There is a lot of confusion out there on how to use Online Social Networking sites to make money.  Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve heard about the huge rise in popularity in social media and the inevitable rise of interest in how it can used to make money…and that’s where the problem comes in.

I had  a great discussion with one of my fellow PBCA coaches on a very specific example she saw in LinkedIn.  She happens to be in a LinkedIn group with a life coach who could use some pointers on online Social Media Marketing.  See below for details.

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photo by Harpersbizarre 

A few months ago I wrote about a fun story that Verne Milot shared with me on the importance of facing the tiger.  Verne is the owner of a coaching firm called Growth Associates in St. Catherine’s Canada (near Niagra) and a fellow coach in the PBCA.

Anyway, I recently had a chance to hear another great story from Verne – this time a case study about one of his clients and I thought he did a beautiful job illustrating a common problem business owners face and the innate value that a business coach can bring you.

The client in this case study owned a horse stable operation and although they were doing okay, they wanted to grow their revenue substantially and they were ready to try something different.  So they ended up getting in touch with Verne and he agreed to help them out.

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photo by wili hybrid 

There are times when we make things harder than they have to be.

It can be really hard to grow your business – when you’re still in the first couple of years, not only are you doing all the work but you’re still going through a major learning curve.  When you’re more established you’re even busier doing the work and it’s likely that you’ve picked up some bad habits or you’re just exhausted from stress and working long hours.

Either way there are a lot of challenges, but at least a few of those challenges end up being self imposed.

Let me give you an example that came up during this morning’s peer group advisory board meeting.  The group is in the process of doing planning for 2009 and today one of my clients was presenting his marketing plan to the group.

Overall he did a great job pulling the plan together and he got a lot of good feedback and few ideas that he hadn’t previously considered but the most interesting part of the conversation was on 2 points in the plan that he was clearly conflicted on.

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Photo by Daexus 

I haven’t been able to play golf in a while (kids and a relatively new business tends to squeeze out your free time).  But I’ve played enough to recognize the one secret that all of the pros have that allows them to be great.  Without this trait, all the talent, brilliance, training or money in the world won’t allow them to compete at the highest level.

Oddly enough, that same trait is a major key for success when it comes to marketing your business as well.

In golf you might be on the 1st tee and hit a 300 yard drive right down the middle, but if you chunk your approach shot (chunk is my technical term for total a total mis-hit that results in a 10 yard dribble up the fairway), it’s pretty unlikely that you are going to make par.

A consistent swing that gives you expected repeatable results is the only way to score really low.

In marketing, you might go to a networking event and make 5 great contacts that could really help your business, but if you wait 2 weeks before calling them back, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to set up very many meetings or convert them to new clients.

A consistent approach in marketing that gives you expected repeatable results is the best way to have a winning business.

Obviously the key in both of these examples is consistency.  How can a consistent approach (or the lack of consistency) impact your business?  Read on.

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Photo by Flyfshrmn98 

One of the key things that can make the networking process much easier is developing and getting extremely comfortable with your elevator pitch.

An elevator pitch is a concise, focused and interesting description of who you are and what you do, imagine if you were riding on an elevator with your perfect business prospect and you had just a few seconds to get your most important points across.

The intention – just like a 30 second commercial on radio or TV is to pique interest, give them just enough to get a glimmer of something interesting…and nothing more. You want to engage your audience, give them an interesting overview of what you can do – and then promptly move on to talking about them.

You’re not trying to sell, you’re networking and the primary focus of networking is to establish a connection by focusing on the other person. However, even if you get the ball rolling by asking them questions, at some point they will ask you what you do. By having a response that you’re comfortable with and that is intriguing / not boring you can convey the important up front stuff, make an impression and go back to focusing on making a connection.

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