California Small Business Blog

Marketing by Being First

I admit that this idea is not new. But, DuctTapeMarketing reminds us that the media loves firsts.

Okay, so in 2005, its pretty difficult to be the first to do something. You won't be the first with your business. But maybe you are a realtor and team up with an insurance agent to offer some product or discount to your client? Maybe you are a doctor and you are teaming up with a chiropractor in the same office to offer help to your patients?

The point is that you may not be the first doctor, but you can be first at something. And if you are first, the media will cover your event. That will get you free publicity - which, in my opinion, is the best kind.

Why Should You Take Care of Your Customers

Okay, the obvious answer is that they are a source of referrals. But, there are other reasons that it is important for you to take care of your customers.

• It costs five times as much to get a new customer than to keep a current customer.
• Customers will spend more money for the same product if they get better service.
• 98% of customer interactions go more quickly if you have rapport with your customer.
• Upset customers will tell 10 to 20 people that they are upset.
• Happy customers will share their experience with 9 to 12 people.

Those five facts should give you reason enough to take care of your customers. Let me put this into a dollars and sense approach for you:

• You save money by keeping current customers happy
• Customers will pay you a higher hourly rate if they are happy
• Quicker transactions means you can get on to other customers
• Keeping customers happy limits the bad PR your firm may get
• Happy customers will refer you new customers

You should take care of your customers because it is the right thing to do. However, beyond that, it will save you expenses and increase your revenue. Even if you are a bottom line type of person, then you should realize the benefits to keeping customers happy.

4 Ways to Re-Energize Your Sales Force

For most of you, selling is the key to your business. And I want your business to succeed. So, here are 4 ways to increase your sales force's drive:

• Hire differently. Assessment tests may help you figure out which type of person to hire. Give them a shot!
• Remember that every employee sells! Customers are willing to pay more to buy the same product if they are treated well. Make sure everyone on your team is aware of this. And compensate them accordingly.
• Do not forget your base. Your base customers got you to where you are today. Do not lose them!
• Prospect for customers online. There is a huge potential in the internet for getting new customers. Use that to help your sales force get new leads.

Your sales force is critical. If they are not selling, no one else is doing anything. With these four steps, you may be able to help your sales force reach their potential.

Low Budget Marketing for High Budget Results

You would almost think this is marketing week on my blog. I do post a lot about marketing, but its an area that small businesses need help in.

In today's business world, you need to keep your marketing budget in check. Want an example? Pet.com ran a Super Bowl ad that consumers loved, but left the company bankrupt. Since your customers need to hear your message about 7 times, you need to focus your message. Here are 5 tips to get the most out of your marketing budget:

1. Piggyback. Find someone who is targeting your market, and open up a store near them.
2. Find the right target. Find customers who are easily identifiable and easy to reach.
3. Makes Yourself News Worthy. Get some good PR from the local press.
4. Form a joint venture. Get together with other small businesses to work together on marketing.
5. Maximize referrals. This is the easiest way to get good customers!

You have to keep your marketing budget in check. These five steps will help you get the most bang for your marketing buck.

Motivating your employees

One of the most important things a small business owner must do is motivate his/her employees. Employee motivation is important for several reasons. First, motivated employees will do a better job at their job. Second, motivated employees are less likely to leave, and thus you avoid training costs and keep employee stability.

Darrell Zahorsky has a great article on how to ignite the fire of your employees. He talks about the two types of employee motivations: intrinsic and extrinsic. For employees who are motivated intrinsically, you can work on purpose, belief and passon. For employees who are motivated extrinsically, you can give them rewards, recognition and growth.

Motivated employees are good employees. Work on keeping the motivated and your company will run much more smoothly and with better results!

How to use a Webinar

A what? A webinar. A webinar is a seminar that you put on through the internet. Most businesses that use webinars use them to market their product or put on a sales presentation. Its a great use of technology to sell your product. But, there are other uses to webinars as well.

Here are 7 things you can do with a webinar besides selling:

1. Positioning your company
2. Focus group
3. Infomercials
4. Database building
5. Training
6. Test seminars
7. Partner/strategic alliance recruitment

Webinars are, like blogs and podcasts, a way to use technology to help your small business grow. If you are using a webinar, blog or podcast, I would love to hear from you!

How to Ask for Referrals

DuctTapeMarketing has another great post. This time the concept is how to ask for referrals from clients without losing your professionalism. The short steps:

1. Change how you think about referrals
2. Set the expectation up front
3. Make sure your marketing materials speak to referrals

Referrals work. Anyone who lives near me can open the local yellow pages (all 6 of them) and you will find a grand total of ZERO ads from me. I have a webpage. And that is it. 95% of my clients come from referrals. My clients refer me their friends and family.

Here are some of my tips. First, I tell clients up front that I work on a referral basis. This gets it in their mind. Second, I take care of them. Yep, thats it. Two small steps and clients refer other clients to me.

Give it a shot and let me know if it works for you.

Surprises to Market Your Business

DuctTape Marketing has a great article about surprising your customers. Remember when you were in KMart and they would announce a blue light special? This is a similar idea.

You can surprise your customers in a variety of ways. Include something extra for them on their first order. Or maybe for their tenth order. It could be an extra of whatever they order. Or maybe a gift certificate for something.

Here is an idea: partner with other small businesses in your area to give away gift certificates for each other's business. You get to give the surprise, and you get to refer people to other businesses, who will then refer business back to you.

Give your customers a little surprise and they will keep thinking about you.

Testimonials for selling

If you sell a service or product (and most of us do), you need to maximize your ability to sell your product. You may have a sales force. You may sell it yourself. You may rely on the internet to sell.

But, there is one way that any of these methods can have increased sales. Testimonials. Testimonials do a few things for your business. First, they give your customers a concrete example of how your product or service helped someone else. Second, they give customers confidence in you and your product. Third, testimonials do not cost you anything.

Read more about testimonials and how they can help you here.

10 Marketing Advantages for Small Businesses

I have said it before, and I will say it again: You should be reading DuctTapeMarketing. Its a wealth of information.

Today I came across the 10 Natural Marketing Advantages of Small Businesses. Its another great list of advantages you have that you need to use. Here are the top 10 (go to DuctTapeMarketing to read the explanations):

1. Focus
2. Reach
3. Nurture
4. Surprise
5. Transform
6. Partner
7. Automate
8. Educate
9. Meaning
10. Play

This truly is a great blog about marketing. And check out their newsletter, which is free. John puts out a lot of great information for you to use.