What’s wrong with this picture?

If you look closely at the picture above, you will note that all the Marines pictured are bowing their heads. That’s because they’re praying.
This incident took place at a recent ceremony honoring the birthday of the corps, and it has the ACLU up in arms. “These are federal employees,” says Lucius Traveler, a spokesman for the ACLU , “on federal property and on federal time..
For them to pray is clearly an establishment of religion, and we must nip this in the bud immediately.”
When asked about the ACLU’s charges, Colonel Jack Fessender, speaking for the Commandant of the Corps said (cleaned up a bit), “Screw the ACLU.” GOD Bless Our Warriors. Send the ACLU to France !
Please send this to people you know so everyone will know how stupid the ACLU is getting in trying to remove GOD from everything and every place in America. May God Bless America , One Nation Under GOD!
What’s wrong with the picture? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
 

Mary Livingston    Director Carefree Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce

 480 488 3381.

 Dr. D. Burdick      Superintendant Cave Creek Unified School District  

480 575 2015.

Bill Bolin              Retired Director of Rural Development – Arizona Department of Commerce.

 480 639 7138.

Angela Creedon APS (Arizona Public Service) – Consumer Services Manager 

602 320 3459

Councilman David Schwan     Mayor of Carefree   480 488 3686.

 Garry Neiss          Carefree Town Manager -  480 488 3686.

 Bob Gemmill        Councilman for Carefree Town Council  480 236 9995.

 Dick Mink             Retired Actuator,  Friend and golfing partner   480 473 9253.

Martin Fishgold   Financial Advisors    480 563 9590.

Chief Bob Kraetz Rural Metro Fire Station # 21    602 616 6263.

Dale Samar                   General Manager Rancho Manana Golf Club  480 488 0398.

 Jean Lukens        Executive Director North Phoenix Chamber  602 882 8484

 I have several character references from Tucson (if required)  including the Sheriff of Pima County,  the President of the S. Arizona Aerospace, Manufacturing and IT consortium.

, Social Media Consultant, CHATTERBOX! Media (business partner)
was with another company when working with you

“I met Ian at Scottsdale Chamber event, and found him to be an extremely dynamic individual. Ian is an excellent resource for businesses looking for bookkeeping services or those in need of Quickbooks training and support. I look forward to working with Ian in the future!” May 4, 2010

Mary Muraszko

Road Billing Associate, Prudential Relocation (business partner)
was with another company when working with you

“Although I could write about the highly professional manner Ian conducts himself or how very knowledgeable he is with handling his clients accounts, that is not the thing that is most impressive to me. I have watched him very patiently work with clients educating them on how to handle their accounts more wisely and improving their business sense. This is what would tip the scale for me as to the many facets of my business that he could help me address.” May 4, 2010

 Jean Lukens

Executive Director North Phoenix Chamber

Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity

“It is my utmost pleasure to recommend Ian. I can personally tell you how much he has meant to the North Phoenix Chamber. Ian has great knowledge of all aspects of small business. He has taking a very confusing stack of papers and numbers and worked his magic. He has created a working flow of numbers and stats that everyone can quickly understand. I highly endorse Ian’s work and enjoy working with him thoroughly. Jean Lukens Executive Director North Phoenix Chamber” May 4, 2010

Jonina Olson

(client)
Jonina hired you as a Accountant in 2010 and hired you more than once

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, High Integrity

“Ian is the perfect choice! He is very professional and a great person! Highly recommend his service!” May 7, 2010

Diane Hibbs

 Owner, Page One For You (business partner)
was with another company when working with you

“I met Ian at a Power Networking event. After meeting for coffee, it is obvious to me that Ian is an expert at small business efficiency and is as interested in the success of small businesses as I am.” May 10, 2010

William Crowle

(client)
William hired you as a Business Consultant in 2010

Top qualities: Personable, Expert, High Integrity

“It is with great pleasure that I endorse Ian Ellison. As I have known Ian for a great number of years, I can attest to his integrity, honesty, personality and enthusiasm with out hesitation.” May 13, 2010

• Nothing could be further from the truth.  The above scenario will leave you frustrated as your chance of gaining a client is about zero.

 Having administered a trade organization, a chamber of commerce and had the pleasure of listening many times  to the networking guru, my friend  “ Dave Sherman” critique how we introduce ourselves and network – I will share some great ideas that I have learned over the years;

•  Introducing yourself – Dave Sherman calls it your elevator speech.

 So many people will introduce themselves by trying to tell the listener/s as much about what they do as possible including, every product or service they have,  great customer service, been in the business 20 years, locally grown etc etc.  I have been told that by the time the “laundry list” is over, the last one or two items are the only ones that are likely to be remembered. 

 We have learned three valuable lessons from the disastrous laundry list approach:

• After about 30-40 seconds your audience has lost interest and no longer pays attention to what you are saying.
• THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU AND WHAT YOU CAN DO – all they are interested in is “Whats the benefit to me””  or more to the point  “Whats in it for me?”
• You literally have just a few seconds to differentiate yourself from the rest of your competitors.

Your Elevator Speech needs to be short (25 seconds), concise and presents ONE benefit to the potential client. Save the other benefits for the next time you have to introduce yourself.  

A one- liner that catches their attention is worth its weight in gold.  Practice, practice, practice your introduction and remember that if you start a sentence with “ I” you are talking about yourself and no-one cares.

 So, accepting that you are now very capable of introducing yourself, what happens next at a networking function.  The guru’s tell us that the art of networking is to create relationships and NOT TO TRY AND HARD SELL.

• Remember -  people buy from people.  If you are selling three ring binders, people will purchase a binder from you, not because of the binder but simply because they know and trust you.
• Don’t be afraid to help or give a potential client some free advice or help them with a problem, this will go along way to building that relationship.

 Presenting yourself and knowing how to network is fundamental to your skill base. There are many knowledgeable experts that can help you on a professional basis. This is money very well spent. If you become good at the art of networking, you will become a great salesperson and presenting yourself to strangers will become part of your personal expertise.

 My thanks go to the following people who influenced how I try to present my business – I still have a lot to learn and practice:

 Dave Sherman -         Professional speaker, trainer and bestselling author

David Hepburn Jnr -  Owner atThe Mastermind Roundtable

Norma Huibregtse     Captivated Customers LLC

Diane Hibbs               Page One For You

Finally, when you’re ready, reach into your pocket and grab one of your business cards. Look at it closely. Then say this affirmation out loud:

“This is my business card. There are many others out there, but none of them are like mine – because there’s nobody else like me. My business card is not a formality. It’s not a piece of paper containing my name and contact information. And it’s not another annoying thing to keep in my pocket. My business card is the most important networking tool that I own. It’s a reflection of my personal brand and a bite-sized morsel of the mission of my business. I LOVE my business card. And I can’t wait until somebody asks me for one. Because when they do, I will find a way to give that person value.”  Scott Ginsberg

  Norma Huibregtse of Captivated Customers, phone 480-694-6940 for professional marketing solutions.

The 12 Most Common Mistakes when Advertising

 To advertise or not advertise.  If you decide to advertise, be consistent and have a campaign that is long term. Outlined below are the most common mistakes made in advertising:

1. Desire for instant gratification.

• A study undertaken by Harvard University found that sleep is an eraser of advertising and continues each night to clear the brain until the information becomes repetitive. 
• It has been suggested that 12-18 repetitions are required. Be fully committed and consistent with the message to obtain long-term results.
• The greater the frequency of ad placements the bigger impact in time i.e it is planting seeds.

2. More than one idea per ad

• Use only one strong idea per ad
• Keep the message simple and clear. If the reader does not get what you are selling within a few seconds the reader will move on.

3. Trying to reach more people than your budget allows.  

• On a set budget—“Reach people vs frequency”.  e.g instead of trying to reach every one in the Phoenix area  which would be very expensive and hence only allow for a few ads; identify your target area and advertise specifically to them. This will allow for many more ads for the same cost.
• Typically by choosing frequency of your ads this will reduce the area that you cab blanket.  

4. Saying the “wrong” thing

• Must address the customers actual needs—not what you want to tell them or believe they need to know.—why would the customer buy your product?.
• Branding has a “Recall Queue” – be careful not to brand the wrong concept or be unclear.
• Customer must be clear after reading your ad that your product or service “ Is for them”

5. Using Yester-years rules

• Do follow the need to say or print your name 3 times, once is enough
• Customer is not interested in history or fluff.  E.g. you live in the area and have been in business for 20 years, not interested that it is your anniversary
• Be specific about your message—tell them what they want to know, not who you are.

6. Not integrating ads into a campaign.

• You ad campaign must have a common theme. You can tell your core message in different ways or different layouts but maintain the common theme. This is more likely to catch the attention of your audience.

7. Believing only ad’s are ad’s

• Your campaign should include some ( if not all of the following)
  • Write articles for newspapers
  • Do news releases for new products or concepts
  • Email information
  • Network, network, network.
  • Speak to groups.

8. Believing ads can fix everything

• If you are known for poor service or products, ads will make the problem worse.

9. Believing you know best.

• You need fresh eyes looking in.
• ACID TEST – Invite 5 of your peers to review your ad. Does it have a consistent, simple, core message? Is it what the customer wants?
• 4 out of 5 need to answer YES for the ad to be accepted.

10. Not Measuring Your Ads effectiveness

• If you do not collect metrics on your ad campaign , you are wasting your money.
• How will you know which ad in which media was effective. How much was word of mouth (referral)
• Ask your first time customers how they heard of you and log the results.  You need 6 months of results to draw a good conclusion.

11. Having a Seasonal budget

• Remember that frequency and consistency are key to product recognition (small kids know the name McDonalds).
• Many companies do ads in their busy season and very little or none in the off-season. In reality as most companies are not advertising, the market is much bigger, ads tend to be discounted and it gives consistency for the entire year.
• You are better off having a campaign that has less expensive ads that covers the entire year.

12. Not having or not paying enough attention to your website

• Two types of website:
  • One for validation – Made mainly in “flash”, inexpensive but does not attract search engines.
  • A site that is constructed using HTML, meta tags, carefully written text and is optimized on a regular basis. This site is more expensive but is searchable by most search engines.