This week in small business: PokemonGo, the marketing of wannabe presidents and other insights
PokemonGo. Clinton vs Trump. The crash in oil and gas prices. This week’s collection of hand-picked, carefully curated content seems to be greatly influenced by world events. Nonetheless, you’ll find it also greatly beneficial for the success of your small business. Leadership, management, and productivity Customer service can be difficult when a business is growing quickly. Here are some hacks you should write down and share with your crew. Leveraging technology can make it far easier to connect with a mentor. I give you several ways to get it done in this sponsored post. Review these five quotes. They could make you question your small business strategy. Have you gone all in with social media customer service? What’s stopping you? Marketing and sales Clinton vs Trump. This article looks at the presidential cage match from a marketing point of view. We couldn’t get by this week without recommending at least one article that talks about PokemonGo and small business. So here it is. I had summer in mind when MasterCard Biz sponsored me to write this article outlining seven strategies to boost retail sales. And since we’re on the subject, you’ll also get a lot from this article on tracking and monitoring retail sales. Followers are gold. Mine these 15 ways to get more followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+. That article addresses numbers; this article by John Jantsch focuses on follower loyalty. Here we have 22 experts on how to tell if your content marketing is actually working. Further, one thing we know is that distribution is a major key to success. If you do any cross-generational marketing, you’ll want to read this article by Joann Corley. Mary Walton wrote a very well received guest post for me that details six tips for writing a great sales email. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Some startups seem to think that a zero marketing budget is okay. Paul Armstrong examines the issue. Need ideas? Read how the oil and gas downturn created small business startups. Politics, government and the economy Ugh. It looks like small business owners are struggling with a huge wave of regulatory changes in...
read moreRevealing the mystery behind open-ended questions in sales
To reveal why your open-ended questions in sales are more important than any of your spot-on answers, let me relate a conversation I recently had. A young couple was telling me about their new car buying experience. Her Nissan Cube had been totaled in an accident (fortunately no one was hurt) and she wanted a replacement that offered an interior somewhat like the Cube’s. They identified the Jeep Renegade fairly quickly as a vehicle that would work for them. They headed out to a nearby Jeep dealership to take a look. You probably know the sales “ABC” axiom – Always Be Closing – and this is exactly what the salesman they hooked up with did. As they told me about the experience, they said he constantly pressured them into “sitting down” to go over “the numbers.” He was doing his best to close and obviously putting his needs above theirs. They walked off the lot and went to a second dealership. The salesman there asked a lot of questions, explained that they were family-owned, and when my friends signaled that they were about to leave, he gave them his card and simply said to let him know if he could give them any more information or help them out in any way. They went back to their car, talked about the good feeling they got from the salesman, and immediately trudged back onto the new car lot and bought the Jeep. Both salesmen described here wanted to sell the car; there’s no doubt about that. Both salesmen knew that they had to get their prospects sitting across from them to see what the financial challenges of the sale would be. Only then would they be able to pull together a deal that would be appealing to the buyers. Lead with open-ended sales questions The first salesman failed because he was pushing to the “end game” too quickly. The second salesman was successful because his way of “leading” was to let the customer do the leading by asking open-ended questions. He realized that by asking these questions and giving good answers he could develop: Rapport, Trust, and Respect. When these three qualities define the relationship between the salesperson and the customer, sales will happen. And even more importantly: Repeat sales and referrals will happen! Being able to ask good open-ended questions is one of the most important skills to develop. You must be able to ask questions that are relevant to each specific prospect; you can’t have a list of three questions and apply them to everyone, although you should have a good – and relevant – open-ended question or two that gets the conversation flowing. When you ask the right questions and – hear this, it’s important – listen to and process the answers, you are well on your way to being seen as an expert and advisor rather than a salesperson. As soon as your prospects begin to relate to you as a trusted advisor, sales will begin to flow. What are open-ended sales questions? I’ve been referring to “open-ended sales questions” here and I want to make sure that you understand exactly what I’m talking about. Open-ended questions are those where the person will answer in a few sentences, versus a word or two. Going back to our...
read moreThe Zero-Risk Blog – or – The Incredible, Undeniable Benefits of a 100% Money-Back Guarantee
Why stand behind all your sales with a zero-risk promise or money-back guarantee? There are a few answers to that question, but the most important one is this: Zero-risk promises and money-back guarantees build trust. Trust is the single most important element required for building a long-term relationship with a customer or client. Trust is also one of the hardest qualities to build. People are used to being scammed. We read about it in the news every day. And if you are doing business on the Internet, this is doubly true. Hucksters, fraudsters, and hackers are coming out of the virtual woodwork. Let me also interject here that everyone I talk to about this testifies that 100-percent money back guarantees have been crucial to their success. You should see a zero-risk promise as a huge wrecking ball smashing through the wall that separates you and your prospects. Beating your competitors Offering satisfaction guarantees also helps you set your brand above your competitors. See what kind of guarantee your competitors offer, if any, and see how they communicate it. Once you know this, offer a better guarantee and do a better job promoting it in your business. You’ll probably find that you have no more unsatisfied customers when you go “zero risk.” In fact, you’ll probably find that, as a percentage, you have fewer. You see, these kinds of guarantees act as a vaccine against dissatisfaction. You’ve put the cure in place before the disease has had time to take root! It’s possible that you’ll even save money. If much of your business is conducted via charge cards, you know that a customer can challenge a charge and easily get the credit card company to issue a charge back. These cost merchants an extra fee. This fee can be eliminated when you smoothly handle the transaction because you are communicating directly with the consumer. For most merchants and products, parameters need to be set up and clearly communicated, such as a time limit. It’s good to be a little lenient when enforcing this, but setting a one or two week time limit is usually a good idea. Discover dissatisfaction causes I heard about one small business owner who added another simple requirement to his money-back guarantee: customers had to tell him why they were dissatisfied to receive their refund. This is a great idea because not only does it help keep buyers honest, it gives the small business owner the kind of feedback that’s required to improve the product or service; this is invaluable information! Finally, make sure you thoroughly communicate your no-risk guarantee. If you do business in a brick-and-mortar location, post it around your shop and be sure that your sales associates always tell customers about it. If you do business on the Internet, post it on all of your pages. Use an easily identifiable “100% Satisfaction Guarantee” icon that helps imprint the message into your shopper’s consciousness. Be sure it’s on every page that shoppers have to navigate through in order to make a purchase. Is your guarantee working? Finally, if you’re worried about customers taking advantage of your generosity, here’s how you need to analyze the situation: Find out what your conversion rate is now. Find out what your customer acquisition cost is now. Find out...
read moreThis Week in Small Business: The psychology of viral Tweets, marketing to empty nesters, when to fire…
The experts were busy churning out some great marketing advice last week. If you want to do a better job Tweeting or using direct mail to reach empty nesters, we have something for you. Marketing and sales Why do Tweets go viral? To answer that, you need to understand the psychology behind the Tweets. New Balance shoes are iconic. It turns out the company’s content marketing is equally as brilliant. We talk a lot about the importance of video marketing. If you need a basic small business guide to get you started, you’ll find it here. In this sponsored post I wrote for MasterCard Biz, I outline seven retail sales strategies and I bet there are more than one that you’re not using. For many small businesses, Instagram can be the killer social media marketing platform. Here’s how to use it to grow your business. Peter Daisyme, cofounder of Hostt, gives his five steps for creating a killer marketing strategy. Did you know that Cisco is hiring more than 200 content marketers? Find out why. 75 percent of smartphone users abandon sites that aren’t mobile optimized. That’s just one piece of information in this article that will help you improve your online sales. TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden delivers his thoughts on influencer marketing and hybrid content marketing strategies. Have you considered traditional direct mail marketing to reach all those empty nesters out there with money to spend? Leadership, management, and productivity If you do a lot of traveling for your small business, you’ll appreciate the findings in this Holiday Inn Small Business Traveler study. Sadly, there comes a time when you need to let an employee go. But how do you know when that time has come? If you need help (and maybe a little kick in the pants) to connect with a mentor, this sponsored article will help you leverage technology to make it easier for you. Apple Pay is not standing still in the mobile payments market. Learn what the company is doing now. Politics, government, and the economy Mastercard Biz asked me to sum up the testimony I presented to the House Small Business committee. See if your thoughts and mine line up! Some say that half of the working U.S. population will be employed in the “gig economy” within five years. That’s just one of the surprising statistics in this article. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Be sure you validate your startup idea – it can make or break...
read more14 habits and hints for finding great startup ideas
Some people look at the glass and say it’s half full. Others see the same glass and say it’s half empty. Entrepreneurs look at the glass and wonder, “What can I make and sell to that guy to top off his drink?” As silly as that introduction may seem, I think it really captures the different way entrepreneurs see the world: They look for opportunities everywhere! And if you don’t get anything else from what I’m about to say, I want you to get this point: If you want to be a successful business creator, you need to look at the world differently than 98 percent of the world’s population. You need to discover the opportunities around you. Most will have no commercial merit, but a handful will be valuable and worth pursuing. With all the tools available to us on the Internet today, there has never been a better time to take your ideas on a test drive. Try things. Experiment. Since you can create an online presence for tens of dollars a month, you can throw a variety of ideas against the wall and see what sticks. And here’s a habit you need to develop: Keep a notepad (either digital or real paper) handy at all times so you can capture all your ideas – even the ones that seem far fetched. To get help you develop this new way of looking at the world, here are 14 practical habits and hints. Listen to your neighbors, relatives, and yourself. Every time they talk about a problem they’re having, put it in your notebook and consider solutions to it. Study negative reviews. See what problems people are having with an existing product or service. Can you make a better product or supply a better service that will cause greater customer satisfaction? Combine elements in a new way. Pokémon Go combined a mobile game with “enhanced reality.” Find a new application or adaptation for an existing product. What are today’s expensive air beds but an adaption of the air mattresses we all used to use when we wanted to float around the pool? Find a use for something that is currently a waste product. This gives you an identifiable group to market to (the eco-conscious) as well as cheap raw materials. It may also show you how to do something and create less waste and allow you to offer and product or service at a lower price. Take something from the “real” world and create an Internet version. For example, Pinterest is essentially an online scrapbook. Each week look through Google Trends. When you find out what people are looking for – if it’s something other than “Kim Kardashian” and similar searches – you know that there is some kind of demand associated with it – even if it’s just for additional information. Can that demand be monetized? Go direct to consumer. The recent rise of online “clubs” – shaving, wine, jerky, and many others – proves that you don’t have to have cutting edge technology for a successful startup. Do something that complements a rapidly growing market. You don’t have to have the $10-billion idea. Having the $10-million idea is good too! What service or product would enhance a quickly growing industry segment? Crowdsource something. Leverage the...
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