3 Things The Zimmerman Trial Taught Me

This is a very controversial and emotional topic right now for many, but I need to weigh in the importance of some of the things I personally learned from this trial.

The stage was already set for a firestorm when a case of a young black teen is slain by a half Caucasian adult and the state wants to sweep it under the rug.

Interestingly, when the stage is set for trial finally, you can see some masterful marketing and psychology at hand.

1. Know Your Audience
• 85% of court cases are won at jury selection according to Herald Price Fahringer in 1993.  Why is that?  This is simply due to the fact that either side of the court room can use demographics, education, gender, income, etc to pick a panel that can best understand “their side.”  Marketing needs to do the same process.  If you know who can best benefit from your products or services than you can present their needs in the best light.  This is where you start seeing what people say on your social media channels or even what your competitor’s customers are saying.  If you don’t know who needs what you have then you’re pretty much doomed…….
2. Fear Of Loss Is Greater Than Desire To Gain
• The jury had the task of basically deciding if Zimmerman sought out to kill Martin.  Not if he did it because that is evident, but if he planned or chose to do it maliciously.  With that task they can gain the joy of Martin’s family getting justice or have the Zimmerman family lose their son and the jury having to hold onto that loss of freedom.  Not to say one choice is better than the other, but the defense did an excellent job of instilling that point.  Approach your customers this way.  Nobody likes making a decision to go forward with a financial decision and then losing money on it.  MAKE SURE THEY WON’T LOSE ANYTHING!!  If they are, then tell them.  You may not earn any business then, but you will gain their respect and possible future business. 
3. Use Emotions To Your Advantage (Ethically)
• One interesting thing to note from Anderson Cooper’s interview with juror B37 is the fact how she kept referring to the defendant as George.  Not Mr. Zimmerman or Zimmerman as most of us know him.  The women felt sorry for Zimmerman or felt horrible about what they had to do.  Think about how your prospective clients feel about you or your product.  You have to know why or how they will feel good about a decision to accept what you offer.  Communicate with them with that in mind at all times.  Use it to help them come to a conclusion that will make them happy.  That’s how we gauge decisions.  We want to feel good about decisions.  If you have to bring up how sad someone will be when they don’t work with you (ie not having life insurance when your spouse dies……) then that is ok just as long as you turn it into a positive and you first and foremost know you will benefit them with your offering. 

This tragedy will go down in American history for many reasons.  I just choose to look at things from various angles.  Ultimately what I witnessed was great application of psychology from the jury selection phase to the verdict.  That is my way of taking something positive from such a long and drawn tragedy. 

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4 Top Reasons Why SEO May Be A Waste of Money

So a lot of small business owners, in fact 99% of them have a web page.  Of these owners many of them pay a clearing house or some agency for SEO (search engine optimization) to ensure that their page ends up on page 1 of a Google search.  Often though when I ask owners about this they have no idea of what is being done for this.

My opinion is that this can be a frivolous expense because most of these owners are not utilizing the the power of social media.  In fact, most of these owners either:

• don’t have a social media page
• only have 1 type of page
• don’t know anything about their page
• only posted < 10 things to it.

The image above depicts how Google ranks you in a search.  You obviously want to be the yellow or red face.  Getting their requires many links though.  The problem with a lot of SEO is it is based on random or even blind keyword entries and it is expensive.  With social media you open up the infinite possibilities of back links (connecting your content to someone else’s page for visibility). 

ALL OF THIS IS FREE!!!

Regularly posting to social media establishes you as an expert and can get you an audience you never thought you had.

91% of data usage on smart phones is used on social media

That’s huge! Take a business like a pet store.  Whenever someone comes in to play with a dog or to purchase one you should snap a picture (have releases ready if they are ify about it).  Upload the picture to Facebook or Pinterest.  If they are on FaceBook they will be tagged in the photo and notified.  This gives you a link to their page, a possible friend request, and maybe a Like (more likes mean more rotation in someone’s news feed which also results in a higher search rank).  That is a potential gold mine of free marketing!

Don’t forget about Google +.  Since Google has the largest market share of searches they also give preference to their profile pages.  If you don’t have one then make one.  It will be a great way for people to find more about you after they discover you on Google Places.

In short,

WAKE UP!!!!!

I used to only deal with people face to face and didn’t use social media for myself, but I have had success with helping others implement it.  It’s a necessity in business and much less of a financial strain than a lot of SEO promises.

 

I hope these tips help your business grow!

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4 Insights To Improve Your Business Now

So I was talking to a business owner about their current situation. They ran a furniture store. Pretty good inventory and a decent location because it was near some new housing and not too far from a military base. They were drowning. As I spoke to them more they said “we don’t understand the new way of business.” That resounded with me because a lot of small business owners are thinking this, but won’t say anything. They were used to the old school ways of people having extra cash and buying the most expensive things or referrals being their life blood

THE GLORY DAYS ARE OVER!

(at least for now)

As I spoke to them they also though the newspaper was still a viable form of marketing………..

Therefore, I wrote this blog to let you know the simple, inexpensive tips I bestowed upon them to get them going now. These are sales and marketing tips that can be applied to any business format.

1. Business is getting a customer and keeping them for life. This needs to be a way of life. Unfortunately businesses lose an average 10% of their customers each year for various reasons. A way to curtail this is to realize that you began a relationship when they spent their money on you. Target will never know me. Though they try withemail marketing. Why don’t you? Send thank you emails. Ask them a bit about their lives. Yourself is your favorite topic. Your clients feel the same way about themselves. Indulge them. Who knows, you may develop some genuine relationships like people did in the good old days.

2. Don’t throw a lot of money at advertising if you can’t or unless you’ve exhausted other means. The place I dealt with instantly thought about the newspaper. That costs money. Do you have a Google page? No. Do you have a Twitter? No. Do you have any web presence? No. So how will the Sunday paper help you?! Unless your audience is only seniors, forget about the paper. About 90% of people say that online reviews impact their purchases somehow. If you’re not involved online then you’re missing 90% of the people shopping! That’s huge, isn’t it? Try the free means of advertising before you blow money you’re losing. IT’S FREE FOR GOD’S SAKE!!!

3. Do not every begin the relationship with your customers based on budget. I know that is hard to hear for some people, but it is a proven no no that great sales people live by. A lot of small businesses can’t hire a sales force or the one they have isn’t stellar. In this furniture store they developed a habit of asking “what is your budget?” This cripples you. You should approach with as many open questions as possible. What are you looking for in particular? Where will you be using it? Tell me about that area. How long did you have your last __? Budget becomes a last piece because if they give you all of the emotional reasons of why they are even looking for something then the logic will come into place. It reminds me of a time when me and my wife were in a hotel and needed to just get some lotion. We stopped at one of the seemingly unattended cosmetic booths and used some lotion. A young lady approaches and starts to ask if we need any facial products. We say no, but then she asks what are you using now? This opens up a whole conversation of what we tried, what did or did not work, what success she had with her product versus others. Needless to say, our innocent stop for lotion led to a cosmetic purchase because she appealed to our emotions. We rationalized the price afterwards. Most of your clients behave in the same manner so live by emotions not logic.

4. Look at things from your client’s eyes. All of us forget that there are 2 sides to business some times. We get so hung up on what we want and how great our business is that we forget that our customers often have limited resources. This doesn’t mean treat them like scum, but instead show empathy and figure out how you can genuinely help them. If you sell any physical product, really figure out what your product will mean to them and convey that back. If you sell a service, try to really understand how your service will improve THEIR LIFE. We often times know we have a great product that we know everybody needs, but people need it for different reasons. A lot of purchases happen because people feel comfortable with the salesperson. You, as a small business owner need to develop that skill until you can hire somebody that comes with that.

In short, your customers are people too and the internet is one of businesses greatest tools. Few things we do are done with total logic. A large majority of our decisions are emotional. Print and television advertising is dying. Print is losing about 39% of advertising, television is losing about 7% per year, and internet advertising is growing at least 10% each year. Catch the wave!

PS – I hope these tips help your business grow.

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Your Fear Of Technology Is Killing Your Business

I work with all different walks of life when it comes to business. Young, old, black, white, skinny, fat, foreign, local, etc. With that said, I have noticed a terribly annoying trend with certain groups (there’s not one specific, but all in all they are pesky).

This group is the “I don’t like technology even though it controls 99% of my life” group. When I say technology it can be anything from social media topaperless payments to email marketing. These people seem content on the “word of mouth” factor and referrals from existing customers…………..

I’m dedicating this blog to these people to open their eyes to a few things:

1. Businesses typically lose 10% of their customers each year. This is typically in the case of the businesses that have no efficient way of attaining new customers. Word of mouth isn’t nearly efficient as it used to be when you speak on it vocally. The internet is the new word of mouth. 72% of people trust an online review as much as their friend! Capitalize on this! Make a bloody Google places page (this takes time so get on it……….mine is still in limbo with the “we do not service” error………) or Google+ for God’s sake!!

2. 91% of internet usage on mobile devices is spent socializing. This is huge!! EVERYBODY IS ON SOCIAL MEDIA! WHY AREN’T YOU?! I admit it can be daunting, but not unbearable. Pick 2 platforms to start with and really study and get used to them. When you opened your business you probably spent a lot of time looking for print marketing or television. Apply the same to social media.

3. I don’t like paperless systems / I don’t want my info on the internet. This one really irks me because the people that say this already have info on the internet!! If you have car insurance, the info is online. If you have a home, the info is online. If you pay bills, you probably pay them online (you’re silly to waste postage if you don’t do this). If you have a business, your info is online. When you can get a paperless system for your office it means:

a. You don’t need as many filing cabinets

b. You can find records in minutes even seconds versus hours.

c. You save paper that would otherwise be thrown away within 6 months.

d. If your office burns or you move your records are still there (thank the cloud!)

e. Lessening your exposure the Cancer causing chemical BPA .

4. We get all of our clients from referrals. This is awesome if it always happens, but there’s a few things you’re leaving to chance. If you go through a slew of transit, cheap, or unhappy customers, then you get no referrals. If the clients you do get aren’t forthcoming about their experience or don’t have friends that need your help, then dead end. Referrals today come from the web so much. This is why places ask “how did you hear about us?” More often than not you’ll hear they found you online or saw a web ad. People spend about 60% of their online time shopping. You need to position yourself for this.

In short, don’t be a hermit! The digital age has been hear since we though Y2K was the end of the world! The only thing that ended then was the world as we knew it.

I like to phase it this way a lot: if I presented you the option of a land line phone or a smart phone for the same amount of money each month, which would you choose?........................

If you say landline phone, disconnect your computer right now…………..

I hope these tips help your business grow!

PS – I help business owners increase their sales and lower their costs up to 40% on average.

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Your Clients Will Love When You Do This

Running a business is hard. Period.

So how can you make it easier is the prime question. A lot of people don’t realize a core element of “business”.

Old business was a better example of how it should be done.

Let’s talk about Jimmy’s Shake Shop. Jimmy made the best shakes anybody had tried so he decided to open a shop. Jimmy personally spoke to every customer that came in the shop. Jimmy really befriended a lot of them too.

That element is mostly gone these days. Now I’m not saying be fake, but make an effort. Business is really making a customer and keeping that customer for life. Sadly nowadays companies lose around 10% of their customers every year. This is really sad because a lot of people don’t gather that 80% of their business is often generated by 20% of their customers!

In this digital age there is a quick and painless way to “befriend” your customers.

Did you know that half of all local searches are done on smart phones and that 91% of mobile internet access is used to socialize!

What this means is, use this to your advantage. Empower your customers if anything. Too often I see small business owners set up some service to bombard their customers with Twitter ads or meaningless updates. That actually has an adverse effect.

Use it for advertising , but do so in such a manner that doesn’t cry desperation and that you can follow up on. I remember once I tweeted back on a deal I saw and never got a response.

Don’t do anything that overwhelms you. Once you find a platform that works for you, run with it.

I cannot stress the power of empowerment. That’s what Jimmy did. He would try to help his customers with anything he knew. People already respect you more because you had the stones to start a business. Send some educational info out pertaining to your business. Don’t give the secret recipe, but people love when someone in their network is a giver as well. No body wants someone to entirely take from them.

I hope these tips help your business grow!

PS – Tweet them if they do!! Ha ha, ……..see how I did that. I kid I kid!

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This Is Why You Should Go Paperless

You may have heard of paperless offices.
If you haven’t, you’ve lived under a tree!
So why should you make the plunge into paperless?

There are a plethora of reasons (bear in mind that a paperless office can still print things out. The point though is to avoid this as much as possible. A lot of owners get scared that “paperless” means there is no other option.)

1. Saving money: You can save upwards of $100,000 a year by going paperless because you avoid paper costs, receipt paper costs, printing toner, mailing costs, and storage! That amount can be the difference in a business still running for another month sometimes.
2. Protecting yourself: This is in the case of receipt paper. A lot of people don’t know this, but receipt paper contains high levels of BPA and BPS. These chemicals are bad for your health as they cause cancer, diabetes, obesity, etc. Imagine your staff being exposed to cancer causing chemicals every single day!
3. Marketing: If you go paperless you open up a new venue of marketing. Typically paperless systems integrate a lot more email into the routine. THIS IS FREE MARKETING GOLD! When you get a client’s email you have all kinds of opportunities to increase revenue.
4. Improve accounts receivables: Surveys find that businesses who accept payments electronically are normally paid within 10 days versus 27 days for all other forms. Every owner I’ve dealt with wanted their money ASAP. Obviously electronic is faster because who carries checks?...........................Plus,
5. Reduce the amount of bounced checks: Back in 2000 it was estimated that 731 million checks would bounce for various reasons. Don’t get caught in that statistic having to chase a customer down! With a credit/debit card payment you find out right away if it is good, not days later! Plus people nowadays like the convenience of it. I rarely carry my checkbook.
6. Store records on a hard drive not a hard cabinet: A computer can take up inches and hold billions of records while paper takes up cubic feet! Find your transactions in split seconds, not minutes or even hours. Plus, if you pay for bookkeeping, it will save you money being able to present your records via email or USB rather than a folder (accountants hate folder files)

I could go on longer, but you might run out of paper………………………

Seriously though, get with it. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Change is good!

I hope these tips help your business grow!
PS – They will.

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What Everybody Should Know About Receipts

Shopping. Sometimes mundane yet sometimes exciting. We do it habitually but also impulsively.
It is such a joy, but carries a serious threat.

WE USE 4.3 MILLION TREES A YEAR FOR RECEIPTS!

We found that in the United States 80% of the population receives 1 to 3 receipts a day!  That is a ton of paper.  On top of that, 70% said they have no organized way of storing their receipts (think about the size of them.....You're either stapling or using envelopes....) plus 30% agree that paper receipts are a growing environmental concern. 

So basically,

MAJORITY OF PEOPLE HATE RECEIPTS!!!

ON TOP OF THAT, THERE IS THE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CHEMICAL BPA FOUND ALL OVER THE RECEIPTS.

Oh yeah, if you didn't know, BPA can cause Cancer, Diabetes,  obesity, infertility, and more.
Business owners have an opportunity now to make a difference. There is up to 19 times more BPA on a receipt than a plastic bottle. The only solution is to go paperless. Protect the earth and yourself!

Plus, paperless offices run far more efficiently.

I hope this tip helps your business grow!

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While You Are Drooling Over the iPhone 5 Launch, Don’t Forget These 3 Things

The new iPhone has been unveiled!!!!!!!!!
Stop everything! This is a code red!!!!!
………………………..
Ok, now on to serious matters. The world has been captivated with the iPhone since its inception. Why is that? Apple was a niche computer manufacturer with a decent share hold and the company had no experience in smartphones. So how did they poise themselves for success and hold onto it?
1. Exposure.
a. Apple is great for their showmanship. I can’t say that I really recalled electronic product launches as flashy and attractive like theirs at any given day. In CES you see a lot of these things and it’s kind of a captive audience. Apple will say, “let’s do it next Tuesday” and the entire world is there. They did this by having their hand in a little bit of everything. TV, magazines, and social media I think benefited them the most. It’s a whole culture of iPhone people and Apple does a good job of reinforcing why they should stay that way. Do that with your clients. This is a crucial building block . A lot of business owners don’t “house keep” their customer book and then they wonder why they lose them. Often times people will stay with a given business purely because of the customer service and interaction.
2. Developing a competitive edge.
a. I won’t say Apple is the best at making phones, but they are the best at creating small changes to software that people love. Siri is their biggest hit. Yes Android has Iris (I use androids myself), but it isn’t the same. Siri is a personality, a person in some households. People just like feeling like they have a little servant in their hand. You need to development a similar competitive edge. If you’re an auto repair shop amongst 100 try doing things like having follow up emails after service is rendered or offering coupons to your best customers from a database you create. Do that extra step and people will respond. I’m always befuddled when a fast food attendant smiles extra big, says please and thank you a lot, plus extra careful of my food. Develop that edge quickly!
3. Customer service
a. Apple is definitely top notch in this department. They bend over backwards for their customers most times. People like that. People like knowing they can get a phone and have a massive network of help using it. Let your customers feel the same way about you. Follow up with them in an appropriate time for your sales cycle. Ask them for reviews. Ask if they have any friends you can help . TELL THEM THANK YOU (should be automatic, but I thought I’d toss it in!).
Doing things like this can set you on a path to be the iPhone of whatever you do!
And customers will come back even if you just change your product/service a little bit……….
I hope these tips help your business grow!

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3 Things You Should Do Like The Kardashians

The Kardashian family. One of the most known, talked about, and followed families on the planet. And this is all for absolutely no reason! There’s not really any clear “talent” in this family, but America eats them up.

Why though?

What can you learn from them?

I’ll tell you 3 things they are talented at that you should apply to your business strategy

1. They are all over you like a spider monkey!

a. Every outlet of the media has Kardashian. They are on every single platform (as new as Pinterest is they already have 381 followers…). Try to get on all social media platforms that pertain to you (I don’t really think a Physician can use a Facebook or Pinterest that much without another marketing team). If you can fit it in your budget and time, then do it. There are a lot of them though. If need be, get some kind of software or add-on to your browser so you can make the spreading of one news update across all platforms very seamless.

2. They play to their strengths.

a. Pretty much the Kardashians are good at being outrageous and looking stylish. Yes they have an empire, but it’s built upon others intelligence and musk. They never talk about their intellectual capital unless it’s about a style they like. You do the same. Highlight your strengths to your clients and don’t be afraid to tell them you need to look for an answer. They’ll appreciate your honesty that way better than you making up something and they find out………

3. They form great strategic alliances.

a. People have long but forgotten the friendship of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Then people thought “ooh, who’s the Armenian girl” and “awwww, aren’t they cute besties!” WRONG!!!! Kim was working on her first strategic alliance. After she received her notoriety and fame, they split. The family later learned to not just disappear after connecting with someone and I’m telling you now to not do that ever. No need to learn the hard way that this act can tarnish your name. Look for people in your community that you can help and who can help you, but be for real about it. Don’t be a leech.

So go out there and get your Kardashian on!!!

I hope these tips help your business grow! ………………………………….like Kim’s rear!

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I Bet You're Not Doing This 1 Simple Thing To Nurture Your Business

With so many tips out there for small business owners, what is the most powerful? ( When I speak of business owners on this topic I am mainly referring to those with a physical business). Some people think it is to invest in a commercial on TV (which is still pretty powerful). Others will say online directory marketing (also powerful).

Although both of these are great things to do, they also can be very expensive………some of these online advertisers charge $200 a month and you may not have a great return on that investment all of the time. So what is the solution?

GET EVERY CUSTOMER’S EMAIL ADDRESS!!!!!

A survey conducted in December 2009 by ExactTarget indicates that more than 50% of consumers make purchases as a direct outcome of email. It also drives more ROI than any other channel including social media and PPC advertising.

This little thing is one of the things that helped Amazon become the giant they are today. With your email submitted to them you get recommendations on products to buy, deals, and links to review what you bought. All are marketing gold!!

So here’s all you have to do in your brick and mortar business:

1. When you are completing a sale with a customer, get their email so you can send them a paperless receipt . Tell them you’re doing it for their safety and for the better of the environment (if you’re not paperless now, catch up!!).

2. Within 1-2 weeks (depending on your sales cycle) send another email with 3 parts:

a. Telling them thank you for choosing your company/product

b. A request for them to leave you a review (preferably on Google, but otherwise on SuperPages, YellowPages, Yelp, Bing, Yahoo, or HealthGrades if you’re a physician

c. A direct link to your social media pages (FaceBook, Twitter, Google+, Yelp, FourSquare, MySpace, or whatever you have!!)

This simple 2 email process does 2 things:

1. A little old fashioned courtesy in saying thank you again. This practice has all but died out unless in this fashion. I wouldn’t really expect you to send thank you notes, but at least you can do this……… People appreciate it.

2. Increases your chances of getting reviews. We all know that people will post negative reviews easily. The positive reviews sometimes need a push. If you contain a link right there in their email for where to go, then there is little to no excuse for them to not review you!

I hope these tips help your business grow!!

Paperless Joy: Paperless Business & Lifestyle Design (Google Affiliate Ad)

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2 Reasons Why You Must Use Social Media

Social media is a major entity in today’s world. It is estimated that there are about 58 million social media “users” to date. That’s a lot! Considering also now that 62% of adults worldwide use social media and 47% of people say that Facebook has the greatest impact on their purchase behaviors. With that said, you need to be in position for this.

In my opinion, the 2 strongest pieces of social media are:

1. Reviews: sorry folks, the days of anonymous reviews are gone! People want to know a real person reviewed a service or business, so pretty much all review locations require an account. Google especially!

These reviews are the most powerful obviously because in 2011 Google accounted for 1.722 quadrillion (that’s right,……quadrillion) searches!! You can have a lot of reviews from other sources, but the Google search algorithm gives extreme preference to their own reviews. YOU NEED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS NOW!

If you don’t have a Google+ account, ……….get one ASAP!!! After that, start contacting customers of yours that have Gmail accounts and ask them for reviews first. The others will possibly need to get your help to start leaving reviews, but help them.

2. Being a helpful source: People of all walks of life need help. The internet has helped place that needed assistance right at your fingertips. So commonly though, I see people simply abuse social media to send out constant posts about what they’re selling or producing. This typically becomes a turn off to people.

We are bombarded with marketing all day. Don’t fill up my wall with it!! I typically block or mute somebody that does this. Instead, try to teach someone.

If someone connects with you on social media and is not a friend then they are in need of your assistance in some facet. Teach them something you know that they may not. Show them why they should be connected with you. This practice takes more time in communication, but it provides quality communication and not just white noise.

I hope these tips help your business grow!

Send me any questions you have! If I don’t have the answer, I will find it!

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3 Simple Ways To Improve Your Web Presence

So, you're a business owner and you've been doing it for a while.  Word of mouth has been your best friend.  Unfortunately, we live in a world where word of mouth is either fleeting or not around.  Today, 72% of people trust online reviews as much as word of mouth. That's huge!! Especially if all of your friends are idiots! 

So what does that mean for you?  That means you need to have some online reviews.  Now typically people will post a review when they're mad much more than when they're happy.  With that said, you need to be proactive about having your positive interactions documented online. Here are some easy ways to do that

1. Include a reminder on your receipts
1. Try putting a helpful reminder on your receipts.  Big corporations are very good at this. “Fill out a survey for a chance to win $1,000,000”. You may not go this far, but leave a reminder like “Please review us on Google” or “Like us on FaceBook” or “+1 us”.
2. Email your clients
1. A problem you may encounter is that you tell them to do it, but they don’t remember when they’re on their computer.  Email them a link to the review source you choose.  Then there is almost no excuse to not get some reviews.
3. FORCE THEM!!
1. Have a computer in your office somewhere that you will give customers access to in order to post a review. Help them do it.  All it takes is to say, “hey, would you mind taking a moment to post a review of our services right here. I would greatly appreciate it.” If need be even offer some small discount.

You have to be proactive about this.  You can have the greatest service around, but the guy with a subpar product and a lot of positive reviews will trump you online.  Protect your online reputation as much as you would challenge a guy to a fight for calling you a chicken!! These operational tips are meant to help your business flourish.  

I hope your business grows!

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