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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ADVICE FOR DIGITAL MARKETERS By Hemda Mizrahi and Joe Kashurba

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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ADVICE FOR DIGITAL MARKETERS By Hemda Mizrahi and Joe Kashurba

Joe Kashurba grew the freelance web design business he started in high school into the digital agency Kashurba Web Design with a virtual team and clients around the world. As the CEO and Founder of Accelerator Consulting he also advises and mentors other freelance web designers and digital agency owners on how to develop and scale their businesses.
Joe joined me on “Turn the Page” to provide guidance on how stagnating or declining companies can recharge their sales growth. In this post, he offers pointers for web design and digital marketing entrepreneurs. Here’s what he says:
“Instead of being a generalist, you need to be specialist who offers specific benefits to ideal clients. Take these FOUR STEPS to get started on figuring out your niche or specialization:

1. Make a list of your top 5 best clients or customers.

2. Write down why these clients or customers chose to work with you instead of a competitor.

3. Write down what these clients or customers REALLY wanted.

4. Write down why these are your favorite clients or customers.”

Joe underscores that it PAYS to specialize: “Many of the people that we’ve worked with have been able to at least double their web design and digital marketing prices. One client landed three big projects ($5K+) within a week of working with us by simply getting clear about his ideal clients and contacting people within his network who were a good fit. We helped this same client hire a part-time project manager so that he could free up his time and scale his business faster.”

He suggests, “once you figure out your niche or specialization, develop specific plans and packages with set pricing geared towards your ideal clients. The step that follows is to create a marketing campaign to target those clients. Don’t change the name of your business or spend six months re-designing your website. Simply craft a marketing campaign and go after your ideal clients.”

He shares the story of a web designer to illustrate this process.

“The web designer identified that:

• All of his best clients were construction companies or engineering firms that bid on large government contracts.

• They chose to work with him because he was willing to meet with them in-person and because they liked the  professional look of the websites in his portfolio.

• What these companies REALLY wanted was to look big when they were bidding on contracts and to recruit high- quality employees.

• He liked these clients because they were very organized and typically trusted him on the creative direction.

He developed new packages and eliminated an existing service:

1. One new website package included a basic listing of job openings, and the other offered a more advanced job board  where people could apply online. Both packages provided a custom design since the professional look was important  to his construction/engineering clients.

2. He added a new service, developing a graphic design package that included a trade show display and print  materials that clients could use at job fairs.

3. He stopped offering search engine optimization. He hated doing SEO, and his clients weren’t looking to attract    new leads online anyway.

Here’s how he marketed his services:

The designer knew that his clients liked to meet in-person, so he decided to target large construction and engineering firms that were within a 2-hour drive from his office. He made a list of all of those companies and developed a direct email campaign to get in touch with them. In the email, he talked about looking big when bidding for contracts and recruiting good employees—he did not talk about web hosting, meta tags and other technical jargon. He would first sell them a website, and then he would offer them the trade show graphic design package as a second step.”

Joe provides this bottom-line advice:

MARKET SOPHISTICATION
“A lot of people worry that the web design industry is dying because of Wix and SquareSpace. However, the market is just getting more sophisticated. The businesses that wouldn’t have had a website at all 5-10 years ago are now ready for a simple affordable do-it-yourself website. The businesses that wanted a simple affordable website 5-10 years ago are now ready to invest money in growing their business online. Therefore, it is NOT the right time to be selling simple affordable websites, but it IS the right time to be building serious websites for businesses that are ready to use the Internet to grow.”

DEAL FLOW
“One of the keys to working only with ideal clients and increasing your prices is deal flow. Deal flow means having a consistent stream of new potential clients contacting you, new proposals being sent out, new proposals being accepted, etc. When you have a lot of deal flow, you have the luxury of cherry picking the clients you want to work with and charging higher prices because it doesn’t matter if a particular potential client doesn’t have the budget for your services. The problem is that most web designers and agency owners have very little deal flow because they focus on everything EXCEPT getting more deal flow. Most web designers and agency owners spend time on all kinds of things that don’t actually matter (re-designing their logo, re-designing their business cards, posting on Pinterest, etc.), but they never actually do any marketing or prospecting. The first step is to realize that you need deal flow. The second step is to make sure that something happens in your business every day to generate more deal flow. That could mean sending out direct mail every day, it could meaning having ads running on Google or Facebook consistently, it could mean applying for jobs on Upwork everyday. Many of the people that we’ve worked with have been able to get a consistent flow of high-quality leads by launching paid advertising campaigns.”

Listen to my conversation with Joe to consider how you would add value with clients who need to recharge their deal flow.

The Generational Divide: Is There One? BY MARCIA ZIDLE

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The Generational Divide: Is There One? BY MARCIA ZIDLE

generational divide

A recent encounter got me thinking about inter-generational interactions in the workplace.

As a volunteer usher at a performing arts organization, I was given the wrong sign in sheet by young millennial who was chatting away with another staff member.

Later, it was brought to my attention, by the same person, who said to me, “You signed the wrong sheet.” There was no apology or taking of responsibility.

My first reaction was annoyance thinking, “It was your mistake, not mine. Don’t you know I’ve been working much longer than you…you should show some respect….where’s your work ethic?”

Once I got out of my righteous indignation, I looked back and realized that maybe I need to take some responsibility for not paying more attention in the first place. Also in the past, when I’ve observed her in action as she dealt with patrons, she was professional. So that got me thinking!

Generational Differences
For the first time we now have four generations in the workplace (traditionalists – baby boomers -X ‘ers – millennials) which presents interesting challenges and opportunities to leaders, managers, and their teams. So much has been written about the differences in traits, expectations, styles, preferences. But I’m wondering if we should also be looking at what are the similarities.

The Center for Creative Leadership asked this question: 

Is it possible to work with and manage people from all generations effectively without pulling your hair out?

Absolutely! The following ten truths about generational conflict can help you look past the stereotypes and become a more effective leader to people of all ages.

  1. All generations have similar values. In fact, they all value family, the most. They also attach importance to integrity, achievement, love and competence
  2. Everyone wants respect – they just define it in the same way.
  3. Trust matters especially with the people you work directly with. Everyone wants to trust and want to be trusted.
  4. People of all generations want leaders who are credible and trustworthy. They also want them to listen well and be farsighted and encouraging.
  5. Office politics is an issue – no matter what your age. Most realize that political skills are a critical component in being able to move up and be effective.
  6. No one really likes change. Resistance to change has nothing to do with age; it is all about how much one has to gain or lose with the change.
  7. Loyalty depends on the context not on the generation. People stay or leave a company based on their boss, opportunities, stage of life and other factors.
  8. It’s as easy to retain a young person as it is to retain an older one. It depends on what’s important to them. Age defines a demographic not a person
  9. People of all generations want to make sure they have the skills and resources necessary to do their jobs well. The ability and desire to learn continues throughout life.
  10. Everyone wants to know how they’re doing. Feedback is desired but no one likes only negative feedback; they also want positive as well.

Smart Moves Tip:
Use these ten principles to help you work with and lead people of all ages. When generations fail to communicate and interact effectively in the workplace, we see a negative impact on the bottom line – performance, productivity and profitability start trending downward. So the next time begin to think negatively about a specific age group, stop and ask yourself: What do we have in common that I can tap into? How can I see them and the situation differently?

 

Marcia Zidle, the smart moves executive coach and speaker, is host of The Business Edge on the Voice America Business Network. The show features the Smart Growth System providing small to medium sized businesses the proper foundation for expansion: a Growth Agenda that becomes their roadmap, a Growth Engine that attracts and engages the best talent and Growth Leaders that make it happen. Marcia, the CEO of Leaders At All Levels, brings street smarts to help businesses get on the right track and not get sidetracked on their path to higher performance and profitability.


 

Are You Rewarding the Right People? by Marcia Zidle

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Are You Rewarding the Right People? by Marcia Zidle

business

As a manager or business owner, you know it’s important to recognize contributions individual team members make toward the success of the team. You might even find it easy to identify and reward individual performance toward specific individual goals.

However, many times in our efforts to recognize and reward successes, we may overlook “behind the scene” contributions which were necessary to achieve that success.

Consider this:
As Joe was watching Diane receive her achievement award from the team leader, he was feeling very uncomfortable. Diane’s objective was to decrease the amount of time required for processing between billing cycles. She had coordinated the efforts of many people and had exceeded the expectations of the team. Joe agreed that Diane deserved to be recognized for her outstanding leadership ability.

At the same time, however, Joe was aware that Diane’s objective could not have been met without his significant contribution to the work effort. He had spent the last three months pulling double duty, doing his work as well as covering Diane’s regular assignments. It would have been nice for someone to at least say “Thank You “for his additional effort.

Have you ever been where Joe is standing? 
How did it feel? No matter how strongly we identify with the team or how proud we are to be a member of the team, we still need to be recognized as an individual.

Individual recognition in a team environment also helps build a sense of involvement, ownership, and commitment. This encourages team members to help each other whenever possible. And this type of commitment will make your business more successful.

Take a look at your current procedures for rewards and recognition. Use the following questions to help you improve.

  • What types of achievements do you recognize and reward?
  • Are you aware of the many ways to recognize folks besides money?
  • What action have you taken to ensure all team or department members feel valued?

Smart Moves Tip:
Create a reward and recognition plan that is easy to use and spontaneous. Rewards don’t have to be expensive, but they should be timely. Make a big deal out of them. Demonstrate to your team members that each and every one of them is important to your business success.  Here are 50 ways to reward your people and not break the bank. Which ones would work best for you?

Marcia Zidle, the smart moves executive coach and speaker, is host of The Business Edge on the VoiceAmerica Business Network. The show features the Smart Growth System providing small to medium sized businesses the proper foundation for expansion: a Growth Agenda that becomes their roadmap, a Growth Engine that attracts and engages the best talent and Growth Leaders that make it happen. Marcia, the CEO of Leaders At All Levels, brings street smarts to help businesses get on the right track and not get sidetracked on their path to higher performance and profitability.

 

How Do You Make Your Big Ideas Really Happen? By Marcia Zidle

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How Do You Make Your Big Ideas Really Happen? By Marcia Zidle

Clear-Sense-Of-Purpose

Like many ambitious, forward thinking leaders, you have an idea and want to make it happen. It could be getting a project, a big contract or even a company off the ground. So I asked a group of business leaders who have a track record of success this question:

 What lessons can you share with us about strategies when trying to turn your ideas into a reality?

It was a lively discussion. What I distilled were these common elements-  The 5 P’s of Success – with quotes that highlight the essence of their wisdom.

 1. PURPOSE

“The more solidified intent one has, the more realistic the idea becomes. I would say this is my biggest lesson. You have to be obsessed about the intent. You have to be enthusiastic about the intent behind your goal and ideas.”

“First you must identify what it is that you really wish to accomplish and it should have meaning for you. Ideas are a dime a dozen but if you are not passionately invested in your big idea nothing will ever happen. Most people are lazy or just give lip service to their ideas.”

 2. PLAN

“Don’t over think it. Do your research, make a simple plan and just go with it. Your plan will change as you work your plan and see how the market reacts to your idea. What I often see is analysis paralysis in which nothing really happens.”

“The beginning of a plan for a film is often just telling a story in your head or to someone else. Write it down as a script. Then, storyboard it. Make a trailer, do a budget, etc. It’s the same for anything else. Have a plan with specific steps and work that plan…without it you will get lost in a maze of setbacks, tangents, and confusion.”

 3. PEOPLE

“You can’t do things alone, and you will never accomplish things alone. Look at the iPhone for example. It wasn’t made my Steve Jobs. It was the creativity of several people. Hire the right people – quality over quantity – they will make your business prosper.”

“Find people who are interested in helping you along the way. They have advice – they have experience – they will help you if you ask.. And give help when you can to others who are also looking for a way to reach their dreams.”

 4. PROCEED  

“Take Action Now!! So many people constantly think about what they want to do and have good ideas but if you don’t set them in motion they never become a reality. Whatever ideas you have, test them out and if they fail, they fail, but you have to take action!”

“Make it happen. Ideas come and go. Execution and follow through will make them a reality. Even small steps will open the way for larger gain and more clarity, direction and how-to. What could you do today, right now, that would lead you closer to what you want to create?”

5. PERSISTENCE

“If you want your idea to happen, you need to stick with it. Doesn’t mean if things don’t go the way you expect at first, you’ll abandon them. Be patient. Usually it will take you more time building a castle than an ordinary building. So persist. Don’t easily give up.”

“Believe in it! Belief is even more important than strategy. Strategy is a set of tools and behaviors, belief is what motivates you to find the right strategy and put it into practice. Belief isn’t the same as enthusiasm though. It’s easy to be enthusiastic about a new idea but will you still feel the same in a year’s time

Smart Moves Tip:

Keep at it. It’s as simple as that. Learn what works and what doesn’t, but more importantly learn to adapt. Recognize that you aren’t going to always get it right, but have enough determination to stay the course in the midst of change, challenge and at times chaos.

Marcia Zidle, the smart moves executive coach and speaker, is host of The Business Edge on the VoiceAmerica Business Network. The show features the Smart Growth System providing small to medium sized businesses the proper foundation for expansion: a Growth Agenda that becomes their roadmap, a Growth Engine that attracts and engages the best talent and Growth Leaders that make it happen. Marcia, the CEO of Leaders At All Levels, brings street smarts to help businesses get on the right track and not get sidetracked on their path to higher performance and profitability.

Break the Procrastination Habit By Marcia Zidle

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Break the Procrastination Habit By Marcia Zidle

procrastination

Most of us procrastinate at least occasionally and some of us do it more often than we like and it causes us problems. Yes, procrastination may be human, but it’s not very rewarding in the long run for your business success.

 So why do we procrastinate?

According to The Procrastination Equation: How To Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Things Done by Piers Steel – a procrastinator himself at one time – suggest there are three types of procrastination. 

1. Expecting Too Little
When we have low expectations about the outcome- either getting rejected or not doing well – we tend to put off the experience. Then a vicious cycle ensues: we don’t do it – we feel bad about it – our confidence goes down and we keep saying I’ll do it later.

 What are you postponing because of fear of rejection or low performance? What would be the benefit to do them today instead of waiting until tomorrow?

 2. Devaluing the Task
When we fail to value a routine or a boring task, we allow ourselves to defer necessary crucial chores that are important but routine-and reinforce a dangerous tendency to ignore the basics – like paying your bills, doing expense reports, getting the car serviced, etc.

 Everyone has routine tasks that need to get done but are put off until later? What are yours?

 3. Wanting Immediate Gratification
The rewards and goals that can be achieved right now often seem far more appealing than those that require us to wait. It seems most of us are wired for short-term satisfaction. For example, responding to emails instantly, clearing every minor item off our to-do lists, checking the news, watching the funny video on You Tube, etc.

 What things do you do impulsively that give you short term gratification, but hinder your long term goals?

Start Breaking the Procrastination Habit

  • Identify what you put off. When you find yourself ignoring or delaying task, ask yourself why. Knowing what you tend to delay can help break the cycle and prevent future procrastination.
  • Build your confidence. Practice “success spirals,” small steps of achievement that take you outside your comfort zone-such as trying an adventure sport, or learning a new skill through a course
  • Complete little things before moving on to big things. For a particularly daunting project, start with a mini-goal or easily doable or enjoyable task to ease into the difficult terrain. By completing it, you will be warmed up for the more complicated or demanding aspects.
  • Use blatant bribery. Kids get stickers for going to the dentist. Why shouldn’t you get a reward for doing something you don’t want to do? When you knock off your dreaded task by the set deadline, treat yourself to a coffee break, have ice cream for lunch or even a long walk outside. Whatever will give you a positive feeling.

Smart Moves Tip:

For some situations procrastination may be okay. For example, when starting a big project take the time to plan it out or work out potential solutions. But if procrastination is hindering your performance, causing relationship problems (boss, colleague, spouse, etc.) or affecting your personal satisfaction, then it’s time to stop, examine possible causes and develop potential solutions. If you don’t deal with it now, then when?

 

Marcia Zidle, the smart moves executive coach and speaker, is host of The Business Edge  on the VoiceAmerica Business Network. The show features the Smart Growth System providing small to medium sized businesses the proper foundation for expansion: a Growth Agenda that becomes their roadmap, a Growth Engine that attracts and engages the best talent and Growth Leaders that make it happen. Marcia, the CEO of Leaders At All Levels, brings street smarts to help businesses get on the right track and not get sidetracked on their path to higher performance and profitability.

 

 

Stop the Blame Game By Marcia Zidle

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Stop the Blame Game By Marcia Zidle

blame, VoiceAmerica, Marcia Zidle

 

“Some favorite expressions of small children: “It’s not my fault. . . They made me do it. . . I forgot.” Some favorite expressions of adults: “It’s not my job. . . No one told me. . . they did it, not me.”

What do you see in your business – people taking responsibility or pointing fingers at others? If it’s the latter, how do you stop the blame game and how do you start getting accountability?

The word ‘accountability’ seems to stir up frustrations for many managers. I have seen how it’s been used by some to assign fault and mete out punishment. But I have also seen how it’s been used to propel an individual, a team or company to great success.

What is Accountability?
My simple definition of accountability is the person’s, as well as the team’s, responsibility for the outcome(s) of what they do. People look beyond their narrow job description and focus on results – the completed product or service- their work is contributing to. When people adopt a sense of accountability, they recognize that their participation can and will make a difference. They go the extra mile because they know what to do and they know how their job and their actions will drive results.

How Do You Create It?
So, how do you lead so that personal accountability is accepted and embraced by your employees?  Here are three steps to take to stop the blame game and start getting accountability.

  • People Have to See it:
    Because reality frequently changes – what worked yesterday may not work today- a leader needs to stay alert and be flexible. This means obtaining others’ perspectives ideas and feedback. A leader must not only acknowledge but, most importantly, help others understand the what – the who- the when and the why of what’s being asked of them.
  • People Have to Own it:
    A leader also helps others to be personally invested in desired outcomes. It’s done by linking their specific tasks and responsibilities with key priorities first of the team, then the department or the business unit and finally up the line to the company. You need to demonstrate the value and importance of what they do.
  • People Have to Solve it:
    Obstacles can always get in the way of achieving results. Yes, as a leader, the “buck stops with you”. However you don’t always need to be the one to find the solution. Ask them “What else can we do so this gets resolved?” By tapping into their wisdom and their participation, you create a sense of personal responsibility for the solution to succeed.

Smart Moves Tip:

The payoffs for greater accountability are better products and services, but perhaps more significant is the impact on your people. When people participate more fully in their jobs, they create meaning and fulfillment. Work becomes more pleasurable. That’s a crucial step toward high employee engagement and performance.

 

Marcia Zidle, the smart moves executive coach and speaker, is host of The Business Edge on the VoiceAmerica Business Network. The show features the Smart Growth System providing small to medium sized businesses the proper foundation for expansion: a Growth Agenda that becomes their roadmap, a Growth Engine that attracts and engages the best talent and Growth Leaders that make it happen. Marcia, the CEO of Leaders At All Levels, brings street smarts to help businesses get on the right track and not get sidetracked on their path to higher performance and profitability.

 

 

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