Just Say it with a Card

Writing a Sincere Thank You to your Customers 

When was the last time you sent a heartfelt thank-you to a customer? See the key word is sent! We as a society has become so dependent on e-mail as a primary form of communication, that writing thank-you notes has become a lost art. Why not make your communications with customers and potential clients so effective that it increases customer loyalty as well as increases sales and profits all the while leaving customers with a overjoyed feeling that you cared enough to think of them?

Send Out Cards, a great source for sending customized greetings and gifts, can help you take the time to send a personalized thank-you to your customers or potential clients. In this current economic climate, companies are focused on sustaining their businesses. Sending heartfelt, appreciative thank-you notes to your clients and potential clients will not only help you sustain your sales, but you may even see an increase in sales and referrals. When clients trust you and feel they are important to you, they continue to do business with your company, and they refer their colleagues, friends and family.

 

Because of the sincerity, a heartfelt appreciation will be felt by your clients when they open and read your note. Here are Two ways a thank you note can change your business TODAY! 

1. Personalized thank-you notes will increase customer loyalty - Personalized notes are either completely hand written, or printed with a special note and signature in your own handwriting. 
2. Personalized thank-you notes will increase stronger referrals for your business - Customers who are satisfied and feel they are important to your business will refer their friends and family members to you. How many of your competitors do you think are sending these types of heartfelt notes? Very few. 

Differentiate yourself from your competition by adding inexpensive personal touches like thank-you cards. 

Take It Up A Notch

Add photos of your clients with yourself, the company, or recognize the anniversary of their purchase with you. If appropriate, remember their birthday and send a birthday card. Keep a camera handy for photo shots. Include the photo with your card. Personalize the card with a gift like a gift card to a favorite store or a box of brownies to soothe those chocolate urges. Your customers may not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will remember how you made them feel. Make your customers feel appreciated TODAY and see your sales and referrals soar!

Onward and Upward!

Read More

Appreciation: The Antidote. What's Appreciation Marketing?

Now You’re Speaking My Language 

Most of our marketing efforts are done to attract customers but imagine what could happen if you added the value of appreciation marketing to your marketing mix? So what is appreciation marketing? Basically it’s about making people feel unique, and not just another sale for the week. It’s about doing the obvious thing, saying thank you, but presenting that “thank you” in the most unexpected way.

We all have stories about how our parents, aunts, or even grandma corrected us as little children when we forgot to acknowledge someone with a “thank you” when we received something. But what use to be common knowledge and etiquette in our society is somewhat an afterthought in our personal lives as well as our business lives. Let’s get inspired right here and right now to apply appreciation marketing as a part of our daily business communications and use it to not only keep customers but build loyalty to our brand.

There are many situations where you can use Appreciation Marketing and the key is to be sincere without obvious expectation of return or acknowledgement. But before I go there, I’d like to rename Appreciation Marketing to Gratitude Promoting. Now I know this doesn’t sound as sleek as Appreciation Marketing, but I want to get you focused on the “Action and Feeling” of what appreciation does for you the business owner and how that positive energy affects your customers. For instance, when you send someone a gift and do it not expecting them to reciprocate in the same manner, you receive an overwhelming sensation that gifts back to you time and time again without costing you millions of dollars. That sensation is Gratitude.


Go ahead! Start setting up and sending Gratitude Promotions to everyone: your employees or team members, your customers, potential customers who you may have had a 15 minute conversation with, suppliers, vendors, people who you see everyday like the UPS guy, or the waitress at your favorite restaurant. Saying THANK YOU doesn’t need to break your bank account but when it done successfully, it can overwhelm your marketing efforts with new sales leads and potential buyers because of your sincere generosity and attention to the things that matter most to any business.

I Double Dare You 

The biggest reason we lose customers is that they don't feel appreciated. Some of us have never acknowledged our customers outside of the generic, “Thanks for your business.” We live in a society of ‘Likes’ and quick email taglines. I dare you this weekend to go through your mailing lists and send a card or even a postcard to your customers and even those who were not ready to buy into your products and services and send them a Gratitude Promotion simply saying, “I’ve been thinking about you and hope you are doing well. If there is any questions I can answer for you or someone you may know in regards to (your business), please don’t hesitate to call.” Or how about, “I’m so glad we had the chance to connect.” Either way you express it just make sure it’s sincere and don’t make it a one-time-thing. Be consistent with you Gratitude Promotions and be prepared to receive so much more than you have given.

Share with us your results and if you’d like to start today with sending a Gratitude Promotion customized with your greeting, logo, or picture all done up in a simple card, just click here.

Onward and Upward!

Read More

Accolades: Humble Thyself

Get ‘Em Buzzin’ for Your Business 

Many business owners don't realize the value of awards. Did you know that you could capitalize on your accomplishments by using them as a way to market your businesses products and services? Most start-ups and “small businesses” have a hard time creating awareness around their brand as well as building credibility. One of the easiest and most inexpensive ways for you to stand out from your competitors is to win industry awards. You can gain recognition for yourself, your business and your company website just by taking advantage of this lucrative marketing strategy. Awards bring you prestige and overall more traffic especially to your website or storefront. Don’t underestimate local business contests or even online awards. Whatever accolades you as a business receives can be used to position your company for a lot more recognition and customers.

They Really Like Us 

Customers want to see accolades. They want to know something good about you. Awards provide valuable third-party corroboration of your value propositions. Customers like to be associated with a winning company, and potential customers often make their purchasing decisions based on the decisions of other businesses like theirs. When prospective customers see that you've won an award, it can sway them to choose you over your competition.

Winning awards can improve employee morale. When employees are proud of their company's achievements, they have an excuse to tell prospects and customers why you won a particular award. If they're selling your product, it makes their job easier because of the "stamp of approval" from an unbiased source. can actually help you attract the best new employees. People are drawn to award-winning businesses because they want to work for a winner.

Step by Step

It can take a considerable amount of time to apply for industry awards but winning can lead to measurable growth so make sure you research the appropriate awards within your industry and plan ahead how you will apply for the nomination. If an award is marketed properly, they can instantly establish credibility without even having a “real-live” client to vouch for your business and having won accolades gets your business “in-crowd” rights because now you're in league with some great companies and remarkable leaders. You can use this to your advantage when networking, because you have something in common with those big-time companies and believe me they want to get to know you and your business.

Take Ground with Accolade Marketing 

Before you start applying for every award out there, make sure you qualify. Most awards will focus on companies and products launched within a specific time frame or fit a certain business structure criteria so make sure your business meets the award terms and conditions when applying. After you've taken the initiative to apply track the status of your application by signing up for email updates or visit the awards website for weekly updates. Once award is in hand, here are a variety of ways to Promote Your Accolades: 

• Send out Press releases 
• Include a link to your award page in your business email marketing - Share the story behind your award and why you won. 
• Use the award logo on Your Marketing Tools - Use the logos and the phrase "award-winning" in your online advertising, put them on your direct mail pieces, business cards, and on your website home page. 
• Go Viral with Social media - Include quick links on Twitter and post the press release on Facebook as well as list the awards you have won on your LinkedIn company page. 
• Use the award in your sales pitches 

Routinely seek out awards and ratings in your industry. A great starting point is your local Better Business Bureau where you should apply for membership and maintain that all important A+ rating. Also, make sure to check industry-specific publications as well as general business and entrepreneurial publications as they often have awards for various criteria.

Onward and Upward!

Read More

It’s A Big Deal: Recognition

The Fruit of Happy Employees 

The success of any business mostly leans on the motivation of its employees. But there is no exact formula to determine how to motivate any particular team of people because we are human and we are all motivated by different things. Creating an employee recognition system is not only a great way to encourage your employees or team to go beyond what is expected of them, but it can increase productivity and is a cool way to spotlight someone with a sincere award. Still, there are some key concepts to keep in mind when developing a plan to motivate employees or team members within your business.

Recognition programs are nothing new, but you should strive to make your recognition system different from all the rest. You've got to know that employee recognition is a planned strategy that should be in place before your business brings on employees or team members. Recognition has to be consistent and your team should be aware of the benefits of being recognized. It’s time to stop seeing employee recognition as a “nicety” to a necessity.

5 ways to provide recognition for your team 

Consistent Employee Evaluations - Give goals that can be measured and achieved and remember to stay consistent with the process.

Peer Recognition - Get your team involved and maybe have two awards given, one from management and another from the team.

Team Testimonials - Share stories from your employees that highlight any achievements that have happened out in the field or tactics that boosted sales, etc.

Have an Annual Award Ceremony - Have an event with awards that encompass a “yearly” theme like Employee of the Year, etc.

Give Unexpected Praise - Spotlight those efforts of employees or team members that go above and beyond the call-of-duty.

Onward and Upward!

Read More

You Can’t Make this Stuff Up

This week I want to impress upon you the importance of recognition, accolades, and just simply appreciating those around you in your business as well as your personal life. Think about it.... If we honored the gift of recognition, accolades, and appreciation... If this was a “must do” in the workplace, most employers would experience more success and output from their employees.

Folks! I can’t make this stuff up! 
Your attitude determines your altitude and you will attract what you are thinking whether it be good or bad. So I challenge you this week to attract all the greatness you can stand! Get all the those positive things that you truly want to achieve and stand still to watch it return to you tenfold.

Here are three areas to help build up All The Greatness You Can Stand in your business as well as your personal life:

1. Recognition: The Fruit of Happy Employees 
2. Accolades: Humble Thyself 
3. Appreciation: The Antidote 

Remember, what you speak does come to pass. Choose to speak greatness into someone’s life (including yourself) whenever the opportunity presents itself. If you begin to practice speaking life into any situation, it will produce life where you spoke it and return back to you. But be mindful. Choose wisely because you can reap the benefits either way.

Life and Death is in The Power of The Tongue 

Never give up! 
Believe in yourself when no one else does. Stay committed, focused, and above all have patience. YOUR BREAKTHROUGH IS ON ITS WAY. Whatever you are seeking is truly seeking you. Make sure you are surrounding yourself with positive energy. This energy can be people, places, as well as things. Build Your Faith. It Makes You Stronger.

Stay Tuned! 
This week will be chock full of inspirational quotes, images, and affirmations so spread the word and get pumped for a motivated week.  Tomorrow we will expand on how recognition is the fruit of happy employees and tips on how you can incorporate recognition into your business life and personal life.

Onward and Upward!

Read More

The 5 W’s to Outshining your Competition: (Part 3)

What makes us different from them? 
So you've gone through the 4 W’s to Outshining your competition; What do we do best?, Who is our target customer?, What needs do we fulfill for them?, and Who is our competition? So now it should be easy to answer the 5th ‘W’, “What makes us different from them?” You should be overflowing with great ideas, concepts, and reasons as to what makes your business the “go-to” business. Well if you are still working on the 4 “W”’s, lets discuss a few ways you can distinguish your business from the others.

1. Define your company's beliefs. What does your business value? Be great at execution. 
2. Do what you say you’re going to do! 
3. Create a winning combination. Plan out more efficient ways to make your products and services easier to use and clearer to understand for your customers. 

These 3 things can really help solidify how you can outshine your competition and create more consistent sales for your business. Here’s a great example of how Green Army Pest and Pesticides Control defines themselves from their competitors.

At the End of the Day, Don’t take No for an answer 
The greatest thing about being in business, especially for yourself, is being able to be of service to someone and seeing how all your hard work benefited them. But before we get to be of service to our ideal customer, we may experience a lot of “No, I’m not interested?” Even if you get a “no,” be sure to have a plan in place for those potential customers who may not be interested or ready to buy in to your products or services at that particular time. Keep in touch with prospects and existing customers by asking for permission to record at least a name and email address. Try to contact prospects and existing customers at least once quarterly to just say, “hi” and ask if there’s anything they need. Email newsletters featuring new products and offerings, advice and tips and even success stories are an excellent way to stay on the forefront of people’s minds. The ultimate goal is to cultivate long-term customers and relationships.

No business will transform every lead into a sale, but you can build a much higher conversion rate if you listen more and talk less. 

So what do you think? Will your business be able to meet the expectations of potential and existing customers with your products and services as they are now or will you examine them as well as your businesses marketing plan to go above and beyond to get and keep their business? I hope you’ll take this weekend and go through and answer The 5 W’s to Outshining your Competition. Let us know what the outcome was and how it may have helped you stand out among the rest!

What do we do best? 
Who is our target customer? 
What needs do we fulfill for them? 
Who is our competition? 
What makes us different from them? 

Onward and Upward!

Read More

The 5 W’s to Outshining your Competition: (Part 2)

What needs do we fulfill for them? 
So you've gone through all this trouble to bring your products and services to the world marketplace. Most of you have toiled over them with long nights and endless days making sure your potential customers would love them as much as you do. But are our products and services really addressing the needs and challenges that your customers may have? Do your products and services bring an awareness to a problem and ultimately fix the problem?

With the added exposure brought on by social media, multi-television channels, and the internet, help our products and services close the gap to finding out who are customers are and how we can better serve them with our business.

The greatest effect 
There are ever changing conditions that will affect your sell-ability:

• The Economy 
• Geographical Location 
• Customers Current Financial Status (compared to when they 1st purchased product/service from you and where they may be now) 

Being one step ahead of the game means that you may need to answer so serious questions of your business on a monthly or yearly basis so that you are always in tune to your customers needs. Having a better understanding of what your potential or current customer desires before giving your sales pitch can help you better fulfill a particular need and ultimately gain your business consistent sales. Here are some questions you can use to help you stay relevant to your customers needs and desires.

1. What is your potential customer’s current situation? 
2. What factors are driving their decisions? Are they looking for a higher or lower quality product/service?
3. What is their determining price point? (What is the reason behind this?) 
4. Will your product/service fulfill a specific need or solve a particular problem? 

It needs more Salt 
I can’t get enough of the television show Restaurant: Impossible that broadcasts on the Food Network Channel. In a two day mission, Chef Irvine has the impossible task to address why a restaurant is failing and how he will get them back on the track to success. He is outfitted with a $10,000 budget, a contractor, an interior designer, and over 20 years of restaurant knowledge. 85% of the episodes I've seen had business owners that loved the idea of owning their own restaurant but had no clue about the daily operations and sacrifices that go along with running one.

I have viewed over 20 shows and the common message is get to know your clientele. The owner may have an idea of who they are cooking for but more than often those clients are not coming in to eat because of the atmosphere, the service, or simply the food doesn't get seasoned right, “It needs more salt.” In this video, Chef Irvine goes out to the community to ask their opinion about the restaurant and brings the video footage back to the owner to show him how he needs to be open to a potential customers wants and needs. Quite simply, listen to your potential and existing customers. Ask them, “if this doesn't interest you, what products and/or services would?”

   

 If you listen and observe, you can quickly make a connection with a prospect and begin to build trust. 

Who is our competition? 

Every business has competitors. If you do not know who your competitors are, it is likely that someone else can offer a competitive advantage. Be that business that can offer a potential customer something that the competition can’t. You can transform your business into the “go-to” business by being more aware of what the competition is doing, how they are marketing themselves, and identifying what is working for them and what is not. Watching and learning from competitors will give you an insight into how they run their businesses and maybe even some fresh ideas.

   

Competition is fierce out there requiring the “smaller-size” business to come up with ways to stay in the game and beat out the bigger business. Learning your competitors tactics and implementing better business strategies helps your business to stay in that game. 

Onward and Upward!

Read More

The 5 W’s to Outshining your Competition: (Part1)

What do we do best? 
Set aside some time to write a one- or two-paragraph description of what sets you and your company apart from the competition. What does your business do better than your competitor(s)? If you need to write more than one-to-two paragraphs down, do so. After your writing exercise, begin to erase or edit the general statements or anything that seems a mimic to your competition or maybe what you've already seen advertised. You should be left with a clean but specific statement. This statement is called a Unique Selling Proposition. This statement is what you’ll add to your business brand toolbox and it will become what your client and prospects immediately understand about how your products and services will help them. One thing, be sure this USP statement is something you can really stand by and deliver to your customers. It is like a promise you make. If you can’t keep a promise, your customers will think you are not trustworthy. 

When you are trying to sell to everyone it’s hard to specialize your products and services

Who is our target customer? 

After you get an idea on your USP statement, use it to fine tune who you are marketing too. As the saying goes, “you can’t please everyone”, use your statement to define your target audience. Here’s a great worksheet from Profit Fusion that you can print out to help you compose your target audience.

A target customer is someone who is most likely going to buy from you. When you ask questions like: are your target customers male or female, what is their age, where do they live (geographically), what do they do for a living (profession), how much money do they make, or what are their shopping habits are, you can focus in on what customer you really want and need. When you are trying to sell to everyone it’s hard to specialize your products and services. Try to visualize your customers using your products and services to get a better feel for what they may need in addition to them or what you may need to add to make your products and services more efficient.

For a more in-depth look at the Unique Selling Proposition statement, the people over at Think Traffic did an excellent job at breaking USP down and making it plain.

Onward and Upward!

Read More

Get your Shine On!

There are so many businesses operating out here that it can be hard to differentiate your business from other competitors. What makes store A different from store B?

  

They both appear to look the same but the difference could be in their business message. Store A could offer the same products as store B, their price points could be a little cheaper in price, or their displays and the layout of their store may be better because they pay close attention to the visual appeal and keep wide aisles for easy access. Maybe store B trains its staff to greet everyone who walks in their store and find out what they were shopping for instead of watching them walk aimlessly through the aisles.

Create a niche (specialty) for your products and services to thrive in

What do they Want
Three fourths of Americans say they are living simpler. They are spending less on things they may want and being more frugal with the things they need as a result of the recession. Focusing on your customers needs and wants more than how to outwit the competition will lead to building solid relationships based on mutual trust. Solid business relationships are built on presenting ourselves and treating our customers better than the competition. So how will you meet their expectations of your products and services and what will you do to go above and beyond to get and keep their business? This week we will focus on the 5 W’s to help you outshine your competition.

The 5 W’s to Outshining your Competition 

1. What do we do best? 
2. Who is our target customer? 
3. What needs do we fulfill for them? 
4. Who is our competition? 
5. What makes us different from them?

Onward and Upward!

Read More

Grow and Prosper: Happy Independence Day

Happy 4th for those of you business owners in the United States. For some this is a day to relax, cook (smell my smokehouse peach cobbler?), or get together with friends and family to watch those amazing fireworks. Some may be utilizing the holiday to have sales on products and services but what is this day really about? 

Short & Sweet History Lesson 
The day of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence stems from a document which declared that all men have the God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Obviously, this played a vital role in the founding of our country. But, today, I want to equate those words to us as business owners. The founders DECLARED independence. Are you declaring independence (the God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) in your business? In our businesses as well as our personal lives, we should DECLARE independence and if we have not, do something about it RIGHT NOW. We should actively PURSUE happiness, and for those of us who are spiritually focused, we should invite GODLY guidance into our businesses. We have the LIBERTY to do so much more than the founding fathers especially when it comes to owning and operating a business.

Declare success in your business and pursue all the tools and strategies out there. Actively participate, whether good or bad, in all aspects of your business. I wanted to share a great tool for those of you that are looking to re-energize your business by either re-engaging with your team or simply adding a team to your business structure. The energy continuum concept can help you understand what this productivity strategy can do to re-energize your business.

The model shows when team members or staff with low engagement passively wait to see what comes next, they tend to go to the left on the continuum to the state of “rustout,” with “no hope.” On the opposite extreme, some people are so committed they take on impossible tasks or projects beyond their talents and skills only to become overwhelmed reaching a point of “burnout” as they experience “no relief.”

In the state of “rustout” and “burnout”, efficiency is at its lowest. Efficiency is only increased when team members or staff manage their discretionary energy carefully, allowing them to stay highly engaged near the point of equilibrium—at the midpoint on the Energy Continuum.

Renew your Team’s Sense of Engagement and Commitment 
If you’ve been away from your business for a while and are beginning to re-engage with it, take a moment to find out why you’ve been in the state of “burnout” and see where you stand within the goals you set forth when you embarked on your business venture before addressing your team. If you don’t have any goals written out, this is a good time to get some to help you stay on course as well as help your team understanding where you’d like to take the business.

Goal Reassessment 
Take a good hard look at what is being done today in your business and who is or has stepped up to the plate. Ask yourself, what is being accomplished and what isn’t being accomplished? Are your methods overdone? What isn’t being accomplished that should be? You may be able to increase revenues with the right mix of new ideas, methods, and goals for your team/staff.

They make think It’s All Hype
If you have a team and haven’t been the leader they need your team members or staff may be skeptical initially as you undertake a renewed look at your business and assess efforts. Once you have thought through your plans of re-engagement, take time to communicate with the whole team to answer questions, make your goals clear, and get their commitment.

Create a community of support for the effort by developing a sense of collaboration. People who are burned out often lack the energy or motivation to reach out to their peers or colleagues in other functions. Yet working with others and providing mutual support contribute to an upward spiral of energy and efficiency, helping to reverse declining levels of commitment.

As the continuum illustrates, we as business owners need to evaluate how we engage with our team members or staff and see changes that offer hope of relief and renewal in order to re-engage and avoid the results of burnout—reduced efficiency, productivity, and commitment.

 There’s no “I” in TEAM but there is “I” in WIN. - Michael Jordan

Read More