I am talking as loud and as fast as I can, now where's my money!

Phase 7 This is easy!

THE EIGHT PHASES OF 

SOCIAL MEDIA FAILURE

Phase 1 - “It’s a waste of time.”

Phase 2 - “I don’t understand how it works.”

Phase 3 - “So this is supposed to make me money?”

Phase 4 - “Well if this idiot can do this, I can too!”

Phase 5 - “This takes too long!”

Phase 6 - “I got an idea!”

Phase 7 - “This is easy.”

Phase 8 - “I haven’t seen one thin dime for all this work.”

Walmart’s first website cost $40 million and after its first year produced revenues less than one small store. So they closed it down, took the loss, wrote off the internet, and went back to counting on all their brick and mortar stores.

LinkedIn went live May 5, 2003 - at the end of the first month had 4,500 members and 81,000 members by the end of 2003. By the end of 2008, LinkedIn had 33 million members and among them were the CEOs of the Fortune 500. Now LinkedIn has over 150 million members and is growing by 2 members every second. LinkedIn has been described by online trade publication TechRepublic as having "…become the de facto tool for professional networking"

Your social media presence is established, your website is live, your LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts are all active but not doing what you hoped? It is harder than it looks. Making noise is easy and we see and hear this noise on LinkedIn. The pointless posts, reposts from common sources, putting anything at all up, hoping anyone will see your name. So if it’s only noise on LinkedIn what happens with Facebook and Twitter? How does it all fit together?

Content is king and your content is what you have to say. If you don’t have anything of VALUE to say then all of the posting, chatting, tweeting and sharing will only harm you by damaging your online reputation. Not know WHERE to say it makes you look like an insane person yelling to no one in particular (grab a shopping cart and a big pair of fuzzy bedroom slippers to complete your online persona while you are at it). The first rule is to have something of value to say.  The second rule is know where to say it.

The purpose of social media marketing is to make connections that become relationships that lead to increased revenues and profits, period.

My question to you today is - how are your network of online connections generating revenues for you and your company? Social media marketing is an extra step in the selling process. If you are feeling baffled, you are not alone. One national marketing trade association has a social media blog with zero posts to LinkedIn, zero “likes” on Facebook and has never been tweeted. Take a good look at what I just said. A national trade association of marketing professionals has an online blog that NO ONE REPOSTS, “LIKES” OR TWEETS!

Here’s a few basic rules of the game to START to make you money;

1. Have something of VALUE to say. If it was on the front page of Yahoo, it’s not valuable. If it’s a news story HAVE AN OPINION and then solicit other opinions in a discussion. ENGAGE your readers.

2. Know WHERE to say it. If you don’t understand the difference between a discussion and a commercial promotion I am going to bet you don’t get invited to parties outside of your immediate family (and only because they are obligated to invite you). Do you meet people and take off into a commercial? Forget social media and try a sandwich board at busy intersections. How do you meet someone in person? Meeting people online is no different. Meeting people is connecting with them; there is a place and a time to do that and social media channels are great places to accomplish this.

3. You will need to study for yourself or get help. It is an investment in time but it can be learned and there are a few people (a VERY few) who understand how to do it properly with money coming from your efforts. This is an investment and not a lottery ticket so think in terms of a long-term commitment to it. By the way, Walmart stuck it out and makes money on their website now. It was an investment that paid off for them and social media will pay off for you over a period of time too.

New Janitorial Sales Tools and Old Rules of Engagement

When it comes to new tools, no one gets better tools then the military. I read about the new rifle that shoots around corners and then there is the new ray gun, right out of a science fiction story. There is no doubt about it, the military gets the best new tools.

I always knew to be successful in the janitorial business; I needed to have the best tools. What I found was that for me, the best tools were always information. When I first started out selling janitorial services, the tools were simple. A nice business card for when you met prospects, premium printing on the best paper for follow-up letters and a great proposal gave the janitorial sales representative the best tools he could hope for.

After I built and sold my first janitorial company, I was most fortunate to go to work for a great company. It was then that I learned the power of networking. I had built a good company of small and medium sized buildings, but now with my new company, my job was simple, all I had to do was sell very large contracts to very large buildings. They supplied me with an amazing tool to sell giant contracts, it was an American Express card, and I was instructed to go make friends.
 

With the Price of Success Secrets Seriously Dropping

The price of the secrets of success is dropping. Once upon a time, the secrets of success were only available through accomplished role models of good character and success or in the books, they wrote. The internet came and the secrets of success began to leak out all over the web but they were secrets of a lesser quality. The biggest secrets should be more expensive or maybe the level of success determines the price but make no mistake about it, the price has gone right down the toilet.

In order to make a full disclosure, I too am a purveyor of secrets for a price but I figure what you save on Band-Aids make mine a good deal. My highest value secrets have left wounds and scars so buying my secrets are a bargain.

The secret selling business has grown right along with the janitorial business. More people today are selling secrets and it’s no secret there are more people selling janitorial services than ever before.

Five Sure-Fire Cleaning Company Killers

1. Not marketing

Sitting in front of a keyboard on the web all day long is not marketing, it is sitting. Subcontracting from other janitorial companies or buying accounts from franchise companies makes you a janitor not a cleaning company owner.

Marketing your services with no money is hard. Whoever said you could open and start a cleaning company with no money, any more than you can open a restaurant or a gas station with no money, lied to you. You can market your services with no money to a point, but getting rich is highly doubtful and you have to work ten times harder.

If No Man is an Island, What is a Janitorial Service Owner All Alone in a Utility Closet?

Are you missing developing an important network that can help you grow your janitorial company?

I was at a pre-bid meeting for a giant account; and, as always, everyone was sitting or standing with eyes down, stone-cold silent, pretending to be busy with high level, secret corporate stuff on their legal pads (they were mostly doodling). No one said a word except to whisper in the ear of someone they had arrived with, wearing a matching golf shirt, from the same company.

Absolutely no eye contact, only stolen glances by the men in the room at the one drop-dead beautiful, runway-model female sales rep one company thought was the key to sales (they were wrong).