Guest Blog by Tracey Mathers.

In today’s competitive marketplace how do we stand out in a sea of sameness? There are lots of people doing what we do, how can we make sure people see us?

The first thing is you can’t sell a secret, so if you are not putting yourself out there in the social media world, or directly connecting with your clients through your own form of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, then you may be losing valuable connection.

Business is tough. We have competitors who are constantly trying to do it better than us, but while they are doing it better, have they perhaps forgotten the one important thing that we all still love, the human touch. Being thanked, being recognised and appreciated for spending money with your company. We need to look seriously at how we are staying connected with our clients/customers on a daily basis.

If you have a service-based business, how well are you looking after people that shop or work with you. Are you staying in touch, keeping them up to date on what you can do for them, sharing your ideas and thoughts with them, making them feel important?

If you have a brand, and you have a very clear understanding in what that brand can do for others, then sing it to the world! Be loud and proud and willing to share and build long lasting relationships for business survival.

How do we do this? There is so much to talk about in this area but here are 3 important ones

• Through connection: Did you know that currently there are 467 million LinkedIn users worldwide in over 200 countries, 1.86 Billion Facebook monthly users, 600 million Instagram users and 313 million Twitter active users but I Billion unique visits are made monthly to sites with embedded tweets. That is a whole lot of connection and relationships we could be building right there. Get known through social media for what you do, but more importantly what you can do for others.
• CRM systems: I went to a networking breakfast last week, I always collect business cards but I used this breakfast as an experiment, simply because I felt that these 20 people would be people I would use potentially in my business. I more than likely would have a need to call on them, in the future. Out of the 20 people only 2 asked me for my business card. Build your business through connection. Don’t miss an opportunity to get names for your growing database. These are people we should be connecting with at least fortnightly to keep them up to date with your business.
• Keeping it real: There is nothing nicer than shopping or working with someone and you get a personalised note saying thanks, it does not have to be a novel, but a few words on why you are happy they chose YOU over your competitors to spend their money with. If you want to stand out then show people that you have the time to make them feel special.

Don’t be afraid to ask your social media network for help, I remember when I had sold my business, I had close to 4000 pairs of shoes to get rid of in 3 weeks. I was panicking.

I had a huge marketing plan ready to roll out that included radio, maybe some TV, press and it was going to cost me big bucks. Before I hit the go button on that I did some fun social media videos, telling my story, my predicament, and asking for help. I also asked people to share for me. I had over 700 likes and over 500 shares in the very first video alone. At the end of the 3 weeks I had only 92 pairs of shoes left, I had very happy customers and it was a cheap marketing result. The only marketing, I paid for, was one ad in a well-known local magazine. But everyone that entered the store talked about how fabulous the videos were on social media and how they saw it through a friends share.

We need to start thinking differently. Experiment, try different things, until we work out what works for us. No point standing there talking about how tough times are, that is not going to change anytime soon. Learn to adapt and make the changes needed so people want to do business with you.

Look after people, loyalty still does exist.

After being a business owner for 25 years I have now sold my business to concentrate on my mentoring clients. I want to help people to find their WHY and their HOW to make the necessary changes to improve their business and personal lives. Taking control of where you are, but more importantly where you want to be, is what it is all about.

You need to work out what is stopping you, what changes need to be made or improved on, so you can move forward with gusto and determination. Go get the life you want, it’s ready for you. I would love to help you. Please get in touch for a chat via this website www.traceymathers.com, or email me at tracey@traceymathers.com