The Simple Site Design Blog

Has this ever happened to you?

You meet someone maybe at an event, in line in Staples and talked with them a bit. And you instantly knew that they were not your ideal client but you “pursue” them anyway?

What a great example of when you just didn’t listen to or trust your instincts. And I bet when you reflected back on those times as you read that scenario, you answered with “yup, should have known better.”

Believe it or not, you did… Yet you didn’t do what you were being invited to do.

Perhaps, you may have met someone at an event, during a consultation or casually and began to share what it is you do. They may have gotten a little excited about the “possibilities” you painted for them and started asking more questions.

But as the conversation continued, you got a sense that this person was either not ready for what you offered or would need to be “pursued” vs. being guided by you to achieve the result they wanted. In your mind, it looks and feels like it’s going to be a struggle. But hey, you’re up for the challenge, right? I hope you’re hearing the alarms going off!

If you’re entertaining the thought of working with a client who will “work” you vs. “working” with you, you can bet your gut, intuition or that know in your stomach is screaming at you. Ignore it at your peril!

Full disclosure. Ok, so I have ignored the very advice I’m giving you and here is what happened. (By the way, I’m so glad I did – once.)

Back when I stared career coaching, a potential client was referred to me. She was very excited about what I could help her achieve. And after discussing my offer and rates, she asked for a discount. My gut said, something doesn’t feel right here, but I wanted the client. So I told her let me look at the program again and see what I could do. I decided, not happily, to offer her a discount. She then decided that she wasn’t going to invest, even with the discount SHE requested. I decided right there and then, NEVER again would I “discount” my offers or myself. AND that I would pay attention to my gut!

As it turns out, that example has proved to be incredibly inspirational for me. It’s an example I give to my clients about the “D” word and how they will not discount the value of their service or who they are and should therefore NOT discount their prices. If you want a way to make it “budget friendly” for an ideal client, offer an incentive or payment plan as a better approach.

If you’re wondering how or why you’ve ended up with not so ideal clients, look at 1) who you’re being; and 2) what you’re offering.

If you’re being the service professional who will accept anyone who is interested; who wants to negotiate your fees; and who has to work with you on a small budget, then they many not be “ideal.” By the way, are you willing to give them less because they’re paying you less or costing you more?

If your programs, products or services are not delivering high content, high value and clear results then your less than ideal clients may see an opening to negotiate your prices! Can you hear “discount”? Ugh! Your offers and your prices will reflect the types of clients you attract.

As entrepreneurs, you have to trust your instincts.

There have been clients I’ve walked away from following the completion of a program because I knew that they wouldn’t be ideal clients for the next program. A couple of clients went on to other coaches who then complained about working with them. And so I thank my gut, because it made room for more of my ideal clients to find me happy and ready to be of service to them vs. resentful and unhappy to see them.

Learn to trust your instincts more than fear your lack of clients and income and trust me, the “best” thing will happen for both you and your business.

The business mentor to the service professional who is ready to thrive as an entrepreneur, Chris Makell shows her clients a different way to “Think Big…Play Bigger” so they create profitable 6 & 7-figure businesses. Claim your free special report “5 Critical Steps to Get High Paying Clients, Today” at http://ChrisMakell.com/specialreport/

Businesses must better understand the needs of their consumers if they want to improve customer service.

It can be especially difficult for large organisations to understand the unique needs of every individual customer and what exactly it is they value most when interacting with their business.

The rise of social media has enabled organisations to interact with their customers in different ways and this advancement in technology has seen a number of advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of social media are that customers have an extra platform to express their opinion on products and services and businesses can use this channel to generate feedback as well as resolving complaints and queries.

Communicating with customers through social media channels like Twitter and Facebook is ideal for businesses with the appropriate resources to directly respond to their consumers quickly and conveniently but there can be drawbacks.

Engaging the online social community is essential for organisations but they must not do this at the expense of customers for which the internet is not their preferred method of communication.

It is the responsibility of organisations to understand how their customers like to interact with their business and then act on this by making themselves better available through this channel.

Discovering a customer’s preferred method of communication is the first step to improving the consumer experience but not a panacea for any engagement issues that an organisation might have.

Organisations must learn how to build a complete picture of their customers based on previous interactions so that their departments can work together to provide a complete service.

The same level of service must be provided to all customers through each channel whether it is email, SMS, phone or face-to-face and to do this there must be consistency throughout an organisation.

Performance improvement consulting experts can help an organisation achieve a consistently high level of customer services across multiple channels by applying systems thinking business theory.

Applying systems thinking to an organisation will allow a business to evaluate what their customers value most when interacting with them and this will help them better understand their consumer base.

Systems thinking theory will also demonstrate how organisational departments can work together to improve customer service instead of failing to meet consumer needs by acting as separate divisions.

Using systems thinking theory enables management consultants to educate business managers how to redesign processes so that mistakes are eliminated at every level of the organisation.

Himsworth Consultancy is a leading Management Consultancy firm of senior business and peformance improvement consulting professionals that can improve customer service through systems thinking. Click on the links to discover more.

By Tammy Hawk-Bridges

Facebook is one of the most amazing marketing opportunities of all time. I find it sometimes very frustrating when people do not fully understand the significance it carries.

Before starting my business I had a 10 year career as an advertising executive, and made a great living at it. Prior to 2008 of course! I worked for an upscale business publication and in addition to being a weekly tabloid we also put on business events. These were of course amazing networking opportunities as anyone that is anyone in the business community would show up. These events brought special marketing opportunities through sponsorships that we offered to our best advertisers and of course the more elite businesses in town. It was a great opportunity for them to be affiliated with a very high caliber event that was very heavily marketed and attended by business professionals. The cost to sponsor one of these 3 hour events ranged from 10K upward to 25K depending on the type of event it was. For that investment they got their logo splashed all over everything and got to speak to a captive audience for a whole 3 minutes prior to the event. Yeah sure there were other benefits, but this was the gist of it. When I think of the amount of money that people paid for this opportunity and compare it to what lies within Facebook it is just mind boggling.

Facebook is an opportunity to not only brand your business but to have a continual captive audience. An audience that you can market your message to over and over again. And if done properly and strategically not only will that audience grow, but so will your bottom-line.

As someone with an advertising background, I am astounded that more businesses are not taking advantage of what Facebook ads has to offer. For a very reasonable investment, that you actually determine, you can pin-point your target head on. Let’s say you want to advertise to women that live within a specific zip code, that are of a certain age or even educational status – you can do that on Facebook! How amazing is that? So let’s say you spent $1,300 in a month to reach them with your ads. Again having been an advertising professional I know that is still very cheap when you consider it against an ad in a magazine. But here is the kicker! Let’s say that your clicks came through to your Facebook page and prompted the advertiser to click “Like”? If you had just 50 people click through for that month, that is 50 people that you can continue to market your business to again and again from that $1,300 investment! Where else can you get that type of targeted return? Not to mention the viral effect of the 50 clicks and the fact that each Facebook user has an average of 130 friends. So in essence when each of those 50 people clicked on your Like button it was in the Facebook feed of potentially 6,500 people.

How are you utilizing the opportunity in your captive Facebook audience?

Renowned for her Facebook Page Design, Tammy Hawk-Bridges is a social media design expert. She teaches businesses not only how to brand themselves in the new media space but how to effectively market their business to achieve results.

You can decide on doing business online the easy way or the hard way, depending on how much preparation you make room for in the beginning. Even before you start to think about what kind of design your website will have or what you will call it, it is important to think of many of the same things that you would consider if starting a regular business in the real world. Doing business online is also a little bit different, and in many ways much easier than traditional ways as well, and you can do very well with little operational expenses if you play your cards right.

While many people dream of getting rich from doing business online, a lot of people forget that it takes time and effort just like anything else. One of the biggest reasons people give up so easily is that they did not realize that building and maintaining a business online is not something they can put together once and then set it aside while it takes care of itself. While you can develop and design an easy site to manage and operate, getting people to your site and then getting them to give you money are completely different things. Learning how to do business online before you go online is a good way to help you get started well.

Doing business online is rather simple once you know the basics. Getting a site built, creating a shopping cart and perhaps developing an advertising strategy should be things that you think about as you are putting all of these pieces together. Talking to a professional consultant may be helpful, but it may take some legwork in order to find the best person to advise you and your company about your future ideas. Doing business online is different than regular businesses in many ways as well, and sometimes it would be helpful for this extra hand in pointing you in the right direction.

However, just learning the ropes as far as the world of internet commerce is concerned is enough for many people. Finding a good source of information is easy as well, however, you should look for one that will be helpful to you and what you are intending on doing online. One place to start learning the basics about doing business online is through a site geared towards helping people create and operate the ideal site for the products and services they are offering.

Doing business online is something that can be extremely lucrative or non revenue generating at all, and it is up to you and how much effort you are willing to put into the process. The more you know and learn, the more successful you will be at doing business online, and there is a great site that is full of the latest and greatest information for all those budding internet moguls to look at. Take the plunge and start doing business online the right way with the right guidance and advice.

Businesses should take advantage of smartphone technology to gather consumer feedback.

With the rapid rise of smartphones such as iPhones, Androids and Blackberries the mobile device has become increasingly valuable as a consumer survey channel and should now be utilised by those organisations looking to improve customer service.

A significant number of businesses turned to the internet over the past ten years in order to collect feedback through online surveys but now using the web is typically done using smartphone technology.

Engaging with customers that use smartphones is essential as it has been predicted that there will be one billion of these devices used around the world in the next three-to-five years.

When attempting to design a survey that is suitable for mobile phones, it is important that businesses understand that they must be interactive and dynamic manner as modern-day customers are more technologically savvy.

An effective mobile survey should be designed so that a user will not have to constantly zoom-in in order to view the questions and then continuously scroll up and down to view the rest of the page.

Online surveys must be automatically rendered into an appropriate format so that smartphone owners can respond to the survey fully by utilising the devices’ user-friendly interface.

There are numerous advantages of using mobile technology to engage with customers as the devices can give businesses contact with demographics which were previously inaccessible such as younger consumers.

Organisations can also access consumers in emerging markets from the BRIC economies and busy business people who are unlikely to spend time in front of a desktop or laptop computer.

Using mobile technology will also allow organisations to gain feedback immediately after the customer has interacted with their business which is more valuable as the experience will be fresh in their mind.

Furthermore, geolocation tracking can enable a business to see exactly where a customer was at the time of responding to a survey and this will open up a world of possibilities in terms of marketing.

There are always certain risks using new channels to generate customer feedback such as sample bias but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives when it comes to exploiting new information.

Performance improvement consulting experts can help organisations improve customer service by enhancing the ways they gather feedback by applying systems thinking theory.

Improving the quality of consumer feedback can assist in the redesigning of business processes which may be operating inefficiently.

Himsworth Consultancy is a leading Management Consultancy firm of senior business and peformance improvement consulting professionals that can improve customer service through systems thinking. Click on the links to discover more.

There are some general website marketing tips that everyone should think about, and unfortunately there are sources of information that are better than others and it may take some time until you learn which ones are the best. The good news is that once you find a good resource to use, you can apply what you learn to how you build and manage your website. Additionally, you can learn about some website marketing ideas that may or may not work for you. Advertising online is a very simple, yet strategic process, and it is completely different from other more traditional methods. Learning how to make these work for you is key to your success online.

You can pay for website marketing services or you can do them yourself, and your willingness to put a lot of time into your strategy is what will help you decide which option is best for you. The goal is to get your site noticed by those who will be interested in the product or service that you are providing. This is the essence of website marketing and there are many ways that you can get the word out effectively. But, you should become familiar with all of the options out there so you can decide which ones will work best for you and your site.

You can find all the help you need in terms of learning about website marketing and the companies which offer these services. One site is designed to help people understand how to build websites as well as how to optimize them for revenue as well. You can find a wealth of information about website marketing along with all of the other steps that people need to take in order to successfully launch and advertise their website. You should plan ahead and give yourself time to look at the options before you decide on one over the other, because the last thing you want is to put your time and energy into something that will not work out the way that you hope. The goal is to have an easy to manage and use website that is customer friendly as well as optimized to reach that particular niche.

Sometimes we can do this ourselves, while there are times and situations which are best suited for professionals to manage. No matter what your decision regarding website marketing will be, you can get oriented and pointed in the right direction easily and fast. Website marketing is easy and affordable and you can do it yourself if you like, however many people opt to get some outside help. Just pick a good strategy and wait for a little while to see if it works. The good news is that you can change your approach easily if one does not work as well as you hope it will. Make the most of your website and give it the best exposure possible through a good marketing strategy.

Why do so many people fail to make a success of legitimate profitable online business programs? There are many reasons, and most of the time it is not the fault of the program, but of the marketer.

When you decide to work for yourself by starting an online business, the most important thing to do is decide what time, expenditure and effort you want to put into your new venture. Do you want to do it full time, or to supplement your income part time?

There are many legitimate and profitable home based business opportunities available to us today, but the trick is choosing the right one. Many marketers jump between many different MLM (multi level marketing) opportunities and marketing strategies and never really get anywhere in any of them. This is because they are focusing their attention in too many different areas at once and not giving any of them the time and attention that they deserve to become successful. This is I believe the top reason why most people trying to make money online fail.

The other major fault is that marketers spend too much time on training, buying training materials and products that promise instant riches, but never get out there and put into action what they have learnt. Do a count of how many products that you have bought online with good intentions, and have never put to good use.

The trick is finding something that you enjoy doing, and then focusing solely on that until you start to make a profit online. Choose two or three different ways to market your product and then go into massive action perfecting your marketing skills in those select methods. Don’t get distracted with other offers and promotions online for the next best money making venture, stick to one and make it work. With online marketing being so competitive, you will really have to work hard to make yourself noticed. You will need to generate massive traffic to your offer in order to make some sales. Remember that over time you will get more traffic if you work at it, but it doesn’t happen overnight.

Many online marketers also tend to treat their online business like a hobby. If you treat your business like a hobby, you won’t go far or make enough money. You need to focus and work on your online business each and every day, just like you would at your normal day job, or you will fail to make the profits that you so desperately want to.

There are many profitable online ventures that you can join, but make sure that your business will be sustainable in the long run. Some of the most popular and profitable ways to market online include blogging, affiliate marketing or joining up with a good MLM company.

No matter what you choose, it is always a good idea to have a blog. In this way you can promote yourself, your products or your company and build up your reputation online. If you choose to go the MLM route, make sure that the company is selling valid and good quality products. You will normally have to pay a monthly fee to belong to these sorts of opportunities if they are any good, as the free ones normally won’t get you very far.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you set goals, stay focused and motivated and most importantly never give up. In any business it is normal to work hard for six months before seeing the fruit of your labor.

Profitable home based business opportunities take time. Take a look at this one. It is a wonderful example of working and making yourself a passive income over time by using good products and the power of leverage. http://saearners.info

Cloud computing is comparatively new technology and therefore it is not pretty clear what standards are to be predicted of providers in this business. When trying to know what to check for in a provider begin by first knowing the technology. By familiarizing with the technology it becomes very easy to appraise providers. Cloud computing seeks to deliver computing services and resources through the internet in a manner similar to other utilities such as electricity. The idea is to provide users from any part of the world access to the latest technologies without high cost burdens which have in the past led to piracy and other such problems. The sellers of different technologies work with cloud service providers to make sure that the services and resources are accessible when and where they are required in the needed amounts.

The first sign of a great cloud computing provider obviously will be dependability. As a new comer to cloud computing you might not be able to know how to find whether a provider is dependable or not. Presently, this is simple because we have a rising number of cloud evaluations whereby users, sellers and other industry specialists give feedback. Searching through the cloud appraisals will provide you with a clear clue as what others think of the services of a certain provider. Consistency of cloud services needs to be more than a reliable delivery of service to support that is dependable. Because cloud computing is comparatively new, there is very little that you can sort out without good support. It is very important to remember that support is critical when it comes to computing. A provider who can give consistent services and support is the greatest alternative.

The next important aspect you need to carefully look at is cost. Since it is among the new technologies, there is no clear cut or well known pricing arrangement. This situation usually results in great disparities as the pioneers try and maximize on their advantage of being among the first to have the technology. Therefore, cloud computing service providers will have greatly varying prices for the very same merchandize. Extensive research is required on the part of the customer so as to establish what the best possible prices are. Care should however be taken as the cheapest provider is not necessarily the best.

When searching for cloud computing service providers, it is also critical to enquire about their disaster recovery alternatives. This is especially important and you need to understand what it is that they have to offer. Data loss can be a huge blow to the running of your business and with that the provider should have a complete solution to respond to any event. There are several other things to check out which will assist in assessing the provider. Their speed of response to enquiries, level of experience and helpfulness will all be pointers of a good provider or one that should be avoided.

In today’s global economy, having a leg-up over the competition by any and all means necessary is the common goal of all businesses. Some try to improve their products and services, investing heavily on research and development – letting their products speak for themselves. Others focus on market research and surveys. And a good few put their faith in the power of old school advertisements like newspapers, radio and television. For all intents and purposes they’re all good, and to some degree, they get the job done – to some degree. But, what separates the industry leaders from the rest? What is their advantage? Fair or unfair, the answer is lead generation.

Business leaders have found out that by carefully selecting their demographics like target industry, target area, decision makers and what not, they can properly reach their target market more efficiently. It’s been said before that the money is in the list. True. Combining the knowledge of who to call, when would be a good time to call and where to call in order to come up with a target-rich record list is just half of the battle. The other half of it is the actual compilation. It’s actually easier said, than done. There are a couple of websites that offer free list building tools and free lead generation. Try it and see for yourself how using those free services is an absolute waste of time and effort. The sign-up process alone will require you for referrals. If you want at least 1000 numbers, you have to come up with 1000 referrals. Easy right?

Then there’s an easier and dependable alternative. For a small fee you could actually buy the list you need from a professional B2B lead generation company. These companies have their own data-miners designed and maintained in-house. You get to tell them the specifics like the ones mentioned above, so in essence, you have control of what goes in your list. The numbers that are going to be generated in that list will be 100% accurate as they have their own team of callers whose main job is to cleanse the database every so often. They make sure that the database is updated by calling those numbers and verifying that the records they have on those companies are still accurate like their email address, website and in the process, they make sure that the decision makers are still alive or still connected with the company. It’s very embarrassing to call on a prospect only to find out that the person you’re looking for has been dead for 5 years. That’s the exact point in the call you lose all your credibility and the prospect of having a qualified sale goes out the window. These B2B lead generation companies make sure that the kind of scenario mentioned above does not happen. That’s part of what you paid for.

Today’s economy dictates that in order for your company to survive, corners must be cut and belts must be tightened. But skimping on important aspects like lead generation is just not advisable. Get stingy in this area and you’re bound for utter failure. A lot of companies have found this out the hard way. There are no shortcuts for lead generation. Like any business process, B2B lead generation requires serious thought, time and effort.

If you’re a mom, the pressure to bring in an income, raise the kids, and take care of the house can be heavy. Luckily, there is a way to tackle all 3 at once – by becoming a work-at-home mom!

Why work from home?

Maybe you simply miss having a career now that your main job title is “mom”. Or, maybe you need some extra money. Or, maybe you want to be around in the afternoons with your kids – instead of fighting traffic and an overbearing boss. Whatever the reason, there are 3 job opportunities that are perfect for work-at-home moms:

1. Start your own business.

You may not be Bill Gates or Donald Trump, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have the entrepreneurial spirit! In fact, you can start up a small business and run it right from your house.

Let’s say you love to sew. You could make a bunch of extra money by starting up a seamstress business or even sewing kids’ Halloween costumes. That way, you get to do what you love and make some valuable money in the process.

Or, if you miss your old days as an English teacher, why not offer tutoring services? You could work with neighborhood kids right at the comfort of your own kitchen table!

2. Start selling.

Companies like Avon, Mary Kay, and Scentsy are always looking for new salespeople. With companies like these, all of your profits are based on commission, so you can work as much – or as little – as you want.

In fact, you can even turn your new job into a social event. Spending a Thursday night entertaining friends and showing off your latest products can be fun and profitable!

When you’re in direct sales, there may be times when you have to leave the house to make sales, but you’re still your own boss – so you can schedule things while the kids are in school if you need to.

3. Affiliate marketing.

If you have a computer and an internet connection, you can turn the world wide web into your “storefront”.

When you’re an affiliate marketer, you don’t have to create and manufacture your own products. Instead, you pick products that you want to promote. Then, when your efforts lead to a sale, you get a commission. It’s similar to direct sales – only you never have to leave your house (or even get out of your PJ’s) to do it!

Different products pay different commission rates, so if you want to get the most bang for your buck, research a bunch of different products before you start.

Tony Mase is a serious student of the works of Wallace D. Wattles and the publisher of the “How to Get Any Business Opportunity for Just Pennies on the Dollar…” ebook by Leo J. Quinn that shows you how you can get practically any business opportunity for as little as the cost of an email, letter, or phone call. Grab your copy now at: http://www.bizops4less.com