Building Credibility as a NEW Business

As a new business your main focus is to appear larger than you are until you are able to grow your business. Think of it as an illusion. You’re not trying to get one over on anyone but quite frankly, you have to fight your way up the ladder when your small and this is the only way to do it.  Building credibility can be a daunting task but it’s very doable if you put the right strategies in place.  Building credibility starts with these few concepts:

• Becoming an expert is merely taking charge of what you know and demonstrating it to the world. If your field is marketing, management, finance or decorating, begin building credibility by writing about it and educating consumers.
• Building your credentials is a must as you begin growing your business. Every seed you plant right now will probably not come to fruition for a year or maybe more down the road.

At last week’s “Building Credibility Seminar” at Jesse H. Jones School of Business at TSU – Entrepreneurship Center, local companies learned these three things to start building their reputation as a leader:

1. Begin blogging – blog about what you know. Do not be afraid of writing if you are not a writer. You have to practice in order to hone your skills. There is no time like the present. Have a friend or colleague read your blogs until you are comfortable with writing. Blogs are more educational and conversational than anything else. They are short and to the point information that is easily digestible; making them easier to write than articles. Once you are comfortable, you can venture into writing articles, guest writing, editorials and perhaps even whitepapers.
2. Have a strong image – make sure you go above and beyond the call of duty on building your image. Invest in nice business cards, letterhead and envelopes. Invest in a domain name so that your email is your company email and not xxx@yahoo.com or xxx@gmail.com. If you can invest in a simple Web site with at least 4-5  pages of informative, brochure like material, then you can have Web presence to demonstrate your professionalism. If all else fails, start a company blog – at least you will appear to have information on the Web when potential clients are searching for you.
3. Make news – write a press release on your business each week. Even if you never publish them, you are forced to think about newsworthy content to promote your business. Making news plays an important role in building credibility for a new business. Another reason you should be writing news releases is to get better at writing and taking charge of the future of your business. You can post them to your blog or Web site. Your company will be searchable in search engines and potential clients can find relevant information about your business.

You’ll be relieved when you begin to see all of your hard work pay off. Again, building credibility isn’t an overnight strategy but a long-term positioning strategy that will ultimately grow your business beyond belief. Be proactive and follow these tips and you’ll see improvements over time. If you need more advice like the information in this article, FREE events take place at the Entrepreneurship Center each week. It’s open to the community and general public at no cost.   To get updated on upcoming events, please email your request to be added to our mailing list at trisha@augmentgroup.com . 

Eight Ways to Augment Your Sales Process and Win Business Today

These eight basic elements will help you to start augmenting your sales efforts. If you are new to business, you’ll learn a great deal by implementing these measures. If you are a novice, not to worry, you may need to brush up on your closing or networking skills. Either way, these eight steps will move you one step closer to closing the deal.

1. Dream big and never give up – This is the first step because without believing you can win and working to achieve the highest goal you set, you will surely never get there. Shoot for the stars and if you get to the moon you are halfway there.

2. Commit to building your capabilities and portfolio without being concerned about money – Of course we all want to make money but sometimes taking steps is a learning process and worth the price you get for a project just to get your name out there. Don’t be afraid to ‘volunteer’ your services on the front-end. Only follow this advice if you intend on producing results. It doesn’t work with poor quality. Try organizations, non-profits or even business-to-business (B2B); for example, you can offer your services on e-lance.com at a competitive rate.

3. Don’t forget sales 101 – the natural buying process – Buyers do not purchase products or services they do not know or trust; therefore, when developing your sales process, you must think of sales as a funnel. The wide mouth indicates the level that consumers just want to get to know you down to the bottom of the funnel where trust is strong enough to buy. You may have learned this concept in marketing 101… It’s called Awareness. Interest. Trial. or (A.I.T.). Augment Marketing has coined this as B.I.G.™ - Build awareness, Increase interest and Generate results. All this means you need several levels of buying options to gain trust from your clients.

4. Know your target market – two fundamental questions you must answer – who are your customers and what do they want? Again this is marketing 101 – But, it’s the hardest to identify. The reason is because you may have several targets and segments. Without research and analysis, you may not have a good grasp of your competitors or your customers. Do yourself a favor and focus on one or two targets and expand from there.

5. You have to know it before you can grow it – before you can go out and sell your product, you should have already thought about your vision and core values. It’s important to understand what you stand for because while you are out networking or meeting potential clients, they will want to hear your elevator speech.

6. Develop an elevator speech – Be able to say who, what, when, where and how in 10, 15, 20 or 30 seconds. No doubt, you will have to be prepared to deliver a compelling message to get your audience to listen.

7. Image is everything – Never leave home without it. Meaning, a polished business card and brochure. If you can invest on the front-end, you definitely need to make that happen. If not, it’s better not to take a chance on cheap materials. Get their card and tell them you will be in contact.

8. Close the deal – Make sure to plan out your calls, contact messages and emails. Once you have their attention, don’t be afraid to close the deal. Create a sense of urgency. If all else fails, tell them you have another project and need to make a decision. You would appreciate their diligence and timely response. If they say, not at this time but maybe in two months, great – you have a solid commitment and can move on to bigger fish in the sea.

Good luck to all businesses and entrepreneurs. You truly are the real American heroes.

Trisha Ahlman is the CEO of Augment Marketing Group and has nearly 20 years experience in marketing for corporations and small businesses. She sits on several creative and strategic development boards nationwide. "Inspired by growth" from its inception, Augment's mission is to inspire growth in all businesses large or small when developing strong brands. We believe in inspiring, learning and growing please contact for more information: trisha@augmentgroup.com.

How Logic Models Set You Apart from the Competition

When presenting a contract or report to potential clients or board of directors, Logic Models can demonstrate your preparation and understanding of how you came up with a process and how it will impact results.  If you are responsible for writing contracts, Logic Models can set you apart from your competitors.  How you ask? While some are focused on what they provide and how they provide it, you can go the extra mile by demonstrating the impact to the organization. This is important for stakeholders because it means that you have considered not only specific actions to take but measureable results.  It’s just one more step to implementing projects more effectively which clearly sets you apart from competitors.  If you want to learn more about Logic Models, please email trisha@augmentgroup.com in order to receive a free report on how to develop logic models.

New Event Coming Up

Trisha Ahlman will be presenting this Friday at Jesse H. Jones School of Business at TSU in the Entrepreneurship Center – room 109 – 3100 Cleburne St.. The topic is on Logic Models. Many contracts require logic models in order to demonstrate goals, actions and tactical plans. The meeting time is 5:30 – 7:00. To learn more, visit www.augmentgroup.com for more details.

Attendees will learn how to structure a logic model, how to apply a logic model and how logic models are used to develop strategic plans more effectively.

The event is FREE and anyone can attend.