketing is not a guaranteed moola maker.

In fact, more of them go wrong than right (despite what nonsense many of the ‘gurus’ are feeding you this week).

It doesn’t take much to sit at your computer like I am doing now, and put together a letter to your clients, much like I am to you right now.

What it DOES take is some grey matter to go into your campaign and some formulas that help ensure your odds are improved.

1) Write to ONE person… not hundreds or thousands. Know who your perfect client is. Know them like your best friend. Know what they would say if they were the one writing their life story in a journal.

What would they tell you?
What are their challenges?
What are their frustrations?
What keeps them awake at night tossing and turning?

If you don’t know this – you can’t write effective emails to them. They will come across as bland, stale, and without a personal connection. BUT, when you DO know who they are (intimately) your email will strike a chord with them unlike any others they receive. (fyi: I actually got to know my one client so well that I ended up marrying her ) 11 years now… twin 9 years daughters to add to the mix. You could say I know her very well

Marriage and kids... the roller coaster ride of your life!

2) Leverage your personality. One of your greatest assets, yet highly unlikely being used to its potential. Here are a few key things you can use in your copy that may help.

The key to this is to let loose. This is a unique way of getting inside your head and finding real life ways to position you and your business in the buyers mind. Don’t worry about if it is too much or too little… just dump your thoughts on paper.

Sometimes the most unusual of things about you can be the big breakthroughs we are looking for in the marketing and positioning of you.

Have fun… share freely.

* Pet Peeves
* Physical Characteristics (Uniqueness)
* Core Beliefs
* Politics
* Birthplace
* What Are You Pathological About?
* Significant Childhood Events
* Beliefs
* Hobbies
* Education
* Skills
* Interests
* Family
* Talents
* Life Events You Remember Most
* Adventures You Will Never Forget
* Incompetence At?
* Anything You Are A Legend Of?

If you invest a few hours on this, and write down the points you think of as they come to you, that docuement will help you write promotions, articles, blog posts and campaigns for years to come.

A definite worthwhile investment.

3) Always try and include something in your promotions that gives an insight, a tip, or something helpful. Even in your promotions, include a PS or a side bar that is helpful. It helps them justify the time they invest in your materials.

4) What makes you unique in your field? Everyone talks about a USP – but, as you’ve probably seen, they are not that simple to create. Ask anyone what the best USPs are, and you will always hear Dominos Pizza, Fedex, etc. Always the same. Why? Because they aren’t that easy to do. Especially in today’s market with soooo many competitors out there – all doing the same thing you are. But there must be something, just one thing, that makes you unique. Right? Find it – then mention it in every email that goes out. Use it on your websites. On your blog. On your invoices. Everywhere you can – spread the word about the one thing that makes you unique. It doesn’t have to be rocket science – Microsoft doesn’t have one – Coke doesn’t have one – even Apple doesn’t have one. So monster success stories didn’t always get that way with an official USP – they just found one or two things they were good at and made that the focus of their marketing.

5) Call to action. Obvious… but not used. Every email you send should have a call to action. That does not mean you sell something every time you email… that is a dangerous path to take. The call to action could be to visit your blog, or reply back with comments, or to fill out a survey (the unsung hero of getting to know your customers). Just ask them to do something.

You should aim for 4 times as much content as promotions.

So one out of every 4 – 5 emails you send can be a promotion.

6) Have more fun with graphics. I am as guilty as charged here – but have been testing different approaches with some retail clients of mine. I found some interesting conversion improves with some very untraditional graphics.

Something I recommend you try.

Think about how people ‘traditionally’ think about your business, product or industry. What is the opposite of that? What graphic could be used to show the 2 opposites? Test it – you may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

7) Always remember Murphy’s Law in your email marketing. If something can go wrong, chances are it will. Pay very close attention to (speaking from my own mess ups): Deadlines are correct, contact details are correct, dates or holidays are the right one (like my mixup on when Canada day is this week – whoops!), etc.

Plan for a contingency.

Think through your email from the point of view of a brand new prospect to your email list. How would they see it? What would they like about it? Dislike aoutb it? Is it worthy of being passed on?

Do your best to factor these 7 rules into your marketing.

More to come.

Have a great week.

Troy White

PS: REMINDER – If you haven’t snapped up one of the Cash Flow Calendars at 63.27% off, get your copy now through this special link:
https://responsivedm.infusionsoft.com/saleform/nathniit

You can read all the details at www.cashflowcalendars.com (but must use the link above to get the 63.27% discount)

PPS: SPECIAL OFFER. If you are looking for a unique email (or print) marketing campaign this summer, email me back. I have a very unique and unusual exciting alternative for you this summer – one that’s guaranteed to be highly profitable for you.
This is available to you at just a fraction of the cost of our full service campaigns. No obligation – just email me and we can set up a time to talk for 5 minutes about it.

Jun

Drayton Bird… Master Marketer and Free Training For You

By Troy | Copywriting, Direct Mail, Entrepreneur, Leads Generation, Marketing on the web, Neighborhood Marketing, Social Networking, Success, Time management and productivity, Wacky marketing ideas

4 Comments

What an inspiration!

Many decades of marketing mastery all bottled up in one hilarious gentleman.

Drayton Bird was a blast to speak with.

Right Click here to download the interview with Drayton Bird

Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the call, he gave me far more of his time than I thought I would get.

He shared his history and what has inspired him to continue writing 6 hours a day for 50 years.

He shared the story of his mothers first direct response letter – and the staggering results she attained for her non-profit animal shelter (along with the single key that any non-profit could use to get the same results).

He shared his formula for creating winning copy.

He shared his incredible insights into the internet marketing age.

Last, but certainly not least – he shared his humour. Lots of it.

I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.

He inspired me to use more humour and to develop my ability to see the lighter side in everything that I do.

If you have never heard of his 450 page masterpiece – NOW is the time to look it up on Amazon!

Common Sense Direct Marketing is a huge honking behemoth of a manual.

And it delivers.

For now though – start with the recording of this fantastic call.

Drayton Bird is a master marketer and you need to hear this:

Right Click here to download the interview with Drayton Bird

Would love to hear your comments on this.

Thanks,

Troy

PS: MAKE SURE you have a good look at Drayton’s upcoming program in London – this is one
I would hate to miss http://www.directmarketingmentor.com

Are you saying NO enough?

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Feeling Stuck or Confused In Your Business?

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Are you saying NO enough?

Focus and productivity for entrepreneurs

Feeling Stuck or Confused In Your Business?

Is it getting more difficult to get sales?

7 Critical Email Marketing Rules

Drayton Bird… Master Marketer and Free Training For You

Who Is Troy D. White?

Subscribe To My Blog’s Feed

2012 Cash Flow Calendar

YES! I Want Troy to show mehow to turn my words into wealth!

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

YES! I Want Troy to show me
how to turn my words into wealth!