Make a Referral Week

March 9-13, 2009 - Make a Referral Week

Make a Referral Week is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses

You can visit here to learn more
http://www.makeareferralweek.com/pledge

Customer Service Superheroes

We’ve added a new customer service policy at our website. Below is an excerpt:

Our customer service goal is not just to meet your expectations, but to exceed them.

Okay, that’s not true. Our real goal is to crush them to a fine powder, throwing them under Charon’s keel to drift down the River Styx, never to be heard from again. We want your expectations to know they don’t hold a candle to the reality we deliver.

There is, though, an obstacle.

Read the entire policy at my website.

Then let me know what you think!

The Time Is Now 11:59

If you're in the Sacramento area, Join Us for an Interactive Seminar and Workshop.

Learn Why Now is the Time to Grow Your Business and How You Can Succeed While Others Fear and Fail.

In an economy where every new client, every new project can feel like a stay of execution instead of a new start, you need to see every opportunity, and seize it.

Here's why.

And how.

Where & When
Thursday March 5th
1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
11300 Coloma Road Suite A-9
Gold River (Sacramento) California

Register here!

Article Marketing in 2009

Because we're in a recession, it doesn't mean that we stop marketing. It means we NEED to market smarter. Here are 3 New Years Resolutions for 2009:

1. Start writing articles on a weekly basis. Put them on
your website, on your blog and in your newsletters.
Put them into your notes on Facebook and post them for
your friends to see. And, submit your articles to the
top websites, ezines and article directories in your
niche. Don't forget to tweet about your awesome
placements to get even more people viewing your
articles.

2. Turn your articles into videos and post them on
YouTube and other video sites.

3. Turn your articles into special reports, ebooks, e-
courses, home-study courses and more to create
multiple streams of income.

By writing articles, you will open many doors to many different opportunities. But you have to start writing articles on a consistent basis. To help you get started check out my instant article writing templates at http://www.startwritingarticlesfaster.com

Reprinted from "The PR LEADS Article Marketing Secrets & Breakthroughs Newsletter", a free ezine featuring tips, tricks, tools, news, developments and trends that will help you generate free online publicity, build credibility, increase web traffic and boost your SEO ranking. Subscribe
at: http://www.IwantMoreProspects.com/articlenewsletter

Do You Tweet?

Are you using Twitter? Here are a few ways you can use it:

1. Online Articles - share interesting articles with your network.

2. Blog Posts - direct others to your blog posts or other interesting posts you find.

3. Audio or Video - another form of valuable content.

4. Web Content - share a link to an article, product, or interesting service.

5. Events or TeleClasses - include a link to an event your network will find useful.

6. Questions and Feedback - a great way to ask your network for opinions and feedback.

7. Resources - anything you could share of value with your network.

What do you Tweet about?

How Do You Find Time to Post Blog Entries?

One of the challenges of being a blogger is finding the time to write and post those entries. There have been times when I have not been as consistent as I'd like in posting to my blogs. Something I've found very helpful is to schedule some time to sit down and write several entries at once.

If possible, I'd suggest you write a week's worth of entries each week or even schedule entries for an entire month if you post just two to three times each week. Once you start writing, it's easier to keep going. And with the tools provided by the blogging platforms, it's easy to schedule your posts to go out at future times.

Wouldn't it be great to take an hour right now and create five or six entries and schedule them to go out throughout the month? Then you could just sit back and relax for a while.

How do you find time to post blog entries?

Marketing Trend in 2009

I recently read that the "trend for marketing in 2009 is to simply care about your customers, listen to them, communicate and be upfront with them."

That's really good advice. My question is, why is this a trend now? Why isn't this just the norm?

If you want to succeed at business, you should always care about your customers, get their feedback, implement appropriate suggestions, and always, always, be honest with them.

International Networking Week

International Networking Week™ is an initiative of BNI International®. Can you take some time this week to do some networking?

I've found that in-person networking is a great way to begin to build relationships with other people in business. It's not the time to sell yourself. It's the time to learn about other people, what they do, and how you can refer business to them.

Through networking I've met some great people and have been able to connect people with one another. Recently I was able to refer someone I met at one networking group to a person in a different networking group and now they'll be doing business together. My reward? Satisfaction in knowing that I helped these two people out.

What will you do this week to network and learn about someone's business?

February is National Time Management Month

February is the month to learn how to manage your time. This is very important when we are trying to spend time every day to market our businesses.

Take some time now at the beginning of the month to get organized with your time. Get an overview of what you need to accomplish this month, then break it down by week and then daily.

I find it helpful to review at the end of each day what I want to accomplish the following day. Then at the beginning of the day I again take a look at the day's schedule so I can be sure to get everything done that needs to get done.

If your office needs some organization so you can make better use of your time, contact a local professional organizer at NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers.

I can personally recommend two organizers in the Northern California area. If you're in the Redding area, contact Cynthia of Red Leaf. If you're in the Sacramento area, contact Natalie of Organized Habits.

What will you do to manage your time more effectively this month?

5 Keys to Building Productive Relationships in Business

It's easier to market your services to those you've built a relationship with. So how do you build productive relationships in business? Here are five keys:

1. Seek to understand the person you are building the relationship with. Find out what their interests are outside of business.

2. Pay attention to the little things. Say please and thank you; be kind and respectful. Neglecting these little things can do much to damage a relationship.

3. Keep your promises. Breaking a promise or commitment destroys trust.

4. Clarify expectations. Make sure you clearly understand their expectations and that they understand yours.

5. Be quick to apologize. If you make a mistake or are late, be quick to apologize.

Applying these five keys can help you build productive business relationships.

What have you done to build productive relationships in business?