As part of my networking routine I join the email lists of new contacts.  Yes it tends to fill the inbox, but more importantly it gives me something that I can forward as a referral for the people that I network with – it’s just easier for me.  I’m not an email expert by any stretch, but I’ve seen, heard and read enough to identify some of the most common mistakes.  Feel free to join my mailing list and hold me accountable to my own advice! Join Sigma College Email List

1. Make the Subject a Headline – I’m constantly reminded by my friend Scot Small at RevBuilders – “Unless you are Coke, your logo means nothing – you need a good, prominent headline”.  The point is that people don’t notice our names and logos (yet), they notice and open good headlines.  Search WordPress blogs for articles on writing subject lines for a ton of great articles.
2. Be Consistent and Patient – It may take months for people to start consistently opening your emails and discovering the value that lies within.  For about 4 months after I started email marketing I heard nothing and open rates were sporadic.  Eventually, after consistently emailing over a period of months, people began recognizing me by my brand and thanking me for sending out my class schedules and other information.  Open rates steadied and I was able to start some A-B testing to refine.  So, don’t give up!
3. Content that Adds Value – Keep the content relevant and to the point.  My weekly email is simply a list of upcoming classes.  You may have articles to publish or events to announce, but my recommendation is that you include a headline and excerpt, or the basic facts and then use a “read more” link to your web site (you may prefer a “call this number” action).  This does two things – gets them to your web site (or calling) which is likely the reason you send an email, and puts more content on your web site for better search engine optimization.  Most importantly, after time, your readers will know they can sift through the headlines and pick what they want to read very quickly, rather than paging through an 800 word email to find that nugget.
4. Create an Opt-in Email List – It took me some time to grasp the value of an opt-in email list.  This is a list that you build through people joining online or giving you specific permission to add their name.  Collecting business cards and adding everyone results in lower open rates, high “unsubscribes” and even some spam reports.  Now sometimes there are reasons to do mass campaigns using purchased opt-in lists, but most small, local businesses should stick to a list that will help you build relationships and not alienate people.

Email marketing is a great marketing tool, especially when combined with other things.  But, a campaign that is done poorly and forced on an unwilling audience can actually hurt your business.  Make sure you continue to review, test and improve your email strategy!

Yesterday, my friend Becky O’Brien from Optimal Wellness recommended that I write something about why a small business owner, even an independent distributor should use social media.  To keep it simple I’ll focus on Facebook, but the same general principles apply across applications with some unique benefits for each.

1. Customers are using Facebook and don’t seem to mind brief, useful posts from businesses they “like” – this sets up for you to have multiple touch points with a lot of customers and potential customers every day.  Social Media is still a “passive” media where people understand a little promotion and it’s acceptable if it’s kept short and there is value mixed in.  But, don’t get greedy by overdoing it.
2. Businesses like “word-of-mouth” business and Facebook is “word-of-mouth” times 100 – Let’s say your average fan has 100 friends and that you have 200 fans, not a bad start for a small, local business.  If even 2 fans share one of your posts you have the potential to hit 400 people with your post!  Build up your fans and you can see how quickly that number could jump.  Oh, and these are word-of-mouth referrals FROM people who have chosen to “like” you, TO people who have chosen to be their friend!
3. Facebook advertising can be tightly targeted to a specific audience – I get Facebook advertising targeted to Naval Academy Graduates because it is in my profile.  You can target by location, age, sex, relationship status….. That means if I sell wedding dresses I can target engaged women, ages 18-30 and filter out those who are already fans.  That’s tight!

Facebook is warming up to business more each day, and I highly recommend jumping on the band wagon before business dominates and people start looking for less commercial alternatives.  If you are just getting started remember to be consistent without being overbearing, spread posts throughout the day and week and add posts with value that are worth reading and sharing.

I’ll close with a link to a simple example of how my sharing on Foursquare, combined with Facebook to create awareness for a local small business.  The post is

Sigma College of Small Business will be offering a 3-hour workshop titled “Facebook for Business! Beyond the Basic Fan Page” on August 17 and August 25 in Haymarket, VA.

A great place to start is with the full title of this book!

“Getting Naked: A Business Fable about shedding the three fears that sabotage client loyalty”

Like the title, this isn’t your typical business book.  Mr. Lencioni challenges all of us in the service industries to put our pride aside and replace it with the best interest of our customers.  And, he does it in the form of a novel, an interesting touch for a business book.

The Story…

…is about the acquisition of a boutique consulting firm by a big corporate firm.  Jack, is the man set up to manage integrating Lighthouse Partners into the prestigious, international, full-service management consulting firm of Kendrick and Black. Along the way he learns some of the secrets of Michael Casey, founder of Lighthouse Partners.  What Jack later terms “Getting Naked” with the client is the technique of putting aside corporate and personal pride to be more effective and build tremendous client loyalty.  I won’t spoil the end of the story for you, but will hit on the key business points – the “Three Fears”.

Fear of Losing the Business

The premise to this fear is that when we are afraid of losing the business, that becomes our focus and drives our actions.  Actions driven by keeping the account are often contrary to actions focused on helping the client.  An example is when we are tempted to tell customers what they want to hear rather than our true thoughts based on the experience and education for which they hired us.  Although this might help keep the account for the short term, when it doesn’t work out we become part of the problem and lose credibility.

Fear of Being Embarrassed

This fear is what causes us to walk away from meetings wondering.  Instead of speaking up and asking what might sound like a dumb question, or suggesting something that might be laughed at, we decide not to speak up.  Patrick’s take is that naked service providers are so busy putting the success of their client first, they are willing to speak up with ideas and questions even at the risk of being embarrassed.  Otherwise, you wonder what it was you didn’t understand or what would happen if they tried your idea.

Fear of Feeling Inferior

At one point in the book a group of executives are asked which of these fears are they most susceptible.  For me it was this one.  As a business management instructor and service provider at Sigma College of Small Business, it seems logical that if you aren’t continually demonstrating superiority, clients will start thinking you aren’t important and adding value.  However, the case is made that by purposely putting ourselves in a lower position than our clients (which equates to putting them on a higher level), the naked service provider will gain trust, respect and loyalty with their clients.

“Shedding the Three Fears”

Mr. Lencioni completes the book with a set of principles for overcoming the three fears.  Instead of working through those here, I highly recommend that you pick up and read the book.  It’s a very enjoyable read with a great message for anyone who provides services.  Caution: When reading in public, expect some strange looks and people avoiding you as they look at the title:-)

Subscribe! Part 1 covered the importance of getting interesting blog content brought to you in a convenient, efficient manner.  Part 2 is a bit more hand’s on in showing you how to actually subscribe.

Decide where you want to see blog content

A great thing about RSS is that there are multiple ways to manage content.  You can set it up in your web browser, through email or even feed it to your personal or business home page.  I actually have some feeds that come up in my iGoogle home page, some that feed to a tab in Internet Explorer and some that go to an email folder in Outlook.

To determine which tool to use for feeding content you should ask yourself, “Do I want to see this post immediately, or have as a reference for later”  The posts I want to see immediately, the timely information I want to comment on, are fed to my iGoogle personal page through Google Reader.  Those I use for reference to search later feed to my browser or an email folder, and some feed to multiple places.

Don’t forget that following and commenting on other people’s blogs is an important part of social networking.  It is how you listen and interact in the discussion, building trust and credibility with each thought and comment.

For step-by-step on three basic RSS feed techniques, click the links below.  If you have any questions, suggestions or run into problems, drop me a comment.  Although the directions are specific to an application, most similar apps have the same functionality.

Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook

Google Reader is a great little tool that helps aggregate the blogs you are tracking to your Google account.  The reason I like it is that I have an iGoogle “portal” page (a page that I can personalize with info I want to see) and there is a “Gadget” that puts my feeds right onto my personal home page, the one that I see first every time I open Internet Explorer.  This is what I use for those blogs I want to see and review quickly and then comment, especially on blogs related to educating small business owners.

 1.  Sign into your Google Account.  If you don’t have a Google account:

1. Go to www.Google.com
2. Click “Sign In” at upper right
3. Click “Create an Account Now” under the Sign in box
4. Follow instructions for setting up an account

Click on Settings in the upper right to add new Google apps

2.  In the upper right of your Google page click on the “Settings” drop-down and select “Google Account Settings”.  You can do a lot here to personalize your page and account.

3.  If “Reader” isn’t listed under “My Products”, go to the “Try Something New” section and click on “More”

4.  Under the “Communicate, show & share” section, click on “Reader”.  This will place Reader into the “My Products” section where you can open and start using.

Open Google Reader by clicking the link

5.  Open Reader by clicking on the link and you should see your Google Reader Page

Go to www.SigmaBizBlog.com or another blog you want to feed

Click on the "Add Subscription" Button

Click on the Subscription to see the latest posts from that source.

Add the Google Reader Gadget to Your iGoogle Home Page

Click on "iGoogle" at the top right to open your iGoogle page

1.  Go to www.Google.com and sign in if you aren’t already.  This should open your iGoogle page (if it doesn’t, click on the “iGoogle” link in the upper right) and you should see something like this.  Each of the little blocks is called a gadget and you can customize which gadgets you want on you page.

Click on the "Add Stuff" link in the upper right to get new gadgets!

2.  In the upper right click on the link for “Add stuff”.  In the search area type in “reader” and search.  This will show you the Google Reader gadget and clicking “Add It Now” will put it on your iGoogle home page.

Search for "Reader" to find the Reader Gadget and "Add it Now"

3.  Now, when you go to Google.com, your subscriptions will show up for a quick review.  If you click on the title a preview window pops up so you can take a quick look without even leaving the page.

Although I walked through the Google method for putting subscriptions on your home page, most other portal sites that let you customize a home page will have similar functionality.

See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:

Subscribe! Part 1

Subscribe! Part 2

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook

In Subscribe! Part 1 I talked about the importance of tracking and commenting on relevant blogs and news feeds to building your online presence.  Internet Explorer and other browsers have the capability to help you manage your RSS feeds and this post will walk through how to send news and current blog posts to the “Feeds” tab in Internet Explorer 8.  Other browsers should have similar functionality.

If you are someone who routinely uses the “favorites” functionality in IE to manage the web sites you visit frequently, then this may be the best place to track important RSS Feeds that you want to comment on immediately.  I don’t routinely use the favorites part of IE so I use this method for sites that don’t update often, or for sites that I want to track for reference when I’m developing business curriculum.  Remember, in social networking it is important to follow and comment, so keep your “high interest” content where you will see it often through your normal work routine.

1.  Go to SigmaBizBlog.com or another blog or news site that you want to subscribe to.

Click on the RSS Icon in the upper right of the IE window

2.  In the upper right of the window, in the menu area is the little orange RSS icon.  If the icon isn’t orange, either you are already subscribed or the site doesn’t have RSS capability.  Click on the RSS button and a “feed” page will load.

3.  Click on “Subscribe to this feed” and then “Subscribe” in the window that pops up.  The subscription will be placed in the “Feed” Tab in Favorites.

Access your saved RSS feed through the Favorite window on the Feeds Tab

4.  To see your feeds, click the “Favorites” button in the upper left of the window and then the “Feeds” Tab.

5.  Click on the subscription to see the latest post!

Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others.  Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion! 

See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:

Subscribe! Part 1

Subscribe! Part 2

Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook allows you to use RSS technology to subscribe to blogs and news feeds and have updates come directly to your inbox.  This can be useful if your main communication technique is email and there is a feed that you don’t want to miss an update.  Or, you may use it to store feeds from an online resource for future reference.  I use the RSS functionality in MS Outlook for my Inc. Magazine RSS feeds.  There are a lot and it’s tough to keep up, but there is some great information that I can use when I am putting together my business management classes for small business owners.  Once again, if you don’t use Outlook, your email software probably has a similar function.

1.  Go to www.SigmaBizBlog.com or the blog that you want to subscribe to and click on the orange RSS button, either on the page or in your browser.  This will bring up the “Subscription” page for that site.

2.  Select and copy the web address or url from the subscription page.  For Outlook you must have the url from the subscription page, not the main blog page.

3.  In Outlook, go to the File menu and Folder>>Add a new RSS feed…

Open the "New RSS Feed" Box

4.  Paste the URL from the subscription page into the New RSS Feed box and click the “Add” Button.

5.  Your RSS feed is now ready to review in Outlook.

Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others.  Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion!

See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:

Subscribe! Part 1

Subscribe! Part 2

Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

Tomorrow morning the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce is hosting a seminar “Doubling Your Profits” at the Warrenton Visitor Center.  Angela Smith from Fauquier Springs Country Club will be sharing her personal experience of doubling profits by following the guidance from Bob Fifer’s book, “Double Your Profits in 6 Months or Less”.  At Angela’s recommendation I read the book and am looking forward to hearing which of the 78 steps she used and found most useful.

Be Serious About Profitability!

There are some great ideas on how to both cut expenses and increase revenue in this book, but it is not for the faint of heart.  In the first “step” Mr. Fifer warns the unsuspecting that the book is written for those who are serious about profitability, and if you aren’t serious, many of the steps will seem harsh, especially the ones that deal with suppliers and employees.  However, I would recommend it for small business owners because it will seriously challenge many of the discretionary “needs” that we have.

A Teaser! Some of My Favorites

Step 4: What Does “The Best” Mean? – 1. Never settle for status quo  2. Be a Meritocracy, i.e reward based on performance, period.  3. We’re here to make a profit, don’t apologize (step 5)  These are culture changing definitions of being the best.

Step 7: Strategic vs. Non-Strategic Costs – He recommends categorizing every cost into “Strategic”, those that clearly bring in business and improve the bottom line, and “Non-Strategic”, the rest.  Once categorized, outspend your competition for strategic costs and ruthlessly cut non-strategic costs to the bone.  I love this attitude, and although Mr. Fifer later bashes accounting reports (for the sake of reporting), he might agree that using Quickbooks categories to help identify these would be useful.

Step 25: Go to Bid, Frequently – He uses frequent bids or the threat of frequent bids as a tactic for draining price concessions from suppliers, and it will work.  However, it also forces suppliers to review their own costs and helps identify the new techniques and technologies that may be available from the last bid.

Step 39: If You Never Fire an Employee, You Can’t Have an Excellent Business – This one may surprise those that know me, but if you are going to be the best and a meritocracy, you can’t tolerate poor performance and the reality is that it will happen.  Putting up with it is not fair to the top performers and it’s not fair to the poor performers who are probably in the wrong job – help push them to the right job. (See “Straight From the Gut” by Jack Welch of GE fame)

Step 75: Invest in Your Sales Force-No Investment Will Yield a Greater Return – Enough said.

This is only a teaser in comparison to what you can learn by reading the entire book.  I can’t wait to hear Angela’s direct experience of implementation and have the opportunity to ask questions tomorrow morning.  If you are local to Warrenton, VA don’t miss this opportunity!  See you there.

Another great week of weather and business.  If you are willing to listen and reflect there are always oppotunities to learn.

Who Cares?

A great tip came from Asha Sedalia Bruot of ASHA Public Relations during a MAPS committee meeting this week.  When preparing to write your next press release, ask yourself “Who Cares?”.  Her point was that choosing the right audience is a must in deciding what to write, how to write and which media channels might be interested.  The upcoming MAPS (Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Strategies) Conference on September 22^nd will be focused on developing a good public relations strategy – more to come!

“Customer Service” should always be top of mind

Kris Johnson of the PWCGM Chamber shared a story at Friday’s MB3 breakfast that we can all probably relate to.  She was calling a relatively new member to offer a sponsorship opportunity and was deep into her explanation of the benefits of this particular sponsorship.  The member gently interrupted and jokingly said, “Oh, you’re calling to sell a sponsorship, I thought you were calling to thank me for membership and see if all is well”.   Knowing Kris and her record of customer service, she surely recovered and impressed by the end of the call.  Her point was that we can all learn much more about customer service Wednesday at the Insight Series Luncheon “Customer Service” , with guest speaker Bobbie Walker, Partnership Marketing Education Director for Virginia Tourism Corporation, but this was a quick reminder for me.  Everyone says that repeat business is the most profitable, but make sure you have successfully delivered on the previous sale before launching into the next!

Gas Mileage, Gravity and Centrifugal Force

I learned this week that a late model Toyota Avalon can go from Warrenton, VA to the PWCGM office in Manassas, then to the Western Chamber Office in Gainesville and finally to the Sheetz in Haymarket with the orange gas light on.  In further news, on that same day I learned that a well placed gas cap wedged between the rear windshield and the trunk will last against wind and centrifugal force from the Sheetz in Haymarket to Warrenton and that 2 of 5 people on the road will take the time to slow down and try to point that out to a motorist on a cell phone.  And for those kind people – Ok, ok, I know now what you were trying to tell me!  Thank-you!

Shout Out!

News and events on the friends of SigmaBiz

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary to my little sis Kristy MacIntyre and her husband Jamie at MacIntyre Engineering!  Congratulations to the “Rev Man”, Scot Small of RevBuilders who hosted a wonderful Grand Opening at his new office in Gainesville this week.  I heard that Chow Now was featured in an article in an upcoming Flavor Magazine – looking forward to reading that.  My daughter Jessica Gorman finished a summer semester of classes in France this week, with flying colors I’m sure.  Way to go Jess!  And finally, a big Sigma Shout Out to all the recent graduates of Leadership Prince William “Third is Superb” class.   I hear nothing but great things about this program and they are currently recruiting for the next session.  Congratulations!

To be perfectly honest, I almost put the book down after the first ten pages, but because it received a strong endorsement from social networking guru Chris Brogan I endeavored to persevere.  I’m very glad I did, because once I got through the universal connection philosophy stuff, with several references to “The Secret” that drag down the first chapter, I found a great networking philosophy and some wonderful tips for improving anyone’s networking game.

The book is broken down logically to discuss the preparation, execution and follow-up for networking events and for networking online.  As someone focused on educating small business owners and not just giving them quick tips, I especially liked this outline.  By laying it out in this way Terry followed the foundational steps for starting any marketing effort – Audience, Objectives, Message and Delivery/Follow-up.

“Understand What You Seek”, is one section title but also an overarching theme in the book.  It was a good reminder that as my business grows and changes, I need to review what it is that I want my network to do.  Terry touches on this concept throughout the book and then brings it home in the last section where he summarizes “The ASK”, his version of that 30-60 second self introduction that we all struggle to perfect.  He also does a great job rolling this concept into the choices and decisions of who you should be targeting to meet, both in person and in your online networking.

“How to Work a Room.”  This is one of the most practical pieces on networking that I have seen.  Terry gets to some of the core concepts of meeting people in a large group setting.  Being approachable with a smile, how to remember names, polite ways to enter and exit a conversation and even what to say, oops, I mean ASK, when you meet people.  The ideas and suggestions he uses are especially good for those folks who are over the fear of working the big room, but not sure how to make it most effective.  WARNING, shameless self promotion: For those still petrified of the big room, check out “Business Networking for the Non-networker”.

“How To Separate Yourself From Most People You Just Met”  What a great way to start a chapter on follow-up!  Terry even points out in the opening sentences that we all know the answer is follow-up, and yet it is probably the biggest point of failure, not only in networking, but in our general marketing efforts.  Thank-you Terry for letting me off the hook and not insisting that a hand-written thank-you note is the only acceptable follow-up!  The “After You Network” chapter provides a great process for timing, method and content of follow-ups, including one of my favorite lines from the book – “Here’s the reality, following up with someone 2 weeks after you met them, is still better than not following up with them at all.”

Overall, Terry has provided a pretty good guide and an easy read for improving your networking skills.  The ASK approach is an interesting and unique way of looking at that 30-60 second self introduction that we all struggle to perfect.  But more importantly it lays the foundation for adding value to a network that will then add value to you in return.  Maybe that’s where the “universe” fits into the discussion?!?  I recommend this book for any small business owner who has decided that personal networking is an important part of their marketing strategy.

Learn more about Terry Bean and his networking techniques at http://terrybean.magntize.com