It is never too late to be what you might have been.
– GEORGE ELIOT
New Years Resolutions? Not here….
For the past year, I chose a theme that was for my “resolutions” because resolutions are things we say we will do and forget in June what we said we would do. So last year, the theme was the YEAR OF ME! Far too long I was always appeasing others and never focused on me! what did i get in the YEAR OF ME? my beautiful wife, Shiloh Dahlberg.
for 2014, the theme will be the YEAR OF CAN! Can? as in soda? nope! “Can” as in the willingness to do something because we CAN, not because we artificially say we CANT!. (unless its against the law, then you cant- disclaimer for my friends).
The difference between CAN and CAN’T is the willingness to do it. Key word was WILLINGNESS. SO this year, it will be full of WILLINGNESS.
“Perfection is …
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
Vince Lombardi
There are 3 key…
There are 3 keys to success: education, education and education. (some will only see the short side of “school”)
10 Great Tips To Get More From The Customers You’ve Already Won
You work hard and invest regularly to win new customers. Are you making the most of these relationships? Are you doing what’s needed to prevent competitors from peeling off your customers with the heavy discounts we now see every day? These 10 Tips will help you build a stronger bond with your customers and, in so doing, will help you increase their lifetime revenue value.
1. Keep in Touch.
You’ll keep customers longer – particularly your occasional users — if you can do something relevant or useful to stay on their “radar screen.” E-newsletters that announce new products, offer money-saving tips, or provide invitation-only sales events and birthday coupons keep you top of mind and encourage repeated usage.
2. Follow up.
The best sales people keep track of the customers who buy from them, and then regularly follow up. Companies can adopt this practice as a regular process. Closet Maid dealers, for instance, always call the customer after three days to make sure they are satisfied with the work and ask for referrals. A year later, they call the customer about future work and again ask for referrals.
3. Get their opinion.
There are numerous ways to do this, from simple comment cards to full-blown annual surveys. If you collect email addresses (and everyone should), you can use super-simple web-based tools like surveymonkey.com. Whatever route you take, ask both direct and open-ended questions about your product or service and how they can be improved. And make sure you actually implement some of the suggestions.
4. Loyalty cards.
The average American household belongs to 14 different loyalty programs. There’s a reason: loyalty cards encourage repeat usage. They also provide an important ability to track customer usage and preferences if they are readable through a POS or other system.
5. Traditional coupons.
A simple coupon sent via mail or a discount offered on your website can help keep your current customers coming back. Afraid of lowering your margins? A well-designed offer typically leads to additional purchases that more than offset the offer’s discount. Also consider that, on average, about 3 of 4 consumers are willing to try a new business based on a strong promotional offer. Assume your competitors will try this and incorporate the cost of lost traffic into your ROI calculations.
6. Encourage referrals.
The strongest form of marketing is word of mouth. Most businesses don’t do enough to remind fans that their references are invaluable. And make it worth their effort: If a current customer recommends your product or service to someone else who ends up buying, give them a reward. At the very least, ALWAYS send a thank you note!
7. Trade-ins for a good cause.
Avoid the negatives associated with repetitive “sales events” by taking a different approach: Ask customers to bring in out-grown, gently-worn, or seldom-used goods that can be donated to the needy, and in return give them a discount off any of your products. People love to support a good cause as well as get a good deal.
8. Advertise to customers, not just prospects.
Smart marketers craft their messages to make their existing customers feel good about using their store or service. Highlighting a specific customer’s experience, or how the business went out of it’s way to solve a customer problem, can sound more authentic than the typical testimonial. Showcasing customers on your website or publishing user’s own photos (pet shops have used this to great advantage) can create a strong bond.
9. Offer a freebie.
Every so often, give your clients something extra: a free taste–something exciting they would never have thought of by themselves–and something they neither asked for nor paid for. This strategy of providing ‘unexpected delights’ adds a tangible benefit to your customer experience and can be great fuel for word-of-mouth advertising.
10. Engage them socially (social media that is).
Few small businesses think of this today, and we’re not saying that you need to create an extensive “Fan Page” for your local tree trimming service. Just get in the habit of asking customers if they Facebook, send them an invitation to friend you or your business, and then take a few minutes each week to see what’s important in their lives. If you have the time and following that mandate a more proactive social media presence, by all means go for it – just make sure that you don’t turn people off by over-communicating or spamming.
Not all of these tips will work for all businesses, they all have one thing in common: they proactively guard against customer attrition and keep the business engaged with its customers. These are not a substitute for great customer service (the best way to build customer loyalty), but one or more of these tips can help you sell more to the people you’ve already worked so hard to win. Have a tip or two of your own that stimulates return visits or top-of-mind awareness? Let us know!
Material for this post was adapted from entrepreneur.com.
Posted November 14, 2009 by SBarbalho
– See more at: http://thegrowthwire.com/marketing/10-great-tips-to-get-more-from-the-customers-you%e2%80%99ve-already-won/#sthash.zkPUxb6O.dpuf
“Confidence is …
“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”
Vince Lombardi
“The man who st…
“The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time”
Though it’s a popular saying that newspapers and magazines have used to promote advertising, the saying has often been credited to Thomas Jefferson and Henry Ford, but there’s no evidence that either one of them said it.
Is your business Investment worthy?
As an investor, we look for ideas that will generate real returns, high growth rates and positive cash flows. The question is “Are you investment worthy?” This is the essence of the question investors are asking themselves. Is this company disruptive to the marketplace (i.e. software)? Is this company dramatic, dynamic and can be influential? Is this company a copy cat company that is not the leader or can it become the leader?
There are key indicators that investors are looking for, that make their investment decision that much easier. First, the growth rate and potential growth rate for the business is key. Investors are investing to make money, not sit in a savings account. Low growth rates are no better than leaving the cash in a bank CD. Second, is there sufficient transition capital to make their moves for growth? Great example is Groupon. If you were to analyze their investors behavior, Groupon continually went back to the “piggy bank” for more cash to keep them afloat prior to their IPO. Third, a good track record of performance. Track records are report cards. Numbers don’t lie, neither does the past performance. Lastly, a great management team. A great team is the protector of the cash investment. The people within these businesses are as important as the idea. Great ideas can be ruined by bad management and bad ideas can be successes with great management teams.
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Social Media Dos and Don’ts
(Great article found at http://soshable.com/social-media-dos-donts-decorum/#! )
There are a lot of business proprietors who are now using social media to promote their brand. They use the web for marketing and communication purposes, which is a great step in the world of business. However, there are some users who are obviously devious, simply uneducated, and who do not always follow proper social media decorum. When they behave this way, they are not only killing their online reputation one post at a time, they are also diminishing any chance they have of creating real and solid relationships with their target group or network.
It is important to understand that there is proper decorum to be observed in social media. It does not matter whether you are new to the scene or a veteran. When it comes to social media, you have to understand the dos and don’ts if you want to utilize social media technology appropriately.
The Social Media Dos
- Build relationships and show care – Showing real interest in what people like or have to say goes a long way in social media. Success is not gained overnight so take the time to build connections and create strong relationships through personal interaction. This will make it easy for people to be interested in sharing your work with their own network since they trust you.
- Show respect even in disagreement – Social media is a bridge that allows you to meet people from all over the globe. It is only natural that not everyone will agree with what you have to say. Never impose your personal beliefs on others and always respect what others have to say. After all your opinion is your own; you can share it but never force others to believe in it.
- Be aware of your online footprint – Everything you say or comment on through posts and online interactions will reflect you and your brand. Always interact in a professional manner. Remember that anyone interested in doing business with you can always dig in the digital world and find dirt.
- Be a giver and not just a taker – The world of social media is not all about giving and taking, it is also about sharing resources and information that will be benefit you and other networks.
- Be honest – The technology available today allows individuals, especially those present in social media, to be in business with people even if they are millions of miles away. Although this is a convenient process, there are people who misrepresent themselves and swindle people. Always make sure you transact any and all business with honesty as a priority.
Social Media Don’ts
- Be improper – Do not post photos or comments on other people’s pages that is irrelevant to them just to gain attention. Chances are you will be blocked or reported.
- Immediately sell – As mentioned above, it is important to build a relationship before even speaking of business. Get to know each other first.
- Be all about you – Connecting with other people means getting to know them as well, do not immediately post ads about your products or services just because they are in your social media network.
- Be impersonal – If you want to connect with someone regarding business always make it personal and professional. Never use a platform or a template because this is simply rude.
These are some of the basic rules of decorum for social media. Make your social media circle a good place to be in. Read and spread the word.
Small Business Facebook Advertising
Well, another milestone was reached by Mr. Zuckerburg, 20 million small businesses are using Facebook pages according to COO Sheryl Sandberg in the Q3 earnings report. But are small businesses using the Facebook advertising programs? Probably not as much as they hoped.
One issue that could be the problem in this, is that business owners are not as savvy in “buying” advertising as we think. In Facebook, you have an option to run the length of the campaign on a set budget, Cost per Click (CPC) or Cost per Thousand (CPT). These are terms (CPP, CPT) in the advertising world we use when we deal with advertising agencies, or clients looking to keep similar reporting metrics to analyze apples to apples. Without some sort of insightful training, small business owners are like deer in headlights.
Additionally, when business owners make a post, do they “boost” that post for a couple bucks? The next post? And when is the best time to post a special, comment, offer that it will receive maximum exposure. I have been asked by many small business owners how to operate their Facebook. I have given advice, ran Facebook pages, and even executed ideas/offers. But what is apparent to me is that the value of the advertising on Facebook for small business owners hasn’t been explained well enough. The idea of small business owners is that using your Facebook page to post is good enough, but it isn’t good enough. As I write this, a Facebook post in my newsfeed ironically talks about Facebook for business. “8 ways to reach people near your business” https://www.facebook.com/facebookforbusiness/a/reach-local?campaign_id=422879767813353&placement=ads
Here are a couple links for small business owners:
https://www.facebook.com/facebookforbusiness/
https://www.facebook.com/facebookforbusiness/goals
https://www.facebook.com/facebookforbusiness/basics
Taking it one step further, a new push for accountability might threaten online and digital advertising. As more and more dollars pour into online/digital advertising, advertisers need justification to their bosses that the dollars spent are relevant and cost effective. You see the billions of dollars that are going into advertising on Facebook, Twitter, etc, but what advertisers are clamoring for now is answers to questions like: How do we know our ad we seen? Are the click-through’s to our website click fraud? How do we measure effectiveness?
More and more consumers are using ad blockers (9-23% est.) and is growing 43% a year which begs the question. What if the consumer was receptive to the advertising but use an ad blocker application? This presents a problem to the value of digital advertising because media buyers know that their campaigns purchased will not reach their goals set forth.
My recommendation to any small business owner, find a training program that will teach you the insides and outs of Facebook and other Social Media programs. There is one place called Social Media Marketing University (www.socialmediamarketinguniversity.com) that helps bring business owners up to date with the new and relevant information. The website, Social Media Examiner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ also has many forums, articles and ideas for business owners to make their page more engaging as well.
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darrelldahlberg 