Here's a common scenario: You're a first-time entrepreneur with your very first shiny new business. You want to get out there and sell your products or services to your clients. But there's a problem: They want to know how long you've been doing this for and, because you're an honest person, you admit that you've only been doing this for a week (or a month or whatever brief time you've been in business).

Challenging, isn't it?! Some entrepreneurs will simply lie and make up a number but most of us know (because our moms told us) that honesty is the best policy. So, how can you be honest about your lack of running a business while still positioning yourself as an expert? It's tricky but it is possible.

First, keep in mind that customers don’t care how long you've been operating as a sole proprietor (or whatever your business model is). The questions they are asking are for their own peace of mind: They want to know if you have the chops to deliver on your promise. And even though you're new to the BUSINESS world, you probably do have what it takes. So, answer the question they actually want to know rather than the one they are asking. If they ask something like, "How long have you been selling these widgets", then answer truthfully but bring in your other widget-related experience with something like, "I'm actually fairly new to the widget-SELLING side of the business but I've been working in widgets for the past ten years."

But don't stop there! Be sure to bring back the conversation to the benefits they'll receive. For example, continuing on from what you just said in the past paragraph, you might continue with, "So I'm not only providing widgets but I'm also bringing a decade of industry-insider experience. I know widgets inside and out."

You might face the challenge, however, of not having specific industry experience in the product or service you're now selling. However, this does not have to be detrimental either. Don't answer the customer's question with a product-specific or industry-specific answer. Instead, broaden the answer in a way that allows you to bring in your out-of-industry expertise. For example, someone who goes from selling boats to selling cars might talk about having experience selling transportation. Someone who goes from selling airplanes to selling houses might talk about having experience with complex, big-ticket items that have a lifecycle of a decade. The solution here is to find the common points between what you used to do and what you do now and highlight those.

In doing so, you'll assure the customer that you can deliver on your promise and you'll also find that other aspects of your previous business experience (once thought to be unrelated) can actually be included as part of your expertise.

Brought to by you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.

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Years ago, when someone wanted to start a business, they’d need to give it some thought and save up some money and slowly build up their company with careful investment and scaling. Things have changed dramatically. Thanks to today’s wonderful world of web, people who want to start small businesses can… very easily. They have access to products or services to sell, marketing opportunities that provide exposure around the world, and technical infrastructure to get the job done.

Unfortunately, this has created a different problem: The ease of starting a business means that people don’t need to give much thought before hanging out their proverbial "I’m in business" shingle. And the result? A glut of same-as businesses that don’t look different from each other.

A classic example I’ve noticed is the "social media expert" business. A quick look at Twitter profile information reveals that MANY people call themselves social media experts, even if they have very little real experience. And many more are signing on each day with the same claim. But there are other examples, too: business consultants, ecommerce sites, financial advisors, get-out-of-debt and foreclosure mitigation services… these and many others are all suffering the same problem: they are basically clones of a thousand other businesses.

Folks, if your business is suffering from a lack of clientele, there could be many reasons, but I’m willing to bet that many of those reasons tie back to one key problem: a lack of differentiation. If you’re a social media expert, great. But what is your angle? If you’re a business consultant, great. But what is your angle? If you’re a financial advisor, great. But what is your angle? What makes you different from the hundred thousand others out there claiming to do the same thing?

There are plenty of ways to get your angle – which I’ll talk about in a moment. But once you have it, you’ll unlock the door to a new level of success. That’s because people will come to associate you and your business and your angle all together and this angle, this differentiation, will set you apart.

So, what’s your angle?

If you can make your angle to be something about your product or service, you should do so. For example, if you’re a financial advisor, why not specialize in a certain area. For example, specialize only in tech stocks or specialize only in helping retired people manage their savings. If you’re a foreclosure mitigation service, specialize only in duplexes in the Northeast. If you’re a social media expert, specialize only in Facebook for B2C businesses that sell products (not services) to clients.

You might also make your angle to be something else. As hinted above, you might make your angle related to a geographic limitation. Or, you might make your angle related to something unique about you. Even something as simple as your unusual name could give you the slight differentiation you need to be memorable.

Find your angle and set your business apart!

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Quick, name the most profitable segment of customers in your business.

Most business owners who answer this question will usually answer based on a demographic segmentation. For example, they might say "married women, aged 20 to 40" or "executives of Fortune 500 firms" or "B2C businesses with over $1 million in sales". Knowing these segments is helpful.

But if your answer was like one of those answers, you’re missing out on a slightly narrower and even more profitable segment! Repeat customers. Your existing customer list is your most profitable segment of customers. When you sell to them, it costs you less – per dollar earned – to generate that revenue. The most obvious reason is that they already know and trust you, so there is little or no marketing cost (although there might be some customer-relationship-nurturing costs); and they already trust you to deliver on your promises, so the sales cycle is shorter.

In her SmallBizTrends blog post, "Selling to Existing Customers", she outlines 3 reasons why existing customers should be high on your list of people to make sales to. You can read the full article here: http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/09/paying-attention-sales-strategy.html.

To summarize her reasons, she says that selling to existing customers "enhances the bond between you and your client", "presents opportunities for increased business", and "is a cost effective marketing strategy".

Her article is great but does not go into specifics about how to do communicate with existing clients, so we’ll give you some ideas here:

* When you connect with your client in person or over the phone, also connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and any other social media that you use. This will give you an easy way to gain insight into their lives and they will hear from you from time to time in a non-threatening (non-sales!) environment.

* Be intentional in your communication to existing customers. Far too many businesses spend their time, money, and effort on convincing people that they are a credible organization. New prospects don’t know that and they need to hear the message… but previous customers already know that and the message is redundant to them. To your existing customers, your message should be "you know we provide value; let us provide even more value for you!"

* Today’s technology gives us many advantages to segment our marketing between new and existing customers. Even something as simple as a database or as complex as a CRM system enables you to split your communication efforts so the right customer hears the right message.

* Reward repeat buyers with programs that enhance loyalty and sales. This might include something like the popular "Buy 9 Get One Free" program or a membership into an insiders club which provides across-the-board discounts, invitations to insiders-only events, and more.

Your prospects will take a lot of your energy to turn them into customers. And once they’re customers, don’t give up on them! Invest time into nurturing your relationship with existing customers. You’ll increase the amount of per-client PROFIT you make, and you’ll solidify your customer base for the long-term.

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This is a guest post from a consultant who wishes to remain anonymous.

Some people market their businesses locally. And a new trend toward "hyperlocal" business is increasing in popularity, as if we are like prodigal entrepreneurs who journeyed far and wide and then returned to the family in the end.

But let me give you a devil’s advocate view of local marketing; the reasons I don’t market my business locally. (Now, I need to make a BIG disclaimer here before I go any further: This applies to my business, and might not apply to yours. A real estate agent, for example, who needs local clients might disagree with my opinions.

First, online marketing has a broad, global reach. If I want to reach my local market, I need to find local marketing opportunities and they are just not there yet. (At least where I live). Yes, there are paid options but they are expensive. And there are offline options but they aren’t trackable. My options: Inexpensive and highly effective articles and press releases online or expensive billboards or newspaper ads or "pennysaver" ads that don’t reach my niche market. So, given the choice between better ROI and local, I’ll take the better ROI.

What would change my mind is when local marketing becomes as big of an opportunity as online (read: global) marketing. But right now, it’s too fragmented and not worth the cost.

Second, local business comes with a different set of rules. Want to know what drove me away from running a local business? I had two customers, each of whom insisted that I had to attend meetings at their office (even though I had nothing to contribute) and that I had to drive there to pick up my consulting check and no, they wouldn’t pay me for the hour or more commuting time.

When they called me up for more work, they didn’t understand why I turned down the work: But the unpaid commuting time (when I could be billing) didn’t make sense to them.

What would change my mind is when local business realizes that you can accomplish just as much (I’d argue that you can accomplish more) at your office than at theirs.

Third, local business has different pay and hours expectations. As a global consultant, I’m happy to stay up late (for me) to talk to my clients in Singapore. But they understand that I do have downtime. However, my local client called me up on a Sunday evening and begged me to do some extra work even though I wasn’t able to spend the time on it. And when it came to payment, they argued that my rate was far too high compared with other local consultants.

What would change my mind is when local businesses accept that there is bigger world out there and they treat local partners the same as they would treat international ones.

I think this will change in the near future. We are seeing a local trend returning as people discover that they have millions of buyers on their doorstep which they’d forgotten about when they chased after the millions on their virtual doorstep. Until then, I’m closed for business (in my own town).

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Some days, when you look at your schedule, you probably think that an extra pair of hands would be helpful. Unless you’re a mad scientist working in your mountaintop laboratory, it’s not likely that you’ll be able to attach an extra pair of hands and arms from your shoulders any time soon. [Insert mad-scientist-style cackling laughter here]. You need another set of hands to help you get more done, and you’ll need a person to go with them.

• No additional phone line
• No computer or printer
• No desk or office supplies
• No additional light/power/heat charges
• No interviews and resumes
• No sick-day replacements

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The internet gives today’s businesses a powerful advantage: With just a few clicks of a mouse, your small business – perhaps run from a spare bedroom or your dining room table – can compete with the megacorporations for clients from around the world. The web makes your business a globally focused business.

It’s a thrilling, borderless time of business: We can start our day doing some work for a client in Germany, then collaborate in real time with a vendor in Brazil, talk finish our day by talking to a prospect in Singapore… all from the comfort of our home. That’s a business environment that includes billions of people.

The concept of having billions of people in your supply chain – whether vendors or customers – would have shocked our forefathers. Hundreds and even thousands of years ago, commerce was a local effort. Products were created and services were offered to the clans or tribes or villages or towns nearby. But constraints of time, shipping, wastage, bandits, and the unknown (summed up nicely in the phrase "here be dragons") kept people from going farther. Over time, shipping played a greater role but there were plenty of middlemen to make importing a costly endeavor. So, business was done locally, which brought its own challenges and opportunities.

It’s interesting that we’ve moved to the other side of the spectrum today – many businesses feel compelled to have a global focus at the expense of a local focus. But it’s changing. To borrow a term: "Local is the new global". Here’s where we’re seeing the shifting trends:

SOCIAL MEDIA: The local business succeeded because it built solid relationships with a few suppliers and a few prospects. Those relationships became more than business relationships; personal friendships were built.

Case in point: your grandparents or great-grandparents could probably walk down to their local bank and borrow money based solely on their reputation and relationship with the bank manager.

Another case in point: No one puts things "on your tab" anymore, but that was a service offered by local businesses and based entirely on relationship. When the web introduced the concept of global business, plenty of small businesses created a façade of big business with flashy websites and professionalism. But today’s social media marketing is going back to the concept of relationships as people great a network of friends (i.e., Facebook) or followers (i.e., Twitter) or readers (i.e., Blogs) or contacts (i.e., LinkedIn) and do business with those people.

Additionally, Facebook uses the concept of Networks to help users find each other. And Twitter users who Tweet about local topics use the #cityname hashtag (i.e., #NYC for New York City).

GOOGLE GOES LOCAL: Another area we’re seeing a resurging emphasis in local business is in local marketing efforts. Google AdWords give users the option to drill down a target audience to the local level and Google Analytics can help users see who visits from what city. Google Maps help to pinpoint where you are so that someone who types "Restaurants in St. Louis" will find your St. Louis-based restaurant.

CRAIGSLIST: Craigslist is a popular marketing tool but it is most useful in the local market – its structure is set up that way and the local aspect helps to mitigate some of the scam risks that are present in that marketing channel.

I could go on and on. These are just some of the web-based marketing opportunities that are trending back toward doing business locally. And add to this list the local marketing channels that never went away, like networking and Yellow Pages.

Businesses need to be global, but let’s not ignore our next door neighbors as a potential client as well!

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The other day we had a heavy rainstorm and for about 15 minutes the power was out. Not a big deal. And since I work on a laptop that had a charged battery, I was able to keep working. The only thing was, I had no internet connection for those 15 minutes because, although my laptop is powered by a battery and kept on ticking, my wireless hub is powered through the outlet in the wall. And wouldn’t you know it, during those 15 minutes I thought of a million things that I needed to check online but couldn’t get to!

This brief "mandatory offline" time prompted me to think about my mix of online and offline marketing. Businesses need both. Unfortunately, small businesses don’t have a lot of resources to spend on a lot of marketing online and offline. It makes sense that many go online in order to gain exposure to a potentially larger audience.

But offline marketing is just as important. Now, I believe that a lot of offline marketing is undergoing dramatic changes right now. Just look at the print periodical industry to see how newspapers (and, to a lesser degree, magazines) are struggling to stay afloat. Radio and television advertising is often priced beyond the reach of small businesses, too.

But there are other offline marketing efforts that small business owners can take part in: Business cards, post cards, brochures, and direct mailing are four good examples. And, networking (for example, at a Chamber of Commerce event or an industry convention) is another vital offline marketing opportunity.

If your business has been focusing on the online marketing aspect for a while, that’s good. It’s important. But don’t neglect your offline marketing as well. Here’s a few steps for you to take to make sure that your online and offline marketing mix are working together:

Step 1: Plan. Look at all of your marketing – both online and offline – and figure out how it contributes to your sales pipeline. Does it create leads? Does it help to convert prospects into customers? Chances are, each marketing method does several things but probably only one or two primary things. Figure out what those are and watch for gaps!

Step 2: Unify. Once you’ve seen how each part of your online and offline marketing mix contributes to your sales pipeline, unify your message. Your brand – which includes your business name, Unique Selling Proposition (USP), your logo, your contact information, and some relevant supporting messaging – need to be present and similar across all of your marketing media.

Step 3: Increase. After choosing a handful of offline and online marketing, plan to increase those opportunities slowly. It’s often easy and tempting to increase your online marketing at a faster pace (because new free sites are added to the web so frequently) but make sure that you don’t leave your offline marketing behind. If the choice is to add a third or fourth Twitter clone to your marketing or to go to a networking event, you might want to consider the offline, face-to-face event. Although you’ll meet fewer people, your very presence may potentially have a greater impact.

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When your business considers its marketing mix, how do you decide what kinds of marketing are in and what kinds are out? Usually, there’s a combination of reach, frequency, and cost, and hopefully a consideration of whether the marketing medium is aligned with your product or service.

Those are important considerations but there is one that often gets missed, particularly from small (and sometimes midsized) businesses. It’s the target factor.

While it can be valuable to get your message out to as many people as possible, it is often far more valuable to get your message out to a highly targeted group instead. Unfortunately, the targeted marketing is often ignored in favor of the more general broad-based effort, often because of cost. After all, so the thinking goes, doesn’t it make more sense to spend less per eyeball?

Let’s look at an example:

Company A sells B2B services and pays $1000 for 5 ads in a general newspaper. The paper will reach 1 million households.

Company B sells the same B2B services and pays $1000 for 5 ads in a business newspaper. The paper will reach 100,000 businesses.

In this example, Company A’s marketing seems to provide more value because it gives a lower per-eyeball cost. However, Company B’s marketing will probably be the best value. The reason is the market reading the ad. Spending $1000 to reach a million households is just fine, except that only a fraction of those household readers are decision-making business people who are thinking about the needs of their business. And, by the time they have are able to act, even fewer will recall the ad or the company.

Company B’s marketing, which seems to cost more per eyeball, will likely return better value because its readers are business readers focused on business problems. The ad is delivered in a format the reaches them while their mind is on business. It’s a much better target.

So, while marketing reach is important, targeted marketing is more important. It will cost more per eyeball, but it can also deliver far more customers to your business.

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Have you ever seen a herd of (well, anything – cattle, horses, buffalo, etc.)? They all end up going in the same direction and seem to work with one mind. If one goes over the cliff, the others follow out of sheer momentum.

Business can so easily be influenced by the "herd mentality". One new business might see opportunity in offering the same product or service as a competitor, but offering it at a lower price. Or another business might see that their competitor has foreseen a trend and embraced it, so they follow suit.

Soon, every business tends to look the same. Differentiation doesn’t last long when all the competitors in an industry seem to be thinking as one. Some examples: Once Chrysler produced the first minivan, all other automakers jumped on the bandwagon and now everyone has a minivan in their lineup. Or, want another example of herd mentality? Open your Yellow Pages to the "Pizza" section. You’ll find page after page of nearly identical offerings within a narrow price band.

To fight the herd mentality you need to stop following and start leading. Yes, others will follow but if you achieve market leadership and maintain that position, you’ll have the supreme competitive advantage.

Here are some ways to become a Market Leader:

First, envision what it means to be a market leader in your industry. And picture yourself in that role. This kind of "predictive imagining" sounds silly but plenty of motivational speakers and success coaches believe that the first step to success is to imagine that you’ve achieved it.

Second, become an expert. Don’t settle for knowing the same things that everyone else knows. Become the best source of information on your business. When your competitors call you up to ask you a question, you’ll have attained that coveted market leadership position.

Third, become a thought leader in your field. Don’t be content to keep doing the same things that others do in the same way that others do them. Develop new processes, invent new tools, and discover new methodologies.

Fourth, write. Produce content about your field for magazines, newspapers, or even a book. You may not be a natural writer, so you might need to outsource some help, but getting your expertise "on paper" (or "on screen" as the case may be) will help to position you as a market leader. It’s okay to produce work that others in your industry will read.

Fifth, teach. When you teach others, you become the true expert. Customers searching for the best of the best will want to work with the one who teaches all the others to be successful. Would you rather order pizza from a random pizza shop or from "the shop that taught all the others to make delicious pizza"?

Sixth, speak. Set aside time from your schedule to speak. You might want to speak at Chamber of Commerce meetings or industry events or local networking events. Host seminars for customers and speak on relevant topics. If you want to really be an industry leader, host seminars for vendors or for other organizations in your industry.

Seventh, advocate. Get involved as a representative of your industry in lobby groups, policy groups, and industry roundtables. Drive change among lawmakers. Become THE person in your industry who makes waves for positive change.

Market leadership. It’s the best way to accelerate beyond your competition and position yourself as the best person for customers to call.

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The sales funnel or sales pipeline is a short-hand way of referring to the steps you take to generate leads, qualify prospects, and turn them into customers. You need to generate so many leads to find so many qualified prospects to convert them into so many customers. The numbers are different for every industry, of course, but those are the basic steps.

Do you know what your ratios are? I would venture to say that most businesses do not. If you want to transform your business, to take it to the next step, to knock it out of the park, to step on the gas (or whatever other metaphor you want to use), start with knowing your pipeline.

First: Know the specific steps you take. Chances are, they are similar to the "leads – prospects – customers" steps mentioned above, but they will be more specific. Perhaps you generate leads from a lead generation site, you qualify prospects with positioning material, and you convert them into customers with a proposal and follow-up call. (That’s the sales pipeline of a consultant I know). Or maybe you generate leads from people who call a 1-800 number for more information, you qualify them by sending them an information kit, and you convert them into customers with a face-to-face call. (That’s the sales pipeline of several insurance companies).

Second: Know the numbers at each step. Do you need to generate 100 leads to get 10 quality prospects to sell to 1 customer? Those numbers won’t be far off for a lot of people and I’m willing to wager that yours will be higher than you were expecting.

Third: Improve backwards. Using the ratio mentioned above – 100:10:1 – your first thought might be that doubling your customers requires you to get 200 leads and turn them into 20 prospects to get 2 customers. But there is another way. Instead of trying to generate more leads (which is working "forwards" through your pipeline) try making adjustments to your customer conversion process, testing various methods to turn 10 prospects into 2 customers instead of 1. If you hit upon the right method, then you’ll have a much more dramatic impact on your business than if you simply tried to generate more leads. See it in action: The less effective way of getting more clients would be by doubling your lead generation: 200:20:2. The more effective way is to improve your efforts further down the pipeline: 100:10:2. Then, if you do decide to double your lead generation, it will have a greater impact on business: 200:20:4!

Fourth: Use it in decision-making. It can be tempting to jump into new marketing methods because they are popular (can anyone say "Twitter"?), but they are not always the right decision for right now. New marketing methods can be good, but only if they can contribute to your business effectively. When you’re tempted to devote resources (time, effort, or money) to a new marketing method, think about what role it will play in your sales pipeline and how you will use it to nudge people along your pipeline towards conversion. You might find that the latest and greatest craze – whether Twitter, Facebook, Guerilla Marketing, BuzzMarketing, or the zillion other trends, fads, and marketing temptations out there – just isn’t right for your business.

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