How to Leverage the #1 Sales Channel – In Just 7 Minutes with Melinda Emerson

Resources/Links:

• Wanting to Step Up Your Business but Always Seem to be Failing? Learn more about the promising advantages of recession-proofing you and your business and how you can do it: succeedasyourownboss.com

Summary

Have you been finding yourself struggling on holding up a business online?

Do you always wonder what’s the problem in your business that you just can’t seem to be solved right?

Are you ready to find out how you can leverage your business to become the best there is, get more paying customers, and gain the profits you deserve with little-to-no failure?

Melinda F. Emerson, the SmallBizLady, is America’s #1 Small Business Expert. She is an internationally renowned keynote speaker on small business development and social selling. She hosts The SmallBizChat Podcast. She is the author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, Revides, and Expanded (Simon and Schuster, Sept. 2021).

In this episode, Melinda talks about how you can really and truly be your own boss in your business, whether big or small, in the online setting. She also shares her insights on recession-proofing yourself and your business and why you should be doing it as soon as possible.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:22 – Melinda’s ideal client: “I work with two audiences. I work with small business owners directly who want to start and grow successful small businesses. And on the consulting side, we work with Fortune 500 companies that target small business customers.”
• 01:56 – Problem Melinda helps solve: “When it comes to small business owners, it’s really about marketing. People think they have a revenue problem. No, they have a marketing problem. Their message is not clear. Their call to action isn’t clear.”
• 03:19 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Melinda: “Number one, they’re too focused on new business as opposed to nurturing existing customers. And big businesses and little businesses have this problem. Everyone’s really struggling to sell online now.”
• 03:56 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Melinda’s solution: “They’re not clear enough on their buyer persona. Who are they targeting with their message in their ads? That’s the number one thing and then they don’t test up. They throw all their money behind one idea.”
• 05:05 – Melinda’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “You got to focus on how to recession-proof yourself. You got to make sure that something about your business is not easily duplicatable by your competition. You’ve got to focus on user experience.”
• 05:47 – Melinda’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Melinda’s eBook: succeedasyourownboss.com
• 06:30 – Q: What is your new book about, when is it coming out and where can people get it? A: My new book is called Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, Revised and Expanded. It is actually the third edition of my very first book. It’s coming out from Simon and Schuster.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“It's super clear to focus on who your customer is and what their pain is. Not what you think their pain is, you got to talk to them. You got to test. You got to find out.” -Melinda Emerson Click To Tweet

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone, and a warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland, joined today by Melinda Emerson. Melinda, good day from Down Under. A very warm welcome! Where are you hanging out?

Melinda Emerson 00:22
I am based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!

Tom Poland 00:25
Philly, the city of brotherly love, is it right?

Melinda Emerson 00:28
And sisterhood fashion-

Tom Poland 00:29
Hopefully right. And I love to. For those of you who may not know Melinda, she’s known as the SmallBizLady, widely regarded as North America’s top small business expert. What she has created is nothing short of extraordinary because I’ve stalked around the universe, and its exceptional quality and its exceptional branding. So we have a lot to learn! You have a lot to learn, frankly, just by going to any one of her numerous websites. But today we’re talking about “How to Leverage #1 Sales Channel”. And also, by the way, if being one of North America’s top small business experts is not a must, she hosts the SmallBizChat Podcast. She’s the author of Become Your Own Boss in Just 12 Months. And soon there’s another book coming out, which we- hopefully we can touch on soon. Yeah, so let’s get rock and rolling. Melinda, our seven minutes is going to start now. Question number one is who is your ideal client?

Melinda Emerson 01:22
Well, I work with two audiences. I work with small business owners directly who want to start and grow successful small businesses. And on the consulting side, we work with Fortune 500 companies that target small business customers. So people who want to reach are more than 3 million entrepreneurs. They touch some of my content every week online.

Tom Poland 01:41
Holy cow! Yeah, well, that’ll place you something of an authority. Only 3 million? Well, good luck with growth. That’s amazing! And so what’s the problem you solve if you want to touch on both markets or one market? Six and a half minutes left.

Melinda Emerson 01:56
Well, you know what, when it comes to small business owners, it’s really about marketing. People think they have a revenue problem. No, they have a marketing problem. Their message is not clear. Their call to action isn’t clear. They’ve got sales funnels that leak. They got all kinds of problems and the pandemic really shows that you know, all these people had to rush and do their digital pivot online. Well, there are some people that are still pivoting. They don’t know how to do that! And when it comes to corporations, they have absolutely no idea what it’s like to be a small business which is why they develop marketing programs that are silly, irrelevant, and completely taught over small business owners’ heads. And they got salespeople out there trying to call them on the phone and get a busy, small business on the phone. Please stop doing that. Right? So I help them build authentic content and relationships and social media engagement strategies to target small business owners in a real way. I also work with them on their product development, like develop something I actually want and am actually willing to pay for. So those are what I do for major corporations. And I’m very proud to say we’ve been in business for 22 years.

Tom Poland 03:00
Wow! What? Did you start when you’re like eight?

Melinda Emerson 03:03
I did! In front of my mother’s house with a lemonade stand.

Tom Poland 03:06
An early entrepreneur! Thank you for that. Question three, and we’ve got five minutes left, what are some of the typical symptoms that your ideal clients will be experiencing? Kind of gives them a heads up, they should be finding more about what you do?

Melinda Emerson 03:19
Well, number one, they just are not- they’re too focused on new business as opposed to nurturing existing customers. And big businesses and little businesses have this problem. Everyone’s really struggling to sell online now. It’s complicated to sell online. “Do I focus on SEO? Content? Do I need to buy ads? What do I need to do?” You know, people don’t know what to do. And so I try to simplify that for small businesses. And I work on those kinds of things for big businesses, too, because the content is a hard game, whether you’re a big business or a little business. So we work with both sides of the house to try to help them be more effective in actually reaching their customers.

Tom Poland 03:54
So I guess one of the big symptoms is the sales aren’t coming in, and perhaps existing clients aren’t staying as long as they’d like. But we’re talking about people that, by and large, are pretty smart, and they’re hard-working, and they’re ambitious! They’re going to try stuff. So question four, four minutes left. What are some of the common mistakes that these folks are making that you see that, kind of, you know, almost makes you want to cry before they start working with you?

Melinda Emerson 03:56
They’re not clear enough on their buyer persona. Who are they targeting with their message in their ads? That’s the number one thing and then they don’t test up. They throw all their money behind one idea. It’s like, “Oh, my gosh, no!” Or big companies, they’ll throw a lot of money into an initiative that they didn’t research and didn’t have a go-to-market strategy before they started it. And then they end up with this $5 million thing and they don’t really know how to market and maybe it isn’t something people wanted anyway. I’ve seen it so many times! So I really think it’s super clear to focus on who your customer is and what their pain is. Not what you think their pain is, you got to talk to them. You got to test. You got to find out.

Tom Poland 04:53
Well, that might- thank you. That might lead us nicely to question five, three minutes left. What’s one valuable free action that someone listening to this could take the may not solve the whole problem, but it might take them a step in the right direction?

Melinda Emerson 05:05
Well, for one, you have to focus on how to recession-proof yourself. You have to make sure that something about your business is not easily duplicatable by your competition. You’ve got to focus on user experience. And that could be something as small as, who answers your phone? Or do you always put three pieces of candy in the box when you ship whatever you’re shipping? Like “surprise and delight” still works and I want more people to focus on that.

Tom Poland 05:30
Figure out one thing that’s going to surprise and delight, that would be a great step in the right direction. A very large one, probably! So let’s go to question number six. We got two and a half minutes left, quite a lot of time. May not sound like it, but it is. One valuable free resource, where can we direct folks to that’s going to help them more?

Melinda Emerson 05:47
Oh, if you go to my website succeedasyourownboss.com, right in the header, we have a free eBook, “How to Recession-Proof Your Small Business”. If you head over to succeedasyourownboss.com/recession, you can download it and get it for free. And hopefully, it puts you on the right track to thinking about how you can make yourself invaluable to your target customer.

Tom Poland 06:09
Actually, folks, there is just a wealth of content and information here at succeedasyourownboss.com. That should kick off with “How to Recession-Proof Your Small Businesses”. It’s an eBook so you get instant access. Thank you for that, Melinda. Question seven, and we’ve got one and a half minutes left, just a little more. What’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t?

Melinda Emerson 06:30
You should have asked me about my new book and when it’s coming out, and where people can get it!

Tom Poland 06:34
Where the heck is your new business book coming out? And what’s it all about?

Melinda Emerson 06:38
So my new book is called Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, Revised and Expanded. It is actually the third edition of my very first book. It’s coming out from Simon and Schuster. I’m really proud of it because don’t let the title fool you, it’s not just a startup book. I’ve got all the online selling stuff in it. Do you want to know how to sell online? Do you want to know how to build a sales process? Do you want to know how to sell on Amazon? How about how to buy ads on Amazon? I got all of that stuff in this new book. And I’ve got a great new chapter on leadership as well. So I’m going to set you up not only to start a business but to stay in business and I’m really really excited about it.

Tom Poland 07:15
So folks, as of the time of recording, you cannot get that book. It hasn’t been released yet. But if you go to www.succeedasyourownboss.com, subscribe, I’m pretty sure you’re going to get a notification for that. Melinda Emerson, thank you so much for your insights, your wisdom, and your generosity!

Melinda Emerson 07:32
Thank you so much for having me, Tom. It’s been great.

Tom Poland 07:35
Been a pleasure.

Tom Poland 07:37
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.