When All Your 2018 Business Planning Goes out the Window in the First Two Weeks of 2019

,

That’s a long title but to the point.

In December 2018 our business strategy discussions focused on the industries we were working in. The session reviewed the pros and cons for each of those industries. Including industry growth opportunities, potential industry fall-out from trade wars, climate change and increase of automation. We had everyone bring to the session ideas for industries they feel would be a good fit for us as well as potential markets within those.

Our agenda included narrowing our industries focus, as well as sharply define the markets we were in. We also looked for the potential of other sub-set markets. To be clear, an industry is a sector of our economy. A market is a flexible term defining a group of customers. Then within that market define specific needs, preferences, demographics, location and distribution channels in that industry.

Within those markets, we further narrowed possible areas that weren’t being addressed. As we carved deeper, we developed a “niche”. A niche might mean if you are a professional service organization, like coaching, you would take the human race, divide it into as many segments of criteria; men, women, ages, location, needs, lifestyle, and interests to name a few. Slowly your market-focus can be dissected further till you discover a niche that no one else is addressing and complements your skill-sets. The more you develop this market-focus, the clearer and distinct your “niche” becomes and so will your messaging. It will also help you direct a laser intent on organizations that serve your “niche” to slowly build an ecosystem.

At the end of our session, we determined which industries we will stay in, which to add plus defining the markets sharper. So what does all of this have to do with throwing out our 2018 business planning in the first two weeks of 2019?

 

What happened?

To be perfectly candid we’ve been literally underwater and behind. All the work from 2018 had spilled into 2019 with referrals. Meaning, we built a referral machine. Nothing cosmic to tell you just hard work, attention to detail, focus on the customer’s needs and keeping our word! All culminating in building relationships and trust. These efforts evolved into referrals coming in from several industries who weren’t chosen as part of our business planning decisions.

The first 2 weeks of 2019 have been filled with callbacks, understanding the client’s needs, and then dive deeper into their respective industry. Our motto is, if we aren’t the right fit, we recommend them to other resources then follow up to make sure they’ve landed safely.

 

What did we do after mid-way into January?

We had a pizza party, closed the office at 3:00 PM, forward the phones and reviewed all of the new clients relative to our original business plans.

 

Result?

We accepted 12% of the referring clients and recommended to the other 88% to other firms we know and trust. I realized you might be horrified at this prospect. Especially if you are just starting out. We understand that all of us when we start our businesses we take whatever we can. But the time comes after 1, 2, or 3 years you need to address the power of focus. Honing your skills to meet specific industry needs. At least that’s our decision. We also believe in our business plan to focus on specific industries and hyper-focus the market niche. Perhaps on January 17th, 2020 we will share with you the consequences of our decisions.

 

As always in your business journey have fun and laugh!

/by

Colorado’s 2018 New Data Privacy Requirements

,

 

 

Colorado House Bill 18-1128 went into effect on September 1, 2018 however questions and implementation issues continue. Delays have more to do with the confusion between Colorado’s House Bill 18-1128, the new General Data Protection Regulation GDPR and ongoing data breaches that continue to haunt the public sector.

Adding to the confusion or pressure in Colorado is the bill went into effect immediately on September 1, 2018 whereas California’s data protection bill for example, is given till 2020 to meet the privacy data regulations.

Which Companies Need to Be Concerned

For this article we are not focusing on government entities instead on “covered entity” and personal information.  A “covered entity” is:

Covered entities are those that “maintain, own or license personal identifying information” of Colorado residents “in the course of its business, vocation or occupation.” HB 18-1128.

What kind of Personal Data is Covered?

For those companies who fit the “covered entity” definition, they must implement policies that will ensure the protection and any potential vulnerabilities (breaches) to this data. Personal data is defined by:

(b) “Personal identifying information” means a social security number; a personal identification number; a password; a pass code; an official state or government-issued driver’s license or identification card number; a government passport number; biometric data, AS DEFINED IN SECTION 6-1-716 (1)(a); an employer, student, or military identification number; or a financial transaction device, AS DEFINED IN SECTION 18-5-701 (3).

Personal Identifying Information (PII) includes first and last names as well as:

  • Social Security Number
  • Student, Military or Passport PII
  • Driver’s License Number
  • Medical Information
  • Health Insurance Numbers and Records
  • Biometric Data
  • Username, Passwords and Security Questions for Email Addresses
  • Credit Card Information

The protection of personal data is included in not only a company’s databases but any 3rd party service provider who may also have the same data.

If There is a Breach, Then What?

The new regulations cover breaches for over 500+ Colorado residents. In this event, the company must notify its employees, the 500+ Colorado residents and the Colorado General Attorney within 30 days of the breach.

These regulations are slowly passing in other states which means if you are doing business in California, EU GDRP, and Massachusetts you must also meet those states and countries regulations when implemented.

Most Companies on Average Have Personal Identifying Information Well Over the 500 Threshold

The accumulations of email lists in marketing and sales in the last few years means anyone doing business most likely fits the profile for compliance. Which is one of the reasons for the ongoing questions. Many small business professionals and entrepreneurs think this regulation doesn’t affect them. We have found with every inquiry they “all” must adhere and implement a data protection policy. Our motto is if you want to be in business in Colorado stand up, respect your lists PII and thrive.

In summary the Colorado bill is profound in the swiftness a business must implement its personal data protection protocols. However due to the ever-expanding data breaches in the millions and the delay in notification of person’s PII is it no wonder?

Resources to help you understand more are the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Center for Internet Security (CIS). The original Colorado bill can be found here https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb18-1128.

/by

When is it time for a CRM? Or, when excel doesn’t cut it anymore!

,

Here you go, the top features a CRM can offer you that an excel spreadsheet can’t. Enjoy and be inspired to jump into the CRM universe!

  1. When you need to have all your contact’s information, their social media profile, every interaction (emails, notes, reminders) all in one place. Yep all there in one glance!
  2. When sending emails to your contacts your wondering did they get it? Did they open it? How many times did they open it? Stop wondering! Know. CRMs have email marketing integrated. Surprise!
  3. Regardless which email server you are using; Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, icloud, AOL, your emails will still integrate into your contact’s profile history. CRM magic.
  4. Once you have #1, #2 and #3 moving along you can now see which prospects in your contact database are interested in your offerings. Yep, not kidding. When you see how many times a contact opens a certain email from you, you have peaked their interest.
  5. Together #1, #2, #3 and #4 then enables “Lead Management”. Many CRMs in 2019 and 2020 are developing more robust lead management capabilities to enable prioritizing which client to contact first easier. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now being integrated at a rapid pace.
  6. By the time you have the first 5 steps working nicely and you begin to get more comfortable sending out more emails and email campaigns you will slowly amass an amazing amount of insights. Robust reporting is the ice cream to CRM heaven.
  7. As you find yourself driving from networking events and conferences your CRM will still be with you. Your CRM’s mobile app will allow you to see your contacts information before you step into a meeting with them.
  8. Then on the other side of the mobile CRM equation, on the go means new people and your mobile CRM let’s you enter new contacts on the run.
  9. Steps 1 through 8 are the foundations in building your sales funnels and amassing a robust automatic sales machine.
  10. Lastly, if you are like most people you’ve heard about CRMs and felt you aren’t ready for the expense. Many CRMs start with free trials and some “skinny” free versions are offered. Skinny meaning not full featured. But heck it’s a start isn’t it?

At the end of the day to select the right CRM you need to get oriented to the available CRM features and functionality your business needs to grow and thrive. Take a look at many of the fastest growing CRMs with free versions: Freshsales, Highrise, Hubspot CRM, Insightly, ZOHO Contact Manager to name a few. Other CRMs with  limited free trials are Microsoft Dynamics 365, Nimble, Nutshell, Pipedrive, Salesforce, SAP.

Enjoy your business journey and contact us for a free consultation to answer any questions and let the games begin!

/by

Wanting to Start a Business? Choose with Your Heart.

,

If you google ‘how to start a business’ you will get recommendations about the first steps to developing a business from the ground up. What type of business you want to make, how to find your market, and a list of different ideas to get you brainstorming. You might even get caught up in the different business models: franchises, networking models, multi-level systems, influencers, bloggers, writers, sell on Shopify, sell on amazon, be a part of the gig economy, be a virtual assistant and on and on.

In all my readings, success is determined by your love of your business choice.  Simply put, “love what you do”.  Why? Because loving what you do will see you through the hard times that any start-up experiences.

How do you find your business? It starts with what you are interested in. I’ve heard more stories that future business owners want to do something that help people. I’m going to go out on a limb and say five out of seven people I work with say that often, resulting in a lot of desire and energy to help our fellow neighbor.

I got thinking and started to push back on this premise. What if instead of helping our fellow neighbor what about our planet? I could see the thought was overwhelming, which I guess it is. How can you start a business that could help the planet? Push back was intense, rightfully.

“I need to take care of my family, pay the bills, educate my children” is on every start-ups mind.  And to my detriment I didn’t have any suggestions on business models that help the planet and make a profit. If I’m going to throw something out there like that I had better come up with some examples. Which is the point of today.

I had better have some construct on how to recommend the next step besides saying “just go google (research)”. So, with that as the background that’s what we are doing at Eidesis Solutions. Researching and gathering information on businesses that are helping the planet, which may open ideas for us and our clients to service these businesses and in turn help the planet and serve our neighbors. We will be sharing our efforts.

Our first inspiring business is a company called @GirlfriendCollective.  This is a textile start-up that produces leggings from recycled plastic water bottles and sustainable polyester materials. Did you know that we are finding plastic waste in every corner of the planet from Florida to the Artic sea, to farm fields to our ocean’s sea turtles eating plastic bags? The Girlfriend Collective mission is one that merges innovation, sustainability and a commitment to the highest working conditions. Their factory is in Taiwan. Learn more about Girlfriend Collective at their website:  https://www.girlfriend.com/

/by

When Is My Business Real?

,

When is my business real? I was asked this question by a client who has been building her new
business making necklaces and selling them. I immediately asked her what made her ask
such a question? She’s been making steady progress forward.

She started making her necklaces for her friends, then friends of friends, then she boldly went
to specialty stores and asked the owners if they would carry her necklaces. After many, many
“no’s” a “yes” arrived. Once she got use to the volume that’s when I met her. She needed a loan
to expand her inventory. She’s already been using her credit cards for supplies but she wanted
a “line of credit” with lower interest.

I helped her set up her Quick-books Online account, built her financials and helped her fill out
the bank forms. For her, the process went fast. She already had a relationship with her banker
and she had excellent credit. From the moment we started the process getting her financial
foundation started to getting her loan was exactly 42 days.

We are now helping her build out her online store and getting her into the new world of online
eCommerce.

But, I haven’t answered the question for her, “when is her business real”?

Her business became real the moment she acted on her dream!

/by

CRM and Lead Management

,

 

One of the biggest factors when you choose a CRM is the ability to automatically capture
leads into your CRM. A full featured CRM will allow you to:

-Receive leads automatically in your CRM,
-Place the leads in your contact list,
-Enter the lead into a group (segment, tag) to receive personalized content,
-Each lead is sourced into a report of the most converted leads,
-Leads from referrals are automatically entered in that referrals profile,
-Alert you immediately you have received a lead for follow up by email and SMS
-All steps automatically within seconds of that leads entry into your CRM universe.

Regardless where a lead comes from, whether it’s a form on your website, landing page,
a lead generator vendor, PPC, email campaigns and other advertising endeavors they all
have a magnet or button for more information or interest in your offerings.

When we review CRMs for our clients we make sure certain fundamental features and
functionality are present. The goal of our CRMs is to build our relationships which builds
our businesses. Lead generation is mandatory in building our business so it follows lead
management is compulsory in our business processes.

/by

A Real Estate CRM for Customer’s Experience Expansion

,

The following are the top features you need in your real estate specific Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to build a robust customer experience(CX). We recommend solutions we use, our clients use and will help you build your business. Whether you try our recommendations or not, use our knowledge, our fails, our wins and our lessons learned to find what’s perfect for you!

Courtesy of Shannon McGee, Sales Manager for IXACTContact

Features to build your business success on:

1. Lead Capture

You are generating dozens of new leads every day or you will be. You don’t have hours to spend manually entering all of their information into you phone, email, or Excel spreadsheet. A good real estate CRM like IXACTContact will automatically capture your leads and put them into your database, saving you time and not allowing anyone to fall through the cracks.

2. Lead Nurture

Once your leads are captured, they won’t do much for you if you aren’t nurturing them! A great real estate CRM will help you assign lead nurture campaigns, and add new contacts to your monthly e-Newsletter. With IXACT Contact, all of the above can be automated to save you even more time while turning more leads into clients. Plus, IXACT Contact offers 9 different pre-written lead nurture campaigns so you don’t have to start from scratch.

3. Keep in Touch Call Reminders

Every contact in your database needs a touch once in a while, but remembering when, where, and what can be tough when you have a busy schedule. An efficient real estate CRM will help you stay organized and in touch with automated keep in touch call reminders. You can mass assign keep in touch call reminders to entire groups, and vary the type and frequency as appropriate to the group. You’ll never forget to give that important past client a call again.

4. Birthday and Move-In Anniversary Reminders

Everybody loves to be remembered on days that are special to them, and as a real estate agent doing so builds goodwill with past clients. That helps with retention and gaining referrals. Birthdays and Move-In Anniversaries are the two special dates that make the most sense for you to acknowledge. How do you keep track of all of those though? You guessed it, with a real estate CRM. A solution like IXACT Contact assists you in remembering these dates by automatically creating reminders for you in your calendar. So you can stop stressing about missing those opportunities and start enjoying how awesome you look to your contacts.

5. An e-Newsletter

Oh yes, a real estate CRM can help you with marketing too! At least, one like IXACT Contact can. Save yourself the frustration of trying to come up with new topics, write compelling articles, and design an email that looks beautiful each month. Instead, use IXACT Contact’s automated e-Newsletter that provides you with 3 fresh articles each month. You’ll be doing excellent content marketing without even thinking about it. Now isn’t that a relief?

 

Try IXACTContact free for 60 days on us; gain knowledge and above all have fun!! Sign up here

 

6. Social Media Marketing

If you are tired of spending hours finding great content to share on your social media – or shelling out hundreds of dollars to pay an assistant to do it – you should look for help from your CRM. A good real estate CRM is like having a virtual assistant, and that can include social media marketing! IXACT Contact offers Social Stream, a solution that allows you to select the topics your followers are interested in from top-tier publications such as Better Homes & Gardens or the New York Times. Then you can schedule those articles to go out automatically up to 3 times a day, 7 days a week. That’s what we call a game-changer.

7. Websites

Building a brand-new website can be overwhelming. Paying for a variety of software services can get costly. Solve both those problems with a great real estate CRM such as IXACT Contact. That’s right, IXACT Contact offers agent websites as part of your monthly subscription, and they come with 16 pages already built. So you have a foundation to start from, and are spending just a little of your time customizing and personalizing. And connecting back to Reason 1, our websites provide automated lead capture right into your IXACT Contact database.

8. Mobility

As a real estate agent you aren’t always at your desk. You spend most of your time in the field, and updating an Excel spreadsheet on your phone is not a fun task. Searching through old emails on your phone to find client notes isn’t either. A real estate CRM can solve both those issues. A good CRM like IXACT Contact will offer a Mobile App that allows you to look up Contact information, enter in new tasks or appointments, and more from anywhere. This in turn helps you to stay more organized because you aren’t waiting to do these important tasks until later when they could be forgotten. You gain peace of mind and the freedom to be wherever you need to be.

9. Working on a Team

If you are working on a real estate team a CRM is an essential tool to keep everyone organized and on track. A system like IXACT Contact will allow you to share contacts, appointments, or tasks with ease. The Team Leader will also be able to monitor activity and distribute work more evenly. Your team will run smoothly and be a huge success.

10. Setting Goals

You have goals for yourself as a real estate agent, and your real estate CRM can actually help you to set and track them. IXACT Contact offers a simple Goal Setting Wizard where you input your different goals for the year, from Gross Income to the number of new contacts added to your database. Then you are able to see what you need to accomplish each week and if you are on the right track to meeting your goals. You get tangible feedback that allows you to course correct as needed, or to celebrate your awesome achievements.
[/av_textblock]

/by

Day 219 – 216

 

Stay disciplined, stay focus, stay fearless and then when frustration stops you in your tracks reach out to hold a hand (paw) to support you. Building your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) daily best practices includes staying disciplined by adding all of your interactions with each contact that includes calls, meetings or promises made.

/by

Day 226 – 220

Memorial Day 2017
We honor all warriors with both 2 legs and 4!

 

 

 

 

/by

Day 254-227

That moment when you realize there’s 255 more days in the year to get your goals done!

/by