Virtual Connection Circle for Women in Business & Mumpreneurs

Well, hello, Sally Curtis here from Business Mum Solutions, just opening up our virtual connecting circle. So we've got people that are actually listening in the background. And so I'm here to answer anybody's questions as it relates to business development, growing a business with kids, how to form strategic joint venture partners, and how to profit from collaborative partnerships. Now, I'm quite happy to start conversations and create some topics, but if people are wanting to stay in the background, you're more than welcome, as this is the first time that we've got to meet each other. I have no problems with that. If you do decide you want to come on board at any time, then please don't hesitate to put your hand up, and I will be able to answer any questions that you have, and I'll be able to bring you in virtually so we can all have that that conversation. So what I thought that I'd do today is go through some of the business growth ideas or strategies that I use really regularly when I'm assisting women in business and mompreneurs to grow their business. And the first one that I'll go through today is how to create a great case study, which is a great way to leverage your experience and really prove to your community and your clients what it is that you actually do. The second one that I'd like to go through is what business are you really in, and then talk to you a little bit about what it is that you do. A lot of people find that fearful question when they're asked at a networking event, oh, what do you do, very, very terrifying. So cover some of the ideas and tips that I have on that as well. And we'll look at simplifying who your avatar is. And I know that's a word that's used a lot, so we'll talk about your avatar as well. So let me just grab a quick drink. So what I thought we'd start with today is, I suppose photographs and those sorts of things are used from a marketing perspective a lot. in business, but a great case study where you've actually got proven before and after shots as well as proven case studies and statistics, what was the situation before and what's the situation after, is a really, really fabulous way to get customers to understand the value that you can add to them. So if I talk about a particular example, it's people in the health industry or the health and wellness, particularly that fitness, so fitness instructors or people that provide a new product in that fitness industry. If they were to work with what we'll call a case study, they'll have before and after shots of somebody, somebody's appearance before they started using a fitness program and then perhaps after. We do see lots of these on Facebook different times now. But if you're also supporting that by not only the weight loss but also the muscle measurements, so the measurements around the waist and the tummy as well as around the arms or the legs, whatever measurements are relevant, and then supporting that case study with additional information. So you've got your before and after shots, you've got your measurements of the body, you've got your weight, and you've also got— the story of transition. So where— what was the current state that the person was in that you're working with, or what was the current— or business, if you will look at a business scenario in a minute. And also, what is the desired state that they're looking at achieving as well? So there's a couple of different options that you can do with case studies. I can just see that we've got a couple of people that have just come on board, so welcome. I'm just going through a, as I've said here, just a scenario on how you can build your business through great case studies. So if anyone, as I said, wants to put their hand up, we can do that, and I'm happy to answer questions as we're going along. So I'm going through a case study of before and after shots as it relates to a health or fitness scenario. You've got your before and after shots, you've got your bio on what it is that I suppose I suppose, the causal reasons why they wanted to change their life or change their body image or whatever, and you've spoken in their words about why they wanted to change from that current state where they looked and didn't feel the way they wanted to, to their desired state of where they were really wanting to achieve and how they felt very, very different. That can become a very, very powerful way to express your value in a business scenario, and you can use that very successfully, obviously, on Facebook, which you see lots of people do. Those images also help to leverage the success story, build your reputation as somebody that creates results, because visually you're telling the story of the results that you've created, and it also helps to build your persona on social media. Another scenario where case studies are used a lot are for business development. I don't do my case studies visually, but when I'm putting proposals to clients when I'm working with big clients that are looking for significant changes within their business, then I'm— I provide case studies of examples that I've utilized as well. So here's an example I do in this particular case, business development. So that means that somebody starts work with me and they want to achieve an increased profit margin. Particularly in the event scenario, profit margin means how many bums on seats and what does that equate to from an upsells point of view at events, for example. So the way I've built case studies in this scenario is I've— what I actually did was created a very specific LinkedIn strategy for this one client. So I was able to demonstrate in future proposals, I have an example of what I did for this particular I have an example of the leads that we actually generated. I have an example of how those leads achieved bums on seats, and then how those achieved, then equated to return on investment for sales that equated, came in through that sales. So that's a case study from a numbers and statistics point of view. People want to know, if you're going to cost me X dollars, what am I going to, what's my return on investment going to be? be. So if you can say, well, I can come in and generate this, and this is what you're going to get out of it, and I can create massive profit for you, then that's another scenario of a really great, a great case study that you can utilize either publicly on social media or part of a business proposal package, which is what I do when I work with clients. Sometimes when you're working with clients and you make significant growth and profitability amounts. Not everybody wants those to be public, but they're happy for them to be shared in a more private manner. So that's one way that you can really grow your business utilising case studies, and that's very, very easy to do, and you just need some really great customers to work with. And please, please, please don't ever hesitate to ask, because customers and people in general are always really, really happy to help, You just need to ask. And as women, we are used to being asked, but we're not used to asking. So if you need help or strategies on how you can actually ask people, more than happy to help answer those questions. But it is as simple as asking. People will more than happy help you out, and you just need to help them work through the process with you. One of the other scenarios that I'd like to share with you today is what business are you really in? And so this comes back to the one and only message in business. If you own a business, you're there to solve a problem for somebody. So we are problem solvers. We are also salespeople. Now, we might not think that we're salespeople, but bottom line, one way or the other, if you have a product or service, you also need to be a salesperson. Now I'm like most of you that go, oh, I don't sell, and I don't feel like I do, and I don't feel like I'm a salesperson, and lots of women don't. But we are really good at having a good conversation, and if you're answering the right questions and helping people solve their problems through your process of serving their needs and assisting them, then that is your sales process. Your sales process is is helping people and answering their questions so they can make a well-informed decision that suits the needs that they know they have, the outcomes that they're wanting to achieve. Okay, one of the little worksheets which I'm just going to bring up here is a scenario that I get asked a lot, and I see done poorly, I suppose, as we all do when we attend a networking event. And I'm sure many of you have attended a networking event and either been asked, oh, nice to meet you, what do you do? And you've cringed or fumbled over your words or not been succinct, or you've seen somebody flounder and sort of thought, you know, wasn't— didn't quite nail it. So one of the most powerful things you can do in business is once you've defined what business you're in, and we can talk about that a little bit bit more, and we'll talk about advertising a little bit later because that's a bit more lengthy, is how do you answer that often very, very fearful question of what do you do? Well, there's 3 simple steps that I'd like to actually share with you today, and I'm just going to share the screen with you so I can actually show you one of my worksheets, and we'll actually work through that together. Just give me 2 ticks while I bring Bring and share the screen. Just bringing that up now for you. Okay, so this is one of my worksheets here, and it's 3 easy steps to answer that fearful question, what do you do? So the first step is defining your ideal customer. Who are they? And add a few specifics. So this is why I wanted to talk to you and share with you about the avatar and really being able to know who that one client is that you actually do serve. So we'll talk about that later, but we'll just cover off some of these and you can write down some of the questions that we have here. I won't rush it off the screen quickly. So the very, very first one here, the very first step is knowing who your ideal customer is, who they are, and a adding a few key specifics. So let me give you an example of what one of my answers was when I had one of my prior businesses. So typically I work with international speakers who have training programs to sell, who have the challenge of plateaued business growth and reducing profits. What I do is help them secure joint venture partners to fill their events with prequalified leads, increasing their conversion rate and profitability. Short, simple, to the point, but really, really creates curiosity. Somebody at this point is really, really going to ask, oh wow, tell me more about that. If you're creating curiosity and people are engaged in that and they want to know more, they're going to ask you Tell me more about that. If you get an opportunity to tell somebody more about that, then you have an opportunity that if they're not interested in what you do, they're more likely to be able to refer or recommend you to somebody. And that is the opportunity that you have when you can answer that fearful question with confidence, what do you do? So let me just say that again. Someone says to me in one of my previous businesses, I've used an example of mine there, what do you do? I can answer it by saying, typically I work with international speakers who have training programs to sell, who have the challenge of plateaued business growth and reduced profits. What I do is help them secure joint venture partners to fill their events with prequalified leads, increasing their conversion rates. And profitability. So now let's have a look at how you can do this. What are the steps for you? So if you look at step 1 here, we're going to get you to finish the statement by writing your own ideal client. So my ideal client was international speakers who had training programs to sell. Just a couple of— one specific particular client and the item that they had. So typically, I work with is what you need to answer. So who do you work with? I'll let you write that question down so you've got it for future reference. I'm just going to move on to step 2. What is the challenge that they solve? So in my previous example, the challenge that my clients had was plateaued business growth and reducing profits at their events. So what that really means to them was they weren't getting the right people in their seminar or event rooms, which wasn't allowing them to sell the quantity of training programs that they wanted to, to reach their profit targets. So a quick and easy way of saying that in that scenario was they had the challenge of plateaued business growth. In other words, it had stalled or it was stagnant, and they had the challenge of reducing profits. So what challenge do you solve? And that is your step 2. So if you go ahead now, write this question down and answer. Who have the challenge of— and you're thinking in your ideal client's terms here. Just slide this up so we can keep moving along. Excellent. And the very 3rd step is what results or outcomes do you achieve for your clients? In the example that I shared before is, what I do is secure joint venture partners to fill their events with pre-qualified leads, increasing their conversion rate and profitability. So the way that you answer this question is, what I do is help them do or achieve. What I do is help them do or achieve. So what do you help your your customers achieve? What outcome do you help them produce? So let's go back over those 3 questions. This is a 3-step formula to answer that question, what do you do, in a very, very confident, in a very, very succinct manner. Let me just read my example again. Typically I work with international speakers who have training programs to sell, who have the challenge of plateaued business growth and reduced profits. What I do is help them secure joint venture partners to fill their events with prequalified leads, increasing their conversion rates and their overall profitability. So what your step 1 is, is identifying who your ideal customer is and adding a few key specifics. So you answer the question, typically I work with— and it's now time for you to fill in the blank. Step 2 is the challenges that you solve. Who have the challenge of— step 3, what results or outcomes do you achieve for your clients and with your clients? What I do is help them achieve or do. And that is your very simple 3-step process. And I have just realized that you haven't actually been able to see the screen, so I apologize for that. So let me just show you and have this on the screen so you can actually just see what we were just discussing there. So this is a 3-step formula that I have, and you've got step 2, Step 1, the key specifics. Step 2, what challenges do you solve? And then step 3, the results or outcomes that you achieve for your client. And that's a 3-step formula that is very, very easy for you to follow to answer that fearful question of how you answer what it is that you do. So if we have any questions, I'm happy to answer those. Otherwise, I will certainly keep going, and we can perhaps now have a conversation about simplifying what an avatar is. Now, an avatar is a word that's used a lot around the place from a marketing perspective. So an avatar is that one singular client or customer that you can tailor and market and communicate with and have a conversation with. Now we call her an avatar and make her a singular person so you can actually communicate to that person as though you're having a cup of coffee with them. So it's very important and great if you can actually define them and provide them with a name. Some businesses will have one, will have 2 or 3 different avatars, some have more than 3. The best scenario and the easiest way I can simplify it, particularly if you're a mompreneur starting out in business and you're really not sure who your ideal target market is or who your avatar really is, to simplify it for you, your avatar is probably you. So if you consider, if you've just started a business and you've actually solved a problem, excuse me, for yourself, so you've seen a problem in the marketplace and as a result you created a business from it, your avatar is probably very, very similar to you or is based on you either right now or in the past. So if you think of that from that model, that makes it easier to define that one first avatar and then when you get into flow of describing and defining who an avatar is and all of the characteristics that she has. Because keep in mind, she's a human. She's just like you. And so she's going to have attitudes, she's going to have fears, she's going to have desires, and she's going to have a community and a family that she fits into. They're all the types of characteristics and elements that you want to be able to define fine to get that really broad spectrum avatar so you can really tailor a conversation to her. So that gives you a bit of an idea of how you can simplify it to start the ball rolling. Consider that she's probably very like you, if not you right now, or you from a previous scenario, or it could be you going into the future, but generally it's usually somebody, somebody that's like us either right now or previously. So let me just share with you an avatar worksheet that I have here. And this time I will promise that I will screen share it and let you actually see the screen this time around. So let me present to everyone. Excellent. So this is one of my avatar discovery sheets. I won't go into all of the details. There, it'll go through, but we'll actually go through and have a look at creating the customer avatar and the character. The first thing to define is obviously, are they male or female? Certainly give them a name, know how old they are, have a rough idea of what they do for a living, and certainly what bothers them the most or what keeps them them awake at night. So in other words, what problems or challenges do they have? Sometimes it could be that they're working too hard and they want to be working less hours, or it could be that they're stressed because they're trying to determine how to balance being a successful business owner and the sort of mum that they want to be at home. That's a common one for my— one of my avatars is, you know, that conflict and stress of trying to be super mum and super businesswoman. And the thing that bothers them at night most is guilt and not having instructions to be able to build their businesses. So that's what I like to be able to provide to my clients in that manner. So if we now have a look at what is the attitude of your avatar, you can certainly see a whole array of questions there that you can work through. You can consider how much money they're making and why. What is their purpose in life? How do they communicate to their world, to, in their world and to their world? What does she value most? What is most important to her? Is it relaxing? Is it time with her family? Does she want to feel significant? Does she want to contribute to people? be able to feel significant? What is it that she needs most? What is going to motivate them and keep them going when the going gets tough? What do they believe to be true about the world? Do they see the world as full of opportunities, as a safe place to travel, all those sorts of things? Because that gives you an indication of how you need to talk to, talk to your avatar. If she's an opportunist like me, then she sees the good in everything and everything can turn into a positive opportunity. But if she's somebody that's fearful of and doesn't— is mistrusting of other people, then she's going to be concerned, is it safe all the time? So you would need to provide a communicative marketing scenario or marketing words or a conversation to her that is going to Help her feel safe, because if she feels safe, she'll then listen to you. What is their number one problem right now? As you work with clients, you'll find that they'll have a variety of different problems. But when you're first doing your avatar and you're just trying to make this whole process really simple, then what is the one problem that you— that she has in life right now? That if you could solve it, she would be a great customer of yours. Another great thing is how do they describe themselves? What do they see as their skill sets or their giftedness? What role do they play in business? And what types of people do they hang out with? and what are they interested in? When you're actually able to define who they are, you can then work out where they are, what types of people they hang out with, what hobbies they do. I find working with a lot of my different, varying different clients is that not all of their avatars are in actual fact on Facebook. In a lot of cases, particularly when I'm working with women in business, when they're trying to attract their ideal client and find their ideal client, the places where they are are actually LinkedIn or in meetup groups. So there's lots of different places that when you've been able to define your avatar and who she actually is really, really clearly, yes, you can have a really great conversation with her, but you also know where she is and you can specifically target and market to those areas or groups that she's actually involved in, and that certainly speeds up your marketing and your lead generation process, because when you know who she is specifically and where she hangs out and how you can get to have a conversation with her, you're no longer going through running around in circles trying to generate marketing leads and getting all these leads in that may not be your ideal client. Because ultimately business is at its best when you're working with your perfect type of clients, not the ones that you have to have and settle for because that's the ones that are coming through your door based on your sporadic marketing that you're doing. If you can fine-tune it, you get to the opportunity of working with those people that are really, really want to be working— that you really want to be working with, that are pleasure to work with, they're easy to work with, and you get to have a great experience as a business owner serving your client in a manner that she likes to be served. So everything that I like to share with people and everything I do from a coaching perspective is how can we make what you're doing in business simple, easy, repeatable, and effortless for you. So we also look at what your giftedness is, what is also effortless for you so you can actually make your business fun, fast-moving, and very, very profitable. So that's all I had to really share today. If we've got anybody that would like to ask a question, I'm actually going to open it up now. If we've got any brave souls for the first time that would actually like to answer a question, you'll see over here on the right-hand side, it was my right-hand side, I've To one side, there's an option where you can actually raise a hand and you can actually ask a question. If anyone would like to ask a question, you're more than welcome. Otherwise, I'm really— that was the tips and tricks that I had for today's virtual circle, and I will close it off unless anyone's got any questions that they would like to ask. No, I think that was fantastic. No. No, not a problem. Well, I am always here, I'm only ever a phone call or an email away, so certainly connect with me on Facebook under Business Mum Solutions. You can also find me on LinkedIn as Sally A. Curtis, and my website is businessmumssolutions.com. And if you have any questions as it relates to business or you want a hand with anything, please don't hesitate to join one of the circles. We run these every month and you can come armed with questions and I will do my best to help you and assist you to answer those questions so you can dive into your business development and make it quick and simple for yourself and certainly very, very profitable. So thank you very much. You have a great Friday night and a fantastic weekend. This is me signing off. Thank you. Bye.