I’ve noticed that owners can get hung up on the “method” of making contact with potential customers. Whether you send an email, mail a letter, make a phone call or use some other deliver method, remember that the delivery method doesn’t matter; it’s the message that’s important.

What story do you tell your customers to compel them to consider purchasing from you? That’s what you want to test and concentrate on refining.

Recommended or endorsed offers are where an individual or company tells their customers about what a good job your company does. It is one of the best and most cost effective ways to grow your business.

Why are recommendations so valuable? The other company has a relationship with their customers and has earned their trust—to the point where those customers will often buy whatever your joint-venture partner recommends.
 
In your industry, building partnerships with complementary businesses means extra promotion for your company. This not only opens you up to new clients, but endorsed offers turn into sales at 3–10 times the rate of direct offers. That increases your profits.
 
Who has customers or people in their database who would benefit by receiving a compelling offer about your product or service?

You could pay a commission or a joint venture fee to other companies or professional groups who recommend your services. Endorsements can work either in person or through a letter of endorsement.

A key here is to write the endorsement letter for your partner to send. Of course they approve the letter, but you are crafting the message. Writing a recommendation letter or brochure that brings in cash may take some time.

It’s worth the cost and effort. You can eventually repurpose it for a different delivery methods such as email, flyers, postcard mailers or special reports.

Of course, the most immediate income typically results from calling customers who have bought an ongoing service, and offering your product or service as an additional recommended resource.
 
The value of an endorsement is so high that some marketers—without a genuine endorsement—use an implied recommendation in their marketing campaigns. A descriptive magazine article about you, your accomplishments or the results that your product / service brings, always carries an implied recommendation.

Another strategy is to simply write your direct-mail letters, emails, and other written marketing messages as if they were coming from another person who is speaking highly of you—then have that person sign the document.
 
Make a list of the companies that have similar customers. Get to know the owners and if it makes sense, let them use your product or service. Use theirs as well. Build a relationship and determine if you want to do business with them.

Once you’ve built the relationship and proven yourself, schedule a meeting to discuss joint-venture opportunities. Remember, it goes both ways! They will want you to promote their company to your list, so be ready and open to that.

Some other viewpoints on endorsements and joint ventures:

Joint Ventures - Free MP3 By Joint Venture Expert and JV Broker … - Joint Ventures… — How do you deconflict your launches with other launches in your niche? — How do you get big marketers to even look at you offers? — What tools do you really need to provide to affiliates? …

The Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of Joint Ventures - When two entities enter into an equal partnership, this is a joint venture. The essential defining factors of this union are equal risk and equal reward. That means that each party will divide the costs evenly, and will also share the …

Marketing Online

Basic web sites have become an important of marketing for many small businesses. You know you need one even if you're not sure specifically why.

The big picture reason is because the internet is now the major way your customers get new information. It's to your advantage for them to be able to find you and find out about your business online.

The investment to get a basic web site, is within the marketing budget of most small businesses. In terms of marketing costs, it can be the most cost effective way to connect with clients. You can brand your business, provide answers to frequently asked questions, and provide testimonials that introduce your products and services in the best way.

If you are looking to take your web marketing to another level I would recommend programs by Alex Mandossian or Armand Morin.

Armand Morin - An Obvious Truth - Special Report

Alex Mandossian - Entrepreneurial “Idiot” or “Mystic?” - You Judge…

Systems

W Edwards Deming, a pioneer in the use of systems in business said, "97% percent of all business failure is due to the system – not the person." So a key both in your business and your online marketing is to use a good system.

You've seen numbers like service based businesses are 70+% of all small business. For instance there are 656,000 construction firms (10% of companies), 646,000 health care & social assistance businesses (10%), 620,000 professional, scientific & technical service firms (10%), 545,000 accommodation & foodservice firms (8%), and 520,000 "other services" firms like repair shops, beauty salons, and dry cleaners (8%).

Or these kind of grim statistics: 96 percent of all businesses fail within 10 years, with 80 percent failing within the first two years. Entrepreneur magazine reported the top reasons for failure include not anticipating market trends, poor customer relations, inaccurate budgeting, lack of staff training, and poor and inconsistent marketing.

Burnout and divorce rates among small business owners are terribly high. The stress of trying to do everything, as fast as possible just gets to people.

Small business owners are some of my most favorite people. For the last 13+ years I've been dedicated to helping all kinds of small businesses beat those long odds. You do it with systems for all aspects of a business.

For some instant help with burnout, subscribe to my newsletter and get a free copy of The Business Freedom Report. In it I address the top three quick things you can do to start putting systems in place in your business. Check it out.

"Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them."
- W. Edwards Deming

Here are some other posts about Deming… 

Baby Steps - Kaizen was applied, ironically, by an American management consultant, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, who used it to maximize the quality of manufacturing during World War II. After the war, Deming then introduced the concept to Japanese …

How You Can Avoid What Causes 97% of All Failure - W. Edwards Deming tells us that 97% of all failure is due to the SYSTEM and not the person. Yet so many skip over the critical step of creating systems and processes. Don't be one of them — your success depends on it. …

Deming on Management and Measurement - Edwards Deming, arguably, some say, the world's authority on modern management practices, is often incorrectly quoted as saying: "you can't manage what you can't measure." In fact, he stated one of the seven deadly diseases of …

As your business grows, so too will your responsibilities. In order to help you manage stress and stay sane, you will need to learn the art of effective delegation. Business owners who are able to hand over some of their responsibilities have more time to tackle the larger issues associated with growing their business, see a greater life-work balance, and develop their people beyond their current capacities.

It sounds simple, so why do people have such a hard time delegating?

Entrepreneurs have a hard time giving up control because they think they can do almost everything better themselves. They also think they are the only ones with enough knowledge to do the job properly.

Let’s say, for example, that you have always been in charge of payroll. What are the pros and cons of continuing to do payroll as your company grows? You might have a tried and tested system in place that allows things to run smoothly, so you think to yourself, “It’s much easier for me to continue to do payroll than to try to find someone else, who can do it as well as me.”

The problem with this kind of thinking is that it prevents you from handing over tasks that eat up a lot of your time—time that you could be spending on more critical aspects of your business.

Why do you need to let go?

Delegation is often difficult in the short term, but the long term benefits will make your organization much stronger and make YOU a better leader.

For starters, you will give your workforce access to new skills and experience. By developing others through delegation, you will open the door to new perspectives and solutions that you wouldn’t have had if you continued to do the task by yourself.  

Most importantly, you will have more time and energy available to focus on growing your business. Too often entrepreneurs become enslaved to the day-to-day operations of their business. This prevents them from seeing the bigger picture, and can actually harm their business in the long run. Just think of how much more time you would have for creative and strategic thinking if you weren’t caught up doing payroll, accounting or whatever?

Try this:

Take out a blank piece of paper and draw a chart with two columns. In column A, list the jobs that you do that no one else can; in column B, list the jobs that you do that someone else could also do. Then, make a delegation timeline for yourself out of column B. Think through how you might delegate 25% of the activities in Column B in the next 3-6 months, and 50% of them within the next year.

Don’t delegate everything at once! Start slow, LET GO, and watch your business grow.

10 Mindsets Women Entrepreneurs Must Have To Succeed - You must be willing to pay for high-quality dynamic people and be able to delegate tasks and projects. Web entrepreneurs are innovative people that like things a certain way and often fall into the trap of doing everything themselves. …

Do You Delegate it or Do it? - One of the biggest weaknesses of poor managers is their inability or unwillingness to delegate tasks, responsibilities or outcomes. In order to be an effective manager you need to know what you can delegate, when you can delegate it and …

Necessary Tasks You May Want to Delegate - The type of tasks you should delegate will become obvious quickly. Below is a list of commonly delegated tasks. I bet you can add a few to this list! Necessary Tasks You May Want to Delegate. Secretarial services. Research …

Delegate in a small business (part 1) - Learning how to delegate tasks it’s not really something specific in a small business. If you are a boss somewhere and have some colleagues to help you over, it means that you have to know how to delegate. However, in a way, …

Instinct or intuition is a powerful ally in the making of good decisions. Malcolm Gladwell illustrated much about this in his best seller, Blink.

Of the many Gladwell tells, the story of Paul Van Riper is interesting. Van Riper is a Vietnam veteran who was in the Joint Forces Millennium Challenge (a war game). Van Riper ran the Red team… a completely fictional, anti-American Mid-East government competing against the Blue team, the U.S.

Red team had much less technology. Van Riper's operating strategy was that he was “in command, but out of control” and by placing appropriate trust in his subordinates, he would enable good instinctive decisions. His combat experience helped him trust his gut. Blue team had all the advanced warfare technology and tactics. All decisions were made based on information provided by a huge system of data gathering, and modeling algorithms.

Red Team used a series of unconventional, rapid and mobile attacks to easily defeat the Blue team. They were too slow, attempting to fit the attack into analytical models. Instinct based on experience defeated analysis.

One of the book's points is that intuition or instinct comes from your experience: in life, in business and in trusting your gut.

I’ve met entrepreneurs who have been through so much in their business lives, that they just know what is appropriate in any given situation. They have been there and done it and they act quickly.

You don’t always have instant conscious access to what feels right, but it is there in your subconscious mind. You keep the many lessons you’ve learned from your business and it shows up in your gut.

Your Personal Experiences

Whether you have years of business background or not, you still notice what makes sense. That feeling is based on the personal experiences you have had in your life.

In order to survive, you learned. Your internal decision maker has been developing and it can be a very powerful tool for you in operating your business.

Your personal experience, thoughts and choices determine your core values… the important things are core to you and you don’t consciously think about them. You just know what is right versus what is wrong, for you. It's part of your make-up.

Some people faced with a choice, make quick decisions. Some only choose after careful analysis. These approaches to life are different and your background and experiences, including what you were taught all has an impact on your decision-making.

Experimenting and training yourself to trust your gut, pays off later in good quick decisions. Similar to business experience, you can’t necessarily pinpoint where a particular decision came from, but you know what’s right for you.

Intuition

Many people don’t believe in intuition. It’s hard to explain. Well I can’t explain it, but I won’t ignore it either. There have been far too many times where something has just come to mind. That sense is what I am calling intuition.

Is it based in our business experience, or our personal background, or something else?

I don’t know. Here’s what I do know. If I trust my own gut sense, which is a combination of all this, then I seem to make more decisions that are right for me.

Here are some other "Blink" articles from around the web… 

Book 11/48: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell - The most recent book is that of Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. In this book Malcolm builds a case for a persons intuition and ability to make good and/or right decisions during the first instances of making a judgment. …

Living by Instinct - Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink - You see, I just finished Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, a book that dissects the relevance of instinct in decision making. Weaving together an eclectic blend of personal anecdotes, interviews, and old psych papers, Gladwell spells out both …

CREATIVITY, INTUITION, AND GLADWELL’S “BLINK THINKING” - In his best-selling book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking(Little Brown, 2005), Malcolm Gladwell justified the importance of intuitive, “gut” thinking in decision making. In fact, he pointed out that, contrary to our …

If you’re a professional practitioner of any kind — bookkeeper, accountant, business consultant, insurance broker, financial planner, even personal trainer — you can generate extra income by connecting with others whose clients would be perfect customers for you. Developing your own network of noncompetitive service providers who can refer business — and who, in return, you can refer business to — is an ideal situation to be in.

One of the best types of joint venture situations is a loosely associated group of professionals who are each in a different line of work or who specialize in a different niche of a single area. A homebuilders’ association is a good example of such a group.
 
While a referral circle is an informal group whose members typically pay no compensation to one another, a professional consortium is a defined group of people who act almost as business partners — visiting clients together, writing proposals that include each other’s services, delivering joint services under one contract, and even distributing a brochure that details all their expertise.

When an individual member lands a big contract, that member will typically pay other consortium members on a subcontractor basis for services provided.
 
The best possible group members for you are professionals whose clients fit your target market for your service and whose frequent marketing activity is reaching a constant stream of qualified clients.
 
Think about the businesses that call on you on a regular basis and ask yourself, “Are they also calling on and mailing to my prospective clients?”

Is there a retail location or regular service provider from whom your potential clients buy whose shopping bag or monthly invoices would be an ideal place to include your special offer?

When you first approach a potential member, remember that the relationship has to be a winning scenario for both sides. This is critical.

To ensure that it is, think through how you can help others yet at the same time generate lots of new referrals for yourself. Remember you’re not begging or selling. This is a cooperative situtation that you are initiating.

Create a plan for approaching these other businesses, then articulate an appealing offer that has and leads with a big promise of what’s in it for them. These people can be so influential that they keep you busy for years with their referrals.

To find the names of these influencers, ask your customers whom they turn to when they are making a buying decision in your niche, then do some creative thinking about how to get these influencers on your side.
 
When you send referrals to other businesses and bring them value on a regular basis, you’ll become a valuable referral source that they’ll want to acknowledge in turn—by sending business your way.

One deepening of this strategy that has worked well for me is getting these influential people as clients. Once I've proved how valuable and useful my services are, as well as sending business their way, they naturally recommend other business to me.

Here's a few more thoughts about this:

How Effective is Your Sales Cycle? - If you are an independent professional or small business owner providing services, here is a simple four step sales process you can use to close more sales and expand your business. 1. Generate Leads. Developing a list of prospects to …

Offline Marketing; A “Systems” Approach for NES Associates - First, if you are ready to ramp up your business with low-cost offline lead generation, it’s important that you have a dedicated 800 number acting as your home office voicemail. You won’t want your leads calling at 2 am in the morning. …

You're busy.

While the biggest enemy of a small business is time, I bet stress is something you're familiar with.

Here's a list of "One Minute Recharge" actions that you might find useful. Do any of these for a minute and see if you feel different, even… better.

1. Take deep, slow breaths - notice the air going in and out of your nose

2. Just let go - whatever that means to you right now

3. Close your eyes and be here, now

4. Ignore your Email and listen to some music

5. Relax your shoulders

6. Have some tea or a glass of water

7. Meditate

8. Surf to a website with positive thoughts

9. Clear your desk

10. Give yourself positive strokes

11. Focus on your Strengths

12. Stay in the moment, just for a minute 

13. Look around and maybe give a smile to someone

14. List things to be thankful for

15. Grin - make it a big goofy one! 

16. Chant your prayers

17. Find good qualities in everyone around you

18. Could you accept exactly how you feel, right now?

19. Daydream - go to your favorite place and look around relax, listen to the sounds

20. Do one minute of push-ups, sit-ups or deep knee bends. 

21. Prepare a To-do List

22. Write for a minute - whatever, let it be junky even

23. Be Happy

You really can get recharged in just one minute. A single minute repeated through your day can add up to a greatly improved quality of life. Give it a try! What are some that work for you? Leave a comment below…

Here are some other ideas from around the world wide web…

Stress Releasers - Make sure you take that 10 minute mini-vacation because you are important and need time to recharge your batteries. 3. Thank yourself for taking the time for YOU. 4. Plan what you are going to do tomorrow. …

Are You The Plug or The Lightbulb? - So, draw a line: at one end is the plug and the other a lightbulb. These represent the source of the energy, and the use of the energy. On the plug end, list all of the people or circumstances that energise you and help you 'recharge'. …

70 Ways to Increase Your Brain Power (IQ test) - It was the one with more than one seed; but what if you were not familiar with these fruits? Obviously this test is culturally biased. You are assumed to have certain knowledge, yet you are being tested for intelligence, not knowledge. …

It is much better to address conflict than to avoid it.

Have you ever watched "American Chopper" on Discovery? The show is just like a case study in good and bad conflict and conflict resolution. For those who've never watched… there is a lot of yelling going on. The family on the show, the Tuttle's, are not shy about sharing their opinions when they disagree with one another.

The communication is driven by Paul Tuttle Sr. With "senior" as he's called, there is no uncertainty. He tells it like he thinks it is. The other members of the team are not as forthcoming.

Now it may not always be comfortable, but when it works, I think they get more done because they are all bold enough to express their opinion and then move forward from there.

When it doesn't work, it's a view of unbridled, barely controlled conflict that includes regular door destruction, swearing and outright intimidation. I think what brings it back to working is their honesty and their ability to let go and clear resentment. If they followed some basic respect for each other, the explosions would be a thing of the past.

In business and all relationships, there are a few ways to resolve conflict, some better than others.

Collaboration – Sometimes called Win-Win, both parties are calm and assertive while being committed to cooperation. Collaboration increases the result for everyone. It can also be a slower way to resolve conflict if the parties do not already know and trust each other.

Compromising – One of the ways to recognize compromise is that everybody feels like they have lost something. Your own wound is softened since the other party has lost as well. However, feelings of loss erode relationships. This is one strategy that you want to avoid.

Force or Coercion – Sometimes force and coercion are useful ways to solve conflict - as our police, security and armed forces demonstrate. Force is dictated when limited time or the result needed is more important than the relationship.

Accommodating – When the relationship between the parties or the companies is more important than the task, accommodation can be the best approach. One side gives more to protect the relationship. If this is continually a one way street, it degrades into resentment - building compromise.

Avoiding – Avoiding conflict is useful when there is no winner possible… such as when you are pulled into someone else’s conflict. However, avoidance can lead to denial, which is a potentially destructive approach.

Increase your awareness of these ways and pay attention to your normal choice in certain situations. With awareness, you can start to choose the most effective way for the situation.

More articles from the web about this…

Barriers to Resolving Conflict - But effective resolution is sometimes difficult because conflict, by its very nature attempts to undermine any change. It is by only going through the process of conflict resolution that we can identify where change is needed or even if …

"C" is for Coward: The ABC's of Conflict Resolution - It was my friend and colleague, mediator Ken Cloke who taught me there were five means of dealing with conflict (suppression, avoidance, resolution, transformation and transcendence) and University of Missouri Law Professor Richard …

"B" is for Bully: The ABC's of Conflict Resolution - Here’s another familiar character. This is the kid who shook you down for your lunch money on the elementary school playground. The one who taunted you in gym whenever you failed to pass the basketball to the only guy able to sink it. …

Is Workplace Conflict Destructive or Creative? - There is no doubt, workplace conflict resolution strategies - especially those that will allow you to do it yourself - will save you money, time, energy, and enhance your workplace by helping you make better decisions, retain your best …

Simple Technique for Approaching Conflict Resolution - Conflicts are a normal part of life. We interact with so many different people, in different situations that we're bound to run into difficulties. When you negotiate to secure your wants and take into account the wants of your …

Official wants students to learn conflict resolution to quell violence - Students beating up teachers and attacking an Examiner photographer have prompted a Baltimore City councilwoman to propose that Baltimore City students undergo mandatory conflict-resolution training.

Remember that classic scene in "Erin Brokovich" where the high powered, electric utility law team shows up in force to negotiate with the small town law firm? Ed Masry sees them coming in and gets all his staff to file into the board room so they have more "lawyers" on their side of the table… and overpowers the power brokers. 

Would you like to have a system that helps you think on your feet like that?

Here is a list of 8 questions you can ask yourself when you suddenly realize that you have to prepare for a negotiation. Use these to generate quick preparation for any negotiation.

   1. What are my intended outcomes and interests?

This is about having your goal in mind but also about thinking about the bigger picture at the same time - if you're goal is to get to work on time, speeding to get there might seem like the right choice until the cop pulls you over. 

   2. What are their possible interests and outcomes?

Look at the negotiaion from their point of view. What do they really want from this?

   3. What are some of the options of agreement?

Where are the points of agreement? Focusing on this beforehand will set a tone of reaching agreement rather than a tone of conflict.

   4. What is my Plan B?

Once you've thought through the first three questions, what's your fall back position? Having your Plan B in mind gives you a feeling of options so if the deal goes to far against you, you are comfortable with your option B.

   5. What is my worst case scenario?

Answering this question sets your "don't cross" line. You've predetermined what you're willing to give up and more than that is a deal breaker… that means you can negotiate confidently, since you know your direction.

   6. What are some possible external standards?

External standard are outside measures that can move the negotiation away from personal stakes to measures from an outside authority. Examples might be interest rates, rate of exchange or time frame.

   7. What is or are my reserve price / terms / limits?

Knowing what your limits are and then not not going past them results in more useful and enjoyable negotiation.

   8. What is my game plan?

Map it out. What do you want and how are you going to get there?

Here are some good article links from the web today on negotiation…

A Powerful Lesson in Sales Negotiation - Keep an eye on this story and you can learn some big lessons on power and negotiation.

Negotiation - "Are those new shoes, Mama?" "They sure are. I bought them today." "Are they for me?" "No, actually, they're mine." "You mean they're mine?" "No, they belong to ME." …

Top 7 Principles of Mastering the Art of Negotiation - Negotiating is an art, there's no doubt about it, however with the right attitude, planning, and confidence it is an art and a skill that you can master.

Why Take a Negotiation Class in Law School? - I could write an entire book on why law students should study negotiation as well as an entire chapter on why they should study texts written for MBA students rather than law students..

Negotiation - Dealing With The Early Phases - The early phases of negotiation consist of both sides finding out more information before talking about a specific deal or set of alternatives. For example, if you find out the other side has a time deadline that only your company can …

Many people have built their companies by partnering with others and becoming an integral part of their business. Developing joint-venture relationships, however, is an undertaking that surprisingly few entrepreneurs capitalize on.

An easy way to start finding joint-venture partners is to make a list of every company (local or national) whose customers match the customers who buy your products or services. Then, make a list of all the products or services each of those companies sells and which of your products or services would be a perfect add-on to that company.

Add contact information to your list and update it regularly as you note other prospective “partners” or new ones open for business.

Then start contacting these companies, one by one. Use the telephone, and develop a script ahead of time to help you keep on track. Assure yourself each time you call that you are speaking with the actual decision maker. Don’t stop until you speak with that person.

In the beginning, offer to send samples, literature, do a free service call, or provide a simple plan that the decision-maker can read to see how your product or service enhances their company’s product lines or service offerings. Make sure you communicate how this venture will help their revenues.

For example, if you are a photographer, start contacting commercial space designers or interior decorators to see if you can be listed in a bid to display your photographs in public spaces or corporate offices.

Another way to become a “value added” is by making it easy for other companies to refer business to you. There are many low-cost and no-cost ways that you can help other companies to direct people to your products and services.

You could install a display at the other company’s premises — filled with brochures or with the product itself. You could visit the customer along with the referring company’s service personnel. Or, you could provide the referring party with brochures, business cards, tear-off coupon pads, and other attention grabbing or reminder devices. Think outside the box about this.

Very few customers will ever question the referral or outsource; they will generally believe that this is merely the way that business is normally done.

Here are some more articles from the web recently…

A Unique Joint Venture Twist: Make Huge Profits Even If You Have … - Would you like to jumpstart your online or offline business without spending a ton of money? Without a doubt, joint venture marketing is the most powerful secret to making money online or offline. In its simplest form, you partner with …

How Offline List Brokers Can Make Your Online List Grow Bigger - But the fact is most Internet marketers have never dealt with offline lists before and it can be a totally different animal than online lists and joint ventures. And so, if you are going to be expanding your Internet marketing business …

With very little effort, you can package your employees’ expertise in dozens of different ways, then sell it, trade it, rent it, loan it, or use it as a bonus to generate additional income for your business. Expert employees are the most valuable and most overlooked asset of any small business. Not only do they have unique expertise, but they are highly marketable as well.

Certain kinds of knowledge — especially knowledge that’s needed by your customers and peers — can be turned into consulting revenue, project management revenue, more lucrative service contracts, and so on.

Here are a few of the most commonly marketed types of employee knowledge:

1. Installation services and technical support
   
   
2. Sales strategies
   
   
3. Artistic talent
   
   
4. New business development
   
   
5. Sourcing raw materials
   
   
6. Industry research and market intelligence
   
   
7. Online expertise

You can package and sell your employees’ knowledge in a number of ways: through multimedia (creating “how-to” DVDs, for example), through coaching, mentoring, or apprenticeship programs, through speaking engagements and teleseminars, corporate training programs, consulting, etc.
 
To what extent could you generate extra revenue by setting up your top employees as expensive experts — ex. if you had specialists?
 
When you’re hiring new people, keep this in mind — does this person have the potential to become an expert in an area?
 
How interesting is this to an employee if they are being groomed for that level of expertise? This is not only a present-day source of income but a source of future income as well.