Social Media – the New Cure-All for Marketing and Sales or a Waste of Time?

As a professional business coach, clients frequently ask my views on Social Media. The questions are typically along the lines of "can it boost their marketing programs and create explosive sales growth?" Until now my answer has always been one that most people, and particularly clients, don't like to hear - "Well that depends."

I've been studying the topic intensely for the past year, both to advise clients and also as a means to expand my own practice, and now feel I can confidently give advice to business owners or executives who are considering investing time and money in a Social Media strategy.

Social Media Works for Most Businesses

There should be no doubt … if implemented correctly, Social Media can greatly increase the number of unique visitors to your website and hence the number of prospects you're reaching who can buy your product or service. In a recent training course, by implementing the tools that were demonstrated I was able to increase the number of new unique visitors to my website by 68 in less than 15 minutes. That's more visitors than I previously had in a typical day!

Get Trained

If you are a business owner or champion of the project its important to understand the basics of how Social Media attracts high quality prospects and how to convert them into paying customers. You may hire someone to do the routine work and maintenance once you've implemented the strategy, but you need to be the architect and director who charts the course. Start by becoming familiar with the major social media sites: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, My Space, Flickr and Plaxo.

Here are three excellent and affordable sources of Newsletter, Webinar style and classroom training: Paul Tobey - http://www.trainingbusinesspros.com/, Hubspot - http://www.hubspot.com/ and Mashable - http://www.mashable.com/

Use the Available Tools

 There are some great tools available to help you develop and implement a Social Media internet marketing strategy. Most are free but for those which are not I recommend that you sign up for the free Trial and then subscribe to the ones you find work best for you:   

• TweetDeck - described as "your personal real-time browser", it allows you to connect with all your contacts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo and most other major sites.

• Market Samurai - considered by many to be the best source for identifying the most important keywords for your business and an essential tool in Search Engine Optimization.

• Ping.fm - provides you with centralized coordination and control of all your Social Media sites and the posts you make.

• Stumble Upon - is an excellent way to stay abreast of the latest developments, coverage and videos of interest to you and your business.

• Disqus - keeps you informed on the hot topics and current discussion themes in the web community, so that you can actively participate.

Dive Right In

Frankly, I'm amazed at how much thought, time and resources many businesses put into analyzing and discussing whether they should implement a Social Media marketing strategy. The costs to "GET IN" are minimal and if you stay true to the core Value Proposition of your business and are honest with your audience and subscribers, the risks are negligible. The only way to find out what works best for your company and industry is to try it!

Build on Your Successes - Many others have

There are many real success stories of big and small companies that have reaped huge rewards from implementing Social Media marketing strategies. B2B Social Media recently ran an article "How IBM Uncovers Millions of dollars in Sales Leads." 

At the other end of the spectrum, Feather Your Nest is a specialty shop for homemade and vintage-looking gifts in the small town of Eureka Springs in Arkansas. In an interview with Mashable, Owner Gina Drennon says: “I’ve seen our web stats increase, followers increase, interactions increase, and most importantly, sales increase. But not only that, I’ve made many meaningful connections with bloggers and magazine editors …… which bring us huge amounts of attention that you really cannot put a price on. I can positively say that at least half of the national press we’ve received is due to contacts we’ve made over social media.”

Phil Richardson MBA. LPBC
President and Founder
Bizgrowth Coaching Inc.

What can a Business Coach do for my Company and Why Should I hire One?

As a professional business coach, this is without a doubt the question I most frequently get asked! It’s entirely understandable as most owners and executives, while they have heard the term, have never met or spoken to a business coach. It’s not surprising as there are 29 million businesses in the US and Canada, and only 12,300 business coaches. Equally relevant, is that there are 1.5 million businesses with 10 or more employees and half of these have 20 – 2,500 employees and the larger the business the more likely they are to need the help of a business coach.

My favourite response to the question is a simple but direct quotation ..... “If you want to build your business and at the same time have a rewarding personal life, you call a coach.”  –  the Denver Post

What a Business Coach Does

Top 10 Contributions you should expect from a Business Coach

1. The first and most important thing a business coach does with clients is work with them to help them understand their personal values and set goals, whether that be Wealth, Leisure time, Retire by a certain age, or spend more time with the family
2. Then the coach works with them to develop goals and Action Plans for the business that are fully aligned with and support their personal goals
3. The third step is to “deep dive with them” into their business and ensure they get the best possible results in all areas, but particularly:
4. Improving sales and profit
5. Managing cash flow
6. Providing consistent, superior Customer Service
7. Marketing the business more effectively, with a clearly defined Unique Selling Proposition
8. Managing financial information to ensure business results are achieved
9. Recruiting, training and developing good people and developing a Succession Plan
10. Achieving a healthy Work/life balance

The first thing you should understand, if you’re considering hiring a coach is that it’s not a regulated industry and not all business coaches have the experience, training or qualifications to deliver the practical results you're looking for.

The good news is that many are “Licensed Professional Business Coaches,” certified and trained, as in my case by the Professional Business Coaches Alliance, based in Canton Ohio, which has some 120 member coaches in the US and Canada. The PBCA only licenses business and executive coaches and the requirements are very stringent – a minimum of 15 years of senior management and/or ownership experience and academic qualifications…. a degree in Business Administration, like an MBA, or a professional designation such as a CPA or CA. The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) has equally high standards for certification and membership. These two organizations have over 1200 members! Both screen members carefully and require they take and pass training programs Specifically in Business Coaching. In addition, the International Coaching Federation (ICF), trains coaches in many fields – primarily HR, and Organization Behavior but also in Leadership, executive and business coaching!

Should I Hire a Business Coach?

Frankly, 9 times out of 10 business owners or managers themselves are the ones who know if they need business coaching! I’ve lost count of the number of times owners and executives, without any prompting have said to me “I work far too many hours and don’t make nearly enough profit. I know I need a coach.”

If you’re in this situation or find that any of the following applies to you, then the chances are you may benefit significantly from business coaching and should at least speak to a coach.

■ You are not sure what your next steps with the business should be and feel you need a strategic plan, but don’t know where to begin.
■ You’ve grown the business as far as you can, have tried every approach you could think of, but seem stuck and just can’t take it to the next level!
■ You are spending money on marketing and advertising but are not getting the leads, referrals or customers you think you should.
■ Your customers are not buying from you as often as you would like them to and you want to increase the average value of each sale.
■ You want better trained and more motivated employees.
■ You want to spend less time on your business and more with your family, but want to be sure that you have a system in place to run the business without you!

Naturally, one of the most important factors you will consider as you evaluate whether Professional Business Coaching will benefit you is what the direct financial benefit will be! Fortunately, there has been a lot of hard, well documented research done in this area and the results present a strong argument for hiring a business coach. The 2001 Manchester study and several later ones, including by the Harvard Business Review and Fortune have confirmed that Business Coaching provides a Minimum Average Return on Investment of 500%!

Try it Before You Commit

Most Business and Executive Coaching firms offer FREE Initial Consultations. My company, for example, BizGrowth Coaching Inc. offers a no-strings-attached Complimentary 1 1/2 hour Coaching Session to prospective clients and a Free Biz HealthCheck Survey on our website.

Phil Richardson MBA, LPBC
President and Founder,
Licensed Professional Business Coach
BizGrowth Coaching Inc.
http://www.bizgrowthcoaching.ca/