eScoop -Issue 4 - Fall 2016

Fall 2016 Issue 4
eSCOOP
5 Reasons Why Small Business Owners Need
To Join A Small Business Community
by Grace Nasralla, OSBN
1. Build A Network of
Connections
Small businesses cannot survive on
their own. In every business most
sales is done through word of mouth
or referrals from people that have
established trust in the business or
the owner of the business. Building
a network of connections results in
getting leads that may turn into
customers or that may send
customers to a business.
2. Learn Best Practices
Business community websites are
filled with information that is of
importance to the small business -
from how to start a business to the
latest trends in business. Business
communities are a great resource to
gain knowledge about how to’s and
where to’s for growing a business.
Whether it be through forums or
group discussions or just postings
on a profile timeline, there is always
something to learn and gain
knowledge from.
3. Stay Motivated
Being a part of a small business
community will definitely help
motivate a business owner.
Entrepreneurs tend to lack
motivation at times as they are
responsible for doing all business
tasks.
At times they may get overwhelmed
with tasks and lose motivation while
at other times, they may feel they
have run out of ideas and lose
motivation to continue.
A good way to stay motivated is to
find a professional business
community and stay active there.
Stay connected with business
owners on the network, attend
community networking events, stay
visible by placing ads or taking up
speaking engagements during
events, and always offer to help.
That will not only keep a business
owner motivated, but it will also
increase business visibility within
the community.
4. Generate Leads
Business leads come from knowing
people. Meeting people requires a
community. Look for business
communities that have a virtual
platform and that also run events.
That way one will get to meet
people and then stay connected
over the internet to send leads and
referrals.
One thing business owners have to
remember: in a community one has
to give in order to take. Give leads
and others will send you leads, give
referrals to other business members
and others will send you referrals.
In this Issue:
Grace Nasralla
Founder, OSBN®
www.osbn.ca
5 Reasons to Join a Small
Business Community
Christine Boyle
www.FusionEnterprises.ca
Discovering the “Buy”
Button – Neuromarketing:
The Cutting Sales Edge
Daryl Landeau
OSBN® Advisory Board
Member
www.common-ground.ca
Getting the Most Out of an
Advisory Board
Teresa (Terri) Slack
OSBN® Advisory Board
Member
www.financly.ca
How Understanding
Personalities ….
Susan Kirschling
www.susankirschling.com
Belief

5. Enjoy Benefits
Business community websites usually
offer benefits to their members.
Benefits may vary from free services
to discounts and offers, access to
business resources and more. Make
use of these benefits! Many
businesses register at business
community websites and forget about
their account. It’s good practice to visit
business community websites often to
explore new benefits added to
members.
Reptilian
Brain
Limbic
System
(Mammal
Brain)
Three
Layers in
the Brain
Neocortex
(Neo-­‐‐
Mammal
Brain)
The Reptilian Brain is the instinctive brain. It’s very basic and governs
information like heartbeat, digestion and other body maintenance items, as well as
survival. It also collects data, facts, and memory and processes this data, meaning
there are not many interpretive, cognitive or emotional aspects working. This
primitive part of the brain is prone to make snap, short-term decisions. You don’t
want your prospects making purchase decisions with this information only. During
her webinar in June 2015 on “Sell and Market Better with Neuroscience”, Christine
Comaford, author of Smart Tribes, referred to this as “The Critter State” - a limited
fact-based part of the brain,
Discovering the
“Buy” Button -
Neuromarketing: The
Cutting Sales Edge
by Christine Boyle, Fusion Enterprises
Scratching your head over why your
prospect didn’t buy when you were so
sure the sale was in hand? It is well
known that customers decide with
their emotions not their primitive factbased
brain.
How do you create an emotional
sales process that motivates the
buyer?
Let’s jump into understanding Brain
Basics then look at how it works and
its importance in the sales process.
Finding your tribe – your “peeps” – is within the Limbic System and is the
emotional brain where people connect with one another, seek belongingness, look
for alikeness, commonalities and mutual behaviours which in turn create trust. It is
the sweet spot for building rapport, relationships and connection as it governs
emotions (emotions are the predominate motivator when we make buying
decisions) and perceptions and processes the data of the Reptilian Brain and
Neocortex and decides how to respond to you.
We evolve significantly in the Neocortex Brain. It is the advanced thinking area
which involves planning, processing and interpretations like deciding if you are an
enemy or friend and how to respond to you and it makes choices like fight or flight,
preserve or protect and, without sufficient data about you, it defaults to negative
assumptions and reactions such as a ‘no’ to the purchase.
How do we incorporate Brain Basics or science into our sales process?
Here is a sure-fire way to structure your sales presentation - Neuromarketing is
brilliant, we actually work in reverse!
Process of sales presentation:
Limbic
Neocortex
Reptilian

The strongest appeal is to the Limbic System
- Are you one of ‘me’?
- Do we have similarities I align with and can belong to?
- Have you built my trust and safety in my decision?
- What is our emotional tie?
Make emotional connections here.
Feed the Neocortex Brain
- Reduce anxiety and fear with information, planning and solving problems.
Don’t ignore the Reptilian Brain
- Include facts, stats and figures.
The Reptilian Brain is the root of the decision process and now will also assess
the Limbic System and Neocortex data to justify the purchase.
Process of decision making
Reptilian
Neocortex
Limbic
Reptilian Brain makes the decision and assesses Neocortex and Limbic System
data to justify the purchase. Give me the facts – is generally a defensive, anxious,
risk-adverse and reactionary mindset.
Neocortex Brain assesses friend/foe, safety/fear, is self-aware, thinks, evaluates,
plans and problem solves.
Limbic System is the root of emotions, connections, sameness and relationship.
Discovering the “buy-button” is now easier as you appeal to the person’s
three brain parts to create a powerful sales process.
Perhaps you’ve been missing a component? Successful sales people no longer
sell by pushing the client or by presenting two fact-based A/B options. Instead, we
can leverage:
- The knowledge of how people make decisions.
- The science of the brain.
- The complexities and emotions of the person.
The human need for emotional connection, dispelling their fears and
understanding why they need to make safe and sound buying decisions is
key.
I’d love to hear from you and welcome your stories, struggles and successes, and
how you’ve added this cutting edge tool into your business.

Getting the Most out of an Advisory Board
by Daryl Landeau, Common-Ground
What is an advisory board?
An advisory board is an informal version of a board of directors
chosen by the owners.
- It has no authority
- It just offers assistance as requested.
- It is a good interim step before a formal board, or a way for a
founder to enhance accountability and experience.
The Ideal
The owner or leader explains the vision, values, strategic plan, and recent
performance of the organization. The advisors pose questions about places
where there might be a misalignment or gap or impracticality. "If your
growth is X, and your resources are Y, how will you achieve your vision
which is Z?" The leader poses questions to the advisors, like "What do you
think should be the priority now?"
The advisors don't take over decision-making, but they share opinions, or
help the leader think things through. Meetings are conducted efficiently, not
wandering on tangents. The advisors come from diverse experiences and
are not deferential, so they don't fall into groupthink, but neither do they
disrespect different opinions. Besides, not everything happens in the group
meeting, sometimes individuals offer a bit of coaching or a useful
connection outside of the 'board meeting.'
Thus the organization benefits from better leadership. And the advisors
benefit from the learning too; for some this is a stepping stone to a directorship.
Making the Ideal Real
In order to achieve this ideal, the owner needs to find the happy medium of
openness: not arrogant, not fearful, but willing to be respectfully
challenged. The advisors also must not be arrogant, and not too attached to
their opinions. Better to offer ideas, or even better, pose open questions.
These advisors, who ought to have considerable relevant experience, need
to get informed enough about the particular business and the industry to be
useful. And they need to work well with the other advisors.
Usually a group of 4-6 is the best size for this purpose; enough to get
diverse views and meetings are easily managed. The job of Chair, though
often the leader's, may be better handled by a skilled facilitator/advisor (one
who may have less to contribute substantively), and thus freeing the leader
to focus entirely on the substance of the discussion. The discussions are
informal and do not need the procedural (Robert's) rules that govern true
board meetings.
Owner/Leader:
Vision
Values
Strategic Plan
Recent Performance
Advisors:
Share Opinions
Diverse Experiences
Not Deferential
Discussions:
Informal
Open
Respectful
Informed
If OSBN® wishes to try this approach and finds it useful, I hope member
businesses will also try it, perhaps with an exchange program with other
members.

How Understanding Personalities Can Create
Happy Customers and Happy Team Members
by Teresa Slack, Financly
I have learned over my many years of customer service delivery that the more I
understand my client’s personality the better the interaction goes. Whether
dealing with an upset client or trying to maximize a sales interaction, the more you
reflect their personality style the more successful the interaction will be.
There are many different personality profiling methodologies, whether colours,
shapes or words, they all do the same thing. They allow you to understand your
own personality more clearly and they teach you to identify other people’s
personality traits as well. My profiling method of choice is the DiSC®. System.
A keen focus on understanding another person’s personality will
allow you to interact in a manner that creates a successful outcome.
The trick is to quickly figure out the person you are
talking to and change your approach to match their style.
As a manager of a sales team, I taught my team to use personality profiles to understand each other and their
customers. What I found is that my team had a better understanding of each other and why certain members of our team
might clash due to personality differences. This knowledge created understanding and acceptance within the team. My
dominant team members understood why our conscientious teammates rubbed them the wrong way. They learned how to
approach different team members in a manner that worked better and created harmony within the team.
The same is true of our customer interactions. If we had a customer with a more dominate personality and a team member
with a more conscientious style, the staff member quickly understood who they were working with and tried to refrain from
high levels of detail that our dominate customer would be frustrated with.
I highly recommend that any manager who wants their team to interact more effectively to learn these techniques to create
a better working relationship. It is a must for anyone that works directly with your customers.
Learn your style first then learn to identify others. It takes time and practice to get good at it. I believe it is time well
spent.
To learn more about the DiSC® System check out
https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/
The DiSC model provides a common language that people
can use to better understand themselves and to adapt their
behaviors with others.
This can be within a work team,
a sales relationship, a leadership position, or other relationships.
Personality has power to uplift,
power to depress,
power to curse, and power to bless.
Paul Harris
Personality is the glitter that sends your little gleam
across the footlights and the orchestra pit into that
big black space where the audience is.
Mae West

Belief
by Susan Kirschling
Getting out of bed on a cold dark morning is a lot easier when the
day ahead is looking pretty good. Everything is going your way and
you’re feeling life just keeps getting better. Sounds good right? But
a little unbelievable that everyday unfolds this way.
As an entrepreneur no matter how good your business strategy,
your marketing plan or your sales funnel all businesses go through
ebbs and flows. How well you get through this cycle depends on
your reason for why you do what you do.
Your “why” reminds you of your commitment to your business.
Napoleon Hill named this “your burning desire”. It’s the emotional
reason or leverage that gets you out of bed after only 4 hours sleep.
It’s what makes you do that one more cold call. It’s what keeps you
in the game. How committed to your business are you?
“Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do long
after the feeling you said it in has gone.”
A strong “why” is the passion that fuels commitment. Some people
call it vision. I call it belief.
Believing in something so strongly that you’re unshakable is your
“why”. Nothing stops you from fulfilling your reason and
accomplishing what you set out to do.
An Ontario small business
network that provides business
owners and service providers
with marketing tools &
opportunities that increase
their business visibility.
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