Operating Strategies – Referrals

Referrals are the best way to increase business with little to no expense. Referrals are about networking with other people, other businesses. Make a connection, allow these businesses and people to know who you are, what you do and why you do it. Allow them to work for you so you can focus on making more connections.

You know your products or services are intended for a specific audience, find where that audience hangs out or live and find a way to work with other businesses that cater to that crowd. Don’t be afraid to talk with businesses marketing to the same market. What you do may compliment what they do and so referrals back and forth will be forthcoming. Don’t ignore competitors as a source of referrals. Often we view similar businesses as competitors, when we should focus on what is unique about our own business and view our competitors as partners in our success. Competitors spur us to do better, and we can also pass along referrals when things unique to them/us come along.

Even your past customers can be a source of referrals. Word of mouth referrals are wonderful because they come from someone who has used your services and obviously liked that service enough to recommend it to someone else. In cases where a former customer refers new business to you, it is a good idea to send a Thank you to that customer for their support. Maintaining a connection with past customers not only makes them feel special, it makes them want to be repeat customers. We don’t do business with people who are rude, belittle us, or make us feel poorly. We do business with people we know, like and trust. Build that trust and you build a solid referral network in the process.

The next article will focus on expanding your market. I hope it will inspire you to consider the possibilities!
Kristi

Operating Strategies – The Media Advantage

Media is more than the local newspaper. It’s a network of information resources that every human being utilizes on a daily basis. Media is everywhere! Traditionally media was defined as belonging to the associated press, but in recent time the internet has changed that definition. Today, media refers to any and all information resources including blog posts, social networks, search engine front pages as well as the traditional TV, newspapers and magazines. Learning to use the media to your advantage is what will separate your company from your competition. Be-friend the press!

Champion Assistants sister company Holiday Assistant is booming after being voted ‘Best of the City’ by Seattle Metropolitan Magazine and getting front page press in several newspapers. Their reputation is soaring higher than ever and orders are flowing in. All this because they befriended the media! (for more information Holiday Assistants visit http://www.HolidayAssistants.com)

Make yourself known to the local press through press releases and other media opportunities. Let them know about the charity work you do, the unique services and products you offer and the ways you share those unique products/services with others. Be specific, be unique, and don’t be afraid to speak up. If your local community has an issue that you or your company might be able to solve, let them know. One of the best ways to get the media on your side is to share information. Offer to write a column for them on a topic their readers are interested in. Use your blog to keep others informed and don’t be afraid to share your knowledge. 

Another great place to share your knowledge and ideas are in social networks such as Facebook and Biznik. Connecting with likeminded business professionals can open doors to new markets and new media outlets. If you don’t let people know you’re here, you won’t be here for long.

Tomorrow we’ll look into referrals and how they can affect the flow of business!
Kristi

Operating Strategies for Surviving the Economic Slump

Large businesses are scaling back and the bubble looks to have burst, but don’t count yourself out just yet. There are ways to succeed where others have failed. In fact, smaller companies have a better chance of surviving an economic slump than larger corporations because change is that much easier to implement. Corporations have layers of processes that slow down their reaction times. Smaller companies have fewer layers and so are able to react much faster and with much more accuracy. Over the next few days we will share 5 elements that you can implement in your business to not only stay in business, but to flourish!

One of the easiest ways to react is to operate lean. That’s all well and good, but what does it mean? Operating lean is a way of managing your operations, budgets, and processes so they are as effective as possible at as little expense as possible. This means in essence cutting the fat. If you’re paying for a service you don’t use, stop! If you’re a member of an organization that you never meet and get nothing from, drop them. If you don’t have enough work for a full-time employee, think about hiring a part-time contractor. Cut out both the employee expenses and the wasted time you spend every day finding work for that person to do.

Streamlining your business is the simplest way to increase productivity and profits. You know what you do best and where you need to focus. If you consider all the extra tasks you are doing in addition, it becomes obvious that a little help could in fact help to increase the bottom line instead of pulling it out from beneath you. Consider out-sourcing the tasks that are wasting your valuable time and energy. Professional VA’s work towards achieving your business goals and require little more than instructions on the task to be completed and a deadline for completion. There’s no need to supervise, to walk through each task step by step, or deal with breaks and habits that grind at your nerves.

We’ll see you tomorrow when we delve into the media advantage…
Kristi

Customers Speak with their Feet

Have you ever had a customer tell you upfront that they are leaving because of poor customer service, underestimated delivery times, poor quality products or because they don’t like the way you format your e-mail responses to them?  If you have, lucky you!   You would be lucky to receive feedback upfront and have the opportunity to repair the relationship.  If you haven’t, you are with the majority whose customers speak with their feet.  Most times customers won’t give feedback upfront, and will instead take their business elsewhere.

It isn’t easy giving negative feedback, even if it’s constructive.  Especially for customers who receive offers from your competition, both local and international, it is much easier for them to take their business elsewhere than give you the opportunity to improve.  Customers generally only leave after a long time of feeling under-appreciated or frustrated and your competitor has addressed their need.  Sometimes you don’t even know your customer has left because they simply took their business elsewhere without giving notice.  They used their feet.

Oftentimes it isn’t price or competition that drives competitors away.  It’s perceived indifference.  When a customer perceives that their business is not valuable to you or they feel like they aren’t be handled like valued customers, they are more easily swayed to using another provider.  When it comes right down to it, prioduct or service is just part of the equation – customer experience makes all the difference.

What can you do to make your customers feel like they are the precious gems they are?

1. Let them know you value them!  Send occasional thank you’s just because they are a client.  Especially after they have made a large purchase, let them know how much you appreciate their business and how you will help them.  One thing my clients appreciate is that I send them a gift card for something special each year on their anniversary of being a Champion Assistants client.

2. Address their needs.  Make sure your products and services are tailored to your clients.  One size does not always fit all and customers appreciate individual attention.  Nobody appreciates being a customer ID number.

3. Offer proactive support.  Anticipate your customers needs and offer explanations of how you products or services work and the best ways to use them.  Especially if you sell products, make sure your customers know all the benefits and offer your support and guidance in installation.

4.  Make payment expecations clear.  Making payment easy for customers is essential.  There are few things more frustrating than researching a product, going through the sales process and then having a difficult purchase experience!  Offering various payment options and even payment cycles is helpful.

5. Ask for their business.  It’s important to involve your customers in your business by letting them know you appreciate them and are available to provide them with information and answer their questions.  What is also important is to follow up to find out what additional needs they have in case you offer other products or services that address those as well.

It’s infinitely easier to keep current customers happy than constantly be prospecting for new ones.  Treat your customers like the gems they are and they will appreciate your business as valuable to them.

Best,

Heather

Recession Mindset – Operate Lean and Mean!

Businesses that start during times of recession or uncertainty tend to thrive, and a key reason why is they learn from the beginning how to operate lean.  Business that start during boom times get used to steady cash flow, access to venture capital, and a hungry customer base.  When economies start scaling back and consumers become choosier about how they spend their money, businesses that haven’t been careful about their internal cash flow and checks and balances can really get hit hard.  Reality can be harsh!

I would argue that the best way to run a business is as though there was a constant recession.  It’s always important to value every dollar whether earned or spent and never take customers for granted.  In boom times it’s easy to get caught up in the fever of success or the free flow of cash exchange.  By operating in recession mode, businesses can be more careful about how earnings are invested, or reinvested in the company, and extraneous purchases can be avoided.

Too many times excessive investment is made in technologies or services because they will some day become useful.  There is an attitude of preparing for the future even if the path to get there hasn’t been strategically thought out.  A recession mindset would help guide decision makers to create sound and realistic strategies for future business, instead of counting on continuous prosperity.

My argument is that businesses should utilize every resource they currently have and only upgrade when absolutely necessary.  That applies to technologies and services, because I have never seen an instance of scarcity.  Businesses also need to focus more on free resources – that is their current contact network. Are they optimizing sales with existing clients?  Are they treating prospects with white gloves?  Are they letting their network know their unique selling proposition?  Are they getting other people to do the selling for them through affiliate programs?

It’s important that companies operate lean by utilizing existing resources and resist consumer temptation to upgrade, purchase for optimistic future plans and buy anything that does not fit in with their core operating values.  With a lean and mean mindset, even the smallest businesses can tough out a recession!

To your success,

Heather

Article Submission: A clever way to get your name out there

Are you a good writer? If so you can put that talent to work for your business by submitting articles online. A good article can generate publicity for your website. This means more traffic and more customers. There are a few good places to start looking if you want to try this. Three reputable websites are submityourarticle.com, ezinearticles,com and amazines.com. These three sites have some differences but they all allow your articles to get exposure from the public, which will in turn generate exposure for you, your company and your website. The first website, submityourarticle.com automatically distributes your article all over the internet. It won’t just stay at that site waiting for someone to come and view it. They specifically target directory hubs that have massive traffic from publishers who look for quality articles. They also target category specific websites regarding the topic of your article. Submityourarticle.com also has an in-house team of publishers who review articles as they come in. Ezinearticles.com is the second website that’s worth checking out. This site has similar content to submityourarticle.com, with some noteworthy points of interest. They have a 10 article limit for new members. However if your article meets or exceeds their expectations they will upgrade your membership status to Platinum. This means that you are allowed unlimited submissions for your articles. This site formally was a pay site, but they are currently trying out an ad-supported system in which they are able to let people submit ads without charge. They obviously want quality writers if they are going to grant this free service. Amazines.com is the last site that will be discussed. This site’s most notable feature is that it is free. They let registered authors submit their new articles at no charge and they allow them to view and manage their older articles as well. Their goal is to build the most comprehensive article database and submission site that is free. This may be a great choice for a smaller company that is trying to get exposure but wants to keep its overhead as low as possible. In conclusion, submitting articles can be an effective and relatively inexpensive way to boost your company’s exposure. If you’re a good writer, you can use this gift to help your business grow.

Autoresponders: The missing link to customer service

 Autoresponders can be a very effective tool, but if they are not written well, they can give a potential customer a cold feeling. If someone sends you an e-mail, your autoresponder needs to do one thing very well; keep them interested. Hardly anyone will make a transaction on their first trip to your website, so this is important. This message doesn’t need to immediately make the sale, it just needs to make them want to come back and visit you again. Autoresponders need a compelling headline to grab the readers and make them want to keep reading. This will also cause the autoresponder message to stand out, increasing the likelihood that the potential customer will call back or visit your website again. Another tactic to improving your Autoresponders effectiveness is to use personal names. There are autoresponders that allow personal names to be used automatically. Obviously some information is needed for this to be possible and you will likely need to have already had some contact with the individual . Instead of the message of dear valued customer, it would read Dear John Smith. This has a strong psychological effect that can mean the difference between a repeat and a lost customer. This doesn’t need to be limited to just their names either. There are ways to note specific information like past services or sales that will really impress the potential customer. This will make them feel like they aren’t just being contacted by a machine. Giving your potential customers some comparison between your services and some other company’s services is another great way to make your autoresponder message stand out. If your company does something better than other companies, let people know about it. If you sell a product that is less expensive or better than another product, have that information right in the autoresponder message. Let them see a comparison between your company and your competition. This can be a powerful tool in gaining new customers.

 

The Intricacies of Selling in Japan

The Japanese are very forgiving of foreigners especially when it comes to not fully understanding all of their customs and cultures.  They prefer not to have one-on-one meetings and will wait until there can be multiple people at the business meeting.  It is important to be respectful because if you make a bad reputation for yourself, it will take a long time to change the bad image that you have made for yourself.  Through building of relationships, a company can obtain many referrals, since it is all based on trust.  Selling online to Japan is a market that is really taken off and that companies should jump on.  There are requirements to being successful in this arena.  The customer service must be impeccable.  This includes understanding what Japanese consumers want and need from their products and services.  Quality is a top priority in their decision making.  However it is also important to understand the language, so if someone speaks Japanese that would be much better.  What would be considered a harmless product in the United States could be perceived as offensive in Japanese culture, so this is something an American company must tread lightly on.  An example of this is, on Valentine’s Day chocolates and presents are given from the female to their boyfriends, husbands, etc.  But the male counterpart must wait a month until it is White Day to reciprocate the presents.  If a company fails to understand this, it could be detrimental.  Also, the different age groups can vary among how to target those markets and the customs that they hold dear.

A great resource for this topic is Market to Japan.  They provide marketing consulting to firms exploring into Japan.  Check out their website at: http://www.markettojapan.com/

Doing Business in Japan – Intimidating and Challenging!

Doing business in Japan can be intimidating to foreigners who do not understand their culture or their business habits. This is not a barrier to doing business in Japan though. There are just a few things that a foreign business person needs to know before they travel to Japan for business. First and foremost, depending on who you are dealing with, the entire meeting may be spoken in Japanese. This may be the case, especially if you are dealing with a smaller domestic company. However, if you are in a meeting with a large company, the people you speak to will likely be fluent in English. Understanding Japanese or at least having an interpreter is definitely a plus when doing business in Japan The meetings will be very formal and there will be very little small talk as there are in American or European meetings. Sometimes these meetings can appear cold to foreign business people. The Japanese executives will politely exchange business cards, listen to your presentation while taking notes, ask some questions and leave. This has nothing to do with their interest, it’s just how they conduct meetings. One thing that can be said about Japanese culture is that it is very polite. During the meeting you will be treated in the most polite and respectful manner, so it is important that you do the same. Outside of a meeting room, the Japanese will continue their tradition of politeness by entertaining their business guests. They will often take foreign executives out to dinner even if they have no intention of doing business with them. Sometimes this can happen several times in a row and give the foreign executive the wrong impression that their Japanese hosts are interested when they are not. One aspect of the Japanese business culture that makes it more favorable than others is their sense of loyalty. If you are a trusted business partner or associate of a Japanese company, you can expect them to stand by you through good times and bad. They have a strong sense of loyalty in both their business and personal lives that is very admirable.

A great resource for this topic is Market to Japan. They provide marketing consulting to firms exploring into Japan. Check out their website at: http://www.markettojapan.com/

Thai Culture and the Intricacies of International Business

International Business in Thailand

There are many factors that a person doing business in Thailand must pay attention to. One of the most important aspects is how you present yourself, both in appearance and behavior. They appreciate calm people and are taken off guard by people that come across as emotional. Gender is also important. You must always shake the man’s hand and just smile at a women. According to Professional Travel Guide “The traditional Thai greeting is called the wai. It consists of placing the palms together in a prayer-like position at the chest and gracefully bowing the head.” This is a critical aspect of their culture and must be only used at certain times. It is very much a hierarchical culture. A way to get an advantage to other businesses is to have a business card that has both English and Thai languages on it. Body language can tell a lot about someone. For example crossing legs in front of a high ranking person is considered rude. Another sacred part of the body is the head and should never be touched. Many people in the business world speak English in Thailand. However they will be impressed if you now a few Thai words. It is perfectly okay to talk about family, as long as it is not demeaning or negative.

It is best to get an intermediary when conducting business in Thailand, to help with all the details of your visit. Most initial meetings will be over a meal or drinks. Just keep in mind that business will not be conducted at this meeting. This is not a fast paced business environment but they are very good business people. When attending a business meal, it is important to read up on all the rules of these meetings. There are many etiquette rules that they follow and understanding them is essential to having a good meeting where you do not offend their culture.

Have you had an international business experience that could have gone better if you had researched the culture? Do you have experience conducting business in Thailand?