Archive for March, 2010

Join me for Marketing Monday on March 22nd @ 6 pm (Eastern Standard Time) and learn how to grow your business and attract more customers using low cost & no cost marketing techniques!  This is a must for any business owner both start up and established.  You do not want to miss this!

In today’s economy, finding ways to market your business that won’t break the bank is a must for every business owner.  Come join me on this call and be introduced to strategies that work and will get the word out about your business without spending a lot of money.

Join me for this complementary teleclass “11 Low Cost or No Cost Marketing Tactics, Tips & Techniques ” with Kellie D’Andrea and learn:

• Learn about teleclasses, podcasts and webinars and which one is the best
• Direct mail for half the price?
• Best type of advertising is FREE, do you want to know what it is?
• 11 surefire tips on marketing your business.

You do not want to miss this rare opportunity to hear Kellie sharing her small business advice and providing insight into the BLAST methodology on this special call.

=============================================================

 Register for Marketing Mondays http://kelliedandrea.com/blog/marketing-mondays/

In today’s economic climate having multiple income streams can be the thing that sustains your business through a recession, expand your profits and mitigate your risk and here are 11 ways to build multiple income streams.  Any business can take any number of these ideas and use it to expand their current offering.

1.     New Products/Services

Add new products or services to your offering.  Find products that complement each other and are a need of your ideal buyer.  For example, if you sell dog training, offer leases and treats.

2.     Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are when you sell somebody else’s products/services/workshops whatever and you are paid a special “thank you” commission for the sale.  Selling someone else’s product is the fast and easiest way to add a new product to your offering. 

3.     Information products

Do you have specialized knowledge that you can write about and sell online or at your stores?   Each one of us has a gift and something that we do that we could teach others.  A great way to build additional income is to capture that knowledge into a book, workbook or system and sell it for others to learn from. 

4.     Form JV partnerships

Is there people who complement your market that you can partner with and sell their product or service?  And vice versus?  Not only will you gain immediate access to their client list, you will have a new product or service to offer your clients.

5.     Selling to a group (leverage model)

It is called the leveraged model because you are selling to a group vs. one to one.  Is there a way to take what you do and create a product that addresses a group.  For example, a hair dresser can start home hair parties and leverage her time by offering her services to a group.

6.     Franchise/License Model/MLM

This is where you allow somebody to use your name, work and system and resell it and you get a piece or a fee. 

7.      Continuity programs

These are like your “book club of the month” or “CD of the month”.  It is a way to create membership program where you can create recurring revenue by taking subscriptions and sending them a product or performing a service every month.

8.      Training Classes, workshops

Can you teach?  Would people pay to learn what you know?  Then host a training class or workshop and charge for your expertise and knowledge.  This can be done in person or virtually.  Even if you charge $ 25 bucks… how many need to come to be worth your hour of time?

9.      Advertising Revenue

If you have a website, blog, an ezine or a list, you can charge people to advertize in your communications.  There are a number of people trying to work with the same market as you , so why not allow them to run an ad and charge revenue. 

10.  Upsell

Can you bundle like products to create a more enticing offer to upsell additional products?  For example, if you sell cakes, can you include candles for $ 2 more?  If you products are refillable, can you offer more at a discounted price?

11.   Sell an Upgrade

Do you have varying levels of your product or services?  If you customers enjoy your basic    package, can you easily sell them an upgrade to the next level service?

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

The power of a shared company vision is the key to achieving results.  However, many business owners don’t successfully communicate the vision and get the team’s buy in so the vision is never translated into actions resulting in poor customer experience, disconnected brand and low morale with the employees.  Here are 5 tips for getting the team to buy-into your vision.

1.       Identify team members that are critical for making the vision happen

There are key individuals on your team that are critical for the success of your vision.  They are usually major influencers and leaders that others follow in your organization.

2.      Create messages about the vision and allow the team to be part of the decisions.

Open communication is the key to a successful plan.  Create messages with your key stakeholders and allow them to be part of decisions so they feel as though they are part of something bigger than themselves.

3.      Walk the walk and live the vision

Make sure you are consistent in your messages and in your actions so you do not send out conflicting signals.  This consistency will create trust and support among the team.

4.      Update the team on your progress

When you get buy in based upon the team feeling they are part of something great, you need to continue to communicate and update the team on the progress including the pitfalls and the action plan to propel the business further.

5.      Monitor the team’s verbal and non verbal feedback and actions and adjust your communication accordingly

A good sign of success is that the team begins to talk about the vision in everyday conversation.  You can pick up their actions and behaviors and tell if they are still believers.  When people don’t act in a ways that supports the vision, they don’t have buy in and you will need to rethink your process

Sending automated messages and follow up promotions to you customers will generate extra income for your business without generating a ton of expense and using a ton of time.  When done correctly, a strong autoresponder campaign can generate additional revenues of up to 30% and is a critical system that every business owner should consider. Read the rest of this entry »