Small Business Profits: Exploding Profits With Continuity Products
What is continuity?Well, I look it up in the dictionary. Did you know that looking words up in the dictionary is UNCOMMON. A great man named Michael York taught me that. Not many people do that – you should try it frequently.Here is the definition of continuity…An uninterrupted succession or flow; a coherent whole.So you are probably thinking what I am talking about? What does continuity have to do with my business? My answer to you……everything – that is if you want to make a lot of money.Continuity in your business means creating ways for uninterrupted succession of you collecting money from your customers for something that is easy for you to deliver.This concept is used in the information publishing business and mail order business all the time. Some examples are magazine subscriptions, book-of-the-month, tape-of-the-month, Columbia House, BMG, Netflix and so on.Recently I have seen THREE very good examples of this done by regular businesses.Big League Haircuts For Men: I don’t know if I mentioned this place before but it is a great example of picking a very specific niche and being just for them. This is a haircut place designed around men. They don’t care about alienating women. They charge more for a haircut but make it worth

Unsecured Credit Cards : What's The Difference?
There are a lot of terms associated with the credit world. With such daunting vocabulary as variable APR or secured card, sometimes people can get confused about just what a feature of a credit card means.First, we’ll discuss what a secured credit card is. A secured card is a card that is guaranteed. When you apply for one of these cards, you guarantee a deposit of cash or otherwise collateral so the bank can be sure that you will pay them back. This is a must when establishing credit or trying to rebuild a shattered credit rating. So, on the opposite end, unsecured credit cards are cards that you get without any guarantee to the bank that you will pay them back. For this reason, unsecured cards are usually only offered to people who have a good credit standing.To establish a good standing, most people begin with secured credit cards and work their way up to unsecured credit cards. Since the bank is placing so much trust in you, they have to see a good track record. For this reason, you should always try to keep your credit rating in tip-top condition. Pay bills on time, regularly use your card and immediately pay it off. If you maintain this month after month, your credit rating will begin to rise. You will be known as a trust worthy person who responsibly manages to pay there bi

Your Most Important Investment
"Imagine a company spending one-third of the revenue on a capital investment or an interest payment and never addressing it with shareholders in their annual report," said Rick Guzzo, a Mercer consultant. "It's unthinkable."Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a unit of insurance brokerage Marsh &McLennan, conducted a Two Year Study of the 100 largest publicly traded American companies.25% of the largest publicly traded companies included a platitude equivalent to, "our people are our greatest asset".20% of the companies actually included human capital contribution to business success in the annual reports. Budgets track the expense of employees, benefits, travel and entertainment.How do you measure contributions and impact of personal performance?What is the impact to revenue, risk or cost control if the human asset is missing or not functional for an extended time?What would it cost to replace them and train someone else? How long to train, how much experience lost and how much productivity would you lose?If you invest time and money to improve the efficiency of your most valuable asset, human capital, how will you measure the Return on Investment?How do you communicate the value of personal performance on a regular and frequent basis?s and procedures; guarantees; relationship building; sales processes; goals and objectives; business philosophy; and more.

Marketing encapsulates everything that influences the CHOICES of your prospects and clients. And the choices of your prospects and clients relate to:

- their perception of your business, products and image;

- whether they purchase or not;

- whether they continue using or re-use your service;

- whether they refer your service;

- whether they pay;

- how much they are willing to pay;

- whether or not they endorse;

- and much more.

As you can see, there is a lot more to effective marketing than just running an ad. How effectively a company undertakes marketing is the primary determinant of its level of success. Marketing is WITHOUT DOUBT the most leveragable process in your business. It is also the most overlooked, and hence the reason for the majority of business failures. Being a qualified counsellor with great experience and a well-established practice won’t help unless people know about it!

Networking for Exposure

In the counselling industry, one of the most powerful ways to build your business image is networking. Counselling clients can be derived from varied sources, particularly community networks – it is very important that counsellors recognise that factor in order to get the appropriate exposure which their businesses require.

Following are some suggestions that can be helpful:

Talk to your family Doctor and let him or her know what you are planning (or about your recently established business) as you may have to make referrals to him/her. Many counsellors get referrals from Doctors and this is usually the result of establishing a meaningful trust relationship.

Likewise, discuss your plans with your family Pharmacist as he/she may also be able to help building your professional profile.

Talk to your local Naturopath/ Homoeopath/ Physiotherapist/ etc. and suggest an exchange of business cards. Explain that you would like to have someone specific to make referrals to and maybe he/she may care to reciprocate.

Contact Support Groups and Agencies in your area explaining the service that you offer. Maybe you can offer to help them out from time to time, even on a voluntary basis. Voluntary work is an excellent way to gain experience and create links with both the community and other professional in health care industries. You can offer your voluntary work in places such as hospitals, aged care facilities, community centres, etc.

One of the best ways to promote your business is by word of mouth, and one of the most effective ways to ensure that this happens is to run group activities such as Grief and Loss discussion groups.

Building Your Profile

As a counsellor, recognition of your knowledge, experience, qualifications and competence are very important. How can you effectively build a positive profile within your prospects and current clients? That is a pertinent question in a counsellor’s career.

As we’ve cited previously, marketing activities such as networking and volunteering play a major role in building the counsellor’s profile. Primarily, it is a way for the counsellor to validate his/her skills and qualifications throughout working directly with clients and other professionals. Secondarily, maintaining a meaningful trust relationship with other professionals and volunteering will help creating the image of a ‘contributor of the community’, which is a premise for building trust and rapport with prospective clients (a very important aspect of any counselling relationship).

Another effective strategy to build a professional profile is to educate others. Creating and distributing informational flyers, writing a newsletter or eZine, conducting workshops and attending discussion groups are all good examples of such activities. Through this process, counsellors position themselves as specialists in their area – thus, attracting prospective clients. The cited activities are also useful for professional development and efficient in keeping the counsellor up-to-date with industry developments, counselling theory and practice.

Improving Marketing through Delivery

A very common way service professionals achieve a differential position in the market is the interesting - and potentially risky - art of over-delivering (and under-promising). But what exactly is over-delivering? Over-delivering is providing a level of service over and above that expected or anticipated for the service provided.

Over-delivery is providing a level of service beyond what you’ve promised your client in your marketing message. An example of service over-delivery would be to provide your client with a surprise complimentary gift after the first session. The gift may be in the form of a tele-coaching session, a seminar, a book, or perhaps a voucher to the movies or a massage session.

Many astute counsellors actually provide services of other business professionals in order to provide their over-delivery. For example, in the case of a free massage above, you may be able to do a deal with a health spa that is willing to provide a complimentary session to your clients in the anticipation that your client will continue to use their service in the future. This type of arrangement is a powerful win to all parties - You are able to provide your client with an added benefit, the health spa gets a potential long term client for low cost, and your client gets a free massage.

The intention of service over-delivery is to build goodwill with your clients. It’s intended that this goodwill will translate into business benefits for you. Those benefits may be longer client contracts, increased referral and stronger product

g are some suggestions that can be helpful:

Talk to your family Doctor and let him or her know what you are planning (or about your recently established business) as you may have to make referrals to him/her. Many counsellors get referrals from Doctors and this is usually the result of establishing a meaningful trust relationship.

Likewise, discuss your plans with your family Pharmacist as he/she may also be able to help building your professional profile.

Talk to your local Naturopath/ Homoeopath/ Physiotherapist/ etc. and suggest an exchange of business cards. Explain that you would like to have someone specific to make referrals to and maybe he/she may care to reciprocate.

Contact Support Groups and Agencies in your area explaining the service that you offer. Maybe you can offer to help them out from time to time, even on a voluntary basis. Voluntary work is an excellent way to gain experience and create links with both the community and other professional in health care industries. You can offer your voluntary work in places such as hospitals, aged care facilities, community centres, etc.

One of the best ways to promote your business is by word of mouth, and one of the most effective ways to ensure that this happens is to run group activities such as Grief and Loss discussion groups.

Building Your Profile

As a counsellor, recognition of your knowledge, experience, qualifications and competence are very important. How can you effectively build a positive profile within your prospects and current clients? That is a pertinent question in a counsellor’s career.

As we’ve cited previously, marketing activities such as networking and volunteering play a major role in building the counsellor’s profile. Primarily, it is a way for the counsellor to validate his/her skills and qualifications throughout working directly with clients and other professionals. Secondarily, maintaining a meaningful trust relationship with other professionals and volunteering will help creating the image of a ‘contributor of the community’, which is a premise for building trust and rapport with prospective clients (a very important aspect of any counselling relationship).

Another effective strategy to build a professional profile is to educate others. Creating and distributing informational flyers, writing a newsletter or eZine, conducting workshops and attending discussion groups are all good examples of such activities. Through this process, counsellors position themselves as specialists in their area – thus, attracting prospective clients. The cited activities are also useful for professional development and efficient in keeping the counsellor up-to-date with industry developments, counselling theory and practice.

Improving Marketing through Delivery

A very common way service professionals achieve a differential position in the market is the interesting - and potentially risky - art of over-delivering (and under-promising). But what exactly is over-delivering? Over-delivering is providing a level of service over and above that expected or anticipated for the service provided.

Over-delivery is providing a level of service beyond what you’ve promised your client in your marketing message. An example of service over-delivery would be to provide your client with a surprise complimentary gift after the first session. The gift may be in the form of a tele-coaching session, a seminar, a book, or perhaps a voucher to the movies or a massage session.

Many astute counsellors actually provide services of other business professionals in order to provide their over-delivery. For example, in the case of a free massage above, you may be able to do a deal with a health spa that is willing to provide a complimentary session to your clients in the anticipation that your client will continue to use their service in the future. This type of arrangement is a powerful win to all parties - You are able to provide your client with an added benefit, the health spa gets a potential long term client for low cost, and your client gets a free massage.

The intention of service over-delivery is to build goodwill with your clients. It’s intended that this goodwill will translate into business benefits for you. Those benefits may be longer client contracts, increased referral and stronger product

e very important. How can you effectively build a positive profile within your prospects and current clients? That is a pertinent question in a counsellor’s career.

As we’ve cited previously, marketing activities such as networking and volunteering play a major role in building the counsellor’s profile. Primarily, it is a way for the counsellor to validate his/her skills and qualifications throughout working directly with clients and other professionals. Secondarily, maintaining a meaningful trust relationship with other professionals and volunteering will help creating the image of a ‘contributor of the community’, which is a premise for building trust and rapport with prospective clients (a very important aspect of any counselling relationship).

Another effective strategy to build a professional profile is to educate others. Creating and distributing informational flyers, writing a newsletter or eZine, conducting workshops and attending discussion groups are all good examples of such activities. Through this process, counsellors position themselves as specialists in their area – thus, attracting prospective clients. The cited activities are also useful for professional development and efficient in keeping the counsellor up-to-date with industry developments, counselling theory and practice.

Improving Marketing through Delivery

A very common way service professionals achieve a differential position in the market is the interesting - and potentially risky - art of over-delivering (and under-promising). But what exactly is over-delivering? Over-delivering is providing a level of service over and above that expected or anticipated for the service provided.

Over-delivery is providing a level of service beyond what you’ve promised your client in your marketing message. An example of service over-delivery would be to provide your client with a surprise complimentary gift after the first session. The gift may be in the form of a tele-coaching session, a seminar, a book, or perhaps a voucher to the movies or a massage session.

Many astute counsellors actually provide services of other business professionals in order to provide their over-delivery. For example, in the case of a free massage above, you may be able to do a deal with a health spa that is willing to provide a complimentary session to your clients in the anticipation that your client will continue to use their service in the future. This type of arrangement is a powerful win to all parties - You are able to provide your client with an added benefit, the health spa gets a potential long term client for low cost, and your client gets a free massage.

The intention of service over-delivery is to build goodwill with your clients. It’s intended that this goodwill will translate into business benefits for you. Those benefits may be longer client contracts, increased referral and stronger product

he interesting - and potentially risky - art of over-delivering (and under-promising). But what exactly is over-delivering? Over-delivering is providing a level of service over and above that expected or anticipated for the service provided.

Over-delivery is providing a level of service beyond what you’ve promised your client in your marketing message. An example of service over-delivery would be to provide your client with a surprise complimentary gift after the first session. The gift may be in the form of a tele-coaching session, a seminar, a book, or perhaps a voucher to the movies or a massage session.

Many astute counsellors actually provide services of other business professionals in order to provide their over-delivery. For example, in the case of a free massage above, you may be able to do a deal with a health spa that is willing to provide a complimentary session to your clients in the anticipation that your client will continue to use their service in the future. This type of arrangement is a powerful win to all parties - You are able to provide your client with an added benefit, the health spa gets a potential long term client for low cost, and your client gets a free massage.

The intention of service over-delivery is to build goodwill with your clients. It’s intended that this goodwill will translate into business benefits for you. Those benefits may be longer client contracts, increased referral and stronger product endorsement.

Generally your perceived gain from over-delivering your service would be greater than your cost to provide the additional benefit to your client. (In the above example your cost is actually zero). Clearly it’s very important that you take into consideration the cost of over-delivery in your financial planning. When engaging in this process, you must be aware of the cost/benefit relationship that will arise from it, ensuring that for every cost involved, there is a mutual benefit.

However, every investment requires a systematic approach in order to be successful - and over-delivering is not different. You’ll need to establish goals in order to measure the outcomes of your efforts, and also to avoid having financial problems due to an ill planned promotion. You can include the following points in your over-delivery strategy:

Establish primary objectives
List each advantage of over-delivering in a priority order. Referrals, networking and partnership possibilities are all reasons for this type of promotion. Your primary objectives will also be parallel to your current position in the market: whether you have just started your business, included a new service, found a new niche, etc.

Find a target market
The main objective of over-delivering is to provide more satisfaction to customers. For this reason, look for groups that can offer a great deal of options for your business, such as networking possibilities. Once you’ve established the right target, you’ll be able to refine your promotion and possibly calculate the most likely outcomes of each interaction.

Choose your gift
Now that you’ve decided what your target market is, you need to decide on what you are going to offer. You may provide extra services of your own, or negotiate with a local service provider to exchange vouchers for referrals. There are many options to choose from, but the most important thing is to ensure that whatever the gift is, it will have some value to the client.

Create protocols
You are going to face a constant trade-off between the amount of extra time you are going to spend with ‘give-aways’ and how much you can actually spend. Creating protocols will help you to balance this equation and ensure you’ll neither go too far on over-delivering, nor too low. It will also give you enough flexibility to deal with various opportunities that may arise throughout the process.

It is important for the counsellor to realize that marketing is an ongoing process – and to ensure that the service delivered is of the highest possible quality. With the appropriate training, the passion to help people and the dedication to get a business practice on its way – your career is likely to become a success!

© Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors.

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