The next building block you’ll need to lay a strong foundation to your business is the Website. 

I can get into the details 1 on 1 with you if you want. This is all part of the coaching that I provide. I can help you put all of these building blocks together and save you a lot of time and money. 

So before we talk about products and services, we need to talk about sales. You gotta sell your stuff. Whatever it is. Products or services, you need sales. 

You might be saying (because I’ve heard people say) ‘Can’t I have a business but not be forced to sell?’ Well, no. Because I don’t sell to get sales and I’ll tell you why in a minute.  

Selling. Yucky stuff! Right? I mean, who REALLY likes to sell stuff? Not me. That’s not what I call fun. I’d rather be creating content or working on the next new product. I’ve got better things to do than sell stuff. 

You might be thinking…’Aren’t sales people annoying? Aren’t they just out for themselves first?’ 

Well, let’s think about something for a second. Sales is what keeps businesses alive. So what do we do when we need to sell but we don’t like to sell? 

We help people. 

My approach to sales has ALWAYS been from the perspective of helping people. And it’s worked just fine for me.

In a prior Podcast episode I said that when I first started my IT business, I’d walk into a business I had a long standing relationship with and many times walk out with a website contract. This was back in the days when a lot of businesses still didn’t have a website, or they had a lousy one.  

What were the magic words? Did I cast a spell on them? 

I just said pretty much the same thing all the time but in different ways. “You need help with getting a good website done, and I can help you with that.” 

Now they all had questions about cost and process and time frame but I expected that. I was prepared for that. But using the approach of ‘helping them’ made the whole conversation, conversational. Ok.. there was no sales pitch other than ‘I can help you with that.’ 

And then we’d talk about price and how it was all based on what they wanted.. etc. etc. The bigger the project, the more it’s going to cost.

Now, can you do something like that? I know you can. Look, if I can do it, so can you. 

When you focus on helping people you can relax and they can relax. Don’t worry now, when you help people, you’ll still be charging them. But all businesses help solve a problem for a profit. They all do this. 

So.. what are you going to sell? Products? Services? 

It really doesn’t matter to me because with anything the approach should always be the same. You’re helping. 

Now, I will say that it’s much easier to market the services side of a business if it’s your intellectual property. If you want to have a coaching or consulting service, or if you’re want to have a tutoring business, the product is what you know. The service is you delivering what you know. And with that business model it all gets a lot easier. 

But I’d be leaving out a significant piece of the puzzle if I didn’t talk about your USP. Your ‘unique selling proposition’. What makes you the better option? Why should someone take a risk on you over someone else that they may even know?  

The answer to that question will be more about your personality and abilities than your experience or educational background. A lot of people are making a lot of money without advanced degrees. 

You are you and there’s only one of you. You’re passionate about this thing (whatever it is for you) but when you add to it your personality and the twist that you can give it, that’s what makes it unique. 

You have unique skills, you have a unique perspective and matched with your experience, WHAM! You’re the one they should want. 

We’re reaching the point where the information part of what we offer isn’t the main attraction anymore. Information is easy to come by. It’s our personality. Our perspective, combined with our experience that makes the difference. 

Now I’d like to move on and spend a minute about product options. 

Giving people options will increase your sales because a lot of different people will want a lot of different things. That’s why I have so many different topics to the E-books that I offer. All under the small business umbrella, I cover topics on mindset, blogging, sales, website development and traffic, SEO, building a personal brand and small business survival. 

I’ve got one in the works on building a solid team. I wanted to cover a wide spectrum of topics to help people, yes, but to give people choices based on the specific problems their facing. 

And this is what I recommend for yourself as well. No matter what you’re offering, give people choices. Whether it’s products or services, create some packages and options with different price points. 

So let’s talk about pricing basics now and how to increase the odds for profitability with your business. 

Nick Kolenda has made quite a reputation for himself with the topic of psychology and the business realm. You can see for yourself at www.nickkolenda.com. He’s done extensive research on many different aspects of how businesses can thrive with the proper understanding of people and how they make their decisions to purchase or not purchase something, click on this or that etc.. 

Instead of getting into the nitty gritties of pricing, I recommend that you get some of his free guides that he has available as well. You see folks, I don’t have any problems pointing you to other people that have great resources for you. This small business journey is all about you and how you can be successful. I’m rooting for YOU. So instead of me trying to tell you what Nick would say, I’ll just point you to his website and you can see for yourself why he’s a great resource. 

There are many steps along the way in this process and I’d be glad to talk to you to help you through it. Just shoot me an email at tom@tomclairmont.com.