Networking For Business Prospects

Here are a few tips that will make your networking more successful.

1 - know your target market

2 - have a strong one minute business introduction

3 - your prospect may not be in the room but know that the people in the room have contacts that might be your perfect prospect

4 - keep track of who you networked with in case any of your contacts might need them

5 - figure out how to help at least one person in the room

#3 above is at the core of networking.  A room of 10 people who each have a contact list of 1,000 means that there are over 1,000 contacts that you are trying to connect to.  Leave a positive impression with everyone in the room.  They could connect you to your perfect prospect.

A consultant that I met many years ago, said he went to small business networking events for 3 months.  His target market was large businesses like McDonalds, Air Canada, and Home Depot.  After the 3 months he had connected to arrange 3 introduction meetings and got two clients.  His prospects were never at those small business networking meetings.

Cheryl Rankin

Fit For Business

647-287-0320

Gardening For Strategies

 Do you do any planning or thinking when you are in your garden?

After a crazy summer schedule, I found ragweed / golden rod weeds taking over my garden.  Well that is not good since I am allergic to ragweed! Not good at all!

I blocked time to get rid of the ragweed.  

step 1 - decision to pull out the ragweed and not just chop it off (Do the project correctly the first time and do not have to worry about having to redo it.)

step 2 - try pulling it out to no avail.....the roots are too strong 

step 3 - review the strategy - new strategy - water the ground and see if it makes it easier to pull the weed

step 4 - try again......some of the weeds came out with this new strategy

step 5 - review the strategy - new strategy - try digging down to break the roots before pulling them out

step 6 - wow - it worked - the rest of the weed came out

When working on a business project, try a strategy but evaluate the strategy before repeating it.

Did it work? Was it effective and efficient use of time, energy and tools?

Consider other strategies to reach your project goal.  Learn from my gardening experience that some of the best results come from changing strategies during a project.

Cheryl Rankin, Fit For Business

fitforbusiness@rogers.com / 647-287-0320

100 Day Business Challenge

100 Day Business Challenge

Do Not Sell Anything!

Do Not Sell Anything!

To have the most success in sales - do not sell anything!

Help your prospect buy your product or service.  Have you ever had a pushy sales person?  They were not taking the time to find out anything about you and were pushing the sale on you.

- confirm the prospect's need
- identify how your product / service will help them solve their need (problem)
- confirm the prospect's timing (when do they need your product?)
- confirm the prospect's budget

What does your prospect need in order to buy your product?

- do they need to test it out? (try on shoes?)
- do they need to have more than one price quote? (an insurance company gives you 3 quotes so that you can be ready to buy)
- do they need testimonials?
- do they need a sale?
- do they need extra details and explanation?
- do they need to see some before and after pictures from previous projects?

Take the time to give your prospect the information they need in order to help them buy your product and you will not have to sell them anything.

Book a sales consultation and boost your revenue starting this month.

Cheryl Rankin
Business Consultant
Fit For Business
info@fitforbusiness.ca
647-287-0320

20 Tips for 2020

20 Social Media Tips for 2020

1 - Keep your business and personal posts separate.  A few posts that show you have personality are great but if every second post is personal then your target market may get distracted and forget what you do for business.

2 - Build your list.  Posting to 20 people means that only 20 people will see your post - grow your list.

3 - Start a group - use your business name and start a group.

4 - Start a business page - use your business name to start a business page.

5 - Join other groups and review their guidelines.  Can you post tips and hints?  Can you post advertisments?

6 - Join other business pages, especially the ones of business friends who may help share your messages.

7 - When someone asks you to join their group or follow their business page - do it and then send them a private message "I followed your page, please consider following mine at https://www.facebook.com/FitForBusinessConsulting/ "

8 - Be helpful in 9 out of 10 posts.

9 - 10th post can be an advertisement.

10 - Use pictures and /or coloured backgrounds.

11 - Stay positive - if you always complain then you send out negative energy and people prefer to buy from people who are positive.  

12 - Be timely - if it is the holiday season then include that in your post.

13 - Try videos - they can be short and sweet - 2 minutes.  Whether it is a facebook live or a You Tube video link, they add extra energy and attract more viewers  to your post.

14 - like / comment / share - if you help your contacts share their information then they will help share your contact info once in awhile.

15 - Set up an event - you can set up a facebook event and you can invite your contacts to the event.  They will receive an email to the event but may not receive emails for individual posts.

16 - Post regularly - try to post daily.

17 - Post a link to your blog or newsletter articles.

18 - Be sure to remind people to go to your website and sign up for your newsletter.  If the social media site ever closes down you do not want to lose all of your contacts.

19 - Check the inbound messages in your account regularly in case you have a lead.  You can also send private messages to people who seem interested in your posts.

20 - Remember that social media is part of your marketing plan - not your whole marketing plan so you should still meet people in person, phone people and email people individually.  Consider getting a booth at a business tradeshow or a commuity event to introduce your business and use your social media accounts to stay connected and build your business relationships.

Fit For Business can take care of your social media accounts for you.  Call today to get our introductory social media services rates at $60 plus tax a month.

Cheryl Rankin

Business Consultant

Fit For Business

info@fitforbusiness.ca

647-287-0320 

 

2020 is here.  Is your business ready to go? Are you ready to go?

A business plan will help you confirm your focus and what resources you need in order to succeed.  An existing business plan should be reviewed and updated in order to be as useful as possible.  

Your focus - identify your goals and what products or services you are selling in order to meet these goals.  Your goals will start as an annual goal but it is best to break them down into  monthly and even weekly goals so that you can create your tasks / actions you need to perform in order to meet your goals.

Your resources - in order to meet your business goals, what do you need for resources?  Whether it is raw ingredients for manufacturing products or new software to manage your schedule or staff in order to meet the production and delivery needs of the business - you need to identify the resources and confirm when and how to get them.

You - identify the skills you need in order to meet the goals you have identified.  If you need some more skills then do some research on how to get those skills.  Identify how you will actually do the work that is needed. Confirm whether or not you have enough time to do all of the tasks necessary or if you need to hire someone to help.

Most people are not actually ready to run their business at the level of their goals.  Taking time to prepare will help insure that you can actually grow to that level, attain the success you dream of and most of all make sure that you do not burn out.

Cheryl Rankin

Business Consultant, Fit For Business

info@fitforbusiness.ca

647-287-0320

Fit For Business - 100 Day Challenge

Fit For Business - 100 Day Challenge