The following is one way of developing an effective business presentation.

• Know your audience:  cold calls may be effective if you have the time and are playing the numbers game; by making enough calls you hope that someone will be “weak enough” to buy your product or service.
  • Before you make your “presentation” call, find out all you can about the company and the person to whom you will be speaking. Make sure that you are making the presentation to the decision maker.
  • Involve your audience:  People like to tell their story; you know about their company and about the person you are making a presentation to; ask them to share their story. Your main job now is to LISTEN. ( If you have to ask questions, remember FORD , Family, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams)
  • Time now to share your story: It’s not all about your products or services; it’s your story, who you are, your values and how you got to where you are.
  • Showing benefits: while the end result, you hope, will be the sale of your products or services, first be prepared to talk only about the benefits that your product or service will provide to the business and the individual making the decision.
    • Whenever possible the use of pictures,i-pad, graphs, etc., again, showing the benefits, can be very powerful in arriving at a successful conclusion.
    • The most important resources a company possesses are time and dollars. Along with these two resources, your listening ability will help you determine other “hot buttons” that may have to be added to the benefit list as you are making your presentation. I find that quality, customer care, and convenience are other items of interest to most firms.

This may sound like a lot of work, but your closing ratio will increase as will the relationship that you formed with a new client. This extra work will also help with client retention.

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.         Benjamin Franklin

When success iS of paramount importance, call on the “Duck” at www.strategicduck.com

Nick J Petra     Certified Financial Planner, specializing in business planning and coaching.

Keeping track of a small business, the production part, is such a major undertaking that names such as Facebook, Twitter, linkedin, e-newletters, and blogging seem like a playground for young people of the high tech generation. Few people thought that it would ever become a viable business tool. For those that have ventured into this new dimension, social media has proven to be a very valuable asset.

A survey by HubSpot (www.hubspot.com; a valuable place to learn about marketing with social media. Once you are registered with them they send out free “how do” guides”) shows that companies that utilize social media as part of their marketing strategy have seen success from their efforts. Of companies using Linkedin, 57% have reported customer acquisitions directly from that channel. Businesses  that are using blogs and the rest of the major social media network  have reported similar successes.

The brand awareness that these participating companies have developed using social media is priceless considering that the cost is, in most cases, nothing.

Another way that social media has become a useful tool is to research people and to communicate with prospects. According to recent figures released   from the Pew Research Center,   65% of adult internet users participate in social media networking. The social media utilization of Americans over 65 grew 150%, and that same statistics doubled among those 50-64.

The social media bandwagon is moving fast, but you still have time to join. No, social media is not the only marketing required for a successful marketing program, but it certainly is become an important tool in the marketing basket.

Time may be your most precious commodity, learn to allocate wisely.

Nick J. Petra    Certified Financial Planner specializing in Business Planning and coaching

Visit www.strategicduck.com  and contact us to learn how we can help you grow your business.

Make it a Successful Today.

When we have more than one person in management or ownership we often find that a weakness in one person may be a strength in another. Sometimes, however, we find that the weaknesses are not strengths in another person on the team; the same holds true when we have one business owner, working alone.

When we cannot find a needed strength we have several options:

• Perhaps the most difficult is to change the identified weakness into strength.
• Find a strength that can be directed or modified to compensate for the weakness.
• Find outside support to compensate for the identified weakness.

The ultimate goal is to lead with the identified strengths and to work on eliminating weaknesses.

This exercise is conducted in the early part of the plan formation. As objectives, goals, opportunities and strategies are examined and developed, they must be based on the existing strengths of the plan implementers.  Resources should then be allocated to enhance strengths and address and correct weaknesses.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first.

Mark Twain

Nick J Petra          Certified Financial Planner specializing in Business planning and coaching.

When growing a successful business is your goal, let Strategic Duck help you “get your ducks in a        row”.    25 plus years of experience!    www.strategicduck.com

1. What is the business currently doing in the following areas:
   1. Products/services
   2. Sales and market efforts
   3.  Current target market
   4. Pricing
   5. Market share
   6. Client need analysis
   7. What marketing problems do you currently have?
   8. What opportunities do you see?
   9. Define your sales objectives; be specific.
   10. Re-define your target market by answering the following:
       1. If there were no limits, who do you see as the ideal target markets? Be specific and list at least three target markets.
       2. Make a list of possible marketing strategies.
       3. How do you want your product/service to be perceived, relative to that of your competition, in your customers mind?
       4. Make a list of marketing tools that you could use (branding, web page, social media, publicity, personal selling, advertising, etc)
       5. Establish a time table for implementation including action steps and an accompanying time table.
       6. Based on the information gathered in the first steps of this plan, create a marketing budget that will accomplish this goal. Initially, this budget should not have any constraints placed on it, once the budget is developed and income projections are looked at, then available funding is examined.
       7. Prioritization and implementation is the next step.
          1. Progress evaluating is a continuous requirement; I recommend a weekly status examination for the first two months, then twice a month thereafter.

Unless a plan is in writing and referred to on a regular basis, there is no plan!

Let the “Duck” at www.strategicduck.com become your marketing coach and partner

Nick J. Petra      Certified Financial Planner  We are the number one team for  Business Planning  and Coaching

Slogan: a slogan or tag line added to the company name or brand and used in all its marketing efforts is a very powerful “message sender”. Selecting the right slogan requires a lot of thought and patience but once selected, it can help grow the positive image in the minds of customers. A good example is Budweiser: “The king of Beers”

Color: a consistent set of colors is a big help in brand recognition. Caterpillar, for example, paints all of its construction equipment yellow.

Symbols and Logos:  there are several options in this area: Travelers insurance uses a red umbrella; other memorable symbols include the Jolly Green Giant and Charley the Tuna. In my case, I selected a duck caricature.

A set of stories: this may be a little more difficult to implement, but well worth the effort.  One of the stories I remember best is the awesome customer service that Nordstrom is noted for. Stories about the company founders or positive customer experiences can be used.

Like most worthwhile parts of the Business Growing Process, brand building will take both time and thought.

Carve your name on hearts and not on marble.                                                Charles Spurgeon

Nick J Petra  Certified Financial Planner  specializing in business planning, consulting and coaching

www.strategicduck.com

Make it a Successful today.