Business Essentials

Chris Do cut straight to the chase: It's not about flaunting your shiniest work; it's about mirroring back the client's needs in your service deck. Make it resonate, make it relevant.
Chris zeroed in on a game-changer: lean into agency gigs for that steady rhythm. And when it comes to upping your earnings game by half. Ditch the self-doubt, anchor in the facts, and sell your story with conviction. Shake up the status quo with a subscription model—keep clients hooked on the value you're serving up, show them progress they can't ignore.

Action Steps:

Lead Generation and Client Conversion Protocol:
1. Personalize your service and capabilities deck to reflect the client's specific needs.
2. Engage with clients by allowing them to ask questions and expect them to act on the advice given.
3. Shift focus from general teaching to providing specific advice, critique, feedback, and actionable plans.
4. Structure meetings more effectively, increase their frequency, and provide more access to mentorship.

Freelance Design Challenges and Agency Work:
1. Consider focusing on securing agency work to stabilize income.
2. Educate yourself on payment terms and the creative process to prevent misunderstandings.
3. Read "Exactly What to Say" by Phil Jones for effective client communication.

Instagram Growth and Lead Generation Strategy:
1. Apply the problem framework to identify and address issues with Instagram growth and DM requests.
2. Develop a consistent lead generation process to overcome growth plateaus.

Ambition, Mentorship, and Client Communication:
1. Set clear income goals and work towards them with a positive mindset.
2. Communicate transparently and honestly with clients, focusing on facts.
3. Aim to acquire new clients willing to commit to higher retainer fees.

Transitioning to Subscription Model:
1. Set a goal for the number of qualified leads needed based on your conversion rate.
2. Maintain a consistent, narrow positioning to attract the right clients.
3. Establish criteria for accepting work and refer smaller projects to the Jobs Board.

Project Budgeting and Subscription Models:
1. Understand the variables involved in project budgeting and commit to them.
2. Explore offering a subscription-based model to clients for regular updates and maintenance.

In-House Agency Financial Discussion:
1. Calculate the overhead costs of hiring an in-house agency and set appropriate retainer fees.
2. Cycle through clients and consider rate increases as your agency grows.

Sustainable Branding for Small Businesses:
1. Consider the role of a fractional Chief Brand Officer (CBO) to apply your skills strategically.
2. Focus on identifying and improving the client's highest priority needs.

Enhancing Conversations and Website Optimization:
1. Audit your website for visual presentation and copywriting.
2. Utilize tools like "Ok, orange" for website optimization.
3. Generate social media growth through video content and topical discussions.
4. Create lead magnets and establish thought leadership on platforms like LinkedIn.

Creative Agency Challenges and Improvement Ideas:
1. Explore AI tools like Dobot or Chat-GPT to understand and improve creative agency processes.
2. Share successful strategies, such as outbound lead generation plans, through webinars or other formats.

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Resources:

Dirtybandits.com

Exactly What to Say on Amazon

Phil M Jones

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"Exactly What to Say"
PDF Link

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"Time’s Up! Subscription Business" by Ronald J Baker

Amazon Link

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Ron Baker’s Content

Ron Baker’s Content

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Highlights:
Transitioning From Content Producer to Strategic Partner:
   - Focus on building trust with clients.
   - Understand clients' goals to provide valuable services.
   - Implement sales strategies by educating clients of the value of your product.
   - Identify and leverage compelling events in your sales approach.
   - Invest in content marketing, such as articles and videos, to attract clients.
   - Ensure online visibility and make products more exciting for clients.
   - Develop the skill of asking probing questions to understand client problems.
   - Relate clients' issues to the buyer's journey for a better understanding.
   - Gauge clients' pain points and their willingness to invest in solutions.
   - Strive to become a strategic advisor by understanding clients' business objectives.
   - Learn about decision-making processes in clients' businesses.
   - Position yourself as a valuable partner by facilitating strategic discussions.

Education vs. Simplicity in Business Success:

   - Assess if there's potential in simplifying your business model.
   - Innovate in teaching or duplicating successful approaches.
   - Reflect on motivations and tactics for financial success.
   - Focus on enhancing services and operations rather than adding complexity.
   - Simplify offers and ensure clear communication within the team.
   - Invest in marketing strategies to stand out in your category.

You may have heard the saying: "Walk-the-Walk". It usually means that a leader is setting a positive example for their employees or clients. In this Pro Group office hours, we will explore what it means to "Talk-the-Talk": how leaders effectively communicate with their peers, employees, and clients while setting a positive example. If you want to learn strategies to hold difficult conversations while not losing control of your emotions, then this office hours is for you! WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: A four-part technique called nonviolent communication that teaches you how to express your needs and feelings in a professional setting. HOW YOU WILL LEARN: We will use the nonviolent communication framework in role-playing scenarios with live interactions from Pro Group members.

Bring your work from the last three calls along with your questions for this focused AMA call.We'll be recapping your work from: User Personas Customer Journey Mapping Tiered Packaging

Now that you have a user persona built, it's time to go out there and build your project pipeline and keep clients coming back for more. In this call you'll focus on: Building awareness so leads know you exist Generating interest so you don't go ignored Increasing leads desire to work with you Converting prospects into clients Creating advocacy so your clients do your marketing for you

Let's get to know your ideal client. Like really get to know your ideal client so you can: Understand their business challenges and pain points Know their desired future state Understand where they're hanging out (so you can go find them) Know exactly what to say on your website and in your marketing materials so they feel like you're talking directly to themWe're going deep with this one. If you already have your user persona draft from the 0 to 30K call, bring it and get ready to revise as needed! Additional Resources: https://www.archetypesinbranding.com/ https://iconicfox.com.au/brand-archetypes/

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Building Effective Customer Personas

Purpose of Creating User Personas
- Create accurate profiles of target customer segments to deeply understand their needs, challenges, goals and pain points
- Tailor offerings, messaging and marketing to be highly relevant and valuable for specific personas  
- Gain insights on where to focus content, products and outreach for maximum impact

Step 1: Define Target Personas
- Segment customer base into relevant groups based on demographics, interests, behaviors
- Focus on defining 1-3 main personas to start - avoid spreading efforts too thin
- Create concise names and descriptions to represent each persona  

Step 2: Conduct Research on Personas
- Interview existing customers that fit each persona profile
- Ask open-ended questions to understand goals, challenges, typical days  
- Research jobs titles, industries to find pros/cons of their positions
- Cross-check data from multiple interviews to mitigate individual biases

Step 3: Map Persona Profiles
- Fill out template with persona details like demographics, education, goals
- But focus more on behavioral insights - what they do daily, where they spend time
- Note pain points, obstacles and how they currently try to solve those problems
- Skepticism can help avoid overly specific or unrealistic profiles

Step 4: Validate and Refine Personas
- Test personas by analyzing how well they reflect customer segments  
- Gather feedback from customers on how accurately personas represent them
- Refine profiles based on new research and insights over time as needed

Actionable Customer Persona Framework
Here is a step-by-step framework for creating an effective customer persona:

1. Define target customer segment(s)
2. Conduct research on customers through interviews
3. Synthesize research findings into persona profiles  
4. Validate profiles represent true customer needs and pain points
5. Refine personas regularly based on additional customer insights
6. Leverage personas to guide product development and marketing

This creates personas through in-depth customer understanding, then tests and evolves them to most accurately represent the target segments.

Applying Personas to Strategy and Operations
- Use personas when writing messaging, website copy and ads  
- Align offers, features and pricing to solving persona pain points
- Personas can guide roadmaps by prioritizing initiatives for target customers  
- Share personas across teams to keep strategy focused on customer value
- Revisit profiles frequently as customers and industries change over time

Crafting Customer-Centric Focus (3-5 Action Steps)
1. Schedule customer interviews to gain insights about top personas
2. Synthesize research findings into initial persona profiles
3. Test profiles by sharing with customers for feedback  
4. Revise profiles based on new customer understanding
5. Use personas to audit marketing strategy and product roadmap

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"This final call is all about ways to work smarter, not harder within your business. The Goal for Pt.3: Lead Generation Building Authority Scaling Feedback"

"Turn your uncertainty into success. It doesn't matter where you're starting from, how much money you don't have, or where you live. You can create a successful business doing work you love using the step-by-step process Chris is sharing in this training series. The Goals: Getting to your $5K offer Sales Objections Customer Journey Mapping Prioritization Sales page"

"A step-by-step process for scaling your business from zero. Forget figuring it out on your own. All you need to do is follow Chris’s framework. In this live series you’ll learn how to: Improve you core offer Land your first client Grow from one client to many Make more money through better pricing"

Top takeaways: You need to be able to validate your price, especially by others in the marketplace. Where do you fit in the marketplace? Is there something unique about this service? So you need to at the very beginning, have some comparables. When the value exceeds the price, people buy. Price will seem lopsided relative to the perceived value, and you can work on these on both ends of the spectrum meaning, make sure of your value. The proposition is clear. The way that you do that is, you speak the benefits to the client. Instead of becoming a problem solver, you need to become a problem-seeker.

Some things to think about ahead of our call (pre-work): Design 3 price tiers for your business. What is the DIY, low cost option? This could be a template, e-book, low cost resource, diagnostic, audit, etc… What is the DWY, done with you option? This is what you'd really like clients to buy. What is the DFY, done for you option (white glove)? If money were no object, what could the ultimate experience be like when working with you? Design your offerings so that people are most likely to pick the middle option. For reference, scroll down the The Futur Pro Group pricing options to see how we've done it. https://thefutur.com/pro-group

Value proposition design is quite simply the benefits others can expect from your products and services, now the mistake that we make oftentimes is we talk about what we do. And the audience or the customer is left wondering well what's in it for me man. In this Pro Call, we'll show you how to overcome this.

The Greatest Predictor of Results - Just Do the Work

We'll show you how to generate $100K. To get there, you must first train your mind. You'll also need to know how to achieve it using a strategy. We'll break this all down into actionable steps.