In the past, internet marketing included techniques such as search engine optimization and submission to the directories. However, now that is not sufficient. One has to find ways to stand out in the crowd.
New approaches are key to successful viral marketing. Blogging, eNewsletters, submission of articles, social networking, channel marketing are additional avenues to market your business.
Very small and newly developing businesses have many challenges. As some wonder whether they should even have a website, they are losing the opportunity to become internet-visible. The process of getting internet visibility takes time, so the sooner one starts, the better. The website doesn't have to be expensive and overwhelming. If the business owner has their goals well established, if the website content is well prepared in advance of designing the website, if the owner understands what their customers need from the website, then the owner can reduce the website design fees very effectively and attain success more quickly.
8/11/2008
6/24/2008
Before You Purchase ....
Service vendors constantly contact me with 'specials' to support my business. What is interesting is that they typically offer special pricing if I would purchase 'immediately'. If I tell them that I would like to 'sleep on the decision', they wonder why. Here are some reasons why one shouldn't rush in, even if there is a 'supposed discount' with immediate signup. Rushing the decision doesn't give you a chance to:
1. investigate the company with Better Business Bureau, testimonials, etc.
2. compare similar service providers for possibly better options.
3. identify questions and issues with their service offering to ensure that you are getting what you want and expect.
4. see if you can do it yourself or with your inhouse team.
Cancellation after signing up has its challenges. If you've signed up and decide to cancel, make sure that you do it within the allowable time. Document everything. I found several other steps helpful: When you call to cancel, make sure you use a phone that can identify the call you make to the company, e.g., cell phone. Send emails that indicate specifics. Date-stamps on emails are beneficial. Request an email confirmation to state that the cancellation and refund have been approved. All this may help in case you can't get your money back or back promptly. I had to cancel a service recently. I called the representative who agreed that I will get refunded. I asked for an email confirming our conversation. The email only stated that we 'talked' (this does not confirm that they agreed to the cancellation). So I replied, indicating in my email, that I would like a confirmation identifying their agreement to the cancellation and to fully refunding my fees. Their email response confirmed it this time. I believe that this helped me get my money back without delays!
1. investigate the company with Better Business Bureau, testimonials, etc.
2. compare similar service providers for possibly better options.
3. identify questions and issues with their service offering to ensure that you are getting what you want and expect.
4. see if you can do it yourself or with your inhouse team.
Cancellation after signing up has its challenges. If you've signed up and decide to cancel, make sure that you do it within the allowable time. Document everything. I found several other steps helpful: When you call to cancel, make sure you use a phone that can identify the call you make to the company, e.g., cell phone. Send emails that indicate specifics. Date-stamps on emails are beneficial. Request an email confirmation to state that the cancellation and refund have been approved. All this may help in case you can't get your money back or back promptly. I had to cancel a service recently. I called the representative who agreed that I will get refunded. I asked for an email confirming our conversation. The email only stated that we 'talked' (this does not confirm that they agreed to the cancellation). So I replied, indicating in my email, that I would like a confirmation identifying their agreement to the cancellation and to fully refunding my fees. Their email response confirmed it this time. I believe that this helped me get my money back without delays!
4/13/2008
Proposal Strategies
A Winning Proposal Strategy
Before solutions are presented, we, as service providers, need to make sure that we really understand the key business issues that need to be addressed. What would a successful solution look like to the client? To ensure maximum success, consider identifying in your proposal the client's requirements. This confirms to the client that your understanding of their issues and goals are correct.
The expectations of the service provider and of the client are critical to define. What are the cost considerations, commitments and guarantees? Samples of designs may help clarify style preferences.
Together with the client, identify the measures of success that can be verifiable at the end of the commitment.
Avoiding Pitfalls
These tactics may cause problems for the service provider, client or both.
Before solutions are presented, we, as service providers, need to make sure that we really understand the key business issues that need to be addressed. What would a successful solution look like to the client? To ensure maximum success, consider identifying in your proposal the client's requirements. This confirms to the client that your understanding of their issues and goals are correct.
The expectations of the service provider and of the client are critical to define. What are the cost considerations, commitments and guarantees? Samples of designs may help clarify style preferences.
Together with the client, identify the measures of success that can be verifiable at the end of the commitment.
Avoiding Pitfalls
These tactics may cause problems for the service provider, client or both.
- Not pre-qualifying the client's budget can waste a lot of time. For example, if the service provider offers both low cost as well as high cost services, then this should be identified at the outset.
- Not setting cost expectations correctly. For example, what are included AND excluded from the price identified? How does a change to the project requirements affect cost? What does that ongoing back and forth discussion/emails cost?
- Not considering both strategic and tactical steps. Some clients may have a set budget right now but want to expand when they acquire additional funds. The tactical implementation must consider the overall strategic direction in order to be successful.
- Identifying the details in the proposal can lead to a loss of intellectual property for the service provider. At the proposal phase, identify what the solution should be, not how it will be done.
Not identifying the success factors will not allow proper completion of the project and potentially a lot of frustration on both sides. Both sides must agree to the success factors so that there can be a happy closure. - Not having client participation understood and committed to, can lead to delays and frustration. At the proposal phase, the client needs to understand this strategy. The client needs to participate in the project, at the very least, to approve each measurable deliverable as they are completed. If the service provider needs information from the client, the client needs to be available. If they are not, the client needs to understand that the project deadlines will be affected. Waiting until the end of the project for client approval leads to costly misinterpretations. At earlier points in the project, it is less costly to redirect the efforts of the project. Client signoff at each measurable deliverable helps the overall project success.
- Not knowing who on the client's side will be involved in the day-to-day project can lead to serious challenges. Meeting those people will enable better understanding of how to proceed forward with the project.
- Not getting signatures to ensure understanding can cause frustrations.
We look forward to your thoughts, experiences, helpful tips.
2/23/2008
Enhancing Customer Relationships
Sometimes the lightbulb goes off in interesting ways!
Years ago, I had the responsibility to improve desktop support, where technicians visited people's desktops to troubleshoot problems. Since many times, the people were not at their desk when this happened, they felt frustrated with this support because they didn't know the status of their problem or even if their problem was fixed.
It suddenly hit me! One day while on a business trip, I saw that the maid service left some chocolates on the pillow with a card indicating that they visited my room.
So I decided to use a similar strategy for the desktop support group. Instead of chocolates, I set up a system for the technicians to bring two postcards with them to leave at the desktop they visited.
The first postcard indicated that the support team visited this desktop, with an indication of the status of the troubleshooting investigation. The second postcard was a very brief survey to relay how the support team performed on this service call.
It was a hit!. Clients loved seeing those cards at their desk since it indicated that they were being serviced. They also enjoyed sending back their brief survey indicating whether or not they were satisfied with the service.
It's sometimes the little things that make our relationships with clients more successful. I always like a great quote. Oprah Winfrey's seems appropriate: "Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity."
An additional customer service benefit was that we were able to use that survey feedback to implement a benchmarking analysis of how the customer satifaction was progressing. The results helped us address further customer service improvements. We were able to report back to clients and management the successes and strategies that were implemented. Many metrics are needed to track internal service provision. But for external clients, the indicative metric is -- would your clients recommend you to others?
Years ago, I had the responsibility to improve desktop support, where technicians visited people's desktops to troubleshoot problems. Since many times, the people were not at their desk when this happened, they felt frustrated with this support because they didn't know the status of their problem or even if their problem was fixed.
It suddenly hit me! One day while on a business trip, I saw that the maid service left some chocolates on the pillow with a card indicating that they visited my room.
So I decided to use a similar strategy for the desktop support group. Instead of chocolates, I set up a system for the technicians to bring two postcards with them to leave at the desktop they visited.The first postcard indicated that the support team visited this desktop, with an indication of the status of the troubleshooting investigation. The second postcard was a very brief survey to relay how the support team performed on this service call.
It was a hit!. Clients loved seeing those cards at their desk since it indicated that they were being serviced. They also enjoyed sending back their brief survey indicating whether or not they were satisfied with the service.
It's sometimes the little things that make our relationships with clients more successful. I always like a great quote. Oprah Winfrey's seems appropriate: "Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity."
An additional customer service benefit was that we were able to use that survey feedback to implement a benchmarking analysis of how the customer satifaction was progressing. The results helped us address further customer service improvements. We were able to report back to clients and management the successes and strategies that were implemented. Many metrics are needed to track internal service provision. But for external clients, the indicative metric is -- would your clients recommend you to others?
10/25/2007
Recognizing Children's Achievements
Parents are always looking for a better approach to motivate and recognize their children's accomplishments and achievements in a productive way. At our newly launched KIDS LOVE TO™ website series, we offer children the opportunity to showcase their talents, businesses and hobbies for professional and scholastic endeavors. Our website series also allows children the opportunity to sell their products, such as books and crafts. Family and friends living far away can view the children's achievements online. And, for parents who would like to save special memories and treasures of their children's creations, having the portfolios online is a great space saver.
The concept of this website series was founded with the KIDS LOVE TO™ Write website. It was based on supporting an 8 year-old's interest in writing and wanting to give other kids the opportunity to publish also. You'll read all about Max on the website.
Our website series lists writers, artists, crafters, entrepreneurs, photographers, sports players, and performers (actors, dancers, musicians, singers). Writers can publish their stories online and in print. Artists can post their portfolio. Those enjoying creating can show their crafts. We have children with an entrepreneurial spirit. Photographs can be displayed. Sports players can swing into action here.
If your children are preparing to audition, to apply to jobs, schools or colleges, then get a head-start by preparing their portfolios and resumes on our websites.
Sign up with the KIDS LOVE TO™ website series to expand your children's visibility and save special memories. Materials for submission must be created by children 18 years or younger. College students, up to 21 years old, may submit their creations only if their submissions were created at 18 years or younger.
Join us at www.KIDSLOVETO.com in recognizing the achievements of your children.
The concept of this website series was founded with the KIDS LOVE TO™ Write website. It was based on supporting an 8 year-old's interest in writing and wanting to give other kids the opportunity to publish also. You'll read all about Max on the website.
Our website series lists writers, artists, crafters, entrepreneurs, photographers, sports players, and performers (actors, dancers, musicians, singers). Writers can publish their stories online and in print. Artists can post their portfolio. Those enjoying creating can show their crafts. We have children with an entrepreneurial spirit. Photographs can be displayed. Sports players can swing into action here.
If your children are preparing to audition, to apply to jobs, schools or colleges, then get a head-start by preparing their portfolios and resumes on our websites.
Sign up with the KIDS LOVE TO™ website series to expand your children's visibility and save special memories. Materials for submission must be created by children 18 years or younger. College students, up to 21 years old, may submit their creations only if their submissions were created at 18 years or younger.
Join us at www.KIDSLOVETO.com in recognizing the achievements of your children.
3/14/2007
Total Cost of Ownership - Technology
(Note to reader: We are migrating our previous blog to this one and moving the contents here. Original date 3/14/2007)
What does it really cost to purchase an application? Sample applications may be database systems, medical management systems, or a PC package. Regardless of the application, in each case, buyers need to consider all the variables in order to be well-prepared for the true total cost of ownership.
Some people may wait to purchase a product until the 'perfect solution' comes to market. Others may rush into purchasing the first product that seems applicable. Both are extremes and can present challenges. Those who wait too long may miss opportunities to enhance their work processes and become more efficient to reduce paper work, help make staff work more efficiently, and process business data and communications with customers more quickly.
At the other end, those who rush to purchase without sufficient planning may cause havoc. The planning process helps an office to prepare the manual or legacy systems processes for migration to the new application. Consider the efforts to re-evaluate the critical business processes, train staff to use the new application, migrate data from the old to new application, create new reports with the new system, 'suddenly' upgrade other components such as hardware to support the new application, set up connectivity requirements, and, of course, troubleshoot arising problems.
A more successful approach would be to first analyze current processes, evaluate the priorities and needs of each process, redefine necessary modifications to your processes, assess level of staff expertise and train in advance.
Some useful tips: Visit an office that has already implemented the product. Involve your technical support team to ensure that you understand the specifications and implications of the new system. Ask for vendor demos after you have seen the system live at another site; you will be better able to understand what to ask the vendor. Document your requirements and your technical office environment and have your vendor review this specification. This may help clarify the true features and implications of the new system as well as any upgrade requirements for your office technical environment. With you still in the driver's seat (you haven't bought the application yet), the vendor will be willing to spend more time on your questions especially for an expensive system. Before buying a new system, look at your existing system to see if you can modify how you work with it to compensate for its flaws. That may give a very big savings over migrating to a new system. Sometimes one can simplify an approach or process to make the current solution effective.
In summary, the total cost of ownership includes the following samples:
Software,
Hardware,
Connectivity requirements,
Migration time,
Integration with other products and interfaces,
Installation,
Development and implementation of new/modified processes and procedures, for example, reporting, backup/restore, change management,
Documentation,
Alignment and implementation of the business process to the technology solutions,
Maintenance, for example, ongoing software and hardware upgrades, running utilities such as backups, updating subscriptions to software such as antivirus products,
Cleanup old files,
Troubleshooting problems.
What does it really cost to purchase an application? Sample applications may be database systems, medical management systems, or a PC package. Regardless of the application, in each case, buyers need to consider all the variables in order to be well-prepared for the true total cost of ownership.
Some people may wait to purchase a product until the 'perfect solution' comes to market. Others may rush into purchasing the first product that seems applicable. Both are extremes and can present challenges. Those who wait too long may miss opportunities to enhance their work processes and become more efficient to reduce paper work, help make staff work more efficiently, and process business data and communications with customers more quickly.
At the other end, those who rush to purchase without sufficient planning may cause havoc. The planning process helps an office to prepare the manual or legacy systems processes for migration to the new application. Consider the efforts to re-evaluate the critical business processes, train staff to use the new application, migrate data from the old to new application, create new reports with the new system, 'suddenly' upgrade other components such as hardware to support the new application, set up connectivity requirements, and, of course, troubleshoot arising problems.
A more successful approach would be to first analyze current processes, evaluate the priorities and needs of each process, redefine necessary modifications to your processes, assess level of staff expertise and train in advance.
Some useful tips: Visit an office that has already implemented the product. Involve your technical support team to ensure that you understand the specifications and implications of the new system. Ask for vendor demos after you have seen the system live at another site; you will be better able to understand what to ask the vendor. Document your requirements and your technical office environment and have your vendor review this specification. This may help clarify the true features and implications of the new system as well as any upgrade requirements for your office technical environment. With you still in the driver's seat (you haven't bought the application yet), the vendor will be willing to spend more time on your questions especially for an expensive system. Before buying a new system, look at your existing system to see if you can modify how you work with it to compensate for its flaws. That may give a very big savings over migrating to a new system. Sometimes one can simplify an approach or process to make the current solution effective.
In summary, the total cost of ownership includes the following samples:
Software,
Hardware,
Connectivity requirements,
Migration time,
Integration with other products and interfaces,
Installation,
Development and implementation of new/modified processes and procedures, for example, reporting, backup/restore, change management,
Documentation,
Alignment and implementation of the business process to the technology solutions,
Maintenance, for example, ongoing software and hardware upgrades, running utilities such as backups, updating subscriptions to software such as antivirus products,
Cleanup old files,
Troubleshooting problems.
1/12/2007
Customer-Service Provider Relationships: Is yours a blessing or a nightmare?
(Note to reader: this blog has been migrated here from previous blogging service. Original date 1/12/2007)
We are all dependent on service providers for our businesses to succeed. The better you manage that relationship, the more successful you will be in achieving your goals in a cost-effective manner. The relationship is two-way street. Service providers also depend on customers to enable a successful deliverable. So, prepare:
Initial planning: spend a good amount of time upfront reviewing your business strategy, your marketing goals and your budget with your service provider. Confirm in writing the critical issues, e.g., the expectations, the implementation phases, required deadlines and deliverables. Indicate your preferences.
Strategic vs. tactical goals: Plan the project with a long-term strategic perspective, but implement in smaller phases. By breaking down a project into smaller deliverables, you are giving yourself a chance to review progress in a manageable approach. Once you are comfortable with the results of one phase, then you can proceed with the next step (this may help your budget process too.) A critical benefit to this approach is that things change rapidly and you may no longer want the original approach. With a phased approach, you are cutting your losses and allowing yourself and your provider to change directions in a more cost-effective manner.
Documentation is critical. The larger the project, the more critical documentation becomes. Samples include account information, login information, vendor contacts, a list of directories where everything is located, a list of all the hardware and software products that have been used in the implementation, and, where appropriate, how to use the solution. Imagine transitioning to a new service provider in the middle of a project without such documentation or getting a deliverable that you don’t know how to use!
Solution alternatives: When a service provider presents an approach or a solution, make sure the benefits, alternatives and issues are presented to you before committing to that solution. This analysis brings many benefits. Half the battle is in knowing what to ask! This analysis enables customers to realize what they really want in their project deliverables. This reduces much misinterpretation. It also shows your service provider’s abilities.
In my 20 years of experience with global, multi-million dollar initiatives, as well as with low-cost projects, I found the careful management of the services is critical to the success of the projects. Whether large or small, the same principles apply.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like consultation on your projects and service provider relationships.
We are all dependent on service providers for our businesses to succeed. The better you manage that relationship, the more successful you will be in achieving your goals in a cost-effective manner. The relationship is two-way street. Service providers also depend on customers to enable a successful deliverable. So, prepare:
Initial planning: spend a good amount of time upfront reviewing your business strategy, your marketing goals and your budget with your service provider. Confirm in writing the critical issues, e.g., the expectations, the implementation phases, required deadlines and deliverables. Indicate your preferences.
Strategic vs. tactical goals: Plan the project with a long-term strategic perspective, but implement in smaller phases. By breaking down a project into smaller deliverables, you are giving yourself a chance to review progress in a manageable approach. Once you are comfortable with the results of one phase, then you can proceed with the next step (this may help your budget process too.) A critical benefit to this approach is that things change rapidly and you may no longer want the original approach. With a phased approach, you are cutting your losses and allowing yourself and your provider to change directions in a more cost-effective manner.
Documentation is critical. The larger the project, the more critical documentation becomes. Samples include account information, login information, vendor contacts, a list of directories where everything is located, a list of all the hardware and software products that have been used in the implementation, and, where appropriate, how to use the solution. Imagine transitioning to a new service provider in the middle of a project without such documentation or getting a deliverable that you don’t know how to use!
Solution alternatives: When a service provider presents an approach or a solution, make sure the benefits, alternatives and issues are presented to you before committing to that solution. This analysis brings many benefits. Half the battle is in knowing what to ask! This analysis enables customers to realize what they really want in their project deliverables. This reduces much misinterpretation. It also shows your service provider’s abilities.
In my 20 years of experience with global, multi-million dollar initiatives, as well as with low-cost projects, I found the careful management of the services is critical to the success of the projects. Whether large or small, the same principles apply.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like consultation on your projects and service provider relationships.
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