1. Learn why most businesses focus on the wrong marketing problems—and how to fix it.
2. Discover a simple yet powerful exercise to identify your best (and worst) clients.
3. Get a game-changing strategy for eliminating distractions and boosting productivity.
4. Understand why your competitors might not be who you think they are.
5. Grab a free strategic planning resource to take your business to the next level.

Lorraine's Valuable Free Resource (VFR):

https://morethanafewwords.com/offer-simple-strategic-plan/

Lorraine Ball, marketing strategist, reveals the biggest mistakes businesses make in marketing and how to fix them. She shares how to identify ideal clients, boost productivity, and refine your competitive strategy. Plus, grab her free strategic planning resource to level up your business!

02:40 Ideal Client: Businesses that have invested in marketing but aren’t happy with their results.
03:34 Problem Solved: Helping businesses focus on the right customers instead of chasing the wrong marketing tactics.
04:39 Valuable Free Action (VFA): List your past clients and identify the best (and worst) ones to refine your targeting.
06:09 Valuable Productive Action (VPA): Track your daily tasks to eliminate time-wasting activities and delegate effectively.
08:22 Bonus Material
09:55 Valuable Free Resource (VFR): A free strategic planning tool at morethanafewwords.com/offer-simple-strategic-plan.

(Note, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not fully reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Welcome to the Goalbusters Expert Peak Productivity Tips podcast, where top business experts get just seven minutes to answer five rapid fire questions about what they do and how they stay productive.

Each episode is packed with actionable insights to help boost your efficiency and achieve your goals. Let's dive in and unlock the secrets to peak performance.

00:22 ROBIN

Well, hello, everyone. My name is Robin J. Emdon, and I'm the creator and author of the GetResultsology system and a dedicated accountability coach. My mission is to empower solopreneurs to unlock their true potential, boost their income, and achieve extraordinary success by maximizing productivity, streamlining their businesses, and aligning their goals with their authentic vision and purpose.

If you're ready to turn ambition into action and transform your goals into reality, you're in exactly the right place.

And speaking of being in exactly the right place, I am delighted to welcome today Lorraine Ball. Lorraine is a marketing strategist, speaker, and entrepreneur with a passion for helping small businesses grow. As the founder and former owner of Roundpeg, a digital agency that supported thousands of businesses and the voice behind the More Than a Few Words podcast, Lorraine has spent years simplifying marketing so business owners can focus on what they do best. With her no nonsense approach and wealth of experience, Lorraine's here to share game changing insights on building a brand that actually gets results.

Lorraine, welcome to Goalbusters!

LORRAINE
Thank you so much. It is so nice to be here.

ROBIN
I'm so glad that you are here too. It's wonderful to meet you. Whereabouts in the world are you, Lorraine?

LORRAINE
I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana. And for those of you that are not familiar with the US, most people know where Chicago is, and I'm about three hours south of Chicago.

ROBIN
Well, that's great. What time is it for you?

LORRAINE
It is twelve fifteen in the afternoon.

Oh, okay. That that's that that still classifies as time for a coffee, whereas I'm about four hours ahead of you, and it's too late me to have another coffee. So I'm quite envious. I'm a bit obsessed with having coffee, but I do understand you can't have it in the afternoon.

LORRAINE
Well, you can, but then the afternoon gets really long.

ROBIN
Yeah. So in the evening as well. Yeah. No. I don't do that. Alright. Shall we start the questions?

LORRAINE
Let's start the questions. Alright.

I'll get the clock up on the screen.

And there it goes.

Lorraine, let's talk about what you do. Could you tell me, please, who is your ideal client?

02:40 LORRAINE – Ideal Client
So my ideal client these days are companies that have spent money in marketing. They're not necessarily startups. They've been around a few years. They've made some mistakes, and they're just not happy with their results.

And they're looking for somebody to give them some perspective. And one of the problems is that lots of marketing consultants have a product to sell. And so funny thing, they come in, they audit your marketing. If they're a web design company, you need a website.

If they're a content company, you need content. I don't have another product to sell. All I wanna do is look at what you're doing and help you build a plan to improve and get better results.

ROBIN
Okay. Thank you. Well, you kind of also segued nicely into the second question, which is what is the problem that you solve? And could you solve more than one problem? Perhaps you would take this opportunity to expand on some of the points you've mentioned.

03:34 LORRAINE – Problem Solved
So the biggest problem, really and truly when people come to me and they say, I'm not happy with what I'm doing, what I often find is that the real problem you know, you go to a doctor and you say your head hurts. You don't know whether it's cancer or a headache, but, you know, your head hurts.

Most business owners think they're using the wrong tools. They think they're using the wrong toys. What they're really doing is not really focusing on the right customers. And so very, very often, the real problem is helping them define who are your best clients, how do you take care of them, and when you're focused on those clients, who are you really competing with?

ROBIN
Okay. Well, that's yeah. That's very true and very interesting insight. Do you see me leaning in there as I listen in a little more closely to what you're saying? So okay. So moving on, what is one Valuable Free Action that our audience can implement that will help them to solve the problems you've described?

04:39 LORRAINE – Valuable Free Action (VFA)
So one of the very free, simple, easy things that a a business can do and, again, remember, this is not for a start up. This is for companies that have been doing this a while. Make a list of all your customers. Make a list of everybody you've done business with. And then ask yourself, if I could only work with three of these companies, who would I choose and why? And it is the why that helps you figure out who are you really supposed to be working with? Who should you be targeting?

Who do you like? And who should you be going after more often? And on the other side of it, if you could fire three clients, who would you fire?

And we used to do this as a team about every six months, and we actually did fire clients. But we also developed marketing campaigns to target more of the people we enjoyed working with.

ROBIN
Yeah. I can't tell you where my mind's going there with firing clients, but I do know what you mean.

Yeah. Absolutely. And very good advice. Thank you. So now that we have a better understanding of what you do, let's dive into GoalBusting, which is focusing on how to maximize productive time to achieve business goals. So can you share any tips or advice for someone looking to improve their productivity habits, please, Lorraine?

06:09 LORRAINE – Valuable Productive Action (VPA)
It's almost the same activity that you do with, with the customers is have a notepad handy and take it with you everywhere you go for three or four days and write down just everything you do.

I made phone calls. I did this. I ran here.

And at the end of two or three days, stop and take a look at that sheet of paper and look at how much time you're spending on well, the word I would use is bullshit. I hope that doesn't offend your off your audience. But and look at how much time you're getting distracted and start looking for ways to take things out of your day off your list.

I found there were things that were important that I needed to do. And every time I sat down to do them, I was like… ugh… And so what I did instead was I started delegating. But until I really realized how much time I spent getting ready to do the task, doing the task, and complaining about the task, I didn't realize how much of a time suck it was. And once that was off my calendar, it just opened up a world of possibilities.

ROBIN
Yeah. Absolutely. And if I can add to that because it's something I advocate in my book as well about taking inventory of what you spend your time on.

LORRAINE
Mhmm.

ROBIN
It can get it can be really eye opening when you realize just how much time you waste. And my book's all about, you know, chronic procrastination. And as a chronic as a self-identified chronic procrastinator, which is why I wrote the book, it's really shocking. You know, it's not just a few days. It can be years, and I think even decades, you look back and go, woah. I have wasted so much time on things that really didn't matter.

LORRAINE
Absolutely. Absolutely. And thinking about them and avoiding them and finding different ways not to do them.

ROBIN
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Anyway, moving on to our final question. What should I have asked you today, Lorraine, that I didn't and your answer, please?

08:22 LORRAINE – Bonus Material
So I talked a little bit about, figuring out who you're really competing with. And I think that might be the thing I would have loved for you to ask me is how do you figure out who you're competing with?

And the answer is often not what you think.

Too often, we look at the company that does exactly what we do. I'm a marketing company. You're a marketing company. Therefore, you're my competitor, But maybe you're not.

Maybe you focus on lawyers and doctors, and I don't wanna work in that industry.

But maybe you're a business consultant or a coach, and you work with businesses that wanna grow, and I work with businesses that wanna grow, I provide marketing services. You don't. But from the customer's perspective, we both solve exactly the same problem. And so when I compete against you, I need to think about my messaging differently than when I compete against a marketing company.

ROBIN
Fantastic. And, look, right on the nose there with seven minutes. How brilliant is that? Perfect. It's almost like you planned it.

Well, thank you so much. That's been incredibly useful. So the next question is not one of the five questions, but it's a very important question is how can people reach you? And also, I always ask a very cheeky question. Is there, like, a Valuable Free Resource that they can get from you, that will help them to find out more about what you do?

09:55 LORRAINE – Valuable Free Resource (VFR)
So the best place to reach me is on LinkedIn. That's really where I hang out most often.

My website is morethanafewwords.com. There, you'll find literally hundreds of recorded conversations, webinars, workbooks, white papers, and so much more. And the offer that I really want you to share with your audiences, it's a very simple strategic plan. And it's really all about just identifying this is where I am. This is my goal state. How far away am I, and what do I need to do to get there? And kind of breaking that down into just some very simple actions.

And, rather than read the link now, I think you'll include it in the show notes, and that'll be great.

morethanafewwords.com/offer-simple-strategic-plan/

ROBIN
Absolutely. It will be included in the show notes. And if anybody is watching this visually on YouTube, it's on the bottom of the screen. But we will include it anywhere that you can find this podcast.

You'll find a link that will get you to your valuable free resource, which sounds really interesting. Thank you so much, Lorraine. It's been an absolute delight and a pleasure and a fascinating insight into what you do. Thank you so much for sharing with us today.

LORRAINE
Thank you for having me. This was so much fun.

ROBIN
It was fun. Thank you again, and bye bye.

LORRAINE
Bye bye now.

OUTRO
Thanks for tuning in to GoalBusters. If you're enjoying it, please subscribe, rate, and review it on your favourite podcast platform.
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And if you're ready to boost your online profits, skyrocket your productivity, crush procrastination, and see a positive change in your bank balance all within just thirty days, this is your opportunity

Take my free five day challenge at skyrocketyourproductivitychallenge.com

Robin J. Emdon is an accountability coach and creator of the GetResultsology® System, a comprehensive guide designed to help people overcome procrastination and achieve their goals.

Robin’s journey started in his family’s retail business, but he soon realised his true passion was empowering others. In 2001, he trained as a life coach in the U.S., which led him to specialise in accountability coaching and eventually create the GetResultsology® System.

During the 2020 pandemic, Robin faced his own challenge with procrastination. Despite years of coaching experience, he still struggled with distractions. Determined to find a solid, permanent solution, he developed the GetResultsology® System to help others and himself boost productivity.

Based in South Devon, England, Robin helps clients all over the world boost their income and profits by achieving extraordinary results through accountability coaching. In his spare time, he enjoys sharing his passion for local history.

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