By now I hope you have invested time and energy considering precisely what your ideal clients look like.

Don’t spend another minute marketing yourself – until you can articulate exactly who you want to do business with. Will Rogers is quoted as saying that, “it doesn’t matter that you are making good time, when you are heading in the wrong direction” – so check your map (picture of your ideal client type) before you go speeding off toward oblivion.

After we have tightly identified our target audience we still face a huge marketing challenge. How can we quickly articulate the value we offer these targeted folks when we find ourselves in front of one?

If we can not describe our benefit in specific, tangible, and results oriented fashion – we won’t be around long enough to prove our uniqueness and value.

What we need is an “elevator” speech – a benefit statement we can blurt out in 15 seconds that will cause them to pause. When they pause we have their attention, which is all we want at this point, so we can take whatever is the next logical step in the process for us.

Your elevator speech can be your most powerful weapon, if you’ve done your homework – created the clear identity of your target audience so your statement of benefits will resonate with the people who are important to you!

Now your elevator speech will effectively get the attention of the people who are important to you, people you are uniquely positioned to serve. Perhaps more importantly it will just a clearly and quickly disqualifies everyone else.

In fact that is the key of an effective elevator speech. You want to disqualify everyone that does not fit your picture of your ideal client. No more wasted time with one-off clients, Every client leads you to the next and the next and the next, so it is critical that they all are taking you in the right direction.

There are more than enough high probability prospects out there to keep you busy in your niche. Don’t waste time and everyone the others.

The more efficient you get at disqualifying the wrong people, the better you will get at uncovering the right ones. Actually they will begin to identify themselves. And those people you meet that you disqualify, well some of them will become your greatest recruiters, going out of their way to tell the people they come across that you specialize in people like them and would it be ok if they gave you their name.

I have never seen anyone who has narrowed their niche too much. If you live in a small town and there are only a handful of people who represent your niche – that will do it. Each one of them knows other people just like them who live 20, 50, or 100 miles away. And we all know the credibility that automatically attaches to us when we are a specialist from afar.

And those people have more friends just like them.

According to the Columbia Books Directory of State and Regional Associations and Professional Societies there are 7,500 local chapters of organizations whose members share common interests.

After you have determined the true nature of the people you want to work with, check it out. You will find an association of them closer to you than you think. And the member just down the street nay hold the key to getting your message in front of them.

Fine tuning your target audience has other marketing benefits as well. For instance you can fine tune the places where you want your marketing message to show up.

For example a trade show appearance where each and every attendee is in your market. Everyone is a prospect and everyone knows you or they know somebody who knows you or they just might be standing beside somebody who knows you.

I know professional solution providers who focus 100% of their marketing efforts in this single way. They attend the annual association meeting of their target market. They “work the room” by being at the awards banquet, the breakout sessions, and they practically live in the exhibit hall during the event.

At the end of the week they have all the new prospects they need for the next 12 months – people they had never met before, people who were not ready for their services when they met them at an earlier event, and people they have been given a personal prestige laden introduction to by one of their existing clients.

By the way, how many new clients do you want in the next 12 months? How many prospects does it take to get them, if they are in your target niche and they understand your value proposition?

When creating your elevator talk, your 15 second description of your value proposition, remember it is all about them – what’s in it for them?

When you describe your offer speak their language, not yours!

If you are like most emerging professionals I meet, you suffer from the inability to provide your prospects with a description of what you do that offers them tangible, understandable, and specific benefits.

People will not pay money until they understand that what they are receiving is worth more than it costs, unless they are stupid. And you will not be able to make a living selling your services to stupid people.

It is 100% your responsibility to describe your value, answer their “what’s in it for me?” questions, whether stated or implied.

To help you do that I offer a formula that has worked for many people like you and me for years. I did not come up with it and neither did anyone who claims to have done so. I first heard it on a very old record by Earl Nightingale – one he created in the ’50s, and he gave credit to someone before him.

Use this formula to create as many specific elevator speeches as you need, in order to address the wants and desires of your niche and its subsidiaries. It goes like this.

“You know what it’s like when _____________?” “Well, that’s what I do.”

For example if your target is beauty shop owners, helping them through their many challenges – and you have just me such a person, perhaps at an exhibit of salon equipment at their annual meeting.

You might say, “You know what it’s like when you find you are paying more for shampoo than it costs your customers at the mall?” Well, that’s what I do. I help salon owners locate sources of products at below wholesale, turning a net cost into a profit center.”

The salon owner is interested in that!

No matter what you do and who you do it for, “You know what it’s like when _____________?” “Well, that’s what I do.” Will get their attention.

You can see how this formula can be used for whatever challenge your target audience has. If you have defined your target audience and spent the time to understand their challenges.

Your homework, create elevator speeches – 45 words or less, for every situation you are likely to come up against, and integrate them into your persona.

When you know them so well that your spouse can wake you up in the middle of the night from a sound sleep, and ask you – “What do you do?” and you answer them before you open your eyes, you’re ready for prime time!

Success comes from making better decisions. It’s that simple, not easy to do on your own however. In fact the most successful leaders among us, in every walk of life, systematically reach out to their hand-pick board of advocates and supporters for insights and advice.

You can have the same tools for creating your own strategic planning and marketing team, a no cost whatsoever. Simply go to www.StrategicConversations.biz and watch the five minute video. Once you join you will receive a powerful video series that will show you how to make decisions about the directions you take and the plans you make with greater confidence. It is 100% free, no strings attached.

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Technorati Tags: Family Business Consultants, niche marketing

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Technorati Tags: business succession, Family Business Consultants, family business succession, Larina Kase

Or are your services no different than your competitors?

Really, why should people do business with you and not one of them? You’ve got to have a very good answer for that, or you are on your way out of business.

In an earlier piece I discussed the importance of finding and owning your niche, your target audience around which you create your unique selling proposition.

That description was based on the principles of psychographic marketing, a strategy of focusing on what your audience has in common, learning everything you can about that commonality, and positioning your solutions around issues that effect each of them.

In another article I described how “Doing It Right” can play an important learning/teaching role, making you feel more at home calling on and selling your services to business owners. I know it works, I published it based on almost three decades of real-life experience.

Here is another way to choose your ideal client type, based on where they are on the curve from start-up to sale or exit strategy.

In the previous article I suggested a ‘vertical’ psychographic process, every prospect being in the same industry for example, an industry you already know something about or have existing credibility in.

Here is another way to look at your target market, one that may help you further identify where you want to work, where your specific knowledge, skill, and abilities will have the greatest impact.

How about working with start-ups?
When businesses are just getting going, everything that each of them does they are doing for the first time. There will always be mistakes when creating business strategies, but at this stage the mistakes can cause the business to fail before it even has a chance.

Perhaps your specialized knowledge, that unique perspective you bring to the equation, is especially suited to helping these entrepreneurs. I know a business coach who has conclusively demonstrated to me his clients and me, that without him, they would fail failed and lost everything.

What have you learned or experienced to date that gives you special insights when working with people at this fragile stage?

Perhaps yours can be the voice of experience, the voice of reason – while their excitement runs from high to low from one minute to the next.

There are three principles for new business failures. How can you help?

One is a lack of experience, can you help them with this? Do you have a coachable point of view worth paying for?

Another is a lack of money, they run out of money before their revenues exceed their expenses. Again, can you help them figure out what’s important to use their limited resources on? Can you help them set priorities, make decisions strategically so they will have a fighting chance to get over the hump?

And finally, the business was a bad idea. You know, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Can you be a voice of reason? Your interactions might help them redirect their energies and resources into a more productive venture.

How about working with businesses that have escaped the failure of most entrepreneurs?
This business is a survivor that has beaten the odds, moving from the weekly panic that the payroll will bounce – to one that is looking for more employees, more equipment, and perhaps a more professional management structure.

This business must build on what’s working, focusing on what’s important to their continued growth.

Even though they are successful. seventy-five percent of them will fail to outlive their founder. The average life span of this successful company is 23 years.

Why is that? Maybe they lost their focus, their identity, or their vision. Maybe things were going so well they quit doing them.

Is this a coachable opportunity for you? You bet. They have already demonstrated that they have a viable economic proposition. They did not already go broke like eighty or ninety percent of the other start ups.

If they recognize that you can be part of their turnaround, in your manner, in your attitude, and in your focus on them, they will pay your price. After all, their very life (business and personal) depends on the business and hopefully on you too.

Maybe you can focus of companies that have hit a “flat spot” in their developmental process.
It happens to all successful companies after the making money equation has been figured out, the founders of the business are making more money that they ever thought possible, and they have not yet started thinking about what is going to happen to the company when they are ready to step down.

The people begin to be effected by a sort of malaise, stagnation brought on by no urgent battles to fight.

The business proposition is working just fine thank you very much, often in spite of them. They’re making money, living the good life – but there is a lot of dissatisfaction often under the surface. There’s no joy in the process.

This is where most coaching takes place in business today. Can you see yourself as part of their solution?

Issues such as conflict resolution, executive burnout, lack of motivation, intergenerational conflict, sibling rivalry to name a few.

Opportunities in team building, strategic communications, employee motivation, strategic planning, and on and on.

Maybe you specialize in only one of the above. A place where your specialized knowledge has a maximum value to a group of business owners.

There’s no limit to what you can achieve working with companies in the doldrums!

The Final Frontier! Maybe this is where you will find your niche.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the next ten years will see the largest transition of wealth and management in history.

The gigantic boom that began after WWII in the US and gradually around the world over the last fifty years, those business owners who were successful, outlasted their competition, and got past the “flat-spot” in productivity are now passing the torch to those who follow them.

Is this where you belong? Working with the most wealthy among us.

These successful businesses have only three options available to them. What role can you play in the process?

They can be sold, perhaps to strangers, to investors, or to their competitors wishing to consolidate their position in the industry.

To achieve any of these possibilities successfully requires insights and knowledge not likely to be found internally. Perhaps this is an area of special experience for you?

A second option is that the business can be sold at auction at a drastic discount compared to its value as a going concern.

If this is determined to be the only option, special knowledge, strategies, and techniques may help the business owner make the most of this often very negative situation. Can you add value in this process?

Or the company can continue on in the life of a family member or other insider. This is the preferred option by the vast majority of business owners.

Succession planning in expectation of this option works best when developed over time.

Gauging the commitment of the successor generation, the owners not ready for retirement yet, but are ready to share the management load, or perhaps no one wants to run the place in the next generation. How can you help them uncover what’s important to each of them?

Each business determined to continue beyond the retirement of the founder offer those of you who specialize with them, virtually unlimited opportunities for coaching, training, and mentoring.

And those opportunities are not just for business and executive coaches.

Coaches specializing in pre and post retirement coaching, management, conflict resolution, career coaching, and life coaches will find a fertile field among these wealthy business owners.

I know a life coach who helps high school students whose families own large companies.

Her role is to help them surface their real desires, interests, and aptitudes – so they can move beyond high school toward a productive role in the family business or not.

Her presentations to trade association groups present both sides of the stories, with not a dry eye in the place at the end.

She has all the business she can do working with business owners in a single industry, as well as world of satisfaction helping people see their futures in a positive and exciting light.

My objective here is to help you see your potential prospects from an angle you may not have considered before.

I hope you are making notes and brainstorming with your associates and friends.

This original article for coaches and other professional advisors serving small business owners was first published on our web site, then syndicated across the Internet, added to the articles on ezinearticles.com, and now has been converted to a fully automated video using the automated process at http://www.ibizresources.com/simple-promotion in order to reach an even wider audience. This adds value to more searchers and leverages our efforts at the same time.

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Technorati Tags: Business Coach, business consultant, Family Business Consultants, Family Business Consulting, Small Business Consultants

You’ve heard the expression about not being able to see the forest for the trees. True enough when it comes to focus on what’s important to both the business and the family on our own. It’s so easy to become wrapped up in day-to-day activities, in the business and at home, that we fail to look at the big picture or think about the future beyond which wheel is squeaking the loudest right now.

That’s where family business consultants and coaches comes in. They can help us remember our long-term goals while we are naturally focused on the fires that are raging right in front of us right now.  They can help us identify problem areas that need improvement today as well as those we’ll have to face in the future.

In some cases, that could mean changing staff assignments; who does what to head off problems of one kind or another that they can see looming ahead and that we will not recognize on our own until it is too late to handle them cost effectively.

Family business consultants can help us identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual family members, taking the heat for us when the resulting decisions are not popular.  Cousin Bob might not be suited for sales, after all, even though that’s where he has been since he started with the company. In fact he may be the missing piece in your business puzzle somewhere else in the company. You know it’s true, when the right people are put in the right position, everything runs smoother and everyone is happier in the long run.

Even if it is right for him and a better fit for the company, Cousin Bob might not like his new job assignment at first.  But, if the family business consulting team you hire knows their stuff, and Cousin Bob knows they know it and trusts you and them to be doing what’s right for everyone, then he will likely have the patience to grow into his new position and thrive over time.

Many family-owned businesses fail to grow as they should, not only because the members are in the wrong positions.  It’s not unusual for someone in authority to believe that branching out or growing is “greedy”.  But, unless you are running a not-for-profit organization, growth and diversification is necessary.

Regardless of what your company specializes in, there are other things that you can and should be investing in.  Just as you would diversify your personal investment portfolio, your company should too.  One of the many things that a family business consulting team can do is help you to identify worthwhile long-term investments.

They can advise you about short-term investments, too, but most family business consultants focus on the future.  Generally speaking, business owners are accustomed to identifying short-term investments that are likely to be profitable.  It is planning for the future that stymies them.

Regardless of your age or your physical health, you need to think about how the company will continue to operate and grow, in case the a key member of the management team dies or become disabled.  A family business consulting team can help you identify who should take over and when they should begin training.

Far too often, good businesses fail after the death or disability of the CEO.  What happened?  The CEO might have failed to name a successor or failed to adequately train them.

If other family members are not heavily involved in the day-to-day operations, they are often tempted to liquidate, which means that future generations lose out.

Family business consultants can help you ensure that your company thrives, supports your grandchildren and continues to operate with the same philosophy that you have created.

Along with a qualified family business consultant, take a little time to think about your company’s future now, before it’s too late.

And success, for both business owners and their family business consultants, are the results of one thing and one thing only! Success comes from making better decisions. It’s that simple, not easy to do on your own however. In fact the most successful leaders and family business consultants among us, in every walk of life, systematically reach out to their hand-pick board of advocates and supporters for insights and advice.

You can have the same tools for creating your own strategic planning and marketing team, at no cost whatsoever. Simply go to http://www.StrategicConversations.biz and watch the five minute video. Once you join you will receive a powerful video series that will show you how to make decisions about the directions you take and the plans you make with greater confidence. It is 100% free, no strings attached.

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Technorati Tags: Family Business Consultants, Small Business Consultants, succession planning professionals

And because the vast percentage of all companies, up and down every street in every town are considered “family owned”, it means that the majority of all companies face the distinct likelihood of losing their life’s work because they have not kept their eye on the ball when it comes to succession planning.

That’s right – succession planning is critical because it is a process that unlocks cash from the business for the departing generation of owners and creates an environment where the next generation can begin taking over.

This process requires a different set of advisors – or at least a new member or two of the company’s advisory team. One of the many things that a good family business consulting team can do is help with those very important plans – creating business management transition and ownership transition simultaneously.  The success of the company for future generations depends upon it.

In companies large and small, succession planning involves aligning the visions of – in most cases the founders of the business although it could be the children or even grandchildren of the founders, stakeholders and gradually handing off decision-making authority to the next generation of managers.

In order to do this successfully, training and identifying potential leaders is necessary.

That’s just one of the areas that family business consultants can help with.

It is far too easy to let personal opinions about children, grandchildren or other family members get in the way of choosing someone that actually has potential.

Often we see our children as we saw them when they were kids, leaving their roller skates in the driveway, forgetting to lock the car at the Mall, or leaving the forklift out of gear on the loading dock. A neutral family business consulting team can look at factors that people on the “inside” may not be able to see.

100% of the businesses in the survey said that the continued involvement of family members in managing the company was important. After all, the owners of family businesses often have virtually all of their assets tied up directly or indirectly in the business – so they want folks who are committed stewards of their years of hard work.

Even so, 61% said that they had spent little time on succession planning, possibly confusing succession planning with estate planing, something everyone seems to put off too long.  Even CEOs that planned to retire within the next seven years were unsure about “who” would take over after they retired, maybe because the only person they see when they look at their potential successors are the people they were and not the people they have become.  Six months or even a year is not sufficient time for making a successful transition.  Even ten years may not be long enough.

The survey indicated that there are other areas in which a family business consulting team could help, as well.  For example, 13% of owners surveyed said that high profits were not important – remember the higher the “profits” the higher their taxes become. With that ages old mindset business owners often take unwise shortcuts of all kind instead of seeking advice that can help then maximize their profits and minimize their taxes simultaneously.

Family business consultants can help those members who see making a profit as being less than savvy, greedy or undesirable in some way.  Making a profit is what any business-leader should focus on.

When the economy is doing poorly, the idea of hiring a family business consulting team may seem unaffordable. Or they choose the less desirable candidates thinking they can get them on the cheap, maybe because there aren’t as many consulting engagements around as there are when the economy is booming.

In fact it is during recessionary times that the help of the most desirable candidates is most valuable – because they are committed to the long term success of their client’s business and not solely motivated by the paycheck today.  Again, it’s about being neutral.

None of the owners surveyed said that they expected to fire or lay anyone off over the next year. Why would they say that they might fire someone – especially since they are undoubtedly related to them? Yet, there are probably a number of employees in those companies that should, in fact, be replaced or, at the least, counseled concerning productivity.

The business owners know they are not just firing their lazy nephew – they are firing their families too. In family owned companies nothing and no one is neutral and in a vacuum, everyone is connected to everyone else, so it’s easier and a lot less painful to give that nephew less responsibility and hope he won’t cause too much damage than it is to face your brother over the dinner table.

Seeing the big picture is often difficult when you are on the inside, that’s where family business consultants can help, if you’ll let them. They can call for changes you feel compelled to make, because you are smart and you hired them because they are smart. If you are both smart then the decisions made must be followed even if they are painful.

There are many challenges that family business consultants can help owners overcome.  It’s easy to put things off until it’s just too late to make a difference.

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Technorati Tags: Family Business Consultants, Family Business Consulting, family business succession planning, family succession planning, Succession planning