Archive for Internet Management
08.01.08
Posted in Internet Management at 1:13 pm by
To offset any confusion, we are not talking about a grill for the Toyota Tundra but the powerful new Tundra Grill from Hammacher Schlemmer, built to withstand the elements and burn a variety of fuels including wood, charcoal, pinecones and brushwood, as well as cook all kinds of meat, poultry, fish and pretty much anything else you want to throw on, within reason. With the Tundras 37 inch diameter basin you are not limited to one type of cooking method either; you can grill, broil, simmer, fry, smoke and bake.
The options do not end there is the Tundra Grill comes equipped with a grill rack, skewers, and three swing-out skillets for frying eggs, simmering sauces, or even baking bread Dutch-oven style. No need to fret about your steak not coming out just the way you like it; the skillet, skewer, and rack height are adjustable for precise flame proximity. You will be able to cook for an entire dinner party or family gathering all at once, with space for two whole fish, three whole chickens, and six steaks. Want a cup of hot coffee or soup on a brisk morning or chilly evening? No problem; put on a cast-iron kettle for coffee or stock pot for soup.
The Tundra Grill is built to last, justifying its price tag. Whether you are cooking out in your backyard or braving the tundra, this grill has all the features and equipment to accommodate. The Tundra comes with a stainless smoke hood to induce draft in a gazebo or lean-to, or to keep out the rain so nasty weather will not thwart dinner plans. The Grill is wind deflector also helps make outdoor cooking a cinch. Zinc-coated steel shrugs off anything Mother Nature dishes out, while Birchwood handles allows for safe skillet use. Worried about messy ash clean up? The Tundra has got you covered,the Grills ash box and scoop makes for one-step ash disposal.
James Rothaar writes articles on the Luxury Lifestyle for Justluxe on topics such as Luxury Spas and Fashion.
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Posted in Internet Management at 8:00 am by
Do you have any idea how much your customers are actually worth to you? Do you know which ones you make money on and the financial impact of those that beat you up over price, service levels and “extras?” Or, do you say things like “we don’t have the time to figure that out,” - or, “we are different,” - or, “how would knowing that really help us” - etc, etc?
What could be more relevant to any small business than having at least a basic understanding of customer profitability? Usually when a company looks honestly at its customers, the realization jumps off the page that you make a lot of money from some customers, you make less on another group, and you probably lose money on some. When you think in terms of the factors that drive this in your company, you can begin to take steps to make sure you retain the profitable ones and not spend too much of your time on the others.
There are several ways to look at customer profitability, but one of the best is to think in terms of the lifetime value of an individual customer. Lifetime customer value (LCV) is the amount of profit that you will realize from an individual customer over the time that that customer does business with you. Focusing on LCV gets you two things. First, it measures the profitability of your customers, not just the revenue, and, because there can be a big difference in margin and costs between customers, the amount of money you make can be very different. Second, LCV focuses on your overall, long-term relationship with customers, not recent transactions, and over time some relationships have the potential to be a lot more valuable than others.
The challenge, of course, is that when you start thinking about how to implement this concept, you quickly realize that it can be expensive and time consuming to collect the information you need to really impact your bottom line. But, what if you could get “80%” of the benefit of knowing the LCV of your customers for “20%” of the investment? Wouldn’t you be willing to spend a few hours and maybe do a little tracking and forecasting, if it would make you more profitable? Here are some things you can do.
Start by creating a list of characteristics that describe both your ideal customers and your less than ideal customers. The objective is to identify both the quantifiable and the intangible factors that influence the profitability of an individual customer. For example, a long time customer, or a customer that makes multiple purchases, is better than a new one, for the obvious reason that it gives you a bigger revenue stream and the not so obvious reason that it doesn’t cost you as much to market, sell to, and service that customer. A customer that has been in business for awhile, or buys higher margin products, or refers other business to you, or who you can use as a reference is a lot more valuable to you than one who is always pushing you on price, or takes up a lot of your time, or who requires that you stock inventory that you otherwise wouldn’t, or who is just generally difficult to deal with. The more that you can quantify in describing these customers the better; but the intangibles are important, too, because there are hidden costs involved.
Then divide customers into 3, or 4 revenue groups. You can refine this later, if you want to, but you need a starting point. One place to begin is some combination of number of purchases, average sale amount, or total sales per customer. Looking at number and dollars of sales splits your customer base either by revenue (dollars), or activity (number). These are two of the important things that drive profitability.
Sometimes a better place to start, if you have the information, would be 3, or 4 divisions based on gross profit margin, or some other key profit driver. If you don’t know gross profit margin by customer, you could divide your customer base by number, or dollars of sales, look at the margin for a few representative customers in each group, and make some assumptions about the margin for the entire group. The value of an initial division by gross profit margin is that you have already made a big profitability distinction in grouping your customers.
Finally, look at your expenses a little differently and break them into 4 categories. These 4 expense categories are cost of goods sold (the cost of making or buying the product you sell), sales and marketing (the cost to get and keep your customers), fulfillment (the cost to deliver your product to customers), and general and admin (everything else). A few assumptions have to be made here and in some cases you might have to split an expense between more than one of the four categories. But, once you’ve done this, you can look at your expenses in a different way - i.e. how they are affected by individual customer transactions.
In restating expenses and matching them to the revenue groups, keep in mind several things that can meaningfully impact the profitability of any customer group and ultimately the total profit of your business. The number of customers in each group is important, because some of your expenses will be related to this. For example, shipping and handling is partly driven by the number of customers that you ship to. The number of new, versus repeat buyers is key, because you really don’t need to spread as much sales and marketing expense to the “old” customers as you are to the “new” ones. There may be costs related to a particular group for sales and marketing, or fulfillment. Fixed, versus variable costs are important, because you benefit from spreading fixed costs over as many customers as possible, while variable costs can rise or fall based on the number of customers that you service. And, finally, don’t neglect to consider time you and you staff have to spend servicing customers. Salary expenses are fixed in total (at least in the short term), but the amount of time that a customer demands can vary greatly and in that sense can be “hidden” costs as you look at the profitability of any customer.
If you are so inclined, you can bring these assumptions together in a financial model that lets you forecast LCV with some precision. But, consider what you have learned already by taking these few steps. You’re recognizing in a more focused, analytical way, that not all customers are the same. You see more clearly that the amount of sales to a customer is not all that matters. The margin is a lot higher for some customers that for others. Your company’s expenses take on a different meaning, because they now generally reflect what it costs you to get, keep, and service your customers. You’re thinking in terms of some of the key factors that impact the profitability of any of your customers. If you stop here, you have spent a few hours of your time, but you still have benefited from understanding more about how much you might make, or lose, from different groups of customers.
(There are two Business Management Tools on the Business Advisor Online site that will help you easily gain a financial perspective on the Lifetime Customer Value of your customers. The Simple Calculation LCV Model provides a high level calculation; it does not require you to have collected detailed customer information, but will still give you a reasonable LCV estimate. The Detailed Calculation LCV Model lets you include more information in the calculation and helps to estimate expenses in the four categories outlined in this week’s feature article.)
About The Author:
Jim Deyo is the President of Business Advisor Online, an internet based service that provides small businesses with the ideas they need to grow and the resources they require to make the right decisions. As a former Sr. Vice President with a major banking institution, Jim worked extensively with small and medium sized companies and has over 30 years experience in commercial and consumer lending, accounting, finance, marketing, and strategic planning. Visit the website at http://www.businessadvisoronline.com and sign up for a six week free trial of the service, or e-mail Jim at jimdeyo@businessadvisoronline.com.
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07.30.08
Posted in Internet Management at 2:18 pm by
If it’s too good to be true, it usually is. While the internet has provided a huge venue for people to meet potential mates around the world, it does have its share of scammers out to fool the innocent and unwary. Despite many warnings, hundreds of lonely and well-meaning online daters still fall prey to insidious scammers and heartless con artists who not only break their hearts, but break their bank accounts as well. It has been estimated that British men and women have lost more than £1 billion last year to online scams. Most of these scams come from overseas, thus detection and eventual prosecution is tricky and sometimes pointless.
An online dating scam or “romance scam” happens when a scammer, either male or female, enters an online dating service or a chat room and makes contact with potential victims using invented profiles. A lot of online dating sites accept members for free and usually don’t screen their members. This is fertile ground for scammers who love the anonymity and the venue to invent a profile that amazingly matches who you are looking for. These con artists usually tease you along, claiming to seek only a “true soulmate” and “real romance”. They keep this front up until they are sure that you are ready to believe anything they type. The reality is, they really don’t care about you - they only want your money.
But how can you tell a scam from the real thing? It can be quite difficult as most experienced scammers tread very carefully with their victims. They usually invest weeks or months convincing the victim that they are in a loving cyber-relationship.
A common sign of a dating scam is when the other party starts to ask for money to meet you. It comes in many forms, from asking you to shoulder their plane fare because they are “broke” or asking you to sponsor their “Visa” so they can enter your country legally. They may say that they’ve been “stranded” in another country and want to come home, or that they’ve been robbed while traveling elsewhere. Or that they actually have a “disease” or condition that they need to be in surgery for. If not surgery, they will claim that they need the cash for medicines anyway and you are the only person who can help them. When you do offer to send the money, they have no bank account where you can make a direct deposit to, so they can remain untraceable. They prefer that you send the money via money transfer agents like Western Union.
Sometimes a scam is easy to see through, like your chat partner posting an extremely gorgeous picture of himself/herself. It is not unheard of to use stolen pictures as bait to lure victims. When you ask for your date’s phone number or address, he/she mysteriously does not answer your phone calls and has no voicemail option. Your online date also talks more about themselves than asking about you. Usually they also don’t answer a lot of your questions, or there is a delay in answering. This is likely because these scammers work on a lot of people at one time, so you are probably only one of many people he/she is chatting to and sending emails to.
So how can you protect yourself? Start with never giving out any personal details to your new chatmates (home phone numbers, work address, etc). Opt for reputable dating sites and stay away from the free ones as much as you can. Try to find someone in your local area. It also does not hurt to be sceptical if someone tries to “ping” you often, even when he/she knows you are not interested. Barrage them with a lot of questions or suggest meeting them and if they act suspiciously, you are probably dating a scammer. Bit if you’ve already lost money, there is really not a lot you can do to recover it. The best course of action would be to report the scammer’s profile to the administrators of the chat/dating site where you met him/her.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Fraud
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07.28.08
Posted in Internet Management at 7:35 am by
It would be nice to be one of those Internet gurus. To know everything about doing business online. To be able to slap down page after page of HTML without breaking a sweat. Create a new web site in fifteen minutes any time you want. Get three ezine articles, four pay-per-click campaigns and six joint ventures set up before lunch. Ah, yes.
But there are two major problems with waiting until you’ve acquired that level of skill before actually going into business.
First, you’ll never get there. Nobody knows everything. If you wait until you do, you’ll be waiting for hell to freeze over as that flock of pigs goes flying by. Which is to say, you’ll never do it.
Second, trying to learn everything first is a ‘Catch 22.’ You have to get in there and do it to learn it, so if you wait until you learn it, you’ll never do it. Real sandcastles can never be built in the mind. But they can really be built.
Okay, then. Am I saying you can just roll up your sleeves and open a business online when all you know about computers is how to turn one on? Well, not exactly. Then again — almost.
Sure, you should get as comfortable as possible with the computer in general, and with the Internet in particular. But it is possible to get started with not a whole lot more than the surf-and-send-an-email basics.
So let’s take a look at what might be holding you back. Could it be that you don’t have enough money to hire someone to create a website for you, and the idea of doing it all by yourself is just too intimidating?
Well, did you know that there is something called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software that will actually allow you to build a site with nothing more than the ability to type up some text in Word (or whatever wordprocessor you’re familiar with), then copy and paste it onto a pre-decorated web page called a template? That’s it. Really.
And getting it up on the web may sound intimidating when you’re told you need to know FTP. But that’s nothing more than the old ‘drag and drop’ that you’ve been using on your computer desktop to put your files (letters, pictures of your kids — or your grandkids) into folders.
And if even that doesn’t convince you, you can get your feet wet in the online business wading pool without any website at all. There are drawbacks (for example, you can’t begin to build a mailing list if you have no website where potential customers can sign in). Even so, it will at least get you going. And, obviously, you can’t get where you want to go if you don’t start, right?
But, you say, I hear that to do business on the Internet, I have to know about marketing. Well, indeed you do. But that’s true of any business, online or off. And it’s a lot easier — and a whole lot cheaper — to reach potential customers online than off.
And even if, right now, you have no idea about how to do it, the Web has a virtual overload of information on the subject. In fact, with all the free tutorials that are offered online, you can learn the basics — and more — without paying a penny.
So what’s stopping you? Do you think the Internet is for someone else - - like techies and gurus and people under thirty? Well, think again.
We may have separate churches for Protestants and Catholics, Muslims and Jews . . . even separate countries for Americans and Iranians, and Indians and Mexicans and . . . well, you know what I mean. There’s a lot of separation on this old planet. But not on the Internet: that, my friend, is for everyone.
Max Ehrman once wrote, in his Desiderata, “You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.” This can also be said of the Internet. So come on in, Child of the Universe: it’s your Internet, too.
Bob Brooker has made it his mission, as a devout non-techie who is nonetheless a child of the universe, to help his fellow non-techies start their own work-from home Internet businesses. Bob continually searches for those products (eBooks, CDs, etc.) that are the simplest to understand and use. So if you’d like to see a website that was created entirely with WYSIWYG, visit Bob at http://www.makingmoneysimplified.com
If you want to find out how to do it yourself, read Bob’s report on some simple WYSIWYG software at http://www.makingmoneysimplified.com/review1.html
And if the very thought of creating your own web site has you taking to your bed with the vapors, check out his report on how to do it even without a web site at http://www.makingmoneysimplified.com/review2.html
Hey, it’s your Internet: come and get it!
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Posted in Internet Management at 6:24 am by
Should you do your own pre-purchase inspection? Yes and no. Yes, you should inspect a house before you write an offer on it. Then you should put an inspection contingency clause in the offer, and hire a professional inspector. Why do both?
Doing your own inspection can help you get a better deal. Each cracked window or leaky toilet you can find is a negotiating point. You see, you could just make a low offer, but a seller is more likely to accept your offer if you have reasons for it being lower. In fact, you should attach a list of your concerns to the offer, as an explanation and justification for your price.
Use a list as you walk through the house. Using a home inspection checklist keeps you from forgetting things. You don’t have to know the difference between 12-gauge and 14-gauge wiring, or become an expert on all the building trades, as useful as this would be. Just use what you do know, and make a note if something looks “odd” or “smells funny.” Afterwards, you can have a professional inspector take a closer look.
Pay for a professional pre-purchase inspection. Unless you really know a lot, it can save your neck financially. An acquaintance of mine just discovered that the house he made an offer on was almost beyond hope, because their was so much termite and other damage. He backed out of the deal, and considering the tens of thousands of damage he hadn’t planned on, I don’t think he’s regretting the $300 he spent on inspections.
Do a walk-through inspection yourself, by all means. Just also put that clause in the contract allowing you to have professional inspections too. Now, how do you choose the right person to do the inspections? Carefully.
Pre-Purchase Inspection - Choosing An Inspector
For specific inspections that are customary in your area, you can rely on most reputable companies. Termite inspections are the norm here in Tucson, for example, and it’s cheap to get one done by a pest control company (they hope to get the job if there are termites to be eradicated). If the roof has obvious problems, you can get a roofer to take a look and give you an itemized quote.
For general pre-purchase inspections, though, it isn’t as easy to hire the right person. In many states it is relatively easy to get licensed for general home inspection. What you really want, though, is not someone that read the right books and passed a test, but an inspector with real life experience. Ideally, you want a former builder or tradesman that has real experience with everything from electrical work to roofing to plumbing and more.
You want to know what is wrong, but you also want to know what it will cost to fix these problems. Not all inspectors will have that information for you. Ask if they can give you estimates for repairing any problem they find, even if only in the form of a range of the possible cost. You may be re-negotiating the price based on his findings. You could call in contractors to get quotes on big problems, but you need to at least know which are big problems, and a good inspector should be able to tell you.
To sum up: Do your own walk-through inspection, then hire a professional. Ask about their experience. Ask if they can note estimated costs next to problems found. If you want to learn more, ask if maybe you can tag along for the inspection. Do these things and you’ll have a thorough pre-purchase inspection.
Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To learn more, get a free real estate investing course, home inspection checklist, and see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com
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07.26.08
Posted in Internet Management at 8:20 pm by
Recently a gentleman in an Online Forum Think Tank who was a spiritual type person told the group that we were all dummies because we could not understand infinity. Some in the group were taken a back, as they had no problem with the concept of infinity at all. He said he had become enlightened and that he understood infinity but that most all humans could not understand it and therefore had tiny finite minds and were stupid. In fact he went on to say that Einstein, Newton and many others were stupid too and had finite minds and were un-enlightened.
The self-proclaimed enlightened on said: “This is the problem! They have been chasing their tails. A finite mind can’t understand infinity.”
Indeed, he makes an interesting discussion however I disagree entirely. Infinite is not so hard to comprehend although many wish to tell the masses they cannot understand it to get them to stop asking questions of the so-called experts who really do not know what they are talking about for the most part. In fact I bet once humans are told how it all works that they will indeed be able to teach it to a child in the second grade, I am sure of it. For someone to say that a finite mind cannot understand something, they need to speak to themselves for the problematic issues arrive and stay with them, not I.
How about you, can you understand infinity? Do you believe the Cosmos are infinite? Is it possible for you to describe it? Would you know it if you saw it? Have you ever thought about it? Think on this in 2006.
“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
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07.23.08
Posted in Internet Management at 10:23 am by
Business cards are the most underutilized and
misunderstood marketing tool in business. Many
people spend the bucks for cards and don’t make an
effort to get them into the hands of those who can
hire them or buy from them.
Everyday people throw away stacks of undelivered
business cards. Money down the dumper.
Your goal is to design and use a memorable card
and get so many delivered you have to re-order.
Forget about those clever articles about what to
do with stacks of leftover cards.
The only time you should have cards still in the
box is when something on the card becomes outdated
or obsolete.
If you designed your cards as a marketing tool and
planned your distribution, tossing unused cards in
the trash should become the exception rather than
the rule. If one item on your card changes the
cards are obsolete and should be pitched.
Car dealers are famous for finding ways to save
money on business card expense. With the revolving
door turnover of salespeople, many dealers stopped
ordering individual cards for new hires. They
print a master card with color dealer logo and
phone numbers and leave a big space in the middle
for the new salesperson’s name to be penciled in.
That way, when the would-be fast talking, glad
handing flannel mouth doesn’t work out, no new
cards need be printed.
A swell image: handwritten business cards.
It would be interesting to run the numbers
on how much money was saved at the printers versus
how much business went somewhere where the
salespeople appeared more professional. With car
dealer margins, one sale would buy a lot of
business cards.
Worse is using a business card with a black or
blue marker blotting out a line of type and a new
name,address or phone number written (or typed)
above the black line. Ugh!
Some people painstakingly cut itty bitty strips of
computer labels printed with the new information
and stick them over the old just to save a few
bucks. Calculate what your time is worth and the
savings turn into an expense, not to mention what
the “corrected” card does to future business.
Dig out that stack of business cards you have been
collecting for years and flip through them, you
will see at least one with a correction.
If you are in any business and venture outside
your cubby-hole for any reason, you should carry
business cards at all times. You should be able to
“whip one out” without diggout out your wallet and
digging thru pics of the kids, or plunging to the
bottom of your purse past the hair spray.
You card says a lot about you. And you say even
more about you when you offer your card.
Say it in business-like, professional style.
For more about buiness cards, get my article
“What Does the BACK of Your Business Card Say?”
©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights Reserved
Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com
BIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and Small
Business Consultant with over 30 years experience,
http://BIGIdeasGroup.com
eMail: BizCardBack@BigIdeasGroup.com
Subscribe to “BIG Mike’s BIG Ideas” Newsletter
subscribe-956603364@ezinedirector.net
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07.22.08
Posted in Internet Management at 2:56 am by
Within the virtual world of the internet, “content” is to “money” in real life. Content is our commodity, it is what people trade all around the world. But is “other people’s content” actually valuable?
There are many specialists out there that believe that content that has been copied is not valuable anymore and may actually penalize your website online for listing such content but I on the other hand beg to differ.
Ezine article directories world wide consistently list the same ol’ content as the other. They all pull into the same pool of authors who ultimately submit the same articles to each directory. My question is this, if copied content is not valuable anymore, why is it that these article directories are some of the most popular websites world wide?
See if you break down the authors article, you start to get clues as to why “copied content” can still be mistaken for original content.
Title & Author Stay The Same, But The Rest Is Not Just Gravy:
One constant is true for all articles submitted by authors: Their “title” and “author” are always the same but everything else tends to change in the process of submitting the article.
See, some article directories ask for a “description” to post online leading to the article. In many cases, I’ve seen authors simply make up their own description as they go which in turn gives the article a unique feel to it.
HTML Formatted Articles Changes The Dynamics Of The Article:
In other cases, some article directories allow for HTML to be posted with the article. When this is allowed, you will usually get a unique article created by the author and edited by the author. For those sites that allow HTML, there are others that don’t allow HTML which in turn depends on the article directory and its own “author guidelines” about a well formatted article. Some article directories allow images, while others do not.
Some article directories have “internal” HTML editors known as “WYSIWYG” editors. These act as an HTML editor which allows the author to personalize their article with bolding text, adding links, etc.
= = = =
With All Of These Different Scenarios, Is The Content Still Valuable?
ABSOLUTELY! Beyond and besides the fact that every article directory requires different methods of submitting your article, each article directory is also unique to each other thus providing different content around the article itself.
It’s well known that search engines do pick out and identify your “template” content, vs. your “internal” content but at the same time, your template content is unique and hopefully isn’t 100% copied somewhere else.
In Conclusion:
Although copied content is looked down on, every website out there has some form of copied content somewhere within their site. Whether it be within your menu system, or content. The fact is, you can ultimately change copied content into unique content by changing the dynamics or properties of the content itself.
About The Author:
Martin Lemieux is the owner of Smartads. We help business owners to increase their marketing efforts online and offline. Today’s Topic “Content & Copywriting”.
Ezine Article Directory (Content & Copywriting)
www.article99.com/internet-marketing/content-copywriting/
Writing Articles:
www.smartads.info/articles/wa/
Content & Copywriting RSS/XML Feed:
www.article99.com/rss-feeds/Content-and-Copywriting.xml
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Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article on your website as long as the entire article remains the same, including the resource box.
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06.03.08
Posted in Internet Management at 6:32 pm by
We all know someone who just drives us batty. Perhaps the
person is too noisy, too borish, or too flashy. Perhaps the
person is too gossipy, critical, or lazy. There are hundreds of
reasons why we may not relate well to a person.
In my case, the person was both loud and talkative. He thought
he was funny; I thought he was insensitive. So I decided to just
ignore him… pretend he didn’t exist. That strategy worked well
for a few months until a close friend accused me of being rude.
“Rude?” I scoffed. “I don’t think so.”
“Ignoring someone is rude,” Pat reminded me. “Acting like
someone doesn’t exist is one of the worst ways you can treat
someone. You always told me that you hated feeling invisible
yet that is EXACTLY how you treat Earl.”
“But he just drives me crazy!” I said trying to defend myself.
“If I talk to him I’m just going to say something mean and
rotten. Isn’t that worse?”
“At least you’d be acknowledging that he’s human,” she
persisted.
“Barely!” I said.
I turned away in a red-faced huff. Pat obviously didn’t
understand! Still her words lingered in my mind. No matter how
I tried to justify my behavior, I couldn’t convince myself that
she was wrong.
I had to change my behavior.
I started with very small attempts at conversation. First I
offered a basic greeting, “Hi Earl.”
Then I asked a question and listened to the response. Before I
knew it, we were having real conversations, laughing together,
and dare I admit, enjoying our new friendship.
Was it difficult to start talking with Earl? At first, most
definitely yes. My first challenge, of course, was to climb
down off my high horse without falling on my face!
But I’m glad that I dropped the mask of indifference. Earl has
become a good friend. He can make me laugh at myself and the
world because he doesn’t take life too seriously. Yes, Earl can
still be loud. He definitely talks too much; and don’t share
your secrets with him.
He still drives me batty at times, but for the most part, I
just laugh and enjoy our friendship. It was only after
becoming his friend that I realized how exhausting it was to
ignore him. Now my energy is spent on other things… things,
like Earl, that matter.
=================================================================
Copyright 2005. Donna Doyon, Activities Coordinator for Your Virtual Retreat is the author of GLOW: Renew Your Spirit & Release Your Inner Beauty. She offers information, inspiration and encouragement to people who want to say goodbye to self defeating attitudes and behaviors and hello to greater success, healthier relationships and more joyful living. Get inspired at her website: http://www.donnadoyon.com.
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Posted in Internet Management at 4:41 pm by
1. Give it away now -
Giving and sharing aren’t exclusive to the holiday season. Share your knowledge FOR FREE with all of your customers and
anyone else that wants to listen to you. Look, you’re probably an expert in your
field and have a number of great ideas and advice that would really help your
customers out - write them down and pass them along to people as much as possible.
Show your customers that you are dedicated to helping them and that you are an
expert in your field.
Communicating on a consistent basis is one of the best ways to build your business. If you stop communicating with your customers, you’ll
start becoming invisible. Invisibility is good if you are a superhero, not if
you are running a business.
When you couple communication with providing valuable information that would help your customers improve their lives, you really kick
your marketing into high gear. Consider starting a newsletter, offering free reports
on your web site or creating a direct mail advice campaign. Share your expertise
with your customers frequently, authentically and honestly - it’ll help establish
you as a caring, knowledgeable expert and keep you in the forefront of your customers’
minds. To see what I’ve done in this area, you can visit http://www.candographics.com
to sign up for the Can-Do Confidence Builder.
2. Stand Behind
Have you ever heard, “I’ll just stick with what I have” from a prospect? Chances are that if you’ve
been in business long, you have. Even if doing business with you is clearly the
better option, sometimes people will just stick with what they have. Why? Often
times you’ll find it boils down to risk; people don’t like risk, so they try to
minimize it when possible. Help people minimize risk by standing behind your product
or service and offer a guarantee. Visit http://www.candographics.com to see my
guarantee.
3. Encourage People to Spread the Word
If your business thrives on referrals, develop a program that rewards people for stepping out of their way
to send business to you. Develop an easy to follow, understandable and convenient
referral program for your customers - and make sure they know about it. Take a
proactive, rather than reactive approach in obtaining more referrals. Give customers
a way to easily refer prospects to you, tell your customers about it and reward
them for it. If you’d like to see my referral program, email me at comments@candographics.com
and I’ll send you my 1 page referral program pdf document.
4. Get Consistent
Everyone knows that first impressions are critical. Did you know that your customers make
up their mind about your business in a matter of seconds? We all do this, and
we all know that first impressions have to be good ones; the trick is you don’t
know which impression is going to be first. Prospects might see your logo first,
your web site, a sign, or a brochure, so it’s important that ALL of them project
a clear, professional message to your prospects.
Your marketing materials and company identity are telling a story to your customer: how professional you are,
how quality conscious you are and how unique you are. What do your marketing materials
and company identity say to customers? If you’ve never asked them, you should!
Take inventory of all of your marketing and collateral materials; line them up
on your desk. Do they all tell a consistent, professional story about your business?
Are they projecting the image you want to send to your customers? Be honest with
yourself, and if they aren’t projecting the professional, consistent image your
company deserves, contact a business savvy designer to help you.
5. Make the Commitment
You’ve been hearing this one ever since
you were little, “Save your pennies for a rainy day”. Smart business owners know
that marketing and design are necessities; they devote a certain percentage of
every sale to growing their company. You can do this too, just take 10% of your
revenue and dedicate it to marketing efforts, improving your brand image and growing
your business. You’ve heard the term, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying”, make
sure you do this for yourself and your company - you’re both worth it.
6. Ask Your Customers
Your customers are an absolute goldmine of information, and business
owners often ignore them. Who better to ask how you are doing, what you need improvement
on and what additional products/services you need to offer than asking your customers?
It’s easy to overlook your customers when developing strategy. By including the
very people that support your business in your strategies, you will avoid the
mistake that most owners make in thinking they know more than their customers.
You know better than that, and here’s the great news, the information they give
you is free!
Tell your customers that you’d like to ask them a few questions that
will help you provide better products and services in the future. Ask them when
a convenient time would be for them, develop a short list of questions to ask
them and of course thank them for their time and ideas.
As we all look to the promise of a new year, take a moment to look how far you’ve come and plan where
you want to go in 2006. This is a time of great excitement and hope for everyone
running a business. If you hadn’t included these approaches into your strategy
last year, now would be a perfect time to integrate them into your business. If
you have any questions, comments or if you found this article helpful, give me
a shout at 480-391-0704, or email me at comments@candographics.com. Happy and
prosperous 2006.
Jeremy runs the only business savvy graphic design firm who helps companies build more confidence and credibility into their business identities. “I help you take your business’ vision and shape it into a company identity that will make you look better, feel better and have more confidence about your business.”
Like the article?
Email Jeremy today at comments@candographics.com for your choice of a free insider’s bulletin:
“How to Choose the Right Marketing/Design Firm for You” or “Top Ten Questions Designers Don’t Want You to Ask Them”.
You’ll also want to check out the “Can-Do Confidence Builder”. Emailed weekly, the Confidence Builder provides you with essential marketing and design insights that help you get the most out of your marketing/design investments and help you to stay one step ahead of the competition.
Remember to include in your email your name, which Insider Bulletin you would like to receive and any additional feedback.
Learn more about Jeremy and how you can gain a competitive advantage with a better brand by visiting http://www.candographics.com
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