One of my mentors used to often say that there are two kinds of business owners in the world – the kind that think there are two kinds of people in this world and the kind that don’t. Man, did he think that was funny. All kidding aside, most of you reading this really will fall into one of two camps:
Camp One has wondered if the internet might be something that could actually help their business – but you either aren’t sure if that is true, or aren’t sure how to get started in a way that will lead to effectiveness. Your concern is that, since you are already as busy as can be, you wonder if you can take on the time and/or financial commitments that must be involved in making an online presence work to your advantage. So you have done little to nothing to move your business’ message online.
Camp Two has given this internet thing a shot – only it hasn’t worked out nearly like you had hoped. Continue reading »
When I was a teenager, I learned a valuable lesson about dating from one of the Wise Men in my life. He told me if my goal was to get a girl to go on a date with me (I know quaint, huh? Oh for simpler times), I had two options.
Strategy Number One involved asking as many girls as possible. If I asked enough girls enough times, one of them was bound to say yes. Got to love those odds, although maybe I was going to have to sacrifice a bit on “quality.”
Strategy Number Two involved focusing in on one single girl, spending the same amount of effort as in #1, but completely focused on a smaller “market.” The odds were lower, but she was perfect.
I’ve realized two funny things about this lesson over the years. First, he was right. Really these were my only options that weren’t depressing – who wants to wait for a friend to set you up with someone. Second, these same two strategies are what I get to choose from when looking at search engine marketing.
The principle holds true whether you are talking about Search Engine Optimization or Paid Marketing such as Google Adwords. In either case, you can pursue your customers with as very broad net, or stalker-like precision. Continue reading »
Believe it or not, having the option to say no, and even better giving this option to your employees, is one of the quickest ways to a lot of yes in your business.
Popular opinion is that you always, always, always want to be able to say yes to your customers. The problem with that thinking is that it draws in a lot of customers who maybe shouldn’t really be your customers – or at least should be so on better terms. Terms you can actually live with.
You have all heard the stories of companies that say yes all the time – even to customers who are just plain ridiculous. And in all these stories, it works out in the end. Nordstroms gets a big article in the Wall Street Journal for giving some lady a refund on her snow tires. The lady is happy, the company is happy with the press. People who shop at Nordies feel better about paying too much because they are doing so with a great company. See? Everybody wins.
How about the other stories though? The ones that Continue reading »
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