Month: September 2009

Categories
Entrepreneurs

How to Create the “VIP Experience” for Your Clients with a Welcome Packet

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When you start working with a new one-on-one or high-end client you want to set the scene for your relationship together and make them feel that they really have made the right choice in deciding to work with you – even though YOU know that they have!

Whether you’re a coach, VA, or other service professional when you work one-on-one with your high-end clients you need to develop the “VIP experience” so that your clients feel that they are more than “just another client”. This goes beyond the professional, courteous, customer service that is part of your business but extends into the “experience” of your business – it’s about how you make your clients feel and the experience they get as a result of working with you.

One of ways in which you can do that is to develop a Welcome Packet that you give to your client as soon as you’ve agreed to work together. A Welcome Packet is a document – it can either be printed and mailed or digital and emailed – that you send out to your new clients when they sign up to work with you, and cements the relationship you are about to have with them.

Each business owner’s Welcome Packet is going to be different, depending on their business and what they want their clients to know, but what I’d like to share with you today are some key elements for including in your Welcome Packet. You don’t have to include all of these in your own, simply use this as a guide for developing your own unique Welcome Packet:

1. Welcome Note from You: when your client opens their Welcome Packet make the first thing they see a welcome note from you. Introduce your business and tell them how you help clients – I know they may already know this from your initial conversation with them, but it helps to reinforce their decision.

2. Personal Note: include some personal tidbits about yourself, your background, and your story, i.e. how you came to be a solo service professional. If you can, add an informal picture so your clients get to see the person, not just the business owner. This will help to cement the relationship going forward as they’ll feel they’re getting to know you already.

3. Enrollment Form/Project Booking Form: depending on your profession you may have an enrollment form if you’re signing up a client to one of your coaching programs, or a project booking form if you’re a VA. On this form have space for your client to fill in all their details and a place for them to sign so that they can fax this back to you – and include all the details about your program/service that you’ve already discussed. This confirms the arrangement you’ve both made, and both parties know exactly what they’re signing up for.

4. Terms & Conditions: okay, this isn’t exactly exciting reading material but it’s very, very important. It sets out specifically what your terms and conditions are, i.e. payment policies, payment methods, confidentiality etc. etc. Now this part will very much be unique to your business, and if you’ve had something formal drawn up by an attorney make sure you include that here too.

5. Credit Card Authorization Form: you want to get paid, right? Be sure to include this form on a separate page so that your client can fax back their credit card details to you. And I *highly recommend* that you tell your client to fax or mail this form to you, and not email it. Why? Because this is confidential information and standard email is not secure – think in terms of a postcard being sent through the mail; anyone can read it!

6. Policies & Communications: this part is important because it sets the boundaries for your business. It lets your clients know, amongst other things, how and when they can communicate with you i.e. you can state that phone calls must be scheduled in advance or you’ll only take calls between certain hours – you don’t want clients calling you at eight o’clock on a Sunday evening, do you? And if you’re a VA it might include some information about how you schedule work priorities, handle urgent requests etc.

7. Additional Services/Programs: this can also be a good way to let your clients know about other services, products, and programs that you offer – just a one page sheet is enough to give them a taste of how else you can help them.
Oh… and one other point about creating your Welcome Packet – make sure it’s professionally laid out and presented – it all goes towards creating the “VIP experience” for your clients.

Categories
Franchise

Top 10 Franchises For Sale In 2009

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Article Contributed by GlobalBX.com
Every year, Entrepreneur magazine names its top franchises for sale, gathered up into a list called the “Franchise 500.” By referring to this list, prospective franchise owners can determine the top franchise for sale in any number of categories—the best fast-food franchise, the best auto service franchise, the best do-it-yourself picture framing franchise, and so on. This publication also names the 10 best franchises for sale regardless of the industry they are in, and it is this list that offers the most coveted ranking of all. The “next hottest franchise concept” certainly has a chance to advance in the standings. But year after year, the same companies continue to dominate this list, mainly because they have superb brand recognition, a solid financial base, highly satisfied franchisees committed to excellence, and products or services that have stood the test of time. As Entrepreneur sees it, here are the top 10 franchise companies for 2009.
1. Subway
The top company on this list has gained a reputation for offering fresh, healthy food at very reasonable prices. They also come up with some very innovative national marketing campaigns to keep the name “fresh” in the public’s eye. Subway began franchising in 1974 and has more than 21,000 franchises in the United States. The company charges a franchise fee of $15,000, with ongoing royalties of eight percent based on gross annual sales. One’s total investment will run from between $78,000 and $238,000. Subway has franchises for sale in nearly every U.S. state.
2. McDonald’s
Ray Kroc took a California hamburger joint owned by two brothers and turned it into the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain. Over the years, McDonald’s has been an innovator from the aspects of both service and menu items, inventing such concepts as the kids’ meal and drink tops with pre-punched access holes. The company charges a franchise fee of $45,000, with ongoing royalties of 12.5 percent based on gross annual sales. One’s total investment will run from between $950,000 and $1.8 million. McDonald’s has a franchise for sale to residents of every U.S. state, plus worldwide opportunities exist as well.
3. Liberty Tax Service
With the tax deadline of April 15 looming over the heads of U.S. citizens every year, more and more taxpayers realize that it pays to hire an outside expert to help them complete their filings. The company started as Jackson Hewitt Tax Service in 1972 (and began franchising a year later) and changed its name after buying out another tax business in Canada. The company charges a franchise fee of $40,000, with variable ongoing royalties based on gross annual sales. One’s total investment will run from between $56,000 and $70,000. Liberty Tax Service has franchises for sale to anyone living in the U.S. or Canada.
4. Sonic Drive-In Restaurants
This company started as a root beer stand in 1954 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, jumping into the franchise business five years later. Today there are close to 3,000 Sonic Drive-In franchises across the country. The company charges a franchise fee of $45,000, with ongoing royalties ranging from two percent to five percent, based on gross annual sales. One’s total investment will run from between $1.2 million and $3.2 million. Sonic currently seeks out residents of Canada, New Zealand and Australia, offering exclusive territories in its franchise for sale.
5. InterContinental Hotels Group
The flagship property in this massive chain is the self-named InterContinental, which include some of the most prestigious hotels in such world capitals as London, Paris, Vienna, Cairo, Nairobi, and many others. This hotel conglomerate also includes such familiar brand names as Holiday Inn, Crown Plaza, Staybridge, and Candlewood. There are more than 2,600 franchises in the U.S. alone, as well as another 800-plus in foreign countries. Franchise fees and total investments will vary widely, since every property is unique. The company charges an ongoing royalty of five percent based on gross annual sales. InterContinental has franchises for sale in Oregon as well as assorted worldwide locations.
6. Ace Hardware Corp.
The neighborhood hardware store is alive and well in the guise of Ace, a national chain that prides itself on hometown values and helpful personnel who can tell you the best way to paint a door or repair a fence. The company began in 1924 and became a franchise operation in 1976. There are currently more than 4,200 U.S. franchises. The company charges an application fee of $5,000, and one’s total investment will run from between $400,000 and $1.1 million. Ace Hardware has franchise for sale opportunities in all U.S. states.
7. Pizza Hut
In 1957, when this pizza chain started business as a single restaurant in Wichita, Kansas, no one would have suspected that it would grow into the largest pizza restaurant chain in the world. Today there are nearly 10,000 franchises in existence, including “express” and kiosk locations that expose Pizza Hut products to more people than ever. The company charges a franchise fee of $25,000, with ongoing royalties of six percent based on gross annual sales. One’s total investment will run from between $317,000 and $2.9 million. Pizza Hut has franchises for sale in Oregon as well as assorted worldwide locations.
8. The UPS Store / Mail Boxes Etc.
Mail Boxes Etc. started in 1980 as a competitor to the U.S. Mail and has since expanded to offer all kinds of services that include the sale of packing materials, copying and printing, mailbox rentals, and shipments of darned near anything to anybody who has a permanent address. Re-branded as The UPS Store – although it ships by other carriers as well – the company charges a franchise fee of $30,000, with ongoing royalties of five percent based on gross annual sales. One’s total investment will run from between $155,000 and $295,000. The UPS Store has franchise for sale opportunities in all U.S. states, plus various locations worldwide.
9. Circle K
This convenience store chain was founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas. They waited until 1995 to begin franchising, but since then Circle K has seen its U.S. franchises grow to more than 450. Surprisingly there are nearly 3,700 franchises overseas. The company charges a franchise fee of $15,000, with ongoing royalties of four percent based on gross annual sales. One’s total investment will run from between $161,000 and $1.4 million. In a nationwide expansion mode, Circle K has franchises for sale across the United States as well as in assorted worldwide locations.
10. Papa John’s International
This pizza chain got its start in 1985 in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Papa John’s has more than 2,100 U.S. franchises and close to 500 on international soil. The company charges a franchise fee of $25,000, with ongoing royalties of five percent based on gross annual sales. One’s total investment will run from between $135,000 and $490,000. Papa John’s has franchise for sale opportunities in all U.S. states.
About the Author
Thinking of starting a business or buying a franchise for sale? GlobalBX.com provides a FREE business for sale exchange with over 32,000 businesses and franchises for sale. Get FREE information on all the top franchises today!

Categories
People & Relationships Technology

Social Media Seduction

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I’ve been thinking about the topic of this article for a while. It’s lately becoming more and more evident to me that social media is seductive- both in a business sense, and a personal one. On a business level, social media is seductive because it represents a way to create new relationships and fill our business pipeline. Done right, social media can be the last lead generation strategy you’ll ever need. (Not that I’d recommend this, it’s always wise to have multiple marketing channels to best stabilize your business.)
The personal element is the one I want to focus on here, because it’s this element that isn’t talked about very much. Social media is seductive- and it’s easy to be seduced. What this means is that you can be pretty much anyone you want to be within the social media space- and you can present yourself as more outgoing, charming, vivacious, or even attractive than you are in real life (especially if you use a picture of someone who is much hotter than you.)
We all have a desire to be liked and admired and respected, and social media gives us a way to do this. In some ways, everyone wants to be a social media rockstar, to benefit from the accolades, recognition and adulation that comes from everyone loving you. (Or at least seeming to.)
The problem with this, as with any kind of online (and potentially one-sided) relationship is that no matter how scintillating or fantastic you are within social media, you are, at the end of the day, still a real person with real assets and real liabilities.
Social media connections and online relationships have a place in your life, but should never substitute for real life/offline connections with people who have a chance to spend time with you, know you, and hang out with you- not just worship an image of you.
The other challenge in terms of balancing social media with real life relationships is that in social media, you can always find someone to talk to on Twitter, and you’ll be able to find people who agree with everything you say. Your personal popularity can be at an all time high online, but this doesn’t automatically translate into a golden life offline.
In fact, your real life relationships may suffer from too much social media popularity. I was speaking with a client earlier today who has recently joined Twitter. She has been spending a lot of time learning the system and has been tweeting very often. She has made some powerful connections and constantly feels drawn to tweet multiple times per day- even when she has agreed to spend time with her husband. Any lull in their conversation sees her picking up her Iphone and updating her Twitter status. It’s lately been causing some strain in her marriage because technology is, at times, more powerful and more consuming than her real life relationships.
With the constant stimulation and 24/7/365 access we can have to social media networks, it becomes more important that we create some kind of balance in our use of the social media sites. The psychology of social media is such that we do desire connections. We just need to make sure that the lure of our online connections doesn’t overshadow our interest in our offline ones.
RachnaJainPhoto.jpgDr. Rachna Jain is Chief Social Marketer at The Mindshare Corporation. Rachna works with speakers, consultants, authors, and small business owners to develop and execute effective social media marketing strategies. Her proprietary persuasive social media process (sm) focuses on building influence, credibility and visibility online. This translates into greater recognition, increased website traffic, faster lead generation, a shorter sales cycle, and more opportunity for her expert clientele. She blogs regularly at The Mindshare Blog

Categories
Sales & Marketing

How to Build a Brand That Lasts

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Young Entrepreneur Blog: Aspiring entrepreneurs and those who are just dipping their toe into the business world should first take time to study the history of successful trailblazers and respected organizations before them. Invariably they will learn that, to be successful, you must proactively establish your brand and must go to great pains to ensure that you protect and encourage it to grow while still maintaining its core beliefs and appeals. Every organization from the humblest sole tradership to the largest multinational company possesses a brand, something that sets them apart and something that drives their entire philosophy.
It is important for an organization to fully understand what its brand is. Without a clear demarcation it will be difficult to cement any relationships with clients. The client only sees your organization as a brand, while an organization itself may often not share that same point of view!
Good brand relationships are not created overnight and must be the subject of a continuous operation. You must strive to engage the customer, once you have attention and understand that there must be some kind of emotional connection to ensure that you will be able to interact over any period of time. Often this is the most difficult aspect for the fledgling organization to understand.
Be prepared to go above and beyond in every aspect of your organization. This includes pricing, promotion, delivery and backup. Ensure that over delivery is a part of your business mantra. When all elements work together you have the chance of forging a brand association that will remain in place through good times and bad. You must establish a depth of feeling throughout the operation, so that the customer appreciates that the brand is worthwhile and interest should be retained.
While many management teams give a lot of lip service to brand management and the buzzword of the decade, “customer relationship management” or CRM, they often miss the point. Indeed, you could argue that when a company shifts its focus to a distinct CRM team or operation it may impart responsibility for brand management which represents a major strategical error. Brand management and development must be instilled within the entire organizational team and must come from the bottom up not from the top down.

Categories
Branding

Building Your Social Media Trust Factor

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As more and more individuals and businesses invest in the social media space, there will come a crisis of trust.
With so much access to so many resources, it will become more difficult to decide who to connect with, and who to do business with.
It’s a given that we all want to do business with people we like and trust. The part that is not so clear is how do we know who to trust in the first place?
At first glance, this is easy- we are naturally going to trust those people we know offline, and with whom we’ve built some kind of relationship.
These may be clients, friends, business partners, colleagues- anyone we have a real-life connection with, as well as on online one. These people move to our first circle of trust.
You can think of the circles of trust as a series of concentric circles, gradually becoming larger and larger and moving further and further out from the center.
The second circle of trust is built by friends of friends: people who have been recommended or endorsed by those in our first circle.
The third circle of trust is made up of people you would be friends with, if you could connect with them.
The fourth circle of trust is made up of people you would never connect with, even if you could.
To generate the greatest reach in social media, it is important to cultivate contacts up to, and including, your third circle of trust. This will give you the greatest range of outreach for your expertise and your message. There is inherent value in building up your social network.
Here are some strategies for building your social media trust factor:
1. Be consistent. The human brain responds to repetition. As I say, “Repetition is Reputation”- which means that what you continually repeat is what people will remember about you. Make sure the messages you send out are what you want to be known for.
2. Don’t participate in social media when you’re stressed, angry, or having a bad day. An ill-timed (or ill-considered) rant can undo all your relationship building efforts. Have your opinions, of course, but find other places to blow off idle steam.
3. Do what you say you will do. If you promise to assist someone with a resource or a lead, follow through. Don’t offer if you aren’t going to do it.
4. Be what people expect. If you have given some thought to how you want to be perceived, you should strive to be what people expect. You must carefully nurture your social media brand, just like in any other interaction.
5. Be congruent to your message offline as well. If you are presenting yourself as an expert with specialized knowledge- look the part in person, too. Never give people a chance to wonder if you are really what you say.
Building trust in social media takes time. But the more you repeat consistent, brand supporting messages, the more likely people will be to notice you.
And getting attention is the first step to making anything happen.
RachnaJainPhoto.jpgDr. Rachna Jain is Chief Social Marketer at The Mindshare Corporation. Rachna works with speakers, consultants, authors, and small business owners to develop and execute effective social media marketing strategies. Her proprietary persuasive social media process (sm) focuses on building influence, credibility and visibility online. This translates into greater recognition, increased website traffic, faster lead generation, a shorter sales cycle, and more opportunity for her expert clientele. She blogs regularly at The Mindshare Blog