Friend And Follow Marketing

Did you know that more Americans use the Internet than read a newspaper every day? That’s bad news for publishers, but great news for business owners and managers looking for ways to reach customers. If you’re like most business operators when you think of the Internet, you visualize a website for your company—and plenty of them have been built at considerable cost and effort. But there are other ways to use the ever-evolving online medium that can be just as (if not more) effective—and costs a whole lot less.

One way to market in cyberspace is with a blog, a type of web presence that has many interesting possibilities. A blog can be nothing more than a simple collection of written entries about anything (or nothing) that’s posted on the web for the curious to read. There should also be a place for you to advertise and write about your company’s history and the things you do. You can also link to your shop’s conventional website. You might even be able to sell advertising on your blog to other local businesses as well as to your vendors. Blogs are cheap (often free!) and very, very easy to create. I got started at www.blogger.com (a service owned by Google) and just followed the easy online instructions.

Another approach is to sign up for Facebook or Twitter or one of the other rapidly proliferating social networks. While there are some major differences between blogging and marketing through social networks, many of the same principles apply. The main feature of both is a sort of message board where you make diary-like entries about topics of interest. The entries don’t have to be long or even particularly literate just as long as they’re about subjects you think your customers care about. The biggest added feature of a social network page is your ability to reach customers (and potential customers) who have signed up to “friend” you. With luck, they’ll keep their connection to you and see your messages every time they visit their own social site page.

But how do you use a blog to market your business? By making it the centerpiece of an online community of your customers and potential customers. What makes either one a “community” is your customers’ ability to post their own messages along with yours, either in response to the ones you’ve posted or about subjects that they’d like to discuss. In fact, it’s this interactive feature that sets a blog apart from a traditional website (although you can have similar features there, too). A blog or social network site also gives you opportunities to help the physical community as well, which most business owners consider good for business. A substantial side benefit is that your business enjoys some of the same “halo effect” that an event sponsor gets—at considerably less expense.

If putting your business into cyberspace has seemed like more trouble than it’s worth, maybe now is the time to reconsider your decision. A Facebook page or blog is cheap, easy, and can be a very effective marketing tool.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Selling In Cyberspace

Many business owners have considered how much - if any - time and money they should devote to marketing online. The Internet does offer many exciting business growth possibilities, however. The marketing possibilities are limited only by your imagination, your pocketbook, manpower, and patience.

Art and craft galleries, just one of the many types of businesses on the net, have been marketing online for many years. The website is essentially another complete business location--which happens to draw customers and artists from around the world who shop with their keyboard, mouse, and credit card. Artique Galleries' owner, Mike Stutland, put his Lexington, KY, galleries online in 1999 and says, “The web site has attracted customers from beyond our normal market area. It has brought people into our stores, especially through our links with many tourist information sites.” Those customers may well not have been reached otherwise and therefore represent new sales.

In order to compete for the attention of online customers, the former Chairman/CEO of Valentine Radford Advertising in Kansas City, Mo., Chuck Curtis, offers some tips based on the agency’s survey of 1000 online shoppers.

1. 89% of Internet shoppers use the Internet for product information. Make sure your web site is rich in product details.

2. 45% of Internet shoppers click on their local newspaper and 32% click on their local television station site. This is good news for businesses who can inexpensively buy advertising just on the local media’s web site.

3. Also buy advertising in the email news updates that local news media send out. About half of online shoppers have signed up for these.

4. 58% of these shoppers have signed up for an online loyalty program. It’s a smart idea to reward your best customers with a frequent buyer plan (like the frequent flier programs run by the airlines.) For example: Get a 10% discount on your next purchase when you spend $50.

5. More than a third of the survey (38%) use a wish list feature on the site for their purchases. These are items they would like to buy, but can’t purchase at the moment, and they register their desires online.

6. About two-thirds of the time a shopper will research a product online and then buy it in the store.

7. Many retailers will publish their coupons for in-store use online because the distribution costs are so much lower than putting them in the newspaper or on direct mail.

8. Between 40% and 60% of shoppers (depending upon the amount they spend) strongly object to shipping charges. Many retailers build the price of these into the products, or offer free shipping above a certain amount; e.g., “Free shipping when you spend $50 or more.”

9. 81% of shoppers expect to find a wider selection of products online. Remember that your market online is worldwide. If you find items that you can’t display in your store because of limited retail space, put them on your web site.

With these essential tips from the pros you can take your business to the next level when it comes to online marketing, business growth, and sales.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Building Business Without Cutting Prices

Price-cutting competitors are like rust on a steel tool: as soon as you clean it off, it starts forming again. And, just like insidious oxidation, price-cutters can’t be ignored. If you don’t pay attention, they’ll erode your company’s business. One way to respond to price competition is to meet or beat it at the lowball game. Unfortunately, there always seems to be somebody willing to go even lower and your bottom line suffers as a result. Is there any way one can respond to this unrelenting competition? Two automotive shop owners have found alternative solutions.

One way is to diversify so that you can afford to pass up a job or two without worrying about its impact on your bottom line. Pete Bennett, owner of CoachCraft, Inc., in Lexington, Kentucky, provides as many automotive restyling services as he can think of in a successful effort to build revenue and fully use his shop’s capacity. “As long as we’re promoting quality and being fair about pricing, I don’t worry too much about our competitors,” Bennett says. Volume is important, but not at the expense of quality. According to Bennett, who believes better work supports higher prices. “The quality speaks for itself. “

Bennett not only tries to attract many different types of work, he also maintains a balance between retail customers and dealer subcontracts. He estimates that his business is split just about equally between the two. Retail jobs generate a higher profit margin, of course, but the dealer business provides volume to maintain capacity utilization. Because he has both, Bennett can afford to maintain his prices, even to dealers.

Lee Muntean, owner of AAA Convertible & Sun Roofs in Costa Mesa, California, has adopted exactly the opposite strategy for beating the competition. He targets a niche market and does one thing—but he does it very, very well. This approach provides a strong floor under his prices.

His pricing for dealers and general repair shops isn’t driven by a need to beat the competition, but there is another factor he takes into account: the dealer’s margin. When it comes to pricing work subcontracted to him by body shops and garages, he’s careful to allow them to make a profit without undercutting his retail price. “One thing I don’t want them to do is give the jobs away. That hurts me,” Muntean says. In the ideal situation, the garage’s customer would pay the same if he came directly to Muntean and vice versa.

Any business owner or manager will tell you there is always somebody willing to undercut your price. One way to respond is to make a knee-jerk price cut of your own. As these two successful business owners demonstrate, though, that’s not necessarily the only way to build your business.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Fathers, Sons, and God

The approach of Father's Day sent me to the archives for short stories I've written on the theme. I found four about the relationships between fathers and sons. They're available as an ebook mini-anthology from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. As I was choosing the stories, I discovered they all had another common theme:

Is God our father? Are our fathers gods? These four short stories explore what happens when fathers and sons look God in the eye and ask “why?”

In “A Tale Of The Christ,” The epic movie Ben Hur weaves through a boy’s tragic summer.

Like an impressionist's painting, “Tooth Fairy Daddy” explores a boy’s feelings for the father he visits on weekends.

At the end of his hard life, Konstantinos struggles with the debts owed him by his church and his God in “The Mark On The Dove.”

“Johnnie Reader” uses books to escape reality, then discovers they can save his soul.

The collection is priced at $0.99 and includes bonus chapters from two novels, Heart Of Diamonds and Hunting Elf.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Help For Golfers

Like nearly 90% of all golfers, I've spent way too much time in the right rough--or worse. The slice, as you probably know, is the biggest single fault in most golfers' games. But now you can banish your banana ball with the help of my friend Brian Crowell and his new book, Slice-Free Golf In Three Easy Steps.

I had the pleasure of working on this book with Brian, handling the photography and design among other things, and in the process I learned a lot about my golf swing. It was kind of like having a three-month golf lesson with one of the top teaching pros in the country. You can get the same kind of advice I did--and get more control over your game--with the simple lessons Brian teaches and the drills he uses to help you hit the ball straighter and farther.

Slice-Free Golf doesn't have any gimmicks, but there does seem to be a little magic in the way Brian explains his system for the set-up, swing, and follow-through that will lower your scores. He also uses an unconventional approach to somethings most golfers take for granted. When it comes to set-up, for example, Brian doesn't start with the grip, but with alignment. Makes sense, doesn't it? How can you aim the club face until you know for sure where to point it?

Then there is the swing itself. Like all great teachers, Brian has the ability to create images that stay in the pupil's mind. His "eye in your chest" is a fabulous reminder to keep your shoulders slightly closed through impact in order to hit your shot with a little draw spin.

Slice-Free Golf has over 200 images like these that you can mentally call up when you need them. If you need a little tangible reminder, there's a cut-out page you can use at the range--or even on the course--to remind you of the specifics of the slice-free swing. There are also over two dozen drills Brian has developed over the years to help ingrain good swing habits in the thousands of golfers he's taught.

But don't just take my word for it. Here's what all-time-great Gary Player had to say about Slice-Free Golf:

"Don’t let the slice diminish your enjoyment of this great game. If cutting the ball is frustrating you, please read Slice-Free Golf. Your score will improve and you’ll have more fun on the links. My friend Brian Crowell can help you to get the most out of your swing. He is an accomplished PGA instructor who has a very clear and comfortable way of communicating with his students. Slice-Free Golf is proof of both his effectiveness as a teacher and Brian’s hatred of the dreaded slice."

For more information about how you can banish your banana ball, visit www.slicefreegolf.com. You can get your copy of Slice-Free Golf directly from the publisher or your favorite bookseller. It's also available as an ebook for Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and other devices.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Building Attention For Your Ads

One of the biggest, fastest-growing segments of the automotive performance industry is the off-road market, but beware of approaching it as if it were a monolithic mass. The market ranges from axle-busting rock crawlers and dust-eating dune racers to soccer moms whose grill-guarded, suspension-jacked, fog-lighted SUV’s never touch any surface rougher than the gravel drive at their weekend home at the lake. Each customer is different, but they’ve all got wallets ready to open to trick out their 4WD ride.

What differentiates these customers from each other is the way they use their off-road vehicle. What’s usually the same is what they want from the shop they choose: knowledgeable service. Industry experts believe that you’ve got to know the customer: “You’ve got the customer who knows the product, and he doesn’t want to talk to somebody who doesn’t know anything,” industry veteran Rusty Megois says. “Then you’ve got the other guy who has done the Internet research, read the magazines, but they’re still not sure. They rely a lot on what you tell them.”

That’s why shop and off-road park owner Carl Roy says he and his staff don’t sell anybody anything. Instead, “We explain things like the importance between differential ratio and tire size, weight balance and distribution, ground clearance, approach and departure angles, wheel speed versus the inertia of the vehicle.” He operates Performance Off-Road, Inc., in Alexandria, Kentucky.

Roy stresses the importance of learning as much as you can about the individual customer: “When it comes to what they want, it depends on their level of experience. For some of them, name recognition means a great deal, there’s a certain amount of brand loyalty. Others, it may come down to who had the best magazine ad that month.” The hard-core customer still sets the standard for the market, even though there are vast differences from one to another in that market segment and their tastes are changing, too.

Another factor to take into consideration is price. Price doesn’t seem to be as much of a concern to off-road customers as it is in other performance markets, although it’s always there in the customer’s mind somewhere.

There is also the influence of the Internet, which as Megois believes, “has made us all more competitive." But Roy believes that: “The Internet gives us a focal point to start the discussion. A lot of people will come in with an ad they’ve printed out and say ‘I’d like this for my Jeep. Can you beat that price?' That creates the opportunity for us to take them out and illustrate that there are differences—qualitative differences, warranty differences, product support differences, engineering philosophies—and how those transcend the price points of the product.”

Ultimately, the experts believe that quality time does the trick. “The amount of time we spend with the customer is our competitive advantage,” Roy says. “Everybody out there is selling the same stuff we are. The only advantages we offer are the experience and abilities we have.”

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Need Help Closing The Sale?

Closing the sale is the most misunderstood of all the selling skills. It’s also probably the most over-rated. But there’s no mystery involved. Just make the goal of every sales call to leave a happy customer behind. If you concentrate on sound communication and long-term relationships, you’ll find it easy to ask for the order.

Approach closing opportunities with the idea that every sales call should give the customer yet another reason to do business with you—again. It’s a pro-active, pro-customer way to look at your job. When it comes time to ask for the order, it’s easy!

“Fear Of Closing” takes the mystery out of the process and puts closing the sale into the context of improving your customer relationships.

“Buying Signals” explains how to recognize buyer behavior that says they’re ready to make a commitment. That’s the time to ask for the order.

“Closing Techniques” explores some of the standard approaches to making the sale happen—as well as some you might not expect.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Selling Hours

If you take the time to consider the break down of your work day, you’ll quickly see that you do not have many selling hours. In reality, you don’t even have the standard eight working hours to devote entirely to your sales. I estimate that most salespeople only have about five and a half hours to make sales every daily. This is because you can only make face-to-face presentations when your prospects and customers are available. Even working an extra hour in the morning and one at night won’t mean getting more face time with prospects.

Occasionally, of course, you’ll have breakfast and lunch meetings with customers, squeeze in one last call at 4:45 PM, etc. But for the most part, you’ll find it difficult to consistently make appointments with anyone before 9:30 AM because your prospects are busy organizing their own day (which does not revolve around you). Much the same holds true for lunch, which seldom starts at noon or lasts exactly an hour for most decision makers and influencers.

Here’s what a typical sales day looks like:
8 – 9:30 AM Arrive at office, attend meetings, organize day, leave for first call
9:30 AM – 12 PM Prime Sales time
12 – 1:30 PM Lunch, return phone calls, paperwork, leave for calls
1:30 – 4:30 PM Prime Sales time
4:30 – 6 PM Return to office, return phone calls, attend meetings, paperwork

As you can see, you have five hours and 30 minutes of prime selling time in the day. How do you maximize it? Using the priority system you’ve set up, you have to plan your activities.

“Plan your work and work your plan” is yet another “golden oldie” sales adage. And it’s a good one because it describes the essence of sound time management. It’s not enough to lay out a plan, you have to execute it to get any benefit from it. In fact, if you don’t “work your plan,” you’ve wasted the time it took to draw it up.

You can spend a lot of time planning. You can also invest hundreds of dollars in account management software and cross-indexed leather-bound time management systems. Or you can make up a “to do” list on a napkin at the coffee shop where you start your day. These are all planning systems that can work. I suggest trying something in between.

You need both long-term and short-term plans. Or call them strategic and tactical plans, if you have a military frame of mind. Which one is more important? Neither. They serve two distinct but equally important purposes.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Congo Explained

If you want to understand the tragedy that is the Democratic Republic of Congo, put aside the mythology and read Dancing In The Glory of Monsters. Jason Stearns has untangled the snarling mess that is the history of this sad nation.

As someone who's researched and written about the Congo myself, I found new insights into the interminable conflicts that have wracked the country for it's entire modern history. Stearns clearly delineates the players, putting them into context and showing how they interacted to make the Congo what it is today. He carefully explains the role of Rwanda's Paul Kagame and other outsiders in the turmoil, but also delineates the power hunger and short-comings of the Congo's own leaders, including current President Joseph Kabila.

Most importantly, Stearns shows how there is no one single cause of the Congo's troubles. He calmly shows how tribal rivalries fuel the strife just as much as the struggle to control the country's mineral wealth. He explains how the internal politics of Zimbabwe, Uganda, Angola, and other countries in addition to Rwanda led to their deep involvement in the DRC's wars. While he rightfully deplores the epidemic of rape in the Congo, he puts it in context and doesn't dwell on it--not because it's not important, but because there's much more to the story.

I found it refreshing that Stearns resists the impulse to blame rapacious multinational corporations for much of anything except trying to find a way to do business in the Congo. He doesn't ignore the many shortcomings of most of the deals to exploit the Congo's riches, but correctly points out that most of them were struck by Congolese leaders eager to fund their own ambitions. He leaves the conspiracy theories to other, less informed writers.

Dancing In The Glory Of Monsters is an objective, clear-eyed look at one of the greatest ongoing tragedies in modern history.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Amateur Golf's Last Hurrah

Could two amateur golfers beat two of the world's greatest professionals? Once upon a time, they might. Mark Frost tells the story of just such a contest in his account of The Match: The Day The Game Of Golf Changed Forever. But this isn't a fairy tale. It is instead a can't-put-it-down true account of a high-stakes game played in 1956 on one of golf's most spectacular courses by four of the game's legendary competitors.

Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson are the pros. They have fourteen major championships between them. Coming from the same caddie yard, the once-close competitors haven't spoken in years--but they teamed up to face the two leading amateurs of the day, Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi. Both of these young men competed at the highest levels of the game in the hallowed tradition of Bobby Jones. As a match-play team, they had never been defeated. The venue for the match? Storied Cypress Point, whose fairways follow craggy cliffs and rocky promontories swept by the winds of the Pacific while the ocean crashes below.

Frost lays out the play stroke by stroke, pacing the narrative with revealing histories of the players and other notables inolved in the day. He puts the game into context, pointing out that this day marked the end of the amateur era and the ascendance of the professional. While the match itself is compelling, the after-stories make fascinating reading, too, especially for those of us interested in the history of our great game.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.