Relax with Office Comfort and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Relaxing Office Comfort and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! Get some office comfort in your life and more.

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Keep Rolling With Payroll

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about easily managing payroll. The Self Employed says payroll can be a difficult task for many companies. Which is weird when you think about it. After all, unless a company is 100% volunteer (even nonprofits aren’t), then someone has to be paid, at some point in time.

You’d think businesses would be ready for that. But noooooo.

So this article had two tips which were pretty interesting.

Separate Bank Accounts Keep Everything Organized

It’s true, and it’ll probably help with your company’s bank credit score, anyway. The suggestion was for three separate bank accounts. One is for taxes to be withheld. That, we suspect, should be a savings account. Why not earn a smidgen of interest while setting aside the quarterly chunk of tribute to Uncle Sam?

The other two definitely need to be checking accounts – although we think there’s a possibility that this is a touch of overkill. Either way, the article suggests one for expenses and the other for payroll.

But no matter what, you need to work your payroll from a checking account.

Cards Versus Checks Versus Direct Deposit

The world of work, it seems, is divided into two camps – those who use direct deposit, and those who, for whatever reason, don’t. They might not live in the United States and so it’s too hard to do this. Or maybe they don’t trust the banking system or the like.

Or maybe they don’t have a bank account at all.

The article points out the sad truth – the last group of people in particular are perfect victims for 24 hour check cashing scams. The article had an interesting solution. But we feel it doesn’t go quite far enough.

The article’s solution was to use white label prepaid debit cards. It’s an interesting idea, and it can certainly work for a lot of people. Prepaid debit cards could turn out to be the perfect solution for employees who live outside the United States.

However, we thought up two more solutions to this vexing problem.

PayPal, Baby, Yeah!

How many of your employees have PayPal accounts? Why not direct deposit their checks there? Just like any electronic funds transfer to a bank, the transfer is as secure as PayPal can make it. PayPal is accepted in lots of places and that number is growing. You won’t earn interest with it but, let’s face it, interest rates for checking accounts are pretty abysmal these days. You’re probably not missing out on much money.

No PayPal? Then there’s Samsung Pay and Apple Pay. It seems to be easier to do this with Samsung Pay versus Apple Pay, though it’s not impossible.

Don’t like any of these solutions? Then say hello to Bitcoin. It could be another way to get around not being able to directly deposit.

But What About Paper Checks?

Paper Checks are kind of an idea whose time has passed; we feel. Still, there are some people who insist on still getting them. However, talk to your employees about paper before you say yes to it. for one thing, it’s obviously worse for the planet to cut checks made with paper. And the costs of processing are higher with paper. Plus there’s another issue with paper – it can be so much more easily lost or stolen.

Getting off the paper train is probably a good idea all around.

#9. Support Is So Sweet

The next awesome tip is about measuring your brand affinity. Wistia notes brand affinity is the extent to which your customers identify with and support your brand.

We love measuring stuff, because it’s the best way to see if you’re succeeding. If you can’t measure it, then you don’t know if something is working, or what to fix.

This article pulls together a number of metrics to get this figure and make it concrete.

Measure and Combine

Start with Google Analytics and look at your number of sessions and their average duration. That will give you an idea of how much time your customers spend with your content. Multiply the two together and that’s a number you want to strive to increase.

Another metric to look at – although it’s not as helpful – is Facebook Insights. You can look at minutes viewed for any videos you’ve got on your page. It’s in the aggregate, and it’s for every 5 – 10 second impression. That’s an issue because quickie ‘views’ by bots are going to inflate this figure.

Another metric to check is YouTube Analytics. Look at Watch Time and then segment it by traffic source. And look at Google Search Console as well.

We recommend looking at this article closely, as it includes helpful information on how to clean up the data and get rid of trivial fake interactions which don’t really tell you anything.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Enjoy relaxing office comfort and more….

#8. Hurry Up, Web Page!

Our following life-changing tip concerns speeding up your page for Google. Wordstream lays it all out for us. Because how fast your site loads isn’t just a concern for your customers and prospects. It’s also a concern for Google itself.

The faster, the better.

So, how do you speed things up? Stop having your website do things which aren’t necessary. Like what?

How about getting rid of plugins you don’t use if you’ve got a WordPress site? And even if you don’t, get rid of images you’re not using – and compress the ones you keep.

Check out the rest of the article for more helpful tips – it’s that good. And look at offerings from HubSpot – check out their Website Grader and their recommendations. Like this one – to reduce the number of HTTP requests.

Cut the fat and your customers and prospects will be happier to go to your website and hang out. And, we hope, buy something.

#7. Serve Your Customers, And They’ll Serve You

For our next sensational tip, we looked at providing excellent customer service, which never goes out of style. Fundera says that happy customers come back and buy again. And they’re more likely to spend more, too. Excellent customer service can put money in your pocket.

So why wouldn’t you do your best to do it?

Be Empathetic

There were a number of detailed specific recommendations which we loved. In fact, we strongly suggest reading the article in its entirety – it’s that good.

But most of the suggestions boiled down to one basic premise. Be empathetic. Bring some of your office comfort energy to them.

Listen to concerns. Communicate, but respect your customers’ time. Elicit feedback. Get to know your customers, beyond how they connect to you as customers.

In short, treat them like, you know, actual human beings.

What a concept.

#6. Be The Business With ALL The Answers

This tip is so cool, and it works! Buzz Sumo tells us all about creating a comprehensive knowledge base for your site.

The Twitter tip alone is worth the price of admission on this one, no lie.

Twitter Questions, Found

Got a keyword or keyword phrase and you want to see what people are asking? Then pop it into the search bar of Twitter in this format: [keyword ?]

Yes, keep the space between the keyword and the question mark. Hence a question about credit looks like this: credit ?

It works for keyword phrases, too.

Essentially what this query does is, it gets you the most popular tweets with both your keyword and a question mark. Naturally, this assumes everyone with a question uses a question mark (not always the case, given Twitter’s character limit).

The article has tips for finding other kinds of questions online. After all, if you don’t know what people are asking, how can you possibly know which answers they need?

#5. Relax With The Best In Office Comfort

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Office comfort will make you so happy!

Noobpreneur says office comfort will help with attendance. After all, if your employees don’t like where they work, they aren’t going to want to come in if they can help it.

So, there are three great areas where you can enhance office comfort. But what we really loved was the first one.

First Stop, Ergonomics!

Seriously.

For those of us who are – ahem – pretty far past the latter side of 30, office comfort is a must because otherwise we throw our backs out.

High quality office furniture can make the difference between a good day at work and a not so good day. A bad day at work, where pain punctuates the hours, is a recipe for short tempers and a decided lack of concentration.

Do you want to invest in office comfort and buy good chairs? Or do you want to keep paying for the same reports and content to be corrected, over and over again?

Pro tip – invest in a decent chair for your home computer area as well. Office comfort doesn’t have to stop the moment you leave the workplace. And of course if you work from home, then office comfort by definition is a function of what you do at home.

True story – a better desk chair has improved your intrepid blog writer’s performance, no question.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Enjoy relaxing office comfort and more….

#4. Do You Feel A Sales Chill?

Check out this spectacular tip, all about using cold calling to get to sales conversations faster. Mailshake notes that you don’t want to just be cold calling anyone. You want to be calling prospects only.

The key to this form of calling is to understand your prospects’ problems. And you need to know how your product or service is the solution they need. Once these two things are known, the script practically writes itself.

Where’s the Priority?

For your prospects, ordering a paid solution, or at least taking a meeting to discuss such a thing, directly relates to priority. If they don’t think their problem needs to solved any time soon, then they won’t feel either activity is something they need to do any time soon. If ever.

See tip #3 for even more detail on how to nudge people from prospect to customer.

#3. Let’s Go Prospecting

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can make your sales prospecting more effective. HubSpot tells us this form of outreach is absolutely essential when it comes to getting new customers.

Their tip about warming up prospects before contacting them is an oldie but a goodie. But there was one tip which we adored and think should be tattooed on any salesperson’s forehead in reverse script so it’s easy to see in a mirror. No lie.

Don’t Sell!

Oh gosh this is perfect and is the answer to, we suspect, most prospects’ prayers.

For the first prospecting sales call, don’t try to sell anything. Why not? Because it’s off-putting. So don’t do that. The last thing you want to do is leave a bad taste in the mouths of your prospects. And nothing can do that faster than being nothing but a sales mouthpiece, 24/7.

Think about it. Your prospects probably fast forward through commercials on recorded shows. They might use popup and ad blockers on their computers and phones. They don’t read billboards for fun.

So what makes you think they want to hear you go on about your product or service every time they hear from you?

Hint: they don’t.

#2. Price It Right The First Time

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on correctly pricing your products. Sleek Note reveals all about this essential skill. Many online customers value the ability to get better prices and compare prices easily as two of the most important reasons why they shop online in the first place.

How Do You Price Your Wares?

Just how much science goes into pricing? Or do companies just close their eyes and point, or spin a big wheel?

What if you could carefully put together your pricing so it would best serve you from the start?

Makes a lost more sense than just throwing darts at a board.

Compare and Analyze Your Key Competitors

This is a key tip. Consider how your customers are using the internet to seek your wares and decide if they’ll buy from you or your competition. They are likely doing some form of head to head price comparison.

So why not do one yourself? If you were looking at your prices versus your competitors’, would you choose to buy your stuff?

Tweak If It’s Not Working

This is maybe the most important tip of all. They’re your prices, not the Ten Commandments. If your sales are high or your reviews are off the charts amazing, maybe your customers will tolerate a slight increase. If your sales are low, then maybe a discount or some coupons are in your future.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and change. Words to live by in business!

#1. Get Moving With Emotional Motivation

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on motivating people to buy. Copy Blogger says feelings drive action. They are the very essence of motivation.

There are a number of emotions which will spur action. An approach motivation, for example, is a positive one, whereby people want to experience or discover more of something or other. Hence you can tap into this emotional well with blog posts and other content which justifies why your product or service is what the prospect needs.

Another emotional motivator is attacking. This is where people want to criticize, devalue, or attack something. Why not tap into this emotion with an ‘axe to grind’ style of post? Ask what your customers’ pet peeves are. Get to the root of what they want to get rid of, versus what they may be trying to avoid.

An emotions can drive our decisions. It’s more than a feeling.

And you just might have something there.

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Enjoy relaxing office comfort and more….

The post Relax with Office Comfort and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Jumpstart Creativity in Your Business –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Jumpstart Creativity and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Explain it to Me!

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about creating better explainer videos. Young Upstarts says explainer videos have their own rhythm and rhyme. They aren’t really short cinematic masterpieces. At least, they’re not meant to be.

Our favorite tip was to sell the lifestyle, versus the features. What an interesting premise. The concept behind this is to show how much more convenient, easier, happier, safer, whatever, the prospect’s life will be with your product or service.

For explainer videos, it works well to show the difference between the prospect’s current life and the improvements which are inherent in using your product or service. Talk about how to jumpstart creativity!

Sound, Visual, and Captions

It should probably go without saying that you need to be spot on with all of these. Why captions? Because a good half of your audience is likely to be watching without sound, as they might be in a crowded place without earbuds. Or they might prefer to multitask a bit and listen to a conversation or music.

Or they could be hard of hearing. If your buyer persona is over the age of 40 or so, you should consider this a very real possibility. Beyond that, caption files are the kinds of files Google will crawl – so add them!

And while visuals are certainly vital, please be sure the sound is great. Yes, I just got through telling you how many people aren’t listening to your explainer video. And that’s still true. But at the same time, for the other half, who are listening, give them a good listening experience.

Seriously. People will be a lot more willing to forgive less than stellar visuals than poor sound quality.

#9. We Gotta Hand it to Ya

The next awesome tip is about reliably handing off sales to service. Sales Hacker notes there can be a documented, formal process to this. And a documented process makes a lot of sense. After all, it can be a part of onboarding new employees in either sales or service.

A formal process also gives your customers a sense of what to expect. A great tip is to conduct an introductory phone call.

“It’s been great working with you; now Lisa will be happy to handle your future service needs. Lisa, this is our customer, Steve.”

It sounds kind of like common courtesy, doesn’t it? The beauty of this kind of hand off is it’s an occasion to set expectations. In our example, Lisa can tell Steve the hours she works, or how long it normally takes to deliver replacement parts or whatever. Steve now knows what to expect. And Lisa doesn’t have to contend with Steve calling when she’s off work, or complaining about the speed of delivery of replacement parts.

Pretty neat, huh?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Jumpstart creativity today and watch your productivity soar!

#8. Sell With Superlative Skills

Our following life-changing tip concerns the best sales skills. Mail Shake lays it all out for us. For most of us, it’s pretty obvious that a sales person needs to have the gift of gab.

But there are a number of other talents which will juice your sales team’s success percentages.

Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Sale

So, what does curiosity have to do with sales? Quite a bit!

Consider the curious person who learns everything they can about their prospect. A prospect will be a lot happier if they feel like you know them well. Can you anticipate their need, and fill it? Or are you just generally selling in the same way to everyone?

Curiosity also matters in terms of finding better solutions.

No lie, curiosity and laziness drive many inventions. Of course you shouldn’t be lazy! But curiosity is vital.

#7. Don’t Spam, Plus More Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

For our next sensational tip, we looked at avoiding email marketing mistakes. Business Knowhow says that your mission is to stay out of prospects’ and customers’ spam folders. Heck, yeah.

Vagueness is Kinda Bad

Get to the point in your from lines. Don’t be overly cute. Name your business and don’t hide. It’s a pretty surefire way to get your emails binned if the reader has no idea who you are.

And to go along with that, make sure your calls to action are clear. Vague calls to action do nothing but confuse people. Should they click? Call? Download? Fill out a form? And, more importantly, what will they get if they perform the correct task? It’s great to jumpstart creativity in this area. Just make sure people know what you’re talking about.

Measure, For the Love of All Things Holy

We’ve beaten this drum before, and it bears repeating. If you don’t measure your efforts, then you have no idea if they’re working. And if you have no clue about success, then why do this or that (or anything, for that matter)?

Now is not the time to jumpstart creativity. Rather, you need to measure what most any company measures. These are verifiable, helpful metrics such as open rates.

Inconsistency Stinks!

Make it so your customers and prospects know what to expect, more or less. This is another area where you don’t want to jumpstart creativity.

Certainly, you need to be creative and interesting enough. But at the same time, it’s the ultimate WYSIWYG. It has to be. Your audience needs to know your messages won’t be NSFW, for example. And they need to know the message will be about widgets, and they’ll be conversational, etc. If you want to say something different (let’s say your business is supporting a charity and you want to get the word out), you’ll need to explain that early in the email. Don’t just spring it on your readers.

#6. Look Past American Borders for Marketing

This tip is so cool, and it works! Startup Professionals tells us all about global marketing challenges.

For purely online companies, it’s important to consider how marketing works in everywhere from the Philippines to Bangladesh to Chile to France to ….

The article provides some great tips and ideas for what you might not have thought of. For example, consider protecting intellectual property. There really isn’t a universal global copyright out there, so you’d need to apply everywhere. And that’s expensive! So consider protecting your intellectual property selectively.

After all, if you don’t have much of a market in New Zealand (if any), then applying for copyright protection there is going to be a waste of money, at least to start.

Talk the Talk

And one more thing – translate your website! Yes, lots of people speak English these days, and that’s terrific. But it’s easier for nearly anyone to read and write in their native tongue. And here’s a pro tip – get a person to do this. While it may be easier and faster (and possibly cheaper) to get this done via machine, don’t.

Just, don’t.

After all, consider the Spanish word, guagua. In Cuba and Puerto Rico, it means bus. But in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru, it means bus.

Taking a guagua could have a rather different meaning, depending on where you are and what you mean, eh?

#5. Get a Jolt of Mental Caffeine and Jumpstart Creativity

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Jumpstart creativity today!

Word Stream says a blank page is one of the most daunting things out there for a writer of any sort – and this spoke to us 100%. God, yes.

So, they had a bunch of awesome ideas on how to get something, anything on the page so it doesn’t look like such a void when you sit down to write.

But they didn’t include two things we do – use templates and listen to music in order to speed up typing and really jumpstart creativity. That’s okay; there are still a bunch of great concepts here.

Write a (Lousy) First Draft

This, oh boy howdy, this. This dovetails well with another tip, which is to free write and not self-edit. But what do they mean by a lousy (er, they used a far earthier adjective here. But this is a family show, so we’re going more PG) first draft?

It’s exactly like in fiction writing, truth be told.

Writing a lousy first draft means you don’t self-edit. You don’t worry about flow, grammar, etc. You just write. This means you’ll need to edit more later. But at least you’re getting started! And that’s a lot easier than going completely from scratch.

You can’t edit a blank piece of paper.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Jumpstart creativity today and watch your productivity soar!

#4. Strategize Your Strategy

Check out this spectacular tip, all about executing your strategy better. The Harvard Business Review notes that these tips can work for pretty much any situation. Hence you can use these for your industry and even in your personal life.

Seriously!

Be Specific and Imperative

Vagueness still stinks (see tip #7). A strategy to just get better isn’t much of a strategy. A strategy to get better by 5% in 2 months is a lot easier to work on. It’s easier to measure, too.

The idea of making strategies imperative also puts a lasso around a task. Hence you want to tell people to ‘improve sales’ versus ‘start improving sales’. The former has a specific focus, particularly if you pair it with numbers. But the latter just feels like a continuing process. And while many tasks go on and on, that much should be understood.

The imperative to improve sales by 5% has an end. It should be a no-brainer to see the strategy in the future might be something like ‘improve sales by 10%’.

It may feel the same, but it’s not. You’ve given people a goal to strive for. This way, they know when they’ve won.

#3. Get Your Product or Service Front and Center So Your Customers Fall in Love With It

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you better and more easily cultivate customer buy-in. Succeed As Your Own Boss tells us there are keys to cultivating repeat buyers.

Keep in mind, one of these tips is for products only (to use eye-catching packaging), but the others will work for either products or services.

Listen and Act

Being responsive to feedback will trigger what is essentially love and brand loyalty. But why? One reason is that the customer or prospect will see you care about what they think.

So here’s a fer-instance.

Let’s say your product is marketed to people aged 50 and up. If the print is too small, you’ll probably hear about that. So, what happens if you tell your customers and prospects to get lost and get a magnifying glass?

They’ll get lost. Permanently. And they will be more than happy to do business with a company which listens and changes the size of the font on the package as soon as possible. And if that’s not possible for the time being, that company should be telling its customer base – bigger print is coming, thank you for your patience.

So, listen to customer and prospect complaints. They just might jumpstart creativity to find a solution.

#2. Customer Service Will Save Your Business

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on customer service. G2 reveals all about how excellent customer service should be every business’s secret weapon.

How and why do customers renew and reup? Service can often have a lot to do with it.

Accentuate the Positive Messaging

We truly adored this tip. Consider the difference in tone between saying, “I can’t do that.” Versus “I can do that in two weeks.”

They might, on balance, mean the exact same thing. But the latter pre-frames everything positively and opens up the relationship with the customer. There’s something to look forward to. But the former feels like a door is slamming shut.

Not a good look.

#1. Be Good to Your Employees, and They’ll Be Good to You

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on rewarding and engaging employees. Effortless HR says **

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Jumpstart creativity today and watch your productivity soar!

The post Jumpstart Creativity in Your Business –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Manage Military Marketing and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

Military marketing? We’re looking at lessons in marketing success from the military – more on that later. But first….

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Military Marketing Matters and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Military Marketing Means a Successful Campaign is a Must

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about finding the money for your first marketing campaign. The Self Employed says it’s a lot like finding the bucks for anything when you’ve got a new business.

So, you’re going to have to be creative.

Crowdfunding

Their first idea is one of our pet favorites – running a crowdfunding campaign. Crowdfunding is a perfectly legitimate way of getting money for your business. So why not crowdfund to pay for your first advertising campaign?

However, as the article points out, this is going to be nigh well impossible to do if you don’t have at least something of an audience already. Hence, you probably don’t want to be doing this if it’s happening before you get prospects and customers.

Don’t put the cart before the horse.

Subletting For the Win!

What?

Now, keep in mind, this is only going to be an option if you have your own space. If you don’t (or, say, you’re using a virtual office space), it is probably not going to be on the table.

But if you’ve got your own space, then read on.

Consider this. If you live in a semi-remote area and there isn’t that much of a startup scene, it is possible there are few options for entrepreneurs who don’t have their own office space. Why not provide some as a sublet to your own space?

Your extra desk could make a difference for another entrepreneur, and help your community, to boot. Pretty cool for a bit of furniture you’re not using, anyway.

#9. Get on the Groupon Train

The next awesome tip is about setting up Groupon offers for your small business. Score notes Groupon is a better venue for raising awareness than turning a profit.

But why?

Don’t Look for a Profit Here

It’s due to Groupon’s requirements. After all, they demand you offer a substantial discount, as in 50 – 90% off. And then they take a cut (the listing itself is free). So if you sell something for $100 (a good or a service; it doesn’t matter), and you offer 90% off, Groupon will take a cut as their marketing fee. This fee will depend on industry and customer demand, plus the market. Let’s say that’s 10% (this is a figure for-instance and isn’t based on anything in particular).

For your $100 good or service, you’re now getting $9. That is, you lopped off 90% as your discount, which brings us to $10. And then with Groupon taking a 10% marketing fee, that’s another $1 off (10% of $10).

Ouch.

Still, if you’ve got to get stuff out of a warehouse, and need it to move fast and hopefully get at least something for it, then this could be a way to go. Plus, there’s no law that says your discount has to be so steep. You can go with the minimum of 50% off, which would put your take at $45 ($50 is 50% of $100, and then Groupon in this example is taking another 10% off the top, or $5).

Rather, Look for Awareness to Grow

A far better use of Groupon is to up the awareness of your product or service. Perhaps the best bit of advice in the entire article is to use Groupon not only for this purpose, but also to plug underutilized services or get rid of excess inventory.

So, if you go into working with Groupon this way, it can be a win-win. After all, it’s advertising (in a way), which you’re being paid for (in a way). And if you can unload some white elephants at the same time, then so much the better.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Get lessons from the people in uniform with military marketing and more.

#8. Put LinkedIn to Work for Your Business

Our following life-changing tip concerns improving your LinkedIn lead generation. Wordstream lays it all out for us. The article is comprehensive, and we highly recommend reading it in its entirety.

Our favorite tip was to differentiate between quantity and quality when it comes to generated leads. What do we mean by that?

True story time.

Surveys, AKA What Kind of Potato Are You?

When was the last time you filled out an online form for, well, anything? I recently decided my time is worth far more than a trinket, and so are my personal details. As a result, unless the offer is a great one which I will use ($100 Amazon gift certificate? Yes, please!), I will pass it by unless I have some other reason for filling out a form. say, I might want to know more about a product.

But I also take note of exactly what a business wants out of me. As in, what does my marital status have to do with the type of clothes I might want to shop for? If it’s just to decide on a title for me, then why not add that as a form in an address field and keep out the specifics? After all, a woman who’s married, divorced, or widowed might want to be called Mrs. A woman of any marital status might want to be called Ms. (I do).

And if you’re a doctor, then all of that is out in deference to Dr.

I also pay attention to the number of questions. At a certain point, usually when the ten-question threshold is passed, I bail. Sorry businesses! But I often have better uses for my time.

But What Does This Have to Do With Leads?

A lot! The more questions you get answered, the more qualified your prospect is going to be. The fewer, then the less qualified. But with fewer questions, you’ll get more responses.

Hence, you need to make a decision. Do you want far fewer prospects but they’re all pretty warm, or a ton of chilly not so well-qualified prospects? There are virtues to both approaches. Choose the one which works best for your business.

#7. Oh, Won’t You Please Stay?

For our next sensational tip, we looked at creating reasons for customers to stay. LinkedIn says that retaining customers is vital for continued business success. And truer words were never spoken.

But, how do you do it?

Listen!

We really hope it’s a no-brainer to most to know that you need to keep your finger on the pulses of your customers. That is, conduct a relationship health check, if you will. Work with your customers and don’t just disappear until it’s time to renew.

After all, their circumstances may have changed since the initial sale. And we certainly hope so, and that it’s due to using your product or service. Because nothing stands still, it’s imperative to figure out if what you first offered is still going to be helpful.

Maybe they need more, because they’ve expanded. Or maybe they’ve had a not so good time of it and need to cut back, but still want to do business with you.

Either way, you’ll never know unless you ask, and listen to their responses.

Stay in Touch

This goes hand in hand with the first. If you bug out the moment that the sale is finalized, why should your customers trust you to be around when they have questions or need some sort of service?

Your mission in sales doesn’t end the moment the check is cashed and clears. Much like military marketing, you need to hang around afterwards.

Make Life Easy for ‘Em

And this third tip should be at the top of your mind, no matter what. Is your phone number hard to find, and it’s the only way to get service? Then change that, yesterday. That can take the form of adding online support or another phone line or changing your website design to make the phone number more prominent.

And if your customers can’t figure out how to renew in a short amount of time (as in, often, a minute or less!), then they’ll go to your competition, if it’s easier to renew there.

In these days of responsive web design, there’s no excuse for making such things obscure.

Pro tip: make sure you website works for phones. No matter what, the vast majority of Americans have cell phones, and the vast majority of those are smart phones.

If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, then you’re losing money.

There’s no clearer way to say that.

#6. Start a New Business Effectively

This tip is so cool, and it works! Noobpreneur tells us all about starting a new business effectively.

We liked this sensible, practical guide to starting a new business, and succeeding.

However, we felt it glossed over one area which we kinda know a few things about – getting funding. So there’s a bit that’s incomplete there.

However, the remainder was good advice. In particular, it makes a great deal of sense to not quit your day job until you’re sure your brand-new baby business is making money.

#5. Try Taking Your Advertising and Communications Cues from Military Marketing

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Military marketing is something we’ve probably all seen a lot of. And we can take some lessons from it.

Perhaps our favorite tip had to do with thinking offense all the time. That is, continually acting. This makes a great deal of sense, as passivity can, at times, lead to things just happening to you. The concept was also to eliminate or at least minimize indecisiveness.

However, we do have to say that we like the idea of analyzing decisions. Of course the idea in the article is to eliminate the dreaded analysis paralysis. But we still think you should at least think about what you’re doing.

That is, charge up and take that hill! Just, know which hill.

Military Marketing and Leading from the Front

What do they mean by this? Essentially, the idea is to have vision and courage. We like this idea, although there’s a lot to be said for employee input. And that is one thing which the military really doesn’t do much of – get feedback from the lower levels in the command food chain.

So, we encourage courage (that’s hard to say) but, at the same time, there are some bits of military marketing which we should probably all take with a grain of salt.

Startup Professionals says these lessons from the folks in uniform can give you a

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Get lessons from the people in uniform with military marketing and more.

#4. Freshen Up Facebook and More

Check out this spectacular tip, all about revamping your company’s social media profiles. Fundera notes that social media profiles can sometimes get stale over time.

So, how do you fix that?

We really loved their idea of using a mascot. Now, this idea cannot work with every single company out there. But for those where it can, it can be a fun and entertaining way to keep your audience engaged.

Consider Swatch, the mascot for Mood Fabrics who is also an unofficial Project Runway mascot. This cute dog’s picture is in just about everything. He makes everything more accessible.

Think about your mascot a bit like colleges do. And in the interests of full disclosure, your intrepid blog writer is a graduate of Boston University and our mascot is the Boston Terrier. Which is what made the connection that much more obvious.

If your brand can do with a mascot, then have at it. And, by the way, your mascot can be someone’s child or a stuffed animal.

Listen to This

Another fantastic idea was to publish playlists. These can be fun and utterly unrelated to your business. Or maybe they can more subtly be related to it.

Do your employees have get up and go songs which get the blood pumping? Those are great! Or maybe a little mood music? If you’ve got a long haul trucking company, there are any number of songs about places and driving. And don’t forget Route 66!

Even marches are probably okay (talk about your military marketing!), assuming your clientele would find them interesting and pleasant.

Just make sure the songs are G rated. The last thing you want is to accidentally insult your customers.

#3. Influencers All Have to Start Somewhere

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help beginner influencers. Young Upstarts tells us there are ways which embryonic influencers can become more seasoned.

While this article is written more for the influencers themselves, there are bits of information which are useful for you, the entrepreneur.

Our favorite tip was to use an influencer matching site.

We had no idea such things existed!

Did you? We don’t want to feel left out.

Back to the topic at hand, these influencer sites (in this, as in all things, Google is your friend) are a way for influencers to connect with brands.

Keep in mind, the more seasoned influencers with larger followings are probably not going to feel the need to use such services. But that’s okay. This can be a way to link up with an influencer with fewer followers. It should cost less than working with a big wheel influencer.

And who knows? Maybe your brand and your influencer will grow together.

#2. Multitasking Just Might Not Be the Best Idea After All

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on quitting multitasking and focusing better. Addicted 2 Success reveals all about how to keep your focus from splitting.

Breaks, Breaks, and More Breaks

We loved this idea, and it’s probably not surprising. When you fail to take frequent breaks, your mind wanders. And, inevitably, you end up checking Facebook or Twitter briefly, or text someone, etc. A few minutes here and there, and it’ll all add up.

So why not schedule those times, rather than let them take little nibbles out of your day and your focus? Interval working also makes sense simply because it’s not possible for us to go, go, go all day long. We need breaks anyway!

Swallow That Live Frog First Thing

The other tip we really liked was to do the hard stuff first. Take advantage of being fresher and give yourself the advantage of being done with the hard stuff when you’re getting tired.

Our corollary tip is to do the most unpleasant tasks early, too. That way, the fun stuff will be a reward.

#1. Throw Some Ice On That Burnout

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on helping employees avoid burnout. Effortless HR says we, as a culture, don’t value rest time like we should. Unfortunately, we’ve noticed that as well.

A corollary to this is a personal observation – not being treated like a person at the office. Employees can sometimes be treated like just so many cogs in a wheel. And when we treat people that way, it should be no great shock when they start to feel that way.

So, what can you do?

Goals and Credit

There were two tips which go hand in hand. One was to set achievable and realistic goals; the other was to recognize when those goals have been met.

These are key. Long before Credit Suite, your intrepid blog writer worked at places where goal-setting was another box ticked off by management. Goals had little to do with reality. These included going on more trips – yet cutting the budget.

Er, that’s not how the universe works.

Plus recognition, boy howdy, recognition! Money is nice (it’s always appropriate), but it can be spent. Recognition can bring with it promotions and recommendations. And those tend to last longer.

In short, treat your employees like flesh and blood humans.

What a concept.

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Get lessons from the people in uniform with military marketing and more.

The post Manage Military Marketing and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Leverage Your Work Downtime and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Take the Best Advantage of Your Work Downtime and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So, settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Drop Bad Data for Better Data

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about dealing with bad data and better visualizing sales performance. HubSpot says there are all sorts of ways for data to go a little, shall we say, ca-ca.

In the interests of full disclosure, your intrepid blog writer used to work in data analysis. And this article brings it all back.

Excuse me while I crawl into a corner and cry for a few minutes.

Okay, I’m back.

There’s an Error for Every Occasion

Or so it seems.

The biggest issue with bad data is that it wastes time. And we all know what time is.

So, what’s wrong, and how do you fix it?

One should be obvious-ish. Human error! For every time a human must touch data, there are opportunities for error.

Another issue is not having what they call ‘one source of truth’. Hence, your sales figures from Des Moines (for example) should have but one origin. That origin can be fed from several places. That part’s no problem. After all, you get online sales data from a different place from where you get the offline data. But it’s up to the Des Moines office or someone in charge to put that data together and make it the one number – the sales figures.

Another issue was not accounting for seasonality – and yet another was not accounting for differences. You might be expecting, say, $100,000 from Des Moines, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get it. Don’t go into data analysis with preconceived notions of what the answers are going to be. That way lies madness.

A Personal-ish Plea

While this isn’t in the article, it kind of should be.

Hire a data professional.

Once your business gets big and you start making regular money, you might want to make a data person one of your hires. This person can be part time and they can be a junior person. But with a person who knows what they’re doing with data, that can make all the difference. It can also save you time and money, because that person will oversee tracing down errors and cleaning up data to make it usable.

Let them have those headaches, so you don’t.

#9. That Lead Shoots! It Scores!

The next awesome tip is about lead scoring. Opt in Monster notes lead scoring is a way to rank your prospects to better understand their sales readiness.

Wait, you don’t do this?

Er, you probably should.

Separate the Wheat from the Chaff

More accurately, this more like separating the mature wheat from its seeds.

What’s the difference between someone who got on your mailing list three years ago and never interacted again, versus someone who did that, plus follows you on Facebook and retweets you?

If you don’t see a difference, you might want to reconsider this entrepreneur thing, mmkay?

The difference, of course, is that the second person is far more engaged in your brand. So, it should follow that you want to concentrate your efforts more on them than the other.

This doesn’t mean abandoning the other person! It just means treating them differently.

Scoring adds an objective angle to this. It’s hard to argue with hard numbers.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leverage your work downtime and more.

#8. Dashboarding Through the Snow (or Falling Leaves)

Our following life-changing tip concerns building an ecommerce dashboard. Sumo lays it all out for us. Dashboarding is a great way for you to see how your business is doing at a glance. Specifically, this tip is all about setting up one within Google Analytics.

We were so happy that this article has step by step instructions. Hence, we highly recommend reading it in its entirety. Heck – print it out and make a poster out of it.

Google Analytics is an exceptionally powerful tool, and it’s 100% free. It would be a shame for your business to not use it to its fullest capacity.

#7. It’s All in the Presentation

For our next sensational tip, we looked at presenting business proposals to win clients. Succeed as Your Own Boss says that leading with stories is helpful. This is as opposed to facts and figured – stories are compelling!

A lot of this article concerns relating to your proposed clients. You want to show them data as a backup, yes. After all, without data, you have no proof that anything you do will work. But then dovetail that with a story.

Make it personal, and make it relate to your prospects. And talk to your prospects – ask them questions and show an interest in them and their business.

If you don’t, then someone else will.

#6. Save the Simoleans With Accounting

This tip is so unexpected, but it works! The Self Employed tells us there are ways to save money with accounting.

Yes, accounting.

Ya Gotta Keep ‘Em Separated

So, of course this article starts with our old chestnut tip – separate your business and personal money. Keep the spending in separate buckets.

You will not only be more organized; you’ll be so much happier at tax time.

But it was with the third tip where we really felt the article hit its stride.

Make Your Payment Teams Clear

Now, how many times have you dealt with someone just getting started who was wishy-washy about the due date for getting paid? You may very well have.

That person may even be you.

So, cut that nonsense out. Yesterday.

The best way to be clear about payment terms is to put them in writing. Not just on your website. Slay a tree and put those terms on paper if your clients are at all local. There’s just something about getting a paper bill in the mail which can help to spur people to action.

This should be in addition to electronic billing, and not in place of it. Clear bills are also 100% vital if you find yourself in court.

Date of service. Add whatever your terms are (say, Net 30). And add the due date for the invoice. Make it clear which percentage is due when, if you do that. So, for example, if you own a construction business, you will probably want a percentage on the first day, more in the middle if the job goes on for a while, and the balance upon delivery.

Why? Because you’ll need cash to buy materials. And you’ll need income to hold you over until the final payment comes in. Protect yourself with clear billing and payment terms.

With less time spent chasing payments, you might get some work downtime, which we’re covering next.

#5. Take Advantage of Your Work Downtime

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Every single one of us has work downtime. Find out how to make the best possible use of yours and your employees’.

The Work at Home Woman says there are a lot of great ways to fill up those unexpected moments when suddenly everything is clear.

Not like we would know what those look like. So, in theory ….

Use Your Work Downtime and Change Things Up

We loved two separate tips which certainly go together well. One was to take on a new challenge. The other was to learn something new. Take the time to learn a new skill.

So, for example, if you’ve always been mystified by mail merge or how to best set up your email folders, do it now! It’s a great use of your work downtime.

What Do You Mean, You Don’t Love Procedures?

Heh, just kidding. We find them kind of regimented and often not well-written at all.

Therefore, why not edit and improve and update them during your work downtime? Or write them if they don’t exist at all.

How do you lock up for the night? Make it a procedure. How do you answer an angry customer on social media? Write that down, too.

You will be so glad you did this.

Organization

One thing which wasn’t mentioned in the article was something we highly recommend during work downtime – getting organized. Change up your email rules (or add them in the first place) and get incoming mail foldered before you ever see it.

Personal pro tip: you know all those emails which you need to get to but not at this very moment? If you’re keeping them unread, then you might be messed up if you accidently convert one from unread to read. Or, heaven forbid, all of them.

So, this is what I do.

Create a separate email folder and name it something like Inbox Overflow or Almost Urgent or whatever works best for you. Place those emails which require attention but not right now in there. And, please remember they’re in there, of course.

This way, you can pluck them from the stack without having to worry about keeping them unread. And email folders are sortable and searchable in every system. Hence you can get a handle on which of those emails are more pressing than others.

It also beats pawing through your entire mailbox to try to find these emails.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leverage your work downtime and more.

#4. Get on the Right Track

Check out this spectacular tip, all about tracking website traffic the right way. Success Harbor notes that tracking the wrong data does you no good. It’s almost a subset of tip #10, above.

We loved that this article discusses Google Analytics (tip #8, above) – but it doesn’t stop there. The article adds several other helpful sites to track valuable metrics.

However – a caution – the article was originally posted in 2017. And at least one recommendation (Attention Meter) seems as if it is no more. So, take it with a grain of sale.

#3. Instagram Stick-to-itiveness

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you increase Instagram engagement. Foundr tells us all about Instagram stickers.

Oh, we so loved these! What amazing ideas these are.

Seriously, collect the whole set. They’re that awesome.

Engaged? We Barely Know Each Other. Still, That’s an Awfully Nice Ring You’re Offering

Oh, wait, engagement on Instagram doesn’t involve getting down on one knee. Ah, well.

Rather, engagement on Instagram (or any social platform, for that matter), is all about who comments, who likes, who swipes, etc.

Consider how engaged your followers would be if they could buy your products and services directly in the ‘Gram. Or how you could do a bit of informal customer research with a quick one-question poll. Another idea is to ask a simple question. You might get unexpected answers, and they could give you more ideas of how to better serve your customers.

Read this whole article. It is exceptionally helpful.

#2. Soar Past Seasons Greetings

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on creating holiday emails in your business. Sleek Note reveals all about it.

Yes, the holidays are coming. And faster than you may think.

As of the posting of this blog, it’s 10 days to Columbus Day, and it’s just under 8 weeks to Thanksgiving and 11 and a half days to Xmas. So, if you’re going to send out holiday emails, you’d better get cracking.

The examples are all related to gift products, and they tend to be great examples of concepts we’ve gone over before. For example, separating gift givers by price or recipient, the email effectively divvies up your customers. This gives them far better user experiences. Plus, you don’t waste their time. If I’m shopping for my hairdresser, I’m probably not getting her a new car (sorry, Katie).

By the way, their best tip was the last one.

Sensitivity Rocks

No, it’s not salesy. And that’s 100% okay.

We loved the idea of giving people a heads up in case they want to opt out of some emails. The example was a stellar one – allowing an opt out of Mother’s and Father’s Day emails. Consider the people this helps. It’s not just people who are childless by choice. It’s especially helpful and kind to those who aren’t childless by choice.

In this and in all areas, kindness goes a long way.

#1. Round Up and Brand Your Social Media

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on social media branding. Women on Business says there are a few simple ways to stand out on social media.

We really loved the first tip.

Stop Being All Things to All People

What does that mean? It means, your business isn’t suited to every single social platform out there. So, stop trying to fit your square peg business for seniors into a Snapchat round hole. And quit trying to force your business for tweens onto LinkedIn.

Neither will work very well. They’re just a waste of time. And time is the one thing you never have enough of.

So, which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now? Thank you for reading during your work downtime!

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leverage your work downtime and more.

The post Leverage Your Work Downtime and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Start Sparking Business Innovation –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Start Sparking Business Innovation and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Text Your Way to Marketing Success

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about SMS Marketing. Opt In Monster says getting permission is vital, and so is providing clear instructions for how customers can opt out. This totally works for us. After all, if you can’t easily get rid of texts, they’re going to end up costing you in messaging and/or data.

Plus if you do any business at all in Europe, GDPR may very well require that you do both.

If nothing else, it’s good practice, particularly for avoiding annoying your customers and prospects.

Those are the last people you want to frustrate and annoy.

Do U Hate Slang? So Do I N U Shudnt Do It in SMS Mktg

Oh God, my writer/editor brain can’t take it.

Please don’t do this to your customers and prospects, not even if they’re teens and tweens. For the younger set, you’ll probably look truly inauthentic. For the older (ahem) among us, you’ll look unprofessional.

And so much slang and abbreviating can easily backfire as abbreviations and language evolve over time. You definitely don’t want to look and sound like yesterday’s news.

#9. New Brand, Who Dis?

The next awesome tip is about doing rebranding right. Word Stream notes you’ll even have to change and fix your online advertising campaigns. After all, let’s say Exxon changed its name from Esso this week, rather than in 1972.

They would need to update any ads. After all, it would be kind of embarrassing to have a great advertisement out there which touted the products sold by the old brand.

The article is great – so we suggest reading it in its entirety – and it gives detailed advice on how to fix things.

But then there’s another thing, not in the article.

Records Are Made to be Broken – and Updated

We talk about it all the time here. Congruency.

Your business name needs to be the same everywhere. Yelp, your business licenses, your phone listings, your IRS records – you name it.

Why?

Because lenders are going to hunt for your information online. And if they can’t find something, they’ll assume it doesn’t exist – and are far, far more likely to deny your loan application. And they’re not going to stop to consider the myriad ways your business could be listed online.

So change things in all of those places, too.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! From sparking business innovation to customer retention, this post has it all.

#8. Hello? Is There Anybody Out There? Just Nod If You Can Hear Me

Our following life-changing tip concerns increasing online survey response rates. G² lays it all out for us. We all know that responses to online surveys could be better. Even if yours are bona fide amazing, it never hurts to try to improve things.

So, how do you do that?

Skip Logic is Not Some Guy’s Stage Name (Although Maybe It Should Be)

Our absolute fave tip was using what’s called ‘skip logic’ (no, that’s not some guy’s name).

Skip logic is when an online survey can skip certain questions based upon previous answers.

For example, let’s say your survey is about people’s pets. Maybe you sell pet food or toys or the like. Probably one of your first questions, after demographics, will be which type of animal people have.

Hence, based on learning that a person has a goldfish, you wouldn’t ask them about leashes and walks, because you can’t take a goldfish for a walk. This is a truly terrific concept, because it reduces frustration immediately. How many times have you had to type ‘not applicable’ in the middle of a survey? And how many times have you just abandoned one because it didn’t appeal to you?

With skip logic, those frustrations should diminish if not downright go away entirely.

Branches Aren’t Just For Trees Anymore

A similar technique is branching, and it’s something many of us have seen in websites. That is, if you get a question with two or more answers and then if you click on one or the other, you get a different experience. There’s a similar vibe going on with branching for surveys.

The beauty of branching is you can lead your survey respondents down a progressive set of questions.

So let’s go back to our pets survey example for a moment. If the respondent says they have a dog, then the next logical question might be about the dog’s age or breed or level of training. If they say they have a cat, then questions could be about age or breed or whether this is an indoor or an outdoor cat.

For a big dog, the survey might go onto questions about how much of a chewer the dog is, or whether the dog is left outside for long time periods. For a smaller dog, the next set of questions might ask about how cold the dog gets at various temperatures (Italian greyhounds, for example, are really skinny and get cold a lot faster than Boston terriers generally do).

For an indoor cat, the next set of questions might be about how much scratching the cat does. Maybe for an outdoor cat, the next questions could be about if there are wild animals in the area that might steal cat food left out (raccoons do this a lot).

Either way, your survey respondent is bound to feel you’re asking about what matters the most to them.

#7. We’re Just Trying to Keep Our Customers Satisfied

For our next sensational tip, we looked at customer retention. Small Business Bonfire says that retaining customers is vital for a number of reasons, not the least of which that it costs a lot less than drumming up new business.

Consider this – your current customers already know and trust you. And you already know they love and need your product and service, and they see the need for it. So why wouldn’t you want to make and keep them happy?

Our favorite tip was about responsiveness. Seriously. When a customer has a question for you, do you respond as soon as possible? And if you don’t know the answer, do you at least say you’re working on it? Yes, even with difficult customers.

Neglected customers won’t be your customers for very long.

#6. Put Your Blog to Work

This tip is so cool, and it works! Freelancers Union tells us all about turning your blog into a lead generator. Now, keep in mind, the article is written from the perspective of a freelancer. But the same principles still apply.

There’s great information on both SEO and user experience. We suggest you read the whole thing to get the full experience, as it were.

But the point to highlight is all about the essential pages. They make sense – your home and about pages are vital! Plus your services page, otherwise no one has any idea of what you do and offer. Similar idea for any business, even if your ‘services page’ is several pages, and it’s for sales of goods rather than services.

Make it painfully clear what you do, what it costs, and what it includes. Don’t make prospects hunt for this information. They’ll just go to a competitor who doesn’t make them jump through those sorts of hoops.

Ouch.

#5. Today is the Day to Start Sparking Business Innovation

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

And by hot, we mean you’ve got the tinder and the match – it’s time to start sparking business innovation in your company.

Small Biz Trends says when it comes to sparking business innovation and getting your employees to start creating, it all depends on the stage the business is in.

For Startups, it’s All About the Benjamins

Not surprisingly, startups need cash. Yesterday. And so this tip focuses on getting the funds to light that creativity fire and start sparking business innovation.

Their two ideas where crowdfunding and government funding, like from the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). We particularly love the idea of crowdfunding. If Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and other similar campaigns reward anything, it’s usually creativity.

So toss some of your startup’s ideas against GoFundMe’s wall, and see if they stick.

During the Growth Stage, Structure Matters

For companies which are past the startup stage, money is less of an urgent need. Hence for them, the way to be creative is to bake it into the company’s culture and structure. This will help not only now, but for years to come.

Knock wood – your business is around for a super-long time – you’ll need some long-term plans. It can be harder to get unstuck if your company is entrenched and set in its ways. Better to make those set ways into something that pushes creativity.

How? One idea is to empower employees with decision-making capabilities. And another is to reward innovation, maybe through perks or recognition plaques or whatever strikes your fancy.

Engineers get patents. Music makers get gold records. Writers get published works. What do your employees get when they’re creative?

Established Businesses Open Up Labs and Undergo Digital Transformations

Uh, what?

One tip which made a lot of sense was to create what are essentially creativity incubators within a company. These are places (not necessarily physical) where employees are free to express their ideas.

The other bit is actually kind of basic – change your physical assets to digital ones.

True story. Long before joining Credit Suite, your intrepid blog writer audited law firms for a major insurance company. Now, a part of this was to check for billing discrepancies. But another angle was to suggest innovation. And one firm had – no lie – about an entire office floor dedicated to file storage space. This was the late 1990s. Scanners already existed as a thing.

And the head of this firm complained about all of the rent it was costing him to keep all of the documentation that we required. To which I countered – why not buy a scanner or two and have clerical staff scan most of the documents and then shred the physical? You could have a college student do this, or a summer intern.

Oh no, we need to be able to make copies.

Well, but with digital, you can make infinite copies, and it doesn’t cost you a dime.

They had no idea.

But these days, we all know better. And one of the beauties of digital, beyond saving physical space, is it makes it far easier to change, manipulate, add to, and subtract from, your assets.

Talk about sparking business innovation.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! From sparking business innovation to customer retention, this post has it all.

#4. Keep an Eye on Your Cash and Manage it Right

Check out this spectacular tip, all about managing your business finances. Succeed As Your Own Boss notes that the first sensible thing to do is no great shocker – hire an accountant. But we loved some other grand ideas.

Consider the idea of opening a profit account. What’s a profit account? The idea is to skim off some of the payments to your business (say, 1 – 10%) for you. This isn’t an emergency account for the business (which is another excellent idea). It’s to make sure you, the big cheese, are actually getting paid.

And put it in an account that’s hard for you to tap into. Let it be a happy financial surprise, rather than a well you’re constantly dipping into.

#3. Productivity – To The Max!

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you maximize employee productivity. Young Upstarts tells us there are great ways to up your employees’ productivity.

The first tip we really loved was about minimizing distractions. As a writer in particular, this speaks directly to me. Cutting cell phone use is helpful. But it’s also helpful to create what are almost office hours. Giving clear signals about when you’re available for meetings and impromptu discussions – and when you aren’t – can set reasonable expectations. And people will stop bugging you when you’re on a tight deadline.

And that just might start sparking business innovation, too!

Our other fave tip was to offer some incentives. These don’t have to be too costly, either. Consider what we did here at Credit Suite – we had a department video competition. The winners got movie tickets. And, ahem, Marketing won.

Then again, it’s easy (well, easier) when you’ve got so many talented folks who can create pretty graphics, smooth out any sound issues, and write a decent script. So we kinda had a few ringers in our department.

So far, we don’t know if Sales has vowed revenge….

#2. Keep Your Edge

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on staying competitive. Under 30 CEO reveals all about maintaining your competitive edge.

Turns out it’s a group effort (who knew?).

The best tip (according to us) was the one about maintaining a network of people who will be honest with you and challenge you. That makes a great deal of sense.

Consider this. Let’s say you’re new to the business world. You have a great idea, people support it, and maybe you’re the recipient of enough crowdfunding cash or venture capital money infusions or angel investments.

But you have no idea how to do your books.

Would you wing it, or hire an expert?

Of course, you might not be able to afford an expert. But you’re flush with cash. So add it as a budget line item and hire one. Unless, of course, you think audits and possible lawsuits cost less.

Pro tip: they don’t.

So why should you hesitate in any other area where you aren’t quite sure of how to handle things?

Being the CEO doesn’t mean you also have to be the Lone Ranger.

#1. It’s All About the Search

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on upping your ecommerce SEO results. Fundera says you can improve your SEO in all aspects of ecommerce.

First off, for SEO in this area, as in every other, research is your first step! Consider every single way your product (or service, for that matter) can be described. Let’s say you’re a long haul trucker. The term ‘long distance trucker’ is the same thing, yes? So when you are putting together your website, you’re going to want to use both phrases throughout your content.

But do your research, and determine which is more popular. Of course, you want to concentrate on that one!

The idea of using keywords in the product pages and their URLs was terrific! Again, this is an article which is best appreciated in its entirety.

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! From sparking business innovation to customer retention, this post has it all.

The post Start Sparking Business Innovation –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Crush Your Overwhelming Business Workload and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Smash an Overwhelming Business Workload and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

We’re back after a few weeks out and ready to dig into some amazing business tips… Ready?

#10. Ladies – Make the Halo Connection

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about how women can find angel investors. Succeed as Your Own Boss says there are a lot of options for female founders/entrepreneurs. You just need to know where to look.

We were particularly interested in this one because we’ve looked into whether women entrepreneurs can change a sexist system, when 98% of VC funding goes to men.

Hit the Gas With an Accelerator

We were impressed at the depth of information available in this article, when it came to startup accelerators. Do they work? They can – and the article lays out exactly how to find a good one.

So we highly recommend reading the entire article.

More ideas included crowdfunding and finding grants. These kind of are angel investors and kind of aren’t. So essentially this bypasses the issue, replacing it with a different method. Certainly, this is a method that can work.

One tip at the end was a tad off-topic, we felt, but still helpful. That is, to certify as a female-owned business for corporate and government contracts. With limited competition, the idea is you could simply earn the funding you’d want from angel investors. It’s certainly worth a shot, if your company could get these kinds of contracts.

#9. Social Media + Google = How to Rank Better Through Social

The next awesome tip is about how social media can help your content rank better on Google. The Self-Employed notes there are great ways that social can help. Note: we found the best copy of the infographic here.

One quick caveat – this infographic needs to be updated! It still refers to Google+, which is no more. But apart from that, the information is sound.

Your best (or at least better) positioning on SERP (the search engine results page) can, in part, depend on your network. And what better way to develop a network than on social? Americans are more loyal to brands they follow on social media.

So if you’ve been hesitating before jumping into Twitter and Facebook (at minimum), now’s the time to leap.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Even your overwhelming business workload doesn’t stand a chance.

#8. Satisfy Your Link-Building Ambitions

Our following life-changing tip concerns how to build links. Under 30 CEO lays it all out for us. This strategy is still alive and well in 2019!

So, how do you do it?

Start with pulling down the low-hanging fruit. As in, is your business on major directories? That’s places like Google My Business or Yahoo. You want to be found, eh?

So, by the way, if your business fits well with Yelp, then you had better be there. Because they may very well already have a listing for you. And if you haven’t been contributing to it, then you have no guarantees that anything on the listing is at all favorable to your business.

And our fave – create great content! Hey, we kinda like doing that. Quality over quantity counts.

What a concept.

#7. We’re Working So Hard, Even Our Intelligence is Competitive

For our next sensational tip, we looked at some great competitive intelligence tools. SEM Rush says that one of the keys to success is to understand how your competition is doing. This makes a great deal of sense.

Let them make the mistakes, and suffer the consequences. You’ll be too busy reaping the rewards of their successes.

At least, that’s the theory.

Specific Intelligence

There are a ton of ways to measure how a company is doing. This long, comprehensive list was a lot easier to tackle because it was split up intelligently.

It’s more than the general competitive landscape or market trends or following any news stories about the competition. Although those are also on the list.

Did you know you can check how shoppers are doing on a competitor’s website, to see where in the sales funnel they are? Or you can check out how a website was put together, and know when it was changed? You can look up digital, video, or email marketing strategies.

And you can follow price changes, too. Or look up how a competitor’s apps are doing.

The most interesting (er, invasive) bit of information involved how much a company is paying for cloud infrastructure. Pretty wild.

#6. E-Commerce UX Best Practices to Kick Your Sales into High Gear

This tip is so smart, and it works! Opt In Monster tells us that user experience can really make or break online sales.

How many times have you gone to a website to do something or other and been stymied by lousy web design? Slow websites, confusing layouts, and parts which don’t work are all reasons why customers get frustrated. Frustrated customers abandon their shopping carts.

These are things you can fix!

So what are you waiting for?

#5. Tackle Your Overwhelming Business Workload the Smart Way

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

If you’ve got an overwhelming business workload, then this one’s for you.

Startup Professionals (quoting the fantastic Martin Zwilling) says organization is your best friend.

The truth is, these are fabulous tips for any sort of overwhelming to-do list. That can be your chores, or even planning a wedding.

Kill the Phantoms in Your Overwhelming Business Workload

We really loved this tip. The idea is, essentially, do you have stuff sitting on your to-do list (or in a to-do pile) which you’re just plain avoiding? We all know about those.

It’s the client you can’t stand – but they pay on time and give you a lot of business, so you’re stuck. Or it may be the project which you’re not 100% certain needs to happen. So you’re pushing back. Yeah, that’s kinda passive-aggressive.

It all boils down to one thing. You’re probably never going to do these things unless things change rather dramatically. They are contributing to an overwhelming business workload, potentially forever. Ugh.

Or Maybe You Can Rehab the Phantoms

For the client you don’t like, can you delegate some of the responsibility to someone else? Of course you can’t do this every single time (at least, you probably can’t). But you may be able to hand over some of the more basic work to another. Do you have to be the person who makes appointments with this person?

You might not have to be. And you can also try differing forms of communication. Email is good because you can communicate at any time of the day or night. Phone calls are good because you can get an idea of tone. In-person meetings are good because they’re a better way to understand the nuances of what someone is saying.

For the project where you’re not sure if it needs to happen, why not talk to the project’s manager? If the project’s own advocate can’t clearly articulate why the project needs to happen, then maybe it doesn’t. Maybe your instincts are right.

The Triple Tip – Write Tasks Down, Cross Them Off When Done, and Reprioritize Constantly

These three tips go together. Personally, your intrepid blog writer can’t get through most days without a to-do list. Welcome to your fifties, the decade of, “Why did I come in this room, again?”

But in all seriousness, lists help. When your brain isn’t juggling your to-do list on top of everything else, then you’re freed to, you know, actually work on tackling the times on it.

Crossing off the done items from a to-do list is satisfying! And it also serves as a visual reminder of how much you’ve already accomplished. Because let’s face it, sometimes the only pat on the back we’re going to get during any given day will be self-administered.

And reprioritizing should be a no-brainer. Sometimes that task which seemed oh so urgent last night isn’t as on fire in the light of day. Or the reverse is true. The main thing is to not be married to the order.

Personal Pro Tip

When it comes to prioritizing, two things which help a lot, I’ve found, are to locate whatever you can delegate and whatever you can do fast. Sometimes those are the same thing. Either way, the faster you delegate, the more time the other person has to work on the task you’ve delegated to them. As for the fast stuff, reward yourself with one (only one!) of those tasks to start.

You’ll be happy to see a task is already crossed off. But then, yeah, you’d better start on something substantial, particularly if it’s a priority. There’s a different degree of satisfaction from getting through something big. And, you’ll be handling the hardest stuff when you’re less tired.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Even your overwhelming business workload doesn’t stand a chance.

#4. Life Preservers for Failing Teams

Check out this spectacular tip, all about how managers can rescue failing teams. Proof Hub notes that a lot of team failures come from the top down, although not all of them. There can be problematic people in a group – what sports people call a ‘locker room cancer’. Or there can even be an all-out conflict between team members.

But teams can also do poorly if they feel underappreciated, or if they feel there’s no way for them to professionally develop. Another problem is teams which just plain don’t have the right training, or enough training.

We were particularly happy that two of the tips were to build rapport and to ask the team what they think is happening. After all, they’ve been there.

Managerial Styles

Essentially, this the persuader method in action. The manager is asking for input, and is listening. And they can be persuaded to act one way or another.

Personal tip from me – as a manager, I look at my experiences as an employee for guidance. The better managers communicated more, and were a lot more likely to say please and thank you. That was even for the smallest of favors. It was even just on the heels of a previous please and thank you.

As a result, I don’t let a meeting go by without telling the people who work with me that I appreciate them. Because I know what it’s like to not be appreciated, and I don’t want the people who work with me to ever feel that way, if I have anything to say about it.

#3. Hack Your Way to Better Productivity

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can make you more productive. Young Upstarts tells us there are some helpful, and often inexpensive hacks to tackling your overwhelming business workload and becoming more productive.

Our favorite tip was to delegate. Oh God, yes!

You don’t have to do everything. Seriously.

#2. Keep Your Client Relationships Close

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on avoiding losing your largest accounts. Sales Hacker reveals all about maintaining and nurturing client relationships.

The reality is, you should be doing this with all of your clients. But we all know there are just so many hours in a day. So, you need to prioritize your bigger clients. Otherwise, you’d end up with even more of an overwhelming business workload.

The gist of the article is to make listening a big part of your relations with your biggest clients. Ask them – what can I do differently? And then, you know, actually listen to what they say. Be empathetic. Again, listen.

After all, if your biggest clients don’t think you care about their problems, then they’ll find someone who does.

Ouch.

#1. The Holidays Are Coming – Ready or Not (We Prefer Ready)

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on getting ready for the holidays. Yes, that! They’ll be here before you think. Kabbage says there are ways to get organized in anticipation of what is often the busiest time of the year for online retail sales.

We particularly liked the idea of taking the time now to fix issues on your website. It’s a good time to attack any issues such as slow loading times.

We also liked the first order of business, which is to get input from the employees. After all, they’re at the front lines.

One thing to add from us – now’s a really, really good time to get a handle on what everyone in your organization does. Get procedures in writing. Cross-train more employees so if that one vital person decides they want to take December off (there are people with that much accumulated vacation time), your business won’t fall apart.

The list even goes into decorating, assuming you have a brick and mortar establishment as well.

But from me – for the love of all things holiday – please don’t put up Xmas lights this week.

It’s still September.

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Even your overwhelming business workload doesn’t stand a chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuM4Kolf26g

The post Crush Your Overwhelming Business Workload and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Try Some Warmer Cold Calling and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Try Some Warmer Cold Calling and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Upsell Like a Champ

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about upselling. Small Biz Trends says there are some techniques out there which are more effective than not. It’s a bit like warmer cold calling.

25 Percenters

So, here’s an interesting one. Did you know that an offered upsell shouldn’t add more than 25% onto the initial price? But why?

Because otherwise it can feel overwhelming to the customer. This one is truly brilliant. And you see it in practice all the time.

“You want fries with that?”

“For an extra $2, we’ll throw in a pack of pens with your notebook purchase.”

“If you get the sport package, you get a spoiler and a sunroof.”

“Add a salad and we’ll call it a dinner. Then you can get free dessert!”

“Now that you got a new pair of running shoes, wouldn’t you love a new pair of running shorts?”

“Ever notice how when you paint a room, a lot of other things look dull? Buy six gallons of our matte finish latex paint and we’ll throw in a new picture frame.”

You get the idea. It doesn’t work if you offer a second Big Mac (usually). And if you’re already getting an entrée, you probably don’t want a second. But you might be tempted to have a salad. In fact, having a salad translate into a free dessert also takes advantage of people wanting to be virtuous by eating a salad – and then decadent by capping their meal with a hot fudge sundae.

Unbundling

By the way, unbundling can feel weird! Your intrepid blog writer owns a pretty basic car but it’s got a sun roof. And it was quite the chore to get the extra – it had to be specially added. Because sun roofs tend to go with sporty packages, not basic sedans.

Still, I got my sun roof. It was a lot like warmer cold calling in that I was already there and buying. The dealer just had to make sure I was 100% happy so I wouldn’t run off to a dealer down the street.

So try this rule of 25% the next time you’re putting together upselling ideas. And can I have some of your fries?

#9. Scratch ‘Create an Email List’ Off Your To-Do List in an Hour

The next awesome tip is about creating an email list from scratch – fast. Sumo notes it’s easy to get email lists wrong. No argument here.

Now, keep in mind, the article isn’t much more than a long ad for Sumo. But Sumo is free, so we’re okay with that. And it does make one point which we would like to showcase.

Not all of your contacts are alike.

As a result of this insight – which we will be the first to admit isn’t much of an insight – you should be segmenting your email list. We tend to do this intuitively, and we don’t even know we’re doing it.

As in, if your grandmother is in your address book, you probably won’t invite her to go out clubbing with you (or maybe you will…). But your pals from college? You’re a lot more likely to invite them. And you’ll even go more granular. Your quiet roommate might not make the invitation list, but your clubbing partner from back in the day is more likely to.

So the moral of the story is – don’t treat your customers and prospects as one big monolith.

Gee, where have we heard that before?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leave the sales freezer behind with warmer cold calling and more.

#8. A Lot Better Than Vacation Slides

Our following life-changing tip concerns using Facebook slideshow ads to their fullest potential. Wordstream lays it all out for us.

You’ve probably seen these. In fact, you may not have seen these on Facebook (or been aware that they were what you were seeing). Slideshows.

For example, have you ever been on a site for a clothing retailer and been served both the front and back versions of an outfit? Not separate images – more that the front images change to the back on occasion, and then back again. That’s a slideshow.

For Facebook, one great idea is to showcase variety. If you’re a residential real estate agent, why not show one-family and two-family houses? Or big apartments and studios? Or both the east and west sides of town?

We highly recommend reading the entire article. Yes, it’s that helpful. It’s as good as warmer cold calling – and may even be better.

#7. Great Business Leaders – Are They Born or Made?

For our next sensational tip, we looked at what a new business leader should really be like. Startup Professionals notes a charismatic, innovative leader has certain characteristics.

They looked at people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, but also Elon Musk. And the one characteristic we preferred was doing good works. But our second chance characteristic was lifelong learning.

Hey, you don’t need to be a big time innovator to do either, or both.

#6. Being a Great Boss – An Argument for Nurture Versus Nature

This tip is so cool, and it works! Work It Daily tells us all about developing leadership skills. They note there are some great methods for learning leadership skills. Perhaps our two favorites were all about enthusiasm and knowing yourself.

True Story

Over 20 years ago, your intrepid blog writer worked in the insurance industry. Often, these jobs were dull and repetitious. And that attitude came straight from the top. When management acted uninterested in being there, so did everyone else. Talk about your downers!

Then in 2004, I worked for Dictaphone, in voice recognition (this late lamented company no longer exists). And there things were waaaaaay different. The boss was not just friendly and approachable. She loved her job. And everyone under her caught her fever. We loved working there, and we loved working for her. It all came from her enthusiastic, whole-hearted embrace of our projects.

Want to build voice recognition for lawyers? Awesome! For police officers? Let’s help them catch some criminals. For firefighters? Cool, let’s make their lives easier so they can go back to saving people. For doctors? Terrific – let’s make this chore simple so they can cure cancer and hangnails.

And it goes on.

Want to be a good leader? Then be excited about what you and your team do. And if you aren’t, then maybe you should be considering a new line of work.

#5. Get Out of the Sales Ice Box With Warmer Cold Calling

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Warmer cold calling is where it’s at. LinkedIn says there are a number of things you can do which aren’t cold calling!

We loved these. Now, keep in mind, we are research fans here, so the first tip was a great one. And it’s LinkedIn! Egad, if you’re going to find out stuff about a prospect, then the prospect’s company website (and maybe blog) plus LinkedIn are THE places to go.

The Times, They Are A-Changin’

So here’s a question. When was the last time you saw someone selling door to door? Not people talking religion – real-live salespeople. For your intrepid blog writer, it was maybe eight to ten years ago, possibly more.

I was sitting on the front porch steps, eating ice cream. And this guy was walking past and he said something from the sidewalk. Now, keep in mind, this is a secondary access road, so there’s traffic on it, and it can be loud.

My “What?” was, to him, an invitation to walk up my front walk and try to hand me literature on buying a satellite dish. And here I was thinking he wanted to know how to get to the Thai place on the corner.

So he hands me papers. I had them back. He hands them to me again. And I give them back again. We do this little dance a couple of times. The big recycling bin is nearby, so the next time I get the papers, I toss them in there.

Oh, I got an earful then. Well, guess what, dude? You weren’t welcome. You slid in under false pretenses. And you didn’t listen to me, not one bit.

What the heck did you honestly expect was going to happen?

C’mon Already!

Don’t be that guy. Do your research and know your prospects. Because if this guy had, he would’ve known that my house is over 100 years old and there is no way I am ever putting a dish anywhere near it.

Please don’t write to us about the merits of satellite dishes. Thank you in advance.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leave the sales freezer behind with warmer cold calling and more.

#4. Time is Running Out to Write Scarcity Emails!

Check out this spectacular tip, all about scarcity marketing techniques to boost email conversions. Sleek Note informs us that you can tap into customer fear of missing out in any number of ingenious ways. Talk about creating what is essentially a form of warmer cold calling!

There’s More Than Way to be Scarce

So the first thing we noticed was there’s more than one way to convey scarcity. Sometimes it’s the scarcity of the product. You know the drill – they tell you they’re about to sell out of something or other. But did you know that adding a number makes the claim more believable?

But there’s another way to show scarcity – it’s a scarcity of time. “Time is running out!” “You’ve got just two hours left to get …”

Yet another way is via exclusivity. This also appeals to customer desires to be and feel special. And they feel they can be seen as special by others. Social currency is absolutely a thing – and for many people, it feels scarce. A lot of folks will do just about anything to have more of it.

NOW.

#3. You Oughta Be in Pictures

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you grow your YouTube channel. Noobpreneur tells us going with a niche is a great strategy. We agree!

Consider this. Do you listen to the radio? It can be in the car or at home or via satellite. Doesn’t matter. But what does matter is the radio doesn’t play just anything. You’re highly unlikely to hear gangsta rap right after a classical piece. And that’s true even if you, personally, like both pieces of music.

This is because the radio is segmented, big time. And maybe a little too much these days. You can get more than one version of 80s music, for example.

So consider such a strategy for YouTube, and don’t try to be all things to all people. Not even Casey Kasem was.

#2. Tapping into Influence

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on how influencers can promote their platforms. Young Upstarts reveals all about it.

The biggest insight we got was to adapt messaging depending on which platform you’re on. And that works for us. In particular, it matters in terms of platforms you’re trying to break into.

If you’re awesome on Facebook, guess what? You need a whole new approach for Snapchat.

Another great idea was to provide something in return for following. Truth is, we do that here.

That’s kinda what this blog is all about, folks.

#1. Dear Sir or Madam: Please Buy Ad Space On My Blog kthxbai

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on getting companies to buy advertising space on your blog. The Work At Home Woman says you, too, can grab this blogging Holy Grail.

One thing the article goes into is working directly with an advertiser versus an ad network. To our eyes, it looks like an ad network is a great way to get started. The network will do the legwork in terms of finding advertisers. But be aware – for most of the ones mentioned, you need 25,000 or more clicks per month on your blog.

Yeah. About that.

Affiliate Marketing

So there’s another way to monetize things, and it doesn’t hinge on clicks. It’s affiliate marketing. That’s where bloggers add (for example) a link to Amazon for selling a book. The link is particular to the blogger so, if you click through and buy the book, the blogger will get a cut of the proceeds. Because you’re there voluntarily, it’s better than warmer cold calling – you’re actually a hot prospect!

But…

Just like for ads, though, recognize one thing. If your blog isn’t uber-popular, you’re not going to make a lot of money. The number of people who do isn’t very large. Still, you can make some mad money with ads and affiliate marketing. After all, there are some ad networks which aren’t looking for such huge blogs with so much traffic (although shop around and do your homework, to make sure the ad network is reputable and will pay you).

Just don’t quit your day job.

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leave the sales freezer behind with warmer cold calling and more.

The post Try Some Warmer Cold Calling and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Achieve Perfect Productivity and More! –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Perfect Productivity Can Be Yours – and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Love the ‘Gram

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about marketing your business on Instagram. Noobpreneur tells us it’s better to talk to your customers than just blast them with sales messages. And we agree with that! Consider, if you will, why you follow a company on Instagram or any other social media platform.

It’s probably for something like – coupons, contests, information/training, or job openings. Most of us aren’t following, say, Coca-Cola, because we feel like watching or reading or listening to an ad. We see enough of those, day in, day out.

So stand out by showcasing something different.

#9. Multiply the Value of Every Customer

The next awesome tip is about selling more to existing customers. G2 has the details. Some of these should be fairly familiar. For example, the idea of upselling or offering cross-selling is nothing new. Upselling can be if you offer an extra something or other when the customer is ready to check out. This is something you base on what they have in their shopping cart.

Cross-selling is bundling – we’re used to seeing it with cable TV. Your customer is buying shoes, so they might also need socks. You get the idea.

But our favorite tip was seemingly counterintuitive.

Downselling.

Say what?

Offer Less to Keep the Prospect Interested

What an interesting concept. When customers abandon their shopping carts, over half the time it’s due to price. So why not offer them lower-priced items in your cart abandonment emails? Or coupon codes or discounts or the like – any of these can work.

Once you’ve proven yourself and your company to your customers, they might be inclined to buy that more expensive item anyway.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Perfect productivity can be yours.

#8. An Awesome Business Plan is But a Week Away

Our following life-changing tip concerns writing a killer business plan in just about no time. Succeed As Your Own Boss says you’re looking for quality, and not quantity.

We really loved the first two tips. One was to look at problems as business opportunities. And the other was an old chestnut – know your customers.

A Fer-Instance

Let’s say the problem you’ve identified in the world is how easy it is for umbrellas to turn inside out in high winds. We all know what happens – people toss out the old brolly and buy a replacement. No biggie, yes?

Well, what happens if we suggest a different outcome? Our reinforced umbrella is probably going to cost more, at least to start. And it may be heavier than your garden variety umbrella. So who are our customers? People with some money and some upper arm strength. Hence our customers might not be the elderly or people with disabilities. At least, not yet.

Once you understand both these things, you start to have a clue about the framework of your business plan.

Of course, this example is simplistic. But there’s no reason you can’t do something similar when figuring out your own business plan.

Oh, and business plans can be changed. So don’t sweat it if oh my goodness your business is expanding and the plan no longer fits.

Just change the plan.

#7. Deals – Faster Than the Speed Of Business

For our next sensational tip, we looked at streamlining your deal flow. Mail Shake lays it all out for us. We were so pleased that the first task is research! After all, how can you understand your prospect if you don’t take even the minimal amount of time to get to know what motivates them? What do they want? And what will turn them right off?

True Story

So this probably doesn’t apply to most people, but what the hey. Your intrepid blog writer does not have children – and none planned. Hence, this is a minority position.

As a result, when talking to a sales person, being told something or other is good for my utterly mythological children is quite the turn off. Now, I don’t expect most sales people to have any idea about this nugget of information about me. Rather, what I expect is for sales to take into consideration that it’s possible they would encounter a member of my type of minority.

Or consider vegans buying a barbecue grill to cook fruit and vegetables (try corn on the cob and pineapple – they’re particularly awesome). And then the sales person goes through a whole spiel all about, you guessed it, cooking steaks on the grill.

You can imagine how well something like that is going to go over, eh?

Outreach, Engagement, and Closing

So these are the three other parts of a streamlined deal flow. The article has wonderful suggestions on how to stand out in these three areas. We recommend reading the article for the details.

#6. Tick Tock

This tip is so neat, and it works! Proof Hub notes that you don’t have to make time management mistakes.

So quit procrastinating!

It’s not so simple. Totally understood.

The article gives some ideas as to why we may be procrastinating. And their #9 is a doozy – you didn’t do the hardest thing first.

This makes a great deal of sense to us. But … we have a caveat to this.

Way Back When…

You know the old saying, “you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince?” That was your intrepid blog writer and jobs, at times. So I’ve been on a ton of job interviews. One question which came up more than once was, what do you do when you’ve got 3 hours’ worth of work but only 2 hours in which to do it in?

Tackling the hardest thing first is admirable, and it may even be rewarding. But it’s not necessarily the best way to get started – at least not in that particular scenario. In that instance, the first thing to do is anything which can make it easy or even possible for you to hand off some of that work to a fellow team member.

Because two people working for an hour and a half is about the same as one person working three hours. And then the work gets done. Pro tip – pointing out that this is a scenario which should be rare will never get you the job. Even though it’s true!

Back to Procrastinating

We also liked the fourth tip, which points out that not making an effort to get past procrastination is a problem. Well, yeah.

So do what it takes, if it means setting up a nanny-style app to keep you off the internet or setting an alarm or whatever. And remember: whenever you’re done with whatever it was you were procrastinating over; you’re going to feel an incredible sense of relief.

So get cracking! No, not after another game of solitaire.

#5. Perfect Productivity Isn’t Just Some Pipe Dream

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Perfect productivity. It’s the Holy Grail, isn’t it? Resume.io tells us there are a few things we can stop doing the moment we get to work. One which we really liked – two actually – was to turn off your browser for the first half hour or so. And don’t open email then, either.

So, what should you be doing instead? The article also says to not go into a meeting first thing, either. And you shouldn’t be multitasking.

So, er, what are you supposed to be doing? Concentrating on … something.

Writers Unite for Perfect Productivity!

This works rather well for us writerly types. Turning off the world for a while so the work can get down is awesome. And being able to hear yourself think is key.

Of course if you need to check the internet to get your writing done, then you’re kind of out of luck. Like your intrepid blog writer. So we feel that’s a bit impractical. Still, it can help to at least restrict where you go or you can go. Hence you may need to get creative and block Facebook on a temporary basis, at least until you’ve done your first thing-type work.

Quelle horreur!

Heh, you’ll get over it.

Pro Tip for Perfect Productivity!

Sometimes utter silence can be as distracting as a beehive of an office. So here’s what your intrepid blog writer does – I listen to music. More specifically, 80s music. Now, this is where working from home comes in mighty handy. Coworkers aren’t subject to my need to sing along with Morrissey. The neighbors, however, are not so lucky.

Uh, sorry ‘bout that.

So it might work for you to sometimes turn on music. It’s usually best if it’s something you already know, so you’re not carefully listening to see if you like it. Some people report instrumentals are better, and classical can be great. You do you, whatever works best for your own personal perfect productivity.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Perfect productivity can be yours.

#4. Promo and Then Promo Again

Check out this spectacular tip, all about unconventionally promoting your company blog. Freelancers Union says there are methods your competition probably hasn’t heard of.

Our favorite was Quora spaces. We had never heard of them – and we’ve been on Quora! So the concept behind the spaces is to allow people to categorize themselves. Want to just talk to company founders? You can.

Another tip we liked was creating teaser content. So rather than just promoting a post after it’s gone live, why not hype it beforehand?

But one thing we’ve observed wasn’t mentioned – if you tease too much, and you don’t really produce well enough to live up to the hype, people are going to stop falling prey to your teasing. So make sure you don’t overdo it.

#3. Harness the Power of the Google Snippet

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you get more prospects from Google search snippets. Conversion XL has the lowdown. First off, before continuing – read the entire article! Yes, it’s that terrific.

But our favorite tip was something perhaps a bit unexpected. It’s using your meta description and other parts of your blog posts strategically. See, the meta description is the part you see in Google under the URL (note: you may see something else – this tip covers both). Now, you will most likely add your keyword phrase anyway. But why not add synonyms? Of course, you want to be writing this for a person. Don’t stuff keywords! Or even their synonyms.

Just … don’t.

But you can use strategic similar words without appearing obnoxious and overly salesy. Hence if your blog post is on over the road trucking, then you can maybe add related words like trucker, highway, or driving.

An Example

Looking for an over the road trucking company? Our truckers love driving down the open highway and they want to drive your cargo.

Okay, so it looks kind of lame. But it fits the criteria well. So, why do you want to do this?

Easy – when your prospects ask a question on Google, the matching words will show up in your Google snippet, in bold.

Where can I find an over the road trucking company? What’s a good company to get my cargo down the highway? Do I need professional truckers to handle my cargo?

These inquiries could all potentially bring your content to the top of search results. And even better, the matching words will pop.

#2. Spy on Your Competition’s Top Landing Pages

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on gaining insights from your competition’s top landing pages. SEM Rush tells us that there are any number of insights you can glean from checking these pages. These pages, by definition, are what a prospect or customer gets to when they click from somewhere else.

Now keep in mind, this article is essentially a demonstration of how the SEM Rush product works. But the insights are still of some value. So try it yourself. But how?

Do a Little Detective Work

Have you ever shopped at your competition’s store? Whether online or in person, it’s a way to get an idea of the lay of the land. What do they offer? And what catches customers’ eyes?

You would probably disguise yourself if you were going in person – or you would hire someone to do the deed. You’re looking, although you might buy something to see how they do with checking people out. Heck, you could even try returning something and seeing how that goes.

There’s no reason whatsoever why you can’t do something similar online. You can also do this with search. If you are a residential real estate agent working in (for example) Philadelphia, then a search for Philadelphia real estate agent gets you where, exactly? What happens when you click through? And what happens if you use a variant of this search, like Philadelphia realtor or Main Line real estate agent?

Which page comes up? What are you served? And what does it seem is supposed to happen? Do you get information, or fill a shopping cart?

While doing this manually can’t get you metrics, and it’s slow, it can still get you some insights. Try it!

#1. You Can Imagine How Great it is to Understand How and When to Use Persuasive Words

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on the best persuasive words and phrases. Sales Hacker says there are words which spur sales, and others which close wallets.

And one of the most important things you can do is something so many of us do so little of – listen. We strongly encourage you to read the entire article, as it is that good. Oh, and check out how much we implemented in the title for this tip…

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Perfect productivity can be yours.

The post Achieve Perfect Productivity and More! –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

The Art and Science of Social Storytelling –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Start Social Storytelling and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Don’t Forget the Videos!

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about adding videos to your marketing strategy. The Self-Employed says video is compelling and persuasive and boy do we ever agree!

One of our favorite points in this article is all about retention of information. It seems we remember about 95% of what we view. And about 10% of what we read. Sorry, books.

This means it makes a ton of sense to add video to your bag of tricks. Video is a particularly persuasive marketing tool on mobile.

This article also has a ton of excellent tips for how to best optimize your video. After all, YouTube is the second-largest search engine, second only to Google. It makes sense to do everything in your power to make your video content discoverable.

We recommend reading the entire article. Yes, it’s that good.

#9. Set Up Your Field Sales Team for Success

The next awesome tip is about aligning the planets for your field sales team so they’ll be more successful. Open View Partners notes face to face requests are some 34 times more effective than emails. So send your sales team into the field. But don’t send them without preparation.

Their two great tips were to arm your sales people with data. And give them good mobile tools. Don’t make them squint at too-tiny screens.

Pro tip – this works in a lot of other areas. The asking in person bit, that is. So if you ever have to argue a mistake on a bill, go to the place where the bill came from, if you can. Be nice, of course. Don’t look like some loon who they’re only too eager to call the cops on.

Be there, and be reasonable. You will be hard to say no to.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Learn the art and science of social storytelling.

#8. Get More Social Media Sales

Our following life-changing tip concerns selling on social media. LinkedIn points out it’s a great source for B2B social media leads – to the tune of 80%!

As we have seen elsewhere, one terrific strategy is to showcase your expertise. In all seriousness, who wants to read about someone who’s fumbling along? Of course, they can have compelling stories. But anyone without expertise needs a ‘happy ending’ of gaining expertise. Without that, they don’t belong in the B2B marketing space, now, do they?

But we also liked the idea to help the overwhelmed decision makers among us. When there are 111 choices out there, so many of us are tempted to close our eyes and point. Guiding such people is another form of value. In truth, it’s a lot like the strategy to showcase expertise.

Helping people. Whooda thunk?

#7. Give Your Email Marketing a Boost

For our next sensational tip, we looked at best practices for email marketing. Sumo lays it all out for us. Our fave tip was to clean house! For so many email marketers, their lists have black hole-style addresses. These are people who never respond. But the email may or may not bounce. If you have an email address you only use for one thing, then you know what we mean.

Let’s say you have 1,000 bad email addresses, and you send two messages per week. Then in month, you’re sending 8,000 emails to the void. Pay a penny per email? Then you’re wasting a good $1,000 per year on the dead weight.

And there’s another thing, which the article didn’t get into. There are any number of email service providers which will ding your company if you get too many bounces. After all, bounces clog up their servers and make everything go slower.

So clean house and send re-engagement emails to stale subscribers on a regular basis. Maybe once a quarter? No response? Then sayonara; it’s been nice knowing you.

#6. Improve Your Emails

This tip is so cool, and it works! Science of People has us covered. Speaking of emailing, this article hit home in all sorts of unexpected ways.

Two tips which stood out to us were to not bury the lede (yes, that’s the spelling: you could look it up), and to not ramble on and on. Oh boy, do we love those!

But the one tip which we suspect will save both working relationships and social ones was #6. Add the address last.

This is vital. Trust us.

And check out their bonus. Someone should sew it on a sampler and hang it on a wall!

#5. Specialize in Social Storytelling

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

It’s time to wow your customers and prospects with social storytelling. Sales Hacker says it’s a way to buck the automation trend. That is, we still don’t have AI which can write a story and keep it compelling.

So, that reminds your intrepid blog post writer of a tale. See, social storytelling is everywhere! In fact it’s here most Fridays.

Social Storytelling and the Author

Now, I can’t honestly recall if I have mentioned this before. But I am an author. You know, published and everything. But of course life wasn’t always this way.

Good writing comes with training. And some of my best education came in, of all places, high school.

My 12^th grade English teacher was big on creative writing. So she gave us the formula, which I will now pass onto you.

Characters. Conflict. Crisis. Change.

That is, your story must have all four. The setting, by the way, is a form of character. And conflict can also be seen as purpose or the desired end result.

Think of your favorite stories. In The Wizard of Oz, the characters are obvious, including the title character. The conflict (desired end result) is to get Dorothy back home to Kansas. The crisis is when the team has to battle the Wicked Witch of the West. And the change is Dorothy gets to go home. While at the same time, her companions realize they had the power within them all along.

Bringing it All Back to Social Storytelling

So there’s a point to this little side junket. It’s like the tips in the article. We are talking about super-short social storytelling. As in, 20 to 30 seconds. How do you make a compelling character? Give him or her a struggle. What’s an interesting conflict or desired outcome or purpose? Something like what your customers and prospects want. What about the crisis? Where are things coming to head. When does it become do or die? And what’s the change? Where’s the happy ending?

For example – in your social storytelling, you might have a customer who’s tried everything but not been able to succeed. They want to, of course. And then things turn dire. They may realize they’re not getting any younger. Or a new baby or a house or the like means financial needs are more pressing. They need to succeed yesterday. The change, as you may have guessed, is how your product or service gets them there.

Human beings are storytellers. Social storytelling probably goes back to when we lived in caves and were first developing language. Homer told the stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey to his fellow Greeks, many of whom could neither read nor write.

Social storytelling is in our DNA. And it is powerful.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Learn the art and science of social storytelling.

#4. Social Storytelling and Social Proof in Email Marketing

Check out this spectacular tip. It’s all about using social proof in your email marketing campaigns. Sleek Note says there are lots of compelling ways to use social proof in email marketing.

We loved their examples of showing authority. You can earn it, with great reviews from your customers. Or you can borrow it, through an association with another company or organization. You can polish it up with celebrity endorsements. And you can make it newsworthy with media endorsements.

But what if you have none of these? Then it’s time to build your brand and encourage reviews, to start. Why not show a short (yes, short, as in no more than three questions) survey upon checkout? Give away a small token of your appreciation for filling it out. Maybe a 10% discount on their next shopping trip?

Then you’ll start to get some social proof.

#3. Get Down on One Knee

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can increase engagement on Facebook. BuzzSumo gives us the lowdown. They have four daily tasks to help you increase engagement.

We were so happy that these are all data-type tasks! One was to figure out when’s the best time to post on FB. Companies and their customers differ; this is not ‘one size fits all’. Your prospects might check FB at lunch. Or the morning or the evening could be their time to socialize online.

The weekend might be the right time. You’ll never know unless you keep tabs.

And you’ll also never know which content does best unless you measure. That’s their second task. What content works? What falls flat?

Do more of the former, and less of the latter.

We also loved the third task, to schedule your FB posts for the week. This is with a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer. After all, if your customers are on Facebook at 3 AM on a Tuesday, you have every right to want to sleep then!

Their fourth task was more measuring. Check your content and see if it works. For the second task, you’re looking at individual content. Here, you’re looking at the bigger picture. If quizzes do better than slideshows, then guess what you should post more often?

#2. Grow Network, Grow!

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on how to grow your network. Entrepreneur notes we don’t start networking by sending strangers random calls. We don’t press our business cards into the hands of everyone on the bus.

At least, your intrepid blog writer hasn’t done that. In a while.

(Note: that was a joke)

So start with the people you know. Classmates. Friends. Neighbors. Colleagues, both current and past. Family. They know you! And they know you’re dependable, smart, etc.

And then the second tip makes even more sense – help others before you get them to help you. Yes, you’re creating an expectation of a quid pro quo. You’re also, you know, doing the right thing.

For the third tip, we encourage you to read this article in its entirety!

#1. Stand Out in an Overcrowded Voice-Assisted World

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on standing out as a brand while your customers and prospects shop with voice assistants. You know, Siri and Alexa and the like. The Harvard Business Review says there are a few strategies which should work.

Consider that this hasn’t quite happened yet. So the HBR could change their minds later. But there was one tip which made a lot of sense to us. And it can work, in some ways, even for other types of marketing and sales.

It’s to bundle the stuff you sell. Or, at least, to suggest the similar stuff. So if you sell, say, dog treats, there’s a good chance your customers will also take an interest in dog toys. They called this affinities. Then they took this from beyond the realm of Amazon’s recommendation engine.

That is, they suggest putting together different types of customers. And cater to their particular affinities. Your young mom groceries customers might be more interested in convenience. But your hipsters who want to cook something new.

Yet again, there’s a suggestion to treat customers like individuals. You know, like people.

What a concept.

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Learn the art and science of social storytelling.

The post The Art and Science of Social Storytelling –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Three Cheers for Creative Interactive Content –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Make Awesome Creative Interactive Content and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Tricky Marketing

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about tips and tricks for marketing your small business. Young Upstarts says there are a few inexpensive ways you can stand out and start to build customer loyalty.

Perhaps our favorite tip was the one about being seen. But what does that mean, anyway?

Be Seen – Be Present

It means, quite simply, to get out from behind your keyboard and go amongst the people. Now, this is probably something which is more likely to be important if yours is a local business. But it probably can’t hurt even if your business is more or less 100% online.

True story time.

The Event

So, did you know what your intrepid blog post writer is also a published author? Yeppers.

And there is a species of marketing which goes along with being an author. In fact, every author has to do something or other like this to market their book. Yes, even Stephen King and JK Rowling! Gone are the days of just letting a publisher’s publicity department do the work. Every author has to help sell their work these days. Bigger name authors go on talk shows; little indies might take out ads on Twitter or run groups on Facebook.

And a couple of years ago, this meant going to a local convention with an indie author friend. We rented a table together and we also ran a panel discussion. Lots of fun!

But beyond fun, it was also a chance to look at marketing. For we were far from the only vendors there. And many vendors were not authors.

One which stood out was a vendor which sold comic books online. Now, they didn’t have to go to the convention. They could have simply continued their advertising efforts online. But it was a golden opportunity. Their audience dovetailed rather well with the people going to the convention (yes, we’re geeks).

Presence was exceptionally valuable. And for this company, it also meant not having to depend on Google’s search algorithms. It meant they could just meet and greet people.

Did they add to their mailing list? Probably. And those people are warm if not hot prospects. Pretty good for a $75 table and about five hours out of two people’s lives.

#9. Finding Your Elusive First Customers

The next awesome tip is about zeroing in and finding your first customers. The SBA gives us the lowdown. Now, this is kind of similar to tip #10, but also not so much.

See, they, too, suggest you be present. And they pulled a leaf right from my indie author marketing book (please put it back – don’t deface books! ), to team up with someone with a complementary but not competitive product.

But they had one great tip which was different.

Make a List and Check it Twice

Oh, Santa. You could be a great marketer the other 11 months of the year.

It’s kind of true! But what do they mean by this?

For startup companies hunting for their first customers, scouring your network is a smart way to get started. Why? Because these people already know you. Even if you’re just Facebook pals from playing Words With Friends, you’re still more familiar than someone who they’ve never, ever interacted with.

Plus most people have an altruistic streak in them. Even when it can sometimes feel as if the world is collapsing, there are a lot of folks who truly enjoy helping others.

How do you ask? Be polite and direct. “Hi, I’m starting a business. Do you know someone who might be interested in ___? Thank you for any leads you may have, and for your time.”

One thing the article doesn’t say, but your intrepid blog writer will tell you – don’t expect perfect answers. And don’t expect everyone to answer. If you can get 25% of your network to reply, and have 75% of those replies be on point, then you’re hitting it out of the park.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Engage your customers and prospects with creative interactive content.

#8. Networking for Us Introverts

Our following life-changing tip concerns networking tips for those of us who don’t find networking quite so intuitive. Small Biz Trends notes there are a lot of options if you just can’t get the hang of what often looks like a lot of glad handing.

What impressed us the most is that the listed tips tackle certain introvert anxieties head-on.

For example, for people who fear being alone with no one to talk to – bring someone with you! And for those who fear being stuck with someone they have nothing in common with – connect online first! Plus for those who can’t figure out how to break the ice – wear or carry something which is a conversation starter.

This last one truly resonated with us. It’s easy to add an interesting pin to a lapel or carry a funky purse or wear a remarkable tie. Someone is bound to ask you about your NASA pin or your dolphin tie or your Victorian era reproduction purse.

Hey, it can’t hurt.

#7. Management Rescues for Overwhelmed Team Leaders

For our next sensational tip, we looked at helping out overwhelmed team leaders with management. Entrepreneur lays it all out for us.

#6. What’s a Venture Capitalist? Why Should They Matter to You?

A venture capitalist is essentially a professional investor in new businesses. Now, not every business will be able to get VC funding. They mainly just want to toss cash at truly groundbreaking products and services. Think of Uber and Twitter.

But keep in mind – VCs don’t give money out of the goodness of their hearts. They will want a substantial chunk of your business, and they are expecting you to deliver. But if you’ve got a business which is taking off, fast, and you can’t keep up, then your business and a venture capitalist could be a match made in funding heaven.

This tip is so interesting, and it works! The Self Employed says there are best practices in every area, and that includes pitch decks. A pitch deck is the slide show you use to try to convince the VC that they should invest in your business.

We really loved the tip about bringing two separate pitch decks. One is the teaser, for when the VC doesn’t have enough time to really get into things. The other is longer, for when the VC has time and you can get into the nitty gritty.

And consider this – how considerate are you if you ask the VC if they’ve got only a little or a lot of time? Without just launching into something long without asking, you’re telegraphing a lack of respect for the VC’s time and interest level.

Food for thought, eh?

#5. Amp Up the Engagement with Creative Interactive Content

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Creative interactive content is where it’s at! Buzz Sumo tells us all about it.

Different Kinds of Creative Interactive Content

So you have undoubtedly seen most if not all of these. And the first and perhaps most prevalent one is … (drum roll please)

The mighty quiz!

If you’ve ever whiled away a few minutes to figure out which type of plum you are, then you’ve taken an online quiz. And while such a topic is utterly silly (for the record – your intrepid blog writer has never seen such a quiz although there is a fruit quiz – I’m a banana, apparently).

Quizzes are simple, and they are also kind of a sneaky way of getting information on people. After all, let’s say you sold women’s shoes. Then it would help to know who’s daring and who’s more sedate. That could change how you market to some people – the stilettos or the sneakers.

Figure it Out

We also loved the calculators. And, in fact, we’ve looked at online business calculators before.

The beauty of creative interactive content is that it’s not just helpful to your customers and prospects. It’s also helpful for keeping your website visitors on the page.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Engage your customers and prospects with creative interactive content.

#4. This is How We Get Skynet

Check out this spectacular tip, all about using artificial intelligence in your business. Quuu says there are some terrific ways to incorporate using AI. Now, we’ve heard of chat bots already (and we’ve even covered them).

But there was one area which we really loved.

AI Hiring

Here us out. Or, rather, hear Quuu out. There are any number of lower level tasks which run through the hiring process. Use AI to weed out candidates and to bring other candidates to the fore. You know, the folks with better qualifications.

AI can also bring analytics into the process – and you know how much we love analytics here! Imagine understanding why one version of an ad worked, and another didn’t. Or understanding how and why a few changed words cut down the number of applicants who aren’t good for the job. Because weeding through applicants who have no business being in the applicant pool is a waste of time!

But our favorite part had to do with bias. Using artificial intelligence in hiring can help combat conscious and unconscious biases, so you hire people because of their qualifications, not their looks.

#3. Get on the Training Train

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you with employee training. Effortless HR tells us something which we wish was more intuitive. What’s that?

People have differing learning styles.

So for the people who do best with repeated phrases, big posters might not do the trick. And for folks who need to be hands-on, just showing them won’t help until they can do the work for themselves.

#2. Find Fresh New Vendors

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on scouting for new vendors. Under 30 CEO points out working with vendors is vital to every business. And this is beyond the vendor credit tier.

Which vendor is the best one to handle your shipping needs? Or packaging? They aren’t all the same. So the article – which we highly recommend you read in its entirety – points out some considerations you may not have, well, considered.

Price, location, and product quality are pretty much a given when it comes to what to think about. But your packager – are they green? Do they offer bulk discounts? How big an order do you need to make before the discount kicks in? After all, a discount is meaningless if your business will never qualify for it.

#1. Create a Great Google Shopping Feed

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on success in the Google shopping feed. Founder U says there are a number of things to think about. By the way, the Google shopping feed is just another way to talk about the ads which come up when you search.

The article thoughtfully explains how to best write ad copy for the Google shopping feed. We loved their idea of thinking about a game of ‘I Spy’ when writing product copy. The other tip we loved was to use the most common name for what you’re talking about.

So it’s a movie, not a film. And it’s a shoe, not a brogan.

The entire article is so helpful we recommend reading it in its entirety. And get better placement and results!

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Engage your customers and prospects with creative interactive content.

The post Three Cheers for Creative Interactive Content –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31