Local Business Goes Online

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Tips For Providing Good Customer Service

One of the most important things in order for you to achieve success in your business will be for you to treat your customers well; after all, customers have plenty of choices when it comes to who they will give their time and money to, and if you are not careful, it will be easy for you to fall out of favor with them - but while it is quite easy to understand exactly why good customer service is important, it can be much more difficult at times to know exactly what you should aim to do in order to provide good customer service.

When a customer visits you in your store (or even when they call you - or even when they visit your website!), you will hope for them to make a purchase, but one thing you will want to make sure of is that you do not harass them in your efforts to nudge them in this direction; learn to help your customers as much as they need, but to do so in such a way that they do not feel that you are "pushing" them to buy.

Making it easy for people to make returns and exchanges is another big part of having success in business (even though this might seem counterproductive on the surface!); a lot of times, customers will end up with the wrong product through no fault of their own, or will end up with a product that is defective, and when you are able to build a reputation with customers of being a place that works with them when this happens, they will be far more likely to turn your way when it is time to shop.

And always giving your customers a place they will want to come back to will be the biggest thing of all for customer service, and this means treating them with respect and always making them feel welcome each time they step into your store.

As you go through all the strategic steps you will go through in order to achieve success with your business, make sure you keep customer service in mind - always realizing that this is as important as anything else when you want your business to thrive.

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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

How To Hire People Who You Will Enjoy Being Around

You will probably end up spending very little time around anyone you end up hiring after they start working for the company if you are in charge of hiring for a large business or corporation, but if - on the other hand - you own a small business and are looking to hire a new employee or two, you will probably end up spending a great deal of time around whoever it is that you hire. Even though it is unlikely that you are looking for "new friends" through the interview process, it is always nice (considering the amount of time you will end up spending around the person you hire!) to hire someone who will not only do a great job for you, but who will be enjoyable to be around all the time as well.

The first step of the hiring process, when you are hoping to hire someone you will enjoy being around, is the same as the hiring process any other time - narrowing down the applications to those you feel are most qualified; when you do this first, you will ensure that anyone you interview is (on paper, at least!) fully qualified for and capable of the duties required by the position itself.

When conducting the actual interview with each of these prospective employees, you will of course be asking the regular questions you would ask to assess who would be best for the job, but in addition to this, you should also try to be personable with each person you are interviewing; when you do this, you will be able to get a much better feel for who will be personable and easy to be around in return.

And once this new hire has started working for you - even if you felt in the interview that they were someone you would thoroughly enjoy being around - you may end up finding that you really do not enjoy being around this person at all; if this is the case, do not worry, however, as you will at least know that you hired someone who will do an excellent job, and that is by far the most important thing!

Monday, November 4, 2013

How To Deal With An Upset Customer In Person

If you work at a job where you rarely deal with customers - and where, if you do deal with customers, it is usually through email or over the phone - you will not have to worry about one of the things that is among the biggest concerns of people in the opposite position: dealing with an upset customer in person. When it comes to dealing with an upset customer in person, it is not that you have necessarily done anything wrong that makes it such a frustration - but in fact, the fact that you have probably done nothing wrong actually compounds the frustration, as you will often be treated by the customer as though you have done something wrong; for this reason, knowing how deal with an upset customer in person can be extremely valuable, as it can lessen the strain these encounters put on you.

The first thing the customer will want to know is that you are on their side, as they will assume you are "against them" if you are not "for them"; even if you do not necessarily agree with their complaint, you should always be understanding and create an image of agreement, as this will cause them to feel like you are their ally rather than their enemy - which, of course, will prevent them from turning their attack to you.

Once you have established the boundaries of the discussion in such a way that they feel you are on their side, you can take the next step, which is offering solutions; the person with whom you are dealing may turn out to be inconsolable, but at least - in taking this approach - you can try to solve the problem on your own.

When it comes to dealing with an upset customer in person, however, there will be times when you will not be able to solve the problem on your own; if you find yourself in this position, remember that there is always someone above you to whom you can pass this customer along - which is what you will sometimes have to do, as many customers in this position simply remain upset until they get the satisfaction of talking to someone's "superior"!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Your Marketing Plan and Social Marketing

Every business is constantly looking for ways to retain their competitive edge. Your direct competition can copy many of the things you do. They can come out with the same product or service, open another location next door to you, and market in the same ways as you do. If you want to stay ahead of them in your line of business the only true way to do so is by social marketing.

A few different techniques are combined into one with social marketing and this allows it to be a consistent method. Many people think of social marketing as something that is done online and on new social media sites. This misconception is prevalent. The type of marketing they are thinking of is really named social media marketing; something different. Social marketing is done both on and off of computers.

Social marketing starts with the important relationship that you and your business has with its customers. This relationship needs to be nurtured in every way possible. One way to do this is through physical meetings with your clients. E-mails and social media sites can also be used to keep in touch online. Usually you can determine which method is best on a case by case basis.

The rest will really take care of itself as long as you are sure to nurture the relationship you have with customers wherever possible. The second part of this marketing method involves customers spreading the word about your business. If they are happy with your business, then they will tell others in their life about you. This will lead to many referral sales opportunities. It will then be up to you to convert them to sales.

The best part about social marketing is that it has no cost. Throughout history many ancient cultures have employed this type of marketing in their business. It has been given its name just recently however. Your business marketing plan should start with social marketing since it has no real cost involved other than man power.

Using Customer Referrals to Grow Your Business

A small business constantly struggles with building up their customer base. Gathering new clients is very difficult to do no matter what kinds of methods are employed. One method can be an array of different marketing techniques. Another one would be cold calling your target client. Potential customer's homes can also be mailed to directly if you like. Yet there is an untapped resource for many businesses. The potential of referrals from their current customers is often something that they fail to take advantage of.

The back bone of your business development plan can be customer referrals if you use them in the right way. The best advertisement for your business is your current customers who are pleased. You can drastically grow the amount of new customers your business generates if you are able to start getting referrals through you current customer base. It is difficult to figure out a way for you to generate these referrals in an efficient method.

There are a few different ways that you can efficiently generate current customer referrals. One of the best ways is to offer a bonus or special offer to any new customer that is generated as the result of a referral. This can be done on both ends of the referral. One example would be to offer a buy one get one free coupon to the current customer and the same offer to the referred customer you signed up. They only drawback to this type of method is the added cost involved.

Weighting the cost of new customers is something that must be done to compare. What was the amount of time you used to get this new client? Marketing you used also cost how much to develop? Spending time and developing marketing both end up costing you some money. Often times this money will add up to be equal or greater than that of offering a referral bonus. Making the current customer you have happy is one of the benefits you get from referral bonuses, not only a happy new customer for you.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Tips For Networking To Expand Your Business Contacts

If you have a desire to enjoy success in the world of business (and of course, if you are in business, you want to achieve success!), one thing that will be especially important is that you understand how to expand your business contacts through networking; of course, some people hear the word “networking” and think of those thoroughly insincere people they may have come across who were clearly talking to others purely for the sake of furthering themselves, but effective networking does not have to be like this - and in fact, is unlikely to be like this at all!

When you are networking, the first thing you need to focus on is simply being friendly and personable when you are around people in person; practice this even outside of business, and you will get in the habit of always being friendly to others, which will help you to build relationships rather than just “building contacts."

Nowadays, it is also important that you expand your thinking - as far as networking goes - to ideas through which you can network online; there are several social media tools you can use for networking online, such as Twitter and Facebook, but another great way to network online is to engage in cross-promotions with another company, wherein you promote their products on your site, and they promote your products on their site, which will expand the reach both of you have!

And many businesses make the big mistake of failing to realize that their customers are part of their network as well; your customers have the ability to spread good word (or bad word) about your business more quickly and more effectively then anyone else. Because of this, it will be important that you not only make sure to always treat your customers well - which will, of course, make them more likely to spread the good word about your company - but that you also keep your eyes open for ways to make it easy for your customers to spread the word about your company, and to make them want to do so!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Why Do Small Businesses Fail?

Many people dream of running their own small business, but if you look at the statistics, you will find that most small businesses fail. In fact, less than 5% of small businesses are still in action just 10 years down the road from their initial startup date. If you own or plan to own a small business of your own someday, you can avoid failure yourself by becoming aware of the major mistakes so many small businesses make.

Poor location: Most small businesses exist with a physical location, which makes their location an important element of survival. Lots of people jump the gun on starting their small business because they are so excited and filled with anticipation. Too many people ignore the fact that once they choose a location, they are likely to remain in that location, and instead of waiting for the "right place" to open up, they take whatever is available. Another motivation for people to take a lesser location is because of a lower price; but the extra money for a good location will pay dividends in the long run!

Saving money: "Saving money" on a location is not the only way small businesses try to save money early on. Lots of small businesses hurt themselves in the long run by saving money in the present on presentation or creation. If you want people to spend money on your product or service, you need to first spend money to make it good and appealing!

Name recognition: Consumers already know the names of the big brand names, which is one major reason why the big brand names stick around. Small businesses need to learn the importance of going out of their way to create name recognition, as consumers are far more likely to part with their money when it is going to a name they know. Whether this occurs through advertising, promotions, an online presence, or some combination of the above, it is extremely important to pursue.

You can certainly achieve your dream of running a small business that sticks around for a while. But before this dream can become a reality, you need to make sure you understand the most common mistakes people make, and you need to know how to avoid them!