Guest Article Since its inception, online shopping has been steadily gaining market share. Analysts credit a better overall online shopping experience and savvy promotions for the steady increase in sales for ecommerce sites. While the upswing in online shopping is good news for ecommerce merchants, it’s also true that competition levels are increasing, both from […]
How to Build a Business Relationship
Now, too often, people think building a business relationship is how you get the business, but I’m here to you that the sale is really the beginning of the relationship. Anyone will buy something once, but in order to stay in business, you need repeat business. I recently had a situation with one of my […]
How to Shorten the Sales Cycle in Your Small Business
In business, sales never come as fast as you want or need them to. You must learn how to weed out unqualified leads, have confidence and remove your fear of selling for good. But, to do this you must have a sales process. The key lesson I learned is the gap between getting a prospect […]
7 Ways to Attract Customers to Your Small Business
When it comes to doing business these days, the deal is – no one wants to be sold to. You must give consistently to eventually get business, especially if you are a professional service business. Here are my 7 ways to attract customers to a small business It’s all about service. You must first try […]
How to Attract and Keep Customers for a Small Business
Guest Article In this article, we’ll focus on some of the effective ways to tap new customers and never lose them. Here are my six best tips to attract and keep customers for a small business. Make time for Networking Let people in your community know that your business has a face. Don’t just spend […]
After Sales Service: The Key to Long-Term Growth
Guest Article The success of every business is based upon relationships. When I started my commercial real estate company more than forty-five years ago, it took me a month to raise my first $5,000 of capital. Today I raise $1,000,000 with one email. Why? Strong relationships; which I have built by providing continuing after sales […]
Never Be Closing in Small Business
Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with @Tim_Hurson. Tim Hurson is founding partner of ThinkX, an international speaker and author of the new book, Never Be Closing. He creates […]
Do’s and Don’ts of Automating Customer Service for Your Small Business
Guest Article The purpose of automating your customer service is to relieve overly heavy workloads on your employers while improving the experience for your customers. It’s a symbiotic relationship, a win-win, and it can help give small businesses the boost they need to thrive. However, it’s also easy to let automation completely take over and […]
SmallBizLady’s 10 Rules for Managing Tough Customers
Let’s face it; the goal of any business owner is to get repeat business. That is the only way to create a sustainable business. Sometimes dealing with customers can be to toughest part of running a small business. Customers can become difficult to work with for a number of reasons, but you have to have […]
The Lifeline of Your Business: 5 Rules to Loving Your Sales CRM
Guest Article Don’t hate your sales CRM. It’s your friend. Really it is. An effective CRM – Customer Relationship Management – system can be the lifeline of your business. I have had the pleasure of using five different CRM systems (plus spreadsheets, notebooks, and my good old memory) over the last 15 years. Quite frankly, […]