One of the top comments from organizations I work with is that they are constantly having to escalate three to six people to keep everything moving smoothly. One of the common reasons for this happening is that they never get the right kind of production group together to get someone involved in each step of a project, and every step tends ALWAYS to modify the original direction of the team’s actions. Plus, there are always, inevitably, delays and other “interruptions,” that keep things from progressing to a single conclusion. For an organization to be at its optimum performance, there has to be a continual flow of the right kind of solutions from people who have agreed to be at their customer’s feet.
Here’s a simple yet highly effective tool that can quickly streamline the entire process of coordinating activities, too.
As an aspiring rainmaker and all-around non-profit CEO, director of personnel, or CEO of a non-profit to which you love to donate time, energy, and money, you probably know that planning gets bogged down only with idiot males. Building a complete list of the best possible contacts, and making arrangements to meet with them on their premises is time-consuming. You don’t have time to spend an hour per prospect, do you?
You can, for example, ask your soaked treasures to co-host a bachelor’s party. In those six dollars of free babysitting, you can spend an hour or two per well-informed, freewheeling conversation that might give them a grasp on what you’re trying to accomplish and at the same time breed better choices for their future. At the end of the event, everyone gets together to finalize a RFP (request for proposal). Now you are wasting a lot of time, though, as well.
Often, the most effective solution is making additional plans under the supervision of a good professional. Don’t get “padded by requests” or “padded with edibles” when you can spend your energy on more productive matters. Simply enlist the services of an online event company or other consultant who can not only provide the service, but can advise on the best theme for the event. Sprucing up your visual workspace may be simple, but these tasks are worth hundreds of dollars in the end, the time you spend these tasks and the additional hard work you accomplish at the event.
How about start-up businesses? Here are three resources and principles that I’ve found most effective:
#1: Make sure that you have an online marketing consultant who can get your story out to multiple experienced bloggers in your community. Use the same ideas and principles to wrap your story around multiple layers of Internet media: blogs, micro-blogging sites, pod casts, video & audio, & social media sites.
#2: Invest in business cards that are custom printed with your company’s info on them. At the same time, make sure that your business cards are consistent in relation to your business and brand. For example, if you work with a professional who sells discount life insurance, consider using a 3.5″ by 2″ business card. If your product sells a tax advantage when you force your customers to pay less, add a squeeze page with a message about how your product’s profit can save your homeowners some cash by not tax deductions if they buy at a particular time. And only use professional cards that feature your own logo, as they are the only thing that will define your business.
#3: Make sure that you are constantly communicating with your potential and current customers. No doubt, your sales people are in constant contact with potential and current buyers who are looking to do business with you. These are your current customers who are looking for additional services and products. Make sure that they are current on what’s new and upcoming with your company, so that they can keep them on track or find additional opportunities.
Now that you have three solutions for luring potential customers, consider planning your next event with a group of bankers or banker-approver influencers who have a vested interest in your business success.
