Small Business Online: Thriving in a Virtual World

Let’s Not Forget the Value of LIVE Networking for Small Businesses

Although “social” networking has become the hottest ticket around for the last few years, as small business owners (or even large business owners), we simply can’t afford to overlook the value of live networking events and our real, already-existing contacts.

So if we’ve forsaken the real world for a virtual one for too long, how do we get centered in the here and now?  Because you’re here-and-now contacts are an amazing source of business – they are referrals, they are introductions – in short, if you use them properly, they are money in the bank. In fact, using your EXISTING contacts is the best way to go about networking! 

The first thing to do is catalog all of your personal contacts. Don’t just stick with business contacts either. Take time to jot down all of the personal contacts you know – think about neighbors, hair dressers, clergy, relatives and friends, etc. Then, list all of the educational contacts you have had in your life, i.e, professors, instructors and mentors. List of your social contacts (perhaps from volunteer work or various social groups, like Toastmasters). Finally, list all of the professional contacts you have – current or former supervisors, colleagues, vendors  and contacts you have met in your career.

Listing your contacts is a great exercise for ALL of us - one we should probably undertake at least once a year!

Once you’ve identified your contacts, reach out to them and let them know what you’re doing. The words, “I am wondering if you can help me,” can be magically powerful. 

The contacts you already have are only half of the live networking effort, of course. The contacts you have YET to meet are the other half. You can find some terrific networking events at the following places: The Chamber of Commerce, Fundraising Events for Non Profit Organizations, Networking Events at your local Y, Member Associations (for example if you are an accountant the local chapter for the Society of Accountants), Trade Associations who hold networking events, and finally look into Alumni Events.

Thwart the instinct to bring a friend with you, because it’s important to introduce yourself around and mingle. You’ll never meet new contacts if you remain safely in your comfort zone and don’t put yourself out there. Remember; if networking is outside your comfort zone, push yourself to attend anyway. The more you attend networking events, the more comfortable you will become. It is only when we push ourselves further and into the unknown that progress can be made.

Networking is like any other marketing effort. It takes time to create a plan, time to implement it and time to perfect it. Take great notes and stay in touch with those you connect with. Contacts are only as good as the amount of attention and nurturing you give them. Ask what you can do to support the goals of others, and you’ll be amazed at the good will that comes back to you.

To your continued success,
Dave Churchville
dave@myclientspot.com
ClientSpot by ExtremePlanner Software
http://www.myclientspot.com

Using Youtube to Market Your Small Business

 Okay, you may be totally aware of how effective video marketing is and already be using it at every opportunity. But for those of you who aren’t exactly sure what to do, here’s a simple how-to on maximizing ANOTHER free online marketing opportunity: Youtube!

How: To begin with, Youtube marketing can be super advanced — or really simple. Think flipcam simple. You can spend a LOT of money on a production company – or you can simply script your message, look amazing, have a friend or two help you and be as dynamic as possible. Remember, there’s no better expert on who you are and what you do than YOU.

What: I would suggest that you get started with this process by setting aside a few hours to brainstorm on topics or tips — you can jump start this process by setting a two-minute timer and writing down ALL your ideas without editing or censoring yourself. Then circle the top ten. Do that a few times, and you’ll have a library of ideas to use when you’re ready to script and shoot your material. Be sure to keep your videos short and to the point. Start out with your vital statistics: name, website, and company. Next, spend 30 seconds on what you do, another 30 seconds on a tip of the day, and then remind them of your name and website again.That’s it!

When: Very important: Take some time and put together a schedule for your marketing effort. If you make it a point to publish either the tip of the day on Mondays through Fridays, or a TGIF message once a week, your friends and fans (and hopefully potential clients) will keep tuning in to partake in your expertise.

Where: Once your videos are up on Youtube, you can push them out to your Facebook Profile with the click of a button!  And when you do push your video from Youtube to Facebook, add a friendly note and ask your contacts to help you make it go viral and PASS IT ON!  Want to put your video on your blog too? Copy the HTML code from Youtube and paste it to your “post a new blog” page (the code portion, of course). If you’re using an email marketing software, you can often input those videos there as well. My point here is that like blogging your articles (and using them in email marketing, tweets, etc., etc.), you can multipurpose your video content as well.

Who: You can definitely also ask OTHER people to do short videos about you and your company – TESTIMONIALS rock. These can be done by clients, of course, but friends, colleagues, and even VENDORS can give testimonials on how amazing you are to work with. Don’t worry about imposing by asking – often our colleagues are happy to help and even flattered that you’ve asked them to speak on your behalf. Definitely send a thank you gift for their support.

Finally…  Why: This is probably obvious, but just in case you haven’t noticed, video is compelling!  And it’s an entirely different way to convey what you’re about. In some ways, it’s far more personal and allows you to bring your personality into the picture. You can also tag your videos, which will drive traffic to your website and add to your SEO opportunities. The bottom line about the WHY with video marketing is hey, WHY NOT?!!

To your continued success,
Dave Churchville
dave@myclientspot.com
ClientSpot by ExtremePlanner Software

http://www.myclientspot.com

Managing Difficult Clients in Tough Times

The long arms of the recent recession seem to leave no stone unturned when it comes to business management and client care. One side effect of the recent downturn is a certain loss of freedom around client management, especially for small businesses and solopreneurs. Where small businesses and service providers used to be able to pick and choose clients – at least to some degree – this is no longer the case.

While the bottom line is always a top concern in any company, one of the perks of owning a business has always been that during good times, business owners could decline projects from difficult clients. With businesses closing everywhere we look though, even a difficult account is worth its weight in gold. So how do we successfully, effectively manage a tough client or project? Here’s three steps to help you set the tone.

Step One. Communication is definitely key in this situation. To begin with, make sure that all of your brainstorming sessions are recorded. If they’re conducted on the phone, use a recordable conference call line and consider having the call transcribed if it’s not too long. Create a punch list that is confirmed both verbally, before the call ends, and in a follow-up email, specifically outlining who is responsible for what and what each party’s next steps are. Remember to keep phone calls short so that frustration will not show if a conversation gets tough.

Step Two. Make sure that the client submits all follow-up or ancillary instructions in writing, through your formal inquiry system – either obtaining a “trouble ticket” or a confirmation from you or your team. Verbally exchanged instructions can be a virtual minefield to navigate and can lead to ever-widening circles of misinformation and misunderstanding.

Step Three. Keep the boundaries clean and clear. If you do not work on weekends, and that is in the policy and procedures that you have provided to your clients, don’t respond to random emails with questions or updates during that window. Although you may think you’re providing great customer service, it definitely sends a mixed message. Obviously, real emergencies are a different story, but 99% of life or business will, hopefully, not fall into that category. Another important boundary to keep in place is who does what. If you have a perfectly capable team in place and they have been empowered to handle IT issues, for instance, redirect your difficult customer to that team or individual. If you make yourself the “go to” person for everything under the sun, you will quickly find yourself mired in the day-to-day and unable to navigate the larger issues that really ARE under your umbrella (like funding and new business).

Finally, remember that from a client’s perspective, they are not difficult. Tough clients most likely consider themselves detail oriented, or perhaps even moderately controlling. But difficult? No. Most of us do not see that in ourselves. Remember, all clients need to be treated with the same level of courtesy and patience. Navigating the ups and downs of tough clients or projects not only protects your income stream, it also builds your referrals and your reputation. It says that you are an exceptional vendor and THAT is a reputation worth fighting for.

The Richest Commodity: YOU

There are so many ways that the richest commodity in your business is YOU. Right now, let’s just focus on two of them: Intellectual Property and Client Care. When we talk about these two things as part of your business’ RICHEST commodities (and thus something you want to GROW), we also need to talk about the POOREST commodity (and what you need to shrink): Sweat Equity.

(Hang in there, this isn’t as hard to follow as it sounds.)

Important Idea #1. If you are a solo entrepreneur or own a small business, then your ideas and your expertise ARE your business. How you implement those ideas and expertise are your Sweat Equity. This piece is something that we can OFTEN outsource, once we’ve put some amazing standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place. Why? Because if you can’t create SOPs and outsource your implementation, you are almost always tied to an hourly wage in one form or another. Alternatively, once you build an amazing team of smart, hard-working professionals to do some of the hands on, you can be freed to a) come up with MORE ideas, products, product paths, services, etc. (Intellectual Property). Hey, don’t forget that your team may also have some great ideas to throw your way and keep your business growing – definitely ask them at your weekly catch-up sessions for their input.

When you have as much as you possibly can PROCEDURALIZED and DELEGATED to your team, you can move on to the second reason that your company’s richest commodity is you: Client Care. Now I’m not talking about day-to-day customer service here. THAT is something you definitely want to delegate and outsource. What I AM talking about is that special interaction that your clients look for: The conversations, the brainstorming, the quick “touch-base” conversations – the stuff that reminds them WHY they want to work with YOU and why they chose you as their service provider. Let’s face it, clients often choose us based on that one magical ingredient that we can’t really ever outsource: Connection. Having made the connection and gotten the client, actively keeping that relationship in motion is really important. If you’re busy cranking out the work 24/7, you really won’t have time to do the relationship management that KEEPS great clients on your roster.

This leads me to one last tip: Treat your client as PART of your team. Invite them to listen in on teleconference brainstorming sessions about their account. Send them documents that your team is working on (even before they’re finished) just to keep them in the loop or get periodic feedback. If you use a project / client management system, consider setting them up with a login & password just like you would a subcontractor so that they can easily look for updates and see if benchmarks are being met.

The bottom line is this. You are one person. And if you own a business, you’re probably an AMAZING person with a ton of great ideas. But if you don’t learn to build a team, delegate your tasks, manage your time AND manage your clients, greater levels of success may simply elude you.

Time: The Richest Commodity - Part Two

There are unimaginable rewards to having this type of foundation solidly in place at the start of your business, especially a small business. One is that you will obviously build and KEEP a great client base – and the other is free time. Without a system, believe me, you’ll find yourself working twice as hard and for many more hours than you would otherwise, and you’ll be so busy treading water that even finding ONE day off will feel like a miracle.

Another pitfall of poorly managed time? Money! I won’t even talk about the potential money that you can’t make because you’re busy spinning your wheels ineffectively and NOT marketing in those lost hours. Let’s just talk about the inaccurately tracked project time that you can’t invoice your clients for. Or the time that is forever lost when you spend it tracking down team members and following up missing documents and unmet deadlines.

Look, when it comes to running your own business, big or small, you MUST have a time tracking system BEFORE you start invoicing. Preferably you’ll choose one with easy reporting. That will allow you to not only invoice your clients simply and correctly, it will also let you easily cross-check your incoming subcontractor’s invoices.

The POM Factor. Finally, when it comes to the business of business, NOTHING beats POM: Peace of Mind. It’s tough enough to do the work, run the show, and please everyone on every side of every equation. Putting foundational tools into place before things get crazy will allow you to focus on creating great work and marketing your services and your company. It’s extremely difficult to be mentally available for great, unexpected opportunities when you’re tracing and retracing the same issues and questions every day. Managing your time and your projects is like having a safety net under your high-wire act. It leaves you free to focus on the work directly in front of you and the other people you’re performing with (and for).

The Richest Commodity: Time

Time management is probably the number one most effective success building tool for any small business or entrepreneur. Without it, creating long-term success is like trying to catch that elusive brass ring on a merry-go round. Round and round you go, just hoping to grab that ring (and more than likely missing it over and over). If you can put a reliable time management system into place from the beginning, however, week after week you get to avoid some pretty big pitfalls. What kind of pitfalls? Let’s start with missed deadlines.

There’s no way around it, deadlines are hard to manage if you work on your own. Projects and clients can easily start to become a blur during busy times. And if you get busy enough and are lucky to have a team – or need to hire subcontractors to contribute to one or more projects – well, you get the picture. People and tasks and timing can get pretty overwhelming. The sooner you have a flexible mechanism in place to help you make sure that project benchmarks are met and things stay on track, the better.