As if building one business was not enough, my own personal blog began to gain a rapid following and all of a sudden, I had 2 budding businesses on my hand.  I am so thrilled that I am able to continue to motivate and inspire moms in transition both through my blog and one-to-one.  Nothing more exciting than having a hand in helping others to gain clarity and success!

Being able to share with you all here on StartUpNation is the icing on the cake.  Engaging as a member here, asking and answering questions, and being able to connect through this blog with men and women in startup business remains a highlight of each week for me.

When I first signed up last year, I commented on a post by Rich Sloan, the chief startupologist here at StartUpNation.  The post was about an experience he had at a recent conference and a discussion on favorite companies and customer service.  Rich asked members to share their favorite companies and why?

I expect that this is a fabulous lesson for those of us who are/were new to small business and the seasoned veterans because we always can use greater focus on ‘WHO?’ we admire in business and ‘WHY?’

My answer a year ago was Apple Computer.  A year later my answer would still be Apple Computer.  There was no predicting that Steve Jobs would pass exactly one year after I made this comment.  In light of this terrible loss to the entrepreneurial community, how appropriate to make mention of this comment now.

I still love Apple Computer, and the brand is thoroughly infused in my daily life from my iPhone to my Macbook to the iTouches that my kids love.  It is not just the level of easiness that Apple Products give us, but also the level of customer service provided through Apple.  I am not going to go into the details, but just this past week, the Apple Team gave their ALL while dealing with my son’s iTouch (which met with an unfortunate incident).

This experience triggered in my memory the customer service discussion from a year ago, and a lightbulb went off in my mind.  The crucial aspect here is that this is the type of service that I receive each and every time I visit or call Apple.  That is Steve Job’s legacy, and a model for all of us companies, large and small.

In some cosmic way, last year’s comment on Rich’s post, my love of Apple, the untimely passing of Steve Jobs, my growing business(es), and all of our need for continued lessons in customer service merged together.

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts and my adventure with you, and mostly, thanks to the ‘Nation’ for being my sounding board.

I would love to hear from you which companies you admire?

Rachel

No matter if you are a retailer, or prospective entrepreneur looking for the newest concepts, or interested in starting  or growing a specialty retail business, or just an exhibitor seeking new sales opportunities, SPREE is designed with you in mind!

Come for the new products showcased in the exhibit hall, the educational seminar program, the opportunity to conduct business and develop ongoing relationships, the fun and entertaining social events
and all of the excitement of Las Vegas. SPREE offers all this and more!

Who should attend the show?  Inventors with “retail ready” products interested in…

1. Exhibiting their inventions / products for opportunities to sell in carts, kiosks and gift shops. (Reserve your booth in the Inventors Zone by calling Debbie Lahti at (800) 936-6297 x 20)

2. Educational sessions and networking events to learn more about the $12 billion specialty retail industry.

Exhibiting in the Inventors Zone-

Entrepreneurs ready to take orders for their products should consider exhibiting. Your product may be good for the specialty retail market if it a) requires an explanation and is easily demonstrated, or b) is a product that is already understood, like a t-shirt or food item.

Learn all about this exciting industry-

Time: April 12, 2011 to April 14, 2011
Location: The Sands Expo Center at the Venetian
City/Town: Las Vegas, NV
Website or Map: http://spreeshow.com/
Phone: 800.936.6297 x 20
Event Type: expo
Organized By: Pinnacle Publishing Group

See you all there….

Always DREAM BIG!

Kim Babjak

Kim Babjak, and her team at KimCo LLC, are a multi-faceted product development company that offers a wide range of consulting in the areas of  “Mind 2 Market” product & business development. We help companies with product development, prototyping, and manufacturing overseas. With our vast retail buyer relationships, we can then assist with the product being placed into electronic retail (QVC), and big box retail outlets like Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot and many others.With over 10+ years of retail experience and sourcing overseas, Kim Babjak and her team of professionals can help create successful product creation and placement.

Great! Now, what do you do?

A.     Sit back and watch who signs up.

B.     Communicate with your new registrants right away.

C.    Send valuable information to your list on a regular basis.

If you answered B and C… Ding, Ding Ding! You are right!

Newsletter Set Up is Just the Beginning.

The whole reason you have an online newsletter registration
is so that you can collect the contact information for potential
customers.

Once you get their names and e-mails, the real work begins…

• Send a thank you.

Immediately after people register for your newsletter, send them
a personalized, e-mail thank-you note. It should include a welcome
message, all the benefits they will be receiving and any kind of
free e-report, survey, white paper, etc. that you agreed to send
them if they registered.

• Schedule e-mail auto-responders.

What are they?

Well, after you send out your initial thank-you
and welcome e-mail, you need to communicate with your
list on a regular basis.

With e-mail auto-responders, you send e-mails to your
audience to remind them about your business. And these 5-10
e-mails are scheduled for automatic delivery over a matter of weeks.

However, you want to ensure these e-mail messages are personal
and provide value to the readers.

Perhaps, you can share a story about something that happened
to you recently, provide a business tip or talk about a current,
news story?

At the end of your e-mail, you remind your list about
a particular product or service that you are selling.

This way, you communicate with your list in a way that provides value,
reminds them you are around and allows them to get to know you
over time.

It is a fantastic way to build long-term, customer relationships.

• Are you blogging and using social media?

In addition to sending out the e-mail auto-responders mentioned above,
you also want to let your list know when you have a new blog entry,
article, sale, etc. And this is just a simple process of scheduling an
e-mail to go out whenever you have a new entry.

For these services, check out:

http://aweber.com/?324776
www.constantcontact.com
www.icontact.com
www.myemma.com
www.verticalresponse.com

This way, you can easily stay in touch with your list on a regular
basis and keep your products and services top-of-mind while
providing value.

• Monitor e-mail auto-responder results.

Once your newsletter-registration and e-mail auto-responder
process is in place, be sure to monitor it regularly.

By checking your e-mail service, you can see how many people
opened your e-mail, the most popular content and clicks,
the best subject lines and send times, undeliverables, spam notices,
and more.

This is valuable information you can use to get the best results
for your e-mail efforts. Plus, you can use this data to discover key
trends with your list members, conduct follow-up, stop issues before
they become big problems, and create new content to meet their
specific needs.

Take Advantage of This Process.

Having a newsletter registration allows you to create and
grow your own list of customers. But this is just the beginning.

Once you offer your newsletter, it’s important to provide
personalized information  to your list on a regular basis via
an e-mail auto-responder series.

Now, you may think that your customers will turn away if you
send them too many e-mails. And sure, you will get some
unsubscribes. But you do not want these “uninterested” people
on your list anyway.

Just be sure to send valuable information your customers can
use. And note that there is an art to the content and timing of these
e-mails… so I strongly advise that you hire an experienced, SEO
copywriter to help you write and send them.

But it’s well worth the time, cost and effort. With good, e-mail
auto-responders, your list will actually look forward to
receiving  your e-mails.

And this means you can build valuable,
long-term customer relationships that will catapult your business
above the competition and dramatically increase sales.

Do you need assistance setting up your newsletter process and
e-mail auto-responder series? Please write to me here or at
www.rembrandtwrites.com. Your site traffic will increase!

1.            Marketing is all I need to be successful.

I once walked into a retail store to meet with a new prospect.   I was shocked and appalled by what I walked into.  The store was a large showroom located in a very bad part of Phoenix.  In front of the store, on the sidewalk, right next to the street, they put two sample products.  The products had obviously been out in the hot Phoenix sun for months, if not years.  They were faded, warped, dirty, and even broken.  They looked like they belonged in the junkyard.    The inside of the showroom was no different; however,  was filled to the brim with this product.   It was obviously hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory, if not a million.  And the products on display were dusty and in disrepair.    I could go on and on.  But the fact is that the prospect needed more than marketing.  They needed to get a clue.  If you market crap, it’s still crap.  And no one wants to buy your crap.

2.            My business is slow, or even failing, I better start marketing.

The truth is that marketing takes time to obtain the results that you are looking for.  And if you’re looking to marketing as some sort of miracle cure for your failing business, it’s too late.  Better get out while you can.    The most successful marketing strategies are implemented consistently over time.  The marketing you do today may not pay off until tomorrow or even next year.  That’s why you should always be marketing.

3.            If I market on social media or through free publicity, I’ll get crowds of raving fans instantly.

While social media and publicity are much talked about marketing mediums, rarely do they produce instant results.  Both of these require consistent exposure over time. While social media does bring in new customers, you have to build a following first and that takes time.  And the only exception to the publicity rule is that you could get tons of new customers by being endorsed on a television show like Oprah.  But that situation is rare.

4         If I just hire a marketing or publicity firm, it will help my business increase sales.

As an owner of a marketing firm I can guarantee you that the methods we use will get people in the door.  But nothing else.  Marketing is all about getting the word out about your business, but it isn’t directly correlated to sales.  Marketing can get people in the door, or to your website, or even on the phone.  But what happens after that is called sales and sales is up to you, your staff, or whoever is interacting with the customer.    If you don’t know how to follow up, service customers, give them what they want, close a sale, etc, all the marketing in the world won’t help.    You can’t just sit back and think that customers will do all the work themselves.  Marketing can get them there for you, what happens after that is up to you.

To be successful, marketing needs to be strategically and consistently implemented over the lifetime of a business.  On top of that, marketing can bring in new customers, but what happens after that is up to you.  Make sure that you give them reasons to buy, and give them reasons to come back.  It’s not just about the product, the price, or the promotion.  It’s about the experience, the environment, and the attitude.

Everything is marketing.

Wendy Kenney is the internationally bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

Wendy owns the company 23 Kazoos, a marketing and publicity firm in Phoenix, Arizona, that has helped companies like Culver’s Restaurants, The Arizona Farm Bureau and Tom Chambers Commercial increase their visibility through social media, publicity, and creative marketing strategies.  Wendy honed her marketing skills while working for organizations such as MetLife, WebMd, and PacifiCare.

As a Marketing Expert, Wendy speaks internationally to corporations and organizations about marketing strategy, branding, and low cost, no cost marketing.

Wendy lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband Mike, and three teenage sons.   Her personal goal is to visit all of the Major League Ballparks in the US before she turns 49. So far she has been to 13.

And as luck would have it, I was in the market for a new car and was especially looking for a Chevrolet Trailblazer.    I really liked the person that I was speaking with and told them that I was in the market for a Chevy and asked if they would contact me.  We exchanged business cards and I looked forward to their call.

A few days passed and I still had not heard from the salesperson.  I was very anxious because I really wanted to buy a Chevy Trailblazer.   So I gave them a call, leaving a voice message on their cell phone and on their office phone.  And then I waited for a return call.  And a few days, I still had not heard from the salesperson and so I gave up.

I decided that if they did not want my business, I would take my business elsewhere, ending up buying my Trailblazer through the car buying service located at my credit union.

I’ve had this happen to me several times, and in each case, the sales person, or business owner has lost thousands of dollars in sales from me all because they did not follow up!

I think many business owners confuse the term “marketing” with the term “selling.”   Marketing is simply the process or strategies that you use to get the word out about your business and gather leads.  Selling is the process of turning those leads into paying customers.

The biggest problem that I see in marketing your business is that you can be the best marketing in the world, but if you don’t convert the leads to clients you have nothing.  And the most important step in converting leads to clients is simply following up with them.

There are many ways to follow up with leads or prospects, here are just three.

1.  Phone:

After you exchange information and agree to follow up, give them a call within 24 hours.  Say something like, “Hey, I said I would follow up with you, and here I am!  I would love to get together with you to learn more about your needs.”  Don’t aim to sell them your product over the phone.  Aim to set an appointment and to build a relationship.  Find out about what they want before you start selling them.

2.  Email:

If the thought of making a phone call gives you hives, then you could also follow up by email.  The benefit to that of course is that you can do it at any time, and they can answer at their convenience.  If you don’t hear back from them though, go back to step one.

3.  Snail Mail:

Yes, snail mail still exists, and believe it or not people enjoy getting old fashioned cards and letters.  If you’re just not sure about the person, or if you want to send them some additional information, sending a letter via regular mail is a good option.  However, if the contact had indicated that they were interested in your product because they are looking to buy one in the near future, do not use snail mail. Give them a call first, within 24 hours is best.

The lack of following up is the biggest mistake small business owners make and it costs them thousands, if not millions.  Don’t let this happen to you.  Follow up with people right away.  I guarantee your sales will soar!

Note:  This is an excerpt from my upcoming book “How to Build Buzz for Your Biz:  Tap into the Power of Social Media, Publicity, and Relationship Marketing to Grow Your Business.”

Less Reps
Quantity isn’t always quality—especially when it comes to a call center. If you don’t have an in-house team of representatives, you want to make sure the company you are choosing to outsource your call center needs is up to date on all company information. The more reps you have the easier it is for a communication error to occur, and could look bad on your company.

Outlets To Be Reached
With the numerous ways people can be reached, it is wise to have similar outlets available for your customers. Calling a number and waiting on the phone for the next available representative can be time consuming. Many companies are implementing live chat features to their website. This can be convenient for your customers since they can multi-task while getting the information they need.

Twitter is another outlet many companies are using for their customer service efforts. This is also a good way to monitor what is being said about your company online.

How Will the Reps Be Utilized?
Call centers can be used for many different reasons, they can be used lead generation efforts, a telephone answering service, asking for donations, customer service and so on. Before setting up a relationship with a call center, ask them what their specialties is and see if their specialties match your own.

Once you have decided on these few points, it will be easier for you to decide with the call center how to get your efforts up and running. If you decide that an in-house call center would be best, still go through the same process. In the end you will be able to decide on the best option for your company and your customers.

Competition is fierce today, and people want more for their money. This means that they are not just looking at products and services – but the people behind the businesses as well.

With this in mind, what kind of image do you project?

As you scramble to follow up on leads and attract new customers, it can be easy to let yourself go and have your personal promotion fall to the bottom of the priority list. To avoid this from happening, here are three questions to ask before scheduling a sales call.

1. Who will be at the meeting?

Before walking into a customer’s office, be sure to do your research. Find out as much as you can about the person in advance. Then, you’ll have a better idea of how to best approach this person with the appropriate talking points and sales pitch.

2. What are you wearing?

Obviously, you need to look professional when meeting perspective customers. But it’s important to think about the “who, what, when, where, and how” of your meeting before getting dressed in the morning.

For example, if you are going to a laid back, beach office in the Bahamas, a suit will make you look way out of place. (Yes, I know. If only you had a meeting in the Bahamas…) To avoid feeling uncomfortable, think before you dress and refer to question one above.

3. What is your leave-behind?

When you are finished with your meeting, leave some kind of marketing material behind. Whether you offer a brochure, media kit or a simple business card, be sure to give your potential customers something to remember you.

Once again, really think about the people you are going to meet. What you can offer them that will have the most impact specific to their business needs? Make it easy for them to contact you, and help them solve their problems.

Now, these are just three, quick tips to remember to promote yourself along with your products and services. After all, you only get one chance to make a good, first impression. And if you aren’t polished and prepared, you can bet your competition is!

Do you need help boosting sales, awareness and credibility? Please let me know here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’d love to hear from you!

Click on the image to view…

This may sound simple, but if you don’t spell out what you are going to provide for the money, you can run into major confusion and complications in the future. And it goes both ways. Your customers need to tell you what they expect too.

With this in mind, here are three key tips to think about when you begin to work on any new projects or customer sales:

1. Communicate goals.

Before you exchange funds, products and/or services, talk about final outcomes and what you both expect out of the relationship. You should understand potential issues, tactics, budget constraints, potential results, and any other important details prior to working together.

2. Get it in writing.

Whether it’s a stream of e-mails or an official contract, write down exactly what you will provide and what the customer or client can expect from you. Even if you have a casual relationship, this will help clarify actions, fees, deadlines, and potential results.

3. Stick to your plan.

Once your relationship is underway, be sure you provide what you promised. Stay in touch with your customers, and be sure they are aware of any changes or problems. And to build a solid customer base and good word-of-mouth, go above and beyond customer expectations. Provide personal attention and extra services whenever possible.

By being honest and upfront with customers, you will reduce stress, meet deadlines and avoid unnecessary surprises. And if you make the extra effort to provide customers with additional, unexpected services that exceed their expectations, you’ll be well on your way to surpassing the competition and boosting sales.

Need help with your public relations and SEO copywriting efforts to increase sales? Please write to me here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’m here to help!

My feelings about this were confirmed and further fueled at a recent networking event in Phoenix where Clate Mask, CEO of Infusionsoft, presented his thoughts on the way to make following up work for you.

Because entrepreneurs like me are among the most passionate people on earth, and we love pitching to prospective customers, we often forget the importance of following up with prospects and even current customers to get more cha-ching! into our cash registers. Add to this the especially difficult market environment, which has would-be customers more reluctant than ever to pull money out of their wallets, and practicing the art of follow up becomes even more important.

The key precept of following up effectively with customers to win more business is understanding that people don’t buy when you’re ready. They buy when they’re ready. So it’s imperative to be “in front of them,” ready to do business, at exactly that moment.

Here are some recommended ways to master the art of follow up:

Build Trust. Do special and thoughtful things after coming in contact with a possible customer. As simple as it sounds, mailing a hand-written note goes a long way these days. Also be sure to be prompt. If you set an expectation, always meet or exceed it. Promptness is a simple way to build confidence and trust.

Use a Variety of Mediums. To each his own, as the saying goes. This holds true in the world of business, particularly how and where people prefer to receive their marketing messages. Is email marketing viable? Perhaps. Others may respond better to direct mail postcards, though. Yet others may be Talk Radio faithfuls. And there’s always the option of just placing a call or meeting up in person.

Be a Thought-Leader. Instead of constantly trying to sell, figure out how to position yourself as a provider of very interesting, valuable information related—or unrelated—to what you offer. This will give you lots of excuses to stay top of mind and be poised to make a sale when the potential purchaser decides they’re ready. This also builds trust, as previously mentioned.

Automate It. Because we’re all busy and often gravitate to the more shoot-from-the-hip evangelism role, you might consider leveraging new technology to automate your follow-up process. Companies like Infusionsoft come to mind. They offer a simple software-based approach that makes the art of follow up into somewhat of a science. The data we’ve looked at from Infustionsoft and other such solutions is very compelling.

Check out this resource from one of our sponsors, Infusionsoft: 9 Secrets to Accelerating Your Success