Brand Value equals Sales VOLUME
Benefits of Creating Brand Value
Often ignored ways of creating brand value. By now you should know that all the rage is on being an entrepreneur. I’ve been one for 25 years and I can honestly tell you it’s not what you think it is and it’s a lot more at the same time. It’s a LOT of hard work, LONG days, limited fun and can be frustrating because you are consistently putting out fires and misunderstood by others but the REWARD is doing what you love and getting paid 100% for your efforts. (Avoiding traffic in LA each day is a reward in itself).
I’m going to share some of the best lessons I’ve learned that can save you your two most valuable assets when it comes to running your business. Time and Energy. Today I want to talk about Creating Brand Value. The second most important thing about your business. What’s first? Passion, which is another story. Just note that no matter how much “passion” you have, if you don’t have sales, you’ll be out of business.
5 Rules of Sales that Help in Creating Brand Value
Your Business is your spouse, child, and your dog. You should have a reciprocal enormous interest in it.
Some of the most simple things in business mean the most when it comes to your bottom line and creating brand value. I’ve known many people in the industry who come to the table selling themselves short but they want to be taken seriously. For example, if you have a business and you are using a Gmail account extension clients notice things like that. If you don’t have the wherewithal to create a website and have an email extension attached to your brand name, that will be a problem. The only time this works is when you want to have a private email for certain people.
I have several musicians and industry people who prefer to use their personal addresses to get our email updates and avoid their corporations’ blocking of mass emails and that makes sense. But when you are selling something to potential clients you have to have a tighter presentation.
Make sure you spend money and have a decent looking logo. You can find a TON of people on Fiverr.com to do it for you for a relatively low price. Everything is about ratings these days and Fiverr is no exception. Don’t use anyone with less than three stars unless they are new and have great samples of their work. Your logo says EVERYTHING about your brand and if it’s jagged around the edges or it looks cheaply done that will reflect you and your price points for sales
Ask for what you want BEFORE you think about it
I was telling a mentee the other day, you have a better chance of getting what you want by grabbing the opportunity BEFORE you think about it. But have your sh*t in order. I have gotten SO many great things over the years by diving in and asking for it BEFORE I had a chance to talk myself out of it, which we all will if we think about it long enough.
Black business owners have so many trepidations before asking for what we want like, “Is this company racist, they don’t have any black people or minorities in their management (Tip: you can see most company management teams on their website) or “Is this black person against helping other black people who own businesses etc.
You come up against the super fans of your brand and the opposites at times but if you dive in and ask for what you want, you lose absolutely nothing from what you came to the table with AND you have a 50 percent chance of a gain. Which STILL puts you ahead of the curve for a 100% NO … if you don’t ask.
You ARE what your TOP customer is willing to pay
No matter what business you are in, the best way to set your standard is by your best paying client when creating brand value. You will come across great clients, provided you have QUALITY AND VALUE who will pay you top dollar for your services. If you have been in business for more than 2 or 3 years and you are still having to ask people to support you, just to survive, you should seriously consider a new business venture. At the two to three-year mark, clients should be coming to you more and more. If not, they don’t see the value.
I’ve had people come at me with triple what I asked for and some who have come at me wanting to ‘test RF out” before spending. I don’t have to tell you who came at me wanting to spend nothing for everything (lol). You are not Costco, giving out nut nuggets for people to try before they buy. You want to have something that people WANT and they are willing to come and get it … on their own.
Discounts are Worthless on both ends
Offering discounts for your services is asking for help at some point, it’s begging for help. Right now Macy’s is offering so many discounts you can damn near get their merchandise for free. They are in dire need to stay open and stay relevant. Same thing with Apple. For the first time that I can remember, they are selling computers at Costco now WITH discounts. They lost their “cool” factor when Steve Jobs died, now it’s just a bunch of confused old white men who don’t quite know how to reach the younger generations.
If you are not making a substantial amount of money doing your business after the two to three years mark (again) and you are still offering discounts, clients will most likely never see the value of what you offer in addition, they tell other people.
It’s better to have a client tell someone “He’s not cheap” than to have them say “Oh I can get you that for almost nothing. “VALUE is not just something, it’s EVERYTHING. If you want to read more of my insight on running a black business check out my business blog blogwallet.com. Feel free to comment below.
