20 Inspirational Sales & Marketing Quotes to Honor Chet Holmes

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Today marks the three-year anniversary of the passing of our founder, my father, Chet Holmes. I could have written a lengthy blog post in his honor for the occasion, but it occurred to me that in life my father was never the longwinded type. Certainly there were events where he spoke on stage for upwards of ten hours, but he did so only because he had so much knowledge to share-there wasn’t a wasted breath. “Straight to the point” was truly his modus operandi. So Instead I’ve decided to keep it short and to the point. Today we celebrate Chet Holmes’ life, his work, and his pithy wisdom by collecting his very BEST quotes.

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In celebration of my father’s life, here are a couple of free videos for you to enjoy:

The Exact Sales Script Chet Used to Get to the Most Successful People in the World

Now that I’ve shared these with you, I’d love to know, what’s your favorite inspiring quote? Leave it in the comments section below.

With love,

Amanda Holmes

The traits and characteristics of successful business owners

Entrepreneurs have to adopt the traits and habits of people who have already achieved small business success.
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Entrepreneurs have to adopt the traits and habits of people who have already achieved small business success.

Entrepreneurs have to adopt the traits and habits of people who have already achieved business success.

Entrepreneurship carries with it a lot of responsibility. Business success requires an individual to juggle multiple tasks at one time like ensuring the company is operating efficiently in order to generate revenue and be a viable entity in the marketplace. Many people who branch out on their own and begin an enterprise don’t always fully understand what it takes to be the kind of leader who can drive an organization toward profitability. Not only does it take a lot of hard work, but it also requires patience, an open mind and a willingness to learn.

One of the best ways for a business owner to gain knowledge is by eliciting the help of others who are more experienced than they may be. There are a number of resources available to be those who start their own companies, such as professional business coaching services that can help guide an entrepreneur through the difficulties associated from running their own enterprises.

However, one of the best educational sources is seeking out the knowledge of those who have already established themselves and their companies as viable players in the marketplace. All of these individuals developed personal characteristics - in addition to strengthening their business acumen - that contributed greatly to the growth and sustainability of their organizations and those individuals seeking business success would be wise to follow their lead.

Common traits of entrepreneurs with strong enterprises
A recent article from Inc. Magazine listed a number of habits adopted by company owners that contributed to their thriving businesses. Here are a few traits that Entrepreneurs and owners should adopt into their daily routines:

  1. Be proactive: Thinking ahead and preparing for the unforeseen is a good way not be caught off guard in the event that something bad happens. Not having enough foresight can derail an organization and cause the head of a company to make reactionary decisions that could do more harm than good.
  2. Strike first: The most successful business leaders are those who don’t wait for things to happen and instead are aggressive in ensuring that their companies thrive.
  3. Serve others: Obviously, putting customers first is an important part of achieving business success. However, the same level of service given to patrons must also be provided to staff members. Ensuring happiness is achieved internally and externally will contribute greatly to an enterprise surviving in a marketplace that has become increasingly competitive.

Change your way of thinking
In addition to creating and developing good habits, a shift in your thought process as a leader should also occur if an organization is to be successful. A recent article from CEO.com highlighted the importance for entrepreneurs to not get too caught up in details but instead keep everything is simplified as possible.

This leads to clarity of thought and greatly diminishes the frustration associated with making things more complex than the have to be. For example, when making a decision to bring staff members on board, focus on the people who appear to have an ability to do their jobs and be an asset from day one. Don’t get caught up in their skills and experience. Instead, evaluate them on their ability to come in and contribute right away in order to help the company reach its goals.

Another suggestion is to envision the solution to the problem as opposed to focusing on the issue itself. This act can be difficult as it is very easy to lose sight of the big picture whenever situations come up that can be detrimental to the business. Having a mindset that foresees a successful outcome when negative situations occur, lends itself to thoughts and ideas that can be beneficial and move an organization past a roadblock with relative ease.

Focus email marketing to build business

Optimizing email marketing can greatly benefit businesses.
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Optimizing email marketing can greatly benefit businesses.

Optimizing email marketing can greatly benefit businesses.

Whether your company is involved in selling to consumers or other businesses, email marketing is a powerful tool that offers some unique advantages.

A slight tune-up of marketing strategies or more sweeping changes as part of a plan for how to grow sales will both benefit from paying attention to the latest email marketing advice from Business 2 Community.

Necessary tactics

Some of the updates to messaging have come about because scamming and phishing emails now use strategies that once helped legitimate marketers reach prospective clients. Because the public has adapted to older concepts like personalized greetings, change is required. A study from Temple University’s Fox School of Business found that 95 percent of customers responded poorly when their names appeared as part of an emailed greeting from a business.

The negative reaction to personalized online greetings - one-on-one communication should still involve the use of a client’s name - stems from fears of identity theft and the invasion of privacy. The study specifically suggests not greeting new customers by name for this reason.

Business 2 Community recommends using collected data to point out products that they may be interested in. This strategy shows you know their preferences but avoids the personalized greeting pitfall.

Long subject lines are another area to avoid. While being descriptive is important for email marketing, going above 70 characters is discouraged because it doesn’t produce increased an click-through rate or more responses.

Refresh and refocus

A business growth plan for a company that uses email marketing as a key component should involve a review of these strategies for effectiveness. The Long Island Business News provides a checklist for growing the reach and results of your efforts.

Businesses should be worried about sending too many and too few emails to customers. While complaints and unsubscribe rates should be carefully watched, companies shouldn’t be afraid of sending out more messages, as long as they are engaging and targeted to consumer interests. More messages means an opportunity for more clicks, reads and purchases.

Optimizing email campaigns for mobile viewing should also be of paramount importance. A heavily formatted email can look good on a computer screen but terrible on a smartphone, which more customers are using to view messages. Using a design focused on mobile viewing won’t negatively impact views on standard computers. A large font is also a simple change that will make reading such messages on the smaller screens of smartphones easier.

Effective management strategies help retain talented employees

For business owners, taking the time to invest in employees is crucial.
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For business owners, taking the time to invest in employees is crucial.

For business owners, taking the time to invest in employees is crucial.

For all business owners, taking the time to invest in employees is crucial. Without giving staff members the opportunity to develop their skills, companies can pay the price and business success may never be fully realized. By offering workers the chance to improve their knowledge, this can lead to higher retention levels and employee engagement.

However, investing in staff development doesn’t mean that owners have to forget about improving their own skills. Honing your management ability helps your company, in the long run and betters your chance of achieving  business success.

Business hiring picking up
Many companies are focused on hiring more employees. As more staff comes through the door, it becomes crucial to make sure that your management skills are sharp as this helps to promote better employee engagement.

According to the recent Small Business Confidence Survey conducted by TriNet, the majority of small companies in the U.S. are positive about the direction their businesses will go in this year. One aspect contributing to the optimism is the employment outlook. The study revealed that half of the small businesses participating in the survey plan to add to their workforce in 2014. Additionally, hiring talented workers is one of the top three things that 35 percent of small business owners want to do this year.

“It’s encouraging to see that small business owners are investing in the future of their companies, including hiring new employees,” said TriNet President and CEO Burton Goldfield. “Getting great people on their team as well as managing expenses are two challenges for all small business owners.”

Right management strategies for employees success
As more staff members are brought on board, business owners must ensure they are managing these individuals to keep them happy and engaged in the workplace. While good management skills are one of the top tools an employer needs to retain staff, growth coaching can also be an effective method as the Harvard Business Review reports that employees want to be managed and coached at the same time.

Pointing to the results of its own research, the HBR revealed that by developing strong growth coaching skills, business owners can increase worker engagement and productivity as well as  improve customer service and the overall business reputation.

Business Management Daily offered tips for improving management strategies, one of which is for business owners to sit down with employees and ask them what they think about the company, their position, their career goals and how you can help them develop their individual talents.

The website suggests that you polling staff members to uncover the areas of their job in which they’d like to improve, or to check-in periodically to see if they’re still comfortable working for the company. By following these strategies, business owners can have happier and engaged employees.

The importance of workplace collaboration

Business success will be difficult to achieve if staff members don't work together toward the common goal of seeing the company succeed.
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Workplace Collaboration

Business success will be difficult to achieve if staff members don’t work together toward the common goal of seeing the company succeed.

Business Owners that have a staff of any size understand the difficulties and complexities that come with managing multiple personalities and egos. This is a delicate practice that will test the patience of any entrepreneur, although it is necessary if your  business success it to be realized. When there is discord running rampant throughout an organization, it can be felt by customers. This negative energy can be detrimental to business and threaten the viability of a company.

People management isn’t something that comes naturally to entrepreneurs. Many times, individuals who branch out on their own are usually experts or achieved a certain level of mastery in their field of experience, but oftentimes find themselves learning as they go when it comes to running a company.

A certified business consultant is a great asset to owners working to understand their marketplace, customer base and how to ensure that their organization succeeds. However, when it comes to employing a workforce that is happy, engaged and contributing to the success of the company, it’s important for an owner to foster an environment of collaboration in order to achieve this goal and see to it that his or her business does not fail.

How to encourage staff to collaborate with one another
Getting people to work together in harmony isn’t easy. However, owners who set this expectation on the front end have a much better chance of seeing this kind of environment flourish internally.  A recent article from Forbes outlined ways that entrepreneurs can create a collaborative culture:

  1. Be open: As a leader, the people that you employ look to you for guidance and will follow any cues or leads that are given directly or observed. Being an individual who is open and works closely with staff members will encourage others to take similar actions, many times without being forced or told to do so.
  2. Celebrate individual accomplishments or achievements: Everyone wants to receive positive acknowledgement from their boss. This could be in relation to exceptional work performance, or something as small as celebrating a birthday or employment anniversary. Both create positive feelings and contribute to an internal environment that is both happy and productive.
  3. Encourage staff members to engage with one another: Sometimes collaboration happens naturally and other times it must be implemented by organizational leadership. As a business owner, you must make employees understand the value of collaboration. Not only will working together help them achieve professional goals, but it will also contribute to the sustainability of the business.

The value of working relationships
Despite the novelty of collaboration within the workplace, it’s unrealistic to think that as a business owner, everyone that you hire will get along. Obviously, that is the hope, but it’s likely to never happen. Still, that doesn’t mean that people who don’t get along can’t work amicably, side by side.

CEO.com listed some suggestions on how business owners can ensure that staff members who have differences can still work together to achieve common goals.

The first step is to encourage them to keep an open mind and listen to their co-workers. Additionally, it’s important to get them to understand the difference between listening for understanding and listening to give a response. The latter will contribute to discord and have a negative impact on workplace harmony.

It’s also important to get them to understand the value of making themselves available when a colleague needs help. The saying, “we’re all in this together,” applies perfectly to all businesses. If everyone isn’t on the same page and committed to seeing the business grow and thrive, then success will be difficult to achieve and enterprise can easily fail.

CMO SHORT: Short Attention Spans Tank Businesses in More Ways than One

Getting help to achieve more
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Getting help to achieve moreYou need customers. You are consistently telling them you are here. But, it feels like you are yelling into the void. Wasting energy and efforts you can’t, frankly, afford to waste.

What is the glaring issue?

The average American has an 8 second attention span. (Vs a goldfish at 9 seconds)

Attention spans shrank by 50%over the past decade.

Think about that. Or better yet, let’s test it out (on let’s say) your elevator pitch. Click the timer on your cell phone and go to it. Can you even spit it out in 8 seconds, much less hope to make an impact that hooks them? Remember, today every second counts. Most likely your prospect has already lost interest, and if they aren’t physically walking away they definitely have already checked out mentally. Poof! You are just another talking head.

Primary causes of lost attention span include stress (sited by 18%) and decision overload (by 17%). Additional culprits include lack of sleep, technology overload and poor job satisfaction. I’m sure you can relate. Take this Psychology Today Attention Span Test HERE to see how you perform, because you don’t have endless attention either. As a leader though, the stakes become much higher and the causes that disrupt your attention are even stronger.

Sharpening your skills around focus is a powerful one for business leaders and owners to “pay attention” to… pun intended. A simple and robust place to start is with Time Management. With never enough time in a day, got-a-minute interruptions by staff and business issues running rampant, technology disruptions hitting you from every direction and so on, time management skill growth is the time tested game changer for any business. Let’s get some outside perspective on how you handle time management HERE.

There are thousands of time management resources, tools and advice (1.78 billion search results) to comb through. That is if you can maintain the attention to do so. Honestly though, you are an individual. With individual needs. A system built from tested methodologies with the addition of a third party perspective to frame it specifically around you is your best option. Bend time to your will.

IN SHORT:

For your market, make your messages hit home quickly and with impact that they have to pay attention to. What moves the market.

For you, you’ll quickly find that by using time management to your advantage it will focus your mind on what matters. What moves the needle.

Onward and upward!

Shiloh Kelly, Chief Marketing Officer at CHI

FREE WHITE PAPER DOWNLOAD HERE:

built to thrive white paper

 

Four Ways Fact-Finding Plus Analysis Equals Big Results

storm brewing for business owners
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storm brewing for business ownersAmid the uncertainty of recessions, post-recessions, tax reform, healthcare, mobile technology, off-shoring, re-shoring, local, state and federal elections… Business leaders today find themselves at the mercy of an ever-changing marketplace, shaped by evolving technology, sophisticated consumers and an unsteady economy. Compounding that relentless progression are information outlets that constantly pump out new data. If business owners stop to pay attention to one, they risk falling behind in the others.

As a research director who’s equally passionate about helping businesses grow as I am about learning and harnessing the power of information, I see business owners struggling with this every day. Very few of my clients, large or small, have a formal function set up to access the right information at the right time, even though that’s the first and easiest step. The solution does not have to be complicated, but as we all know, taking the first step is the hardest part. What I evangelize are scale-able research functions that can assist with day-to-day operations as well as inform long-view strategy. 

News for business ownersHere are four general areas where research makes a positive impact:

1– Connect with customers on their turf. 87% of customers are not engaged (loyal, attached, Etc.) with the companies with which they do business. And yet, engaged customers deliver a 23% premium over average customers in share of wallet, profitability, revenue and relationship growth1.

One of the first things I establish with my clients at Empire Research Group is what they know about their customers. I ask them what they’ve heard from their long-standing customers, or to think about conversations they’ve had with their business peers. That gets the wheels turning, and it’s a great place to start compiling what you already know – or what you think you know. But imagine: instead of constantly being on the receiving end of that information, what if you could respond to that interaction with a fact that would really blow their socks off? Such a comeback is a powerful demonstration that you’re listening, you’re engaged, and you’re a partner who understands what they need.

On the other end of the scale, I hear from start-ups who are taking lots of shots in the dark as they begin to navigate their marketplace. With those clients, I help them begin to compile a repository of data and the analysis to go along with it. With hard facts in front of you, the lights will come on over the targets. You’ll have a clear line of site on the intersection where your ideas meet the market’s desires.

2 – Quit reinventing the wheel. Whatever you’re trying to do within your business, whether it’s attracting top level talent, making employees more productive, boosting sales, or improving logistics, the best practices have already been outlined somewhere. Information overload may have its downfalls, but having a treasure trove of pre-tested ideas at our fingertips is one of the benefits. Meaning don’t waste your invaluable time, energy and effort creating your own answer when the answers are not only already out there but have been proven time and time again.

3 – See the future coming with enough time to pivot and roll out preparations.

As the list of things to worry about has grown, likewise has the depth and quality of our news shrunk. 76% of small business owners name the effectiveness of government leaders as their #2 concern for 2014 (right behind health care benefits/costs at 77%)2. And yet the average political sound bite is now 9 seconds3. Stack a few sound bites together, and that’s the average depth of our news segments. That’s fine for the casual viewer – not for the competitive businessperson planning for their future livelihood. Business leaders need a comprehensive, actionable analysis of the macroeconomic trends that will affect their business.

4 – Know what the competition is doing. Why wait until you’re losing business to figure out what the other guys are doing better? We’re not just talking about reverse engineering the Coca-Cola formula; a simple competitive intelligence program would monitor the public output of direct competitors as well as other companies in the wider marketplace. I’ve helped start such programs for companies, and the first (and hardest) step is figuring out which companies or press outlets to monitor. Technology helps with the rest. No matter what system is set up for collection, though, the real value isn’t so much in what is found out today, but in combining that information over time to determine patterns and likely outcomes.

Highest and Best Use

A McKinsey survey found that almost half of executives think they don’t spend enough time directing the strategic direction of their company4. Why? They’re stuck doing other things. For example, a survey of small business owners found they spend more than 20% of their time doing back office work like bookkeeping5. That means they’re lucky to be able to scan articles that cover their own industry once in awhile – asking them to carve out time to read about other industries can be a nearly impossible order. And yet, 

“Performing regular analysis is guaranteed to yield those key data points or trends that inform strategy at its deepest levels and attract and retain valuable repeat buyers.” 

Whether that research function is an outsourced consultant, a dedicated employee or a few hours sequestered on the calendar each week to review Google Alerts, the modern business owner will make harnessing that information overload into a priority that will truly allow them to work smarter, not harder.

by Allison Porch, Director of Research and Senior Project Director for Empire Research Group, a division of Chet Holmes® International™

Sources:

1 Global Customer Service Barometer, American Express and Echo, 2013
2 Small Business Owner Report, Fall 2013, Bank of America
3 The Incredible Shrinking Sound Bite, NPR, 2011
4 Making Time Management The Organization’s Priority, McKinsey Quarterly, 2013
5 Survey of Small Business Owners, ADP Research Institute, 2010