Mine Your Own Business

Small Business Tips from Infomercials

Everyone is familiar with infomercials (especially insomniacs who catch them on late night TV). Who would think that they could provide some valuable tips to increase small business sales? Here is an article that provides 10 ideas that small businesses can use to sell more effectively regardless of the medium used. Be sure to read all 10 ideas, there are bound to be some you can use for your small business.

One other interesting thing about this article is that there are over 70 comments giving some more ideas from people who have read the article and have some other ideas. many of the ideas expressed by readers are very good. One other noteworthy aspect of the comments is that of the 73 comments, 65 were from Twitter.

 

Social Media and Small Business

We did a posting on October 14th on Customer Contact Options where we mentioned social media, but focused on the best use of e-mail and actually making a phone call. We got a comment from one of our readers that they actually thought the best method of communication was some of the new social media and provided several excellent reasons.

Now Reuters reports on a recent survey of small businesses and the results were surprising. While overall use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedln have increased, three quarters of small businesses have not found such sites useful for increasing business. There are a lot of other very interesting statistics in the article about how small businesses are using company Web sites, advertising,  e-mail marketing, and other methods to increase business.

Slick new Google tool

We did a posting on April 22nd on favorite computer downloads and mentioned that Google Earth was a fantastic tool. As usual, here's a link to the posting in case you want to read the original posting. Now Google has come up with a new Google Gadget (try saying that three times fast) that makes it easier for  customers find your business. The article provides a link to this particular Google Gadget so you don't have to search for it.

The second part of the article provides a link to a brief review of the gadget and the review describes how to create a Directions page to make it easy for search engines to map out you location. So not only customers, but search engines as well will find it easier to find your location if you follow their directions.

Job cuts in small businesses moderate

There may finally be some light at the end of the tunnel for job cuts in the small business area. Here's an article that states that while small businesses still cut jobs in the second quarter the losses moderated greatly in June. The article further states that small financial situations should improve before larger retailers.

The article then goes on to give the thoughts of several small businesses on their particular situation and whether they think an upturn is finally on the way. There is even a podcast of the article that can be downloaded if you would prefer to listen to it and don't mind a very short commercial before the rest of the article.

More E-mail Tips

We've done a few postings on e-mail in the past few months. On April 21st we posted about an article that focused on the importance of effectively revising an e-mail in order to make it more likely that your e-mail would actually be read. On May 12th we posted on an article on how to do more effective e-mail newsletters. Both of the postings are in the archives of Mine Your Own Business if you would like to read the original posting.

Today's posting is about another article in BusinessWeek with tips on writing e-mail that get a reaction. Why another posting on e-mail? Simply because we all know how much of the e-mail we get is ignored and because e-mail is still a very important means of communication even with all the other social media that is now available.

So what's all the Twitter about?

One definition of twitter from my ancient Webster's dictionary (copyright 1966) is "to talk in a chattering fashion", but lately the word has taken on a whole new meaning. This posting is about two articles, one from USA Today and one from a local newspaper that present two rather different viewpoints on Twitter and social networking in general.

The USA Today article provides a brief summary of all the new social networking tools on the Internet with a great deal of emphasis on how Twitter is expanding rapidly. The article from the local newspaper has a little less serious view of Twitter, saying it could follow the course of the CB radio fad of the 1970s and proposing a very interesting test to judge Twitter's staying power.

So what do you think of all the new social networking tools, will some of them become indispensable and if so what are the ones that will?

Testimonials in E-mail Newsletters

Many of our Tacony customers are now sending e-mail newsletters to their customers.  Here’s an article with some ideas to help make sure your newsletter is being read by your customers. 

 I do think testimonials (mentioned in the article as a way to make newsletters more interesting) or human interest stories really help the selling process and I bet your customer would be willing to give you a good testimonial if asked.  Sometimes, I bet you don’t even have to ask.  Working the register at a consumer event last week, I commented on how colorful the fabric was that the consumer was buying.  She said it was for her 14 year old grand-daughter who had just finished her first quilt and was ready to make another.  She then reached into her purse and brought out a large picture of her grand-daughter holding up her first quilt next to her Baby Lock sewing machine.  She said she could never get her daughter to sew but loved teaching her enthusiastic grand-daughter.  And, the new machines made sewing so easy and fun.         

Bill

 

Selling Is For People

So, it’s your last blog post.  After nearly 700 posts, how do you go out with a bang?  I’ve decided to pass along some insights from Steve Jeffery, the Senior Vice President of our Home Sewing Division.  We were reminiscing about days gone by and reflecting on how different things are today.  But one thing hasn’t changed.  People buy things from people. 

 

Nick Tacony knew that.  We all know that.  The best ad in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t sell something to the person who comes in the door.  The sale happens when one person convinces another person that the first person’s product or service is worth more than the cash the second person has in his/her pocket.  That’s all there is to it.

 

When Steve was in the retail business he was a great believer in advertising.  He ran ads every week.  But he didn’t stop there. His entire store was pre-programmed to take advantage of the traffic that came into the store.  He told me that he used to re-hang his ceiling fan display almost every week to make it easy for his sales people to walk the customer through the selling process.  It was a smooth flow from the advertised model through the up-sell models and accessories, right to the cash register.  Sure it was a lot of work.  But it was work that paid off in sales and profit.

 

And when they got to the register, there were the impulse items, waiting to be added to the sale.  A retail sale is like a stage performance.  All the right pieces must be in place to have a successful outcome.  Can you imaging a Broadway play where there was no script?  There were no props?  No one rehearsed?  With some slight exceptions, every single performance of a successful production is essentially the same as the one before.  There’s no room for ad libbing.

 

We live in a new and exciting world!  As I’ve pointed out on this blog for almost three years, the new forms of electronic communication level the playing field between the “big box stores” and the independents.  Blogs, podcasts, social networks like Facebook and MySpace, and mini-blog sites like twitter are free for you to use and you can buy extremely targeted advertising to reach just the people you want to reach.  Considering the short time it’s taken to develop these tools, I can’t imagine what’s going to be available to you in the coming years.  All I know is that it will be exciting for those who chose to take advantage.

 

One of the famous sales trainers, I think it was Zig Ziglar, said “You have to treat the customer so many different ways that she has to like one of them.”  That’s the key.  The level of competition today is at a level unheard of just a few years ago.  Instead of losing a sale to the guy down the street, you can lose a sale to someone half way around the world.  You have to be sure that the experience of shopping with you provides value beyond just the merchandise in the box.  If you do that, you’ll make not just a customer, but you’ll make a friend.  And that friend will be excited to tell her other friends about you.  And when those other friends come in and find out that what they’ve heard is true, you’ll be building a constant stream of prospects and repeat customers that will get you through any economic downturn.

Why Is Burger King Trying to Make Me Look Bad?

Just two days ago I wrote a post on "viral" videos.  You may recall that I wrote "The best, most viral videos are usually done at very little cost."  And, "It's almost impossible to create something "viral" on purpose."  Then along comes Burger King with its "Whopper Virgins" campaign which looks very much like it will go viral.

If you haven't heard about it, Burger King has conducted taste tests between its Whopper and the Big Mac in places where the people have never tasted a hamburger, hence the name "Whopper Virgins."  They've produced a documentary that will be released in 2 days, 11 hours, and 21 minutes (as I write this) according to the countdown timer on their web site.  I'm just guessing but I'll bet that first-day views of the video will be in the millions.  Admit it, your curiosity is almost sure to make you hit the link above and probably come back to see the video.  That's just how this stuff works.

In my own defense, notice that I said "usually" and "almost impossible" and I still stand by my original post.  This is an expensive campaign that should have impressive results.  Whether or not the fact that someone from "an icy village in Greenland" likes the Whopper better than the Big Mac makes people rush out to their local BK remains to be seen.  But the campaign has people talking and isn't that what it's all about?

Which is the better investment?  Burger King spending millions and getting more millions in return, or you or I spending $150 for a video camera, posting a video on YouTube and getting thousands in return.  The exception proves the point.  Information spread on the web is more a function of content than it is of cost.

Have a great weekend!

The WSJ on twitter

Jessica E. Vascellaro put together an interesting article for yesterday's Wall Street Journal called "Twitter Goes Mainstream".  She points out that the micro-blogging service has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the last few years.  While twitter doesn't release usage figures, they do say that the number of users has increased sevenfold in the last year. 

Vascellaro cites several cases where businesses are using twitter to communicate internally, to communicate with customers, or as one way of keeping track of what's being said about them online.

So, how does it work?  As usual, Common Craft has an excellent tutorial which I've included here.  We've posted here before on how twitter works ("So What's this 'twitter' I Keep Hearing About?" and "More on Twitter), but the WSJ article and the Common Craft video offer some good additional points.