5 Questions to Clarify Your Business’ Value Proposition--Darnyelle A. Jervey

Part of the reason why so many service-based entrepreneurs are struggling is because they haven’t taken the time to write down who they want to work with. Having worked with thousands of entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs, I know you find it hard to believe, but trust me; most people do not start a business with any form of a plan.

They don’t plan out what they are going to offer nor do they plan out who they are going to offer it to. The result….a hot mess. You attract:

• Clients who drain your energy and pay you low wages
• Clients who make excuses instead of taking action
• Clients who have no real desire to change their situation but just want to complain and blame it on the “man,” or better yet the economy
• Clients who want a “hook up”
• Products and services that don’t appeal to anyone

Please, stop! Don’t take another client on until you can clearly and succinctly answer the five questions below.

This week’s assignment is very important to the future success of your business. Even if you have a business plan. If your business model has deviated in any way in response to what has happened in the industry you are in or the economy, ask yourself these five questions. These questions will help you begin the process to gaining some semblance of clarity in your business. When you take the time to answer 5 simple, yet effective and often overlooked questions, you will gain tremendous impact to your company’s bottom line:

1. Why is your business necessary? Brainstorm on this one. Right down every answer that pops into your head. Ask clients who have provided a success story why they had to work with you. Again, record every answer. These reasons will be key to your marketing language going forward.

2. What is the transformation your business provides to your ideal clients? Here, think before and after. Before they come to work with you, who are they? After they work with you, who have they become? Why is this important and why will others be inspired to work with you too?

3. What is the problem you solve and what is the system that you utilize to solve the problem? These results should be clear about the steps you take each client through, which leads to the result you would like them to receive in working with you. Being able to articulate this is HUGE for your business growth potential.

4. Who are your products and services for? Please be as specific as possible. Remember, clarity leads to cash. Don’t think you can help everyone. Narrow your focus and in doing so, find the people who can’t live without your solution.

5. What happens if they don’t buy your products and services? What will they continue to experience if they don’t work with you? What is the pain they will continue to feel until they choose you as their pain killer?

These five questions will lead you to a significant breakthrough about how you must begin to conduct business. When you consider these five questions before you contact a prospect, writing a marketing piece, present your company at a networking event or any other business related task, you will begin to get clear results that help you to grow your company.

Take time this week and respond to each of these questions in detail. Upon completion, you will have some key marketing language that can be converted into market pieces, website copy and other items to show you as a magnet to your ideal clients.

Be Incredible,

To get step by step assistance in how to attract your ideal clients, register for my Ideal Client Bootcamp. For details visit http://www.incredibleoneenterprises.com/ifbc

©2011 by Darny

elle A. Jervey. All Rights Reserved. Darnyelle A. Jervey, The Incredible Factor Business Mentor and Coach, is the founder of IncredibleOneEnterprises.com and the Leverage Your Incredible

Factor System® a proven step by step program for turning your passion into profit. For more information and a FREE audio CD "How to Use Your Incredible Factor to Attract MORE Ideal Clients" visit http://www.incredibleoneenterprises.com.

7 key questions to craft your ideal client profile– Darnyelle A. Jervey

When it comes to starting your business marketing efforts, it’s very important to realize two very important truths. Number one, marketing is the oxygen of your business. Truthfully, you are not in the business you think you are in; you are actually in the business of marketing – marketing your products and services, that is. And secondly, if you do not get clear on who you are marketing your products and services to, you will not benefit immensely in your business life.

I’ve watched it happen time and time again – a new small business owner gets started in business and is very excited. That excitement includes lots of confusion because they are distorted enough to believe that they are here to help/serve EVERYONE. You CANNOT help everyone, no matter how good you are. This is a very popular misconception amongst new entrepreneurs…they believe that if they target their marketing efforts by selecting a niche they will somehow be leaving tons of money on the table. The fact is, you increase your chances of earning in direct proportion to your gift by selecting a niche market. When you become clear about whom your product and service is PERFECT for, you begin to invite them into your experience and as a result of saying exactly what your target markets needs to hear to take action, you increase your chances at success in selling your products and services.

In my own business and being wet behind the ears, I tried the whole “I work with everyone” approach. A few not so perfect clients later, I realized that not only was my value and service NOT for everyone, but I reserved the right to choose who I want to serve in my business. I immediately hired a coach, that’s right, I hired a coach for one reason – it’s hard to see the picture when you are the frame. That was five years ago and now my business is thriving because I got out of my own way and invited someone in my field with more experience than I to help me develop the mindsets and marketing strategies to earn significant income.

As a business coach, I help my clients craft their ideal client profile by asking a series of thought-provoking questions. During this process, I force them to look at the areas that they probably would not have otherwise thought about when it comes to clarifying who they want to work with. Because my clients can’t see the big picture and often their mindsets hinder their ability to achieve business growth and success, when we complete this activity every time, they get BIG results….The result…every time is a concise encapsulation of their one ideal client. In doing so, they gain clarity on how to communicate to their ideal client and their ideal clients appear, ready to take action on their products and services. They begin to attract and turn potential clients into paying clients over and over again.

Because I want to see your small business thrive and I know that it will when you establish your ideal client profile, I will share a few of the most important questions you must ask yourself if you truly want to grow your small business with the right clients from the start.

• Is your ideal client a man or woman?
• Does your ideal client fit into any special groups, categories or professions?
• How much money does your ideal client make?
• How many times each year does your ideal client buy products and services like those you provide?
• How much money does your ideal client spend on products and services like those you provide each year?
• What is the pain point or struggle that your ideal clients have?
• How do you take away their pain? Show results not steps.

There are many more important questions to ask to craft your ideal client profile. These are just some of the very important ones. I offer my clients an entire worksheet and framework for identifying and crafting their ideal client profile. If, as you read the questions suggested that you answer and felt uncomfortable or anxious, perhaps a mindset shift is necessary. Working with a coach will help you to get out of your own way and open the flood gates to the success you started your business to enjoy.

Be Incredible,
Darnyelle

To get step by step assistance in how to attract your ideal clients, register for my Ideal Client Bootcamp. For details visit http://www.incredibleoneenterprises.com/ifbc

©2011 by Darnyelle A. Jervey. All Rights Reserved. Darnyelle A. Jervey, The Incredible Factor Business Mentor and Coach, is the founder of IncredibleOneEnterprises.com and the Leverage Your Incredible Factor System® a proven step by step program for turning your passion into profit. For more information and a FREE audio CD "How to Use Your Incredible Factor to Attract MORE Ideal Clients" visit http://www.incredibleoneenterprises.com.

5 Strategic Steps to Creating a Product Progression Plan – Darnyelle A. Jervey

Have you ever created a fabulous product, sold out of it and wondered what your next big thing to help your clients would be?

What about putting everything you have into one product and not knowing what to offer next?

If you answered yes to either question or you’ve never given it a second thought, chances are you need a product progression plan.

A product progression plan is just what it sounds like: a plan that helps your ideal clients progress from one product to the next to solve their problems so that you become their solution for life. If you’re in business to build customers for life, then you must be committed to creating products and services that help your ideal clients progress from problem to solution over a period of time.

What I found to be true is that as an industry expert, you must become a GPS to your ideal clients and prospects. You must give them one direction (in the form of a product or service) at a time until they reach their ultimate destination (a clearly demonstrated solution to the problem they have that you solve for them).

I have found that most entrepreneurs don’t ask themselves “what’s next?” when it comes to consistently delivering high value products and services to their customer/client base. They just have their one big solution and don’t think ahead to discover what their clients will require next. Or better still, how to break the solution up into bite-sized pieces so they aren’t overwhelmed at any given point in time.

Enter a product progression plan. Creating one can be the difference between being a one- hit wonder or a ROCK Star for life in the eyes of your customers.

Your assignment this week is to begin to create your own product progression plan. Having a well thought out plan for how you will continually serve your clients is essential to growing a profitable business. To begin, be sure to list all of your existing properties that were created to solve the problems of your ideal clients. Ask yourself, what problem is solved with which product? Be sure that every problem or by-problem is solved by a product or service that you offer. Once you’ve listed everything you’ve got and offer out, follow these simple questions to detail your progression plan so that going forward you never have to ask yourself what’s next when it comes to solving problems for your customers:

1. Start with your Irresistible Free Offer. What is the transformation it will provide to your ideal client prospects? What else will they “get” when they subscribe to your marketing list? How can you consistently ensure that value will be provided to them?

2. Ask yourself, after they finish with my IFO, what is the next logical product or service offering for them to consider to deepen their experience with my company? Write that down. Do you already have this product in a sellable format? If not, create it in multiple mediums and package it and make it available as soon as possible.

3. Then ask yourself, how will you tell them about it? What will the service delivery entail? How will I know that I created the right mix for that problem?

4. After that product is created and available, again, ask yourself what will they need once they have solved that part of the problem? What problems have been created by solving that part of the problem? Do you have an offer for that problem?

5. Keep asking yourself these questions until there are no other products or services for you to offer to your clients then go back and add dates to your plan for when and how you will let your ideal clients know about your products and services.

Once you’ve answered each of these questions in detailed succession, create a systematic approach to getting these products into the hands of your ideal prospects by creating a timeline and approach for releasing the information. If you do this correctly, you will have an arsenal of products and services to offer to your prospects for years and years to come.

©2011 by Darnyelle A. Jervey. All Rights Reserved. Darnyelle A. Jervey, The Incredible Factor Business Mentor and Coach, is the founder of IncredibleOneEnterprises.com and the Leverage Your Incredible Factor System® a proven step by step program for turning your passion into profit. For more information and a FREE audio CD "How to Use Your Incredible Factor to Attract MORE Ideal Clients" visit http://www.incredibleoneenterprises.com.

5 Juicy Strategies for Building Customer for Life - Darnyelle A. Jervey

The Customer is always right.

While I don't entirely agree that this statement is true 100% of the time, I do believe that the customer is always entitled to respect, good quality and exceptional customer service. Regardless of the size or type of business you own, the lifeline of your business, along with great marketing and financial management, is your customer service skills. Many entrepreneurs, especially miss the ball on this intricate detail. It is essential to have clients rave about your products and services, join your unpaid sales force - that's right, they love you so much they bring you new clients out of sheer delight with how you work with and for them.

I know that in my world, having started my career in a Corporate Customer Service giant that it is essential to always be thinking of yourself as the customer. When you do, it helps you to create products and services that appeal to them, creating an experience they cannot wait to deepen. When you project this mantra each day in your business, it shows and your customers keep showing up.

Since our inception, we've worked with hundreds of clients who come back, over and over again. I have a growing list of clients who have deemed me their business coach for life. I share this not to brag about how wonderful I am but instead to share how much I value customer service and bend over backwards to ensure my customer's needs and expectations are always exceeded.

When you do make a mistake, know that your customers know you are human and they are simply looking for acknowledgement and courtesy; which goes a long way and saves you from having to spend money locating another brand new customer. And yes, it is so true that when we have a bad experience we tell twice as many people as when we have a good one. So, if you want to avoid the backseat banter of clients' gone AWOL, try these juicy customer service strategies:

1. Create a contact list of all your customers (a customer is someone who has made a purchase from you during the lifetime of your business). From that list, periodically send cards or make phone calls just to touch base with them and to see how they are doing. Let them know about what is currently happening at your company. This will go miles and miles towards keeping them engaged in your offerings. Remember, it should be your goal to make 5 calls each day and send a minimum of 5 handwritten notes each week.

Bonus: Create a systematic way of staying in touch with your clients and increase your productivity through the automation.

2. When a new customer purchases from you, maximize the first 30 days of their experience using an immediate thank you card or hand written note, or perhaps a video, and of course an auto-responder system that checks in on their progress and lets them know what they should purchase next to deepen their learning. Tell them what to do next by creating an engaging new customer experience.

3. Statistics show that most consumers who enjoy a product or service would like to hear from the company at least twice each week, to that end be sure you have a systematic approach to staying in touch with your customers on a weekly basis.

4. Require some form of client information sheet so you can capture key personal data like each client's birthday, anniversary and children's names. Call them, email them or send them notes on each of those key days or mention their children in cards, calls and other notes. There may be times that you will be the only birthday or anniversary wish they receive and as sad as that is, it will definitely build customers for life.

5. When you offer a special incentive or offer savings on your products and services tell them immediately. Also, send periodic coupons via the regular mail with a longer expiration date.

Bonus: And when they order from you, always offer some form of bonus and free gift with purchase, they will LOVE it and keep coming back for more!

My personal recommendation is to create a customer service plan, a systematic approach to keeping your customers engaged, equipped and informed about how you have created products and services just for them. In creating your plan include these elements as well as others that help you to deliver impeccable service to a group of people who understand your value, evidenced by them being your clients. Creating a plan to service them will help you to be more productive in your business. Your plan should include the steps and sequences you will take to serve them with detailed processes that makes this level of interaction in your business easy for your team to duplicate.

It's true we are only as good as the number of customers who buy our products and services. Don't have any customers; you better check your customer service.

©2011 by Darnyelle A. Jervey. All Rights Reserved. Darnyelle A. Jervey, The Incredible Factor Business Mentor and Coach, is the founder of IncredibleOneEnterprises.com and the Leverage Your Incredible Factor System® a proven step by step program for turning your passion into profit. For more information and a FREE audio CD "How to Use Your Incredible Factor to Attract MORE Ideal Clients" visit http://www.incredibleoneenterprises.com.

5 Quick Tips to ensure that your offer is Irresistible - Darnyelle A. Jervey

Rita's Water Ice, Baskin Robbins and my favorite Japanese restaurant in the mall all do it. Most savvy entrepreneurs who know marketing is the oxygen in their business do it. You call yourself doing it but it's not working for you. What am I talking about? Your free offer.

When I walk through the mall, I always go down to the food court to see what they're offering because I know it's going to be good, juicy, very tasty and make me want more.

I look forward to trying the latest flavor at Rita's and Baskin Robbins because I know that when the sample is good, the full size won't disappoint.

Can you say the same about your free offer to add new prospects to your sales funnel?

It is my personal suggestion that you create the same type of reaction to your products and services by doing something different, ensuring that your sample doesn't disappoint. And, by the way, don't say "join my mailing list;" instead offer them a sample of your Incredible Factor - that thing you do that sets you apart from the sea of others who do it too. If you want market share in your industry you've got to offer something irresistible - or as the Godfather puts it, "make them an offer they can't refuse."

Failure to do that leaves you sitting alone with your product or service in mass quantities - not serving the world, not changing lives. And that defeats the purpose of why you went into business, right?

So how, then, do you change your fate by offering low value "fluff" to those who visit your website and click away without joining your list or making a purchase?

The best way to get them into your funnel is by offering them a "taste" of the solution to a problem they (your ideal clients and prospects) have, showing them that you are that irresistible!

Your irresistible free offer should be juicy, leaving them wanting to deepen their experience with you. It should also be high value and content rich - no fluff allowed.

When you put your sample into a free report, audio download, CD, checklist or video series, you are guaranteeing they will want much more of you and therefore enter into your sales funnel, becoming a customer for life when you consistently treat them to more high value, high content information using your weekly e-zine and other "stay connected" marketing vehicles.

I'll be honest here; it took me several tries to develop THE offer that is now adding tons of new people to my list each week. It might be necessary for you to really clarify what your ideal clients needs are so that your offer is the exact "sample" they were looking for.

Here are my 5 quick tips to consider when creating an irresistible free offer.

1. Consider what your ideal clients biggest problem is and use those words to name your IFO. I've said this before, we get cute instead of clear when we are talking about what our clients need from us.

2. Determine the medium through which you will offer your solution to their problem. You've got options and options are great - how do your ideal clients prefer to receive information?

3. Use social media to test your new IFO by posting something like this - "If there was a checklist/audio/special report/CD, etc. created that would do (insert problem it solves,) would you want it NOW?" See how many people respond. If not enough say they want it, go back to the drawing board. You failed to capture their attention from the beginning; you've got to "have them at hello."

4. Have a graphic designer create a professional image for you that represents your offer and your brand nicely and professionally. Don't try to do it yourself unless your Incredible Factor is graphic design. Shift your mindset and invest in your business.

5. Update your opt-in box and create your landing or squeeze page contents to begin attracting new prospects with your newly designed IFO! Congratulations, you're now ready to give them something they can feel and grow your list by leaps and bounds because you've become a client magnet….simply irresistible.

©2011 by Darnyelle A. Jervey. All Rights Reserved. Darnyelle A. Jervey, The Incredible Factor Business Mentor and Coach, is the founder of Incredible One Enterprises.com and the Leverage Your Incredible Factor System® a proven step by step program for turning your passion into profit. For more information and a FREE audio download "How to Use Your Incredible Factor to Attract MORE Ideal Clients" visit http://www.incredibleoneenterprises.com