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How can entrepreneurs inhabit the brain of a client, without surgery?
That’s a question many business leaders find themselves asking, especially during a period of slow economic growth. Inhabiting the brain of a client simply means figuring out what it is that your company needs to do to get or keep that client. Achieving that really comes down to answering the following basic questions:
What is my product or service and how will it benefit clients? What problem does it solve?
What makes my product or service better than what’s currently on the market?
Have I positioned myself to sell what I offer, or am I prepared to sell a product or service that the customer wants to buy?
The answers to these questions make up part of what marketers call the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The folks at Entrepreneur.com define the USP this way:
The factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition.
So, there’s good news. Once we clarify that objective, inhabiting the mind of a client really is (forgive the pun), a no-brainer.
What’s your USP? Let us know with an email to moneymattersandmore@yahoo.com and we’ll share them.
Have a great week!
How to be like Starbucks, without the coffee? For the entrepreneur striving to stand out amidst so many other competitors, it really all comes down to one thing: value. Exactly how much value do customers or clients attach to your product or service?
That’s it. Simply get into the mind of the people you want to reach and identify what they value, and the path to successful business is yours. Take your own ego out of the equation and cater to the ego of your audience. It’s what the barista at during a recent Starbucks visit demonstrated so clearly yesterday.
The moment anyone entered the small Starbucks, the barista-nurse midwife-phlebotomist-recent grad greeted each customer with all the charm and warmth of an old friend. She cheerfully offered to fill orders–in my case for (free) hot water for my tea (which incidentally I purchased from one of their coffee shop competitors, Barnes & Noble)–and went out of her way to be pleasant. She shared her delight with finding a job with Starbucks, even though finding a more long-term goal was to find a position as a nurse midwife or something else she’d been trained to do in school. Clearly she was making the most of her time at Starbucks, and the result was a more appealing experience for the store’s patrons.
And as most of us can attest, the value of simply making the effort to be pleasant these days in the midst of high job unemployment and overall unease, being pleasant is very underrated.
So where’s the success model?
Just this: I don’t drink coffee, bring my own stash of tea, and yet I ended up buying a bottle of Ethos water (at a cost three times as much as the grocery store brand.) Why? I was thirsty, and Starbucks offered me value: in the form of cheerfulness, a clean, comfortable workspace, and bottled water (that was associated with a humanitarian mission).
That’s why I keep going back.
So ask yourself: As a new or established entrepreneur, what will make your customers or clients keep coming back to your business? Or if you’re in the planning stages of starting a new business, what do businesses you patronize need to know about what you value to be successful?
Please leave a comment below, or email me at moneymattersandmore@yahoo.com. We can share your comments with other readers.
Next blog topic: How to inhabit the mind of your clients (without surgery)
Have a great week!
The Wow Factor. What is it and how and why do we all need it?
It’s the question we’re asking today, Week 2 of the Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur? project. We’re gathering useful information for anyone who ever wanted to become an entrepreneur (or at least succeed like one.)
This week I interviewed corporate coach, Frances Cole Jones, of Cole Media Management for answers to questions like, What can make a company stand out amidst all the competition? What will make a job seeker irresistible to a prospective employer?
(Her answer: It’s just three words.)
The Wow Factor.
The Wow Factor–that seemingly intangible quality that all successful business leaders and professionals need to be successful.
In her new book, The Wow Factor, The 33 Things You Must (and Must Not) Do To Guarantee Your Edge in Today’s Business World (Ballantine Books), Jones makes a very compelling case for the need to acquire that seemingly intangible quality.
Here are a few of her recommendations: (To hear today’s interview, click onto the box in the top right hand corner of this page, where you’ll find the BlogTalkRadio media player.)
– Know how to answer the question, “What are your weaknesses?” in a job interview (without jeopardizing your chances);
– Adopt a Renaissance Attitude” in your quest to achieve success
– Learn “The Six Layers of Why”–what they are and why we need to know them if we’re interviewing, branding or selling
How can you get The Wow Factor?
To learn more how-tos about ways to get ahead in the current economic climate, check in later this week.
And if you’ve got questions, please email us at moneymattersandmore@yahoo.com.
Have a great week!
Want to love your job? Consider working for yourself. That’s one of the messages from a recent Pew Research survey on employment trends. (To read the report, check out http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/743/job-satisfaction-highest-among-self-employed)
Apparently, people who are self-employed are “significantly more satisfied with their jobs than other workers.”
Given all the grim employment news, this can be good news to the dissatisfied among us. If a current job doesn’t offer the desired level of satisfaction, maybe it’s time to at least begin thinking about the possibility of moving on when the economy improves–or maybe even right now. Who wants to be an entrepreneur?
But how do you get started? And what’s it take to be successful?
Those are a few of the questions the Money Matters and More Blog will be asking between now and December 1st. The Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur? project will involve gathering nuts and bolts information about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Interviewing businesspeople and other experts in the DC-MD-VA region, each new blog post will feature tips to help new entrepreneurs get started.
Interested in being interviewed? Email us at moneymattersandmore@yahoo.com, and let’s start talking!
WUSA Channel 9 Money Monday Appearance Today
For viewers in the DC metropolitan area or online at wusa9.com (Our Partners), be sure to tune into my interview with award-winning anchor, J. C. Hayward on NewsChannel 9 at Noon. I’ll be talking about the Pew Research Center Study and the new Money Matters and More Blog project, “Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur?”
Thanks. Have a great day!
Imagine for a moment that it’s1996. You’re a married businesswoman living and working in sparsely populated rural Canada. How do you find customers and clients? For Denise Wakeman, a business and online marketing strategist the answer was clear: use the Internet. Today, Wakeman is based in California and has spent nearly 20 years helping a wide variety of professionals gain greater visibility and attract more clients and opportunities using social media.
In a live interview on yesterday’s edition of Money Matters & More on blogtalkradio.com, Wakeman explained that she “fell in love with the Internet” in the ‘90s because of its “global nature and access.” Despite the fact that she lived out in the country, the Internet enabled her to build a business with clients all over the world.
Wakeman offered a number of benefits from blogging, Facebook, Twitter and other social media:
n Can help businesses develop relationships with customers/audience they’re trying to reach
n Researching what’s happening on other site can help businesses discover a need that’s not being met
To hear the interview from Thursday, September 24, 2009, click onto the media player at the top right corner of this page. (To learn more about Denise Wakeman and what her company has to offer, check out her website at www.denisewakeman.com)
Entrepreneurship 101: Let’s Talk Live Guest Appearance on NewsChannel 8 on Monday, September 28, 2009 (12 Noon)
If you’re thinking about setting up your own business, be sure to tune into NewsChannel 8 on Monday, September 28th. I’ll be talking with the hosts of Let’s Talk Live about “How to Start a Business: What Things You Should Know.” (For those who aren’t in the DC area, click onto letstalklive@news8.net)
Thanks for reading the Money Matters and More blog!
Given the crummy unemployment numbers for August, and the state of the current economy, it would be hard to blame any job seeker for pulling out all the stops in his or her approach to the job market. But how much is too much? And what techniques work most effectively in a slow market?
Be sure to join me tomorrow September 8th at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern) as I pose those questions for Joann Lublin, Management News Editor for The Wall Street Journal. Last week, she wrote “Lessons of Extreme Job-Hunting,” a Careers Column that featured the experiences of three job hunters as they used unconventional, somewhat risky approaches to their job searches. (To read the whole article, click onto http://tinyurl.com/nypakc.)
What are the three most important ways to find work, no matter the state of the economy? For the answer, tune in at 11:00 a.m. for the live broadcast of Money Matters & More, or later for a podcast at www.blogtalkradio.com/Money-Matters–More.
Thanks for reading the Money Matters and More blog. Drop me a line with suggestions for upcoming show topics at www.moneymattersandmore.com.
Heather Taylor
This Labor Day at noon, be sure to tune into CBS affiliate WUSA Channel 9 in Washington, DC where I’ll be interviewed by award-winning and veteran TV anchor J.C. Hayward about “Extreme Job Hunting: What Works, What Doesn’t.” The segment will include tips on effective (and ineffective) job-hunting tactics.
Thanks for reading the Money Matters and More blog.
Heather Taylor
Journalist Emily Brandon of U.S. News & World Report joins me at 10 a.m. (Eastern Time) today, to share tips for Boomers who want to start their own businesses. And she’ll talk about a brand new study from the Kauffman Foundation that reveals that “baby boomer businesses are booming.”
Check out the live stream on www.blogtalkradio.com.
(Click onto Money-Matters–More)
And if you’re in the DC area, join me for a “Money Monday” interview with award-winning TV anchor, J. C. Hayward, on CBS Affiliate (WUSA9), Monday, July 27, 2009 at noon.
Have a great weekend!
Thanks.
Heather Taylor
We didn’t get nearly enough time to talk about Carla Hall’s experience on Season 5 of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, so Carla willingly agreed to return to the Money Matters & More radio show. Be sure to tune in today, June 11th at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern) on blogtalkradio.com/Money-Matters–More.
Thanks for reading the Money Matters and More blog!
Heather Taylor
If you’re already a fan of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, the name Carla Hall is probably very familiar to you. She’s the Nashville native who owns and operates Alchemy Caterers, and who beat some stiff competition to make it to the finals in Season 5.
What you may not know is that Carla Hall graduated from Howard University with an accounting degree, but spent a few years as a runway model in Europe–or that she believes in beginning each morning sitting peacefully and moving in a way that enables her to combine passion and love into the food she prepares.
What’s the secret to her success? That’s what I’ll be asking Carla Hall on this week’s radio broadcast of Money Matters and More (BlogTalkRadio.com/Money-Matters—More.) Be sure to tune in Thursday, May 28th at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern).
Want to ask her a question? Email us at moneymattersandmore@yahoo.com or call into the show at (646) 929-1832 tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
Thanks for reading the Money Matters and More blog!
Heather Taylor