Why I Became A Business Coach
Filed under: Business Coaching, Business Development, Business Idea, Business Marketing, Business Planning, Client Spotlight, Sales & Marketing, Uncategorized, business advice
Josh and son Liam: Does it get any better than this?
As a business coach with ActionCOACH of CT, I work with dozens of different types of businesses to help their owners define and realize their goals. It’s challenging work, but I can’t think of anything more gratifying. These are tough economic times, as we all know. So it makes me feel great that I can help my clients achieve their goals, ultimately build stronger more profitable businesses, achieve higher profits and employ more people. It has also given me the opportunity to work with a fantastic group of more than 1200 coaches in the ActionCOACH community in 26 countries, especially and including ActionCOACH of CT owner Jim Malski and my colleagues Geri Sutton and Natalie Havens.
If you had told me five years ago that I would be a business coach today, I probably would have laughed at you, maybe for a second or two – and then I would have thought to myself, “Hey, that sounds like a great idea!” For over 25 years, I worked in Public Policy helping shape defense and foreign policy legislation, as well as a wide range of domestic policies. For 17 years, I ran a forward-looking Issues Management unit at Philip Morris/Altria Group, where I dealt with U.S. and international issues concerning food, beer and tobacco. I then started my own strategic planning and crisis management consulting business working with the Global 500. I suppose it was this global business background – to try to look around corners and see new opportunities, or mitigate problems – that lead me to becoming a business coach.
RESPECTING SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
I had another motivation: Everything sold by Kraft Foods, Miller Brewing Company and Philip Morris USA and International reaches the consumer through small retailers in 170+ countries. In just the U.S. alone, I worked with thousands of retailers and their trade associations and other business groups. I learned first-hand just how hard it is to run your own business. The myriad of laws and regulations is mind-boggling. Competition is fierce. Training is almost always on the fly – you learn as you go. Yet tens of millions of people are working in this vast network of small businesses every day and ultimately, small businesses are the heart of the engine that fuels our nation’s $13 trillion economy. Not the government and not big corporations…
BUSINESS COACHING IS AN HONOR
I can think of no greater honor than to work with small business owners to make their lives easier, help them build long-term business plans, achieve marketing and sales breakthroughs and ultimately ensure that their businesses continue when they want to diversify or retire. I think 25 years of training in strategic planning, risk management and issues management prepared me to be a business coach. I am just happy that I was able to find an organization like ActionCOACH of CT that allowed me to make my dream a reality.
If you are a small business owner, let me help you make your dreams a reality as well.
Why Most Marketing Doesn’t Work
Lead generation is crucial to the success of a business.
The challenge is that a lot of it doesn’t work and the money spent on the campaign is wasted.
Here are three keys to good marketing pieces:
- Target—who are you going after?
- Offer—what do you want them to do?
- Copy—the actual verbiage you use in the ad?
Of those three, which do you think is the most important?
Most people say the copy is the most critical, and spend most of their time working on perfecting the wording. Of the three, this is the least important. By far, the most important element to effective marketing is the target—who you are going after.
If you try to appeal your marketing to everyone, it will actually appeal to no one.
Understanding who your best customers are is the first step to creating good marketing strategies. You need to understand who you are after in order to reach them effectively. Open the Yellow Pages or the newspaper and you’ll see lots of ads that are geared to appeal to everyone. No wonder the Yellow Pages and many newspapers are either in or near bankruptcy.
To put effective marketing in place, be specific on who you want to respond to your ad. If you are looking for people to buy a new car having a headline that reads “Are you looking to buy a new car?” will reach the audience you are after.
Once you have the right target, make an offer that gets them to contact you. Marketing needs to generate a response for it to be effective, so make sure your marketing is getting people to pick up the phone. Finally, have decent copy that is written well and is direct, but that comes after the other two. Better target, better results.
Do you have a marketing plan for your business?
To make a difference in your business you have to change the way you do things. It begins by attending one of our profit building seminars.
To get started today click the link above. We look forward to helping you grow your business and making the kind of money you always thought possible.
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