Consumer Advisory Group
Mom,
Your opinions are in high demand and this company will pay you to complete short surveys.
The Consumer Advisory Group* is an on-line research group where you can freely share your thoughts and views about certain products or services. They offer their panel participants rewards, gift certificates, sweepstakes entries and more for ongoing participation and for providing valued feedback and opinions.
The research data collected will be shared with the affiliates of the Consumer Advisory Group and used to generate investment ideas and strategies. Through your participation in their panels you may help provide insights into:
- How to improve products that are in the market today,
- What exciting new products to introduce,
- How to improve a company’s marketing efforts,
- What advertising is most effective,
- What promotions work, or
- How to improve the overall shopping experience no matter what channel you shop and purchase products and services in.
You must be a registered member of Consumer Advisory Group to participate in their surveys, in home tests, focus groups and other projects.
Membership is free and there is no minimum number of panels that you must participate in to remain a registered member. If you change your mind you can cancel at any time.
Click here to sign up: Register
The Top Twelve Business Etiquette Tips for Social Media
There is no doubt about it-social networking, or social media if you prefer, is all the buzz. A report just out by Forrester’s Research indicates that 51% of online Americans have joined a social network. Another 73% are consuming some form of social content on a regular basis. People are connecting with, listening to, following and collaborating with each other online at an amazing rate.
Some people are using it for personal reasons. They are sharing their recipes, their photos and their ideas to stay up to date with their friends and family. Business people are using social networking sites to build their careers, promote their business and grow their reputations.
The most popular social networking sites are Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter. Each one of those sites is uniquely positioned and serves a particular population or purpose. There are other online networking sites, numbering in the thousands, so at this point, they shall remain nameless.
The purpose of this article is not to provide information on which networking sites you should choose and why, but to provide you with tips on the etiquette of social networking. Once again, as with e-mail, cell phones, Blackberries and other technological devices or technologically driven communication, we got the technology up front and we have backed into the rules for using it with courtesy and consideration.
I am starting with a list of twelve tips on the etiquette of social networking for the polished professional. The list will, no doubt, grow with time.
- Fill out your online profiles completely with information about you and your business. Use your real name and your own photo. Your cat may be adorable, but unless you are a veterinarian specializing in the care and treatment of felines, don’t get cute.
- Use a different profile or account for your personal connections. Business and pleasure do not mix in this medium.
- Create a section on your main profile detailing who you are seeking to befriend and ask that visitors abide by that information. Everyone need not apply.
- Offer information of value. Don’t talk just about yourself and your company.
- Don’t approach strangers and ask them to be friends with you just so you can then try to sell them on your products or services. You will quickly lose credibility and your so-called “friends.”
- Pick a screen name that represents you and your company well. Don’t call yourself “Loser1″ unless you want to be known by that name.
- Don’t send out requests for birthdays, invitations to play games or other timewasters for those using the site.
- Don’t put anything on the Internet that you don’t want your future boss, current client or potential clients to read.
- Check out the people who want to follow you or be your friend. Your mother was right when she said that people will judge you by the company you keep.
- If someone does not want to be your friend, accept their decision gracefully. They have the right to make that choice and you have to accept it.
- Never post when you’re overly-tired, jet lagged, intoxicated, angry or upset.
- Compose your posts, updates or tweets in a word processing document so you can check grammar and spelling before you send them.
The world of online networking is new to most of us, but there is little difference in connecting with people online and offline. The same basic tenets hold true. Trust and authenticity remain high on the list.
© 2010, Lydia Ramsey. All rights reserved. Reprints welcomed so long as article and by-line are kept intact and all links made live. Lydia Ramsey is a business etiquette expert, professional speaker, corporate trainer and author featured in the Wall Street Journal and many other off-line and on-line publications. Lydia shares her business etiquette tips in her monthly e-zine, her blog and on Twitter. To register for these free services visit http://www.mannersthatsell.com today!
The Frontline Makes Your Bottom Line
It happens all the time: A full-page ad is placed in a major monthly publication. The ad touts the service excellence of their product. Catchy phrases. Great promises. Major dollars are spent to create an implied image in the mind of the consumer. And it can vanish in a heartbeat if promises made are not promises kept-if the derived image cancels out the implied image!
Perhaps this has been your experience: You have been standing in line at the bank looking at a sign hanging on the wall that says “Our Customers Are Our #1 Priority” while the customer in front of you is yelled at by a teller for not having the proper forms needed for the transaction. Or perhaps you’ve had the interaction with a clerk who rolls her eyes when you ask one too many questions about the product. The point is: we will all talk about the derived image-not the glossy ad. Couple this “talk” with chat on the Internet and you’ve exponentially reached thousands.
Why should you care what your customers are saying?
* It costs 6 to 8 times more to get a new customer than to keep an old one.
* There is a 12% higher profit margin with your existing customers.
* Companies that keep their existing customers enjoy a 9% higher growth rate than ones who don’t.
* When each customer leaves they tell at least ten people they know and with e-mail and Internet they may potentially tell thousands or millions. Just look at the power of City Search and Yelp! to make or break a company.
It doesn’t take much to make a negative impression. Here are some of the most common customer complaints: unprofessional staff; disinterested staff; bad attitudes matched with a sense of boredom; more enthusiasm for chatting with co-workers than with the customer and a lack of an ability to solve problems.
Your employees have probably had customer service training but perhaps you are still seeing customers leave. Why is this you ask? It’s because leadership didn’t take the time to find out how the customer service “rules” affect the actual customer. Here are ten tips to take your customer service from drab to fab:
1. The single most important thing you can do to increase customer satisfaction is to treat your employees well. One disgruntled employee can easily alienate dozens of customers. Find out what is wrong and fix it.
2. Keep employees in the loop so that they are in the know and FEEL like valued insiders. With the power of the Internet your employees can find out corporate news before you do. Don’t let this happen to your company. Talk to employees often and in-person.
3. Teach employees to think of themselves as business consultants rather than employees. Empower them to make customer-pleasing decisions without having to call a supervisor.
4. Ask employees to change their viewpoint. Have them look at all customers as multi-million dollar businesses and treat them accordingly.
5. Embrace new ideas and reward innovation. Seek and act on advice from your frontline because most of the time they are the only contact a customer has with your company.
6. Recognize and reward each other. Think in 360 directions. A manager needs praise from a subordinate a much as from her boss. Encourage peer-to-peer recognition for helping each other resolve customer issues.
7. Constantly seek innovation. Ask everyone to study the competition and find out what they do that makes them better. The frontline will see what a higher-level manager will not.
8. Seek and act on customer feedback. Don’t bother with customer surveys. Assign an employee or employees to scour the Internet for both positive and negative conversations about your company.
9. Make your current customers feel important. Offer them price cuts or coupons, make every transaction with them pleasant, communicate transparently and have a live person answer your phones, thanking the customer for his business .
10. Seek and reward referrals from current customers. One local chiropractor provides a free adjustment to any patient who refers someone else. She gets dozens of referrals every week and her practice thrives even during economic turmoil.
Don’t just pay lip service to improving customer service. Good customer service is the linchpin to survival at any time but especially during difficult times. Start by treating your employees well, keeping them in the loop, and releasing them to do what it takes to send each customer away happy.
© 2009, McDargh Communications. Publication rights granted to all venues so long as article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are made live.
Since 1980, Hall of Fame speaker Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Executive Excellence ranks her among the top 100 thought-leaders in leadership development. Looking for help with work and life challenges? Visit http://www.eileenmcdargh.com/shop.html today!
Congratulations-It’s a Business! by Leah Grant
Imagine having a newborn dropped off on your doorstep wrapped only in a blanket with a note attached that reads, “Take care of me.”
For the sake of argument say you wanted a baby so this is like a windfall. You bring the child in the house and it only takes a couple of moments to realize that you have no diapers and no formula, so out you go (or you send your husband) to buy the necessary items.
When he returns, you change and feed the infant and begin rocking her to sleep, but once she drifts off you are at a loss as to where to put her. You don’t have a crib, a playpen or even a stroller.
You and your husband start making a list of the items you are going to require in the coming days to properly care for this little life. The list grows longer and longer. The cost of the items quickly exceeds your budget. You start wondering if you can keep this baby.
While this story may seem crazy, this is how many people start their businesses. They want a business, so one day they make some business cards and say, “Here I am world, hire me.”
As with the child, it doesn’t take long for them to realize that they need some essentials to do the bare minimum for their business’ survival, so they rush out and take care of those things.
Once those pressing needs are handled other things surface. As the list of items they either need to buy or need to do grows, it becomes apparent that the business requires more care and feeding than initially thought. When the cost of everything is calculated it’s likely more than they anticipated.
At this point, doubt around whether they should have started the business in the first place and whether they can make it successful if they keep going creep in smothering the initial passion for the idea.
But it doesn’t have to play out like this.
Think about when you got pregnant or decided to adopt. If everything went as planned, you had at least nine months to plan, prepare and line-up everything you would need for the nurturing and care of your new baby.
In those nine months, you focused on getting ready. You did everything from create a space, to buy items, to engage family and friends in contributing, to read books to gain parenting knowledge, and to choose the professionals you would rely on to assist you. If you were anything like most parents I know, you spent hours and hours mulling over names and envisioning how it would be when the baby came.
This is the mindset I recommend you adopt when starting a business.
For many momprenuers your business is both a way to make money and a way for you to contribute. Make sure that you take the time to properly gestate your business concept by taking the time to prepare. Depending on the type of business, your family’s current situation and the amount of time and resources you have to commit, preparing to give birth to your new business can take from one month to two years.
Remember that premature babies require more attention and often costly care to nurture to health. A business opened prematurely will also require more of your attention to fix and can drain your bank account and resources quickly. (© 2009, Leah Grant Enterprises LLC)
Contributor and New Business Mentor Leah Grant publishes Startup Success, a weekly ezine. If you’re starting a new business or are in the early phases of entrepreneurship, visit http://www.leahgrant.com. In her Special Report: 15 Absolutely Important Things You Must Do Before Starting Your Business, she shares the things you need to do to prepare for your newest child: your business.
Billing Boss
Billing Boss is a free and easy-to-use online invoicing tool for small businesses and WAHMs. It’s very simple to use taking me less than 10 minutes to setup an account and create a sample invoice. I like simple and I like free!
Even the tour they offer is short and sweet. This really is a simple online tool that handles invoicing. Here’s what you can do with it:
- Replace your manual invoicing process and create invoices online using your Internet browser.
- Send invoices to your customers online.
- Stay on top of your cash flow by knowing who owes you money, how much, and by when.
- Keep your customer list online for quick reference.
- Track taxes collected from invoices.
- Grant access to your data to your bookkeeper or accountant.
If you have an accountant or bookeeper they can:
- Directly access your invoice and payment information online in order to prepare your books.
- Get an accountant’s view of your data with information such as taxes collected and total invoices sent.
Your invoices can be sent via email or as PDF files attached to emails and if you’re dealing with a dinosaur you can always print the invoice and mail the old fashioned way.
The only thing it doesn’t do for you is sell your products or services giving you a reason to invoice a customer! : )
If you try it out please let me know what you think of it and if applicable how it compares to whatever you currently use.
Learn more at: Billing Boss
The Power of Welcome Home by Eileen McDargh
Welcome home! These two small words carry potent possibilities for creating a connection that evokes loyalty and teamwork. Yet, one seldom thinks of “welcome home” in the context of work. In fact, it is only through recent incidents that I have become acutely aware of the power this gesture holds.
Scene ONE: a world away in the remote regions of the western Himalayas.
Our team had been warned of the dangers in crossing the white water rivers fed by glacier melt. The crossing would be on foot and had to be done as early as possible in the day-before the sun would begin to melt the ice pack and the rivers rise within minutes. Our team of locals had gotten us up before dawn-sending us briskly on our way after a hot breakfast. They stayed behind to pack up gear, tent, and load the mules. We made it across the frigid water by forming a human chain. Our team was too late. They had to spend the night on a rock pile, in below freezing temperatures, and cross at 5:30 am the next day.
My husband and I were up early that morning with the head guide. Suddenly, we heard a shout and in the distance saw the figures of our team coming down the slope. We cheered, waved, hollered and wrapped them in an embrace with the words, “Welcome Home.” We stood around beaming at each other. For the rest of the trek, this team seemed even more helpful, solicitous and full of extra effort for those of us who welcomed them home.
I frankly had not made the connection until another incident happened.
Scene TWO: a combination assisted living and memory care facility in Southern California.
Mom, age 93, had fallen and broken her hip. Now, two months’ from the time an ambulance sped her away to the closest hospital, I wheeled her back through the front door. Her mind and body had taken a terrible assault coupled with embolisms and a decreasing ability to emotionally or mentally cope. She would not be going back to her upstairs studio but rather into the rooms behind the locked door.
As soon as we entered, the receptionist jumped up to give Mom a big hug and said “welcome home.” Other care managers came up and knelt down and hugged her. When we walked down the hall toward the locked doors, residents who had known Mom were sitting in the activities room. They shouted to her and applauded. As I pushed her down the hall to her new room, more care managers came up to us Lastly, at the door of her new room were balloons and a big sign, “Welcome Home, Mary.” I cried.
Any lingering doubt about the wisdom of this move vanished. Despite the fact Mom can’t remember them and alternates in moods that range from pleasant to belligerent, this team of caregivers continues to serve with compassion and care. They come from different parts of the facility to tell me they are so glad our whole family has come home.
Funny. The first day I left her, the security guard at my building hollered out “welcome home.” I swear I had never heard that.
Welcome Home Insights for Leaders
(1) How do you make employees feel as if they are welcomed home? One surgeon was overheard telling a custodian, “Hey, Frank. Glad to see you this morning. I never worry about the cleanliness of this hospital when I see you here.” Don’t you think the employee felt as if he was, “welcomed home”? I do.
(2) Do you notice when employees are absent-whether for illness, travel, or even vacation? And when they come back, do you welcome them home? Sounds trite, but I am beginning to think it is the small things that help us feel valued.
(3) As the economy turns around, you might very well want to bring back employees who have been laid off. How will you welcome them home?
(4) What about your customers or clients? How do you welcome them home? One bank teller not only didn’t welcome a long-time customer “home” but insisted that he could not validate a parking ticket unless the customer made a transaction. The customer was so angry, he made a transaction: closed an account that had several thousand dollars in it.
Welcome Home Insights for Employees
(1) There are some people who bring joy by entering a room and others by leaving. Which one are you? If we had not cared for the staff at Mom’s residence and if she had not been kind, trust me-they would not have welcomed her home.
(2) Watch out for negativity, mean-spirited comments, and “all-about-me” behavior. Behavior like this, even if one is a solid performer by way of numbers, will not generate a “welcome home” feeling. In one law firm, the top rainmaker was fired because the managing partners determined that his behavior so undermined the office that they were better off without him.
(3) Always leave well. Should you leave for another company, another career or even retirement-make sure you leave speaking only well of your employer. Who knows-you might want to return someday.
Remember: home is not given but made. What will you do to make your work a place in which people feel welcomed home?
Since 1980, Hall of Fame speaker Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Executive Excellence ranks her among the top 100 thought-leaders in leadership development. For more articles, products and services that help you deal with uncertain times visit http://www.eileenmcdargh.com
The Scoop On Article Submission Sites
I’ve submitted articles to numerous sites in the past and I still get traffic from them so I know there is more benefit than might be apparent at the time you’re agonizing over writing the article. Think long term! The article below is worth a look if you’re a decent writer and have something of interest to say. If you’re interested in submitting an article that moms are interested in please consider our sister site: Mom Articles: www.momarticles.com
By Bonnie Jo Davis
Individual article submission sites are websites, blogs, forums and e-zines that accept article submissions. Each site seeks articles on a particular topic or a narrow range of topics. Accepting articles directly saves the publisher from having to search newsgroups or directories for fresh content. Each site has its own set of guidelines that authors must read and understand before they can submit their article.
Some of the primary benefits of submitting articles to individual submission sites include:
- Direct Delivery – Articles go directly to the publisher who is interested in their particular topic, saving publishers hours searching for the perfect article.
- Improved Response – Because authors screen submission sites before submitting their articles, they have a better idea of what a publisher wants.
- Editorial Suggestions – Some publishers offer valuable feedback on articles to help you improve submissions.
- Expedited Publishing – Direct submissions, if on topic and compliant with guidelines, often are published much faster through individual submission sites than through other channels.
- Strategic Relationships – Authors can and should create a relationship with each individual site’s publisher, letting him or her know that they can provide original articles or a customized version.
- Return Link – A reputable website that publishes an article will provide its author with a one-way active link to his website. If this is not provided the author has the option to have the article removed from the site.
- Direct Control – If an article isn’t published according to its author’s wishes, he’ll know how to contact the publisher directly for corrections.
- Submission Tracking – Article marketers rarely know who has reprinted their article. Submitting articles directly to an individual site enables them to track their submissions easily.
- Negotiate Terms – Because authors create a strategic relationship with their publisher, they can negotiate the terms of future submissions.
As with article directories, editorial guidelines often are provided for authors, which requires them to submit only their own original work or work that they paid a writer to create; offer only articles that include proper grammar, spelling and punctuation; allow their articles to be published anywhere on the submission site, and possibly on partner sites; and agree that an article can be edited. They also might be told that the link in their byline is the only payment they will receive.
You should submit articles to individual article submission sites only when they can comply with the rules, and not waste their or the publisher’s time by ignoring those rules.
There are so many specific article submission sites that it’s overwhelming to consider them all. To build a list and find topic-appropriate sites, go to Google.com and search “topic + articles” or “topic + article submission.” Either of these terms, combined with a particular topic, should net plenty potential submission sites.
Article contributed by:
Bonnie Jo Davis is an article marketing expert and prolific writer who created Article Submission Sites to teach others how to profit from the Internet marketing strategy. Visit http://www.articlesubmissionsites.com for a free copy of “Writing for Publicity” and her Article Submission Summary Sheet.
Free Blog Directories to Grow Traffic
If you have a blog that’s worth the cyberspace it’s occupying then you should increase traffic to it by listing it on some of the better free blog directories. Then, if your budget can handle it and you are serious about your blogging, you should look at the blog directories below that charge a review fee as well.
First, the best free blog directories: (the very best are in bold)
- Blog Search
- Blogarama
- Blog Catalog
- Blog Explosion
- Blog Flux
- blogged
- Bloggernity
- BlogHop
- BlogHub
- Bloglines
- Blog Listing
- Blog Rankings
- Blog Top List
- Globe of Blogs
- iBlog Business
- MyBlog2U
- MyBlogLog
- Technorati
- We Blog Alot
A few quality paid blog directories:
Happy blogging! Please send a message with the good ones I missed.
Business Plans Can Be Helpful
Business plans may be overkill in certain situations where your plan is to build a small business to supplement your family income. But, if you find yourself wanting to take it to the next step a business plan can help to raise funds from family, friends, banks, or angel investors. More importantly, the process of putting together a business plan truly helps clear out the cobwebs and fantasies by forcing you to piece together a sensible plan for how you’re going to succeed in your business despite the many obstacles, which you’ll have to contemplate while writing your plan AND include in your plan.
How to Setup an Affiliate Link That Looks Normal
Ready to become a WAHM Geek?
Have you ever hovered over a banner ad or link only to shy away from clicking on it because the link looked like code written by some pimply faced hacker?
Chances are the link was a tracking link used to record where you were when you clicked. This is how affiliate programs are tracked so the right people get credit for sending traffic and paid.
Here are two examples of typical affiliate links:
https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=68188&c=ib&aff=18667&ev=af7a1c01e8
or like this if they’re trying their best to not scare you out of clicking :
They’ll work if and when people click on them, but there is a cleaner, more effective, approach.
Here’s how you can setup affiliate links that should help your overall results:
- Log into your Web host manager (cpanel in my case) and create a new FOLDER and name it ‘more’ (or whatever you prefer). Note: You can set this folder up in your root directory (public_html) or in any subfolder.
- Next open the new “more” FOLDER and create an HTML FILE named “info1001″ or anything you like. You should keep it generic and keep in mind that you may want to create many more links in the future.
This has created a single blank page in the ‘more’ folder. This will result in a link that looks like this when someone scrolls over it:
http://www.yoursite.com/more/info1001.html
Now you have the good looking link ready… but if you want the link to work you will have to insert a little code onto the HTML page you created, which is inside of the new folder.
Here’s the code:
(REPLACE the generic info in all caps with YOUR information.)
—————————————————————
<html>
<head>
<title>YOUR PAGE TITLE</title>
<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;url=http://YOUR AFFILIATE URL”>
</head>
<body>
<p>
Redirecting, please wait. If you’re not redirected within a couple of seconds,
click here:<br />
<a href=”http://YOUR AFFILIATE URL”>PRODUCT NAME</a>
——————————————————–
Change “YOUR PAGE TITLE” (whatever you want it to be)
Change “YOUR AFFILIATE URL” to the affiliate url given to you from vendor for the item or page (must be precise and complete)
Change “PRODUCT NAME” to your affiliate product name (can be anything)
——————————————
Yes, it takes about 10-15 minutes, but once it’s setup you can reuse it everywhere you want to market that program, product, or service using the easy-to-remember URL you created from scratch.
If this doesn’t work for you try this site:
http://www.forfreedom.ws/affiliate-marketing-for-dummies/how-to-hide-affiliate-links-25/
(NO… that is NOT an affiliate link! Really!)