Key Practices That Help Entrepreneurs Stand Out
This post was contributed by Stefani Tanner of ShipZOOM, a provider of fulfillment and shipping services. Stefani Tanner is a Marketing Manager and Onboarding Specialist at ShipZOOM, focused on determining the potential partnerships between ShipZOOM and customers in need of fulfillment services to help entrepreneurs save time, energy, and money so they can focus on what they do best.
Shipping and fulfillment is an unavoidable hassle for any entrepreneur looking to sell goods online. If you can make order fulfillment simple and as hands off as possible, you’re doing it right. There is nothing more vital to a business owner than their time and their energy, so finding the right shipping solutions is crucial.
The right shipping partner should have the ability to keep SHIP simple and provide exceptional customer service. What if your shipping department even shared best practices and insights from the most successful brands they ship for, just as ShipStation provides helpful insight and information to its customers?
Here at ShipZOOM, that’s just the way we do things. We rally around every entrepreneur we serve and the customers we impact together. Just to show you we mean it, here are a few key practices the most successful entrepreneurs we ship for use to grow their empire.
Get a Business Coach.
No man is an island and ShipZOOM is a firm believer in surrounding yourself with the kinds of people who make you better. Especially in business, you have to carefully choose who you will let influence you. If you are not already following an entrepreneurial coach of some sort before using our services, start listening to some podcasts. Motivation is contagious!
A case study titled, Broad Insights: A Survey of Business Coaching Impacts on Companies and Their Leaders, done by James G Wiginton, found a positive correlation between business coaching with entrepreneurial and personal success. Since the start of ShipZOOM’s involvement with entrepreneurial coaching our leadership has seen more efficient work from its team members and been able to better understand our dream clients in order to become more profitable overall.
We’ve shipped for a number of businesses; since their early startup days and have seen them grow into million dollar companies. There are a few key elements that gave them the momentum to succeed; seamless shipping service, strategic marketing efforts, and working closely with business mentors, coaches, or consultants. Many of our clients are part of mastermind groups, training programs, and even business clubs.
Find the John Wooden’s of business coaching; those who keep you from being complacent, who motivate you to improve your business by offering solutions after understanding the context, challenges, and history of your situation. The best coaches have proven tools that will maximize your personal and professional potential.
Here’s a couple of the top influencers we find inspiring:
Momentum Podcast – Alex Charfen
Marketing Secrets Podcast – Russell Brunson
Make the investment and join a coaching group for your business. If you feel you are unable to make the investment at this stage in your business, follow some popular entrepreneurial coaches on social media. Listen to their podcasts and make an effort to implement their recommendations and find out how much of an impact it can make.
Make a Dream 100 list.
Affiliate marketing has been around for a long time. As a kid I had a lemonade business running in the front yard. My younger sister expressed an interest in referring all her friends from dance class to the stand as a kind gesture, but since I knew my profit could be a lot greater with 15 additional sales I offered my sister a commission for her help.
How can your business benefit from affiliate marketing?
DREAM 100
The dream 100 concept was made popular by a mutual friend and business partner of ShipZOOM, Russell Brunson, and perfected by Dana Derricks. Many of our clients, including us, actually use the “Dream 100” approach for intentional marketing.
This approach is probably one of the best ways to get your message, product or service out there. Not only is it great for affiliate marketing but to identify referral partners and dream clients. The ‘Dream 100’ approach helps you to identify the top 100 people that you would love to work with.
Think… who are your dream partners?
This concept is easily explained in two steps.
STEP 1
Research your dream partners. Identify those companies whose product you identify with and whose product would compliment your service. Make a list of at least 100 potential partners and get ready to work.
STEP 2
Provide them value without strings attached. Brainstorm a clever way to distinguish yourself from the crowd and get your dream partners attention. If the response is successful, provide them with a plan to join your service or even promote your product.
An example of the Dream 100 concept includes the following:
Research your dream partners
Give them value w/out strings attached
Send them a free copy of what you want them to promote
What are you going to send, when & how
Send using a variety of delivery methods
Track everything
Be relentless with lumpy mail!
To get a better understanding of the Dream 100 concept and a clearer vision of how you could use this strategy, read Dana Derricks’ “Dream 100 Book”. It will break down for you the process of turning cold contacts into friends, dream clients, and/or partners who promote your product.
Start a Sales Funnel.
An entrepreneur’s best friend can certainly be a sales funnel. Whether you are an eCommerce based entrepreneur or a digital information based entrepreneur, offering branded tangible deliverables to your customer through one of your funnels is a great way to reach your site goals.
Our good friend Russell Brunson is a marketing genius and CEO of ClickFunnels, an online sales funnel builder that helps businesses market, sell, and deliver their products online. The sales funnel is a proven series of phases that motivate the buyer to purchase your product, service, or even gain leads.
To know what funnel you should use, you should first ask yourself what your business goals are. Are you looking to generate leads, sell products, run a webinar, or grow your email list? Whatever your goal, ClickFunnels has a sales funnel to get you there. The key is to continually examine your funnel to assure that the content, advertisements, and any marketing platforms are generating meaningful content.
Here are a few keys to a solid funnel:
Learn about your target audience. The dream 100 approach is great for this
Apply what you know about your target audience to understand what funnels will best suit your goals
Use techniques from Russell Brunson’s “Expert Secrets” books to use his sales funnel strategies
Continue perfecting your funnels overtime by seeing what converts and what doesn’t
Implementing a funnel will distinguish you from your competitors by giving your customers a clear path to easily understand the benefit your business will bring them and assure higher conversion rates than those who are without a sales funnel.
Start your funnel here: https://www.clickfunnels.com/?
It’s not about where you are now, but where you are going. Whether you are just starting out or your business is already exploding, maintaining forward momentum by getting motivated by a coach, starting a dream 100 campaign and using proven sales funnels will give you the boost you need to take your business to the next level. This is what ShipZoom is all about. When our clients succeed, we succeed.
