Making the face of your business

Every business has a mascot or face of the business.  Think about it Chetos has Chester the Cheta, Lucky charms have Lucky the Leprechaun, Charmin as the bears, Eclipse has Dan Greer lol.  

All the great companies have mascots or faces of their businesses.  Today we want to talk a little about how to create the face of your business and what you should look for.

One of the biggest things that you need to remember as you move forward in any business is that people don’t buy from a company, they buy from a person.  

When you buy a service from Eclipse DOT really your not buying because it is from Eclipse, you are buying because you meet me and got to know me (maybe you felt a little sorry for me, just kidding) most likely you liked some of my qualities and knew that I cared about your companies success. 

How do we create a favorable character or face of the company?  First, we need to determine our perfect customer.  After we figure that out then we can make the perfect face for our company.  

Let’s say that you are focused on serving women from the ages of 25-45.  Do you think that a 60-year-old man would be the right face?  Probably not.  Let’s say that you are focused on the IT industry, do you think that a HUGE construction worker in bluejeans, hard had, and wearing gloves is the right face? Probably not.  

Even though my examples are pretty unrealistic I’ve seen it happen before.  

What if you work with multiple demographics how do you make the face for your company then?  It’s simple you pick the best qualities from all sides and use those to create the mascot.  

What does the face of your company need to have?  

Well, there are a few things.  Let’s start with the fact that they must be likable and be able to relate to your potential clients.  Or your potential clients need to be able to relate to them.  

One way you can do this is by thinning back to where you were when you first started, many of your potential clients are there now and they really want to be able to relate to who they work with.  What struggles did you go through? What challenges did you face?  Tell stories that make the face your potential clients can relate to.  

Every story needs to have a few key parts as well.  Those parts include the beginning, the fall, and the rise.  

The beginning is where your potential clients are right now, where you started at.  The fall is what you experienced that caused you to take action. And the rise is where you found the answer. What you selling now.

If you selling a new makeup for people with extremely sensitive skin, you could tell the story about how you found that makeup or why you created it.  Also, tell the success you had once you found it.  

A good example would be my skin would break out constantly when I used to use X brand.  I was at work one day when a coworker asked me the simple question if I washed my face often?  Shortly after that, I started looking for a new coverup.  I tried so many different brands but none of them seemed to work.  So I started doing some research and found that every coverup I used had this simple ingredient and it was caused by my skin to breakout.  I started creating my own coverup after trying and failing multiple times I finally got the mixture perfect. I dint immediately start selling my new discovery though.  It took me years to finally discover that other people suffered from the same thing I did.  Skipping forward to now we have helped over x number of people feel great about their skin.

Do you see how the story gives the face of the business a personality that potential customers can fall in love with?  

The key is to figure out who your potential customers are and make the face of your business mirror that.

Hopefully, this helps.

Until next time.

Dan

I wish someone would have told me this before I started a business

Just over a year ago, I quit my full-time job with great pay and amazing benefits to start a business helping companies with their DOT and safety needs.  When we stepped out on our own we had ONE customer and the hope of a few more.  

What were we thinking??  

Well, we made it the first year and are excited to share some of the keys to success that we learned.

One of the hardest lessons that I learned from our first year in business is that it’s not about getting every client it’s about getting the right clients.  Not every company in the industry is the right client.  

Think about it, if you have 2 clients and one is constantly calling, complaining, not paying their bill. Are they really a client you want?  They are paying about 1/100 of your wages but are using 1/10 of your time.  

One way we make sure we get the right clients now is by conducting a phone or in-person “interview” with every potential new client.  We disguise it as a free consultation but the truth is that this time allows us to ensure that we will be a good fit for them and them for us.  

The second tip is to schedule a time for what is really important to you.  If you want more time with your family, put it in your calendar. I learned that my calendar is my best friend.  I add an appointment to it and it reminds me to go do it.  

Some of the things that I put in my calendar are: Workout, devotional time, help my kids with “X”, date night, payment due.  You get the point.  

Third, don’t try too hard to get new clients.  They will come at the right time.

All too often we tried too hard to close potential new clients.  Making trips to see potential new clients and coming home with one or 2 new customers instead of a lot more.

I have spent days, weeks, even months worrying over if a potential new client will actually sign on with us.  What good has that done me?

That’s right no good at all.  It actually distracted me and we probably lost clients in the long run because I didn’t give them the attention they needed.  

I remember sending out estimates, following up and the potential new clients ghosted me.  All I could think about was, what did I do wrong? Was the price too high? Did I say something wrong?  The truth is I might have made a mistake, but most of the time it just took time for the potential customers to pull the trigger.

Our fourth tip is to give 10x more with no expectation of getting new clients.  We host FREE or low-cost training to get our name and reputation established in the community.  Once that reputation was established we had people sharing our contact info with others.  We started getting so many calls that started off, “Hey “X” told me you were the guy that had the answers for anything DOT, here’s the question we have.”  

We had two options.  The first was to bill them for our time and answering their questions.  The second was to answer their questions and give them everything they need to be successful. 

We always chose the second.  I’ve been told that I give too much away.  But guess what about 90% of the people that I helped came back and signed an annual contract with us and we got over 10x the income from their contract as we would have if we charged for answering their questions.  It also helped because they would share our name with anyone who had questions and they would come to us.  

Our last tip is that you don’t have to have a completely unique product, but you do need to have a great reason for your potential clients to come to you.  Our business helps companies maintain compliance with Federal Regulations.  All of our clients could get all of the required documents free online.  But it would take them numerous hours to find the forms and study the material.  

We offer a service that allows them to have more time in their day, every day.  We come in, take over their DOT, if they want, and they can focus on what’s really important.  You see we dive them time back into their day.  

That’s what we sell, time.  

We save our clients time.  They know that when they have an issue it’s a call, text, or email away from an answer that they can trust. 

Surround yourself with others that are more successful than you are.  You might be asking, I live in rural America, it’s really hard to find people that I really look up to that have time.  I get it, we live in rural Colorado the closest town is 30 min away.  

Here’s what we did.  We started investing in ourselves.  We bought into training and live meetings.  Then COVID hit and all of those events were canceled or turned into virtual.  It’s tough to surround yourself when almost all events are canceled.  

I surrounded by listening to books, podcasts, Facebook lives, by joining inner circles of great leaders and making time for their weekly events.  

I know that’s not the same as meeting people in person but hey it worked. It allowed me to push myself to the next level without much effort.  

There are so many things that we could share….

These are just a few of the key items that we found really helped us.  

Measuring results as a leader can be tough.

Measuring results as a leader can be tough. Here are a few of the keys that I use.

First I look at the morale of the employees. If morale is low it means that I need to step up my game and figure out how to improve it.

As a leader, another great thing that I look at is how close the people in the group are. If they are close to one another, if they share, if they are friends, and talk about more than just work. I've done a great job as a leader making them feel comfortable around each other. 

I also look at how much they're working and what their workload is. Now there's a major difference between knowing if their workload is too much and they can accomplish every task or if they can’t accomplish the task because they don't have the drive. 

I evaluate that and I keep in mind that each person is unique. Each person has different qualities. 

When was the last time I rewarded them? I reward people for a job well done.  

I like to use a positive reinforcement system. 

What that means is that when somebody does something wrong it's always handled in private and it's never that big of a deal. I coach them through it & help them learn how to get better.  We talk about tips and strategies. No voices are ever raised, no threats are made like this happens again you lose your job. 

Instead, I choose to reward the positive things that happen. When a driver goes through an inspection and receives “no violations” I give them a reward. When somebody completes a project ahead of schedule they are rewarded. When somebody goes above and beyond to make sure that their teammates are successful they are rewarded.

You see as the leader your results are everybody else around you.

First I look at the morale of the employees. If morale is low it means that I need to step up my game and figure out how to improve it.

As a leader, another great thing that I look at is how close the people in the group are. If they are close to one another, if they share, if they are friends, and talk about more than just work. I've done a great job as a leader making them feel comfortable around each other. 

I also look at how much they're working and what their workload is. Now there's a major difference between knowing if their workload is too much and they can accomplish every task or if they can’t accomplish the task because they don't have the drive. 

I evaluate that and I keep in mind that each person is unique. Each person has different qualities. 

When was the last time I rewarded them? I reward people for a job well done.  

I like to use a positive reinforcement system. 

What that means is that when somebody does something wrong it's always handled in private and it's never that big of a deal. I coach them through it & help them learn how to get better.  We talk about tips and strategies. No voices are ever raised, no threats are made like this happens again you lose your job. 

Instead, I choose to reward the positive things that happen. When a driver goes through an inspection and receives “no violations” I give them a reward. Then somebody completes a project ahead of schedule they are rewarded. If somebody goes above and beyond to make sure that their teammates are successful they are rewarded.

You see as the leader your results are everybody else around you.

Leading with perseverance.

 Leading with perseverance.

Webster's Dictionary defines perseverance as “persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.”  

That sounds like a typical day in business for me.  

Nothing ever seems to go right everything is delayed and well guess what we just keep going because it has to get done.  

What is perseverance to me?

Perseverance is sticking with something until you get it finished no matter how long it takes no matter how hard it is no matter what obstacles you run into.  It is planted a crop, weeding out all the weeds watching it grow watering it continually then harvesting beautiful crops at the end.  

Perseverance is not giving up when times get hard. It's having that stick-to-itiveness that pushes you to the finish line.

One of my favorite quotes about perseverance comes from Thomas Edison's.  Edison said,  "I haven't failed -- I've just found 10,000 that won't work."

Talk about perseverance, that's a lot of perseverance.  

As a leader, we have to have it. What happens if we give up in the middle of a project? 

Before long everyone on the team starts giving up in the middle of their projects,  and before we know it we never even start the projects because we're scared to fail.

Having perseverance when you're in a leadership position is important. We've all known leaders who don't have perseverance, maybe they weren't really leaders they were just people in management positions.

Honestly in my opinion perseverance is what makes or breaks a business. It is what helps a small business owner transition into a top 500 company. The ability to never give up.

Throughout the bible, it is discussed at length. 

Let's take the story of Joseph.  His brothers sold him into slavery and he was bought by Potiphar.  He stayed strong and rose among all the slaves to be put in charge of his entire estate.  Then when he wouldn't keep with Potiphar's wife after she attempted to seduce him multiple times. She had him thrown into prison. 

Still, he persevered.  Within a short time, he rose to be in charge of the prison just under the guards.  Then he interpreted several dreams for people who were released. But they forgot to tell Pharaoh about his abilities. 

Joseph continued to preserve.  Then one day when the time was right he was called to interpret one of Pharaoh's dreams. Right after he finished the interpretation Pharaoh placed Joseph as the second over the entire Kingdom.  the only one above him was Pharaoh himself. 

The point that I'm making is that if joseph would not have perseverance, he would have never succeeded.  He was knocked down several times, and yet he still stayed strong.  

If Joseph, who was sold by his own family, thrown in jail for doing what was right, and forgotten after he did great things can stay strong and persevere. So can you!

Until next time, stay strong and keep the rubber side down.