Posts filed under 'Strategies for Success'
There are many who say that public speaking is a great way for service professionals to build your business or practice. Speaking from experience, I agree. When I did the Rotary circuit here in Brevard and Indian River Counties, Florida, I would average one new client every other talk. The lifetime value of those clients and their referrals were the foundation of my practice.
And I remember those embarrassing moments when I stood on the side while my host introduced me. Back then I knew to prepare something for them to read. Even with a short intro typed in BIG font, more often than not, they’d botch it.
So when I read Lisa Sasevich’s post, I had to share it with you. Take her words of wisdom to heart and each of your talks will get off to a better start. Thank you, Lisa.
How to Ensure a Powerful Intro Before You Speak
There are two types of introductions—the one where you introduce yourself toward the beginning of your talk and the one that your host reads to introduce you to the audience before you get up on stage. Now, that second introduction may seem like a minor concern, but it’s not; it plays a huge role in establishing your credibility.
Building credibility—the impression that you are an expert with proven results who can be trusted to deliver—is the vital first goal of your presentation. If you want your audience to listen to you and eventually buy from you, they have to see you as credible.
So here is my secret formula and two important tips for creating a powerful introduction for your host. An introduction that sets you up to gain credibility and helps people feel open to you and quickly start to build the trust that is needed to invest with you.
Proven Formula for Getting a Powerful Intro Before You Speak
When you’re writing your host’s introduction, keep it short: only 30 seconds to one minute long. Hit the high points and include these elements:
A. Have the host tell the audience why they invited you. For example, your introduction might begin: “We know that you or people you know have been affected by the drastic changes in the housing market. We invited our next speaker here today because her program has been proven to work during challenging times.” This is also where they would include any personal testimonial they have to add if they, in fact, have worked with you.
B. Include accolades and a personal touch. Then they should list several of your most impressive achievements: the TV appearances, the books, awards, the years you’ve been at your craft or how many people you’ve helped. Also include something personal that sounds impressive. For instance, you have two children at home and you put your husband through graduate school while launching your business from the basement.
C. Tell the audience what they’re going to get. This is where you include your statements of the transformations that your clients get as a result of working with you. For instance, “Today, Susan’s going to teach you how you can lose 10 pounds in 30 days and cut your insulin dependence in half.” Or, “Judy’s going to show you how you can build a six-figure business working part-time from home.”
Having your host end your introduction with the transformation that the audience will get generates excitement. And then you get up there confident and welcomed because they are excited to hear what you have to say, and you’re excited to share it with them!
Bonus Tip 1: Always Bring a Copy of your Host Introduction with You
You can write a fantastic introduction, but if the busy host misplaces it the day of the event and gets up there and wings it, all your effort was in vain. Always bring an extra copy with you. Make sure it’s in large print, easy to read, and before you go on, ask the emcee if he or she has your introduction. If not, you can just hand it over. (This will seriously separate you from the speaker pack and have hosts take notice.)
Bonus Tip 2: Adjust Your Opening Remarks as Necessary
If the emcee botches your intro (it happens!), think fast, because you need to convey the credibility that was supposed to have been established during your introduction. You could do this by mentioning that your business broke the six or seven-figure mark or that you never thought when you started that you’d have more than 200 people in your mentorship program.
If, on the other hand, your emcee does a stellar job of establishing your credibility, then you have the wonderful opportunity to get up there and emphasize your vulnerability, which, along with continuing to build on your credibility, is the goal of your opening remarks.
This is powerful because when someone whom we expect to be larger than life is instead humble and real, we’re surprised and delighted and we like and trust that person even more. Also, it allows people to relate to you better and realize that if you can do it, they can too. Remember, we buy from people we feel like we know and that we like and trust to deliver. So, even this early on in your presentation, you’re setting the stage for record sales.
Sales-from-the-podium expert Lisa Sasevich has x-ray vision for seeing the sales opportunities that exist in every company, and the creativity to convert them into gold! If you’re looking for simple, quick and easy ways to boost sales without spending a dime, get your FREE Sales Nuggets now at www.theinvisibleclose.com.
Tags: Become an Expert, Marketing for Professionals, Take your business to the next level, VIP with VIP
May 27th, 2010
In today’s email, Suzanne Falter-Barns asked a somewhat ~ like very ~ vulnerable question:
“Has your business ever made you cry, Bonnie?”
My answer without a moment’s hesitation! You bet it has… Has yours?
Suzanne went on to say:
I know, I know. We’re not supposed to talk about these things. We’re supposed to be INDEPENDENT, BRAVE and STRONG … and not have inconvenient feelings like fear, shame and serious self-doubt.
Thing is … those feelings are unavoidable. And the real truth is that when you find yourself planted face down on your bed, wracked with sobs, that’s usually a really good sign.
It’s an indication of an imminent breakthrough – a complete break with the way you’ve always done things. A chance to be liberated from whatever is currently sticking you … so you can make the surge forward that you need.
This is the reality of entrepreneurship:
We’ve all been in tears with our businesses.
We’re going to be asked to do hard things.
We’re going to feel like complete idiots from time to time.
We’ll have to do things sometimes that make us feel crazy, weak or just plain out of our league.
And yes, we’re going to have dark nights of the soul.
Which means …. we also get the chance to GROW. To pry ourselves OUT of the comfort zone which is totally a great thing.
And isn’t that why Spirit put you in business in the first place?
My note: Thanks, Suzanne, for bravely stating there’s an elephant in the room.
In fact, I’m going through yet another expansion of my comfort zone. What a relief to be reminded that the waves of emotions, sometimes tears, are a good thing!
How grateful I am to be traveling with you, Suzanne. Thanks for being who you are, showing up as you are. I am encouraged and empowered!
I’m ready to do some yoga, then get to bed early so I’m fully charged to show up in the world in a new, bigger, bolder, and better way tomorrow.
P.S. That was yesterday, and today has been a better day. Energy ebbs and flows in nature, and I’m part of nature! So are you… I’m learning to relax and go with the flow, to trust that I am the right person to do the next thing that’s right in front of me, and then to do it. Being in motion makes it easier for me to be in the right place at the right time, to say or do the right thing, meet the right person… you get my point.
So, I invite you to laugh when you feel like laughing, and cry when that feels right, too. And I will, too. Together, being our real, authentic selves, we can hold each other’s hand and JUMP! Right through the next ring of fire. Let who you no longer need to be, what you no longer need to say or do be burned away a tiny bit at a time. It’s part of the journey of life.
To quote Suzanne, “Isn’t that why Spirit put you in business in the first place?”
And remember, if it’s got to get done, let me help you make it fun!
Tags: Professionals, Strategies for Success
May 3rd, 2010
Do you want to make more money doing what you’re already doing? Do you want to serve more people doing what you love?
Do you want to love the life you’re living?
One way to achieve all this and more is to be known as an authority in your niche. Here’s the direction I recommend you go to be well seen and well heard so you can be well known and well paid.
You need to be a VIP with VIP ~ a Very Important Professional with Valuable Intellectual Property, AKA Valuable Information Products.
“Why this path?” you may be wondering.
Because once your expertise is out of your head and in physical and digital form, you can contribute it to the world. That way it can generate leads and income.
Content may be king. The question is what content? Before we can create content that others will find valuable, we need to know who those others are who we want to attract and serve.
We may need to create and share clear, concise, and compelling messages and to know where to put them so they can be easily found by those looking for us. Before we can we write messages that leave a trail of breadcrumbs that lead to our door, we need to know who we want to talk to, who we want to attract, who we want to serve.
So start by building a strong foundation. Here are a few questions I suggest you answer.
Who are our ideal clients? Think of 3 categories:
- ones we love to work with (our passion) and who love to work with us (their passion)
- ones we’re expert at helping (our expertise)
- ones with whom we make the most money (income)
What problem(s) do they have that you solve for them or help them solve?
How do you do that?
What results do they get when they work with us and how do they benefit from those results?
What makes us, what we do and how we do it unique so people would be crazy to work with anyone else?
In the coming weeks I’ll be blogging more about what you can do to be a VIP with VIP. I’ll be offering tips, tools, techniques, and strategies you can use. I’ll be creating Success Activities you can do quickly and easily. And I’ll be offering programs to help you get unstuck, overcome Marketing Resistance Syndrome, and take the next steps that help you take yourself, your business, and your life where you want to go.
And remember, if it’s got to get done, let me help you make it fun!
Fun is a prerequisite to excellence.
Play is the behavior of enlightenment.
P.S. If you want to be known as an authority in your niche, join Mari-Lynn Harris and myself every Wednesday 2-3 pm est on BlitzTime. It’s the coolest place to meet like-minded people. We gather on the phone to network, build relationships, and learn how to do what it takes to become well seen and well heard so you can be well paid. Click on this link. You’ll land on our event’s page. You’re in the place to register for one or more calls for ”How to Be an Authority in YOUR Niche.” Your first 2 calls are free! Try it. You’ll like it!
Tags: Become an Expert, BlitzTime, Develop Your Audience, Effective Communicating, Independent Service Professionals, Information Marketing, Marketing for Professionals, Marketing Resistance Syndrome, Strategies for Success, Take your business to the next level, VIP with VIP
April 28th, 2010
Hello all you ISPs (Independent Service Professionals) ~ I’m curious… what’s keeping you up at night? What’s got you stuck? What do you wish you knew or knew how to do? If you could wave a magic wand, if you knew you would succeed, what would you do next?
I have a hunch… if you’re like me and other ISPs I know… we know where we’d like to be, like to go, and we even know our next few steps… and yet sometimes because we can’t see clearly through the fog or the bend in the road beyond those next known steps and we can’t guarantee they’re the right steps or we’ll do them right enough, we freeze and spin our wheels. Does this sound familiar?
I’ve decided I can only see so far down the road ~ like how far headlights illuminate at night isn’t the whole road yet I drive on. Just like I drive with faith that the road continues and the next part will be lite up when I need it, the next steps will be revealed when I need to know.
Like that scene in Indiana Jones when the big ball is rolling after Indiana, he’s standing at the edge of a cliff, he’s told to step out and he does… the chasm was an illusion. He stood on solid ground and kept walking.
What if it’s that easy?
Tags: Become an Expert, Independent Service Professionals, Marketing Resistance Syndrome, Strategies for Success, Take your business to the next level
April 23rd, 2010
When we solo-preneurs start our business, we’re often responsible for every single function in our business. We do the marketing, sales, administrative tasks. We answer the phone and emails, we take care of the financial and legal matters. AND we create, deliver the programs, products and services we sell. In other words, it doesn’t matter how we set up and structure our organization. Our name appears in every slot on the organization chart.
If you want to stay small, if you like doing all those things, if you never plan to sell your practice or business, if you don’t want to go on vacation often or have a life and a business, you can continue to do it all as long as you’d like.
If you want to take your business to the next level, if you want to serve more people and make more money doing what you love, if you want to share your expertise with others and leave a legacy, if you want to take vacations, and might someday want to sell your business, you need to start working your way out of jobs. Whether you hire employees and delegate to them or outsource, you need to get others to do what you don’t like, don’t know, or don’t have time for if you want to spend your time serving your ideal clients.
And if you do want to sell your business, eventually you’ll need to have someone else doing everything required to run your company… or nearly everything. You could sell if you were the only one doing something that’s mission-critical. It’ll mean you stay on for a while to train someone in the new organization to do what you’re the expert at doing so the company can run without you.
Here’s a BIG tip about how to get from where you are to wherever you want to take your businses: Start documenting what you’re doing.
If you know you’re going to do something over and over again, write down the steps. Next time you do that job, follow your own steps to see if you need to make them clearer. Continue doing this until someone else can follow your instructions and get the job done right.
In other words, create your operations manual. Start today. The sooner you have a job documented, the sooner you can hire someone to do it for you.
Yes, you could hire someone to figure it out and document their way. They’ll probably cost more than the person who would be able to simply follow directions.
I know I’m making this sound quite simple. For example, I know you don’t have to train a bookkeeper to keep your books. You might need to give them special instructions about the categories of expenses you track or specifically how you want something done. So why not write down those types of details.
That way, you know the job will be done the way you want, you can go on vacation, and someday you might decide to sell your business and move on.
So make your business and your life more enjoyable and more profitable. Work yourself out of this job, then that one… until your name doesn’t appear anywhere on your org chart. Then your are free to stay and do what you love or move on to something new.
Either way you win!
Tags: Business development, Strategies for Success, Take your business to the next level
March 26th, 2010
Human beings need to connect, to communicate, and to collaborate to survive and thrive.
I’m a member of many communities, some geographically based, some virtual. One community, Web 2.0 Community and Business, is a community about community, aren’t we?! We’re a virtual community of like-minded people who are committed to developing and learning how to create and thrive in a virtual community. And to collaborate, co-create, and thrive we need accountability and commitment.
Today I got an email from one of my local colleagues, David Brown. He’s a coach and an alumni of IBI / CEO Space. That means he’s part of our tribe…
He sees “community as being the structure that creates a sense of belonging. A space that taps into peopleʼs longing, imagination and possibility. A space that calls people to organize around something larger than who they are or what they can envision individually. A space from which completely new futures can emerge.
In a workshop he attended, the host, Peter Block, spoke of a statue of a man, blindfolded, hammering himself into shape, forming himself from the inside out. That image was shared in the context of what is the purpose of a community: to rediscover its capacity and its gifts, and create from there.
David goes on to say “I also have a vision. I see an organizational culture that is a community of peers where communication flows freely and there is a natural sense of ownership, pride, cooperation and support, like in a well run healthy family business. We care, we listen and we help each other out, because our primary concern is for the well-being of the whole. Complaints become requests and promises are our word.”
If you like what you’ve read so far, click on this link and read Summary of the Six Conversations that Build Accountability and Commitment.
This is a core conversation I’d like to have with YOU!
What’s your vision of community and how do you see us moving toward healthy, happy, whole communities of healthy, happy, whole members who come together to collaborate and co-create a world, our world, in which we can be all we can be and do it together in the spirit of honoring and connecting with the spirit in each of us.
Thanks for reading, I’d really love to hear from you!
The Energizer Bonnie
- Please, Come Back. More Articles Every Week
- Join the Community and Business Online Community and post your comments and questions. Membership is free and and you’ll find rich and valuable content and conversations.
Bonnie Dubrow
Web 2.0 Expert : Blog ~ Expert’s Page ~ Expert’s Resource
Website : Marketing to YOUR World
Tags: Effective Communicating, Web 2.0
January 22nd, 2010
I’ve been listening to Donald Trump’s book, Think Like a Champion.
Toward the beginning of the book, Donald addresses what he thinks we need to do to Think Like a Champion. I found myself so intrigued by his thoughts that I played the section over and over until I typed almost word for word what he said.
Thank you, Donald, for your words of wisdom and inspiration!
“What is the best choice for each individual is the highest that it is possible for him to achieve.” Aristotle
Champions are born and champions are made.
Here are a few ways people define a champion.
- A champion is someone who shows marked superiority.
- A champion is winner of first prize or first place in competition
- Olympic athletes are champions. What comes to mind when I see their amazing ability is the amount of training they have endured, sacrifices they’ve made, and the courage they’ve to have to get where they are. those are the attributes
- A champion wants to achieve something special. Ordinary wouldn’t be enough for someone who has the mindset of a champion.
- Champions think big work. Champions work in a big time way.
- Champitions are focused
- Champitions are disciplined
- Come to think of it, Champions think like a champion.
“A champion is someone who gets up with they can’t,” said Jack Dempsey.
Let’s hope that applies to you.
When I’m having an especially tough day, I think of it as a race and I’d better have the endurance to get through it. Somehow the endurance will surface because I don’t want to feel I’ve been beaten.
Champions have the endurance.
Champions take responsibility. Billy Jean King said, “When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball.”
You can learn alot from watching the experts, whether you’re interested in sports, the arts, whatever.
One thing they all have in common is the Same mind set – want to win, they want to be the best, not the runner up, but the best
Very important thing to consider. I’ve seen very talented fail because deep down afraid of winning
Winning comes with responsibility. Champions rise to that responsibility.
Search yourself to make sure you’re ready and capable. If you’re not, do something about it.
It’s an important element of success.
The Energizer Bonnie’s closing thoughts: I hope you found Donald’s thoughts affirming and inspiring.
In the past, when I’d read a list like the one Donald crafted about champions, I would quickly and easily get caught up in comparing myself to the list and, of course, as the list describes the perfect… in this case the perfect champion, I’d focus on where I didn’t measure up. And there I’d go, energy and emotions swirling down a negative, self-defeating rabbit hole.
Now I catch myself before I fall too far! I STOP, breathe, relax and remember…
Life is a journey. So is success. Be nice to yourself. Treat yourself lovingly, gently, and with respect. We are all human beings always evolving, becoming, actualizing our fullest potential.
So enjoy your journey toward becoming a champion YOU
Tags: Become an Expert, Strategies for Success
December 23rd, 2009
I’d venture a guess that whether our clients are conscious of it or not, what they really want, what they’re looking for, and what they hope we can provide, or more accurately, facilitate in them is TRANSFORMATION.
So I’d like to ask you, “What leads to transformation: more information or more interaction?”
Because I know you’re a wise coach or consultant, I know you said “Interaction,” right? You want to become known as the expert whose interaction lead to breakthroughs and transformations, don’t you?
Then why are so many coaches doing free teleseminars that only offer more information?
This is a wake-up call. While many of the new things that available to us are positive tools, techniques, and strategies, one approach to how we coaches used to get prospects to know, like, and trust us was through interaction.
Remember those wonderful teleclasses that were a combination of information and interaction?
I know I want to experience someone leading a lively discussion or leading an individual through a breakthrough to transformation before I’m going to pay them big bucks for a course that promises to do that. How about you?
Yet every time I download email I get one or more opportunities to get more information. Sometimes it’s in the form of an e-book, sometimes an audio, sometimes a video. It may be a webinar or a teleseminar (talking heads only these days – no interaction please – it may reduce the quality of the recording, you know.) Sometimes the information is right there in the email.
I don’t know about you. I know more than enough to accomplish everything on my project and my task lists. And anything I don’t know, I can find out by picking up the phone, sending an email or an email blast to my own network, or getting on Google. And I’ll bet the same is true for your prospects and clients, too.
What I do want and need is more interaction.
I want to talk about my ideas and hear about yours. I want to commit to you what I’ll do today or this week and I want you to feel free to do the same. I want support and encouragement when I’m facing a challenge, sorting out what I believe from what I was taught to believe, and especially when a light is dawning within about a pattern of thinking, feeling, and/or behaving that’s limiting my joy, my inner peace, and my success. And I offer you the same.
I want interaction because interaction leads to collaboration.
More important, I want interaction because interaction leads to transformation.
I believe with continued transformation, I create more inner peace, love and joy. I create energy and momentum. I create space for being more creative and innovative.
Truth be told, through interaction, I can admit to a trusted friend or adviser that my quest for more information is in part fueled by my fears and insecurities. In part, it’s fueled by my hopes that in this next offer I’ll find the key that shuts of my negative self-talk and delivers that missing piece so I can quickly, easily, yes, and finally achieve the success I dream of and work toward.
I sure wish more information could do all that for me. Yet I’ve gone down that path enough times to know it’s a delay, a detour, maybe even a dead end. Still I know more information isn’t the key to my success. So during my interaction, I can agree to gently and lovingly set aside my quest for the holy grail and spend the time and energy I’ve freed up to do something that will contribute to my joyfully making progress on my journey toward success.
Now, from my new perspective, the information I already have within or is already at my fingertips may become useful. I can see it in a new light, use it in a new way. If I need something new, I’ve got the juice, the motivation to find, experience, and integrate and apply it.
So, if you’re in information overload and you are looking for relief, do an experiment, take a risk, and delete all your new emails offering you, promising you your missing keys. Take that time to tackle the project or task that’s been standing in your way blocking your progress. Take that time to be still and connect with your Source, or to exercise, or to spend quality time interacting with that someone in your life who is there for you and you for them, that you might move beyond information into transformation. The treasures that await you will delight you.
And who knows, you may serendipitously pick up a gem of information or two along the way. Happy journeying!
P.S. I hope you find this blog post isn’t just another bit of information. I hope it inspires you to interact with someone close to you, or to interact with your prospects and clients instead of ‘just’ offering the more information.
And if you’d like to participate in some juicy interaction, I encourage you to join Christine Laureano and myself on Wednesday, December 23, 2009, at 12 noon Eastern. I’ll be her guest on her Internet radio show, Coach in the Moment. You can listen at www.blogtalkradio.com/Coach-in-the-Moment or on your phone at (347) 215-8095. That’s the same number you’ll dial to talk with Christine and me. I hope you’ll join us.
Guess what we’ll be talking about? You got it. Does Information vs. Interaction Lead to True Transformation?
If you miss the call, come back here. I’ll post a link to the recording in a few days, so ‘ya all come back now.’
To your ever-expanding Joy and Success,
The Energizer Bonnie
Tags: Become an Expert, Develop Your Audience, Marketing for Consultants, Marketing for Professionals
December 21st, 2009
It’s time to take action. Securing your website(s) and blogsite(s) is a good precaution.This is is the type of thing I hear myself saying, “I’m such a little player (no matter how big I really am…) Why would someone choose my site?
Several months ago, my blogsite (worth reading, I might add) had been spammed many times over. I installed an akismet and the problem went away.
So I can no longer think, “This can’t happen to me.”
That’s why I’m going to follow the suggestions Michelle Shaeffer made in her blog post entitled Seven Steps to Secure WordPress.
I suggest you do the same.
Better to be safe than sorry, don’t you think?
P.S. Michelle’s suggestions apply to WordPress blogs. You’ll need to do additional research to find out what to do to protect other blogsites and websites. Or contact your webmaster. If you don’t have one, and you’re not a techie, I’d be glad to share mine. His name is Rick and you can reach him at rich@wwwebfx.com. He’s excellent, he’s quick, he’s priced to delight your pocketbook, and he’s valuable t o have on you team. Take it from me!
P.P.S. I like to know why I’m doing what I’m doing… That’s why I asked Michelle about why people would even want to hack our sites. At her post you’ll find her answers. I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go ’round.
Tags: Strategies for Success
December 19th, 2009
I’ve been studying and practicing all this metaphysical, “new age” stuff… actually you can trace its origins way, way back in time… about
- Put your attention on your intention
- Keep your eyes on the prize
- You get what you focus on whether it’s what you want or what you don’t want
- Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right
- Ask for what you want, the Universe does answer. It’s our job to align with the vibration of what we’ve asekd for – so in advance of receiving what you’ve asked for, practice an Attitude of Gratitude.
- The Law of Attraction is as powerful and real as the Law of Attraction
The list goes on and on…
In today’s blog, Different Kinds of Work, Seth makes a great point…
My interpretation and the thing I’m practicing so I’ve got the time, energy and mental space to do all of the above… I’m eliminating complaining, blaming, shaming, and guilting (if there is such a word) from my thought and speech. I’m telling happy, healthy stories about what I want instead of scary stories about what I don’t want.
Honestly, right now that means I’m interrupting the old pattern and replacing them with the new ones. It’s true… practice, practice, practice makes permanent… and I want this new pattern to become my default habit as quickly as I can … I’m happier, I’m getting more done and it’s better work, I’m just plain enjoying my life more…
I invite you to join me. I promise, the benefits and results and the way you’ll feel as you tell happy, healthy stories, and joyfully do what needs to be done on your journey to your own success ~ they’re all worth the effort… and so are you!
Tags: Seth Godin, Strategies for Success
December 18th, 2009
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