Mistakes and Excuses for Not Following Up

In truth, most businesses do an incredibly poor job at following up with prospective buyers. Salespeople forget, or end up focusing on “warm” leads as a priority, or fall into the belief that prospects will call back and that they shouldn’t be pushy. The challenge is that research indicates that more than 80% of prospects require five or more “touches” or follow-ups before they make a purchase; following up with prospects is obviously critical, and those businesses that leverage marketing automation software platforms to manage their follow-up typically show better results than those that don’t.

Get a Plan in Place to Automate Follow-Up

Marketing automation platforms are incredibly powerful, but rely upon having excellent content fed in on an appropriate basis to ensure that prospects are cultured and interest is maintained until conversion. Having the marketing and sales teams collaborate on the follow-up process ensures that prospects are contacted at the right points in time with the best information, content and offers that will incite a desire to purchase.

High quality marketing automation software will allow for scheduling of all of the touch points that a team could desire once the prospect’s information is captured. For instance, once a prospect enters their email into a form they can be sent an auto-response with some promised content or information, and then another email in a few days to check in, followed by a phone call by a sales professional to answer any questions, additional promotional materials or discounts, videos that describe how the products work, and more.

Track, Analyze, Optimize, Repeat

Finally, it’s important to remember that every automated process must be monitored, tracked and analyzed to allow for further optimization and better results. Processing and scoring of the data output from the marketing automation software should be performed regularly, with input from all stakeholders on what improvements can be made.

Marketing automation can truly innovate a business’ follow-up process and generate amazing results.

John is a small business owner, and contributing writer for Aprimo lead management.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Using Marketing Automation for Follow-Up Success

When seeking advice for your business, particular with the implementation of something as important as your organisation’s information security policy, it is vital you go to the right place. Knowing where the right place is can be a chore in itself, so take the time to research which companies are the very best in the business and what each and every single one is able to offer you in terms of ideas and support, both now and on an on-going basis into the future.

Why Have An Information Security Policy

With fraud becoming a more and more sophisticated a crime, it is becoming a vital aspect of a business’ planning and objective cycles to have incorporated an information security policy. Criminals are no longer going to the trouble of stealing or cloning credit cards, they can simply get a lot of the information they need from businesses.

An effective information security policy will work alongside your day to day business activities and objectives to protect your business from fraud and the ever growing trend towards cyber crime. An information security policy can involve all employees in your business. Having this knowledge and commitment from top to bottom throughout your company can be a huge step in combating these increasingly popular methods of criminal activity.

Help Is At Hand

Many organisations offer first class assistance to businesses looking to develop an information security policy. Whether this is a new concept to an organisation, or through a desire to improve an existing information security system, simple and honest advice can be given. There are also well detailed guides and full sets of documentation, meaning that you are fully equipped to build your own information security policy and ensure it is relevant to the needs of your business.

Common Examples

One of the most common information security policies is ISO 27001. This information security policy is extremely impactful in that it places responsibility and accountability for information security throughout the business. Previous examples of breaches in information security have come about due to employees lack of understanding of the role they play in these areas. ISO 27001 removes the attitude of “the information technology guys will deal with it” and ensures all team members in businesses large and small are aware of their role.

Great business advice will give you help at every step, from planning, implementation and maintenance of all of your business’ information security policies.

The crime of fraud is becoming more and more sophisticated, so a vital aspect of a business’ planning and objective cycles is to incorporate an information security policy. The iso27001standard.com website and company will help businesses cut down the time and costs of your implementation.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Where To Find Sound Business Advice

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Paper

We are living in the world of the internet, but branded letter headed paper is still important in business.  You will need to write letters to suppliers and customers and it looks professional to have the content on letter headed paper with your company logo, name, registered address and business number. The higher quantity you order, the cheaper the quote will be and you will not have to worry about running out of paper again.

Business cards

It is important to get business cards with information about the business on the card.  There are a number of printing companies that offer to design your card and print it on different thickness, depending on the price.  It is best to use a card that is 350gsm and has a matt laminated finish to ensure the card is protected against wear and tear. Some business card printing companies also offer business card holders for an additional fee.  It is worth investing in one of these as it prevents the card becoming dog earred which looks unprofessional.

Pens and pencils

If you are marketing your product or service at an event, it may be worth having pens and pencils branded with your business name and contact details.  People always need pens especially if they are at a conference where they will be taking notes from the different speakers

Notepads

Pens need paper and that is where the notepads are needed.  They can be very simple, an A5 notebook with branding either at the bottom of the page or in the header.  You can never have too many notepads which is why they are so useful especially if you have a stall at a marketing event.

Bags

Yes that is right, bags.  They do not fit in with the usual business stationery but they are important.  You do not need to make a bag that is on par with Dior and Prada, this is simply plastic or cotton bags with your company logo and information.  Branded bags are very popular at large events.  People arrive at the conferences and are always receiving freebies from the different stalls.  They need something to put all their goodies in and that is when your bag comes in. When people walk out of the event, all eyes will be on the bag, not the contents within it.

There are lots of places to print your business stationery.  If you live in South Australia, there is printing in Canberra and printing services in Adelaide. Visit your closet shop to see what they can do for you.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Designing Your Business Stationery

Without a doubt the majority of negative online reviews are inspired by a very specific event that did not prove satisfactory to the customer by any stretch. If they felt as though the bad experience was not acknowledged or acknowledged unfairly, they will carry their emotions home and sometimes to the keyboard.

If you’re concerned at all with online reputation management for your business, you’ll want to know how to respond to such reviews if they should ever appear. The unfortunate nature of negative reviews from a business perspective is that they attract traffic and thus are more likely to appear in search results. Therefore a proper response is critical.

To execute a proper response do the following:

Acknowledge the emotion: Whether right or wrong, someone was angered by the service or product they received. Do not go into a response determined to prove that the reviewer is incorrect to feel such a way. Ultimately you are no authority in such a matter.

Apologize, do not defend: Forget about trying to justify whatever actions your side took in the event that incited the negative review. It looks appallingly petty on a review website and is worse than no response at all. Instead, apologize outright for any and all misgivings. Avow that none were intentional, and all were the product of top-to-bottom failures of judgment and understanding.

Present an invite: Often the negative reviewer will remain anonymous, but that doesn’t stop you from offering them a chance to return for a second experience that is certain to be unlike the last.

Publicize the fix: Going overboard is, well, going overboard, but your response effort should always match the intensity of the initial negative onslaught. If the review is mirrored on multiple sites, then make sure to make a response on all of them. It’s no good if at the end of the day the bad press outweighs your efforts to fix it.

Remember, a little bad press never hurt anyone: The bottom line here is that overall, despite the negativity surrounding online negativity, a little bit is inevitable and acceptable. You can’t please everyone, and not everyone is going to give your business a fair break. Avoid becoming too stringent in your desire to see negative online content removed, as doing so ultimately goes against the realities of business – a battle you cannot win – as well as the purpose of the Internet itself.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

The Nature of Negative Business Reviews and How to Respond

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The labels of most of the clothes have the words – dry cleaning only and for that you will not feel comfortable to wash them at home. Always check the labels of clothes and mark them accordingly for home cleaning or for dry cleaning. The motor and the pump of the dry cleaners Pompano Beach cleaning machine can store and spray the cleaning solvent over the dirty clothes is a good speed so that the dirt is separated from the clothes. The machine often holds 9 – 45 kg clothes and the base of the machine is a steel bucket that holds all these clothes. The washer and the dryer are both set in the same machine and that is the reason the solvent used for cleaning the clothes can be used and then recovered and then filtered to be able to use them for a second wash of another set of dirty clothes.

The fabric that you need to send for the dry cleaning Pompano Beach has to be treated by the solvent that is drawn by the pump and cleaned by the filter and then it is passed over the clothes. The solvent flows into the basket and the chamber constantly and the clothes are immersed in the solvent and gets a slight pounding against the baffles of the cylinder.

The solvent is again collected in the recovery area and then cleaned again and then recycled through the clothes, – till the clothes are clean enough. The dirt is trapped in the filter. The clothes are free of the dirt and stains and then are set for drying in the spinner. The next stage is to dry the clothes of the solvent by spinning the clothes to drain the liquid. Then a gush of warm air makes it dry to some extent. The main idea is to make the clothes soft and easy to dry completely. The solvent is dried and then clothes are cooled over the cooling coils. The solvent used by most of the dry cleaners Pompano Beach, is petroleum solvent and not the usual perc that is highly flammable. The clothes get a new shine and then they are pressed ironed to be delivered to the clients. The dry cleaners use stain removal liquids on the clothes that have stain on them to remove the stain and these clothes get a special wash for stain removal. A professional dry cleaner is most dependable service provider the cleaning of clothes that give you confidence in the outer world.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Dry cleaning Pompano Beach – A Sure way to get Your Clothes Completely Cleaned

To form a business with the right legal paperwork for city and state, as well as enable your business to accept money through credit cards, there are basically three options.

• Pay a lawyer – Spend a couple thousand dollars for a lawyer to file the paperwork, with the cost depending on the scope and nature of your business
• File online with a company who wants to help you for a fee – expect to pay around $300 in addition to the state and city fees as they guide you through the process
• File yourself through the Secretary of State and Department of Revenue

How to file a business yourself with state authorities

The state is generally not very good at making it clear and easy how to start your own business. That is why online services pop up to help you along for a fee, and why lawyers can charge whatever you’ll pay them to make sure it is done right. However digging through a horribly designed government website or physically visiting your local government offices can get you on your way to operating legally. If you want to be sure, pay the lawyer, because this is not legal advice, it is just a suggestion.

• Incorporate
  Search for the Secretary of State’s office in your state. Follow their instructions. Some states may let you file online. Others may let you mail in your application. Somewhere on their website you should be able to download .pdfs that include the application and instructions. If you are close enough to the city (like the state capitol) where the Secretary of State has an office, go in. Say hi. Tell them you want to file a new corporation or LLC. Hand them the completed paperwork. You may need cash, check or money order to pay the fee. Smile as they stamp it. You now have an LLC or corporation, on paper.
• Apply for a Tax ID number
  Apply for a federal tax ID or Employer Identification Number (EIN) through the IRS at this link about applying for an EIN on irs.gov.
• Apply for State reseller’s license
  So far you have told the state and the federal government that you are conducting a business. Now you need to tell the State’s tax collection department that you will be selling products or services. They will want you to charge your customers just a little bit extra and pass it along to them. Sales tax. Collect it, pay your sales tax on the schedule the state gives to you. Be thankful that they allow you the privilege conducting business in their jurisdiction. Some countries don’t, you know.
• Start a bank account
  Go to a bank, set up a business account. They want your business, so they will probably guide you to the services they want you to use. Order checks. Sign up for the business account that sounds best to you.
• Apply for a merchant account
  Now you need someone to talk to VISA Mastercard Discover and AMEX for you. That’s called a merchant account. Ask your bank to recommend one to you, they may have their own or a company they partner with. The money from a credit card takes a few days to get to your checking account, and it may go faster if you use the credit card processor that your bank is most integrated with. Merchant account companies are a competitive business, so compare transactional percentage fees and total costs in choosing the credit card processing company you are most comfortable with.
• Apply for a merchant gateway
  If you would like to accept credit cards online, you will need a gateway. This is another business in the communication chain of guy-at-home-on-internet to your funds in your company’s bank account. They take a dime or less from each transaction and have a monthly fee probably too.
• Launch a website
  There are thousands of pages about how to launch a website, so research that elsewhere. The platform Allen Booth is built on, Volusion, is pretty nice and has a shopping cart to let you manage products on sale to customers. Even if your business is not about selling things online, launch a website of some sort and realize it is your international business card for your company.
• Tell your friends (and other people)
  Promote your products or services in any way you see fit.  Now you’re legal.  There are many ups and downs to owning and/or operating a business.  Surround yourself with smart people and make interesting things happen.  Don’t forget to pay your taxes on time.

Jotham McCauley lives in Jackson, MS with his wife and two walker hounds and sells rustic wood furniture at Allen Booth.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

How to Register a New Business

Meetings are part and parcel of business life. In fact, it is almost impossible to imagine the corporate world without them. As one of the prime means of communication between individuals, meetings are inseparable from the decision-making process. Therefore, being able to organise them successfully must be considered a crucial skill of any modern businessman.

Here are a few tips on how to make your first meeting a resounding success:

• Understand why the meeting is necessary. What is to be discussed? What are the meeting’s goals? With this in mind, who should attend?
• Come up with the correct format for the meeting. How can the desired outcome be effectuated in the most efficient manner? Can a virtual meeting accomplish the set goals more easily? Can guest speakers or videos be of any help? Is there to be any brainstorming or debate between the attendees?
• Keeping the objectives firmly in mind, decide on the appropriate time and place of the meeting. The choice of meeting room should take into account its goals and structure, the availability of necessary equipment and the accessibility of the location for the attendees. The timing of the meeting should not only depend on the availability of the chosen meeting room, but should also be a function of the schedules of the attendees who are to be present.
• The agenda should be made and distributed at least several days in advance of the meeting in order to give all attendees the chance to plan their schedules accordingly and confirm their attendance. It is extremely important that the agenda communicates effectively the goals of the meeting, as well as its time, place, estimated duration and any and all expected participatory activities on the part of the attendees, using clear language and a realistic time-schedule.
• Take extra copies of the agenda to make sure that everyone has a copy of it even if some people forgot to bring them. Ensure that both a meeting leader and minutes taker have been assigned before beginning the meeting.
• If you are the meeting leader it is your responsibility to keep the meeting running smoothly, to facilitate discussion, to make sure that all voices are heard, and to stick to the agenda. In order to do so, go over the agenda prior to starting the meeting and refer back to it after completing every scheduled activity, keeping meticulous track of the time.
• Upon completion of the meeting, summarise the discussion points, the decisions taken, and any actions that have to be performed in the future as a consequence of this meeting. Review the minutes shortly after ending the meeting and, based on this information, send all attendees a summary of what transpired at the meeting, of the next steps, and, if applicable, include the date and time of the next meeting.

Jonathan is writing on behalf of De Vere Venues - With more meeting rooms than anyone else in the UK, we’ll be able to accommodate your group size and budget.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

How to Organise a Successful Meeting

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At the same time though, it just so happens that charity is also incredibly good for business, and that any kind of connection to a charity can help to propel your company into the stratosphere. Here we will look at how you can benefit your company through the use of charity and why it’s really such a win-win situation.

Benefits of Charity Affiliation

If you affiliate your company with a charity then suddenly everyone will want to help you, and suddenly there will be more motivation for your company. First of all, if you provide money to charity out of your company’s profits, then this helps to give you one very big reason to use your company over another. Say you make a product and give 10% of that profit to a charitable organization – when it comes to choosing your product, or someone else’s, then most people are going to be more likely to choose yours. This is true if both products cost the same, but it’s also true even if yours costs 15% more. So in other words you can increase your profit margin and your sales and this is perhaps the only way to do that without coming up with some expensive breakthrough technology. Altruism is actually a huge motivator, and even in times of financial hardship. In fact it’s a motivator particularly in times of financial hardship, as statistics show that economic crises actually increase charitable giving (presumably as people become more sympathetic).

Next if you affiliate your company with a charity you create many more marketing and promotional opportunities. You can do promotions with the charity you are sponsoring for instance, and you’ll find that the charity magazine does features on your business for example. Other unrelated magazines however will also be happier to run articles on your business or website too if they know it helps toward a good cause. Then you’ll find your company image improves and this will mean you get better ratings and reviews and that people are more likely to do business with you as a result of your charity.

And then on top of all that you are also doing a great thing, and demonstrating the power of capitalism to change the world for the better – everyone wins.

Choosing a Charity

Any charity will work wonders, but if you can link the charity to your business it will be particularly effective. This will make logical sense to your customers and clients and to the charity itself, and at the same time it will mean that you reach an audience through the charity that can also be a valuable market to you as well. So if you make keyboards, then an arthritis company might work best, whereas if you have a website about autism of course an autism charity is the most logical.

Corporate social responsibility and charitable affiliations are going to be really big in 2012. Jeet’s link building firm is also getting associated with local charities; in their case it helps them recruit good candidates through an unconventional medium.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

The Power of Charity

General liability insurance for small business owners is akin to property damage liability insurance for car owners:  it is the bare minimum coverage that you’ll need before you can become the entrepreneur you’ve always wanted to be.

Standard general liability insurance usually covers personal injury, bodily injury, property damage, and advertising injury.  If your business is around long enough, eventually you will undoubtedly encounter litigation of some sort, and general liability insurance can save you money in the end.  It also covers the cost to defend or settle claims, even if those claims turn out to be fraudulent.

Ultimately, owning general liability insurance will keep you from losing a significant amount of money, and in the long run it isn’t that expensive.  Before you consider starting your own business, you should assess the risks that are inherently involved with your specific brand of commerce.  If you have a physical location that people visit, you may be liable for an injury that might occur.  Even if the courts find that there is no negligence involved on your part, you stand to lose capital on legal fees if you are not in possession of the kind of liability insurance that could prevent it.

If you currently have or plan to someday utilize employees, you will be liable for them.  An injury sustained on the job will cost you if your insurance company can’t reimburse your wounded employee because you purchased the wrong kind of insurance.  If you plan to hire employees, you will need to purchase a workers’ compensation policy.

If you have access to equipment, you might be liable.  Especially if you are in IT, consider the horrors of accidentally erasing your client’s hard drive.  They will probably sue you for loss of revenue, and without general liability insurance, you stand to pay amounts of money that could cripple your business … or force you to close your doors.

If you write or speak about a client, you leave yourself open to lawsuits that can involve libel or slander.  Even if you are careful about what you say or the language you employ, you are better safe than sorry.

Depending on the size of your business, you may be able to work with multiple agencies to find the lowest rates for the variety of coverage you think you’ll need.

The cost of liability insurance can vary depending on the kind of business that you do, and includes any employees you hire, the specific risks with the products or services that you offer, etc.  You shouldn’t break the bank paying for general liability insurance either.  If you have a lower work volume, you may be able to qualify for a lower premium, which can sometimes add up to only a few hundred dollars a year.  You can defend against any accidents as well as keeping your reputation safe as well as your own health.  Your peace of mind will be worth it in the long run, and you’ll be able to stay in business.

Sarah Danielson is a contributing writer for Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer, the experienced personal injury law firm in Illinois.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Should You Have General Liability Insurance for Your Business?

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Who To Give Gifts To

Depending on the size and type of business, you may want to only give gifts to certain members of staff, or perhaps have a range of different gifts to give to different employees. If you are a large business with several senior members of staff and a few hundred other members of staff, you will probably want to give the senior members of staff a little more than the others. On the other hand, if you run a small close nit business or say 5 or 10 employees, you may choose to give everyone exactly the same.

Types Of Gifts

This is often the toughest part, knowing what to give as a Christmas present to your staff. Obviously you can’t spend ages picking and choosing individual gifts for each member of staff. This means you will probably want to pick 2 or 3 different types of gifts and give each recipient the gift which is best for them.

So let’s take a look at some of the most popular gift types for giving to your staff at Christmas.

Hampers – Gift hampers are possibly the most common type of gift. Each hamper can be packed with festive treats and little gifts for the recipients to enjoy. These can either be purchased from hamper companies or put together in-house. Don’t forget to factor in the time involved with putting the hampers together if you do decide to make them yourself.

Silver Gifts – There are a range of silver gifts that you could buy for your employees. If your employees are corporate professionals, perhaps something such as silver cufflinks or tie bars. However if they are more physical workers, perhaps something such as silver keyrings would be more suitable. Regardless of the type of gift that you choose to buy them, most suppliers will allow you to have them personalised with the recipient’s name and possibly your company name or logo as well.

Gift Vouchers – You could choose to give all of your staff the “gift of choice”. Decide how much you would like to spend on them and then buy gift vouchers for each member of staff. The vouchers can either be for a high street store that you know they will use or perhaps an online store such as Amazon.

The author specialises in working with companies to help improve staff productivity. They have covered everything from improving time management through to increasing productivity.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Christmas Gifts For Your Employees

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