One of the things that my clients have to working is learning to say “no” and to really focus on what will bring them the best return on investment for their time and dollars, both of which are extremely limited for most professionals. C.J. Hayden has just published an excellent article on this topic that I highly recommend. You can find it at http://www.getclientsnow.com/just-say-no.htm.
Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Just Say “No”
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010Beyond The Basics: Relationship Building Skills – BBCC Professional Edge Unplugged April 7, 2010 Highlights
Thursday, April 29th, 2010Lori Williams and I co-presented “Beyond The Basics: Relationship Building Skills” at the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Professional Edge Unplugged on April 7, 2010 to a full room. The discussion was exciting and it was wonderful to see how many potential business collaborators were sitting in the room and realized it as we progressed through the program. We covered branding, referral partners and strategic alliances. I will be presenting some of the relevant concepts in future blogs. The Greek Isles Coney Island was a great location and the Chamber did a phenomenal job of promoting the event. Lori and I were thrilled to be able to provide value to chamber members and help them develop and grow. Many of the members made connections that will be very valuable in their future business that day.
Barbi Krass of Colorworks Studio, one of the attendees, had this to say about the presentation:
” Lori, Elisabeth,
I thoroughly enjoyed your workshop this morning. The presentation was very helpful in sorting out bottom lines for us all and the information was delivered in a way we could certainly relate to. “
Elisabeth Garbeil and Lori Williams, Co-presentors at BBCC Professional Edge Unplugged, April 7, 2010
“Effective Strategies to Improve Your Law Firm’s Bottom Line” Seminar a Success
Thursday, February 4th, 2010I emcee’d the “Effective Strategies to Improve Your Law Firm’s Bottom Line” seminar at Automation Alley on January 28, 2010. The seminar was a resounding success, with great attendance, great speakers and a good location.
Although the seminar focused on attorneys, most of the content could just as easily apply to CPA’s, financial advisors, coaches and consultants. I highly recommend checking out the individual speakers and presentations. I’ve included links below for your convenience.
Speakers and EmCee for "Effective Strategies to Improve Your Firm's Bottom Line" Seminar
The speakers were (from left to right) David Benjamin, Lori Williams, Jason Ryan and Timothy Flynn.
Lori Williams, of Your Legal Resource, spoke on creating effective referral partners and strategic partners for your practice. Jason Ryan, of Vision Fuel Media, spoke on how to improve your firm’s website so that it gets you more business. David Benjamin spoke on how to use social media. You will find his presentation about 2/3 of the way down the page on his website, entitled “My presentation at Automation Alley: 5 Social Media Tools your Law Firm Can’t Ignore.“ Timothy Flynn, of Clarkson Legal, presented a lawyer’s perspective on electronic marketing and social media for the law firm. You can find these presentations on Ustream as well.
Check it out. It’s worth the time.
Time Management, Part 2
Monday, December 14th, 2009Since we’re now in the silly season, it seems very appropriate that I focus on the one thing that seems to be a major challenge in the holiday season – time management. I mentioned some basics in the last post. In this post, I want to really emphasize what’s important. As in knowing what’s important to you is absolutely critical to managing your time.
Have you noticed when you or someone you know is dealing with a crisis, major illness or emergency – things seem to get done quickly and with amazing clarity. All of a sudden, time is an absolutely precious commodity and it must be spent on only the most important and critical of things. It becomes very easy to prioritize your time at that point because the consequences are dire and immediate.
It’s when we lose that sense of urgency and go back to the everyday that we start being unable to manage our time and priorities get lost or mixed up in the moment.
What if you could manage your time as if you were critically ill or in crisis without the crisis? What would be different if you were aware of how valuable your time was every moment and spent it accordingly? Would you work out every day? Eat right? Not watch so much TV?
We all tend to get lost in the moment at work, at home or when managing our businesses. If you can keep what’s really important to you present at all times, you will be able to gain a great deal of productivity and effectiveness – not to mention seriously lowering your stress level.
Your assignment this week is to really lay out the top 5 (no more) most important things in your business and life in writing. Evaluate every hour you spend your time based on that list – and see how it goes.
Art vs. Science
Friday, October 16th, 2009I had a conversation with a referral partner this morning who made a statement that I really enjoyed: ”Billing is an art. You really have to know your clients.” And it’s very true. It’ s not so much the billing itself, but how each client will react differently to the same things. Take the same system, but adjust it to each client and their needs.
One size never fits all when it comes to people – whether they are current clients, perspective clients or you. The same marketing plan or business plan that works for someone else in your industry won’t work the same for you.
The science portion is the base business or marketing plan and the art is adjusting it so that it fits for you, your clients, your prospective clients and your situation – which can change at any time as well.
The same business or marketing plan that worked for you two years ago may not fit now. The economy has changed. You’ve changed. Your clients have changed and so have your prospects. It’s always a good idea to review what you’re doing and adjust it to the current conditions on a regular basis. And you have some great places to look right above – you, your clients, prospective clients, the economy, etc. That’s the art of it. It’s not just your business and marketing plans either. This applies to your whole life.
And that’s what makes it fun. It’s both art AND science.
How Much Networking is Enough?
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009How much networking is enough to sustain or grow your business at the rate you desire? This isn’t an easy question to answer because it depends on many things.
If you really wanted to, you could go to networking events all the time, day and night. There are more networking events than there are hours in the day. But is all that networking really that effective? The answer is no. If you have no clear plan, goals or intentions, then any networking will be ineffective. It will also not do you any good if you go to all these events and then don’t follow up in a timely fashion with the people that you meet.
So how do you choose networking events to attend? Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- How good am I at social interaction and relationship building? This actually matters far less than most people think, but it does matter. If you hate going to networking events, for example, it won’t be effective for you.
- Who are my target clients? (This is a huge topic in and of itself and key to any business.)
- What networking events do they go to? Or where do they hang out? It may be that the best networking for you isn’t a networking event at all.
- Who are good referral sources for my target clients? (Many professions receive most of their clients by referral rather than direct contact.)
- What networking events do they go to or where do they hang out?
- How many networking events can I realistically attend per week and still get the actual work and follow-up from the event done. If you don’t know how long on average it takes you to follow up after an event, try 2 hours for every networking event and track it from there. It’s likely to be much higher than 2 hours.
The next question is a big one -
How few networking events can I go to and still maintain or grow my business? The fewer events you can attend and still achieve your goals, the more you can focus on actually earning the money – whether it is you yourself doing client development or a team of salespeople.
So how much networking do you do?
Cultivate an Attitude of Success
Monday, June 8th, 2009What comes first – the chicken or the egg? It’s the same thing with success. Being successful or having a success mindset? I’d say that having a success mindset comes before any outward evidence of success. It is the attitude that creates the success.
Think about it like dating – who would you rather go out with? The happy, fun person who goes out all the time or the person who hasn’t had a date in years.
Relate that to selling – who would you rather buy from? The person who wears a tailored suit or nice clothes and is upbeat and outgoing or the person who is dressed in dirty jeans and complains. Your attitude shows up as soon as you do – before you even open your mouth.
It’s not something you can fake – it has to be genuine. People will see right through it if you try and fake it, and you will be worse off than you were before.
So how will you cultivate an attitude of success today?
Well-Being – Your Capacity to Produce
Saturday, May 16th, 2009I had a very pointed reminder this week of how vital it is to take care of yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. I’ve been running full-tilt, not paying attention to my needs for a while now. This is something pretty common with a lot of people. We often take better care of our cars than ourselves.
I, like a lot of people, equate more with better when it comes to work. For example, if your business isn’t producing the results you want, then do more. I know better. I have years of experience insisting on solving the problem instead of throwing money or people at it. And yet I still fell into the same old trap. It’s an easy thing to do, especially being Type A and working for myself. And the predictable happened. I woke up Friday morning with a nasty case of laryngitis.
For most folks this wouldn’t be the end of the world, but for me, everything stops dead. Without my voice, I can’t make a living. I had to cancel a speaking engagement and several other things. NOT good.
Stephen Covey refers to this as the “P/PC Balance.” In a nutshell, it’s the balance of what you produce and your capacity to produce. It is the very definition of effectiveness. I literally killed the goose that produced the golden egg, my voice. For me, another example is the shoemaker’s children. Well-being, the capacity to produce, is the one of the major things I watch for with my clients and yet completely neglected in myself.
My first priority now is to restore that balance by eating right, exercising and taking time off for myself. I was lucky, it wasn’t anything really serious or debilitating. Just a minor warning.
How about you? Are you taking care of your well-being? Or are you ignoring the signs that you need to take better care of yourself?
The Golden Rule of Communicating
Monday, April 13th, 2009Every time we talk to someone, we are training them how to talk to us. It goes back to the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Think of this as the Golden Rule of Communications. – Communicate to others what your expectations are.
Think of all the people you’ve talked to over the past few weeks. What have they communicated to you. Look for the underlying message whenever you talk to someone – what are the tone of their voice, their facial expressions, body language and speech patterns telling you? Usually the words are the least important part of the message.
Now pay attention to your own communications. If you were a complete stranger, how would you receive the messages you’re sending? Even better ask 5 people this week what their experience is of you.
Does it match the experience you want them to have? Are your words consistent with your body language and tone? It isn’t very effective to ask for a sale when your tone of voice says don’t buy from me, I’m a lousy salesperson. It’s time to take responsibility for the message you send people.
How can you be more effective at communicating your intentions this week?