Doing Your Business Plan Review

I received this article recently and it agrees with the strategies I promote and encourage my clients to do so I will utilize Kevin Sinclair's expertise and article to share with my reading audience. I believe you will benefit from his suggestions if initiated.

Doing Your Business Plan Review

by Kevin Sinclair

When owning your own business, it is essential for your business, that you possess a route map which signifies exactly how you will achieve your business goals. Without such a plan in place, your business could be jeopardy and may well fail.

The development of a plan is greatly important for your business. It is essential that it is a living document,which is checked and updated on a regular basis. If the plan is not checked on a regular basis, then there is no point in generating one to begin with. It is vitally important that you are aware of the fact that the plan is being achieved. If this is not the case and the plan is not being achieved, then adjustments will need to be made to the plan in order to accommodate any revisions thatoccur. This is only common knowledge and good business practice.

In order to create a good business plan, the basics are to detail the tasks and systems that will assist the plan in progressing. Your plan should be reviewed, initially, on a monthly basis in order to ensure that progress in being achieved as planned. It is at a later stage, when the initial creases have been ironed out and planned progress is being achieved, that you can change the frequency of the views to every two or three months.

The goals in a business plan are initially small in terms of financial profits. However, it is just as important that they are in actual fact achieved on schedule, just as those larger goals are at a later date. Proving that your business plan is actually working effectively in the early stages of business, is essential in demonstrating that theoverall business plan is achievable. Therefore, it is important that every detail of your plan is checked thoroughly, in order to see that your plan is being achieved.

Not all business plans work out as expected. Therefore there are certain questions that need to be answered, such as:

1. Were your financial goals for the period within the allocated timeframe achieved? Maybe some were achieved, but not all of them.
2. Did the systems that you selected to use in order to complete the tasks work well? It is possible that some were successful, but others were not. You should now take an analysis of the answers that you have obtained.

You should continue to use the successful systems for future tasks. It is also important that you evaluate those systems that did not work for you effectively. Discover what went wrong. Was there a flaw in the system? What was required to complete the task? The same types of tasks will need to be adjusted in the future to accommodate the revised procedure that you have adopted.

It is essential that you undertake continuous improvement in a good business plan. By adjusting the elements of the plan in the future based on your experience, you can only make improvements to the effectiveness of the plan and generate confidence that it will be achieved. You will be well on the way to achieving your goals if you plan your work and work your plan.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of Be Successful News, a site that provides information and articles on howto succeed in your own home or small business. http://besuccessfulnews.com/

New Design for your Cards?

Is your business card ready for a makeover? Perhaps you are designing your first card and need some suggestions. Below is an article that outlines some of the areas to work on when designing your card.

Business Card Tips

Networking is an invaluable opportunity, and one that should not be wasted. In order to maximize networking, it is strongly suggested that all business professionals carry business cards. The business cards can be exchanged during introductions, both as a convenience and as a memory aid. In other words, business cards allow networkers to further the relationship through future contact.

Business cards may include one or more aspects of striking visual design, but should also contain important contact information. Use this guide to make the most of your business cards:

1. What to Include
All of this information should be included on a professional business card:

Name - This does not have to be your given name, but should be what you expect people in business to refer to you as.
Position - This is really optional; many small business owners find themselves wearing many hats, and may find it beneficial and/or less confusing to leave their official title off the cards.
Address - Physical office location and/or mailing address.
Website - Adding a website address to business cards is now very common and expected.
Email - Email is also now a very common and popular communication channel.
Phone - Include your business phone number.
Instant Messaging/ICQ Address - Internet chat address.

2. Double Sided Cards
If your company is global, or your sales territory focus is in a region where your spoken language is not the predominant language, you might wish to consider using the backside of your business card to include your information in an alternate language. You can also use the back of the card to provide more extensive information and details about your products and services. Or, if you do a lot of local business, you might want to include a small street map to your office on the back of your card. There are lots of things you might be able to do with all that blank space on the back of your cards.

3. Conversation Starters
Savvy sales people often use their business cards as a conversation starter. Of course, the card needs to be unique or unusual in order to generate a dialogue. Some of the more interesting cards I've seen recently were printed on micro-CDs, on magnets, on translucent plastic, etc.

4. Standard Size
Even if you are aiming for something unique, you should still not diverge from the "standard" business card size. For managing their contacts, many people will create a business card rolodex, or may have a hand scanner specifically sized for business cards. So stick with the standard size -- otherwise you may be excluded from their contact databases simply because your card didn't fit!

5. Order Quantity
Quantity discounts apply to business cards. When pricing printed business cards, check to see where the price breaks occur; sometimes you can significantly increase the quantity of business cards for very little additional cost.

6. Quality Matters
Flimsy cards that are paper thin, and cards with ragged perforated edges, just scream "amateur". If you are going to print cards yourself, be sure to use heavy business card stock, and use stock that has "clean-edge" micro-perforations. And "glossy" finished stock can also help boost the quality perception of self-printed cards, especially if lots of color is used in the card design.

7. Brand Cards
Your business cards should be similar to all of your other printed promotional material. Business cards should contain your business or product logo. Double-check the colors with the printer to make sure the correct pantone colors are used. This will ensure that the logo is printed using the correct and matching color scheme.

8. Keep Current
Information contained on the business card should always be kept current. Business cards with obsolete information crossed out are very unprofessional. If any information on the card changes or becomes obsolete, have new cards printed to reflect the change, and throw the old ones away.

9. Change It Up
Textured business cards, or cards with scalloped edges, stand out. Consider a wide variety of ways to make your card jump out of the pack. The texture or color of the card can also be utilized to ensure your card stands out.

10. Legible
Use a legible font that makes the text on the business card easy to read. Avoid making the fonts too small. Use contrasting colors, and avoid using porous paper that will allow the ink to bleed and the text to blend into the card.

11. Spelling
There is little more embarrassing than business cards that contain typographical errors. Proofread the cards multiple times. Let me say that again -- proofread your business cards! And have other people proofread them too, as they will often be able to spot mistakes that you've overlooked.

Maximize the power of your business cards. Whether you are networking, or just being personable, business cards are a must in the professional world, and crucial to business marketing.

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Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com/ software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com/ audio recording and editing software.

The Power of Personal PR

Personal public relations plays big part in business success. People want to do business with people they like, so it is those "personal" relations that are just as important as traditional media PR.

The Power of Personal PR
by Sue Currie

Ten seconds is all it takes to make a first impression – whether it's your personal presentation or the first contact a potential client or customer has with your business through the telephone, website or other communication collateral.

When they walk through their door – or you walk through theirs – your image is imprinted in the first moment.

Research has proven that 67% of first impressions are accurate. Your personal image tells the world who you are and where you are going. Your business image says the same. Every email, voicemail, and phone call you make creates first impressions that build your brand.

But it's not just your logo or your business stationery that needs to look good. How you present yourself in person also says a lot about your brand. For many small business people or business entrepreneurs, you are your business and how your project yourself is vitally important to the success of your business.

How you shake hands, make eye contact, conduct yourself in social situations and the clothes you choose to wear contribute to your personal brand. Your image is like the weather. People notice when it's extremely good or extremely bad. People shouldn't judge us by our outward appearances but of course you know they will. First impressions can indicate to a potential client, your sense of style, ambition and self-confidence level.

Another measure of your success in dealing with people is due to personality.

Your voice, way of talking, body language and the way you develop relationships with your clients all count towards giving you a ‘manner'. Your personal manner speaks loudly to other people. You may need to do some self-analysis on your plus and minus personality traits before establishing a self-satisfying public image.

Sometimes things like aggravating speech habits, lack of good manners, sloppy dress or grooming can be your worst enemies.

Punctuality, your tone of voice, these are the things about you that speak loud and clear to others. Make sure that they're working for you.

I'm sure you've seen many examples of people who have had too much to drink at the office party and regretted things done or said. Perhaps not such good personal PR for career progression.

Maybe that date who sounded so promising on the telephone really let you down when you met and saw how badly dressed and untidy they were.

I'm not suggesting you need to have a complete makeover and invest a fortune in new clothes – but it is those little things that people notice.

You've no doubt invested a lot of time, effort and money into setting up your own business and learning many new skills – why not invest some time and effort into yourself – you're worth it!

* Business image – brand all letterhead, newsletters, email messages for a professional

* Personal image – establish a strong visual image – develop your own style and personal brand. Be aware of grooming and professional dress sense.

* Self image – get rid of bad habits, develop self-confidence and charm, walk tall and smile!

---

Sue Currie, the director of Shine Communications Consultancy and author of Apprentice to Business Ace – your inside-out guide to personal branding, is a business educator and speaker on personal branding through image and media. Sign up for free monthly tips on personal and professional PR at
http://www.shinecomms.com.au/contactmanager/default.cfm
and learn more about how you can achieve recognition, enhance your image and shine.

Email Etiquette in the Jacksonville Business Journal

As a self-employed entrepreneur/business owner, one of the many ways I utilize to build recognition is by writing. I submit to websites such as Ezinearticles.com, ISnare.com (an article submission site), and locally the Jacksonville Business Journal. I am always thrilled when they pick up something I wrote.

With the Business Journal they own all copyright to the article so I cannot share through my normal resources. But I am able to share by linking to the article via their website. So if you have an interest and would like to see the lastest article I have published by them, click here to view it: Email Etiquette 101.

If you have any feedback, make comments.

Enjoy your weekend and I hope it is drier where you are than here in rainy Florida.

Carole DeJarnatt
Alliance Advisors, Inc.

Are you Searching or Feeding your Current Customer Base?

An associate emailed yesterday and was asking for suggestions on how to help his client get more customers. The business is 20 years old, air conditioning and heating company, and had made money in the past but now was just making ends meet. The associate thought the market was saturated and it was hard to stand out in a sea of air conditioning companies. What do you think?

I totally disagreed. I do not care how many current companies offer the same service, customer service is what makes you stand out. I recently bought an air conditioner unit over a year ago. Have I heard from this company? Have they called to see if I would like a check up?

The company was thinking they needed new customers but did they forget their past customers? The easiest person to sell to is someone who is a present customer and is satisfied with your service and/or products. Most businesses do not recognize the goldmine they have in their current customers.

I recommended to him that they survey their current customer base for feedback on products and service. Take notice of the positive comments and utilize them for testimonies; utilize the negative comments to identify areas in which the company should work on improvement. Turn your weaknesses into strengths and create "Customer Evangelists". When your customers are satisfied they are sharing with the world the excellent service and products you offer. This in turn creates repeat business but also helps to grow your customer base.

Another area of recommendation was to do follow up calls quarterly, seasonally, and after an installation of new products. If you remind people they need to service their high dollar investment to keep it running smoothly, most people will come back to the seller of the product if their service is good.

Another must for the customer friendly business, create a newsletter for mailings to customers keeping your business name in front of them. Write or buy articles of content that are a benefit and information for your customers. Offer specials through your newsletter.

Businesses will continue to succeed if they continually strive to meet their customers' expectations and if they over achieve they will have a customer for life along with all the word-of-mouth advertising that this person shares. Feed your current customers and searching for customers will become obsolete.

Carole DeJarnatt
Alliance Advisors, Inc.

Turn Lemons into Lemonade--Make the Best with What you Have

I am writing about a situation I am presently facing at the moment and my hope is by sharing what I did others will learn from my experience and not do this themselves.

I am a facilitator of a workshop. I normally give free breakfasts and invite people to attend and share a brief portion of the workshop hoping they will want to sign up for it.

Well I held my first one at the end of January. It went well, 12 people attended and I had three who had an interest in going through the workshop. In my opinion, three wasn't good enough so I had another luncheon in March. It was a flop with no interest. The problem with that one was targeting the wrong types of businesses. My third one was a breakfast and held in June. I had one more interested.

So now I have four who are interested, all female. So again I think I need a male participant in this workshop so I do not move forward. After running a radio ad I got two more males interested in the workshop. So now I am ready and it is September. What do you think happened?

I start contacting the earliest people and one is still interested but does not want to start until January. Another one of the ladies cannot remember what it was about so she is reviewing the information again, and the third lady is closing her business so not interested anymore. Not to mention the business that was donating the space to hold the workshop now does not return my phone calls. (I really do not know what is up with that).

In my opinion here is a couple of things I did wrong:

1. My expectations were set to high. If I had to do it over again I would start right after the January meeting with just two people, possibly three. If my hold up was because I wanted a male perspective in the group, I could have given away a free workshop to meet that need.
2. I did one informational email to the group during the summer to let them know I was still working on bringing it to fruition. In hindsight I should have sent out a monthly just to keep them refreshed on the workshop.

Today, I am working on having another introductory breakfast but in my original plan that would have been my second group. Now it may turn out to be my first group. What I am planning on doing about the original group is to offer to launch it in January but must have payment now to lock in the old price. (Now there is a higher price than when it was originally offered in January).

As far as the business offering their space, I will find another. It is still my goal to contact the business that was offering the space to ensure all is well. I do understand how circumstances change so perhaps something came up that the room is occupied.

What I hope my readers gain from my experience, is to not make excuses for moving forward. Be glad for what was given and turn it into something special. There is nothing wrong with small or not exactly being what you wanted, just make the best possible experience for those at the time.

Carole DeJarnatt
Alliance Advisor, Inc.

10 Commandments of Networking

Finishing off the work week with the networking theme, here is a partial insert from an article I found on About.com. I didn't realize how many 10 commandments there were out there but I found information about networking, leadership, communication, and more. I know about the Ten Commandments of the Bible but now I am learning more.

I hope you enjoyed this week of networking tips. I will change the subject matter next week to something different. I feel my job as a blogger is to write information to help you succeed and the more information I can offer to you on any subject is what I am supposed to do. If you agree or disagree, leave a comment.

Enjoy the weekend!
Carole DeJarnatt
Alliance Advisors, Inc.

If you want to gain the most out of business networking, follow the Ten Commandments of Networking!

1) Thou shalt drop the "what is in it for me?" attitude.
2) Thou shalt listen.
3) Thou shalt build a relationship.
4) Thou shalt give the first referral.
5) Thou shalt not tell others of the referral you require; thou shalt "show them" with a story.
6) Thou shalt be specific of the type of referral.
7) Thou shalt reciprocate when appropriate.
8) Thou shalt participate in the network executive, functions, and network time.
9) Thou shalt thank the person who gave a referral.
10) Thou shalt follow up on the referral within 24 hours.
Business networking is productive and fun, and that is why it will always be part of the Bigger Picture.

Mark McGregor is a keynote speaker and professional presenter with Speaking of Hearts. He is a motivational and inspirational speaker on business and stress matters. Mark is available to speak for your next Canadian and American conference, trade show or event.

How not to Network

I could not help but add this short video clip. I have seen this type of person in action before. Make sure you are not the one who portrays yourself or company in this fashion. If you recognize or can relate to the person in the video, call me. I will gladly offer my coaching skills to help !




Carole DeJarnatt
Alliance Advisors, Inc.

Networking an Event with Feeling

To keep up with the theme this week, here is another article about networking. This article is about your message and how to communicate clearly and effectively with feeling. Try it, you might enjoy it!

Carole DeJarnatt



Networking an Event - What You Do -- Once More, With Feeling!
By Greg Peters

One of the most challenging questions we all receive in any networking opportunity is the seemingly obvious, "So, what do you do?" Well, of course you know what you do, but communicating it to others in a way that doesn't make them stare at you blankly can be a bit more of a challenge. The trick, of course, is to elicit some sort of emotion from your listener. The other trick is that you must work continually on your presentation. You may even need more than one!

By the way, you'll recognize those who have chosen not to work on this. At a networking event they're the ones who say things like "I'm a real estate agent" or even the (only slightly) better "I find homes for people". Bo-o-oring!

The first step in the process is to ask yourself why people would buy from you or engage your services at all. I'll give you a hint: It's not the widget you sell - it's what your customer gets from the widget you sell. Take for example our long-suffering real estate agent. As I said, "I find homes for people" is a start, but I think we can get a bit more emotional than that. What images does the word "home" evoke? Magical family gatherings around the holidays? A safe, warm place to hide when the storm is raging outside? How about a source of light and laughter that your children will carry with them no matter where they go?

Any one of these images would get my interest more than "I'm a real estate agent."

To make this truly effective, you've got to use it and let it evolve. Personally, as a Web programmer, I know for a fact that even a whisper of the technical jargon with which I deal on a daily basis is enough to make my audience's eyes glaze over. I made it my goal to be understandable when dealing with technical topics. My descriptive path started with "When you're dealing with the Web, I'm the geek who speaks." Not particularly "emotional", but it was at least fun. With a little work, I came up with "Clearing up the Confusion on the Web" -- not bad, but not what I would call a real "grabber."

Hearing Scott Ginsberg speak one day was what really brought things into focus. After hearing him talking about personal branding, I decided to push the envelope a little. From that point on, when someone asked me what I do, I told them that "I am the international superhero known as 'The Webmaster!'" And what does such a champion do?

"I rescue people from their own websites."

Since I've adopted that phrase, it never fails to get a laugh. The best thing, though, is it also gets folks to ask for more. And, really, in a networking situation, what more could you ask than to be memorable and to arouse people's curiosity?

So, put in a little effort. Be brave. Pull out the emotion -- whether laughter, worry, or curiosity. The worst that can happen is have that other person look at you and say "Huh?"

But at least they're talking with you!

Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved

Greg Peters is the owner and superhero-in-residence of Cyber Data Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better web presence for their clients for more than a decade. We specialize in tools which help folks keep their websites up to date, fresh, and interesting. Visit us on the Web at http://www.cyberdatasolns.com/ to see how we can help your webmaster.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Greg_Peters
http://EzineArticles.com/?Networking-an-Event---What-You-Do----Once-More,-With-Feeling!&id=671963

Effective Business Networking

In the last couple of posts I wrote about the power of your network and the benefits of having one. In this post I would like to share an article on how to grow your network. Some people struggle when attending events and this article gives ideas on what to do before, during, and after the event. Carole DeJarnatt

Effective Business Networking: 5 Tips For Mastering The Art of Networking
By Soni Pitts

The heart of any business is the connection it has with other businesses and individuals that it can call upon to help meet its needs. Networking - any activity designed to create, maintain and utilize interpersonal connections - is an essential business skill. But not all business people take the time to truly master. However, without a solid understanding of how to network effectively and efficiently, no business can make the vital connections that it needs to survive and prosper in today's super-connected economy. Here are some tips you can use to increase your networking - and business - success

Go with a goal. One of the first and most common mistakes that people make when entering a networking situation (planned or otherwise) is to fail to have a firm goal in mind. Are you looking to acquire new prospects, meet colleagues for possible collaborations, create a mutual referral partnership, create name recognition for you and your business, find funding or just "shop around" for interesting news and trends you can use? If you haven't taken the time to determine what your goals are for the encounters ahead, you will have a hard time meeting them.

Of course, most businesses have several different needs, but in many cases any given networking opportunity is unlikely to provide more than one or two types of results, depending on the situation at hand. For example, if you are attending an event made up primarily of others in your industry or trade, you are unlikely to meet prospects, since everyone will be a provider just like you, nor are you likely to find referral partners, since almost everyone will be a direct competitor. So if your primary needs are clients and referrals, such events, while not an entire waste of time, might not be your best use of it. On the other hand, if you are desperately seeking a partner to expand or are looking to find out the latest, greatest technology in the field to offer to your client base, then you're definitely going to be in the right place.

Hone your message. When someone asks you what you do, can you articulate not only your business but it's benefit to them in a clear and concise manner? How about your "elevator speech" or 15-second intro - is it crisp, to the point and compelling, or do people's eyes glaze over before you get to the end? This is not the time to give a dry and deadly-dull job description. Save that for your resume. When someone asks about you and your business, you are being given a golden, but brief, opportunity to knock his or her socks off and to persuade them that you are the best thing to happen to them since sliced bread. Make sure you do so.

Important - leave your sales pitch at home! Networking is networking, and sales is sales. Confuse the two and you'll lose out on both. Nobody wants to be sold to, especially when they're quite plainly not in a sales environment. And remember that anyone who tries to work a networking event under the "three-foot rule" (anyone within three feet is an opportunity to make a sale) is likely to find others unwilling to get within three feet of them in a very short period of time.

Check your gear. Make sure that you have everything you need to make a great impression. Are your business cards or other hand-outs up to date, and as professional-looking as you can make them? If this is a planned event, do you know who will be attending and have you isolated a few people you definitely want to make sure to meet, or are you going in blind and resigned to winging it?

And don't forget to double-check the time, date and venue. Nothing is more irritating than showing up only to find that you're too early, too late or unable to find a parking space closer than a quarter-mile away.

Educate your audience. Are you seeking a collaborative partner for a project? Then make sure everyone knows what the project is and what sort of partner you are looking for (and the general parameters of the partnership they'll be investing their time into). If you're looking for referrals, then do your potential referral sources know what constitutes a good referral for you? It's a waste of your time and a drain on your referrer's good will and reputation if you turn down or do a bad job for everyone they send to you because the referrals were inappropriate. Likewise, a well-educated referral source might wind up sending you fewer referrals, but those are much more likely to be quality prospects that have a high probability of becoming solid clients.

On the other hand, if you are directly prospecting do your prospects know that you're the answer to their prayers and why? Remember that all prospects are tuned into station WII-FM - What's In It For Me - and unless you make sure that they know why they should consider working with you, they won't.

Follow through. The most important part of networking happens after the initial contact. The best impression, the snappiest laser marketing message and the deepest desire to work together will all come to naught if they don't hear from you in a timely manner - or even worse, never hear from you at all. No matter who said what about calling whom, always follow up promptly and in a manner designed to strengthen the relationship and add value for the other person.

A simple follow-up email may be okay for old contacts touching base, but for a new contact that can provide you with crucial funding or superior referrals, or a hot prospect itching to clear your warehouse of your top-shelf merchandise your follow through needs to have all the finesse, power and elegance of a figure skater's best jump - and all the holding power of a solid landing.

There are three keys to an effective follow through:

• It reinforces the original intent of the contact. Refer to your original conversation, restating any key points and reaffirming any agreements that were made or intimated. Follow through on any promises you made to deliver information, provide samples, initiate a meeting, put through a request, whatever - before the follow-up call, unless time constraints or lead-time make that impossible.
• It carries the scent of enthusiasm without the stench of desperation. Follow up as promptly and as regularly or frequently as the circumstance warrants, but don't turn into a stalker or a pest. And if you can find a way to add value to the relationship through your skills, influence, position or connections, by all means offer to do so, but don't cross the line from generous associate to obsequious sycophant. And if the other person makes it clear that they are not interested, move on. "Kicking and screaming" is not an acceptable level of participation in networking, and neither is "beaten into submission."
• It includes the seeds for the next contact. Don't get caught in the dead-end follow up. Unless it is clear that no further relationship is warranted or desired, make sure that there is some agreement on a next step or arrangement made to continue the conversation. Make that phone call and at the end, set up an appointment for lunch a few weeks down the road. At lunch, offer to forward an important report or offer to broker a desirable introduction to someone higher up the food chain, and so on. Make sure you never leave the table without an invitation to resume your seat at a later date.

Like a good golf swing or a stunning presentation, effective networking boils down to three essential stages of activity: preparation, delivery and follow through. And like an electrical circuit with a short or a break, a failure at any of these points stops the flow of life-giving connective energy - the healthy and continually renewed cycle of which your business requires to maintain a strong, stable potential for growth, resilience and success.

Mastering the art of effective networking, like any other business activity, requires time, dedication and attention. But in the end, the dividends it pays are well worth the time it took to cultivate them. Take the time to master these five tips and you will be amply rewarded with the prodigious fruits of your networking labor.

(c) Soni Pitts

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Soni Pitts is a Personal and Spiritual Development Coach who specializes in helping people break free of "life as seen on tv" and reclaim the sacredness of living.

Get your copy of her free e-book "50 Ways To Reach Your Goals" and over 100 self-help and inspirational articles, as well as other products and resources, at http://www.sonipitts.com/.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Soni_Pitts
http://EzineArticles.com/?Effective-Business-Networking:-5-Tips-For-Mastering-The-Art-of-Networking&id=31888

The Power of your Network

Earlier I wrote about the power of networking. In this entry I want to talk about the power of your network when it comes to value and benefits for you.

I think some of the benefits are obvious, a resource for knowledge or skills when needed. But here are some other ways you may benefit from your network:

• Virtual board of directors when making decisions. When making decisions, ask your network of loyal business associates.
• A back up when needed for testimonials, meeting attendance, and moral support.
• To run ideas or suggestions for a group poll.
• Introduction to others in their network.
• For referrals of new business.
• Sources for references and testimonials.

I am sure there are other ways to utilize your network and also to be a benefit to your network. Be the first to give in your network. If you are you will be remembered. Always strive to be a benefit to others and you will receive the benefit in return!

Carole DeJarnatt

Communication Comes in Many Forms

As I wrote before, I am an Action Plan Marketing fan and read all of his newsletters and take note when I think it is beneficial. Recently he sent over a newsletter that talked about the use of handwritten notes. It was suggested to write notes for just about everything under the sun. If someone you met today did something nice for you, or you had brief contact with someone, write a note.

I have been trying to write more thank you and nice-to-meet-or-see-you notes but as I write them I think about one of his other suggestions. He states to try and have contact with your audience, proposed customers, etc., at least twice a month. He recommends the use of newsletters. This got me to thinking about communication in general. What are the many ways to communicate and maintain contact with business clients, friends, acquaintances, or whomever.

Here is my short list:

1. Email contact
2. Internet (Newsletters, Blogs, Web 2.0)
3. Via Snail Mail
4. Phone calls
5. Text messaging
6. I/Ming
7. In person
8. Skype

My mind is blank and I know there is other ways. But if you think about it, just the ways I have written above leaves the door wide open for personal communication. The sky is the limit and we have to be creative in the ways we reach out to our customers and potential customers.

Share your thoughts on ways to communicate. I'll be looking forward to reading your entries.

Carole DeJarnatt

Business Etiquette Blunders

Continuing on with the entry I wrote yesterday. . . Here is an article I got off of Digg that I thought had a little different twist to it but still applied to business etiquette. I'm trying to be a benefit to those in business whether it is me writing or finding information to share. Hope you enjoy!


Use these tips to help you project a professional and credible image in any business setting. These ideas will help develop relationships without worrying about etiquette blunders you may be making.

read more digg story


Carole DeJarnatt
Alliance Advisors, Inc.

12 Creative Uses for Autoresponders

In an earlier entry, I shared a list of autoresponders and their pricing that was created by a LinkedIn member. So to follow up, I recently came across this article about autoresponders and some uses. I plan on utilizing some of these tips and I hope my readers enjoy them also. Thanks for sharing your ideas and suggestions, Debbie.

Autoresponders and a Few Creative Usesby Debbie Ray

If you've been online for any period of time and have been trying to do everything on your web site all by yourself I'm sure at one time or another that you've reached a point of exhaustion just trying to keep up. Just how do those other companies keep up? The regular amount of email alone can threaten to bury you alive every single day - not to mention take away your important time to do all those other important internet "chores" that you need to do.

People expect prompt replies to their email inquiries from your internet business. This poses a major problem for you. Unless you can hire plenty of people to constantly monitor and manage your incoming emails or have figured out how to work continual twenty-four hour shifts (with no sleep) things don't look good.

Email is an essential part of your business. That can't be disputed. Email is an excellent marketing tool - it is inexpensive and it is fast. It can also be a major time waster. If you spend all your working hours answering that mountain of email, when will you have the time to complete your other business activities?

So, is there a way to overcome this huge time waster of basic email maintenance? I do have one major suggestion for you - how about the use of autoresponders responding to your emails? Basically, autoresponders are programs that automatically respond to your emails without you having to do anything (once they've been set up). Autoresponders are often inexpensive, and sometimes free. What these programs do is automatically respond to incoming emails as soon as they are received by the system.

Autoresponders can do so much more than just answer your email. They can also send information about your services, products and price lists to your customers. You could also set up an autoresponder to do more than simply send out standardized messages - such as an unlimited number of follow-up messages sent at predetermined intervals of time.

There are many companies that offer autoresponder services free of charge. Go to Google, look for autoresponders, and you will find a long list of companies offering autoresponder services for you to choose from. Autoresponders are very versatile programs that do a lot of work in no time at all. Below I'll list a few ideas that will teach you to use your autoresponders and to transform a casual visitor into a profitable customer.

1. Create various mailing lists. Tip: Inform subscribers about your new articles when you've written them.

2. Write your own reviews. You could review software, books, music, e-books or movies and put each review in an individual autoresponder. Tip: You could also review your own affiliate program if you have one.

3. Publish your own newsletter. Many autoresponders can manage your subscriptions and follow-up with interested prospects. Tip: Your newsletter can keep your visitors informed about your services or products and build your reputation as an expert in your particular field.

4. Publish an affiliates only newsletter. Inform them of current sales, promotional materials, etc. Tip: Include advice or techniques that they could use to successfully promote your business.

5. Distribute your own valuable articles. Tip: Writing and distributing your own targeted articles is a very powerful tool to build your business online credibility, increase your sales potential and bring a lot more traffic to your site.

6. Distribute your own free reports. Tip: This could give your visitor an idea of the type of information you provide as well as the quality of your products and services.

7. Distribute your own email course. Tip: Each day your autoresponder could send out another new lesson, full of quality content - not just a sales pitch.

8. Once a visitor has completed your email course, automate a reminder about your products and services. Tip: You could also use these reminders to promote new products or services.

9. Automate your own sales process. Tip: Create an ad filled with numerous marketing materials which will increase the chances of converting visitors into customers.

10. Distribute your own advertising to future clients. Tip: If you sell advertising on your website, newsletter or e-zine, set your autoresponder to send the advertising rates (and how to place an ad) automatically to all your prospects' email addresses.

11. Create your own trivia quizzes or contest. Tip: Place the answers and confirmation of their contest entry in an autoresponder.

12. Offer a sample version of your own products. Tip: Give your customers a sample of your own ebooks, courses, software, etc.

Autoresponser allow you to automate many parts of your marketing campaign. Autoresponders are potentially a very powerful marketing tool and allow you to make contact with thousands of potential customers with no work on your end - past the initial autoresponder setup.

This could be an invaluable asset considering how many potential customers you usually have contact with BEFORE you make an actual sale. Now that you have a few new ideas about autoresponders, see if you can come up with some brilliant and creative autoresponder methods of your own!


Copyright 2007 • Debbie Ray. All Rights Reserved

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Debbie Ray, owner of http://www.the-website-doctor.com/ , http://www.cheap-legal-help.com/ , http://www.profitwithinternetbusiness.com/ and http://www.total-german-shepherd.com/ is a lifelong dog owner, teacher and internet business owner. Want to learn more about internet business? Purebred dogs? Let me teach you.

Five PR DO-It-Yourself Tactics from Forbes.com

I received via a separate newsletter an article from Forbes.com titled, In Pictures: Five PR Do-It-Yourself Tactics. I do a little PR work with a couple of my clients, not to mention trying to promote my own business, so this is an area of business that interests me. And as the title read, it is in pictures. I thought it was good enough to share. Check it out at:

In Pictures: Five PR Do-It-Yourself Tactics

And as Copyblogger.com suggests, if you enjoy this entry subscribe to my feed or email subscription for more articles and/or suggestions of the same or better quality.

Carole

Email Campaign Providers--Take your pick!

I am in the beginnings of starting an email newsletter and was researching the best autoresponder to go with. I got this information off of LinkedIn. I was so awed by his details that I thought it was a definite plus for my readers. He even lists the cost of each provider. Thanks, Ethan, for detailing this for someone searching for an Email Campaign provider.

As far as email service providers go, here's a breakdown:

AWeber: The industry leader in autoresponders and also one of the most reliable and economical email service providers. The interface is on the lo-fi side and there is less hand-holding than with Constant Contact, but if you don't require that, they are potentially the best option. They, like most of the options have a very high deliverability rate, plenty of templates and successful email marketing tutorials. $19.95 per month with no setup fee. This covers 10,000 subscribers and you can email them as much as you like. Each extra 10,000 subscribers is $9.95 per month.

Constant Contact: Very customer friendly and non-technically-oriented. Lots of templates and tools and online assistance to help you succeed with your email marketing. $15 per month gets you 0-500 subscribers with unlimited emails. The pricing scales from there, with 10,001 to 25,000 email addresses costing you $150 per month.

Get Response: Another non-techy option similar to Constant Contact. $17.95 per month for 10,000 addresses. $4.50 per month for each 5000 addresses over that. Unlimited emails and campaigns.

Campaign Monitor: A very polished, slick aesthetic earns this one all the kudos from the design crowd. Many good tools and templates to help with your email campaign's success. They use a price per email model instead of a total subscriber model. You pay $5 for each campaign and then 1¢ per recipient. You can get discounts of up to 50% by pre-purchasing email credit.

SparkList: This is the hosted service of Lyris, the makers of one of the more high profile email marketing software systems, ListManager. It is much more expensive than the others but carries the Lyris brand behind it and is much more suited to high volume emailers. It also offers a familiar interface if you are already using ListManager somewhere else. $175 setup, $100 per month for 5000 email messages up to $500 setup and $1000 per month for 500,000 messages.

A very important consideration given if you have an existing email list has to do with importing the list into their system and opt-in confirmation. In order to maintain the positive nature of their relationships with the ISPs, these email service providers want to make sure that you have obtained permission to send email to these addresses. If they require you to re-confirm the opt-in status for each email address, they will send a new request to the address. Since roughly 50 to 60% of email subscribers never confirm their subscriptions, this will erode a fair bit of your list. However, many of these people were probably not receiving/viewing your email anyway, given that they did not respond to the confirmation request.

AWeber: Re-confirmation is required. Each email address will receive a customized message asking them to re-confirm permission. Constant Contact requires you to state that the list is permission based and they will penalize you if your bounce/spam numbers get too high. They offer a free 60 day trial of up to 100 email addresses. Campaign Monitor requires you to state that the imported email addresses are 100% permission based, they were not purchased and they were not scraped from emails/websites. SparkList also requires that a re-confirmation email to be sent to each address. Get Response will also not require that you reconfirm each email's permission.

More info and vendor links at Ethan Pierse's website below.
http://www.advenir.com/internet-marketing/internet-marketing-resources.html...

"Pat on the Back" Powerpoint Presentations

Are you working on a presentation? Many people give presentations everyday and quickly put together a powerpoint presentation without thinking about the audience but trying to achieve completion. Don't let your presentation be a sleeper. This article below is how to effectively capture your audience's attention and keep it. And maybe by the time you get done everyone will be patting you on the back saying "Well done"!

Utterly Droolworthy Power Point Presentations

By Joseph Plazo

You can sell Benzes to refugees during war time.

You easily part a nun from her vow of chastity.

No doubt- you’re the greatest at influencing people one-on-one.

But can you conduct killer power point presentations?


If you’re like 99% of all the presentors out there, I bet you ‘re a veteran at observing the MEGO Syndrome in audiences.

MEGO?

“Mine Eyes Glaze Over”


That’s right. Three minutes into the powerpoint presentation, the audience is restless. Some begin sneaking out the door. The more polite ones just pretend to listen behind dark spectacles. But you know where their minds went.

The MEGO Syndrome arises from five monumental presentation mistakes. Do the opposite and you’ll deliver utterly drool worthy power point presentations- and influence the socks out of your crowd.

1. Keeping Them Guessing. Many speakers fail to give a roadmap of their speech. So throughout the presentation, the crowd is asking ‘huh? What’s his point? Where’s this leading to?’ Guide them by the hand. Before the actual presentation, outline exactly what you’ll cover and let them know when you’ll finish.

2. Failing to Connect At the Beginning. Audiences don’t like to be preached to. They’d prefer to be talked with. Keep your style interactive. Open the talk by asking a rhetorical question, launching an anecdote, or saying a shocking statement- then invite a comment! You’ll draw them in like Pirahnnas to a pork buffet.

3. Looking at the Floor and Closing Your Body. I’ve seen it so often. The speaker assumes a closed body language. Guilty of this? Hands in pocket. Arms crossed. Legs tight together. Look stiff, and you alienate the audience. To invite the audience to appreciate your power point presentation, move around. Gesture. Smile!

4. DataDumping. I’ve attended hundreds of business presentations where the speaker fills the slide with size 9 font text crammed to the margin. Then they read each line. Good lord! We’re attending a presentation, not an online reading course! The best slides follow the 4 by 4 rule. Four words across, four bullets down.

5. Forgetting the Call of Action. At the end, the speaker jumps to “any questions?” without giving the audience a specific command. Is it to buy? To invest? To visit a website? Without the call to action, the audience is left wondering what you yammered about for the last 20 minutes of their valuable time.

So here’s my call to action for you: create drool worthy powerpoint presentations. Right now.

Your audience deserves it.



About the Author: More of Joseph Plazo's killer articles: Art of Unstoppable Persuasion, Sneaky Negotiation Techniques, and finding Jobs in the Philippines
Source: http://www.isnare.com/

Unfog the Day!

It's Monday! Welcome to a new work week. In an article for a local business journal I wrote some tips for a productive day. Here is my suggestions to get the most accomplished in a day:

1. First thing in the day, make a list of what needs to be accomplished.
2. Set a priority to the list.
3. Shut off the world by closing doors, turning off radio, etc., until most important is accomplished.
4. Mark off items as you proceed.

You may not accomplish all that is written but the purpose is to plan. If you plan effectively in your daily projects, as well as in your business, you have a roadmap to follow with goals for the outcome.

Carole DeJarnatt
Alliance Advisors, Inc.

Business Card Overflow: What to do?

Attended any networking events or luncheons lately? I attended a luncheon not too long ago that was new to me. When you walked in the door it was almost like a 5 minute dating game to see how many people you could talk to about their business. Another meeting I attended had a contest to see who could collect the most business cards in the room. And another event had us exchange cards with every person at the table (table of 8) and also played a game where you found people in various professions in the room.

What do you do with all these business cards? When I first started attending these type functions my intentions were good. When I first got home I tried to enter all the information in different categories in Outlook and then contact them via email. I did this a couple of times but then I procrastinated and the stack got put on my desk and by the time I got around to entering the information in my contact file I had to be creative in the way I contacted them so they would remember who I was.

Now I do things a little differently than I did in the beginning. Here are a few suggestions on ways I have improved and utilize business cards:

• Within one day review the cards received. If a connection was made with someone, contact them immediately (email, phone call, snail mail, text message, whatever). Just do it.


• For those cards received and no real connection was made, utilize them for direct mail purposes. Write a letter, send a postcard or a note; whatever you do personalize it with a message stating you enjoyed meeting them.


• Save the cards for future reference. After entering the information in my Contacts file, I save all cards received in a plastic container. Several times when working with clients I have searched through this container looking for a card of someone I had met. Eventually you will have to cull out the old but until it fills up no need.

I hope some of these tips I wrote help you to better organize your contacts and also get more benefit out of cards that were given in passing and no real connection was made. Utilize them to your benefit. You never know what may come of your follow up techniques.

Carole DeJarnatt

The Snowball Effect

In my occupation as a business advisor, I see many business owners who struggle to make ends meet, try to do everything themselves, and ultimately they either lose business to the point they finally seek guidance or they end up out of business. Part of the problem is the inability to delegate but also lacking the knowledge to be aware that an investment now will reap greater rewards in the future if guidance is accepted and followed.

My husband and I have a friend who is in the automotive business. The rates are very good and the work ethic is great. We have been utilizing these services over two years and I promote it to all of our friends and business acquaintances. In the last few months, the business is very busy and they are having employee problems. Unfortunately, part of the outcome to the situation is the service has diminished to the point of no call backs on customer inquiries. This business is now affecting my credibility from a referral process. It has become a snowball effect:

1. Lack of service from business ~ Loss of customers
2. Complaints to me as the person referring ~ Affects my credibility
3. No more referrals from me ~ Loss of customers
4. Word of mouth on poor service ~ Loss of customers

From my point of view this business cycle is due to a lack of poor planning. At this point the business owner is grasping at anything possible to put a band-aid on the problem. With proper guidance and a plan for vision and goals, the steps to achieve success will become clearer.

The planning process is not easy but it is essential. There are several sources for business planning tools:

• Internet
• Small Business Development Centers
• Books
• Computer software
• Business advisor

There are numerous sources so choose the one that fits your needs best.

Do not become a statistic. The time and investment in your business today could mean greater success in the future if applied effectively. Seek the guidance you need to write a plan that will be your roadmap to a successful future.

Carole
Alliance Advisors, Inc.