Tapping the Power!

I want to share with you a true story. It’s about the awesome power of social media and the impact it had on this very worthwhile cause.

A few days ago a friend asked for help.

She was trying to put the word out and help capture a grant worth $25k for her friends nonprofit organization.

The grants were being distributed through the Pepsi Refresh Project. Sadly, grants would only be available to the Top 10 in each category.

What made this organization special is that the people behind it never gave up.

You see, a few months ago their indoor playground was lost in a snowstorm. Then to top it off the landlord didn’t want to rebuild.

Kim the owner, didn’t lose hope. She learned about the grant from Pepsi and with a refreshed outlook she set into motion a plan to win a grant and rebuild.

Time was running out though.

Their organization had been hovering on the charts in the 12th position and without help wouldn’t be able to win the grant.

I received a message through Facebook asking for help.

I responded…

I sent the word out amongst all my Facebook and Twitter friends.

Within two days time this cause secured their place in the Top 10.

Within four days they were in the Top 5.

As of this writing they are in #4 position.

Kent Island Discovery Zone (KIDZ) was on their way to getting that much deserved grant for twenty five thousand dollars.

Social media is all about building relationships! About interacting with people! About coming together to form a collective! To help each other.

By utilizing the power of social media KIDZ was able to literally blast their way past the competition and secure a win.

Now it’s time you secured a win! Use the amazing power of social media and start your campaign. Get the word out about your business, your organization, your cause, your event… whatever it is… let it be known.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. If you would like to cast your vote for KIDZ – there is still time. Voting ends May 31st. Here’s the link… http://www.refresheverything.com/kentislanddiscoveryzone

Three Marvels and a Dud!

I’m going to deviate a bit off my routine and share with you some great technological resources. Hope that’s okay with you!

Technology is great…well, sometimes! (Don’t ask my wife about her horrible experience with her brand new Bosch dishwasher…this high tech dud can’t even clean our dishes. A $599 paperweight is what it is! Very frustrating!)

These resources I’m about to share with you will hopefully save you some time, eliminate the frustrations and possibly make you look like a hero to some. Best of all…

…they’re FREE!

And, they’re on the web!

So, if they don’t work for you… you don’t end up with $599 paperweight… you can just decide not go to the site or simply delete the resource off your computer. It’s that easy!

Yep, they’re websites! Three of them…and they’re true technological marvels!

Gist.com helps you build stronger relationships by combining your inbox and social media sites into a powerful tool for resource and information gathering. Gist claims it will help you “know more about who you know”!

I’ve been using Gist for about 2 weeks and I’m still discovering more it can do. Like merging my Facebook, Twitter and email contacts into an consolidated easy to find, viewable resource. I clicked on one contacts name and up popped all kinds of information…like their posts, blogs, what others where saying about them, their pics and so much more. I really felt like a stalker.

Rapportive.com is a much simpler solution to managing CRM (customer relationship management). It’s only available for Gmail (Google email) right now. So if you have Gmail, you’re in luck and you can give a go! I unfortunately, don’t use my Gmail account much and didn’t have enough contacts (only have backup family email addresses who rarely use social media) that it wasn’t working the way it should. However, those that use Gmail frequently have so far loved it.

And this last one will really come in handy if you have a Mac and are trying to convert files to send to a PC or vise versa. I’ve actually converted movie files from my iPhone to a more acceptable format.

The site is called…. (drum roll please) … YouConvertIt.com

YouConvertIt.com can transfer any file into just about any other file with ease. Documents, files, audio, video… it can do it all. Mac to PC and back again! And it will send your file anywhere you wish it. Talk about easy! This is one of those no-brainer sites you need to bookmark.

There you go 3 sites that will save you time, energy, money and headaches.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. I’m sure you don’t want a $599 paperweight, but if you do let me know…I’ll be glad to send it your way!

Fight the fear!

My son is afraid of the dark!

My daughter, well she’s afraid of spiders!

My neighbor is afraid of germs… so much so that she stays in her house most of the day.

But we as entrepreneurs have different fears!

We fear success! We fear failure! We fear spending money? We fear what people think of us! We fear public speaking! I could go on and on… but being the nice guy I am, I’ll spare you from reading my fear list.

It’s really not that difficult to overcome your fears…if you know how!

I use to fear public speaking…I would avoid it at all costs! Getting in front of people and sharing my thoughts or trying to give a speech just made me nervous as heck. I feared that my zipper was down, or heaven forbid I would get so nervous I might wet myself. (Don’t laugh, many people fear this!)

But you know what? None of that happened! And the more that I spoke in front of people the easier it got. Sure I was nervous…and I probably wet myself, but nobody said anything. I looked fear in the eyes and said I had enough. I wasn’t going to be afraid anymore.

You can do it too! I know you can! Fight the Fear!

Here’s how you can beat those fears…right now! And, I mean really kick ‘em to the ground and conquer ‘em!

Ask yourself these tough questions…

“Why am I afraid of this?” This question helps you figure out why you are afraid… once you understand why…you then have a choice to make…fight or flight. (Fight it or run the heck away!)

“What’s the worse thing that could happen if I fail?” Most people fear loss or embarrassment…yet rarely ever think of anything worse. I wasn’t afraid of speaking, I was afraid of the embarrassment if I messed up. So if wetting my pants was the worse thing that could happen…well that’s still much better than death.

“What could I gain by overcoming this fear?” More confidence! More money! More successes! Yep, all of those things and more!

“What’s the price it’s costing me or my family if I don’t overcome the fear?” Fighting that fear and learning to conquer it can create opportunities that didn’t exist when you were afraid. My friend Ken Glickman (who I recently interviewed for my Passions to Profits series) is a brilliant speaker, yet if he hadn’t overcome that fear of speaking he wouldn’t be the success he is today. And that fear would have kept him from making millions over his lifetime.

Look you can try, stumble and get up and try again or fear stumbling and never even try. Those who learn to conquer their fears are ones who become more successful in life.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. You might fear hiring a consultant or going to a seminar. The negative belief being that money is being spent on a non-tangible item. I was like once too! In fact, I know hundreds of entrepreneurs who were like that. But here’s the skinny…a consultant will help guide you in the right direction, giving you much needed advice and years of real world experience and seminars are great place to glean information from speakers and network with attendees. The money spent is really an investment that will pay dividends.

Stopping the excuses!

Excuses, excuses!

It seems it’s all we hear lately!

People make up excuses to get out of something (like paying a bill, or getting out of a contract, or not coming to work).

It seems the more I talk to other business owners, the lamer the excuses are getting.

“I didn’t like the way your technician dressed!”

“I won’t be in today. My fish is sick and I need to take it to the vet.”

“Your check went in the phone company envelope by mistake. You must have their check. Please sort it out with them.”

“I’m not paying the bill, because your technician left the seat up after using my bathroom!” – wow! a new one for the records

I recently had the opportunity to consult with a client who was tired of excuses. So much so, that he wanted it to be part of his unique selling proposition (or USP for short).

He wanted his clients to understand that he was willing to do whatever was needed to gain their trust. To do what was required without compromising the integrity of the service.

So after many conversations…the USP was selected!

“Service without excuses!”

No excuses from his employees was first and foremost on his mind! But, “Service without excuses!” seemed to have added benefits.

Some of his clients who were constant complainers, stopped coming up with excuses… maybe they thought “Service without excuses!” meant they receive the service and in return they keep the excuses to themselves.

Either way… the USP worked and now his employees are more diligent, more respectful, get the job done and don’t get or give excuses.

Take responsibility for your actions and you’ll be surprised at the number of people who follow your example.

A good USP will help drive that message of responsible business behavior to the masses.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. If you want to know what an USP is… read this article I wrote a few months ago!

http://robanspach.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/whats-an-usp/

Hint…it’s option #1!

On Wednesday I received an email (actually I received 52 unfiltered emails and 277 filtered ones, plus an unknown number of spammed ones I never see)!

Well in this email the sender went on to try to tell me why it’s important to service more customers. Having more customers is great, don’t get me wrong! More customers means more work not necessarily more dollars in your pocket.

In the email the sender shared 3 ways to increase your revenue…
1) Increase your prices
2) Offer more products and services
3) Service more customers

The email went on to explain all the various ways to service more customers and get more customers to buy from you… and blah, blah, blah, blah! Boring!

Sorry, now I’m going on a rant!

If you wish to work harder servicing more customers by all means have a blast!

Maybe, if you’re lucky those extra customers will reach deep down into their pockets and reward your hard work with a shiny nickel.

Or, you can work smarter!

Choose option #1… Increase prices!

Is it risky? Maybe!

Will you lose customers? Again maybe!

Will you make more money? Definitely!

Will you work harder? Doubtful!

“Money is the byproduct of value creation”

If you can build enough value in your product or service, it truly doesn’t matter what your price is, you will always have someone willing to buy from you.

Here’s an example…

Bob and Louise both sell widgets.

Bob sells on average three widgets a week making $500 commission on each widgets.

Louise sells on average three widgets a month. She pulls in $2500 commission on each widget.

Louise was like Bob once, she wanted to work hard and build up her customer base and please lots of people. The only part was she was burning herself out trying to be all things to all people. She also wanted to enjoy life and frankly she wasn’t. She loved selling widgets, but knew things had to change.

She repackaged her pricing, and focused on clients who valued high caliber service.

Here’s where I dazzle you with numbers…

Bob makes about $6000 per month working 40 hours a week versus Louise’s $7500 per month working about half that time.

Bob is only making $37.50 per hour for his hard work and effort trying to service more customers. For her efforts, which she works about 20 hours a week, Louise averages about $93.75 an hour. Poor Bob!

Work smarter, not harder!

Create value!

Raise your prices!

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. A great book, that I highly recommend you read is called ” How to sell at prices higher than your competition”, by Lawrence Steinmetz Ph.D.

That One Idea!

A client who I just started working with called me up and exclaimed…

“That one idea has made us an extra $2,000 in just a few short weeks…thanks Rob!”

He then went on to say he couldn’t wait to implement the many other fantastic marketing ideas and solutions I have in store for him.

I love when clients I’m working with get excited, motivated and passionate for their business again. I love it when they can experience real measurable results right away!

Two thousand smack-a-roo’s may not be a big deal to some, but compound that over a year’s time and you got yourself a hefty sum.

Now with the way the new FTC laws on using testimonials are… I do have to be clear and let you know that results aren’t typical (you could make more or less).

What I will tell you… is that if you follow the advice I suggest… I can assure you that you will make extra sales…and I’ll guarantee my advice. That’s just how I roll!

So with some careful analysis of his situation and few tweaks here and there… he was headed in the right direction.

You’re curious aren’t you?

Well, here’s what I suggested…

I told him to eliminate the one-size-fits-all cookie cutter style of pricing that he had been using for years and opt instead for a customized, personalized, fit-for-a-king package option.

This new option gave his customers better control over the services they wanted, even if those services now cost more.

Sometimes doing things differently may seem to be counterproductive, but you won’t know if you don’t try. It also helps to have an open mind and see the possibilities.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. What could you be doing different in your business right now that could generate extra revenue? Without action you will never know!

Be Interesting!

The subject line says it all… “Be Interesting!”

Regardless of whether you are speaking, writing brilliant copy, posting on social media or making instructional videos… be interesting! Yep, be interesting!

When you keep it interesting…people will want to know more!

And here is where passion plays a key role!

When you are passionate about a subject… you throw your heart, mind and soul into that subject.

You become the “go-to” expert!

It’s that passion that drives you… and it’s that passion that helps you explain to people, who want to know, all about how interesting your subject is.

I’m not a sports fan! Never really had an interest in it. When people talk to me about sports it’s like listening to a foreign language… I just don’t get it.

Then I met a kid who made it interesting for me.

Actually, he goes to school with my son.

He’s only 12 years old, but this kid is a dynamo when it comes to sports. Not only does he play all kinds, he also knows everything about sports. You can see the fire in his eyes. You ask him anything sports related and he’s got a story to tell.

What’s your story?

I’d like to hear it!

And, I bet others would too!

Be interesting and people will seek you out!

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. Everybody likes a good story…learn to tell yours!

Three Simple, Yet Powerful Questions

That totally rocked!

Just wrapped an interview with Ken Glickman for my Passions to Profits audio interview series, and yes, it was amazing!

This interview is jam packed full of brilliant nuggets of information. Ken reveals simple steps to better public speaking, how to build relationships, secrets to direct mail, reshaping the bureaucracy of our mind, and even Angelina Jolie.

Yep, even Angie gets a mention!

But what really impressed me was something so simple…

Actually 3 little somethings…

More like questions!

Here they are!

Where are you?

Where do you want to go?

How are you going to get there?

These three simple questions may not sound powerful…yet they are!

Where are you? Is where you are in your business (or life) where you want to be? If not, then where do you want to be? More sales? More money? More clients? More happiness? More freedoms? Better relationship? Okay, how will get those things?

By asking yourself these questions everyday… you start to reshape the thoughts in your mind…and soon you’ll notice that you are exactly where you wanted to be.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. If you are not happy with the direction your business (or life) is going… it’s time to ask yourself some important questions, then take action.

Making a BIG splash!

In my last post I talked about splashing your customer, to get noticed.
Well, what I’m going to share with you today will have your customers doing it for you!

I need to warn you, once you start doing this you may never want to stop.

The cool thing about this, is your customers (or clients as I like to call them) get involved and help splash others to help you get noticed.

It’s simple to implement…

No skill required!

And, like I said, once you get started…

What the heck is it you ask?

It’s called testimonials.

Getting your clients to give you their thoughts about your service.

For years I have been telling clients to get testimonials. It’s a simple and powerful way to grow your business using someone else’s viewpoint.

But here’s is where it gets interesting!

If you really want to make a big splash, you have to go full force into the water!

Simple worded testimonials are good.

Yet this method goes a step further and will kick your testimonials up a notch.

It’s called video!

Yep, take your Flip camera, iPhone camera or Kodak Zi8 and video your clients testimonial. This is so powerful at helping build your business…and so simple at the same time.

A video testimonial doesn’t have to be long (a few seconds to a few minutes). Yet, it captures your clients essence (the way they stand, how they talk, how they sound, their mannerisms and their sincerity) much better than a written testimonial.

The cool thing is, video gets picked up and ranked better on Google than a written testimonial does. Which means if you add the video testimonial to your website, not only will it help push your website on a higher rank with Google… it will help drive more traffic to your door.

So go ahead start getting video testimonials from your clients and let them help you splash others.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. My suggestion is you load the video testimonial onto YouTube first, then place the converted YouTube file onto your site. This way the video loads faster off your site and doesn’t take up valuable space on your server.

Make a splash!

Splash!

Well, thank goodness this is just a post, because if it was water I would have soaked you.

I really believe that sometimes you need to make a BIG splash just to get noticed.

When I was kid and the favorite pasttime was visiting the local swimming pool, the kids who were labled cool were the ones that dared to be different. They stood out! They got noticed because the weren’t afraid to jump in and make a splash or two.

Then I remembered what my grandfather used to say… if you want to catch fish you have to stand still… don’t even make a ripple in the water.

Well in the business field especially marketing… standing still and causing ripples doesn’t do squat. If my grandfather only knew how much I wanted to take a big rock and throw it in to the water to make a big splash.

We as consumers have become conditioned to the slight ripples…the over 3300 advertising and marketing impressions thrown at us each and every day. And, frankly the only time we take notice is when a business does something crazy or outrageous and makes a BIG splash.

What have you done today to splash your customers and get noticed?

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. Stop making ripples, the fish don’t care…make a splash every once and awhile and let them know you mean business.