Business In Action Issue 03

As the year comes to a close and we ref lect on the changes and growth of the past twelve months, like us, you might ask yourself questions like "Did we push ourselves hard enough?" or "Were our goals as ambitious as they should have been?". This issue of Business in Action explores the answers to those questions and many more

It's no secret that the global workforce is undergoing a major shift. Retaining your best employees is harder than ever, but it doesn't have to be.

At 4xi we know that Experience MAT TERS! in more than one sense of the phrase, we recently released The Great Resignation, how does the hospitality industr y compete? an article which focuses on the Employee Experience (EX) and explores the challenges faced in what is a $4.5 trillion g lobal sector, and how to overcome some of the current labor issues while attracting and retaining top talent.

At 4xi, we are ultra-focused over the next few months to set ourselves up for a successful 2023 and beyond, and we hope that you are too.

As always, it's a pleasure to send you this Business in Action magazine. We would love to get your feedbackyou can reach us at hello@4xiconsulting.com

Until next time, warmest of wishes, Simon & Barbara

Simon Elliot, Bar bara Boden

Managing Par tner s and Co -Founder s

BIGGBY COFFEE co-CEO

Michael McFall

PUBLISHER

Chief Executive Officer Steven Acree publisher@remindermedia.com

EXECUTIVE

President Luke Acree

Chief Marketing Officer Joshua Stike

Chief Operating Officer Michael Graziola

MARKETING

Director of Marketing Dan Acree

Director of Creative Services Kristin Sweeney

Brand Content Manager Jessica Fitzpatrick marketing@remindermedia.com

EDITORIAL

Editorial Manager Alexa Bricker

Senior Editor Matthew Brady

Senior Layout Designer Elisa Giordano

Content Writers Lauren Kim, Bonnie Joffe, Rachel Stevens editorial@remindermedia.com

SALES AND CLIENT SUCCESS

Vice President of Client Success Ethan Acree Vice President of Operations Nicholas Bianco Vice President of Sales Michael Campanile hello@remindermedia.com

OPERATIONS

Vice President of IT Thomas Setliff

Director of Projects Kelsie Schmall

Director of Business Intelligence Daniel Gallaway Director of Manufacturing Shannon Mosser Vice President of Finance Shana Lebofsky Director of HR John Keogh hr@remindermedia.com

Business in Action is published by ReminderMedia. For more information about Business in Action, please visit us at www.remindermedia.com, email us at info@remindermedia.com, or call us at 866-458-4226. All rights reserved.

The contents of Business in Action are for editorial purposes only.

All photos and/or artwork in Business in Action are provided by Getty Images, and icons by Noun Project, unless noted.

Find and Keep Your Motivation

RACHEL STEVENS

VERYONE HAS

ESOMETHING that motivates them, whether it be family, money, or giving back. Sometimes it can be hard to pinpoint your motivations, but it’s important to consistently tune in to them to keep your momentum. These tactics can help.

Keep tabs on your competition

Getting to know your competition has various benefits, but, most importantly, it will motivate you to do better. Take time every day to ask yourself how you’re going to beat your competitors. What can you offer that they can’t?

Expand your network

No growth can happen when you remain inside a bubble. Connecting with new customers, vendors, employees, and industry thought leaders can inspire your next steps for your business. Make it a point to regularly log in to LinkedIn, host conferences, and meet with your team to have open discussions.

Set focused goals

If you’re having trouble staying motivated, try setting focused micro goals. Write your daily micro goals on a whiteboard, dividing them into categories such as revenue, retention, and product launches. Most people find it satisfying to cross off their completed goals at the end of the day.

Find a mentor

A mentor is a powerful tool in your motivation arsenal. Seek advice and instruction from those who know you best. Their expertise can help fuel your motivation and keep you engaged, curious, and passionate. n

BY BONNIE JOFFE

The Stages of a Sales Funnel

If you’re one of the many small- or medium-sized business owners who don’t have a marketing plan or are unsure of it, the following information may be the catalyst to helping you jump-start it this year.

IN 2021, THERE WAS A GROWTH OF 2.5 PERCENT in small businesses, with an overall increase of 9.8 percent over the prior four years. What’s even more notable is that 32.5 million small businesses make up 99.9 percent of all companies in the US. With this increase in competition, it will be vital to the health of any business to have a solid marketing plan.

The importance of a sales funnel

Some of the biggest challenges business owners struggle with are how to generate leads and ultimately convert them into paying customers. For that reason, a sales funnel can be one of the most effective ways to convert these leads into buyers.

The sales funnel is a nurturing-based approach to courting prospects— nurture them through each stage of the sales process by building trust and positioning your

business as the expert in your field. Without this, it will be difficult to build and sustain a relationship with potential customers.

Whether you are not currently utilizing a sales funnel or have one that may need some beefing up, consider the next steps for how you can create a successful sales funnel

strategy that puts your business heads and shoulders above your competition.

Consistency in sales

An effective sales funnel strategy should ultimately capture qualified leads, procure new clients, and enable you to successfully scale your business. You can’t, however, just set it

The sales funnel method is the same for any type of business; therefore, understanding the “why” of your business and why someone should buy your product or service is essential.

and forget it—monitoring and tracking results will showcase where the holes are and at what stage most of your prospects are dropping off. Adjusting your sales strategy based on lead changes in the funnel can put you back on track for success.

Consistency in messaging

Your content needs to be consistent, targeted, strategic, creative, and goal driven. If you remain steadfast in delivering relevant and useful content throughout each stage of the sales funnel process, you will build trust and credibility with your audience. Consistency in your sales funnel strategy will increase the likelihood of moving your prospects from one stage to the next—whether it’s a call to action, special offer, email campaign blast, or social media blitz.

Consistency in company efforts

The sales funnel method is the same for any type of business; therefore, understanding the “why” of your business and why someone should buy your product or service is essential. Your goal as a company is to rely heavily on your ability to shift when necessary and be someone your prospects can count on, making them more likely to become customers.

The four stages of the sales funnel

Each of the four stages of the sales funnel has its own approach and requires different strategies to move the prospect through it. Once in place, check in regularly to get a bird’s-eye view of where your successes are occurring, what may need tweaking, and what needs to be scrapped from your current marketing strategy.

1. Awareness

The prospect becomes aware of your business during this time. Perhaps they found you on a Google search, a shared social media post, or some other type of marketing campaign you did in the past. Even though some buyers are ready to buy immediately because they already know what they want and are just looking for the best price and place to complete their purchase, this is not generally the case. This beginning stage should be treated like a courtship. You could entice your prospects with some type of special offer or CTA to keep them interested and engaged. Your main objective at this juncture should be to capture their attention to keep them coming back for more information.

2. Interest

Your next goal is to lead capture and begin the nurturing process. You might start to lose prospects at this point, but the opportunity to convert

interested leads into customers increases exponentially. Once they start to engage, your sales funnel must direct them somewhere—a landing page, your social media platforms, or any place that your business markets to the public. Position your business as the industry leader for the product or service they are searching for. Prospects are still comparison shopping and reviewing all their options before making a buying decision. Offering them items of value, such as relevant content or tips or an infographic, can be quite successful in holding their attention and keeping them in the sales funnel.

3. Decision

If your lead has made it this far in the funnel, your odds of capturing them as a client and procuring a sale are significantly higher than in the previous stages. They are on the cusp of selecting the company they want to purchase from, hence the importance of your business continuing to provide valuable information; howto guides, a business landing page with a CTA they can’t refuse, an FAQ page, or videos are great ways to stay connected. This is also a vendordriven phase. The consumer is asking questions and seeking additional information to help them make their final decision. It’s the ideal time to

Your next goal is to lead capture and begin the nurturing process.

The prospect becomes aware of your business.

Your prospect is ready to buy.

AWARENESS

INTEREST

DECISION

ACTION

If your lead has made it this far in the funnel, your odds of capturing them as a client and procuring a sale are significantly higher than in the previous stages.

reinforce the reasons why they should buy from your company.

4. Action

Your prospect is ready to buy. This is the perfect opportunity to offer them a handful of options or your best deal. Maybe it’s matching your competitor’s price, giving a larger discount or bonus product, or even adding in higher levels of service. Whatever you choose, make it irresistible! Now that the prospect is your customer,

focus on post-sale customer support. Will they need additional services, such as procedural help, setup assistance, or answers for problems that arise?

Always express gratitude when a customer chooses your business. There’s nothing like a warm or hot lead, so be sure to ask for feedback and testimonials because a satisfied customer will help generate referrals for your business, ultimately adding to your customer base. And never remove your current clients from the sales funnel.

If you keep your business top of mind, they’ll be more likely to refer your products and services to others.

Leads allow you to build a connection with a potential customer, nurture the relationship, and build trust by providing more value at each stage of the sales funnel process. n

Take Action

Develop a plan for holiday or seasonal marketing for prospects at each stage of your sales funnel.

Each of the four stages of the sales funnel has its own approach and requires different strategies to move the prospect through it.

The Best Gifts for Your Employees

A well-thought-out gift can show appreciation, boost morale, and improve retention. This guide will help you simplify the giving process and find the gifts that employees want most.

BY LAUREN KIM

YOU MIGHT ALREADY give nonmonetary gifts to your employees during the holidays, but gift giving can be an effective year-round way to recognize employees, build retention, boost morale, and promote connection among your staff. You can make your employees feel more valued and foster company loyalty by giving gifts on birthdays, work anniversaries, and other milestones. However, it’s important to avoid a one-size-fits-all strategy since an impersonal item can backfire and make an employee feel underappreciated. “Gifting is a gesture that says this company cares, they see me, and I matter to them,” says &Open cofounder and CEO Jonathan Legge. Follow these tips to give thoughtful gifts your employees will love.

Gifting is a gesture that says this company cares, they see me, and I matter to them.”

&OPEN COFOUNDER AND CEO JONATHAN LEGGE

Be personal

Your gifts are more likely to be well received if you do some research before gifting. One way to do this is to survey your employees via tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms about the types of gifts they’d like to receive. For instance, you could have employees rate certain gift ideas in order of preference or ask openended questions, and employees can answer by naming specific items. Or you can give your staff Amazon, Mastercard, Visa, or other gift cards and encourage them to pick out something they’d enjoy. Alternatively, you could allocate employees credit to your company store to buy branded swag.

Use a gifting platform

You can increase the odds that your gift will be well-liked if employees are presented with a choice. Gift cards offer flexibility but can seem impersonal to some people. An alternative is to use a gifting platform, such as &Open, Giftpack, or Snappy. Some of these online gifting services use AI technology or questionnaires to find the most suitable items for you to give or allow employees to choose what they want from a selection of products. For instance, among the many unique products available through &Open are knitted wool socks from Ireland,

An alternative is to use a gifting platform, such as &Open, Giftpack, or Snappy.

a brass bird feeder from Sweden, and an Italian water carafe. You supply basic information about your recipients, and the gifting platforms handle the logistics, track when the shipments arrive, and share satisfaction reviews after the items are received.

Gift an experience

Giving experiences instead of wrapped gifts is becoming popular, especially as more people look for low- or zero-waste gifting solutions. Instead of wrapping a physical gift, you could send your employee to a show or concert, a dinner at a

gourmet restaurant, a day at a spa, or an evening wine-tasting class. Several gifting platforms, such as Blueboard, offer experiential gifts like these. You could also plan an experience for your employees, such as inviting a massage therapist to your workplace and treating them to a half-hour seated massage. For remote workers, you could give them a massage-spa gift card or membership.

Make it job-related

Your employees are sure to love a gift that will brighten their workdays or aid their careers. For instance,

you could help your team look more polished by gifting everyone a professional headshot, a desktop vacuum cleaner for tidying their desks or computer keyboards, a charging station to charge their cellphones and other devices, or gift a MasterClass subscription so they can work on improving their knowledge and skills. Or go retro and give an engraved luxury rollerball pen.

Be charitable Employees may appreciate opportunities that allow them to positively impact their communities or help improve social and environmental issues. You can gift time off to help a cause of their choice, such as volunteering at a food drive or neighborhood cleanup. Alternatively, you can create a charitable matching

program and match a certain percentage of employees’ monetary donations to charitable organizations. You can customize your match program by setting a yearly budget and implementing employee and recipient eligibility criteria. A plus to such a program is that it could also help boost your company’s reputation and branding, as people like to work with brands that support charitable causes, and it could offer tax benefits to both you and your employees.

Give often

One alternative approach to gifting employees is offering small gifts throughout the year instead of giving a larger one once or twice a year. Or you could gift subscription boxes, through which giftees receive items along a certain theme a few times a year. These gifts can suit a variety of interests, such as books, coffee, and food. Some popular subscription boxes include BarkBox (dog treats and gifts), Book of the Month, FabFitFun (fashion), and Goldbelly (fresh food from top restaurants).

Subscription boxes come in a wide variety of price ranges, with some costing less than $25 a month.

Offer time off

In today’s busy world, an extra day or two away from work can be one of the best gifts you can offer. If you’d like to recognize an employee, share some holiday cheer, or celebrate a work milestone, you could give employees an additional paid holiday for their birthday or provide a long lunch, a few hours off, an extra holiday, or an additional paid day off of their choice. Examples of fun paid holidays include International Thank You Day (January 11), National Random Acts of Kindness Day (February 17), National Employee Appreciation Day (the first Friday in March), and National Relaxation Day (August 15), if they fall on a workday. Encourage employees to take the time to do something fulfilling, relaxing, or fun. They may return to work appreciating their job even more. n

Take Action

Create a questionnaire to gauge the types of gifts your employees will most value, and use that information to plan a year’s worth of gifts for them.

In today’s busy world, an extra day or two away from work could be one of the best gifts you can offer.

4 Ways to Retain Your Top Talent

BY LUKE ACREE

IT CAN BE TOUGH to find the right people to work for your company. And once you’ve found those talented employees, retaining them can be even more difficult. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, it costs a company six to nine months of an employee’s salary to replace them. What makes that statistic even scarier is the current state of the American workforce. This year, there has been not only a significant uptick in positions available but also a dramatic increase in workers quitting their jobs. Companies across the US are desperate to find top talent—and this year has proven to be especially challenging.

But if hiring new employees is so expensive, wouldn’t it make sense for companies to invest more in the resources they already have? The answer seems simple; however, not many leaders are aware of what it takes to fully make this investment.

If you’ve been putting a lot of energy into recruiting but are seeing little return in your retention, you need to

look at your business and make sure you are directing your attention to the following areas.

Compensation

You might think that it’s more expensive to raise a current employee’s salary than it is to hire a new employee and pay them less. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Between 2020 and 2021, American companies spent over $92 billion on training new employees. It is far more expensive to recruit and train someone new than it is to ensure your existing staff is well paid for the work they are doing.

People want to be compensated fairly, but this doesn’t mean every employee is looking for a 10 percent raise every year. Show your employees how they can contribute to the company’s success, and give them a clear path to do so. Feeling appreciated and valued, they’ll be well worth the money you invest in them, and your company will hit its goals more quickly.

We’ve implemented and shared new career trajectories for our employees at ReminderMedia and have seen great success in giving our staff a clear pathway to reaching their objectives, both

Companies across the US are desperate to find top talent–and this year has proven to be especially challenging.

monetarily and professionally. When you’re able to combine the two pieces and present a road map for getting there, your employees will feel much more satisfied and appreciated.

Personal development

When it comes to managing your employees, you should consider the whole person. There is a concerning statistic that 76 percent of people claim to have a toxic boss. You need to show

your people who you are and encourage them to let you into their lives too.

Oftentimes we think of the individuals we work with only within the confines of their work persona, but there is so much more to people than that.

Take the time to really engage with your employees in one-on-one meetings. Find out about their families, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and the sports teams they love. It can be helpful to keep track of this information in your meeting notes, especially if you manage a large group of people. All of this is essential to building trust and a positive company culture. The same principles apply to business—if you’re only thinking of the transaction,

you’re liable to lose that person when another offer comes along.

Career development

Are you giving people pathways to advance in your company or within their chosen fields?

And, more importantly, do your employees feel empowered in their roles? Millennial employees are particularly inclined to job hop for career advancement—75 percent in fact—and 50 percent of employees

are considering a career change, according to recent studies.

One of the best ways to drive engagement and employee loyalty is by setting your people up with a vision for achieving their goals and aligning their goals with those of the organization. For example, if you have a top team member who is interested in learning more about project management and your company needs a leader in that area, invest in their continued

education. This investment not only shows them how valuable they are to you but also sets your organization up for greater success by empowering your leadership.

Helping your employees advance doesn’t have to be as big an investment as paying for their education. You could take simpler actions, such as reading a book with them on a core principle or value they are working on improving or giving them tangible and trackable goals to help them advance to the next level.

Positive culture

Although it’s the last on this list, a lack of culture or a negative environment is one of the biggest reasons people leave their job—over 30 percent of employees reportedly think about leaving a company due to its culture. If you aren’t fostering a positive setting where people push one another to succeed, your employees will have no other choice but to look for that atmosphere elsewhere.

Even though it may be challenging to maintain a culture in this new work-

from-home era, it is possible to do so and to do it well. At ReminderMedia, we have empowered our managers and team leads to take initiative in setting up team-building events and other group activities to nurture relationships. We also host biweekly all-staff meetings to update employees on company goals, procedural changes, and accomplishments. These are small efforts we can take as a leadership

Take Action

Write down one way you can commit to improving your employees’ experience in these four areas: compensation, personal development, career development, and culture.

team to make a big difference in the engagement and energy of our employees every day. n

About the author: Luke Acree is an authority on leadership, a lead-generation specialist, and a referral expert who has helped more than 100,000 entrepreneurs and small businesses grow their companies. He hosts Stay Paid, a sales and marketing podcast, and has been featured in Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Foundr.com.

HOW TO BE A GROUNDED ENTREPRENEUR

BIGGBY COFFEE co-CEO Michael McFall tells it like it is, whether he’s sharing what it took to build his multimillion-dollar brand, who he thinks the most important team is in every company, or a trait he calls the CEO disease.

BY MATTHEW BRADY

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL MCFALL

I started as a minimum-wage barista in our first store. I ended up partnering with Bob Fish, the owner and founder. He interviewed me for an assistant manager’s job in March of 1996. We went for a four-and-a-halfhour walk around East Lansing and, by the end of it, we shook hands and agreed to be business partners. We have been developing the brand ever since. Our M.O. every single day since we shook hands has been to sell one more cup of coffee today than we did yesterday. Back then, we sold under 300 cups of coffee a day. Today, we’re north of 90,000. We believe in people; we have always believed in people. It is the foundation of our success.

We’ve had a catharsis over the past five years. It took us two years to finalize our vision: improving workplace culture in the United States. However, the vision must have metrics associated with it or you won’t know if you’ve achieved it. The two metrics that we’ve implemented are, first, 90 percent of the employees with at least a year at BIGGBY COFFEE will rate us as a nine or ten when asked if the company is supporting them in building a life they love. The other is to be a billion-dollar company at retail by 2028. The purpose side of our vision, which is the people side, is how we’re living out this workplaceculture initiative. The billion dollars is so people will pay attention. [Laughs]

In a word, focus. We’re beverage retailers. We wake up in the morning and sell coffee, and that’s all we’ve done for over twenty-five years. Something that gets a lot of entrepreneurs in trouble is wondering what they can bolt onto their business to generate more revenue. That just makes things more complicated.

WORKPLACE CULTURE

WOULD YOU SHARE THE BIGGBY COFFEE STORY AND YOUR ROLE IN IT?

WHAT WAS THE KEY TO THE BUSINESS GROWING EXPONENTIALLY?

HAS YOUR COMPANY’S VISION CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE FULFILLING IT?

IT TOOK US TWO YEARS TO FINALIZE OUR VISION: IMPROVING

IN THE UNITED STATES.”

OUR M.O. EVERY SINGLE DAY SINCE WE SHOOK HANDS HAS BEEN TO SELL ONE MORE CUP OF COFFEE TOMORROW THAN WE DID TODAY.”

PHOTO

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE YOUR BOOK, GRIND?

I love to read. But I haven’t found many of the books on entrepreneurship to be authentic. I classify them into two groups. There’s the writer with a ninefigure net worth flying around in a private jet looking back on a business startup through rose-colored glasses at 30,000 feet. Don’t get me wrong: they are entertaining, but there aren’t many valuable lessons. Oftentimes, those books are big ego strokes for the author. The other genre is the academicsstudying entrepreneurs. There’s a place for those, too, but they always fall short for me because in academia you never lived it or felt it. I don’t mean to be derogatory to either group, but I wanted to write a book that really tried to capture the essence of how a start-up feels.

YOU TALK ABOUT THE CEO DISEASE. WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

The CEO disease takes root when the people around you tell you you’re great every single day. It’s the rare person in an organization who will stand up to the CEO and say, “You’re off the mark here.”

To me, the CEO disease is one of self-importance. When I sit and listen to many leaders talk, they suck energy from the room. Everyone’s reading the CEO to get direction, as opposed to having an authentic conversation, bringing real thoughts to the table, and hammering away at solutions. For that to be cured, the leader’s got to shut up and create awkward silence. The amazing thing is if you let awkward silence happen, it allows space for everyone to step in. Introverts have taken time, they have been thoughtful, and what they bring is generally darn good and something that must be considered. The problem is they don’t get those opportunities because the extroverts are rolling and the CEO is holding court. Make space.

EVERYONE’S TRYING TO READ THE CEO TO GET DIRECTION, AS OPPOSED TO HAVING AN AUTHENTIC CONVERSATION, BRINGING REAL THOUGHTS TO THE TABLE, AND HAMMERING AWAY AT SOLUTIONS.”

PHOTO

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL MCFALL

WHAT DOES SALES MEAN TO YOU?

Amar Bhide studied the Inc. 500 fastestgrowing companies for twenty years and wrote a book about his findings. Something which resonated with me is that 85 percent of the CEOs on that list— 85 percent! —claim they were the only or primary salesperson at the organization during startup. So if you want to grow your business, you, the entrepreneur, have to be a salesperson. I was the primary salesperson at our organization for fifteen years. I was proud of it. Sales, to me, is business. The most important people in any organization are on the sales team because they’re interacting with customers and figuring out why customers are buying or not buying your products. And that’s all that matters. Your product people can try to develop a better product, but if they aren’t getting the information from the sales team on how to improve the product, it’s a huge miss.

IS CLEAR STRUCTURE IMPORTANT FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

Absolutely. Our number one core value is being a systems-driven organization. We have a process for just about everything, and if we don’t have a process for something, we have to figure one out. It kills me when business managers complain about their people. People want to be successful. You need to define what they need to do, prioritize their time, and clearly explain what you expect. They will do it. It’s remarkable how effective that’s been for us. The number one compliment we hear is how amazing our people are, and that’s not an accident. Another thing you’ll hear from executives is

“It’s so hard to find good people.” You don’t find good people—people are good in general. What you do is create an environment where people thrive. That’s what Southwest Airlines does: provide an amazing atmosphere that allows people to show up, be themselves, and be successful at their jobs. When I hear someone complain about their team, my immediate thought is “You’re a bad manager.”

IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT MAKES A BUSINESS SUCCESSFUL?

We have a franchise model, so I’ve watched hundreds of people open businesses using the same model. There are attributes for both successful owner-operators and unsuccessful ones. It’s all about attitude and enthusiasm. As entrepreneurs, we need to inspire people to keep their heads in the game and have faith in themselves. For example, my business partner and I never doubted BIGGBY and what we were up to. Not once. If you start to lose faith, it’s a real problem and almost impossible to restore. Elon Musk, when asked about encouragement for entrepreneurs, said, “If you need words of encouragement, don’t become an entrepreneur.” I agree. Show up, do what it takes, and stay focused on growth, which for me means improvement, and depend only on the customer validating your business by buying your product. If you do that, you will be fine. n

OUR NUMBER ONE CORE VALUE IS BEING A SYSTEMSDRIVEN ORGANIZATION.”

Rock Your First 30 Days in Business

Your initial month as an entrepreneur can make or break you. Try these tactics to get off to a good start.

BY LAUREN KIM

Your brand is your identity and the core of your business, so focus on building your brand from day one.

YOU HAVE DEVELOPED your product or service, and now it’s time to get your business in motion. Just as a runner can enhance or ruin their chances of winning as soon as they speed out of the blocks, your first decisions can affect whether your entrepreneurial enterprise will thrive or fail. Use this week-by-week template to tackle some of the tasks you’ll need to complete for an epic launch.

Establish your brand

WEEK ONE

Begin by focusing on the building blocks of your business.

WEEK TWO

Your brand is your identity and the core of your business, so focus on building your brand from day one. You will want to put your values and what you do best front and center in every interaction you have with potential clients and customers. For instance, Paula Anderson is a coffee aficionado who co-owns New Harvest Coffee Roasters in Providence, Rhode Island. Her business is “all about connection and educating about coffee in an easily digestible way.” So from day one, her focus has been on creating a community of coffee fans and teaching her customers everything about brewing and enjoying a quality cup of coffee. By teaching others how to make and recognize a tasty brew, she’s hoping to cement her brand identity as a quality coffee provider. Discover the core values that make your business tick, and make them the foundation of everything you do from this point forward.

Study your craft

Successful entrepreneurs are always striving to learn more and apply the information they acquire to their businesses. Get to know your market, and work to identify anything that could impact you and your clients. For example, if your field is commercial real estate, find some of the most successful commercial brokerages in your territory and pinpoint what they do best. Try to find an experienced person in your field who can mentor you, or hire a professional coach. Take time every day to read something inspiring or motivating, or listen to an instructive podcast. If you are a sales or marketing professional, you could subscribe to the Stay Paid podcast, hosted by ReminderMedia’s Luke Acree and Josh Stike, to grow the skills you’ll need.

WEEK THREE

Assemble your tools

You will need a customer relationship management (CRM) platform to store and manage the information you’ll gather about prospective clients. There are many good CRMs, such as Agile, Zoho, and HubSpot, so pick one that is easy to navigate, can produce custom reports, has live customer support, can grow with your business, and is affordable. Also consider using nonCRM tools, such as Notion for group projects, QuickBooks for finances, Microsoft 365 for productivity, Trello for project management, and Zoom for video conferencing to make your business even more productive.

Develop your online presence

Developing an effective online strategy will be key to growing your business. Consumers use the internet to make purchase decisions and evaluate local businesses. You’ll need an attractive and easy-to-navigate website and active social media profiles. You will get a better-looking website if you hire a website designer. Ask for designer referrals and how much you should pay for their services from businesses like yours. Get on at least one social media platform, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Instagram. Use a tool like Hootsuite to help you schedule social media posts and keep your profile regularly updated with new content.

WEEK FOUR

Use the last few days of the month to start building your CRM and seeking new clients.

Build your list

Start filling your CRM with phone numbers, email addresses, links to social media accounts, and other useful data about your contacts. Good information to add from the start is that from your sphere of influence, such as your colleagues, family, and friends. For example, when Myoung Kang, an entrepreneur and interim CFO in California’s Silicon Valley, started consulting, she reached out to individuals from her career and personal life. “I knew investors and founders of companies who could either hire me or refer me,” she says. She also contacted friends. “Now some of them use my clients’ products and actively support my career,” she notes. “They are a source of comfort and information for me.”

Find clients

Take Action

If your business isn’t on social media, start building your business profile on your favorite platform today.

Use the contacts and information you’ve entered in your CRM to start looking for clients, and make it a point to search for new ones daily. Prospecting can be hard, but it reaps results. Start by letting those in your sphere know you are in business. Ask them if they can use your product or service or if they can refer you to anybody who can. Cold calling is a time-honored prospecting tool, but there are plenty of other options too. Try several methods to find new clients, and determine which ones work best for you. For example, you could network at sales conferences or community events, find customer leads through Facebook or other social media, distribute your business card, reach out to potential clients via email marketing, and get the word out through radio and TV ads. n

Winning with Conviction

Do you want your business to rise above the rest? Then you need to learn about conviction marketing, a concept championed by business consultant Kelly Roach, an entrepreneurial pioneer who built her own eight-figure coaching company.

BY MATTHEW BRADY

AS A BUSINESS OWNER, you’re probably aware of the failure rate of starting a business. Per LendingTree, as of 2021, 18.4 percent of private-sector businesses fail within a year, and around half do after five years. By ten years, the failure rate is almost two-thirds.

Kelly Roach, the founder and owner of Kelly Roach Consulting, believes she has discovered the reason why: conviction, or lack thereof.

How to Get Noticed

One of the most difficult parts of being a business owner is truly standing out. After all, to a potential client, what makes you different from anyone else who claims to do the exact same thing? To be successful, you must understand your competitive landscape—but that doesn’t mean you should mimic what’s in it. This is where Roach, and conviction marketing, steps in. “I’ve coached thousands of entrepreneurs, and the vast majority of what you see online is a regurgitation of what everyone else has. I call it ‘me-too marketing,’” she says. “Our whole purpose is to take entrepreneurs from being one in a million to a category of one.”

However, this doesn’t mean trying to be different just for the sake of being different. Rather, the purpose of conviction marketing is to give entrepreneurs an intentional methodology for how they establish their convictions. Then they can create content that clearly conveys those convictions, giving them a competitive advantage when they go to market. Ultimately, Roach says, this results in a sustainable, global brand and establishes an entrepreneur as an industry authority.

“When you decide to go into business, you believe that something’s missing in the world or that you could do something better or differently; it’s

your ‘why,’” Roach explains. “You have a unique idea that will provide value above and beyond what is already available to the typical consumer. So the most important element of conviction marketing is understanding that there’s a gap in every industry and every market. When you layer tactic on top of quicksand, you get a temporary result that ultimately doesn’t last. But when you build a business based on principle and understand the fundamentals of creating a scalable business and layer amazing tactics on top of it, you then have a sustainable company.”

To get to that status, though, entrepreneurs need to understand

PHOTO COURTESY OF KELLY ROACH

KELLY ROACH

how to ascend to the top of what Roach calls the content pyramid.

The Content Pyramid

The

ground floor: how-to marketing

At the bottom of the content pyramid, where most would-be entrepreneurs dwell, is how-to marketing: educational material that gives people a quick win. These are industry-specific snippets of information that add value and allow people to act on something immediately by answering questions like “How do I maximize my ROI?” or “How do I create an Instagram reel?” or “How do I close a sale over the phone?” So what’s the problem with how-to content? “It’s a great introduction to you and your brand, but it doesn’t keep people coming back,” Roach states. “Because the same thing that got them hooked with you is getting them hooked with everyone else they’re bouncing between online.”

The next level: hope marketing

Hope marketing is the next step up in Roach’s content pyramid. Here, instead of just being their how-to teacher, you’re also their supporter. As a friend or cheerleader, you can share with your audience that

you went through similar growing pains, walk them through it, and encourage them to not give up. For example, if a new business owner is having difficulty with a launch, you can lend support by saying you failed at several launches before succeeding, as Roach herself does. “Hope marketing is unbelievably powerful,” she exclaims. “It creates the ‘stickiness’ factor for your brand that keeps people coming back. It makes a heart-to-heart connection with those who are consuming your content, convincing them to possibly

have a long-term relationship with you, your brand, and everything you do because they feel connected on a human level.”

The ultimate success: conviction marketing

The third and most important tier is conviction marketing. This is the space that weaves how-to and hope marketing together with an overarching greater purpose—yet it’s also a space of rarefied air because, Roach claims, almost no entrepreneurs engage in it. “Conviction marketing is

Strong convictions precede great actions.”

accomplishing things in a year that would have otherwise taken ten years.” She also bucked the trend of quick get-in-and-getout entrepreneurial coaching programs (and her team’s misgivings) by making her program, the Unstoppable Entrepreneurs, twelve months to encourage critical thinking, establish foundational principles, and foster a long-game approach for business owners.

– JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE

The best part? Roach insists that anyone can take advantage of such multimilliondollar opportunities in their industry and become a category of one, creating raving fans in the process. The key is to embrace and develop the following four qualities necessary for conviction marketing success:

• Visionary. Being a true thought leader who prioritizes critical thinking over volume and solves crucial problems.

Take Action all about bringing in a new, distinct set of ideas to your market that are specific to you, your methodology, and your belief system,” she says. “The passion behind your ‘why’ inspires you to create a new, different, and improved outcome for your customer that elevates your industry. It’s not a comparison game between you and your competitors— because you have no competition.”

Determine what your true conviction is for your business and what gaps you can fill in your industry to stand alone as a thought leader.

Roach often cites her own story as an example. At the time she was starting her company, she found that everything was becoming automated and impersonal. Seeing a clear gap, she decided to focus instead on personal relationships and accountability. The result? “Not only did our business explode by almost $7 million in a year, but our clients’ results exploded as well,” she notes. “People started

• Substantiative. Someone who focuses on the foundation beneath the relative fluff of how-to and hope marketing.

• Courageous. Being willing to zig when everybody else in your industry is zagging.

• Steadfast. Having the patience and fortitude to let your vision play out in the long term. n

Kelly Roach believes in the power of the content pyramid and that each level provides a certain value. However, in this visual, you can see how the base is wide, allowing for an endless number of businesses to occupy the space and the message to become homogenized and diluted. Then the pyramid progresses to being more focused as you add hope. At the pinnacle, conviction marketing makes you a category of one.

CONVICTION MARKETING

• You’re a true thought leader

• You have a unique purpose and distinct message

• You have a long-term success strategy

HOPE MARKETING

Positives: You’re a mentor, your brand sticks more, there’s more long-term potential

Negative: Substance is lacking

HOW-TO MARKETING

Positives: You’re a teacher, your brand is discovered

Negative: Easy come, easy go

To learn more, visit kellyroachcoaching.com

BY RACHEL STEVENS

DID YOU KNOW THAT GIFTING is a very powerful form of advertising? Gifting is an act often meant to show appreciation, reaffirm a relationship, or establish a unique connection with someone. However, gifting poorly can send the wrong signal. That’s why professionals in relationship-based businesses must hold themselves to the highest gift-giving standards. When you give a present to a client, you show them that you appreciate their trust and willingness to do business with you.

If you’re confused about why giving the right gift is important and what gifts to give, John Ruhlin, a speaker and adviser to Fortune 500 companies and the author of the book Giftology, has the answers.

Why strategic gifting works

When you make someone feel special, they’re far more likely to remember you. Strategic gift giving can help clients spark a conversation about you with their loved ones and strengthen their trust in you for doing business in the future. Building client loyalty is a lot more about what you’ve done for someone than what you’re currently doing. If you want your clients to be your biggest fans, who will continue to use you and generate referrals for you, consider the following points about gift giving.

It’s the thoughtful thought that counts You’ve heard the expression “It’s the thought that counts.” However, when it comes to building client relationships, it’s the thoughtful thought that counts. Clients will appreciate something they can enjoy regularly. Much like you would

for a friend or family member, think about your client’s hobbies, favorite movies, pets, and children. The more often they use your gift, the more often they will think about your business. (A plus is if the item can also be used by your client’s friends and family.) Every time they go to pour coffee into the custom travel mug you gave them, they’ll think about your business and if they should check in for your latest products and services.

Emotional memories last longer Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, said, “A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Personalized gifts can include embroidered luxury bathrobes and towels, embossed leather portfolios and wallets, engraved stemware, and wine chillers—you can put your clients’ names on just about anything if it’s a high-quality item. Personal gifts can create a powerful experience that heightens your clients’ emotions. When you make people feel something, you change the relationship forever.

Clients will appreciate something they can enjoy regularly.

A note of appreciation goes far

While the gift should speak for itself, always attach a note to it that explains why you chose this item for this client and how much you appreciate their business and continued support. Including a note lets you add your voice to the gift and only furthers the connection between how great your client feels and knowing they can trust your business to do right by them.

receive during those times. Keep track of your clients’ important dates in your CRM, and add them to your schedule of gifts. This is also why it’s crucial to have monthly or bimonthly touchpoints in place year-round. From magazines to postcards, consistent followups can help your clients feel closer to you and look forward to your gifts.

As the year comes to a close and we ref lect on the changes and growth of the past twelve months, like us, you might ask yourself questions like "Did we push ourselves hard enough?" or "Were our goals as ambitious as they should have been?". This issue of Business in Action explores the answers to those questions and many more.

Not gifting

It's no secret that the global workforce is undergoing a major shift. Retaining your best employees is harder than ever, but it doesn't have to be.

Where most companies fall short

If your goal is to get referrals from your best clients, avoid the following pitfalls.

Did you know that only 42 percent of companies give gifts to their customers or prospects? It goes without saying that you’re missing a massive opportunity by foregoing this simple marketing tool.

At 4xi we know that Experience MAT TERS! in more than one sense of the phrase, we recently released The Great Resignation, how does the hospitality industr y compete? an article which focuses on the Employee Experience (EX) and explores the challenges faced in what is a $4.5 trillion g lobal sector, and how to overcome some of the current labor issues while attracting and retaining top talent.

Unremarkable and boring items

Not playing favorites

You’ve likely been conditioned to think that playing favorites is a bad habit, and it can be in certain situations. However, gifting is not one of them. Gift more often to your biggest clients. It may feel strange, but it can strengthen revenue-generating relationships.

At 4xi, we are ultra-focused over the next few months to set ourselves up for a successful 2023 and beyond, and we hope that you are too.

4xi Global Consulting & Solutions

Email: hello@4xiconsulting.com www.4xiconsulting.com

Overspending

As always, it's a pleasure to send you this Business in Action magazine We would love to get your feedbackyou can reach us at hello@4xiconsulting.com

Gifting generic items like fruit baskets and stress balls with your company’s logo sends the wrong message. It says to your client, “You weren’t important enough for me to spend time putting thought into this.” Avoid consumables at all costs. Food and drinks are great, but once they’re gone, clients won’t have anything to remember your gift by. And no matter how great your business is, they probably won’t use your branded sunglasses too often. Around 68 percent of businesses gift something with their logo on it, and a large portion of those items will end up in the trash.

Until next time, warmest of wishes,

Giving at the wrong time

Simon & Barbara

Simon Elliot, Bar bara Boden

Review your CRM, and plan the next three months of gifts for your top clients.

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is only gifting during the ABC times— anniversaries, birthdays, and Christmas. If you want your sentiment to stand out, don’t get lost competing with the other gifts they

Managing Par tner s and Co -Founder s

While you don’t need to spend a lot of money on a gift, you want to make it the best gift of that type to represent your best-in-class service. Overspending on a gift can cause a few problems, including feeling awkward about accepting it, having similar items worth more (especially when gifting to wealthier clients), and not knowing how to use the gift practically. Find the right balance between quality and budget to send the proper message and make your clients feel good about accepting your gifts. n

For more info visit giftologygroup.com.

4xi Global Consulting & S olutions

Bar bara Boden Managing Partner