Discussion

Last month I got my car painted. Just for the record, my car is 14 years old. The paint on the roof was corroding and looking very tired, so it was time to either fix it or sell it. I like my car and it’s never let me down, the fact that I own it is also a bonus – no debt, yay! So I decided it was time to pay my car some attention and make it look shiny and new – give it some lovin’.

The first quote I got was from a large shiny auto business and was a long way out of my budget. So my plan was put on hold. And then, as these things happen, the guy who services our cars said he knew a guy who worked from home and would do a good job. Word of mouth marketing at its finest!

As a result, the backyard guy’s cash price was a lot less than the quote I got from the big boys. If our really good and reliable car-service guy said he’s good, he must be good, right? So, I gave my faithful car to this guy, trusting him to treat it well and return it looking brand new. And he did. Except for the part where ‘backyard guy’ said he hadn’t quite finished the job and would need it back to touch up the small white scratches that appeared overnight on my car’s doors. Of course, I haven’t heard from him since… since I paid him the cash that is.

So, here’s the thing: do I kick up a stink to get this job finished, at the risk of getting a dodgy job because the guy might get nasty? Or maybe he just doesn’t have time, he could be sick… any number of things could’ve happened. I know for sure that if the professional guys in the big shiny building had done the job to the same standard (for a lot more money), I’d be there banging on the door and wanting something done about it!

Many of us are small business operators who work from home and rely on word-of-mouth marketing. So if you’ve been asked to do a job, do it well with integrity and follow up. If you can’t finish it on time, contact your client and explain why.  That way you’ll earn their trust and your service or product will have value. Then they’ll tell their friends how great you are.

In the end the ‘backyard guy’ did finish off the job, and he didn’t really have a good excuse for letting it wait so long, but by then he’d lost my trust and I certainly wouldn’t recommend him to anyone because I was let down in the first place. Knowing the risks and still going ahead with the ‘backyard guy’ probably wasn’t the best choice to make, but I saved a heap of cash, right?

Do you have a story like this to share? Please leave your comment below, and have a great day!

I love Facebook. It’s great to keep in touch with friends and family, get inspiration, find out what’s happening in my area, keep up with new marketing strategies, watch webinars, connect with other people in my industry and book in to workshops and events. It’s also great for my business. New clients have found me through Facebook. It’s an excellent networking tool. But there are some things to consider when using any social media…

Did you know that every single thing you type or post into any social media forum remains there forever? Seriously. Oh sure, you can delete it or remove it from your profile page, but you know those little robot thingies that lurk out there in cyber space? They keep it all in storage. Forever.

There’s a golden rule when it comes to social media, and it’s this: Never post or type anything that you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see, or someone else’s grandma for that matter.

Did you also know that employers are now scanning social media sites to learn more about you? For example, imagine you’re a care-free uni student who studies hard all week and parties hard on the weekends, then you post a few ‘wasted’ photos on to your profile page to share with friends, and maybe add some tacky comments with a few unsavoury words thrown in. Consider this; in four years’ time, when you’ve graduated and you’re out there applying for your dream job, guess what your future employer’s going to find on your social media profile?

Remember, whatever you put there today is going to be there tomorrow. Think they’ll still employ you?

So be careful, think before you type and remember, someone’s grandma is watching!

For more hints and tips go to http://harlemworldblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/6-career-killing-facebook-mistakes/

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I love airports. I love watching people arriving, leaving, waiting, and rushing.  I love wondering where they came from, where they’re going and what they do. Who they love, what makes them tick.

I have spent quite a bit of time in airports over the years, mostly due to missing my flight once or twice, but that's another story for another day.

Today I want to admit to an overwhelming urge that I get when I’m at an airport. You know when a plane has just landed, and all the people who are waiting to greet their arrivals stand either side of the doorway, waiting for the passengers to walk in? To me it feels like a grand entrance, something momentous, and I have this mad desire to stand there and applaud! I don’t know why I want to do that, I just do.

So that got me thinking; maybe applause is something we all need occasionally, just to say “good on you, you’re doing a great job”. Because when you look at those faces in the airport, a lot of them are kinda sad and serious and anxious.

So anyway, if you’re ever arriving at an airport and see a crazy woman madly clapping and cheering you on, just go with it, lap it up, smile and enjoy the moment. Good on you!

Last week my hubby and I were trying to decide which one of us should be calling his clients and booking them in. You see, he has his own lawn mowing and gardening business and most of his clients are elderly. Some are lonely, and some just spend all their time going from one doctor to another, and others are busy playing bingo and running the raffles at the local surf club. But the one thing they all have in common is that they love to talk, and talk, and talk. My husband loves to talk too. However, he really doesn’t like talking on the phone after hours and doing the logistics and paperwork, so guess who gets that job? Moi!

The fact that I also run my own business is beside the point. I’m at home in the office more than him, so calling his clients should be my job, as well as his paperwork, invoicing, banking etc. The other fact that I’m a creative, and not an admin person, is also beside the point. So, here I sit, mentally preparing myself for a couple of hours of polite chatter, empathizing about various illnesses and hearing the same story at least three times. At least!

Then I realized what this process actually is. It’s Customer Relationship Marketing. If we want to keep these elderly people on the books and repeatedly booking our services, we have to look after them, because ultimately, it’s not really the service they’re paying for, it’s the great job that my husband does for them. It’s the company he gives them once every few weeks, someone to share a cuppa with and bake a cake for -this is a great way to avoid making his lunch, so I’m a big fan of that!

And the fact that they talk can only mean one thing; they’re talking to their friends at the doctor’s surgery and bingo, about their gardener. They’re telling their friends how wonderful he is, that he’s a great gardener, how meticulous and tidy he is. And the thing they love best about him? He can talk the leg off an iron pot. He loves history, he knows politics and sport, he’s trekked Kokoda and Tasmania and he loves gardens. This is brilliant WOM (Word of Mouth) marketing. Brilliant!

So, in the interests of keeping hubby employed and a great marketing strategy, I better get on the phone…

So you have a website and it’s frustrating the daylights out of you! Or maybe you want a website and don’t know where to start? These days there’s much more online awareness than ever before and, according to 2006 statistics, 61 percent of internet users were buying online – imagine how many more that is today! Don’t you wish you could have some of that?

You desperately want to update your website content, you want to change the images, add an e-news facility, and maybe you’re even savvy enough to know that a regular blog would benefit your business and give you more exposure. Now you’ve decided what you need to do, it’s time to figure out how. It’s time to take control of your website and get a CMS (Content Managed System). Talk to your web guy or start searching for a solution, there are a lot of choices, so make sure you ask plenty of questions.

The benefits of managing you own web content

Updating your text
There’s nothing worse than going to a website that has old, out of date information. Having control over the content of your website gives you more power – and costs less because you don’t have to call your web guy anymore. You can write, edit and change your text and make sure that your information is up to date and current. This endorses you as a credible and knowledgeable person in your niche market and helps when search engines are looking for you, because search engines love new content.

Loading new images
It’s great to refresh your website with new images, especially if you’re selling a product. Make sure your photos and images are good quality and not grainy and hard to see.  Having a photo of yourself on your site creates trust and lets people know that you’re a real live person – warts and all!

Adding new pages
When you have a CMS website, you can choose how many pages you want on your site, you can delete them, add them, update them and even make them invisible while you’re working on them. Your website should be a work in progress, something that evolves and changes as your business does. Don’t let it sit and do nothing, make it work for you!

Blogging your latest news
With social networking and online marketing being a very big deal now, it makes sense to build a blog into your website. A good CMS will allow you to do this easily and it gives you another tool to reach clients and direct more people to you. It’s also another great way for search engines to find you.

Getting on top in Google
The buzz word lately is SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation. It’s all about ranking highly in Google, and other search engines, and being number one. You do want to be number one, right? SEO starts with working out which keywords people use to find your services or products, and then using those words in your text, to name your images, and in your descriptions.

If you'd like to know more, get in touch today!
Have a happy day
Jeanne