Now your business might not be a restaurant or bar or coffee shop. It might be a hair salon or real estate or attorney office – it’s the spirit that we’re talking about here. There is a charisma that is inviting and engaging. People are drawn to spend time there.

But – rather than this great vision, you see yourself working too many hours and not experiencing the kind of sales results you’d like. Or, you feel like you’re trying everything to get more customers to your shop or site and nothing seems to be working. How can you get back in the game? How can you experience that welcoming, open atmosphere where “everybody knows your name”? Instead of drawing them in, you feel like you are chasing down customers.

Are you willing to kick aside excuses and take the actions that will improve your sales? Do you know what those actions could be? Are there things that you know you need to do to improve your sales but you keep postponing? Or do you find ways to keep yourself occupied with the crisis of the moment so you don’t have to make those changes?

At one time, you had the spirit and courage to go into business. Get back in touch with that same spirit to reenergize your business.

Do you know what makes you and your business unique? If not, take the time to dig for and find that gold. You need to know what makes you stand out and what value you bring to your customers. Knowing that, influences all of your conversations and your marketing messages.

Does your competition worry you? Learn how to leverage what you – and only you – offer. You stand out and know that no one can compete with you when you know the answers to what makes you and your products and service special.

What is your vision for your business? Do you have one? Your business starts with you. You need to step into your role of the Leader in your company. What strengths do you bring? How can you leverage those strengths for the benefit of your customers?

How do you manage or mismanage your valuable time?

How do your customers and staff view you? How do you show up for them?

These are powerful questions to be asking as we come to the end of 2016. The coming holidays are a busy time for sure, and they can also be a time for quiet reflection and for planning for the coming year. If your business is on a great trajectory and you see only growth and prosperity as you gaze into your crystal ball, congratulations! Keep doing what has contributed to your success.

Be an A-game player in your business game. Play to win!

The post A Place Where Everybody Knows Your Name first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.

You’ve heard the terms “target market” and “niche” used interchangeably in many marketing conversations. Target market and niche are not the same. Your target market is the select group of people you wish to serve. For example, a target market could be working professionals who are looking for someone to prepare and package healthy, home-cooked meals for them or owner(s) of a new puppy who need a veterinarian or puppy training. Pinpointing your target market is critical to your marketing plan and your marketing messages.

Your niche is the special service you provide to your target market. Using our previous example of the target market of working professionals who are open to hiring someone to prepare healthy, home-cooked meals, the niche could be one or a combination of the following:

• Provide a menu of healthy meals from which to choose.
• Shopping for all ingredients.
• Meal preparation and delivery with cooking instructions on a weekly basis.
• “Special” dietary needs accommodated easily.
• Party menus available for home entertaining.

Making sure that you’ve identified your target market as specifically as you can is critical for offering your services in optimal ways. Marketing is not about trying to convince or force people to buy your services or products.

If you are going to reach the people you want to serve, correctly identifying your target market will tell you where to find them, what motivates them to buy and what messages you wish to communicate to them through your marketing activities.

While you might want to be everything to everyone, you just can’t manage or afford that expectation.This supposition evolves from the assumption that the more people you market to, the more clients you’ll get. That thinking is doomed to failure because it does not promote reaching out effectively to an intended market. It is the business owner who must differentiate the selected market. It is not the client who will self-select from the untargeted marketing messages.

If your marketing is planned and implemented effectively, you will never need to make another sales call. When I first heard this promise, I, too, was skeptical.However, I have since discovered that good marketing does make the selling unnecessary. Good marketing is working smart. Targeted marketing will make you rich!

The post Target Your Market first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.