Vanya Wryter Consulting Services

Tag: Entrepreneur

Successful Cold Market Prospecting

Wouldn’t life be perfect if you opened your own business and customers started to appear? The reality is potential customers are everywhere if you can understand exactly what they are looking for.

You don’t need to know what flavour of ice cream they crave, or what features they want on their smartphone. You just need to get a better idea about their goals. Everyone is looking for something better: improved health, more money, career advancement, bigger goals… more adventures.

The story behind each person is worth discovering… just take the time to learn more about them by asking questions.

When you’ve got the undivided attention of a potential customer in front of you, that’s the moment to get to know them better. There are four types of questions to ask if you are prospecting your cold market (people you’ve just met). Where you start depends on the flow of the conversation and how social your prospect is.

The four questions fall into a technique called the FORM method: family, occupation, recreation, and money. You can use this for a B2C business (business to consumer), especially for an MLM or network marketing business.

When you have the opportunity to speak with your prospect, start with an ice breaker question. Find out what brings them to the networking event. Or ask them what they’ve been doing since your last conversation or meeting.

Let the conversation develop organically. Don’t force a question to complete your checklist. Eventually, you want to find answers to the four types of questions to get as complete a picture about your prospect as possible.

Ask questions about their family.

The topic of family can be as casual or personal as you want it to be, depending on whether your prospect opens the door to this, or whether you feel comfortable asking questions about family.

If your prospect mentions that the reason they want to start their own business is they want to be able to provide for their family, then you can find out more. What do they mean by family? Their parents? Their spouse and children?

If your prospect is asking about the health products you are selling are “Not for me, it’s for my sister,” then that comment opens the door to more discussion about why your prospect is the one doing the research.

Perhaps they are the one who takes initiative. Or they are the one who will be paying for the treatment. It is also possible they are the family member who is most open to new techniques and inventions. Knowing this information will help steer you in the best direction for your business. If the prospect is seriously investigating products for their sibling, then meeting with the sibling is the next step.

Your prospect may be inquiring about your services because she is expanding her own business. You observe a wedding band on her finger as she is reaching for her coffee cup. You could find out about her spouse by making a comment about what it’s like for you to have a significant other who supports you as a business owner.

Relating to the prospect helps you to start a discussion to find out if your prospect is hesitant to spend more on services because of family obligations.

Ask questions about their occupation.

Sometimes, it may be difficult to find out about a prospect’s personal situation while talking about business. Some people are just less likely to open up, or don’t see how their family life affects how they network with business contacts.

If your prospect has a job, it’s usually safe to ask what they do for a living and how long they have been working at that job. Other questions you might ask are whether they enjoy their work, or what they like about what they do. These questions about employment reveal quite a bit about your prospect.

If your prospect has been working for a long time at a job they hate and wish they could change their career, it’s possible they aren’t very ambitious. It’s also possible that family obligations prevent them from taking the risk to change careers or jobs.

If your prospect has a history of ambitious career advancements, and projects that involve leadership and responsibility, then you are likely to be dealing with someone who is open to changes and leaving their comfort zone if it results in self improvement.

Learning about your prospect’s personality and goals by asking questions about their occupation will help you to figure out how likely they are to try a new product or service, particularly if you are selling a high-ticket item, or something that is new to the market.

Ask questions about recreation.

What does your prospect like to do for fun? Where do they like to travel? What hobbies do they have? Do they play sports or enjoy fitness?

Of all the topics for FORMing, this one is best for small talk, particularly if you are just starting to get to know your prospect.

If your business is wealth creation, such as investments, then asking your prospect about their interest in travel or hobbies will tell you more about how they prioritize their money.

Do they like to save up for long vacations overseas? Do they actively participate in activities such as skiing and fishing? Or are they happy with local day hikes and trips to the library? If they wish they could go on vacation three times a year, then find out more about their plans to see how your business can help them.

Similarly, discovering that your prospect is very fit and has a gym membership they regularly use, camping equipment that doesn’t catch dust, and an abundance of stories about local hikes, then they are more likely to be interested in your health business, particularly if they want to recover from muscular injuries faster.

The opposite can also be true. You may find out that your prospect spends their time watching shows on TV because they struggle with health issues. Finding out that they wish they could play baseball with their friends can open the door to a discussion about how your health business could help them.

Ask questions about their financial goals.

People are more guarded when talking about their finances, particularly with people they don’t know well. If your prospect is someone you’ve just met, then asking about their financial goals is a lot more challenging, but not impossible. The line of questioning will be more indirect, particularly if the prospect isn’t as open.

Asking about the prospect’s occupation can tell you a bit about their financial goals. If your prospect is a lawyer who has expensive hobbies and just bought a house last year, this may tell you something about the income bracket they are aspiring to.

Ask questions about how they are liking the new home and neighbourhood. Maybe they’ll drop a hint that their spouse is happy and that’s what matters most to them. It could mean they are motivated to please their spouse with a certain lifestyle.

If the prospect says they want to cut back on spending, or they want to get another job to afford the things they want, then this information will reveal something about their income goals. One prospect may be in debt and believes spending less is the key to a better life. Another prospect may be struggling with living within their means, and believes it’s possible to afford more, if they increase their cashflow.

Summary

No matter which topic you begin with in the FORMing process, remember to listen and be genuinely interested in your prospect. Each piece of information may provide you with clues about your prospect’s values and goals. If you understand your prospect, then you will be better prepared to help them with your product or service.

NOTE: During the current COVID-19 pandemic, you can also FORM a prospect over a virtual meeting, or socially distanced meeting, depending on the health and safety standards where you live.

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November 16, 2020
Why Women Should be Entrepreneurs

Both women and men can be successful entrepreneurs, but in times of severe economic disruption, women should turn to entrepreneurship for many reasons. It offers them control of their career, schedule, and workload. It keeps women independent of trends in the job market and breaks traditional barriers. Most importantly, entrepreneurship is a strong career alternative to defy the terrible impact of a pandemic.

This year, the coronavirus resulted in many jobs being lost and businesses being permanently closed. Women bore the brunt of job losses more than men. According to NPR, in September of this year, “an eye-popping 865,000 women left the U.S. workforce — four times more than men.”

Adapting to Changes in the Job Market

Despite changes in gender stereotypes over the years, more women lost jobs than men in 2020. They also found it impossible to continue working because childcare and housework were mostly their responsibility. Women are more likely to stay home to care for sick parents and watch over children who may have to be homeschooled.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the job market was already changing. The days of a career that lasts more than 30 years, with a 9 to 5 schedule, and holiday and medical benefits, were starting to become extinct. Labor statistics from 2015 state that a person can hold a total of 10 jobs by the age of 40, but that number is predicted to grow to over 12.

Millennials, born between the 1980s to 2000s, will have an even greater challenge finding a career or job that lasts more than five years and pays enough to fulfill their financial needs.

Becoming an entrepreneur is becoming a choice more and more worthy of consideration. We cannot rely on an employer to provide us with financial stability. If we are our own boss, our future is in our own hands.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which is the world’s foremost study of entrepreneurship, found that in a five-year period up to 2016, female entrepreneurship had risen 13% on average, while male entrepreneurship had risen 5% in the same period. More and more women are going into business for themselves. One reason is they have the talent for it.

Women Possess the Traits to Succeed as Entrepreneurs

Women have the personality traits to succeed in business. Firstly, they are great multi-taskers because of their ability to wear many hats. Many are able to juggle a full-time career while running a household.

Secondly, their method of communication is more of a friends-first approach when networking. During the pandemic, many female entrepreneurs have connected with other freelancers and small business owners via Zoom meetings. They are open communicators, willing to share ideas and learn new approaches.

Third, they are solid leaders who can plan long term and envision where they are headed. Women are motivated. They set goals for business development and leadership, as well as for personal development. They want financial independence, even if they are married.

Women Face Barriers in the Traditional Workplace

The fourth Industrial Revolution has impacted the traditional workplace. Nearly 4.8 million office and administrative jobs, for example, will vanish from the world by 2020. Women will lose more than five jobs for each one gained, while men will only lose about three jobs for each one gained.

Technological advances, such as robotics and 3D printing, are impacting administrative roles – traditionally women’s roles. Male-dominated industries, such as architecture and engineering, will not be negatively impacted by technology. Jobs in these sectors are expected to grow. In 2016, only 11% of the jobs in these industries were held by women.

However, not all changes in the workplace are harmful to women. Higher-skilled workers, such as those in jobs requiring analytics or social skills, saw a larger increase in pay than jobs requiring physical labor. This trend has helped women make larger gains in salary overall, although the average salary of men still remains higher. In addition, mothers have childcare responsibilities. Women may take maternity leave after having a child, or work reduced hours after having children, which affects their paycheck.

A survey of recruiters also paints a harsh picture for female workers. Forty-two percent of all the high-level recruitment and strategy officers said the reason for recruiting more women was “fairness and equality.” Twenty-three percent said that expanding the talent pool was their reason for hiring women. None of the 100 largest global recruiters surveyed cited “financial returns” as a reason for hiring more women.

Another barrier is a woman’s appearance. If she is wearing makeup and high heels, it shows that she cares about her job. But being well dressed can also mean she is trying too hard at her job, depending on who you ask. Studies show that women promoted most at work are perceived to be more attractive, taller, and thinner.

Company statistics seem to support these findings on barriers to employment. A 2020 analysis found women made up 23% of executive positions, 29% of senior managers, and 37% of managers. Compare those statistics to 42% of professionals and 47% of support staff positions held by women.

Photo by Anthony Shkraba on Pexels.com

The World Needs More Female Entrepreneurs

The benefits of being a female entrepreneur have an impact on a global to a personal level. Women entrepreneurs can be their own boss. Their business will contribute to the economy by creating jobs or beginning new careers for other women. There is no limit to their income potential.

Women who want to spend time with their family can set up a home-based business that allows them to have the flexibility to balance work and family life. Most importantly, they can choose a career that they are passionate about and develop their business in the direction that they want.

The list of successful female entrepreneurs continues to increase over time. Billionaire Tory Burch, for example, began her fashion empire in her kitchen. One of the wealthiest women in the world, Oprah Winfrey, started life in poverty and became a media mogul with her own television show and production company.

Becoming an entrepreneur will require stepping out of your comfort zone, but for women looking to reach past the skies to challenge their own limits, this career path is definitely one to consider.

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November 8, 2020
How a Positive Attitude Makes You Money

Believe it: how you see yourself and the world around you affects what makes you money. It is crucial to have a positive attitude if you want to take the next step in your personal growth and expand your wallet. Having a positive mindset will affect your income, appearance, friends, and actions.

Attitude of gratitude

If you approach life with a positive mindset, you will focus on the winning aspects of life. One way is to have an Attitude of Gratitude. Think of all the things in your life that you are grateful for, such family, friends, health, wealth, a vacation, or even the weather. Sometimes it becomes too easy to get caught up in everyday problems such as mortgage payments, a lousy commute, or an annoying coworker. These issues can drag you down and bring you negativity.

Instead, focus on the positive aspects of your life. Be grateful that you have a good friend who is there to listen when you need some advice. Be grateful that you have a source of income to pay for your upcoming credit card bill.

Having a positive mindset is the foundation for additional growth. You set your own boundaries on what you deserve. If you believe you are someone who owns a one-bedroom condo and your income is $50,000 a year, then that will set the limits of your life. You can dream about increasing your income to $1,000,000, but until you believe you deserve it, your situation isn’t likely to change.

Thinking positive starts the foundation to increasing your limits. People who are negative tend to be more cynical about opportunities. As a result, they limit themselves. What makes you money—and the income you deserve—is what lifestyle you believe you deserve. Only then will changes occur.

You are the average of your social circle

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”— Jim Rohn, motivational speaker

Having a positive mindset is key to bringing positive changes to your life. But your circle of friends also affects the outcomes in your social life, career, and family life. There is a saying that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, whether those five people include your significant other, friends, or coworkers.

One way to think about that average is this: What are the life goals of these five? What is the average of their income? What do they do in their free time? What is their health and fitness level like? When you have the average for all of these answers, figure out where you fit in. Is your income the highest? Is your health somewhere in the middle?

If you’re looking for a drastic change from these five people, this change that you desire may be met with conflict. For example, you may be the first one to get married and have children. Or you may be the first one to want to start a business, instead of working for an employer.

Well-meaning friends may advise you against starting your own business because they feel more comfortable with job security and remind you that many startups fail. They don’t want to see you fail so they try to protect you.

You may have a positive mindset when you start your business, but the lack of customers and the advice of your well-meaning friends may start to replace your positive thoughts with negative ones.

The key in this situation is to stay positive. A positive attitude makes you money and gets you closer to your income goals. Positive people see opportunities everywhere. They will not obsess over disappointments or failures. In the long run, even if they meet short-term setbacks, their persistence will help them to prevail and meet success.

For this reason, it is important to be with others with the same mindset as you. For example, socialize with successful business owners who believe in you and support you. Their encouragement will help you maintain a positive attitude as you seek a new form of financial success.

People are attracted to positive people

Positive people attract all kinds of people, whether they are positive or negative because of the energy they radiate. Positive people gravitate toward positive because they lift each other up.

The optimism of positive leaders motivates others. When they share stories of their struggles, people become inspired by their messages of hope.

Negative people also gravitate toward positive people because of their ability to motivate. Negative people see the problems in the situation and don’t necessarily become proactive about changing their situation. They seek leadership and hope, but can’t seem to keep themselves afloat. They can pull positive people down.

Strong leaders are positive people who can motivate others, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. People are drawn to their ability to find solutions. They’re the ones asking, what opportunities are out there that make you money? Increase your connections? In the business world, these types of leaders are needed to take a business to the next level or to increase its revenue.

Small steps lead to great outcomes

People who are positive don’t give up easily. They focus on getting things done, instead of putting things off. When faced with a huge task, such as cleaning up a messy house, they will start with picking up one object and putting it away. Large projects start with small accomplishments.

Similarly, when faced with a task, they will not focus on perfection right away. Nor will they set up mental roadblocks for themselves. Procrastination is incredibly destructive.

For example, if the goal is to learn to write a thank you email quickly, they can start with the easy stuff, such as typing out the recipient’s name and writing a sentence to explain what they are thanking them for.

They won’t focus on grammar or spelling. They won’t fuss about whether they are choosing the best words or research if they’ve used the latest fonts or formatting styles. Working on any of these details will only delay the process and completing the task.

Similarly, when taking on a goal such as an increase in their income, positive people will make a plan and stick to it. They will map out the process they need to take to achieve that goal, and they will keep working to reach that goal every day.

Even if they hit setbacks in their plan, they will keep going, knowing that eventually, they will reach their destination. It’s that positive mind that makes you money and improves your financial situation.

Taking action, even if the actions are small, imperfect steps, is more important to them than planning out the perfect result and not taking action at all. They don’t fear failure. They are believers that the tortoise, and not the hare, can win the race.

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March 7, 2020
How to Gain Respect in Business

It’s not always about owning a fancy car or having your name mounted on the wall of a fifty storey building. You don’t even have to be the CEO of a six-figure empire to gain respect in business. You can start with making just a few small changes with yourself and your attitude toward your business and your network. Four tips in Dale Carnegie’s book The 5 Essential People Skills give you some suggestions on how to gain respect in business. It starts with how you plan your day.

1. Have a busy schedule.

Stay busy. Stay hungry. Be productive. Set daily and weekly goals for yourself and work on achieving those goals for your business. If you aren’t meeting with clients or prospective clients, then look for networking events to attend. Examine your business. Are there aspects of your marketing or sales that you could work on?

Take some time for personal development. Read a book to improve your knowledge. Personal goals can be a part of your professional goals. Keeping healthy and fit are just as important as hitting your sales goals. You can’t enjoy success if you’re sickly. You can’t work hard if you’re constantly fighting fatigue. Plus a healthy body boosts confidence, and confidence is a magnet that draws people toward you.

When you are busy working on your goals, you’re less likely to focus on the negativity that may nag at your conscience. You’ll find it easier to suppress that inner voice that may question your abilities if you accomplish even a small amount every day.

No sound is more dreadful to a new business owner than the sound of silence. It’s so tempting when you finally get an email or a call from a prospective client to jump on it right away. It’s so easy to say, “Yes, I’m free to chat with you right now! Yes, I can start working with you in two hours!”

But you should refrain from responding so fast. Being so eager smacks of desperation and can scare your prospective client away. Think about the last time you walked past a restaurant with only a couple of occupied tables. What were you first thoughts? Compare that to the time you walked past a restaurant with a lineup out the door. What was your opinion then?

Keep busy, stay busy, and look busy. When a prospective client calls to book an appointment to do business with you, flip past those blank pages in your appointment book and say you’re not free til next week.

2. Place yourself in important settings.

Having the right mindset is one way to gain respect. Having the attitude that business will eventually come to you because you possess the right skills is just as crucial. But you also need to place yourself in important settings so you can start building a network.

Look around for networking events where people who are key to your business will be attending. If you have a fitness business, attending an event for gamers would not be as productive business-wise. However, going to an event for people in the food and nutrition business would be a better fit. Of course, a convention for fitness coaches, gym owners, and athletes would probably be the most beneficial for you.

Depending on what you’re looking for, attending a free event may not get you the same results as an event with a $20 or $80 entry fee. Paid events tend to attract more experienced or serious people. They aren’t there out of curiosity, or because they wanted an activity to fill their Thursday night. People who pay to attend are there because they are looking for potential clients, joint venture partners, or people who can refer them to those who can build their business.

Events with hefty price tags are also more likely to attract industry leaders. Being able to rub shoulders with these leaders, or even have them as your mentors will be an asset to your business. We all need strong role models.

3. Spend time in the company of successful, well-regarded people.

We all need role models and mentors, and that includes having peers who inspire us. There is a saying that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Think about how true that is for you.

Consider the goals and aspirations of your five closest friends. What do they aspire to do in their lifetime? What are their plans for their families? What is their income level? If you average out the answers for all these questions, you are probably similar to them. It is rare that you would find an aspiring CEO that is best friends with someone who is content with a lifetime of minimum wage jobs. Similarly, it is almost impossible to find a humanitarian who is best friends with someone who has little regard for other people.

If you want to gain the respect of others in business, surround yourself with successful people. If someone said their mentor is multi-millionaire Dan Lok, how would that affect your perception of them? Or if someone said that they work with Oprah Winfrey, or they are on Tony Robbin’s team, or belong to the same diner’s club as a Fortune 500 CEO, what would you think?

Having these priceless connections is like having a letter of reference, or a recommendation just for your association with them. It’s a reflection on your values and opinions.

4. Keep a neat workspace.

So at this point, you’re looking busy and accomplished. You’re attending events with industry leaders and you’re surrounding yourself with well-respected people. One final tip to getting respect is to keep your workspace tidy. It may sound like a tip from elementary school. But psychology and mindset are a big part of getting yourself ready for success.

For practical reasons, a disorganized workspace will make it challenging to find documents and information. You may even miss a meeting or misplace a file. If clients visit your office, it won’t give a favourable impression.

Keeping your workspace neat and tidy will result in the opposite – better organization and better impressions for clients. But on a psychological level, it will give you a mental boost if you work in a clean environment.

Good fortune cat

I would even suggest adding items that inspire you to reach your goal. Asians favor the good fortune cat to encourage money to come your way. Some like a leather chair to have that feeling of elegance.

However, this mental inspiration can be as simple as having all your office stuff organized with colour-coded stickies, pens, and file folders. Or a smiling photo of your spouse. Or kids. Or both. Whatever it takes to remind you why you got your business started in the first place.

These are just four tips to get you started on gaining you respect in business. Earning the respect of others is not a magical moment that can happen overnight. They can have a high opinion of you to start with, but like a blossoming plant, nurturing and keeping that respect will take time.

Do you have suggestions on how to gain respect in business? Please share in the comments section!

May 6, 2018