Had to share this video. I like this girl. I’ve shared similar sentiments in past posts such as Educational Waste, My Kind of Teacher, and Why Does the Answer Exist. You just have to hear this girl’s comments. Listen closely. So, without further explanation…
Back to School Thoughts
If you have kids and are like me, every year you dread the first day of school. Not for the same reasons that kids do though :~) Though most parents are worn out from a summer of rearranging their schedule and playing referee when your kids could use a break from each other, the first day of school is an event of reflection. I can’t believe that my Halee is entering the fifth grade. Her last year in elementary school before she dives into the pressures of “big kid” environments. Not to mention my baby girl Ruthie starting Kindergarten. It’s crazy and causes me to think back on the joyous moments when I held them in my arms for the first time.
Use the next few days or weeks that you have left of summer break to build memories with your kids. Take off work early and play in the sprinkler with your kids, go to the dog park, take an evening walk at sundown, stay up late watching a movie or playing games, camp out in the backyard. Also, spend some time praying for them and the new adventure and people they’ll meet over the next school year. I know work is important, but you first responsibility is at home and when you seek God in leading your family, He will make sure other things fall into place.
Share your ideas below on how to make memories while there’s still some summertime left.
Now, if you’ll excuse me…. I’m headed home to have lunch with my wife and daughters.
OKC’s Auto Body Repair Boom
Check out this graph showing the burst in searches for “auto body repair” in the OKC Metro area on Google around the time of this spring’s storms
Treat Current Customers & Potential or New Customers Differently
Do you treat returning customers and new or potential customers the same way? If so… Why?
Both people are important but they need to hear different messages and have a different experience.
We’ve all been to a restaurant when the server asks if we’ve ever been there before. Only about half of the time does that make a difference in the presentation. Why did they ask if they weren’t going to tell me anything different or offer an incentive for turning my guests into patrons. What different messages need to be told in your business?
When it comes to your website, technology allows you to use cookies in order to show a different message to new visitors than that seen by people who are regular visitors. Maybe the newbie needs different instruction and the regular needs a reason to refer a newbie.
In your store or office, find a way to recognize people who’ve visited your place before (or at least the regulars) and make them feel like more of a part of what’s going on. Turn them into an exclusive group and give them an insider feeling.
7 Things Web Designers Doesn’t Want You To Know
For most people, hiring someone to build their website is as confusing & stressful than buying a car, and more important than who to hire to answer the phones. I’ve created a short list of seven simple facts that web designers don’t want you to know. The days of web design being kin to rocket science are over. But, web designers don’t want you to know that. They’ll charge extreme prices for simple tasks just because either they haven’t upgraded to newer more efficient methods, or, they hope that keeping you in the dark will place a pair of “golden handcuffs” on you and force you to put up with the poor customer service and worse attitude they throw at you.
Give me your email address below and I’ll send you the short checklist so you can make sure you’re not the one paying for the gold on those handcuffs. :~)
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Email Marketing You Can Trust
New or Existing: Which Customers to Invest In
Many business owners deal with this dellima. If you were to ask most business owners who is more valuable, they’d of course say that taking care of existing customers is more (or at least equally) as important as attracting new customers. However, does the company budget and time allowances reflect that? In most cases, the answer is no.
Why is investing in current customers harder for companies to do than spending their funding and time to attract new clientelle? There are many things that factor in but a few are:
- It’s easier to see a dollar value spent = dollar returned with new clients
- It’s a quicker process to a poor lead or new client
- The mindset of new customers = growth has probably been pressed to you in other previous jobs
- Any rejection comes from a stranger that you may never see again
- Investing in current clients means spending time assuring quality in service and experience and means sometimes patching holes that are easier ignored
- It’s sometimes a slow process. Growing a fan club and depending on them takes more time than cold calling or direct mail.
So, why should we invest more in current clients rather than in seeking new clients?
- Investing in current customers can take them from being a simple customer to being a fan
- Fans are excited to spread the word and help to promote you
- Fans = new customers
- New customers provided by fans are excited to be your new customer/fan, thus spreading the word further
- A normally skeptical customer will jump in with both feet and be all in if their new to your fan club
- Once your fan club is going, they’ll keep you busy with existing clients rather than spending your time stressing for new clients. New fans will just… happen.
Swagger Wagon
My friend sent me this video. I thought it was one of the funniest things I’d seen in a long time. This describes nearly every parent I know. I’m headed to buy a Sienna now.
Letting Customers Pick the Price
This is an idea that’s been bopping around in my head for a while now. Will it work in your industry?
When we stake a price on our goods or services, that’s it. That’s what we’ve said it’s worth. Customers pay that and only that. I don’t know anyone who’s gone to the local car wash, slid their card through the machine twice so that they could pay $20 for a car wash priced at $10 because of the great job this particular system does. However, all day long, people will pull up to a group of teenagers and hand over twenty bucks for a wash that takes too long and is mediocre at best.
On the contrary, it’s common practice for people in the web development world to develop small functions or snippets of code and allow others to use at no cost. Only asking that you donate if you feel that what they’ve produced is valuable. This rarely results in much earnings.
The difference, the corporate owned car wash sells a clean car for just $10. The web geek is selling the value of his coding and it’s functions (which he probably undervalues for the rate he commonly is willing to work for). The group of teenagers is selling your opportunity to be a part of helping them achieve. You just get a clean car as a thank you for taking part. Try it. Stop selling your goods and services. Try selling people the chance to be a part of something. Then let them choose the value of taking part.
Chances are, they’ll value you and your product well above the price you’d have tagged it with.
Is Social Media a FAD?
For those of you asking yourself this question. Here’s a video posted to YouTube by SocialManiacs09. It has some good numbers to get you thinking. If you’re not using the power of social media to market your business, you’d better start. Caution: Make sure you go about it correctly or you may do more harm than good.
Not For Everyone.
Here’s how most marketing companies sell their media to advertisers:
This soooo wrong. In soooo many ways. What works for one, is not so good for another. I often run across people who’s business would be dis-serviced by Pay Per Click marketing, which is the main staple of what my company AFH Marketing offers. In fact, just last week, I talked to a client in the moving business, and suggested him find other ways of marketing their business. You see, the cost per click for their industry, was out of proportion with their Return On Investment (ROI) per potential client gained.
My point is, if you truly care about your clients, and are in your business to help your clients. Realize that your products and services, NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE, are not the best options for EVERYONE! This will relieve a lot of pressure on your end, as well as build relationships and happy clientele that are happy to refer you and help you grow your business.
