The Secret Life of an Entrepreneur

It seems like whenever my friends are looking for new jobs, they turn to me with stars in their eyes and say things like, “I’ve always wanted to start my own business.”  While I love being an entrepreneur (well, today anyway), I feel like I would be doing a HUGE public service if I did a bit of an intervention.  So here goes…

Public Life of an Entrepreneur Graph (click to see a larger version)

As an entrepreneur, what items would you add to this list?

Outside a Disaster Looking In

For me, it is always an odd feeling to watch a disaster from the outside.  I am more typically in the middle of things focused on helping to deliver the Red Cross mission to people who desperately need help.

Red Cross volunteers Jill Bode and Ana De La Garza during Hurricane Isaac.

When you are on the outside, with the media and social media as your primary sources of information, it looks a little different.  But there are some universal truths about disasters regardless of location, duration or frustration.  Here are a few:

1)     Someone will always need help.

2)      Someone will always give help.

3)      There will always be sorrow.

4)      There will always be laughter.

5)      Help can = a Hug.

6)      You can’t make it go away.

7)      Sometimes you can only choose your attitude.

8)      People are incredibly generous.

9)      People are amazingly resilient.

10)    Everyone wants to know what they can do to help.

Disasters are the worst of times, but seem to bring out the very essence of who we are.  They are frequently unexpected, unwelcome and unnerving, but they are always a learning experience for the families, volunteers and communities impacted.

Have you ever had a disaster?  What did you learn?

If you’d like to support the Red Cross, visit www.redcross.org to learn how.

How do I Market to Women?

Online or in person, understand that women want to be engaged and informed.  They like having an opportunity to learn more about your product or services in a non-threatening and comfortable way.

Smart marketers listen when women are talking.

One of the best ways to engage women is to ask them relational questions.  By this I do not mean talking to them about their kids (or yours) or assuming that they are a Soccer Mom or that they even have kids.  Do not ask them when their husband will be joining them or in any way indicate that they are not the primary focus of your conversation.

Do not try to “game” the system and take shortcuts to establishing a relationship with women.  You have to expend the time to build the relationship.  One way to do that is to connect with women by supporting the causes they care about:  education, health care and community.  Above all, be sincere.  Women can see through insincerity quickly and will walk away instead of confronting it.

What’s the payoff?

If you connect with the right women, the rewards are vast.  A woman who loves your product or service will tell her friends.  And because women value relationships so highly, they frequently have a lot of friends.  But you have understand that she puts her personal relationships at risk to do this, so you need to acknowledge and even reward her trust in you and your company.

Learn to market to women today and your business will prosper and thrive over the next few decades as women control more of this country’s wealth and continue to make a disproportionate amount of the purchasing decisions.  Even better, you may find that your products and services  are much improved by establishing these long –term customer relationships with women.  That makes marketing to women a win for everyone.

Selling to Women Isn’t About Telling Them What They Want

Many marketers think if they put bling on an item or advertise to the “harried soccer Mom” that they will cut a large swath through the female purchasing demographic.  In this day and age, that’s marketing at your own peril.  Women make up the majority of the consumer purchasers and marketers should look for ways to focus on specific segments and their needs instead of lumping all women into the “Mommy-sphere.”  Some of this marketing trend is the result of the influx of influential Mommy Bloggers, but while they are a legitimate and vocal part of the female demographic, they do not represent the majority of all women. Marketers need to remember that.

Women value relationships.

What do women want?

Quite simply, women value relationships.  They want to be treated like adults with brains.  They prefer to engage in a conversation instead of being lectured.  They like to create relationships with people they do business with and they want to feel like they can recommend the businesses they use to their friends and colleagues.

This is a paradigm shift for many men who are typically more transactional.  A good example of this is frequently seen at business networking events.  It is not unusual to be introduced to a businessman and have him hand you his card within the first 15 seconds of meeting you.  From his perspective he is simply being efficient and courteous.  If he happens to hand out his business card to people who have no interest in his goods or services, he thinks, “maybe they’ll hand it someone else.”

Conversely, you may stand and have a conversation with a businesswoman for 15 minutes before she asks if she can give you her card.  From her perspective, she doesn’t want to hand out her card to someone she unless she wants to continue to build a relationship.  She’s being efficient and only handing her card to those with whom she wants to consider doing business.

For many salespeople this is an uncomfortable place to be.  They are trained to meet, greet and ask for the sale, all within 5 minutes.   Taking any longer means you might be missing out on the next sale.

A simple example comes from a client I was meeting with one day.  We were discussing the sales process he used when meeting with women and he said, “And then at the end I overcome all their objections.”  If you are a woman reading that, you just took a mental step backwards.  As a man, you may not have even noticed his faux pas.

Most women are looking for someone who will “answer their questions” not “overcome their objections”. They want to be an equal partner in the conversation, not be subjected to a sales pitch.  They also value sincerity and don’t like to be rushed.

The next time you are at a business networking event, take a few minutes to eavesdrop on some of the conversations going on around you. Listen to both same-sex groups and mixed sex groups talking and note how they behave differently.  And if you really want to market to women, spend some time actively listening to what they are saying before you ever open your mouth.

Why Marketing to Women Pays Big

Here’s the thing.  Marketing to women isn’t complicated; it’s just different from marketing to men.  You can’t just slap the color pink on something and wait for women to come rushing in to buy it.  You actually have to understand how women want to be treated and then treat them that way.

Since it’s inception marketing has been heavily dominated by male-centric thinking and messaging. That may have been ok into the nineties, but in ensuing decades it has only served to alienate women from many brands.

Why does marketing directly to women matter?

“Women make 85% of all consumer purchases.”

From a purely financial perspective, it makes sense to listen carefully.  Women as a demographic are the largest group of decision makers in our economy.  According to She-conomy.com, women make 85 percent of all consumer purchases and over the next decade they will control two-thirds of consumer wealth in the United States.  If you weren’t paying attention to women before, you should be now!

This isn’t about men versus women; it’s about understanding both sexes in order to better deliver the value they both need.  Clearly if women are making 85 percent of the purchases, they are purchasing for men as well as themselves. That’s a lot of money to leave sitting on any table.

How Referral Relationships Created A Carnival

A couple of months ago my husband was asked to serve on a carnival committee to help raise funds for a local school.  Although he participates in a variety of community activities through my work-related affiliations, he has rarely had time to be “hands-on” with events and has gone out of his way to avoid committee work because it is “inefficient.”

After spending several months in a local leadership program, he felt like he had the skills and insight to be able to make meaningful contributions to the carnival project, so when he was asked, he said yes.  He didn’t really have any more time than before, so he decided to be efficient with the time he did have and use referrals to shorten the timeline. Here’s how he did it.

• Hear a Great Idea? Refer that person to the right people. My husband actually ended up on the committee as the result of a referral.  He was asked to share any ideas he might have to improve the carnival.  He suggested a “signature” food like tamales and the next thing he knew, he was asked to join the committee.
• Who do you know who..? He knew he had to deliver on the tamales idea, so he contacted a couple of friends who were Hispanic and they, in turn, referred him to cooks, supply vendors and provided some ideas for creating large quantities of this savory delight.
• Use your own network. The committee decided to move the carnival from the previous location on the school grounds to the local county 4-H Fairgrounds. After more than a month of not having phone calls or emails returned, the committee became concerned that they would not be able to get a contract signed in time. My husband used his personal connections with an auxiliary member of the fair board and asked him to refer the committee to the correct people.  The referral source took it a step farther and helped them secure the contract in under a week.
• Know your network. One of the 4-H Fair Board’s major concerns about hosting the carnival was that the organization would have alcohol and gambling on site.  Having anticipated that concern, my husband made contact with a former employer who is the current president of the Shrine Club—conveniently located right outside the Fairgrounds—and struck a profit-sharing deal with the organization.  The Shrine is able to raise funds for the Shriners’s Hospital and still help the school.
• Turn to your closest contacts. The new location offers a huge amount a space that can be utilized to help raise additional funds for the school. My husband started by asking me if I had any ideas.  It so happens that I know a local Hot Air Balloon pilot who told me that he had a tethered hot air balloon program that would allow non-profits to raise funds. I made an email introduction and they struck a deal.
• Treat unsolicited referrals with respect. One of the 4-H Fair Board members was so impressed by the committee’s ideas that he referred them to a company that does zip line rides and would share the profits with the school.
• Ask for help. But there was still a great deal of space that could still be utilized, so my husband solicited more ideas and a car show was suggested. Now, this committee is very small and anyone who has ever hosted or attended a car show knows that it takes lots of volunteers. So my husband began tapping into his network of friends with classic cars.  Within days he had the names and phone numbers of several top car club presidents and several offers of help.
• Utilize OPN (Other People’s Networks). Marketing the carnival was a top priority, so the committee, which by now had started to catch on to the idea of using referrals to lighten their load, called a variety of other local groups and asked for their help in getting the word out.

Carnival Referral Prizes:

• Build your network before you need it.
• Pay attention to your friends’ and co-worker’s many activities and organizations.
• When people give you a referral, act on it quickly and be sure to let the referrers know the outcome.
• Don’t be afraid to ask everyone/anyone you know for help.
• Listen to other people’s requests for help and be prepared to refer them to folks who can help. One of the best ways to get good referrals is to give them.

The World’s Easiest Marketing Tactic-Part II

Six Simple Steps to Writing Perfect Thank You Notes

Like many things in life, we’ve become adept at creating excuses for not doing things.  With Thank You notes, it’s been elevated to an art form. Even though they are a proven marketing tool, I have heard everything from, “I don’t know what to write” to “I don’t have time.” Blame it on our Mothers for forcing us to write painful notes to relatives or on our proclivity to text instead of talk, whatever the case, there is no denying the effectiveness of a great Thank You note.

Here are Six Simple Steps to writing the perfect Thank You note every time:

Just do it! Writing thank you notes can take minutes but be worth thousands of dollars in marketing good will.

1. Start with the correct spelling of a person’s first name.  Sounds simple, but no matter how good your message is, after a misspelled name it won’t be heard.
2. State the occasion for which you are writing the note—“It was a pleasure meeting you at the Chamber mixer.” Or “I was in your store last week shopping for a gift.”
3. Then state the reason for which you are writing the note—“I appreciated the information you shared with me.” Or perhaps “I was pleased to hear your feedback on my ideas.”
4. Actually say “Thank you”, “I can’t thank you enough.” Or maybe “Thank you so much.”
5. End with an appropriate closing. I prefer “Sincerely” but “Best regards” and “Respectfully yours” are also pleasant ways to end a note. I can’t think of a business situation where the closing “Love” is appropriate, save that for your family.
6. If you are a close or long-time business associate of your thankee, sign just your first name and do not enclose a business card (but do make sure your full name is on the return address section of the envelope). If you are sending a note to a new acquaintance or contact, sign your full name and include a business card to help jog their memory.

Following these simple steps will help you quickly craft the perfect Thank You note every time and take some of the stress out of coming up with the right thing to say. Notes don’t have to be long, just three sentences can do the trick, but they do need to be heartfelt and sincere.  If you need extra motivation to begin writing Thank You notes, read last week’s Reasons to Write and get started today, your results will be worth it!