K is for.............Keep Talking and K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Stupid)

Keep Talking.................to everyone about your business, how you can help and above all else to remind people that you are still here.
Clients/Customers will welcome a quick call, e-mail or letter from you as a reminder that you are still operating. Fitting in with the 80/20 rule this could be your lucky contact. For sales people it is important to remember that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers.
When was the last time you picked up the phone to your best and your worst customers? A quick courtesy call will bring you to the forefront of their minds and wouldn't it be great if that call ended up with an order?
You could even be brave and ask them if they know of anyone else who would be interested in your product or service.......you don't get if you don't ask!

K.I.S.S or as we call it in a sales environment Keep It Simple Stupid.........so many people are tempted to go chapter and verse on a product or service with features, benefits, pain relief etc etc (In other words everything they have heard other people talking about) and overloading the prospect who walks away not really knowing what you were there for. Sometimes this can result in you losing a 'sale' because you have actually talked them out of buying or even missed the signal to buy.
I find a quick overview chat is good and then asking questions and allowing the prospect to ask questions that you can then answer using the knowledge that you have stored.

I remind you of an occassion that many people have heard about when I was working with a company and we were looking for sponsorship. The poor Commercial Manager was up against the wall, needing sponsorship, and spent half the day giving chapter and verse to answerphone machines and wondering why these people were not calling him back or not available to take his call. What would you have done in their position?
It demonstrates that you only need to give enough information to whet the appetite and then you get the second chance to go in for the sale but if you give everything in the first place, the brain overloads and they then have the opportunity of not taking your call and having to say no! Resulting in you getting despondent and the prospect being wary of speaking to you at any time.

J ........... is for Journal (Blog)

This is another way of showing your knowledge and encouraging people to use you and/or your business. It is also another place to keep information that you do not necessarily want to put in your website content, whether this is because of the volume of information that you have compiled or because they are your thoughts and do not necessarily reflect the view of your Company. If this is the case please make sure that you show this somewhere prominent in the Journal/Blog

This is also a way of showing your expertise in a your specific area of expertise and can help potential customers/clients make up their mind about using your business for their specific needs.

Have you got Ten Top Tips that you can share? Do you have a view on new industry news that you can share with your readers?

All of this is information that your readers will be interested in hearing and will make you stand out from your competitors.

You can also link it back to pages on your website to show more information etc and thus increasing the the chances of your potential viewers finding more out about your Business.

D is for Directories

There are many free Directories on the internet that you can list your business on to raise your business profile.
Do a search for your area of interest or industry and include your details but remember to keep a list and keep it updated.
Social networks are also a good point at which to promote your business. Again keep a list and ensure that it is updated regularly with contact details and updates of services that you offer.

B is for Business Cards & Blogs

Business Cards say a lot about you and your business so it pays to take time to design them to give as much as information as possible without looking like an advertising bill board.

It is essential to include all the ways that you wish to be contacted in whether that’s phone, e-mail, skype or through one of your Social media formats.

Have you included your website? Your logo? Did you want to include a picture of yourself?

Have you taken care with the size of the card? I recently over heard someone complaining that they had been given a card, made by vistaprint, that was slightly larger than the norm and that it didn’t fit in their card holder!

There are also arguments for and against printing on the back of cards. Some people like to use all the space available and others like to leave the back clear for contacts to write notes. What is your view on this?

Blogs are a good way of showing your knowledge and sharing trade information and can be linked to from your website and vice versa. If you have information you want to share that you do not want to have on pages of your website this is a good idea to use to invite people to have their say on information or thoughts that you are sharing. Perhaps you want an area that can be used to pass around some ideas or perhaps you want to use the arena to test out the idea of an E-book by starting a précis or overview of a chapter. Whatever you want to use it for always bear in mind that it is a forward facing element of your business so do not incorporate anything controversial, inflammatory or anything that you will regret later.

The Rural Meeting Place A-Z of Promoting your Business

Over the next few weeks we will be blogging alphabetically about promoting your business with hints and tips of what you can do and perhaps for very little financial investment.
Business promotion is essential to keep your name in the Market Place and remind people that you are still here and ready to do business.
Many SME's do not have a marketing budget but it helps to have a marketing plan in place. When you get the phone call about cheap adverts etc you need to know what you want to achieve and where you want to be doing it from.
However you promote your business you want to be sure of achieving a Return On Investment (ROI) whether that be on your expenditure or on your time invested.
So, watch this space, for some ideas and please feel free to chip in with a few of your own.

Out with the old and in with the new.

With a New Year fast approaching it is time to stand back and view business with a critical eye; it is something that I have done over the last few weeks and it has occassioned me to come up with some plans for next year. No vast changes in the way of operating but a few additions that will enhance the service that Members receive.
Networking Masterclasses will be run on an occassional basis in order that new members can themselves learn but also so that existing members can be sure that the new members know what is expected at a network meeting.
To help deliver the Business Link contract that we have received we will be holding a series of men only and ladies only meetings to see how business is different for the opposite sexes. What makes business tick for you? What pains are you going through? What help would you like and who do you think could provide it?
We shall also be holding a series of business focussed seminars to help with our Marketing and to promote word of mouth awareness and also to introduce you to the expertise of some of our members.

So, have you taken any steps to take a critical look at your business and what if anything will you be doing differently for 2010 ?

Networking Master Classes by The Rural Meeting Place

The Rural Meeting Place has added another product to its portfolio for its Members to access, the Networking Masterclass.
Over the last few months more people have started to network but have been unsure of how to go about the process to bring the best returns for their business, so we decided to help with an hours Masterclass before a network meeting. The first event proved to be a success and drew people together who had not networked before and who were apprehensive about the whole idea of networking.
We went through the process of the people who throw business cards around like confetti expecting them to stick somewhere and wondering why they get no business from an event and stop attending, to those that work the room naturally and carry with them a host of potential contacts for those they engage with by means of their own extended network.
The pleasing part of the Masterclass was when one of the attendees said 'Its all about relationships'
We also had the benefit of having a successful networker come along to tell people how he has made networking work for him and his Utilities Business.
The Masterclass is held before a regular network meeting and then gives people a chance to try out their new found skills at a live meeting whilst things are still fresh in their minds.
These events will now be held regularly so that new Members to the Rural Meeting Place can quickly start to discover how to market their business effectively through networking.

Tweeting for profile

Recently I have discovered Twitter. This has been a revelation in the field of marketing and is used by many to promote their business as well as to socialise on line. Its another form of networking both online and offline. There are friendships made and regular Tweetups arranged in local areas where you can meet the people you are making friendships with.
Why should you want to Twitter? It is a free (apart from your time) form of marketing that makes you say in 140 characters what you want others to 'hear' and is a very good way of honing your spiel for your 60 second introduction at Network meetings.
Before Tweeting sit back and take a few moments to think what you want from this form of marketing. 'Follow' people and groups that interest you and are relevant to your business and to your interests.
Promote your offering and offer advice and knowledge to your fellow Twitterers.
Over the next few weeks I shall be letting you know about my travels on Twitter and imparting advice to you, following on from my trials.
To follow me on Twitter go to www.twitter.com/carolermp
Happy Twittering.

Tranferring new skills.

Over the past week I have developed new skills that adapt into the work environment. Through helping a friend negotiate a house purchase I have sharpened observation, learned to scrutinize what has been said before responding with a higher bid and to analyse the result of the conversation to ensure that we have responded correctly to the information that was supplied. Although it was an exciting time it was very tiring but caused a time for reflection on how the skills can be used in every day working life. I am sure that this will make me a sharper operator on a daily basis. Some times you need to do something different to appreciate how you normally approach a sale, client etc and that you can change your response attitude for the better.
To develop this further there are also grants available for developing skills and they are backed by the government through Business Link and the Learning and Skills Council. In this current economic climate it makes sense to train your staff and yourself with transferrable skills rather than to employ new staff that take time to induct and who may not necessarily be in it for the long term, however I also appreciate that there are also some very well qualified people on the job scene who are looking for new opportunities.