Next Level Marketing & Website Design Blog

LinkedIn: Tips & Tricks Part II

Customer Service, Marketing, Revenue Enhancement

As you can see from my last blog on LinkedIn, that I am very excited about its potential for generating new revenues.    Last week I conducted a training class for a group of salesmen who wanted to learn more about LinkedIn and how to use it to generate revenues.  Today’s blog will share some of the concepts I presented to them.  In our last blog, we left off talking about adding applications to your profile to enhance your image and add more functionality.  We will start there today.

Box.net Files

This is one of the most useful applications for LinkedIn for salespeople and many others.  Basically, it lets you set up a file folder on your LinkedIn Profile where you can upload files for others to download.  Practical usages include sales brochures, rate sheets, customer service documents, etc.  Anything that you want to share with your connections can be posted here.

Behance

This application allows you to display graphic images and project information.  Mostly designed for graphic artists to show their work such as brochures, website screen shots, etc.  It can be used, however, is a wider variety of ways.  For example, general contractors can highlight a construction project include images of designs, work photos and final results.

Google Presentations

Every conduct a seminar and some people didn’t show up?  Now you can place your presentation on your LinkedIn Profile and invite the no-shows to watch it there.

CardMunch

For the iPhone users out there, the Cardmunch app allows you to place all the business cards you receive into your phone for easy access.  LinkedIn acquired this company and now you can connect LinkedIn contacts to your phone as well using this app.

Microsoft Outlook Link

Now let’s talk about another favorite of mine – the link between Microsoft Outlook and LinkedIn.  This is a great way to expand your LinkedIn network.  At the bottom of the page in LinkedIn, you will see a menu bar area.  Under the Tools link, you can download the Outlook Social Connector.  This connector installs an add-on to your Microsoft Outlook program.  This add-on does three really nice things to Outlook.  First, when you receive an e-mail from someone, at the bottom of the page below the preview of the e-mail’s content, images of the sender are pulled from LinkedIn.  You can quickly determine if the sender is in LinkedIn or not.  You can then add them to your LinkedIn Connections if you want.  Second, all of your LinkedIn Connections get pulled into Outlook.  A LinkedIn folder is created under My Contacts in Outlook.  You can now pull these up, schedule meetings, calls, etc. in Outlook. Third, LinkedIn has built-in restriction on the number of messages you can send and bulk sending is restricted.  However, with the LinkedIn-Outlook link, all of your contacts are now in Outlook and you can use Outlook to mass e-mail all of your LinkedIn contacts if you so desire.

Ok, let’s change gears.  I don’t want this blog to be entirely about applications for LinkedIn.  Leave it to say that there are a number of applications that can enhance your profile with more being developed every day.

Let’s discuss a basic revenue generating function of LinkedIn.  The old school sales approach was to work your personal relationships (at a chamber of commerce meeting, through community or trade events, etc.) to get introduced to a person at a company with whom you wanted to do business.  LinkedIn does the same thing, but utilizes technology to to expedite the process.  Let me illustrate with an example.

LinkedIn has a function that shows you people that you may know, but are not yet part of your network.  I was scrolling through this list and saw a person that shared 10 connections to people we both knew.  The person was working in a company I wanted to get to know.  Using LinkedIn’s InMail feature, I sent her a message listing all the people we both knew and suggested that we should probably get to know each other.  She was curious and agreed to connect.  I followed this up with a request to get some coffee.  At this meeting, we got to know each other better.  After getting to know me and what I did, she agreed to introduce me to the President of the company.  LinkedIn and some old school relationship building, got me the opportunity to sell our services.

Wow, I ran out of space again.  I hope the ideas I have shared on LinkedIn help you  generate more revenues.  If I can be of assistance or if you would like me to put on a LinkedIn training class for your company, give me a call.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on March 14, 2011, 10:06 am

Tips and Tricks to Make LinkedIn Work for Your Business

Marketing

As business people, you have heard that you should be using the power of social media to help your business but are not sure how.  In today’s blog, I will share some of the tricks and tips to make the social media website LinkedIn work for you.  LinkedIn has some 85 million people within its network.  If you are not on LinkedIn, you need to be.  For today’s blog, I will assume that you have an account and know how to add connections to people you know.

Finding Information and Insiders At A Specific Company
Ok, you have a specific company you have targeted and what to identify the insiders you need to get to know.  Here is how.  On your Home page of LinkedIn at the top menu to the far right is the word “Advanced” in blue.  This opens a powerful search capability.  On the right side of this screen you will see the field “Company”.  Type in your targeted company and every LinkedIn profile for that company is listed.  Another option is to use the “Search Companies” function under “Companies” in the top menu. This will pull up the company’s LinkedIn page and from there you can identify the people in the company.  You can also research the company on their LinkedIn Company profile including recommendations made by others.  If you upgrade your account from the free account to the Business Pro account, you can see references made by past and current employees of the company.

Finding Service Providers or Getting Listed
Need a new accountant or website designer?  LinkedIn can help.  Go to the “Companies” page from the main top menu on the Home page.  On the top right of this page you will see “Service Providers” in blue.  This page shows service providers and the recommendations other LinkedIn users posted for them.  You only get listed on this page if you receive enough recommendations by other users (see below for getting recommendations).

Have Customers Recommend You on LinkedIn
There are two ways to get recommendations, individual or a mass request.  For individuals, go to the individual in your Contacts (see “Contacts” on the top menu of the Home screen).  Click on their name and send them a message.  In the message ask them to go to your Profile page and click on “Recommend this person” in blue in the upper right hand side of the profile.  For a mass request for recommendations, go back to the Service Providers page (see above).  At the bottom of this page, you will see “How do I get listed in this directory?”  Click “Request a recommendation.” You can request up to 200 contacts to make a recommendation at once.

How to Get Business Questions Answered Through LinkedIn
Under the “More” link on the top menu of the Home screen, you will see a drop-down “Answers.”  Type in your question and hit Next.  Use the Details field to elaborate on your questions.  Select a category for your question to help direct the question to people most appropriate to answer it. You can also limit your question to response from a specific geographic area by choosing a country and zipcode (for the US).   After you ask your question, you will also be asked if you want to send this question to people you know.  Answers will show up under the My Q&A tab on the Answers page.

Become an Expert Answering Questions
The bottom half of the Questions page lists experts in the category.  If you want to be become an expert, answer other people’s questions and earn “expertise points”.  Find questions in the areas you know by browsing questions in categories familiar to you.  Answer those questions by clicking on the question link, and clicking the “Answer” button.  Remember, private answers won’t help you earn expertise.  Every time the questioner picks your answer best, you gain a point of expertise.  The more points of expertise, the higher you appear on lists of experts. 

Set Up a Business Account
An important feature of LinkedIn is the ability to profile your business and not just yourself.  In essence this section of LinkedIn is very much like your website and as such, should be developed by your marketing people to ensure that you convey the right message and to enhance its graphical appearance.  Having said that, here is how to set up your company.  You first must have a personal profile account in LinkedIn. Click on the Companies link on the main menu on the Home screen.  On the upper right side of this page, click on “Add a Company.”  Enter the name of your company and company e-mail address.  LinkedIn will verify that your company does not have an existing profile and that you work for the company.  Enter the information about your company and click “Create Company.”    Click “Edit” to enhance your company profile.  Again, I suggest you use a marketing professional here who knows how to use LinkedIn’s features to create an impressive company page.

Add Your WordPress Blog to Your LinkedIn Profile
Do you write a blog using WordPress.  If so, each time you post a new blog, it can show up on your LinkedIn profile page.  Here is how.  Under Profile on the main menu, click Edit profile.  Scroll down on your profile until you see the section “Applications” and click on “Add an application” in blue to the right.  Scroll until you find WordPress applications, click on it.   Next, check the boxes next to “Display on my profile” and “Display on LinkedIn homepage.”  Set up your blog feed by entering your blog’s URL (such as http://blogs.2nextlevel.net).  Select “Show all recent posts from your blog” to show your entire blog.  If you want to show only certain posts, tag them “LinkedIn” in your WordPress editor and select “Show only recent posts tagged LinkedIn.”  Configure your privacy settings to make sure your blog updates.   In the upper right of the LinkedIn main menu you will see you name.  Click on the drop down arrow and select “Settings.”  Under “Privacy Settings” on the right side of the screen, click on “Profile and Status Updates.”  Make sure that under “Publish profile updates, recommendations and companies you follow?” that you have selected the radio button for “Yes.”

Wow, we have run out of space in this blog and I have a ton more to share with you about LinkedIn.  Stay tuned.  I will continue this topic in my next blog.  If you have any questions, please give me a call at (630) 665-4440 or visit our website at www.2nextlevel.net.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on February 23, 2011, 1:17 pm  | Trackback

The Entrepreneurial Mindset for Growth

Customer Service, Marketing, Revenue Enhancement

Today I am going to attempt to take many of you back to the days when you first started your company and how the spirit and mindset of an entrepreneur should be nurtured within your firm as a means for continuous business development and improvement.

What is the mindset or traits of an entrepreneur?

  • They passionately seek new opportunities.  They stay alert, always looking for the chance to grow and profit.  They are hungry for the next dollar. 
  • They are innovative and recognize that change can be good as it creates opportunity. 
  • They pursue opportunities with enormous discipline.  They act.  They follow-up. 
  • They focus on execution.  They don’t over analyze ideas.  They make ideas become reality. 
  • They leverage themselves and recognize that they need help from others.  They involve others both inside and outside the company in pursuit of opportunity.

So where does the entrepreneur start?  His customers, of course.  Before an entrepreneur takes his first step, he listens to the needs in the marketplace.  Is there opportunity? Can I make money on these opportunities?  The entrepreneur finds out as much as possible about his customers.  He starts by recognizing that customers don’t care about his products/services.  What they care about is their own needs and how to meet them.  You can discover a great deal about your customersby means of quizzing, a process of asking and getting answers to questions.  For each of your products/services, consider the what, who, when, where and/or how proposition. Who is the decision maker, the influencers? What pain or problem will you solve for them?  How do you recognize symptoms or potential opportunities exhibited by the customer or prospect?

So how do we harness this entrepreneurial mindset and spirit within our firms?  We start by leading by example.  Take a look at your own daily tasks?   How much entrepreneurial spirit shows up in the everyday individual tasks you perform?  If not much, work to change this situation.  Entrepreneurial leaders inspire others through their own personal practices on the job.

The next step is to become an entrepreneurial leader within the company.  Your task is to create a company that continuously looks for and acts upon opportunity.  You will have success when everyone in your company takes for granted that business success demands a continual search for new opportunities. The first area to work on is culture.  The goal is to create a sense of urgency to discover the next opportunity.  Everyone from the CEO to the receptionist must be clear that searching for opportunities is their responsibility.  To foster such a culture,  you need to start behaving as you would like your people to behave, by dedicating a disproportionate share of your time, attention, and resources to business development and customer retention.  You need not be charismatic.  You can have more success by being  persistent in modeling the behavior you want others to adopt.  People will follow your example, but they will not change on the basis of your words alone.

Next, orchestrate your model.  People find uncertainty more manageable if it can be framed,  understood and simplified.  One of your challenges is to help your people cope with the difficulty of determining what to prioritize, and where their focus should be set.  Don’t believe that imposing discipline will stifle entrepreneur creativity.  Most ideas will not lead to business success.  Help your people understand that business development and customer retention ideas must lead to products/services to solve real customer needs, at a sensible price, or they do not increase the value of the company.  Spend imagination before money.  Encourage your people to utilize their own creativity before asking for material resources.  Measure and manage all new ideas.

Finally, be ruthless with respect to priorities.  Trying to do too many things has sunk many business development initiatives.  Dropping tasks that don’t merit your attention or the attention of your people is every bit as important as starting new entrepreneurial tasks.

As an entrepreneur, you will never forget first seeing a customer genuinely respond to your efforts to help them.  It’s also very rewarding to make a lot of money for your efforts.  Add the entrepreneurial mindset into your business model today.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on January 20, 2011, 1:33 pm

Season of Opportunity

Customer Service, Marketing, Revenue Enhancement

Tis the Season…Christmas Season…Yes, but that is not what I want to talk about in this week’s blog.  No…now is the Season of Opportunity.  As the new year approaches, it’s time to renew and strengthen your relationships with your existing customers because the first step in growing your business is to retain your customers!

In this week’s blog, I will share some ideas on how to strengthen your relationships by doing the little things that mean so much to customers.  Next week, I will share some ideas on how to sell more to existing  customers during the Season of Opportunity.

So let’s get right into some ideas on how to strengthen your relationships with your customers:

Going the extra mile

  • Conduct extra stuff for them (free of charge). 
  • Improve turnaround time of services provided or delivery of products
  • Improve quality
  • More documentation, explanation, accessibility
  • Reach out to the customer’s other employees and get to know them

 Increasing the amount of customer contact

  • Telephone regularly (use your daily calendar system to prompt you)
  • Visit at every opportunity
  • Schedule business meetings near mealtime
  • Invite to your offices/plant/warehouse etc.
  • Introduce other people in your company.  Introduce the President is always welcomed. 
  • Get more of your people involved with customer 

Building the business relationship (climb the client relationship pyramid)

  • Help customers find contacts elsewhere
  • Put on special seminars for the customer’s staff
  • Volunteer to attend the customer’s internal meetings especially on how they use your product/service
  • Offer free day of counseling  or training
  • Send customers useful articles
  • If possible, refer business to customers

Building the personal relationship (climb the pyramid)

  • Social activities
  • Remember personal, family anniversaries 
  • Obtain scarce tickets
  • Provide home telephone number
  • Offer use of firm’s facilities for their personal or business uses

Increase knowledge of customer’s industry

  • Study industry magazine/newsletters thoroughly and regularly (Get subscriptions)
  • Attend industry meetings with the customer
  • Conduct proprietary studies
  • Go to industry trade shows
  • Learn all you can on their competitors

Increasing knowledge of customer’s business

  • Read all customer’s brochures, financial reports, other public reports and news releases
  • Ask to see strategic plan
  • Volunteer to critique internal studies
  • Conduct a reverse seminar (their people tell you about their company)
  • Subscribe to a clipping service

Increasing knowledge of customer’s organization

  • Ask for organization chart
  • Ask who client deals with most
  • Ask about the customer’s boss
  • Ask about power structure
  • Arrange to meet other executives
  • Spend time with customer’s junior managers

Increasing knowledge of customer

  • Find out precisely how the customer is evaluated inside his/her company
  • Find out what he/she is unhappy with
  • Find out their personal views on life
     

Unfortunately, relationship building takes time.  If you can do all of this for every customer, then prioritize.  Which customer relationships need attention?  What revenues do I need to protect and don’t want to risk losing? 

Don’t forget to leverage yourself.  You probably have internal staff that need the business development and customer retention experience. 

Until next week, remember to do the little things.  A customer relationship is stronger when the customer can refer to a hundred little things you do for them than only one big thing.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on December 20, 2010, 10:41 am  | Trackback

Screwing Up Customer Service

Customer Service, Marketing

It’s amazing how poor customer service can be. In a slow economy where retaining customers is vital to your success and possibly for your business’ survival, poor customer service can have profound negative effects on your bottomline.  Let me tell you a true story that occurred just yesterday. 

Two days ago, my wife made a simple $200.00 transfer from our kid’s savings account to our checking account (my kids were paying us back for a purchase they made).  Both accounts were at the same bank.  Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it.  I guess not. 

The teller mistypes the amount.  Instead of $200 she types in $2,000.  This is the initial mistake by the bank which should never have been possible in the first place since my kid’s savings account does not have $2,000 in it to transfer out.  Why the bank’s system allows the transaction in the first place in today’s computer age is my first point of customer dissatisfaction.  I suspect it is because the bank wants to make money on the overdraft. 

That evening, my wife notices the error as she views our bank account online.  She hits the “Chat Live” button on the webpage since it is now after hours.  The bank customer service representative identifies the bank’s error and promises to fix the balances on the two accounts.  The next day, my wife checks the accounts again and the change wasn’t made so she calls the local bank which is now open.  She talks to a “Senior Banker” who promises to straighten things out.  She tells my wife that she will go into the bank system and make the changes. 

Now here comes the next round of issues.  The “senior banker” goes into the system as promised and transfers the $2000 back out of our checking account (minus the $200 originally requested) to my kid’s savings account.  She fails however, to coordinate with the bank’s online customer support people who 12 hours later (more than 24 hours after my wife originally requested the correction online) execute my wife’s original request and also transfer $1800 out of our checking account to our kid’s savings account.  My kid’s are happy with the large sum in their account, but my wife is not.

The checking account does not pay any interest so my wife and I only keep enough money in the checking account to cover outgoing payments.  Yes, you guessed it, because the money from the kids wasn’t transferred on time, and the bank transferred twice as much out as they should have, our checking account balance dropped below zero.  As a result, the bank system automatically rejected two payments and assessed us ”Insufficient Funds Fees” and returned the requests to the store where my kids made their purchase and our cable provider who both then proceeded to call us and assess us  “cancelled check fees.”  Now my wife is really mad and now I am pulled into this quagmire.

Now I call the bank locally and am upset that a simple $200 transfer is causing me so much trouble.  When I asked how this double transfer occurred, the “senior banker” tried to make it my wife’s fault for asking two parts of the same bank to fix the problem.  That was a big mistake.  At the end of our conversation, I made a simple request.  Make things right.  Put the money where it should be with proper balances in both accounts, notify my two vendors of the bank’s error and pay any cancelled check fees to them and pay the vendors the amount owed them, and remove all fees charged by the bank system for ‘insufficient funds.”    Her response: she would write a letter on their letterhead explaining the bank error.  She would send this to me.  I would have to send it the two vendors and ask them to resubmit for payment by the bank.  No mention of paying for their cancelled check fees nor any mention of a letter to me apologizing for the mix up and inconvenience.  She just blamed the system and my wife and put the solution back on us.

What do you think my response will be?  Next week after all my payments clear, I am closing all my accounts at that bank which include investment funds, business accounts, personal checking and savings accounts and, of course, my kid’s savings accounts.  I am also telling everyone I know how poor this bank treated me.  What the “senior banker” doesn’t also realize is that as the marketing partner in a CPA firm, I am in the position to refer clients to their commercial lenders.  I doubt that will happen now.

A simple $200 transfer mistake handled poorly will end up costing the bank a lot more. 

Every business has customers and it is important to remember that how you treat people and handle even the smallest of issues, is important.  Take a minute to talk with those employees on the front lines of customer service and make sure they understand the importance of their jobs as it relates to the long term success of your business.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on October 19, 2010, 1:34 pm  | Trackback

Proposal Writing Ideas

Marketing, Revenue Enhancement

Many companies use proposals in their sales process.  Whether you are responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) or proposals are a part of how you sell, what you say and how you present your business in a proposal can make or break an opportunity.  Before you blow away all the hard work your sales team as done to get you to the proposal stage, maximize the effectiveness of your proposals now.

The key to great proposal writing is not writing at all, but rather to listen.  As Stephen Covey says, you have two ears and only one mouth.  Listen twice as much as you speak.  In the case of proposal writing, gather as much information about the forces behind the sales opportunity.  What benefits do they seek?  Why are they shopping now?  What pains or challenges will your product or service solve for them?  Who are the decision makers and who are the influencers?  What is important to each group?

Once you have as much information and you truly understand their needs, pains, wants and price sensitivities, you are ready to start building a persuasive argument why your firm is the right choice.  I always start by thanking the contacts for the chance to present the proposal.  Courtesy is always appreciated.  Next, outline your understanding of their needs (both explicit and implicit).  When presenting your proposal, start talking about this section to see if you got it correct.  If you missed something major, don’t be afraid to ask for another day to revamp your proposal.  If you fail to address major issues, its a waste of everyone’s time to submit the proposal.  Now start building your persuasive arguments for choosing your firm.  Include the what, how, why, when and how much.  Some argue to put the How Much right up front, especially if the price tag is large.  The thought is that you get the sticker shock out of the way and then build the support for the price.  Others argue to build first then show them the cost.  Either way is fine.

Remember that your proposal needs to be written from the prospective customer’s perspective.  What do they want to see and hear from you?  What is important to them not necessarily to you.  Don’t talk about yourself directly but rather what you can do for them.  Even when giving some background on your firm, show them why its important.  For example, the fact that your company has been around for 50 years is important to them because it shows stability and experience.  You get the idea.

Use visual elements to demonstrate processes and other key or complex elements.  Many people are visual learners and will grasp an image better than text.  Speaking of visual elements.  Make sure the quality of the proposal itself (paper, cover stock etc.) matches the quality of your firm.  Don’t go cheap at the last second.  The cover for example is the first impression.  Make it a good one.

As a final tip for proposal writing, I suggest you create a “Paragraph” database.  Here you collect paragraphs that describe different components of a proposal to serve as template paragraphs.  You pick the paragraphs that you need for each individual proposal.  This will save you time and create a standardized message on you present your firm.  Revise and improve on these template paragraphs over time.  Using templated paragraphs is fine, but be sure to customize the proposals for each opportunity and make sure the proposals reads smoothly and not as a bunch of disjointed paragraphs.

To summarize, listen, listen, listen.  Customize for each opportunity.  Use templated paragraphs as appropriate.  Build a persausive argument.  Make sure the graphical elements and presentation of the proposal of of the highest quality.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on October 12, 2010, 9:21 am  | Trackback

Passion and A 10 Year Old Angel

Advertising, Customer Service, Marketing, Revenue Enhancement, Website Design and Development

Last night I watched America’s Got Talent and was blown away by a little 10 year old girl with a voice of an angel.  If you aren’t familiar with this reality TV show, it puts people on stage to perform.  Some people sing, others do magic, one guy does bicycle stunts.  The point is that it’s a contest to discover talent in America.  Well, last night I watched 10 year old, Jackie Evancho, sing one of my favorite Italian/English opera songs “Time to Say Goodbye” with a passion and beauty rarely seen.  Check her out on this YouTube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVGrcy8wQHk  You won’t believe your ears!

What does this have to do with marketing?  Passion!  Most ads, direct mail letters, websites and even sales pitches lack passion.  They do not appear to be excited about what they are saying or doing.  Just think about the ton of ads you see on television, on the radio, on the web or through the mail.  Why in the heck should you get excited about any of that stuff when the marketers behind these marketing messages aren’t excited about what they are saying?  People are attracted to passion, so when you write or give a sales pitch, do it with passion.  Go for it!  Let your excitement and enthusiasm spill out.  Don’t hold back! Rave about your company, your products or services, how great they are, how it will benefit the user, how it feels goods, works well, and so forth. 

For some people this may make you uncomfortable, but trust me when I say that people respect other people who have a positive passion.  If a 10 year old girl can go on stage before the world and sing her heart out.  You can certainly let loose with a little passion in your marketing efforts.  One other trait about people with passion, they tend to work harder to accomplish their goals.  As you will hear in the Jackie Evancho video, she is dedicated to achieving her dreams and her passion for singing drives her to work hard at achieving them.  Hard work and passion – a great combination for marketing and a great lesson from a small angel.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on September 2, 2010, 8:53 am  | Trackback

Changing Your Image

Graphic Design, Marketing

Sometimes it isn’t good to be efficient.  Last weekend, I noticed that I had completed all of the items on my “Honey Do This” list and only one project remained…removing the old wallpaper in our first floor bathroom and painting the walls.  For those of you who have ever removed wallpaper, you know why this project was at the bottom of my priorities  — hard back-breaking work.  It was on the list because my wife and I were growing tired of the way our bathroom looked and wanted to enhance the look and to  better match the style we had adopted throughout the first floor of our house. I knew that, in the end, the results would be well worth the effort, but I was still hesitant to start.  In this week’s blog, I will talk on a similar concept in marketing, image improvement projects.

Are you tired of the way your marketing materials, website or product packaging look?  If the answer is “Yes”, why have you put off upgrading your image?  Probably because the project seems time consuming, expensive and require replacing a lot of material.  Like my wallpaper project, you know that in the end, the results will be worth the effort.  Changing your image isn’t that hard nor expensive.  The key to success is good planning and a clear vision of what you want the end product to look like.  Start by outlining the end destination.  What image or market message do you want to convey?  Next, outline what images, colors, logos etc. you want to keep.  This gives you the starting point and the end point. 

I suggest breaking the project down into smaller components or projects.  For example, I suggest starting with your website.  By creating the images and content you need for your new look here first, you efficiently collect the materials you need for most of your other image enhancement projects.  Why, well because your website generally says everything about your company and its products/services whereas other components may only serve one particular area.  Next, focus on those projects that have direct customer interaction (sales and customer service).  These could include brochures, trade show booths, proposal covers, letterhead, labels, business cards and envelopes.  Lastly, move to other projects that do not directly effecting sales and customer service, but do effect your market image.  These could include street signs, invoices, packaging, etc. 

Not all of these projects need to be done all at once.  However, you can save money if some projects are combined.  For example, printing letterhead, business  cards and labels together saves printing costs.  Your “Honey Do This” List may seem long at first, but the projects don’t have to be hard nor expensive.  Just prioritize and knock one project down at a time.  Good luck!  If you need help, give us a call.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on August 19, 2010, 1:07 pm  | Trackback

Looking Cheap

Graphic Design, Marketing, Website Design and Development

Ok, today I am going to rant and rave a bit.  I will try to take it easy on you, our readers because this may not apply to some of you.  If it does, my apologies in advance, but you needed this.  So here is what has me upset:  Why in the world do so many businesses still think they can go “cheap” when they build their website?  Your company’s website is without a doubt your biggest office or storefront.  Think of it as you would a physical building.  Would you go “cheap” when building your headquarters, manufacturing plant, distribution center, and customer service center or retail store?  But that’s exactly what your website is!  It is all of these buildings in one and this piece of real estate is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and serves the entire world.  I know this is a little self serving since we build great websites but going “cheap” on a website is a huge mistake. 

“Cheap” doesn’t necessarily relate 100% to the cost to build it, although most companies spend way too little on their website relative to the functions and exposure your website has in your market.  No, it can also mean that you haven’t invested in a graphically pleasing, easy to navigate, informative and useful website for your customers, prospective customers and other stakeholders in your business.  Take a look at your website.  What does it say about your company?   How does it compare to others in your industry?  Better yet, how does it compare to Walt Disney, ESPN, Apple and other companies we all know – because ultimately the level of quality is set by those businesses exhibiting world-class quality websites.

It is shocking to me that smart business owners and executives are not allocating funding, annually, to building and improving the look, feel and functionality of their website.  In today’s digital world where the Internet and websites have become the standard and central point of information and communications, you can’t afford to turn away customers because that is what you do with a poor quality website. 

OK, off my peddle stool.  You know I won’t complain without also offering solutions.  Here is a checklist for evaluating your website.  You can also read more articles on improving your website on our website:

http://www.2nextlevel.net/resources/website-design-and-development-articles/my-website-isnt-very-good

Checklist for Good Web Sites

  1. Headline.  Is the headline the primary visual of the web page?  Does it attract the reader?
  2. First Paragraph.  Does the first paragraph encourage the reader to read the rest of the web page?
  3. Page Titles.  Do the titles for each page make sense?  Do they help navigate your web site?
  4. Segmentation.  Don’t treat all visitors the same.  If your customers’ need vary significantly, create separate content for each segment.
  5. Visual.  Does the web page contain good visuals?  Does it support but not overpower the headline?
  6. Organization.  Is the web site organized in a manner that is easy to follow and easy to navigate?
  7. Performance.  Do the web pages load quickly?  Do pages look the same on all versions of the popular browsers? Do visitors have to download a browser plug-in or will each page work on all versions of popular browsers?
  8. Branding.  Does the web site conform and support branding efforts for the company and/or its products/services?
  9. Product.  Does the web site contain persuasive information about the product/service that are important to the targeted audience?
  10. Layout.  Is the ad inviting to the eye? Is it easy to read?  Is there too much copy text?  Does it help establish credibility?
  11. Prospective Customer’s Paradigm.  Is the web page written and presented with the prospective customer’s point of view in mind or the company’s?  Does it address the prospective customer’s wants, needs, desires, fears etc.?
  12. Believability.  Does the web page “ring true” or does it make statements without believable support?
  13. Ask for a Response.  Does the final paragraph of the copy on each web page ask the reader for a response and does the web page provide a means to respond?
  14. Specific.  Is the information specific, clear and important to the prospective customer?
  15. Key Information.  Does the web site include key information such as store locations and hours, telephone number, website, credit card acceptance, etc.?  Is all important information above the fold meaning on the screen and scrolling is not required?
  16. Style.  Is the writing style conversational in nature?  Is it written inf irst person or addressed to the viewer? 
  17. Content.  Is the content fresh and does the web site give the viewer a reason to return again and again?

If you need help with your website or just want us to evaluate it as an outsider, give me a call at (630) 665-4440.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on August 3, 2010, 12:18 pm  | Trackback

I Call A “Do Over”

Customer Service, Marketing, Revenue Enhancement

Do you remember when you were a kid and you were playing a game with your friends and something didn’t go the way you wanted?  Remember calling a “Do Over”?  Wouldn’t life be better if you could call a “Do Over” anytime for anything?  I could “do-over” that speeding ticket I got for going 65 in a 50 m.p.h zone and drive at the speed limit the second time.  Well in today’s blog I am going to call a “do over”. 

Let’s go back in time to the first year of your new business.  You grew the business utilizing the knowledge, experience and technology you had at that time.  You implemented procedures on how your young business operates.  Over time you have made modifications to these procedures and made some upgrades, but I bet the foundation of how you run your business now is very similar to those procedures established years ago.  Time to call that “Do Over.”

If you started your business today, would you run it the same way?  Would you use the same technologies?  Or would you do things differently?  At Next Level, we call these “do over” efforts, reengineering strategies.  Basically, knowing all you know now about your business and the markets you serve, how could you change your business, its processes and operations to build competitive advantage? How would your business operate if you were that entrepreneur today?

Let’s look at a great “do over” example.  United Parcel Service (UPS) wanted more market share and saw an opportunity to take parcel services away from the U.S. Postal Service.  What they saw was  two things.  First, an inefficient postal system and second, a gap in communications between customers and the postal process.  People gave their packages to the post office and prayed that it got to its destination.  The customer had no way to know when it would arrive nor was it easy to track down lost packages.  UPS’ solution was to implement an efficient tracking system and link this system to the rising use of the Internet.  I’m sure you’ve seen those hand-held devices the UPS delivery people carry and scan your packages with.  Not only did UPS run more efficiently than the U.S. Postal Service, but now customers could feel confident in the delivery of their packages.  They could even look online and check the status of their delivery at their convenience.  The result, well you can clearly see that UPS grabbed a huge chunk of market share from the U.S. Postal Service.

Reengineering strategies, in the marketing use, are the rethinking and redesign of business processes and managerial practices to improve performance in the areas of cost, service, speed or output in an effort to achieve a new level of competitive advantage.  A word of caution.  Reengineering is not easy.  In fact, it’s hard, but its the best way to leap-frog your company to a market leader position and the best way to build lasting long-term competitive advantage…well at least until you call a “do over” again.

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Posted by Brett Flickinger on July 20, 2010, 2:10 pm  | Trackback
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