How negativity can overpower your good intentions
Be honest with me now: Do people see you as approachable and easy to talk to? As you considered that question, I bet some of you started to think about friends or family members who fit that description; somehow they just make talking to them easy. These are the people you go to when you need to discuss your aspirations, your problems, or just want to enjoy a pleasant afternoon or evening. People can also have these kinds of feelings about businesses and you want to create an atmosphere and relationships that make your business approachable and easy to talk to. You might think that simply making it technically easy to reach your business will accomplish this, but that’s not the case. In fact, that can almost serve an opposite goal. Let me explain. Go beyond ‘help lines’ If you don’t proactively hold “conversations” with your customers and prospects, you can’t set a good tone for your communication. If your customers only use your communication channels to deal with their problems, then they will associate communicating with you with negative thoughts. While you certainly should do a great job handling your customers’ problems and make your communication as easy, efficient, and pleasant as possible, you want most of the communication between your business and your customers to be edifying and enjoyable. I think most of us went to high schools where there was a vice principal in charge of discipline. You didn’t want to talk to the discipline vice principal because you knew it was never good. Don’t let your communication channels turn into the vice principal in charge of discipline. It’s easy to do this with your social media. While social media can be a wonderful channel for customer service, don’t let it devolve into a “complaint box.” Condition your customers to view your communication channels as positive attributes of your business. Use them to share useful information on a regular basis. Personal engagement Further, this doesn’t start and stop with your social media. If your business handles larger clients, be sure that your reps engage with these clients on the phone or through other touch points. And in this case, there’s another benefit. You don’t want clients to only hear from reps when they’re trying to sell something. That will eventually cause communication to break down. Imagine the benefits you would experience if your clients all viewed their sales reps as that approachable individual I mentioned at the top – the person they go to when they want to discuss their aspirations or problems. That would put your business in a powerful position. Lastly, being approachable is something everyone on your team needs to work at. It’s very important in local businesses and it’s often the reason a business will become a “landmark” in a community and be successful over several generations. Finally, no matter how focused you are on helping your customers when they get in a jam, don’t let that dedication distract you from doing a stellar job communicating with them when they aren’t dealing with...
read more3 lesser-known online advertising platforms worth trying
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. – Robert Frost Small business owners can use the inspiration of that famous Frost quote and apply it to their approach to business in a variety of ways and I’m sure that some of those ways will make “all the difference.” One way in which taking the road “less traveled by” is in online advertising. I previous posts, I’ve extolled the virtues of advertising on Bing rather than Google. There are also some overlooked social media sites where you can advertise that are worth exploring. Here are three that could work great for you. Quora. I’ve discussed Quora before when suggesting ways to get topics for blogs or for new products or services. However, Quora also accepts advertising and it you’re company is B2B, it might be one of the best places for you to advertise. I believe that it could payoff for B2B companies for many of the same reason it’s a great place to go when you’re mining for product, service, or blog ideas. Quora is a magnet for business leaders and entrepreneurs. They ask probing questions and offer insightful answers. If you want to get in front of their eyeballs, Quora is a great place to be. Stumbleupon. Strategies on how to create viral content is always a topic of discussion on the Internet. Frankly, “Try advertising via Stumbleupon” may be the single best strategy to make your content go viral. Stumbleupon is a social networking content “discovery engine.” Stumbleupon users – via its browser plugin and mobile app – vote up content and then the popular content gets suggested to other Stumbleupon users. If you have created a killer piece of content, try promoting it through a Stumbleupon ad. It might strike a nerve with users and achieve viral status. Reddit. Companies as huge as Coca-Cola and Toyota have advertised on Reddit, yet you can get your foot in the door for as little as $5 a day. Reddit is essentially a discussion or conversation platform that is segmented into all kinds of special interest subreddits or “communities,” which are supervised by an editor. With some more than 50,000 communities, you are certain to find one or more that would be interested in your product or service. By the way, when you find the communities that you’re interested in, participate in the discussions. Once you’re established as a legitimate voice – not a spammer – feel free to post valuable content from your website. If you feel like a microscopic fish swimming in the ocean when you go to advertise on Facebook or AdWords, you should explore these three platforms and see if they might help you realize a better return on your online advertising...
read moreCheck out this simple trick to turn the Amazon search engine into actionable intelligence
When we think of online searches, we think of Google, but Amazon is right up there with the biggest search engines and, in fact, more than half of all product searches begin on Amazon. However, if you sell anything that is also sold on Amazon, I’d like to suggest special way you can take advantage of Amazon’s search feature: Search for your products and then closely examine all the items Amazon says were purchased together with each product of yours. Do you offer those items? Do your sales associates understand how these various items relate to each other? You can use this information to merchandise your store better and also train your team to cross sell. Also, look at the “After viewing this item, customers bought…” This tells you that there may be a similar item that is proving to be more popular with buyers than what you are offering. Maybe it’s a higher-priced product with more bells and whistles. That could increase your profit margins. For example, I did an Amazon search for the popular NutriBullet blender and below you’ll find some of the items that were purchased along with it on amazon. You can see from this graphic that a number of recipe books and accessories are popular items that sell in tandem with the blender. If you sold the NutriBullet blender or a similar item, this would give you good insights into which companion books are most likely to sell well. Do your team members have some slack time on their hands? Giving them a list of products to look up on Amazon and note related items in a spreadsheet would be a good exercise. You could then take the information they uncover and analyze your merchandising. It would also give your employees an introduction to cross selling and...
read more53 free courses to boost your business knowledge, skills
Do you know what MOOCs are? MOOGs were one of the first musical synthesizers, but MOOCs are something else entirely. The letters stand for Massive Open Online Courses. These are generally college-level classes offered by universities around the world. Did I mention that they are free? Class Central is a clearing house for hundreds – if not thousands – of these courses, and the site is well worth exploring. I have put together a list of business courses that are starting this month. I think that many of the computer and data courses would also be valuable for business owners and leaders; if you agree, do a little exploring on Class Central. I didn’t want the list posted here to get too long. When you find courses that aren’t starting soon, you can sign up to get notified when a new section gets underway. As I recently wrote, if you aren’t improving your skills and knowledge your value is depreciating, so make it a goal to find at least one of these MOOCs in the coming months and knock it out! By the way, they are also great for bolstering the folks on your team. The Location Advantage Esri via Independent Corporate Finance Indian Institute of Management Bangalore via edX Asociaciones Público Privadas: Implementando Soluciones en Latinoamérica y el Caribe IDB ( Inter-American Development Bank ) via edX Innovation publique et pensée design, l’innovation sociale au service des territoires ESSEC Business School via Coursera Competitive Advantage: Using Information to Build Business Success Deakin University via FutureLearn Influence University of Pennsylvania via Coursera Contract Management: Building Relationships in Business University of Southampton via FutureLearn Formal Financial Accounting University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera Digital Leadership: Creating Value Through Technology University of Reading via FutureLearn Social Enterprise: Turning Ideas into Action Middlesex University London via FutureLearn Open Innovation Durham University via FutureLearn Online Business: Digital Marketing for Success RMIT University via FutureLearn [New] Capstone: Creating A Sustainability Proposal University of Colorado System via Coursera Entrepreneurship II: Practices and Approaches University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera Accounting Analysis I: Measurement and Disclosure of Assets University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera Managing My Financial Journey The Open University via FutureLearn Innovation: the Fashion Industry University of Leeds via FutureLearn Innovation: the Food Industry University of Leeds via FutureLearn Innovation: the World’s Greatest University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 1: Vision and Opportunity University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 2: People and Networks University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 3: Customers and Competitors University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 4: Business Processes University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 5: Managing Finances University of Leeds via FutureLearn Leading in the Digital Age Boston University via edX Social Media Marketing Boston University via edX Starting a Business 6: Funding Your Business University of Leeds via FutureLearn The Economics of Agro-Food Value Chains Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich) via Coursera Marketing in an Analog World University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera [New] In Action – Integration Framework for SAP Business One via openSAP [New] Tourism and Travel Management University of Queensland via edX [New] The Free Cash Flow Method for Firm Valuation Columbia University via edX [New] Evidence-Based Technology Management Australian National...
read moreThis week in small business: Your important questions answered!
You have questions, we have answers. Confused a bit about Google’s local business listings? Sherry Bonelli will set you straight. Wonder what to do when you get into a rut? Hira Ali will “de-rut” you. And, if you question the importance of content marketing, hear what Max Greene has to say. Leadership, management, and productivity In a rut? Hira Ali gives us three simple steps to rewire our brains to get them to do what we want then to do. Entrepreneurs and small business owners need to be able to make decisions on the fly. That’s why I wrote this sponsored post on the most important financial ratios for making quick assessments. Sometimes a small thing can make the difference between success and failure, says Richard Agu, and he gives us five tips for overcoming common obstacles. Marketing and sales Kelly Shelton’s SEO is a Small Business Necessity serves as a great introduction and overview of the various dimensions of SEO that are important to small business owners. And to complement that, check out Sherry Bonelli’s Search Engine Land piece on the common questions local business owners have about “Google My Business.” Are you hitting the three content-marketing “musts” that Chris Parbey covers in his article for EdgyLabs? In this audio, Amy Porterfield discusses seven ways she’s collaborated with friends and influencers to boost profits. If you’re still a doubter, you need to check out Max Greene’s article on why content marketing is so important for growing your business. Free is good! 10 of the most effective, free online marketing tactics, by Hazel Jarrett. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Jen Hacker tells us the story of entrepreneur Melissa Mash whose success was “in the bag” once she set out to solve a problem she faced every day. It’s a sad reality for many entrepreneurs: depression. Sanchita Dash offers ideas on how to fight...
read moreIs YOUR value depreciating unchecked?
With very few exceptions, business owners include a depreciation schedule when they file their taxes. We become very familiar with these forms. They are black-and-white evidence of the relentless loss of value. Brian Tracy he points out that there is perhaps an even more important item that continually loses value that never shows up (at least directly) on your depreciation schedule: Your ability to earn. If you’re a business owner, some of the assets you depreciate year-after-year can impact your ability to earn and the lesson here is that you must continually be assessing upgrades to your means of production. A friend of mine is a fan of the History Channel program Mountain Men. One of the “mountain men” profiled in the show has a sawmill in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s actually an antique sawmill, more than 100 years old. There is certainly some appeal to using old equipment and doing things the way the old-timers did them, but none of that appeal has anything to do with productivity and earning power. My friend once mused that the original owners of the mill probably put it out to scrap when a better model hit the market, yet this mountain man refuses to upgrade. So, don’t be a some kind of “mountain man” who is reluctant to change because “we’ve always done it that way around here!” That’s not the most important point I want to make however. Here’s the message I’d like you to take to heart: Just as your equipment can become obsolete, so can you! If you don’t make a concerted effort to improve your knowledge and skills, business practices will pass you by. And, with the pace of change today, your earning power can depreciate at a faster clip than ever before in history. You must adopt Nike’s attitudinal slogan of “Just do it” and apply it to your willingness to acquire new skills and knowledge…and not just today, but also tomorrow, the next day, the day after that, and so on. With the Internet, conferences, and so many universities reaching out to business leaders today, the availability of avenues for growth are incredible. Be sure to get yourself plugged in! This critical concept of continual improvement is also central to my book, The One-Percent Edge: Small Changes That Guarantee Relevance and Build Sustainable Success (affiliate link). While I don’t solely focus on personal development, I “take apart” your business function-by-function and show you how to find ways to make continual improvements. That’s the way to reverse your earning power depreciation!...
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