Posts Tagged ‘Leeia Ladipoh’
What Works: The Key to Customer Conversion is Immediacy
Monday, October 13th, 2008
Whether you own a small brick and mortar business or a business that operates online, one of the greatest tools you can have at your disposal is the ability to act on information given to you by a potential customer and turning it into a conversion.
What Is Immediacy?
This process is generally referred to as immediacy; it means identifying exactly what it is that a customer wants at your point of contact through the correct interaction and then outlining exactly how you can fulfill their need.
The faster you can obtain and analyze information from a prospect, the less chance there is that the prospect will move on to a competitor before conversion.
Applying Immediacy to Your Business
So how do you go about implementing a policy of immediacy within your own business? Well, for a brick and mortar business it is a matter of having an adaptable sales pitch. You know that someone is interested in what your business has to offer just from the fact that they show up.
From there, the conversion is up to you. You want to find out how they found out about your business and which products exactly caught their eye, then go into detail about how the product can fill their needs and then make an attempt at closing the sale.
The whole pitch revolves around interpersonal communication; body language, vocabulary, and so on. And of course, you don’t want the prospect walking out of your store (online or otherwise) without making a purchase.
Immediacy and Online Businesses
For an online business, the aspect of immediacy can be a little bit trickier, largely because of the tools at your disposal.
Fortunately, innovations in analytical tools have allowed online business owners greater access to real time measuring tools which can determine what the people who are surfing your site are looking for most often.
Good analysis of this information (and it is relatively inexpensive as well, particularly when compared to the results proper use can yield) turned into a proactive pitch as soon as possible will, more often than not, allow you to complete the conversion.
In the Web 2.0 world, online business owners have the opportunity to put immediacy into action in much the same way as the owner of a brick and mortar business would. Any small business owner is working any time they go to a social function; if there are people there who might need their services of products, they are sure to let them know.
Using platforms like MySpace and Facebook allows business owners ample opportunity not only to advertise, but to see the immediate effects of that advertising and to act accordingly.
In other words, immediacy has come to cyberspace, even without the use of specific tools.
The ability to act on a prospect as soon as possible will help the business owner to obtain more conversions. Immediacy works, and you have to have an idea in place to implement this important tool into your business success kit.
Tags: brick and mortar, customer conversion, Generating More Sales, immediacy, Leeia Ladipoh, online buisness, small business, tips, what works
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Keeping the Green Movement Going: How to Avoid Eco-Fatigue
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Unless you’ve been hiding under a non-carbon based rock for the last five years, you are probably aware that there is a massive environmental movement under way. This movement is centered around the dangers posed to the planet by global warming, as caused by the actions of human beings.
Governments, businesses, and individuals are all on the green train, but there is a new worry on the horizon: will people eventually tire of being told what to do in order to save the planet?
There is a curve when it comes to marketing of any product or idea. First, the idea starts small, then gains momentum. Eventually the idea has the support of thousands of people, but then a funny thing happens: all of a sudden, everyone gets tired of hearing the same old message.
It Ain’t Easy Being Green
This has happened time and again in marketing, but the problem with consumers and so- called eco-fatigue is that the very life of the planet depends on people continuing to live greener - and supporting businesses that conduct business in a greener manner.
In other words, no one can become eco-fatigued enough that they actually fall asleep, or the result may be a permanent coma.
So how does a business go about helping others, and the business itself, to avoid eco- fatigue? Well, first of all businesses need to be leaders in the area of green living. Businesses need to show people, through example, that their impact on the environment is important to them.
They can do so by using recycled and recyclable packaging with the recycle symbol on it. Refusing to use too many supplies - and making sure those supplies are eco-friendly - will also send the message that your business cares about the environment.
Use A Light Touch
And that is really what avoiding eco-fatigue is about; staying away from the point where people begin to feel as though they are being bullied into inconvenient behaviors in order to circumvent a catastrophe at some point in the distant future.
The campaign surrounding green living has traditionally centered around fear and guilt, and people just can’t take that kind of treatment for long (just look at how effective it is on your teenager!).
Sooner or later they rebel, and it usually happens in a big way; while they may have done little things before to help out, now they do nothing because they are just tired of being pushed into it.
The way to avoid this problem lies in the way we state what green living is all about. It is surprising how little of the ‘living green’ campaign focuses on how smart green living actually is; it is not just about the environment, it is about the bottom line.
Turning off lights, using less water and driving less means a far less outlay of cash. It is just more convenient to do paperless paper work; much easier to send messages wirelessly, and much easier to keep records.
In order to avoid eco-fatigue, then, it is important both to lead and to emphasize the positive. Doing so will be good for your business - and good for the planet.
Tags: consumers, eco friendly, eco-fatigue, environment, environmental movement, going green, Green, green business, green movement, how to, Leeia Ladipoh, Marketing
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How To: Establish Trust With an Online Buyer
Friday, September 12th, 2008
Without a doubt, the number one obstacle to running a successful online business is getting potential buyers to trust your website enough that they are willing to make a purchase.
Let’s be really honest; there are plenty of steps involved with the purchase and receipt of any online product from the release of a credit card number to final delivery - and potential customers will worry about every single one of these areas when it comes to making a purchase from a business they have not used in the past.
About Branding
There is a lot of competition in online sales out there, and some of it is from well-recognized companies that have their own names to create the kind of trust you need from your visitors.
So that is your first step to establishing that trust with customers on your site; build yourself an identity. This step is more popularly known today as branding, and it extends to everything your business does, from the site layout to slogans to a nice looking logo.
Everything you put out needs to look professional and great, or your first impression on a visitor might be the last.
Guard Your Reputation
Next, you have to make sure that you know what is being said about you. Business can be dirty business sometimes, and with the amount of online competition there is no guarantee that yours will play fair.
It is easy enough to go into consumer forums and make false posts about businesses, so make sure that you are doing your own search engine inquiries about your business to have a look at what’s being said.
If you do encounter negative feedback, defend your business honestly and don’t jump to conclusions; try to track down the source of the complaint on your end and remedy the situation, and then post that you have done so.
Social Media Concerns
In the Web 2.0 World, you also have to be very careful about the way you present yourself when on a message board, posting a video to YouTube, on Facebook, and so on.
Most of us are using social media to extend awareness of our businesses, but people can get the wrong impression according to how you conduct yourself. If they don’t like how they see you as a person, odds are that you won’t have their trust, and you even run the risk of them discouraging others from using your business.
Finally, the best way to establish trust with your online customers is to provide them with honest, prompt service and delivery. No customer should ever have to contact you about the delivery of a product.
Instead, be proactive and contact them to inquire about whether or not they have received what they bought, the condition it was in, and so on. This is a great way not only to gain repeat business but to gain testimonials, which are another important tool when it comes to gaining the trust of online customers.
Tags: branding, customer service, E-Commerce and E-Business, establish trust, how to, Leeia Ladipoh, online shopping, online transactions, reputation, Sales, social media, web 2.0
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How To: Work with Family–Accentuate the Positive
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
I’m willing to bet that when you left home, working with members of your family was one of the very last things on your mind.
You were probably thankful just to get out and look forward to the special occasions where you could see each other for a limited amount of time, before the tension started to build (and of course, I write this from my own perspective; I know there are those of you who would happily live in a huge house with all your relatives forever. I am jealous).
Whether you couldn’t wait to leave or just wanted to stay, working with your family calls for special boundaries that you would not have to worry about were you to conduct business with people who did not share your genes.
In this article we will look at some ways in which you can make a working relationship with members of your family, whether as partners in business or in a hierarchy, a successful one.
The Greatest Strength of Working with Family Is Also the Greatest Weakness
Namely, that weakness is familiarity. When you start a business with a family member, or hire a family member to do a job within your own business, you generally know what to expect.
You can count on them in certain situations, to work hard, to support you in dealing with others, and so on.
Unfortunately, this familiarity also means that both you and your family member are aware of your general weaknesses. It is probably best to get this out in the open right away, before you make any agreement to work together on a business venture or to have an employer/employee relationship.
Set Some Boundaries
Make it clear, on both ends, that there will be no dialogue which contains the words "you are always like this…". There is no purpose to this kind of conversation except to lay guilt on the other party; and even though it may be true, it does present an unfair burden when it comes to business disagreements.
One of the best ways to deal with family and work is to establish some ground rules from the get-go, with the above example leading the way. Perhaps more importantly, both you and your family members should clearly define the lines of work and of your relationship outside of work; you don’t want that line crossed in either situation or it could wreck your relationship with both.
Remember that both you and your family member are likely to react differently to the same problem depending on your environment. The house can be a real pressure cooker, with facts contributing to scenarios that just don’t come into play at work.
Even if you do know, right down to the syllable, how your wife or your father might react to a situation at home does not necessarily mean they will act that way at work; give them the benefit of the doubt.
In other words, the best way to work with family is to start out with a clean slate, except of course on the positive side. Try not to hold prior experiences against them, unless of course those experiences directly impact on the work situation (theft, deception, back stabbing, and so on).
If you do have those types of problems when it comes to a certain family member, it is best not to get involved in a work relationship with them. Otherwise, be fair and wait to see if what you find annoying or weak in a family environment actually works well in the business.
Tags: family and business, family business, hiring family, how to, Leeia Ladipoh, working with family
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Permanent Wholesale Marts: A Wise Choice
Monday, June 9th, 2008
So what is a permanent wholesale mart anyway? Well, quite simply it’s a year round trade show (here is an example ). Business owners looking to find products can go to these marts to find a vast and varied selection any time they need to. This flexibility is one of the many advantages to using a wholesale mart to source products. Other benefits include an optional on site sales rep to assist you, a buyers directory of suppliers and product lines as well as supplier contact information, and finally at various points throughout the year some marts will host additional short term trade shows to attract the new suppliers as well as offer classes to help educate retailers on how to market their products, etc.
There are two types of marts which each have different advantages. The national marts tend to offer a wider selection within a certain product line and buyers can source directly from manufacturers. Regional marts cater more specifically to buyers who are looking to obtain smaller volumes of product as well as offer a more personalized and attentive interaction.
Tips for Maximizing Your Mart Experience:
- Even though the marts are open year round, specific suppliers may not be open every day. Plan accordingly. (*although it should be noted that suppliers are often willing to schedule an appointment with you, so contact them directly to work something out)
- Because the goods are wholesale (ie. in wholesale quantities and for wholesale prices) they are not open to the general public. You will need to be able to provide information that proves you are a legitimate buyer/retail business which means usually a tax ID number and credit information.
- Do your research. Before you make travel plans make sure the marts you are thinking of attending have what you are looking for. I know, a no brainer right? But I had to say it anyway…
It’s a good idea to visit these marts at least twice a year to stay in the loop as to what products are the latest and greatest. But be sure not to limit yourself to only these marts. There are plenty of other sourcing options out there so be open and willing to explore them as well.
Tags: goWholesale, Leeia Ladipoh, mart, Product Sourcing, tips, wholesale, wholesale mart
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How Well does eBay’s Best Match Feature Stack Up?
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
On March 3rd Ebay launched a few new features. One of these was Best Match. Has this addition helped or hurt their business? Let’s take a look and find out.
Now when you log onto eBay and search for an item, instead of getting several thousand items that only match the words you type in, you get millions of items that all have the keywords you typed in - some not having anything to do with the item you are searching for.
Best Match - Changes Made
Along with the best match feature, they also made changes to their feedback system. For the past ten years, you could be honest about your experience on eBay.
You could give a positive, neutral, or negative feedback to a person or business, depending on how well you felt you were treated after a purchase or sale. Now, you can only give positive feedback to anyone you make a purchase from.
That means even if you were to get ripped off, or never get your item, you still have to leave positive feedback.
Search Results Changes
eBay also changed the way search results are displayed. Now, the higher your feedback score, the higher your auction will be displayed when someone searches for products, instead of the way it used to be.
In the past, this feature would display search results from the auction ending the soonest to auctions with more time. Now, if you have a 99% feedback rating, your auctions will be listed higher than someone who has a 95% feedback score.
This has many of eBay’s top sellers thinking of finding a new place to sell their items. The longer a person or business has been a member on eBay the more they have dealt with people and developed a feedback score. Sometimes, no matter how much you try, you just cannot satisfy everyone - so the ones that are not satisfied may leave a negative feedback.
This can impact your score, and put your auctions at the end of the search results.
The Bottom Line - Better or Worse?
With your items at the bottom of the search list, you have to find ways of getting your auctions noticed. You can sell your products for a lower price, but you still have to make a profit.
You would have to get your merchandise way below wholesale to sell below wholesale and make a profit. Also, don’t forget that eBay will get 10-20% just for you selling on their site. Since the changes were made in early March, many eBay sellers have been losing more money than they are making.
With some of their top sellers looking for other places to sell their items, eBay has to be asking themselves if these changes were a wise move, or if they took something that was working well and made unnecessary changes that will cause them to lose business.
Tags: E-Commerce and E-Business, ebay, eBay Edge, ebay seller, Leeia Ladipoh
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How to Zero In On High Probability Clients
Friday, May 9th, 2008
When it comes to your business, time is your most valuable resource. The last thing you want to do is waste time on prospects that are not really interested in what you have to sell.
Say you have just gotten a fresh set of leads. How do you decide which ones are high probability? First, you have to contact them all and disqualify them.
I know that sounds harsh - but if you don’t disqualify them you will be wasting time on people that are not interested in purchasing from your business.
Qualify, Schmalify
How do you disqualify them? First, when you make contact you ask them ask them some questions. Ask why they are interested in your products and services. How serious are they about making a purchase?
Getting answers to these important questions will help you decide who you want to work with and who you don’t. Sometimes you may try to call a prospect and get a wrong number, or you may call and leave a few messages, or the phone just rings.
The wrong numbers you disqualify immediately - they were not interested enough to give the right number. The others you should call a couple of times and leave a message if you can. If they are interested, they will call back. If they don’t, disqualify them.
If the phone just rings, call a couple of different times during the day; and if you don’t get a response, disqualify them.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when considering who is a viable prospect and who isn’t:
1. Only work with high probability prospects.
2. Prospecting is a disqualification process.
3. A no is just as good as a yes.
4. Don’t waste your resources on low probability prospects.
5. End the conversation if the prospect is unwilling to make a commitment.
6. When in doubt, disqualify.
7. Go into each call with no expectation of a result.
8. True high-quality prospects will not allow themselves to be disqualified.
It won’t hurt anyone’s feelings to be disqualified. They may not really be interested anyway.
There are many websites where money or points are offered just for filling out a form. Most of the time, people that are filling out your form requesting more information are doing it to get points or other freebies.
Sometimes you are doing people a favor by disqualifying them.
The point is, don’t waste your time. The time you spend giving a presentation to an unwilling prospect is time you could be spending talking to a lead that is ready, willing and able to make a purchase.
It is not a bad thing to disqualify low-probability leads. It may be disappointing to you to have to disqualify leads because you will disqualify most of the leads you buy.
It’s best to remember that only about five will really pay attention to your information, and possibly only one will respond and become a customer.
Tags: advice, Generating More Sales, high probability clients, Leeia Ladipoh, prospective clients, Sales, tips
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For Small Businesses, It’s The Small Things That Count
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Dell, one of the biggest names in computers today, has started going into the streets asking people what they think about their computers. They are asking customers what they like and don’t like and what they would like them to add.
This helps when it comes to making future computers, because they are finding out what people want and therefore what will sell.
There are several places on the Internet that take surveys like this to find out what people like and don’t like about certain products.
Give ‘Em What They Want
As a small business owner of a product-based company, it is your job to give the people what they want. If yours is like many small businesses, you don’t have the funds needed to have a market research department.
Instead, you can go to some of these survey websites that are free or low cost and see what people are saying about the products that you are selling. Even big companies have steered away from the high cost of market research departments and are using these types of websites.
This saves them money; and in the long run, saves their customers money as well.
Survey Options
Some of the websites that are free or low cost are: Survey Gizmo, and IContact.
These surveys are a way to go out and talk to your customers to find out what they think about your products. What do they like about them? What do they not like about them? How would they recommend improving them?
Once you have the answers to these questions, then you can take all of your findings back to your office and move ahead from there.
Time is Money….
In a small business where every dollar counts, you have to make decision about what areas in your company will get the most money. Most of the time, the market research department gets the least amount of money. That is why it is so good that those websites are available.
Market research is important to the success of any small business. Thankfully, there are cheaper ways of getting the job done without breaking the bank. When you have other things to worry about, like just getting back and forth to work with the price of gas these days, you’re glad to save as many pennies as you can.
I’m not saying you have to be cheap in running your business, but you do have to know how to delegate your money.
You can choose to be like to big companies and go to these websites and get the information you need, or you can go out and talk with your customers about your products and what they think of them.
The most important thing to remember is that in a small business you have to keep moving forward. You cannot stay the same and expect your customers to stick around.
In order to move forward, you have to make changes - and who better to tell you what to do than the people that are actually using your products?
Tags: icontact, Leeia Ladipoh, market research, small business, survey gizmo, surveys
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How Home Office Design Affects Productivity
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Having an office at home is wonderful. You can be around your family more and you won’t have to travel back and forth, to and from work, especially with gas prices being so high these days.
If you have an extra room that you can make your office, that’s great. If you don’t, you will have to find a space in your home where you can create a home office. This can be any room - even a large closet.
Liven Up Your Space
It is a proven fact that your office affects your productivity. So yours should be lively, not dull. The walls should be colors that inspire you, not simply grey or white.
You should have colorful artwork on the walls and area rugs on the floors. Have a sofa or chair in your office with throw pillows on it. If your office is white or beige and has no life, you will want to spend less time there - and therefore you won’t be very productive.
Save Space
If you are forced to make your closet your office, you need to save space in every way possible. Leave the legs off of your desk and mount the desk top to the wall.
You can use the area underneath the desk as a place for your computer tower, a trashcan, or even a few storage boxes. You can also have a closet system installed with several different shelves so you can stack files, or even stack plastic boxes.
If you are working in a small space, you want to keep the things you use everyday close to your fingertips. You want to make sure it is organized. If you have to waste time looking for something that you can’t find because your office is cluttered, you are not being very productive.
If you have everything organized and you are looking for a certain file, you know exactly where it is - and you can spend the time you would have spent searching for the file working. This will make you more productive and more successful.
Keep Only What You Need
Keeping only the things you need is very important. If you keep all of your files, even after you have finished using them, you may want to consider moving them to a storage shed or attic.
When you are in a small office, you want to maximize as much room as possible. If you are not using something, find another place to put it.
Having a small space takes a bit of creativity but in the end, you will have a functional office that you can be productive in. Begin by learning how to determine what is really needed and what is not.
That will carry throughout the rest of the house - and you can get rid of things that you may have been hanging onto for years but are not using.
Tags: home based business, home office, home office design, Leeia Ladipoh, productivity, Starting a Business, working from home
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The Do’s and Don’ts of Word Of Mouth Marketing
Friday, May 9th, 2008
When you see how effective word of mouth advertising can be, you should begin to look for more people to tell about your business.
The more people you tell, the better your chance of having a successful business. But there are things to do, and there are things not to do.
Don’t Plug Where You Aren’t Supposed to
When you’re online in a chat room, notice that no one is saying anything about their business. You may think, “what can a small plug here hurt?”, so you say something about your company.
This can be harmful because it is called spam - and on most sites, spam is illegal. It is important to note that if you even put a small plug in about your business on an unauthorized site, you are spamming and can be kicked off the website.
Do not do what some do and be tempted to have others posting for you. Getting your staff or hiring an outside source to present your business on sites that do not want it is also spamming.
Don’t Be Dishonest
If you get people to talk about your products that don’t really use them, that is being dishonest. You are lying to the people. When you see an advertisement for a certain product, you want to know the person really uses the product they are advertising. If it works for them, other people will try it.
Getting people - especially celebrities - to lie about a product they don’t use is wrong an unethical.
The best way to run a business is to be honest. Be honest about where you advertise. Before you place an ad or chat about your business in a chat room, be sure that it is welcome on that site, or don’t do it.
Be honest about who you have advertising for you. Make sure they are doing everything legal. In addition, be honest about who you get to say testimonials from. Make sure they really do use the products - or don’t use them in your advertising.
Do Tell the Truth
Honesty is always the best policy. If you lie, you will eventually be exposed.
Eventually, when everyone finds out that you have been lying, you will lose customers and most likely your business. By being honest, you will gain customers and you will be successful in your business adventures in the long run.
Do Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes
Think about how you would like to be treated if you were a customer. Now let’s say you found out that the owner of a business you were dealing with was lying and wasn’t really doing what they said they were doing.
Let’s go further and say that the celebrity that is doing commercials for the company never used the company’s products. How would that make you feel?
The bottom line is that honesty is the best policy, as well as only offering information about your business where that information is welcome.
Tags: advice, Leeia Ladipoh, Marketing, Marketing Your Business, strategy, tips, womm, word of mouth marketing
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