Day 2 – Your Marketing Toolkit

Your Networking Arsenal

The most crucial factor to the success of your business is who is in your networking arsenal.  Networking is a three-fold process that connects you and your business to who you know, who you want to know and who you want to know you.   Each networking process is critical to the overall success of your business.   When establishing a networking arsenal you need to work from the inside out, starting first with who you know.

Who You Know

Networking with who you know is typically thought of as the easiest and less complex form of networking.  At this stage you will share what you are doing or your business plans and goals with your close friends and family and significant personal relationships.    Sit down and create a list of the people you know.

You may initially think this would be a short list but amazingly as you begin to work from the inside out you are going to find that you know more people than what you thought you did.

Be sure to include:  members of your family (your spouse, your children, brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.), your close friends and acquaintances (golfing buddies, members of your church, attendees of the same country club, former teachers or professors of yours or your children, people you volunteer with, etc.) and even those people in your community and surrounding areas that you correspond with predominantly online – sometimes that online network can generate more business than what you thought possible!  We will discuss more how that works in our Electronic Marketing Tools topic.

Once you have your initial list begin to think about how these people can help you spread the word of your business or new product or service.   If you have a payroll service – think about people on the list who are business owners or who may be in a position of influence at a mom and pop business who could utilize your payroll services.

Those people on your inside network will be the first people you contact as you start your active Direct Mail and Marketing campaign.  The people on your inside list know others who are looking for quality work and services from people that are reliable.  If you have this reputation with them – they will have no trouble becoming one of your loudest cheerleaders campaigning in their network of friends and family about the great thing you have to help improve the business of others.

While networking with those we have known for a long time may seem like it is the easiest tool in your networking arsenal to acquire and perfect the utilization of, for many of us, it is the most difficult tool to use.  Often, we are afraid of what the people closest to us might say.  We may believe that they may not be supportive or that they won’t believe in our project, services or business.

Remember, no one can infuse you with that necessary confidence – only you!  I can show you ways to help you know how to present your business in such a way that gives you the air of authority so that others will take notice of your potential achievements and will want to help.  But it will be up to you to use the tools to create a business masterpiece that is more than a hobby in your life.

In our introduction and our chapter on building your Marketing Toolkit, we introduced the need for business cards, logos and your 15 second elevator pitch.   Before you network with the people you know, you will have your business cards in hand to pass out, you will have created or have someone else create your unique logo and you will have planned and practiced your short business pitch and perfected it into something that you can say with confidence and surety that you have what it takes to make your payroll, accounting or financial management service a huge success.

As to those closest to us being negative about our ideas – realize you can’t convince everyone and if they are negative simply smile and tell them that you hope that they will come on board and support you.  Offer them a discount on services!  Keep celebrating your business successes with them.

If they initially have doubt, the proof of your success will win them over.  If they continue to be negative – realize that they are just not going to support you for whatever reason and move on and find the joy, fun and the fans of your business where you can.

It is unfortunate that those we know best and those who know us best, may not always be our greatest supporters.   There are many reasons for their lack of support such as jealousy issues, lack of interest in others’ work because of problems in their own work, or they might just know us a little too well and may not be able to see how Jimmy the guy who wet his bed until fourth grade is transformed into Jim, who is going to launch a financial management business that is going to make lots of money.

Give those people some time to see the new, older and more in control you and do not let anything negative they might do or say weigh you down.   This is your life and your business and you choose how you succeed.

How much time you spend developing this level of your networking arsenal depends on you and your business needs.   If you are most comfortable working with family and friends then you need to first start at this level, create a strong base of leads, contacts and referrals and then move onto the next level.   If you are more confident when you are interacting with those who perhaps may not know your personal history in such detail – go ahead and move on to the next level of networking.

While who you know is the solid foundation of your networking arsenal, if you find that your networking arsenal of who you know is not going to generate the leads and success you need and want, spend less time in this area and begin to set your sights on who you want to know.

Who You Want To Know

While our close friends and family are our core commercialization group, often they will not be the group that will generate the most rapid build-up of our business projects.   The groups of people that will be able to help us in this area are those with influence in our profession or a similar profession, or those with established and profitable businesses that complement the products or services of our business.

Think about business owners in your area that are successful.   These are the people you want to spend some time with and just learn their tools of the trade and then adapt them to fit into your business model or business plans.

We all like to have someone to teach and successful people are no different – how do you think they got their success?  Someone taught them, mentored them and help to make them into who they are today!

In our next chapter we will show you in more detail the things you can do and how to network with people of influence as well as those in your core group of who you know or who you want to know you, for now it is essential that you understand why these are people you want to know.

Our natural instinct in business is to consider the best of the best in our profession our greatest competition.  While on many levels, this may be true – but what is that saying – Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer?

Just as you want your close friends and family to be a part of your business you want those who may be considered to be your direct competition to be on at least an amicable if not on a complementing – not competing- level with you.

You want at minimal a business relationship with them that will allow the two of you to co-exist and to help each other out as each of you finds your special niche market.  You want to buddy up with the best in the business because that will present opportunities for the both of you.

No one accountant can handle the accounts of every business; no one payroll service can service every small business.  Just like our friends and family are looking for people and services that they can recommend, other business owners are looking for other businesses and business owner who offer the same level of high quality service that they do to help with outsourcing or overflow work.

We all need to help and be helped in our businesses so when you are beginning to establish your second level networking of who you want to know -  exclude no one who either you have the potential to help or who has the potential to help you!

A great example of how networking with people who you want to know works is when you think about what business complements yours and how that business can help promote your services while you help promote theirs.

Because of the substantial amounts of financial data and financial documents they deal with in everyday transactions, if you are an accountant, perhaps some people you might want to know would be attorneys who work with corporate clients or small to medium-sized mom and pop business.  Attorneys for these clients can spot when a business is potentially at risk in profitability or with the IRS by trying to handle more than what they should in the area of finances.

The attorney can recommend that their client outsource their financial management needs to you.  This system of external checks and balances is more important than ever in the wake of the corporate scandals of Enron and others.

Use the benefits of your services in combination with the services of those who you want to know to meet a felt need of would-be clients, freeing them up from doing a work that they may not be the best at to being able to focus on their skills and services that no one else can provide but them.

The more creative you are in this area, the more potential you have to generating the wealth of networking contacts that you want.   Think about who shreds your documents – do you use a bonded service for this task?

If so, there is a business that you network with.   As they promote your accounting or payroll business to their clients, they can guarantee the security of disposed documents because their service is involved in helping to give that extra level of insurance that a client’s confidential information will not fall into the hands of would-be identity thieves!

When determining who you want to know, think about what your business provides to clients.

Ask yourself:

What are my top three services I want to promote?  What determines your top services is dependent upon what you either feel the most qualified to offer, what you want to build and promote to increase revenue, or what you feel is a current need or trend in the market.  If you do not think that you have a top three – identify and target your top service, but at least try to build a top three so that all of your eggs are not in one basket and that your business is diversified and able to handle shifts in the needs of your client as well as variations in market trends.

After you have designated what your top three services are that you want to promote then identify at least three outside businesses or professionals per service who can promote your business in ways that are directive and effective to their client base.

Once you have this list of people who want to know, contact them.  The best way is face to face contact using methods that we will talk about later in our chapter on Cold Calling as well as our next chapter about Networking DIY Tools.

During your contact with them, make the opportunity to bring up BRM marketing or business reply mail marketing.   This is a great way to help them while they help you.   Offer to place one of their BRM stands with a brochure that includes more information about their business and services in your place of business in exchange for them to provide you with the same opportunity.

These BRM materials are a low-cost and easy way for a potential client to get in touch with you via phone, email or on the web or to detach and mail in a “want more information” lead generator card.   Some of our best marketing time is waiting time.

When a potential client of ours who is a current customer of theirs is waiting, wouldn’t it be great if they had the opportunity to learn more about what we can do for them?

The whole point of networking with who we want to know is to open up or market beyond our sphere of influence and beyond the doors of our business into a world full of immeasurable degrees of influence that provide our would-be clients with our business and contact information.

Success in growing our business depends on our ability to network with who we know, to contact and implement networks with those who we want to know and additionally with those who we want to know us.

Who You Want to Know You

Idealistically, when we ask the question of “who do we want to know us and our business” our answer is “every one in the whole wide world.”  But in order for us to reach that phenomenal level, we have to work with information a little less elementary.

Just as we targeted who we wanted to know by making a list of businesses that were similar to ours or that were highly successful and offered complementing services or products, when we think about the people we want to know about us – we have to narrow the playing field.

Realistically, not everyone is going to need a payroll service.  Not everyone is going to need an accountant.   Not everyone is going to need a financial manager to assess their investments and recommend growth strategies that will work.

Because the “whole wide world” is not likely to be our clients we have to think about who has the most potential to be.

A great tool we offer to help you in this process is our list brokerage services.  These lists are compiled to match you with the clients who are actively seeking you or your services.   By purchasing one of these marketing network lists you have direct contact with clients who want to know you as much as you want them to know you.  It is simply a matter of you touching base with them and introducing your products and services and working together to see if your business can be a match for their needs.    For example, a list of business owners who just registered a business name within the last six months are potential clients who could use the services of an accountant to help them handle the complexities of small business taxes or could use a payroll services to help them save the expense of a part-time or full-time employee.

These would be the clients you want to know about you because you have a product or service that is beneficial to them.

Think about the general population in your city or town, what types of clients do you want to pull into your business?  If you want to pull in middle class working parents with kids – a great tool to begin networking with them is to be a company that sponsors a little league team.

Not only will you be helping others, you will also be promoting your business through your name and logo on sports’ jerseys or on signage inside of a stadium, arena, or playing field.   When a potential customer sees your information at an event that they are interested it establishes a point of connection with you in their mind.

If person of an elegant boutique sees your name as a sponsor to the local ballet troupe, they are most likely to consider you and your accounting practice or payroll services if they need those.

The people who you want to know about you are the most plentiful market of people.   Unlike your most personal networking market of friends or family, or your most influential market of who you want to know – this market of people who you want to know about you is broad and the opportunities almost limitless.

In this networking level you are identifying less with people on a direct person-to-person level, but you are establishing a point of connection between them and you.   They may not need your service or know of anyone at that present who would need your service, but by establishing that networking connection with them – you are ensuring that your business has the potential to grow for years to come.

Your networking arsenal starts with you and your business and then extends from the inside out from you to who you know, then to who you want to know and ultimately to the people who you want to know you.   As you focus on each of these levels you will begin to see your financial business growing inside and out as you use the marketing tool of networking to build the business infrastructure that you want and need.

BLUEPRINTS TO BUILD BY:

You need three levels of network marketing – people you know (personal contacts), people you want to know (influential contacts) and people who you want to know you (plentiful contacts).

Make lists of your key products and services and match those with people and businesses in each level of networking and work to establish positive connections in those areas to facilitate business growth and development.

Tomorrow – NETWORKING DIY TOOLS

Tomorrow I will detail specific methods that you can use to facilitate the development and build-up of your network.   Learn how a little bit of a personal connection goes a long way in establishing a great professional connection.