Good Articles for Read or Share

A personal crisis doesn’t have to spell disaster for your business if you’re prepared. Every business occasionally endures a crisis, but what happens when your dilemma isn’t falling profits but personal.

Because we have no idea what type of personal crisis may await us – an ugly divorce, debilitating disease, or ailing parent/child/spouse, we must be prepared. Just as you plan for advertising and promotions, you must plan for life’s surprises.

Paul Krasinski, founder of Lion Strategy Advisors, New York, suggests finding somebody NOW who can take over your responsibility and carry on for at least 20 days. He/she needs to be someone who can communicate well with staff and command respect, and may or may not be the person you feel closest to in the company.

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Budgets and personal finances are not most people’s favorite topics, and certainly not one of mine. Even bank executives have problems in this area, but if you’re an entrepreneur so do you. You’re concentrating so much time on your business, your personal checkbook takes a back seat. Then one day you are met with the startling fact that you’re not saving enough for lean times and you panic.

Well, just apply your professional talents to the situation and become your own personal CFO. By using your CFO eyes on the situation, it somehow tempers the pain of dealing with your own money. To get started, here are 5 rules for treating your personal finances like a business:

1. Be Your Own Board of Directors. To make good decisions, you must know what you’re trying to achieve. In business, Board of Directors write mission statements to keep the company on track with goals. At home, it’s up to you to define your mission and make sure you’re fulfilling it by writing down your goals. Not just your financial goals either, but your “life” goals.

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You will inevitably face rejections and refusals, but learning to see “No” as valuable feedback can take your sales to a new level. Regardless of how often we hear “no” it’s a tough thing to take.

Over the years, I’ve had as many rejections as anyone else, especially as an author who doesn’t have a “celebrity” name. Here are some ways I’ve learned to cope with this situation:

1. It’s only their opinion – When someone tells us that what we’re attempting can’t be done, we tend to think they’re right. What I’ve learned is to look at that “no” as just that person’s opinion. It isn’t good or bad; it’s just data coming in to me. I can analyze it and make my next move smarter. What I’ve received is valuable feedback that can help me to find a new and different approach.

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Since you’re selling to human beings wouldn’t it be great to know the five secrets that have the greatest influence on your customers? What I’m about to share with you will make you the Svengali of Sales in your niche. I’m going to put them in the order of use in the marketing process, but they can overlap or be switched around to fit your situation.

What happens in nature when there is a vacuum? Right. There is an attempt to fill that void, and human nature also follows that law.

1. Filling the void – When someone does a person a favor or gives them something of value for free, this act provides an imbalance in the relationship. This creates a subconscious pressure on the recipient to give back in some way. This is what’s known in marketing as filling the void.

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There are many schools of thought on how to write a successful direct-response ad, letter or brochure. Some say you need to be subtle, some say be harsh, some say be round-about, some say be direct. There is one technique, though, that is coming to the forefront as one of the most successful to employ.

Info-Loading is the style of overloading an advertisement with information about your product or service. The theory is, you give the customer more information than they’d ever want on your product /service, and they’ll feel more confident about you and what you offer. Also, the customer that actually reads through it all is the one who’s interested enough to buy what you offer. The good news is, it works!
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When you are considering starting an online company, you want to make sure you find the right product. What do you want to sell. What is your passion. What subject or topic do you have a lot of knowledge about. Let me start by telling you that selling an information product online is easier than selling a service. But, selling a service online makes more money with monthly memberships.

Before you spend all your time working on a website and writing up eBooks, you want to be sure that your customers are going to be interested in what you are selling. Do your market research. Start by seeing how many competitors you have -this is a good sign. Read through newsgroups, discussion boards, and chat rooms and learn about your target market customer base. If you already have an email list, send them a survey to see what they are most interested in.

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We’ve all had friends in our circle who were known as “Mary & John”, and when “John” split “Mary” was alone. Mary was the “odd” number at the dinner party and we were all concerned about her. Well, today it seems that the union of Customer & Service have had a breakup. Service has split and Customer is on his/her own.

Today, let me tell you a story that many of you will find humorous but is all too common. I can tell you this without fear of our local editor getting sued because it’s about me, but business owners take note that you don’t fit the profile of company “X”.

Four weeks ago I decided that I needed another green recycling can from my trash pickup company. We’ll call them Brown Keg Trash Pickup, an anonymous company in the interest of avoiding litigation. I called their Customer Service number, and as an environmentally conscious citizen requested my extra recycle can.

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The art of getting new business is no mystery. In fact it’s so simple we miss the forest for the trees. Here are 10 tips to remind you how to build more client base.

1. Get New Business From Old. Ask existing clients for more biz before you try warming up a stone cold lead. Ask the happy clients for referrals to people they know that you don’t – and be sure to keep track of who referred whom.

2. Pitch a Stranger. It’s like bad advertising when you blow hot air when pitching to a new prospect. In face-to-face mediating you’ve got to know what to say, and say it with conviction.

3. Give It To Me Straight. No one has time for the “warm-up”. Prepare well honed phrases and practice them in front of a mirror. People like it when you can get to the point rapidly and intelligently. If it’s by email, make sure they don’t have to scroll down to read it all.

4. Talk About Your Failures. Seriously! It builds credibility. Everyone can’t be perfect all the time, and when you can tell a prospect why you lost a client and what you’ve learned it’s a welcome change. They appreciate not getting the usual hot air & razzle-dazzle.

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There’s good news for entrepreneurs who need help but aren’t ready to hire full-time employees. Between January and July 2009, the ranks of part-time workers grew from 24.3 million to 25.5 million according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was also learned that from June to July the increase came from people who wanted to work part-time and not because they couldn’t find full-time employment.

It seems that 1.7 million part-timers hold two or more part-time jobs, and do this by choice. Such workers will be harder to convert to full-time employees because they like the diversity of different jobs.

This all translates into benefits for the entrepreneur who needs help but can’t hire full-time employees. The employment gurus don’t expect this part-time preference to pass anytime soon. It seems that the appeal of a reduced schedule is strong both for seniors and baby boomers nearing retirement. Parents who have interrupted careers to care for their children but still want to work may also explain the boom.

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Many entrepreneurs market via outreach events, be it trade shows or presenting seminars, and budgets to schmooze clients and impress friends are getting tight.

Now that the economy is back in the spotlight, with gasoline at $2.60+ a gal., big companies announcing layoffs, and prices rising across the board, the time is here to tighten our belts and squeeze that marketing dollar until it squeals. Believe me the rhetoric that the economy is getting better is just that – political rhetoric, and isn’t coming from the business community in the trenches. We know better!

Even though lavish budgets are history, the creative entrepreneur can still use events as a marketing tool if he/she rolls up sleeves and goes into “guerilla marketing” mode. Creativity is the key! The time for promoting an event and waiting to see who registers within 6 to 8 weeks is past. The first’s thing to remember, is that no amount of cajoling, marketing, or freebies will compel attendance at your event if it doesn’t offer real value to the attendee.

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