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Author: Rachel Staggs

04 Mar 2012

When was the last time you looked at your website?

by Rachel Staggs | in Uncategorized

When was the last time you looked at your website from your prospect and clients point of view? perhaps never? perhaps when you last had it developed? well lots has changed from the way we use the internet through to the way in which your clients make their buying decisions and I’ll take a guess that your site could do with some improving to help you drive your business?

80% of people who meet you for the very first time have googled your name or your business name. What does the internet say about you? remember years ago if you weren’t listed in the yellow pages then it was thought that you weren’t in business? well that’s all changed with the use of the internet. Now its a case of what does your website say about your business. Go ahead and Google your business name right now, how do you look?

How do you promote your website? I’d suggest that you should be proud of it and promote it with enthusiasm and joy. Make others excited about your site. The information on your site should be the information your prospects and clients want to know the most not what you think they should know. Your information should show visitors how you can help them and have a positive impact on them. Two questions need answering, who are you and how can you help me?

Working with Advisers I know that some will truly market their site and drive visitors to it and some won’t – doesn’t really matter which category you fall into as long as the content you put onto your site is relevant and valuable and tells visitors what you want them to do now their looking at your site – call, email, post a comment, what? websites are no longer static brochures, they are direct response marketing tools – someone is visiting your site for a reason, so let them interact with you. Perhaps you’ve been referred or they’ve heard your name before and they want to check you out before they meet you or even call you.

Whatever you decide to do, I would strongly recommend you look at your site each month and ask yourself – does this really represent my business today?

And finally, yes I can recommend a website designer for you, Matt from Bugeye Design (03) 9589 7334, he’s developed Advisers websites so he understands your business but more importantly understands what clients and prospects are looking for.

26 Feb 2012

Did You Get There?

by Rachel Staggs | in Consulting

So you know it’s nearly March, have you written the vision for your business yet? and if you have when did you look at it last? Working with Advisers I know many don’t write a vision for their business and wonder why they get frustrated and over whelmed. I also know that many advisers have written their vision because they went to a PD day and got all excited and wrote it down but……didn’t share it with anyone and can’t find it anymore.

Vision in business takes you forward – stops you focusing on the past.

There’s a lot of stuff happening in the industry at the moment and if you’re not careful you’ll get washed up in the negativity of it all. Don’t – give yourself some praise for what you’ve achieved and start to feel successful again.

Advisers who feel unsuccessful and overwhelmed by all the industry changes and new technology tend to spiral down quickly and focus on the past.

Successful Advisers do the opposite. They create their vision, look at it everyday and strive forward. Their vision gives them a sense of success, pride and momentum to keep going.

How far have you come this year? List 3 things to feel proud of so far this year, big or small and give yourself a break!

Don’t feel as though you’ve achieved what you wanted? send me an email rachel@srscc.com.au and I’ll send you some info to help you out (no charge no strings).

19 Feb 2012

10 Critical Areas of Business Focus

by Rachel Staggs | in Consulting

How would you assess your business in each of the areas below out of 10?

This will give you a guide as to where you need to focus.

  1. Relationships – can take years to develop and little time to destroy – never take for granted and always nurture.
  2. Culture – you need people in your business who care about it as much as you do and who share the same values for example, honesty, integrity, commitment.
  3. People – if you don’t have the right people in your business you’ll end up being ‘in’ your business too much and never being ‘on’ it.
  4. Marketing – should be a focus all of the time and the last thing you ever give up.
  5. Education – never give up learning
  6. Systems – anything that happens in a business should have a system
  7. Execution – how well people action what is required is vital – clients, employees, COI’s
  8. Projects – a business needs new projects in order to grow and retain good talent
  9. Technology – you need the right technology in place to enable people to do what they need to do
  10. Profit – manage your payment systems and costs tightly, never give away too much responsibility

Be a great leader and you’ll have a great culture and be able to recruit great people.

Be ordinary and ask little of yourself and the opposite will occur.

So, it all starts with you.

13 Feb 2012

It Wont Cost A Cent To Get A New Client

by Rachel Staggs | in Marketing

The number one way to acquire a new client without spending any money is through referrals – asking for them. Hand on your heart, do you actively ask for referrals? It’s silly if you don’t isn’t it?

If referrals work then why doesn’t every Adviser actively ask for them? The 5 most common reasons are:

1. You feel too pushy
2. You don’t know what to say, how to ask?
3. You think it’s way too sales focused
4. You don’t know how to get it to work
5. Fear it will ruin your relationships

Having seen Advisers use this strategy successfully allow me to suggest some ways you can use it to generate more business

1. Use the three C’s – be conservative, confident and consistent
2. Write out what you are actually going to say to your client – how you are going to ask
3. Time when you are going to ask – when they have enjoyed your excellent service
4. Give yourself a goal of asking 3 people every week for a referral – share the goal with someone so you become accountable
5. Position referrals as a privilege
6. Write a referral policy so clients know you take them seriously

At the end of the day know that you are worthy of getting referrals and that you add value to clients. If you practice this one strategy for attracting clients, it wont have cost you any money and you will become excellent at it.

If you’re not asking for referrals someone else is.

08 Feb 2012

15 Ways To Improve Your Mail Outs

by Rachel Staggs | in Marketing

Email marketing and social media are great ways to reach out to potential and existing clients but I would suggest that the ‘old fashioned’ mail outs can still be extremely effective if done properly. The internet is a crowded place and through the client satisfaction surveys we conducted, we know that people still like to have something tangible in their hands to read, so lets take advantage of that and do it effectively:

  1. Decide who you want to mail out to. Is it your entire database or a segment? What is the aim of the mail out?
  2. Decide what you want the receiver to do, what action do you want them to take?
  3. Put some thought into the style of envelope you use – it doesn’t have to be plain white, make it interesting
  4. Create an offer that they can’t refuse
  5. Always create a headline for example, “how to/why/7 steps to” etc
  6. List the benefits/outcomes of taking action for them
  7. Explain why your offer should be taken up now
  8. Include a case study to demonstrate your understanding of them, the work you have previously done
  9. Make it irresistible for them to take action now
  10. Tell them exactly what you want them to do now, call you, email you etc
  11. Put a ‘use-by’ date on the required action
  12. Decide how you will follow up with those that don’t take action – don’t ignore them
  13. Set some sort of measure in place so you know how successful the campaign has been
  14. Consider using a copywriter to improve your message and conversion rate
  15. make sure you have the resources in place to accept the phone calls or receive the emails – create a procedure to ensure quality

I don’t know about you but nowadays the only mail I receive through the post is bank statements so something that looks interesting and helps solve my problems would be a worthy read.