Hiring among technology companies in the U.S. is on the rise.
In a recent study by Bloomberg, nearly 50 American technology firms with a market value of $100 million or more reported that they increased their payrolls by more than 50 percent during the most recent two-year reporting period. These companies included Google, Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Apple Inc.
Seventy-four businesses in the software and services sector with market value of more than $100 million ...
According to the U.S. Commerce Department, consumer spending remained flat last month, despite the biggest increase in household income in nine months.
Economists surveyed by the Reuters news agency had expected to see spending increase by about 0.1 percent in December. Consumer spending, which accounts for approximately 70 percent of all economic activity in the U.S., increased by 4.7 percent -- the largest yearly increase since before the economic meltdown in 2008.
As a business owner, you probably already know that webinars can be a highly effective tool for gaining visibility, generating leads for your business, and connecting with customers and prospects. However, as the saying goes, “god is in the details” with any effective marketing program, so it is important to follow some guidelines that can help you plan your next webinar.
Think of a Webinar as a Radio Show with Visual Aids
Although claiming a home office deduction used to be considered a sure fire way to get on the IRS's short list for an audit, things are changing. Today, many more entrepreneurs (either by choice or by design) are working from home. Claiming legitimate expenses for home office space is less likely to set off warning bells now than it would have even a few years ago. There are some things you do need to keep in mind, though:
Some people are born with the innate ability to persuade or inspire the masses simply by saying a few words. Others must spend countless hours practicing what they’ll say to achieve a fraction of the results. Regardless of whether you’re a natural public speaker or you could use some polish, your public speaking skills could be helping your business’s bottom line.
Using public speaking skills at events
If you have any level of public speaking skills and you ...
The key to success in any sales approach is to recognize when your approach isn't working, and change that approach when you're not achieving success. You have to be persistent to achieve success, and persistence is key to any sales success, too.
Sales people are persistent, but they have to consistently change their sales tactics, too, instead of consistently using the same old stale sale techniques with their clients. They should consider the frequency of their contacts, as well. ...
In Web analytics, the term “bounce rate” refers to visitors who arrived at a particular Web page and then left without visiting other pages on the site. In some cases, this can be because the visitor found what they were looking for on the first page they landed on and had no reason to look further. In other cases, it means that the page the visitor landed on was so irrelevant to what they were looking for that they saw no reason to stay.
As a business owner, you have probably asked yourself this question at some point: “What makes a lead-management process successful?” In the real world, implementing a successful process requires a combination of science, art, and consensus; however, following a few steps can help you get everything in place to ensure you make the most out of every lead you receive.
Track Leads through Your Website
One of the most effective ways to track leads is ...
Tax time is fast approaching, and if this is a question you've asked yourself over the past year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may be asking it too -- and soon.
The Difference Between Commerce and Hobby Status
The IRS defines a hobby as an activity not engaged in for profit. That may still allow for some grey area if you're just getting started in business, but many of the specific guidelines posted on the IRS's site don't. To qualify as a business, your activities ...
When you work for a giant conglomerate, what you do in public is rarely a blip on the corporate PR radar. As someone running a smaller business, you may be the face of the company. The things you do and say, the way you act, how you treat people, they all can help potential customers form an opinion of the company. The New Year is the perfect time to ask yourself if you really project the best image for your company.
For many years, research has shown that networking with other businesses is an integral factor in companies’ success across a wide range of industries. Working with other companies in your industry is one of the best ways to gain new customers through referrals and build both working relationships and trust with other industry experts. Discussing the merits of new technologies with other businesses is also a great way to grow your company by building on the work of others—or ...
When the budget runs tight at the end of the year, office supply orders are often the first expense businesses cut. After the dawn of the New Year when employees get the green light to begin ordering again, they may overspend on things they don’t need. While a few extra boxes of pens and sticky notes won’t break the bank, unchecked office supply orders have the power to kill your budget.
As a business owner, you probably know that every company wants life-long customers. However, finding these “dream customers” may prove a bit difficult if you are unsure of where to look or how to qualify leads. Following are a few tips that can make it much easier to spot your best customer:
Evaluate Your Marketing Efforts
One of the first things to do to identify your best customer is to understand where the potential customer came from. If you ...
Small business milestones are important, and if you managed to survive another year, it's time to step back and take stock. You probably know all about the financial and tax side of year end preparation. If not, your accountant will be delighted to set up an appointment to discuss the particulars with you. Whether you look forward to reviewing your performance, or approach the prospect with fear and loathing, this can be a productive time for a very internal inventory.
Here's how to tell if you're making mistakes with your publicity, (and everyone does). Avoid these mistakes to put out better publicity that will bring your company better coverage.
Think like an advertiser and you'll put off reporters. When you turn in copy that reads like an advertisement, you're less likely to have it published. Instead, you need to turn in copy that is more objective about your products and services, and doesn't use colorful prose, transparent advertising ...
Social media provides small businesses with unprecedented opportunities to communicate with customers, market their brands and drive sales. Contrary to what many believe, however, true success takes more than a flashy Facebook fan page, clever “tweets” and widely distributed press releases. Most businesses mistakenly equate huge numbers of “fans” and “followers” or spikes in visitor traffic from a viral video with success. The truth is, long-term ...
Research has shown that the main issue facing small business owners in the current market is the lack of enough qualified prospects, which is often the result of not enough time or expertise in lead generation. However, following a few steps can help you obtain your best customers and increase your profits drastically.
Generate Leads with Direct Mail
In most cases, the fastest way to build your business is to target your best consumers with a ...
Choosing the right name for your small business is a big consideration. A rose by any other name . . . might not be a customer's first choice when ordering flowers. The advent of the internet has created lots of small business opportunities and more than a few important concerns when naming a business. In the digital age, you can't rely on passersby to realize that you sell balloons by the way they're fluttering across your display window, and it's hard to associate the name Bill's Hot Air ...
Banking is an industry that has one simple revenue-increasing concept down to a science. They want the business and they will ask for sales – basically every time they see you. Need to deposit a check? They’ll sell you direct deposit. Want to make a withdrawal? They’d like to sell you a debit card.
It may get annoying, but their increases in profit and market share prove it’s also highly effective. What isn’t annoying is that you can learn to apply the ...
Here's how things stand from the small business customer relationship angle. We always try to remain loyal to our customers whatever happens. During these tough economic times, all of our customers are looking for the best prices they can get, anywhere they can. Businesses are cutthroating each other, and going out of business because of it.
However, there is still a level of quality behind your product and service that you must maintain if you are to maintain viable for the long ...
Despite its tremendous impact on marketing, social media is still a relatively new and ever-evolving phenomenon. As is the case with most emerging marketing techniques, many small business owners are uncertain how to leverage its power, but they know social media cannot be ignored.
Many small businesses fail in social media because they do not approach it for what it is – both a marketing medium and a customer service medium. The key to success in both these areas is ...
According to the Promotional Marketing Association, 79 percent of Americans used coupons last year to save money on all sorts of products and services.[1] In the midst of a difficult economy, it is more important than ever that you as a business owner take steps to maintain your current client base and acquire new customers simultaneously, and coupons are a great way to accomplish just that. Here are a few ideas that can help you actually increase your profits and ...
The prospect of having to draft a business plan can strike fear into even seasoned professionals. There's more to consider here than just your business, your future goals, and the layout of the plan itself. There's the thorough research and the number crunching involved as well. The long list of considerations is enough to make a sensible person want to postpone business plan preparation for as long as possible.
Composing a business plan will help to crystallize your thinking. It may ...
When running a business, your attention will typically stay focused on daily operations. If you have a favorite charity or organization, you might feel torn about taking your time away from the company to devote to volunteerism, especially when it’s a solo effort. If you involve your customers in your favorite cause, you can accomplish more for the organization and possibly strengthen your company’s image.
If you start talking cost of your product or service too early in your sales discussion, you may lose the sale before it's begun. That's because you need to uncover your prospect's problem and determine how your product can help them solve it before you ever start to haggle about the price of your product. The price will always seem too high until you know how to help them, but unfortunately, most people don't start out solving the problem before hand. Here's how to do just ...
The holiday season is often referred to as the “season of giving.” Although the act of giving can be rewarding in and of itself, it can also benefit your small business.
As a small business owner, you’re an integral part of your community and you no doubt have social and community issues that you care deeply about. By giving generously to the causes you care about, you not only improve the quality of life of your beneficiaries, but you can also enhance your ...
In a world that seems to go more and more mobile every day, catering to the 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (77 percent of the world population) through mobile advertising is essential, and it can help to know some of the most effective ways to reach these subscribers. One of these methods is a properly crafted and executed mobile advertising strategy, since mobile advertising helps to drive brand loyalty, encourage consumers to visit your storefront, enhance multichannel campaign efforts, and ...
If you work from home, you know that there are enough distractions without having equipment and supply problems as well as endless family interruptions. You may not be able to stifle the urge to overdose on coffee or take a few too many snack runs to the fridge, but there are ways to outfit your home office to make your daily routine more convenient, efficient, and comfortable.
The economic slowdown may be bad news for most of us, but it has also given rise to a burgeoning home office ...
If you want to meet your sales targets, you need to follow some tried and true rules to make sure you meet them every month. Here are some tips to help you meet your goals and add new clients, too.
Prospect for new clients every week. Sure, you have existing clients, and they make up most of your sales, but you need new clients, too. It pays to keep adding new clients while you keep a secure base of existing clients, that way you'll always have fresh clients to shore up your ...
Let’s face it: the very nature of display ads is to get your ideal customers’ attention, convey key information, and encourage them to call you or click on your ad. Here are a few tips that can help you get the most out of your display ad:
Have a Strong Call to Action
One of the most important things to keep in mind with your display ad is your call to action, a phrase or button that that lets consumers know exactly what is coming next. While ...
If you thought coming up with an inspired small business idea was the tough part, think again. Turning your idea into a functioning enterprise requires some new tools and an appreciation for the value of taking care of the details.
You may have product experience, passion and a seminal plan, but you'll need a lot more to make your small business a reality. Sure, you know you'll need money, but there are still lots of details to work out. Many of the frustrating stumbling blocks ...
Once your company reaches a certain size and you begin to deepen your client relationships, hosting a party around the holidays may seem like a good idea. In truth, a well-planned party can show your clients how much you appreciate their business and look forward to continuing the relationship. When done right, customer holiday parties may even be able to help win additional business from them.
When done wrong, the same customer holiday parties can be disastrous to the relationship ...
If you want your business to grow, you need to attract more clients. Here are some steps to help attract more clients, no matter what type of business you own.
The first step in any marketing campaign is finding your target audience. Dig into your research and uncover what customers your products and services can help the most. If you don't have a clear understanding of who you can help, your marketing efforts won't be effective.
In today’s socially-connected marketplace, credibility is an indispensable commodity and nothing builds credibility quite like testimonial videos. Honest, third-party recommendations are the next best thing to actual referrals.
Testimonials allow your prospects the opportunity to cut through the sales hype and pressure and get feedback from real people who have purchased your products or services, and who have nothing to gain from them making a purchase.
As you probably know, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have become extremely popular recently. In fact, in the U.S. alone, more than 100 unique visitors flock to Facebook alone each month, which can prove quite useful to business owners. However, getting the best bang for your buck when it comes to social media requires you to follow a few guidelines.
Choose Your Target Audience
As is the rule with any other type of advertising, likely the most ...
Running a small business is a competitive enterprise. If you're a startup, it's likely that at least some of the newer businesses in your niche will fail within the first five years of operation. Your efforts will be focused on making sure your business doesn't become a negative statistic. This may require an aggressive approach to some areas of your production and selling efforts. If you hate conflict and think scoping out the competition for weaknesses is mean spirited, then small business ...
Personal branding can be a highly effective marketing strategy for many small business owners. Although the term has only come into widespread use in recent years, the tactic has been around for centuries. Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Meg Whitman and of course Donald Trump have all used personal branding to establish and expand their business empires. And few individuals have ever exploited the tactic as successfully as the late Steve Jobs.
As mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets that allow people to handle all aspects of communication with a single handheld device are becoming more popular, many users have started using apps for everything from making bank transactions to reading their favorite books. In fact, research has shown that nearly one-third of Americans now owns a smartphone, and the average iPhone user downloads about 60 apps per device.[1] With numbers like this, there is no reason not ...
Knowing who your customers are, or are likely to be, is one of the most basic aspects of business management. You can't plan effectively without knowing the answer, and yet many small-business owners play a guessing game when it comes to understanding their key markets.
Products and services fulfill needs. It is one thing to know that your widgets are precision made, but it's another to recognize the type of buyer who'll shell out a few pennies more for a quality product. Being a ...
In every kind of business, there comes a time when you realize you can’t do everything alone. Even when you have a solid team to support you and adequate cash flows, it’s still possible to reach the limit of what you can do. Rather than bringing on more staff to tackle more projects, forming strategic partnerships can give your company the edge it needs.
Types of strategic partnerships
Although there are many variations in play, strategic partnerships are ...
One of the easiest ways to improve your sales is to improve your customer service. You may not realize it, but your customers may not be receiving the best customer service, and it may be happening right underneath your own nose.
If your customers aren't happy, they won't be coming back, and that can hurt your bottom line. That's because it costs 6 to 8 times more to get a new customer than to keep an old one, and there's a 12 percent higher profit margin with your existing customers. ...
It has been said that a business is only as good as its people and, as a small business owner, you would most likely agree. Especially in today’s business environment, hiring the right people is more crucial than ever. Whether you’re a B2B or B2C, competition in virtually every business sector is increasingly fierce and hiring motivated, loyal, highly-skilled employees is essential.
When vetting candidates, how can you be sure that the ones who shine during the ...
While many people may think that acquiring new customers is the way to succeed in today’s economy, retaining long-term clients is actually one of the best marketing strategies you can implement. Here are ten of the most tried and tested ways to transform existing customers into clients who will do business with you for years to come:
Focus marketing strategies on existing customers: one important thing to keep in mind is that your current customers have ...
It may not look like it right now, but tough times offer good opportunities. Whenever there's a shakeup in existing business niches, creative workarounds can become the impetus for positive change -- and profit. That's the upside. The downside is that starting a new business is hard work at the best of times -- and this isn't the best of times. At first, there's a lot of adrenaline supporting those planning marathons. Later, you may hit a wall when it finally dawns on you that your energy is ...
As the holidays draw near, there are no shortage of charities and other organizations in need of volunteers. If you have a little free time, it’s always a rewarding experience to share your time and talents with those in need. Of course, if you can spare some of your employees, volunteering as a team building exercise can help bring your office closer together while making a difference.
What do the Grateful Dead have in common with marketing? More than you might think. Sure, they're an iconic rock band, but they were marketing pioneers, too. Follow some of their marketing ploys to turn around your business.
You have to create your own business model that's unique. The Dead didn't focus on selling their albums, instead, they created revenue at their concerts, by allowing their fans to record their concerts and trade the tapes, which created huge word of mouth that ...
More and more small businesses are turning to blogging to engage customers, enhance their online reputation, build relationships and drive sales leads.
Your business blog can be an incredibly valuable tool, with the potential to generate word-of-mouth marketing. The key is connecting with the right audience and getting them to share your products and services with others within their social networks. Good blogs encourage conversational and reflect the personality of the ...
In the midst of a slow economy, the first reaction of many businesses is to decrease or stop their advertising entirely to reduce expenditures and stay afloat. However, doing this is one of the worst things you can do; advertising during a difficult economy can actually help bolster sales and increase your bottom line. How, you may ask? Here are just a few ways:
Advertise to Gain the Competitive Advantage
Studies have shown that advertising during a sluggish ...
According to data compiled by the U.S. Small Business Administration, about 96 percent of consumers live (and buy) outside of the United States. If you're a small business owner looking for ways to expand into new markets, stabilize a seasonal business, or explore new supply sources, the international marketplace has enormous potential. Is it easy to go global? Well, like learning math when you were a kid, or a foreign language when you were in college, or the vocabulary of finance when you ...
Each November, our thoughts naturally turn to the end of year holidays as advertisements and store displays merrily remind us how many shopping days remain. Of course, as a business owner, you have more than your personal holiday shopping to do. It’s also time to decide if you should send client holiday gifts.
Benefits of client holiday gifts
Whether you’re running a start-up or a well-established business, there’s always a benefit to keeping your ...
Everyone makes marketing mistakes when they market their business. Here are some that you can't afford to make when you market your business.
Keeping the plan you have. If your marketing plan is good enough today, that doesn't mean it will be good enough tomorrow. Staying ahead of the game is the way to make it today, and to keep your marketing plan in place for the future.
Don't pad your marketing with hype and jargon. It underestimates your customers, and it's just in poor ...
In today’s competitive environment, online reputation management is essential to every business and yet it remains one of the most overlooked areas of marketing. Whether you are aware of it or not, the reputation of your brand is likely being shaped online in the form of “Tweets”, ratings and reviews. Not taking control of the discussion can be disastrous.
In recent years, the Web has been transformed from a collection of largely static sites into what has ...
About 50 percent of the profit generated by the average business comes from a core group of repeat customers. If you're expanding the scope of your brand or entertaining other strategies to attract new business, maybe you should at least consider refocusing your efforts inward. Business strategists are quick to say that it's harder to get a new customer than to keep an existing one, and even though the notion of brand loyalty has taken a hit in recent years, developing your existing customer ...
Properly communicating with your customers is the best way to strengthen relationships and earn more of their business. Although it can take quite a bit of time to foster a strong relationship, it only takes a few careless words to undo all you’ve worked to build. In fact, there are three phrases that can be the kiss of death on your relationship with your customers.
1. “I don’t care”
One thing that’s important to remember is that, in business, ...
How do you effectively market your business and reach out to customers? Do you use a blog? Do you use social media like Facebook or Twitter? Do you use your website, or search engine optimization (SEO)? All these choices may seem daunting, but they don't have to be.
If you have the budget, you can hire a specialist that can consult with you in what type of new media marketing is best for you and your business. They will probably recommend the type of marketing methods ...
With all the attention on Facebook, Twitter and most recently Google+, many have overlooked perhaps the most effective social media platform for B2B businesses – LinkedIn.
Unlike the other players in the social media arena, LinkedIn is specifically designed for business networking and allows you to connect with decision makers from virtually every business sector. As of August 4, LinkedIn boasted more than 120 million members from over 200 countries and territories worldwide. ...
If you have a small business, you'll hear long and often about the value of marketing. Marketing may even begin to sound like the answer to many of the challenges you face. What's one big problem with the pursuit of the perfect marketing campaign for your goods and services? That would be money -- or would it? In a world where more and bigger are almost always better, it may still be possible to equate marketing with a "smaller is better" business philosophy.
The Internet is an excellent medium for getting your company’s message out to the masses and your company’s blog is the perfect vehicle for it. When done correctly, a well-maintained, frequently updated corporate blog can keep customers engaged and primed to purchase your new products and services. On the other hand, there are three distinct traps that some corporate bloggers fall into, losing sales and damaging their brand with a few keystrokes. In some ways, learning what not to ...
Several years ago, simply having a job and getting a check at the end of each pay period was enough for many people; however, as times have changed, so too have the employees in most workforces. Today, all companies, no matter how large or small, require a form of efficiency and professional achievement that manifest in the form of tangible results for the company. As a result, employee productivity is one of the most important factors that can make or break your company’s bottom line, ...
A tagline isn't the only part of your brand that marks your business, but it is an important part of your marketing effort. So, writing a good tagline can make or break your branding effort. Here are some tips on writing a tagline that will stick with your customers.
Keep it short. The best taglines are short and to the point. Try to make them no more than six or seven words; and three to four is optimum. Keep your tagline simple, too. Use words your customers can understand, rather ...
If you're a small-business owner specializing in a specific market, you've probably considered the pros and cons of expanding your niche. Expanding the scope of your business can seem pretty tantalizing. Before you make the jump, though, there are some important things to keep in mind.
Should You Expand Your Small Business Niche?
The impact - Expanding the scope of your small business can carry with it some impressive potential benefits, like bringing in new ...
At some point, we’ve all missed out on getting the business of a potential customer. Sometimes, our competition was able to outmaneuver and underprice us. But it’s the sales we lose because of our failure to act that eat at us though, knowing we had the sale if only we’d made the call. Perhaps the worst offender is the sale we fought for and won, yet didn’t close because we couldn’t find our notes. This is when uncluttering the office is critical for uncovering ...
Marketing today isn't the same as it was even ten years ago, it's changed completely. If you want your company to keep up, you must change your marketing strategies to keep up with your competitors, and make sure that you know how to do that effectively. Here are some tips for making sure you can manage your marketing in this new economy.
This isn't your father's economy, and it shouldn't be your father's marketing tactics. In the past, word-of-mouth and outside salespeople were ...
In today’s uncertain economic climate, many small businesses are choosing to hire contract workers to help keep their overhead low. Although these arrangements can be mutually beneficial for the businesses and the freelancers they employ, they can also turn extremely ugly if handled incorrectly.
Short-term contracts can turn into long-term headaches unless you enter into them with some clearly defined goals. As a small business owner, here are some things you should consider ...
You can play the sales game a lot of ways. You can even specialize in the "exploratory surgery" style of selling, which relies on luck and quick thinking over in depth research. If this is your preferred plan of attack, sooner or later -- probably sooner -- you'll be confronted with a sales misfire that would have succeeded if you'd only checked a little deeper, understood the competition a little better, or taken the time to suss out an alternative selling option before you set foot on the ...
Some teams make it a pleasure to leap out of bed and start the workweek each Monday morning. Operations run like a well-oiled machine and your sales team stays busy and makes the sales happen. On the surface, it would seem as though there’s little left to do in the way of coaching. But beneath the surface, that’s where coaching dynamic teams can move them to the realm of the extraordinary.
If you plan your marketing, you can add more customers to your mix, and that means a better bottom line. Here's how to plan your marketing with some steps to add more customers to your business.
First, you must understand your strengths as a business. To do this, you need to ask yourself some questions. Why do your customers buy from you? What does your business really do for your customers? What advantage do you have over your competition? Do you have any skills ...
As the owner of a small business, your employees look to you for leadership and a clear vision of where the company is going. Unfortunately, there will inevitably be times when not everyone in the company will see things your way. That’s o.k., provided you maintain open lines of communication and present your vision in a clear, logical and consistent manner.
Here are 5 common mistakes that can undermine your authority and lead to conflict with your employees.
When you originally set up your small business website, you probably had high hopes for it. Your own little piece of cyberspace was going to help you make money, refine your brand, and research what customers (and potential customers) really wanted from your goods or services. Skip forward a few months and your perception of having a website may have changed a little. Those witty and wise articles may not be getting many hits, and the cutting edge landing pages designed to drive sales to your ...
SuperMedia has three different options for helping your small business get high-quality video ads online. Fast.
You have a business to run. Even though you know how valuable video advertising is, you may not have the time or resources to create a video that you can feature online. We can do it for you. SuperMedia makes it painless and affordable to have professional quality video online, promoting your business 24/7.
Do you have that one person in your office who goes out of their way to get the job done right for the customer without ever losing their smile? These are the employees we all love to work with because of their work ethic and great attitude. The problem with these employees is that they make it so easy to play favorites, which can kill office morale if you don’t keep a close eye on how you treat the rest of the staff.
Sure, there are some times when a buyer can't make a decision. However, there are plenty of other times when the buyer is simply trying to delay making a decision to get a better deal. This is especially true of those professional buyers who work with plenty of salespeople all the time. Why would they make a quick decision if they don't have to? They think that by waiting, salespeople will get nervous, and make them a better deal.
When the salespeople get nervous, they fear the deal ...
With Google, Bing and Yahoo placing increasing importance on local search, small businesses now have more opportunities than ever before to dominate the search results for their targeted keywords. Unfortunately, many have not taken advantage of the new features, or optimized their web sites for local search.
Here are some simple ways to improve your company’s online visibility in local search results.
Any good salesperson will tell you that leaving it up to the prospect to make up his or her mind to buy is a fatal mistake. Instead, you must ask for the sale. And the same is true for your business web site, email, blog, print advertising and social media. You must tell prospects what you want them to do with compelling calls to action.
Calls to action entice the visitor to take specific actions like clicking on a button, filling out a form, making a phone call, visiting another ...
In virtually every company, a go-to person exists, someone who can answer even the most obscure questions about the business, procedures, products or services. While things can often continue running smoothly during the go-to person’s brief absence or vacation, what happens if they take an extended leave or quit? Now is the time to consider the dangers of not documenting procedures and plan against it.
When your business is small, the internet can seem like a big, complicated bag of worms. You may feel that there's tremendous potential to expand your reach, but the outlay and the learning curve involved in reaping future rewards may not seem worth the effort right now. The type of business you own will have a lot to do with the way you approach developing an online presence, too.
Your Small Business Domain Name
David has a vegetable stand that's primarily seasonal. He does ...
Watch the short video below to find out how to opt out of yellow pages delivery:
SuperMedia LLC is a member of the Local Search Association, and is committed to supporting local businesses and consumers in an environmentally responsible way. Because of that, we follow the guidelines in the Commitment to Consumer Choice found in the Continue Reading...
Let's face it. Customers, even long-term customers, can be fickle. They want to save money, and that means they may leave your company to save money. You're always looking to keep your customers happy, find new customers, and keep your business thriving, even in a tough economy.
If you're losing customers, or just afraid you're going to lose customers in this rough economy, there are some things you can do to make sure you don't lose those customers. Here are some things to make sure ...
When you're busy working 12 to 16 hour days, it may be hard to think of your small business as flexible, but flexibility is one key thing that distinguishes you from the competition -- in a good way.
Where Small Business Flexibility Counts
Keep it flexible with customers - You may lack the fancy packaging, but your small business might have one thing that customers adore -- responsive customer service. According to information released in 2011 by American ...
Moments exist in every business when the amount of work is so crushing that your staff simply can’t keep up with it. During these times, it’s understandable that key employees will have a backlog of tasks to complete. What doesn’t often make as much sense is when these backlogs occur without an increase in the amount of work. This is when you must ask if you’re at the mercy of productivity bottlenecks and how to get work flowing again.
Should your company have a set selling system, or should you allow your salespeople to have their own unique selling styles? Systems are excellent ways to train people and make sure work gets done in most businesses, and they make people more effective at what they do. In fact, good systems ensure that complex tasks are completed effectively, and business gets done as usual.
Sales is the same. In any sales organization, there are tools, principles, and process that are proven to be ...
Customer loyalty programs are a great way for many businesses to attract new customers and retain existing ones. According to Jupiter Research, over 75 percent of American consumers surveyed said they carry at least one loyalty card.
For some businesses, the decision is not whether to offer a customer loyalty program, but which type to offer. Customer loyalty programs can include offers of free or discounted products and services, rebates and even third party ...
If you have a small business, you're probably busy trying to grow your investment or just survive until the economy stabilizes. Issues like hiring new employees and putting together guidelines for retirement savings may be on the back burner if they're on the stove at all. The fact is that many small businesses revolve around an undersized staff or a single individual -- you. You're the brain trust of the organization and often the most productive, overworked member of the team. You may think ...
The virtual workplace has opened doors never before thought possible for workers and business owners alike by increasing opportunities. Of course, with every office innovation comes its own set of challenges. If you’re thinking of letting your employees work from home, it’s important to first analyze the key areas of feasibility, management and productivity.
Work from home feasibility
Although the vast majority of employees would jump at the chance to work from ...
Marketing can become very expensive, especially if you're a new business trying to get recognition in your community. Instead of spending a considerable amount of money on an advertising campaign, you can create a low-cost ad campaign by using creative, attention-getting tricks and devices to get your message to the people. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Try using giveaways to get people interested in your products. If you have a pet shop, give away coupons for a free ...
Most small business owners realize the potential of social media as an effective, affordable way to build their brand and drive sales leads. But with so many options available, deciding which will get the best, most immediate results can be difficult. Here are four simple ways to generate more sales leads using social media . How to Identify Your Audience
Social media is all about engagement. Unfortunately, many people simply use it to ...
One of the best ways to create a lean and effective website is to consider each webpage as a separate, distinct, and potentially revenue generating entity. Your website should entertain and enlighten, sure, but its main purpose is to create and maintain a "call to action" that will result in sales. The smaller you are, the more important it is to keep your message clear and direct.
Creating a sales promotion can be an excellent way to give a boost to sluggish sales or achieve new heights during a sales boom. Of course, this is only possible whenever you keep your customers at the front of your mind while creating the promotion. When you don’t, you run the risk of having your efforts fall flat, potentially wasting any marketing dollars you put behind the promotion. Luckily, designing sales promotions your customers will love can be a breeze when you focus on three ...
Pay-per-click advertising offers a number of advantages over other online advertising methods. Unlike search engine optimization and social media marketing which can take weeks or even months to deliver results, PPC ads can begin appearing within hours of being created. PPC also allows you to set a daily budget and requires no long-term commitment. But managing successful PPC campaigns that deliver a consistent ROI can be a tedious and time consuming proposition.
The employee environment in a small to medium sized business can feel like an extended family, and that may give you a powerful advantage as a business owner. Keeping your staff small can make it easier to give your employees the attention they need and deserve. When employees feel appreciated and empowered, productivity increases and absenteeism decreases. A small business vibe often feels intimate, helpful and friendly to customers, too.
Whenever changes or important issues are going on in your office, holding a staff meeting can be the most efficient way to disseminate the information to your staff. Unfortunately, we’ve all been in the meetings that accomplished little else beyond wasting time. This is annoying for employees, but it’s a drain on company resources for employers who are footing the bill for everyone’s time. To avoid this, consider employing these three tips for accomplishing more during staff ...
Networking your business is changing as we speak. Today, with all the new technologies, customers aren't isolated individuals, but they are really customer networks, and to reach out to them, you need to understand their networked behavior.
Researchers indicate there are five core behaviors of networked uses on the web. They are accessing, engaging, customizing, connecting, and collaborating. If you understand and control these core behaviors, you can practice strategies that will ...
For many small businesses, constructing a simple, compelling marketing message can be a daunting task. Whether it’s ad copy, email marketing, direct mail, online content or the myriad other communications channels available, the real message is often diluted in the marketer’s attempt to make the product or service appeal to an overly-broad audience, or appear more feature-rich.
The end result is often a confused buyer who, presented with too much information or too many ...
There's scientific support for the theory that having a large vocabulary helps you become a better thinker. It works like this: Your brain grasps complex concepts and uses the technical terms for them as a kind of memory shorthand. Reading about basic and complex business ideas and memorizing the associated nomenclature helps you develop a broad knowledge base you can use as a foundation for future learning, too. Knowing the lingo will enable you to navigate deep business waters more easily ...
If you work in the same office with dedicated salespeople, it’s natural for employees to be competitive in nature. A little playful joking around about who’s the best can be fun, but it can tank your office morale once joking crosses the line to all out competition and jockeying for position. By creating a team atmosphere in a competitive office, you can see an increase in productivity and overall sales success.
Do you recognize just how important your first impression is? What your customers see or hear when they first encounter your business is so important, and yet many businesses just ignore this key ingredient of their business. Whether it's the receptionist who answers your phone, or the person behind your counter, you all have a person who makes the first impression on your customers, and they hold the first impression of your business in the palm of their hand.
No one is born understanding the science of finance or the common sense of money management. Running a business isn't the same as managing a checkbook, although there are some checkbook lessons that can certainly be useful. Being money savvy is about learning by the mistakes of others in time to avoid making the same blunders yourself.
Let's take a look at a few financial snafus you should be on the lookout for:
Whether you’re sending them to potential customers or your existing base, you’ve probably sent out sales letters at some point. Did they get the response you were hoping they would? If not, the problem may have been your wording, not your offer. Luckily, it isn’t difficult to learn how to word more effective sales letters simply by making a few changes.
Effective sales letters are evocative
Think about the last sales letter or advertisement you saw that ...
Finding new customers is a challenge, but one of the biggest challenges a business faces is winning back customers that leave. Here are some tips on how to recover customers when you've made a mistake and lost a valuable customer that you certainly don't want to lose.
First, you have to own up to the mistake, instead of getting defensive about it. You have to put yourself in the customer's position, instead of trying to defend your own. It doesn't matter if you had supplier issues, ...
Catering to the right niche can help make your small business stand out. You see it in nature; you see it in society, and you see it in business: Systems specialize because it's efficient. It may also be the key to your success.
The Ups and Downs of Serving a Niche Market
The up side to this approach is that, once entrenched, you have a built in market. The downside is that niche businesses rise and fall with the niches they serve. If you specialized in typewriter repair ...
If you own or run a business, chances are good you have some kind of information on your customer base. For some businesses, this involves only addresses and phone numbers, while others are busy harnessing the power of email marketing. Even if you don’t want to turn into a company that fills up people’s inboxes with messages, your email list is still important to success, both now and in the future.
If you have a small business, you may think you can't afford to market it effectively, but that's just not the case. Here are some tips that can help you market your business that won't break the bank.
Look for streets with high foot traffic in your area, and ask businesses on those streets if you can advertise your business in there storefront windows. Offer to pay them a small fee to advertise in their window. You can also bring in a little revenue if you have great foot traffic in ...
Most of us have suffered through our share of unproductive business meetings. As the presenter rambles aimlessly, we’ve found ourselves drifting off or silently fuming as we take mental inventory of the things we could be accomplishing as the minutes and hours crawl slowly by.
Such meetings are frustrating not only for the attendees but also for the facilitators. Here are some ways to ensure that your next meeting is more effective and productive for all parties ...
If you're sitting on the sidelines wondering if starting a business is the right goal for you, you've already taken the first step to becoming an entrepreneur. Being curious about working for yourself is one fundamental component of entrepreneurship you shouldn't underestimate. It is a characteristic you share with some of the biggest names in the business world.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) approximately 49 percent of small businesses fail within the ...
In a perfect world, all your customers will file through your doors between eight in the morning and five in the afternoon, which will also be the times all your employees will be available to work. Of course, it doesn’t always work this way in the real world. Between customers expecting extended hours and employees needing alternative work schedules, many businesses are turning away from the standard eight-hour workday expectation in favor of job sharing schedules. Could job share be ...
Attracting clients may be easier than you think it is. Here are some tips on how to create some buzz around your business and draw in some new clients at the same time.
First, try to create a powerful message that appeals to your model clients. Think of it as your Unique Selling Proposal. What's that? It's your sales solution that you decide you could present to your ideal client. If you sell signs and banners for example, instead of concentrating on homes and welcome signs, ...
When you're starting and running a small business, there's plenty of big stuff to deal with. Getting bogged down with the details can seem like overkill -- and a recipe for insomnia. The success of a small business can often hinge on the details, though.
Small Business Considerations
About 88 percent of the businesses in the U.S. have ten employees or less, and often they have fewer than five. These small businesses have a large impact on local economies. The ...
Perhaps the most important marketing tool a company has is its website. No matter how professional the design or informative the content is of your website, it’s possible you could still be missing its full potential. In fact, if you aren’t engaging customers on your website, you could be missing out on sales your business needs. Luckily, you can up the engagement factor on your site by tweaking your audio, visual and written elements.
Networking your business may sound like an old-fashioned way to market your business, but it really can be the way to make sure your business stays on track and you reach new customers. Here are some tips to reach out to as many new potential clients as you can.
Hand out stacks of your business cards to friends, relatives, and your employees. Ask them to hand them out to all their friends and relatives, and recommend your business to as many people as the can.
According to comScore, 176 million U.S. consumers watched an average of 15.9 hours of online video this past May. That’s an enormous audience, but with an estimated 48 hours of video content being uploaded to YouTube every minute, the question for most businesses is, “how do I get people to watch my video?”
Here are some helpful tips to help you create compelling videos that get watched.
When your business was more in the planning stages than in the real world of leases and production deadlines, it was easy to think of human resources as a topic reserved for later. As you've begun to realize your vision, though, dealing with the growing number of people in your organization has probably become more challenging.
When You Need a Human Resources Expert
It isn't just all the forms and legalities involved in maintaining a staff, either. Your business will ...
No matter what state the economy’s in, it’s always important to get as much bang for your travel budget buck as you can. While you may be doing well with the alternatives to business travel, there will still be times when you must fly out to meet your customer or prospective client face to face. Before you book your next hotel stay, review these simple strategies to maximize business trip productivity.
Maximize business trip productivity with key personnel
Local commercials can bring in business, or they can go down in flames. The secret is to create memorable ads that people want to watch. How do you do that on a budget? First, you have to have a memorable message and often the quirkier the better. The next message may surprise you. Experts say that the commercials that are ill conceived and begin totally in the wrong direction are the ones people really remember the most. Anyone that remembers the old Cal Worthington and his dog Spot car ...
Most businesses have Web sites with multiple pages. They typically include the “Home” page, an “About Us”, a “Contact Us” page and separate landing pages specifically designed to promote and sell specific products or services.
Unfortunately, many businesses don’t design their landing pages to be easily found by prospects or to convert those prospects to customers once they arrive on the pages.
If you've been in business long, you've learned that good employees are valuable assets. They understand your vision and bring a new perspective to your efforts to grow and innovate. Good employees can be hard to find, though. Although there may be a "perfect" job for every worker, clashes in personal style and work philosophy can make locating the perfect employee for your business a lengthy and frustrating process.
It’s a well-known fact that happy employees are more productive and less likely to look for a new job. Although some businesses deal with the public and need people available in the office to interact with them, other companies have the freedom to be more creative with their scheduling. If you have this freedom, using flexible schedules to keep your employees happy could be an amazing perk of the job you never considered.
A good businessperson knows that it's not all about selling just a product to a customer, it's about the entire experience that keeps them coming back for more. You have to create experiences that your customers will feel good about, whether it's a memorable dinner that's served by a server that really takes an interest in your diners, or a lawnmower shop that doesn't nickel-and-dime customers for add-on services. Here are some tips on how to create a great experience for your customers that ...
You can dream about hiring efficiency experts and super-efficient employees, but as the head and inspiration for your small business, good organization starts with you. The up side is that getting and staying organized is one of the best ways to save time during the day. If you're stumbling around looking for that slip of paper with your meeting agenda on it, or trying to locate a supplier's business card (you're pretty sure the company name starts with a C), precious minutes slip away. ...
At some point, your business will need extra help, either because of an employee’s extended absence or because of an increase in work. Using the services of temporary workers can be a lifesaver when you’re in a bind, but keeping up with what they’re doing isn’t always a joy. To improve your experience, consider three tips for managing temporary staff before hiring your next batch of temps.
If you want to stay on top of your competition, you need to know their products and services, and the only way you can get to know those things is by keeping tabs on them on an ongoing basis. If you monitor them continually, you'll be able to assess what they will probably do next, and then you can plan your own activities so you can act accordingly and keep on top of your own business strategies. That can help you grow your own business in a positive way. Here are some ways to help you begin ...
Thanks to social media, it’s easier than ever for small businesses to interact with their customers and prospects. They also possess the ability to create vibrant communities that generate brand ambassadors by making those same customers and prospects feel appreciated.
Twitter is one of the most widely used social media platforms primarily because of its ease of use and easy integration with other online assets.
Here are some tips on how to reward your Twitter ...
The interactive world of social networking is dynamic, immediate and has the potential to make you a super star. A great product, quality content, and judicious monitoring can net you an effective online persona and a low cost platform from which to make your products or services shine. The way to online fame and fortune is littered with people and businesses that got the formula wrong, though. Before you jump into the deep end of the pool, learn from the mistakes of others.
If your company is like many others, you may have employees who are still in high school and college. While their fresh perspectives and ability to work nights and weekends can be a boon to the business, working with teenage staff can occasionally try the patience of even the most experienced managers. Whether you currently work with teenagers or are considering adding them to the payroll, you can ease tensions by considering two strategies.
Many people are wondering about advertising in the Yellow Pages today. Should you or should you not? The answer is a resounding "yes!" When you're advertising anywhere, you need to plan your message first to make sure it works effectively, instead of choosing the medium and then creating your message. Here's how to plan your Yellow Pages message effectively so your ad draws in your reader and results in more sales for your business.
Content marketing is one of the easiest and cost-effective ways to promote your small business and can include videos, tweets, Facebook updates, articles and images.
Creating compelling content to attract new customers can be as easy as compiling, relevant how-to articles or videos but getting that content found and shared can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help your small business execute a successful content marketing strategy.
This may seem like a peculiar time to be thinking about growing your small business, but the truth is that in a down economy there are still plenty of opportunities to develop and expand. Forget the headlines and start paying attention to the types of things you see and hear every day.
What are customers talking about? What are your suppliers concerned about? How is the area around your facility growing and changing? What are the newest innovations in your niche? How are your ...
Some people believe the idea of cold calling in the social media age is dead, but they couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, studies indicate that cold calling is still the most "direct and effective way to generate new business" according to experts. Studies indicate that much of the growth in sales is in cold calling, and companies that add inside sales in that area experience more growth. However, your salespeople need to know how to master the art of cold calling to be successful, ...
Time is one of the most valuable resources you contribute to your small business. Concerted effort, innovation, creative brilliance and resourceful planning all take time. You may not be an expert at all the skills necessary to run your business, but you're the lynchpin that keeps the wheels turning. You can buy more materials and hire new people, but you can't rent, borrow or buy more hours in the day to build your business. These tips will help you reinvent your day with time in ...
Do you ever come home at the end of a long day at the office and answer the famous question of “how was your day, dear?” only to later discover your entire evening was consumed by office talk? Unfortunately, it happens to everyone at some point, possibly more often when you’re the person who’s actually running the company. If you’d rather use your off hours for relaxation than shop talk, here are three strategies for keeping work issues out of your personal ...
Employees are one of the biggest expenses for a small business, but the right employee can be a huge asset, too. Functions like customer service, sales, and marketing rely on the talents of conscientious people with a good grasp of what your business is all about. When you're small, you may not be able to pay for the best talent, but that doesn't mean there aren't exemplary employees out there waiting for a chance to exchange hard work for recognition -- even if the significant monetary ...
Workplace squabbles will occasionally pop up in any office. As a variety of different personality types interact day in and day out, it’s only natural that not everyone will get along. Typically, these disagreements will work themselves out, but when major issues arise, you may have to step in. Although resolving fights between employees isn’t always fun, it is a necessary part of your management responsibilities if you want to keep the company running smoothly.
For any business involved in Facebook marketing, building a vibrant community of fans is a top priority, and one of the simplest ways to do this is by offering rewards.
Your Facebook fans have already indicated a certain level of passion for your brand. Rewarding them for their loyalty is a great way to show your appreciation, but you need to make sure you reward them with something they want. Here are some great, affordable ways to reward your Facebook fans for their ongoing ...
There's a lot of advice available for the small business owner. A portion if it comes in the form of truisms that are handed down from one generation or technology to the next without a whole lot of critical thought or analysis. These five management myths may be true sometimes, but they aren't the management bulwarks they appear to be:
Entrepreneurs are a special breed. You don't need a special risk-taking gene to start a successful business. You don't need to be an ...
Once the weather turns warm, school age children begin turning their thoughts to what they look forward to all year long: summer vacations. So do their parents. This makes the summer months one of the most popular times of year for employees to request time off work.
It also has the potential to be a stressful time for your business because you have just as much work to do with fewer people to do it. Preparing for staff summer vacations now is the best way to avoid last-minute ...
Building a bond with your customers is all about building trust, so that they trust you and your company enough to buy your products and use your services. Building that bond can be quite difficult, while destroying it can be quite easy. Here are some ways you can destroy that bond, so avoid them at all costs.
1. Don't treat your customers like herds of cattle. They want to be treated like individuals, like they matter to you. Set policies and procedures that help your business, but ...
With all the various online marketing platforms and tools available to businesses, choosing the right ones for your particular business can be a daunting task. Even more harrowing, can be the task of devising and executing an effective online marketing strategy.
With search engines, email and the ever evolving world of social media including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and the blogosphere, online marketing can seem like a confusing maze. The following five tips are ...
You're arranging your notes for the morning meeting while trying to instruct an employee about a project -- when the phone rings. If this sounds familiar, you're a business multitasker. Sometimes, having to do two or more things at once is unavoidable. Often, though, interruptions and last minute emergencies can be avoided altogether. These tips will help you deal with some common multitasking challenges:
Let the computer do it. Integrated software options allow you ...
The people you work with are usually the people you spend more time with than your own family, especially during your business’s peak activity seasons. This makes it critical to your job satisfaction for you to get along with your employees. It also raises the question of whether it’s a good idea to spend time with employees socially.
Benefits of spending time with employees
Getting to know your employees on a social level can humanize you to them. It changes you ...
When it comes to our customers, we need to know what they want to give them what they want and need to help them solve their needs and goals, but sometimes it's hard for them to tell us exactly what those needs and goals are. You have to find a better way to connect with them so that you can get them to really think about what they want and need, and then get them to effectively share that information with you so you can meet their needs.
Looking for an easy, effective and affordable way to promote your business online? Online video may be the answer. Online video viewership continues to grow at an astonishing rate. According to a recent ComScore report, the average American consumer watched a record 201 online videos in December 2010, and YouTube is now the second most-visited online destination, behind Google.
The emergence of broadband has made online video more accessible and popular than ever. Video ...
Back when you started your small business, you were probably full of energy, ideas and a can-do attitude. Life has changed a little since then. This isn't the best climate for business success without sacrifice, fancy footwork, and burning a few barrels of midnight oil. If too many sleepless nights and endless work chores are making you regret taking the entrepreneurial path:
Make a list. Small business problems fall into two broad categories: things you can do ...
It doesn’t matter how amazing your product is or what level of customer service your employees offer, at some point, you will run across difficult customers. Since every customer is crucial to the success of your business, it’s important to develop strategies for winning over the difficult ones. When done right, today’s difficult customers could become tomorrow’s raving fans.
Branding is an important aspect of any business, and it's important not to overestimate it or oversimplify it. Branding is difficult, and you have to do it all the time if you want it to work. Branding is simply the perception people have of your company and how they recognize it. This can take many years to build, it simply does not happen overnight, so you have to invest a lot of time and effort to build up your brand, no matter how big or small your business is.
Everyone has an image that they project to others. It’s made up of the way we look, the way we speak and countless other factors which, when taken together, create a picture of who we are. Your business has an image and you should pay close attention to how it’s projected online.
Your business’ online image is, in many ways, even more critical than your offline image in that it is being projected to an audience that is typically unfamiliar with your ...
In the early days of launching and running a business, it’s natural to sweat all the details and decisions in hopes of creating the perfect image for your company. It’s also natural to stop focusing so much on all those little details once the business is off the ground and there are customers to satisfy. Regardless of what stage your business is in, it’s wise to consider what your business cards say about your company – just in case their message isn’t quite in ...
Over 83 percent of consumers perform online research before buying products or services. If you aren't taking advantage of this huge change in the way people buy, you're missing the boat.
Learn a New Marketing Skill
Internet marketing is different from other marketing venues, so there's a learning curve. There are some impressive advantages to online marketing using ads, though. Internet ads can be precision targeted to your specific market, and honing your approach can help ...
Advertising is one of the most effective ways to promote your business, but the right advertising is crucial to effectively promoting your business. Here's how to blend advertising to make the most of your advertising dollars and promote your business the right way.
Mix up Your Advertising
To get the word out about your business, you need to advertise in as many media outlets as you can. That means you need to pick several different forms of media to get the biggest bang for ...
Facebook has gone a long way toward leveling the playing field for businesses, large and small, looking to expand their presence and drive sales online. Even small businesses with shoestring budgets can engage their existing customers, and new prospects using social media, Facebook contests are one of the most effective methods.
Here are some tips on how to make your Facebook contest a success.
Your business logo is a powerful tool, and over time you'll invest a lot in it. It will appear on your advertising and may one day become synonymous with your goods and services. As a small company, choosing the right logo is important, and there are lots of design companies out there that will help you select the right image for your needs. Think of your logo as the artistic representation of your brand. It may take a while for you to settle on the right look, but once you do, you'll want to ...
When the workload increases – due to gaining more business or losing staff – the first reaction of many business owners and managers is to put in extra hours to ensure everything is done. While taking care of business is of vital importance to the health of your company, working yourself to the bone is not. The better solution is to discover ways to increase productivity without increasing hours.
You know that networking is important for your business to help it grow, so you're probably socially networking with your customers all the time, and that's a good thing. However, you should be networking with your business associates, and your competitors, too. If you haven't already, join your local Chamber of Commerce, and/or Better Business Bureau, and attend their regular business meetings or "mixers." This will give you the opportunity to meet with your business associates and learn ...
If your company completes mid-year employee reviews, you’ll probably start sitting down with employees in June or July. With so many weeks between now and then, it’s easy to put off the work of completing reviews until right before you give them, but that strategy can backfire if you’re busier than usual during the summer or short-staffed due to employee vacations. Consider implementing new pre-review practices now to cut your review time stress.
Couponing has been popular with moms for years, but it's just catching on with mobile phone and mobile device users. Coupons are a cheap way to market your business, and they don't take up a lot of your time, either. There are some things you need to know about offering mobile coupons to your customers, and here they are.
Make it easy to use your mobile coupons. Your customers want coupons that are easy to use, so look for formats they can understand and are basic. Coupons that only ...
You'll receive lots of advice about networking, and some of it will be good. Getting involved with your local Chamber of Commerce, setting up a website blog and enabling comments, and participating in the online social networking scene for your niche can all be effective marketing tools to garner new business and buzz. There are "networking gone wrong" approaches out there too, though. The distinction between a campaign that tickles the public's fancy and one that pounds prospective customers ...
Whether you have more work than you can do alone or you have employees looking for more to do, the time will come to give an employee more responsibility. Although you could throw more work on their plate and hope for the best, using the “sink or swim” mentality, not all team members will succeed. Instead, you can set up your employees for success by picking the right person for the task and easing them into their new responsibilities.
If you want to create more sales with your social media sites, there's a great way to do it, and that's by engaging your customers. Today, just about everyone is toting some kind of media device, and they want to engage with others when they're texting, talking, or tweeting, so you need to make a connection with your friends and family.
You need to have engaging social content, but you need to inform them, entertain them, and give them great customer service, too. However, today's ...
In today’s economy, more and more businesses are looking for ways to do more with less. Unfortunately, many have begun trimming employee benefits. In some cases, reductions in benefits cannot be avoided if the company wishes to remain viable. However, for many businesses, cuts in employee benefits result from a lack of understanding of their true value.
Business publications regularly publish lists of the top companies in the U.S. In addition to being the most ...
At the end of March, the Labor Department reported that jobless claims were down two months running (8%), a modest but potentially encouraging sign of economic recovery. It leads to an interesting question. If you've tabled the idea of adding new hires, what would have to happen for you to revisit that decision? Are you running short handed right now? If you aren't, you're probably in the minority.
Positioning Your Small Business for Growth by Hiring Workers Today
In a perfect world, you have plenty of time and energy to handle all the vital tasks that keep your business alive. In practice, a combination of real life and business challenges can keep the ideal from being your reality. Rather than working yourself to the brink of exhaustion, delegating to your staff can ensure all critical tasks are completed in a timely manner.
Tasks to Delegate to Your Staff
Delegating to your staff isn’t necessarily a difficult concept, but it ...
Over time, most small businesses alter strategies or business models to meet changes within the company or the marketplace. Unfortunately, many businesses fail to equip their employees with the skills they need to be effective within the new regime. In most cases, however, it is more cost-effective for a small business to retain its existing employees than to hire new ones.
Here are four tips to help your small business develop and retain your existing ...
It's the gold standard of customer service, that customer who will seek out products (or services) just because they're represented by your brand. Every business owner wants to cultivate customer loyalty, but wishing and hoping won't have dedicated customers knocking down your door.
Cultivating Customer Loyalty
Be the one. Apple computers and the McDonald's McRib sandwich have one thing in common, customer devotion. Providing a product that stirs consumer ...
Keeping all your team members in the loop on changes with the company is a managerial task that can make or break your team’s morale. When employees either don’t know or don’t understand the corporate vision, they can feel disconnected. On the other hand, providing too much information on company matters can cause confusion over all the details. When communicating business goals to staff, it’s critical you strike a balance between too much information and not ...
While social networking is taking marketing plans by storm, email newsletters still play a role in your marketing plan. Your newsletter is still a place where you can connect with, touch your customers, and create conversations. Here are some ways to make your newsletters more sociable in the coming year.
First, make sure that your customers opt-in for your newsletter. If they don't, your newsletter could be considered spam, and that's never a good thing. Never sign up anyone without ...
Have you ever heard the saying, “There are no small parts – just small actors”? The same is true of businesses. In business, “small” is a relative term. A regional retail chain may be considered “small” when compared to Walmart, but to the owner, employees, vendors and customers, that same small business is every bit as important as the legendary discount store icon.
Thinking of your business as small can lead to a number of ...
Recent events in Japan have caught businesses off guard and started whole nations thinking about how they'd handle a crisis. It doesn't have to be a tsunami or an earthquake either. Any number of man-made and natural disasters can disrupt a company's supply chain, hinder methods of transportation, cripple communications, and wreak havoc with employees.
Small Business Crisis Planning
There may be too many potential threats to plan for exhaustively, but there are still some ...
Tax season, unlike any other time of year, has the ability to draw groans from business owners and employees alike. Unless your business files a tax extension each year, you’ll likely be completing your business and personal returns at the same time. While this can put even the calmest among us on edge, keeping tax season stress at bay is possible.
Organizing to Avoid Tax Season Stress
Whether you prepare your own business tax return or you use the services of a tax ...
As a small business owner, you owe it to your employees to provide honest, open and frequent feedback on their job performance. Giving a pat on the back for a job well done is simple enough for most people, but what about those times when an employee has not lived up to your expectations?
Many business owners are reluctant to provide constructive criticism for fear that doing so may harm their relationship with the employee or, worse yet, that it simply won’t result in ...
Owning a small business these days can have huge challenges associated with it. Just when you put out one fire, another one springs up. You try to find actionable tips to help you operate smarter and leaner, but sometimes the hype just doesn't translate to anything you can actually use. In one way or another, these five mistakes are probably affecting your business today. Giving them some attention is a proactive way you can make your business better tomorrow.
Running a successful business isn’t just about making sales and providing customer service. You also have to ensure the doors are unlocked and there’s a staff of people inside. While this seems too basic to worry about, planning ahead for spring weather issues is the only way to ensure you meet those two simple objectives.
Planning for Flooding
Although spring is a time of new life and blossoming, it takes rain to make everything in nature turn green after a long ...
Today's tech-savvy consumers want to connect with your business, rather than just read about it online. You still have to provide good customer service and a great shopping experience, but you need to engage them and connect with them, so they know you care about your customers and the business they bring you. That's why you need to learn how to create two-way conversations to connect with your social media followers.
Success in business can depend largely on your power to persuade others. Your persuasive powers can convince prospects to buy your products or services, your employees to tow the corporate line, financial institutions to fund new ventures, and vendors and suppliers to provide preferred pricing and services.
Good verbal communications are at the heart of every persuasive presentation, whether addressing a small group or an entire convention hall.
Selling success can be seasonal. It can be dependent on the features of the product, the needs of the customer, or the drive of the salesperson. Selling almost never exists in a vacuum. The last few years have been hard on wholesale and retail sales alike and it doesn't look like there'll be a big turnaround any time soon. Succeeding and even surviving in the current sales climate will ultimately be a function of adapting and crafting sales out of weak prospects and with scanty encouragement. ...
Celebrating holidays with your staff can be a fun way to reward your team for their hard work. Depending on the activities you plan, you may also be able to use the celebration as a team-building exercise. Of course, it’s important to consider your company’s diversity and sensitivity policies when celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at work.
St. Patrick’s Day Diversity and Sensitivity Concerns
Many of the holidays we celebrate have cultural or religious ...
If you're an online company, or you just want to add more customers, think about adding online coupons through sites like Twitter and Facebook. To offer the right coupons and get your business known, you should target groups that meet your demographic, and think about what they are interested in. For example, if you're marketing to upscale women from 18 to 40, look for groups in your area that those women might frequent or friend online, such as your local public radio station. If you live in ...
As a small business owner, you’re no doubt aware of the importance of branding your company. You’ve probably heard any number of marketing experts talk about the necessity of having consistent marketing collateral and a distinctive and effective logo. Your business logo is the key to achieving consistency for your brand.
Here are five benefits of having a professional-looking logo:
Upselling is a tried and true method for increasing revenue and enhancing customer service. It's as deeply entrenched in the culture of selling as the business card, and almost as ubiquitous. Check any beginning sales course and the tactic of piggybacking additional complementary items onto a transaction or enticing the customer to opt for the next most expensive model, brand, or version will be front and center on the syllabus. As a business owner, upselling has big potential benefits. ...
At the office, spring cleaning isn’t just about removing the dust bunnies from under your desk and clearing out the storage room. As new life begins bursting in the world around you, spring is the perfect time to bring order to important – and often ignored – aspects of your business. Even though your region may still be blanketed by snow, now is the time to think about spring cleaning for your business.
Even though business travelers often enjoy reduced “business rates” on airfares and accommodations, business travel can still take a hefty toll on a company’s bottom line.
Although more and more business is being conducted long distance, there are times when face-to-face meetings with clients, prospects, vendors and employees are necessary. Here are five ways to help you control your business’ travel-related expenses.
The last few years have been hard on small and large businesses alike. We live in "interesting times" and some of the old reliable rules are as wobbly as a three legged chair. For some small to medium sized businesses, success means surviving until the compass points to a new, more trustworthy heading.
Small Business Survival Tips
Let's take a look at five ways you can refine your focus, or shift it, to survive until the business climate improves.
In every industry, there are individuals who naturally excel at their jobs – be it sales, customer service or administration – as though they were created to fill these roles. As an employer, these are the people you want filling any vacancies you have at your company, but competing against the industry giants for these superstars can present a challenge. No matter how small your company may be, attracting top employees to your small business isn’t ...
Using video blogs to promote your business and products has gotten much easier with the advent of special video blog software. Many applications are available that allow you to quickly shoot video, and post it to social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube. Here are some of the best tools to help you create your own video blogs quickly and efficiently.
First is Windows Live Essentials, which is a set of 11 different applications (apps) that allow you to record video, add ...
What differentiates your business from your competitors’? Most businesses are formed, in part, on the proposition that they have a competitive advantage that sets them apart from the crowd.
It may be a higher quality, a better price, or better customer service and support. Whatever it is, you should identify it and be able to articulate it if you hope to survive in today’s highly competitive business landscape.
It's performance review time. You've downloaded a form that may work okay with a few revisions. You've explained to your managers that they have to schedule reviews and submit the paperwork to you within a particular timeframe -- or you've set that goal for yourself. You're ready to go, right?
Tips for Crafting Performance Reviews
You think you know the drill. You give your employees a realistic view of their performance, good and bad, together with some guidelines for ...
In a world that increasingly relies on technology to provide immediate answers to questions and purchasing needs, your business website should work as hard during your off hours as you do during regular business hours. While your website might have been everything you needed it to be when you first launched it, your needs and the industry could be different now. To ensure you’re getting the most from your Internet presence, plan on reviewing your small business website at least once a ...
In the past, businesses built their reputations on common practices and principles, like great service, competitive prices, and high-quality workmanship. In today's marketplace, those things are still important, but by themselves, they're not enough to set you ahead of the competition. Today, you have to make your customers want you and your products, so they pass the word, and better yet, come back for more. Here are some things that may be sabotaging your business.
Having a line of credit gives your small or medium sized business easy access to money as you need it. Most lenders reserve lines of credit for businesses with a proven track record of fiscal responsibility. Once established, however, they can help you deal with unexpected cash flow issues, fund the purchase of new business equipment and inventory.
Lines of credit may be secured or unsecured, depending on the lender and your credit record. Almost all lending institutions require a ...
When you started your business, you probably never stopped to consider the type of boss you'd turn out to be. Chances are, though, that you have some pretty powerful memories of terrible bosses from your past. Have you slipped into some of those destructive, demeaning, confusing and counterproductive habits? If you think you may need a primer on how not to boss your employees, these tips will help.
Planning an event to show your customers how much you value them is only half of your task. While there’s nothing hard about hosting customer appreciation events, it’s not simple either. Three actions stand between your customers walking away feeling valued and wondering why they came.
You Play Favorites
When hosting customer appreciation events, it’s important to get face time with each of your guests. Although this is a common sense strategy for most ...
Sometimes, when you're in business, you don't see opportunities that can help grow your business to new heights. Finding closely related markets that you can "sidestep" into is often extremely cost effective, and opens up your business to new revenue streams. For example, if you own a residential cleaning business, can you offer carpet cleaning, or industrial building cleaning along with your residential services? If you own a bookstore, can you add greeting cards and a coffee bar to your ...
Every communication you send out to your clients and prospects, from direct mail pieces to simple emails, says something about your business. Do you maintain a consistent brand across all your businss communications? Are your emails full of typos? Do you communicate too much or too little, too frequently or not frequently enough?
All these factors tell your prospects and existing customers something about the value and trustworthiness of your business. What do your communications ...
Your small business probably relies heavily on a core group of dedicated employees to get things done. Those few critical people may seem like part of your extended family. They've shared your vision and helped you begin to realize it. During the lean years, the benefits offered by small businesses are less impressive that those available at large companies, so small business owners often use other methods to show their support. One potential perk for a dedicated employee is a low or no-cost ...
As you already know, the success of your business rests in the hands of your clients. While providing a quality product and excellent customer service can go a long way in retaining your customers, it’s sometimes necessary to find other ways to show how much you value their continued business. If you’ve never held one before, planning appreciation events can seem like a lot of work, but the benefits can be well worth the effort.
Guerrilla marketing is marketing with little or no cost to you, that's just a little offbeat or outlandish, and generates lots of buzz, which brings you more business. Here are some ideas for developing your own guerrilla marketing campaigns.
Coupons
Giving out coupons is common today, but they're still a viable way to increase sales. Coupons are also easy to track. You redeem the coupon, find out where your buyer obtained it, and you can figure out what marketing strategies ...
If you want to build your brand in 2011, you're going to have to start by thinking hard about your consumers. Building customer loyalty can vault your business into the New Year with profits and results, but you have to remember that your customers are one of the most important aspects of building up your brand.
Value is a Key for Consumers
Consumers aren't consuming as much as they have in the past. They want more value for their dollars, and they have to have a compelling ...
Looking for new ways to promote your small business? Most small business owners lack the budgets needed to advertise on traditional media like television, radio and newspapers. However, the op-ed pages of your local newspaper provide an effective way to connect with your customers and prospects.
Editorials are among the most widely-read sections of local newspapers. Guest columnist opportunities and letters to the editor provide the opportunity to establish yourself as an industry ...
A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video may be worth a thousand pictures. If you have a product that requires some assembly, or you can provide added insights and tips for its use, offering some helpful how-to videos will give your brand the power of multimedia and bring a new level of service to your customers.
We probably don't need to mention the fact that online video sites and news reporting venues use video clips to create interest, inform, and entertain. You can do it ...
As the first month of the New Year comes to a close, your goals for getting in shape may take a backseat to the necessities of running your business. Although completing your work tasks is critical to the success of your company, business will ultimately suffer if you neglect your health. No matter how busy you are, it’s still possible to get in shape while running a business.
Getting in Shape Tip 1: Include Your Meals
When you have a lot to do during the course of ...
While it may be hard to believe in many areas, many experts say the economy is actually on the rise, and waiting to grow your business until the economy improves may not be the best plan. Some good news from experts indicates that only 1.4 percent of minority businesses closed in 2010, compared with 2.9 percent the year before. Profit margins are higher too, probably because most business owners are cutting costs more effectively. Here are some changes and trends to look for in 2011, so gear ...
If you think that allowing your employees to work remotely is a recipe for disaster, you might want to reconsider. In addition to the fact that doing so makes for happier employees, new research suggests that it can also be good for your bottom line. Here are just a few compelling arguments for instituting a work from home policy for your business:
Competitive Edge for Your Business
Giving your employees the opportunity to work from home either on a full or ...
A social enterprise is a business, organization, or venture whose aim is to generate profit while also achieving a social or environmental mission. While many commercial businesses claim to have social aims, social enterprises stand apart since their mission is centered on their social purpose.
Some popular social enterprises include Newman’s Own, Ben and Jerry’s, and TOMS Shoes, which continues its mission of supplying one pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair of ...
The price you charge for a product or service is based on a number of factors. In combination, they constitute a pricing matrix that's part cold, hard business sense and part intuition. The business sense that goes into determining your pricing isn't very mysterious. You probably already know your costs and other base factors. The intuition component you're using to create your pricing may be another matter.
Valentine’s Day is less than a month away and already consumers are eagerly in search of the perfect gift for their sweetheart. If you’ve been able to position your company as a supplier of their Valentine’s Day needs, you already know about the boost your company’s sales can receive from this holiday. Did you also know you can use this boost to increase sales year-round? Capitalizing on Valentine’s Day business isn’t hard, but you must start planning for ...
With globalization growing every day, and international clients available 24/7, it makes sense to market your products on a global scale. If you're marketing your company or products online, or you're utilizing Facebook or other social media, you're reaching a global audience, and that means you have to think about your marketing on a new level. If you're not marketing online, maybe you should.
Online marketing can be frustrating for small business owners. For many, the real challenge lies not in getting prospects to their sites, but in getting them to convert once they're there.
Below are seven ways to increase the likelihood that visitors to your site will become customers.
1. Limit the Focus of Your Landing Pages
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is creating catch-all landing pages. The thought behind this approach ...
As soon as the weatherman reports the threat of snow or ice, grocery stores start running low on milk, bread and eggs. There's a definite connection between the world of current events and the health of local businesses. Some of these connections are pretty obvious; others can be subtle. Making your small business part of a news story is an effective marketing gambit that will double, triple or quadruple your marketing dollar. It can also net you invaluable community good will into the ...
Now that the holiday season is behind you – along with any accumulated messages from your time off work – it’s time to focus all your attention to the year ahead of you. If you started making plans in December, you’re ahead of the game. For those of us who didn’t finalize our business planning last year, it’s not too late to begin planning for a successful year.
Most businesses worry about their competition, and they research what their competitors are doing. Many business owners obsess about this, and when their sales go down, they blame the competition. However, many experts feel this idea is somewhat outmoded, and that it would serve most businesses to watch their customers closely, rather than their competitors.
Here's why companies who focus on competitors instead of customers tend to offer items extremely similar to their competitors, ...
It isn't only bedroom stories that start "Once upon a time . . . ." The advent of the internet is making DIY (do-it-yourself) small business management, accounting and legal services easier to understand and use than ever before. Even better, many of these business aids are completely free.
Once upon a time, you may have had to defer to an expensive local attorney or accountant to deal with the vagaries of the legal system or decipher the intricacies of government policy regarding ...
As we begin a new year, it’s important to take stock of how fiscally responsible your company has been in the past. Although sticking to a cash system is a valid money management technique, the prudent use of credit can help prepare your company for future opportunities. By understanding the way your company uses credit at this early stage in the year, you can get into position to make 2011 a financially powerful year.
Good inventory pratices can mean the difference between financial success and failure for your small business. If you're putting out operational fires from dawn to dusk, inventory management may be at the bottom of your list of things to do. Take a step back and think about the potential implications of poor inventory control, like waste, shipping delays, and shipping errors. Before you start the New Year, get your inventory into shape and keep it that way.
Everyone has new ideas and thoughts about growing and developing their business; otherwise, there wouldn't be any innovation or invention. You need to nurture your ideas to help them come into being, and here are some tools to help you remember and cultivate those ideas.
Choose the Right Tools
Make sure you have the right tools to record your ideas. You can use anything from a small digital recorder to a pocket notebook. Use a tool that you're comfortable with, and that you ...
As a business owner, you’re managerial skills are among your most valuable assets. For many, however, their failure to manage their own sleep schedules can have a negative effect on their productivity, mental outlook, decision-making and overall health.
Make Sleep a Priority
Successful business owners are often pride themselves on their ability to work long hours, including nights and weekends, with very little sleep. Many find it easier to get ...
Many business owners are ready to say goodbye to 2010 and are eager to embrace the New Year, hoping for opportunities to grow and rebound from a damaged economy. Every New Year is met with a list of resolutions, and small business owners should be no exception. Here is a guide for small business owners to setting goals for the New Year.
New Year’s Resolutions
Every year as the current year approaches its end, we all vow to try harder to do those things ...
You're probably doing some planning for the New Year, and having the facts about trends and other market intelligence could mean the difference between a campaign that takes off and one that fizzles. You can pay big money for statistical information and other data mining tools that will help you discover what works for your small business and what doesn't. Before you shell out a fortune for that direct mailing list, though, these sites and services may offer the same information free. Some ...
As the year draws to a close, it’s natural to reflect over how things went for you during the last 12 months – both personally and professionally. Reviewing your financial accounts is a necessary part of the process, but it’s also a critical step that can tell you more than just how much you have in the bank. If you take the time to analyze the data, your bank statement can tell you about the efficiency and missed opportunities of your business.
Cloud computing is computing on the Internet, where users share server space and use data, resources, and software as they need them. It's becoming increasingly popular as a sales tool in organizations of all sizes, because it is effective and can help increase customer satisfaction.
The Sales Benefits of Cloud Computing
If you no longer have to maintain sales tools and applications on your own servers, you save IT time, you streamline the sales process, and you make your ...
In recent years, events like the 911 terrorist attack and Hurricane Katrina have caused businesses to re-evaluate their disaster preparedness. The truth is that even smaller-scale disasters caused by severe weather and power outages can bring your business to its knees.
The non-profit Institute for Business and Home Safety (IGHS) estimates that more than 25 percent of U.S. businesses that suffer a disaster-related closure never recover. For small businesses, the figures are even ...
Sign selection says a lot about your company. It can also make a big difference in your street sales. These tips will help you understand the world of signage better.
Choosing Signs for Your Small Business
Choosing the right sign for your business can enhance your visibility and help build your brand. There are a few things you should keep in mind before you make your choice, though.
Have a plan. Ideally you'll want to mount a sign before or soon ...
It’s okay if you just did a double-take to confirm you still have four months until Tax Day. In fact, the average company doesn’t necessarily start thinking about taxes until after they close out the current year’s books. Between the year-end close and the December holidays, you may not have much free time on your hands to think about April 15, but now is the best time to start tax preparation if you don’t want to start 2011 behind the curve.
Businesses large and small have found email marketing to be an effective way to communicate with customers and prospects, and generate sales leads. Unfortunately, many of them fail to realize the full potential of email marketing because of simple structural mistakes. Here is a list of the 8 most common mistakes businesses make and tips on how to avoid making them yourself.
A Picture Says a Thousand Words
Remember that your email message should be brief ...
Motivation is a very personal thing. What motivates each of your salespeople is different, and to be a good motivator, you have to recognize what motivates your sales team, and then use different techniques that work to specifically motivate them. Many people don't respond to motivational quotes or cheerleading, but they do respond to challenges or ultimatums. Find out why your team is selling, and what their goals are, to find out the ways to motivate them.
They're usually small, printed in bulk, portable and undeniable aids to businesses everywhere. What are they? They're your business cards. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because they're ubiquitous, their design is unimportant, though. Think of them as an echo of your handshake. Are your business cards strong, assertive and confident? They should be. Ideally you want a business card that's a keeper: distinctive, easy to read, classy, compelling and inexpensive to produce. Your ...
If you’ve been considering restructuring your business operations, now might be the best time to tackle a project of this magnitude. For many companies, the first few months of the year are the slowest for sales, making it the ideal time to shake things up at your company. Of course, it’s a good idea to design a strategic plan for your corporate restructure before you begin implementing changes. Otherwise, you risk a greater impact to your staff, your customers and your bottom ...
Your business logo is more than just text and graphics. It is often the first impression potential customers have of your company and as the saying goes you only get one chance to make a first impression. Make sure your logo design conveys your message in a simple, yet powerful way that creates a lasting impression.
Keep it simple
Remember that your logo is not your business brochure. Don’t make the mistake of trying to ...
In the arena of small business, information is king -- and queen. There are lots of ways you can keep yourself well informed. From subscribing to trade journals to hiring mystery shoppers willing to scope out the competition, there's no shortage of strategies you can employ.
One of the most effective ways to get an end user's perspective on your products and practices is to ask. It's simple. Go to the source -- your customers.
With one holiday behind us and the next holiday nearly upon us, it may be difficult to concentrate on much of anything right now, least of all next year’s expenses. Unfortunately, if you haven’t already created the budget for the New Year, that’s something you must think about before January begins. Even if you’re still playing catch up from being out of the office last week, right now is the perfect time to shift your focus to the new year’s ...
Businesses large and small have discovered the marketing benefits of having a corporate blog. Recent studies show that blogs are highly effective at generating traffic to your Web site, generating sales leads, establishing yourself as an expert in your given field and communicating with your existing and potential customers.
Content is King
In a January 2009 article for the marketing research Web site, ClickZ.com, Rebecca Lieb wrote about the importance of ...
Your small retail business probably operates differently when you're around than when you're not. Your employees may spend more time chatting with one another than helping customers when they're not being supervised. It's true that this may be a small, occasional infraction -- or not. What can you do to monitor and evaluate your store, restaurant or other retail outlet when you aren't around to do it yourself? Smart business owners are hiring shoppers to scout their stores and report back on ...
Once the holiday season begins, it’s natural to turn your thoughts to what kind of end of year bonus program your business should offer. While not every company offers annual bonuses, it is a nice perk you can use to retain your best employees and encourage stellar performance throughout the year. Even in hard economic times, you may be able to find a bonus program to fit your company’s financial needs.
For many small business owners, the idea of grooming their children to take over the family business at the appropriate time seems like a completely natural one. Director of the University of Massachusetts Family Business Center, Ira Bryck, says the dream can turn into a nightmare unless you follow some common sense guidelines.
He says although most family businesses “seem to be chugging along nicely; there’s a strong likelihood you’ll have a major conflict at some ...
As the year draws to a close, many tasks demand your attention. If your company has shareholders to answer to, preparing shareholder analysis reports will be high on your “to-do” list. This task can take on a new sense of urgency when end of year employee bonuses hang in the balance of what your shareholders see on the report.
Preparing shareholder analysis reports doesn’t have to be a time-consuming task that keeps you locked in your office for weeks, if you keep ...
When it comes to spending money on your business, are you more like a consumer grocery shopping on an empty stomach or a desperate 16-year-old working double shifts during the weekends to save up for his first car? If you are guilty of any of the following wasteful spending habits, it is time to rethink how you are handling your company’s finances and commit to frugal spending.
Web Designers
Web sites are certainly a must for any small business, but be ...
What separates good from great? The answer depends on a number of factors including exactly how you define the two terms. In many cases, “greatness” is dependent on our personal perceptions and various intangible attributes. In most cases the difference comes down to effort and desire.
Each year the debate over the BCS college football bowl selection process begins anew. The process determines which two teams will face off in the national championship ...
Guerrilla marketing is marketing with little or no cost to you, that's just a little offbeat or outlandish, and generates lots of buzz, which brings you more business. Here are some ideas for developing your own guerrilla marketing campaigns.
Coupons
Giving out coupons is common today, but they're still a viable way to increase sales. Coupons are also easy to track. You redeem the coupon, find out where your buyer obtained it, and you can figure out what marketing strategies ...
Owning a small business doesn't mean having to operate with limited expert resources. From federal government websites to local entrepreneurs willing to donate their time to help you build a brighter business future, the right advice, and plenty of it, is available for the asking.
Free Small Business Advice for the Asking
Take a look at SCORE - A free small business and advice source, SCORE has provided support and encouragement to 8.5 million small ...
As the year begins to wind down to a close, it’s natural to feel the temptation to coast through the holiday season. If your company is one that’s planning a staffing change in the new year, now is the time to make all your preliminary arrangements. Even though November and December are short months in the business world, you can accomplish much towards your first quarter goals when you begin preparing for your staffing changes now.
The current economic climate has forced many businesses to look for new and creative ways to reduce operating costs but many overlook one of the most obvious options. Internship programs provide businesses with a number of immediate and potentially long-term benefits.
For the short-tem, an internship program can provide your business with eager, inexpensive labor. Over time, interns often learn the skills they need to excel within the company and easily transition into ...
The holiday season can provide a much-needed break for you and your employees. Taking time away from the office is often a good way to recharge and renew your dedication to the business, but the holiday season can cause increased stress levels for small business owners or managers. The primary problem with the holiday season is that everyone wants to be off work at the same time. In most cases, letting your office turn into a ghost town for one to two weeks is simply not an ...
Today, if you want to be successful in business, it helps to market your business as socially conscious and concerned not only with your own community, but the entire planet. Here's how to market your social concerns effectively.
Market the Cause
Marketing your cause incorporates corporate social responsibility and philanthropy, which isn't a new idea, but it adds the customer to the equation. As you market your involvement in a chosen cause, your customers will come to ...
Forging strong alliances with others in your industry, maintaining good relationships with employees, and gaining the trust of your customers are all important goals for small business owners. They can also be hard to accomplish when you're working to grow your business.
How to Improve Small Business Relationships
Have a strategy - In his book, "Duct Tape Marketing", John Jantsch stresses the importance of identifying your perfect customer, the focus of your ...
Videoconferences are a great way to reduce travel expenses and improve the overall efficiency of your business. In some situations, they can actually be more focused and effective than face to face meetings.
Without proper planning, however, they can become a frustrating waste of time for all concerned.
Here are some tips to help you avoid some common pitfalls.
Decide Whether a Videoconference is Necessary and Appropriate
Twitter is becoming a very popular tool for marketing, and applications (apps) are coming out that can really help you with your marketing research on Twitter and other social networking sites. Here are some of the newest tools to help you research your marketing to your customers and against your competition.
Search.twitter.com - This tool resembles the search engine Google, but it's devoted exclusively to Twitter. You enter your search terms, and the engine will hand you ...
Small business owners have to wear lots of hats, but sometimes making the right decision means hiring expert assistance instead of trying to get the information yourself. The economic downturn has led to a bold new business world filled with experienced, savvy consultants trying to build new careers after being downsized. If you have some time to shop around for the services you need, you probably won't have trouble finding a consultant with an impressive work resume who can solve your ...
Finding extra ways to connect with your customer base through promotional campaigns is a method to generate additional sales and revenues. The overall effectiveness of your email campaign depends largely on what percentage of your contact list sees it. When it comes to generating sales from your marketing efforts, ensuring email campaigns get to customers is critical for success.
Problems Getting Email Campaigns to Customers
The use of email campaigns is a powerful marketing ...
While there is an old adage that reminds us to never become discouraged by our failures but rather use our mistakes as self-teachable moments, it is inspiring and (probably more) motivating to look at examples of success in business. Granted, successful business owners – those genuine innovators who took risks to move their ideas forward – had to trip and stumble before succeeding. But, what common traits do successful innovators have that get them back up and moving ...
For any business owner, it really pays to step back from the business every so often and take a close look at how you and your staff serve your customers. Sure, there are the difficult customers who can ruin anyone's day, but in many cases, a negative attitude toward a large number of customers could mean that you really aren't giving them the best service possible, or the service they need, and that could drive them right into the arms of your competition.
When you start a new business, your focus will be on creating a better product or service and establishing a presence in the marketplace. It will not take long, though, for customer service to become a big consideration. Steering clear of customer problems should be part of your plan for business growth and health from the beginning. These tips will help you get a jump start on good customer service from day one.
Last week, we discussed the importance of dusting off your business plan to update it for the current economic conditions. Once you’ve had a chance to review and tweak your business plan, it’s time to turn your attention to your marketing efforts. Although you may still have decent revenue streams, making small changes to the way you do business ...
Small business owners who are facing distressed companies – which may be due to unplanned rapid growth, lack of marketing, or runaway costs – are often not sure how to create a positive turnaround to keep their company from sinking. Here are tips to help you determine if your business is in distress, and, if so, what you can do to implement positive change.
The first step is to acknowledge that your company has a problem. If any of the following scenarios describe your ...
Most small business owners hate self-promotion. In our culture, self-promotion has gotten a bad reputation and often conjures up negative connotations. Some small business owners feel that if their products or services are good enough, others will promote their businesses for them, and in some cases, that’s true. However, for the vast majority of small business owners, self-promotion is necessary for their company’s survival.
Being civic minded has its advantages for small business.
Small Business Promotion through Community Involvement
Image may not be everything, but it counts for a lot when you’re a small business struggling to develop an identity, market on a budget, and get some effective word of mouth advertising going. Enhancing your public presence can get your business noticed without spending a fortune, and it can establish you as a community leader, a benefit that conventional ...
Your business plan is an important document to provide shareholders, investors and lenders to your business. Because of this, you probably spent a great deal of time crafting it during the initial phase of starting your business, but that may be the extent of it. When was the last time you reviewed or updated your business plan?
With finances tight everywhere, now more than ever it’s critical to revisit this key document. Rather than starting fresh, updating three areas can ...
Conflict, whether the result of a negative interaction or positive change, can be a waste of time, energy, and productivity if not handled promptly and efficiently. All business owners will face conflict to some varying degree while operating a company and should know how to swiftly resolve tension that could steer their business off course. Here are some tips for diplomatically managing conflict.
Be Swift
Do not shy from conflicts as they arise. Conflict by ...
Many small businesses already leverage the power of Google Places, Foursquare, Gowalla and other geolocation social networking sites to help build brand loyalty by offering discounts and other incentives. Groupon is another popular service that allows local businesses to generate sales by offering discount coupons on a variety of products and services.
Facebook Places now presents businesses with new opportunities to attract customers, build their brands and generate sales at the ...
In today's tough economy, more business people are turning to self-employment as an option for their future. Here's what you need to know to start your home-based business and get it off and running smoothly.
First, you need to decide what business you want to start, what your experience is in that business, and how you'll attract customers. You should take a good look at your experience and expertise in different areas, and decide what it is you really want to do for your avocation. ...
A customer newsletter isn't as casual a publication as an employee newsletter, but adding a personal touch is still a good idea. Existing customers are already interested in your products, and keeping them informed and updated is a great way to maintain an active pool of potential future buyers too.
A successful newsletter contains important news and helpful information that will make your business, products, industry and services more accessible to the casual reader. When ...
Your website might be the most under-utilized member of your sales team. With the end of the year marching towards us, it can be easy to focus all your sales efforts on the men and women who bring in the sales, but coaching and motivating the sales force shouldn’t be your only revenue-increasing activity right now. If you want your website to perform just like your best salesperson, take advantage of these three tips to increase website sales.
Even under the best of conditions, small business owners can be susceptible to burnout. The day to day pressures of running a small business, often on razor-thin profit margins, can take their toll and lead to feelings of fatigue, frustration and despair. The prolonged downturn of the U.S. economy has been especially hard on small business owners and has lead to what some business experts are now calling an epidemic of business burnout.
Daniel Murphy is the president of Growth Coach, ...
Long-term success for small business owners requires the ability to stay focused on an original mission while also meeting clients’ changing needs. Here are five key principles to help you stay focused and competitive to help grow your business.
Stay Focused
Every business owner should spell out the company’s purpose as the foundation for their business model. Your mission statement will help everyone involved in your company clearly see the ...
Ask most people what they want in a salesperson, and you might think you'd hear things like "good follow up and customer service," but in reality, most people want is an honest salesperson who doesn't pull any punches. Find that in your salespeople, and your bottom line could look much better.
Teach the Basic Skills
Teach your salespeople some basic reliability skills, like trust, dependability, better communication, building relationships, and pleasing the customer. ...
Instituting an employee newsletter can help boost morale and give your small business an inexpensive informational and motivational tool. Newsletters are an effective way to recognize excellence, address common issues, solicit help and share company views.
The Advantages of Publishing a Company Newsletter
Spread the word. One major employee complaint in companies of all sizes is a lack of good communication. Whether you're spreading the word to multiple ...
No matter what type of product or service your company offers, making additional sales is a key way to increase your revenue. A common idea to bring in more revenue is to hire additional sales staff. While you can take this approach, adding staff isn’t always in your company’s best interest. Learn the reasons you should and should not expand the sales team.
When You Should Expand the Sales Team
Accepted business logic dictates that if you have more salespeople ...
For many business owners, dealing with “urgent” needs can often distract them from the truly important matters that lead to long-term success.
As your business grows, the “urgent” needs of your employees, customers and vendors tend to grow as well. For many, the temptation to jump in and “fix” things can be a strong one that can lead to lower productivity and frustration. Unless you manage urgent situations, they can quickly consume your time and ...
Every business owner needs to know where their business stands at any given moment. That's why you should take a critical look at your business every day. Some of the key information you can include on these short reports are the number of customers, sales volumes (amounts and dollar amounts), subscribing and/or unsubscribing to services, and bank account balances. These basics should all fit into one page, and it should be easy to read. If you see anything that makes you wonder, you can get ...
In tough economic times, employees are working longer hours and watching the newscasts for the latest word about the state of business in the U.S. Because anxiety is high and the prospect of raises may be nonexistent, it's easy for workers to become discouraged.
Employee dissatisfaction and fear might not necessarily result in poor performance, but could hinder your strategies for change and innovation. When your staff is expected to pitch in to buy coffee and paper products for the ...
Profit is the life’s blood that keeps your business going. On its most basic level, figuring your profit is as simple as subtracting your expenses from your revenue. Many companies fall into the trap of looking only at the revenue side of the equation when they wish to increase profits; however, there are two variables to consider. Cutting costs is an effective way to increase profits – as long as you make cuts in the right areas.
A business model is a blueprint that defines your company’s mission, goals, operations, and structure and is essential to successfully growing a new business. Business models should not be confused with business plans, which are more elaborate documents that detail projected finances. Instead, business models are concise explanations on how you intend to deliver your products and services and retain customers.
Here are some tips to help you develop a business model for ...
Now that you’ve trained them, groomed them and equipped them for success, you may think that the rising stars within your organization are totally committed to your company. According to a recent study published in the May 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review, however, that may not be the case.
The study, which was conducted by the executive director of the Corporate Executive Board’s Corporate Leadership Council, Jean Martin, and the council’s chief ...
Foursquare is one of the hottest location-based social media app games for mobile phone users. The premise is simple. Smartphone users simply "check in" with their mobile phones so others know where they are and what they're doing. You can use it to promote your business, even though it might seem to be more of a social than a business tool. Smartphones generate a user's position with great accuracy, and it's predicted they'll be around 140 million of them on the streets throughout North ...
Foursquare is one of the hottest location-based social media app games for mobile phone users. The premise is simple. Smartphone users simply "check in" with their mobile phones so others know where they are and what they're doing. You can use it to promote your business, even though it might seem to be more of a social than a business tool. Smartphones generate a user's position with great accuracy, and it's predicted they'll be around 140 million of them on the streets throughout North ...
In tough economic environments, keeping all your employees on the payroll can be challenging to afford. Layoffs are a tempting way to reduce your business’s expenses, but other ways exist – ways that won’t force you to train new employees once business gets back to normal. If you haven’t already, consider whether these three ways to cut costs instead of people can help you keep your staff intact.
Small business owners, by nature, are innovators. In fact, small businesses are leaders in job growth and innovation in the United States. However, once you implement your creative idea and start running your small business, it seems that time, money, and lack of resources prevent you from fostering further innovation.
Innovation within your company can help bolster your bottom line, but how can you spark creativity and foster innovation amongst your staff and colleagues? Here are ...
More and more advertisers are jumping on the social networking bandwagon, and many corporations are hiring professional marketers to represent their corporate presence online. That's because they're finding social networking is an extremely effective marketing strategy. However, there are some things that can quickly turn your social media presence into a nightmare. Here are some things to watch for before you post anything to your social media sites.
When your business is small, you're probably juggling lots of balls, and keeping them all in the air may mean making some assumptions about safety that just aren't smart. Okay, so you're a decent judge of character, and your facility is in a pretty secure area. There are still lots of ways you may be leaving yourself open to potential losses.
Small Business Security Is About Key Consciousness and More
You already know that your ability to motivate your sales force can be the difference between business survival and success. Last week, we looked at the psychology of motivating a sales team. This week, it’s time to tackle three specific strategies to motivate your sales force without spending piles of cash.
Of course, if you still haven’t addressed the questions posed last week, be sure to review those before trying to implement any of these strategies. Even though you ...
The word franchise usually conjures up images of brick and mortar stores with large, recognizable signs and logos positioned in strip malls or on Main Streets. However, today’s franchise businesses are using a home-based distribution model to cut back on operating costs, making home-based franchises more popular than ever. In fact, home-based franchises now account for over half of the small businesses in the US, according to the Small Business Administration.
The importance of forging and maintaining customer relationships is fundamental at all levels of business. You'll hear it again and again. You'll hear it so often, in fact, that the idea can lose some if its impact.
No matter whether the economy is booming or sputtering, a motivated sales force is essential for your company’s success. While many executives believe a competitive compensation structure alone is the key to keeping the sales team happy, money is not a strong motivator for everyone. If you want to drive sales to impressive new heights, learning how to motivate your sales force without resorting to higher paychecks should be number one on your daily task list.
If your small business relies on a team of employees to tackle your day-to-day tasks, provide customer service, assemble your products, deliver your services, or boost sales, then you would agree that your company’s success – and survival – rely on your employees’ happiness.
Productivity, profitability, and retention are the result of hardworking, happy employees. And, let’s not forget: your employee’s mood and outlook on the company will impact ...
The convergence of tighter budgets and emerging media including social networks and mobile means marketers have both the need and the ability to effectively identify and target their prospects. According to a recent ResearchCrop study, however, less than 10% of B2C businesses do so.
Begin with the Basics
Using real-time lead scoring data allows businesses to more accurately pinpoint their prospects and, by doing so, improve their conversion rates.
In the course of any business, times will exist when you need more help than you have the budget to hire. You have the option to ignore the need and place additional responsibilities on your existing employees, but the cost of overtime and worker burnout can soon outweigh your financial savings. Before you add a new employee to the payroll, consider three reasons to use contract labor at your company.
If you want to promote your business while you make sales, consider taking up blogging. You can become an expert in your field while you promote your products and services. Here's what you need to start blogging for dollars right away.
Blogging Start-Up is Easy
First, you need to create a blogging plan. You should decide what you want to sell, whether it's a product or service. You can make money writing for other people's blogs in some cases, but to really be profitable, ...
If you have a small business with great products, that alone isn't enough to insure your success. A savvy and helpful sales force is an invaluable asset, but even that isn't enough. Eventually, and sooner rather than later, you'll need effective and consistent marketing to take your business to the next level.
If you're a widget guru and not a marketing wizard, you're not alone. Most small business entrepreneurs know their products, industry and something about their customers. Many ...
Deciding its time to hire a sales manager to lead the sales department is a significant moment in the growth of any company. Before you post a listing or make an announcement that you are in need of a sales manager, take the time to carefully define what you are looking for.
If you are running a small start-up business, you’ll know it is time to hire a sales manager when you feel that you are spreading yourself too thin. Handing the sales reigns over to a manager is a pivotal ...
American consumers have more options than ever before. They can choose to shop online or offline. They can choose how they pay for their purchases. And, in many cases, they can choose to do business with a local provider or one from across the country, or across the globe.
No matter how good or affordable your products or services are, there’s a competitor out there somewhere who will claim to do the job better or sell the product for less.
The iPad has taken the computer world by storm, and already advertisers are clamoring to get their messages through to iPad users. Apple developed a program called iAds to respond to advertiser demand, but with costs starting at $1 million for a campaign, that puts advertising out of sight for most small businesses. However, many companies are offering advertising on their own iPad applications at much more reasonable rates.
There are big advantages to making it easy for customers to buy your products, but sometimes being too accommodating can backfire. When you offer credit to customers who don't pay on time, or don't pay at all, it can lead to cash flow and profitability problems. How can you find a happy medium between being open to creative credit options and protecting your interests? These strategies will help:
Your ability to hire the right person to fill an open position is critical to your company’s ultimate success. Making a poor hiring decision not only sets the employee up to fail, it is a costly error when you must restart the hiring and training process with a new candidate. By following six basic steps, you can hone your search for the right person to obtain the best pool of candidates for the job.
Thinking like your customer puts your customers’ focus at the center of everything your business does and ensures that you can run your business successfully. Without customers, you don’t have a business, so it is essential to the survival of your business that you find out and deliver what your customers truly want and need.
Increasing customer loyalty rather than focusing solely on product features and profitability will help your business stand out above the ...
The evolution of social networking has caused a dramatic shift in how businesses market their products and services, and the way they think about their current and prospective customers.
Conventional marketing definitions don’t necessarily apply in today’s environment. Instead of broadcasting their message to random recipients, marketers are increasingly focusing on creating communities that generate a higher degree of brand loyalty than traditional "push marketing" ...
Social networking is the hot thing for marketers to crack today, and one way they're doing it is with mobile phone applications (apps). More and more people get cell phones every day, and even kids have them, so marketing to your demographics by cell phone is a way to reach an entire new population of customers.
Different Apps for Different Phones
No matter what type of phone you and your customers have, you can find apps that will work effectively. Use the apps to market ...
When you embark on an ad campaign, you may be stretching your small business marketing budget to the limit, so it pays to get everything you can from your efforts. If you think that just desire and a budget will get you the expertise to launch a successful ad program, you may be unhappily surprised. Although an advertising agency, stylish artwork or well written in-house copy can get you started, the driving vision and precise focus of a good ad campaign will probably have to start with ...
Any business with an Internet presence understands the importance of maintaining an ongoing dialogue with its customer base. With few exceptions, social media sites are the best way to carry on these conversations and foster a strong sense of community. Done correctly, your customers will view you more as a trusted friend, not just an expense.
Then again, social networking has its own special pitfalls that can make a social media liaison indispensable to your bottom ...
With all the recent developments in online marketing, you might be tempted to simply give up on traditional approaches like television, radio, print and direct mail.
Unfortunately, many business owners make the mistake of compartmentalizing their marketing efforts as either online or offline when, ideally, they should each support the other.
In fact, when it comes to driving traffic to your Web site, good old fashioned direct mail is highly effective as long as you ...
Setting up and organizing a space for your home office is essential for the livelihood of your home-based business. Delegating a room or area as your home office will help you stay focused while working and will make it clear to others – i.e. family members who may want to constantly interrupt you – that your home office is a professional place of business.
Organized and Efficient
The key to making your home-based business a success is setting it ...
Search marketing, or search engine marketing (SEO) is one of the hottest marketing strategies today if you have an online presence (or even if you don't). Search engine marketing uses keywords, specifically tied to your business, to bring online searchers directly to your website. Search marketing, if you do it effectively, brings your customers to you, rather than forcing you to search out your customers. Here are some ways to use search marketing effectively for your business, no matter ...
When a small business is first starting out, it’s natural for you to wear many crucial hats in a variety of areas. As your business grows, you may notice tasks taking longer to complete than in the beginning, but you might assume it’s from normal growth and can’t imagine paying someone to take any of those tasks. For many, this is especially the case with the corporate finances.
Of course, when it comes to keeping the company’s books, there’s a point ...
Allotting money for advertising is a big step for a small business. When done right, advertising can help a business owner attract new customers, make existing customers feel appreciated (and in turn more loyal), and promote new products and services. While it may be true that you need to spend money to make money, there are many creative, low-cost ways to advertise.
Traditional Venues
Print and radio ad space is still the first thing that comes to mind for ...
If you want to get the most bang from your online advertising dollars, think about using advertising networks. These networks act like agents between website publishers and advertisers, bringing advertisers and websites offering advertising together. These networks usually host many small ads from a group of small web advertisers, as well as bigger websites and their less visited pages. Because there are many advertisers, the costs are kept under control, and advertisers have the chance to ...
Press releases are a form of publicity that you can use to leverage company news into a marketing opportunity for your business. Your company doesn't have to be large, either. If you want to generate some buzz, getting the news media interested in your story is an effective strategy.
Here's How Press Releases Work
Also called a news releases, press releases provide topical information to media outlets about industry innovations, changes or just about anything else an editor ...
It’s no secret that social networking sites are a way for businesses to reach current and potential customers. Twitter is among the most-used social media giants, making it a valuable tool for your business. The problem with social advertising on this site is Twitter’s 140-character limit and the severe community-building limitations such choppy communications can bring.
Rather than avoiding this powerful networking and sales tool, you can learn how to use Twitter without ...
Business insurance policies are vital to helping you protect your assets and future growth from unexpected calamities. Without insurance, your business will not be protected from a natural disaster, the death of a partner or essential employee, theft, fire, or lawsuit, to name a few.
There are a wide range of different policies to protect business owners from nearly any business risk – even the most obscure. Take the time to investigate and assess your business liability needs ...
Throw out the term “corporate culture” and people typically think of large businesses. Large financial firms and old-school technology companies like IBM typically conjure up images of button-down foot soldiers marching in lock-step to the beat of a single drum. New technology companies like Google and Apple have established identities as free-wheeling, creative incubators for out-of-the-box thinkers. They've also built reputations for providing superior products and ...
While every business understands its customers are the life’s blood of the operation, small business owners feel the effects of this concept even more acutely. When an industry giant loses a customer, they turn to the list of people waiting for their product or service. On the other hand, when your small business loses even a single customer, it becomes that much more difficult to stay in business.
Of course, once you know the ways to lose your customers, you can avoid ...
A constant flow of referral-based clients is a sign of a thriving business. When you consistently impress your clients by delivering quality products and services, your clients will thank you with referrals. That is, of course, if you know how to ask. Here are some tips on how to generate client referrals.
Products and Services 101 – Make sure essential people – colleagues, clients, employees, and customers – understand the products and services you ...
No matter how large or small your business is, or what types of products or services you offer, having a Facebook business page has become a necessity if you want to remain competitive. Unfortunately, most business owners are unfamiliar with the platform’s commercial-use best practices. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your Facebook business page.
Facebook recently began offering “Top News” and “Most Recent” news feeds. The Most ...
In tough economic times, marketing becomes more challenging than ever. To counter lower sales, retailers and other marketers are turning to new, innovative ideas to help them get and retain customers. Low-pressure marketing tactics are one way they're establishing relationships with their customers, instead of the usual practice of selling the product and seeing them to the door.
Getting Started in Low-Pressure Marketing
To start your own low-pressure marketing campaign, ...
These five small business marketing strategies will help get your name and products to a more targeted audience. Some of them are basic, but it's easy to underestimate the dynamic potential of basic marketing that's done consistently. When you don't have a big marketing budget, you can help make up the shortfall with solid research and meticulous attention to detail.
When your company sells a tangible product, you can often confine your work to office hours unless you produce the product from your home. This allows you the ability to keep work and home separate. On the other hand, if you’re a service-based business, you – the product – are always at work. It doesn’t matter if it’s Tuesday afternoon or Saturday night. Clients who need you are still likely to call.
If that sounds like your business, these three tips for ...
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Build a better mouse trap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” Yet, as business owners and marketers, we often fail to identify exactly what makes our products or services a better value or, for that matter, whether or not there is a real demand for our products or services to begin with.
Every year, some thirty thousand new consumer products are launched in the U.S., and over 90% of them fail. Although there are arguably a ...
Today, if you're in business, you need to learn about social networking. It's one of the fastest growing developments in online marketing, and advertisers are reaping the benefits of the social networking sites. Log-in to any of the biggest social networking sites and you'll find a huge number of businesses hawking their brands, from trendy fast food outlets to automakers, retail shops and other big businesses. They're reaching out to social network users to bring in more business and gain ...
Don't even think about ignoring a sales and marketing plan for your business, even if that business is in your home. You may be the only one to see your marketing plan, so it doesn't have to be fancy, but it should include items you know you can use to market your business effectively. You need to identify your target audience, look at what your competition offers, and what they charge for their goods and services. Can you offer extra services or personalized attention that your bigger ...
Closing the sale is a little like slow dancing. You have to guide your partner, pay attention to the beat, and know when it's time to add a dramatic flourish -- or not. Selling is part preparation, part intuition and a measure of moxie, but even though there's latitude for personal style, some basics still apply.
Tips for Closing the Sale
Since the "close" is such an important part of the selling process, let's go over a few important points to remember when you're headed ...
When working for large companies, chances are good you’re familiar with the concept of corporate culture. This is the single thread that ties together how large companies do things; it’s how they keep a sense of unity within employees worldwide. These big companies may devote large budgets to meetings, trainings, and promotional materials that groom employees with the business philosophies of top-level management.
It is no secret that repeat customers spend more money than new customers on new and existing products and services, require less marketing dollars, and are the pulse of a healthy business. If a continuous flow of loyal, repeat customers is a sign of good health, then delivering exemplary customer service is the prescription for business survival.
Benefits Of Repeat Customers
Many businesses focus on acquiring new customers and spend most of their ...
Most businesses are familiar with the concept of up-selling their customers. The practice involves adding premium features or services (along with additional costs) to common goods or services. Starbucks, for example, made a fortune by transforming the common $1 cup of coffee into $3 coffee drinks with exotic-sounding names.
Down-Selling in the Down Economy
In the current economy, however, many businesses should consider the benefits of down-selling. As the economy ...
Consultative selling is a powerful and dynamic approach to the challenge of increasing small business sales. Times are tough, and it's tempting to pull out all the stops and focus on the hard sell. When you strategize your selling approach, the ABCs are important (Always Be Closing) but so are the CCCs: Consult, Collaborate, and Close.
The internet is making facts and anecdotal information about products more accessible than ever before, but products are becoming more interconnected ...
Your business’s target market contains those customers you can rely on to be in need of what you plan to offer. For this reason, many businesses create the majority of their marketing campaigns with their target market in mind, streamlining distribution with a laser focus to reach them. In some instances, this is the wisest course of action; however, your business may miss an untapped customer base you didn’t know was waiting for you. To help your business push through its current ...
Having a company blog is a great way to establish your reputation as a leader within your particular industry. Your blog provides a way to distribute keyword rich content that can drive more visitor traffic and lead to higher search engine rankings for your corporate Web site. According to a recent MarketSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Report, 70% of B2B businesses surveyed said they had a company blog. Starting your company blog and finding sources for that content, however, can be a daunting ...
Are there any marketing bright spots in this down economy? Well, actually, a few glimmers of light sparkle on the horizon. Marketing consulting jobs jumped in 2009, as more companies turned to consultants rather than full-time marketing positions inside the business, which could be good news for out-of-work marketing professionals. Other bright spots include many marketing areas that are still in growth mode with the potential for high returns on your marketing dollars.
Can a contact management software system be of benefit to you? You bet. You probably recognize the advantages of using the computer more proactively in your small business. The sticking point is often the time and resources involved in learning and maintaining a new tool as much as the purchase or subscription price.
Today's business climate is competitive, and small players are working leaner and hungrier than ever before. A coordinated sales force and accessible information will ...
When developing an online marketing campaign, your goal is to entice readers to make an immediate purchasing decision. The use of powerful, evocative language can create a sense of urgency, but it can also backfire, making those same readers decide your business is all hype. By taking the time to create a legitimate call to action in your writing, you can meet your primary objective without losing credibility.
Whoever said you have to spend money to make money apparently was not trying to manage a business in the midst of a down economy. Luckily, advancements in technology and savvy thinking have created opportunities for business owners to cut costs while operating more efficiently. Here are eight solutions to consider.
1. Be Your Own Publicist – Make a list of magazines, newspapers, weekly tabs, blogs and other media outlets in your area. Find out who is in charge ...
Today’s customers are savvier than ever before, and they expect more from the companies they do business with. In most cases, they also have more options to choose from when making their buying decisions. Although cost can often be the determining factor, simply offering the best price for your particular product or service is no guarantee that you’ll make the sale. In fact, in some cases, prospects equate low price with low quality or a lack of service after the sale. Consumers ...
Because direct mail marketing copy needs to grab the reader from the first word, there's little or no margin for error. Your best approach for generating compelling, memorable copy for all your marketing needs is to pay attention to a few key concepts.
Crafting Direct Mail Marketing That Gets Attention
Good marketing copy is golden. It can make your company a superstar if you learn to use it right. These tips will help:
As the importance of creating and maintaining an Internet presence increases, so too must your ability to build trust through your writing. Although creating copy easily indexed by search engines is important for driving visitors to your business website, alone it does little to form a relationship. Rather than writing generic business copy for your company blog, you can gain trust – and perhaps grow your customer base – by allowing your personality to shine through in your ...
Getting involved in local neighborhoods and organizations presents a myriad of win-win solutions for both your business and your community. Savvy business owners understand that there are limitless benefits to maintaining an active and charitable presence in their community. Let’s take a look at some ways that you can establish and maintain a presence in your community.
Charitable Marketing
Whether you are just starting a new business or need to revamp ...
With the emergence of Social Media, business owners now have a number of additional resources at their disposal. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are among the many Social Media sites businesses can use to connect with prospective customers and build brand awareness. Businesses of all sizes use these portals to supplement their other online and traditional marketing efforts including print, radio and television.
Think about the mail that comes to your home or business every day. How much of it is advertising? For most of us, the answer is "a lot," which means most advertisers still use the US Postal Service as one of their main advertising tools. That means you need to know how to get the most from a direct mail marketing campaign. Some advertisers learn these methods by costly trial and error, but you don't have to. Instead, use these tips to help you create your next direct mail marketing ...
Direct mail marketing can be one of the most effective ways to target key customer opportunities for your small business. Your mail campaigns can be sharply focused, or they can test larger market segments to refine your strategy before expending valuable resources on more elaborate and expensive marketing options.
Direct Mail Marketing Goals
To leverage a small marketing budget into a successful direct mail campaign, you need to do three things:
Along with your company website, social media sites like Facebook are excellent ways to create an Internet presence and keep your name in front of your existing client base. As with all social media, the goal is to provide value to your current and potential customers rather than only running advertising campaigns. Let’s look at some easy ways to accomplish this goal:
Create a sense of community on your Facebook page
The easiest way to build trust on social media ...
Most small business owners have a limited marketing budget and think they do not have the resources to develop an effective marketing strategy. The truth is, there are a myriad of simple marketing strategies small business owners can use to promote their business, attract new customers, increase sales, and get customers to keep coming back. By remaining diligent and staying focused on their specific marketing goals, small business owners can run (and keep up) with the big dogs and watch their ...
Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising offers you a new, effective way to attract potential customers to your business. Whether you have a Web site or not, you can use Pay Per Click ads to reach customers online. Pay Per Click programs help you build brand awareness, turn visitors into buyers and are a great complement to your existing online and offline ad campaigns.
Pay Per Click targets local customers
Advertising is most effective if you target the right audience. Pay Per ...
Let’s go over five tips to help customers locate and shop at your small business web site.
1. Develop Pay Per Click campaigns
Start ad campaigns through online services like Superpages.com, Google or Yahoo. By investing in the right keywords and intelligently designed landing pages, you can make your web site visible to large segments of the web surfing population who might not otherwise know about your business.
Did you know that after searching online, 83 percent of local search users later contact a business offline?* Our Identity Bundles® packages help you ...
SuperpagesDirect® Mail is a great addition to your ad campaign because it generates awareness, increases sales and inspires repeat purchases. The average return on investment (ROI) for direct mail is $12 for every $1 spent*, and we provide the opportunity for you to pick ...
If you want to market your business or services online, think about using business networking sites. These social media sites are increasing in popularity, attracting millions of members, and they offer great opportunities to market your business cheaply and effectively.
The bottom line is that CRM Associates' research and analysis of Yellow Pages value can be easily summarized in the following 5 points:
Relevance Yellow Pages are the most powerful medium for reaching active shoppers: One out of five individuals in an active shopping mode use the Yellow Pages for information — more, on average, than any other advertising medium.
Ever wonder if you should include a toll free number?
New research* indicates ads with local phone numbers receive more than twice as many calls as ads with just a toll free number. Ads with local and 800 phone numbers receive an average of 84 percent more calls than ...
We’ve all heard the real estate mantra of location, location, location. According to a new study on the impact of advertising positioning on advertising effectiveness, content is king.* Ad content is the primary driver of calls followed by ad size, then use of multiple ...
There are several reports that provid clarity on the return on investment for yellow pages and Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) advertising. According to the reports, the typical yellow page advertiser receives $12 of revenue and $4 of profit on every dollar invested into a display ad. For every ...
According to independent research, 58 percent of 18 - 24 year olds and 66 percent of 25 - 29 year olds are current users of the yellow pages.* Use of print and IYP is closely associated with life events and the formation of households and families. Among Generation Y, search does not replace ...
When people see the SuperGuarantee shield in your ad, they'll know they can count on you to do the job right, or we'll step in and help to make it right.
RSS
Did you know that after searching online, 83 percent of local search users later contact a business offline?* Our 
SuperpagesDirect® Mail is a great addition to your ad campaign because it generates awareness, increases sales and inspires repeat purchases. The average return on investment (ROI) for direct mail is $12 for every $1 spent*, and we provide the opportunity for you to pick ...
If you want to market your business or services online, think about using business networking sites. These social media sites are increasing in popularity, attracting millions of members, and they offer great opportunities to market your business cheaply and effectively.
Ever wonder if you should include a toll free number?
We’ve all heard the real estate mantra of location, location, location. According to a new study on the impact of advertising positioning on advertising effectiveness, content is king.* Ad content is the primary driver of calls followed by ad size, then use of multiple ...
There are several reports that provid clarity on the return on investment for yellow pages and Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) advertising. According to the reports, the typical yellow page advertiser receives $12 of revenue and $4 of profit on every dollar invested into a display ad. For every ...
According to independent research, 58 percent of 18 - 24 year olds and 66 percent of 25 - 29 year olds are current users of the yellow pages.* Use of print and IYP is closely associated with life events and the formation of households and families. Among Generation Y, search does not replace ...
