Sales Conversations Archives - The Personal and Business Blog of Katrina Sawa

How to Design Your Marketing Materials to Get Better Results

May 9, 2013 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

Have you wondered why you rarely get calls from your postcards, flyers, letters, ads and even follow up from your business cards? Usually it’s because the content of the piece (the marketing piece) wasn’t compelling enough. Most small businesses have no idea how to write, design or structure their print marketing materials. It’s not your fault, you’ve just never been taught. Creating marketing pieces that get results is a learned skill. I come from the advertising world and have done extensive training on how to structure print materials, ads and now even online promotions too (including what you write on your website!). The key to designing print materials that work … [Read more...]

3 Sales Strategies to Incorporate Into Your Presentations or Speaking Gigs

April 10, 2013 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

Speaking in front of an audience is often intimidating or scary. Some of us are more comfortable with it than others. Selling from the stage or in front of a room to a group is a different story though. You may be comfortable speaking and giving great content but are you making an offer or leading the audience to buy something or take an action of any kind? Often times we don’t do these things during our talks because we aren’t allowed to of course depending on the venue and type of event. But other times we are allowed to sell but still don’t or we just don’t do a very good job at it for one reason or another. Typically people who try to sell from the stage but aren’t … [Read more...]

How to Close More Sales to Make More Money

March 20, 2013 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

Free Live Event to Maximize Your Sales Tuesday, March 26 all day in Sacramento, CA with my friend Eric Lofholm, Master Sales Trainer The rules of business have changed. Have you adapted? Or are you struggling to make the changes you need to survive and thrive in this economy. Have you been affected by the economy? Could you benefit from discovering the cutting edge ideas that are working in business today? Is your list of leads dwindling (or non-existent!) as you struggle to find the next sale, and the next and the next? Could your lead generation system use a good boost? The truth is business has changed over the last 12 months. We must all improve to keep up with the rapid change we … [Read more...]

I’m tired of all the hype….let’s get to the meat shall we?

March 6, 2013 By Katrina Sawa 2 Comments

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I'm so tired of all the hype out there on the internet about "make millions at this or that or by doing this or that". Every week I talk with a minimum of 5 small business owners who've wasted time or money doing the wrong things because they listened to some free teleclass or someone teaching a supposed moneymaking process. I want to dispel the rumors out there that it's really that simple to make millions...or even $100,000 because it's not. To start, run, market and enjoy a consistently successful 6+ figure business there are two things you want to focus on: Spending your time wisely (and you may have to spend more time up front than "they say") doing the right revenue … [Read more...]

Are You Living the Life You Want and Deserve?

July 24, 2012 By Katrina Sawa 2 Comments

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When I first found out how much money I could truly make as a coach and entrepreneur I was shocked. No one in my family that I knew of ever made over $150,000 or so. It wasn't in my thinking that I'd probably do that in my lifetime but now it's a reality (and then some!). One of my first mentors in the Internet Marketing world taught me about living life to the fullest. But also living it like you had it all today and not waiting for it to come to live a full life, but to live it now. Now, granted, when this all came about the economy was booming and entrepreneurs I met were making tons of money. People were spending money on the Internet like crazy and if you were remotely savvy … [Read more...]

Monetize Your Business by Speaking: What You Need to Have Ready to Go for Any Opportunity

July 18, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

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Speaking is one of the least expensive, most effective marketing strategies you can do in your business. If you're already speaking then great, what I'm sharing in this article could be a good reminder for you. If you are not speaking yet, then why not? Are you afraid of speaking or getting in front of an audience? Are you unsure of what to speak about or to whom or saying to yourself "who would care about what I have to say?" Regardless of what you do in business you may want to consider speaking. Speaking allows you to be the expert in front of your prospects and peers. It gives you instant credibility and trust with the audience. And it speeds up the buying process when someone … [Read more...]

20 Tips to Maximize Your In-Person Networking

July 11, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

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Networking is the least expensive, most effective form of marketing that any small business owner can do. Nowadays you can do it online and offline but there are some keys to doing this that are crucial so you're not being too salesy, pushy or annoying AND you're still building great relationships with qualified prospects! I know networking is still such an important marketing strategy for any business owner because this is how I built my multiple-six-figure business, massive amounts of networking and having a clear follow up plan. And you can do it too even if you 'hate' networking! Click Here to read my top 20 in person networking tips that I share with all my clients whether they're … [Read more...]

10 Simple Ways to Follow Up with Prospects

July 2, 2012 By Katrina Sawa 2 Comments

In any business it's important to develop simple follow up systems to keep on top of your prospects', customer's and referral sources' minds. If you don't do your follow up; you are wasting valuable marketing dollars and time you've already spent on gathering new leads. I used to do a lot of networking at chamber events, women's organizations and biz expos and I generally collected about 25-50 business cards from new contacts on a good week. I pay an assistant to enter them all into my computer database for me so I can easily mail merge them when I want to send out a mailer. I also enter them into my email database because I usually ask them in person if they want to receive my free … [Read more...]

What’s Up With All the ‘Mastermind Programs’ Out There and WHY Should I Consider Joining One Myself ? (Part 3)

June 27, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been talking with you about Mastermind programs. Why you should join, what they are, what the are not and which one would be the best fit for you. But ultimately…. What it all comes down to is how do you most like to learn and how are you most productive? You have to know your best learning style so you choose and invest in the programs and products that fit you and how you best learn so you don’t waste your money. I, for example, am NOT a good product learner. I don’t have good luck purchasing a home study kit or other listen to/read type of product and then actually sitting down working my way through it. It will sit on my shelf forever … [Read more...]

What’s Up With All the ‘Mastermind Programs’ Out There and WHY Should I Consider Joining One Myself ? (Part 2)

June 22, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

Last week I wrote an article about WHY you should consider joining a Mastermind program. This week I am going to go over what makes a TRUE mastermind and how to know the difference. As most of you know, I’ve been offering my Live Big Mastermind program to you for 3 years now as MY next step in my business. This is my FAVORITE program to run and involves some of my FAVORITE clients who end up moving FAST! THE #1 REASON I did this is because being in these types of programs for me was the single best thing that catapulted my business so fast in the last few years. I wanted to offer that same type of accelerated learning, access and support to a select group of entrepreneurs like you … [Read more...]

What’s Up With All the ‘Mastermind Programs’ Out There and WHY Should I Consider Joining One Myself ? (Part 1)

June 16, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

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I woke up this morning and couldn't get back to sleep without writing this because I think it's so important...this was confusing to me a few years ago too when I first started joining mastermind programs and high level coaching programs. I know many of you are reading other people's ezines and promotions and following other coaches and mentors as well....as you should; but I'm hearing that you're confused. With all the coaching and mastermind options out there right now, all of the 2012 mid-year groups are now forming...not only mine but a couple of my mentors', other coaches like me and more; you're confused as to which one is right for you? I know they are a big investment, not … [Read more...]

The Simple 3 Step System to Start Attracting Clients & Making Money NOW!

June 11, 2012 By Katrina Sawa 2 Comments

Ready to Find Out What You REALLY Need to do to Attract Clients and Make Money Now? The top questions I hear from entrepreneurs are “How do I find clients” and “How can I make more money?” So how do you do it? How do you continuously attract and find new clients, build the business that excites you and make more money … all at the same time? The biggest mistakes entrepreneurs are making right now, over and over again, are randomly investing in products and programs or people who can’t really help them with what they need to do next. They need their ‘next steps’ yet they’re being enticed with ‘bright shiny objects’ that distract them from reaching their big … [Read more...]

Making Sense of Social Media – What’s Hootsuite For Goodness Sakes?

June 8, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

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I laughed as I created this title but it's true. So many entrepreneurs that I talk with or who work with me always ask, "What's Hootsuite and should I be using it for my business?" That's if they have any idea about what it is at all of course, many do not. Hootsuite is an automation tool. The layman's way to describe it is that Hootsuite allows you post comments and updates on your social media profiles all from one online location. This is supposed to save you time from having to log in to all the different ones separately. Some of the things you do on Hootsuite however are good for time management and some things aren't worth doing in my mind because they could make you look … [Read more...]

6 Step Marketing Follow Up System That Business Owners Must Be Doing and Are NOT Doing!

June 5, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

Yes, this IS the Jumpstart Your Marketing(R) Ultimate Marketing System! I don't know that I've ever just put it in an ezine before like this so here it is! Yes, I sell my entire system on my website for $197 which includes the instruction, workbook, training audios and all the templates you will want to implement this into your business. It seems like a no brainer right? Wrong. Most small businesses have no idea what to say in follow up, what to send, to whom and when or how. So that's why it just doesn't get done. You aren't doing your phone call follow ups, I know. You aren't mailing anything in the … [Read more...]

Small Biz Don’ts and How to Avoid Them

June 1, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

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99% of the small business owners I talk to every month have HOLES in their business. Sales and Marketing holes, many of which could be fixed for free or very little investment. They don't see these holes usually however because they're too close to their own business but that doesn't mean they aren't there. I see the holes as huge opportunities for increased sales that could happen with such little effort or expense. In fact often times the seasoned business owner is so set in their ways that they don't evolve with the times, therefore actually losing market share, revenues and overall marketing pizzazz; it becomes much more difficult to attract new clients when you're not moving the … [Read more...]

I Bet You’re Not Even Doing the Basics

May 13, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

We're almost to the half way mark for the year and boy is it flying by! I wanted to let you in on a little secret that I'm doing right now in my business and it's about SIMPLIFYING. Yes, you heard it here first....the queen of doing all kinds of stuff in her biz is SIMPLIFYING. Let me share with you why.... You see, while the leveraged business models are still working, there are some business models that you want to spend your time on and some you ABSOLUTELY DON'T right now.... It's time to 'Get Back to the Basics' of what works in your business, your marketing, your follow up and your overall effective work habits. In the last few months every business owner I've spoken … [Read more...]

What’s LOVE got to do with it?

May 9, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

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Many times entrepreneurs get stuck in their businesses and can’t figure out what’s going wrong when the money stream dries up, clients drop off, and referrals disappear. This can be so confusing, frustrating, and emotionally draining. It might be surprising to you to find out that, regardless of what type of financial situation you’re in, many entrepreneurs struggle because of lack of love in their life….love and support for or by a significant other, love and confidence in yourself or love for life or your business in general. Lack of love in any capacity can surely hold you back from making huge monetary gains in your business whether you realize it or not. And this can … [Read more...]

Who is determining your wealth?

May 8, 2012 By Katrina Sawa Leave a Comment

Do you really know what you’re making per hour after all is said and done? I’ve worked with hundreds of women entrepreneurs who THINK they really know how much money they make. When we really break it down to all the time they’re spending before, during and after the sale, many times they’re shocked to see what that price tag really is. Sometimes it’s even less than working in a fast food restaurant! So I ask you: How much money do you ACTUALLY make per hour? Is it above minimum wage? Have you ever taken the time to ask yourself WHY you have you priced yourself (or your products and services) the way you have? When was the last time you looked at your … [Read more...]