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How do you find great remote workers? Does your recruitment process consist of posting an ad on a job marketplace and waiting for the perfect candidate to apply?

There are plenty of hiring strategies to use, but this method is not the best move these days.

It's like signing up for Tinder and getting hundreds of matches while your competition meets their match through a trustworthy mutual friend. You can still find "the one," but it'll take a lot more time, money, and effort.

A remote team is only as good as the people in it. So if you want to work with great talent, you need a strong recruitment process.

Here are three of the most effective hiring strategies you can use to find great remote workers and build a strong and talented team:

Why You Need To Hire A Team

I've worked with many businesses, and one of the first questions they ask me is, "Whom should I hire first?"

Now, let's delve deeper into what your organizational structure looks like.

Are you the center of your team? Do you:

• Hire everyone?
• Onboard new team members?
• Answer all questions from your team members?
• Involve yourself in every decision-making process?

If you handle most of these things, you’re a huge bottleneck for your team. Entrepreneurs are ideas people. You come up with goals, plans, and solutions for a profit. You don't have to train every team member or answer questions that don't involve you from the get-go.

So what works best is to hire from the top, down. But what do I mean by that?

1. Hire from the top, down.

To hire from the top, down means your first hire must employ the rest of the team and run the future team.

There are two reasons for this:

1. Hiring is never easy. Writing job descriptions, posting ads, reviewing résumés, interviewing candidates, and onboarding new team members are labor and time-intensive. You don't have to do everything on your own.
2. You can hold your team leader accountable for the team results. This won't only get things off your plate, but you're indirectly training your team leader to become more responsible for the team.

So again, remove yourself as the bottleneck and hire someone you can trust to hire and run the rest of the team. If you need a reason why you should hire a team, check this out.

What Position Should You Hire First?

This is next question I often get asked and I have two choices for you:

• Marketing Coordinator
• Remote Assistant (Virtual Assistant)

Once you're ready to find your first hire, here are three things you should consider first:

• Budget: First things first, you should be conscious of your budget. Can you afford a new hire? What’s your budget and what tools will they need in their role?
• Buy-in: Who else needs to be involved in this conversation? What is their role? Are they a decision-maker?
• Timelines: Set clear expectations on a timeline to hire, onboard, and ramp-up.

Among these three, budget is the most pressing factor for entrepreneurs. Do you already have a figure in mind? For your first hire, you can choose either of these two, depending on your budget:

• Marketing Coordinator: around $35 per hour or $2,800 per month
• Remote Assistant: around $700-900 per month

Now, if budget is not an issue or your top concern, you can choose based on the candidate's skill set.

Marketing Coordinator (6 Non-Negotiables)

1. Copywriting

Copywriting is central to marketing and success. It touches everything. In every single campaign, you're going to have words—either on a page, video, social media, email sequence, and so on.

Copywriting translates into many other good things that can bring to the business as well. It builds your image, brings out the personality of your brand, and boosts your digital marketing game.

Even if ultimately this person won't be doing all the copywriting, they do need to understand what compelling copy looks like.

They need to be able to understand how to put a message together because if your team leader can't communicate effectively, it'll negatively impact the internal team and everything you put out into the marketplace.

2. Being Tech-Savvy

Marketing has become much more technical. You've got CRM systems, content management systems, websites, and landing pages.

Technophobes (anyone who's scared of technology) won't succeed in this role. You need someone who's willing to be trained to learn how to use different platforms. You also want them to implement systems. Learn more here.

3. Leadership Potential

As I said, you need someone who has leadership skills because your first hire is in charge of hiring and running your remote team.

4. Project Management

As your team leader, they're going to be responsible for the delivery of your projects. You want to make sure they're able to manage your team and deliver projects on time and on budget.

5. Being Teachable and Coachable

Trust me, an arrogant, know-it-all person can bring down a team. I've always found that the best hires are always teachable and coachable. You need someone who can learn new concepts, accept new ways of doing things, and just run with it.

6. Being a Self-Starter

It might sound cliché, but you need your first hire to be a self-starter. You need someone who can work autonomously without needing to be constantly babysat and asked how things are going all of the time.

Remote Assistant (6 Non-Negotiables)

1. Excellent Communicator

Communication serves as the foundation of every facet of your business. You need someone who understands the grounds of their work, who's willing to reach out for help when they need it, and who can create a positive work environment within the team.

2. Detail-Oriented

As the business owner, your role is to always look at the big picture. It’s up to your remote assistant to pay close attention to all of the small particulars when working on projects. This results in high-quality work with little to no errors.

3. Strong Written English (or the language you do business in)

English is the most widely spoken and written language in the world. So, if your first hire doesn't know English (or the language you do business in) well, they can't effectively communicate with you and your team.

4. Comfortable with Technology

Like I said, you need tech-savvy people who're willing to learn how to use new systems and equipment.

5. Reliable

Look for a dependable remote assistant. Find someone who can deliver within the deadline and create high-quality deliverables you’ve agreed upon.

6. Eager to Learn

Growth potential is an important quality in your first hire, and willingness to learn shows that capability. This person must be willing to undergo training or mentoring for career progression.

2. Hire based on attitude first, not experience.

I believe that you should hire on attitude first instead of experience or skill level. Why? The idea is to hire good people who are open to learning new things—people who are not stuck in their old ways of working.

To give you a better idea, consider hiring someone who's a bit more of a blank slate. They've got a great attitude, are willing to learn, and are open to new ways of doing things. You just need to train them to do things the way you want them done.

‍So, don't hire. Invest.

‍You should invest a lot of time and money in training your team.

“Now what if they leave?” people always ask me.

Let's turn it around.

"What if you don't train them and they stay?"

That's going to be a bigger loss for you. You'll be in a world of pain if your team doesn't know what they're doing and they stay in the business.

So, invest in them. And the other thing is, if you’re treating people decently and you've got a fun work environment, it's unlikely that people are going to leave unless they have major life changes.

3. Use your network and different platforms to find great talent.

If you want to find great talent, start by letting your network know you're hiring. I actually found my team leader through my network. All I did was write a job description, post it, and wait for referrals to come. You can also use referrals to get new business. Back to hiring.

Then, my team leader hired everyone else. It's the most efficient and cost-effective way to look for top talent. Putting trust in your team leader just shows that you're involving them in your company’s growth.

Aside from referrals, you can also post on platforms like LinkedIn, UpWork, and Onlinejobs.ph.

Building Your Remote Team

Rather than waiting for great talent to miraculously discover your business and beg for a job, redirect your efforts to strategically sourcing them. So to recap, you must:

• Hire from the top, down
• Hire based on attitude first
• Find talent from your network and other platforms

Sourcing top talent is essential to the future of your business. If you want to get two steps ahead of your competition, hire the best candidates in the market because a solid, dependable, flexible team is the backbone of a successful business.

But finding great talent is only the first step. Now you need to build a work culture that makes them want to log on each day and do good work. To learn more about how to create that awesome work culture, check out this link.

Once upon a time, many moons ago, LinkedIn was a glorified online resume platform for recruiters and job hunters, but that's long since changed.

Today LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the digital landscape, and if you're not on it, you're missing out.

Through LinkedIn, you can promote yourself and build a solid network of professionals who can add value to your business.

And the best part? It’s completely free.

If you're into B2B marketing, it's the top channel to use. In fact, 97% of its users utilize LinkedIn for their B2B marketing efforts.

What you might find surprising is:

• 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn.
• 65% of B2B companies have acquired a client or a customer in this platform.

Simply put, LinkedIn is your go-to platform for building your personal brand, generating more leads and scaling your client or customer list. It's an asset.

‍So, how can you make a good first impression? Start with your profile In this blog, I'm going to share my best LinkedIn profile tips for creating and optimizing your account. This step-by-step process is really quite simple to do.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In The 1-Page Marketing Plan Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

Tell Me More

‍

The LinkedIn profile sections you need to complete

If you want to stand out on LinkedIn, you need an awesome profile—one that speaks directly to the needs of your target audience.

Now you can have an individual LinkedIn profile or a business profile.

Either way, the profile section tips I share below can be applied to both.

1. Your LinkedIn Profile Picture and Background Photo

Without a doubt, a great LinkedIn profile starts with a good profile picture.

LinkedIn profiles with photos get more views, messages, and engagements rather than faceless ones. It gives the idea that you're dealing with a real person and not a bot.

So your first step is to add a profile and background photo.

‍Profile picture:

• The ideal size is 400x400 pixels. It must be less than 8MB.
• You can crop it in a square or circle.
• Upload a high-quality professional headshot. LinkedIn profiles with professional headshots get 14 times more profile views. It doesn't have to be a high-end, expensive photograph. Just make sure it's decent, presentable, and visually clear.
• Most importantly, your profile picture must fit your branding.

Cover photo:

• The ideal size is 1584x396 pixels.
• It must be less than 8MB, too. It must reflect your passion or advocacy (if applicable).
• You can add your company logo with its tagline. Think about products or services you're known for.
• Make your background picture customized. But if you want to keep it simple, there are ready-to-use templates to choose from in Canva.

‍Here's an example of a nice, presentable profile and cover photo. As you can see, it easily depicts who you are and your branding.

Now, you have to pick your photos carefully. Career experts say that LinkedIn is a platform for professionals. It's not the right platform to show off your significant other or duck face selfies. Here's another reference to look at.

2. Choosing The Right LinkedIn Headline

Aside from your name and eye-catching photos, people will most likely look into your headline. This is similar to your Facebook and Instagram bio, where you can describe who you are in 120 characters or less.

Keep it clear and direct as much as possible. Remember, confusion creates a bad impression. People don't want to waste time trying to guess what it is you do.

Best practice, use short and simple search terms. It takes a few seconds to skim a LinkedIn headline, so make sure yours is meaningful for your prospects.

If you're struggling with creating your own headline, you can use this formula:

‍[Your job title/what you do] | I help [your prospects] to [how you can help them] to [result].

‍This is how it looks.

3. Make Your LinkedIn About Section Count

If you're limited to 120 characters when describing yourself in your headline, you can write as much text as you want in your “About” section.

Now you can elaborate on what you do, how you can help, and what results you can deliver.

But before I get into that, I want to make one thing very clear. Your about section isn't really about you. It's about how you can help your ideal prospect to get results. So make the focus about them.

Here’s what your “About” section must include:

• Introduction: Start by sharing something about yourself or your company. What's your story? What core values and principles matter to you the most?
• Your products or services: How do you help people? Add as many products and services you offer as possible. Then, give them a rundown of what you do. Be descriptive. In my case, I'm known for my book, The 1-Page Marketing Plan that helps people thrive and succeed in business, so I've highlighted it in my “About” section.
• Results: I’ve noticed that a lot of profiles don't include this part. It's an opportunity you shouldn't miss. Talk about the results you can deliver. If you're a PR agency how many press releases do you write a month? If you're a lead generation specialist, how many quality leads can you produce in a month? Or if you own an e-commerce store, how many sales did you get in the past year? What about your current Google rating? Transparency is a major factor here. Just keep it real. Help people to manage their expectations.
• Call-to-action: Although people can directly connect with you on LinkedIn, share other ways they can reach out. Feel free to add links to your website, e-commerce store, email, and other social media accounts.

Take time to write your “About” section. Not a lot of people know this, but you can actually use it as your lead magnet. Here are some tips in drafting your own:

• Keep it personal. Write it as if you're talking to a friend.
• Avoid over-promoting yourself.
• Use your prospects' pain points.
• Define and use your brand voice. What jargon does your target audience use? This influences how prospects perceive your messaging.

4. Summarize your Career in the LinkedIn Experience Section

After going through your About section, people will scroll down to see your “Experience” section. This is an important part of your profile as it shows your work history and proves your credibility and competence.

Employment history differs among people, so it doesn't matter whether it's written short or long. Maybe you own multiple businesses or have different roles in your company. If this is the case, explain each business or role further by adding:

• An overview or description of what you do
• Achievements
• Social proofs or testimonials

Most importantly, link your role to your company page on LinkedIn. Make sure your LinkedIn company page is complete because people will check it too.

See for yourself.

‍

Individual LinkedIn Profile Add-Ons

Every single LinkedIn profile has a profile photo, headline, description, and a list of experiences. But only a few spend their time:

• Filling in their “Accomplishments” section
• Adding recommendations
• Personalizing their LinkedIn URL

This is what I meant by optimizing your profile. Aside from your basic information, these boost your image and branding. Use these optimizing tips to gain a competitive edge and stand out from the rest.

1. LinkedIn URL

All new profiles have system-generated URLs composed of random letters and numbers. So if you want to optimize your URL, you have to change it. A long string of random characters is unsightly. So it's best to keep it short and customized. Here's how to change your profile URL:

1. Click the “Me” icon at the top of your homepage.
2. Click “View profile.”
3. Click “Edit public profile and URL” on the upper-right side.
4. Click the pencil icon next to your URL.
5. Remove the last part of the URL in the text box and replace it with your name, with or without your company name, containing 30-100 characters. Do not use spaces, symbols, or other fancy characters.
6. If your custom URL is no longer available, that means you have to create a different one.
7. Save it. And there you go. You have a new LinkedIn URL.

It may take time for search engines to detect the updates you've made to your LinkedIn profile. If you haven't seen any live changes, reload the page.

2. Your Accomplishments

Your accomplishments matter. It shows your commitment to your field and how others recognize your efforts.

This profile section must include outstanding publications, honors and awards, courses, projects, and organizations.

3. Your LinkedIn Recommendations

Here's a profile tip that most people forget. LinkedIn recommendations are a great feature to highlight statements from people who enjoy working with you and are happy to recommend you.

Even if you're not a job seeker at the moment, 76% of B2B buyers prefer to work with professionals who have displayed recommendations on their profiles.

You're lucky if you get a recommendation from your clients, mentors, or colleagues without asking for it. But most of the time, it’s a give-and-take situation. Write a recommendation for someone and ask if they would write one for you.

Or better yet, you can ask for it through email. You can use this template, do your tweaks and send it to get recommendations.

‍Hey [Name],

Feels like it’s been years since we last spoke. [You can insert some personal notes.]

I was hoping to ask a favor. I’d massively appreciate a recommendation when you get the chance. And I’d be happy to write one for you in return.

Keep in touch and let me know how things are going.

‍Just like any other word-of-mouth, it should be genuine. It should come from someone who knows you professionally and can describe your strengths, character, and skills.

4. Your Featured Section

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile is made even better with new updates. In 2020, LinkedIn launched the Featured section which allows you to showcase the best work samples you're proud of. This can vary to:

• Old or previous posts you've written or shared on LinkedIn
• Successful blog topics from your website (for example a blog about the benefits of a marketing plan) and social media handles
• External media such as photos, documents  and links

Now how does this new section differ from the Activity section on your profile?

The Activity section shows all your activity for the past 45 days. This includes your posts, articles, likes and comments on other LinkedIn posts. With the recent update, you can find it just below the Featured section on your profile or LinkedIn feed if you choose to enable it.

What makes the Featured section different is you can pick and curate the content you only want other people to see. Meaning, you have full control over what to include and exclude in this LinkedIn section.

Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile for SEO

So now that you've learned about the basics and set up LinkedIn essentials on your personal profile, let's take things to the next level.

LinkedIn is one of the top five sites (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Wikipedia) that Google regularly indexes. This means that you have to apply SEO to your profile if you want to appear in search results more often.

This won't only help you gain better search visibility in native LinkedIn searches, but also in Google searches. Just think about seeing your name on the first page of Google. That looks interesting, isn't it?

Now, let's talk about LinkedIn SEO.

1. Create a keyword-rich profile.

If you're familiar with how digital marketing works, then you probably know how important keywords are in SEO.

And this is also applicable when optimizing your LinkedIn profile.

So how do you start?

You have to make sure that the keywords you'll choose are those that people use when searching for your products and services.

For example, if you're a dentist, you can include the long-tail keyword "dental care and dental services" in your job title. Then on your job description, you can include relevant phrases like "general dentistry, cosmetic dentistry" and other variations of these.

Now, here's a tip to remember.

Be careful of keyword stuffing. Just place relevant keywords naturally in your LinkedIn profile.

2. Build quality backlinks.

Do you want to give your LinkedIn profile a boost?

Building quality backlinks is the answer. Now what should you do?

You have to link to your LinkedIn profile from your own website. This is extremely effective if your website has a high domain authority (DA).

And if you're guest posting on other websites, use this opportunity to link back to your LinkedIn profile. You can simply use your author bio to get backlinks.

This technique helps your profile rank higher in Google and even in LinkedIn itself, resulting in high visibility.

3. Post New Content (and share) other LinkedIn User's content.

Sure, you've already filled out your LinkedIn profile with everything people need to know from you. What's next?

Apply SEO to your profile through content marketing. Meaning, you must post relevant and valuable content.

This is a fantastic way to interact with your LinkedIn connections. Also, this drives traffic to your blog post, web content, whatever.

Now aside from posting your own content, consider sharing content too. Have you read a piece of content from someone that you find valuable? Share it. This creates a domino effect—helping you reach a wider audience effortlessly. It's also one way to build a better community.

4. Join and participate in LinkedIn groups.

LinkedIn shows the groups you're part of on your profile. In return, this helps the platform to know more about you and what search results are relevant to you.

So take time to look at some groups relevant to your industry and join them. Ask questions or provide valuable answers to other people's questions.

This is one of the most effective ways to grow your LinkedIn network.

Participate in the conversation, and people will start noticing you. Now if you do this consistently, you'll eventually boost your reputation as a thought leader.

5. Expand your LinkedIn network.

LinkedIn search results heavily depend on your network of colleagues, business contacts and friends.

So does this mean it has its own search engine? Yes.

And just like any search engine, LinkedIn also considers a few ranking factors to get your profile on the first page.

This includes the number of connections that your profile has.

For example, if you're one of my colleagues and I searched for keywords related to your profession, I'll probably see your profile on top of the results.

Remember, LinkedIn is also a social media platform. The goal here is to connect to as many people as possible.

Although this is what you have to do, you still have to be careful about who you connect with. More connections may mean higher ranking and visibility on your LinkedIn profile, but the wrong connections are up to no good.

Prioritize getting as many 1st level connections as you can. 2nd and 3rd level connections can also boost your network. Avoid directly connecting to LinkedIn members who are out of your network. Make sure you check every profile who wants to connect and see what value they can offer to you.

6. Use alt texts to name your images.

Are you looking for an underrated LinkedIn SEO hack? Here it is.

Google indexes images just as it indexes web content. So for every image you upload to LinkedIn, you must also name it with a keyword or phrase that's discoverable online.

This is the role of alt texts. Add alternative texts (alt texts) to all the images you post on your LinkedIn profile or feed. This helps voice-over screen readers to know what the image is all about.

So for example, if you're name's John Doe, you can rename the image with your profession.

Now before you do this, I want you to think of a very important matter. Are you running a company or building your personal brand? These are two different things. So if your personal brand matters more, consider using your name as alt texts to your LinkedIn images.

In my case, when you search for "Allan Dib," I'd like to have most of the results to show my profile picture.

7. Use Customized and Generic LinkedIn hashtags.

Let's get this straight. Hashtags aren't only for Twitter or Instagram.

LinkedIn might be a social media network for professionals, but it also uses hashtags.

So take advantage of it. Add hashtags when posting articles and other forms of content on LinkedIn. Users can find you when they follow a hashtag you use. This is a fantastic tool because it just means that others don't necessarily have to follow you so they can see your posts.

8. Get endorsements from fellow LinkedIn connections.

Are you looking for ways to optimize your job search? Here's another overlooked LinkedIn feature that you should check.

Use the endorsements section to boost your LinkedIn SEO game.

This validates all the skills you've posted in your LinkedIn profile. It's also a great place to add target keywords within the skills on your list.

So the key here is to get more endorsements for a few, handpicked skills instead of few endorsements for many skills.

Recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates. Use endorsements to impress them. Having social proof gives you a higher chance to land a job.

9. Add the Open To Work LinkedIn Banner if you're in the market for a new job

For business owners and recruiters, the Open to Work LinkedIn Banner is a great way to quickly find new talent.

Instead of posting a job and waiting for candidates to apply, you can directly approach a potential employee to see if they'd be interested in new work opportunities.

If you're looking for a new job, this signals to your network that you're serious about making a move.

To add the Open to Work banner, watch this instructional video.

10. Up the ante by taking a LinkedIn Skills Assessment

Demonstrate your technical skills and know-how by taking a LinkedIn Skills Assessment. There are a number of skills tests from various industries that you can choose from.

Once completed, the skill badge is then added to your LinkedIn profile page to help recruiters in their job search.

• Skill assessments don't take long, max 20 minutes.
• They strengthen your profile and can make you more searchable to recruiters.
• It's free.

11. Invest in yourself and complete a course on LinkedIn Learning

I’ve worked with a lot of influences and coaches during my career, and there’s one thing we all have in common…we invest in ourselves.

I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on 1:1 and group coaching, virtual courses, business books, and speaker events.

I do it because I know there are better ways of doing things, and I’ll only discover them if I’m continuously learning.

So you can use the LinkedIn Learning section to add new skills to your resume.

As a business owner, it's always handy to at least understand the inner workings of things even if you aren't handling it yourself.

Examples of top profiles to follow on LinkedIn

Catherine Gladwyn - Taking women from employment to enjoyment and beyond. Let me show you how to become an in-demand Virtual Assistant - VA Mentor since 2018 and Multi-Award Winning Bestselling Author

Andy Barden - We write really cool stuff for your socials.💥Or we can train you to write even cooler stuff for yourself.💥Your complete social media strategy partner for training and managed ghostwriting services.💥

Lea Turner - Founder, The HoLt | The business community where square pegs fit perfectly | Find out more the-holt.com

Michelle B. Griffin - Thought Leadership Accelerator for Women ➢ I teach female experts to communicate their value, build personal brands & get visible with PR to become top of mind in their field ➢ Author ➢ Speaker ➢ Own Your Lane Book 11/19

Start Using These LinkedIn Profile Tips To Make Your Profile Stand Out

So optimizing your LinkedIn profile is the first step to attracting more high-value leads. Before reaching out to your prospects, make sure that:

• They can recognize you
• You gain their interest and trust

It all starts with providing your personal information. Take it a step further by optimizing your profile with a customized URL and sections for your accomplishments and referrals. This section is vital because it's other customers or clients vouching for your business so fill in your LinkedIn referrals section. We cover how to systemize referrals here.

Then move forward with implementing an effective strategy to connect with individuals you know personally and those you want to connect with.

So start with these LinkedIn profile tips and let me know how it goes.

A lot of businesspeople believe sales is about convincing a lead to become a customer. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I'll make it simple for you. I saw this quote by Peter Drucker: "Marketing aims to make selling superfluous."

That doesn't mean you should axe your sales process entirely. Rather, selling to leads should be easy and simple—not pushy, cajoling, convincing, and all of those things that you typically associate with sales.

So to help you increase your sales pipeline and lead conversion rate, I'm going to share a few truths your sales team can implement today. But let's start with a little myth-busting.

3 Common Sales Myths

1. It's a numbers game.

Say you make 100 cold calls daily.

It's possible to get 20 leads to commit to an appointment and convert 10 people to customers, right?

Yes, it works. But it's a hard slog. It's soul-crushing. Not to mention it's an inefficient and counterproductive sales strategy.

So sales is not a numbers game. It's a performance game. It's about how your sales team deals with people who want what you've got.

2. It's your job to overcome objections.

"No" is a tough pill to swallow, but it doesn't stop a lot of salespeople from overcoming objections. Die-hard salespeople tend to push qualified leads who aren't ready to purchase over the line.

So don’t skip steps in the sales process; it will position you as a pushy salesperson.

Instead, focus on nurturing a lead in your funnel. Keep the communication lines open, and when they’re ready to buy, convert them to a customer.

3. Always be closing.

Everyone has seen the movie Glengarry Glen Ross where it's all about closing the sale and making the deal at any cost.

This is an old sales tactic. And it's a losing strategy. Being aggressive positions you as needy, and it reeks of desperation. Instead, use your marketing efforts to get leads into your sales pipeline.

The Psychology and Mindset of a True Salesperson

Salespeople typically face an uphill battle to win customers and generate more sales. In my 20-year career as an entrepreneur, I've learned that conversations are more likely to lead to sales. That said, there is a right way to approach conversational sales. Start here.

‍Or try this low-key method to achieve these goals.

1. Be authentic.

Have you ever attended a sales training? Sometimes, they talk about things like being enthusiastic and energetic when communicating with leads and customers. If this is your personality, there's nothing to worry about.

But if you're putting on a fake smile and trying to drum up an excited sales voice to convert a lead to a customer, you're only creating pressure for yourself.

Don't fall into this trap. Be authentic. People want to do business with real people, not fakes.

2. You're not in sales; you're a trusted advisor.

A great way to sell more starts with positioning.

You have to position yourself as an expert—a trusted advisor—who has your customer’s best interest at heart. You're their confidant, someone they can trust to help solve their problems.

3. Get to the truth.

The ultimate goal of sales is to get to the truth.

Let's admit it. You can't convert all of your leads into customers. It's a matter of compatibility. You have to figure out if you're a good fit for a prospect. And you do that by qualifying your leads.

Some prospects will tell you they either don't have the budget, are not interested, or are not ready to buy now. Your sales team needs to be open to hear these objections and accept them.

If your instinct is to push the sale and counter objections, you're only creating pressure. This drives leads away, which affects your lead conversion rate.

4. Aim for the right goal.

Aim to sell only the next step in your buyer's journey, not the final step.

This is a common mistake among salespeople. When they offer a sales deal, they skip to the final stage in the sales process. They focus on getting leads to sign on the dotted line as quickly as possible.

And again, this is a poor sales tactic. It makes your marketing campaigns redundant, and it defeats the purpose of building your sales funnel. So rather than shortcutting the sales process, sell only the next step.

2 Lead Conversion Strategies

Besides defining a professional salesperson's psychology, I have two key action strategies to help you convert leads into sales.

1. Positioning

How you position your business is vital. Leads will take you at your own appraisal. Focus on positioning yourself as an expert and a trusted advisor. It gives potential customers the impression that you're the best person to consult with, analyze a problem, and offer a solution.

2. Discounting

Resist the urge to discount. You're unintentionally driving away high-value leads. If your marketing is targeted, you'll attract interest from more qualified leads. You won't lose customers, and people will still buy from you.

So rather than discounting, consider:

• Bundling
• Increasing quantities
• Adding peripheral products or services
• Boosting the value of your offer

3 Risk Reversal Action Strategies

Most leads have been burned before by dodgy salespeople. They were probably pressured to buy and regretted the decision afterward.

So most of your leads have learned to put their defenses up, and trust becomes a major barrier to sales.

To counter this roadblock, try to reverse the risk. Take the risk on yourself rather than putting it on the lead. This will help build trust and remove the friction from the sales process.

Here are three risk reversal tips to help your business convert leads to sales.

1. Using power guarantees.

I'm not talking about generic ones like satisfaction guarantee, money-back guarantee, whatever. They barely work.

Now, if you say you can double their money back if your product doesn't work. That's powerful.

It builds trust and confidence with your prospect because there's nothing to lose. If they're not happy, you fulfill the guarantee, and they move on. And if they're happy, you naturally convert leads into sales.

2. Offer an unlimited package.

Many businesses are moving towards the subscription model. I'm talking about Netflix, streaming services, and similar companies.

One-off purchases still work, but subscriptions have become super convenient for most customers.

For example, to get a prospect to experience your product or service, you can offer a free trial on your website. If they love it, this lead will sign up and become a customer. This is the power of creating a subscription-style service. You benefit from regular, monthly transactions. It never ends.

3. Try before you buy.

Give your leads the opportunity to test drive your product or service before they buy.

This works because reciprocity is a strong instinct. If somebody does something for you, it's normal to feel that you need to return the favor.

It gives the impression your company is willing to take risks to win their trust. So if the customer likes your offer, they won't hesitate to pay and do repeat business with you.

Lead Conversion 101

Lead conversion is more than getting thousands of visitors to your website or thousands of comments on your blog post. It's about capturing and nurturing the right leads and converting them into customers.

Get rid of old habits that barely work. Think about how you can use targeted marketing to drive qualified leads to a landing page on your website and get them to fill in a form and opt-in to your CRM. Re-engineer your sales process so your team focuses on leads at every stage in the buyer's journey.

Follow your sales process. Whatever marketing tactic or strategy you use, it must be aligned with your sales pipeline. Do one step at a time, and you'll get a high conversion rate.

Ever worked for a bosshole? Maybe you were one?

If you can't help micromanaging employees or showing signs of frustration at work, I hear you. Perhaps you're having a bad day, or you have your own personal reasons.

But let me tell you this: Business problems don't exist. You probably have personal problems that reflect in your business.

And this is what embodies work culture. Work culture trickles down from you (the boss) as the person at the top of the chain, down to the rest of the team.

In this blog, I'll help you understand how work culture affects you and your company. I’ll also share some tips on how you can build a work environment that works best for your team.

The Impact of Work Culture

Like I said, culture trickles down from the top.

This means your attitude and personality shape your company’s or organization’s work culture.

Bossholes are poor leaders. Their sole focus is to make themselves look good. And this results in an unhappy workforce.

When you have an unhappy team, there’s often a domino effect. They're not motivated to work hard, productivity slows down, profitability plummets.

In my experience, happy teams are everything. When you provide a sense of vision, purpose, and inspiration to your team, they'll aim to please you and help you hit your goals. And I think that's important.

So how can you make sure you’re building a great work culture? Just follow these five top tips.

5 Ways to Build a Strong Work Culture

1. Check in regularly.

Whether you're the boss or the team leader, you must at least schedule weekly check-ins with your team. Aside from discussing projects, the goal is to see how people are doing. Make them feel like you're willing to listen and address concerns. This will help you to keep your finger on the pulse of your business.

2. Set goals with your team.

Your team isn't only supposed to pull levers, follow your orders, whatever. Make sure you involve them in setting quarterly goals. They know better than anyone else when it comes to what they can achieve.

There are so many companies that set ridiculous goals that demotivate their teams. Why? They're unrealistic and there's no hope hitting them.

So here's what you can do. Before every quarter starts, you can ask each team member to share the goals they want to achieve. You can review them together and decide whether to tweak them or leave them as is.

3. Offer opportunities to learn new skills.

Believe it or not, money isn’t always the biggest motivator. Big paychecks are just one of the things that can make your team happy and in it for the long haul. I’ve found that creating more opportunities for your team to learn new skills is the most empowering thing I can do as a boss.

If your team realizes that you want them to grow and upskill, they'll do great work for you and they won't want to leave.

4. Celebrate wins.

As the boss or the team leader, it's imperative that you provide constructive feedback, correct mistakes, whatever. But at the same time, you must also celebrate wins—whether they’re big or small. This boosts employee morale and strengthens bonds with one another.

You can send a short compliment or a celebratory GIF through email or your group chat. Your team will love it. Recognition feels good. It’s that simple.

5. Be aware and track stress levels.

A happy team thrives on a manageable and healthy workload. So it's important to be at least aware of what's on their plate, how they're doing, and if they’re capable of handling the job.

When your team's always stressed out, they'll struggle to deliver quality work. Their decision-making abilities will also be dulled.

If you think someone has been swamped for quite some time, reprioritize certain tasks or hire another person to handle the extra workload.

Creating a Work Culture for Success

Every company has its own culture. And as the boss or team leader, establishing your company’s work culture falls on your shoulders. Positive work environments don’t just happen on their own, you’ve got to be VERY intentional in building them.

The most successful companies cultivate their work culture over time with  as the endgame. They treat their teams with mutual trust, respect, and empathy.

So use these five tips to create a positive work environment and let me know how it goes. It’s one of the reasons my business is so successful, so I‘d love to hear how it affects your company’s productivity and profit.

Being your own boss seems like heaven on earth. You can reply to your emails in the morning with your PJs on. Create your own schedule. Take a day off anytime you want.

No more long commutes, micromanaging bosses, and everything about the corporate world.

But on the flip side, working on your own can be really stressful. Not only do you need to juggle a lot of tasks, but you also need to motivate yourself daily.

Not sure if you should build your team or not?

I have three major reasons why you should leave the role as a solopreneur and hire more people to your team.

1. Be Consistent

Marketing is a process, not an event. It doesn't happen in a day where you launch with a big splash or spend a ton of money on ads. This is why consistency is the key. And this doesn't mean that all marketing activities (like building out your marketing plan) are supposed to be on your plate.

In the real world, business is a team sport. It's not something you have to do on your own.

As opposed to being a solopreneur, you actually need three types of people in your business.

Entrepreneur

So this is the “ideas person” or the visionary who is always working to come up with great ideas to solve a problem or bridge a gap in the market. They're also willing to take risks for a profit.

If you're a business owner, this is probably the category where you belong.

Specialist

A specialist implements the entrepreneur's vision. They could be an engineer, a venture capitalist, a graphic designer. So they take the vision and make it happen.

Manager

You've obviously got the entrepreneur, which is likely you as a business owner, and you've got someone that can deliver what you want. So now you need somebody to manage your marketing.

So a manager comes in every day to make sure that things are getting done, work gets delivered, and the vision is on track.

It's typical for the solopreneur to become either the entrepreneur or the specialist, or both, but rarely the manager. And you need to have three roles in your organization. Remember, consistency beats creative genius every time.

2. Focus On Your Speciality

A lot of business owners try to fit a square peg in a round hole. I’ll give you an example.

Perhaps you’ve spent countless hours trying to write, design, and run your Facebook ads, monitor your KPIs, and fill out financial spreadsheets all at once. But these are things you don’t  enjoy doing.

Essentially, you’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

So instead of trying to be a jack-of-all-trades, think about what your strengths are in the business. Then, focus on them. More importantly, hire somebody who can take over the tasks you can't do or don't like doing.

3. Upscale Your Business

I started as a solopreneur. But after a couple of years of fielding contractors’ and client questions, I realized that if I wanted to scale rapidly I needed help. So I hired and trained my internal team, and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Having a good team will skyrocket your business. Your team can be your eyes, ears and nose in the industry—they can help you uncover great opportunities and create new ones.

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Propel Your Business Growth

Think about elite sports persons. They’ve got a dedicated nutritionist, fitness coach, physiotherapist, tactical coach, doctor, manager, PR rep, whatever. It takes a team of specialists to keep them at the top of their game. They may have talent, but without the right people to harness that talent, they’d never reach their full potential.

And this also applies to business owners. It takes more than one person to grow a business. Stop trying to do everything yourself. When it comes to marketing, it's important that things are consistent, and there are designated roles for every responsibility.

So the takeaway here: Hire more people to your team. You need them to amplify your efforts. And later on, you'll see exponential business growth.

It's no secret that more people are transitioning from office to a work-from-home setup.

Remote work isn’t a trend. It's here to stay.

In fact, Buffer’s “2021 State of Remote Work” report found that 97% of workers would like to work at least some of the time remotely throughout their entire career.

And the biggest benefit they see is the flexibility it offers. Being able to pick up and go to a remote location while still being able to work is a massive game-changer for people.

But it’s also a game-changer for businesses. You get access to a wealth of talent. You reduce overheads, and it allows you to build a lifestyle business. You can wear whatever you want, live anywhere you choose, and work at your own pace. So virtual teams are a must. Great. Now what?

If you've got team members living in different places, you need tools to run your entire remote team effectively. This is really important to get right, so I’m going to share the tools you’ll need daily to successfully run a virtual business.

Team Toolbox

The best tool is the tool everyone can use.

Don't get me wrong. There are a ton of tools meant for to-do lists, time management, and other areas. But I’m going to focus on the essential tools that will keep your remote team productive and connected.

1. Asana

Remote work also presents a whole bunch of challenges.

As your team works remotely, you can't just go to a colleague's desk and ask for an update. It's hard to organize documents if they're all coming from emails being sent to you. And, there's no guarantee that you can schedule emergency meetings because your team might be in different time zones.

Thankfully, everything becomes possible with a project management tool.

There are a few popular tools to choose from, but Asana is my team’s favorite (and we’ve taken a few for a spin). We’ve found that it’s a great platform to manage even the largest and most complex projects.

Systems play an integral role in running a remote team successfully. And project management tools like Asana are the right solution for creating and managing a centralized system. A review of Asana showcases its integration capabilities, allowing teams to connect their favorite tools for improved workflow. With your team, you can collaborate in one space. Its main features allow you to:

• Create multiple project boards designated for different tasks
• Build a hierarchy of tasks for a seamless workflow
• Assign tasks to different people
• Monitor tasks that are either completed, in progress, or blocked
• Store documents and other files

2. Slack

Slack is a virtual messaging tool that remote workers love. It's a communication platform that helps your teammates collaborate—to share ideas, comments, and other real-time updates.

It also takes away the necessity for email within your organization, which is not really that bad, but communication tools like Slack notify you when someone sends you a message. It has other integration features too.

Slack basically allows you to:

• Create multiple channels for different team members
• Send personal messages
• Have an audio and video call with someone

3. G-Suite

I still see a lot of people using Microsoft Office, and while it’s the best tool for office set-ups, it won't work when running a team remotely.

It can feel daunting switching from MS Office to G-Suite, but it will be the cornerstone of your team's ability to create assets, share files, and keep everything centralized. And once you’re up to speed on how to use it, you’ll never go back.

These are the G-Suite (now known as Google Workforce) applications my team uses and loves:

• Gmail is the world’s most popular email service with a user-friendly interface and additional features that make it a great choice for business and personal use.
• Google Meet is a popular video communication and collaboration tool you can use to set up weekly or monthly meetings with your team.
• Google Docs allows you to create and edit text documents. Instead of attaching files to your emails, you can simply share an accessible link with your team.
• Google Sheets is a free, web-based spreadsheet application that allows you to create spreadsheets. It has a lot of awesome features, such as colorful charts and graphs, built-in formulas, tables, and other formatting options.
• Google Drive is a cloud storage platform that keeps all your files in one secure, centralized location. Remote workers can store and share documents, spreadsheets, and slide presentations.
• Google Slides allows you to make both online and offline presentations for business use.
• Google Calendar is a time-management and scheduling calendar service so you can keep track of meetings, events, and get notifications about upcoming activities.

Since G-Suite is cloud-based, every single application under it allows your remote team to:

• Share files and projects
• Make changes in real-time
• Maintain a full version history of files and track changes
• Integrate with third-party applications

4. Zoom

Since in-person meetings are not possible when working remotely, Zoom is a great tool for scheduling weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly meetings with your virtual team. On these calls you can:

• Check on each team member's roles and responsibilities
• Track the progress of various projectsSet a plan of action
• Discuss other concerns or issues
• Catch up with each other

Even if you haven't met your team members in person yet (or may never if you live oceans apart), virtual meetings bring the human element to the remote workplace.

So aside from talking about work, allot time for some chit chat—this will help cultivate relationships and build trust within your team.

And don't forget to put together business systems for your team. These are step-by-step instructions on how to use each of the tools mentioned above. You'll thank me for it. Learn what is a business system here.

Other Remote Work Tools:

1. World Time Buddy

If you have to schedule a meeting or event with anyone from the team, you can use World Time Buddy. This is a popular world clock and time converter. It's the perfect solution for dealing with time across multiple time zones.

My team is spread across multiple time zones. I also have clients from other parts of the world, so I keep this open at all times to ensure I’m not scheduling calls for 3 am.

2. Loom

Loom is a Chrome extension that enables you to record your screen and share the video through a link in just a few clicks. It's basically a video messaging platform for work.

So for example, if you want to train someone from your team, you can simply record yourself while doing a specific task then share the link and they can access it anytime. This is also helpful for addressing urgent matters, especially among teams working across different time zones.

3. Calendly

Gone are the days when you have to manually write emails to each team member about the upcoming meeting schedule. Calendly offers a powerful and versatile set of features that allow you to schedule one-on-one appointments, group events, and team meetings.

It’s also great for setting up meetings with clients, consultants, vendors, media, whatever. You can just share your link and they’re able to choose a time that suits them and you.

Tools For Your Home Studio

As an influencer, podcaster, content creator or expert authority, you're required to jump on to Zoom calls or put out new content weekly.

How you present yourself online matters.

If you're using a crappy camera, or audio that crackles, it’s the equivalent of you showing up to speak at a stadium with a big stain on your shirt. That would be really distracting to your audience.

So you need to level up your audio and visual game, and that requires thinking about your home studio setup.

You can find everything you need to know about setting up your home studio in this article.

Using Remote Work Tools to Get Things Done

These remote work tools are a necessity for your business's success. They enable:

• A productive, motivated and happy team
• A collaborative work environment
• Strategic planning with achievable objectives
• Seamless workflow
• High-quality project deliverables that make clients happy and convert to real ROI

It's up to you to try them out. And don't hesitate to explore more options. Use what's best for your team. The good news is, most of them are free, and some have free trial versions, so you can decide before committing to them.

But giving your team the tools they need to do a great job won't guarantee they deliver the goods. You also need to build a strong work culture. Here's how.

Now I'd like to know what you're currently using. Did some of your favorites make the list? Is there anything you want to try?

Defining and understanding your target market are two different things. When I say defining, you have to know who they are.

On the other hand, understanding digs deeper into the question, “Who is your target market?” and identifies, “What makes these people part of your audience?”

This is where you become a spy.

Imagine you’re James Bond or Salt on a mission to uncover where your target market lives in the digital space. Where are they active? Who are the trusted figures in their communities? What are their goals, dreams, pain points?

To help you infiltrate your industry, I’m going to share my top five ways to get into the mindset of your target market.

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Defining your target market

Suppose you want your marketing efforts to yield positive returns. You need to clearly define your target audience. Your niche target audience is a specific group of people who are likely to buy your products and services. So they're potential customers.

Once you identify your target market, you then need to understand who your target audience is.

Market research is a great way to do it. Research reveals demographic information, common characteristics you target audience share, income level, marital status, age, sex, interesting data, and much more.

• It tells you what their needs are?
• What keeps them up at night?
• What are their interests?
• Which social media networks they follow?
• Why your products or services would improve their lives?
• Do you have more than one market segment?

This data informs any marketing campaign or advertising you create for your business. But how do you gather this data?

Well, you can survey your customer base to understand your target customers. You can organize a focus group. However, often current customers will tell you what they think you want to hear, which may impact the marketing campaigns you create.

I prefer to follow these five tried and trusted methods.

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5 Ways to identify your target markets needs

1. Identify trade journals

Trade journals are reliable resources that can keep you updated with the industry trends, news, and other necessary information. They can tell you a world of information about your target audience.

For example, if you want to become a vendor in the dentistry industry, trade journals provide valuable insight into what’s happening in the industry, what changes are occurring, where the gaps are and how you can fill them.

You can google them. Just make sure to be very specific with your search term. So don’t just search for “Dentistry Trade Journals.” Search for “American Dentistry Trade Journals.”

List at least five trade journals that you can opt-in or subscribe to get the latest news, updates, and relevant information.

2. Find out where industry chatter happens

Do you know where your target audience hangs out online? If not, you have to start monitoring the industry chatter.

Find out where they interact with one another. Where do they ask questions, spill secrets, and share their experiences?

Depending on the industry, it can be in a number of different sources. For example, it can be in Facebook groups, Reddit forums, and even old-school mailing lists.

That's for you to find out.

Again, think of yourself as a spy who's been hired to infiltrate the industry. Facebook Insights and SparkToro are excellent tools to help you track down your target market and identify their strong and weak points.

The better you get to know them, the easier it is to recognize how you can add value to their lives. How can you help them?

3. Join industry associations

The great thing about industry associations is you can join for free, or for a small cost.

Besides filling out your LinkedIn profile, having a list of memberships from different associations gives you access to invaluable data—an industry insider primed to share all their secrets. You also look forward to the following perks:

• Get invited to industry events and trade shows.
• Meet vendors and find out what they're selling and who’s buying the stock.
• Grow your network.
• Get more opportunities to grow and upscale in the industry.
• Broaden your industry knowledge.

A quick online search can give you a list of associations under your industry. I'd say choose wisely. Make sure they're legitimate and they have a good reputation.

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4. Identify potential industry blogs

Aside from journals, industry blogs are also great resources for understanding your target market because they provide a more human perspective. Again, an online search can provide you with several recommendations, as long as you're specific with your search terms.

When looking for industry blogs, you have to consider the following:

• Does the site have a high domain authority score? This tells you how high it ranks on search engines like Google and how relevant it is to your search query. You can use free tools like Moz to get this information.
• Are they publishing content regularly?
• Do they engage with their target audience—featuring people's lives and experiences—and respond to them?
• Do their blogs have social shares?

5. Create a list of industry podcasts to listen to.

No one consumes content the same way. Think of your target audience as a mixture of both readers and listeners. While I love to read books and blogs, you might prefer to listen to podcasts.

It's a wonderfully productive pastime. You can immerse yourself in knowledgeable, engaging conversations about the industry you want to be part of while driving, exercising, or doing chores around the house. You also get to hear from owners and their customers so it’s a great way to get a holistic view of the industry.

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So in the end, a little espionage goes a long way

It’s important to get your market research correct upfront. It has a domino effect on everything you do thereafter. If you don’t have a clear picture of whom makes up your target market, your messaging will be off, your media won’t be the right fit, and in the end, you won’t reach the right people.

So defining your target audience is supercritical. It'll significantly impact your marketing efforts.

Market research takes time. Expect to invest a couple of hours on research, tracking down solid leads and getting to know your demographics. Learning which market segment you want to create target marketing for. How best to sell your product or service? Whether digital marketing or social media is necessary. Do you need to update your brand, whatever?

See what your competitors are doing. How can your business produce better advertising and marketing campaigns?

Once you’ve gathered your data start filling out your 1-Page Marketing Plan. This will make identifying your target audience, creating target marketing, nurturing and converting leads to customers much easier.

To help you get started, we’ve shared a few completed 1PMP examples here.

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Advertising is one of the most misunderstood and expensive parts of the marketing process. Time again I speak to business owners who:

• Have no idea if their marketing actually works
• Use one media to reach their target audience
• Manually handle nurturing their prospects

Does this sound like you? I'm not saying you're doing everything wrong. I just think you can head in a better direction if you know what good advertising is and how to leverage the right media strategies.

So, I’m going to break down common misconceptions about advertising media, and share powerful tips on how you can get the most from your spend.

What Makes Advertising Effective?

I don't know about you, but most businesses want to get as much exposure from the media as possible. It feels good to be seen on billboards, TV commercials, in publications, online, whatever.

Dmitry Dragilev likens this to lights over Broadway. But the thing is, your target audience is at home watching Netflix. So wasting your money on media which your prospect never consumes is bad for business and your bank account.

It feels good to be able to say, “I’ve been featured in Forbes or The New York Times.” But that’s just feeding your ego.

You really want to be making money in the shadows, and you do this through targeted advertising. This has worked for me.

I'm pretty sure 99.99% of people on Earth have no idea who Allan Dib is, and that's fine with me. I don't mind it, as long as the remaining 0.01% are my target audience—who know me, connect with me, and do business with me.

So what makes advertising effective?

It's not about getting your name out to a wider audience. It's about connecting to the right audience and getting them to opt for your product or service. This means having a very clear picture of whom you audience is and what makes them tick. This blog shows you how to infiltrate your market.

4 Tips for Reaching Prospects with Advertising Media

1. Track your numbers.

From a marketing perspective, you should adapt the "money at a discount" mindset.

Let's think about it this way...

You're actually buying customers. And you should buy them at a lower cost, so once they buy from you, you can earn a profit.

How much would you pay for a $10,000 or $100,000 prospect?

It’s hard to come up with a figure until you start tracking your metrics.

No matter what advertising media you use, here are the key metrics that you should track:

• Leads: How many leads do you have?
• Conversion Rate: Based on the number of leads you have, how many decided to buy from you?
• Cost of Customer Acquisition: How much did you spend for acquiring a customer or client? Average
• Transaction Value (front-end): This is calculated by dividing the total value of all sales by the total number of sales.
• Lifetime Value (back-end): This is the average amount of money your customers will spend on your business over the entire span of your relationship.

The first two key metrics are easy to understand. But do you know what front-end and back-end mean?

• Front-end: This could be a customer's first purchase from your ad.
• Back-end: This is the amount of money you gain from subsequent purchases. You either have a subscription or an ongoing type of service.

The goal is to make money on both the front- and back-end. It’s not unusual to lose money on the front-end, and earn from the back-end, but ideally you want a return on investment upfront.

Over time, your numbers will fluctuate. They’ll go up or down. A slight increase in each number makes a huge difference to the overall results you're going to get. That's why it’s crucial you know your numbers. Don't rely on estimates because they're purely guesswork.

As long as you track your key metrics regularly, you'll know how much you're gaining and losing. And most importantly, this will help you figure out the  platforms that work best for your business right media platforms that work best for your business.

2. Don't be single-source dependent.

So, being single-source dependent is a very dangerous approach in marketing.

Don't be that person who's getting all their leads from one place, whether it be Google, Facebook, or Amazon. All you need is for one person to complain and you can lose your Facebook account over night. Every one of your followers—gone. You’ll have no way of contacting them.

While a single platform can be very good for you, it’s still important to diversify your media.

I personally recommend you use at least five different media platforms to build connections, advertise in, get leads from, and gain revenue from. For example, media pitching is a great way to gain free press for your business and generate leads.

For marketing newbies, you want to have a mix of digital media and offline media. They’re really not that complicated. Here, I’ll unpack them for you...

Digital Media

You can build your opt-in list and grow your customer base through digital media. The main reason why my website exists is to have people opt-in to my mailing list. It's one of my key digital assets that drives my business growth.

There are a bunch of different places where someone can opt-in, whether it’s on the home page, product page, and even on the blog site.

Aside from your website, you can also use:

• Social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn
• Media sharing platforms: TikTok, YouTube, and Spotify
• Shopping and e-commerce platforms: Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Etsy
• Public relations: Contributing content to publishers through press releases or pitching.

Offline Media

Also known as traditional channels, it’s how businesses advertised in the good old days. And your business can still benefit from:

• Radio
• TV
• Billboards
• Direct mail (snail mail)

Like I said, I don't think that offline media is dead. I personally get hundreds of emails a day, but I might get one or two packages delivered to my home. So if you're sending me a package through physical mail, it's going to get more of my attention because I rarely get one.

Now, if both digital and offline media works, I want you to take a multimedia approach. I'm not saying that you should be on every platform you come across, but choose media where you can connect with people on an ongoing basis.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my new 1-Page Marketing Plan Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

Tell Me More

3. Hire experts.

Your advertising media is the most expensive part of your marketing. Why? Because it's the bridge between you and your target market.  

A common mistake people make is getting paid for herding cats.

If they want something done right, they're pretty much hands-on to do everything on their own. They pull together all the right tools and resources to make sure everything's working properly.

If you're doing the same thing, think twice. Don't overburden yourself, trying to make everything work. If you're not an expert in a certain area, hire someone else to do the job for you.

Business is a team sport. So if you don't know how Facebook Ads work, hire a Facebook ads expert. If you're new to email marketing and you're struggling to craft the perfect email, bring in an email marketing specialist, and so on.

Like any team sport, you need different skills within the team. So here's what you should do:

• List all the media platforms you'd like to use for your marketing. But first make sure that your target market is active on these platforms.
• Contract specialists to bring your team up to speed.
• Bring your specialists in-house.

4. Use different tools.

There is no all-in-one tool. Well, there are some, but they’re nowhere near as sophisticated as specialist tools.

It might sound funny, but I really wish that there was one tool that would make our lives easier. I've seen some that attempt to do this, but the problem is they tend to be mediocre at everything.

It's similar when hiring a carpenter to build a cupboard or shelving for my room. I expect him to bring a toolbox with different kinds of tools inside. Now, if he comes with an all-in-one tool, I would definitely question whether he's a professional or not.

Same thing applies to the tools you're using for your media strategy. You need a variety of tools for team communication, taking payments, CRM, and so on.

Here are 5 tools I’d recommend:

1. Team Communication

• G-Suite
• Slack
• Zoom

If you’re building a virtual business, these tools are a must. My team uses G-Suite mainly for sending and receiving emails, organizing documents, and so on. We communicate daily through Slack. Whether you're working with a big or small team, it's a good communication platform. You’ll also need a separate tool for team meetings like Zoom.

2. Calendar and Scheduling

• Google Calendar
• Calendly

Google Calendar gives your team an overview of how your schedule looks.

And for Calendly, you can plot dates when you're available and allow people to book themselves. And it works across time zones as well. Say you have a client in a different time zone, it automatically converts the time based on where you live, making scheduling calls super simple—and it’s really saved me and my team so many headaches.

3. CRM Systems

• Ontraport's
• ActiveCampaign
• ConvertKit

Ontraport's my personal favorite. It works best for mailing lists with more than 10,000 subscribers. ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit are also really popular CRM systems. They’re ideal for smaller lists.

If you're looking for a system, think about how it can help you take opt-ins from your website. Look for a CRM that can segment, has automation capabilities, and allows you to free up your time to work on other important matters.

4. Online Training

• Zoom Webinars
• GoToWebinar
• Vimeo

I run a webinar at least once a week, and I currently use Zoom Webinars. It records in HD and has all these fancy features like Q&A and polling.

You can also keep an eye on GoToWebinar and Vimeo. They're both excellent. Online training and webinars are such a powerful medium for converting leads in the middle of the funnel.

5. Payment Channels

• ThriveCart
• SamCart
• Shopify
• Magento
• WooCommerce

I personally use ThriveCart. There are other competing systems like SamCart. If you're an e-commerce business, try Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce.

Whatever system you choose, make sure it integrates with your CRM system. For example, when someone buys from you, you should be able to tag them as a buyer, so you're no longer sending prospect-style emails. There's no point in sending marketing emails if someone has already bought from you.

And of course, you need a simple and clean interface. Some checkout pages just make things complicated. Don't add irrelevant fields, direct someone to create an account, and all of this sort of stuff. Make the payment process smooth and seamless for everyone.

Building Your Media Strategy

To wrap it up, building your media strategy starts with:

• Knowing your numbers
• Diversifying your media
• Hiring experts
• Using different tools

There are a lot of ways to reach prospects through the media. Don't rely on one particular media. It takes time to try new things and see if they work for your marketing, but your numbers will give you the answers. Use it to your advantage and come up with a great strategy that converts prospects to customers.

Media is a vital stage in your marketing plan, so you really want to get it right. To learn more about how to build out your marketing plan, check out this post.

Everyone is in sales. You may have zero experience in sales. Doesn’t matter, it’s still your responsibility and the responsibility of your team to sell your business.

What you don’t want to be is a talkative, annoying, and pushy salesperson who upsells to every prospect you come across.

That’s the old way of selling.

You need to embrace the new way of selling. It requires a mindset shift and a new marketing strategy. So I’m going to help you get into the new groove of selling your products or services.

Just follow these seven tried and true sales tips...

1. Focus on the customer

At times, you probably talk too much about the business and the product you sell, but not enough about your prospect or customer.

This has to stop. Think about it. Put yourself in their shoes.

Would you buy from a brand whose marketing is too self-absorbed? Would you be encouraged to buy from a one-size-fits-all marketing approach? I don't think so. In fact, it turns people off quickly.

Your target audience should be your top priority. Know who they are—their wants, needs, pain points. Everything that will help you to understand and connect with them.

2. Consult

Think of yourself as a doctor who's giving a diagnosis.

Really 80% of the talking should come from your customers, while 20% should come from you. This is what a consultative sales approach looks like.

When reaching out to your prospects or customers, you need to:

• Listen to your prospects’ pain points
• Ask the right questions
• Offer advice or solutions that match their needs

And the key here is to make sure the solutions match what you offer or sell. In case they’re not the right match, it’s best to look for alternatives.

3. Educate

The hard sell is old news. It doesn’t fly anymore. If you want your prospects to trust you, they have to see you as an expert in your field. Not just any other entrepreneur out there.

So to start, you have to educate yourself. Being a non-sales person is not an excuse. You don't have to become a bookworm or the next Seth Godin to understand how marketing works.

You can start by:

• Familiarizing yourself with how the industry works
• Interacting with your target audience
• Reading resources related to your business

Then, prepare tools and resources to educate your prospects, such as:

• How-to guides
• Videos
• Books
• Webinars
• Introductory consulting sessions

4. Always start with a question

You might wonder what's the right way to approach a prospect you've just met for the first time.

Should you pitch right away? Or ask a question?

I'd say it's better to ask a question first. It's an effective conversation starter. It sparks a connection and helps you to know and understand your prospect initially.

Just make sure to raise the right questions, one at a time. Whether it's about selling or getting referrals, make sure your prospect is comfortable communicating with you.‍

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Tell Me More

5. Tell a story

Facts help, but stories sell.

Sure, there are interesting facts. But if you're just going to present a bunch of numbers and statistics to a prospect, you'll barely close a sale.

Stories evoke emotions and drive people to decide whether to buy or not to buy. This explains why prospects would rather read customer reviews than a bunch of statistics.

So instead of saying, “Nine out of ten people love your product,” you can simply share a customer testimonial.

6. Be persistent

Do you know it takes five contacts with your prospect to show up on their radar? Surprisingly, most salespeople give up after the first one to two contacts.

So persistence is key when it comes to following up with your prospects.

I'm not saying you should be pushy. But you always have to be available when your prospects need help—when they want to ask questions.

You have to be someone they can email or call at any given time.

This is why you have to learn how to nurture your leads and prospects. It might be time-consuming and tiring initially. But in time, they'll learn to trust you. And this will turn into conversions—because conversations lead to conversions.

7. Overcome objections

As a non-salesperson, hearing, “no,” is probably one of the biggest challenges you have to overcome. Even sales people struggle with this. You're not alone.

It might take time for you to become comfortable with rejections and regain your confidence, but it's part of the sales process and it will lose its sting.

Now aside from accepting the NOs, ask why people say, “no.” This will help you understand why you get rejections and what you can do to overcome them.

You have unlimited chances to pick yourself up. Use this to your advantage. Learn more about how to convert leads to sales here.

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Key Takeaway

Sales are the lifeblood of business. Everyone is in sales.

So whether you're a business owner, a manager, an accountant, or whatever, it's important to learn basic sales skills. Follow these seven tips and start closing more sales.

If you got any value from this article, you might be interested in our blog on How To Set Up Your Sales Funnel. Check it out.