Month: August 2009

Categories
Entrepreneurs Online Business

Social Networking — How Your Social Networking Habits Determines Your Business Success or Failure

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The first time I heard the saying “How you do one thing is how you do everything” I didn’t get it. (Actually I think my exact response was: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”)

However, as I continued to work on myself and my business over the years, this statement has finally sunk in. And now I see how it relates to pretty much everything in my life. (After all, the state of your business is just a representative of what’s going on in your head at any given moment.)

So, what does any of this have to do with social networking? Well, it occurred to me as I look around at what people are and aren’t doing with their social networking that this is a microcosm of your entire business.

Let me explain. How do you approach your social networking?

* Are you someone who set up a bunch of social networking accounts months ago and haven’t touched it since? Where else has this shown up in your business? Are you someone who has a bunch of half-finished information products or books sitting on your desk?

Or maybe you finished them but you haven’t put up the sales letter or did any other marketing so you’re not actually making any money off of them.

Needless to say, with this habit, you’ve simply wasted a bunch of time without anything to show for it. You’re not making any money with your social networking nor are you making any money selling products.

* Are you someone who does your social networking in bursts? You ignore it for weeks, then for a couple of days you’re on it in a frenzy, only to go back to ignoring it. (Or you only jump on and do anything on it when you’re feeling stressed about cash flow and lack of clients.)

So where else does this show up in your business? Are you someone who sends out an email newsletter once in a blue moon? Or you only pick up the phone to follow up when you’re desperate for new clients?

With this habit, while it’s good you’re doing something, you’re only going to see consistent results when you’re consistently doing your marketing tasks. Communicating with people once in a while and/or only when you’re looking for something (i.e. for them to give you money) is an excellent way to have a feast-or-famine business model.

* Are you someone who is pretty good on one social networking platform but doesn’t do anything on any other one? For instance, you love Facebook but your Twitter account sits there unloved and you pretty much never update your blog, never mind anything else.

So where else does this show up in your business? Are you someone who’s really good at going to live networking events and collecting business cards but doesn’t follow up? Or maybe you send out an email newsletter fairly regularly but you don’t do anything else with the articles you write for your newsletter (although you keep meaning to). And you don’t use any other methods to touch your prospects (i.e. direct mail or teleclasses.) You’re getting part of it right but if you followed an entire system you would see far more results. (And, in many cases, it’s not about YOU doing more but simply having a system and a team in place to support you so you get the biggest bang for your marketing time.)

Now, this isn’t about making you feel bad about what you are or aren’t doing. This is about looking at one piece of your business and using what you see there to make your whole business more successful.

Categories
How-To Guides

How To Build Your Relationship With Your Subscribers in 7 EASY Ways

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As an online business owner you know how important it is to build your list in order to have a ready pool of clients, potential clients, and customers who are interested in your business and your services/programs. But as a list owner you also have a responsibility to those people on your list to treat them well and build a relationship with them – it’s known as creating the like, know, and trust factor – and is crucial for sustaining a long-term business.

People will only work with those people who they like, know, and trust.

So, once you have started to get people onto your list, the next step is to build your relationship them and develop the like, know, and trust factor. Let me share with you my top 7 ways to do just that:

1. Publish when you say you will. It’s so important that you do exactly what you say you will when you say you will. The number one way list owners sabotage their own list-building efforts is by not publishing either when they said they will, or by not publishing on a regular basis. I recently had a phone call with one of my clients who hadn’t published her ezine on a regular basis over the past few months and she commented to me that she had seen a substantial decline in the click-thru open rates of her newsletter. This is just one of the side effects of not publishing on a regular basis – your audience will forget about you and are not eager to open your emails when they land in their inbox.

2. Be respectful of your subscribers’ time. Do not bombard your subscribers with emails – be respectful of their time and realize that they too probably receive hundreds of emails a day. Unless you’re currently promoting your latest program/product, in which case you may need to be in touch with your subscribers on a more regular basis, once a week is an ideal mix of staying in touch with your subscribers without bombarding them with emails. There’s nothing more of a turn off to a subscriber than when they receive constant emails from the list owner. As soon as someone starts emailing me on a daily basis (unless I’ve signed up for a daily e-course and I know that I am going to be receiving a daily email from them) I hit that unsubscribe button faster than you can say ‘unsubscribe’. I know that internet marketers state that you need to be in touch with your subscribers on a regular basis – but is daily really necessary?

3. Subscribers have signed up to learn more about YOU and YOUR business. Too often these days I receive emails from list owners promoting other peoples’ programs/products/services and, although I am aware of the strategy behind this, I really don’t want to know about the same program/product/service from four different list owners – and is it really worth upsetting your subscribers just to make a quick buck from using your affiliate link? Keep solo mailings for other peoples’ promotions to a minimum – you can even create a special ‘Recommends’ section in your own newsletter for these types of promotions. That way you can still be part of the joint venture opportunity but without upsetting your subscribers by sending out dozens of solo mailings. Remember, a subscriber has signed up to your list because they want to hear from YOU and you solve a problem for them.

4. Share some personal information. Let your subscribers get to know YOU as well by sharing a little bit of personal information or some photos about what’s happening in your life – just one or two sentences in each edition is all you need! Your subscribers will relate much better to you once they get to know the *real* you. You become a person to them rather than a faceless business owner and become someone whom they can relate to. This goes a long way in building the like, know, and trust factor.

5. Make your ezine a quick 30-second read. This leads me back to point 2 above. If you can make your ezine information-packed but in a format that is every easy on the eye and therefore can quickly be scanned by your reader, you are being mindful of their time and they will look forward to reading your newsletter each time. They know that they’re not going to have to wade through a ton of information just to get to the juicy bits!

6. Don’t overload your subscribers with too many calls to action. Some ezine publishers feel they have to include links to every single one of their products/programs/services in their newsletter and by doing so they completely confuse their reader who doesn’t know what to do or which link they’re supposed to click on – so what happens? Nothing! Your reader will not click on any of your links because they’re confused – and a confused mind always says no. Keep it simple in your newsletter – just offer one call to action in each edition.

7. Engage with your readers. If they’ve taken the time to respond to one of your articles by emailing you directly, email them back – even if it’s just a ‘thank you I’m glad you enjoyed the article’ type of email. This type of correspondence goes a long way to building a relationship with your subscriber because you are acknowledging the time they have taken out of their day to send you that email.
And one final point that I’d like to make, and this is the most important point, at the end of every email address is a real person. Always keep this in mind when preparing your newsletter and/or broadcasts and you will go a long way to building your relationship with your subscribers.

Categories
Planning & Management

Beyond the Suggestion Box

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Is the suggestion box at work an outdated idea? If it is, how do you gather input and ideas at work that works for today?
The empty suggestion box
Is the suggestion box at your organization gathering dust rather than ideas? Even worse, has some joker “helpfully” suggested a particular orifice in which management can insert the suggestion box? When management does open it, the box is usually empty. Why?
Most of us disregard the company suggestion box. We walk by it every day and ignore it like the fire extinguisher or the fancy motivational posters on the wall. If we do give it a second thought, we wonder why bother; management never uses anything from it. It’s just for show, we grumble.
Why does this poor box take the brunt of our frustrations? Perhaps, we’ve been brainwashed to believe no one is interested in our ideas. It could be the lame way management pays lip service to wanting our input. Maybe we’re skittish about putting something out there since the last person who tossed out an idea got shot down. So, who can blame us if we pass right by? Is the box empty because we have no ideas? Is there a lack of ideas, an idea drought or is something else going on? Could it be the suggestion box is just too low tech? Perhaps it’s time to think outside the suggestion box and find a better way to gather ideas.
There are many alternatives to the old suggestion box. Here are some simple starters:
Build an idea wiki or website
Host the input and gathering of ideas on a company intranet site or Wiki devoted to new ideas. A collaborative intranet site devoted to new ideas is a place to post ideas, challenges, and problems to let employees collaborate to create solutions in a forum type of atmosphere. When employees see ideas being posted, they can become inspired to build on the idea and create and post new ideas of their own. Communicate frequently within the organization the site is available and ready to be used by all levels of staff. Train staff to be comfortable with the technology, how to use it, and how to post to it. Make sure ideas, accomplishments, and breakthroughs that come from this space are acknowledged and celebrated.
Put up an idea board
Does your organization have an environment where employees spend little time at a computer? You can still encourage and gather ideas. Try an idea bulletin board. It can be as simple as a large bulletin board placed in areas frequented by staff such as a cafeteria or break room. The idea board has three basic categories: one for issues, problems, or concerns, one for possible answers, and one for management to place information about ideas that are in process of being evaluated and those implemented.
For example, an employee is having a recurring problem with a process, he can post it on the board where all staffers can see it, think about it, and offer suggestions to fix or change the process. At certain intervals, management should make a point of collecting the ideas and updating the board to show what was done or used to improve the situation.
Start meetings with examples of creativity
Inspiration for creativity and ideas comes in many forms. There are countless examples of ordinary people facing a challenge or need and finding a creative, innovative solution. It has happened many times throughout history and still happens frequently today.
Find ways to jumpstart the creative process. Do a Google search for inventors and innovators, both historic and recent. Know their stories. Study their methods. Understand their failures. Collect stories to use as encouragement. Share these stories with staff to start a meeting or begin a brainstorming session.
Ideas = money and happier employees stay around longer and produce more!
Forget the suggestion box. Use updated methods to cultivate idea talent at your organization. It is ready and waiting to be unleashed. Show staff the organization wants and needs their ideas, then inspire them, and your organization will mine the potential within, uncovering the next great idea.
About the Author:
Karen S. Sieczka is an author, creativity injector, trainer, and founder of Growing Great Ideas.com. Does your organization need more ideas? Try Karen’s training program Growing Great Ideas: Unleashing Creativity at Work. This program generates ideas, enthusiasm, and teamwork and can be customized to address particular organizational issues or challenges and can be done in half-day, full-day or multi-day formats. Her book Growing Great Ideas: Unleashing Creativity at Work, is now available on Amazon.com. A second, updated edition of the book is coming out in January 2010.

Categories
Entrepreneurs

Publicity — What Do You Do When PR Goes Horribly Wrong?

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Have you ever had done something you thought was a really good idea at the time and then it completely backfires on you?

Well, it happened to my good friend Nancy Marmolejo, Viva Visibility.

If you don’t know Nancy yet, you really need to. She is a social media rock star. However, sometimes even rock stars have days where the guitar is out of tune and the speakers catch fire and explode on stage.

Here’s the story in a nutshell. As you all know, social networking is pretty darn new and Twitter is the brand spanking new kid on that shiny new block. Because it’s so new, things like vocabulary and etiquette are still being hashed out.

It’s better coming from Nancy herself why she got so fixated on this, but she was busy telling people you “tweet” not “twitter” (including yours truly). She also decided to write a letter to Inc Magazine about this.

The result? Inc Magazine called her on it and, well, won.

Now I’m telling you about this for 2 reasons.

1. I’m quite excited I can now use “twitter” as a verb (I just hated saying “tweet” — I felt like I should put a chicken coop in my yard.)

2. Nancy handled the whole situation brilliantly. In fact, I would go as far to say this was actually a really good thing in the end.
So what did Nancy do? Well, to start she owned up to it. She didn’t try to hide her mistake or pretend it never happened (which is simply not possible to do in this day and age anyway.) She ‘fessed up.

Lesson #1 — if you make a mistake, and it’s a public mistake, just suck it up and admit it. It’s when you start lying and hiding that things get so out of control. Look at Bill and Monica. People lied, tried to hide things, and that just made everything worse.

By owning up to it, Nancy completely diffused any negative publicity around it. In fact, if you read the comments, most people didn’t think this was a big deal at all. (Which it isn’t — until you start hiding and lying about it. Then suddenly everyone wonders why you’re lying and hiding and it can blow up into a bigger deal.)

The second thing she did was write a very charming and witty blog post about it. Now, you might not be able to write a charming and witty blog post, but it might be worth it to find someone who can for you. She was entertaining about it, which again helped diffuse the situation and caused all her followers to rally around her.

Now, humor isn’t good for all situations. Remember the Tylenol and Cyanide scare? If the Tylenol CEO had come out with humor that would have been completely inappropriate. However, what he did do was immediately take responsibility, come up with a solution, and didn’t come across as defensive or trying to shift the blame.

Lesson #2 — if you’re going to take a stand, do it graciously. Don’t be defensive, don’t try and shift blame, and for heaven’s sake don’t be a baby about it. Do it with class and people will respect and admire you for it.

The result? Nancy’s post got TONS of comments, pretty much all of them supporting Nancy. She’s back on stage, bigger than ever, with her guitar all tuned up and brand spanking new speakers.

Categories
Success Attitude

How to Feel Happy at Work – 7 Secrets of a “Thank God It’s Monday” Workplace

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Article Contributed by Roxanne Emmerich
What accounts for the difference between “Oh crap, it’s Monday” and “Thank God it’s Monday”? It’s your happiness. And, for your own emotional and mental health, you need to feel happy at work.
It all boils down to seven habits that can change everything about the culture of your workplace.
1. Show up fully and commit with all your heart
At work, we think of home. At home, we think of work. Time to stop that. The first step toward a TGIM workplace is being present and accounted for at work. Thinking about being elsewhere leads to resenting where you are.
While you are at work, commit to work with all your heart. This is what I call throwing your heart over the bar–committing 100 percent to the moment and task before you.
2. Communicate clearly
Use powerful and positive language about what you will do and the attitude you expect from others. If a TGIM workplace is your goal, take the time to make your communications clear on every level.
3. Go beyond the job description
Going beyond the job description happens when you pitch in and help others at work without expecting reward. Willingly share the load. If you’re caught up on your tasks, help someone else who is crunching for a deadline. Instead of feeling like it’s an extra burden, you will actually feel like you play a bigger role in your company than you ever did before.
4. Don’t tolerate dysfunctional behaviors
Establish a zero-tolerance policy for talking behind another person’s back. Then give each other permission to address conflict head-on, out loud, courageously and honestly. Create a trusting and open environment and watch the dysfunction ebb away.
5. Clean up your messes
Relationships are built on trust. Without that foundation, there is no basis for a relationship. We breach the trust each time we don’t do what we said we would do. But here’s the thing–that breach can be healed quickly IF you come back and clean up the mess. Acknowledge that the results are not okay then make a commitment to make things right and prevent a recurrence.
6. Live a life of profound service
Once you place yourself in the service of those around you–your family, your colleagues and your customers–every moment becomes imbued with purpose and significance. You will feel GOOD.
As you drive to work, begin thinking about how the work you do is serving others and contributing to their success and happiness. This is the essence of true service, and the key to a workplace that draws you happily back, Monday after Monday after Monday.
7. Celebrate
Every project consists of little steps and little victories along the way. Recognize and celebrate them in both large and small ways. Build a system of celebrations and rewards–quarterly, weekly, daily–and follow through like your company’s life depends on it. Because, (psst) it does.
Acquire these seven habits and spread them through your workplace. Then be sure to notice the first Monday your hand reaches for the alarm–and you smile. You can love your job and feel happy at work if you follow these 7 secrets.
About the Author
Roxanne Emmerich is renowned for her ability to transform the “ho-hum” attitudes of leaders, executives, business owners and entrepreneurs just like you into massive results-oriented “bring-it-on” attitudes. To discover how you can get motivated and love your job again, check out her new book – Thank God It’s Monday. Now, you can get a free sneak preview at: http://www.thankgoditsmonday.com/preview_the_book/