Because of the current economy...

I have to be honest; I’m getting a little tired of hearing “because of the current economy…”  I’ve even heard myself saying it on a few occasions and don’t like the taste of it one bit. Ok, the economy sucks compared to other times in our history. Keep in mind that it’s not so bad compared to others.

This whole economy thing should teach us one very big lesson – in my humble opinion: It’s up to each one of us to turn it around with innovative solutions and hard work. Yes, I said it – hard work. I refuse to believe that Americans are lazy; complacent – maybe. This is my call to myself: I refuse to be comfortable with status-quo and will do whatever it takes to rise above my own limiting thoughts.

Here are three key things I face moving forward in this new economy full of opportunity and how I’m handling them . . .

Sales: For the first time in a very long time I have to be the sales-guy that brings business to my practice. I have one word for how I felt about being that guy – Yuck! That is until I allowed myself to lean on concepts (thanks to a friend and family member) that I learned a long time ago about the kind of sales-guy I can be. I don’t have to use trickery and slick sales techniques. I just need to be me; be honest; and let people know I exist and really frickin’ love what I do!

Conversation Tracking: Since I’m doing most of the leg work myself for my consulting practice I need a really easy way to track the conversations I have, attach related documents, and store customer and potential customer information. That’s were CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software comes into play. The best advice I can give here is – go to the cloud my friend. There are so many products on the market that can do everything you need.  Choose the right one and you can even customize it to meet your specific needs.

Website and Social: KISS. Yup, the old concept spill holds water – Keep It Simple Silly. I have a very simple website that is clean and easy to navigate. No bells and whistles for me; I want people to come to my site; browse around reading just a few quick lines here and there; and get an idea of what I do and who I am. When it comes to social – well, I’m figuring it out with the rest of you. I can tell you that the free resources (some kind of salesy) on many of the LinkedIn marketing groups have given me ideas that I would have never thought of myself.

BTW: There’s nothing wrong with bells and whistles on your website. The question you have to ask is how those bells and whistles will add value to your potential clients visit.

What are you doing in this new market full of opportunity to start or grow your business?