How to Grow your Business from Under Your Nose
Description:
Hi, and welcome to episode 13 of my Future-Proof Your Business Podcast.
In today's episode, I am talking about one of my favourite ever topics in the world and that is about how you can grow, market, and promote your business from right under your nose.
I talk to you about:
- how you can make sure that you're on the tip of everybody's tongue so that they refer or recommend your business to all the people they know.
- how to create your own 'connections map' and identify all those people who already know, like and trust you and are ready to shout about you from the rooftops.
- how to have fun and explore opportunities with other business owners, and see how you can collaborate together and benefit each other's businesses by getting in front of new audiences and adding value
and ultimately how to nail your marketing strategy for the months and years to come.
Here are the highlights from this episode:
(00:00) Introduction
(04:36) The cold end of the spectrum is where you need to start.
(11:51) What is a connection map and how does it work?
(15:17) Start with the people who are boiling hot
(21:53) The three things to think about as you move away from this table of intentions.
(27:54) Resource Links
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I'm Lucy Rennie, and welcome to my Future Proof your Business Podcast.
The podcast that provides you with everything you need to know to build solid foundations and ultimately Future-Proof your Business.
I'm on a mission to share my love for small business with you and help you to enjoy the extraordinary ripple effect that comes through harnessing the power of people and relationships.
And I want to make sure that you can reap the benefits of being a business and a brand that people know, like and trust.
I'm a huge champion for small business and a massive believer in the fact that people do business with people.
This podcast is here to inspire you, encourage you and support you on this roller coaster ride that is building, growing and Future Proofing your business.
Hi, and welcome to episode 13 of my Future-Proof your business podcast. And in this episode, I'm going to be talking to you about one of my favourite ever topics in the world, especially when I'm working with small business owners. And that is about how you can grow, market and promote your business from right under your nose.
So I'm going to take you through various steps, various concepts, and things to think about. And then at the end of it, I'm going to talk you through how you can create your own connections map, that's going to be basically the essence for all the marketing that you're going to want to do in your business in order to grow and build and future-proof your business.
Just before we get onto that though, I just want to just ask you, I have a champion league so it's I'm recording this and it's half term. So I've got my daughter Ellia who's next door chilling, she's waiting for Granny to pick her up and go to the cinema. And then I've got my chocolate Labrador who's lying snoring a feat. But I've just been chatting to Craig, who is the wizard, the Jedi behind this podcast and who helps me with all the editing and producing. And obviously we've just realised it's episode 13. And so we've just been chatting about how for some people, it's incredibly unlucky. And for others, it's a lucky number. And I just wondered really what you thought about that. Superstitions are funny things, aren't they? And I suppose it dates back to folklore too.
02:42
Yeah, lots of different things that people may be used to believe in, in the olden days when we didn't necessarily understand what was happening, or when we were trying to teach our kids something or we wanted to influence people. And it's funny, because I think it was my Scottish Mum, but I'm definitely superstitious like, I don't like to pass the salt from hand to hand, or I won't walk under a ladder. But actually, there's something about 13 that I quite like. I think it's quite a lucky number for us, as Paul and I got married in 2013, when a lot of people actually didn't want to get married that year because of the number. So yeah, I'd love to know, let me know, come and find me on social media or send me a message and let me know if you're superstitious and what you think of that. And if there's something in particular that maybe you watch out for or you don't like doing.
Anyway, moving on. And now let's get back into the proper content of today's episode. It's one of my favourite topics. And it really is something that I want to shout about because I've seen the impact that it can have on my clients, on my members of the Future-Proof Club, where they suddenly see, actually, that maybe they've been doing things or making things harder for themselves, when actually there's ways of doing things that are a lot easier and that will come a lot more naturally. And we just need to be a bit more intentional about it. So this all ties in with the fact that as you know, I'm all about creating that Ripple Effect. I'm all about building that know, like and trust and actually creating that word-of-mouth marketing, which is the best thing we could possibly wish for, where people will actually do the marketing for us. So we don't have to worry about constantly promoting or constantly advertising, constantly paying to get ourselves in front of new people and to bring in the sales. With word-of-mouth marketing, we can actually do this organically, we can actually encourage people to do it for us. And it takes all that ickiness away because ultimately we're attracting, we're becoming a magnet for the clients that we really want to work with and that we know we can impact and get results for.
And so with that in mind, I really want to help you today to think strategically and be really intentional about how you go about this and how we can really tap into the people around us and the good that we're doing and our existing goodwill and trust that we have with our connections, with our network, with our friends, family, and colleagues, etc. So that's what I'm going to talk you through today. And it starts really with, I suppose an analogy. I just want to share quickly, really quickly, a game, you might remember, you might have played as well. It's a game I used to play with my Grandpa. And I just think it really sums up what I'm trying to say here.
So when I was little, when I was about five or six, my Grandpa used to play a game with me where he'd hide a bar of chocolate in the living room. And he would then ask me to find it. And so I'd have to sort of walk around the living room and go towards the TV, go towards the window. And each time, my Grandpa would say, “Oh, you're getting warmer, or oh, it's freezing over there, oh, it's cold, cold come away”. Or it might be; “oh, you're boiling hot!” And at that point, when it was boiling hot, I got a fuzzy feeling. And I knew that I was close to finding the chocolate, and it was exciting. I want you to remember this, because this is a way I hope that you can. So yeah, think of Lucy with her Grandpa in the living room hunting for a bar of chocolate, as you start to market your business.
Okay, that's what I want you to think about, I want you to think about warm, the warm end of the spectrum and the cold end of the spectrum. And so what happens normally, when we start a business or when we're working, we're growing our business, and we're looking to kind of promote and get the word out. Naturally, instinctively, the majority of us, start at the cold end of the spectrum. We start with the people. What I mean by that, we start with people, we start with the activities, so you know, the trendy things like Tik Tok, doing dancy reels, or doing lots of things, advertising, paying for slots in magazines, those kinds of things, we start by focusing on the cold end of the spectrum, the cold audience, the people who don't know us from Adam. They don't know us, they don't trust us, they don't like us, not because we're not trustable, but because they don't know us. Whereas if we started at the warm end of the spectrum, where actually we've already got those relationships, we already know, people, we've already got that connection, we've already got that rapport, those people who ultimately already know like, and trust us, whether that's because we've worked with them before, whether that's because we're family and friends, and they just know that we're a good person. That's the warm end of the spectrum. And that's where, ultimately, we want to be working. And so it always blows my mind that we do this instinctively. And this is where people spend so much time and money, at the cold end of the spectrum, where actually it's going to take a lot longer, because we've got to start from scratch and build that know, like, and trust. And I think that the figures say today that, you know, on average, it can be anything between eight and fifty-two different touch points. So times when they have to come into contact with you and your business, before they are happy enough or know, like and trust you enough to want to engage with you, which is huge, you know, we already know it's a long game. So we'd kind of be shooting ourselves in the foot, if we spend all our time focusing on, you know, the activities that are going to just kind of put ourselves out there to people who don't know us.
Now, what I'm not saying is that we shouldn't be doing that activity, because of course, we need to be starting that pipeline, and we need to be growing our reach and our connections. So we do need to be having some of that activity. However, if we're short on time, or if we want to make more of an impact and get results a lot quicker, then it seems a bit daft that we'd be focusing all our time and energy there when actually we could be really harnessing the power of our relationships that we've already got if we spend some time at the warm end of the spectrum. So what I want you to think about with all this in mind is remember we talked a few weeks ago about the TripAdvisor effect, where we know that ultimately the best way or the way that people do business or find new products and services is to ask for recommendations, referrals, or they check out the reviews. It's exactly the same thing here with growing our business from under our nose. It's the same concept.
I want us to think about doing a good job and really kind of doing everything we can to reinforce that Bank of cheerleaders that we've got those people who just think we're brilliant, who are super fans who love what we do, and will be really happy to shout about us and our work from the rooftops. Okay, so I want you to keep that picture in mind of those cheerleaders dancing with the pom-poms and shouting about your business. That's who we want to be really encouraging. And that's who we want to think about as we start to be strategic in the way that we're going to market and promote our business. Okay, with that in mind, I want you to think about the fact that and, you know me, I can get on a soapbox about this all day, but as the great Simon Sinek says; “People do business with people.”
So ultimately, people are going to buy from people, people want to know why you're doing something, people want to know the story behind it. And people want to have that, that trust, that relationship with you. And that's the thing that's going to make it a lot easier for you to be the business that people want to engage with. And so with that in mind, I want you to think about how you can make sure that your business is on the tip of everybody's tongue? So everyone that knows you, yeah, even those people who you know, aren't your ideal client, and they know that you know, that they're not necessarily the people who are going to buy from you. But people who actually know you, like you and trust you, how can you make sure that you're on the tip of their tongue? Because what I want you to think about is, even if they're not going to be your customer, they're the people who are going to be interacting with their connections with their network, with their people, with their family, with their colleagues. And so if somebody does actually ask for that recommendation, or asked for that referral, we want them to know, or to have you there so that you can say; “Ah, yes, you need to speak to Lucy, she's the one who can help you with that, or yes, you need to look at this business, you need to speak to these guys, because, that's exactly what they do. And I know them, and I know that they're great. So they must be doing a good job.”
So really thinking about how you can make sure that you're on the tip of everybody's tongue so that, they're going to be happy to refer or recommend you. With that in mind, have you heard of the saying just six degrees of separation? And this is something that I was researching, as I was writing my book, Clarity, Communication and Connection, because this is something that I'm a massive believer in, is the connection side of things to create that Ripple Effect.
So if you think about what we've just talked about, so those people who know you, who are going to refer you and recommend you and talk about you, because you're going to be on the tip of their tongue, they know what you're up to, because you've been telling them Oh, this is what I'm doing. Then, did you know that actually, researchers have worked out that any two strangers are actually on average, distanced by precisely 6.6 degrees of separation? And that's where that phrase comes from. So what do I mean by that? Actually, that, from me to you listening, if we don't know each other already, which we probably do, but if we don't, if we did a connection map, and we worked out who the people are, that we know, then there will be on average, 6.6 people, we’re 6.6 people away from each other, which blows my mind, it really does blow my mind!
And we talked about this last week and the TripAdvisor effect, I'm going to say it again. But an average person knows about 600 people. And I don't mean that you necessarily know them, they're all your best friends. But actually, throughout our lifetime, we have a minimum of 600 people. So through colleagues, with friends from schools, who people that we know, they're, on average at 600. So then if you multiply that by your 600 connections, then that's like 360,000 people. And the ripple goes on…..
So, with that in mind, this is the bit that gets me really excited. And this is the bit where I genuinely believe we can be really intentional about this and grow our businesses in a way that, you know, is enjoyable, it's got that cosy warm feeling, because we're really about to find the chocolate in the living room. And it's going to take away the ickiness, because we're not having to go and do a hard sell to people who don't know us. So thinking about that, and thinking about what I was saying to you about growing your business from under your nose, I want you to do a short exercise. And if you're listening to this and your driving, or you're doing something else, then come back to it later.
But just go through it mentally in your brain a little bit in your mind, so that you can kind of picture what I'm doing here. And then I really do recommend that you go and do this and take some time out to do it because I promise you, this is the thing that's going to help you to really market your business and grow it in a way that is just going to blow your mind. So what we're going to do is we're going to create your own connection map. And this is something that actually, I used to do all the time when I was in the corporate world. And I still do it now with certain clients of mine when we're thinking about creating a communication plan, because actually what it is, it's a stakeholder map for those who understand or recognise that term. But what I'm trying to do is make it adapt to our small business and think about actually how we can use this to market and identify who all our connections are. So we're going to get really creative, we're going to get the biggest piece of paper we can find so ideally, A3 or even A2 if you've got it, a load of felt tip pens, and we're going to do some doodling, we're going to create a mind map. Now if you if you're not into felt tip pens and paper and all those things and you're more kind of
14:50
a techy, you prefer online and digital, then go and find a mind-mapping tool, because there's loads of them out there and in fact, I'll put a link to couple in the show notes and you can create this online. But basically, we're going to create a mind map, and we’re going to call it your connection map. So I want you to write your name right in the middle. And then what I want you to do is map out and start to identify your connections. Okay?
And I want you to go back to that living room, back to that chocolate. And I want you to start with those ones who are boiling hot. So those people who really, really know, like and trust you and think you're wonderful, and would do anything for you? Get them down on paper. So either write their names down and draw a circle around them, or, because I know that there's going to be a lot of people on here, what we might do is just create categories. So we might say, close family, we might say, children, we might say grandchildren, we might say cousins. Yeah, start to fill out that mind map, really take some time to do it. And as you go, you're going to realise that actually, you know a lot of people, and this is where I want you to think outside the box. So I want you to think things like the mums at the school gate, or the dads at the school gate, I want you to think about the other members of the running club that I go to on a Sunday morning, or the people that I hang out with on Friday night in the local pub, or colleagues from this particular business or ex colleagues from when I worked in that business, okay? Or school friends, or university friends, or think about where you go, where you hang out? Is it people from the gym? Are you in a chess club?
16:31
Are you in a cycling club? Do you go to, whatever your hobbies are, wherever you've got clusters of people who you already know that you've got a relationship with, I want you to get them down on this piece of paper. And again, we're starting with the warm, really warm people. And as you run out of really, really warm people, we're going to start going down that scale towards the colder end of the scale. So thinking then about who are the people that maybe work with us? Who are our suppliers? Who do we know who are maybe in an association with us? Our bank manager, maybe, remember the old days when you actually had a real bank manager and it wasn't just a telephone line? So think of those people who come into contact with us who know you've got a relationship with you and get them all down on your paper. And then we're going to think about widening it even further. And we're going to think about, okay, so it might be that we don't necessarily have a specific one-to-one relationship with these people, but we do have an interest, or we do have a link or connection between our businesses or between our associations or maybe you might be a member of a trade buddy, or an association, or maybe you are part of a training academy, or maybe you are an alumni from somewhere.
So we're starting to maybe branch out a little bit more in terms of thinking about these connections and who we know. And then we can think about obviously, I hope you've put down customers as one. But then there might be competitors. There might be other partners, it could be journalists, it could be key influencers. And it could be anybody that you have a relationship with now, that you've come into contact with, so we're still not in that freezing cold area, we're still kind of somewhere in between warm and tepid and maybe cold. Okay, get these all down on your piece of paper. And then from behind that, what I want you to start to think about is that our family have got their own family, okay? Or our employees have got their family or our customers have got their family or their customers, then you can see from that, that the ripple effect can take place. And where, you can imagine if those people that you've got down on your piece of paper, have each got 600 connections behind them, then this is it. You don't need to be doing anymore because you've got your marketing plan right here. This is your bank now of potential cheerleaders, potential people who are going to share the love for you, but also who might want to work with you.
Second step of this, once we've kind of got our connection map is then we're going to start to analyse it and we're going to really take this to the next level. Okay, so once you've got your mind map, this is where the fun begins. This is where you've now got the potential to market and promote your business for years to come without having to worry about spending too much time and energy in that freezing cold area of that living room. So I want you to find another piece of paper or you might want an Excel spreadsheet depending how you are. I know I love a bit of paper. I'm not into Excel spreadsheets, it doesn't work for my brain.
But I will also put a resource for this in the show notes. I've got a table, I've kind of got a few slides that you can use to do this. But basically, we're going to make a table with four columns in it. And in the first column, we're going to think about okay, so who are they? So we'll take the name of the category. So for instance, let's talk about, so I'm going to use, who am I going to use, I'm going to use a customer of mine, I'm going to be really specific. And I'm going to talk about Lisa Kettell, from Kettell Windows. She's a wonderful business owner, who's doing great things and changing the way we think about window salespeople with double glazing and all those things, because I know they're doing things really from a place of quality and from a place of value. So we're going to talk about the steps.
So I'm going to put Lisa in that end column. So I'm going to identify Lisa, and then what I'm going to ask myself is, what's important to Lisa and her business? Okay, what do I know about them? And what are their goals? What are they trying to achieve? What's their vision? What matters to them? And so I'm going to note down things like, well, they're looking to grow, they're based in the Leicestershire area. So they're really focused on that, they want to get really good feedback, they want to get more customers, they want to grow their market share, they also want to get the word out there about the fact that they've got some new ranges of doors, etc. So that's what's important to them. And then I'm going to ask myself, so how can I help them? How can I help Lisa, and Kettell Windows to move forward?
And it might be things like, Well, do you know what? I'm going to share, I'm going to write a review, I'm going to share a post that I've seen about them, I'm going to tell my friends and family about them. I might do, I don't know, I might help them by talking about them on the podcast, like I'm doing now.
So there's loads of things that I could think about where I'm going to help them to move forward. And so I want to say this from a place of, it's really important to come from an ethical place and a place of integrity, which I know that that's what you're going to be doing anyway. But this is really about being able to grow and market your business together. And really help each other out and collaborate and create the magic, thanks to that relationship, thanks to your connections. So I might say, the way that Lisa from Kettell Windows could help me was exactly the same. So to talk about me, to share, to buy my book, to listen to the podcast, to allow me to maybe talk about the fact that I'm working with them, and they're a client of mine, or maybe it's about they recommend me and or she writes a review for me, or maybe we could do a whole article, a case study together? Or maybe we could link our websites together? Or maybe if Lisa has lots of small business owners, as an audience, or as customers, maybe I could go in and run a workshop for those customers, or maybe I could create some value added content for her newsletter, etc. So depending on the category, depending on who it is that you're thinking about, this is going to change. And this is the thing where I really want to encourage you to think outside the box and just kind of capture any ideas that you might have, where you can really help each other out to build awareness for your business, to grow your business to get in front of new people to market and build that word-of-mouth. So get that bank of cheerleaders really shouting about you. And so once you've got this, you can then be really intentional about it, and you can go okay, so actually, which ones of these are going to have the biggest impact on my business? which are the ones where I know, it's going to help me move forward and get the results quicker? And so you might prioritise by the fact that they have the same audience or that they have a really great case study or story to tell, etc. And that's how you're going to decide between one or the other. And basically create your marketing plan based on the data that you're going to have in this table of ideas, of opportunities of ways to move forward. So with that in mind, the last few things that I want to share with you and I would be really happy to maybe have a conversation about this, if you want to share with me your Mind Map and maybe share with me your table of intentions, let's call it and we can chat through how we can really use this to the benefit of your business and your connections. But the main thing really, with this is identifying that these people already know, like and trust you. And so, the three things I really want you to think about as you move away from this is, first of all, make sure that you are sharing why you're doing what you're doing and what you're doing. Okay, so make sure that those people are up to date. Make sure that you are talking about what you're doing and your new projects or your new products and services or make sure that the people who do know you
24:55
know that you've got a business, because very often we don't do it, we're kind of shy, we don't want to talk about it or are a bit embarrassed or whatever. Whereas actually, we're shooting ourselves in the foot. So first of all, make sure those people you've identified are up to date, whether that's because you're having a conversation with them in the pub, whether it's at the school gate, you're talking about the fact that you've just launched this new product, or whether it's, maybe you've got some of these people on email. So each week, or each month, make sure you're updating them with where you're up to, and what's coming out so that they can talk about you, and they can share it because they can't if they don't know, then they don't know, do they. So that's the first thing.
Second thing is to really think about building those relationships and engaging and starting conversations. So really nurturing those relationships, that trust and thinking about how you can grow that even more and really kind of help each other out, going above and beyond and making sure that people do want to share about you and do want to recommend you in.
And then finally, my last part of this is to be intentional about it. Okay, stay in that warm place, stop wasting time or stop spending too much time, in the cold space where maybe sometimes it might feel a bit easier, because we're not doing or we're not talking or we're not sharing things with people we know. So we're not feeling uncomfortable thinking of what they're going to think of me. It's sometimes easier, isn't it when they don't know us, but I promise you that you can increase the impact that you're going to have so much more by staying in the warm end of the living room than you are in the cold.
Okay, so really bear that in mind. Don't forget about, you know, keep me and my Grandpa in mind when you're thinking about, how am I going to promote this? How am I going to get this new product or service out there or how I'm going to make sales in the next few weeks, because maybe my cash flow is a bit challenging, or maybe there's a recession coming. So I really need to kind of make some more money on some more sales. This is your marketing map. Your connections that you've made, these are the people where you're going to get the quick wins, it's almost the low hanging fruits, the people where it's not going to take too much for them, if they need your product or service for you, for them to buy from you.
So it's obvious, it makes absolute sense that that's where we should be starting. So with that in mind, I would love you to get in touch and tell me how you found this exercise and whether or not you've put it into place, whether or not you've started to implement it and whether or not you've seen a difference. And I think the last part really is just to say go and have fun, explore opportunities, have a chat, have a conversation with other business owners and see how you can collaborate together, create opportunities and add value to your combined customers and benefit each other's businesses by adding value and getting in front of new audiences.
And yeah, tapping into other people's warm zone. So with that in mind, I'm gonna leave you for today. And I will be back at the same time next week for episode 14. In the meantime, please get in touch and let me know what you think. And if you have any questions, I would love to have a chat with you. Alright, take care.
Thanks for listening to the Future Proof Your Business podcast. I've been your host, Lucy Rennie, I hope you've enjoyed this episode. If you have, then I'd love you to head over to Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast and hit the subscribe button. And I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave a review and a rating and help me to reach even more small business owners like you who want to build a business they love.
And don't forget, you can head over to iamlucyrennie.com and sign up to my email list as well as find more tips and tools to help you Future-proof your Business on my website and in the show notes.
Finally, I'd love to invite you to come and join me and lots of other small business owners like you. In my free Facebook group, Communicate with Purpose.
You can find all the links on my website and in the Show Notes.
Resource Links:
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