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Good Customer Service Skills – it will mean sales

April 18, 2012 By Amanda 7 Comments

If you are an on-line business or bricks and mortar store, good customer service skills can mean all the difference when closing a

good customer service skills

sale.

Building a good rapport with customers can also mean that they will be back! I came across a great reminder of good customer service skillsin an article written by Lisa Marie as a guest post on GrowWithStacey.com. Lisa Marie shares 5 key points, 1 of which I have reproduced below.

Good Customer Service Skills – it will mean sales

3. Be An Expert In Your Business.

Know your industry and your products, inside out and backwards. Be able to field any questions or concerns your potential customers may have. If you don’t have an answer, research and get back to the customer. Your job is to present the facts and steer them towards a buying decision. If they ask for your opinion, you can give it; but remember, the customer is in charge. Always make them feel that way.Read more here [Read more…]

Filed Under: Small Business Customer Service Skills

Tips for making big bucks from selling your business

April 14, 2012 By Amanda Leave a Comment

The word is out Facebook has paid a BILLION for the purchase of Instagram, and this is not the first company to be brought out by the

Tips to get your business acquired by big business

big boys. So how do you follow on from Instagrams success and set up your business to do the same. What are the tips for making big bucks from selling you business? I came across this informative article, written by Ronda Abrams in USA today which covers some great tips on how to setup your business for sale and not only that, why businesses are acquired….. maybe yours could be next 🙂 Rhonda has an insiders view so it’s well worth reading – click here or the link below

Tips for making big bucks from selling your business

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/abrams/story/2012-04-13/small-business-strategies-instagram/54257986/1

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Ideas and Tips, Small Business News Tagged With: how to setup your company for sale, small business news

Does your small business need a mobile friendly website?

April 13, 2012 By Amanda 2 Comments

Does your small business need a mobile friendly website? You are probably aware of the issues faced by

Could your website on a mobile device be deterring customers?

iphone and smartphone users. How having to scroll and pinch the screen to try and read the website just causes frustration for what could be an important part of your customer base. But are you aware of how big the numbers actually are? How much business could you be missing out on? So does your small business need a mobile friendly website?

In an article I read recently Kelly Manthey gives us the numbers from a 2011mobile search study:

People used mobile search at home in the evening (81%) than any other time or places more frequently than anywhere else (81%), followed by at home on weekends (80%).

66% use mobile search while while watching TV, something which should get advertisers thinking, while 61% said they use it at work.

75% said mobile search makes their lives easier, 63% said access to mobile search has changed the way they gather information, and 32% said they use mobile search more than search engines on their computers. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Small Business Websites Tagged With: Does your small business need a mobile friendly website?, small busine, small business mobile website, small business websites

Employee Retention Strategies in Small Business

April 12, 2012 By Amanda 2 Comments

Employees are one of a businesses greatest assets, so it makes sense to do all we can to retain them. As far as employee retention

Retaining employees is key for small businesses

strategies are concerned most commentators agree that remuneration alone is not the sole motivator of keeping employees, there are also the non monetary aspects such as the culture of the business and showing appreciation for a job well done. Now benefits such as work perks or incentives such as casual Fridays, bring a pet to work days, movie tickets, more flexible hours are on the increase.

Fox Business discusses some ideas & the reasons behind the increase of perks as a way to retain employees. It also considers how once in place, the reduction of a perk would not have the same effect as a reduction in salary in tougher times. Click here to read the full article

Employee Retention Strategies in Small Business

Women24.com has a good article on retaining employees, consider this:

In addition to the quality of management, other factors that cause staff turnover include salaries, working conditions, opportunities for promotion and peer group relations. Individual factors like age, educational qualifications, family responsibility and personality also play a crucial role in the way employees view the attractiveness of current and alternative job opportunities. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Small Business General Help

Tips for good small business web design

April 11, 2012 By Amanda 3 Comments

I’ve come across a great article on tips for good small business web design. Written by Craig Reardon from Smart Company there 6 are factors to consider when developing, or having someone develop for you, your small business website. And why are these tips for good small business web design important? Here’s Craig’s view:

It’s a well-known fact that smaller businesses are far more susceptible to costs arising from poor web design than their

Tips for good small business web design

deeper-pocketed competitors.

Because if an issue does arise with their website, unlike larger business, they are less likely to have either the financial power to overcome the issue or the time taken to properly research and manage a solution to it.

As a result, many smaller business operators “put up” with a dated or ineffective website simply because they can’t afford the time or money to rectify it. You only need to conduct a search of a smaller business category to witness the number of sites that fit this description.

Tips for good small business web design

Basically the 6 factors ( in summary ) are:

[list style=”arrow”]
- Presentation, yes how a website looks is important to get readers engaged, but……
- Communication. Its the content , which keep users on the site
- Techinal features. How easy is it to move around the site.
- Usability, both for customers and website administrators
- Maintainability. Is the website administrator able to make changes quickly and easily to keep the site looking up to date
- Scalability. Growth is an important aspect of most small businesses, and websites need to be able to grow with the business. This could be the addition of new features etc.
[/list]

I think one factor overlooked by many small business owners is scalability. Craig puts it well here:

A scalable (or extensible) website platform will save you a very considerable sum on the technology features you will require as your requirements and visitor demands grow.

A good web professional will build or provide your website in a way to be able to add new features very affordably as you need them. But others might conveniently neglect this capability and charge what can be large amounts to add them “after the fact”.

Of the six website attributes, this is the one that will keep your website affordable as your needs grow and avoid the issues raised above.

So when you are looking to hire a web professional, make sure you check their track record with all of these six attributes and not just the one that can make your website look good. To view the full post click here

Have you previously considered the factors outlined in our tips for good small business web design? Or have you had any issues with websites that have not lived up to your expectations or any more to add we would love to here your stories.

Filed Under: Small Business Websites Tagged With: small business help, small business we, small business website desgin, small business websites, tips for good small business web design

How to grow your business into a market leader – personal motivation from a master

April 6, 2012 By Amanda 4 Comments

This is 8 minutes that may change your business life. If you are wanting to know how to grow your business into a market leader, you must start with the basics, build a solid foundation and, sorry to say, getting policies and procedures in place. Sounding too corporate? don’t worry, you can put your own spin on it. This short video featuring Michael Gerber, the author of E-Myth Mastery and others, although recorded in 2009 will never date. Check it out, that is if you have the vision and need to know how to grow your business into a market leader. Michael gives that personal motivation and development that will help you get there.

How to grow your business into a market leader

video source: Innovators Forum

Inspiring? Michael sure knows how to motivate. Now that’s where to start in knowing how to grow your business into a market leader. A solid foundation, it’s all in the fundamentals, get them right, listen and understand your market and you can only go forwards and upward.

Want to know more? Click here for Michael Gebers E Myth and other books on Amazon

disclosure: the above is an affiliate link.

Filed Under: Small Business Growth, Small Business Personal Development Tagged With: How to grow your business into a market leader, personal motivation for business owners, small business help

Small business owners, struggles and demands in work and home life.

April 2, 2012 By Amanda Leave a Comment

The New Zealand Herald has reported on the struggles of small business owners and the demands on their lives, both work and personal, financial and emotional including the effects on families. I see this as a world wide issue, and not specifically relating to my country.

Read the full article here:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10796009

Filed Under: Small Business News Tagged With: small business help

Increase Customer Loyalty and Retention and Increase your Bottom Line

April 2, 2012 By Amanda 3 Comments

It sounds easy doesn’t it, increase customer loyalty and retention and increase your bottom line. How does the bottom line increase? Well selling to returning customers

With customer loyalty, the bottom line goes up!

costs less, they know your brand, your products, your service, and I have noted from experience that they can make decisions quicker, requiring less salesperson time. And people love to talk, your most efficient type of advertising is word of mouth, so keep your customers happy and increase customer loyalty and retention and increase your bottom line. Here’s 2 great tips on how to achieve this from an article titled ‘How To Keep Your Customers Coming Back For More’

Increase customer loyalty and retention and increase your bottom line

Think Long Term Loyalty – You think today’s customer is tough? The customer of the future will have a shorter attention span, and even faster mobile access to post feedback and collect information. Imagine a customer simply saying into their phone “this place has bad service and high prices”…then having that voice note posted and a recommendation engine throwing back new suggestions. How do you overcome this fast feedback loop? By building long term brand loyalty so [Read more…]

Filed Under: Small Business Customer Service Skills, Small Business Marketing Ideas and Tips Tagged With: increase customer loyalty, small business help, small business marketing, small business marketing tips