Customer Value Optimization was a term that you just didn't hear much back in the early 2000s when I started my first business.  I had several business ventures that I had started and a hand full of companies that I worked with... Most of them didn't work out too good.

It seemed that most companies were afraid of investing money into marketing.  I find this is still true today.  It's almost as if business owners think they are wearing a badge of honor when they only work thru their networks and referrals.  They proudly admit they don't market, they do only referrals and thru word of mouth.

And while this is a Powerful tactic in the overall strategy of Customer Value Optimization, it is the Last stage in it.  Sure, Referrals and word of mouth leads are easiest to close, because they already have some type of trust in you, they heard about you from someone they trust.  Only problem is, What happens if this well drys up?  What happens if you need to grow you revenue to hire more help, and expand your reach in the market?  How will you generate more Referrals?

Most importantly, what happens when, (not if) the market turns or we have a recession?

What is Customer Value Optimization?

Customer value optimization is the process of building relationships while moving towards selling low value offers up front, and continually adding value to that client. This process includes repeat selling over and over higher value offers to the same client and eventually getting repeat customers and referrals. This process is excellent for business development and growing your business.

If you can if imagine if we had a contest of two companies and one of the companies work solely through referrals and every customer that they had they got three referrals and you know grew their business that way. And for the other company they worked on developing systems to build relationships in cold markets, where people didn't know who they were or what they did. It might take some time initially to build the systems and content in the marketplace, and earn people's trust, but when done right, and a low value offer is presented to the new prospect up front, this can sometimes cover your marketing costs. And you also have systems that automate following up and offering them newer products at a higher value.

Now let's just say that we ran this contest for a year. On one hand you have a business owner that gets three referrals for every customer and this business owner works very hard networking and generates let's say hundred clients and 300 leads that year. If this business owner wants to grow there's two things that must happen they have to increase the amount of leads and sales that they get to increase revenue to hire help and sometimes this is very hard when you don't know when you're going to be getting sales you don't really know when you get the referrals you don't have a lot of control over this method. Now the other person for instance they have a simple brochure that explains what they do for their clients, and they include a case study showing the results that they get their clients and they post this on let's say Facebook and they generate a lot of people downloading these free brochures, most the people at download these brochures are to be considered a decent lead. Then you could offer them a very low ticket maybe consultation or assessment or some type of service that covers the cost to acquire a customer. This accomplishes two things. One it converts a cold prospect into a buying customer. The other thing accomplishes is that it covers the cost of marketing. Now imagine if these two clients sold something for $1000 a piece. The first example would have sold $100,000. Now the second example would have designed a system for finding prospects and converting them into low-cost customers. They would have sold them maybe they another offer for $500 and then $1000. If the cost of acquiring those customers was $100, and they sold them another item for 500 and then 1000 they would have generated hundred and $150,000.0

now let's say that these two business owners in the second year are getting ready to see what they can do to grow their business. The first company needs to at least do what they did last year to make what they made and if they have the leads to scale it will cost money out of that hundred thousand to grow. This company will more than likely not have systems in place that move prospects and customers through a value ladder or multiple sales to continually sail over and over again. The second business will have systems in place that turn cold prospects into warm prospects then move them through a series of processes that turn them into paying clients repeat customers and then referrals. They have a system that can afford to outspend their competition to acquire a new customer. This is the main goal for customer value optimization. The company that is willing and able to outspend their competition will always have an advantage over the companies that do not.

What are the stages of the Customer Value Optimization Strategy?

In the past few years most people have a very static outline of what the customer value journey looks like. The first stage of Customer Value Optimization is determining if the market that you are serving is wanting the product or services that you offer. The second step would be determining how you're going to drive traffic to your first entry point of converting cold prospects into warm prospects. This basically means that you'll be giving out a free consultation, free brochure, some type of interaction between your business and a cold prospect that starts the conversation. Don't make this too complicated, you want to do some research and figure out what your markets looking for what kind of pains are they have or what kind of solutions that they are looking for. Put this in a really simple PDF file, and design of Facebook add, drive people to a landing page where they can download it, and then make sure that you have a system for following up with that person and moving them to the next stage of making a purchase. This doesn't have to be very hard this could be a couple of phone calls it could be an auto email responded it could be Facebook messenger chat bot. The key here is to have some type of automation that you can leverage. Getting on the phone with 1000 people a day is can be very difficult, but if I have an auto email responded or a Facebook chat bot that qualifies each person, and then gets me on the phone with people who are ready to make a purchase, then I am positioned to win.

Why Are These Stages So Important?

Most companies fight aggressively to get new leads and sales.  It just is common sense.  Most business think that they need more leads and sales to grow, and that is true.  The problem is, the customer lifetime value, or profit you make off of each client doesn't increase much.  So what happens, and pay attention here, is that you have more work to get done, with the same profit margins, and that becomes a larger hamster wheel you are running on.

Now, I know that if you are building your business right now, and you are around your first six figures, 100-300 grand a year, you may not really see what I'm talking about, but once you get over 500-800 grand per year, you have to start increasing your lifetime customer value so that you can increase the profit you make per client, and start having more money to grow you business.

When you have more profit per client, this allows you to scale your business without borrowing money or trying to grow extremely slowly.Customer Value Optimization helps you accomplish this.

Why Customer Value Optimization is Crucial for Your Business

The CVO process is based on the same type of process to build relationships.  So,  like the business owners that only work on referrals, the CVO process starts with building relationships with prospects that don't know who you are or what you do.  This allows a business to expand their market at a controllable pace.  So once you build a relationship and they know, like and trust you, you sell them a low-cost, high value product as fast as possible.  The goal of this is to cover the cost of marketing.  Then you continually sell them over and over again.  This accomplishes raising the lifetime customer value of each customer, and the final goal is to have each customer giving you testimonies and referrals.

The reason why Customer value optimization is so important to your business, is because, until you have a CVO strategy, it is very hard to grow to the point of hiring and scaling your marketing and sales efforts.

Profit per client is very very important to reach this point.  Because until you have a system that increases your profit per client, you are in a sense just building a larger hamster wheel for your business.

To learn more about the customer Value optimization principle, and master funnels. You can check out the course in our innovative marketing academy.  It's taught by Ryan Dies, and If you sign up, you can get a free 15 day trial and a 30 day money back warranty for a monthly membership.

The site address is www.innovativemarketingacademy.net

What Exactly is Business Development?

I know that most professionals will give you different answers to this question, and I feel like this is probably why the rate at which businesses fail is so high.  Most people only think that it is focusing more on Sales, or Marketing, Or the Relationships that the company has in the market and with its team and culture.  While this may be true, there isn't a solid answer.

This creates a lot of confusion and I think that this subject needs  to be discussed more in depth before I cover the Reasons you need a Business Development Coach.  I know that there is a lot of buzz around the word 'coach' these days,

and I think that you can appreciate that I am a certified coach by two of the top coaches in the world, as as well as a certified partner and verified copywriter by 2 of the best marketing training companies in the world.  IF you don't believe me, you can read more up on my qualifications to talk about this subject here.

Of course, If you don't know and understand what business development is, why in the world would you want to know the reasons you would need a coach for it right?

Before we can discuss the reasons you need to fix something, let's make this confusion terminology as simple as possible right from the start.

I know that Albert Einstein says that when he had to  solve a problem he would spend a majority of the time analyzing the problem and very little time actually  solving it.  There is some real wisdom in that, because most people don't have the patience to wait a red light more than 1.2 seconds after it turns green.

He also said if you couldn't explain something simply, then you don't understand it enough.  Although I don't want to get into all the reasons this topic of business development is difficult to understand, I do want to give you a very simple explanation of what it is...

Business Development is defined by wikipedia as:

'the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships.'

You can't have a business without customers, markets or relationships.  It takes maximizing all three to reach your full potential.

So, now that you have a fair understanding of what this term means, I want to dive into the reasons that you need a business development coach.

A good business development coach focuses on developing you as the leader first

Over the last few years I've had the privilege to hear John Maxwell speak on developing leaders in business.  John Maxwell says the first step in developing a business is first to develop the leader within it. And John Maxwell's book the 21 laws of leadership John's first law is the law of the lid. This law basically means that a business or organization can never outgrow the leader that leads it. I know a lot of marketing specialists will probably scoff at this, but let me just say this.

The foundations in which a business can develop is built on to major pillars. The people that run the business and the community or groups of people or customers or clients that they serve.

To maximize the efficiency of a business you must learn to lead both of these groups of people. And the only way to do this is to become a great leader yourself.

Also, another great reference to this is Robert Greene's 33 Strategies of War.  Before you learn the strategies of war, Robert would turn the focus on the person leading the war.  Their mindset and being able to withstand the pressure.  You have to start on the leader first.  Because like in sports, there is no such  thing as bad teams, or bad companies for that matter.  ONLY BAD LEADERS.

A good business development coach will help you focus on the right clients

There always seems to be a gray area when it comes to lining marketing and sales. When I first started my sales career, the marketing department's job was to get as many appointments booked and keep the salespeople in front of people.

If you are a good salesman it was your job to close as many people as you could.

Over the last five or 10 years this strategy has become more apparent with social media and the Internet. Old tactics of sales and just don't work like they use to 20 years ago.

I really think that the first step in doing any type of business is to make sure that you know what type of market or clients that you want to serve. The next thing is to make sure that there is a need for what your company will fulfill to that market.

This requires being very specific on not just the type of products and services that you offer but the type of people that you want to serve. This is crucial. I see a lot of people that have been in business 20 and 30 years that still think that they need to market to a broad group of people and this is a very costly mistake.

Each marketing campaign should be focused on one specific type of client or customer. A good coach will understand how to help you accomplish this.

A good business development coach will help you craft the right message

I have said this before and I'll say it again. I really believe that leadership is probably one of the most important skills that anyone in business can learn. The second most ( if not tied with first ) important skill to learn is direct response copywriting.

John Maxwell wrote a great book named "Everyone Communicates Few Connects.  I love this book so much, I'm certified to teach on the subject, and In the book John explained that if everything rises and falls on leadership, the same can be said about communication.

Communications are so important in business and in relationships. They can be said that most of the failures in business and relationships are due to poor communications and unfulfilled expectations.

Make no mistake of it. If you have the right team in the right market, but the wrong message, your development will be limited.  You have to Have great communication between your marketing, sales and the clients.

Equally important are the Values and principles that your company offers it's team mates and leaders within the company. Communication is every where, and the lack of it is usually the number one source of major problems and conflicts.

Good good business development coaches help you design systems for your business

I know that Michael Gerber is probably the best person besides Robert Kiyosaki that I heard talk about systems for your business.  IF you don't know these 2 giants, check out their first books, Emyth by Gerber and Cash Flow Quadrant by Kiyosaki.  They are game changers.

I know that McDonald's is famously quoted for their franchise systems that they have to run their business. Most multilevel marketing companies hail their story to describe the type of systems that run most multilevel marketing companies. I believe that every business needs to have systems in order to function at higher levels.

There are so many benefits to having systems in place to run a business, that I can't get on into all of them at this time, but businesses that don't have systems waste a lot of time and money on procedures and processes that could run smoother and at a lower cost to the company.

Michael Gerber has famously said that,

"Systems permit ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results predictably."

I have had the pleasure to work with companies like Delta, UPS and several other large construction companies.

All of the the companies that grossed 50 million or more a year were built on systems and processes.

That is the reason why most of these companies will spend 1 to 2 weeks training their new employees on the systems that run their business. These companies understand and know that systems help them achieve more work and less time and with less mistakes.

Lower level employees need less supervision and help with the use of systems. I can go on and on about this but the truth is a good business development coach can help you design systems for your business.

A good business development coach will help you find your purpose and build your business around that... and they won't stop there

I know that many good coaches will have business owners and their employees and subcontractors take personality tests.  Tony Robbins and John Maxwell used the disk a test in these assessments I believe are very important part of every business is growth and development.

I grew up playing sports and I always remember when being on teams with kids that played the same position for many years suddenly have to change positions and play a different position. In sports its a little different. Most of the time coaches will not know how that player will react and perform until they are put into the situations and prove themselves.

In business, very similar to sports, you don't really know how each employee may react or upper level management may react to certain things that happen outside of their control.  There is one thing that will help with this however.

If you know exactly what type of personality traits each individual has, if you know their strengths and their weaknesses and what areas that they are naturally strong in and enjoy the being in, then this is a huge advantage to business owners and the development of a company.

This starts with the business owner. If you don't think this is important then you won't think it's important for the rest of the people on your team and in your company. Finding your purpose and living it out is probably the most important activity that you can surround yourself with, it is also a great way to attract and help the best talent grow in your company.

People are always wanting to work for those companies that feel that their growth and development is as important to them as it is to the owner of the company.

If you don't believe me, when was the last time you worked for someone that could care less about your own development and growth? Hopefully most of you won't know what that is like.

I ,on the other hand, have witnessed this many times and with many companies.  A good business development coach will help you find your purpose as well as the people in your company and help everyone reach their maximum potential.  Everyone thrives in the areas of their biggest strength, and it is the leaders job to make sure they put themselves and their teammates in the best position to win.

Good business development coaches build companies on customer value optimization

I've saved the best for last. Customer value optimization is the most important and fundamental principle for any business.  A good business coach will make sure that you are running your business and marketing incorporating customer value optimization.

If you are not sure what customer value optimization is then I suggest that you join our Innovative Marketing Academy and take the course funnel mastery which teaches about customer value optimization.

A good business development coach will show you how you can profitably outspend your competition to acquire a new customer. Dan Kennedy, the famous copywriters said any business that is willing and able to outspend their competition on acquiring a new customer and even sometimes at a loss,  will have a huge advantage in the marketplace.

Customer value optimization is built on building a relationship with your clients and prospects in a way that adds value to them, and helps them solve their problems, while offering them different offers that will maximize profits, repeat sales, testimonies and referrals.

Conclusion:

I used to be a one man show, and sometimes, I still Revert back to my old ways.  A lot of times, it is because I am afraid to ask for help, or because I don't want to look like a Needy Guy.  Everyone feels this way at some point, but this is a limiting belief, and you must realize that beyond  a little pain and discomfort is growth.

Getting help from a business development coach isn't something that most business owners want to do.  But sometimes, it is the best thing to do. In doing so, you save a lot of time, money and sometimes, stress.  A good business coach will be someone that has been thru the ringer a few times.  They have had their ups and downs. They are not afraid of failure, because they know that failure is part of the process.

I didn't realize this, until I became a Certified Leadership coach by John Maxwell.  He pointed out that sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.  He even wrote a book on it.  But One thing is always Certain.  If you don't try something new, if you are afraid of failure, afraid of being ridiculed or talked down upon, then you can play it safe, but you ultimately lose the chance of being someone great by Default.

Don't do that.  Schedule a Free Strategy call and lets talk about your challenges and options today.

One of the greatest gifts that I could give you, is secrets for writing your mission statement.  Once you nail this down, your entire life will have purpose and meaning.  I know that many companies will have mission statements, and that is great.  It helps rally the troops, get people to back you, it energizes and fires people up.

Today, I want to talk about Your Life Mission statement.  Your purpose for being here.

To start this off, I say that every endeavor should start of with a purpose. Every journey should start with the final destination. Every project should start with the desired outcome. I think this is one of the most overlooked and under talked about exercises, because it is so common sense in society today.

Every great person has a mission. Every great leader has a vision, and that is why it is so important for you to take some time and reflect on the simple mission statement every so often. I think that when people get stressed out, and backslide a little, having a very inspirational and strong mission statement helps get them back on track.

It also helps keep them on track so that they don't backslide and lose momentum. John Maxwell says that momentum is a leaders best friend, and I couldn't agree more.

It's not only important in sports, but also in business. I know I"ve worked with several companies that are growing and sales are improving and it just seems like it is so much easier to grow when you have momentum.

The best example that I can give is like when you are driving where and you take the highway. You are cruising and going 75 on the interstate, there are no red lights, no stop signs, no people crossing the road. That is momentum. That is the type of Momentum your mission statement can give you in your personal life.

When you don't have a mission statement, and you don't have momentum, it's like trying to take a back road, and you are going thru side streets and neighborhoods. You have to stop for kids playing in the road, you have stop signs every so often, so you can't really get into a good rhythm, and you can't go but so fast.  You can't build momentum, and things are frustrating.  Every little problem seems huge.

Momentum lets you blast thru most problems like you don't even hit a bump in the road...

Secrets for writing your mission statement

If you have all the skills and resources to reach your full potential, what purpose would your life fulfil?  This the first question you must answer. IF you can't answer this questions, then you don't need to start building out a business or life plan.  That is why I am different in my mythology.  The innovative Marketing Trinity is based on 3 areas.  I believe that personal development is crucial and you must take the first step in finding your purpose before you funnel hack, research, find a strong market, or any of that stuff.  Don't chase paper. Chase your Dream.  If you don't have a dream, then the money will never be enough.  Trust me...

I made this mistake, (multiple times) in my life.  I would do what other people told me I should do.  I would go in one direction because someone said I was good at something.  Problem was that, I was good at a lot of things.  My Dad raised me with that mentality to be the best at everything I did, or don't do it at all.

That was a blessing and a curse.  It led me down a lot of wrong roads and in careers that I shouldn't have been in.  Today, I don't regret all of the things that I have tried.  It was required for me to get the experience that I have today.

 

A lot of the mistakes that I have made were necessary for me to give you these secrets for writing your mission statement.

Your Mission Will Change

Every now and then, you will feel as if your mission is starting to come together. You will Feel as if your mission is almost complete.  This only happens later on in life after probably many years of working hard towards a certain mission, but nonetheless it will happen.

I know I never thought that mission statements were designed to be achieved. I thought they were meant to inspire and motivate and keep people moving in one direction. But over the last decade, and after achieving many things in failing in many other areas, it becomes clear that sometimes your mission statements will change.  Designing your mission statement is something that you will want to look at every year.

Because your perspective and awareness levels will change.  You  will become better equipped and more able to achieve larger and harder things.  You mission statement is not your conclusion statement for your life.  It is more as of a Chapter title for a small piece of your life.

When you look at mission statements this way, they become more fun and you have more fun designing your mission statement.

Just imagine.  Each mission statement becomes bigger and bigger.  At first, It probably only focuses on you and your company.  Possibly the people who you serve or your family.  The larger you grow, spiritually, professionally and personally, the larger your mission statement will become.

Your Purpose and Mission Must Be Clear

I love that so many people are starting to see the benefits of clarity.  I know I had problems with this in my younger

years, and usually when I am struggling with a project or an objective, I realize that my plans are not clear enough.  Clarity is so key.

If you are having problems with finding your purpose, I encourage you to go back and check out on of my earlier post on finding your purpose.  When you have clarity, the forces of the universe will be on your side.  Just imagine when you go out to a large company, and you read their mission statement.  It is very long and vague...  It is written more to sound good than to convey a very clear picture.

If you can't visually see your Mission statement in your mind, then you may have  a little more work to do.  Being able to visually see your mission statement, the vision of what that looks like when you achieve it is helpful when others read it also.

Secrets for Writing Your Mission Statement

If you have made it this far, I saved the best for last.  Writing your mission statement for you is probably one of the most rewarding things that you can do, because it helps you when you are going thru hard times.

So, let's make this fun.  I learned some of this from Jack Canfield, and I have to give him Credit.

I want you to get out 4 pieces of paper. The first piece of paper I want you to write out 30 things you would like to have.  The second piece of paper, write out things you would like to do.   The third piece of paper I want you to write out 30 things you would like to be.

Now, this will probably take some time.  In fact. It is better if you take your time writing these lists out.  Sometimes when you are reading or working on something, an idea will come to mind.  The best idea is to try to work on this early in the morning and late in the evening.

During the day, you'll get great ideas, just make sure you can write them down.  Once you get a solid 30 for each of the 3 categories.  This is the fun part.  You will practice writing out your mission statement.

Your Mission Statement will include some of the items on your lists.  Completing those 3 lists will help make sure your mission statement is moving you towards your higher purpose.  Jack Canfield calls them purpose statements and he mentions that you should include 2 unique qualities of yourself, and 2 ways you enjoy expressing yourself.

Imagine what the world would look like if it were perfect. 

Take some time and really visualize what this looks like.  How are people acting and treating each other?  How does this Feel?  The more detailed you can get with these exercises, the easier it be when finalizing your mission statement.

When you become more clear about what this actually looks like, put it down on paper, fast! Trust me, It will feel good, but if you wait, that vision may take some time to get back.  You want to work on this, because this is the vision that you want your subconscious mind working on.

Once you have your vision of what the world would look like if it were perfect written down. You can start putting the pieces of this puzzle together.

Your mission statement will include your unique qualities, how you express them, and a description of your perfect world.

Now, this will take some work.  A lot of people get confused with this, and that is ok.  Most people don't do this exercise at all.  So put some thoughts into it, and make sure you work on this at least a few times a year.

Put it in your calendar.  I always try to work on mine the week between Christmas and New Years, and also in June.  Only you can say when the best time is to work on yours.

If you have questions about your mission statement, and want to learn more about how we can put a plan together to help you reach your goals. Schedule a Strategy Call.

This i s an Oxymoron isn't it?  I want to take a step back and explain some ways to increase your website traffic without seo.  Most people think of Traffic to their website, and the first thing that pops into their mind is SEO, or search engine optimization.

Not too long ago, about 21 years ago, there was this thing called google that formed.  Yeah, Google is just about the age to be able to buy a beer.  Crazy thought huh?

Larry Page, one of the creators of google, started this mission by developing a web crawler, so that it could scan all of the web, and see what back links linked to other sites, what the content was, and they started to develop the ranking system.

What is fascinating to me is the technology and planing that went into developing what we call SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.  Most people relate this topic to traffic to their website.

What is even more interesting is that you hire several SEO companies, and they all will give you a different strategy, make different promises and produce Dramatically different results.  Trust me, I have tried them, and I got a few t-shirts.

So, there are plenty of people that think that SEO is the only way to drive traffic to your website, and sometimes, it can be one of the better longterm outcomes of doing things right on the internet.  SEO is almost a Result of doing things right.  It's not a Lead Tactic in the short term strategy.  SEO is, in fact, is the results of doing a lot of the other tactics the correct way.

Before we get started, I must refer back to the Customer Value Optimization Model.   The fist part of the CVO funnel after you determine your market fit is how you create the traffic to fill your funnels.  I want to make sure you recognize that all of these website traffic tactics are right off the  CVO Chart.

 

7 Ways To Increase Your Website Traffic Without SEO

Blogging

I remember back in 2010 I think it was, I bought a program that was called Traffic 2.0.  It was a Mike Dillard program, and the first part explained how you needed to brand yourself, and make your company and basically call it You Inc.  Reason for that, is there is no better way how to increase your website traffic without SEO, than to brand yourself as an expert and start a blog.

Sure, blogging does take some time, and most people can't stand it, but let me explain a major benefit.  I remember back in 2018 when i just joined the 2 Comma Club X program.  It is an inner circle coaching program for Russel Brunson and one of his top coaches that runs it, Julie Stoian, lost her Facebook account...

Baamm... just like that, Years and years of posts, videos, comments, pictures and important business, not to mention personal, information gone forever.

That is the moment that Mike Dillards Program popped back into my mind.  Mike said that back in 2010.  You don't own anything on social media or the internet.  At any moment, those sites can shut you down, and legally destroy Years of blood, sweat and tears of your information and hard work.

Another good point about blogging is that you can post on multiple social sites at one time from your blog.Sure, it's fine to post on social sites, and we will cover that in a minute, but you should be posting your important content and infomatin on your blog first, then distributing it across multiple channels.

Think of your blog as your home base of you and your business.  It's should house and store all of your most valuable thoughts and content.

I see a lot of people posting long posts on their personal profiles talking about business, trying to get people to go to their websites, but the problem is, you can't monetize or automate that...  If you had a valuable post, one that you spent all that time writing, and you post it on your facebook feed, after about a week or 2, that post is lost.... Gone forever... You would have to look for it to find it again, and sure, if you get a lot of likes, and comments, it will float around and pop up at random on other people's feeds, but why not have something like that on your blog, and distribute it ever few months, from your blog, to 10 social media sites at one time?

See the difference?

Blogs are the foundation of driving traffic, and positioning yourself as an expert.  If you don't have a blog, you will probably want to start one by the end of this social media post.  This is probably the Best and most foundational ways to increase your website traffic without seo.

Just before I wrap this up, Imagine if you are posting on facebook everyday, and in 3 to 5 years, what if you had all of that content optimized on a blog and it was generating you traffic and leads on auto pilot.

Let me ask you a serious serious questions... Pause............  Do you think those post you post everyday on facebook are going to do that for you now???

Podcasts

Another great way to to get your content out there and distribute it across multiple channels.  Podcasts are becoming very popular, because of the ease of which they are produced.  Most people don't like writing, but talking is another story.  It is easier to sometimes interview professionals in a certain industry and ask them questions that their audience has.  It also is a very great way to postion you as a industry leader and expert

Podcasts are very similar to blogs, in the sense that you own the content, you can distribute them far and wide across many platforms.  I think podcasts are a great way to also get your voice heard, and build likeability and trust from your audience.  It is different reading a blog post from someone, than it is from listening to their voice.

Another great point I want to make, many top marketers repurpose their blogs to make them podcasts or the have their podcasts Transcribed and then they put them on their blogs.

So you get double the content.

Don't rule out podcasts.  Another good reason to podcasts is that it sometimes will assist you in making connnections you would normally not make.  If you went up to a industry leader and talked to him and said you would love to work with him, help him on his projects, he may say yes or no, But if you tell him that you would love to interview him on your podcast, and give him a copy of it to post on his show or his blog, you just helped him out.You just helped him create new and fresh content, you will be broadcasting it across a new audience, and you are also helping him out, by creating that content for him...

There are a lot of ways you can get your podcast to produce you traffic, so don't rule this out when deciding ways to increase your website traffic without seo.  

Email Marketing

Email marketing is here to stay. Let's face it. If you think it is going away, you probably aren't using it to it's full capacity.  If you are offended and don't believe me, Just out a post I just put out, "Is email marketing dead for business professionals?".  It explains the 3 different strategies for email markeitng and how they are used.

Ok, so, let's assume you have some type of business, and you should have 3 list of people.   I know I probably hear you saying, "3 lists? I thought people only talk about having A list... Not 3".

Well, let me explain.  If you are following the Customer Journey, where a new prospect that is cold comes in contact with you, You sell them a small item, then you have them as a customer and sell them repeat sales, That is the 3 different types of lists you should have.

Let me be crystal clear about this.  You should never just Blast out emails to everyone on your list.  You should have this list segmented in different categories on where they are in the customer journey.Are they cold, warm or hot leads?  Are they one time buyers?  Are they Multiple purchase buyers or fans?

This is one way that you can generate traffic to your website, by knowing where that person is in the customer journey, and writing a specific email to them, giving them a reason to visit your site.  If you put too much info in the email, then they won't go to your site, so make sure it has some high interest or value to it!

Email is here to stay, I would say that the first 3 of this list are the most foundational ways to increase your website traffic without seo.

Social Media

Social media is growing at a Staggering rate.  Just on Facebook alone you have 2.32 Billion users at the end of 2018.

There are several core platforms that every entreprneuer, copywriter, and business owner should be aware of.  The power 4 is Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram and Youtube.

I could write several very long articles about each one of these platforms, and they would all be slightly different.  The point I want to make about social media, is that it is a great way to drive traffic to your website, because everyone is on there usually.  If you are dropping great content for people that they are looking for and can consume, then social sites are a great way to drive traffic.

Most people get this wrong.  They post long posts, and they are not really giving value, or calls to action.  You have 4 different structures about how to use Social Media.  You can use it to research and observe what people are talking about.  You can build relationships.  You meet new people.  Doing those things are necessary for you driving traffic.  You have to listen to groups of people, what they are looking for..

This helps when you are creating content on your blog that can distrubut across multiple channels and give people what they are looking for, but the really good stuff, put on your blog, and drive them there for the rest of the content...

Now, let me go ahead and put this in here.  Driving Traffic organically with social media can take time.  Sure, you can get a few hits here and there, but it takes time for people to see your content, and start consuming it this way.  Another strong strategy is to post content on your blog, post it across all of your platforms, and boost the posts that get the most interaction.

 

Paid Ads

This is the fastest way to generate massive amounts of traffic.  When you are talking about Paid Ads, I mostly think of Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, Youtube, LinkedIn and Instagram.  There are a lot of other ways you can use paid ads, like banner ads and retargeting ads.  But for the sake of keeping this short and sweet, lets just discuss this very broad topic.

Paid ads are very usuful when getting businesses up off the ground.  Doing the other types of Traffic Strategies can take some time, and are a great strategy for long term.  Paid Ads are great for short term and for also running flash sales and seasonal promotions.  I like using differnet forms of marketing, because you never want to rely on one tactic.  Plus Paid ads are something that are a little easier to track and learn when you can scale a certain campaign.

When you know what your Cost per Acquistion is, and you know know you can afford to spend on your leads and gererate sales, you can learn how to scale a business very quickly.

Other forms of traffic are harder to control and scale with, but when you use paid forms of traffic, you usually have more control on your data.

Conclusion

There are many ways to drive traffic other than SEO.  SEO or search engine optimization is a long term strategy, and just remember, it is important to have if you want to dominate your industry or niche.  You also want to have a wide range of other tactics that you are driving traffic to your website also.

IF you are looking to grow your business with driving more traffic to your website, Schedule a Free Strategy Call, and lets discuss some ways we can help you make that Happen!

Everyone talks about responsibilty and how important it is, but you don't hear about rituals that teach responsibility in business. So today, I wanted to dig deep and go thru some old notes of mine on the subject.  The reason I feel this subject is so important is that there are two types of people in the world.

The types that accept the responsibily for their life,

and the others that blame other factors outside of their control.

It really doesn't matter what happens to you that matters in life.  It matters how you respond to what happens.  I know that by taking responsibility, things just seem to change.  When you have a little kid that is struggling in school, and they blame the teacher, they blame their parents, they blame the subject, and everything else that is the reasons that justify the reason for struggling.  It almost turns off a switch in the creative part of their mind.  It almost shackles them to the very problem they are having... Subcosciously.

This is a Dangerous problem.  Woudln't you agree?

So, this other kid.  Has all of the same problems the other kid has.  The teacher, the subject, parents, ect.  Except this kid says to themself.  " No matter what, I'm going to buckle down, and make this happen.  I refused to accept a bad grade, no matter what.  I will do the best I can, with what I have. "

Do you see the difference?  DO you see the Power in this?  I see this every damn day with grown ups.  They make every excuse why they can't do something, then they want to get paid for a half ass job that they didn't take responsibility for.

It really makes me disappointed, and even disgusted, because I know that they are hurting themself.  This problem will hold them back in life, and they will continue to have the same problems until they own their life, no matter what.

Now, Before I go over these rituals that teach responsibility in business, I want you to know, we all struggle with this.  I am not perfect, i have flaws and weaknesses too.  The key point is to recognize them, and over come.

The power in having rituals for taking responsibily is that it make it a habit.

3 Rituals That Teach Responsibility in Business

 1. Stem Sentences

I learned this routine from Jack Canfield in my Success principle certification.  The easiest way to describe it is to show you an example.  Before I get started, I want to set the stage about what taking responsibily is.  Taking responsibily is hard for some people to understand.

At it's core, it is something that people are not willing to risk creating.  Jack also describes complaining because it is sometimes at the root of not taking responsibilty.  ( Don't worry, we all do sometimes....LOL) .

An example sentence would be:  "something that I want, but I am not willing to risk creating is __________________")

It may be a better relationship with a co-worker, your boss, or working harder to make more money.

Only you can finsih this example sentence, but the important part, is to recognize and become aware of the power that you have in the decision to take resposibility.

And Example of this ritual that teach responsibilty in business goes like this.

If I were to take 5% more responsibility for my life and well-being...

I would exercise 5 days a week for 30minutes to 1 hour.

I would would juice and eat vegatables at least 5 days a week

I would meditate for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes before bed

I woud get at least 7 hours of sleep every night

Now, The next sentences you will finish will have these topics

If I were to take 5% more responsibilty for living my passion.. I would...

If I were to take 5% more resposibility for attainment of my goals...

If I were to take 5% more responsibility for the success of my relationships...

If I were to take 5% more responsibility for the level of my self-esteem...

2.  Communicate Roles, Responsibilties and Purpose

This is such a common sense ritual, but I think that many times, the main reason that responsibility is not taken, is because it is not communicated up front in a business transaction or in the process.  Everyone should know excactly what they are respnsible for.  If they don't, then they should ask.  And everyone should know everyone's responsibilties and who is responsibible for what.

Isn't this common sense?  Every day I see communication break downs, expectations were not met, or someone is let down.  About 99.9% of the time, it was a failure in the communications.  It is truely amazing how many of our problems stem from failures in communiations.  Part of the problem is people are quick to judge and even faster to assume.  Don't make these mistakes.

This is one of those rituals that teach responsibility in business, and can't be substituted.  I had posted a blog a few weeks back about building teamwork within your business.  It is a great Idea to make time for your team members to be able to express things that are going in in their life and business.   This builds trust and community within the company.  When you develop a culture that encourages teamwork and communication, then the level of responsibity between people goes up.

This only helps the entire team and business.  Make this a Culture that your company has.  The best way to build a culuture of taking responsibility is to practice this every day.  It starts with the company's leader, and it continues throughout the company.

I don't want to go off topic, but I'll use an example.Have you ever been on a championship team, or watched a championship team closely?  There are no excuses.  Everyone takes the blame and responsibility.  Sure, everyone knows their responsibilty, their roles... but eveyrone backs each other up, without quesiton or histation.

I have been blessed to play on a few really great championship teams.  Growing up, and in college.  It is amazing to me the difference in success and failure, because when a team or company doesn't have a mission or a vision, they lack the ambition and drive to accell and get better.  It's almost like their is not fire in anyone to get things done.

Build that Fire in your team and your company.  Be the Leader, Give them the vision and put them on a mission and pull your troups together.  You'll be amazed at the difference this makes.  I know this is referring to teams and sports but This is a one of those great rituals that teach responsibility in business

3.  Activities that Build Vision, Community and Your Mission

I know there is a lot of discussions about these topics, and they are all over the place.  I want to try and break these down, because I know a lot of people will be confused about this being in this discussion about responsibility.  Each one of these rituals builds on the next.  But this one about building a vision, community and mission is almost spread across the bourd, and could be 3 different topics in itself.

The first thing I want to point out, People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision, like John Maxwell says.  and it is also stated that without a vision, the people will persish.  Having a vision will give the people in your company and on your team excitement and energy to focus on a set mission or goal.

I can't state the importance of this, when people are all working towards a common goal or mission, they will typically work together if a spirit of teamwork is part of the company culuture.

This is why it is important to have rituals each week, that keep this in the back of everyone's minds and thoughts.  Everyone will have different goals, but everyone's goals should steer very close to the main vission and mission that the company has.

What are your rituals that teach responsibility in business?

We have listed out some ideas that you can used to help people in your business take more responsibilty.  But what are the rituals that you are using?  John Maxwell say that if you are not helping people create the culture in your business you want, they will create a culture of their own.

Don't make the mistake of thinking this happens

I hope that you have found this article on rituals that teach responsibility in business helpful.

I hope this makes sense.

I would love to hear more about you and your business. If I can help you in any way, Set up a Strategy Call and let's Talk? Or you can leave questions or comments below!

https://www.innovativemarketer.net/2019/02/is-email-marketing-dead-for-business-professionals/

 

I pay attention to a lot of facebook groups and marketing networks and I keep hearing this question, ” is email marketing dead?”  I used to wonder the same thing.  I mean, think about all the emails that people get every day.

According to an article I reseached at Socialmediatoday.com, about 55% of companies generate more than 10% of their sales just from sending emails.  I know that most people are worried about this fact, 205 billion emails are sent world wide each day, and 13 billion of those are spam email.    The Average number of business related emails that people recieve per day is 88.

Those numbers are scary… I mean, I totally understand how people feel about email.  They are just so often overlook, and there are so many out there.  How will you gain traction with a marketing strategy with 205 billion other emails being sent out each day?

Well, I’m glad you are here asking that question, because I want to shed some positive light on this subject.  I will also Refer back to the Custom Value Optimization  Process.  If you remember, the customer value optimization funnel is the foundation for building an unstoppable business.

It uses human psychology to build a relationship with a cold prospect first, and more then thru a planned process of educating that person and helping them become more aware of the business opportunity.

They offer a low cost entry product or service, and they move them up the value ladder or keep reselling them other products, and eventually get referrals, testimonies and the goal is to build a long term raging fan out of that once cold prospect.

Now, this is where things get interesting, so stay with me.

Lets make this simple and say that basically, you have cold, warm and hot traffic flowing thru this CVO process (Customer Value Optimization).  There is no better way to help clients continue their journey thru the process than using an automation communication system like email.  Now,

In future blogs and episodes, I will discuss some other tactics like chat bots, or facebook messenger,

but for now,

We are talking about emails. Email marketing is here to stay, it will never die, and let me just say, the people that are talking about it dying (Usually) haven’t designed a strategy to use it with.

I want to point out a few points before I get to the meat and potatoes of this. Think about how many times a day you check your email.  Most people check their emails multiple times a day.  (Same thing with Snail mail, but we will save that for another day also.)

They are usually waiting to hear back from other people or they are just curious what is coming that day.

Also, if you build the relationship on the front end, and offer great value, and know how to structure your subject lines and write relevant emails,

then your emails have a better chance of getting opened and doing their job.

Let’s Discuss 3 ways that email marketing can be used in your business, and answer the queston,

“Is Email Marketing Dead?”

Transaction Emails

If you are wondering if email marketing is dead, this type of email will never die.  It’s is the type of emails that are sent out when you get order confirmations, purchase reciets, shipping notifications, accout creations, return confirmations, support tickets, ect.

Think about this.  These type of emails are responsible for a majority of purchases right?  Otherwise they wouldn’t be sent out.  Most people will open these email.  What a great place for a cross sell, up sell, or some type of communication that will help move the client thru the journey?  This is usually the first email people get after a purchase.  Make them Count.

These type of emails will always be here, and most people will open them.  Don’t loose an opportunity to get a message across.

Relational Emails

Another great type of email, when people ask is email marketing dead, I always ask them, “don’t you keep in touch with people with your emails still?”  Most professionals have multiple emails so they can segment the communications.  So, doesn’t it make sense that most people still check their emails, to look for communications from other people?

They also are getting emails when they get a new subscriber welcome email, they sign up for a lead magnet, subscribe to a newsletter or blog, they get webinar confirmation, survey or review requests, social updates, ect.

These type of emails will probably never die either right?  I mean, let’s get real, if people are doing business, these type of emails are necessary and are definitely getting opened also.

Promotional Emails

Finally, this category is probably what most people think of when they ask them self or their friends, ‘is email marketing dead?’

Promotional emails are the ones that everyone typically gets, when people are promoting their business, sharing affiliate links or sharing offers.  This type of emails are responsible for emails that promote content, that send out lead magnets also, that distribute sales announcements, new product releases, webinar announcements, event announcements, trial offers or upgrade offers.

So, If you are looking for the answer to the question, ‘ Is email marketing dead ?’, I believe that it is alive and well.  Most of the people that think email marketing is dead are not marketers or they don’t understand the different ways that email marketing is still used in business today.

I understand the fact that most people get more emails per day than they can look thru, and for some strategies it probably isn’t as effective as it was in the past.  I believe that for some types of communications, it is still very effective and is a great way to inform clients and keep them engaged and to stay in touch with a large group of people.

Email marketing has been around for a long time, was probably one of the first forms of automation communication, so if you think that email marketing is dead, I hope that this has given you some ideas to a few of the ways that you can utilize it.

IF you are wanting to learn more about email marketing and How you can incorporate it into your business, I have a course that you can take online. It discusses the different straegies in depth, it covers how to schedule out the entire year, and plan your emails strategy.

I encourage you to sign up for a strategy call, and lets go over what you are trying to accomplish, what is going to be in the way of you achieve your goals and we can design a plan for you.

Schedule Strategy Call

Have you ever wondered what are some great activities for building teamwork in business? I know that building a tight knitted team in business is every entrepreneurs dream.  Most entrepreneurs work solo for this reason.  It is hard to build a team that everyone is focused on one goal.  Most teams will have different agendas and this can cause drag and waste in the company. Today I want to discuss a few things that will help you build your team and get everyone working together.  The main thing is to keep the main things the main thing Right? So I want to discuss a few things that will help you get your team on track, and in turn, this will help your business get some momentum.  I will list out a few activities for building teamwork in your business, but I want to make sure that I set the Stage also.

I will assume that you are consistently growing your leadership skills and every day practicing good leadership principles.  If you don't know any of this, start with John Maxwell's 21 laws of leadership book, and next his 'Developing the Leader Within You' 2.0 book.  These books will give you a great foundation of what leadership principles are, and what you should be practicing everyday.

The next prerequisite, is recruiting leaders into your business.  If you don't recruit leaders, you will have some limitations when growing your team into a great team.  Leaders Take responsibility for themselves and others.  If they don't, then you will always be limited by this.  People that don't take responsibility usually hit growth plateaus because they always are either a victim, or it's someone else's fault

So, a team always works best when everyone generally cares for one another.  The first activity that you will do, is take your team out and do something fun.  That's right.  Get them out of the work environment, and do something fun for with them and their family.  This could be a weekend trip, or something like a one day event.  The point is to get them out of their normal work environment, and help them get to know you and their other team mates and families on a personal level.  This will help build relationships that will carry over into work, and will help speed things up when times get tough.  I know that most of the championship teams that I study or read about do this.  The teams that have the most leaders and best relationships between each other are usually the best teams.   

There is also research that shows that team performance improves the business.  This is why building teamwork in business is so important.

The Key to doing this is to get the families out and interacting with each other.  Possibly even take them to some type of event where they are split up into teams, and play with and against each other.  And then reorganize the teams, where everyone plays with each other.

Another point is make sure you involve your team in picking the activities that you do.  Make this part of the process 

fun, and you will get a better turn out, and everyone will be excited.  Give them maybe 3 options, and let them pick , and make sure you plan it out far enough for everyone to make it.  This will help build up the excitement before your event. 

So, I want to list out a few quick things that I found doing some research on building teamwork in business.  I did a little research, because i wanted this list to be as complete as i can get, and make this some

thing that you can do with your team in your office, or also out of the office for fun.

Building Teamwork in Business Starts With You

I want to go over some of my favorites that I found, and Share the links that I found them on.  

Scavenger Hunt

 I found this really cool company that does these all in 300+ cities, and they host them for all types of events.  Team building, but also for dates, and other activities that make it fun.  What I thought was really cool about this, is that they do it for site seeing also.

Ever been to a city that you didn't have a lot of time, but you went with a group of your co-workers or friends and wanted to see the major site?

This is great for that.  They also have an App you download on your phone.  I haven't personally tried this, but I can't wait. If you have any feedback, leave a comment for us. 

Here is the Site for this company if this sounds fun or interesting.

https://www.letsroam.com/

Winner/Loser   

The Next thing On my fun list of things to do for building teamwork in business is a game called winner/ loser. 

I learned this from another great site, and I'll share the link below but this game can be played in the office.  

So you will need at least 2 or more people, the more the better, and there is no tools needed.  

So, One person discusses something negative that happened in their life.  It can be something that is personal, can be work related, but it needs to be something that is true.  The second person, will recap on the experience, but from a positive perspective. After the other person recaps the positive, the person that experienced it, should also discuss the positives also.  At the end, they should switch roles. 

The Mine Field

This game is fun, and should be played probably outside in a field, the beach or parking lot.  You will need some blind folds and some objects to set out as your mines.

The Object of the game is to split the group up into teams.  You will use communication only to direct your partner thru the mine field until you get to the end destination.  To make the game more difficult, put out many items that act as mines, and also make the route that must be traveled narrow.

The team that gets thru more runs without stepping on less mines wins.

Truth and Lies

This game can be played in doors or outside, and everyone sits in a circle and faces each other.  Everyone will come up with 3 truths about themselves, and one lie.  The lie should be believable, not to outrageous.  

Have everyone in the room say their truths and lie in random order, and the rest in the group can guess their lie.

https://www.wrike.com/blog/team-building-games/

Here are some activities that builds more relationships with the team.

Find Connections 

This exercise helps reinforce the relationships between people that may not communicate to each other.  Have the departments or small groups divide up into teams.   Each Team should come up with at least one thing, as many as possible, that they have in common with each other.

  This will build relationships and is great for teams that don't know each other yet or are having problems with connecting. 

One thing I like about this exercise is that it can be done virtually.  This exercise is one that builds a psychology of safety and likability.

 

Progressive Brainstorming

Most companies are mixed with different types of people.  You will have introverts and extroverts.  Sometimes it there are great ideas that the introverts have that don't get shared.  The best companies have an open communication policy and everyone's voice is heard.  

Progressive brainstorming means you pull out a problem, and have everyone put in their input for fixing the problem.  Don't have people talk about this, write it down on a piece of paper and pass it around the group.  This way, other people can build on the other ideas and they keep getting better or other ideas will pop up that haven't been mentioned, and there is no pressure.

Shared Journal

This was an interesting one that I found.  The idea is to get to know more about the people at work, and the company culture.  The instructions are to have a journal that everyone can write in, like a break room or public area, but it can easily be done virtually also. 

Each member is encouraged to contribute daily quotes, post events, update with office professional advice, or share company wins or challenges.  The key is for everyone to contribute consistently, and to have a moment of reflection.  What did everyone learn.  What progress has been made?

https://www.eaglesflight.com/blog/6-exercises-to-improve-teamwork-in-the-workplace-for-large-small-groups

Hopefully, you got some great ideas out of this.  I think that teamwork is so crucial in business.  I know that being an Athlete the first part of my life, close to 17 years, and being in the work force another almost 20 years, I know that being on a close knit team is something special.  It is something that you can't sometimes describe, because the relationships around those people are just so special.  A great team can do anything, because sometimes it isn't so much that they know everything or are better than anyone else.  A great team believes in each other, they trust each other, they make each other want to be better.  It is that Feeling of being a part of something bigger than our self.

 

If you have any questions about team building or how you can jump-start your team, schedule a free strategy call, and let's talk about your current situation, and how we can help.