To help you convert more of your prospects into customers, I’ve packaged some timeless information into a short slide show to help Christian businessmen maximize 5 key resources.
Don’t try impressing customers with your knowledge about marketing, but with your knowledge about their needs. How are you supposed to get this information? Through research.
You're probably asking, once a Christian business owner obtains all that useful information how do they use it? Well, there are a variety of ways to repurpose these resources to reach prospects and customers with your message.
Direct mail
This cost effective tool can reach more of your customers cheaper than most channels.
EZines or eNewsletters
This is a great way for Christian Businessmen to tell customers about the latest product offerings and give them a chance to know more about you and your business.
Referrals
It’s smart to take advantage of any low cost technique that can leverage your supply of customers to stimulate word of mouth sales.
Voice Mail
The mobile web is destined to become the next frontier. You can get a leg up today by perfecting your voice mail messages to interest customers into calling you back.
Sales Pitch
How you handle objections will determine the success of your sales presentations. Use online training sources from the experts to keep your skills fresh.
Marketing to any niche should begin with doing research. Being knowledgeable about their market will make you indispensable to your customers.
Sales/marketing tips to help small and Christian-owned businesses profit on the Internet.
Key Resources for Every Christian Businessman’s Tool Box
(image credits:baskets by Karon.com)
Every Christian businessman needs ways to cut through the fog to keep their marketing on target, take a look at some of these techniques that will increase your profits.
Wrenches with shiny handles and well worn screwdrivers are staples in every man’s tool box. If you’re like me, you keep an assortment of helpful things to fix and repair the equipment used in your home and business. What do you use to fix the ROI when your company starts puttering?
Why You Need A Business Tool Box?
Top performing organizations know the importance of having an assortment of resources to aid its success. To rise above the survival mode and reach higher profits Christian businesses should have a few key techniques to drive sales and improve their marketing efforts.
If you don't have any tools, you need to think about getting an experienced marketer to assist you. For businessmen who already have some basic knowledge about marketing, these are just a few of the valuable pieces you need in your business tool box to provide cost-effective ways to increase your profits.
Key Business Tools
Sales Letters
These are the doors of opportunity that savvy entrepreneurs use to reach new customers and keep existing clients informed about the latest products and offers. Good sales letters should explain your competitive advantage, the benefits of doing business with you.
Post Cards
This is a tried and well tested channel to get customers to use your product or service. Post cards should be short and to the point with your key benefit as a headline. You can target a large or small group of customers with this handy tool.
Flyers
Effectively designed flyers are strategically focused on a specific area of service or product. There are a lot of different formats that work on flyers, constantly test and redesign them to see what works best for your particular customers.
Signage
You need to use signs that speak to more than one group of customers. Take all of your customers into consideration when you make a sign. Consider using graphics instead of words, because they speak to your customers effectively in any language.
These are by no means the only tools that your business need. These are the ones that every business can use to leverage their traditional marketing efforts effectively. Follow the links below to resources that can help you build a better business tool box.
Supplies For Your Tool Kit
Sales Letters
Postcards
Flyers
Signage
Resources for Christain Businessmen
The reminder to “never criticize anyone” has turned out to be wise parental advice, according to Richard Branson of Virgin Group. An article in Businessweek, mentions this pearl and a few others from moms that are credited with influencing several successful businesspeople.
There are other resources Christian Businessmen can use when they are running short of motherly advice and need some hard facts to guide their business.
Good research is essential for entrepreneurs that need to gather specific data about their marketing niche.
There are plenty of resources on the Internet that offer outstanding information for getting started in business. However, most of them only cover some of the issues that Christian’s in business encounter. Let me tell you about some of the websites I’ve found that cover more than, just the tip of the iceberg of information, useful in targeting the Christian market.
Statistics on Religion & Public Life
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life provides a full report on the religious composition of the United States. They collect demographic data on Christians and various other religious group, documenting their ethnicity, education and income levels.
Faith Communities Today (FACT) is another place where you can access information on the heart and soul of religion in America. This site is a joint effort from researchers who’re trying to paint a statistical picture of local congregations at the beginning of a new millennium and offer ways to strengthen and enhance the mission of these congregations.
Their data is slightly dated but much of what you’ll find is still useful and relevant on the Christian market. You can also get a complimentary copy of their July 2005 inaugural issue free.
I have gone through the sites that I frequent and added a few new resources that are helpful for anyone starting a Christian oriented business or for Christian’s who own their own business.
Check the sidebar on the right and visit my religious research saves on del.icio.us for more resources for Christian businessmen.
What Christian Men Can Do If They Have Low Self Esteem
Having a good self image is crucial when you’re trying to weather the storms of life. The foundation of your behavior, beliefs and how you bond with others is affected by your self view and how you value yourself. It’s says in The Holy Bible that we should choose to live wisely (Eph5:15).
When their self esteem is under attack, wise Christians men, learn how to shake off those feelings that are trying to weigh down their positive self image. They begin by recognize that by continuing to drag issues of shame, past mistakes and a negative attitude from one situation to the next it'll keep them from feeling good about themselves and trapped in a negative loop.
Overcoming Low Self Esteem
A negative attitude will damage the relationships you value with those around you, and you’ll find that other Christians are starting to avoid you like they do a bad habit.
The first step to overcoming low self-esteem for males is to abandon the old idea that your performance and position determines your self worth. Your income or the lack of one, your car or where you live, is not the criteria Christians should use to determine their self image.
Steps to Better Self Esteem
What you’re saying to yourself, has a greater impact on your self esteem than what other people are saying about you. Reconnecting can help men get a grip on their self-talk.
I. Reconnect with yourself.
Do a self check-up.
Write down some obtainable goals.
Document past personal success.
Any relationships that are toxic need to be eliminated. We have a plethora of relationships, from those with our family members to the ones with the team members at work, evaluate each one.
II. Reconnect with relationships
Evaluate your commitment to each relationship.
Make a daily commitment to work on important relationships.
Stop using the word can't and develop a "can do" attitude.
Improving your Self Esteem
The ability to build yourself up lies within you (Eph4:22-32). Every Christian man has to make a conscious decision about every thought they allow to dwell in their mind. To escape from a cycle of negativity, rid your mind of bitter, bad and bothersome feelings by replacing them with new thoughts of good health, good strength and a better life. They will generate a positive and confident picture of your self-worth.
Be sure to check out the self esteem video, as millionaire Stephen Pierce who was once homeless, shares how to change your self-talk and breakout of a negative loop.
How Christian Men Can Repair Their Self-esteem
I wonder how many African American Christian men, and men in general, with type A personalities, have come to grips with those deep seated issues that can create internal conflict and lower their self-esteem, if left unchecked.
One of the best ways men can increase their self-confidence is by taking an introspective look at how some of their core values where established. This allows you to get in touch with any unresolved abandonment issues, you may have never properly addressed.
Unresolved what you’re probably asking? That’s because unresolved abandonment, isn’t a fashionable term, that’s high on the media’s radar and as of yet, hasn’t been given top billing in major discussion forums.
According to Rice and McNair of itsallaboutabandonment.com everyone has abandonment issues that can have an everlasting effect on their lives.
Simply put “abandonment is about loss of love itself, that crucial loss of connectedness. Abandonment can also be about the events that caused the crucial loss of connectedness to others, as well as to reality. ” It shapes and molds who you are and how you deal with the world, and those closes to us.
These guys who are both trained in helping people get in touch with this and other issues critical to personal development, so I recommend that if you’re a Christian, African American or no matter how you view you self, visit itsallaboutabandonment.com and take their short quiz, to see what issues of unresolved abandonment may be playing havoc with your self esteem, self-confidence and your ability to improve your quality of life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)