Tag: Business Tips

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Just How Connected Are You? Take Our Test

So just how connected are you to your business with your gadgets? Take our test below to find out. Each yes answer is worth one point.

  1. Do you take your cell phone everywhere you go including the bathroom?
  2. Did you grow your fingernails long and shape them into points so you can type better on your itty bitty phone keyboard?
  3. Do you now pay more to Verizon or your cell provider than you spend for food in one month at the grocery store?
  4. Do you text under the table during boring meetings?
  5. Do you tweet while you are waiting online at a store telling us how slow service is?
  6. Do your kids have to text you to get your attention while you are sitting in the same room?
  7. Do people call your cell phone first instead of your home phone or office phone?
  8. Do you actually answer your business phone after 9:00 PM?
  9. Do you carry refuse to turn off your cell phone even when the sign says to do so like at church or the doctor’s office?
  10. Do you have an internet and email enabled cell phone?

Score:

If you answered yes 8 to 10 times you need some help. Your family would probably be glad you had surgery to cut the umbilical cord that has grown from you to your phone.

If you answered yes 5 to 7 times there is definitely hope that with professional help you could break your addiction to the Internet in your downtime – if you have any.

If you answered yes 2 to 4 times it sounds like you have a life and should give me a call as I am looking for friends to do things with and it sounds like you may actually have some free time.

If you answered yes 0 to 1 time, you really need to get more connected. You may be out of the loop and friends and colleagues would appreciate being able to “hit you up” more frequently.

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A Good Idea Gone Bad – Way Bad

I get newsletters from a small software firm and their last one was a good idea gone bad – way bad. With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, they sent out a newsletter with the headline “Save the Boobies” and then went on to talk about breast cancer and their support for cancer research.

Wow, how do you recover from a huge faux pas such as that? Who ever dreamed up and approved the title showed an incredible lack of sensitivity as well as an overt sexist attitude. That small flippant comment that made it to the headline of their newsletter will clearly be a black eye that will have their PR staff wringing their hands.

So really, how can you recover from a big boo-boo like that? Well first, I would send out an apology to all readers and then donate a nice chunk of change to the local breast cancer foundation or sponsor a runner in a big way in the next breast cancer walk. I would make sure to have a photo op at each event and feature that prominently in the very next newsletter – making the walk match the talk. Second, I would immediately institute a review of any future publications for appropriate professional wording.

What sounds funny in the office or tossed around in jest can have huge public relation ramifications when it sounds too flippant or simply sets the wrong tone in your print or online message to customers and prospects. Even for small businesses crossing the line from professional to questionable must be carefully watched. Remember your reputation is forever even for a small business!

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Are You Choosing Your Customers Wisely?

I have to say my title sounds funny doesn’t it, don’t customers chose you and not the other way around? Well, the reality is that as part of the selling process you should be evaluating if a customer is right for you too. It’s a “dance”, they check you out, but you should also be checking out your prospect as well.

As an Christian business woman I look for opportunities where I am the best match for a client based on their needs and based on the services and products they sell. I simply will not take on a project where goods or services that are sold do not square with my values and I will even pass a client who has a questionable online reputation. If online reviews trash a potential customer and their business practices most likely a rocky business relationship with you will be created as well.

Recently, I’ve had an even more unusual situation of a high profile felon pursuinge my firm for services. Yes, we are niche providers and we are specialists in several important areas, but we will never trade our integrity or lower our standards of what we promote and who we select to promote for money.

My business model has always been to provide the best service possible at a fair price, but passing on certain business sectors as not being consistant with a Christian lifestyle. I had one situation where a man wanted us to promote his “player” dating site where he gave tips to men on how to “play” multiple women at the same time – pass. I had another who wanted us to promote a dating website and when I looked at the site it was soft core pornography featuring women from Peru – pass. Another prospect wanted us to promote male organ enlargement vitamin pills – pass.

One thing that I have learned over the years is that my firm is not a good match for every customer and for every need. Some things that prospects sell or want to promote simply do not square with my values. So, as part of my initial conversation with all clients I check to see if they are a good choice for us. If they are not there is no amount of money that will change my mind. (The male organ enlargement pill seller offered $25,000 and I still said no!)

I have found that once you compromise your integrity once it will be easier to compromise yourself again and again. So, as part of the selling “dance” I am reviewing a prospect too. Clearly, the end decision rests with the prospect on whether they employ us for a project or not, but we still work to chose our customers wisely in the initial conversation.

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Concrete Marketing Recommendations for Business Startups

I get asked a lot for help in regards to what a new business startup should do to develop a web presence and what provides the biggest return for investment. To help answer this question as concisely as possible, without you having to pay me a consulting fee, I have tried to share my insights in this blog post.

1. Purchase a great content-rich professionally designed website

I have to say if you do not have a great website, and I am not talking about one your kid sister made, or one created using a GoDaddy template, then you will not be able to convey the professionalism that you need to convey to create confidence in yourself or your products to potential customers. Many startups come to me asking why they do not generate sales and when I look at their website it appears that they are operating on a shoe string. The Web is a great equalizer. Your business startup website can make your business appear to be large, established, and successful if it reflects true professionalism in content and in design. This is one of the most critical expenses that any new business startup should invest in. You may choose to work with our firm for a custom website or a Quick Launch website or select another web design firm, but you must have a good-looking professional appearing web presence.

2. Get involved immediately with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter

You’ve got to get the word out about yourself once you have a website. By updating your status and posting information, sharing and interacting online at a minimum of three times a day on these various sites you start to build an online presence, get authority links to point to your new website and inside content, and start to establish yourself as a contender in your industry. I have reviewed many social networking sites and these are the ones where I invest my own time (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn). I recommend in some cases setting up accounts under your own name as the business owner. I do not have one profile for business and one for pleasure. Small businesses need to just get involved with social networking and typically some of your very first customers will be friends, family, and social contacts.

If you take the attitude that social networking is a time pit and worthless, you will be woefully wrong and out of the loop. In fact the more you involve yourself in these endeavors with the attitude that you are sharing and providing information and not looking particularly to sell, the more fun you will have and the more fruitful the connections will become.

I have closed sales from social networking contacts. It does happen, really. But if you watch any of the networking I do myself you will see that I am open, sharing, providing information on a wide variety of topics and soft selling my own services only occasionally. I do not use social networking as a brochure or lead generation opportunity, but yet it has worked to bring me business over time.

3. Get started on Google AdWords

If you have the budget you really want your very next step to be advertising your products and services on Google AdWords. Don’t waste money at this point on Yahoo, MSN adCenter, Yoddle or other pay per click enterprises. Concentrate on AdWords. If you cannot afford a professional account manager such as myself, then get started using the simple to use Google AdWords Starter version. If you are advertising your services to a national audience be prepared to spend anywhere from about $1.25 to $3.50 or so per click (some businesses will pay much more). Don’t go into this expecting to pay $.05 per click and set $150 per 30 days as your monthly budget. Allocate $500 to $800 for the first 30 days of clicks and set your maximum click cost to a “market reasonable” setting. Make sure you set up special landing pages for your ad group themes and have conversion tracking installed. Review your program often to make sure that your money is working for you and is an investment in the future not an expense.

4. Build great content on your website under your domain name using a blog

Now we’re moving into maintenance mode on your website. You must be adding to and growing your web presence over time to attract search engine robots, improve your placement organically, and to provide opportunities for readers to connect with you. There is no better way to do this than using a blog. Blogs build website traffic, allow for keyword dense topics to be discussed and housed under your domain name, and build “web authority” for your site over time. It is not necessary for you to have a professional blogger write for you. Although we offer this service, there is no replacement for your insights as the business owner, but you must be a consistent writer however and provide interesting on-topic information and resources in your blog posts.

5. Focus on customer service in all you do

I have found when I first started out that it was easy to do the work, but hard to find someone to pay for it. Here is where top notch customer focused customer service is key for a new business startup. You must provide free information and help initially to prospects, then move them to a paying customer status, and then finally  make sure that you do everything possible to satisfy them. My own business started out solely as a word of mouth referral service and now earns a six figure income. When you build your base on happy customers, rewarding referrals, and provide real advise and value to customers, your business will grow.

If you have other recommendations for a business startup, just leave your comments to this post below. I’d love to see what you think is important.

If you feel that you need a more personalized plan and review of your own business’ current statistical information we do provide consulting services for $90 per hour.  Much of the information on what you can do and how to do it however is provided as free content on our website and blog, so we invite you to dig deeper and browse our content. You’re sure to find a wealth of information in both locations.