Think about the last time you bought a product or service online, that had a substantial positive impact on your work or life in some way. If you were spending a good chunk of change (and perhaps investing a good bit of your time) on that purchase, chances are you did some research first: reading online forums and reviews to see what others had to say about them; contacting them directly with questions and observing how quick and helpful (and polite) their response was; maybe even buying a smaller product or service from them first. All to determine if you could trust this online business to deliver what they promise.

Your potential online clients are no different! They are going to want to know if they can trust you to deliver, too. Here are three specific ways you can work on building trust relationships online, and how each will help your business:

1.     Get to know your customers. 

This helps you more deeply understand what it is they need – making it a lot easier to tell them how what you are selling is going to meet their needs. Find out where they “hang” out, on discussion forums, social networks, etc., and get involved. Don’t just schmooze or try to sell your product right then and there — instead, add value to the conversation. If you are doing it right, you’ll be doing a whole lot more listening than talking.

2.     Connect with your customer on a personal level. 

Let them see you as a person, one who has some things in common with them. People will trust you, and ultimately buy from you, if they feel you are like them. This means being sincere and transparent – not pretending or making something up. If you can’t make that trust connection with one particular person, don’t force it – move on to someone else.

3.     Keep up the trust relationship. 

The relationship doesn’t stop after the sale! Clients who know and like you, and have benefited from what you have sold them, will tell others about you! It will be easy for them to recommend you because they are recommending a trusted vendor, not an impersonal business or product. If you’ve done a good job of providing them with something that makes their job or life easier, they won’t be able to wait to tell someone else!

Being consistent in your business is one of the critical factors for ensuring long-term growth, and one of the ways to ensure consistency is to create systems. Everything you do in your business, from responding to emails to working with clients, needs to be systemized and documented, so that it’s very easy to create a repeatable process in your business.

This consistency is what builds the like, know, and trust factor with your clients, and so ensures that you continue to build your client base.

When you don’t have proper and well-thought out systems in your business, mistakes happen. One of the areas where I see this happening is in sending out your email broadcasts, whether you’re a do-it-yourself business owner, or whether you have a virtual assistant doing this for you.

Just some of the mistakes that can happen are:

• Bad links in emails – they go to the wrong page, or they don’t work.
• The wrong email template being used.
• Emails going out at the wrong time.

If you’ve experienced these, or any other mistakes, in your email broadcasts you know just how frustrating that can be. And once that email has gone out, there’s no getting it back!

So, to avoid these mistakes happening in the future, create a checklist for what needs to happen when sending out an email broadcast. Here are five areas where you can create a checklist and so ensure that when your broadcast does get sent, it does so with the RIGHT information:

1. The Content. Who is writing the content? What is the content going to be about? Who needs to receive the content (team member)? When do they need to receive the content in order to prepare the broadcast in time? These are just some of the critical areas you need to be aware of, and be clear on, so that the right information gets sent out at the right time.

2. Look and Feel. Some people have a different HTML template for their solo broadcasts than they do their newsletter. So specify which HTML template is to be used for which broadcast. And in some cases, a simple Text-only broadcast is relevant. With all of the list management services you have the option of sending out your broadcasts in either HTML, Plain Text, or MIME (a technical term that stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) and basically this means sending out your broadcast in both HTML and Plain Text versions. I always recommend using the MIME format – yes it’s more work – but it means your email has a higher chance of being delivered and is less likely to be classed as spam, because you’ve taken the time to create both formats.

3. Check Any Links and Other Relevant Information. If the broadcast is for a teleclass or other event, are the telephone numbers listed correct? If it’s your ezine or other broadcast, are all links correct? There’s nothing worse than sending out a broadcast with an incorrect phone number or bad link and then having to resend it again because you made a mistake the first time. It doesn’t look good for your business.

4. Proof Read. If you’re handing your broadcast over to a team member, ask them to proof read it too for any spelling or grammatical errors. If you’re doing it yourself, ask a family member or friend to proof read for you. A fresh pair of eyes can spot any mistakes that you’ve overlooked.

5. Send a Test. Many of the list management services give you the option of sending a test broadcast beforehand. This is a great way to check layout, formatting, links, and other relevant information. So ensure that sending a test broadcast is part of your system.

Creating a broadcast checklist is just one of the ways you can start to systemize your business, and so begin to build that all-important Standard Operations Procedure (SOP).

You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.

In a financially-strapped economy like this one, a common response to suggestions to grow business is negative.

“I can’t afford to advertise.”

“I have to cut marketing expenses.”

We focus on what we can’t do.

Will that grow your business?

What would it cost you to follow Zig Ziglar’s advice to positively grow your business?

Here are 3 no-cost ways to positively grow your business by helping others get what they want:

Greet with a Welcoming Smile

Ever watched one person yawn and within seconds everyone else in the group is yawning or stifling one?

Shawn Achor in his fantastic book, The Happiness Advantage, says that happens because our brains have mirror neurons that fire back what we receive. A yawn prompts a yawn…

…and a smile elicits a smile.

A smile at the door of your business begins the creation of a positive experience for your guests. That smile means they will likely smile back and so starts a delightful conversation that climaxes in a purchase today that leads to a relationship tomorrow that increases her lifetime value to your business in real dollars.

What that customer really wants is someone who opens the door to helping her find what she wants for her family, her friend’s child about to graduate, her car’s need of an oil change, etc.

Your greeting smile is invariably returned and invites, “Come in and let’s find what you want.”

Give a Listening Ear

Jeb Blount in his marvelous book, People Buy You, asks, “Do you take a genuine interest in others?”

In his outstanding book, Lead from the Heart, Mark C. Crowley states, “We must be willing to look at and really see the humanity in every person who works for us.”

Connecting with others as human beings is transformational, creating employees, customers, and vendors for life rather than merely “one and done.”

The surest, best way to connect is to give a listening ear. Ask a question and listen with interest. Feedback what you hear. Listen some more. Then ask another question. Keep listening.

Yes, it costs time, energy, and attention. See beyond the immediate investment and gaze long-term into the relationship that will pay dividends for years.

Grow Politely Considerate

Numerous surveys reveal social civility is at an all-time low. Road rage incidents are rising. It’s an election year and negative advertising increases our collective economic uncertainty.

Yes, we have an oversupply of jerks.

Avoid being one more.

Thank that customer for being your guest today regardless of whether she buys or not.

Give her a coupon of appreciation to use on her next visit just for stopping by.

Ask for her contact information so you can let her know when the next sale starts.

Get her birth date and send her a “Happy Birthday” email.

Give her your Facebook fan page address and encourage her to download the unadvertised specials and share with her friends.

Be on her side. She’s struggling to make ends meet, too.

The Golden Rule works. Work the Golden Rule.

Then with a welcoming smile, a listening ear, and polite consideration, watch as your business positively grows as you implement these 3 no-cost ways.

About the Author: 

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who helps professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.

I recently received a request from one of my blog readers to do an article on pricing your product. He sent me some great articles he found on the net. After reading them I realized he may have been over thinking the pricing issues. To me it is fairly simple. There are only three outcomes to consider:

1. Your product is priced too high and no action is taken (the competition is complacency.)
2. Your product is priced too high and it invites the buyer to buy from someone else (I need to make sure I am getting the best VALUE.)
3. You price your product to low and you introduce concern from the buyer because he wonders what is being missed (lack of trust.)

Pricing your product can be simple if you let it but you must price it from the buyer’s perspective. As a business owner you need to know both your fixed and variable cost and ensure you cover those cost while remembering the buyer is not concerned with your cost. They simply don’t care.

From my perspective, here is what you need to be concerned about. What does your competition charge? This is important if the consumer has a preconceived notion of the value of the product. For example, if I go to a paint store and see a gallon on paint is priced at $50, I might go to another store to see if I can get the same quality (different brand) for a better price. I may have a belief that I am not going to pay more than $30 for a gallon of paint (or $20K for a car, or $3 for loaf of bread, or $1 for a pen, etc.)

The bigger issue for me is the value proposition. I believe people will pay to solve a problem and in many respects they will pay a premium if they believe you are the right and safe choice. Making the buyer understand that you are the right and safe choice is both hard and critical. Understand this is not a universal construct. For example, if I have $1 to spend for pen it may not matter if it is a BIC or another brand as long as it fits my budget. If I have a Rolls Royce for sale and my buying audience cannot afford a Rolls (or do not want it) then price it does not matter.

The hard work is the unique value proposition, helping other to understand your value, where and how to market your product and knowing how the problem you solve will allow you to charge more.

Pricing the product is in fact telling a story about the product. For example, why would I pay $50 for a gallon of paint when I can a similar product for 40% less? If price is not an issue, you can focus on the parts of the products story that are important to a client. The higher price for the paint can be told in a story: it is safer (less smell), easier to clean (important to a busy mother because it save time), last longer (don’t have to do it as often), provide a better finish (looks better), or is easier to apply (saves time.)  If those concepts are not important to your audience, you have a different kind of problem.

Sometimes price is not a consideration. If you are selling to high net worth individuals, they are buying prestige and convenience. The price is secondary. If I am buying a gallon of paint, price is primary.

Finally, pricing is impacted by the demographics of the audience. It is harder to sell your product using “pain” as the value proposition when selling to an older audience because their life experience tells them that “been there done that. This too shall pass.” Pain works better on younger people who have a need for more immediate gratification.

Bottom line is that pricing is an effective marriage between cost to produce, what people will pay, and the story that motivates them to buy.

Different types of pensions for the Self Employed:

There are two different types of personal pension plans available to the self-employed. Below is a guide to both, with a brief overview of what a pension plan is in the first place.

Personal pension plan – a personal pension plan is a basic investment policy for retirement, whereby you end up with a lump sum and an income throughout your retirement.  You can get a personal pension plan at any high street bank, investment firm and some retailers, like big supermarket chains.

The pension holder contributes a certain amount of money into the pension which is then invested and should yield returns in order to build up a fund.  The amount of pension payable during retirement then is dependent upon how much has been contributed into the scheme, and how well the investment has performed, as well as the “annuity rate”.

25% of the pension can be paid as a tax-free lump sum.

Stakeholder Pension Schemes – a stakeholder scheme is a type of personal pension plan i.e. it is designed to supply you with a lump sum and income in your later years.  Stakeholder pensions have a set of minimum rules set out by the government.  These include:

-          Minimum contribution of £20

-          No penalties on transferring the fund to another pension or on increasing, decreasing, stopping or restarting contributions.

-          Charges capped at 1.5% of the fund each year for the first ten years and 1% a year thereafter.

Self Invested Personal Pension – A self invested personal pension or SIPP is another type of pension plan which allows the pension holder a lot more control over the investments made with the pension.  The same kind of tax, contribution and eligibility rules apply, but with an SIPP an individual can choose where the money is invested.

The plan holder can have direct control over the investment strategy or can hire a stock broker or fund manager to look after the investment.  The SIPP is set up as a trust, which means the plan holder can borrow money from the fund to invest as long as the trustees agree it is in the scheme’s interest.

Getting the Advice you Need:

The self-employed are one of the most neglected groups of people when it comes to getting sound financial advice.  Between 1998 and 2004 the percentage of self-employed people with a pension plan dropped from 64% to 49% according to the Office for National Statistics, with more than half of self employed women lacking any kind of private pension.  This is why a national pension helpline has been set up by The Pensions Advisory Service to offer advice specific to those who are self-employed.  If you’re self-employed and thinking about your financial future then it’d be a good idea to speak to a professional financial advisor to get the help you need.

Your competitors probably aren’t going away any time soon, so try to make the best of things. Here are a few tips for turning competition into a good thing.

1. Always be positive: Privately, you may have negative things to say about your competition, and some of these things may be more or less true. But there’s no sense in airing these things publicly. Doing so can actually make you look bad. Always take the high road, and your clients and prospective clients will respect you for it. When asked for your opinion about a competitor or their services, always say something nice (or at least not negative).
2. Be inspired: Competition breeds innovation. When you see a competitor doing something well, it should make you want to find ways to do it even better. Stay up to date on what your competitors are up to. For example, if you are in retail, you might visit your competitors’ stores regularly. If they have a strong online presence, check their websites often and follow their Facebook or Twitter feeds. And when you see something you like, don’t just copy what they’re doing. Use it as inspiration to provide a similar service that’s even better.
3. Recognize competitors’ strengths: There may be a few areas where you just have to concede victory to the competition. On these points, don’t be afraid to recommend your competitors’ services when it would benefit your clients. Your clients will appreciate the help, which makes it more likely they will continue to work with you on other things. And if the competition hears you’re recommending them for some things, they may return the favor.
4. Collaborate, when possible: There may not be many opportunities for you to reach out and work with your competition directly, but when the opportunities do arise, take advantage of them. For example, if both you and a competitor use blogs to create a buzz and bring in clients, consider exchanging blog posts that each link back to the author’s website. And if you’re on social networking, engage your competition in conversation when you have industry-relevant points of discussion that would interest your followers.

Article Contributed by Billy

Many businesses think that the best, perhaps only way to create new revenue is to advertise. Indeeed, advertising is and will continue to be an important part of business and commerce. It has long been a way to not only attract new customers but to appeal to new niche markets and create a brand for your company.

But these days with the power of the Internet, advertising doesn’t hold the power it used to. It’s still important, of course. But increasingly web practices that protect online brands, optimize for search engines and integrate social media are producing more varied and exciting results. I can think of three web practices that are just as important, if not more, that are in many cases cheaper and more effective at evolving your brand:

Reputation management

Many companies are providing specific training for in-house reputation management now. Other companies offer this as a specific consulting service that can be purchased on a one-time or rolling basis. Reputation management involves ensuring that when your name is searched for on the Internet that negative results won’t rise quicker than positive ones. This includes generating new content, optimizing it for the web, and inundating your brand across Internet communities, like eBay, Yelp, Everything2 and Slashdot. It’s also important to be active on online wikis, like Meatball and Wikipedia.

Reputation management is a major part of online brand development and can be critical to attracting new customers. It is also critical for Public Relations efforts that require managing a bad situation. You can be certain that BP was doing some major online rep management after the 2011 oil spill.

SEO

Search engine optimization is in many ways advertising for the 21st century Internet company. SEO involves optimizing your website for search engines in such a way that more people will see your site and its content on the first page of search results. This adds value to your domain and increases your Page Rank. A powerful SEO campaign will expose your brand to millions of new web visitors.

Instead of relaying a direct message, SEO positions your existing messages and gives weight to your online content, making it more likely to be seen, clicked on, and interacted with. SEO is one of the fastest growing industries, and for a good reason—it is one of the chief power brokers on the Internet and in many cases dictates how much revenue online merchants bring in.

Social media optimization

Social media is an absolute must for all companies. I don’t know if you’ve watched TV recently, but nearly all commercials now involve some sort of social media integration. This is a testament to just how vital and all-encompassing the industry has grown in just the last few years.

Social media branding by companies can be as simple as creating a Facebook fanpage to more complex campaigns like crowdsourced photo app contests on Instagram or Pinterest, viral video placements on YouTube, or deals and discounts on Twitter and/or Foursquare. In some instances, social media facilitates advertising; but the overall social media integration goes above and beyond traditional advertising and marketing. Social media in many ways combines the greatest assets of the first two web practices.

I’ve just argued that web practices like reputation management, SEO, and social media integration are more important than advertising on the 21st century Internet medium. While this is a subjective opinion, facts bear out that companies who adhere to SEO, reputation management and social media optimization generally experience increased sales, a more robust brand image, and better consumer interaction.

While advertising is and likely always will be an integral part of all company marketing tactics, web practices that enhance a company’s search engine results and brand reputations are no longer limited to traditional ad campaigns.

About the Author

Billy writes about online management training and stuff.

Article Contributed by Dave Mathews

Whether it’s B2B or B2C, you do business with humans having specific social circle. Since, social circles are growing online, you must have to upgrade your plans and strategies in order to better achieve your objectives. By first quarter of 2012, 41% of B2B companies on Facebook report successful lead generation while the conversion rate on Linkedin is way too high than Facebook and Twitter together. For instance IBM alone reported 400% increase in sales due to social selling!

Well, it’s not just about generating leads for which B2B firms must be actively using social media, instead there’s a series of benefits.

Benefits of Social Media for B2B Firms besides Lead Generation:

Branding: If you’re a brand you set your price, and if you’re not, the one who makes cheaper wins the game! For B2B firms, branding is the most important area to work on and nothing other than Social Media can have maximum outreach as well as cost effectiveness. Do check how branding works in Social Media age!

Reputation Management: It’s so closely related to branding that without effective reputation monitoring and management you cannot build a brand. According to stats, a single negative feedback about a business over social media costs 30 customers. Being a B2B firm, you’d certainly not want to lose a single so you must start monitoring your reputation online using Social Media. Find detailed notes on Reputation Management through Social Media at Social Media Influence and Slideshare.

Market Research: The key to build a brand is either to make people happy or else to take them away from pain. In order to know the pain and to bring happiness, you must listen to them first, that what is Market Research for B2B firms. There’s no better way than Social Media to listen to real time problems, so explore related communities. Methodologies may vary depending on the niche, but do consider the basics of market research using social media here and here!

Extended Market Segments: With available tools that can target audience based on geographic location, interests, beliefs, academic qualifications, organizations they work in and lot more, you get the chance to target a bigger market segment.

Talent Acquisition: When it comes to prepare products/services and market them to a business audience, you need the best talent in your teams. LinkedIn.com better serves the purpose; however, knowing about effective use of Social Media for recruitment will be great. 

Public Relations: Staying connected to industry is the key to progress, and Social Media makes it as easiest as possible. Having industry bloggers in circle and staying active in relevant communities lets you use their PR and get known to their subscribers. Here’s a useful guide for getting noticed by industry influencers.

Traffic through Search Engines: An effective Social Media strategy provides links to your website and as a result you get target audience landing on your site. Make sure that you use EzineArticles.com, HubPages.com, Step by Step etc well by creating content related to your industry for better click through.

B2Bs can have more benefits depending on objectives and industry, however, a effective Social Media strategy is required.

What’s your B2B Social Media Strategy? 

About the Author

This post is contributed by Dave Mathews, looking after PR activities of Stepbystep.com. Public Relations and Social Media Marketing are Dave’s areas of expertise.

Article Contributed by Danielle

Traveling to a conference isn’t as easy as paying the registration fee, buying plane tickets and showing up. There are many things you’ll need to consider to ensure that your whole group has a good time at the conference and comes back feeling like the time spent there was worthwhile and productive. Consider each of these aspects when planning for a successful first conference. 

Make Necessary Reservations

You can’t just show up expecting to get access to all of the amenities you need, so make your hotel and rental car reservations ahead of time. Many websites help you find the best rates online and book them together to save even more money. Look for a hotel that’s relatively close to the conference location so you won’t get stuck in traffic heading there every morning, and make sure your mode of transportation has enough room for your team and all of their luggage. 

Get Travel Insurance

Unexpected things happen on a trip, and purchasing corporate travel insurance can protect your company from losses due to problems employees may have while at the conference. This is especially important when you travel internationally, but even for a conference at a domestic location, many of your team members may be out of the network for their health insurance and need additional coverage. Additionally, policies designed for business travel also include perks like assistance with rebooking if you experience delays in travel. 

Register for Sessions

In addition to the main conference sessions, you’ll likely have many smaller workshops and lectures to choose from. Pre-registering for these ensures that your team members get into the sessions they want before they fill up. You can also strategize who will go to each session so you cover all the bases and get the most you can out of the conference. 

Arrange Meet-Ups

Conferences are the perfect place to do some serious networking with industry contacts. All of the big players will be there, and there may also be others startups like yours that will have a lot to offer you as well. Do your research ahead of time and find out who else will be attending the conference. Contact people in advance to plan to have a meal together or get drinks after one of the conference sessions. 

Schedule Meetings with Prospective Clients

In addition to general networking, also consider whether there will be any prospective clients at the conference or in the area. You may as well make as many connections as you can while you’re there. If you schedule a meeting ahead of time, you can also plan what you’ll need to bring along to show those prospective clients.

Traveling to your first conference is a big step for your startup, and planning ahead will ensure that you can make the most of your time while you’re there. For many of the people you meet, this will be their first contact with your business, so you want to have all of the details taken care of so you can focus on what’s important during the conference.

Article Contributed by Carlo

The majority of people spend the largest part of their life working for a living.  Much of that time is spent working for somebody else.  Today, however, more and more people are choosing the lure of self-employment, which allows you to take control over this major feature of your life.  It sounds great – freedom to set your own hours; nobody telling you what to do; control over your own destiny.  It is great, but some of these factors are over-stated or, at least, the reality behind them is overlooked.  Before you start out on this particular road to freedom, getting some perspective on those concepts is a good idea, as is considering your own strengths and weaknesses.

Myths and Legends

·        Being your own boss means you call the shots, right?  Not exactly; your clients call the shots.  Sometimes work will flood in and sometimes it won’t.  You have to learn how to handle these strange and unpredictable tides and manage your workload.  Most new businesses cannot afford to turn work down, however much they would like to.  Calling the shots may have to wait until you are more established.

·        You’ll certainly be responsible for setting your own hours.  Unlike a regular job these hours could easily extend into the evening or the night.  You may be required to work weekends; lots of them.  Occasionally, you may find that you’ve earned a weekend, can afford to take one and as there’s no work available you’ll have to take it right now.  On a Wednesday.  When the rest of the family is at work or school.  This can be great and it can also lead to divorce, so learning to manage your workload is essential, but it may take some time.

·        The myth that nobody will be telling you what to do should also be exploded before you set out.  You’ll be telling yourself what to do.  You’ll find yourself insisting that you do the accounts, the invoicing, the ordering and the office cleaning.  You’ll be a much harder boss than your former employer, if only because you’ll find it very difficult to take a day off sick.  Learning where the buck stops is an integral part of becoming a boss – even if you are only in charge of yourself.  Getting it right should lead to being other people’s boss in the long term.

Balanced Decisions

Hopefully, despite the above, you’re still planning on running your own business.  These are examples of some of the myths that you’ll need to consider closely, but don’t be put off.  Self-employment offers something that a remarkably few jobs do offer – a real sense of achievement, job satisfaction and can be a hugely rewarding way of life.  At first it can be hard, but as time passes and you learn how to manage some of the above, you’ll find it does become much easier.  There are some factors that you should also consider to smooth the early days – and accounting is one of the big challenges you’ll face early on in the process.

Basic Tools

Keeping your accounts in order is essential.  It is also an area that is overlooked by those new to self-employment.  With the obvious exception of accountants, very few business people have enough experience to feel fully confident in running this side of their business.  Far too many make the mistake of not hiring an accountant from the outset and not using appropriate accounting software.  Online accounting software is an ideal tool for small businesses; allowing you to produce professional invoices and keep accurate and up-to-date records, online software is also flexible and easy to access remotely.  This can save a surprising amount of time and even money.  Simple tools like this are essential and worth the small costs they incur.

About the Author

Carlo is a freelance writer and blogs about business, entrepreneurs and technology covering everything from QuickBooks Online Plus to social media management tools. He loves reading great entrepreneurs biographies and speaking at conferences about how the internet can help small businesses.