Business lessons I learned while knitting

A while ago I decided to learn how to knit. At first I thought it would be boring because projects take forever to be completed but many many months after that decision, here I am still knitting.
When I decided to learn I went after a store that would give classes. I found this one where every Tuesday they offer an open class where people can work in different projects. I started to attend this class thinking I would meet only old grandmothers with nothing to do. I know, I know. Sometimes I’m full of BS.
To my surprise, the large group had people from all ages and genders. It is a vibrant group where talking and sharing never ends. Every week you end up looking forward to meet again those people.

Here are 2 big business lessons: Create a community around you, let them share experiences and create a bond. This is what builds a tribe. You will also using the same time slot to help a lot of people instead of one at a time.

The owner goes from person to person helping them in their different challenges. She checks what they are doing, what tools they are using and every now an then she introduces them to a new tool that they cannot live without. 9 out of 10 they purchase the tool.
I’m always paying a lot of attention on how she does this because she sells without being pushy and people are always willing to buy. She sells like few people I know.

Business lesson 2- Always be upselling to existing customers

Almost every week she brings pieces that she made during the weekend. This week she brought a gorgeous skirt for little girls. Silver background with black witches and trees. Everybody was amazed by how pretty it was and started asking how they could get one. She announced she would be selling kits. You had to get on a waiting list because however many kits she put together were already gone.

People ran downstairs to put their orders in. Some even bought more than one. The kit was selling for $50. Not a cheap item. Everyone was happy.

Business lesson 3: Innovate every now and them, bring elements of surprise, create some sense of urgency and scarcity.

Every now and then I hear marketers say there is no money in crafts. I say, that every time people have an irrational passion about something they will spend money over and over.

Add the components I mentioned above and you have a perfect storm.

I suggest some marketers go take a knitting class with my teacher.
She makes money like a ballerina would dance.

Marketing to other countries

Have you ever considered marketing to non- English speaking countries?
We’ve been playing with that for a while and I have some friends doing extremely well marketing to countries like Poland and France.
Usually these markets as not as crowded by experts as in the US and although cultures and buying styles vary, they can be very interesting.
Let me tell you about our experience today.
We did our first live streaming to a non-English speaking country. We had a small list of about 100 names. We shot 1 e-mail and over a week got close to 300 registered people. About half attended.
Remember we sent only 1 e-mail in one week and a reminder on the day.

Interaction was amazing, lots of questions. We didn’t know if our sales process would work well there.
We sold really well.
We ended having viewers in 3 different countries.

We were really excited with the results. We put very little effort promoting. A drop in a water bucket if compared to what we do here to promote a teleseminar, we had more interaction and sales.

We can see a lot of possibilities here and we saw that results will come fast.

Have you ever considered marketing to other countries?
Consider the fact that most are not going through a tough recession.

Just saying.

Who will you be for?

I know a lot of people talk about finding your niche. It is very important, but have you ever questioned who are you for as a business?
What type of people, what kind of personality would be attracted to you? Would resonate with your message?
In my opinion, this answer should come before you decide on a niche.

Women That Rock On Stage

Last week we attended #SAM Retreat. SAM stands for Sales, Advertising and Marketing. It was a very good event and has everything to become a must attend event in the future. There are only two things I would change… If you are going to show a preview of a web show or TV show right at the beginning of the event, make sure it is not going to alienate half of the audience. The preview of Real Women of Utah was offensive to most women living and working in Utah, no matter their background and/or beliefs. It is everything but real.

And of course, have women speaking. To their merit, they did ask for suggestions. Looks like they didn’t know of any professional women speakers. Hmm!

So I decided to put a list together of women that rock on state. That are great speakers, deliver great, useful content and sell from stage!

The list is in no particular order and I know it is incomplete. I added the ones I’ve seen speak. Help me add women that rock on stage on topics related to marketing, sales and advertising please.

1. Lisa Sasevich
2. Tiffany Peterson
3. BuzzBoosters
4. Ali Brown
5. Milana Leshinski
6. Susan Evans
7. Nancy Marmolejo
8. Michele Scism
9. Kathleen Gage
10. Janis Pettit
11. Denise Wakeman
12. Fabienne Fredrickson
13. Diane Conklin
14. Mari Smith
15. Donna Kozik
16. Ricci Neer
17. Melanie Strick
18. Carrie Wilkerson
19. Felicia Slattery
20. Deb Micek
21. Sandra Martini
22. Connie Green
23. Kimber Lim
24. Jeanette Cate
25. Patti Keating
26. Annette Pieper
27. Angela Johnson
28. Beth Lawrence (finding your marketing/sales voice)
29. Roberta Hughes

In Chasing Leads, an Hour Matters a Lot

I saw this on the Harvard Business Review today and thought I’d share it with you. It makes me smile because far too often folks don’t realize the importance of quick follow-up! 🙂

Online leads grow cold quickly: Companies that try to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving queries are nearly 7 times as likely to have meaningful conversations with key decision makers as firms that try to contact prospects even an hour later. Yet only 37% of companies respond to queries within an hour, according to a study of 2,241 U.S. firms led by James B. Oldroyd of Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea.

In Chasing Leads, and Hour Matters a Lot

http://hbr.org/2011/03/the-short-life-of-online-sales-leads/ar/1#

Marketing Advisor Certification Program

We had quite a few requests in the past. We listened and now the BuzzBooster Marketing Advisor Certification program is here.

Full training and support system included of course and the best on innovative small business marketing.

This is a business opportunity like no other. We provide 11 different streams of revenue.

This is just for a few very lucky individuals looking to make at least 6 figures in the next few months.

click here: Marketing advisor certification program