02 13th, 2008

An average commuter will drive 60 miles a day which equates to $21,098 in cost a year per person commuting. This cost continues to rise as the cost of fuel goes up.The average worker spends in excess of 50 hours a week away from home. As businesses try and get leaner the demands on workers go up and to keep the job more is expected which means more time on the job doing more. People discuss these issues, one to one to millions daily. The conversations are abundant.

The current credit crunch and subsequent long tail effects could cause significant shifts in the “credit economy” with ripples being felt globally. Already new home housing stats are indicating a slow down in residential real estate and the bankruptcy rate is on the rise.  The conversations are abundant.

Consumer debt is at an all time high and the rate of late and default payments is increasing. The gurus of economics converse over whether this is just the beginning or the end of bad economic news. The conversations are abundant.

The debate over global warming continues and there is no denying that we are consuming more of the earths raw materials faster than they can be replaced. The push to conserve natural resources and find alternative energy sources is a global conversation which is and will continue to impact the future eco-system we all live in. The conversations are abundant.

The debate over the war on terror continues to capture our attention and that of global leaders. The different positions on the war continues to polarize people, parties, institutions, religions and governments. The conversations are abundant.

The state of our “relationships” with each other are showing signs of decay. Divorce rates are up, teenage suicide is up, criminal incidents are on the rise, employee turnover is on the rise and medication therapy for our ills is exploding with every new kind of psycho labeled malady being diagnosed and treated with yet another medication that promises to “help” us get through our mental and emotional anguish. The conversations are abundant.

The media feeds us with these stories which only sparks more conversations, responses and concerns as to what we individually need to do to cope with the issues that impact our life. The conversations are abundant.

The current political debates within the U.S. are all centric to these issues and each candidate “promises” to have the answers hoping to appeal to the masses and win their votes. The current conditions of the American landscape of issues and the possible outcomes are part, if not much, of the thread of conversations globally. Each of us and everyone of us are seeking answers to the complex problems that exist in our worlds. The conversations are abundant but the solutions are not.

Are These Abundant Conversations Converging Around Chaos?

We’re not trying to predict doomsday rather we’re only trying to illustrate what subjects are dominating today’s conversations. Subsequently what potential outcomes could come from all this chaos being discussed could indeed become part of the solutions.

Chaos is the complexity of causality or the relationship between events. This means that any ’seemingly’ insignificant event in the universe has the potential to trigger a chain reaction that will change the whole system. A well known saying in connection with this issue is “A butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can cause a hurricane on the other side of the earth.” This is also known as the “butterfly effect“.

The issues that are dominating today’s conversations are very real and threaten to disrupt the eco-systems we live in. If one or more of the issues accelerate at the same time the convergence could create chaos that impacts our lives and subsequently forcing changes unexpected, unpredicted and adaption to these changes will be required.

In any chaotic event, remember 911, the foundational forces that create calm and adaption to unknowns is relationships and conversations.  When society feels collective stress we turn to our relationships and converse about the issues at hand and the solutions to anything that directly impacts our individual eco-systems.  When 911 occurred we reached out and conversed with those closest to us. We took time off from work and thought about the possible implications. We stayed glued to the media waiting to hear “What Next?”. We felt the need to get closer as families, communities and as a nation. Relationships became paramount and the conversations abounded.

Considering all the current issues the social web may actually become the backbone of society’s need to relate, converse and find solutions to perplexing issues facing our world, its eco-system and our communities, one to one to millions.

If the chaos of the moment forces us to spend more quality time with our relationships engaging in problem solving conversations what could the outcomes be? Self governed and self organized could we solve problems better than those who govern and attempt to organize us now?

What say you?

www.relationship-economy.com 

The internet is free. The tools are free. Content is free. Social networks are free and users have gained the freedom of expression and connectivity without constraint for free.The only factors of user and producer cost is time, attention and trust.The “free” model doesn’t fit well with traditional business models and mindsets. People have a hard time figuring out how to convert “free” to earnings. Most everyone considers the social web as a primary point of distribution for advertising and view advertising as the only means for converting free to earnings.

This paradox boggles the minds of many and most conclude that the social web does not contribute to earnings thus lets not spend lots of time, attention and resource engaging in all this “social activity”. Sound familiar?

Most Businesses Currently Provide Numerous “Things” for Free:

1. Customer support is free although a bad experience may cost plenty.
2. Slick & expensive marketing materials are free although over hyped promises may cost plenty.
3. Communicating is free although many types of communications cost plenty.
4. IT support, internal and external, is free although unresolved problems may cost plenty.
5. Mediums that provide interaction with customers and suppliers are free although most are poorly designed and cost plenty.

There are a number of other “free” things that business builds into a product or service offering and the cost of “free” is built into the overhead to run the business. However, the cost of poorly designed “free things” and the subsequent impact on relationships, i.e. customers, suppliers and markets, is rarely measured or itemized on financial statements or shareholder reports.

The gurus of industry have always proclaimed the value of good relationships with customers, suppliers and markets yet the organizational designs and collective actions tend to but up barriers and create consistently poor experiences that alienate relationships with customers, suppliers, employees and entire markets.

Lets talk about two real time examples. Previously we had written a post about a very poor experience with Verizon’s customer support system which is touted as “free”. Just last week we spent over eight hours on the phone with our bank, Bank of America, trying to tract down a trasnaction.

After dealing with numerous phone prompts to get through numerous instructions we ended up being passed around to nine, count them, nine different people and to make matters worse none of these people could provide an answer as to where the payment went.

To fuel the frustration further every time we were put on hold the automated messages kept repeating “Your business is important to us and we value our relationships. Please stay on the line until our customer service representative can assist you. The next customer service representative will be available in NINE MINUTES!”.

In between this repeated message was “Have you tried our free online banking service? Bank of America provides its customers with free online banking to serve all your personal and professional needs“.

To further aggravate this situation none of the real people we talked to were allowed to give us their full name, direct phone number or email address. Go figure, just how important or valued is my relationship? Actions speak louder than words but words spread on the social web can indeed create actions.

Will This “Free” Message Be Copied and Create Influence?

Kevin Kelly writes: “The internet is a copy machine. At its most foundational level, it copies every action, every character, every thought we make while we ride upon it. In order to send a message from one corner of the internet to another, the protocols of communication demand that the whole message be copied along the way several times. The digital economy is thus run on a river of copies. Unlike the mass-produced reproductions of the machine age, these copies are not just cheap, they are free.

There are a number of qualities that can’t be copied. Consider “trust.” Trust cannot be copied. You can’t purchase it. Trust must be earned, over time. It cannot be downloaded. Or faked. Or counterfeited (at least for long). If everything else is equal, you’ll always prefer to deal with someone you can trust. So trust is an intangible that has increasing value in a copy saturated world”.

This blog has received 180,000 pages views since Jan.1 by over 30,000 “connected users”. Those users have second degree connections of over 3 million people. The social web magnifies peoples experience with business, good and bad. Bad experiences can be remedied by simply following the basics of creating good relationships. However, the very systemic design of many businesses are not friendly to establishing and maintaining good relations rather the “relationship experiences” are anti-social to say the least. Most people who read this post will relate and pass the message on, one to one to millions.

The social web is indeed free but the cost can be very high to those businesses that don’t understand the power of free. How good or bad you are at free could influence how much you earn.

What say you?

Featured post by Jay Deragon from LinkToYourWorld.comThe social web is creating a reversal in the process of managing customers. People learn from people and subsequently are avoiding influence from institutions rather the conversations of people, one to one to millions, have become the power of influence.These conversations are creating “social markers” on brands. “Social markers” is a term created by Hugh MacLeod whose blog, GapingVoid, defines social markers as “ a prime form of social shorthand, that people use to STAKE OUT the ecosystem they’re occupying”. A brands social marker can be either good or bad. It is tagged by the conversations of those that have experienced the brands product, service or culture.

Every business has an ecosystem forming within the social web. The ecosystem is driven by the people who have experience with your brand. Whether suppliers, employees or customers the relational experience with your brand is what influences your brands “social marker“. The social web is an “ecosystem” that enables conversations to spread like wildfire and the more conversations the more attention the conversations create.

If your brand is a positive “social marker”, within this ecosystem, you will have a competitive advantage on the other hand if your brand is a negative social marker well just think about the implications.

Is Social Markers creating a Shift?

Theo Papadakis wrote a post which first appeared in the 2nd Online Customer Engagement Survey Report, and his ending comment states “The first questions for would be customer-engagers should not be “what technology should we deploy?”, nor “how can we engage our audience?”, but instead: “What is it that our customers are currently doing, where are they doing it and what do they want to achieve.” And guess what – the best person to ask is … your customer.”

While agreeing with the context of Mr. Papadakis post the train may have already left the station. The train we’re referring to is a shift in control from the brands desire to engage the customer to the customer taking control over the engagement.

Today business relies on CRM products designed to facilitate customer needs into a framework designed by the supplier. It is like telling your spouse or children “I want your feedback but only within this context”. The feedback system is not designed to listen rather to control the context into “frames” the supplier thinks are important to us rather than “open conversations” that are important to us, the customer. Most corporations would consider the thought of having “open conversations” with a large audience of customers a nightmare of uncontrollable cost. When they consider the “technological tools” of the social web they think of it as tools to control and manage, the customer.

The flaw in this thinking is that people would rather simply be heard than managed. Managing and acting on the intelligence gained from conversations is a much more effective way of building stronger relations. The outcomes should scream “I heard you” and subsequent actions should demonstrate that we’ve changed or learned something as a result of what we heard. Automated conversations are not real conversations.

The Old Methods Have Failed The New is in Control

People are now empowered to influence brands by the reach and influence of conversations, one to one to millions. These conversations are becoming social markers. Frustrated by brand promises not fulfilled, old sales and marketing tactics, dysfunctional corporate cultures, the people are speaking out and are managing, creating and influencing markets. Instead of businesses managing customer, customers will influence how businesses are managed.

Which method are you prepared for? The old or the new?

What say you?

Featured post by Jay Deragon from LinkToYourWorld.comBusinesses are shaped and built around markets, existing or created. Whether the proposition is a product or service, for a business to survive it has to have a market that wants or needs its product or service.Business follows different methods to build and deliver to the masses. Creating market differential aimed at specific markets is the means for creating market movement. Think of the Apple IPhone as an example of creating and delivering market differential and thus movement.

What and Where are the Markets?

A market is a social structure for exchange of rights, which enables people, firms and products to be evaluated and priced. A market allows buyers and sellers to discover information and carry out a voluntary exchange of goods or services. It is one of the two key institutions for organizing trade. In everyday usage, the word “market” may also refer to the location where goods and services are traded, or in other words, the marketplace of transactions.

Business is a Web of Conversational Transactions

A conversational transaction is an agreement, communication, or movement carried out between separate entities or individuals. These conversations often involve the exchange of items of value, such as information, introductions, knowledge, services and sometimes money. These conversational transactions evolve into relationships based on an affinity defined between two parties then thousands of individuals collectively forming a “swarm” of transactional conversations centric to affinities.

These collective relationships then form into markets being defined by the “collective parties engaging in conversations“. Think about how customers thrilled or disappointed with a new product or service converse with others thus creating a web of conversations that influence others. Think about employees disappointed with employers and the influence the subsequent conversations have when promulgated into the marketplace of people. The marketplace is where the conversation are occurring, the conversational transactions are the influence on the marketplace, any marketplace, your marketplace.

The Social Web is the Marketplace of Conversations

The social web is the new marketplace fueled by conversations and relationships formed at the intersection of people and technology. Web 1.0 was about delivering information. Web 2.0 is about enabling conversations which in turn create transactions. Thus the appropriate label of the “social web”.

Doc Searls book, The Cluetrain Manifesto, and on his blog often and regularly he refers to three categories of activity which are fueled and enabled by the power of the web. These are: transactions, conversations and relationships. Doc writes “In too many markets the mix of the three is warped and strained. Too much of the conversation is insincere, preachy, hollow or otherwise bullshit. And the current methods used by businesses pollutes both conversation and relationship.”

“Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed,” Some of Doc’s key points are:

• These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge.
• As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. Participation in a networked market changes people fundamentally.
• People in networked markets have figured out that they get far better information and support from one another than from vendors. So much for corporate rhetoric about adding value to commoditized products.
• There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.
• What’s happening to markets is also happening among employees. A metaphysical construct called “The Company” is the only thing standing between the two.
• Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman.
• In just a few more years, the current homogenized “voice” of business—the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court.smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.

The Social Web of Business

Business is about markets, methods and masses. The markets are the relationships, people. The methods are about the conversation and the masses is about the reach of the transactions. To win in the relationship economy a business must have solid market relations, honest, open and frank conversations which in turn fuel the transactions, results.

The Relationship Economy is about people, one to one to millions, transacting in the form of conversations but openly, honestly and at velocities never before experienced. These transactions enable new relationships to be formed with a global reach and formed within what we have come to call the social web.

These conversations are about anything, everything, anybody and everybody. These conversations are nonstop able, fluid, frank and with no hierarchy of control, they are free and without constraint. This represents a movement of markets and unless business understands the methods they will loose the masses and the subsequent transactions.

It is that simple yet hard for business to grasp considering the current state of mind. “It” requires a different mindset, a focus on human factors and understanding the value of “real” conversations.

What say you?

A weekly roundup of the best blog postings related to business issues:

Should CEOs Have Term Limits? - Transition of Power at Modern Magellans.

Estimated Tax: Self-Employed at glgcpa.blogspot.com.

Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data at blog.pmarca.com.

Make Your Resume Pop With These Resume Writing Tips at The Frugal Law Student.

Tip: Measure Meetings With Action at Behance.

How Sales Managers Can Increase Participation in Sales Meetings at Landing the Deal.

Planning Your Career - What’s Important? at Alexander Hughes Selection.

Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership at BuildYourOwnBusiness.com.

What is Management Effectiveness? at Suite101.

The most meaningful way to say “Thank you” to your customers at Insightful Business Ideas.

Copyright (c) 2007 George Sierchio www.actionbusinesspartners.com

Direct marketing is, and will probably always be, one of the best ways to get a steady stream of new customers for your business. And that goes for any type business. Obviously you will need to make slight variations between one industry and the next, but it still works very well. More importantly, it is a very measurable form of marketing.

This is something any company that does not have a million dollar advertising budget should consider extremely important, since no marketing is worth doing unless you can measure the results.

Interesting Statistics
Allow me to give you a few statistics on why I like direct marketing so much for lead generation for any type of company. Below are average response rates for various types of marketing campaigns:

Direct Marketing Response for Lead Generation
Email- .29%
Magazine- .49%
Mail- 2.56% (6.1% with follow up)

Looking at these numbers, why would any business not employee some form of direct marketing?

Key Phases to Effective Direct Marketing for Lead Generation
There are a few important things to keep in mind when deciding to develop a direct marketing campaign.

#1- The list you are marketing to is the first key to your success. Narrowing down a demographic, whether business-to-consumer or business-to-business, is a must. The size of the list is up to you (10,000, 1000, 100 names) but the type of people you are targeting should be as tight as feasibly possible. The tighter the niche, the more expensive the list, but this will also avoid sending wasteful amounts of material into the mail that won’t go to viable prospects.

There is a fine line between how much you spend on the list and how much the mailing costs. For example, a somewhat narrow list of 1000 names may be worth sending a low cost postcard mailing to, but a more focused 500 names may make more sense for sending an expensive mailing.

Where do you find these lists? Well there are many different resources to find the broadest or most minute type of prospect. For large volumes or very specified groups of prospects, you should use a list broker such as sales genie/info usa, melissadata.com, etc.

For a list of lists and places to find them, go to your local library and ask for the SRDS (Standard Rate and Data Service). You can also find the SRDS online and sign up (for a fee) for their services.

#2- Focus on one subject. The worst thing you can do is to come up with a great list to market to and push everything you do on them in one shot. Even a catalogue company does not do this. Everything is theme based. So pick one burning problem and focus on that. This also may cause you to further break down a good list of prospects into sub groups that would benefit more from one solution or product than another.

#3- You need to get the marketing piece opened. Getting an envelope opened can be a challenge, but you can get very creative with the packaging to make it interesting to open.

What you want to avoid is making it look like pure advertising if possible. The easiest way is to use handwritten addresses or print them directly on the envelope. Stickers are a bad idea that scream “you don’t know me but I want to sell you something”. Actually, the return address should be pretty void of screaming the same thing.

You may want to consider not putting the company name on there until you establish a relationship. If you don’t need to know if the mail even got there, don’t even put a return address on the envelope. The only problem with this method is that you will not know if you have a bad address or not.

There are many other very creative ways to compel your audience into opening your marketing. An example would be to put something inside like a pen or a CD. Or you can use a bigger envelope or send a box.

These methods could get expensive so that expense should be offset by a higher margin product. You don’t want to spend $2 per prospect to sell something with a $4 profit margin… unless you have the ability to sell an incredible volume of them. You get the picture.

In the case where you want to avoid the “get it opened” issue altogether, then a postcard works best, but it is limited as to the amount of information that can go on it. This really needs to be developed with a graphic designer so that it catches the eye.

Additionally, everything must be said quickly and to the point since real estate on the postcard is limited. This is a great way to avoid accidentally including unnecessary “fluff” in the mailing.
Please note that postcards must be used to contact the correct audience.

I wouldn’t recommend trying to reach executives at large companies with a postcard but smaller businesses and consumers are good targets for this type of medium.

One other method is to use a single sheet of paper and fold it closed. It becomes a self contained package that has more information real estate than a postcard.

#4- Get the actual direct mail piece read. This is not rocket science but it’s not super easy either. The purpose of the first line in a letter is to get the reader to read the second line and so on. It should be aimed at a major pain point and not talk about what you can do but rather what the benefits in solving the problem are to the prospect.

Know the difference between a benefit and a feature. For example, a car that has automatic headlights is a feature of the car. The benefit is that it adds a safety feature to make sure your lights are on when they should be.

The focus of any campaign is on the benefits of solving the burning problem and then the benefits of your solution. You can talk about features but they must be followed up by benefits.

Make the piece easy to read by using short and concise sentences with a flow more like your personal way of speaking than formal writing. Examples and stories also are a good idea to include in any written piece. These types of things all generate trust and allow you to form a bond before you even meet the prospective client.

#5- You need a call to action. The reader must be asked to do something or the piece you have sent out is a total waste of time and money. Unless you have a mail order company, this mailing should really be a prospecting piece and therefore should prompt the reader to download a free report on the pain point, use the enclosed coupon, etc. It is usually best to not go for the sale immediately.

When you offer something for free, you can determine a good prospect when they actually take it and you can track it. Now you have begun a relationship (giving) and opened the door to selling something later (taking). You can’t easily take unless you give first. Being in the business of helping people and getting them what they need and want is the key to any successful and fulfilling business.

#6- You need to test your piece including the delivery package. One of the best parts about any direct marketing campaign is that it can be measured and tested.

Read the piece to yourself. If it doesn’t flow almost as if you were speaking instead of reading, consider revising it. Have others read the piece that have no interest in the subject as well as colleagues that understand the subject at hand.

Don’t forget to also test the entire package. Mail it to yourself to see how you react to it when it arrives. Send it to a colleague and don’t tell them it’s coming. If you don’t hear from them in a few days, you know you have some work to do on the package.

Once you think it’s ready, send it out to a small test group from the list you have developed for this campaign. Pick out about 10% of the list and see what happens. As long as the list is good (i.e. the names and addresses are valid), you can expect about the same result from a full blown campaign to the list.

#7- You need a SYSTEM. The best direct marketing piece in the world is worth very little if you do not have a process or system in place. This entails issues such as; tracking your success rate on the piece, having a follow-up sequence for those that did not respond and a follow-up sequence for those that did respond. Constant waves of contact will eventually produce a full sales pipeline.

Don’t Forget the “Waves”
The first pass is just that- a first pass. You really need to have 3 to 9 points of contact, or “waves”, in your system for it to be effective. Sometimes that also involves phone follow up and not just mailings or emails.

For each wave that involves a mailing, you need to follow phases 2 through 6 from above. Don’t forget to add in the proper tracking to all of the waves in your lead generation system.

Wrap-up
These are very basic steps to a direct marketing campaign. Every type of business out there can, and should, use some form of direct marketing/lead generation in their marketing mix. This includes low tech to high tech, B2C and B2B, retail to manufacturing as well as everything in-between.

Although a tight niche of prospects is a big key to any successful campaign, picking one subject to talk about and not going in for the kill immediately is really the most important thing.

Build a relationship with those interested in what you have to offer and they will sell themselves. Everyone likes to buy, but nobody likes to be “sold” on something.

I just finished Jeffrey Gitomer’s book called Little Green Book of Getting Your Way and I thought it was absolutely wonderful to read and a fresh reminder of the skills that I have and tips to improve the skills that I still need to work on. This book is excellent for any sales rep, project manager, or executive to read because it’s filled with information on how you can negotiate with others to create a real “win-win” situation.

Many times, a person will go into a negotiation meeting (or sales meeting) and come away with a feeling of despair because they don’t feel like they got what they wanted to out of the meeting. That is because that person didn’t go into the meeting prepared to negotiate and compromise. Or the person sitting across the table was so good at negotiating and had a feeling that they had to win and you had to lose. You shouldn’t do business with these types of people because it’s not going to be a good relationship for you in the long run. There are too many good people, companies, and deals out there to sacrifice yourself for someone who will not compromise or give you the things you need.

After reading the book you will not only be able to identify the people who you should work with, but you will also learn how to identify the key issues that face them and how you can solve their problems with your products or services.

You may be an excellent negotiator, but if you feel you need your speaking, writing, presenting, persuading, influencing, or selling skills touched up, check the book out and use it as a tool to become better.

Little Green Book of Getting Your Way is a quick and fun read and you can place it somewhere convenient to use it as a reference later.

If you’ve read the book, let me know what you think about it in the comments section.

All forms of business need some sort of credit card processing so they can accept debit cards, credit cards, and checks for payment of products or services. Most large companies can outsource these services to companies that can deliver customized solutions just for them. Many of my small business clients say that they can’t find a solution fit for them. Just because you have a small business doesn’t mean you can’t have something tailored to your needs.

There are a number of companies that offer credit card processing that can meet and exceed your business needs. The trick is to find a solution that best fits your business desires and goals. It’s important to communicate clearly to the sales rep so they understand your business and how it accepts money. This can be done by making some telephone calls to the different providers.

If your small business is more complex, you may have to look around a little bit more to find exactly what you need. Many small businesses not only do business with people in person at their retail shop, but they also take orders online via their website. You could find a solution that will meet both of these needs individually, but it would probably be more cost effective if you bundled it into one service provider.

Also, small businesses can also outsource phone order or mail order so they can process orders directly over the phone with their customers. A solution like this will give the impression that you have a much larger company and customers will feel more confident when they buy from you. It may be hard to higher a single employee and delegate enough responsibility to have them on salary, but when you outsource it to another group you can manage your phone order or mail order business much more cost effectively.

One of the newest methods is taking orders wirelessly. If you have a wireless solution, you can meet with your customers onsite and process their transaction directly through your phone or other mobile device. These types of transactions are unique in that you can seal a deal right in front of your customer and there is no need to go back to the office and process paperwork and transaction details. This benefits your outside sales team most because they will be able to reduce their time doing the backend work and spending more time on sales.

There is a company that I’ve recommended to others before called First Data Independent Sales that can meet many of your needs. They offer many different types of accounts including e-commerce, retail, phone/mail order, wireless, restaurant, and TeleCheck. They work with business large and small to deliver a cost effective solution for your business. They give away free software and other free services to win your business and offer first quality service to retain it. They’ve been in business since 1988 and are very knowledgeable in the industry and have brought great products, services, and technology to the industry.

Through their innovative products, services, and technology they have been able to stay one step in front of their competition and remain a forerunner in the market. You can rest assured that when you call them they will be able to work with your unique business plan and deliver solutions to keep you one step ahead of your competition.

Whatever you choose, make sure you’ve done your homework and you truly understand the process and details of the service. You want to make sure any solution is going to benefit you and your provider demonstrates the value that they will bring to your business. It could save you literally hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in the long run and that adds up at the end of the year. Just like anything else you outsource, you want to make sure that company or person you bring on fits well on your team. Businesses that have great teams put together can produce more than their competition.

The golf course is a great place to take clients for a round of 18 holes. It gives you a couple of hours to get to know your client and enjoy the outdoors in a relaxed way. Whenever I take a client out to the course I always bring my best set of Ping irons, TaylorMade drivers, and Titleist golf balls.

Just like any other meeting, you want to get to the golf course first. If you have enough time, you can register and pickup the golf cart and buy a bucket of balls that you and your client can hit.

The golf course is a great place to build your relationship with the client. You will have anywhere from 4-5 hours to get to know them, their business, and what business problems they are having. With this information, you should be able to craft your message and what you can bring to the table to help them.

I have never hard sold anybody on the golf course. This is supposed to be a relaxing event. I have soft sold my services, what I can offer, and how the client will benefit from my services. If you pressure the client too much on the golf course, they will feel disgruntled and it may be hard to rebuild the trust. Remember, your client took a lot of time out of his busy day to come out and play golf with you. They don’t want to be bombarded with sales pitches.

As always, you need to get some sort of commitment at the end of the round. Depending on how well you already know your client, this may be an acceptance of your services or how to move forward. I’ve seen too many sales people end the round by saying something like “that was a great round of golf. I’ll give you a call next week about how I can help you.” A better way to end the round of golf would be to say something like “that was a great round of golf and I had a good time getting to know you and your business better. I believe there are many ways in which we could work together and I can help your business grow. Do you want to sit down Tuesday to work on the details?” This is much more specific and as long as you’ve done a good job building the relationship with the client and how your services can help them, they should give you a good solid commitment.

As long as you’ve done your homework, you should have been able to build a relationship that will generate business for yourself. The golf course is a great place to do that. Go out there and have some fun.

It’s no secret that in today’s world, on-line success depends in large part on how much traffic you drive to your website. The amount of traffic you get depends on your search engine optimization. When your site is primed for search engine optimization (SEO), you get tons of traffic coming to you for free. Great, right?

Of course! You see, on the web you have a choice - you can pay Google or Yahoo tons of your hard-earned cash for PPC clicks, or you can search engine optimize your site to drive new customers to you. And I’ll give you a hint, search engine optimization is much cheaper!

But many small businesses and website owners make the mistake of just concentrating on traffic and search engine optimization. They get the traffic, but it doesn’t convert into buyers. What good is a ton of traffic coming to your site, if it doesn’t improve your website results?

You’ve ultimately got to look at your bottom line. If you’re spending tons of cash, hours of your time and all your energy on driving traffic to your site with SEO, but not making sure it converts into buying customers, you’re just chasing your tail.

Remember, you’re not after “clicks” - you’re after sales!

(more…)