27 Nov
 November 27, 2020 18:03 pm  Sales    
PJ Weiland Sales

A $68 Gift for You

A $68 Gift for You

Yes, that’s right. Our communities thrive when we shop local.
However you plan to do your holiday shopping this year — online or in person, buying specific items or gift cards — your local business owners are ready and eager to meet your your holiday shopping needs.
This year more than ever, you will make a difference by shopping locally for everyone on your gift list. Small businesses need our support right now.
Local businesses contribute in many ways to our communities, far beyond the economic impact. When you shop locally, you’re investing in the future your community, helping to make it the stable and appealing place you and others are proud to call home. Let’s make sure our local businesses thrive!

Check out my Black Friday message on YouTube!

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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23 Nov
 November 23, 2020 09:11 am  Appreciation    
PJ Weiland Appreciation

Make Time for Gratitude

Make Time for Gratitude

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude
for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” — Zig Ziglar
Why Is Gratitude Important?
Studies show there are many benefits to acknowledging our blessings and expressing gratitude to others. Here are just a few:
  • Shields you from negativity
  • Giving thanks can make you at least 25% happier
  • Rewires our brain to see gratitude
  • Eliminates stress
  • Heals our sense of being injured
  • Improves sleep quality
  • Boosts your self-esteem
  • Enhances the law of attraction: we are naturally attracted to those who show kindness.
  • Improves your relationships with others at work and in your personal life
  • Saying thank you motivates others to perform better
Ways to Cultivate Gratitude
You can practice gratitude in your daily life in so many ways. Test one or more of these techniques and stick with the ones that work best for you. Once you’ve made gratitude a habit, you’ll find this mindset and way of life comes effortlessly.
  • Keep a gratitude journal
  • Meditate
  • Write a thank-you note
  • Acknowledge thoughtful acts of others
  • Volunteer your time to help others
  • Contribute to a cause in honor of someone you appreciate
  • Start your meetings by recognizing the contributions of your team
  • Make time to appreciate the outdoors through hikes, bicycle rides or even drives through a natural setting
I’m Grateful for YOU!
Among the many blessings I’m grateful for this year is the opportunity to connect with you and participate with your business. I’m inspired daily by your dedication and willingness to challenge yourself to succeed.
View and share my Thanksgiving message of gratitude

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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13 Nov
 November 13, 2020 08:25 am  Planning    
PJ Weiland Planning

To Be a Success, Plan for Success

To Be a Success, Plan for Success

“The more specific you make your goal-setting and

the more clearly defined your time frame, the better it will be“

— Bob Bowman, swim coach to Olympic medalist Michael Phelps

 
Success means very different things to different people. In fact, it probably has meant very different things to you at different times of your life.
 
That’s why it’s so important for you to know what success looks like to you now. If you haven’t define success, you won’t know when you achieve it. A clear vision of what success means to you allows you to develop a roadmap and stay on the path despite any unexpected obstacles and setbacks.
 
Create Your Roadmap to Success
As you think about what success looks like for you, Here are some thought starters to help you to explore what success means to you and how to develop a success-driven mindset:
 
  • Needs vs. wants: Distinguish between what is essential and what is a luxury so you have a realistic, achievable plan
  • Timelines: Hold yourself accountable to a timeline and use it to prioritize your resources and drive decision making
  • What is your WHY? Know your purpose and your passions so you can love what you are doing
  • Cultivate expertise: Continually expand your knowledge base through lifelong learning
  • Congratulate yourself: Celebrate big and little achievements to keep yourself inspired and motivated
  • Give thanks: Think about what you’re grateful for every day to strengthen your commitment
  • Overcome inner obstacles: Conquer fears that might hold you back
  • Own it: Define success on your terms and on your timeline
Respect the Process
One lesson we can learn about success from the careers of exceptional athletes like Michael Phelps is that getting to first place again and again takes more than talent. Winning the long game requires a combination of factors, including practice, motivation, coaching and determination in the face of obstacles.
 
To achieve your goals requires a similar mindset and commitment to following the path you set in your roadmap to success. Continual planning and fine-tuning gets you where you want to be.
 

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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06 Nov
 November 06, 2020 08:00 am  Business Development    
PJ Weiland Business Development

Partner for Exponential Growth

Partner for Exponential Growth

We recommend a great lead generating strategy called Host Beneficiary. To apply this unique lead generation approach, look for a business that targets the same customers you do and offers products or services compatible with your business and then join forces on your marketing efforts. 

Find the Right Partner

One of the keys to creating a synergistic partnership is to zero in on a business that is different from yours and also is adjacent to yours. For example, a hair salon and a clothing boutique are a great fit. A hardware store and a catering business, on the other hand, might have overlapping audience demographics, but the lack of connection between tools and appetizers diminishes the synergy of the partnership.

Explore Various Ways to Collaborate

Once you’ve found your ideal partner, explore how you can collaborate.  A good place to start is with customer communications. Both of you can link to the other’s business on your websites, in email campaigns and on social media. Support this identification between your businesses with an introductory discount offer: your customers receive an exclusive discount when they buy from your partner and the same applies to your partner’s customers when they buy from you. 

This strategy can open up an entire new customer base for your business. Plan to test it for several months and devise ways to monitor the impact so you know how well it is working. 

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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30 Oct
 October 30, 2020 08:16 am  Marketing    
PJ Weiland Marketing

Encourage Word-of-Mouth Referrals

Encourage Word-of-Mouth Referrals

“Free publicity and word of mouth is probably the best and cheapest form of advertising.
Learn to use it to your advantage.” 
— Richard Branson

Word of mouth (WOM) works when your customers do your marketing for you, but the idea that it is a passive strategy — beyond your control — is a misconception.

There are countless ways you can jumpstart WOM, but today let’s focus on social media. It’s not the only strategy, but it can be very powerful and easy to use once you’ve mastered the basics.
Positive online social interactions are the gift that keeps giving 
When customers reference your business in images and comments on their social media accounts, you’ll get immediate attention within their network of followers. Then, when one of your customer’s followers engages with your customer’s post, the new mention ripples through another network of contacts. And, when you engage with your customer’s post, you get an impromptu opportunity to deliver a message about your business that will reach friends and “friends of friends” of your customer.
Viral social media case study
A recent TikTok video that went viral demonstrates this “ripple” effect on a large scale. A TikTok user posted a short video of himself chugging an Ocean Spray beverage out of the bottle while skateboarding and lip-syncing to a 70s Fleetwood Mac song. Within days, millions of viewers shared his TikTok video. Hundreds of major media publications published online stories referencing it.
As a result, a decades-old song skyrocketed to the Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 100 downloads list and there was a run on Ocean Spray cranberry-raspberry juice. Ocean Spray leveraged the free publicity by delivering a generous gift to the user that kept the good vibes — and the media coverage — going strong for days.
Lay the groundwork for social sharing
Most of us won’t achieve millions of views with our posts, but we can benefit from the lessons of this case study. The keys to creating the ripple effect are:
  • Have active social media channels already in place
  • Make sure your customers can find your business account on social media platforms
  • Engage with your followers
Post frequently and respond to your customers’ posts on your account. Make it easy for customers to find you online by identifying your social media “handles,” or account links everywhere — on printed documents, advertising, your email signature and in-store signage. Now you’re ready for your customers to spread the word about how much they love your business.

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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23 Oct
calendar banner
 October 23, 2020 08:15 am  Planning    
PJ Weiland Planning

Is Your Business Plan Past Its Use-By Date?

Is Your Business Plan Past Its Use-By Date?

Stop hiding behind Covid-19 — and take action

This message may not be the one you want to hear, but it could be the one you need to hear. If you weren’t keeping your marketing fresh, experimenting with new ideas, and improving customer service before the pandemic hit, don’t blame Covid-19 because your business has slowed down or is barely breaking even. Small business owners who have re-invented their business plans are thriving in this new economic situation.

Identifying the problems and building a solid business plan while you’re managing your day-to-day might seem overwhelming if things aren’t going the way you planned. And, of course, it’s not a one and done process. Once you develop your new roadmap, you still have to commit to daily, weekly and monthly monitoring, analysis and fine-tuning to stay on track.

This is where I can help small business owners like yourself re-position your business for success and growth. As an experienced business coach, I bring an objective perspective, a broad knowledge of what’s working for other small business owners and access to an abundance of tools and resources, so you’re not alone.

Eight more ways hiring a business coach can help you:

  • Provide support that will boost your confidence in yourself
  • Challenge your beliefs and foster critical thinking about your business plan
  • Educate you on best practices for all aspects of running your business, including sales, marketing, operations, productivity, finance, customer service, business culture and employee relations
  • Guide you through exercises and activities around personality, culture, and leadership styles that will empower you to better understand yourself and how you want to run your business
  • Prioritize tasks so you resolve the things that matter most first and don’t worry about the other issues until you have to
  • Set deadlines and hold you accountable so you are constantly meeting milestones towards your goal
  • Plan your finances in a smart and beneficial manner so you make the best financial decisions for your business

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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16 Oct
 October 16, 2020 10:00 am  Customers    
PJ Weiland Customers

Understand Personality Types to Connect with Customers

Understand Personality Types to Connect with Customers

Tailoring your sales pitch to differing buying styles makes good business sense. You’re not selling to the same person each time, so why sell the same way to each person? 

An understanding of different personality traits is even more important in times of stress: pressure makes these traits more dominant than in normal times. Today I’d like to discuss how you can easily identify personality types.

DISC Profiling System

There are four basic types of people:  reserved or outgoing, and task focused or people focused. Not only should you identify your customer’s personality type, you need a clear sense of your own type, so you can adapt your style to your customer.

When you encounter people, the speed at which they speak will reveal if they are reserved or outgoing. And, if they talk about what needs to get done, they are focused on tasks. If they are more concerned with impact and social/emotional issues, they’re more people oriented.

D = dominance

Confidence is a key trait of this personality type. In times of stress, this personality wants bullet points and fewer details. When you sell to dominant types, get straight to the point. They will dive right in.

I = influencer

If your customer is outgoing and people focused, they connect easily with others. They are natural leaders and very collaborative. 

S = steady

Individuals with this personality type are thoughtful, loyal and slow to change. They don’t want to feel rushed into a decision.

C = compliance

Individuals who are reserved and task focused are very detail oriented and aim for perfection. They want a lot of information and ask a ton of questions before they make a change. 

People want to be understood and want to connect with you. If you can understand their personality, you can meet them where they live and avoid personality clashes.

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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09 Oct
 October 09, 2020 09:00 am  Strategies    
PJ Weiland Strategies

Strategize to Succeed in Business

Strategize to Succeed in Business

It’s time to consider your business plan for 2021. I want to share some insights about strategy with you from Brad Sugars’ book, Pulling Profits Out of a Hat that will help you aim high. The title makes business success sound like a magic trick, but in fact the author presents actionable plans to achieve massive growth.

Sugars talks about these four pillars of strategy:

Leverage

This pillar suggest finding a way of doing the work once and getting paid forever. It applies to both products and services, with the idea being you put your effort into developing and packaging an offering, and then you get paid repeatedly for the work. A good example is Apple: they created the iPod device, and then sold Apple Music subscriptions to give users access to their music library. There are no limits to the number of Apple Music subscriptions they sell to their platform. 

Scaleability

Where the next sale costs less and less each time, and it’s easier. What can you deliver over and over again with the same resources. Here, Airbnb and Uber serve as good examples of business that become more successful the bigger they get. As more people signed up to host guests in their homes, Airbnb could offer more choices and appeal to more varied audiences. Scale is critical to Uber’s success, because the more drivers Uber signs up, the less time a customer has to wait for a car, which makes Uber a more appealing transportation offer than a taxi in many locations.

Opportunity

If you currently have a narrow market, analyze how you can enter and compete in other markets. What might you do differently with your products or services to gain a wider market? During the pandemic, for example, a number of distilleries and breweries pivoted to the hand sanitizer business to grab a share of an entirely different market. 

Marketability

This pillar is about selling things that sell themselves. Basic commodities that consumers need and will buy again and again no matter what. 

Ask yourself how you might apply one or more of these strategies to change the momentum of your business in 2021. 

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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02 Oct
 October 02, 2020 09:00 am  Culture    
PJ Weiland Culture

The Power of a Positive Attitude

The Power of a Positive Attitude

“Now more than ever, your greatest weapon is your mindset.”

— Sara Blakely, Spanx founder

As the months of the new normal pass by, we’ve all had to deal with uncertainty on so many levels, work harder to stay connected, and rewrite our business playbook. It can be challenging at times to maintain a positive attitude, but taking control of your mindset is critical in business.

It’s such an easy thing to say just do it, but adopting a positive attitude actually gives you a better outlook — even when things aren’t going well. A study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that just thinking about stress as a positive influence reduced its negative impact on people, and those who can take stress in stride are healthier.

One reason it’s important for you to maintain a positive outlook is that employees take signals from you: if you put a positive spin on things, they will, too. And, they will carry over that upbeat attitude to their interactions with customers.

And, speaking of customers, be sure they see signs of your optimism. If your customers are returning to your place a business after a period of lockdown, you can provide visual cues to let them know you’re happy to have them back and give them a sense of well-being and security on your site. If your business is conducted online, reinvigorate your messaging and visuals to convey your positive outlook.

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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25 Sep
light bulb
 September 25, 2020 10:40 am  Business Development    
PJ Weiland Business Development

Foster a Culture of Innovation to Strengthen Your Business

Foster a Culture of Innovation to Strengthen Your Business

Last week I suggested adopting “ongoing product/service development” as one of six steps to gain control of repeat business. One key reason is that, by nature, people are drawn to the “shiny, new thing.”  If you’re not introducing new offerings, your customers might be attracted to a competitor who is pitching something different. 

By something new,  what I really mean is something different. You don’t have to come up with a new invention. Aim for surprising and delighting your customers.

There are various proven paths to innovation, but one of the best ways is to empower your team to contribute their ideas for promotions, improvements, changes and new product offerings. After all, your people are experts on what’s working and what isn’t.

To tap the potential of your team, embrace a culture of innovation that ensures they are comfortable expressing their ideas and experimenting with different ways of doing things. Here five practices to create an environment that sparks new ideas.

  1. Don’t play the blame game. When mistakes happen, focus on the opportunity to learn and make improvements.
  2. Have a tolerance for failure. Allow your employees the flexibility to experiment with new ways of doing things. Most innovations don’t emerge fully formed, but evolve through trial and error.
  3. Embrace uncertainty. Demonstrate it’s okay not to always know the answer.  Emphasize they are supported and can leverage the strengths of the team to find a solution. 
  4. Encourage open communication. Provide opportunities for your team members to collaborate to facilitate exchange of ideas and experiences. Often a casual conversation can lead to a new idea.
  5. Celebrate successes. Acknowledge and reward new ideas.

If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:

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