Posted by Mike Bruno on Mon, May 10, 2010 @ 02:40 PM
I am a huge fan of Jeffrey Gitomer. Maybe its the Jersey roots or just the simple fact that his rants contain great sales techniques. If you know who he is, you know what I mean and if not, go to his website right away and check it out.
Today I stumbled upon his new sales software called Ace of Sales and decided to give it a whirl. Its simple to use and has some great features. As a person involved in sales and business development, I am always looking for effective tools that save time and help me build more relationships.
I work with a company called Blackwave Creative. We are a web solutions agency that provides graphic design, web development and internet marketing to help businesses succeed online. Although we have implemented all the best practices relating to website design, search engine optimization, inbound marketing, etc. I still need to interact with people from a basic relationship building level. So far, Ace of Sales seems like it may help me build those relationships and assist with our lead generation initiatives.
If you are a small business owner looking to build your sales pipeline try some new things. You never know what will help you gain that competitive advantage.
Posted by Mike Bruno on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 @ 08:14 PM
If your a contractor, I bet that finding new clients and squeezing some work from past customers are at the top of your priority list. One way to do achive that goal is to write a blog that reaches out and grabs their attention. For new clients you can write about topics such as: cost saving remodeling ideas, green remodeling or budget remodeling just to name a few. For past clients you can write about maintenance reminders or additional upgrades such as solar panels or repainting etc... Either way maintaining a blog is an effective way to get found on the internet and create a pipeline of potential leads.
Hubspot has designed a powerful software system that helps companies with internet marketing. Since blogging is one part of internet marketing, Hubspot does a great job of providing a methodology and a system that increases your chances of having a successful blog. In addition to blogging Hubspot is loaded with tools and features that help with all facets of getting found on the internet, capturing leads and nurturing those leads into clients.
If your like most contractors finding the time to blog maybe very difficult, so for those of you who need help hire a Hubspot Certifed Partner.
Posted by Mike Bruno on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 @ 01:22 PM
When building a house it all starts with a well designed and constructed foundation. From there all the other components are stacked one by one until a house is born. 
Think about what it would be like if the foundation was done incorrectly or didn't exist at all. What a hunk of garbage that house would be. I bet it wouldn't be something that would give you the results you need or desire. In fact it would be insane to even waste the money to build a house without a good foundation. Assuming you build a nice house on a good foundation what should you do next? You should maintain your house to get years and years of enjoyment. Imagine what your house would look like if you neglected it?
So let me ask you the next question. Why is it that so many companies build websites without a good foundation? And why is it that companies invest money in a well designed site but then don't maintain and improve it. Is there any difference between a house and a website when it comes to being built and maintained properly?
Although there are many different ways to construct a website one great way to start is by using Hubspot as the foundation. Although Hubspot is available in several versions the Small Business Version provides a content management system which serves as a great foundation for your internet marketing initiatives. The software provides the framework for a website that is search engine friendly, provides modules for building forms to capture leads and analytics to monitor how and where your traffic comes from. In addition there are many other tools that assist in making your website a lead generating machine.
Once your website is built on the content management system Hubspot provides a methodology for how to build off of that foundation and achieve Inbound Marketing Success. As a Hubspot Consultant we provide a variety of services relating to the design and maintenance of your website and help you navigate the world of internet marketing...
Posted by Mike Bruno on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 @ 10:55 AM
Why is it some business owners have no clue why they have a website or what it should do to help with lead generation? The not so funny thing about it is: most are so frustrated they don't even want to hear the answer? Well for those of you who are interested in the answer or for those of you who still don't care I will give you my unsolicited two cents anyway.
- Because no one took the time to explain that a website has much more to do with content built around a strategy then lots of pictures, logos and flash elements.
- Because for years they have been steered down the wrong path by web masters who don't have a clue why a website needs to be built properly for search engine optimization and internet marketing as a whole.
- Because analytics are typically not understood and not readily available. And if by some miricle there was analytics to be found no one knew how to read they or react to the results.
- Because it takes alot of time to manage your website, analytics and social media and most business owners lack the time.
- Because some people dont blog.
- Because forms are hard to build and configure
- Because some sites dont have compelling offers and landing pages.
- Because for years most industries enjoyed growth and profits in a booming economy and didnt think a website or blogging was important enough.
- There are many more reasons but the biggest secret of all is because hubspot didnt exist.
Please dont take this the wrong way I am not judging any business owner or web master. I was in my own way for years until I found out about a little (not so little anymore) company in Boston who wants to change the way companies think and react to inbound marketing. The best part is: hubspot's software is built to help you with all the pitfalls and provides you with a detailed methodology so you will never get lost again. 
And if you still dont have the time or the energy to get involved in internet marketing there is a solution for that too. You can hire a hubspot consultant who has been trained on the sofware and best practices.
Posted by Mike Bruno on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 @ 09:59 AM
I recently built a home office in my attic and moved my businesses from real office locations into the house. Now to be completely honest I still have a shared office with a communications firm so I am not exactly 100% working from home. However since I spend at least 50% of my time here I think I would be classifed as one.
Just so you understand my background-I started working at the age of 14 and started my first business at the age of 18. Since then I have been on my own, my own boss, my own problem for about 19 years now. When I started my first business I worked out of my parents house for years, dreaming of the big day I would have a "real" office. After about four years I finally ventured out and rented a small office about 15minutes from the house in a industrial park. That lasted for a year or so and I liked it but I am weird about my work stuff. I guess you can say I love to work and be surrounded by my business books, my idea files and my entrepreneurial projects. When I had moved the office out of the house I felt distant from "my stuff". I am also very organized so I like "my stuff" in one place if you know what I mean.
So eventually I bought my own house where once again I set up a home office. As my business grew I needed to hire more people and the home office just wasn't cutting it any more so once again I set up an outside office which is how I had been operating for the last 11 years. I found a way to bring my idea files and my business books home but it never felt the same, besides I was running a large company with allot of employees and didn't have time to think about the ideas, the planning and the entrepreneurial ideas like I once had.
So fast forward to today where I am sitting here on a Saturday writing this blog from my home office with the sound of my beautiful 8 month old baby girl downstairs in the back ground. Some of you may think that's the exact reason why you don't want a home office and if you asked me a year ago I would have said the same thing. But my life is different now, my attitude is different and my business experience tells me that you don't need a big flashy office to be successful. I now know success is how you define it and for me it means spending those precious moments with my daughter and two young sons when I want and when it matters most. Today I define my success as: being the best husband and father I can be and building and running sustainable businesses that I can run mostly from my home office.
I now run three businesses from my home office one of which is a
construction company, one is a
consulting company and one is top secret.
There are two other things I didn't mention-it has only been two weeks since I started working from home again and my wife just started a new job, so some days I play stay at home dad.
So I hope you will join me on my new journey as I look to build my future, my nest egg and to achieve my success as a homeprenuer. I will share the tools and the programs I use to stay efficient, stay connected, and hopefully build my fortune.
Please share your stories...
Posted by Mike Bruno on Sat, Dec 05, 2009 @ 08:44 AM
In 2009 running a small business the same old way just didn't cut it. For most, maintaining the growth experienced in recent years wasn't even on the radar. Survival became the main focus as discretionary spending disappeared, unemployment grew quarter after quarter and everything business owners thought they knew about running their businesses changed. The saying "Only the strong survive" is increasingly becoming more apparent as business bankruptcies are on the rise, employers continue to lay off workers and as a whole the small business community continues to struggle.
About twenty years ago when I was starting my first small business, I came across a saying "When the economy turns sour, create your own economy." For years I had the quote hanging in my office; however, it didn't have much impact on me until this year. I would say with confidence that the current economic climate is so sour that business owners need to think outside the box and look for new ways to create their own economy to survive.
So for the rest of 2009 start "Thinking outside the box" and develop a Outside The Box plan that starts with some goals and expectations.
- Is your goal to increase your revenue? If so by how much?
- Is your goal to maintain your revenue? If so what does that mean? What is your break even?
- Is your goal to explore and enter new markets? If so why? What is the expected revenue from each line or area of business?
- Is your goal to go in a completely different direction?
- Is your goal to use social media to increase brand awareness?
Once you have outlined your goals and expectations, it is important to develop a time line and a return on investment model.
- How do you measure your ROI for new lines or areas of business that you enter?
- Is your ROI model based on immediate revenue growth or viral social media exposure (fans or friends on Facebook, Twitter followers, Linked In connections etc..)
- What is your expected time line to see ROI?
- Define a "pull the plug date" for business strategies that aren't working and are not meeting your ROI expectations.
The final steps to Thinking Outside The Box are to take a step back, then think-plan-analyze-fix-repeat... Remember why you have your own business, that family comes first and that you're in control so make changes to be successful and never give up...
Posted by Mike Bruno on Wed, Aug 26, 2009 @ 07:35 PM
In every business there is a Sweet Spot. It's the spot where maximum profits are achieved with the least amount of effort. The systems are built, the customer base is there and it's a fine tuned money making machine. I once heard a speaker talk about the life of a business. The theory is that if a business is not growing and hits a plateau it wont stay there for long. It will either grow & get bigger or head towards a smaller business model or even extinction. Scientifically that is a correct theory since a business cant stay in the same exact position, sales will expand and contract, cost of doing business will do the same. However I do believe that every business does have a sweet spot, where is doesn't make sense to grow and it doesn't make sense to go smaller, it just makes sense to maintain. This theory is applicable for every sized business: global, national or local.
Local Business "Sweet Spot" :When we talk about a local business I am referring to the small mom and pop variety, the pizza shop, dentist, doctor, insurance agent, toy store, dry cleaner, restaurant, sub shop etc. that relies on the local people to survive. Lets use a local Pizza Shop to understand the fundamentals of the "Sweet Spot". (note these figures are estimated) In my town there are approximately 9000 people so lets say that on average each person spends $200 in a pizza shop on a yearly basis. That's a total of $1,800,000 dollars give or take. I understand that some of the population does not eat pizza, or is a child, or eats more so I think that's a fair assumption. There of course is also a "traveling factor" people outside of the town passing through, people living on town borders etc. so for this example lets be generous and double the total amount per year spent in pizza shops to $3,600,000. Now in my town there are 11 pizza shops including 2 national pizza franchises. So if the shops split the gross revenue equally it would total $328,000 per shop. So in theory the sweet spot by default is $328,000 for operating a pizza shop in my town. So if I owned a pizza shop in my town I would want to pull the maximum amount of profit from the business knowing the sweet spot was $328k. My operating costs need to be controlled , my new customer acquisition cost needs to be controlled, my client retention costs need to be minimized and my marketing budget needs to be controlled. It's the more with less approach.
So how do you do that? By using a well designed website, get involved in the community, use print and direct mail advertising, email marketing and social media.