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Entrepreneurs: ASK and ye shall GET

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:00:48 +0000

Business owners are salespeople first

Oftentimes we as entrepreneurs rue about why we are getting a raw deal, why our commitment to superior service levels is not valued enough to bring in bigger, larger orders, why our products are not selling like hot cakes.

The problem, quite often, lies not in our products or services or even at the client’s end. Its something more fundamental. Its simply because we don’t ask! No, don’t let this shock you. Most of us respond to direct requests instead of indirect requests cushioned in words that are supposed to ’sell’ but sadly fall flat in the face.

And this principle holds good even when trying to engage customers or when recruting and retaining an able team. An entrepreneur is a salesperson from whichever perspective you may look at it. To your customers, you sell yor products, to your employees the work environ at your company, to your investors a promise of higher returns, the list goes on. So its little wonder that what holds good for a salesperson holds good for an entrepreneur as well.

The moot point therefore is that one must completely rid oneself of any hesitation and back it up with sound planning.

Lets take a simple example – you have just been told by your seo manager that client testimonials when added to the landing pages of your website can improve the conversion rates. You have scores of really happy clients but no recorded testimonials. What will you do? Will you send out a direct personal request to your top clients asking for a formal review of your services? One would have thought the answer would be a very vehement and obvious Yes.

I was shocked, however, when I recently came in touch with not one, but three recent entrepreneurs, all of them professionals with very impressive resumes to boot, hesitating to pick up the phone and ask their few existing clients for testimonials.
Can you imagine how difficult it must then be for them to ask prospects for sales? What is it that holds these academically successful people back? Is it because it is considered rude to ask people directly for what you want? Is it the fear of rejection that does it? Isn’t not asking, and therefore not getting what you want rejection as well?

Having said that, it does not mean that asking ensures that we will get what we want. But yes, it does increase the probability manifold. When we ask, we put the control in our hands. The answer may be a NO and be prepared to hear a NO. Even hearing a ‘no” can be turned into an advantage. When you hear a no, have the courage to ask why it is a no. Is it because of external factors? Is it because your research or customer segmentation was wrong? Is it because your positioning was wrong? Is it because they are not happy with your service? If it is something that is in your control, rectify it and then go back and ask again.

This may appear to be elementary stuff but it takes a lot of the go-getter attitude to get it right. By not assuming that the person across the table will find it rude, get offended, picture us as greedy, has no need for my product or service, we will do ourselves and our fledgling businesses a great favour. Sometimes, it just helps to not think too much and get down with the “doing’ bit.

How to make your small business thrive online

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:31:31 +0000

Small businesses thrive online…declares Verizon’s site. If there is one business segment that the internet has done maximum good for, it has to be the “small business” segment – be it a mom-and-pop shop in a remote part of the world or a small manufacturing unit in a big city.

Internet has made it easy to reach out to far flung markets like never before. It has made communication way cheaper than what it used to be in the olden days. Skype phone calls, IM conversations with clients are a norm now. And a website provides you with a 24×7x365 office – reachable anytime, anywhere. That is the beauty of the internet.

Those who boarded the bus early will gladly vouch for it as they also benefited from easier search engine indexing (read visibility). Since there was lesser online competition then, search engine promotion too involved far lesser efforts and hence resources.

If you are still sitting on the fence, wondering whether to jump into the online world or to continue to rely only on the conventional ways of doing business, I hope this article and the next in the series will help you make up your mind.

Lets start with the basics – Test waters before diving in – May be you are not ready yet to dole out a few thousands getting a website done, may be you have seen friends and associates not benefit from their websites, or may be you just don’t have the time or resources currently to work out a web strategy for your business! Whatever may the reason be, it is best to wait instead of making a half-baked effort. But in the meantime, do the following:

1. Get listed: Search for relevant online trade boards, trade directories and regional/area directories. And list your business in them. Some of these directories may be free while some may have a listing fee.

Write a clear, concise description of your products or services, making use of “keyphrases” – words that you think your target customer will enter in the search engine while looking for your offerings.

Make sure your address and other contact info is included. A 24×7 phone number where people can reach you will help. Or else, where possible, mention the best time to call and include Contact Person’s name.

Some directories may not allow you individual fields to enter all of the above information, in which case you can include the necessary info in the Description area.

2. Follow your competition: Yes, sometimes it makes sense to follow them first to defeat them at what they are doing better than you! Think of your top 3 competitors. Search for them in Google, yahoo and msn and see the results you get. The list is likely to show you where all your competitors can be found on the web. You may find some sites or directories that missed your attention earlier. List your business there.

3. Help others to help yourself: If you are an expert in your field or if you have unique products or services, look out for online discussion forums relevant to your industry. Often you will find visitors discussing issues and seeking advice. It might be something that you have faced yourself earlier…may be it’s a problem you helped a client solve recently…talk about it. Offer a solution if you have one and you can’t help being noticed. Not just by the person seeking advice but also by those who may reach the discussion, in the future, while looking for a solution to a similar problem. Just make sure your business or contact info (very briefly) is appended to your reply.

4. Say it aloud: If you have an opinion that can count in your industry, say it aloud. Start a discussion on a forum or participate in a hotly debated blog post. And when you do so, leave your business name, a few words describing your business and an email address in your signature. If you make yourself heard (read seen), they are likely to notice your signature and contact you further. Even if it does not translate into business, you would probably make some interesting contacts in the industry. Possibly interact with peers in other countries and learn something on the way.
Make sure however that your post or discussion is relevant to your business.

4. Network judiciously: There are tons of networking sites out there. Most definitely you get an average of atleast an invite a week to one of these sites. Not all of these networking sites are meant for business but there are plenty out there that can help you reach out to the right people. LinkedIn.com, Xing.com, Ryze.com are some such sites.

5. IM Communication: While this one is not directly related to an online web presence, IM communication makes it to the list by virtue of its cost-effectiveness and its wide-spread usage and acceptance. If you are still not using IMs like yahoo messenger, msn, Google talk or Skype for making phone calls or engaging in text discussions in real time, try them out today!

Millions of small businesses make huge cost savings by using IMs for their communication needs. Easy to use and costing virtually nothing, they are the best modes of communication for SMEs reaching out to clients across the globe.

6. Start a Blog: It costs nothing and you can set up one in minutes. Blogger.com, wordpress.com are some of the popular sites offering free blogs. Set up one and have your say. If your writings provide information and your musings add value, traffic will come and with that will come your clients.

SEO Tactics for your website

admin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:45:00 +0000

Randfish of SEOmoz daily seo blog shows how the various seo tactics stack up vis-a-vis black hat/ white hat seo and their value. There is also a Venn diagram of the various Internet Marketing Professions. It is one of those posts that you read and smile and nod to yourself. Its a good article. Recommend a read if you are internet marketing interests you.

A few points I found interesting in the post were:

- Do follow blog comments fall in the Black Hat-High Value quadrant. Black Hat!

- So is paid directory link building. What if these happen to be genuine industry directory listings I wonder?

- Viral content, expectedly is at the extreme end of the high-value side of the spectrum while Search engine submission is at the opposite end.

- Keyword research, on-page optimisation, xml-sitemaps, internal link architecture get a thumbs up both in terms of value and ethics.

Take a look at the seo tactics scatterplot here.