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Joe Costantino

Lead or Stand Aside

by Joe Costantino on December 9, 2009

I don’t mean to get carried away with the title of this post, but since reading John Maxwell’s book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, I’m convinced that one of the key factors to being a successful business owner is becoming a better leader.

Here’s the good news – becoming a better leader is a learned behavior, just like most other skills we learn.

So, what exactly is this thing we call leadership?  What does it look like?

According to John Maxwell “leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.”  Leadership may come in all shapes and sizes, but it only comes from influence, and that can’t be mandated by a title, position or knowledge. It must be earned.  The only thing a title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others or to undermine it.

I believe leadership is misunderstood.  Many people mistakenly believe that by being a business owner or entrepreneur, you are automatically a leader.  Nothing, in my opinion can be further from the truth.  To be truly successful, a business owner needs to develop (and continue to develop) the necessary skills to influence not only the people in their organization, but their prospects and customers.

So what are some of the key elements of effective leadership?

  • Relationships - Effective leaders are able to develop relationships – the stronger the relationship, the more potential for effective leadership.
  • Knowledge - Information is critical to the success of a leader.  Knowledge alone won’t make someone a leader, but without knowledge, no one can become a successful leader.
  • Intuition - Effective leaders have a “gut” instinct when it comes to putting their “finger on the pulse” of others’ feelings, morale and energy.
  • Past Success - Nothing is more important to a person’s ability to lead than their track record of accomplishment or for getting the job done.

Here’s a quick method to access what factors you rely upon to persuade people to follow you.  For the following factors listed below, rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10.  (1 means it’s not a factor while a 10 means you rely on it continually)

  • Character – who you are
  • Relationships – who you know
  • Knowledge – what you know
  • Intuition – what you feel
  • Experience – where you’ve been
  • Past Success – what you’ve done
  • Ability - what you can do

Now, try to determine ways to better utilize the factors with low scores.

ducttapemarketingbadgeJoe Costantino is owner of Business Marketing Success in Boston, a marketing company that helps professional service firms learn how to effectively market their businesses with a step-by-step marketing system.  He is also a certified Duct Tape Marketing Coach and East Coast Regional Guide assisting in recruitment and training of new Duct Tape Marketing coaches.  Joe also provides keynotes, seminars and workshops on a number of marketing topics.  You can learn more about Joe at www.businessmarketingsuccess.com or by e-mail at joe@businessmarketingsuccess.com

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You Almost Had Me At Hello!

by Joe Costantino on November 30, 2009

Lead generation is the process of turning a “suspect”, one that you believe needs what you have to offer, into a prospect, or someone who has “raised their hand” and engaged you or your company in some way.  But in order to turn that prospect into a happy, repeat customer and referral partner your “marketing” or communications must match the experience.

A couple of months ago, I received a direct mail piece from a local dentist promoting his company and trying to engage new customers.  The mailing provided information about the services performed; touted the warm, personal  nature of his practice, and finally provided a discount offer for new customers.  From a marketing perspective, the mailing had most of the key elements of a good marketing piece:  attention grabbing headline, educational copy and an offer to act.  It was the “perfect” storm.  I was looking for a new dentist in my home town and here comes the mail.  So far so good.

I arrived at the scheduled time, filled out the necessary paperwork, gave it back to the front person.  I was quickly escorted into the hygienist for my cleaning.  The hygienist was pleasant, did the job without too much talk or blood and my experience is winding down.  The hygienist handed me a goodie bag with toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and sends me back to the front desk to set my next appointment.  Everything is great, right?  Not so fast.  As I’m walking down the hall to the receptionist, I can’t help thinking, I never saw the dentist.

Well the marketing piece touted the personal nature of the practice and how patients were treated like “family”.  (I”m happy to report, my family doesn’t treat me this way)  What happened?  I asked the receptionist if the dentist was in.  Her reply was yes, he is here.  I said I thought it was a bit odd that the dentist didn’t come in to say hello and check my teeth, especially since I was a new client.  Her reply, “Oh, he won’t see you unless there is a problem”.

Guess what?  There is a problem.   You almost had me but not quite.  Almost everything was done properly; mailing with offer, cordial customer service people, on time with my appointment and a not too painful dental experience.  But, then the dentist drops the ball big time by not at least coming in to introduce himself and thank me for the business.

Moral of the story:  It’s not good enough to say all the right things in your marketing materials; you have to live it; it needs to be embraced by the whole company; the customer’s experience must match the promise or you will have a bunch of first timers that never return again and never refer you to anyone.

ducttapemarketingbadgeJoe Costantino is owner of Business Marketing Success in Boston, a marketing company that helps professional service firms learn how to effectively market their businesses with a step-by-step marketing system.  He is also a certified Duct Tape Marketing Coach and East Coast Regional Guide assisting in recruitment and training of new Duct Tape Marketing coaches.  Joe also provides keynotes, seminars and workshops on a number of marketing topics.  You can learn more about Joe at www.businessmarketingsuccess.com or by e-mail at joe@businessmarketingsuccess.com

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Do you fire before you aim?

by Joe Costantino on November 24, 2009

On Tuesday, I presented a workshop to a group of small business owners titled – How to Build a Rock-Solid Foundation For Your Business.

Because it was the first time I delivered this seminar, I wasn’t quite sure how well the content would be received by the audience.  Guess what?  I was floored in a very good way.

The main theme behind the workshop was the importance for business owners to build a foundation or strategy for their business before doing tactical marketing “stuff”.  Unfortunately, most business owners, if they engage in any type of marketing activities, just “fire” away without giving much thought to getting ready and then aiming.

Why is that?

Well, most business owners have been trained that marketing is only tactical “stuff”, newsletter, website, direct mail piece.  Don’t get me wrong.  Tactical marketing is very important.  But, your tactical marketing will never be as effective and won’t produce the stunning results until you develop a stratetegic plan.  Your strategic marketing plan consists of what you say, how you say it and the audience you say it to.

Here are the elements of a strategic marketing plan or a foundation for your business:

  • Identifying your target market and your ideal target market, so you don’t end up marketing to the “world”.
  • Understanding what your target market wants and expects from a business that provides the products or services that you provide.
  • Educating that target about the benefits or results that you deliver with your product or service.
  • Developing ways to build know, like, and trust with your target market.

Marketing isn’t magic, although some marketing gurus might try to get you to believe this.  Marketing is developing a strategy and then consistently and repeatedly touching your target with the correct tactical plan.

ducttapemarketingbadgeJoe Costantino is owner of Business Marketing Success in Boston, a marketing company that helps professional service firms learn how to effectively market their businesses with a step-by-step marketing system.  He is also a certified Duct Tape Marketing Coach and East Coast Regional Guide assisting in recruitment and training of new Duct Tape Marketing coaches.  Joe also provides keynotes, seminars and workshops on a number of marketing topics.  You can learn more about Joe at www.businessmarketingsuccess.com or by e-mail at joe@businessmarketingsuccess.com

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