Clientele Leveraging

There is passive Word of Mouth referrals and there is leveraged Word of Mouth referrals.

How can you effectively turn your current clients into promoters of your business?

John Jantsch describes four areas in which to focus your efforts in the article: "Customers Are Your Most Effective Sales Force."

Can You Be Trusted?

There has almost always been a segment of the business community that was convinced that Nice Guys finish last.

These are the Donald Trumps and the Financial Advisors that do redistribution just in time to pass on 1099s to those who are supposed to be their clients.

Well if you want to swim with the sharks, go right ahead. But sharks are neither trustworthy nor trusted, at least not by the wise.

Someone recently asked Marshall Goldsmith what advantage there is in business to being "good." He wrote an article entitled: "Why Shoot Straight in a Crooked World?"

Tomorrow's Leader

Short term leadership is easy compared with life long success. If you want a long career as a leader of the pack, you have to consistently convince the pack that you are worthy of long term leadership.

Jonathan Farrington wrote "Influencing Really Is That Important!"

Surviving in the Virtual Village

Movies have provided entertainment based on the humor of watching an urban suit try to adjust to a rural community or a real cattle drive. There have been other movies that focused on small town visitors to the big city.

The serious theme behind these comedies is that survival in one environment does not necessarily provide you with the skills which are necessary to survive in a foreign environment.

The social web is like a foreign culture to those executives whose primary focus in marketing is offline. The rules which produce marketing success offline, do not produce the same results within the social web's Virtual Village.

Within the social web, relationships are vital to marketing success! The anonymity of the metropolitan environment allows for impersonal marketing offline. But online, you can irritate your potential audience and alienate your past clients by failing to focus on relationship development.

Ardath Albee wrote "Build Relationships ONE Step at a Time."

Now That Was A Mistake!

The company was run great, the product or service was great, the past customers had always been pleased and then the company's reputation was ruined because the event which they held went sour.

But you can avoid that and you can also harvest leads and conversions, if you follow some simple steps for holding a business event.

Shannon Cherry wrote "Effective Publicity, Anyone?"

Understanding Online Community Development

Developing alliances and community on the internet, is not the same as networking offline. There are factors to consider in order to develop a strategy which accomplishes that which you desire.

Crystal Williams provides a very nice introduction to virtual communities in "Online Communities 101."

Economic Slowdowns favor certain Businesses

During a booming economy people are more likely to take risks than they are during a slow economy. Those companies which are perceived as being less risky and more trustworthy have a better chance of prospering during a slow economy than do edgy and avant garde companies.

The Brooks Group wrote an article containing three sets of three items each that focus on how to improve sales during an economic slowdown

Earning the Right To Ask

Two of the best resources for making more sales are "Warm Referrals" and "Prospect References."

A "Warm referral" is a referral in which the person who is giving you the referral has already informed the prospect that you will be contacting them or better yet personally introduces you as a recommended provider to the prospect.

"Prospect References" are highly credible contacts who have agreed to let you use their name and contact information for referring a prospect to them as a recommender of your services.

Lee Salz wrote: "Your Sales Need A Little R & R."

Relationships or Cold Selling

If you don't already know it, I hate selling that focuses on overwhelming or manipulating propects.

My clients know that if they ask me a question, the answer will be in their best interests not in mine. I am not the kind of business owner that thinks that everything he sees is a nail, because all that he has is a hammer.

If you are looking for making your website into a web application or if you want to create a point of sale website with ever changing inventory, I don't try to convince you to hire me, I refer you to someone else. Why? Because building business relationships is the route I have resolved to tak in building my business. If I can't be your friend, then I don't want to "sell" you.

Bruce Fryer wrote "Push Sales: Does It Work For You?"