The 95 - no, 96 - Best Business Resolutions for 2011

The 95 - no, 96 - best business resolutions for 2011.  Whether you make official New Year Resolutions or not, taking a step back to check your focus, work-life balance, long-term goals and whether your business is aligned with your personal, ultimate life-goals is a healthy way to end or begin the year. 

With that in mind, I went out looking for a great checklist to share, and found it - on CarolRoth.com.  She compiled a list of 95 very short, to the point 'Resolutions' and I know that many of them will hit home with you as they did with me. 

Before you go to the article, I am going to top the list off with a new #1 of my own. 

My 2011 New Year Resolution #1:  Replace Yourself.

This goal has always been my subconscious aim at any new position I took, as evidenced by results.  It can be couched in other terms, like transformation, growth, development - but the end result in my past positions was always the same. 

I would take a new job, immediately begin to get 'the lay of the land' of the company, the needs of my immediate superiors, and what things I could do or change in order to better the company.  In short order, I solved needs of my superiors and helped to fill in the gaps where they were stretched thinnest.  An intuitive person, I met needs of co-workers in professional and personal ways in order to help them do their jobs better, faster, and happier.  By the time I was ready, for whatever reason, to leave a position, it was because that position - essentially - no longer existed.  Because I had transformed the responsibilities, created efficiencies to automate or negate tasks, grown the position to the point where responsibilities had to be divided among several people, etc.  

I didn't consciously realize that I was doing this until my last couple of positions.  Once I understood that my strengths lied in analysis, intuition and problem solving, I used those skills even more effectively to do away with the positions that I took and transform them into something else. 

I was not only transforming positions in those organizations, though, I was replacing myself.  With each new adventure and exercise - of analyzing and anticipating what was needed, and developing the skills, knowledge, technology or whatever else was needed in order to make progress - I was also replacing myself with a new, ever-learning, developing, and hungry me; a me with new skills and the ability to take on the next new adventure. 

So with the advent of 2011, I resolve to once again replace myself.  In my business and in my personal life.   To continue to grow and develop.  To challenge myself.   To analyze, anticipate and meet the needs of others and of myself.  To be more bold than I am afraid.  To walk close enough to the edge to see oh-so-much more than I can from the center. 

[Click here] to go to the article at CarolRoth.com to read 95 more of the 'Best Business Resolutions' for 2011 by a wide variety of business leaders that will give you motivation, inspiration, a kick in the pants - all that you need to make 2011 a year of growth and prosperity -- It's going to be a great year!

8 Ways for Marketing into the New Year

2011 promises to be a good year for those who recognize how the mindset of their customers and prospects has changed.  People are optimistic but cautious, especially those who were most hurt by the economic downturn of the last several years.  Sampling products and mini-services and teaching them how better to use professional products can help draw these cautious consumers closer to investing in products and services for the long term.  People want real value for their money, not just deep discounts; but they do expect you to be putting your best offers on the table.  And people want to feel safe and connected to their local communities; create promotions that draw them in with family or friends for social events or that benefit local community causes. 

Here are 8 Ways to help your clients prepare for 2011 while marketing into the New Year:

• Create New Year makeover packages ('Re-New-Year'   'Re-New-You'  - etc.)
• Help clients meet common New Year Resolutions by partering with local gym, fitness, dance, nutritionists or dietary experts, counselors or life coaches and other personal development professionals to create combination offers for their clients as well as yours, or for cross marketed offers.
• Create 3, 6, or even year-long service packages for regular clients, tailoring their individual packages to the services they regularly utilize.  Create special pricing for pre-booked, pre-paid services. 
• Help clients meet their financial New Year Resolutions while you work to meet yours; offer client-appreciation packages for services (such as $6 off each of 6 hair service visits for women to be used 6 weeks apart, or $3 off each of 3 men's hair service visits to be used 3 weeks apart). 
• Create a virtual bulletin board or post a bulletin board in your salon /spa where clients can report and track their progress toward long-term goals on an on-going basis. Celebrate and reward participants when they reach milestones or goals with service or retail product rewards. 
• Create 'support group' happy hours, special sales, mini-service and product sampling parties, or social events for Resolution Trackers. 
• January 13 is "Make Your Dreams Come True" Day.  Partner with a local life or personal coach, counselor, retirement or financial planner or similar expert/s to hold a motivational seminar for clients or cross promote services to both sets of clients. 
• Create a 'Make Your Dreams Come True' makeover package for clients' marketed as a must-have for first date, wedding, upcoming Valentine's Day dates, new job or professional promotion makeovers.

It's going to be a great year!

12 Hair Color Client Events and the Case for In-Salon Color

Since your clients can purchase hair color and even highlighting kits at the drug store or grocery store, as well as makeup, sometimes it can feel like a losing battle when it comes to increasing color revenues in the salon. But the truth is that even if individuals' own creative tendencies or economics nudge them toward experimenting with their own color and makeup, it's still not a substitute for the expertise in application and superiority of products that you offer in the salon or spa.

But telling clients this - that they can't do their own color as well as you do - while it may be true, is not always a compelling reason, especially when the cost of in-salon services seem so much higher. As a stylist or esthetician, you need to be able to communicate more than this to the client in order to be persuasive. Conveying specific information about the products that you use in the salon and displaying images demonstrative of specialty application techniques is a start, but you might need to be more creative and think of the color conversation with your client as one that is occurring over time.

You are asking clients to commit a significant amount of money to their hair color services, when you look at their color in terms of costs over time - a year, five years, a decade, more. It's not just about a one time $150 spend, it's representative of thousands of dollars of revenues for you. So it is worth taking the time to cultivate conversations with them on an on-going basis, rather than trying to do a hard sell one time.

Thinking creatively about this long-term conversation could mean creating classes where you demonstrate application techniques; seeing this first hand may actually be very persuasive to customers that they cannot, in fact, replicate this at home, working on their own hair in front of the mirror. It can also mean creating specialty color services for clients of all ages and both genders in order to tell them when - specifically - they are going to want your help. Once you have persuaded them to accept hair color or makeup services, be sure that the experience you create for them is extraordinary - so much so both during the appointment and afterward in terms of the results you provide that they understand why the value of your services outweighs the costs.

Even a short list like the one below should demonstrate to you that you can begin to cultivate a following among clients for hair coloring and makeup services from a very young age! These services can't be covered by one or two menu items anymore, and you can expand your menu and repertoire of services to include:

• Gray coverage color services complete with skin care and makeup palettes
• Going gray naturally color services complete with skin care and makeup palettes
• Makeover color services complete with skin care and makeup palettes
• Seasonal color highlights and all-over palettes
• Women’s Job Interview color services complete with skin care and makeup palettes
• Men’s Job Interview color services complete with grooming products and services (for men)
• 1st Job Makeover services for high school or college students, or 1st Professional Job Makeovers for college graduates
• Holiday Party Makeovers with hair color and makeup, and Holiday Party prep how-to classes and makeup/styling product prepackaged kits
• Homecoming, prom or graduation highlighting
• Dance or music recital, competition and other student special event highlights, makeup and skin care palettes
• Slumber party hair and makeup services (you might need to be willing to take these services 'on the road,' creating a traveling kit of supplies for out-of-salon services) 
• Halloween, costume party/ball or similar special event radical color or highlighting services

December 30: Make up your mind day

A new year is coming!   Now is the time to 'Make Up Your Mind' to boost business and sales in the new year, and here are 8 places to start:  

• Make up your mind as a business owner to analyze each and every aspect of your business from a purely client perspective, client experience point of view.  
• Obtain resources and create networking and support for your own renewal and re-energizing, both personally and in your business.  
• Create a plan to help support staff development in technical and in personal areas.  
• Map out your plan for 2011 marketing, promotional, charitable and other initiatives.  
• Create a list of businesses to partner with for marketing and events and a list of organizations that you want to work with to extend special employee or patron offers in 2011.  
• Partner with fitness, nutrition, weight loss, motivational, counseling, coaching, organization and other professionals for cross marketing in order to connect your clients with more resources in their community to get their own new year off to a renewing start.  
• Create and host in-salon support groups for clients to help them work together to meet their own New Year's resolutions and goals.  
• Create an online bulletin board or an actual one in the salon or spa where clients can report progress toward their goals on an on-going basis.  

Style, strategy and marketing savvy - the December newsletter is now online!

My December email newsletter is hot off the press - so to speak - and now available online at www.12monthsofmarketing.net/2010dec.html.    Beyond the original content available here, it's a great collection of articles to help you hone your marketing and business operations, and that will hopefully amuse and inspire you as well! 


IN THIS ISSUE

Original content
:: 8 Ways to use the roof over your head to build business
:: 5 Ways to build business inspired by dental floss
::  What consumers want now based on the "People Magazine effect"
:: The 14 real benefits of social network site and event marketing


Fun and style
:: Top 10 festive holiday makeup tips


Success strategies
:: 10 Steps to success in 2011
:: 10 Disruptors: Trends forcing change in 2011
:: 11 Customer Loyalty Trends for 2011
:: 7 Ways to make your business the best place to work
:: 6 Ways to create a memorable customer experience
:: The psychology of sales and setting price points
:: A Healthcare Reform checklist for small business


"Let him that would move the world, first move himself."
Socrates, Greek philosopher, 400 B.C.

Management by Not Doing: Creating your own stop-doing list

I love this concept; what's more, this line from the businessweek.com article might as well have been written about me, specifically: 

"Entrepreneurial-minded idea people... want to solve all kinds of problems. They don't want to turn away either business or an opportunity."

If you are reading this post, chances are that you are an entrepreneurial-minded person, and chances are that you fairly consistently live in a constant state (as I do) of constantly feeling the pull of multiple opportunities and trying to balance their development along with the every day work that you have to do in order to pay your mortgage, keep up with utilities, and do other crazy things, like eat. 

There are things you can let go of, even if it hurts, you don't want to, you're afraid to trust someone else with it, it won't get done as well as you do it -- there are things you can and should let go of.  Important things, but not essential, when it comes to freeing you up to pursue your true dreams and success.   Whittle out the important to leave only the essential; creating a not-to-do list could be a good place to start! 

What consumers want now based on the "People Magazine effect"

There's a school of thought in advertising whose adherents credit everything from consumer behavior to political outcomes (at least in part) to a belief that what is expressed in People Magazine (a magazine which has indisputably been number one in readership in its genre for decades) and similar publications is a reflection of and/or becomes the opinion of, many of its readers. 

Which came first, the chicken, or the egg?  It does feel like a bit of a circular argument; do advertisers invest millions in advertising specific products and benefits in these magazines because these are the products that consumers really want, right now, or are they advertising products and brands in magazines that their target consumers actually read in order to build brand awareness and get people to buy them? 

However you answer that question, it's worth considering the fact that since large numbers of your target demographic market(s) read these type of magazines, some of your clients and prospects will be looking for these same types of products and product benefits.   It makes sense to take a look at these kinds of mass-read magazines to see what language advertisers are using to get the attention of readers and to pursuade them, and then to ensure that you capture the spirit of this messaging in your own display merchandising and advertising. 

For instance, in my most recent issue of People Magazine (yes, I'm a subscriber too), I saw several ads that spoke to beauty (specifically a mascara that maximizes lash volume and a lipstick ad that suggests that each woman actually has her own 'unique' color formula - how interesting!) and a number of ads for products designed to reduce or reverse the signs of aging skin.  There were  also several ads for products designed to protect and repair skin from the damaging and drying effects of winter weather.  

Outside of what might be viewed as traditional beauty and skincare products, there was another ad that resonated with me for a cat litter product.  The essence of the 'Tidy Cat' ad was to keep your home smelling like your home (and, presumably, not like kitty byproducts!).  For salons and spas who stock candles, room sprays and other aromatherapy products, this is a great time of year to teach clients how to create the home environment that they want to create for their family and guests as well as how to minimize unwanted odors. 

Another way to apply this principle as a manager or owner is to go through some of these magazines and write down a list of product benefits, such as "smooth, glossy hair" or "eliminates wrinkles" or "volumizes and separates eyelashes," etc.  Then identify products that you sell or services you perform that feature the same types of benefits, and create special promotions for the coming month (or at least display signage) to help your clients make the connection for themselves.  You can even use this as a management tool; take your list of product benefits and ask your staff to identify which of your products provide these benefits.  This can be a great stepping off point for creating scripting to help boost retail sales as well. 

I bet you didn't realize that your celeb gossip magazine could be such a great business tool - even a write off!   It's another great example of how inspiration and ideas are often right under your nose, literally!

Luring, leading and getting loyalty from luxury consumers

Like everyone else, I love affirmation, especially when it comes to the things that I feel most deeply about.  If you have read any of the 12 Months of Marketing publications, you know that they are full of practical, implementable ideas that any business can use to build business through inexpensive, engaging local community and network marketing strategies.  Over and over I repeat the mantra that to grow and thrive now and into the future, you need to build a bigger role for your business in the lives of your clients. 

This morning I read a great article at TheEconomist.com that affirmed a lot of what I am putting into the books, as well as speaks to key ways that you can attract and 'hook' consumers, especially when it comes to the "wants" of customers (not just the "needs").   Here are a few key points that I took away, and I highly recommend that you read the entire article at the link above: 

• Beyond what people 'need' (what they have to have to survive), consumption is partly about pleasure (how things look, feel, taste, smell, perform)
• Beyond need and pleasure, consumption is also partly about showing off; and what is now deemed 'bragworthy' is dramatically different from what it was to our parents and grandparents.  While the old bragworthy meant keeping up with the Joneses - like acquiring washing machines, new cars, etc., the new bragworthy is more about hipness, exclusivity, or virtue
• people now trawl for exotics, one of a kinds, exclusives, limited-release, and customized options
• possessions are plentiful, but time is scarce, so bragworthy becomes places you have been and things that you have done - the article suggests that savvy companies offer experiences as a way of hooking customers, like:
• connecting them with concerts and gigs
• creating local (or distant) trips (like wine and shopping trips, ladies night out, or even exotic group vacations or hunting trips)
• connecting them with book clubs, authors, local night out, happy hours, etc.
• others want to convey to the world how very deeply concerned they are about the world's problems, whether their particular area of conviction is the environment, poverty, violence, women's or children's issues, cancer or other illnesses, etc.  - these consumers connect themselves with companies that work to help alleviate these problems in one way or another
• the article also says that another effective marketing tool is to help your customers learn something new (such as cooking, decorating, do-it-yourself repair, or educational topics)
• and finally, the article points out that (thanks in part to the internet, which previous generations did not have), connectedness is a crucial social signifier
• the internet helps people demonstrate their virtue not only by connecting them with other 'virtuous' companies, but giving them the means to tout their involvement
• the internet helps consumers make friends with others like them
• the internet helps consumers 'connect' personally with celebrities and leaders (in fact, one stat suggests that more than 80% of Gen Y have joined brand-sponsored communities online)

This is a great read for you as you prepare to move into 2011 with the goal of building a bigger role for your business in the lives of your clients.  It's going to be a great year!

The 14 Real Benefits of social, event and email marketing (and your meetings, too!)

I was just reading an article about corporate meetings; specifically, about how meetings can be a big waste of time unless you understand their purpose and use the meeting to accomplish specific goals.  Some people really hate sitting in meetings, because they don't feel like they are "productive."  (Because they confuse productivity with actual 'work.')   I actually really enjoy meetings.  It struck me that people don't understand the 'real purpose' and the soft benefits of meetings, so I started making a list of those benefits.  They can be very productive, but just maybe not in the way that you usually think. 

As I was list-making, I started to think how the benefits that accompany social media marketing, email marketing - building a virtual 'community - are very similar.  It might be helpful for all of us to think about our social media marketing and email and event marketing along the same lines.  Knowing and appreciating the very real benefits that meetings (corporate or virtual) can give you will help you to shape how you use them in order to get the most bang for your buck - and your time.  

Here are 14 "soft benefits" of both corporate meetings and social marketing that bring real, lasting, significant positive impacts to your business, including more sales: 

• Educating your customers (internal - meetings / external - social, event and email marketing) about who you are
• Building brand awareness and clarifying your brand to internal and external customers, and reinforcing your vision, mission and values
• Spreading the word about what your company has to offer, building buzz around ideas and initiatives
• Getting buy in
• Garnering loyalty
• Building camaraderie and personal connection - developing an "us" mentality
• Socializing and meeting social needs
• Helping each individual to understand "where they fit" within the greater organization
• Educating internal customers about what other departments are doing, how they work, and what they have to offer, educating external customers about other products and services your company offers that they have not yet tried
• Integrating new customers into your programs, assimilating new employees into your operations
• Engaging customers to deeper levels of interactivity
• Generating enthusaism around current campaigns
• Introducing new products and services
• Building anticipation for campaigns that are coming down the road