Johnnie Firari

Archive for the ‘business’ Category

Time and time again I hear business owners saying, they are trying to utilize Social Media to grow their business. The truth is a lot of these businesses have no clue on what they are doing and sometimes feel they are wasting time, energy and resources to Social Media, all while trying to measure a ROI.

The key word in the title of this post is “MANAGE”. It is so common to hear people stumble over their words and give me a duh look when I ask the question, “What are your goals for Social Media?”. Social Media is a platform that can help your business but you have to decide first how you want it to help. If you are in business, setting goals is a no-brainier for the everyday tasks and it seems most have forgotten to set their goals for Social Media. Once you have your goals set, you can now start to “MANAGE” how you will use Social Media.

Keep in mind your goals can vary from one business to the next. Keep your goals realistic, specific and measurable.

Disclaimer: I am not devaluing any ones presentation skills or why someone would hire them to present. Just a question I am pondering.

Their are over 784,000 people living in Indianapolis. So I wonder why companies pay for people from out of state, to fly in to give presentations on various subjects? Obviously this does not just happen in Indianapolis, companies pay for people from Indianapolis to fly and give presentations as well. I network and meet numerous people everyday and know there is so many awesome people living here. Many are very well established and some are on their way. With all the talent here, why would a company avoid the cost and pick an individual from the local area?

I completely understand the value of being in the flesh. We watch the Colts on T.V. but we love to actually go to the games. However when the Colts travel to another stadium, we do not follow them, we watch it on T.V.. I am a Bengals fan but I do not travel to see their game every week although I am sure, I would enjoy watching the game in person much more than on T.V.. So as an Indiana resident, I now go to Colt’s game and still get the same experience.

Is it the speakers are that talented or is it because they have created some tremendous fans? Ok, so lets say they have created a great fan base(I can respect that). With all of the technology why are some not utilizing it completely? Ok, so you feel your company must hear and see this person speak. Are they going to receive the message better if they can smell the person? Or could the same message be relayed by a local resident? Just wondering if I am missing something. Is there a lack of talent? Please someone feel me in.

Hi my name is ? Do you know ? Have you heard what happen to ?

How do you define your name. If you have not figured it out yet we are not talking about your actual name but the name that your business stands for. The more people in business I meet, the more I realize more than 70% of people in business know their name!

NETWORKING EVENT
How do you introduce yourself? I meet you at a networking meeting where people are all looking for new business. You introduce yourself as “Hi my name is John Doe and I do blah blah blah.”. How many people remember names? Not many, studies show most forget names. Next, you start off telling me what you do, do you even think I care? I understand you have to convey to me what you do, how else will I know if I can use your service. How are you going to earn my business? It will not be because you have a cool name (like mine Johnnie Firari). It is going to because of our relationship. If you start our relationship with a buyer, seller routine, do you think you are going to get my business. Start off our relationship with a natural even playing field. It might look something such as, “Hi my name is John Doe, how are things going? Do you know many people here? Then you may lead to talk about the weather or something you think we both can discuss. Leave business outside until I ask you what you do.” Doing something like this will allow us to build a relationship, once we have a relationship you are going to be more likely to get my business.

WEBSITE

Ok someone shows up on your website, do they see your name? What type of message are you sending? This is a no brainer but your website should reflect the proper message. Either you are serious about your business having a online presence or you are not. Come on do you think people are really going to buy something from your website if it looks like a 1996 website template that was done on a scrap budget? If they are not going to buy from your site, what is going to make them buy from you. Your website should reflect the image if your business. Get feedback from people you do not know, cause sometimes that template site you felt great about building, looks terrible and is not functional. Send me your link through the contact page and I will give you my honest opinion. If you can handle the truth!

FLIERS

You give me this flier, I am suppose to look at it and see what you do? Is this thing printed on cheap paper and missing your website address? Is the message the flier sending clear? Do not let your flier tell me you are cheap, unorganized and leave out important information. Design is a big plus. Colors, text, image texture and size are important for more than just visual reasons.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Make sure you relay your name properly within the social Media platform. For more information on Social Media I recommend reading my Social Media Blog. (click here)

It is tough to build a good name for your business. Make sure people want to get to know your name and come to like what your name stands for. Figure out what your name is and how to better market your name and your business will succeed.

What do your customers expect from you?

Do you provide great customer service?

Do you go the extra mile?

Do you do all the same things your competition does but better?

So do you have customers?

Things are good when you have customers but if you just have customers, you are doing something wrong. I know you are asking, what are you talking about? Let me explain. Start with just the definition of customer, it means one that buys goods or services. Ok, so I am sure you already knew this. When building your business your “customers” expect you to sell them a good or service. Yes if you meet their expectation they may hire or buy from you again. To succeed, you must create”FANS”. Fans are huge in business, the definition, a person who admires or is enthusiastic about someone or something. Fans want to see you do good and suceed. Think of how much Colts fans cheer for Payton Manning. They buy his jerseys, cheer every time he does something great on the field, fans become concerned if he is hit hard, etc.. I am sure you get the point. Rather in your business you have to turn your customers into your FANS. In doing this your fans will care about your business because they are your FAN!

You may already have some fans of your business and have not even noticed.

Do you have fans of your business? I would love to hear how you created your fans or some stories on how fans have helped your business.

UPDATE!

It has been brought to my attention by the owner of My Car Doc, John Cannon that there is a book about “Raving Fans”. He said it was a good ready and I plan on checking it out for my first time. Below is a link to the book if you want to give it a read.

Hi «First_Name»,

Hope everyone is pumped for another great week. So yes the title reads correctly, this may be my last email I send out to my contact list. It is greatly dependant on your response because I value your opinion and would love to hear your feedback. I have been working really hard to maintain my blog and was thinking that it might be a good idea, just to post directly to my blog and not take up the room in your email box. So what do you think? I look forward to your response and again I value any feedback you can provide. O yea do not forget to check out my latest blog entry at My Blog. Any and all comments are appreciated.

Clip of “My life my story”

I have to say things are really going good both professionally and personally. Cathy Patton, some other coaches and I are opening up our first office September 15! We are launching a new website for Coaching Achievement & Success Network September 4. Click here for a sneak peek and let me know what you think.
My little girl is doing awesome in school and has not been too hard to get up every morning. J My wife and I are looking at some after school activities. My daughter wants to do something with edible insects? Still learning more about the activity but should be interesting. I really do not understand why seeing as she is still scared of bugs… I guess we will see, we are also enrolling her into Girl Scouts. Should be fun!

Thinking about you and your business

I have been thinking more and more about creating a unique experience for my customers.

I have been talking more and more about creating an experience for customers. This could be a really long email but I am going to try and keep it short. So we know we all pay for customer service. As I think on this more and more, I keep searching for away to completely separate customer service from the actual customer’s experience. I know customer service is part of the experience but I truly believe if you, as a business owner can create a unique experience for your customer/FAN, your business will grow outrageously faster. Going to Disney World is an experience, going on a cruise is an experience, and we need to figure a way to create a unique experience for our clients. I am coming closer and closer on finalizing this for my businesses and would be happy to bounce ideas off each other if you would like. For me making it fun and thinking outside the box helped me identify how I will work to create my clients own unique experience.

Sincerely,

Johnnie Firari

Yougo Network | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | CASN | Smaller Indiana | My Blog

This email was sent to «Email_Address» by johnnie@yougonetwork.com. To unsubscribe from our periodic marketing e-mail messages, please simply reply unsubscribe.

Yougo Network | 317.663.3105 | Indianapolis | IN |46074

After speaking to two business owners about social media I heard

“I need a tutor to figure this out!”
“I have all kinds of people saying they can help us and any idiot could do it but I just do not have the time.”

I am not the expert on social media but I do understand some of the right things to do.

So what is the right thing?

1. Find a mentor if you are new. Some mistakes can damage your brand name and you will not want to make them.
2. Content is king! You get what you put out. Put out good content, never mind put out the best content. Put out your own content!
3. The real use for twitter and facebook. Use the search functions and get involved in the conversations. (DO NOT POST COMMERCIALS. SEE VIDEO BELOW)
4. Realize how big this platform is!
5. You better be passionate about your business and the value you provide to your customers or it WILL show.

Video above by Gary Vaynerchuk – Awesome guy and new dad. He has a real grasp on how to build a business and his role in life.

Hi _______,

First I want to say yes I know it has been a couple of weeks since I sent out a good old fashion marketing email. I have been working on my blog as a personal goal and what can I say that would not sound like a lame excuse? So I will not bother you with an excuse cause we all know, no excuse is a good excuse. If you have a moment I would love some feedback about My Blog.

Clip of “My life my story”

So some of you know my daughter started first grade. Well I would like to share the night prior to her first day. Yes she was so excited maybe even more so than x-mas eve. She had her cloths set out and her new shoes ready to go. Giving her hug and kiss good night I could feel her little heart just pounding. She finally got to sleep but crawled in bed with mom and dad somewhere around 3am. I woke up at 4:30 and turned over and just seen the brightest smile and these wide awake eyes. She says “I am excited” and I tell her to get some sleep. So 5:30 I wake up and again see that big grin and wide awake eyes.  She gave me the BIGGEST hug and just said again “I am just so excited and cannot wait!” That hug was so great and one of those moments I am sure I will cherish for life. The rest of the morning went smooth.

Thinking about you and your business

What keeps you awake at night? Excitement or worries?

As I typed the piece about my daughters first day of school, I sort of changed my mind on what I would share with you as I am thinking about you and your business. I wanted to talk about that excitement we feel when something new in our business is happening. Maybe it is a new client or new office, what gets you so excited you cannot sleep at night. It seems many people speak about what worries keep you awake at night. Two totally different feelings on opposite ends of the satisfaction scale but both leave you awake in your bed. They both get your heart rate up and leave you thinking and wondering. These sleepless nights can really benefit you both personally and professionally. Think about how crazy your days are and now you are lying in bed and it is peaceful. Take advantage of these moments by setting a pen and notebook next to your bed. As you lay there thinking start writing those thoughts and ideas down. There is an entire psychological aspect to this but that is more a conversation than an email. Do not rely on remembering it in the morning (It will not happen).  Now considering you are tired you will want to review your ideas when your mind is fresh. Use those sleepless nights to either solve problems keeping you awake or as a way to capture the moment.

Note: Handwriting does not count, write big and where you think you will be able to read it the next day.

Sincerely,

Johnnie Firari

Yougo Network | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | CASN | Smaller Indiana | My Blog

This email was sent to _________ by johnnie@yougonetwork.com. To unsubscribe from our periodic marketing e-mail messages, please simply reply unsubscribe.

Yougo Network | 317.663.3105 | Indianapolis | IN |46074

Choose cable or the internet and we all agree, we would take the internet. We all love the internet.

This is not a post saying I hate the internet but just some ways of how it is hurting business.

I am not going into great detail, just some watch outs.

What you do to with the internet to kill your business.

1. You spend to much time leaving post and notes on all your social media sites.
2. You get lost in the news that is not important to your business.
3. You sign up for various things only to have way too many emails in your Inbox.
4. You get sucked into talking on an instant messenger.
5. You try to learn new software on your own.

What your clients do with the internet to kill your business.

1. They have access to all your competitors.
2. They research the heck out of you and your services/products.
3. Clients have a good idea of your cost.
4. Clients figure out how to do a project themselves.

How many times are you told or have you told your kid or employee “walk! do not run”, ” slow down you are going to fast (not just talking about your driving)”, “learn to walk before you crawl”, “you cannot do that”, “you need to have a backup plan cause odds are you will not make it”. I could go on and on with others but I hope you catch what I am throwing out here. Often we are excited about things as a kid and an adult and we are halted by teachers, parents, bosses and friends. We are stopped or slowed down by those around us. I know these people care, they do it because the same has been done to them and they want to be the voice of reason. WE need to change these mindsets and let the people around us shoot for the stars.

How to let people shoot for the stars while maintaining some form of reason.

1. Be positive about what they say. No matter what it is be positive.

2. Ask questions such as “what is the first steps you are going to take to get there?”. In asking questions the person may learn that they need to either work harder or do some more more research to reach their goal.

3. Encourage them and hold them accountable. Follow up with them and see how they are doing.

4. Watch them reach their goal and congratulate them.

5. Remember it would be better to say you gave it a heck of a try rather than to have told them, they cannot do it.

Work in your life and your business to get rid of the negativity. Keep the mindset that anything is possible for yourself and those around you.

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Yes we have all heard “we control our own future”, is your future 5 years ago what you imagined it is today? How great would it be to control your past! It would be nice, so where I am going with this??? We all strive to control where we want to go in the future and this is important but add a focus point. Focus on your personal values as move towards your future. Five years ago my idea of the future is totally different from what I envisioned. Life and business changes constantly and you never know what the road ahead holds for us. As long as your core values are set and you stand by your values the decision you make are going to be the right ones for your future. Rather than trying to control your future, control one thing that nothing should be able to change, your personal values… I am sure you will grow your business and be able to look back and be satisfied.

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