How to Increase Customer Retention

Have you been searching for the magic bullet to keep your clients and subscribers around a little longer? It’s possible that you might not have to look any further than your own hand and a simple pen and paper. Read on and find out more…

Those of you who travel frequently know restaurant service varies, and can be fantastic to downright awful. During one of my frequent trips throughout the Northwest, I revisited a little airport diner that I had tested a few months earlier. This simple airport diner is one of the most unique dining establishments I’ve frequented in the last 10 years. Not only was the food really good but reasonably priced, and came with great service to boot!

As I got up to pay my bill, I noticed that the server had left me a thank you card with a personal signature. Now, in all my years of travel, I have never received a personalized thank you card from a restaurant server; only comment cards.

In my previous visit to this restaurant, I had met the owner, who also happens to be named Dave. He was obviously the one behind the great food, service, and very unique customer-grabbing thank-you cards. This extra effort has not only gained my loyalty, but left a long-lasting impression about simple methods of customer retention. You see, this small business owner utilized a simple, off-the-shelf thank-you card, but backed it up with really good food and great service.

How can you put this experience to work for you in your business?

Here are 3 Simple Tips:

1. Give thanks as much as you can on a daily basis; in person, on the phone, and by email
2. Be genuinely grateful and let your PSC (prospects, clients, and subscribers) know this
3. Go the extra mile and give your PSC something extra as a bonus with no strings attached.

Want a really simple solution about how to create a lasting impression with your clients? Check out my article about how you can create loyalty and strengthen relationships.

Also, do you want to learn how to develop new business and increase sales?
Then I suggest you Check out  my New Guide here.

Stay Tuned,

Dave K
Publisher

Social Media and Small Business Survival

Social Media Marketing

Your small business is either engaging in social media right now, dipping it’s toe in the water or doesn’t have a clue or desire to participate in the hottest online channel. Survival is truly what it is, because whether you realize it or not this channel of connectivity is growing at light speed. For your business, this can equate to traffic and sales if you know all the ins and outs and how to make it work in your favor. If you decide to sit on the sidelines, you might just watch others connect, grow, and expand their prospect, subscriber, and client lists faster than ever before.

So, first off, are you social, anti-social, or non-social?

Let me put it to you another way: how’s your tweeting, posting, and commenting coming along?

Not sure what I mean? Then you must be non-social. Maybe you totally understand because you’ve been fighting off the social butterflies for months and maybe years, yet no matter what you do, someone is always asking you to join their page, forum, or blog. It might not be your thing, yet you continue to put off this cutting-edge medium, and will fall behind if you don’t act now or very soon in the future.

Social media is essential if you are going to continually market and expose your business on the web. It is the way that more and more people regularly communicate and it has brought our offline life to the online world. Needless to say this power tool has proven to be very valuable to businesses – and will only grow bigger in years to come. I do not need to provide you with a ton of statistics – hopefully you have seen the social media video; we now know that 500 million users are on Facebook (some predict it will be 1 BILLION next year). So what does this mean for your business?

This viral, word-of-mouth broadcast will not only spread in your local network, but now to a GLOBAL network. You will bring in traffic to your website(s) and have new connections that you may never have thought of – all within hours and maybe even minutes!

We are now in a digital age; phone books & newspapers, are all proving slow, ineffective, and archaic. A business’ calling card is its website and social media sites. The more traffic you have, the more potential sales. The value of social media is extremely high: manage this channel well and show the evolution & progress of your business with the click of a button.

Now it seems like there are new social sites popping up all over the place. Surely by now you have heard of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn but have you heard of Sta.rtup.biz, Stumbleupon, Digg, Gather, or Ning? These are just a small sampling of the social media tools you can use for generating traffic to your business. The objective lies in finding which ones are good for you and your business.

You say you’re out of time and don’t know how to fit in that quality time with your spouse and kids let alone developing a social media strategy for your business. I know, it’s time consuming and almost like another gorilla banging on your door.

Maybe you’re like so many small business owners who are already inundated and overloaded with the web, keeping up with email plus all the regular day to day activities that keep your business moving along. With so much to learn and so little time how does one take on the social media behemoth and still accomplish day to day business?

Ah hahh!!!   You hire social media experts (SME) and you’ll be more efficient, get more exposure and sleep better knowing that you’re in good hands. Remember, it’s better to stay in your strength area and then delegate those tasks, chores and weakness areas to someone who is more knowledgeable, experienced, and talented.

Several ways social media and a SME can help drive more traffic and connect your business to new prospects, subscribers, and clients:

  1. ‘Quick Connect’ with more people in your niche or industry, which can possibly generate
  2. Ability to make constant changes and updates plus show activity and what’s new with the business.
  3. Find new social sites and blogs that you otherwise might have never been connected to.

At clickandmortarblog.com, we continue to explore and look for quality social media sites that we can connect to existing business owners and those looking to start businesses. If you’re looking to reach out and expand into the world of social media and want a cost effective way to accomplish this, then consider a firm that works exclusively in this niche and can help you to plan and navigate through the social media jungle.

Water, Water, Everywhere,
But Not a Drop to Drink

Clean water saves lives
Copyright 2006 World Vision Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
1-888-511-6548 http://www.worldvision.org

Water is the fluid that gives us life. Without it we can die within 3 to 5 days, and that’s if we’re relatively healthy and living in a moderate climate. Over one billion people in our world don’t have ready access to clean, drinkable water everyday. Yes, that’s correct, over one billion people. Unsafe water kills 5,700 children a day.

Have you ever thought what it would be like if you didn’t have any water to drink? Many of us take for granted that we have clean water to drink and bathe in on a daily basis. What if you didn’t have access to fresh, clean water? What if your supply of water was cut off and you had to drink out of dirty ponds and irrigation ditches? Would you and your family be able to survive? How would you feel as a parent if your children were not able to drink anything but dirty, filthy water?

This is what millions of people deal with on a daily basis throughout third-world countries, yet in the industrialized world, we take for granted that water, our most vital fluid, comes out of the tap on demand. Access to clean water in these villages, towns, and remote areas, saves lives and can reduce a community’s child mortality rate by half. To give water is to give life.

We as small business owners can make a difference. Yes, it’s true, we can be part of the solution to bring clean water to millions of people. What can you do to make a difference? Would you like to be a part of the solution? Here are two ways that you can take action, make a difference, and impact people that don’t have access to clean water.

World Vision and their teams of people are making an impact in villages across the globe. Clean water now comes true for villages where dirty water and disease were once the norm. Now, with deep wells and water pumps installed by World Vision, good health is common.

We hope that you will consider being part of a solution to bringing clean water to people who desperately need it. Make a difference and impact a community.

Strengths vs. Weaknesses

“What they mean to your business”

Have you ever been around people that continually work in an area that they shouldn’t be working in? For example, a finance person who is overseeing sales and marketing but has never written an ad or headline in their life? What kind of impact can that have on a business, both short and long term?

It amazes me how so many business owners I’ve come across over the years work in a weakness area and think they are doing the right thing. If they would work in their strength area, chances are they would be happier and more productive. On a personal note: my primary strength area is marketing and sales. I do have a secondary strength; working in the pro audio/music environment as a producer and voice over talent. However, my living has been made through sales and marketing.
Years ago I heard a well known speaker, John Maxwell, teach on this subject, and it really stuck with me. He gets the credit for showing me how to work in my strength areas and grow stronger. Working in a weakness area takes too much time, energy, money and will most likely not allow you to grow and challenge yourself.

Here’s an example. One area I continue to struggle with is the applied technical end of pro audio and video. For years I worked in and out of studios but always as a creative and non-technical producer. I had a good grasp on how things worked and understood them; however, I could not sit down and do the knob twisting unless someone invested a lot of their time with me. You see, my college training was in analog (tape) audio and not with computers. Even back in 1986 when we worked with one of the first programmable drum machines in school, I had issues with it. To this day I struggle with computer audio set ups.

Could I ever get better at the hands-on, technical end of pro audio and video? Yes, but it would take a lot of training, and I might only grow and comprehend one to two levels from where I am now.

Here are some things to consider doing if you seriously want to grow in your strength areas:

  • Evaluate your Strengths and Weaknesses – Rate yourself in these areas on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest. If you feel that marketing is one of your strengths, then start the transition to work on the marketing for your business.
  • Rate Yourself – Once you have rated yourself and chosen a strength area to work on, focus on it for the next 30 days. Each day should have time allotted working in this area.
  • Honesty – Be honest with yourself. Is this a strength area that you desire to grow in and improve, or is there another strength area that you really enjoy. Would this be an asset to your business? There is a difference, so re-evaluate and take a hard look.
  • Make a Decision and Take Action – Hire out or delegate the tasks, chores and jobs that you currently consider weakness areas. If you are a creative person who enjoys marketing and sales but you are working in operations or finance every day, you’re probably not very happy and this will be a welcome change. I never said this would be easy.

    Do you want to learn how to develop new business, increase sales and take more vacations? Go here now to find out more.

    Dave K
    Publisher

SEO: Hire the Pros or DIY?



SEO how-to video series and blueprint

These days, search engine optimization and search marketing seem to be two hot topics when it comes to driving traffic to one’s website.

It always amazes me how many people and firms are out there in “Internetland” touting that they have the ticket to top rankings and that their firm can get you there lickety-split.

Here’s a story about three recent interactions with internet marketing firms that might raise some eyebrows. I have whittled down the actual experiences to a bare minimum so as not to bore you with the details, although I think some of you would get a laugh out of how things went.

Read More..

Who’s Behind the Voice?
Dave’s Voices!

Ever wonder who the person is behind the voice on that Saturday morning cartoon or animated television commercial? I was always fascinated by Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, and most of the rest of the characters associated with that wascawy wabbit. You may or may not know the likes of Sterling Holloway or Jim Cummings, but these guys are legends in the character voice acting world. In the last twenty years alone we’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of new animated features, cartoons, and so many new voices.

This brings us to today’s topic and the introduction of davesvoices.com, a website featuring the voice work of yours truly. I finally decided to develop a site dedicated to my voice work after years of doing something that I really enjoy. As my wife can attest to, it’s been a long time coming. My specialty is ‘character voices’ but I also provide narration when needed.

Now as of this writing it’s still a work in progress, so be patient with us as we continue to add new content and demos. We are also offering a FREE report on creating and streaming audio for the web. You can sign up right here at clickandmortarblog.com or at the davesvoices website. This report covers a lot of great info and could help you integrate audio into your small business marketing, no matter whether it’s online or offline.

For those small business owners or managers that are searching for ways to increase sales, conversions, and create new clients, consider what streaming audio, MP3s and even CDs could do for your company! The audio format may be what lands your next client or presells your newest product.

So, if you find yourself in need of a voice to narrate your next video, recorded webinar, blog posts, radio commercials or to bring an animated character to life, I hope you’ll contact davesvoices.com.

Tests, Surveys, and Ma Bell

Have you been testing all your advertising and marketing or just throwing mud up on the wall like most small business owners? Maybe you’ve wanted to test but it always seems that time and/or money get in the way?

Many years ago, back in the days of retail and rentals, we tested and tracked it the good ol’ fashioned way with the telephone and personal questionnaires. Testing was very slow and archaic back in the early to mid 1990’s. It took time to gather enough information but it enabled us to see which yellow page directories, radio stations and newspapers pulled the most, but it also allowed us to see which search engines were driving traffic. At one point, USWest (now Qwestdex) actually did an interview with me to find out what we did to track and research. Before we tested and surveyed, I thought that GTE was pulling all the traffic, but it turned out that USWest was the winner, and we were wasting quite a bit of money with GTE. Had we not tested and surveyed I would have kept placing the same old ads in the same old places. With testing and surveying we were able to better define our target markets, shift more dollars towards marketing that would bring better ROI, plus serve our customers better.

My recommendation is that you test all your marketing, online and offline. This can be done by split testing and surveying. It’s much easier and faster to split test online ads today with so many online resources. AWeber’s auto-responders are a great way to keep in touch with your PSC (prospects, subscribers, and clients). By using the autoresponder, you can test and survey as much as you think is necessary. I would also pay close attention to your search engine traffic, and check the reports frequently. Another option in today’s online environment is to utilize surveys.

Working offline? Then test all your marketing to see what works and is bringing in new prospects and existing customers. If you are using offline media such as radio, you might mention your website in your ads with a special promo code. Split-test ads to see which ones pull by producing two radio commercials with two different offers. Maybe one directs the listener to your website and then the other sends people to your physical location.

Remember, test everything; track as much as you can and survey periodically to see how you’re doing with your customers and prospects. In the long run you’ll be glad you did and you might be surprised at which ads really work.

If you want to learn more about how you can use testing, tracking and surveying in your small business, checkout My New Guide Here .

Dave K
Publisher

 

Decisions and Gut Feelings

Decisions and gut feelings

As a small business owner you have to make countless decisions every day that not only impact your life but those around you. Ever heard that life is about the decisions we make and actions we take? Does your gut ever tell you to do something and you decide to go a different direction? Gut feelings come into play all the time and you might take notice of them or ignore them. Sometimes I refer to my gut as the little man on my shoulder.

I started the outline of this article earlier in the summer and then decided to complete it after receiving a listen to your gut email from well respected Internet marketer Perry Marshall.

My wife and I finally learned after so many years that if we go with our gut, things generally turn out fine. When we deviate and don’t listen to our gut, we end up with headache, heartache and sometimes a lower balance in the bank account.

Here are a few examples so you can see how gut feelings played out in both my business and personal life.

During recent discussions with an associate, my gut started telling me to make a change. Something just didn’t seem right with this particular venture and it was time to make a decision one way or the other. Things had not been going well and although the risk was low, it just seemed like the main person driving the ship was making quick, snap decisions, without thinking things through. It turns out that my gut instinct was right and I made the right decision, and I’m so glad that I did.

On a personal note…..earlier this year my wife and I needed to make a decision regarding soccer for one of our children. We decided to switch clubs thinking that we could save money and still receive quality coaching. During a six week period we both started to see that the decision we made was the wrong decision. The coach was unstable, didn’t communicate at all, and had a very derogatory attitude. Finally, the coach made some comments that put us over the edge and we immediately contacted the original club we were associated with. Thankfully the original club still had a position open in their roster and our daughter has continued to have a great experience. You know the saying, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. It turned out to be a great decision because four weeks after we made the switch, this coach went too far and was removed from coaching the team.

We all get gut feelings at one time or another. Have you ever had gut feelings about something to do with your small business? Maybe it was a marketing or advertising campaign that just didn’t go the way you thought it should? Ever made a decision, going against your gut feeling, and it turned out that it cost you money, time, or both? Maybe you’re working in a weakness area and things just don’t seem to be going your way.

My recommendation is for you to listen to your gut. If you know that something isn’t right and you need to make a change to get back on course, take some time to review and analyze, weighing out all the positives and negatives.

In many cases this review can be what helps you make a quality decision. In many cases it might be worth talking with an associate or mentor before making a serious business decision.

If you need help when it comes to strategies and tactics for your small business, check out this guide .

Dave K
Publisher

Image: luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Global Leadership Summit –
Update and Review

Global Leadership Summit

Since 1990 I have attended many leadership conferences, experiencing speakers like John Maxwell, Og Mandino, Paul Zane Pilzer, Billy Zeoli, Zig Ziglar and many others.

Maxwell and Mandino have both touched my life the most, and to this day, they are still my favorite authors. Maxwell is considered by some to be the leadership authority of our time. He has had a
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