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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 11, 2006 Marketing Today Above all, remember to have fun Anthony Hernandez Can you believe that this missive marks my fifty-second weekly column? Yes, dear readers, if you’ve been with me since the beginning (and I hope you have), then it’s been one full year since my first column “What is Marketing” first appeared in the Ashland Daily Tidings. And what a year it’s been! I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate this milestone and your progress by offering a quick recap of some of the many topics we’ve covered: • Never forget that marketing is far more than advertising and PR. Marketing encompasses all contact between anyone inside your company with everyone outside your company. If someone see, hears, smells, feels or tastes something and it’s coming from your company, then you’re marketing whether you know it or not. • We discussed the idea that time is life itself. You can invest time earning money to market your business or you can bypass the money and go straight to the marketing. Marketing need not be expensive, time consuming or difficult to be complex. • Remember to build a marketing process that uses a series of gentle steps to convert leads into prospects into customers into clients into referral sources, and don’t forget to enlarge the frequency, size or networking potential of each transaction in addition to seeking new customers. • Practice your public speaking skills. They really will serve you in good stead. • Always err on the side of the customer. Replace “no” with “yes.” Offer ironclad guarantees that take the uncertainty out of buying. Strive to bring every customer to a state of bliss so that they will sing your praises to the heavens and insist that everyone they know do business with you. Build and maintain an ongoing dialogue by asking your customers what they want and then consistently delivering more. • Resist the urge to diversify. It is better to do one thing extremely well than to do a bunch of things half-heartedly. • Find ways to market your business by giving value instead of by seeking to take from your customers. You can waste a lot of time and money telling people how great you are or you can win lifelong clients by proving it to them from the very beginning. The word “free” can be one of your most important allies in this endeavor. • Your business exists to serve you, not the other way around. Achieve and surpass your goals with ease by breaking large goals down into easy weekly steps and making sure to reward yourself for taking each step. • Bring your business to peak operating efficiency before trying to grow it, especially when considering hiring employees. If you do plan to hire additional help, take the time to define a clear job description, who best to fill it and how to track performance. Communicate all this to your employees and give them the resources they need to give you their best efforts. • Take heart in the fact that there is no such thing as failure because you are always 100 percent successful at whatever you commit to. Balance your interests with your commitments and you will never experience defeat again. • Learn to manage what you have before expecting any more. If you want abundance, manage what little is yours to manage now so that you won’t squander the riches when they come. • Take one hour each morning to exercise for 20 minutes, read something uplifting for 20 minutes, and sit in quiet mediation for the remaining 20 minutes. • Know that nothing is ever permanent and the time will come for you to leave your business. Plan your exit in advance so that you can reap the maximum reward for your work. Whatever you do, always remember that work equals output, not the effort required to generate the output. Nothing in any of my columns requires much effort. On the contrary, my goal is to show you just how easy running a successful business can be. I have one more bit of wisdom to pass on before closing out this year: Have fun! Take your business seriously but not too seriously. It’s relatively hard to go wrong with anything you’ve set your mind to doing. It’s almost impossible not to succeed at something you love doing. Please write to me and let me know how you’ve used these past 52 columns, the results you’ve achieved and anywhere you’re experiencing difficulty. The sooner you get your letter to me, the sooner I can help you, so write it up and mail it off. Then get ready because Year Two of “Small Business Success” starts in 3… 2… 1… Now! My new book, “The Enlightened Savage: Using Primal Instincts for Personal and Business Success,” is now available for purchase from www.theenlightenedsavage.com. Looking for back issues of this column? Ask and you shall receive! I have compiled all 52 of my articles into a book called “Small Business Success: 52 Weeks of Marketing & Management Wisdom.” This book is on its way to press and will be coming soon from www.52bizweeks.com. I always welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions. Please e-mail me at [email protected] with your ideas and suggestions. My invitation for you to schedule a free session with me is always open and there is never any obligation. You may also visit me on the Web at www.coachanthony.com. Anthony Hernandez is a local business consultant with more than 20 years of business and marketing experience. He lives in Ashland with his wife Robyn, son Logan, and their two dogs. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams