What are the 3 biggest reasons you go online each day?

"What gets measured gets managed." --Peter Drucker

Join us for the West Volusia WOAMTEC lunch meeting this Thursday Oct 6th @ Holiday Inn Express Orange City.

Want to learn how to avoid the 3 Common Mistakes QuickBooks Users Make? Check out this video http://ping.fm/A30bx

I have had several days without social media...guess what...it was OK!

"The past is history, the future a mystery, but today's a gift, that's why it's called the PRESENT!"--unknown

RIP Paul Hill. Never gone, never forgotten.

Has Google Replaced the Yellow Pages: What you must know about advertising your local business.

Business advertising used to be so simple. You spoke with your local Yellow Pages ad-rep then came up with a few short lines for the ad, unless you decided to spring for a display ad, then you might have to also come up with a picture, but once you had your ad together, you simply paid a monthly fee, and then answered the phone when it rang.  Oh but those simple days of ‘letting our fingers do the walking’ are gone!

A few years ago the internet came into our lives.  I was in my late twenties when the internet came on.  It was a fairly crude cyber world at first which was mostly uninhabited. I wouldn’t have even thought to look at the internet to find a local dry cleaner, I would have grabbed the yellow pages. But recently I threw out my yellow page books, because after stumbling across them I realized I never use them anymore. Now I go straight to Google.  If my 18 year old daughter ask me where she could go to get her car detailed and I suggested she look in the yellow pages she would either say, “What’s their web address?” or all ready be typing, “Car detailer Orange City” into her smart phone.  She wouldn’t even know that a book with phone numbers and yellow pages exists.

 Let’s face it, it’s a Google world.  Most people under 50 search Google first when they need things, even when they want to find a local business.  Example, last spring I went to Savannah, Georgia, while there I wanted to visit some local fabric stores. So what did I do? I turned on my new smart phone, opened the web browser, and typed in a search for “Fabric Store Savannah”.  I only found a few. Now I know it is getting harder and harder to find fabric stores as less and less people are sewing these days, but I also knew there should be more stores than what the internet search revealed so I decided to check out the yellow pages.  Sure enough, there were a couple more stores listed in there.  At first I thought, “Oh thank goodness for the yellow pages.” But then I realized, these businesses weren’t on the internet, the place where we look first. They are still stuck in those simple days when we placed yellow page ads, and now most people don’t look at the yellow pages, therefore most people won’t find their businesses.

Let’s face it, placing a yellow page ad is so much easier for the busy business owner.  For one thing you don’t have to come up with all that content that it takes to make up a website. Or all those pictures. Or find someone that knows how to create a website. It is all just too much. So you think, “I can just place an ad with an online listing website, such as yellowpages.com, then I don’t have to come up with all that content, it will be great I will have my listing and be online.”  WRONG! Here’s the problem with that; as soon as we see the listing we want to look at your website for credibility.

So here’s what you need to know: You have to have a web presence. These days that includes websites and social media.  Yes, it is more work than placing a Yellow Page ad, and it may cost just as much or more, and there the whole internet marketing world can be overwhelming, but today being on the web is as important as having a phone. Remember there was a time in the world before phones too.

I think we can all agree that Google is quickly replacing the yellow pages even for local businesses. Although for now you may want to continue advertising in the Book, if you really want to drive traffic to your business make sure Google can find you too!

Busy week ahead; clients, hurricane, and eye infection!

HOT! West Volusia WOAMTEC Lunch Aug 18th
Debra (Rusty) Gaffney A.P., DOM, CCPA presents "Heat-Wave, Power-Surge, Hot-Flash: Learn How to STOP the Heat!" Holiday Inn Express, Orange City

The stock market goes down, the stock market goes up. But do you know what the best investment is? YOUR OWN BUSINESS! Let's rebuild the USA by building our own businesses!

ICBFA! (It Can't Be Friday Already!)

Had a fabulous and fun West Volusia WOAMTEC meeting today. Thank you Carol Brown, American General Life Insurance for teaching us about "Life insurance you don't have to die to use!"

Just finished listening to Tory Johnson's teleclass, "Are You That Girl?" It was packed with loads of useful marketing ideas!

WOAMTEC Back to Business Banner Promotion. The next 30 Members or New Members who Join or Renew WOAMTEC between now and August 5th will qualify to receive a FREE banner ad normally $225 on the home page of the WOAMTEC website for 90 days. (If this is a first time bonus for you there is a $15 design fee paid to the art director directly to qualify but the ad itself is FREE and once they have the design they can use in all their marketing promotions.) In the last 30 days, we have had over 75,000 hits on our site...this will be great exposure! Join WOAMTEC today! http://www.woamtec.com/.

Fantastic WOAMTEC Conference in New Smyrna Beach today!

How Important Is Spousal Support to Your Success?

How important is spousal support to your success?  Before I go any further, I use the term 'spousal support' to include; partner, significant other, spousal equivalent, boyfriend, girlfiriend, husband, or wife, whatever you call the person you with whom you are sharing a commited relationship, that's who I am referring to with the term 'spousal support'.

So now that we've cleared up the terminology I will ask again, how important is spousal support to your success?  You may be surprise to learn how important it really is.

In fact, a study sponsored by Avon of more than thirty thousand women in thirty-three countries cited a supportive spouse or partner as the most important criterion for success in starting a business.

According to Barbara Stanny, the majority of the women she interviewed for her book "Secrets of Six-Figure Women"  credited spousal support and encouragement as monumentally instrumental in their success.

You know you have spousal support if your partner is a true believer in you and your endeavors. You may hear comments such as, "You can do anything." or "I'm your biggest fan." 

My husband encourages me. He reassures me. He is my biggest fan. But....often times I dismiss his opinion...after all, he is in love with me...and we've all heard love is blind.  So I frequently dismiss his comments as too biased.  But after learning how important it is to have a true believer in my corner and learning how valuable spousal support has been to other successful women I have come to understand how important spousal support is to my success.

If you are lucky enough to have spousal support, embrace it!  Let that belief in you fuel your success!

Are Your QuickBooks Company Files Tamper-Proof?

I love to show clients how to better use QuickBooks. By implementing the best methods for managing your accounting data, you can actually save time, grow your business, and improve your financial bottom line.

But all of your careful work is for naught if a malicious hacker gets into your computers, or if you experience identity theft by an employee. Social security and credit card numbers, home phone numbers and addresses, an excruciatingly detailed profile of your company – all can be lost in the time it takes to realize that it’s gone.

Are you guarding all of that precious data? To learn how to you can protect your data, continue reading this article by clicking here.

Your Website's About Page

 

I recently received an email from Duwad Miracle that I just have to share with you.  He said:

 

"There are many pages that make up a website. Each of those pages serves a specific role on your website. Yet one of the most important - and often most read pages of your website - is your 'About' page. This is the page is the page where you share with your website visitors about, well you. And often, I see that many website owners aren't using this page as effectively as they could. Listen for more:

 

Monday Mentoring, Episode 7:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=OfJkQ&m=IpxD.yuoWVZ6Nf&b=x20I.GXqOSMTwp0LkOsWOQ

 

If you look at your website traffic, you'll usually see your 'About' page as being one of the most read pages on your website. And this makes sense because people who are interested in working with you want to know about you."

 

I encourage you to listen this short audio on the About Page.  He accurately describes the process and thoughts I have when I visit sites. After listening I revised my About Page.  

 

For help with your email or your website just give me a call and I will share some great resources with you!

What does your business email address say about your business?

 

Lately I have noticed several small businesses that use @aol, @yahoo, @embarq, @gmail, @cfl.rr, or some other generic address  as their primary email address even though they have a website for their business. Personally when I see this I often wonder if the business is legitimate. I bet other people wonder too.  If you have a website you have the ability to have email using @yoursitename. This not only identifies you as a real business, it will drive traffic to your site, which will most likely increase your sales.

 

What if you have a domain name and an email address, yourname@yoursitename, but you do not have your website up and running? This is almost as bad.  If potential customers see this email address and want to know more about you they will go to that site expecting to learn about you and your products or services.  When they discover there is no site they may dismiss you in their mind as someone to do business with. You may be thinking they will shoot you an email or pick up the phone, but most likely they won't.

 

Having a business email address such as @yahoo or an email address associated with a non-existent website hurts your credibility. I encourage you to take the next step and get an email address that is @yoursitename and to build a website if you have the domain name and are already using it for your email.

 

Target and the Candy Store

A couple of weeks ago I was struck by the notion that some business models evolve and thrive while others stagnate and struggle to stay alive.  I was pondering this thought after working with a downtown merchant who owns a candy store which is open 7 days a week including evening hours. 

The candy store is one of the few merchants who is open on both Saturday and Sunday and in the evenings. The store owner realizes that most people want to explore quaint, downtown shops on the day trips during the weekend or in the evening while coming downtown for dinner.  His business is one of the few that is open during those times and he explained if all the stores were open, more visitors would be attracted to the area, thus supporting each individual business. I couldn’t help but agree with him as I noticed yet another store had closed shop, one that did not have evening and Sunday hours. 

The fact is we no longer live in the 50s where Mom goes shopping downtown through the week while the kids are at school, or on Saturday with the kids, then spends Sunday at church and with family.  We are now a 24/7 society...for better or worse.  My husband and I love weekend day trips. We enjoy going out to dinner and browsing through the shops. Monday through Friday we are both working. 

With this subject still fresh on my mind I turned on the TV one night looking for anything intelligent to watch and came across, "The Target Story" (that may not be exactly what the show was called but it was the point of the show.)  Well, I LOVE Target! So I settled right in to see how this retail giant came to be. 

Turns out it goes all the way back to 1902 and even earlier.  In 1902 George D. Dayton became a partner in Goodfellow's Dry Goods Company. Yes, back in the day before discount retailers and departments stores there were "Dry Goods" stores. After a decade of rapid growth they changed the name to Dayton Company which was a better name to reflect their evolving business. By the mid 50’s they realized the growth was in the suburbs so they opened the nation’s first mall, Southdale Mall, in Edina MN.  The company soon realized that people wanted quality discounted merchandise so in 1962 they officially opened the first Target, a discount department store.

Throughout the next 30 years Dayton’s continued buying up other retail department stores and expanding their operations throughout the country.  In 1969 they merged with Hudson's department store and became Dayton Hudson Corp. By the mid 70’s Target was their number one producing store.

Dayton-Hudson continued opening Target stores throughout the country, coming to the southeast in 1989.  In 2002 they renamed Dayton-Hudson to Target Corporation. 

A couple other interesting facts about Target:

• The Dayton family was involved from 1902 to 1983 
• The company has always had a strong community involvement of giving and philanthropy. 
• Pronouncing Target in the French way may have evolved from their sponsorship of the International Trans-Antarctica Expedition which included a Frenchman or could have resulted from Oprah's use of the pronunciation, it is not a French company. 

OK enough of Target history...here's the point...Target evolved. They continually assessed their market and changed with the times. What if they had remained a "Dry Goods" store? Would you be shopping there now? Probably not.

The question I pose here is, "Is your business evolving with the changing times or are you trying to do business in a way that is outdated?

With the invention of the internet came a whole new way to do business. Today we have virtual staffs, virtual offices, and even virtual businesses. And in this virtual world we want to "know" the person or company we are doing business with, think FaceBook. In the virtual world and the real world we like 24/7 access. Yet a few things have not changed.  We still value trust, dependability, quality, and outstanding customer service. 

Target has done an excellent job of evolving with the times. We can now push our carts through the wide aisles of the discount retailer or sit at home and shop on the internet.  The Candy store is doing everything it can to evolve by recognizing our love of nostalgia while catering to our busy schedules which includes shopping during the evenings and weekends.  
 

How about your business? Is it rolling with the times? Are you tapping in on what your customers want now?

I welcome your comments on this topic!

RE: http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031697

Networking: Powerful or Petrifying?

At the beginning of the year many business owners start to consider ways to increase sales. One way is to attend networking events such as the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, or WOAMTEC

http://woamtec.com (of which I am the local DeBary chapter director!)

But what if you are petrified of networking? How can you turn networking into a powerful, positive experience? Following is content I recently presented to our local chapter members to help

them become more effective in their networking.

1. The most important question

    "What is your goal for attending the meeting?"

 Really, why do you attend? What do you want? Is it to let others know about a special you are offering? Is it to meet some new people? Is it to connect with someone whose services you need?  You should set a clear intention/goal for every meeting you attend.

2. Presenting your 60 second introduction

       a. Act and speak naturally. If you suffer from PSF (Public Speaking Fear) then pick one person in   the room you already know and imagine that is who you are speaking to.

      b. Make eye contact.

      c. Consider the take away---what do you want the listener to take away from what you have said?

      d. Make it memorable by either,  what you wear, a prop, text and tone, and/or a fantastic offer.

      e. Have different versions of your introduction for different settings or for variations in meetings you attend frequently.

3.  Questions to create different versions

      a. What is a tip you can offer? (See example below)

      b. What is a special you are offering?

      c. What sets you apart from your competitor?

      d. Who do you love to work with?

      e. What problem do you solve?

      f. What is the key benefit of your product or service?

      g. What is a recent example of a positive customer experience?

      h. What props could you use?

EXAMPLE

"I'm Laura Engstrom from Alternate Design Plumbing. Here's a plumbing tip for you do it yourselfers. Hard black plastic water pipe can easily be removed from its fitting and put back on if you first soften the hard plastic with a hair dryer. If you are not the do-it-yourself type then give us a call, we'll come out and do it for you!"

4. Networking relationships take time

Don't expect to walk out of a networking event with 5 new customers. Most likely that won't happen. Like all lasting relationships it takes time to build rapport and develop trust. When you show up and act naturally (not petrified) and share valuable information you will eventually reap the powerful rewards of networking!

5.  Power of networking

The average person knows 250 people. If there are 15 people in a meeting that know you, then you can potentially increase  your network by 3750 people.

It's not what you know, or who you know, it's who knows you!