Stop Watching Cat Videos And Start Marketing On Social Media

Stop Watching Cat Videos And Start Marketing On Social Media

Scrolling through your Facebook feed while your coffee gets cold isn’t social media marketing.

You’re supposed to be doing something to promote your business online, but all those videos of cats can be awfully distracting.

The next thing you know, 20 minutes of your life has slipped away, and you still haven’t done anything productive.

The scenario I just described is typical for small business owners succumbing to the pressure to get on social media.

The thing is, without a plan of attack, many small business owners don’t get very far online.

Instead they face:

  1. Overwhelm: all the new, shiny tools!
  2. Wasted time: mucking about, without a strategy
  3. A sinking feeling: they’re missing out on a world of opportunity.

The way to be effective on social media is to know your audience.

Imagine you sell cat beds.

Probably, sharing all those cat videos on social media would be a great idea, because your ideal customer likes cats.

That’s an obvious one, but if you can get into the mind of your target market and figure out who they are, you can then create and share content (videos, articles, images) that will be received well.

Content that is well received will:

  • Generate likes, comments and shares (increasing your exposure)
  • Drive traffic to your website (assuming you provide a link to your site)
  • Teach your prospects something (building trust and positioning you as a thought leader)

How do you figure out who your target audience is?

Hint: Here’s a handy video that shows you just how to figure that out, easily.

Take out a pen and paper and imagine your ideal client. Start brainstorming the answers to questions like:

  • What keeps them up at night?
  • What problem do they want to solve?
  • What are their hobbies and interests?
  • Where else do they spend money?
  • How do they see themselves?
  • What do they stand for?
  • What media do they consume?
  • What are they ready for?
  • What questions they ask before they buy what you sell?

The answers to these questions will give you an idea of what’s important to your target, and what types of content they would like to see.

Answer the questions you get asked every day in the form of a blog post.

Think about it.

You get asked the same questions over and over and over.

Obviously, the answers are important to your existing customers, so the odds are good the answers will be important to your prospective customers.

Why not answer that question, in depth in a blog post. This handy video will give you tips on how to get that done more quickly and easily than you thought possible.


A social media strategy that is based on what your target audience cares about is the most effective strategy.

But, knowing your target audience is just the first step

One of my clients said today “I thought going to social media camp I’d learn everything I’d need to know about social media and be done – HA! That didn’t happen”

He’s right.

Successfully marketing your business on social media can be complicated, if you try to figure it all out on your own.

Or you can grab a complimentary copy of my book Social in 17 – how to be successful on social media in just 17 minutes a day.

This is what people are saying about Social in 17:

Really! Social Media can be done in 17 minutes a day. Laurel gives you the structure, the tips, and the ideas. This book is quick and easy to read. She touches on all the major social media platforms but she isn’t short on details. I enjoyed Laurel’s clear and concise style. Well worth my time (and I teach courses on social media). Jeff Nelson, Calgary.

Grab your free copy, here:  www.laurelannestark.com

How Doing Good is Increasing Profits for Business

How Doing Good is Increasing Profits for Business The first rule of business is make money.

Whether it’s donating a certain percentage of profits to charity, organizing staff volunteering events or committing to being “green”, doing good doesn’t always make the high priority list for busy entrepreneurs.

Business owners focus on ensuring profits are good and operations are going smoothly before considering any altruistic programs.

This is called a transactional business model and it’s a common way of doing business. Essentially, someone buys a product or service from you and they give you money for it, and that is it.

But studies are showing that transactional businesses are facing a growing disadvantage.

According to a survey by Goodmustgrow.com 30% of respondents said that they expect to increase the amount of goods and services they buy from socially-responsible companies and 60% of people said that buying goods from socially-responsible companies is important to them.

We can see sales of up to 10% more by having a seal at the bottom of your website that says, “hey, a certain percentage of these sales are going to charity.”

The world is getting smaller, and we are all feeling the impact of things like environmental disasters, refugees, wars etc. and it’s becoming more and more important from both a fiscally and an ethically responsible perspective to make sure that your business is a force for good.

The alternative to a transactional business model is a transformational business model.

A great example of a transformational business is Tom’s Shoes, they’ve got what’s called a triple bottom line. That is, impact, amount of people served, as well as profits. If you’re not familiar with Tom’s Shoes, every time you buy a pair of shoes they give a pair of shoes to a child in need.

I’m asking you now, how do you think that you could use your business as a force for good in the world, and turn it into a transformational instead of a transactional business?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you like this video/blog post please “like” it, and consider sharing it with your network.

This Mindset Shifting Practice Created Business Breakthroughs For Me and Will For You Too!

This Mindset Shifting Practice Created Business Breakthroughs For Me and Will For You Too!Hey folks, Laurel Anne Stark here and today I wanted share with you a new tactic I learned recently that helped me  generate absolutely incredible amazing results in my business.

This is a bit of a departure from what I normally talk about, usually I talk about the external game, like the tactical things you can do to market your business online so you get better results.
And that’s not what I am sharing today, and I’ll tell you why.
Here’s what happened….

Everything’s great in my business. I’ve got lots of clients. I love them, they love me, everybody’s happy, making money. I can take time off. I’m not working 60, 80-hour weeks anymore, so that’s great, but what was happening is I was waking up every morning, and I was feeling kind of stressed out, nervous, like I’m not going to be able to get anything done, and who do I think I am,and I should be farther ahead by now, and I’m not going to be able to take as much vacation as I want, and I should be making more money, and blah blah blah blahblah, all this garbage in my head.

It was happening for months, and I was getting kind of bummed out because the results in my business were being impacted by this constant criticism, essentially, inside my head.

I knew the value of strategic planning, and thinking things out, and being very cerebral, but when it comes to the part of the brain that you don’t really control, that subconscious place that tries to keep you safe and comfortable, I didn’t really know how to manipulate that area of the brain, until now!

I’ve never had something be so effective. And I have all my marketing systems set up. I have my sales funnel, I have my social media, blah blah blah. I’ve worked and refined that stuff over the last 13 years so it’s working and I’m getting new leads all the time, everything’s great, but with the shift in mindset that was created by repeating these affirmations, I was able to increase my confidence, I was way more productive because I wasn’t stressed all the time, I woke up happy, and I was able to generate substantially more revenue in a substantially shorter amount of time than I ever have in my entire career, and I really do attribute a lot of it to the inner work that I’ve been doing.

I thought to myself, oh my gosh, this is amazing. I’m going to be able to take off so
much time this summer, which is amazing for me. Summer in Canada is very, very
short, so you definitely want to get it while it’s here, and I thought, I have to share
this with people. I really, really have to share this with people.

Here’s what I did for eight weeks.  I repeated the following affirmations to myself every single morning before I started work.
I recommend you do the following and see what kind of results you get in your business, and please share with me, I’m so excited to hear how this works for you.
Simply repeat these out loud to yourself, and you’ll reprogram the inner critic part of your brain to be wired for success!

I release the need to be perfect, I know making mistakes is part of being successful.
I’m in the process of creating business of my dreams.

My best is good enough.

There is always enough time.

I am beautiful.

I love coming up with creative ways to provide value for my clients.

I’m learning how to be more effective marketing my business every single day.

I am unique and valued for who I am.

I’m making great progress every single day.

I ask for help when I need it.

I’m in the process of achieving my financial goals.

I am desired and people want to work with me.

I love marketing.

I provide tremendous value to my clients.

I’m getting better at my business everyday.

I attract the right clients at the right time.

My time is valuable and I’m okay with saying no.

I deserve to be financially free.

It’s safe for me to go offline and take vacations, I trust that everything will be just fine while I’m gone.

I’m okay with being outside of my comfort zone.

I release any self-limiting beliefs about my income potential.

It’s okay to make more money than my parents.

I’m doing important work in the world.

I will make my money goal.

I take the time to be present during my day.

I eat healthy foods that nourish me.

I say no when it doesn’t feel right.

I’m really proud of my progress.

I provide value and people want to hear from me.

I take control of my schedule and prioritize my time effectively.

I’m learning how to use technology to benefit myself and my business.

I accept that fear is part of growth.

I’m committed to getting my work done.

I take breaks when I need them.

I’m going to rock it today.

Those are your affirmations.

Again, I recommend that you check this out and try doing it every single day for even 21 days and see how you feel… please share your experiences with me!

If you like this, please like it and consider sharing with anyone you feel would benefit from this practice.

The F Word that is Critical To Your Success

The F Word that is Critical To Your Success

I know what you’re thinking and I’m not talking about swearing, ( although that would be fun. )

I’m talking to you about the word Failure.

There’s two huge myths about failure that we are going to bust here and now, today to make you feel better about it.

I’ll also share how to deal with it, and why it’s actually a requirement for success in both your business and your personal life. And, for the first time in public, two of my biggest failures in business.

One huge myth about failure is that if you make a mistake or you screw up or you fail that you are somehow doing it wrong, and that you shouldn’t make mistakes.

I’m here to tell you that that is not true.

Actually, failure is a requirement for success. To get to where you’re going, you need to become a different person.

In order to become a different person, you need to try, and trying includes failure.

It simply does.

It’s actually a requirement for success, so the more that you’re failing, the faster you’re growing, and the closer you are getting to becoming the person you intend to be, and grow the business that you’re trying to create.

For every failure, instead of thinking to yourself, “Oh, I screwed up. This is awful.”

I want you to give yourself a huge pat on the back because you are growing and progressing as a human being, so failure is not bad, it is awesome.

The second myth about failure is that not everybody does it.

I’m here to tell you today that, indeed, no matter what people look like on the internet, how perfect and together and successful, behind the scenes, it’s much, much different.

I am going to share with you two of my personal biggest failures in business. Just so you know, you are not alone.

The first one maybe would have made a lot of people give up, and it was the very first day I became an entrepreneur.

I made Partner at a digital marketing company. I was 23. I was so excited. I signed on that dotted line. I did not get a Lawyer to look at the paperwork. I did not get an Accountant to look at the bank statements.

As a result, I signed up for $80,000 worth of debt on my very first day of being an Entrepreneur. That’s a pretty big failure! I had no idea what I was doing, and when I heard that I owed now $80,000, I was a little bit distressed certainly, but I did not let that stop me, and I kept going, and I paid off that debt, and 13 years later, here I am today.

You know what? I don’t regret it, because it just highlights and underlines the importance of not skimping on due diligence.

I learned a really important lesson that Lawyers and Accountants are there for a reason, and you should engage them, and pay them what they’re worth, because they can save you a ton of money.

The second biggest mistake that I think I made in business, and it’s debatable of course, is a bunch of years ago, I decided I was going to start a software outsourcing firm.

One of my awesome Software Engineers was moving back to Pakistan, and because labor is plentiful, and at lesser cost than here in North America, we thought we’d take advantage of that situation, and we would start the software outsourcing firm. He would handle all the people in Pakistan. I would generate clients here in North America, and we would work together and make a butt load of money.

Here’s what happened….

We created the brand, the logo, the website. We had a list of target clients. I spent so much time and so much money on getting this business up off the ground. I did not stop to consider, would I actually enjoy it? Would I like this business? Did it fulfill a greater purpose in my life? Is it something that made my heart sing?

While all that stuff sounds really fruity, you know, money is not the only motivator.

You need something bigger. You need a bigger why to get out of bed in the morning. It was only on the very first day that I had to pick up the phone and make that very first cold call, did I realize, I don’t want to do this!

What an expensive mistake. I had to let my partner down in Pakistan. I had spent all this money on marketing collateral and tons of time, and again, a big lesson that I learned was that you need to have a big why in your business. You need to have a mission. Otherwise, it’s not going to work.

I wanted to share that mistake with you as well, because that was a big one. A big doozy!.

You know what? It was just a really, really expensive lesson.

Another way to sort of mitigate mistakes or go through them faster is to have a mentor or a community in which you participate of other entrepreneurs, so you can learn from their mistakes, like hopefully you’re learning from mine today, to reduce your learning curve.

The very last thing I’ll leave you with is a motivational quote by Teddy Roosevelt. It’s my absolute favorite.

“It is not the critic that counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions. Who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” That’s Teddy Roosevelt.

If you like this video, please Like it, and consider sharing with your network. Thank you for watching.

Is Your Profile Picture Scaring Prospective Clients Away?

Is your profile picture sending the wrong message

You know it when you see it. A bad profile picture…

Although increasingly LinkedIn seems to be becoming less professional, using it for business successfully means adhering to a few simple do’s and don’ts.

DON’T #1  Do Not Half Crop Someone Out Of Your Profile Picture

If you want to use that flattering picture from the Calgary Stampede, you can, as long as you have a professional Photoshop your photo.

Photoshopping can remove your ex out, his or her arm and the Stampede background and make it look like you were posing on a dark blue background screen like you did at picture day in elementary school.

BEST PRACTICE:

Pose like it’s picture day. A plain background shot from your shoulders up should do the trick.

I recommend a professional photographer, but if that’s not in your budget you can just use a selfie stick.

With these three options for profile picture editing and capturing, there is no reason why you can’t have a professional, uncluttered photo for business use on social media.

 

DON’T #2: Show too much skin

This applies to the ladies more than the men.

I don’t often see men with their chests nearly bare in their profile pictures, but it does happen.

I am speaking specifically about the images where the choice of top does not leave a lot to the imagination.

That’s not exactly conducive to creating a  professional business image online, unless of course you’re a professional bikini model, in which case disregard this tip.

BEST PRACTICE: 

Remember that you’re being judged by your prospective client or boss.

Whether you think a ton of cleavage is fine is not the point. Put the ladies away for best results.

DON’T #3: Have A Ridiculously Outdated Profile Picture

I touched on this in another post about Spring Cleaning Your Social Media and it bears repeating.

You want to be recognizable, so if someone meets you in public, they’ll think “I know that lady from social media.” not “Who is this?”

A current profile image could be the difference between building or eroding trust.

Optimize THESE things for more online sales

Optimize THESE things for more online sales

The internet is all well and good, social media’s fun, but how do I translate that into dollar bill, into sales and brand new customers?

I’m going to show you some easy things you can do to implement in your business right away that will increase your sales results.

Create a Call To Action

One of the simplest ways to get more sales is to actually ask for them.

Just like in person, online it’s really, really important to ask for people to take the next step in the sales process.

Not necessarily buy now, but at least “contact me” or “request a quote” or “download a free trial”.

Language along those lines makes it really clear what the next step is for a prospect to move along in the sales funnel and how to get ahold of you. I want you to implement a call to action like the ones above on your social media properties, on your website, on your email signature, and even on your voice mail; that is a really underutilized place where you can put your website address and invite people to go on your site.

Prequalify Your Leads

Another way to alleviate a huge amount of leads that are not quite right for your business, wasting your time and tire-kicking, is to pre-qualify your leads.

Prequalifying your leads is the process of letting people know what types of folks that you work with, what your price point and your timeline is.

A lot of people ask me “how do I make sure people that don’;t actually have the budget for my services aren’t contacting me.

It’s as simple as changing the contact form on your website, to add a drop-down asking people what they’re planning on spending on your services and display the minimum price, or something that is close to your minimum price.

Right away, folks that aren’t prepared to spend the minimum amount will leave your website and save you a whole bunch of time.

Optimize Your Sales Funnel

The third way you can get more sales is to optimize your closing process.

The close is the part of the sale where you get the person to agree to buy from you.

This is also known as “converting” people from interested, qualified prospects to folks that are ready spend happily.

Think back to all those times that you successfully closed a sale.

What questions did your potential customer need to have answered to their satisfaction before they were able to buy?

Whatever that process looks like, I want you to write it all down and see if you can automate that on your website.

Some folks like to look at your reviews.
Some people need to check their budget.
Some people want to look at similar case studies or find out information about return on investment.

Whatever those questions are, make sure that you’ve got the answers to them at the ready next time you are in the process of closing a sale, and it will go a lot smoother if you are using the tactics that worked last time.

For best results, systematize your entire sales process or sales funnel and look for areas to optimize it.

Keep Your Reputation Squeaky Clean. Spring Tidy These 5 Online Assets

Keep Your Reputation Squeaky Clean. Spring Tidy These 5 Online AssetsI never think about dusting – unless I notice it hasn’t been done.

Ugh.

Just like unsightly cobwebs and dust bunnies can compromise the feeling of comfort in your home, outdated online profiles can mar an otherwise flawless experience with your business online.

If you’re anything like me, you don’t exactly look forward to spring cleaning, but you will get some satisfaction once it’s been done.

Now, I am certainly not perfect. I get emails at least once a week letting me know a link is broken. But that’s just being human.

Let’s get to it.

Here are the 3 web assets you’re going to want to spring clean.

  • Social Media sites like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Vine, YouTube/G+
  • Directory Sites (Yelp, etc.) To get a full list, Google your name or your company name.
  • Your Website

Here is the 6 item web asset spring cleaning checklist:

1.Your profile pic.

The wise Mari Smith says, if you’ve gained or lost a bunch of hair or weight, you need to update your profile pic on social media or blogs ( I use Gravatar for my image on wordpress).

I had coffee with Vince Fowler he other day and we had an amusing conversation about ridiculously outdated profile pictures.

I know, aging is hard, but you need to be recognizable from your profile picture. It should not be from 5+ years ago…

Another profile picture item to consider…

Keep it professional.

Your ex cropped out of a pic taken after a few too many at the Calgary Stampede or showing a lot of skin both send a message about who you are, and it may not be the message you’re looking for as a professional. #justsayin

2. Your “about” section.

If you’re a solo or micro entrepreneur, your business may have trouble keeping up with you.

As you evolve, your business will naturally as well.

Chances are the “about” or “profile” section on your social media and directory websites could use an update to better articulate who you serve and the problem you solve.

The tabs section on Facebook – where you can integrate your facebook page with your email list or other promotions, may not be working.

In fact, more often than not, this section is broken.

This brings me to …

3. Your Banner/Timeline Image:

The dimensions if these images on social media especially tend to change fairly frequently.

Check to make sure the banner or timeline image that you uploaded in the past, still fits within the recommended dimensions.

For extra points, update this image if you haven’t in some time.

Keep it fresh and keep your community interested with the most up to date version of your business.

4. Broken Links

Tending to broken links could very well be a full time job.

Tedious? Yes.
Necessary? Heck Yes.

Go through your social properties and your website and click on all the links and make sure they still work.

Update all the ones that don’t.

This is a good activity for the afternoon after lunch slump 🙂

5. Call to action

Are you using a call to action yet?

A call to action is a very clear request to perform the next step to convert your viewer to a customer.

Whether you’re offering a free demo, consult or want to invite people to call you, make sure you’re have a clear call to action.

You can’t get a yes if you don’t ask!

There’s a new(ish) button for Facebook pages to create a “call to action”, like Learn More, Call Now, or Watch the Video..

Which brings me to multimedia…

6. Use of Video.

As my friends Sue Ferraira and Trisch Lorren will not hesitate to tell you… Video is the most powerful way to tell your story in today’s marketplace.

It’s a virtually instant credibility boost, improves brand memory, connection and trust.

For a do it yourself option, use the built in video capabilities of your smartphone to film a quick intro video and post it everywhere.

Here’s a link to one of my intro videos.

FYI this was filmed on my iphone.

If you’d prefer to get a professional to help, or don’t like the idea of showing your face on video, consider an animated explainer video or a professional videographer.

7. TELL ME

What did I miss?

What else should be added to this list of web spring cleaning?

If you found this valuable – Please LIKE it and consider SHARING with your network.

Happy Spring Cleaning!

3 Non-Negotiable Prerequisites to Selling on Social Media

3 Non-Negotiable Prerequisites to Selling on Social Media

If you want to get sales from your social media efforts, then you are certainly not alone!

The time and money you’re investing in your social media efforts can and should be profitable.

If you’re not quite there yet, I am going to share with you 3 of the non-negotiable pre-requisites for successfully selling on social media.

These may just be the missing pieces to your social selling strategy.

(This material was taken from the talk I gave May 7th 2016 at Social Media Camp, entitled Socializing Your Sales Funnel: Converting Fans and Followers to Paying Customers. Get your copy of the entire presentation here. )

Build Trust: People buy from those that they know, like and trust.

You need to build trust online in order for people to even consider purchasing from you.

How do you do that?

  • Be consistent in how often you’re posting, what you’re posting and what all your social profiles and website look and feel like. You’ve got to create a consistent feel to alleviate the subconscious niggle consumers get when things just don’t feel right.
  • You also need to have what’s called social proof, which are things like positive reviews and testimonials, media mentions, and any designations you’ve earned. For more details on Social Proof, check out my interview on CNN on Social Proof
  • If you’re part of any associations add those logos to your website as well. They will act as an implicit endorsement of your services.

Building social proof using the above mentioned tactics are one of the most powerful ways to help build trust, and can often be the factor that tips a prospect over into a customer.

Build Community: Get exposure, generate credibility, trust.

Every single time someone likes, shares or comments on your posts on social media, they’re implicitly endorsing you.

In plain language, this means they’re telling their network “this guy isn’t so bad”.

What’s also happening with each share, retweet, plus one or comment is that interaction becomes part of the news feed. And now your name is now getting additional exposure to the network of the person who interacted with your share.

For these reasons, it’s a great idea to build community by “giving to get”. Sharing other’s posts, commenting on other’s posts and actively promoting other people with invoke the law of reciprocity and incentivize the people you’re interacting with to interact with you back.
Once you have an engaged community, you can then promote yourself.

Ask People To Act: With A Call To Action

You need to have a call to action in order to get people to, you know, act.

Whether you want people to sign up for a free trial, contact you for a consult, sign up for your newsletter, go to your website or watch more videos – whatever it is you need to ask people to take that action.

It’s an old saying in sales – you can’t get a yes if you don’t ask.

What’s important to remember though, is you will likely need to ask people to take a few actions before they’re ready to buy, so start small.

Ask for the action and as long as you’ve built trust and community, you will get it.

Thanks so much for watching.

If you like this video please like it and consider sharing with your network.

Repeat Business

Repeat Business - The New Media Group

Increase your sales by 20% with these 5 easy steps

Fact: It’s easier, faster and more cost effective for you to sell more to less people.

The least expensive sales for you to acquire are those from your existing customers.

According to Hubspot, it’s estimated you will lose 14% of your clients every year.

Imagine if you could not only increase your client retention rate, but get them to spend more with you?

You can generate up to 20% more in sales, just by increasing your repeat, add-on and follow up sales.

Follow this 5 step process in your business and watch your bottom line bloom!

Step One: Avoid Buyer’s Remorse

Did you know the moment after purchase is one of the most emotional for your customers?

When someone buys something from you, they’re going to either experience buyer’s remorse or they’re going to be super happy that they just purchased something.

The way to make sure that they’re super happy don’t have remorse is to give them something right away. This is especially important if what they purchase is a service or something that is going to take a while for you to deliver.

Something as simple as a client handbook or even a little gift can go a long way to making sure your customers feel happy through the entire process of interacting with you.

Step Two: Express Your Appreciation

The second thing I always recommend that you do is send out a thank you card.

Appreciation goes a long way.

You might even want to tuck a little coffee card in there or a gift certificate for dinner and a movie for two.

Giving a little bit of appreciation for their business will certainly make them feel good about doing business with you.

It’s simple, it’s easy, it doesn’t cost anything and it goes a really long way to keeping your current customers happy with you.

Step Three: Overdeliver!

Now during the process of them interacting with, you whether it is a product or a service that they are purchasing, I want you to make sure that you are doing something to over deliver.

  • Under promise and over deliver.
  • Give them something free.
  • Give them a free upgrade, anything that they are not expecting that is of value to them.  

(This is a technique employed by Zappo’s employees to delight, surprise and wow their customers. They almost always upgrade their customer’s to a faster shipping method, at no extra cost, and without being asked. )

And this will boost their satisfaction through the process of doing business with you.

Step Four: Follow up & Gather Feedback

Once the process is over and then they have purchased something and you have delivered, what I want you to do is follow up a couple of weeks later.

Once they have time to use what you have given them, send out a customer survey.

You want to make sure that you are asking questions that will help you improve and let them know that you value their opinion.

Step Five: Ask for the sale, again.

Now the fifth step is the most important.

Assuming you have done steps one through four properly and appropriately, step five will absolutely boost the lifetime value of your existing customer base because they are going to keep on buying from you.

What I want you to do is take a look at a lifetime of your customer and take a look at three or four instances per year when it’s going to be appropriate for you to contact them back and ask for new business.

So for example, it’s a jewelry business and you just sold them a custom engagement ring.

After how long is it appropriate to ask them to come back and get that ring cleaned or repaired?

It’s the same thing with providing a website or with landscaping, or even gardening.

There is going to be intervals through the year where it’s going to be appropriate for you to touch base and ask them if you can help out depending on what is going on, on your business and in their lives.

Determining the appropriate times to contact them, and the best services to offer, comes back to knowing your customer, knowing the cycles of your business and making sure that you have add-ons that you can offer throughout the year.

Make a note in your calendar to follow up with this people whether it be over email or phone and ask them if you can continue to help them.

That is how you generate more business from your existing customers!

How To Get Great Online Reviews for your Business Easily, Quickly and Reliably.

How To Get Great Online Reviews for your Business Easily, Quickly and Reliably.An estimated 70% consumers say online reviews influence their purchasing decisions.

If you cringe just thinking about a customer comparing your reviews to your competitors – than pay attention.

I’m going to show you how to implement a system that helps you get a glowing review, from every customer.

Imagine, your online reputation will soar, your sales prospects will be more plentiful and you’ll sell more often, all by just implementing these easy four steps…

Four Steps To Getting Glowing Online Reviews:

1. Prepare your customers and let them that you are that you are going to ask them for a review.

Somewhere in the sale process I usually say something like, “I want the results that I get for you to be so great you are going to give me 5 star reviews on all my social media and refer me to all your friends.”

I’ve planted the seed in their minds and I have let my client know I will be asking for a review – and a referral – later.

2. The second way to get great reviews—and this may be obvious—is to provide awesome service.

You want to over deliver.

Give your clients more than they expect for the dollar that they are spending with you.

Great service is the key to getting great reviews!

3. Ask the customer for their testimonial.

Again, this seems obvious, but if you want something you will have to ask for it.

Send your client an email and say,

“Hello Client,  As per our initial conversation, I want to follow up with you and ask you if you would be comfortable providing an online review of the service you received with me.”

Here is where you want to make make it really easy for them.

Make sure you have your links to all your social media properties. Below I have provided a template you can copy and paste over and over again. (Don’t forget to replace the links with your own).

Don’t expect your customer to go and find you on social and do that extra legwork.

Make it super easy by providing links right there in your email.

4. Offer an incentive.

The last way to get amazing reviews for your business consistently is to offer an ethical bribe or an incentive.

I’ll often offer my clients a small discount on their next product or service or sometimes I’ll also do a contest, like,  everybody who reviews me this month will be entered to win a prize.

Giving somebody an incentive over and above doing good deeds is a great way to get something to do something.

I hope you found this tip valuable, if you did, please like it and consider sharing with your network.

Thanks for watching!

Your Cut & Paste Templated email to request an online review from your client.

Good afternoon Client name,

Thank you again for your business!

It was a pleasure working with you on your INSERT SERVICE HERE these past few days.

As mentioned, if you’d be comfortable providing a review of your experience with me, I’d be happy to offer 25% off your next consulting purchase.

You could review me

On Facebook, here: https://www.facebook.com/laurelastark/reviews
On Google + here: https://plus.google.com/b/103038386465762180741/+ThenewmediagroupCa/about
Or LinkedIn here: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/laurellindsay – following the steps below:

Recommend someone from their profile:

  1. Go to the profile of the 1st-degree connection you’d like to recommend.
  2. Move your cursor over the Down arrow next to the button in the top section of the profile. The button name may vary.
  3. Select Recommend.
  4. Follow the steps to write the recommendation.
  5. Click Send.

If you could comment on:

  • The Problem You Had
  • How I Helped
  • The Outcome You Received
  • What You Would Tell Others Considering Hiring Me/ Would You Recommend Me.

That would be so appreciated!
Have a wonderful rest of your week, and we’ll be in touch!