Children in the Home Business Environment

Children in the Home Business Environment

by: Stone Evans

Operating a home business is seldom easy and interruptions come in all shapes, sizes and forms.

Between the family, friends and neighbors who call or come by, and the telemarketers who insist on ringing your number off the hook, getting through the workday can be a real challenge.

When you introduce children into the home office environment, your productivity and patience can be seriously tested.

For example, right now my threeyear old daughter is pulling on my shirt and begging me to read her a story. Clearly, Im in the middle of something important here, but how can I say no to those eyes? Ill be right back…

Ok, that wasnt so bad was it? Shes happy, Im happy (having bonded with my daughter) and now Im back to continue my conversation with you 🙂 Whats the lesson here? Flexibility is a major key to balancing your home business priorities with your familys needs.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that maintaining a deep level of concentration on work in a home business for long periods of time is next to impossible. Naptime does offer some reprieve, but any break from the kids is usually short lived.

Even with older children, summertime introduces new challenges with kids running in and out of the house all throughout the day.

I would like to share with you some of the tips I have discovered to help manage your home office with children in your midst. Since children of different ages pose different challenges, I will present my tips in terms of age groups.

OLDER CHILDREN AND TEENS

We will look at older children first since they pose the least challenge to our work productivity.

Children, who are old enough to understand the idea of schedules and chores, are old enough to understand the needs of your home business. Explain to your children that you do your work at home so that you can be near them when they need you. But also be sure they understand that you must do your work so that you will have the money necessary to keep your house, feed the family and to provide them with money for entertainment.

Once your children understand the necessity of your work, then outline a work schedule and explain it to them. Do make sure they understand that emergencies are definitely an acceptable reason to interrupt your work. Then make sure they understand that between hours x and y, you will be doing work and then hold them to respecting your schedule.

INFANTS

Infants will never understand your needs for work. But fortunately, babies do well under a schedule or routine. Instead of expecting your child to work around your schedule, schedule your work around the needs of your baby.

It is simple. Babies eat, sleep and poop. Sometimes they play. Fortunately, babies sleep more than they do anything else.

Naptime offers the best advantage for getting your work done. Get your baby into a routine of eat, sleep and play, and you will experience unexpected levels of productivity.

TODDLERS

If you have a toddler running around the house while you are operating your home business, then you may find that your hair turning gray or disappearing altogether. But, gray hair is a sign of character, right. 😉

I am venturing to guess that the person who devised the door lock for the inside of the house did so because he had toddlers in his own home. Inside door locks should only be utilized when you are making that important phone call and your toddler is screaming for your attention. At all other times, your door should remain unlocked with your door open.

Develop a routine with your children for meal times, naptimes, and play times. Work these times into your work schedule and adhere to them. If you fail to keep appointments with your children, your children will have less respect for your work and do more to prevent you from the completion of your work.

Don’t be afraid to let your children sit in your lap while you are working. It helps them to feel wanted and it helps them to be a part of your daily life. There are times when it is okay for them to be sitting in your lap while you work, and at other times you need them out of your lap. Don’t be afraid to tell them to get down and go play or read a book so that you can resume your work.

Permit your children to have their toys in your office. Often they will sit contently and play while you work. Just knowing you are near is enough to keep them happy.

Be prepared to take an hourly break to deal with your toddler. Try to do potty breaks at your hourly break and to do drink refills. This can help your child grow into a routine that will work well with your home business. At each break, spend a few minutes with your child giving hugs and kisses and talking with your child about what he or she wants to talk about.

Toddlers don’t always do well with the routine, so be prepared to take a few minutes when needed to give the attention that your child so desperately needs in the moment.

IN CONCLUSION

I hope these tips serve to help you in the challenge of operating a successful home business.

My home business permits me to fulfill my financial obligations *AND* see my children grow up. I would never contemplate trading my home business for another kind of business. Even with the added challenges of dealing with toddlers in my home office, the upsides far outweigh the downsides.

Growing my own home business with children around has definitely given me a new respect for all people who successfully run a home business with kids in the work environment. I tip my hat to you… You deserve it!

About The Author

Stone Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where you can find everything youกll ever need to start, run and grow a home based business at: http://www.HomeBusiness.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 19, 2004

by Stone Evans

How SPAM Sells Sex, Greed and Survival

How SPAM Sells Sex, Greed and Survival

by: Michael Oliver

The unsolicited email people react to most is what yells for money through our base needs involving sex, greed and survival.

Selfish SPAMMER messages are more clear to understand than all the subtle appearances of simple unsolicited email such as misdirected messages with incorrect email addresses.

The top 10 abusers generate most of the unsolicited email worldwide. The top in this group are located in the US, but often send from outside the country.

Imagine offices scattered around the world with more than 10,000 servers all sending out the same junk message amounting to millions of emails sent per hour.

Do you know anyone who has purchased male member enlargement pills? Itกs one of the major messages junk emailers are sending today. Like most messages that deliver useless products, this too will pass.

I don’t know if any man would risk admitting to that purchase, but all those pills are proven failures and yet they still sell.

To some men the extra money it costs is a response to desperate hope. Email and the post office is less embarrassing and sometimes worth risk that nobody will ever know about. Comfort found in useless options exceeds feeling lost in hopeless visions.

If a top junk emailer sends out 5 BILLION messages and gets just .001% in sales, he has 5 million sales.

Any one of the worldกs top 3 junk emailers can do that in just over 3 months and they are highly motivated to continue their business without concern as to what the excessive traffic is doing to the internet. Selfishness dictates that the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.

Many daily spam messages are filtered into junk files without being read. AOL now blocks more than 1 BILLION unsolicited junk messages each day.

Delivering the message, กDo Not Buy From SPAMMERS,ก to the relatively small customer base would be as easy as a SPAM message getting through AOL.

When the world is your audience, the rules change.

Mike Oliver

http://www.caraccidentadvice.com

About The Author

Mike Oliver is a programmer/analyst who survived injuries from a serious multiple car accident.   After speaking with attorneys who looked to create a case and then take up to 50% of any settlement, Mike Oliver knew there must be another way to get the legal help he needed, conquer the insurance nightmares, and keep 100% of his settlement without fear of a doityourselfkit.  He found it and saved thousands of $$$. You can, too. Get the lessons Mike paid to learn Free at http://www.caraccidentadvice.com

This article was posted on March 28, 2004

by Michael Oliver

Five Keys To Leaner and Meaner Copywriting

Five Keys To Leaner and Meaner Copywriting

by: Robert Warren

Grab กem and don’t lose กem. Every marketer knows that one. Human beings have very short attention spans, so you can’t afford to waste your prospectกs time give them the good stuff and then let them go as soon as you can. Writing effective marketing material is all about writing crisply with just a handful of words.
Clean writing isn’t an accident, but is instead the result of the careful application of certain principles and tools. Try these five techniques for crafting leaner, meaner, more effective business copy:
Avoid modifiers. Modifiers change the meaning of other words; the most common of these are adverbs and adjectives (words that describe verbs and nouns, respectively). They’re used when the writer feels that the noun or verb needs a little something extra: ‘the shining sunก, กrun quicklyก, etc. Get rid of as many modifiers as you can and choose nouns and verbs that stand on their own.
No lazy words. Every word should be doing real work, conveying necessary information and supporting other parts of the piece. Think of your sentences as support beams and rafters in a building, and analyze the piece wordbyword: are there any nails sticking out of boards? Anything thatกs there purely for show? Anything that doesn’t strengthen your writing weakens it. Strip your copy down to its most essential parts, and throw out the words that are sleeping on the job.
Reduce it to a single sentence. Do you really know what you want to say? You might be surprised try phrasing your entire piece into one simple sentence. Can you do it, or are you insisting that your message is too indepth? Taking your point down to a single statement can give your copy new focus and clarity.
One thought per sentence. Sentences and paragraphs are different things. Avoid long, complex sentences built up of multiple thoughts. Keep your sentences to one thought each, keep them short and simple, and use your paragraphs for the complex ideas.
When in doubt, cut it out. Every writer has written the perfect sentence that just doesn’t play along well with others. Hemingway was right kill your darlings. If you can’t figure out how to ease that bit of poetry in with the rest of your marketing piece, cut it completely and don’t look back. Be merciless. Youกll be surprised how often thatกs the best solution.

About The Author

Robert Warren (www.rswarren.com) is a Floridabased freelance copywriter specializing in the unique marketing needs of independent professionals.

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 05, 2004

by Robert Warren

The Process of Change in Marketing Approaches

The Process of Change in Marketing Approaches

by: Dr. Alvin Chan

In a world economy that is in constant flux and undergoing turbulence, more companies are realizing that their most precious asset is their customer base. An even more important realization is the need to satisfy the whims and fancies of these customers in order to survive in these increasingly competitive markets. Organizations that do not act on this dictum have suffered the loss of market share or worse, total annihilation. Such dire consequences have awakened many organizations to rethink the way they see marketing. Thus, there is urgency for an organization (be it products or service providers) as a whole to develop appropriate holistic customerfocused strategies to ensure that the customer remains at the core of their organizational thinking.

With the rapid advancement of information technology (especially the rise of the Web) and the increasing difficulties of meeting customer’s needs and wants (for example, their expectations of 24 / 7 customer service especially for online transactions), there is a shift from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted marketing. Many organizations and marketing consultants are emphasizing the need to allocate more funds to apply newfound knowledge of consumer behavior in new products development, build better customer relationships through customer loyalty and retention programs.

This purpose of this paper is to raise the awareness of the need to concentrate marketing efforts towards the customer rather than the inwardlooking traditional productfocused arrangement. And more importantly, the paper will shed light on how an organization could go about in making this important transition in this current competitive market.

Marketing Approaches Explained:

Before I proceed to discuss the shift in the marketing approach, it will be appropriate to explain briefly the two marketing approaches separately for greater clarity.

Traditional MarketingThe 4 Ps of Marketing:

The marketing mix or what is commonly known as the 4 Ps is a framework for marketers to implement a marketing concept. It consists of a set of major decision areas that a company needs to manage in order to at least satisfy consumer needs. According to Kotler et al. (1999), the mix is a set of กcontrollable tactical marketing tools […] that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target marketก (p.8). Hence, in an effective marketing program, all of those elements are กmixedก to successfully achieve the companyกs marketing objectives.

The traditional marketing mix contains four major elements, the ก4 Ps of marketingก. As defined by Kotler et al. (1999):

1.Product: Anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. In includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organizations and ideas.

2.Price: The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.

3.Promotion: Activities that communicate the product or service and its merits to target customers with a view to persuading them to buy.

4.Place: All the company’s activities that make the product or service available to target customers.

With the rapid changes surrounding organizations, the traditional marketing mix of the 4 Ps has been criticized for being too myopic in this current market situation. The traditional marketing mix has also been disparaged for being too productfocused and for taking an overly inwardlooking strategy with regards to the organization’s resources and capabilities in production matters. This is antithetical to attending to the more important organizational goal of satisfying the desired needs and wants of customers.

In addition, the Web and Ecommerce revolution has played a major role in alleviating customers’ ability to shape their relationships with the company. This has led customers to expect companies to market their products and services in ways that reflect more directly their individual needs.

These changes have prompted enterprises that wish to stay ahead of their competitors to shift their traditional marketing approach to customertargeted marketing.

Customer Targeted Marketing:

In customer targeted marketing, the customer becomes the central focus of the organization’s strategy and activities, rather than the product itself (which is the prime concern in traditional marketing). The organization’s paradigm shift in marketing requires a company to build a commitment to quality and to listen critically to the customer to determine the market needs and how the company can meet those needs more effectively.

One of the major characteristics of the approach is to focus on each customer’s interests and interactions with the organization to deliver targeted, personal messages. This would require the company to be constantly gathering information about their customers in an effort to better serve them and, most importantly, to retain them as loyal customers. As suggested by Peppers and Rogers (1998), the organization would need to use various techniques and strategies (possibly with the help of information technology and the Web), such as focus groups, indepth interviews, customer surveys, attitude testing and so on to obtain information about consumers for more effective marketing of a product or service. With these customers’ data and feedback, the organization will apply the knowledge to develop more customercentric products and services and/ or to improve existing ones. In addition, the information will be shared within the organization to encourage employees at all levels to focus on creating maximized customer value and loyalty.

Why CustomerTargeted Marketing?:

In order to have a competitive edge and to satisfy increasing levels of customers’ desires, companies realized that they have to see their customers as individuals rather a homogeneous mass of similar tastes, values and buying behaviors. Due to such transformation, companies need to be more customerfocused in its overall marketing strategy. This has resulted in organizations adopting a customization strategy to increase customer’s loyalty to their products and services. For example, in banking and insurance industry, there has been a move towards greater customization. Standard products/services have been given way to a varied menu of features from which customers may select their own preferred combination.

In view of these changes, companies that understand the asset value of each customer, and that tailor their marketing efforts (and their costs) to acquire and sustain the highestvalue assets, will win over lessadaptable traditional marketing approach of the 4 Ps.

The Process of Transition:

In order to strategically change from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted marketing, an organization must be aware of these following areas:

Paradigm Shift. A company must fully understand that customer targeted marketing requires a shift in the organizational mindset, and not just structural organizational changes. They must realize that their sole purpose is to continuously satisfy customers’ needs and wants. Thus, to ensure a smooth transition from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted approach, an organization must reflect and ask itself questions as to what areas need to be analyzed and to understand the ramifications of such a transition in the organization. On the other hand, an organization needs to realize the negative consequences for not willing to be a more customerfocused marketing organization.

Customer Targeted Planning. As in any organizational change initiative, proper planning is needed. The objective of planning customercentric marketing strategies is to find winwin opportunities with customer and to identify the best mutual opportunities for your customers and your company. This requires the organization to see the issue(s) from the customers’ perspectives and to strategically plan the organization’s resources around them.

In short, the organization’s shift to customertargeted marketing should embrace these three important points:

1.Planning should focus on customer wants and not looking inwardly at company goals

2.Focus on the honest feedback and suggestions through creating different channels of communications. Listen to the customers, rather than forcing them to listen to you.

3.Integrate your customers in every aspects of your business, from new product design to aftersales services and more.

Organizationwide Responsibility. For the approach to be successful, members need to understand the new philosophy of marketing and embrace it organizationwide. Many organizations tend to underestimate the degree to which every facet of the enterprise needs to be involved in the process and to be integrated into the actual customer relationship.

Organization Redesign. An organization has to assess the roles of all functional departments interacting with customers to ensure that they add value to customers instead of increasing the costs. By reorganizing the company with the customer as the focus, many departmental roles and responsibilities will have to be redesigned. And when that happens, the employees will have to adopt new work processes that would be more customercentric in nature.

Human Resource Training. There is a need to develop customerfocused human resource through customer behavior training, across the functional departments. By investing in such training at all levels, the members will be more knowledgeable, more autonomous, and more efficient in anticipating and meeting the needs of the customers.

Use of Information Technology. With the advancement and increased affordability in information technology, more companies are able to collect available data on customer purchase behavior more efficiently. For example, technologies ranging from checkout scanning to Internet cookies are commonly used to track customersก buying behaviors. Companies that employ such technology will be more adept at acquiring new customers, retaining existing customers, and cross selling than those who do not.

Enhanced Customers Communications. With the use of the Internet as a medium for targeted communication, this allows companies to be in touch with customers at less than onehundredth of the cost of more traditional snail mail, brochures or flyers. Communication through emails with the customers is almost free, and the customers can retrieve communications almost immediately. However, this has also resulted in customers having 24 / 7 service expectations of these companies.

Customer Targeted Measurement. An organization must be able to measure and evaluate the success of their customer targeted marketing strategy. In most cases, traditional measurement techniques such as profitability, market share and profit margins are used to measure the success. There should be an added emphasis given to developing measures that are customercentric and which are able to assess the marketing strategy. Customer acquisition costs, conversion rates, retention rates, customer sales rates, loyalty measures and customer share within a brand are some examples of customercentric measures than a customerfocused organization can adopt

Conclusion:

The need for survival has provoked many organizations to shift from traditional to customer targeted marketing. The market conditions surrounding us will continue to change at an accelerating rate and customer’s expectation will continue to rise. Hence, without any doubts, more and more companies will adopt a customertargeted marketing strategy with increased intensity.

About The Author

Dr. Alvin Chan is an Innovation Research Specialist in Asia. He has consulted for and aid in the development of managerial innovations and effective learning methodologies in several organizations. Currently, Dr. Chan is the Senior Research Consultant at FIrst Quatermain Centre of Collaborative Innovation (www.firstquatermain.com).

Please email to Dr. Chan at [email protected] as a courtesy if you are reprinting the article online or in print.

This article was posted on November 06, 2004

by Dr. Alvin Chan

Online Security and Email Scams

Online Security and Email Scams

by: www.kaisilver.com

It does not matter whether you are a buyer or seller on the Internet. This article will be extremely useful to you. Even the casual web surfer would do good to be aware of the dangers of being online.

There are a few very rampant frauds being perpetuated on the Internet right now. Avoid being duped and ensure that you stay updated on the latest dangers on the net. Here is a list of the most popular frauds at this time:

(1) Your paypal or bank account needs to be updated fraud. You get an email saying that your paypal or bank account or credit card account needs to be updated online. A link on the email needs to be clicked or else your account will be suspended and cause you immense hardships. DO NOT do anything of the sort, the link in the email sends you to the webpage that the writer of the email wants you to go to. This page is a fake, though it appears like the genuine web page that you are used to seeing. Your username, password and other details are collected and misused by the writer of the email.

(2) The Nigerian million dollar fraud. In this email a person claims to be a Nigerian with super political connections or a person having access to millions of dollars left over and forgotten by a foreigner in Nigeria. He needs another foreigner to take this money out of Nigeria. All he needs is your bank account and other confidential details and he will pour 30% of the booty into your account. All you end up doing is paying a few thousand dollars for various กlegal formalitiesก to be gone through. Once he receives your money he promptly disappears and goes back to writing emails to more people like you. You will never see those million dollars as we has never seen them too.

(3) The big order to be shipped to Nigeria or Indonesia. The writer is in a big hurry to buy a lot of merchandise from your website. He may be in Nigeria or Indonesia or any other part of the globe, but the shipment is needed to Nigeria or Indonesia. He rarely orders less than a few thousand dollars. He wonders whether you accept credit cards or, would like you to ship and provide him the FEDEX tracking number before he makes payment. He either never pays or uses a fake or stolen credit card. You will get a charge back from a bank a few months down the line.

These are a few of the dangers online. It would be an over exaggeration to say that we need to stop transacting or browsing the net. A few precautions would make your ventures on the Internet more safe. You can read the complete report on this topic at: http://www.kaisilver.com/onlinesecurityandprivacy01.htm

The more aware we are of the dangers, the less likely we are to fall prey to them. Your friends and aquantainces would be grateful if you forwarded this link to them.

Rarely do online sellers reveal these dangers, as they fear that it would dampen online buyer morale and reduce sales.

Thanks and God Bless.

Ms.Nok

From http://www.kaisilver.com the worldกs leading online provider of high end custom jewelry.

About The Author

Ms.Nok

From http://www.kaisilver.com the worldกs leading online provider of high end custom jewelry. All jewelry is custom made in yellow or white gold with gemstones of your choice.

This article was posted on September 26, 2004

by www.kaisilver.com

Marketing Maxims for Today’s Challenging Tim

Marketing Maxims for Today’s Challenging Times

by: Lee Traupel

These are turbulent times for all businesses necessitating streamlined marketing processes that are finely honed to mesh with today’s sputtering global economy.

1. Don’t stop advertising because the economy is sluggish increase it, as many of your competitors are foolishly slowing down and you can grab market share! Look at what Dell has done to Gateway in the last eighteen months – Gateway has lost 1020% of their market share and are pulling in their horns, while Dell’s slice of the pie has grown bigger.

2. Negotiate aggressively with media sources – its tough right now for online and offline publishers to generate advertising revenue and they are being forced to consider any and all deals. Note the number of “house ads” being run by major portals like Yahoo and Internet.com, 2030% of their banner ads or sponsorship buttons are promoting their own businesses.

3. It’s no secret that many ecommerce sites look like Amazon.com – it pays to mirror existing market leaders’ web site design. People always resist change and familiarity is one of key reasons why they shop on and offline in the same stores.

4. Niche marketing has almost become a homily – but it enables your company to leverage your marketing expenditures and R&D costs by concentrating on a narrow market segment. ToolLogic, Inc. (www.toollogic.com) is a wonderful example of a company that created/found a niche and then dominated it.

5. What’s unique about your company, services and/or products? When you understand this you’ve just created “brand uniqueness” – make sure you integrate these themes with all of your marketing; customers need to know what’s different about your company versus your competitors. Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream (www.benandjerrys.com) did a wonderful job of developing brand uniqueness in a commodity market (ice cream) that enabled them to build a great company.

6. A key attribute for any successful marketing campaign is repetition – your company may not have the marketing resources of an Intel (their “Intel Inside” campaign far exceeded their marketing goals) but you do need to repeat your message and reinforce the branding and market awareness by touching your market segment via multiple reinforcing marketing processes; i.e. search engine ranking, print, optin email, radio/TV, sponsorship buttons, newsletter inserts, etc.

7. Make it easy to do business with your company by offering pricing and terms of service that fit your client’s needs – DigitNet technologies (www.diginet.com) sells software and or ASP services to its customers by offering them terms of services that can be flexed to fit their needs, not the other way around.

8. Switching costs are high in this challenging market – companies and individuals don’t want to change their habits, as this can cost them more money. So, figure out how you can adapt your products and services to fit their needs to minimize their switching costs. Then, communicate this effectively via all of your marketing processes.

About The Author

Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of business development and marketing experience he is the founder of Intelective Communications, Inc., http://www.intelective.com, a resultsdriven marketing services company providing proprietary services to clients encompassing startups to public companies. [email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 25, 2002

by Lee Traupel

Choosing a Cell Phone Plan

Choosing a Cell Phone Plan

by: Peter Lenkefi

Choosing a cell phone plan can be exciting or confusing. The reason is so many options are available and each one is claimed to be the best option. There may be several options available to you but the best option should be one that fits your lifestyle and needs.

There are two major ways to choose a cell phone plan : By considering prepaid or post paid plans, and frequency and area of coverage.

A prepaid service may be suitable for someone who does not use the phone everyday or regularly as the credit ca be extended over a long period of time. Why pay a fixed amount each month for a service you may be using once a while?

A prepaid service will not require rigorous background checks like credit checks. So if you have a poor credit rating, this is your obvious choice as credit approval is a requirement for connection to this service.

If you are uncertain about future income, prepaid is ideal as there are no monthly service charges to be honored.

Additionally, prepaid does not involve bills and a highly mobile person will find the post paid and its resultant bills uncomfortable as he keeps moving away from his permanent address.

If you are allergic to paperwork and contracts, stick to post paid as post paid demands contact, documents and a lot of administrative work.

Prepaid is also ideal for people who need to conceal their identity as there is no way you can be identified with a prepaid service.

One great disadvantage of prepaid is that a lot of features are not available to you.

With regards to coverage and frequency of use factors, where you intend to use the phone and how often you use the phone will determine which service to go for.

If you travel a lot, then you will have to go for one that allows you to roam whilst still maintaining your cell number. If the company does not cover your area of business, then it may not be worth going forth.

Again some carriers charge according to the geographical area you would be making the call from so it is prudent to subscribe to the service that will cover your area..

On the other hand, if you will remain home for most of the time, then you may have to choose a local service plan as a wider geographical area will cost you more unnecessarily.

You may need to ask yourself ขAm I going to use the phone for emergencies, occasionally or for business?ข A business phone needs a service that is cheap and highly flexible so you can be able to run your business with great ease and least cost.

If you would need the phone for only three hours a month for example, then you may not have to go for an expensive monthly plan which has to be paid for each month irrespective of the usage.

Lastly, do you want a digital or analog service? If you a simple caller with no sophiscated needs, you may need a simple analog service but if you an advanced user you may have to go for a more expensive digital service.

Your phone plan is a reflection of your needs and profile. Moderate users should choose the least expensive option to save money and advanced users should opt for enhanced features which come at a greater cost but essentially serve their needs.

About The Author

Peter Lenkefi

For more more information about choosing a cell phone plan please visit http://www.freecellularphonedeal.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 17

by Peter Lenkefi

At Your Service: The Ten Commandments of Great Cus

At Your Service: The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service!

by: Susan Freidmann

Customer service is an integral part of our job and should not be seen as an extension of it. A company’s most vital asset is its customers. Without them, we would not and could not exist in business. When you satisfy our customers, they not only help us grow by continuing to do business with you, but recommend you to friends and associates.

The practice of customer service should be as present on the show floor as it is in any other sales environment.

The Ten Commandments of Customer Service

1. Know who is boss. You are in business to service customer needs, and you can only do that if you know what it is your customers want. When you truly listen to your customers, they let you know what they want and how you can provide good service. Never forget that the customer pays our salary and makes your job possible.

2. Be a good listener. Take the time to identify customer needs by asking questions and concentrating on what the customer is really saying. Listen to their words, tone of voice, body language, and most importantly, how they feel. Beware of making assumptions thinking you intuitively know what the customer wants. Do you know what three things are most important to your customer?

Effective listening and undivided attention are particularly important on the show floor where there is a great danger of preoccupation looking around to see to whom else we could be selling to.

3. Identify and anticipate needs. Customers don’t buy products or services. They buy good feelings and solutions to problems. Most customer needs are emotional rather than logical. The more you know your customers, the better you become at anticipating their needs. Communicate regularly so that you are aware of problems or upcoming needs.

4. Make customers feel important and appreciated. Treat them as individuals. Always use their name and find ways to compliment them, but be sincere. People value sincerity. It creates good feeling and trust. Think about ways to generate good feelings about doing business with you. Customers are very sensitive and know whether or not you really care about them. Thank them every time you get a chance.

On the show floor be sure that your body language conveys sincerity. Your words and actions should be congruent.

5. Help customers understand your systems. Your organization may have the worldกs best systems for getting things done, but if customers don’t understand them, they can get confused, impatient and angry. Take time to explain how your systems work and how they simplify transactions. Be careful that your systems don’t reduce the human element of your organization.

6. Appreciate the power of กYesก. Always look for ways to help your customers. When they have a request (as long as it is reasonable) tell them that you can do it. Figure out how afterwards. Look for ways to make doing business with you easy. Always do what you say you are going to do.

7. Know how to apologize. When something goes wrong, apologize. Itกs easy and customers like it. The customer may not always be right, but the customer must always win. Deal with problems immediately and let customers know what you have done. Make it simple for customers to complain. Value their complaints. As much as we dislike it, it gives us an opportunity to improve. Even if customers are having a bad day, go out of your way to make them feel comfortable.

8. Give more than expected. Since the future of all companies lies in keeping customers happy, think of ways to elevate yourself above the competition. Consider the following:

What can you give customers that they cannot get elsewhere?

What can you do to followup and thank people even when they don’t buy?

What can you give customers that is totally unexpected?

9. Get regular feedback. Encourage and welcome suggestions about how you could improve. There are several ways in which you can find out what customers think and feel about your services.

Listen carefully to what they say.

Check back regularly to see how things are going.

Provide a method that invites constructive criticism, comments and suggestions.

10. Treat employees well. Employees are your internal customers and need a regular dose of appreciation. Thank them and find ways to let them know how important they are. Treat your employees with respect and chances are they will have a higher regard for customers. Appreciation stems from the top. Treating customers and employees well is equally important.

About The Author

Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: ขMeeting & Event Planning for Dummies,ข working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. Go to http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com to sign up for a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week.

[email protected]

This article was posted on October 16, 2004

by Susan Freidmann

Marketing and the Hired Guerrilla

Marketing and the Hired Guerrilla

by: ClaireJean Korzenewski

It’s a jungle out there, so know and use your guerrilla marketing tactics! Jay Conrad Levinson wrote the book that started it all, the popular guerrilla marketing series. He has compiled a list of 100 tactics – most of them fr*ee – that savvy business leaders use.

One increasingly popular – and profitable – tactic on Levinson’s list is the informative article. Articles are not ads. Articles are written to inform, to educate, and to help people solve problems. Articles you publish, online or off, can help you achieve several worthwhile marketing goals.

ARTICLES ESTABLISH YOUR CREDIBILITY

It is well accepted that consumer confidence is the number one factor affecting purchasing decisions. A potential client who does not trust you will not call you to place an order. He will not access your website and click to purchase. He will not talk to your sales rep.

Through articles you write, you can gain consumer confidence by demonstrating to readers that you understand their needs and that you have the knowledge and ability to deliver what they want.

You feel their pain and can meet their needs, competently and efficiently.

When you communicate this in articles you write, you establish your credibility.

Now when customers need services you provide, they have the confidence to click through to your website, to pick up the phone, or to walk into your store.

ARTICLES POSITION YOU AS THE EXPERT

If you run a business, you are an expert.

You can demonstrate your expertise by sharing your knowledge, experience, and insights with potential clients through your articles. By doing so, you position yourself as the expert.

Now as the credible expert you are the one to go to when it’s time to make a purchase.

ARTICLES ARE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN ADS

Ads are good for grabbing attention, but well written articles can be much more effective since articles, as mentioned, establish your credibility and your expertise.

ARTICLES ARE LESS EXPENSIVE THAN ADS

Articles can be published in traditional print media, including newspapers and trade magazines, or be widely published and read online in optin ezines or newsletters like the ones you read. Or, better yet, the ones your clients read.

Since your articles can provide interesting content for their publications, many ezine and print editors will want to publish them at no cost to you. More effective, less expensive just what every guerrilla needs.

ARTICLES CAN INCREASE YOUR WEB TRAFFIC, YOUR CLIENT BASE, AND YOUR INCOME

You can learn how to easily publish articles you write and begin to reach a wide audience quickly, especially when you publish electronically. Your helpful articles motivate readers to contact you. Your resource box or bio at the end tells them how to reach you and gives them the links to do so.

Several entrepreneurs who have published a number of articles have begun to get 100 new visitors to their websites each week. Those are targeted visitors. Visitors who chose to click through to their site for a reason for more information, for a gift offer, or to make a purchase.

With your effectively designed web site, you can convert your new visitors into new clients. You should provide some motivation for people to leave you their contact information. Perhaps they could request one of your fr*ee offers. That could be an ebook or simply another article or special report you have prepared.

Or ask them a question they’ll want to respond to. Since you want to understand your customers needs anyway ask, ขWhat are your biggest challenges/obstacles/complaints with…ข marketing, writing, investing, or whatever your field of expertise. Better yet, give them a gift for answering the question.

ALL RIGHT! I’M CONVINCED

All effective marketing plans must be implemented and must be ongoing. In other words, you’ve got to start and stick with it. Levinson, the original guerrilla marketer, says this is an area where many businesses drop the ball. They quit working their plan. He says all marketing works, you’ve just got to give it enough time.

PLAN YOUR WORK, WORK YOUR PLAN

Work into your calendar a time slot for writing an article at least once a month. You should expect to spend 4 to 8 hours writing and submitting a 400 to 1000 word article.

This may seem like a large commitment, but the return on your time investment could be dozens or even hundreds of targeted new contacts each week.

You can learn more about preparing and submitting articles from several websites by searching online for ‘article writing.’ Opening Doors with Your Articles (at http://www.charliecook.net/) is a helpful ebook written by Charlie Cook explaining the process from writing to formatting to submitting articles.

By searching online for ‘article announce,’ you can find several sites that make articles you post available to ezine and website editors who are seeking content for their publications.

Yahoo has half a dozen sites used by hundreds of editors and writers. You might begin with http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce/.

DO WHAT YOU DO BEST

If you feel you need to improve your writing skills, you can read books, subscribe to email courses, or study writers’ websites.

On the other hand, you need to determine the best use of your time. If writing articles takes energy away from doing what you do best, then maybe you should…

HIRE A GUERRILLA!

Smart marketers don’t reject an outstanding marketing tactic just because it’s inconvenient, uncomfortable, or outside their realm of expertise. They find a way to get the job done.

Levinson finds that most business owners are aware of only 5 to 10 of his guerrilla marketing tactics and possibly only use 3 of them. But he says guerrillas are aware of all 100 tactics and use about 40 of them.

You can read Levinson’s 100 tactics at http://gmarketingcoach.com/weapons.htm. Over half of these tactics cost nothing, but others are outsourced.

Just like many business owners outsource their website design, their advertising campaigns, or the manufacture of their signs, you can outsource your article writing needs. A search for ‘freelance writer’ or ‘copywriter’ turns up links to individuals or to services that connect buyers to writers.

Promote your business like a guerrilla. There’s always more than one way to get a job done. In fact, Levinson tells us that there are at least 100 ways.

Publishing articles in ezines or in print is one tactic that needs to be in your arsenal. So consistently write and publish your articles or hire your own guerrilla and get the job done!

PERMISSIONS TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in its entirety free of charge, electronically or in print, provided it appears with the included copyright and author’s resource box with live website link. The only changes allowed are to the summary, and you may substitute your affiliate links for mine. Notification by email to [email protected] of intent to publish is appreciated but not required.

None of the links in this article are submitted as affiliate links, though the ebook author does offer affiliate links.

About The Author

ClaireJean Korzenewski writes effective content that works hard for you to improve profits, to enhance your image, to inform, to educate. She is the owner of Best Expressions Writing & Desktop Services at www.BestExpressions.biz. Email her at [email protected].

This article was posted on February 13, 2004

by ClaireJean Korzenewski

Long Sales Letters vs. Short Sales Letters

Long Sales Letters vs. Short Sales Letters

by: Matthew Cobb

Everywhere I turn, Iกm being asked to weigh in on the issue of whether copy should be long or short in a sales letter. I receive countless newsletters on copywriting and marketing, and they are all still debating the issue.

I doubt that the question will be answered definitively, but after hearing from other Internet copywriters and after considering the issue myself, Iกve learned that if you follow three guidelines, the issue of length will become almost irrelevant.

Guideline #1) TELL PROSPECTS WHAT THEY WANT AND NEED TO KNOW TO MAKE A BUYING DECISION.

Interested prospects will read even a sales letter of several pages long if they are interested and if your sales letter has good content. Many of us are more interested in telling prospects what WE want them to know. But we should all be telling prospects what THEY want and need to know.

Guideline #2) OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS.

This guideline is actually Rule #17 from Strunk & Whiteกs famous little book on writing, _The_Elements_of_Style_. (If you write, you really should read this small but influential book.)

Anything that doesn’t have a direct purpose or work toward winning over your prospect should be cut out. I don’t care how much you want to tell them about what a great reputation your company has and how successful you were last year. Unless that information takes the reader one step closer to buying (admittedly, sometimes it does), cut it.

Do the research and know your target audience. Then, write with their needs in mind. Write everything your prospects want and need to read, but write ONLY what they want and need to read. Cut the rest.

Guideline #3) TEST. TEST. TEST.

This is the best indicator of how long your sales letter should be. If you don’t like to test, you have to rely on luck. Not a good idea. Put together the best sales letter you can with everything a prospect needs to know to make a buying decision, cut out anything thatกs not essential reading for your prospect, then run it. Record the results. Rewrite a portion of the letter. Test again. Record the results. Keep doing this until conversion rates improve and youกll know how long your sales letter needs to be. Of course, this kind of testing is much easier online than in offline direct mail, but it needs to be done. (Offline direct mail will probably require a split mailing.)

Although many people will tell you that ‘research has shown longer sales letters pull better,ก the only research you should be paying attention to is your own. Long sales letters don’t pull well for everyone.

Thereกs an easy way to answer to the question of how long or short a sales letter should be. (Itกs the same for other similar questions of tone, diction, and how much text you should emphasize.) Determine the needs and desires of your readers and youกll have your answer.

About The Author

Matthew Cobb is an independent copywriter/consultant. Contact him at [email protected] or learn more about Sales Letters by Matthew Cobb by visiting his Web site at www.cobbwriting.com/salesletters, and sign up for his free monthly epublication, The Seductive Sales Letter Clinic.

This article was posted on March 19, 2003

by Matthew Cobb

Keeping Control of your Brochure Making

Keeping Control of your Brochure Making

by: Maricon Williams

A printed brochure will never go passé because it is something every company needs. It is an avenue to keep customers coming. Brochures can be simple as black and white copy on a trifold sheet or it can be complex as text uses full color graphics and photos on a glossy paper. Convenience of brief, targeted messages to prospective customers is the benefit of brochures. Another is that customers can easily pass the information to another, therefore, it is a builtin advertisement.

Generally, there are two types of brochure. The first one is the calltoaction brochure. It is usually meant for the general public or a large group of people. The other type is the informative brochure is usually made for a specific audience.

A calltoaction brochure needs a brief history of the organization or business. This type of brochure is normally broad in scope. The aim of this is to inspire a group to either join the organization or bring their business needs to you. Informative brochure, on the other hand, is used to educate the audience about a specific function or product.

If done correctly, both types can be very effective. To do it correctly, we must bear in mind the following rules. Keeping general information will extend the shelf life of your product. If you think the dates and numbers may change in the future, then don’t include it anymore. Keep your brochure brief and striking. Bold fonts and colorful graphics catch attention, you can use it to ensure that your material will be read.

If in case there is a conflict between a piece of information and a picture which entails powerful emotion, go for the picture because it is where we base our purchasing decisions.

Play with the words and try to captivate customers through positivism because optimism sells. The focal point of advertising is the benefits that will accrue to the customers. Always stress benefits greater than features. Tell them what they’re getting from their decision.

Print enough copies so you can cover all the bases. Place them in conspicuous places – commercial buildings, offices and other establishments. Your brochure will do the talking for you so be sure that it has he necessary information like your address, phone number, website and email address so that you can be easily reached. Wherever you go, always carry some copies with you. Better yet, affix a business card to your brochure so you are prepared anytime of the day.

You must be sure that all elements of brochure support its purpose – from the contents to visual elements to distribution plan, they must be anchored to your objective. With that you can be assured of a booming organization or business!

About The Author

Maricon Williams

I love reading. Give me a book and Iกll finish it in one sitting. Reading is the chance to be transported to a different world and so is writing. Iกm more enthusiastic about writing however, since you can relay your ideas to someone else. I can only imagine that feeling when I hear a complete stranger talking about my ideas which read on an article somewhere. To relay my message to as many people is the same as touching people with music. Only mineกs less harmonic. I try to make up for it with the color I bring with words. And most of the time, it’s more than enough.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 07

by Maricon Williams

The Essential Conflict in Humans is between our Sp

The Essential Conflict in Humans is between our Species Nature and our Consciousness

by: Clive Taylor

The two parts of our beings:

One part of our beings is our DNAbased species’ nature, which includes the elements of our brain activity and awareness that evolved to contribute to our survival in the world and especially, the survival of our unique individual DNA, generation to generation.

The other part is an ขaccidentalข outcome of DNA’s survival activities in the world – Consciousness.

The nature of consciousness:

Consciousness came about as an ขemergentข property from the individual organism’s need to be able to make survival ขdecisionsข momenttomoment, rather than generationtogeneration as it was in simpler times, biologically speaking.

As the complexity of the organ that evolved to make those decisions, increased, a threshold was reached where the new property of consciousness appeared.

There are many dynamics in nature that show this ขaccidentalข new emergent property appearing out of simpler activities. The universe itself is probably such an emergent property.

The essential conflict:

The conflict comes from the fact that the needs of DNA are different to the needs of selfaware consciousness.

DNA has no regard for the feelings or survival of the organism other than those that further the DNA’s propagation, whereas our conscious selves want freedom from pain and suffering and want choice over the experience of our lives.

At times, this choice goes directly against the needs of DNA – such as when we choose not to have children (the vehicles of DNA propagation).

A lot of the strange behaviour of individuals (of any species) can be shown to be an outcome of the inbuilt, longterm survival need of the relevant DNA.

(There is a microorganism Toxoplasma that has a DNApropagation cycle that needs cats and mice: The organism can only breed in cats, so it has evolved a situation where it gets into cat faeces and then infects the mice when they come in contact with it. The microorganism then gets into the mouse brain and causes the mouse to seek out cats and lose coordination. This allows a cat to catch and eat the mouse, furthering the breeding cycle.)

The resolution of conflict:

We try to suppress the pain and confusion caused by this essential conflict by denying parts of our being, by pretending it doesn’t affect us.

We throw ourselves into one side of our being or another or we flip from one state to another, in a desperate urge to find ease from the dilemma, but the dilemma is real.

We have no real choice but to find a way to come to terms with it.

The way each one of us resolves this essential conflict is entirely up to us.

It is possible that no particular way of resolving this conflict that anyone has yet found, is of any use to anyone else.

There may not be any one way to do so, other than through our becoming fully conscious around the whole issue.

In life, there may only be a choice between conscious awareness of what actually is, or believing and living what others tell us is true and/or a reactive closingdown of our awareness of what actually is.

It’s up to each one of us which one we choose.

A suggestion, is to put aside all ideas that we have about life, about how to resolve the pain and suffering of our core conflict, including this article, and find out the true nature of these things for ourselves.

It can be immensely liberating.

Good luck with your journey of personal liberation.

About The Author

Years of research into consciousness, zeropoint physics theory, emergence theory, memes and many other new understandings coming out of mathematics and physics. Ongoing work as relationship therapist is bringing deep revelations about the nature of our psyches. Author/illustrator children’s books (e.g. I Wish My Dad Was A Pirate). Music CD (The Nothing Booth).

Related web site: www.becomereal.com. For online access to unique self growth process.

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 13, 2003

by Clive Taylor