Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

With so many systems out there, it can sometimes be tough to choose. That’s why accountability is key!  

(Authored by best-selling author & Southwestern Consulting Co-founder, Rory Vaden) It is amazing to me to think that in February 2015 my first book, Take the Stairs, will have already been out for 3 years! My new book (Procrastinate on Purpose: 5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time) will be coming out in January. This week I put the final finishing edits on […]

Every 60 seconds, 350,000 tweets, 44,940 Instagram photos, and 293,000 Facebook status updates are being put out online. (Source: Internet Live Stats) This means you are likely to get lost in the noise. Most people will tell you to post more because that is a surefire way to get noticed; The “squeaky wheel gets fixed” theory. While this is a […]

How many times have you been on a website and noticed an opt-in or sign-up form with an offer something akin to ‘Sign Up Here To Receive Our Newsletter’? It’s everywhere, right? All over the Internet, there are countless opt-in forms, just begging you to place yourself on a list. If you’re like most folks, you skip right over those. […]

Technology is constantly changing. New software is hitting the market all the time. It can feel like a full-time job just trying to keep up with it all! And that’s okay. In fact, it can be great if you know and understand one fundamental truth – it’s not about the technology, it’s about you. The tools we work with may […]

What’s your goal for having your business online? Do you even know? Few do. Determining the action you want your audience to take is the most critical part of any online marketing campaign. Otherwise, what’s the point? Sure, it feels good to get likes and retweets, but those don’t pay the bills. There has to be more to it. Otherwise, […]

(Authored by best-selling author & Southwestern Consulting Co-founder, Rory Vaden) I’m getting asked more and more about my writing methodologies. Here is my quick preflight checklist for writing blog posts. Think of a person or persons in your life that you are writing to and put their name at the top of the page. In one sentence define what the […]

One thing we hear regularly from small business owners on the topic of online marketing is – you know what you should be doing – you just aren’t. One of the main reasons is how big it all feels, how enormous. It’s simply too much. If you fall into that category, we get it. You most likely understand the basic […]

It’s one of the most critical – yet seemingly one of the most overlooked – questions we must figure out when starting any new online campaign; to whom are we writing? I was in a meeting recently with a large nonprofit and we were discussing their online marketing strategy, specifically their blog. In talking through one of their many struggles, […]

Jonah Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and bestselling author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On andInvisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior. Dr. Berger has spent over 15 years studying how social influence works and how it drives products and ideas to catch on. He’s published dozens of articles in […]

It’s not black-hat SEO tactics that drive successful online marketing campaigns. It’s not social media popularity. It’s not spending a mountain of money on Google or Facebook ads. And it’s not celebrity endorsements. Sure, those things can boost numbers and make it seem like your work is paying off. But they can’t stand on their own, at least for very […]

Baseball was one sport I actually did not play, but I’ve watched enough to know a little about it. What gets me is the striking out. Of course, I think of sales. One thing that can happen in baseball: you strike out while just looking at the ball. You watch it go right by you and you do not even […]

Excellence. This is short and sweet today because I simply want to encourage you to give today your all. I believe excellence is its own reward. We must be the best us to grow and become better people, leaders, and providers for our clients, friends, co-workers, and family. Bring our best version of ourselves and allow others to see what we […]

Think of a time you were on the phone with your prospect, and you could tell that a negative response was coming in hot. You’ve done those calls enough that you can feel it, and the pain of waiting just takes over. The time has come for you to step in. Take charge and interrupt that negative response! When you […]

Giving up is sometimes the easiest thing to do. Most often it is never the best thing to do. You miss out on changing people’s lives. One thing you have to do though, NEVER GIVE UP. If you are down on your luck with your prospecting, I’d like you to learn to talk through the tone! What is the tone? […]

Many times the best stories you could ever tell someone are from the experiences from your own client base. We must be effectively planting and harvesting testimonials to handle every type of objection that could ever come up in our selling career. So many of us get caught up in… us. Whenever we are trying to talk someone through an […]

Do you ever get to a place where you think you do not have enough? It could be territory, people to call on, anything, you just feel like you need more. This mentality can ruin you from the inside out. Your prospecting cannot be one with a scarcity mentality. If you are wondering how to turn this around, I have […]

Let me fill you in on something that has been life-changing. Most of you know my background with selling door-to-door with Southwestern, now hitting the phones with Southwestern Consulting. Well, at one point things got stagnate. I wasn’t sure what was going on, and I felt like nothing was moving forward. Have you ever been there? Are you at that […]

When was the last time someone told you just how great you are? Maybe you heard they had a true and honest appreciation for the type of person you were. I bet you can remember that they spoke power into your character and life! It’s something we can almost always enjoy to hear. This is how you can Excel-Orate your […]

How many of you in sales deal with cancelations? Ever been where you get an incredible sale, and then you get that email or phone call, “Dave, this has all been great, but it’s not the route we need to go now.” If that’s a big sale, and you’ve worked on it for a long time, it can definitely ruin […]

5:30 AM. I turn off my alarm clock, and before my feet hit the floor, I say to myself, “Today is going to be the best day yet!” Then, I walk into my bathroom, and I read the Southwestern Consulting partner pact. Next, I read the Southwestern Consulting company creed. From there, I have my toothbrush in my mouth reading […]