Connecticut Bankers Association – Featured Article
The Omni-Channel Customer Journey and Your Strategic Plan By Cindy Donaldson, CEO, Red Barn Consulting
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Red Barn Consulting LLC
Mindfulness and success – the connection
Winning vs. Losing
Succeeding vs. Failing
Happy vs. Sad
It all comes down to what you really want. #truth.
There are times in life that we all struggle, be it personally or professionally. Sometimes, they happen at the same time and life feels like it’s consuming you and not in a good way.
Some people stay in a state of \”Losing, Failing and/or Sadness” while others seem to live in a world of “Winning, Succeeding and Happiness.”
First let’s address that perception. No one wins all the time, succeeds all the time, nor is happy all the time. The difference is they have the ability to bounce back and focus on the bigger picture. Live in the moment, yes, but staying there is dangerous when you are in a funk. Unfortunately, many deal with depression and other mental illnesses that don’t allow them to get unstuck and life is a constant battle of how to move forward. Thankfully, for the majority of us, we can easily move from one mindset to another but we have to make the choice to do so.
The key is focusing on what you want, versus what you don’t want. Seeing losing and failing as an opportunity to learn from mistakes, adjust, iterate, and move on. Seeing sadness as a temporary grieving process for something that well…just sucks, but finding the silver lining and realizing tomorrow is another day.
If we always focus on the things we don’t have – we will never get the things we want.
When it comes to business, this also holds true. Even the great business leaders of our day will tell you it’s not all lollipops and unicorn dust – some days are tough. Tough decisions have to be made, cash flow issues, employee drama… the list goes on…and on.
As an entrepreneur, you need to think long term and recognize the bumps in the road are just that – bumps.
Be Mindful. Focus on what you want vs. what you don’t.
If your mind is consumed with cash flow issues and you just sit in front of your computer looking at the $.03 in your checking account for hours, days, months vs. taking action to amend the situation, you will in fact still have $.03 in your checking account a month from now.
Better to:
Be real. Be honest about the situation. How did you get there? What caused it and more importantly how can you reverse it and not repeat.
Take ownership. As a business owner the buck stops with you. If things aren’t going correctly, take charge. Bring in some experts. Ask for help. Don’t stay frozen in time.
Eye on the Big Picture. Know that tomorrow really is another day. That it’s not a sign of weakness nor failure to ask for help and that no one is successful without setbacks. No one. EVER.
Be Mindful. Be aware of how you feel. Be aware of your actions. Be aware of your behaviors…your repeated behaviors.
If your messy desk causes you to spend 2 hours a day searching for things and you are whining about not enough time in the day. Well…clean your desk.
Mindfulness. Action. Results.
Success. Winning. Happiness. #lifegoals with some bumps in the road. Bring them on!
CD
Mindfulness and success – the connection Read More »
Grab a microphone
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Perception is Reality” – and for the most part it’s true. People believe what they perceive to be truth. When it comes to personal branding – nothing is farther from the truth.
One of the first things I coach people on when they are trying to build out their personal brand is to hop on the speaking gig roller coaster. Yes, that means you will have to speak in public. If you need help with that take a class with Dale Carnegie or join the Toastmasters gang – but public speaking and effective communication is a must have if you want to be successful.
You know what I always say – “People buy from people they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST”.
More often than not, when you see someone speak at an event or you watch a TED Talk you ASSUME they are experts, if not at least extremely knowledgeable in their field. Your perception of them is that they know what they are talking about and are sharing it with you to help you gain that same knowledge.
Now, don’t get me wrong there are folks out there who spout off words that have no truth or sustenance, but trust me, someone perceived it as truthful.
So, what does this all mean?
One of the quickest ways to build your brand, gain brand evangelists and to heck – sell more of whatever it is your company does – is to grab a microphone and share a story.
Here are some tips:
- Don’t sell during your presentations. No one wants to be sold to – they want to learn and be entertained.
- Pick topics that are relevant to your audience and will give some immediate results – meaning when they finish listening they can take some type of action that will benefit them.
- Don’t read a script. It’s ok to write a speech or have speaking notes – but don’t get up there and read word for word.
- Practice and ad lib
Don’t be a PowerPoint BORE! Use PowerPoint for visuals – but don’t use tons of words. You want people to focus on you, not the screen. - Be engaging. Make sure you don’t have a monotone voice – practice and record yourself speaking OR take a class like I mentioned above.
- Watch your non-verbal communication. Be a bit animated – but not a circus clown
Public speaking is a great way to boost your credibility and get you in front of people who are interested in your expertise. If you want to increase your personal brand, increase your revenue and have some fun – grab a microphone and tell the world your stories!
Secrets to building your health care practice…
Word of mouth is one of the best ways to organically build your healthcare practice. People are naturally cautious about who they share their medical needs with, and getting recommendations from friends and family helps to build trust.
The problem is, word of mouth has diminishing returns. You can build up a stellar reputation as a health provider, have overwhelmingly positive people who advocate for you, and bring in new patients, but at some point that’s going to tail off. When that happens, you need some other ways to reach out and let others know how awesome you are. Fortunately, we have just the thing…
Here are some tried and tested ways of marketing your healthcare business to bring new patients through the door.
Provide exceptional healthcare advice in a public setting. Some of the medical advice you provide is crucial. It helps potential patients gauge if you’d be the right doctor or healthcare provider for them. Use this to your advantage by providing great advice in a public setting. Attend health fairs and other events, speak at gatherings, and share your knowledge.
This doesn’t just need to be limited to strict medical information — If you have a nutritionist, physical therapist, or other healthcare expert on staff, they can provide advice in related fields and expose you to a whole new audience.
Give 150% when it comes to the customer experience. With so many options today, patients are being quite critical of their patient experience. How can you stand out? Have a comforting and comfortable waiting area with refreshments – it makes a difference! Doctors running late? Ensure you have a way to contact your patients and offer them a reschedule. Busy day of appointments? Make sure your staff doesn’t rush patients through the process but spends time ensuring their questions are answered and their needs are taken care of. Every little touch point matters. Not sure how you are doing – survey your patients and find out! PS – when you have a stellar customer experience it will differentiate you from others – market it as a perk!
Partner with other local businesses. One of the most powerful forms of local marketing is partnering with similar businesses. If you have a local gym, provide a class on exercising safely. If there’s a sports team, get involved with them by giving talks on recovering from sports-related injuries. If your town has large student population, give advice on good nutrition and diet. Involve yourself with retirement communities on medical care in later life.[/cs_text]
Build up a better medical referral network. Healthcare providers thrive on referrals. Network with other medical businesses in your local area and demonstrate your authority and expertise. As your reputation grows, use this to build mutually beneficial relationships with other specialists.
Offer free or low cost physicals, preventative tests, and vaccinations. Prevention is better than cure. Get healthy patients to your practice by providing physicals, preventative tests, flu shots, and other vaccinations for free, or at a significantly discounted rate.
Enhance your online, local SEO marketing. Local search, especially on mobile devices, is one of the main ways people discover your medical practice. Create a great website with useful, practical content. Make sure all of your local search profiles and listings are consolidated and accurate.
Stay on top of your customer reviews. Reviews should be another key part of your marketing strategy. Encourage your patients to review and rate your services, as higher reviewed businesses are better placed in search results.
Use the power of social media Monitor the social media around your brand and business. Interact with people through social media and share genuinely useful information and content. Answer questions to demonstrate your expertise and build trust in your advice and approach.
It’s time to look beyond word of mouth marketing, and here at RBC we’re ideally placed to help you do just that. We understand what healthcare providers need, and we provide awesome marketing and strategy services to help your business thrive.
Secrets to building your health care practice… Read More »
Managing Social Media — Why Can’t It Be A Little.. Easier?
Many businesses see social media as a “necessary evil” — Something you have to do because everyone else is doing it. After all, if you’re not using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc., you’re missing out. While that’s true, it gives us a sad face every time we think about businesses seeing social media as a chore, because, done right, it can be easy, and powerful.
It’s all about having a plan — Now, before you click away in disgust at having to plan something else, it’s not a big plan. We’re not talking a high-fallutin’ plan for a Rube Goldberg-esque style machine, just a simple, common sense approach to make things easy, and, perhaps, a little more joyful.
Don’t believe us? Read on…
Who’s going to have the responsibility for social media? First things first, who do you want to handle your social media accounts? Now, that could be one of your people who have a great understanding of the right approach, tools, and techniques to use — Or, you could outsource it to a creative marketing agency who has your brand\’s best interests at heart. Like… Us, for example? (we aren’t always subtle)
Anyway, you need to have someone who is going to have responsibility for your social media, who can review and post everything you need, and who can speak with your company’s voice. They need to understand and love your customers.
Where do you post? Different types of business will get the most advantage from different social platforms. You probably won’t find much of an audience for your recipes on LinkedIn, and folks on Pinterest probably aren’t going to be thrilled by your course on chartered accountancy. But, once you can match your message to your social media, that’s when things get real interesting.
- Facebook — Pretty much everyone uses Facebook — Over 20% of all pages seen on the web are on Facebook. You need to be there, simple as that.
- Twitter — With millions of people using Twitter, and the opportunity to easily go viral with the right message, Twitter is also pretty much essential.
- Pinterest — Do you have a visually appealing product, service, or brand? If so, Pinterest is a great place to get traction.
Instagram — Like Pinterest, Instagram is perfect for pretty products. - LinkedIn — Marketing more to professionals and business people? This is your natural choice.
- YouTube — Although not seen as a “traditional” social network, YouTube gets billions of hits every month. Make an amazing video and watch your views skyrocket.
- Google Plus — Yes, there are still people and businesses using Google Plus, don’t disregard it and ps. it could help with your Google ranking.
When should you post? You know where to post, but do you know when to post? Once you understand when your customers are likely to be using social media, you can take advantage of that, and share delicious bits of information, just when they need it. They’ll be wowed by your ideas, share them on themselves, and suddenly you’ve got a viral social media presence. Nice!
Get to scheduling. One of the main pains businesses have with social media is having to send out all their posts manually, to all the different platforms. Well, good news, friends. There are some great scheduling tools out there to make posting and sharing a breeze. Two that we love are Hootsuite and Buffer. Both are awesome at letting you queue up posts, then setting things off and letting them post on your behalf.
Be careful though, lots of social media is about reacting, responding, and posting in real time — That’s what gets you engagement. So, don’t just rely on scheduling tools, build them into your overall social media approach.
And there you have it, the basics you need to get in place for easier social media success — That wasn’t so bad now, was it?
Managing Social Media — Why Can’t It Be A Little.. Easier? Read More »
How Your New Marketing Campaign Could Create Business Chaos (And How To Avoid It)
When it comes to marketing, you don’t want to be a victim of your own success. Done well, marketing can create incredible results — Getting your products, and services in front of a new audience, putting your brand front and center, and generating lots of new business.
That could be a disaster.
Let’s back up a bit…
You see, marketing affects every part of your business — If they’re not ready to handle an influx of new customers and the demand that brings, it can create big problems that damage your brand and reputation. As responsible marketers (and, frankly, lovely people), we want to make sure that doesn’t happen.
So, here’s how to look at all the “operational” bits of your business to make sure they can channel the torrent of new customers!
Your website, eCommerce store, or online presence. Make sure your website can handle the load. You’ll want to double-check response times, even when there’s lots of people on the website. Ensure all your calls to action are super clear, track how your visitors are using your site, and make tweaks and updates to make the sales and conversion funnel easier.
Your sales and onboarding process. Talk to your sales teams, sales call center, and onboarding operations. Make sure everyone knows what’s coming and that you have enough technical capacity and the right number of staff to handle all your calls.
Ensure all your sales staff are properly trained and know all of the processes, incentives, and other information they need to close sales. Find out if your sales department needs more resources. The aim is to deal with all your customers quickly, efficiently, and well, and ensure they don’t have to wait too long on the phone. Because hold music sucks.
Your logistics and distribution[/x_custom_headline][cs_text]If you need to ship products to wholesalers, retailers, or customers, make sure you’ve got the right logistics and distribution in place. Ensure you can pack up and dispatch your products quickly, so there are no delays or problems getting them delivered.
Your customer service area. When you get more sales, you also get more customer service requests. Ensure your customer support center is properly staffed and that you can handle and resolve customer issues quickly. If you’re marketing new products or services, ensure all of your support staff are properly trained on their use and possible problems.
Your software and business processes. Make sure you’ve got good communications and collaboration tools in place across your business. Your teams need to be able to talk to each other efficiently, track customers and actions, and ultimately provide a high level of service to everyone.
That goes for the software, systems, and processes your business relies on. If possible, stress test workflows, handoffs, and other possible bottlenecks so you can identify and resolve issues before they become a big problem.
All of this might seem like a lot of work, just because you’re launching a new marketing campaign, but if it does as well as you hope, you’ll be extremely happy you’ve got the right resources, training, and support in place to create super-happy customers.
How Your New Marketing Campaign Could Create Business Chaos (And How To Avoid It) Read More »
If You Can’t Keep Top Talent, It Could Be Your Culture
You posted the perfect job ad, read through dozens of resumes and narrowed them down. You shortlisted some great candidates, interviewed them, and found a standout applicant — You knew they could take your business to the next level. So you hired them, with high expectations and excitement for the future.
Six weeks later, they’re in your office with a resignation letter. Through your disappointment, you ask “Why are you leaving?” They respond “I’m not sure I’m a good fit.” Translation — Your company culture might not be working, and you need to do something about it.
What is company “culture?” Lots of experts talk about company culture, but what does it actually mean. Think of it as the “default emotional state” of your company. It’s how working in your business makes people feel. Does their business environment excite, motivate, and inspire them? Does it feel oppressive and authoritarian? Does it present the right mix of challenges, problem solving, and support?
Why does culture matter? Culture matters because it has a huge impact on how your people feel. It impacts morale, productivity, hiring, quality of work, autonomy, and so much more. In fact, the better a company’s culture, the more it contributes to your bottom line. The University of Warwick found that, “Happy workers are 12% more productive than the average worker, and unhappy workers are 10% less productive. In fact, unhappy employees cost American business over $300 billion each year.”
Ask your employees what they feel the current company culture is. You probably already have a pretty good idea of how the company culture feels to you, but you need the perspective of the people who really matter — Your employees. If you’re concerned about your culture, talk to your people about it. Discuss it in one to ones, let them know that whatever they say is fine. Don’t assign any blame — Listen, and understand.
Understand where your company culture comes from. Lots of things go into building a company culture, but the main one is this — It mainly comes from the people at the top of the business. If they’re exciting, inspiring, and approachable, the culture will be too. If they thrive on conflict and authority, that will permeate down through the business. It’s called Leadership and you need to lead from the top down.
That means if you want to change the culture and make your business an awesome place to work, change has to start in the leadership team. It’s a bitter pill, but a necessary one.
Talk to your team about what they want the culture to be. Once you understand how your staff currently see your company culture, and where it comes from, you can work to change it. Talk to people about what their ideal company culture looks like.
What would motivate them to enjoy coming to work more? What changes do they want to see in attitude, approaches, and management styles? How can you make doing their job easier and more pleasurable? Listen to all of it. No-one knows how to improve culture better than your people.
Create a plan. Now you know what your people’s priorities are, you should get a plan in place to change things. You’ll need strong commitment from your leadership team, a project manager who deeply understands culture change, a project team who can get things done, and a review and feedback group who can check actions are having the desired impact.
Actions you can take might include:
- Improving employment perks — Give your employees the right benefits — Healthcare, time off, retirement planning etc.
- Give employees control over their time — The ability to work from home, a sensible work / life balance, autonomy to work how they want.
- Build confidence and trust — Encourage an “open door” policy, positive feedback, and collaboration within and across departments and teams.
- Provide a better working environment — Relaxed, informal break spaces, a flatter management structure, a relaxed working environment, fun team events and parties.
Enhance your culture. And now, it’s a case of just getting that stuff done. Make changes to your culture, get metrics in place to measure success, track how you’re progressing, and see employee morale and productivity improve.
That way, the next time you spend thousands of dollars on hiring and training, you’ll have the reassurance that your employees are more likely to stay, and your company is likely a “good fit.” And that’s great for everyone.
If You Can’t Keep Top Talent, It Could Be Your Culture Read More »
Do B2B Companies Need Social Media?
Everyone is using social media these days. In fact, so many people are using it that businesses have dived into the fray. You can connect and interact with some of your favorite brands – even the biggest companies in the world. Social media is so prevalent, in fact, that it’s changing the way big and small businesses think of marketing. But what if you work in a business-to-business (B2B) environment? You don’t sell consumer commodities or anything suitable for mass-market consumption. Your target is actually quite specific. Your product is definitely not sexy.
You may think social media isn’t suitable for your B2B company, but you would be wrong. B2B companies are run by people. And those people are using social media like everyone else. They are looking for new ideas, solutions to their problems, and content that inspires and entertains them.
Build trust with a strong B2B presence. If you were cold emailed by another company, you would probably look them up before committing to their offer, wouldn’t you? You would Google their name, check out their website, and exam their social profiles if they have any.
Undoubtedly, you would be reassured if that company had a robust online presence. If they are investing in content publication, community engagement, and customer support through social media, you could assume they aren’t a fly-by-night operation looking to grab your cash. You would even use that online presence to learn more about the company before you responded to their pitch.
By making yourself present on the Internet, you build trust and authority that supports everything else you do.
Move short term sales to long term value. Keeping your brand in front of the customer is an important part of securing future sales. If the customer forgets you exist after the sale, they’ll seek a similar solution when the problem arises again, instead of returning straight to you.
Many salespeople make the mistake of only approaching a customer when they want a sale. That creates an antagonist relationship, where the salesperson is always looking to take and the customer is always trying to avoid giving.
Instead of ignoring the customer until it’s time to buy again, social media can be used to delight the customer over and over. Solve their problems, offer resources and education, and make yourself available for their questions – even if it doesn’t entirely relate to your specialty.
This keeps your brand in their face between sales. When it’s time to buy anew, the customer knows right where to go.
LinkedIn is your Holy Grail. LinkedIn was designed for professionals. It’s a natural place to begin your B2B marketing because it’s tremendously effective for collecting leads. Companies regularly use LinkedIn to make connections, hire new talent, arrange deals, and even convert big sales.
Create a profile for yourself as well as a business page. Publish content related to your business for other users to find. If you’re looking to create a business opportunity, use the advanced searching feature to find other professionals who meet your specific needs. You can drill down by location, industry, title, etc.
Other social media networks are valuable too. It all depends on your industry. Check where your competitors are spending their resources.
![\"B2B](\"https://staging.redbarnconsultingllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/B2B-Social-Media-2.jpg\")
Expand your reach. The Internet has made the world a lot smaller. Suddenly people and businesses on the other side of the globe are just as accessible as the company next door. You just have make yourself present in the digital world and give your brand a voice – even B2Bs.
Don\’t forget to share your most engaging posts with us. We love getting feedback on what types of posts work best for different industries.
Do B2B Companies Need Social Media? Read More »
5 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Help Grow Your Business
The beauty of social media is that it allows us to extend our network far beyond our physical location. We’re no longer limited to the people nearby.
As a business-to-business tool, LinkedIn is unmatched. 450 million of the world’s professionals and business leaders use it to connect, share ideas, and develop business opportunities. According to Content Marketing Institute, LinkedIn is the most effective social network for sales (63% of marketers report positive results).
Fill out your profile, adopt a professional demeanor, and then use these smart LinkedIn strategies to grow your business.
Speak with decision makers. If you have ever cold called a business, you know how frustrating that process can be. You get transferred around a bit, dropped into voicemail, and you’re never sure if you’ve reached someone who can make actual decisions.
Use LinkedIn to find the decision makers of a business. Many people publically display their contact information. If they don’t, ask for them by name when you call the business. This has a much higher chance of putting you in touch with someone who matters to you. If this still doesn’t work, you can always connect with them on LinkedIn itself.
LinkedIn’s search capabilities are more sophisticated than any other social network. You can add filters to your searches such as job role, industry, and company size. This allows you to put together a list of targeted potential business opportunities.
For instance, let’s say you sell payroll software designed for small businesses with less than ten employees, but only in your own state. You only want to speak to the owners of those companies, because there usually isn’t much middle-management at that size. With proper filters, you can search for those people exactly.
Become active on the network. Having a quality profile isn’t enough- although it’s EXTREMELY important! You have to be present on the social network if you expect to derive any value from it. If other users see that you haven’t posted, commented, or shared in a while, they won’t bother making a connection. This could cost you valuable opportunities.
The solution is take your social media presence seriously. Facebook and Pinterest are fun, but make LinkedIn part of your job. Set aside a little bit of time every day (not much, just five or ten minutes) to look for connections, share articles, images and videos you like, and comment on other people’s submissions.
Use groups to meet new people. A group is a collection of people around a common theme. You’ll find groups for just about everything, and multiple groups for each topic. Some are broad; others are specific. Some are public; others require permission. You don’t have be connected with anyone in the group.
Find three to five quality groups with lots of members. It should be a subject that relates to your business and something you know well. Contribute to this group often. Provide as much value as you can without selling. This will establish you as a thought-leader and expert in your field. Eventually people will clamor to connect with you.
Jump on those new leads. People connect on LinkedIn because they know one another professionally or they want to. If you are extended a connection from someone you don’t know, consider it a lead. This new person is seeking to create a relationship, so don’t waste the opportunity.
After accepting the connection, immediately send a private message – or InMail introducing yourself. If you receive a lot of connections, you can use a copy/paste response, but tailor it a bit so you don’t seem aloof. Ask some questions about the connection to find ways they could help grow your business.
Once you put these strategies in place, always remember to provide as much value as you can. Be a helpful person who’s generous with information. Eventually the connections and opportunities will come to you.
Interested in some one-on-one LinkedIn training – Give us a call!
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