Lifestyle Blog

Leaders in the business world need public relations big time, and they show it every day.

How? By staying in touch with their most important external audiences and by carefully monitoring their perceptions about the company, audience member feelings about hot topics at issue, and the behaviors that inevitably follow.

Could there be an angle here for your business?

What I mean is, once you interact with, then learn what that key target audience of yours believes about you and your organization, a corrective public relations goal a specific behavior change can be established.

Which then requires that you identify a strategy. There are just three choices here, create opinion where none exists, change existing opinion, or reinforce it.

It’s a logical sequence. With your goal and strategy now set, you need persuasive messages with a good chance of moving perceptions (and thus behaviors) in your organization’s direction. But you must make sure the messages talk not only to the current topic at issue, but to any misconceptions or inaccuracies encountered during your information gathering, and to any problems that might be brewing.

What will you do with your new message? You will carry it to the attention of your priority audience. You’ll use communications tactics that are credible in the eyes of the receiver, and effective in reaching him or her. You’ll also want tactics that stand a good chance of moving opinion in that target audience, on the topic at issue, in your direction.

Fortunately, there are many communications tactics to choose from: newsworthy announcements, letters-to-the-editor, news releases, radio and newspaper interviews, brochures, speeches and on and on.

Now, you’re back to the monitoring mode as you interact once again with members of the key target audience. With your communications tactics hammering away, you keep one eye peeled for signs of target audience opinion shifts in your direction. The other eye, (and ears) stay alert for any references by print and broadcast media, or other local thoughtleaders to your carefully prepared message.

The bottom line is, are perceptions and behaviors within the target audience being modified? If not, adjustments to your communications tactics often a big increase in, and wider selection must be made. Your message may also need to be sharpened and its factual basis strengthened.

Gradually, you’ll begin to notice changes in opinion starting to appear along with a growing receptiveness to those messages of yours. This is real progress.

Should you still need encouragement to hang in there with your brand new public relations program, consider this. A single issue for example, a potentially dangerous, unattended perception among a key audience can spread like wildfire nudging any business closer to failure than success.

That statistic alone should make you feel pretty good about public relations.

Q. I am transitioning to a new career after sixteen years to spend more time with my family. We moved to a very small town (less than ten thousand people) and I want to start an coffee shop business and also offer PC repair. How can Iinvestigate and then promote this business?

A. In a big city, you’ll make decisions by numbers and neighborhoods. In a small town, you schmooze!

On the surface, everyone will be friendly, optimistic and positive.

Your challenge: Get below the surface and learn the true story. You might consider asking a lot of questions before you disclose your own intentions. Listen for, “I wish we had”

1. Talk to others who have opened businesses recently.

What challenges have they faced? What works and what doesn’t? Were others newcomers successful? If so, were they truly new or did they have deep roots in the town, such as a brother who lived here forty years?

If nobody’s opened a business for awhile, dig deeper. Maybe there’s no market. Or maybe they’re just waiting for you to arrive! Sometimes a new business can generate latent demand. It’s a judgment call. Read the rest of 7 Tips for Starting a New Business in a Small Town »

You bet a name is important. Many small business owners try to come up with a clever name for their business rather than one that explains what they do. And, nine times out of ten, that is a mistake. Your business name should give your prospects some idea of what your business is about.

One of the most useful processes I’ve used to help my clients come up with a good name is to turn it around. Rather than looking at the name from your perspective, approach it from your prospect’s perspective.

1. Identify your target market. Be specific. What are their wants and needs? Specific gender? How big are they? Do they make a certain amount of revenue? What do they look like? Draw a picture of your prospect.

2. Why should they do business with you? What are the benefits? What makes you different from all the other businesses in your industry?

Based on your answers to 1 and 2 above, brainstorm a list of words that could potentially turn into a company name. Put those combinations together and see what works best for you.

With the advent of the internet, many of us have the opportunity to apply for work through email.
However, just because this is the internet and email is so fast and convenient, that does not mean you should give up professionalism and polish!

First impressions count. I recently looked over a few emailed applications, and let me tell you, it was an eye-opening experience! Here are a few examples of how not to do things.
• One person simply forwarded the job description to the hiring company. There was no explanatory letter, no name (just some garbled email address), no nothing. Why should a company want to hire someone who can’t be bothered to make an effort?
• Several people got the name of the hiring party wrong. Some misspelled it, others substituted someone else’s name.
• Spelling mistakes, typos, grammatical errors, and formatting problems like you wouldn’t believe. One person said that her greatest strength was her attention to ‘detal’ (should have been ‘detail’); another said it was his responsibility to ‘a tent to customers’ (’attend to customers’).

It almost goes without saying that you should always follow the application instructions provided. If you’re inquiring or applying for a job - regardless of whether it’s online or in the ‘real world’ - there are certain rules of etiquette that apply:

1. Greet the person. Don’t just barge in and start writing. A simple “dear…” is great.
2. Correctly spell the company name and that of the hiring manager. If you don’t know how to spell them, take a few seconds and find out.
3. Indicate what position you’re applying for. Be specific; the company may be hiring for more than one job.
4. Provide a brief summary of your relevant skills. Keep it short and to the point.
5. Check your spelling and grammar. It takes just a few minutes. If you are not confident about doing this yourself, ask a friend or family member to check it over for you.
6. Be courteous! Don’t make demands. Remember that the *only* thing the hiring manager sees is your email - he or she can’t see your facial expressions or body language, so take extra care in the words you select and how you put them together.
7. Format your email to 60 characters per line. Many email programs automatically ‘word-wrap’ somewhere between 60 and 70 characters. Add a hard return when you reach 60 characters on a line; this will ensure the company gets a nicely formatted application, just like you intended.
8. Tell them how to contact you. As the bare minimum, leave your phone number and email address.
9. And for goodness sakes, tell them your *name*. This is so obvious it’s painful, yet i’ve seen dozens of applications there are not signed. End your letter with ’sincerely’, ‘regards’ or ‘yours truly’, and then sign your name.

Competition for home based jobs is fierce, and companies can afford to be choosy. Don’t give them a reason to pass you by! Professionalism still counts even on the web.

If you manage a department, division or subsidiary for a business, non-profit or association, your primary public relations model probably should read this way: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired- action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Properly executed, this comprehensive blueprint will help you persuade your key external stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that lead to your unit’s success.

And, as you move the emphasis of the public relations crew assigned to your operation from communications tactics to the model outlined above, YOU move ever closer to personal success as a unit manager. Read the rest of A Manager’s PR Paradigm »

Do you have a poor credit rating? If so, you are one of tens of thousands of Americans with the same problem. In fact, it seems that this has become a national ‘disease.’ And just what do people need that have a disease? They need a cure.

Here are some sure-fire solutions to ‘ repair bad credit ‘. Keep in mind, like most ‘diseases,’ credit repair can take some time, but complete healing is possible.

The First Step

The first thing you need to do is find out what is being reported about you. This is easy and inexpensive. For under $10, you can get your credit report from one of the three main credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. Keep in mind however, that if you have recently been denied credit, you can get a free report from the same credit bureau the lender used to reject you as long as you do so within 30 days.

What You Don’t Need

You don’t need a repair clinic. Why? There is no legal way to ‘repair’ your credit. Those that claim to know loopholes and shortcuts are merely out for your money. They may even get you into legal trouble by having you fudge the facts or creating a whole new file for you. Anything legal that a clinic can do, you can do just as easily and without the cost of ‘professional’ help.

Further Steps to Take

1. Stop using your credit cards immediately. Put them somewhere where they will not tempt you. You may consider keeping at least one card for emergency purposes. Additionally, with poor credit, you may find it more difficult to get a credit card in the future. If you keep at least one account open, then you won’t have to worry about applying.

2. Be Honest With Yourself. Taking a good hard look at your financial situation, particularly if it isn’t good, can be very difficult. Yet, to get out debt you have to fully understand what the situation is.

3. Find the Errors. Believe it or not, up to 40% of all credit reports have errors in them. If you find that your credit report shows something that is not true, you need to write to them with all the details. Be sure to use certified mail so that you can keep track of who you wrote to, when you wrote, and who received the mail on the credit bureau’s end. Then ask the credit bureau to send a corrected report to anyone who has requested a report on you in the last 6 months.

4. Find the Omissions. By law, you are allowed to add information to your report that you believe will help your rating. This might be additional information about a repayment of a loan, good credit you have with companies that do not report to the credit bureau, or salary increases.

5. You Must Have a Plan. Whether you determine to pay your bills down little at a time, take a second job, go to credit counseling, or file bankruptcy, you need to make a plan and stick to it. In order for your credit to be improved, you have to have a plan and then take action!

6. Talk to those that you owe. Creditors want their money. They do not want you to default (quit paying). In fact, most creditors will work with you to get a reduced payment schedule. If you can keep them from reporting you to the credit bureau, then it won’t hurt your credit. The catch here is this: be sure to stick to the new negotiated plan – they won’t renegotiate if you fail to comply.

7. The Best Cure is Time. Have you ever heard the saying ‘time heals all wounds’? It also heals your credit. After 7 years, most items will be dropped. This is good news if you are working to correct your credit. As each year passes, more and more bad items will drop off and more and more good items will be included. Eventually, the disease will be cured.

Follow these steps and you will find that your credit looks healthier and healthier each day. Eventually this path will lead you to full recovery. Good Luck!

There are a great many books and web sites devoted to real estate investing out there, but most of them concentrate on one specific area of investing. It’s often hard to find a general description of real estate investing, one that lists the various real estate investing strategies and how to get started. That’s what this article will set out to do.

Before beginning, you must understand that real estate investing is not a get rich quick scheme. Real estate investing can, and will, make you wealthy, but it certainly won’t happen overnight and it will require work. As you perfect your technique and gain experience, the amount of work needed to gain a lot of money will reduce, but it will take effort and persistance to make it there.

If you’re completely new to real estate investing then the only sort of investing strategy you’re likely aware of is rental properties.

Landlording has been around since there have been houses and people to rent them to, and it will continue to be a wealth builder. In fact, most of the ‘no money down’ real estate strategies you hear about still include rentals as part of their plan. Still, there are other ways to make money from real estate investing out there. Read the rest of A Real Estate Investing Primer »

Quest for new clients shouldn’t ignore those who pay the bills

Acquisition. It’s a big word in small business marketing. Companies are constantly looking at ways to draw new people to the business and generate new streams of revenue. In this quest, some small businesses make the mistake of focusing too much on new customer acquisition, only to find that their existing customers have been lured away by a competitor.

Ironic, isn’t it? The very tactics you use to drive new customers to your business are the same ones that your competitors can use to take them away from you. Losing sight of your existing customer base is truly an example of not seeing the forest for the trees. Did you know that on average, it costs a small business 10 times as much to attract a new client as it does to retain an existing one? Think about that the next time you are planning an acquisition marketing campaign, then use these three tips to ensure that your customers don’t fall prey to your competitor’s acquisition efforts:

Coffee Anyone?: One of the simplest and most cost effective retention initiatives I’ve seen involved sending your customers a brief letter and tossing in a gift certificate for a free coffee at a local coffee shop (if you’re a local business), or a national coffee chain (if you operate in a broader area.) It will only cost you about one dollar for each of your customers plus mailing costs, and you’ll accomplish two things. Firstly, they’ll be reminded of your company name and services thanks to your brief letter, and secondly, they’ll enjoy a hot cup of coffee and feel good about you gesture. That free coffee can go a long way towards client retention.

Get Them a Deal: Who are your customers? Are they small businesspeople operating in your area? Are they pet owners? Are they car lovers? The product you sell will dictate what your clients are interested in. (For example if you sell a new type of car wax, you can be fairly certain that 99% of your clients are car buffs). If you have even a few dozen clients, you could approach another local business that sells a car related product (let’s say a new tire polish) and offer them a deal. You’ll send a letter to all of your customers and offer them a great deal on the tire polish of 40% off the retail price. The company you approach should be willing to do this, as they have the potential to make a number of sales at one time, and your customers receive something of value from you, making them remember your company name and feel good about your offer.

Take it one step further and reciprocate the offer. The tire polish company can tell all of their clients about your car wax, and you’ll offer them a 40% as well since you now have the chance to sell some of your product. Client loyalty and new business too….a total solution! Just make sure that what you offer to your clients is actually valuable and not just a hollow sales pitch. Your reputation may be hurt by partnering with businesses that do not invest as much in client satisfaction as you do.

Build a Community: Keeping in contact with your customers is another way to improve customer retention. If your customers receive a newsletter or ezine from you on a regular basis, it becomes very difficult for them to forget about you or your services. Producing an ezine or newsletter is not as difficult as you think. The Internet is full of articles and opinions on almost every subject imaginable. Most authors will grant you permission to use their articles free of charge provided that you include a link to their website (you can find a great collection of articles on a wide variety of topics at www.ideamarketers.com, www.clickforcontent.com, and others). By building a small newsletter or ezine that contains 2 or 3 articles per month, you will get one opportunity each month to remind your customers that you value their business. Of course you could also include information about your latest product or service offerings in your newsletter in addition to the articles.

Acquiring customers is important, but retaining customers is critical to the ongoing success of your business. Small gestures often go a long way towards thwarting the acquisition efforts of your competition, and ensuring that your customers remain aware of your company and interested in your services.

If you own a home business, there are 3 things you absolutely, positively must have, if you want to be successful:

1. You must have a guru or mentor:

If you aren’t proficient in Internet marketing, website design and copywiting and most people aren’t, do the smart thing and seek out an Internet marketing expert to help you. This can be a huge financial advantage for you, because 90 percent of those individuals coming online don’t have a clue what their doing. And instead of doing the smart thing and seeking out an expert for help, they’ll just struggle along trying this and that and losing money, until they’re finally forced out of business.

2. You must have a back-up plan:

Not having a back-up plan for your home business is like being stuck out in the desert with a flat tire and no spare. You just aren’t going anywhere. Sometimes, try as hard as we might, our ideas just don’t work and we have to scrap them. That’s why you should always have a back-up plan. Give your home business every chance to succeed, but if you sense it’s not going to happen, don’t be afraid to pull the plug on it and move on to plan “B.”

3. You must have relentless desire and determination:

This is the number one reason why most people don’t succeeed. They don’t have relentless desire and determination. I want you to commit the following words to memory:

“Any success you achieve will be in direct proportion to your desire and determination. The more desire and determination you have, the greater will be your success!”

Here’s another example to illustrate my point:

Most people think it’s Kobe Bryant’s amazing talent that sets him apart from the other players in the NBA. And make no mistake, his talent does play a significant role in his success. But what really makes Kobe Bryant special is his “relentless desire and determination.” He just wants to win more than everybody else.

That’s the mindset you have to have. You have to want to succeed with your home business more than anything else in the world anything!

And remember these words:

“Any success you achieve will be in direct proportion to your desire and determination. The more desire and determination you have, the greater will be your success!”

Manufacturers and distributors are rolling out more sales incentive programs for their channel partners than ever before.

Some of these programs are not as successful as they could be, however, because they fail to appreciate fully what motivates salespeople and drives them to overachieve. Read on to learn six key concepts that can make your incentive programs more effective.

The dangling of the proverbial carrot is an ancient art that is commonly understood to be at the heart of human behavior, psychology, motivation, and, in particular, business. Manufacturers and distributors commonly use this technique with their channel partners in an effort to add unique motivational value to move specific products or services. The reason this technique has stood the test of time is because, for the most part, it works! At times, however, elements of the technique are executed improperly. Sales incentive programs under perform or fail as a result.

The monetary values of incentives are often not the critical factor in motivating sales people to succeed. Take my own example. I was fortunate to work in an industry that provided an unending supply of incentives and awards for overachievement. I knew that, if I won every trip, every TV, every incentive offered, the money would come with it! For me, the money and the goodies were not my primary motivation. My philosophy was simple; “If you win all the incentives there are to win, you couldn’t help but be at or near the top every time.” Corporations use incentive programs to drive behavior and I agreed to play the game and conform to their wishes; what gets rewarded, gets done.

The problem, from the vendors’ point of view, is that not all salespeople are motivated the same way. Consequently, not all incentive programs work. Why is that? From my experience, I’ll make the following observations: Read the rest of Incentive Dilemma »