Jan 22 2016

JOLT YOUR BUSINESS WITH FEARLESS REALITY

Cold Calls Jolt Business

 lightning

With FEARLESS! Reality

 

Love it or hate it, there is nothing like a bunch of cold sales calls to snap a ho-hum corporate or entrepreneurial business attitude into a realm of FEARLESS! reality. (Sorry, had to sneak in the link to my big project!)

It’s the place where the proverbial rubber meets the road, but typically gets dismissed as trivial, or “jittery” or time-wasting (“Other people are paid to do that!”). It’s oh so easy to wave it away with comments like: “I already did that stuff” or “I’m way past that” or “who needs it?”… or some other lame excuse.

But truth is that –something like a cold shower– it’s a great wake-up experience, a terrific way to recharge batteries, and it will definitely flash you back to what’s really important in business: HOW you communicate with a prospect to turn her or him into a grateful and loyal customer.

This does not happen with marketing automation.

It does not happen via email.

It does not happen on Twitter or LinkedIn or Facebook.

It doesn’t happen with clever advertising or cataclysmic branding lines.

Those may all be contributing factors that lead up to a purchase decision, but –in the end– it happens in the flesh, in person or on the phone, or through a referral from someone who’s been sold in person or on the phone. It often occurs when an online-generated order is easily and pleasantly placed — or bungled. A prospect becomes a customer when perceived value of your product or service rises to the surface.

building valueIf your marketing program is not delivering the sales you believe are possible, lead your support team to the sidewalk and make cold calls. Have them all make cold calls. Be reminded of the importance of listening 80% of the time, of addressing energy to the prospect’s concerns, issues, questions, observations, not yours. If your team needs some refresher points or sales training first, do it. Or bite the bullet and recruit some outside help. A fun/challenge attitude helps!

Then talk about the process, about what happened with each encounter, about the time and effort involved, and start to adjust your sales program and approach to reflect what you and your team learn from the experience . . . 2-3 days of pounding the pavement will be well spent, even as it may seem wasteful.

The best time to put this exercise to work is when things aren’t working the way you think they should. Can you and your team spare the time? The next question is the answer: Can you spare the lost or inadequate sales? Remember when you strip away all the decorations, the reason for being in business is to engage and nurture and please your customers. And even when this consciousness is present, there’s a tendency to overlook street smarts learning.

Cold sales call selling is like an electric jolt reminder. And if you stay open-minded and pay hard attention to what you and others learn from the process, your business will grow.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

 

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Sep 17 2015

DAY 9 – 30 Days To The New Economy

Your Role In History As An Entrepreneur

Internet Stardom

Adapted from the book 30 DAYS TO THE NEW ECONOMY written and published by Peggy Salvatore

 

In that relatively innocent new era of radio and television, 1960s, pop art hero Andy Warhol was credited with saying that “Everyone gets their 15 minutes of  fame!” [Below: Andy Warhol self-portrait poster]

Andy Warhol self-portrait

At times–for a population that mostly grew up, with “noses to the grindstone,” laboring at survival jobs–Warhol’s quote seemed both outrageous and yet almost true. After all, we all know (and probably knew even in those days) people who’ve been interviewed by the media. Even your sister might be approached by a reporter holding a microphone while she’s walking her dog in the park.

But before the Internet–when Warhol made his assumptive prediction (predictable assumption?)–you still had to get through a few filters, no matter how thin, before grabbing your 15 minutes! Those filters might be a newspaper reporter covering a fire, a television producer looking for contestants or a book publisher searching for the next Gone With The Wind.

Contrast all that with today. INTERNET JOE***is not subject to filters . . . except his own. Under his own volition, Internet Joe can get a URL with his name.com, put up a video on YouTube and publicize it to the world on Facebook and Twitter. Internet stardom is wholly within one’s personal discretion. And except for the $5 a month for the cost of a website, all this stardom is free.

***[See series posts from Day 5 and DAY 6 to get better acquainted with “Internet Joe.”]

For the average self-absorbed teenager or aspiring garage rock band, imagine the possibilities. No, even better: activate the possibilities! Surf Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to see what the unfiltered masses look like and how they behave. Then ponder for a moment the value of filters (professionals with judgment) and decide what is realistically worthy of public attention. Might educated, critical judgment have a place in this cacophony?

Just for fun, turn that last paragraph on its head. Go ahead and surf Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to see what the unfiltered masses consider valuable. But then stop for a moment and ponder the hurdles that professional filters create. By appointing themselves moderators of public taste and morés, the professionals with judgment (corporations and governments) had the pre-Internet power to determine the direction of humanity. People were driven into moral and cultural cattle chutes. The cows are free.

             Marilyn Monroe by 1960’s pop artist Andy Warhol

Marilyn Monroe by 1960's pop artist Andy Warhol

Big-time TV and movie stars were the people who made it through the process, whatever that was. Internet stars are people who choose to put themselves out as a brand. In the areas of business, entertainment and even just average-Joe-dom, people who are branding themselves and their names are having massive success making themselves Internet stars. The personal face and name as a brand exudes trust that has great value in the oceans of information out there.

People who are willing to put their smiling visage on their emails and website create a sense of trust among customer and strategic partnership prospects, as well as referral bases and networkers. (Would you do business with a social media ghosted silhouette profile image instead of a real face?) Trust breeds business. It always has and it always will. Internet stardom means success for Internet Joe.

We do business with people, not pixels, but

 photos of faces start us on the right track.

 

Have you branded yourself? Do people know what you look like? And do people know your story? Do they know what you think? Or do they at least think they know what you think? Can they “hear” your voice?

If your answers are yes to these questions, you are a brand . . . and you are well on the way to Infinity!

# # #

 

C’mon back MONDAY 9/21 for Day 10 to see if you match up with the 4 critical characteristics of successful entrepreneurs!

When you need some personal, one-on-one coaching beyond the Internet offerings, give us a call. (Direct line numbers on masthead above.) In the meantime, follow us HERE for FREE for the next 21 weekdays to see what others think, and discover some of the surprise findings we have in store for you—new and proven “mental apps” to apply to your own entrepreneurial and business development!
———-
For more information on Peggy Salvatore’s book: 30 Days to the New Economy [© Peggy Salvatore 2015. All Rights Reserved.] click on ENTREPRENEUR NEWS or visit ow.ly/RysnP for the E-book

# # #
Hal@Businessworks.US           Peggy@Businessworks.US

Open Minds Open Doors

Thanks for your visit and make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Apr 08 2015

FACEBOOK QUICKSAND

Facebook logothumbs down logoIf you’re

 

IN business, get OUT of Facebook.

 

Like every other niche in life, undoubtedly, there are those dwelling in and passing through the halls of business who will be quick to dismiss this post (especially Facebook employees). But as Shakespeare once said: “The truth will out!”

And the truth is: If you own and/or manage any** business, and you’re actively involved with Facebook:  you are wasting your time and energy. And lost opportunities are probably costing you more money than you would want to believe. [**any except perhaps retail]

Facebook does appear to serve as a meaningful distraction for government, corporate and academic employees. And given the boredom of that typically committee-cluttered, no-sense-of-urgency career existence, the attraction/diversion is understandable. But for entrepreneurs, Facebook is an unproductive addiction. It is simply not worthy of your attention, or even your interest, never mind your active indulgence. It literally eats up your clock!

“Yes, but,” I hear some say, “it’s the only way I can find out what my kids/grandkids are up to!” Then settle for it being a weekend addiction. Going to Facebook ANYtime between rise-and-shine Monday and nighty-night Friday is like a visit to the dentist for business owner/ manager Facebook fanatics. They too often end up holding their numb jaws while the Novocaine wears off when the reality comes home that time and energy and money has gone a-wasting.

“Okay, so Twitter is better, right?Is there any difference in being obsessed with Twitter for any reason other than to promote your business interests (which is likely to be far better accomplished, btw, on LinkedIn) . . . or with being obsessed with the news (unless you’re in the news business)?

Bottom line: If you’re a genuine entrepreneur, you’re not spending spare time with anything other than your health and spiritual well-being–whatever that may be for you–and loving and growing your family and a few select friendships–whatever that takes.

Slice your pie the way you see fit. It’s your pie. It can be big, small, flat, mountainous, firm, gloppy, round, square, multilevel, whatever works for you . . . but don’t pretend it’s not a pie! We choose our pie. We choose our behavior. We choose our stress by choosing to set ourselves up for it. Think hard about the last time you didn’t feel 100%. What were you doing/thinking/saying shortly before you lost sleep/felt edgy/got sick?

When the stress becomes DIStress–with never enough time in the day for your pie, your family, your health–don’t react. Respond. Ask yourself HOW you choose or chose your stress? Then make a different choice. Maybe it’s time to change the way you see or slice your pie . . . or the way you breathe?

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US               931.854.0474

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

 

 

 

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Oct 10 2011

“Business As Usual” Spells Failure

If you’re not rattling cages,

                              

reserve your business

                        

headstone now!

                          

                 ~ ~ ~                  

                                          

C’mon, Hal, the Halloween season gettin’ to you?

Waiting with tricks instead of treats?

Not me. I rattle cages.

 

But what about you? Are you depending on others to scare up some new business? Maybe you’ve seen too many stun-gunned tongues (say that five times fast!) and zombie axe murderers on late night TV? Too many ghoulish retail displays? Maybe you almost died?

If every chainsaw you see reminds you of a massacre, maybe you’re running on (or from?) fear? No? Well if you’re not shaking up your business every week, it may be that you’re running on ambivalence and, in turn, leading the county coroner to your business doorstep.

Investing in the status quo with your business is a no-action action that –depending on how secure your finances are– will either provoke a knife plunge into the heart of your enterprise or cause business death by potato peeler. If 2015 means continued business life, it must also mean continuing dramatic action at every level.

If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway.

                                                              

Stop being afraid of stirring up the competition. The most successful retail businesses are those located in the same geographical areas as their competitors. Competition stimulates consume traffic. Your website’s not up to snuff? Bite the bullet; get some cash out from under the mattress, and pay a professional to polish up your act!

Can’t afford the advertising you want? Stop advertising. Go to (free) Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn instead. Start doing (free) public relations instead — newsworthy news releases, captioned newsworthy photos, special events (e.g., charity-based, combined with other businesses, educational programs).

Are your employees, suppliers, referrers, investors, community supporters challenged enough? Are you putting out strong motivational incentives to get the (free) word-of-mouth going? Are you running contests that provoke fun and prompt action? (Hint: No need for elaborate or expensive prizes if enough imagination is exercised).

Shake it up!

                                                           

Have you given presentations at local colleges, high schools, community centers, and then promoted them and followed up with news releases and unusual photos? Have you compiled a media “hit list” of appropriate editors and writers and publishers who would have a natural interest in your business and business pursuits?

Do you have an “elevator speech”? Do you carry business cards and a notepad with you at all times? Do you ask questions 20% of the time and listen to answers (and jot them in your notebook) 80% of the time? Have you collected email addresses everyplace you go? Are you using them to send worthwhile info out?

“Business As Usual” means inactivity, nothing changing, no excitement, no hustle. It will take you straight to the business burial grounds up in the sky (or somewhere?) and you might want to stop off at your lawyer and accountants’ offices on the way to fill out bankruptcy papers. This economy has no mercy.

If you’ve got guts and gumption, nurture them. Stimulate them. Ignite them. Explode them. Make them work for you.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Aug 09 2011

Sell Global. Buy Local.

Do your part for the planet!

                      

Sell your local products 

                           

and services worldwide.

                         

~~~~~~        

Now we know for a fact (in spite of Mr. Gore’s ranting and raving), that there simply is no such thing as manmade global warming (which has clearly proven to be a figment of the man’s imagination), it’s probably time to turn up the planet’s heat with our businesses.
There’s no need to defend that global warming discrediting statement, by the way, just ask any credible scientist instead of the pseudo ones Mr. Gore carries in his pocket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                                            

There is no greater opportunity to market your goods and services outside the neighborhood, town, county, state, or region that you’ve been limiting yourself to . . . than now . . . with the Internet (Oh, and thank you again, Mr. Gore; where oh where would we ever be had you not invented it?).

Why “now”? Because, as my mother used to say, there’s no time like the present. How to do it? Like what are the steps?

Step number one is to cast aside the political creeps behind creeping Socialism (November 6, 2012). 

Step number two is to extract the small-mindedness from your brain that’s been locked in there, afraid to let you step outside your business comfort zone.

                                                 

With inexpensive –often free— media options to exercise (from emails and texting to Twitter, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn), you will gain by exploring (or expanding your mastery of, if you’re already dabbling) the market opportunities for what you sell. Now is the time to Action Plan your way into marketing your offerings worldwide.

Exactly where are those opportunities for you and your business? Odds are you know what they are and where they are, but you’ve simply not been willing or motivated enough to consider their pursuit. Be willing. Be motivated. Make that choice for yourself.

Stop thinking you need to be limiting local services and products you sell to the neighborhood or town that supports you.

If you truly care about your neighbors, help stimulate your local economy with global money!

                                                     

Illegal aliens have been doing it for years. They work in the U.S., typically tolerating inhumane living conditions in order to wire maximum amounts of American dollar wages earned to their desperate families in countries whose governments intentionally keep their people in poverty.

How about bringing other country’s money into your town? How about working to help change the opression of other countries’ governments to make them do a better job so that their people won’t want or need to come to the U.S. for their families to survive? Isn’t that a better, more permanent solution? 

Does it mean cracking down on illegal border entries and drug lords and war weapon distribution channels?

                                             

Absolutely, but isn’t that a smarter, better thing for our grandchildren than to continue with the Socialism share the wealth” mentality that strips away America’s freedom that small business job creation built, and that America’s servicemen and women have preserved?

I’m talking about the freedom that we have all earned and enjoyed, that strengthens core family values and that serves to undermine the terrorist acts, threats, and organizations that rise from the rubble of America’s economic weaknesses. 

It all comes back to the economy. And job creation. And America’s 30 million small businesses.

                                                                

With government support in the minus zone, there can be only ingenuity, innovation, self-reliance,  guts, and gumption. Are you up to it, or ready to go down without trying?

                                                   

There are no limits except

those in your mind.

And those limits are a choice.

                                             

# # #

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

 Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 20 2011

Mind Your Social Media Manners!

TY, Thank You, THX,

                                    

Thanks, Appreciation,

                       

Appreciate, Appreciated,

                  

Appreciative, Grateful,

                               

Gratefulness, Gratified,

                          

Gratification,  tks, Please,

                        

Pls, YW, You’re Welcome!

 

 

Have you paid off  your TY IOUs lately? Do you have a list of them? Are they in some order? Which ones are the oldest? To whom do you owe more than one TY? What are they for? What were the circumstances? How long ago exactly was the favor or courtesy or thoughtfulness extended? Might it now be time to clean some of these up?

If you don’t have one, let’s start with a business list, then move on to personal, or vice versa if you prefer. I like to keep a thank you list next to my desk phone, divided into two columns: “Calls” and Emails.” I add to them during the day between meetings, other emails, and other calls, and cross out the ones I’ve handled as each day passes.

Why? Who Cares? EVERYone cares. Which also answers the question “Why?” Simply put, there can be no better investment of your time and energy for boosting your business and personal reputations. And sales pros will tell you that personal and business reputations built on these courtesies translate directly to sales.

Oh, and let’s not forget that long-lost art of a personal handwritten thank you note stuck in the mail or office inbox. There is NOTHING compares with receiving one of those. And the busier you are, the more impact a note from you has. In other words: The more personal you can make your expression of thanks, the greater the impact!

It’s hard to beat a message that has a little hug hanging on its coattails!

                                                       

Probably needless to add, but it’s well worth remembering: It’s also FREE, which makes it a no-brainer practice for business owners and operators, and especially for professional practice principals, who are seldom regarded as grateful for their patients and clients! 

Social media subscribers probably use the expressions in this post’s headline more than any other segment of society except Salvation Army Santas. It’s become standard fare Internet ettiquette. It’s the sub-culture of long-distance communications dipped in politeness and exchanged for the world to see, but seldom felt from the heart.

Twitterers send Tweets. If you like the Tweet, you respond mostly with a RE-Tweet (or RT) as a polite form of endorsement. Someone whose Tweet gets an RT, inevitably returns a TY (Thank You) note Tweet to that endorser. That endorser may send (Tweet) yet another note, like YW (You’re Welcome).

It’s said that these kinds of exchanges are all cover-ups for the acknowledged impersonalness of social media communications, that they somehow compensate for handshakes and eye contact and voice tone and inflections. Well, they don’t really. Not much could. But they do set social media cordiality apart from other media forms. 

Anyway, Thank you for visiting. I am truly grateful for the minutes you spent here, and if any of what I said is helpful to you in any way, well . . . YW.

                                                                                          

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116 

  Open minds open doors. 

 Thanks for visiting and God bless you. 

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 16 2011

How’s Your Debt Ceiling?

When’s your statute 

                      

 of limitations run out 

                     

for non-financial debts?

 

 

Have you exceeded your limits? What are they? Have you exceeded your expectations? How much do you owe to whom? (Gratefulness, not money!) What’s preventing you from being grateful? Laziness? Ambivalence? Dumbness? Heart of stone?

Have you chosen for the passage of time to max out your ability to say, “thank you”? There are some immediate gratification lessons to be learned on Twitter. Just watch how fast people thank one another! 

Now, this next statement will send accountants and tax attorneys over the edge of the cliff (a good beginning you say?) because “appreciation”and “interest” have such different meanings:

Appreciation has no compound interest attached . . . except by the receiver.

It (“appreciation”) is just a way of expressing gratitude.

                                                   

I recently received an email from a former student of some 30+ years ago, who said she had tracked me down on Google, and had thought often during her career what an important influence I had been as her professor.

She told me she had been highly successfully specializing in the subjects she had originally studied with me. She knew, she said, a great many years had passed, but she just wanted to say “thank you!” and let me know how valuable my teaching had been.

Do you know what a million dollars feels like? For me, that was it! But only, mind you, because I’m still alive. Imagine if the email never…

Maybe the idea of a response time ceiling on non-financial debt is not in any one’s best interest. Maybe it’s a good idea to read that last sentence again?

When we put off saying thank you, we lose credibility or we put ourselves in the category of being unworthy, or we’re simply forgotten about. Is that a place we want to be? Is that a place we want our businesses to be?

Does it –in the long run– cost us positive growth opportunities to be considered unworthy or not credible or unappreciative? By internalizing accumulated expressions of gratitude, instead of being timely, could it cost us some stress? Health? Hmmm. Thank you for your visit! 

                                   

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116 

  Open minds open doors. 

 Thanks for visiting and God bless you. 

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 11 2011

The Real Entrepreneurs

Many traditional marketers haven’t a clue . . .

                                                           

Real entrepreneurs

                                           

respond in an instant and 

                                  

develop ideas thoroughly

                              

from beginning to end.

 

                    

Today’s marketing people are not adapting well to current economic realities. They see themselves as part of the solution to a problem that they do not understand . . . one they are not trying hard enough to overcome.

The no-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel economy we’re presently in doesn’t, for example, automatically translate to everyone being interested in finding a better dollar deal. Instead, when budgets are restricted is when entrepreneurs need to invest more heavily in building long-term relationships, as they would expect of their own suppliers.

Traditional marketing pros are missing this.

They are still knocking themselves silly trying to fit business owners into their media and social media games and patterns and rate cards and strategies instead of adapting what they know to help entrepreneurs do more with less

. . . instead of pulling their chairs up to the same side of the table.

                                                                     

This doesn’t mean reinforcing the customer service department. It does mean building customer service into the job decription for every single employee. When every staffer is also a customer service specialist –poof!– you no longer need a customer service department! Nurturing long-term relationships becomes your new business. 

Marketing traditionalists are missing this point, and others like it. The “new” cyberspace marketing pros are also missing the point. First off, the whole world is NOT tuned into the Internet which means the perspective that every human on Earth is aware of Mashable, YELP, Tweets, BFs, DMs, clouds, and the advent of Cicret Bracelets is false. So the perspective is warped.

Second, when traditionalists wrap their marketing strategies around media airtime, print space availabilities and “special rate card deal packages” or “online marketing and SEO experts” (most of whom are self-designated, unproven, and over-priced) parade out their website and email bells and whistles, entrepreneurs end up the losers. 

If you’re a small business owner, operator, or manager, you need to be looking AWAY FROM formula marketing solutions that do not bend over backwards for you the same way you bend over backwards for your customers.

This is not an economy where you can simply accept blanket marketing recommendations without questioning.

                                                                        

Marketing pros need to be thinking more like entrepreneurs. They need to be looking much harder at ways to market products and services for maximum impact without spending as much money as in the past. They need to be offering their services more on a performance incentive basis, and put their wallets where their mouths are. 

Entrepreneurs need to challenge marketing people more to get “more bang for the buck” and –by the same token — be willing to reward generously for performance. A marketing success that produces $1 million in new sales should be well worth a $250,000 or $300,000 fee because you end up with the balance — money you never had before! 

Bottom line: Get streamlined. Get simple. Look under new leaves. Push for impact and relationships instead of deals. Yeah, I know about car dealerships; but they’re in their own world. This post is about reality and your business. It’s about looking to Twitter instead of network TV, postcards instead of elaborate mailers, emails . . .

                                                                       

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

 

No responses yet

Jun 23 2011

rightbackatcha!

Twitter opportunities

                          

bail small business out

                   

 of still sinking economy!

                                                            

                                                 

Opinion, after creating thousands of small business marketing and management programs, and many life observations:

Since the debut of television, no other media vehicle has had such positive and pronounced impact for small business as Twitter. LinkedIn is a distant second and Facebook doesn’t even make it to the table.

________________

A little background . . .

  • In case you haven’t noticed: since 2008, there’s been relentless government pursuit of globalization at the expense of business, marked by the near strangulation of entrepreneurial ventures and accompanying choke-hold on free market competition.

  • In flagrant disregard for America’s economy, America’s employment opportunities, America’s military, America’s healthcare, and America’s self-esteem, spread-the-wealth idealogy has trampled the nation’s economic heart and soul beneath its runaway tank treads.

  • America’s 30 million small business enterprises –the proven source of over 90% of all new jobs– have been chewed up and spit out while bungling corporate giants and their muscle-brained unions have been handed tax-dollar bailouts that have accomplished nothing.

________________

                      

So where does Twitter come in and what’s “rightbackatcha!” all about? Twitter, first of all, is a powerful outbound social media entity. Among many applications, it allows for small businesses to broadcast availability of products and services out to the world at no cost. In today’s economy, this access is a Godsend.

More and more small businesses are taking advantage of the opportunities Twitter provides, and are discovering that INTERNET globalization opens new revenue stream pathways unimaginable just 5 or 6 years ago. Business today comes from many surprise sources . . .

A local plumber gets a service call from Betty whose cousin lives 2,000 miles away but cut and pasted his clever Twitter quote into an email to Betty because it mentioned the town Betty lives in. Betty figured that was better than the Yellow Pages. Voila!

                                                                

LinkedIn, FYI, is a much more sedate, more corporate medium. It lacks both the flair and immediacy of Twitter.  

Facebook? Forget about it! For business, Facebook doesn’t cut it! Let it help you keep your Friends and family together and communicating, but don’t expect it to make sales for your business.

If you run a small business and you have a website, why do you need to find people to drive to your Facebook page to try to get them to visit your website? It won’t happen. The process is too big a run-a-around. Visiters bail out. Why waste time and money and energy?

Send people direct to your website! Facebook also demands constant monitoring to police inappropriate posts that you don’t want associated with your business.

So, now you’re on Twitter, but it’s not working? That’s only because YOU’RE not working.

If you work” Twitter, you are careful not to flood it with repetitive sales-pitch messages, and you have fun with it by being social. Yes, that’s what makes it part of “social” media.

In other words, someone mentions or thanks or repeats (RTs) your comment (“Tweet”)? Reply with a thank you!

Say: “rightbackatcha!” or express some form of appreciation. Even a “TY” will do.

But don’t disregard others for the sake of ramming home your sales message. Your “Followers” will drop like flies.

                                                             

About “Followers,” incidentally, if you’re not selling something that EVERYone needs (rubberbands, toothbrushes, water), you don’t need 36 trillion Followers; you need Followers who share your interests or who fit your market target. Be selective.

If you’re going to “play the numbers” and amass as many as possible, be prepared for the fallout. You will inevitably attract weirdos who will waste your time and energy.

So, someone tells you you’re great or that they like your quote or the title of the song you mention or the product or service you represent, tell ’em “rightbackatcha!” or say Thanks (or THX). But you ignore sociability at your peril.    

Drive your imagination forward with reality. 

Open minds open doors.  

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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May 08 2011

TGIM

Thank God It’s Monday!

                                               

“TGIM” is what separates entrepreneurs and leaders from the “TGIF” corporate suits and government flunkies.

                                                  

If you’re not excited about starting each new workweek, remember that you’re an entrepreneur. God didn’t put you on Earth and help you get your business to the place it’s in, so you could whine and complain and blame and be a doom and gloom person. Well?

You are doing what you’re doing because:  

A) you have a good business idea (or inherited one) that you believe in, and

B) you have proven time and again in your life that you have the guts and gumption and instincts to make it all work.

So stay on top of it and keep making it work.

Easier said than done, says you? But the economy sucks, says you?

Yes, the economy sucks only slightly more than the narrow-minded, misdirected, inexperienced, pathetically incompetent leaders who have run our nation’s government into the economic quagmire that pulls like quicksand at the heels of every American small business.

                                                      

The central issues are PRIORITIES and POLITICAL AGENDAS:

  • Government preoccupation with globalization over —instead of— shoring up American job-creating entrepreneurial ventures.

  • Government preoccupation with all things “green” over —instead of facing the reality of continually growing unemployment lines fueled by skyrockerting gas prices and the resultant crunch on shipping, transportation, and food prices.

  • Government preoccupation with “fairness” to everyone who slides into this country –legally or illegally makes no difference– because those people will be forever grateful and pay back government benefactors with their votes –legal or illegal makes no difference– instead of tightening and enforcing immigration laws.

  • Government interference, over-regulation and unmerciful taxation of small businesses runs rampant instead of supporting and encouraging American businesses with meaningful tax incentives to create jobs to turn the economy.

                                                                                     

Okay, so American Government leadership is clearly among the world’s worst, but you know what?

You can still make it work in your favor.

Here’s a quick 10-point checklist of ideas that may spark a winning action for you to make your ideas fly:

                                                             
  1. Read Leadership (the book) by Rudy Giuliani.

  2. Take a rest day. Do something constructive, but keep your brain and body away from work for 24 hours.

  3. Talk with two 70-year-olds and three 7-year-olds about what’s important in life.

  4. Take some deep breaths, and build more of them into your daily existence.

  5. Pray!

  6. Recognize that your every move is a choice.

  7. Offer to give a guest lecture or lead a Q & A session on business startup challenges at your local high school or nearby college.

  8. Read two dozen assorted one-sentence Twitter posts. Think on them.

  9. Take a walk on the beach or in the woods. Pay attention to what surrounds you.

  10. Be thankful for all that you have instead of worrying about what you don’t have.

Time’s a wastin’

 

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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