Tweet

Smart Women Take Their Business Offline

Guest post by: Joy Chudacoff

Article Overview: This article is about creating an “offline” presence if you are a service provider. You are the product and people need to meet you, get to know you, get a feel for what you provide and how your service can benefit them.

Smart Women Take Their Business Offline

The other day, I was speaking with a smart woman entrepreneur and at one point she said, "Joy, I think I need to take my business offline." My response? "Bravo!" In today's world, with all of its moving parts and the opportunities to build an online business, I sometimes see entrepreneurs leaving a valuable tool out of their marketing plan---building "offline" relationships to create another stream of referrals.

The thought of building a business "online"-you know sitting behind your laptop in your pajamas all day, never having to leave the house sounds really attractive to many people. This works well if you are in a products based business where the only contact you have with real people might be the UPS guy or gal. However, if you are in a service-based business like an attorney, consultant, coach, event planner, real estate,--you get the idea, then it's essential that you have both an online and offline presence.

If you are a service provider, you are the product. I find many entrepreneurs dragging their feet on this part of the business plan and it's the one area that can guarantee new business. Today, after 51/2 years, my business is still over 85% referral based. These referrals come from satisfied clients, speaking engagements and client attraction events that I've attended. Do I enjoy online business? Absolutely. However I've learned the value of taking my business offline.

Here are a few solutions for taking your business "offline" to attract more of your ideal client:

1. Public Speaking - this has been the number one best way for me to build my business "offline." It has produced the most highly qualified referrals over the years. The audience can get a sense of who you are and your presentation can identify more clearly how you can help them. Make sure you leverage your time well by speaking to groups that are your ideal client.
2. Referral Program - create a "referral" letter that you can send out to all of your current and past clients. Let them know that you are accepting new clients and explain how your services can benefit people they may know. You may be surprised that clients (and good friends!) can forget exactly what you do if you don't remind them often. I've had prior clients get my letter and call me to begin working with me again!
3. Attending the "Right" Events - getting out and attending events is key to the growth of your business. Make sure that you attend events where you truly enjoy the programs being represented and it's essential that these events attract your ideal client as well. Let me clarify something: If you are drawn to a particular charity or fundraiser that is not well attended by your ideal client, that's wonderful. Giving back or enjoying the spiritual growth you receive is important to your success as a human being. It's key to pick one more venue to attend regularly so that you can also work on building your entrepreneurial dream as well.

If you are a woman entrepreneur in a service based business, the tips and solutions above can generate more ideal clients quickly. In fact, it can happen in as little as 30 days if you put these action steps into place right away.

Next week, I'll meet you back here to chat with you about building an "online" presence. Successful marketing is like cooking: You need more than one ingredient to make the recipe turn out just right.

*****

Related Articles
  Are Men Smarter Than Women
  Smart Women and the 4 Basic Marketing Solutions
  Smart Women Have an “Online” Presence
  Offline is the New Online is the New Offline
  Smart Women Get Out of the Office
  Franchise Businesses Appeal to Women Entrepreneurs
  How Smart Women Stay Connected
  Are MLM Companies For Women Only?
  1.2 Mission Objectives: Support for Growth-oriented Women Entrepreneurs in Tanzania, 2005
  Moms Working at Home - A New Kind of Business Woman
  Stress Management: Ladies, Lose The Guilt!
  4.0 The state of women’s enterprises in Tanzania: Support for Growth-oriented Women Entrepreneurs in Tanzania, 2005
  Smart Women Live into and Find the Flow
  Its Time For Women To Lead in America in Entrepreneurship
  How Many Poles Do You Have In The Water?
  Smart Women Practice Quality Not Quantity
  Smart Women and Their Relationship With Money
  Women and Financial Security
  10.0 Training – business management and technical skills: Support for Growth-oriented Women Entrepreneurs in Tanzania, 2005
  Differences Between Marketing Your Business Online Vs. Offline

Article Tags: business offline, offline presence, service provider, smart women



Related Forum Posts
A ton of Great Women - You might want to profile Teresa Cascioli of LakePort Brewery. She has an amazing story! I met her at at the celebratory luncheon for the Profit/Chatelaine Top 100 Women Business Owners. The Top 100 list is also a great resource for inspirational stories of Women Entrepreneurs.
New Study - Women prepare better business plans - I found an article in Business Week and I found this quite interesting. [quote:ka7lg35i]Who Prepares Better Business Plans, Men or Women? A new study based on four years of data from men and women in a training program for microenterprises finds that they come out the same in quality scores. "However, women scored significantly better on the presentation of their plan to judges," conclude the study's authors, Ronald G. Cook, Paul Belliveau, and Christine Lentz of Rider University, in a paper presented at a recent meeting of the Small Business Institute. [/quote:ka7lg35i] What do you guys think?
Re: History of Women in Business in the United States - Yes. Women have increasingly made positive economic contributions to society and their position is being recognized more and more as seen on the Forbes List of Executive Women. In general, women can be a bit more practical in their approach as entrepreneurs too.
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Are entrepreneur women more organized than men? - Women are generally more organised than men. They have good instincts more than men. Women are generally aggressive when it come to business. You don't want to mess up with them.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Leadership-A Daily Gift

Word of Mouth Marketing Tips Fuel Success

Tips to Take Control of Credit Card Debt

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.