“Location, location, location!” Everyone is always chanting this as if it’s the most important thing you could possibly do with a business. But the truth is that there are some businesses with awful locations that are incredibly successful.
One of the fastest, most eye-opening ways to improve your business is to be your own client for a day. Try it! Pretend you’re a person who wants to buy whatever your company offers. First, how easy is it to find your company? Does a basic internet search bring it up or do you need to have some sort of referral? Would a newcomer without any experience or knowledge about your business be able to navigate your website easily? What if you have a question while you’re clicking around? Is there a FAQ page or, better yet, a contact page that catches your eye or do you need to search for it? Read On
Chirp chirp. Chirp chirp.
Sometimes I hear the sound of crickets when I stumble across certain blogs written by small business owners. At first glance, the content is good, thorough, and up-to-date, but the page rank is 0 and there are a dozen signs leading me to believe that no one reads this blog. What is a blogger to do? Simple! Adopt a simple, 5-minute SEO routine that will gradually turn into a habit over time. Following an SEO routine will increase the chances of your blog finding luck in search engine results, and in turn increase traffic to your site. Read On
Each week here at OrangeSoda several of us get together to pow-wow about our blog posting efforts. We typically have some munchies to sooth the soul. This morning we had delicious Einstein Bros bagels, compare these bagels to the circular cardboard bagel I stomached the other day from Sara Lee which was purchased in a bag from Wal-Mart. Calling these bagels is like calling a Prius a sports car. Read On
As hard as my wife tries to get me interested in fresh fruits and veggies, I’m a junk food man at heart. Guess what my two favorite gut-bombs are? Burgers and doughnuts. (Would you believe I’ve even tried a doughnut burger? As in, the bun was made of doughnuts? But I digress…) What I’m saying here is I find burgers delicious.
Now, a lot goes into making a good burger into a delicious burger: the temperature, the condiments, the meat quality, the sogginess of the bun, the crunch of the lettuce, the grease of the cheese…I could go on. And you know what my favorite burger place does? They remember me, and they know my order. I walk in there and immediately feel the magic everyone wants their customer to feel: I feel like they know me, and I feel like my business is important to them. Read On
Ok that was dirty…there is no free pizza for people reading this post. Anyway…
A week or so ago I purchased two Papa John’s pizzas for my family to enjoy, one cheese/cheese and one BBQ Chicken and Bacon speciality. To my horror (yeah, horror) when I arrived home, the speciality pizza was missing a lot of cheese (yeah, a lot, and you see my horror now right). I took a couple of pictures and emailed them to Papa John’s customer service politely asking them to replace my pizza. This was Saturday. Read On
Mistakes are a huge pain in the neck for both business and consumer. When was the last time you, yourself, were an unsatisfied customer?
Think about it for a sec.
Maybe it was this morning when you realized your just-purchased socks had a big fat hole in them. Maybe your new computer’s M-key is sticking and it’s driving you nuts. The cell phone you wanted was out of stock. Or how about the new clothes you bought online, but the company sent the wrong size? Maybe you experienced the grumpy grumble of an unsatisfied customer just now, when you sat down, eager for refreshment, only to sip a fizzy but flavorless Sprite because the syrup needed replacing. Big or small, whatever it is, chances are you’ve been let down by some sort of company (or two, or three…) recently and had a taste of what it feels like to be an unsatisfied customer. Read On
Guest Post Contributed by Infusionsoft
As an OrangeSoda blog reader, you are pretty savvy about the latest and greatest SEO strategies to improve rankings and drive traffic to your website. But what are you doing to capture those leads and convert them into happy customers? Unless you are among the mere 20% of online marketers that are fully leveraging nurture marketing, you aren’t doing enough…and opportunities and sales are slipping through the cracks. Read On
With the holiday season just around the corner, we put together this free workshop to help teach local entrepreneurs how to efficiently manage their pay-per-click ads for the holidays. So put down the holiday fruitcake and come fill up on marketing knowledge for your business. (We promise it will taste better.) Here are the details:
When:
Wednesday, November 10th
10am-12pm
Where:
Salt Lake City Public Library
210 East 400 South
Salt Lake City, Utah
What:
A light breakfast will be served, and then we will jump into the main event, where a few speakers will teach how businesses should use PPC ads to get the most out of the holidays.
“Half of life is showing up.” Truer words were never spoken! That old saying is absolutely true in just about any situation, from a family barbecue to a college party to customer service. You’ve gotta show up. If you’re not there, how do you know what’s going on? You don’t! Half (or more) of running a quality business is simply showing up. In other words, being there for your clients will keep them satisfied and help you increase loyalty, revenue and good will. How can you “show up” for them? That depends on what you do, but none of it is rocket science. Answer the phone, preferably on the first or second ring, and make sure your answer is warm and professional. Respond to emails within 24 hours, even if all you can say is “I’ll find out and let you know!” or “Thanks for the feedback. How else can we improve?”
You can easily “show up” by being available for troubleshooting. As you anticipate your client’s concerns before they arise, just showing up means you’re at their service and they know they can get a hold of you. Showing up for your customers might mean being on time for an appointment , making sure orders ship quickly, communicating promptly, or just being available to answer questions. It depends on your field. But whatever type of work you do, just being there when your customers need you is more than half of being successful. Show up for your customers and you’ll be surprised at how impressed they’ll be by your dedication and consistency.
Another part of showing up? Following up! Always follow up with your customers to make sure they are happy and to find out what feedback they have for you. Checking in with them can provide you with several nice benefits. First of all, it provides an important opportunity to help the customer know you value what they have to say. Second, it’s a chance to learn how you can improve their experience next time. Third, it alerts you to any problems so you can fix them before they have a chance to fester. Half of life is showing up!
