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Tuesday
December 8, 2009 ASI RadiothonFiled under: asi radio show This just in! ASI Radio has organized a charitable drive to benefit The G.I. Go Fund, an organization that assists soldiers upon their return to the U.S. Generous industry suppliers have donated high-end items — such as watches, digital picture frames, and iPod docking stations – to be auctioned off and the drive will culminate during the ASI Radio Show on December 15. Bidding is now open on the items and you can do so now. Support a good cause and donate today. Click here to see the items and bid!
Tuesday
December 8, 2009 Tip of the Day - How To Lose CustomersFiled under: Tip of the Day Here are five things that will definitely cause your business to lose customers: 1. Don’t listen. It’s dangerous to assume that because you’ve satisfied a client so far, that doing the same thing will continue to please them. “People change, organizations change, fashions change and priorities change. If you don’t listen closely, you’re making an assumption about what matters to [customers] and you’re probably wrong,” Lewis says. “Find out what’s important to them. Is it price, range of product or [customer] service? What one customer values will be different from another.” 2. Don’t ask questions. This means you’re limiting your knowledge to exactly what information a customer offers to you. Karen Stauffer, who, as a principal with the Cascade Marketing Group, has represented several major apparel and promotional products distributors, says an obvious – but often overlooked – way to avoid making wrong assumptions is simply to ask questions. This sounds like oversimplification, but it’s not. Many people don’t take the time to ask a few extra, pertinent questions. “If your client comes to you with a budget and color for the garment they’re looking for, ask how it will be used, who the recipients are, what garment [the client] provided at the previous event, and how long and how often they’d like their recipients to wear the garment,” she says. This “enables you to educate them and provide them additional ideas. Educating them on what else is available that meets their needs creates value” for them. 3. Don’t meet expectations. This involves what Lewis calls “breaking the marketing promise” – a set of qualities that a customer has come to rely on in doing business with you. The marketing promise could be based on product quality or selection, or it could involve a trusted return policy or level of customer service. A negative change in these expectations – such as added hoops to jump through to assure a refund – will drive customers to other companies, even if the other firm’s policy or product is nearly the same as yours, Lewis says. “In their mind you’ve changed for the worse, even if what they go to is no better than what you’re doing,” he says. “It’s a relationship thing, fickle and emotional.” 4. Don’t stay abreast of market trends. If you lose touch with current fabric or style options, you’re doing your customers a disservice. “It’s important to research and do your homework in the retail market to make sure you are making comparisons that hit home with your buyers,” Stauffer says. “With all of the new fabrics and fabric treatments being offered, it’s important to create value by understanding their features and benefits – and educating your client” about them. 5. Don’t return phone calls. If you’re slow to return customer calls or e-mails, clients will feel that you’re putting them on the back burner. “When a customer calls about an order placed or complaint, sometimes an organization can be slow to get back [to them], and things disappear off people’s desks,” Lewis says. “It’s incredibly important these days to be responsive. People who call need an answer there and then. If you get back in two days, they might not remember what the question was.” From Stitches’ magazine
Monday
December 7, 2009 Tip of the Day - Why You Should Care About TrendsFiled under: Tip of the Day Think of a trend as the miniskirt that turns construction workers’ heads on the street. It’s that irresistible trigger that can prompt a consumer to act. Likewise, a trend can be leveraged to motivate a target audience to respond to your client’s promotion. For example, imagine two promotional T-shirts both advertising the same product to young adult women. These are to be used as a gift-with-purchase incentive. The first T-shirt is a boxy heavyweight cotton tee with a one-color imprint of the brand’s logo. The second is made of a lightweight burnout fabric with a tattoo-inspired design incorporating the brand’s logo, much like the trendy Ed Hardy T-shirts being worn by celebrities. Which T-shirt would be more likely to inspire these young females to make a purchase – the one that mimics what these women view as “hot” at retail or the bland promotional version? Bottom line: When you want to inspire an audience you have to apply trends to the promotions that have been proven to get their attention as consumers. Whether it’s a hot fashion (go metallic to satisfy a desire for bling); societal direction (tie into environmental awareness with recycled products); or economic movement (appeal to consumers’ frugality with imprinted lunch totes to help them save money), you can tie your client’s campaign into a trend for better results.
Friday
December 4, 2009 Tip of the Day - Three C’s of ProspectingFiled under: Tip of the Day Community, Charitable and Civic organizations are three prospecting arenas that can ultimately build your business. You’d be amazed how many useful prospecting contacts there are when you participate in these local groups. Immediately, you have something in common with members – you all are working toward a common goal. The relationships that result are a solid foundation upon which to prospect. Choose organizations about which you genuinely care – a food bank or a little league – so that you’re enthusiastic in your support of the group. Your passion and commitment testify to how you conduct yourself as a business professional as well, making potential clients take note and call you when marketing problems arise.
Thursday
December 3, 2009 What’s Wrong With This Email - Winner and AnswersFiled under: contest A few weeks back we ran a contest to see who could identify the most errors with the business email, below:
Much to our surprise, we got tons of responses with most of you claiming how much fun you had with this contest. Who knew?! Anyway, we got many responses from folks who really spent a lot of time on this and submitted some great answers. But there can be only one winner, and because her answers were virtually perfect and infused with a wry sense of humor, Merinda Goodman of C.C. Creations is our “What’s Wrong With This Email?” contest … Congrats, Merinda! And for answers to this contest, click on the image below for clear explanations of each error.
Until next time …
Wednesday
December 2, 2009 Tip of the Day - Blog Lingo DefinedFiled under: Tip of the Day There’s a whole lexicon that rules the blogosphere. Get up to speed with www.blogossary.com. Here you’ll find a search-friendly definitions list of commonly used terms. A few worth noting: Aggregator is a type of software that pulls information from various Web feeds you have selected and displays any updates made to them. Bleg is to write a blog entry or comment for the sole purpose of asking for something. Blogfolio is an online journal created to display the author’s or creator’s work. Blogroll is a list of links to other blogs or Web sites that the author of the blog regularly likes to read. The blogroll generally resides in one of the side columns of the blog. Dooce means to fire someone due to entries posted on their blog. Moblog (or mobile blog) is a journal that is updated primarily from a mobile device, and generally (but not always) while the author is on the road or traveling. Vlog is short for video blog. A blog comprised mainly of videos. |
