New Book Available: Chapter 7 Excerpt

So this time around we are up to Chapter 7 of BYOB- Build Your Own Business, Don't Be Your Own Boss 2nd Ed.

This chapter is all about PR and marketing principals that are extremely important for technology consulting companies. Whether you are a VAR, break fix computer specialist, networking specialist, MSP or an engineering consultant.

There are a lot of "marketing gurus" out there and I'm not claiming to be one but I have been in your shoes as a technology business owner and did figure out a thing or 2 in my day that brought me a million in sales revenue. So I will say I'm pretty good and I know your business/SMB clients pretty well.

So let's get into it.




Chapter 7
Marketing Principles: Positioning Your Business as the Leader to Your Niche Audience

Let’s get to work on the subject of marketing systems. In a nutshell, this consists of
• Positioning your business as the “go to” people
• Determining your business niche or niches
• Laser focusing on the best prospects possible, known as your target audience, and
• Marketing to them to put them into your sales funnel.

What we are going to focus on is ways to find your target audience and the most effective ways for a consulting or service business to pursue this audience.

Positioning Vs. Prospecting

Let’s start this out with a very important statement. The top reason for a long sale cycle is lack of positioning.

Let me explain positioning with a quick example. How often do you get mail at home or at your office from a lawyer? Let me take that back. You do get letters from lawyers advertising themselves sometimes. They are called ambulance chasers. Let’s continue with our example.

Say you need a litigation lawyer. You don’t know him and he doesn’t know you. Do you trust someone you found in the phone book? Some people do and many get burned and don’t do it again. Normally, you would look up someone a colleague has used/recommended or go ask a trusted resource like your accountant. Now you have yourself a top notch litigation lawyer.

Since you don’t know him, why should you trust him? You trust him because he has positioned himself as a leader in his industry. And that’s not by any accident either. He is perceived as the expert because he knows something you don’t and he put it out there that he’s got that expertise.

He may not even be the best of the best but either you or your referral resource has been informed that he’s the “go to” guy. You needed a specialist, he’s the one whose name came up in your research and he’s the one you’re going to listen to.

Since you sought him out, you will most likely pay whatever price he throws at you to get rid of your pain. As a matter of fact, if he charges too little, you might take a step back and question his position as an expert.

Are you starting to see the picture I’m painting?

****

The chapter continues on to talk about:
More on positioning
PR and Lead Generation Tactics
Audience Selection
The Perfect Client
List Selection
Marketing Funnels

****

This is a fairly long chapter with no fluff and a lot of items to put into practice in a true marketing system. Like the chapter on Client Management states, when you properly set up client management systems, marketing becomes much easier.

The book will be shipping in the next week or so. Be sure to pick it up right here
http://consultantscoach.com/byobbook.php


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

A Great Time to Fill the Favor Bank

Have you ever heard of the Favor Bank? It's actually the best bank in the world and it pays the greatest dividends you could ever hope for as a business owner.

It serves all businesses whether you are a VAR, MSP, break fix computer service, system integrator, engineering consultant or any other tech or non-tech business. As a matter of fact, this bank can be used for any part of your life. Most people do use it everyday but it seems to get overlooked as far as small business owners go.

So how does the favor bank work? Simple. You open an account for each client, potential client, vendor, sub contractor, employee, etc. that is involved with your business. Next you start depositing "favors" whenever you get a chance for each one of these individual entities. They don't have to be big deposits as small and regualr deposits will add up quick enough.

So why make these deposits? Because when you accumulate enough, you get to start making withdrawls. And those withdrawls are where the big dividends are seen. Two small deposits into a specific client labeled account can result in a HUGE withdrawl when the time comes, for example.

Before you think I have completely lost my marbles (which could be possible with the Seattle like weather we've been having in NJ all this month), let me explain.

You see, the favor bank is something we've been using all of our lives to get things in return. As an example, as a kid you may have deposited some favors labeled "Dad's account" so that when the time came to borrow the car for a big date, Dad just couldn't resist. You know how difficult that may have been if you didn't give, give, give before you asked to take.

Well the favor bank works the same for business. It's great for marketing, client management, vendor management, employee management etc etc.

So let's do a business example with marketing to new clients. Say you have a nice website. On it you not only let potential clients know what you do, but give them free information that could teach them something, save them money, or make them money (like the free video on my consultantscoach.com site). They take you up on that then you offer a free analysis or a free round of services or something of that nature (like the free strategy session in the back of my latest book).

You just made two nice deposits into the favor bank for them. As human nature works, those deposits make it much harder to resist when you ask them for what you really want... to make them a paying client of your valuable services.

You can do the same with current clients as part of your client management process. Once a client, if you keep putting great information and over the top services in front of them, they are going to be less resistant to buying your other services, etc as well as open to giving you a referral or testimonial when you ask for it.

Do you see how the favor bank works? By making small deposits that really don't hurt your pocket,they add up to being able to ask for things that will fill your pockets up when withdrawl time comes.

So set up that favor bank in all parts of your business right now. And don't forget it also works great with neighbors and significant others ;-)





To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

Book Available in Pre-Release: Chapter 6 Excerpt

One of the most taboo small business subjects, especially when involving technology based businesses, is that of hiring. Many say they don't ever want to hire people because they like being a 1-person show. But most are really thinking about the possible headaches, pressure to pay/keep them happy, and other of the other joys of employees.

But what many don't realize is that they already use other people to help their business out and to truly maximize profitability, they will need to use more. That's why although Chapter 6 is about not only employees, because you can certainly live without them , but about vendors and subcontractors as well. Read on to get a taste:

Chapter 6
Employee & Subcontractor Management: Recruiting, Hiring, Retention & Firing

Some of you reading this book might be asking yourself why I’m talking to you about hiring employees when you either just opened your doors not long ago or you are a one person show and plan on continuing as one.

It’s simple. No matter the structure of your business, you just will not be able to do everything yourself. That is unless you are terrific at all aspects of business plus the technical side of your business and truly do want to work 70+ hours a weeks forever.

If that’s the case, you’re right, you can skip this chapter. If it’s not the case then you will be using vendors for things such as website design and accounting, sub contractors to take part of the work load or parts of a job not in the realm of your business, virtual assistants to take over admin and other time consuming issues you don’t need to do yourself and yes, maybe some actual employees.

Although the hiring/retention/firing process may be slightly, and I emphasize slightly, different for each one of these cases, they are still there and you will be able to pick up pointers as I concentrate on actual employees.


If You Already Thought Hiring Was Scary…

Hiring and dealing with employees is one of the most difficult things a small business deals with, especially for the business owners who will almost always have a hand in any recruiting, hiring, firing or retention process. Why is it so difficult?

•Huge decision regarding each and every employee (need, timing, money, training, etc)
•More involvement in the hiring, retention, firing than when an employee elsewhere
•Very rare to have all skills involved in every phase of the hiring through retention process without some outside help
•Involves more personal contact in every phase than as an employee
•Realization that one employee could cause enough problems to ruin your business

Let’s go over some very important facts about using others to help you grow your business. A bad hire can potentially cost a business 15 times that person’s salary after 1 year of employment.
Of course this takes into account:

•wasted time in the hiring process,
•wasted cost of training time and resources
•lost dollars due to the employee’s mistakes (such as losing your best client or causing good employees to quit),
•unrealized money due to the employee’s mistakes (such as botching a big deal to land a new long term client),
•actual salary and benefits costs,
•severance cost,
•possible lawsuit costs and
•a few other possible money headaches.

Can you see where this will start to add up?

*****

The chapter goes on to talk about subjects for hiring anyone to help you out such as:

Recruiting- It’s Not What You Think
Hiring is a Process, Not a Search for a New Friend
Employee Retention- Protect Your Investment
Firing- How to Make It the Least Painful for You and Them

*****

There are many aspects to your technology business that are better suited for others to do the work for you regardless of whether or not you every want to give up doing the work on the technical side of the business. Grab the book and see the whol big picture.

http://consultantscoach.com/byobbook.php


To Your Business Success-

George J Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

Book Available in Pre-Release: Chapter 5 Excerpt

One of my most favorite subjects and chapters in the second edition B.Y.O.B.- Build Your Own Business, Don't Be Your Own Boss book is on Client Management. Clients are truly the biggest asset of a service and consulting oriented business as they typically represent over 90% of tangible value to this type of business.

It's sad but understandable how this important piece and system to a business is often overlooked, under-appreciated and outright unknown by many technology consulting and service business owners. That’s why I spend considerable time in the book breaking down the different sections of this system.

Today a quick excerpt of one of the longest chapters in the second edition B.Y.O.B.- Build Your Own Business, Don't Be Your Own Boss book:

Chapter 5
Client Management: Protect & Utilize Your Biggest Business Asset
What exactly is client management? What we are talking about is how to handle customers or clients that you are currently working with as well as those you have previously worked with.

It seems as though we may be jumping the gun here because we haven’t discussed marketing and getting clients but there is a reason for it. Part of it is preparation for your new clients and the other reason is to show you that if you already have 1 or 100 clients, this subject is going to make the need to get new clients not as important.

That may be a lot to handle now so let’s just keep moving along and you will see where I’m going soon.

The Start of the Relationship

Whether it’s part of your responsibility or someone else’s in your business, making the first contact with a potential client count is huge. This often sets the tone for the rest of the relationship… if it ever even gets to that point.

When you first start courting a potential client that has shown interest in having you work with them, it’s important to get to know their business as much as possible. This is necessary even before you or your salespeople or whoever first contacts them for a person to person conversation makes that move.

At this point, all your business and their business have in common is you knowing their background so it shows your interest in them as something other than the next buck in the bank.

Again, whether this is your business responsibility or someone else’s it’s extremely important to start off a new project, even with an old client, by making the whole job as clear as possible.

*****

This first part of the chapter continues on with how to establish a relationship with a potential client and moves on to other sections such as:

Keeping Clients & You Happy While You Are Working With Them
What to Do When Things Go Wrong
Keeping In Touch & Making the Most of It
80/20 Rule

*****

Although all chapters in this book are essential and not about any fluff or BS, this chapter is especially important. Important enough that it comes before Marketing as it is a system that, when done right, cuts your marketing costs significantly. Read the book and find out why.

Our next venture into the book will be about Chapter 6 on Employees & Subcontractors that are in place to help you maximize your business's earning potential.

More information on grabbing a copy of the book is found here http://consultantscoach.com/byobbook.php



To Your Business Success-

George J Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

Book Available in Pre-Release: Chapter 4 Excerpt

In a radio interview I did with Stuart Crawford recently, he expressed that the Leadership chapter in the second edition B.Y.O.B.- Build Your Own Business, Don't Be Your Own Boss book was one of his favorites. You can hear us discuss the book and this chapter from a recording of the show here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/smb/2009/05/22/BYOB-Build-Your-Own-Business

I might as well throw in there his testimonial you can actually find in the book as well:

"George really nails what it takes to be an entrepreneur. My greatest day is when I fired myself as an employee and focused on building a business. “Build Your Own Business” is uplifting and also a smack in the side of the head with a 2x4. I have seen many business owners simply spin out of control and I wish I had this book to share with them, however now I do. George, this book simply rocks, it is a great easy reminder of what it takes to truly succeed in today’s changing business world. Embrace change it is constant in the universe."

Stuart R. Crawford
Bulletproof InfoTech


So let's not delay and get you a quick excerpt of this chapter as I think the title of the chapter says a lot about my dispelling some misconceptions and why this chapter is towards the front of the book:

Chapter 4
Leadership: It’s Not Just About Employees


Let’s get to work on the subject of leadership. This consists of setting up teams, managing teams and individuals, and ultimately getting things done in a timely manner by the way you lead your people. Don’t forget that your clients are looking for you and your business to be the great leader they need to get the work done they hired you for.

Every business depends on teams and individuals to get things done. That’s what you hired your employees and subcontractors to do. Unfortunately, very few people understand what it takes to make this happen in the best way possible.

They take delays and large hiccups as a given. Instead of doing things right from the beginning, they pad schedules, then extend deadlines, then work crazy hours and pay gobs of extra money to get a project or important task done.

What we are going to discuss will dispel some myths of how things work and give you the blueprint of how to truly make as much money as possible by having a productive way of getting things done when it involves people other than yourself.


The People

First things first. The main cog in the wheel of a successful project is in the caliber of your people on the job. This is why the hiring process that I teach is so critically important.

Keeping things organized and your leadership effective starts with the type of people you have to work with. You, by all means, need talented “A” players or you’re already in the hole.

Not only will they get the job done but they will be less likely to pass the buck or give you the “that’s not my job” attitude that kills any major project to be tackled.

“A” players are also going to make you look like an even more effective leader because it will take very little management effort on your part for things to get done by these “producers”.

It’s quite the opposite with “worker bees” that challenge every fiber of your being with their limited abilities, need for management and lack of desire to get the job done without blaming someone else for any problems.


*****

This first part of the chapter continues on with how people are part of the leadership equation and moves on to other sections such as:

The Time
The Organization
Putting It All Together


*****

Again, there is a method to my madness regarding the subject orders in this book. Read it and find out why.

Our next venture into the book will be about Chapter 5 on Client Management; dealing with your biggest business asset from top to bottom.

More information on grabbing a copy of the book is found http://consultantscoach.com/byobbook.php



To Your Business Success-

George J Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

The "New" Paradigm Shift- What are you selling?

As we are technology people in a growing technological world we realize that things change at a very rapid pace. Throw in an economic nightmare and you can double that speed of change.

We do our best to keep up with shifts in technologies so that we can help our clients not have to worry about it. But how good of a job are you doing in terms of providing for your clients, letting them know what you can do for them and actually making yourself well deserved profits in the process?

If you're like most consulting and service providers, especially those in the tech sector, you're struggling a bit to keep up with the changes in mindset of your clients as well as keeping it in line with operating your business.

So why did I use the term "paradigm" in the title of this post? When I hear this word it often elicits thoughts of big corporation nonsense speak from the 90's or something from a Dilbert cartoon. But to define it better, what it really means is a system of beliefs and ways to do something.

With paradigm defined, I want to briefly talk about one in particular that is important to "shift" in the correct direction in the world we are in today as technology consultants and solution providers.

In selling knowledge and services, it's very easy to get stuck in a comfort zone where something works well enough to leave it alone even when changes in our environment says it's time to makes some moves. This becomes the way of life often in how we determine what we sell and how we sell it.

Seriously ask yourself if you have faced the economic changes by selling the same things in the same way, but worked much harder at it and lowered your prices to boot. The odds are you did one of the two things just mentioned but many have shifted in both ways. Not a good idea.

So if this is the wrong way to shift, then what is the right way? My suggestion is pretty simple, and it works very well. Instead of lowering your prices and working harder to sell and provide your services for less money to a broader spectrum of people, shift in the opposite direction.

First off, stop offering solutions and services and start providing outcomes. Telling clients about a process you have isn't as nearly as effective right now as telling them that you will give them 99.99% up time, a 50% increase in XYZ after 1 year, a 25% decrease in ABC in 6 months, or some kind of peace of mind.

Next, focus more on working your way up a vertical market you are already in instead of expanding into a new market/industry that you will need time to position yourself in. Target potential clients that fit the same demographics as your best clients. Let current technology and your joint venture partners allow you to expand into a wider geographic base instead of trying to suck the life out of a 20 mile radius in every niche industry possible.

Additionally, take a good look on how productive your services are on an internal basis so you can squeeze more profit out of each dollar billed and hour worked. Then add more value to your offerings so that at a minimum, you are profiting exactly the way you were before while giving clients more with the same amount of effort.

As you can see a paradigm shift, or way of thinking, does not have to mean skimping on your business or on your clients even in tough economic times. When things bounce back, and they will, my suggestions will have you in a much better position than the old way of thinking.

Now is the time to step a bit out of the comfort zone and make things happen.


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

Book Available in Pre-release- Chapter 3 Excerpt

Time for another excerpt of the 2nd edition of my B.Y.O.B.- Build Your Own Business, Don't be Your Own Boss book as it is in the pre-production process as we speak.

One of the biggest enemies of any entrepreneur is time management. Although my work is all about encourage technology people to work their way into less tech work and more business operations work (the key to making more money and building business value), no matter how you currently run your business my time management chapter is a must read.

This is Chapter 3 in the B.Y.O.B.- Build Your Own Business, Don't be Your Own Boss book and it's towards the front for a reason. Below is a taste of that particular chapter.

Chapter 3
Time Management: Once It’s Gone, It’s Gone

Time is a rare something that you can never get back once it’s gone. It’s the key to:

• stress relief
• feeling accomplished
• being productive and effective
• being a great leader for both employees and vendors
• being respected by clients

For these reasons it makes it very important to go over this issue first and foremost.

In the introduction to this book I mentioned that people like us have a problem. We’re too smart for our own good sometimes. Time management is the key to not letting our brains get the best of us.

SKIPPING A FEW PAGES WE HAVE...
You are Your Environment

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of working in a highly unproductive environment. This is something that can, and really needs to, be controlled. A true entrepreneur can produce good or better results under adverse conditions, but you don’t want to put yourself in a position where that’s always the case.

In order to completely support an environment of productivity, you have to be able to exert control over your environment. In other words, you need to be in a position to stop or avoid interruptions. More light will be shed on this subject as we go on, but let me give you a better mental picture of this before I go forward with a quick example.

I’m sure you’ve heard of an open door policy. This is a great concept to keep employees and subcontractors from being “yes” people to you and literally fearing you. That’s a horrible way to have people that work with you think of you, by the way.

Well, the open door policy is really good stuff except for when you take it literally. Actually keeping your door “open” causes you to pay attention to things outside your office and it also promotes employees to just stop by and say hello and grab you for “just 1 second”.

Keep that picture in your head and I’m sure you can come up with a variety of other scenarios to avoid that will make your work environment unproductive and promote interruptions. And it doesn’t matter if you work in an office or out of a home office.



Multi-Tasking is a 4 Letter Word

Let’s get something straight right now. Multi-tasking is a bad word. As a matter of fact, it’s really not humanly possible. Here’s what happens when you do two work tasks at the same time:

Task 1 takes one hour to do. Task 2 takes one hour to do. Done separately this holds true. Do them at the same time and now I promise you it will take you over the two combined hours to finish these tasks together. Try it and track yourself. I promise you I’m not wrong.

Multi-tasking is not a skill to be proud of or to use so don’t fit it into your business world. By the way, there are only two places I know of where multi-tasking can be productive and they are not work related. One place is in the kitchen and the other place involves you, a call from mother nature, some reading material, and a small room. That’s it.

******

The chapter continues on to talk about common interruptions and how to overcome them, scheduling versus task lists, and getting others to help you manage your time.

On the next excerpt we'll cover the Leadership chapter as it ties in directly to time management. There is a method to my madness on chapter layout as you will see.

With that said, get on the list for reserving a copy now for only $20 (retail price is $24.95). http://consultantscoach.com/byobbook.php


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

Book Available in Pre-release- Chapter 1 & 2 Excerpt

In case you haven't heard, the 2nd edition of my B.Y.O.B.- Build Your Own Business, Don't be Your Own Boss book is due out in the next week or so.

This book is aimed at owners of technology consulting and service businesses looking to build a solid business that has value and maximizes profitability. A guide to being a true entrepreneur in the technology solution provider world.

I've added to just about every chapter as well as developed a new chapter in what has been called "an excellent book for any entrepreneur who wants to sit down and start working ON the business." - Karl Palachuk as well as "required recession reading!" - Harry Brelsford.

The first edition was well received and this edition is even better. So I wanted to do a few posts, starting with this one, to give you some excerpts.

We'll start right from the beginning with an excerpt from Chapter 1 and 2:

Chapter 1
Introduction- First Things First

Reasons to Read & Learn

People like you and me, highly educated and running a high skill or high intellect type of business, often get outshined by those not quite as smart and not nearly as educated. Why? Because people like us allow ourselves to take on too much and get overloaded. That’s when our productivity and effectiveness goes down and we under perform.

This information, advice, and coaching comes straight from my experience in being a successful business owner in your industry coupled with the massive amounts of research, learning, and trials I constantly do to help those looking for my assistance.

******

Chapter 2
Entrepreneurship: “But My Business is Different”

Entrepreneurs are a very special breed. Some people are just not cutout to be one. And sometimes those that do have what it takes need a little insight from a fellow entrepreneur so they don’t mistake the importance of what they are getting themselves into. That’s what I’m going to do for you here.
In this important chapter I’m going to go over a number of significant points to always keep in mind as a business owner. They are truly the crux of entrepreneurship and come into play regardless of the current size of your business or how big you envision getting. That means it also applies to the one person show that has no intentions of adding any employees to the mix.


Your Business is Not Different

Every business is different in that they are run by different people with different employees, different cultures and different industries. With that said, the technical side of your business may be different from others, but the core of the business is the same. Always thinking that “my business is different” will quickly allow barriers to be built in your own mind and within the business in regards to growing and doing what needs to be done in order to be successful.

These thought patterns stop you from asking questions in regards to making your business and life better. It stops you from using the power of modeling other successful businesses inside and outside of your industry. On top of that, it makes it very difficult for you to drop bad habits that were most likely formed by listening to others with those same bad habits. This is known as the blind leading the blind. Things like “paying your dues” and “doing things the hard way” are an old school way of thinking and not the way to run your business.

You’re probably asking yourself; “Why isn’t my business different?” That’s pretty simple to answer. Things that work in one business, regardless of the industry, have a good chance at working in another. That’s where modeling comes in. You take what works elsewhere and make whatever tweaks necessary to work for you.

******

This section of the chapter continues on and then moves to sections on You Can’t Do Everything Yourself, Systems & Automation, Self Awareness is the Missing Link and Tail Wagging the Dog.

You can reserve your pre-sale copy for $20 including S&H (a 20% retail discount) at the following link: http://consultantscoach.com/byobbook.php


There will be a few more of these posts coming, but I strongly encourage you to grab a copy of the book. It's equivalent to a couple thousand dollars worth or coaching and education for a pre-sale price of $20. Can you really beat that?


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach