Leadership Skills Training Expert Debbra Sweet Speaks on Growing Business by Referrals

This Thursday, February 5th, Debbra Sweet will be one of the featured speakers at the upcoming BNI San Diego Event in recognition of International Networking Week 2015.

Yesterday kicked off the 2015 International Networking Week, filled with events taking place globally to recognize the impact that word of mouth networking (referrals) has had in the business community.

Part of that global celebration includes a local event taking place Thursday, February 5th from 11:30 am until 5 pm at the Handlery Hotel in Mission Valley, hosted by BNI San Diego.

Debbra Sweet, a leadership expert, who specializes in change management in the areas of body, mind and business, was invited to speak on the topic of the ‘Growing Your Team” as part of the event.

Sweet has developed a reputation as a leader who not only teaches, trains, coaches and consults on the subjects of leadership, business, marketing, sales and wellness- but she is one whose peers confidently share “She lives it.”

Those who have been clients, students or attendees at any of Sweet’s events say: “There are people talk about doing things. Then are people who do. Debbra is a doer. What she says she’ll do, she delivers150%”.

Others declare: “She has the ability to engage you from the beginning with confidence and comfort. You know standing before you is someone who will lead and who truly cares about you, your success and your results”.

Sweet is has been a Director Consultant for the local BNI region for 10 years, and has been involved with this organization for close to 18. She is a Certified Trainer in Word of Mouth Marketing and will be delivering a workshop designed to teach attendees on how to effectively grow their networking team, contact sphere and client base through a strategic approach that leverages time and delivers results.

This is a day of interactive attendee participation workshops featuring the topics of:

• Embrace Quality
• Grow Your Team
• Seek Engagement

Dr. Ivan Misner, founder & BNI Chairman of Board will open the session via webcam. He will address “3+1 = Member Success”, and will be taking personal questions from the attendees.

A successful business owner of a few different companies, Debbra Sweet is located in San Diego County. She is also a best selling co-author of the New York Times Best Seller “Masters of Sales” and the lead author in the “Power of Leadership” book series

Sweet specializes in working with business owners and executives. At Sweet Marketing Solutions she helps them increase their profitability through planned, targeted, effective marketing. At Thrive Right Consulting, she works with individuals, companies and organizations to help them create a solid foundation to Thrive in body, mind and business.

If you have a simple or complex problem that requires high-level thinking, Debbra has the insights, skills, attention to details and resources to provide solid solutions.
She’s ready to dig deeply into a problem or situation, sorting through the variables and nuances. Then she takes the time needed to figure out a solution. When she presents solutions and options, it will be carefully considered and presented in a rich, dynamic way with substantial content.

For more information on Debbra Sweet go to: www.DebbraSweet.com

Business Breakfast Club- I get to Speak on Power of Leadership Tomorrow.

 Join Me Tomorrow as I take business owners and professionals in the Vista area as we start the upcoming 4 month series going through the Power of Leadership in Business Networking book.

This series of meetings is brought to you by the Vista Chamber of Commerce.

I am honored for the opportunity to do this. 🙂

Business Breakfast Club

Date: September 2, 2011 Time: 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM

 Event Description

Join us on Friday September 2nd for our Business Breakfast Club.  The Business Breakfast Club will be a Networking group that promotes, teaches, shares and practices “best practices” in Business.  Debbra Sweet, author of “Leadership in Networking” will be the guest facilitator/teacher.  The Business Breakfast Club will meet every other Friday at 7:30 a.m. at the Sunrise Cafe in Vista.

For more info about the Power of Leadership Books click here.

What you need to know about the Thyroid and Nuclear Fallout

For those of you who know me,   I am not one to create drama. However- in this case, situations in the world are changing and this is an unusual circumstance  that many of us here may be affected by.  We don’t have control over the weather conditions from the other side of the world, or their ravages that are impacting many… but we do have control over how we take care of ourselves.

In this instance, I feel a little education will go a long way to give you a choice and options should you choose to be proactive to nourish and protector body as best as possible.

With the ongoing news, and increasing concerns about more nuclear explosions in Japan due to the recent tsunami- for those who want to take some protective measures to strengthen your body-and more importantly, do what you can to protect your thyroid, here’s a bit more information for you.

Seems that the first part of our body to be affected by nuclear fallout is the thyroid gland.

Depending upon your current state of health, you may need to strengthen your thyroid, or in some cases activate it.  Here are two products from Nature’s Sunshine can help you with that:

Thyroid Support

Thyroid Activator

The bigger concern, though is how to protect the thyroid from being ‘filled up’ with nuclear waste. The thyroid needs iodine. Iodine is found in abundance in seaweed, kelp, cod, along with a handful of other fishes.

How to protect your thyroid from the possible nuclear fallout coming our way

Nature’s Sunshine has available high-quality kelp, fish oils, and a product called Algin.

Algin is made from a brown seaweed. It is mucilaginous and bulking. That means it gets slippery inside of you, and it has a high fiber content so it bulks up inside your belly. The good part about this is that it coats the inside of your digestive system, and the bulk fiber helps to have more frequent healthy bowel movements.

Algae and other seaweed is exceptionally nutritious. It contains carbohydrates, oils, proteins, vitamins, trace elements, minerals and fibers in balanced proportions.

It is especially well known for it’s high levels of minerals (salts) and trace elements (metals), which are highly beneficial to human beings.

Algin is often used in food and pharmaceutical preparations. Algin offers especially good protection from many kinds of modern day pollutants, carcinogens, and toxins.

Algin prevents living tissue from absorbing radioactive materials. Algin also encourages the action of dietary fiber, by supplying nutrients, and by normalizing bowel functions.

Seaweed has been used as food by both humans and animals for thousands of years. Today, it is eaten in many Asian countries as a vegetable but when the knowledge of it’s high food value spreads to the western world many people have begun eating algae in tablet form.

Alginates have been widely used as food additives and in the cosmetic industry.

If you have any questions about this post, or like assistance in place in order, feel free to contact me.

My heart and intention with this post is to educate you- to help remove fears or concerns you may have.  God always provides an answer if we look, listen and take action.

May you be blessed in your day & steadfast in your walk.

Debbra Sweet

Health Coach

Certified Herb Specialist & Action Leadership Coach

Aglin RECOMMENDED DOSAGE:

Take two capsules three times daily between meals. Drink two glasses of juice with each serving. Any type of 100% juice will do. Juice should be taken with algin as it causes the algin to gel in the body and the acidity of juice helps breakdown the algin for assimilation. Remember, TWO glasses of juice with each dose.

INGREDIENTS:

Amount Per 2 Capsules: Sodium Alginate (from brown seaweed) 950 mg*

If you have any questions about this post, or like assistance in place in order, feel free to contact me.

*Daily Value not established

Other Ingredients: Gelatin, and water.

Notes: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

©2002 Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc., Specialists Since 1972
Product of U.S.A.

 

Keynote Speaker Debbra Sweet is the Voice of Power of Leadership on the Brian Britt Radio Show

Tuesday February 8, 2011 The voice of Power of Leadership, founder of Sweet Marketing Solutions, keynote speaker and New York Times best selling author, Debbra Sweet hit San Diego’s airwaves on the Brian Britt radio show.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Feb 13, 2011 – Debbra Sweet is no stranger behind a microphone. In fact, her years of experience as a music performance major, professional speaker and radio show host clearly comes through when she’s live on air speaking about subjects she is passionate about.  On Tuesday, February 8, 2011, Debbra joined San Diego radio show host Brian Britt, on his new show called More Than Just About the Money.

The Brian Britt Show: More than Just About the Money is a show whose promise to listeners is to enlighten, educate, and deliver high value content on wealth creation. One distinct aspect about this show is that it’s not just about the money.

Wealth is a very wide subject-and most people only focus on the financial side. Although that is a key component when talking about personal wealth Brian believes
that the most successful and wealthiest people have a knowledge base and understanding that allows for work life balance.

There needs to be balance and wealth in the area of health, thinking, leadership, spirituality, business management, communication, effective marketing, family, and leisure time.

Debbra Sweet is a multifaceted entrepreneur who is known for being the founder of the national integrated marketing communications firm, located in San Diego, as well as being one of the lead authors in the Power of Leadership books as well as being the voice of the Power of Leadership radio.

Brian talks with local author and speaker Debbra Sweet about her Power of Leadership book series. Learn how networking with a plan can produce results and bring business to your company. Find out how Debbra helps her clients gain visibility, credibility and profit.

Brian and Debbra focused this show around one of the books in the power of leadership series called “The Power of Leadership in Business Networking.”  This is book 4 in a series of 12 written by Debbra Sweet and her husband Daniel Sweet. “The Power of Leadership in Business Networking.” is a book filled with experiential insight not only on leadership as well as networking for the sake of doing business… but most importantly, the book teaches the reader how to be a leader when networking. This revolutionary concept has been helping business professionals around the world understand many of the nuances that a leader needs to address in every element of networking.

Sweet also shares on the show with Brian that her belief in leadership is a bit controversial. Never one to shy away from asking tough questions, or taking an uncomfortable position on things-when it comes to the age old question of whether readers are born or whether they are made, the majority of people take the position that leaders are made. Sweet takes the position that leaders are born. On the show, she reveals why and then continues to deliver important insights to the listening audience on how they too can become empowered and be a leader today that truly does deliver results.

This show originally aired on WSRadio.com and can be heard in archives by searching for the Brian Britt radio show.

For more information on Debbra Sweet, the Power of Leadership books, or Sweet Marketing Solutions go to: http://www.DebbraSweet.com

Niche Marketing Consultant Debbra Sweet Wins Award for Leading Businesses to Close Millions in 2010

On Friday, February 7, 2011 San Diego marketing consultant Debbra Sweet received an award in recognition for her leadership and high skill set for mentoring, teaching, and supporting entrepreneurs within local chapters of BNI.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Feb 12, 2011 – Debbra Sweet is the founder of Sweet Marketing Solutions, an integrated marketing communications firm headquartered in San Diego.  Sweet Marketing Solutions specializes in the development and implementation of business systems and niche marketing plans for service oriented companies.

The daughter of entrepreneurs Sweet is no stranger to the unique challenges that come along with entrepreneurship.  She credits her success and ability to coach, mentor, train and lead business owners on how to achieve ROI through effective marketing to the fact that she has been surrounded in the business climate her whole life.

Taking on the spirit and excitement of owning a business at an early age, Debbra Sweet brings a unique perspective to leadership and marketing. People who know her realize very quickly that she leads with confidence, a vision for success and a can-do attitude. When it comes to setting high goals and working towards achieving them, Sweet is not afraid to set the vision a bit out of the comfort zone.

The local businesses that Sweet oversees within the San Diego BNI organization speak well of her and her willingness to stretch them to achieve what they call “outrageous goals”.   They say “With Debbra you always know where you stand. She’s not afraid to give a straight talk, but it’s done with respect and humility. She leads by example and will stand firm on keeping us accountable to the goals we set. In fact, this is one of the reasons why we’ve been able to consistently millions of dollars of business for each other in one of the worst economic times in this century.”

Debbra draws from her extensive background in sales, marketing and advertising, promotions working for large corporations as well as family owned businesses to lead and guide others to success. She has a keen ability for big picture thinking, detailed planning, and out of the box creativity.

Her hands on experience as a top producing employee in her early years in cities that were cultural melting pots, and successfully building her own businesses since 1991,
Sweet works effectively with a wide variety of businesses and people who bring diversity of backgrounds along with various levels of business acumen.

Sweet attributes the results she generates for clients as well as the San Diego BNI members she leads to the fact that she genuinely cares about helping other people and businesses succeed. She says that her willingness to serve others and do what she can to help them achieve long-term growth is motivated by the joy she feels when she witnesses that ‘a-ha moment of recognition and belief’ a person has when they realize someone is there to stand with them through thick or thin.

As lead marketing consultant at Sweet Marketing Solutions, Debbra works with entrepreneurs all over the country. As an integrated marketing firm, Sweet Marketing Solutions develops strategic marketing plans for businesses that are committed to growth.
Blending effective online and off-line marketing to create an integrated approach for short-term and long-term results, Sweet has always been a believer in the power of word of mouth marketing when it is done correctly as part of a successful business marketing plan.

BNI is the world’s largest professional networking organization. On a weekly basis, members gather together in chapters around the world for the sole purpose of generating referrals that should lead to close business for one another.   BNI is the largest and strongest organization of its type. It is well known that the reason it has been successful is due to the fact that within the organization, members receive college level education in the development of the skill sets needed to the effectively network.

Debbra has been a member of BNI since 1997. She took on a roll as a director within the San Diego area almost 6 years ago.  As a director Sweet is one of the local trainers and is certified to teach word-of-mouth marketing. She oversees seven of the 37 chapters in the San Diego region. The award she received was due to the fact that her seven chapters of entrepreneurs closed over $7.5 million in business for one another in 2010.

Her leadership skills, training, and mentoring her chapters also gained her recognition for having the top three producing chapters in the San Diego region. When you take into consideration that business by referral is not a get rich quick overnight way to build a business, those millions represent more than just closed dollars.  They represent a lot of time, dedication and high commitment to achieving success for one another.

For more information on Debbra Sweet and Sweet Marketing Solutions see: http://www.sweetmarketingsolutions.com

Sweet Marketing Solutions brings you to Get Motivated Seminar

For all of our Target Market Class Attendees:

As a Thank You for being part of this classroom workshop, Sweet Marketing Solutions has a special gift for you. At the end of the class, you will receive a ticket to the Upcoming ‘GET MOTIVATED’ event taking place at the Valley View Sports Arena in San Diego.

You will receive a complimentary $39 Executive Seating Ticket for the GET MOTIVATED seminar on March 8th, 2011!

What is The GET MOTIVATED Seminar?

The GET MOTIVATED! Seminar is America’s #1 Business Seminar, highly acclaimed by CNN, 60 Minutes, 20/20, TIME magazine, PEOPLE magazine and every major newspaper from coast to coast. This one-day blockbuster seminar will give you ground-breaking strategies to sharpen your business skills, ignite your motivation, accelerate your effectiveness and increase your income! Millions of people attend our events with one good reason: there is nothing like it anywhere!

The GET MOTIVATED Seminar is an action-packed, fun-filled, explosive, exciting, inspiring, skill-building business event that is world famous for its mega-watt superstar speakers and spectacular stage production. This blockbuster one-day seminar will give you proven strategies to sharpen your business skills, ignite your motivation, accelerate your effectiveness and increase your income!

Only the BEST of the BEST appear on our stage! Dazzling pyrotechnics, live music and stunning special effects set the stage for our superstar speakers who deliver riveting presentations packed with cutting-edge skills for success.

Speakers coming to the GET MOTIVATED event include:

Bill Cosby,

Joe Montana,

Steve Forbes; President and CEO of Forbes, Inc.,

General Colin Powell,

Rudy Giuliani,

Howard Putnam; Acclaimed CEO of Southwest Airlines

Lou Holtz; Renowned Notre Dame Head Coach

and more!

The GET MOTIVATED Seminar will give you and your team the latest and greatest information in the arenas of time management, leadership, goal achievement, sales training, negotiation, finances, investing, relationships, health, spiritual success, business strategies, motivation, communication skills and much more!

What Will You Learn?

Business leaders, Fortune 500 companies, educators, business owners, salespeople, medical professionals, and people from every walk of life have rely on the GET MOTIVATED Seminar as their tool to recharge. The topics we cover include time management, team building, leadership, personal development, goal achievement, sales training, negotiation skills, financial management, investing, relationships, health and fitness, spiritual success, business strategies, motivation, customer service, communication skills, productivity, and much, much more!

Attending the GET MOTIVATED Seminar is one of the best career moves you could ever make! At The GET MOTIVATED Seminar you will gain amazing new skills that will change your life!

• How to be Better, Faster, and Different than Your Competition
• The Top 3 Skills High Achievers Must Master
• 7 Ways to Keep Your Customers Coming Back for Life
• Steps to Becoming a Stronger, More Strategic Decision-Maker
• How to Master the Art of Effective Leadership
• Salesperson to Superstar Using the “Slight-Edge Principle”
• 6 “KNOWS” to Get the “YES”
• The 8 Keys to Communication– and Captivating Public Speaking
• How to Turn Irate Customers into Lifelong Fans
• 5 Easy Ways to Deal with Difficult People
• Power Motivators! What to do When You Don’t Want to do Anything
• 6 Ways to Increase Your Effectiveness
• How to Gain Rapport With Anyone Instantly
• How to Add Fun to the Workplace
• 2 Things You Can Do To “Buy Time” in a Crisis
• 4 Keys to Getting the Edge in Every Negotiation
• How to Get Your Ideas Accepted, Acted Upon and Accomplished
• The Time Management Secrets of High Achievers
• Expert Listening Skills: How to Hear What They’re NOT Saying
• How to Create an “Information Loop” that Puts You in the Know
• Effective Meetings that aren’t Boring Time-Wasters
• How to Hire and Keep Your Employee Dream Team
• 5 Mental Exercises that Give You a Winning Edge
• The Working Person’s Guide to Peak Energy and Performance
• How to Eliminate Needless Interruptions
• 10 Tools to Make and Manage Your Money
• Strategic Steps for Planning a Comfortable Retirement
• What Most Investors Don’t Know About Investing
• 7 Things You Need to Do to Secure Your Family’s Financial Future
• 3 Ways to Consistently Outperform the Market
• How to Draft a Clear, Concise Blueprint for Success

This is just a small sample of the kinds of things you will learn and the benefits you will receive by attending The GET MOTIVATED Seminar!

Here’s to seeing you at the Target Markets Class- and the GET MOTIVATED event!

Debbra Sweet

 

Courting Your Customers: Are you in it for the long haul or just a one night stand?

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner you probably are already hearing a lot of the words “love, dating, romance, nurture”… and “commitment” being used.

If you are one of those people that fears the word commitment the info that I’m sharing today, may make you squeamish, but if you are going to be in business for the long haul…read on.

When it comes to marketing your business- are you courting your customers for the long-term or are you simply looking for the one night stand?

In our current economic climate, companies need to innovate and not hesitate to use highly targeted marking techniques to invigorate your life’s blood: consumer relationships.  Using the old “spray and pray” approach and expecting sales to be pulled out – doesn’t work like it used to.

It takes times for a relationship to develop.  It takes time for people to come to trust you. Customers today are smart and savvy. If you are only out for a one night-stand, looking for a good time with no follow through- you make not get to score and close the sale.

Consumers are more savvy and selective than anytime in history.

Your marketing needs to set the stage for the experience they want… before they buy.

Gone are the days of past where you could ‘get in and get out. Now- your marketing needs to address the lengthy sales cycle and consumer driven market answering the consumer’s question “What’s in it for me?”

You need to nurture and make them feel comfortable about you! You need to give them an experience up front and then invite them back to do it again.

You need to be committed to courting them for the long haul.

So how do you do that, and run your business too?

1. Have a  plan
2. Have a manageable budget
3. Be consistent

Bonus: Get marketing help when you need it.
In this new economy, your marketing efforts and outreach should increase about 4 times! You need to have effective marketing online and offline. It needs to be consistent, of high value-and work together to create the ultimate romance between you and your customers.

We are seeing trends that more customers are spending more money now than they have in the past couple years. This is the time to position yourself as THE go to business in your area.

If you need new business- increasing your effective online presence is key.

If you can’t take on new business- it’s important to romance and nurture the clients you already have.

 

Our marketing firm has specialized in integrated marketing since day one.  This is now the ‘new trend’.

 

If you are ready to romance your customers and prospects- and want to make it simple and affordable- email me to set up a private call.Warning: there is a difference between ‘marketing’ and ‘EFFECTIVE Marketing’.  Many people out there today are posing as experts in marketing- promising to take you to the ‘top’.  Before you enter into a relationship with them- let’s talk.

Our clients are seeing real, trackable, amazing results.

 

 

Are you ready to do the same?

We look forward to talking to you soon,

Debbra Sweet & the Sweet Marketing Solutions Team

760-597-2790

www.DebbraSweet.com

www.SweetMarketingSolutions.com

Ethical Marketing- A topic for San Diego Radio Air Waves?

Last night I was talking to someone about the possibility of being back on San Diego radio as a co-host on a radio show. The topic of conversation about the purpose of the show is very interesting, and it has me thinking about the timing of this opportunity.

The host of the show is an advocate for people in the area of finance. He’s not a financial planner like many radio shows hosts are.  Instead, what he does is he works for people and he stands up for their rights to be treated fair and ethically when it comes to many areas of their money, income, finance, business and credit.

When we were talking about how I can possibly be a fit as a co-host of the show, we were looking at the different types of businesses that I do and the areas of expertise I offer.

The two key parts that I thought could be a fit if I were to go back on air would be in the areas:  of marketing and leadership.

Over the years, I have said often that sometimes my ethics and my morality(as two of my core values) are so strong that it actually  causes me to lose potential business opportunities.  We’ve kind of chuckled about this,  shrugged our shoulders,  then quickly dismissed the thought of being anything other than ethical or having integrity in our business practices. Those two core values are simply part of who I am and how I am hardwired.  And it’s also reflected in all of the people that are part of the teams in my businesses.

For me the interesting side of the timing of this show host coming to me is that only, about three weeks ago, I was doing research looking to see if consumers or business owners were actually interested in an ethical marketing or in working with,  ethical leadership and business.

This research was prompted by a couple of weeks worth of phone calls to business owners at the end of this last year and early in the new year.  We talked to a large amount of businesses.  They were very interested in wanting to do marketing with us, especially online marketing, which is one of our specialties. But the common theme that kept being told to us was that “they were afraid to try anything new, because they had gotten burned by everyone else that came along”.

Over the last year, another thing that I had been seeing way too often with clients and potential clients were marketing contracts that were unbelievably vague and expensive. The companies  that were to provide the services simply would never be able to follow through, nor did they! Those so called ‘experts’ just took these business owners money and were o.k. with doing little to no work for it.

I helped many companies get out of costly contracts so that they could have cash flow to work with our company.  That’s really not part of my job. It’s just my heart.  By doing this, then they have funds for us to  provide them honest ethical, and most importantly effective marketing that actually help them make money.

So the tie-in to the possibility of being on the show is the perspective that evidently- as a marketing firm-Sweet Marketing Solutions has positioned itself to be more than just an integrated marketing company. We are in essence, an advocate for business owners in the area of marketing.

We always have been this way.  I can see from this perspective that what we advocate is ethicality in marketing and honest business practices. When we take on a client, if not for the short term.  It is for the long haul. We genuinely care and take a vested interest in our clients’ success. We don’t over promise but we do our best to over deliver.  In fact,  I’m pretty clear that it is one of the reasons most of our clients stay with us for so long.

I’m not afraid to have difficult conversations.  Sometimes I have to tell them (my clients and prospects) what they may not want to hear – but what’s in their best interest to hear about their ideas for marketing and promoting a business. These types of conversation- eye to eye, heart to heart- business owner to business owner- are part of what makes us different.  We’re real. We’re grounded.  We do what we say we are going to do. What we say we’re going to do- we can (and do) deliver.

So the big question on the table is:  if I go on the radio is ethical marketing or marketing that comes from ethical and value-based and integrity-based perspectives is that something that listeners in the San Diego area really wanted know about?

Is their pain point with spending wasted money on marketing enough?

Are they ready to find out what it’s like – to work with the company, who will deliver what it says and will work with an honest budget?

Personally, I like to believe that yes, there are many companies out there who would like this type of attention and care to help them grow their business. But I’m smart enough to know that before you can have an ethical business you have to have an ethical person who is involved in the decision-making process.

And that my friends’ is the subject for another day…

Debbra Sweet

7 Deadly Mistakes When Preparing for a Trade Show or Event- and How To Avoid Them.

Trade shows are back in swing- and having talked to some businesses that went up to the big electronics event in Vegas last week, the word on the street is- business is back.

Two to three years we saw a reduction in businesses who were using trade shows as a way to grow their business. Last year, Sweet Marketing Solutions helped more businesses get ready for success at shows.  January is the season where businesses plan or start preparing for taking their business to shows.

With that, I thought I would share an article I wrote a few years ago that gives valuable insights if you are going to participate in them this year. Whether you go to a show to walk it as an attendee- or if you want to have a booth as a vendor, this article gives valuable insight to help you maximize your time, effort and investment.

 

7 Deadly Mistakes When Preparing for a Trade Show or Event-and How To Avoid Them.
By Debbra Sweet July 05, 2007

Events take a lot of work to do, and for some people, they are the most effective way to market and promote their business.  For others, they can be very frustrating, and may seem counter productive.  If you’ve been a victim of trade show tragedy- here’s 7 deadly mistakes most people make when it comes to trade shows- and how avoiding them will make your next event more successful …

Deadly Mistake #1: Not having a plan

I put this first because it’s the biggest- and it is the foundation for your success.  Just like running your day to day business or marketing campaign, if you don’t have a plan for the results you want from the trade show or event- you can pretty much guarantee that your time will not be effective.

People attend and participate in events for different reasons.  What’s yours? Do you want to build name recognition, meet potential business contacts for referral business? Do you need a supplier or distribution source?  Are you focused on generating leads for your business- or can you even sell your product or service at the event?

Depending on the results you want, your desired effect starts with crafting a plan to get you from point A to point Z.

Deadly Mistake #2: Is the trade show/event right for you?

This may seem like a no-brainer question, but I work with many companies that want to participate in an event or trade show- but often, the events they’ve chosen will not have the right people attending that they should really be working with.

In other words, is the event you’ve decided to be at really your ideal client target audience?

What do I mean by ideal client?  I also refer to this as your best client.  Not all clients are a great fit for your company. Not all ideal clients fit into a specific target market either.  Do you know who yours are?  If not, how can you confidently know whether or not the people at the event you want to participate at are the right people for you to be talking to?

Deadly Mistake #3: Not giving enough time/ checking your details for the day of the event

Last minute planning can really add to the overall stress and expense of participating in events.   When we create any marketing piece or promotional product, a typical production time is at least 15 days- and that’s after all the art has been approved and before shipping time.

One of the simplest areas to adjust when planning for a trade show is just that. Give yourself time to plan.  Be sure to include extra time for any updates to your content, printing of paper materials and if you want to get very effective at trade shows with using promotional products- give your self plenty of time.  If you go the route of doing a complete custom made promotional product, you’ll want to budget at least 12 weeks in product development.  This planning can make a huge impact on your overall success. The more you become successful at planning the details of your event, the more you can plan on being successful while reducing your stress.

Deadly Mistake #4: Talking to everyone at the trade show

This mistake ties into deadly mistake number 2.  Once you’re at the right event, do you really need to speak with everyone?  If you’ve ever worked a booth before, you’ve probably had times when someone comes along and they seem to take up all your time- only it’s been evident that what they want to speak to you about, will lead to no business for you.  If the trade show is ‘slow’, a person like this could be a minor break in the moment- but what if it’s a busy show and you’re tied up talking to this person…when a major contact you really want to meet walks by- alone.  You just missed your opportunity.

How do you avoid this?  Is there a way to get the right people to come talk to you?   Yes.

To win the tradeshow war- you need to get the right people to your booth.

Sweet Marketing Solutions understands that there are more levels to marketing yourself at a trade show than just showing up and setting up a booth.  It starts with pre-trade show marketing. You don’t need to get everyone to come see you- just the right traffic to your booth. We can help you find creative, easy and inexpensive- yet very effective ways to get people to remember who you are.  And most importantly, we can set you up with the tools to quickly and effectively reach connect with those people you’ve just met at the trade show. With our experience, you have an opportunity to increase revenue dollars right away from your tradeshow experience.

Deadly Mistake #5: Not collecting vital info at the booth

It amazes me that people would participate in a trade show or event- but not want to use it as a way to collect data for developing contacts or leads. For some people, if they have the time and money to invest into a show where they are simply building their brand and creating a positive contribution to the overall event, then it’s a good fit.

For others, not collecting data to follow up on is a huge mistake.  This one area is critical in the success of the event.  If there’s no data to call- then how do you generate ROI?  If there’s no data to call – how will you know where your business comes from?

Data collection can be easy at a show.  It doesn’t have to be ‘aggressive’ or ‘’a hard sell’.  In fact, some of the most light hearted, attention getting ways of getting people’s information – can be the determining factor in marketing retention.  If your data collection idea is creative, people will be more likely to remember you when you do call.

Deadly Mistake #6: – Using cheap, commonly used hand outs

Did you know that there’s over 800,000 promotional items to have branded with your company name and contact information on it?  Yet, when it comes to hand outs, a huge mistake occurs when people settle for purchasing the same old, inexpensive promotional items.

How can you differentiate yourself if what you hand out is the same as everyone else’s?  Plan early and get creative because waiting to the last minute to order these products can add to the cost. We can help you find original ideas with promotional items that will reinforce your brand, keep you on budget and help your company gain exposure.

Deadly Mistake #7: No follow up

I saved this one for last because in my opinion, it’s the biggest – and if you’ve invested time and money to do a trade show- but never follow up- then you’ve missed the whole point.

We all have good intentions to follow up- but typically, the 80/20 rule applies here.  20% of the people who participate in a show will actually follow up. The other 80%- will let their good intentions be just that… intention.

All too frequently, once the trade show is over, those business cards get rubber banded together and they get set by the telephone- still with good intentions- to call those people within a very short period of time.

What usually happens though- is that our good intentions last for a few days.   Business and life get in the way- so all too often, we never actually get to calling anyone in that stack of business cards. Later, we might even put a label on it so that we can remember which tradeshow we met them at.  Then after a while, the stack of business cards with a rubber band and label that has moved into a drawer turn from hot leads to cold. Next, they typically find their way into the circular file (garbage can).

Don’t let this happen to your valuable leads!

If you want to avoid those common follow-up mistakes, call Sweet Marketing Solutions today and ask about our Connection Campaigns ™ tools.  This is a package of low cost, high impact, easy to use and most importantly- well received automated collection of marketing tools that will help you leverage your time and keep expenses to a minimum. The Connection Campaigns ™ marketing tools can be used before, during and after your event- and will help ensure you get results for your efforts.

 

To recap and help you avoid the common deadly mistakes at trade shows and events – ask yourself this:

1. What are you doing for pre trade show marketing?
2. What are you doing at the trade show to market and differentiate yourself?
3. What are you going to do to follow up with all the leads that you’ve just received at the trade show?

Contact Sweet Marketing Solutions today. Let us show you some of our creative yet very effective and inexpensive ways to get the right people to your tradeshow booth this year. You can knock your results out of the park.  You can get the results you looking for from the tradeshow- it just takes a little bit of planning in advance.

Sweet Marketing Solutions
1-888-SWEET-85
1-888-793-3885
support@sweetmarketingsolutions.com

Target Marketing: How to identify the right market to grow your business

You’ve heard the words “Target Markets” – but do you really understand what it means?

If you have ever been asked: “Who is your best target market?” and you didn’t know what to answer, this work shop is for you.

Competition in business is a cold reality… so how do you win the marketing war? The best way is to start out by identifying your best target markets and then focus your efforts with a great niche marketing strategy.

In this workshop,  your instructor, Debbra Sweet, will “pull back the curtain” revealing to you the secret insider information that the pros and big corporations use to make billions of dollars every year.

Learn how to create the barrel that all the fish are in so you can fish from your barrel anytime you want. You will be astounded at just how easy and inexpensive this process really is!

In this fun, focused, hands on classroom style workshop, Debbra will show you the steps you must take to define and reach your best target market on a limited budget- for online, offline and  word of mouth marketing.

Register today and reserve your seat. You will walk out of this workshop ready to apply the information you learn- and see your marketing results go up!

Who should attend:

Business Professionals that do word of mouth marketing

Businesses who advertise through direct mail, email or print media

Businesses who already are using social media- or who want to use social media

Businesses who need to increase marketing results

•	Learn secret insider information that the pros and big corporations use to make billions of dollars
•	How to use target marketing for planning your online and offline marketing strategies
•	Reach your best target market on a limited budget.

 

 

 

About the Instructor:

The founder of Sweet Marketing Solutions, Debbra Sweet specializes in working with business owners and executives to help them increase their bottom-line through planned, targeted, effective marketing. Her personal passion of “showing people there’s a better way to produce results” in marketing their business lays the foundation for the inspiring and motivating topics she speaks, writes and teaches on.

Always focusing on an end result, Debbra helps to streamline the vastness of marketing, sales and leadership so business owners can be comfortably involved when they are working towards achieving marketing growth goals. Her unique blend of understanding business systems, a great sense of value in client relationships and endless creativity are key elements that Sweet uses to deliver value packed information to audiences around the country.

Through her company, Sweet Marketing Solutions, she developed a revolutionary system called “Marketing Made Easy ™” – a home study course and training program designed to help start ups, small businesses or companies on a limited budget achieve great results with marketing.

For mid size companies, Debbra’s keen insights and experiences help deliver maximum results for more established companies that are ready to take on strategic growth through her CAN-DO™ Process. This process creates a laser focused strategic marketing plan designed to support business growth for the next three to five years for her clients.

Companies that want online results but do not have the time for the learning curve involved in Social Networking and Media benefit from the Web Marketing Done For You Program offered by Sweet Marketing Solutions.