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BNI Meeting

Owning your own business is always hard work but unfortunately that hard work doesn’t always convert into cash!

At ‘Business Networking International’ entrepreneurs come to us with an all too familiar story. They are working harder than ever with less free time than they had when they were in a job and worst of all for less money!

Without a solid plan for client acquisition and retention, business owners are expending way too much energy spinning their wheels and failing to get traction. Advertising and marketing are certainly key to a successful business but if not properly applied and built upon a solid foundation of ‘word of mouth’ referrals the return on investment can be small or non existent!

Most networking organisations and meetings do little to help matters. The attendees often have no clear objectives and if they do they are liable to be in their interest rather than yours. This style of networking is fatally flawed because the networking organisation is not fuelling its own success and growth. Rather it is a collection of individuals grouped together to see what they can get from each other! If this organisation was a business and the members were the employees, can’t you see how it would be bound to fail? Don’t forget the old adage – If you’re failing to plan (your client acquisition process) then you’re planning to fail!

Networking Done Properly = Big Returns

At the BNI the members are committed to work together to help the growth of the whole. Our Motto is world famous now – “Givers Gain!” So if I help my colleagues in the BNI get more business they are going to be keen to find me more business in return.

If you knew that taking a little time seek out referrals for your BNI colleagues paid you in extra business you would make an effort right? Often it’s easier to make a call on someone else’s behalf than for yourself right? The pressure is off and the sense of desperation isn’t there either. Then you can relax knowing that others are doing the same for you.

Aside from the effective philosophy there needs to be an effective process. BNI is the biggest and most successful networking organisation in the world because it has developed effective processes over a period of decades which have proven to generate more business for the participants. Anyone who has done the smallest amount of business training knows that those entrepreneurs and business owners who succeed don’t do it alone they rely on master mind groups, peers and mentors to support them all the way. Your BNI colleagues and the organisation as a whole provide a great deal of formal training and support to make sure you get to where you need to be.

Of course BNI doesn’t eliminate the hard work that always comes as a part of being a business owner, there’s probably more work! However you are going to have to work anyway so it might as well be the right kind of work, work that brings results. Working hard is a lot more palatable when it brings rewards – and that’s what the BNI offers; Proven processes to convert hard work and determination into results, rather than the usual routine of hard work and nothing to show for it.

 The Facts, the figures and what the Experts Say.

One of those proven processes that make the BNI so successful is record keeping. With records come business metrics and with metrics come continuous improvement. Here are some BNI facts you may find interesting:

• BNI members            136,537 last Year
• BNI Members passed £1.1Billion Pounds worth of business!
• That’s £8,000 per member return on a few hundred pounds investment to join!
• In the UK 14,652 members shared £269M that’s £18,359 per member!

Here’s what some popular publications had to say about BNI:

Financial Times:

“BNI has generated millions of pounds of new business through members’ personal recommendations of local companies”

Business Weekly

“BNI is an organisation that offers highly motivated business people no nonsense breakfast meetings that virtually guarantees them business leads”

Sky – The Money Channel

It’s good to talk, forget the internet, email and even mail shots – for some businesses when choosing the most effective way of making new contacts, the most traditional approach – word of mouth – can still be the most effective. For most companies, BNI can prove to be an essential marketing tool.

Don’t Miss This Rare Opportunity!

On Wednesday 25^th April 2012 the BNI is launching a group in the Plymouth Area.

 Several places in the group have already been reserved in advance so we can’t take any accountants, commercial solicitor, kitchen specialist, painter decorator, plumber, tiler, internet marketer, office supply company, videographer. Those places are locked out but we are certainly happy to consider applications from:

• Healthcare / therapy professionals
• Printers
• Builders
• Web designers
• Graphic designers
• Roofers
• Any other business that has not yet been locked out.

 If you are a trustworthy and passionate business owner who is not afraid to work hard for great rewards then come along on the 25^th to see if we are a good fit for each other. 

Venue – Boringdon Golf Club Plymouth

Time - 07:00 finishing around 08:30

Don’t Miss out on this rare opportunity to get in on the ground floor of this new group dedicated to business success in Plymouth.

Reserve your place now. Send a message or call 07739 161 270

Technorati Tags: business networking

OK – Lets talk about the most important you need to consider to make money from your website…

This concept, when I explain it to people, often results in a huge Aha!

It is going to seem obvious but hardly anybody gets it until it’s explained.

My new clients, who already have a website, often say to me “I’m already on page one of Google”.

It’s often said with a kind of resignation like they think they know that being on page one won’t help their business and in one way they are right. The trouble is they never thought about what keyword they were on page 1 for.

The first question I ask is “what keyword are you on page 1 for?”. This question can be quite stunning, people look confused like the answer is some how obvious. Then they will say something like “JoeBloggs.com” or whatever their website name is.

And here’s the big problem, here’s where it’s all completely wrong and the reason why their site isn’t getting any visitors and isn’t making any money.

You need to be on the first page of Google for very specific keywords to make money and the keyword is almost never the website name!

Let me explain this with an example…

One of my clients is an electrician working in and around the Plymouth area. The name of his company is Patafit. Sure enough if you type that name into Google his site comes up on page one. Sounds good right – well no actually. It’s not bad but it is of absolutely no value in increasing the profit of the business. Being number one for that keyword is useless. Why is that….

I know how to interrogate Google to find out lots and lots of valuable information about keywords.

There is absolutely nobody searching online for the keyword Patafit – none, zero, Nada.

So what are people who would actually like to hire an electrician in Plymouth searching for on Google, what keywords are these qualified leads typing in?

How about ‘Electrician Plymouth’ oh yes, How about Plymouth Electricians bingo. Now were getting somewhere.

Now search volume isn’t everything, there are lots of people searching online for the keyword ‘electricity’ but how many of these do you suppose are looking for an electrician in Plymouth – not many – the traffic is not targetted or qualified. So although we could expect lots of visitors they are unlikely to buy because they weren’t looking for an electrician and if they were it is unlikely that they would be in the Plymouth area.

So the key critical factors when targetting a keyword are:

• Large search Volume
• Targetted / Qualified Leads
• Profitability

The only one of these I haven’t mentioned yet is profitability. This simply means that it shouldn’t cost more in time and effort to get the traffic we want than we get back in revenue. For example – if ‘Best Electrician in Plymouth’ was a hugely competitive keyword (it’s not by the way) then we would have to spend a huge amount of time and effort = money to beat the competition to page one. That would negate any profit.

So in summary we need – targetted, money making keywords which have a significant number of daily searches but without so much competition that our profit would be wiped out.

The first thing I do free for potential clients is identify their money making keywords. Then I make them the money!

Totnes Consultancy - Helping You Capture Local Business with the World Wide Web

1) What is your Product / Service?

It seems obvious but you really need to define what it is you have to offer. It shouldn’t be ‘wooly’ in any way.

2) Who wants what you have to offer?

You need to be able to clearly define who your clients / customers are. This is known as demographics. What is your prospects’ age, gender, likes, dislikes etc. etc.

3) Where are they?

If you want to reach your prospects you are going to have to know where to find them. Not all prospects are on the internet. If you were selling a product aimed at the elderly then the internet may not be the best place to reach them. Direct mailing or newspaper ads would likely be more effective. However if you are marketing to teenagers then a newspaper would likely be useless. You are better off with the web.

4) Are You Speaking to Them?

This is really about salesmanship and particularly copywriting. You need to know how to appeal to your prospects in a way that attracts them.

5) Signature System

You need to define your signature system. For example I have a signature system known as the T- SEMA 5 System (It helps to have a snappy name). It is a proven systematic marketing strategy for driving clients to businesses through online search engines.

6) Sales Process

You need an effective sales process. In the 20th Century the old ‘hard sell’ methods no longer work. You need a process to develop a relationship of trust with your prospects. You need to provide value before you even consider trying to sell them something. You need to develop a reputation as an authority in your field. This trust + authority + total integrity leads to sales. People only want to buy from people they trust and respect. It is your job to develop that with complete integrity.

7) Faith

Seems a little out of place here but you really do need faith. Faith in your product or service and faith in the first six steps. It sounds a little ‘woo woo’ and ‘new agey’ but any good textbook on salesmanship will tell you that prospects can sense any lack of faith you have in your product or service.

If you need any help with any of these foundational elements you can contact me at Totnes Search Engine Marketing Agency I’d Love to hear from you.

rel=”author”Shaun