Do You Say It Often Enough?

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Carol Naff

wow ladder of people

No matter who you are or what you do, you need to say two words often and genuinely. They are thank you. Most of us don’t say it often enough or with sincerity.

When was the last time you felt deeply grateful? What happened? And, more importantly, what did you DO to acknowledge your gratitude? Gratitude is an attitude muscle that needs daily exercise!

Every day, Marcia reflects thankfulness in her gratitude journal. She makes a note of at least three things to express gratitude and why she is grateful. Carol uses this same approach and writes about three things she accomplished that day and expresses gratitude.

The next day they each do something to reflect this gratitude. The quickest and best idea is to send a thank you note by snail mail. To have this note most effective, make it specific, personal, and be your authentic self. If you want to send a gift, think outside the box. Some fun ideas are movie tickets, gift cards, a sheet of personalized postage stamps featuring their company logo. See Zazzle.com for custom stamps. These can all be included easily inside your thank you note. Or you can think of something specific to make their lives easier; bake homemade doggy treats or volunteer for a dog walk for your pet-loving friends. Being personal shows sincerity.

When expressing your gratitude with the words “thank you,” be timely, specific, and genuine. Hand-written and mailed with a stamp in an envelope are really nice. In addition, send a quick email followed by the snail mail. It’s too powerful and too important to do it only half way. A card with a thoughtful message is something people hold dear. They appreciate a personal message in your handwriting. Waiting too long to say thank you makes you come across as insincere.

What was the reason for your last Thank You note? Was it for a referral to a potential client? Or a lead to a job opening? Or perhaps an introduction? Or an invitation? Maybe even a gift or kindness? Or perhaps someone took their time to evaluate your LinkedIn profile or evaluate your business? Have you thanked someone for just being their friend? Thank people on LinkedIn for their articles. And the best way to thank them is to share the article.

Life is much better because we are happier when we are grateful. How can you spread that happiness to everyone around you? Those who are more grateful are more productive and inspiring due to their greater passion and commitment levels.

The best gifts still come from the heart! If your friend has a special cause they care about, why not make a donation in their name or volunteer some of your time to their cause? This will mean more than cookies, candies, or flowers because you’re taking your friend’s love and spreading it around to others.

Now…right now is the time to reflect, express, and reap the benefits of gratitude! Today’s world is fast paced. Let’s make it a point to not let Thank You slip away.

And while it’s fun to thank our peeps for the “good stuff”; it’s doubly important to thank your complaining customers. Why?? If they are complaining, it generally means they still want to do business with you. The best way to handle this is to first thank them for their business and then explain how you will make things right and then offer a special thank you gift letting them know they are helping you make your business or service even better for them and others. This is your chance to earn their repeat business.

Thank you for taking your valuable time to read this article. Please respond and let us know your favorite thank you of all times? We would love to hear your thoughts on thank you…and who will receive your next thank you note and why you are sending it?

Share and we’ll pass around some clever new ways to say thank you. Saying thank you is simple, it’s powerful, and you will make someone’s day with a sincere thank you!!

by Marcia Reece and Carol Naff

Always give without remembering and always receive without forgetting. ~Brian Tracy

Are you invisible on LinkedIn?

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Carol Naff

BREAKING NEWS!

LinkedIn is the largest professional online network

LinkedIn just turned 14 years old

AND

LinkedIn has more than half a billion members!

That’s 500,000,000 professionals just waiting to learn about you! (Well, at least a nice percentage want to know you)

And it’s a powerful group. The household income of LinkedIn users averages more than $88,000 per year, which outpaces the average income for the readers of the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Business Week! Impressive!

You will find most people are more than willing to engage with you, which generates more inbound leads for your business. Just this week, Marcia received four invitations to be a guest on radio talk shows on the subjects featured in her books. Yes, she will bring great value to the audience of the show AND have an opportunity to sell her books. Marcia is visible on LinkedIn and you can be visible, too. She has more than 10,000 connections that reward her with opportunities for inbound marketing.

If you are a professional or business owner, you simply can’t afford to miss out on the massive opportunity to build relationships with potential customers, clients, partners, and peers on LinkedIn. It’s a powerful audience ready to engage, interact, and influence.

How do Carol and Marcia make these powerful connections? Here’s how…

Be Visible

With more than 500,000,000 members, now it’s more important than ever to have a presence that stands out from the crowd.

Did you know that Viewers of your profile form an opinion of you in JUST 3 SECONDS, according to LinkedIn’s own research? Make sure you’re offering your best impression by having a decent head shot photo. No Selfies!! Remember this is the largest professional network on the Internet and you have 3 seconds to be memorable.

Too many profiles on LinkedIn do not include a photo. It is like sticking a bag over your head and going out to network with your peers. Often we meet someone at an event in person and want to invite them to connect on LinkedIn. If their photo is not there, we cannot be sure that is the right person. An incomplete LinkedIn profile says more about you and your work ethic than might first meet the eye. It just occurred to me that if I repeatedly do not connect with people with no photo, then they will not see this article. LOL, They will continue to be invisible unless you share this post and make it more visible.

Start with a professional profile picture that represents you and your industry. This is critical for your LinkedIn success! Adding a profile photo could result in 14 times more profile views. Having the same professional photo on all your social sites begins to build your personal brand. That fact alone makes it worthwhile to have a professional photo taken. Include no photos you might regret next month or next year. Any photo that damages your personal brand defeats the whole purpose of being on LinkedIn.

Follow Up

Follow up with people you meet by inviting them to link or connect with you. When we stay in touch with people we meet, we can remember each other. Carol has developed this skill to a fine art. Often when she first meets someone, they may not yet be ready to become her client. AND her thoughtful and helpful touches keeps her top of mind when they are ready.

Respond to people who link to you and actually endorse them for a few skills. Be sure to respond to all inquiries and notes. Connect to people you believe can benefit from knowing each other and then follow up. So many people never update us on the results of our introduction. Was it a good referral? Did you connect? Did you do business? Many times, we do not even receive a thank you for the introduction. We really appreciate referrals and reward people for giving them to us. Would you like a discount for our services or a cash reward or something that seems to be a great way of saying thanks? What will make you give us a referral?

Who do you know who wants more clients? Who do you know that has a product almost ready to take to market? Both Marcia and Carol will reward you for your referrals that work.

We love seeing your activity on LinkedIn! Keep creating engaging content and share updates of value. And remember to always pay it forward! Yes, that means sharing posts and endorsing your contacts for skills. Help everyone reach 99+ endorsements.

#speaker #coach #No1BestSellingAuthor #relationshipmarketing #LinkedIn #MarciaReece #CarolNaff #WaysToBeFound #Marketing #LeadGeneration #LinkedInTips #WOWFactor #LinkedInProfile #InboundMarketing

Carol Naff is a Professional Coach, a Certified Email Marketing Strategist, and expert in creative marketing and business development. She founded Mariner Company in 2000, a coaching and consulting business with more than 15 years prior experience in developing marketing strategies for creative business owners to get more clients and how to come in #1 in your job search. MarinerCo.com. Follow her blog at CarolNaff.me Complete the business and job search assessment to help you identify what you need to succeed at Marinerco.com

Marcia Reece, the inventor of Sidewalk Chalk, is the #1 Bestselling author of Secrets of the Marriage Mouse and The Ultimate Online Media Director also was the inventor of Gel-eez, the very first gel-filled wrist rest for keyboard and mouse users. She founded Aspen Support Group in 1998 and uses her creative energies to help many dozen entrepreneurs and authors take their ideas to products and their products to the shelves of American Retailers. Her books are available on Amazon.com. Follow her blog at https://marciaok.wordpress.com

How to have the WOW factor with your LinkedIn Profile

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Carol Naff

By Marcia Reece and Carol Naff

Does your LinkedIn Profile need a WOW factor?

Picture this: What would it be like to walk into a room to find only your ideal prospects? Yes, absolutely everyone there needs your service or product. LinkedIn is the only business-dedicated social media to provide this opportunity for you. You can search for specific people, find groups that meet your parameters and request introductions to people you want to meet.

Recently, Carol had a request for an introduction to someone in her connections. Three people in her network were connected to this person. She sent a request for introductions to them. Two of the three responded that they would be happy to make the introduction. Yes, we are on LinkedIn to be helpful and go-givers.

LinkedIn is the perfect place for you to practice Inbound Marketing. (See Inbound Marketing Strategies article below) Online networking has opened the floodgates for professional online profiles — the kind you place on LinkedIn needs to put you heads and shoulders over your competitors and make sure you stand out as the “go to” expert to build your brand, your business, and your bank account.

Here are several ways to gain a competitive edge:

Establish your expertise: Focus the content on your professional expertise, benefits, and accomplishments. Be sure to include your current and past employment, education, and industry. Scatter relevant keywords throughout your profile to build your SEO optimization.
Captivate your audience: Create an opening summary that sells. Size up what’s important to your audience. Use enticing words and captivating phrases.
Write outside the box: Avoid clichés and work hard to paint fresh word pictures that help readers understand your specialness. Use specifics. Be authentic. And within the bounds of business communication, write like you talk.
Rightsized, not supersize: Set your sights on making your profile neither too long nor too short. There’s no rule about exact profile length. Make every word sell you, your business, and your specialties.
Write must-read robust headlines: Another secret to successful profile writing is the power headline! It’s the headline that pulls readers into your profile.
Don’t oversell your versatility: Often people make the mistake of cobbling together their qualifications and come off looking like jacks of all trades (and masters of none). Folks are seeking to work with specialists, not generalists.
Don’t overdo self-praise: Hold back on empty adjectives like superior, exclusive, outstanding, and so forth when you describe your skills or qualities. Without backing up your claims, no one believes them anyway. Factually explain how you made or saved money, how you delivered on a goal, how you received top marks for performance.

You’re more likely to be believed when you get strong recommendations. Don’t be shy about asking for them and be sure to reciprocate and write for your contacts.

Don’t regurgitate your resume: Include data in your profile that will help you get your desired outcome; business, clients, or an interview. A cultural fit with the reader is key; add such information as your participation in amateur sports (competitiveness), five favorite books (thinking quality); and civic service organizations (community-orientation), for instance. Politics? No, unless you’re applying to a political party. Religious affiliation? No, unless you’re applying to a church or ministry.
Don’t be a victim to perilous posting: Don’t post anything you don’t want the entire world to see. Treat your LinkedIn page with the utmost care and professional respect you bring to your clients, customers, and coworkers. This is not the place to be smarty pants.

Treat all personal identity information like a classified document to keep the identity thieves away. Don’t put your home address, social security number, driver’s or professional license numbers, or family information in your profile. Restrict contact information to your phone number and e-mail, and, if you have one, a post office box address.

Because her profile lists her #1 best-selling author status, Marcia has been contacted by a number of first-time authors to help them maximize their author revenues. Marcia enjoys helping authors look outside the traditional “box” and find multiple revenue channels, as well as helping authors to become #1 Bestsellers.

Marcia and Carol both invite you to look at their profiles. We have taken the time to fully maximize our LinkedIn profiles and they are powerfully effective. We do get asked why LinkedIn is valuable and why put the effort into your profile. And we get inquiries about our services. So should you have a great LinkedIn profile that gets results with Inbound Marketing? Yes, these are a few reasons:

It has millions of members
It shows up at the top of Google searches when people are researching you
It’s the ultimate personal branding platform

With the right profile powerfully written and positioned, LinkedIn is a revenue-generating, social media money maker!

Just like we have helped so many professionals turn their profile into a powerhouse pillar of their brand, we would like to help you, too. In order to work with us privately, email us to inquire if we would be a good match to help you. Since we want to develop a better profile to help you get the results you want, we are offering to revise your LinkedIn profile summary. In addition, you will receive tips for making the rest of your profile effective. Be sure to take advantage of this special offer by June 10 during our Spring Sale. Mention this post to receive our special price. Don’t delay; your LinkedIn brand has never been more valuable to achieve the results of your dreams. #speaker #coach #No1BestSellingAuthor #relationshipmarketing #LinkedIn #MarciaReece #CarolNaff #WaysToBeFound #Marketing #LeadGeneration #LinkedInTips #WOWFactor #LinkedInProfile #SpecialOffer #InboundMarketing

marciaok@yahoo.com

carolnaff@comcast.net

Carol Naff is a Professional Coach, a Certified Email Marketing Strategist, and expert in creative marketing and business development. She founded Mariner Company in 2000, a coaching and consulting business with more than 15 years prior experience in developing marketing strategies for creative business owners to get more clients and how to come in #1 in your job search. MarinerCo.com. Follow my blog at CarolNaff.me Complete the business and job search assessment to help you identify what you need to succeed at Marinerco.com

How to be Wildly Successful with Inbound Marketing

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Carol Naff

By Marcia Reece and Carol Naff What an exhausting frenzy when business owners try to do everything to attract new clients and customers. They run all over town networking and meeting new people. They participate in trade shows and join organizations. They think they need to meet three new people each and every day. Regretfully, […]

via How to be Wildly Successful with Inbound Marketing — marciaok

Are You Ready to Create Outrageous Results?

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Carol Naff

Do you know exactly what you need to do to create outrageous results in every area of your life? Are you doing it?

Actually, I’ve discovered 5 secrets to success that you might want to implement. 0c56b92b-e375-462c-95f1-ec108241156e

Write It Down or Kiss It Goodbye.

Quite a number of years ago, I actually didn’t believe in goals. As a matter of fact, I didn’t have any goals. I just went about my business and made decisions as they came. Then everything changed. I took a goal-setting class at the insistence of my hubby. There I saw the magic that goal setting can achieve. During the class, I was forced to set a goal and write a date when it would be completed. I wrote the goal and the date on a slip of paper and tucked it away. I quietly worked on that goal and when I achieved it, I pulled out that piece of paper. What a surprise when I accomplished that goal on the exact date that I wrote on that slip describing my goal.

Learning this valuable lesson, I continued to set goals and enjoyed many achievements. (See LinkedIn for details.) I’ve had the privilege to serve on a number of National Boards, awarded an Emmy, traveled to many countries and most states in the U.S., stood out from the crowd to come in #1 in job searches, and developed my skills to help many business owners with their goals to success and job seekers to get hired.

Avoid Mistakes.

High achievers (in any field) who have coaches always achieve more than those who don’t. As a matter of fact, people working with a coach avoid many mistakes that cost time and money. Observe anyone at the top of their game and the results will be the same – they’ve all had valuable guidance and direction, and more often than not, it comes in the form of a coach.

Be Proactive and Productive

If your marketing plan is not delivering results, you need to revise it so you have a clear path and plan. Many business owners love what they do and hate marketing. They hate marketing because they are disappointed in the results. Save time and money with the correct marketing/business plan.

Identify Your Best Niche.

Do you often you chase people who are not your best prospects? You do not have enough time, money, nor energy to market to everyone. Finding your perfect audience will guarantee that you reach the people who can’t wait to buy from you. Yes, those prospects who want your expertise to help them avoid mistakes. Yes, those prospects who are ready to go to the next level.

Attract New Clients.

Learn about the likability factor. Are you a positive light in the lives of others? Tim Sanders suggests in his book, The Likeability Factor, that if we want to garner support from our associates, earn the loyalty of our employees, lead our followers to a better future, be healthy, and finally achieve our life’s dreams, we must first be liked. AND use Bob Burg’s advice about GIVING detailed in his book, The Go Giver. We learn that changing our focus from getting to giving—putting others’ interests first and continually adding value to their lives—ultimately leads to unexpected returns.

Bob Burg writes about The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success
1. The Law of Value

Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than take in payment
2. The Law of Compensation – Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them

3. The Law of Influence – Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first

4. The Law of Authenticity – The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself

5. The Law of Receptivity – The key to effective giving is staying open to receiving

He continues to write, “What you focus on is what you get: ‘Go looking for conflict, and you’ll find it. Go looking for people to take advantage of you, and they generally will. See the world as a dog-eat-dog place, and you’ll always find a bigger dog looking at you as if you’re his next meal. Go looking for the best in people, and you’ll be amazed at how much talent, ingenuity, empathy, and good will you’ll find. Ultimately, the world treats you more or less the way you expect to be treated.’”

Can you imagine what you could accomplish working with your own marketing/business coach? Are you ready to create outrageous results? AND in less time? Visit MarinerCo.com for a business assessment to determine where you need to improve.

“Of all the things successful people do to accelerate their trip down the path to success, participating in some kind of coaching program is at the top of the list. A coach will help you clarify your vision and goals, support you through your fears, keep you focused, confront your unconscious behaviors and old patterns, expect you to do your best, help you live by your values, show you how to earn more while working less, and keep you focused on your core genius.” Jack Canfield.

The 5 Jobs Robots Will Take Last

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Carol Naff

Make no mistake: at some level, every job can (and will) be done by machine. It is not a question of if; it is just a question of when. Let’s have a look at the 5 jobs robots will take last. by Shelly Palmer

The Most Expensive Strategies

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Carol Naff

The biggest difference between what you have now and your vision of what you want to have happen is time AND the right strategies. Of course, there are some really dumb ideas that don’t manage to take off and become successful. But generally, what stops you is time and an individualized plan with the strategies/tactics that work. Think about all those great ideas that were lost because they didn’t result in success.

Most expensive strategy

Recently, John Assaraf said that the most expensive strategy for building your business is doing it yourself. It will take that much more time to accomplish your goals. You’ll make the same mistakes that have been made by many, many other business owners. It costs you lost revenue when you don’t work with someone who can guide you to find the right strategies for your business. It all may be lost to time.

There’s no shortage of opportunities including a favorable time for dramatic growth. Never blame anything or anyone. Look at what you are doing and think bigger to achieve your vision.

Of course, first, you’ll have to find a way to identify those opportunities. Next, you’ll need to develop a strategic plan to exploit them. And then there’s the ongoing task of managing your new program to reach your new goals.

It’s a real challenge. No doubt about it. Imagine being able to shorten that list of things to do and reach your goal more quickly. Yes, Mariner Company is accepting new clients and rewards referrals.

According to the SBA, it often takes business owners three years to start up a business and get it to a point where it’s producing income. Imagine taking the shortcuts and knowing exactly what tactics will produce those big results. Imagine learning what to eliminate. Those are the wasters of time, money, and energy that produce little or no results.

Strategy: So get motivated for a fresh start, a new beginning, and a whole new reinvention of your life to change the results and gain success.

“Be a Leader. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.” Dale Carnegie

Are you ready to tap the magic of 26-hour days?

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Carol Naff

During a virtual seminar that I taught with 20 small business owners attending, we discovered the secrets to creating more time and balance in work and home life. We identified feeling overwhelmed about having too many things to do, constantly put out fires where other people decide what we do, and spending all their time on business and taking little time for fun.

According to Small Business Trends, business owners identified TIME as one of their biggest problems.

Few seem to have enough of it, even if they are working 60 hours a week or more. After working long hours for years, they begin to feel they have become a slave to their business … that it is running them rather than they running it.

If you are working more hours than you want and not feeling like it is getting any better, then consider some changes. What if you could initiate the 26-hour day?

Let’s not stop there. Why wish for only two more hours? Think bigger. Imagine having seven, 48-hour days each week. Would that make a difference in how you spend your time?

Carol Naff, Marketing Coach, taught that the first step is to think differently about time. What will it take to eliminate those days that are not productive? Eliminate those outside forces and external circumstances.

Become very clear about what needs to get done each day. Begin with the big picture of your vision and mission. Then write your plan of how to get there. Be certain to plan every 90 days and then continue to identify what strategies and tactics are most important and need to get done each week and each day. Choose to be responsible for how your day will go.

Then when you eliminate those days that are not productive, it’ll seem as though you have 48 hours in each day.

Strategy: Decide on only three things to do each week that will affect the impact on your vision the most. Identify your biggest problems in your business with this assessment at Marinerco.com

If you are not getting as much from life as you want to, then examine the state of your enthusiasm.
– Norman Vincent Peale

If you are self-employed and not talking to people, you are unemployed.

Kidding Around – Are you ready to have fun?

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Carol Naff

How quickly we lose the simple pleasures of childhood.

Plan now to have a great time when the weather is perfect for outdoor activities. Make sure you accomplish all that you hope to do. Now is a good time to plan for some fun before summer gets away from you. Yes, schedule these activities on your calendar. We all need more childlike moments to balance our serious natures. This is the kind of carefree, timeless moment that children experience while having only one goal in mind ~~ FUN! How quickly we lose the simple pleasures of childhood….

In the spirit of lightening up, here are some ideas that might help you to reawaken that little kid in you.

Buy a giant pad of paper and some pastels and schedule a time to draw, using your fingers to smudge the colors together. Buy several cans of Play-Doh and keep them in your office. Create a new monster every week.
Spend an hour in the mountains noticing the height of the trees, the color of the grass, and the little pine cones, sticks, and rocks.
Close the shades, put on your favorite dance music and dance in your living room.
Get dirty. Go out and weed the yard, plant a tree, or simply dig holes in the dirt.
Visit a local toy store and spend some time picking out a favorite coloring book. Keep this book in your office and between your adult duties, steal some time each day to color.
Spend an hour sitting on the grass looking for a four-leaf clover.
Buy a hula-hoop and see if you can still swing it. Learn how if you never could.
Have a serious conversation with a dog.
Gather a group of friends for dinner and play musical chairs.
Grab a friend, buy a watermelon, and have a seed-spitting contest.
Buy a teddy bear and/or sleep with a stuffed animal.
Spend fifteen minutes mimicking your cat or dog.
Camp in the mountains and talk to the squirrels as the sun comes. Enjoy them as they throw pine cones at you and chatter away.

These are the kinds of things to create joy in your life. Do them for no other reason than to upset the apple cart of life and interfere with the rigidity of our daily lives.

Strategy: Create your JOY list of things you want to do for fun. What’s on your list for fun? Need more ideas?

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

How quickly we lose the simple pleasures of childhood.

Share this: