Holiday Stress Relief for You and Your Customers

You may have noticed your clients being a little more cranky than usual as the stress of the holiday season takes hold. My tip this week is to remember to use humor whenever possible to avoid customer problems. Consider this, Southwest Airlines immediately set themselves apart from the rest of the p

“Instead of Stuff”: Make Big $$ with Gift Certificates

Ah, the holidays. I say, tis the season for closet organizing. For, if your house is like mine, it is jam packed with tons of too much stuff! And for many of us the holiday season means more things to pack in. Well, why not take the road less traveled this year, and grow your business at the same ti

QUICK TIP: 4 Ways to Get Your Direct Mail Opened by Prospects!

Want to make sure your direct marketing mail gets opened by prospects who are ready to buy? Put these 4 tips to work and watch your sales increase: Hand write the outside and make it look like a personal note. Laser print the addressee information directly onto nice stationary and put a return addre

Find More Customers, Get More Sales…In the Neighborhoods You Already Have Clients In

Just imagine … you provide services to a few good clients in a particular neighborhood. And you wouldn’t mind having a few more clients like those, especially in that particular area. So, you create a marketing campaign that identifies prospects in that neighborhood who might need your s

QUICK TIP: Add your e-mail signature for a quick marketing effect

Adding an e-mail signature is a great way to not only add your contact info so clients and prospects can easily contact you, but it also adds a bit of personality to your emails and a sense of warmth and customer service. E-mail signatures should be about 5 lines of text. This is because you don

Eliminating Slow Times In Your Business: A Strategy for Keeping Business Coming Year-Round

Do you experience slowdowns in your business? If so, you’re not alone. But, these CAN be avoided. All it takes is a simple strategy to keep your name in front of both customers and prospects year-round. A great way to achieve this is with a newsletter. Both small businesses and large corporati

Getting to the Heart of Outstanding Service

Question: I own a service business with 20 people in the field. I’ve been looking at last year’s sales figures, and I am happy that we grew 15%, but I can’t help but wonder why that number was not bigger. We have been experimenting with some new marketing campaigns, and are getting

8 Sure Ways To Save You Time

Everyone need something from you at the same time? Don’t have enough hours in the day to get ½ of your “To Do” list done, let alone that big employee handbook project that you wanted to tackle? Does your family need you to be at a soccer game and letting the roof repair man in at the same time? Well

Tips: Holiday Tipping

Question: The holidays are here and I am already getting questions from my staff about tips. What kind of tipping policy do you recommend? Should the employees be able to keep them, or pool them? Answer: This question comes up every year, and it’s a tricky one. Both allowing employees to accep

Achieve Your Goals in 2006

If you typically make new years resolutions, that is a good thing even if you don’t necessarily stick to them. According to a leading authority on change, 40-45% of Americans make one or more resolutions per year. And, the process of making resolutions makes you 10 times more likely to achieve