POWER THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: Building Powerful Relationships, Part 4

Power Thought of the Week with Patricia Parham, Ph.D.

Showing Appreciation for Favors Received

Find unique ways to express appreciation for a favor received. Occasionally, it means responding in kind. Rarely is an email, twitter or E-card compelling – they’re fast, cheap and easy and take little thought. More often a written note or a singing telegram or a box of golf tees has the potential to surprise and delight one who has gifted you. Personal artistic creations, such as poems or pictures, can be tailored to strike the right chord of gratitude. Be creative!

Patricia A. Parham
Parham Enterprises
www.parhamenterprises.com

For more information, please visit Patricia's TNNW Bio.

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POWER THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: Building Powerful Relationships, Part 4

NET-TECH REPORT: 7 Ways To Leverage Technology and Stay In Touch With Your Customer

Net-Tech Report with Chris Kauza

It's often been said that the cost to maintain and gain new sales from your existing customers is often significantly less than the cost of gaining new sales from brand new customers. Personally, I think you should do both - and here are a few quick tips on how you can too, without a lot of extra time or effort.

You can use these four, low-cost ways to strengthen your relationship with your existing customers:

• Newsletters - these can be sent out on a pre-determined schedule. I tell my clients that they should send out shorter newsletters with more frequency, rather than longer ones only once a quarter. Why? If you remain "top of mind" with your customers, they will be more likely to reach out to you when they have a question. What should you include? News about your company, information on trends that affect your customers, new products / services you may be investigating (and asking for their input), announcements of success that your customers have achieved...you're only limited by your imagination. And while you don't always need a professional copywriter, you should consider working with one. You know your business than anyone else, but a professional copywriter knows how to communicate that to others better than you do.

• Coupons and "Specials" - everyone loves to get a deal on something, regardless of the product, service or price point. Are there certain times when your business is slower than others? Consider publishing a special for existing customers only through different channels - include it with a monthly invoice, use a special "email blast" to your customers, or Tweet about it on your company's Twitter account (you've set that up already, haven't you? If not check out these earlier posts where we discussed some of the benefits of using Twitter in your business).

• Conference Call and/or Webinars - a well-used vehicle in the halls of Corporate America, the ubiquitous "concall" has now come to the rest of the world. There are a number of companies and services that can provide your business - regardless of size - the power to simultaneously reach hundreds of customers. Many companies use them to introduce new products or services and "pre-sell" their customer base prior to the product's or service's launch. You can also use them for monthly or quarterly focus groups (sometimes called Customer Councils).

• Your existing phone system - do you have tips on how to better use your products or services? An upcoming appearance or webinar that might be of interest to your customers? A limited promotion you are running for your product or service? Make this your "on-hold" music while your customers wait to speak with you.
  

What about attracting new customers? As bad as things might be for your company now, this is a temporary lull with new opportunities right around the corner. There are trends building right now, for which you can position your company to be the expert. How do you find these? Here are three sources to start with:

• The U.S. Federal Government -Did you know that in 2003, Americans spent approximately 8.2 billion hours and $320 billion filling out paperwork and complying with government regulations? Here's how you can put some of that investment back to work for your business. Look through their statistics pages and research how things are changing in your markets. Look for new markets where your products or services might be better positioned.

• Universities - a great source for demographic data is CensusScope, a University consortium that compiles and provides demographic data. They've done all the work for you - all you need to do is to read it and apply it!

• Your Local Library - specifically, the Reference section of your local public library. Ask for the Reference Librarian on duty; you will be amazed at how much they want to help you! Ask them for their help in accessing the "Reference USA database". This is a free information resource that is provided in partnership with InfoUSA - the largest provider of list information in the United States. You may have used them if you have used InfoUSA, SalesGenie, etc. to generate any kind of prospecting list for your company. The information you will find here is generally dated (by about a quarter) - but it's free and usually "good enough" for most companies - regardless of size or budget. While you will be limited to a certain number of downloads per session, you can use it to generate targeted lists of hundreds of prospects for your business very quickly - and all for free!

All of these technologies can be applied with little or no additional expense, and are very easy to use - but you have to make the decision to use them. Pick two to start with this month and apply them to your business. The information is there - you just have to act on it.

Do you have a business-related question but don't know who to ask? I can help! Contact me at Chris "at" AskABusinessGuy dot com, or follow me on Twitter at @ChrisKauza.


For more information, please visit Chris' TNNW Bio.

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NET-TECH REPORT: 7 Ways To Leverage Technology and Stay In Touch With Your Customer

A NOTE FROM THE CHAIRMAN: Nightmare on TNNW Street

Let me just start this week by thanking my friend, Mike McClintock of GaltMidas for assisting us with our Internet Explorer/Blogger technical issue. It seems to work now and we've gotten good feedback from our readers. Thanks Mike!

From technical nightmares, we move on to nightmares of a different kind.

Now many of you know that I am not a hype-y kind of fellow and I really enjoy straight forward communication with individuals as well as our subscribership at large. This, however, is just plain fun for me and I ask your indulgence for just a few months as I introduce THE MOST MYSTERIOUS (and spookiest) new writer to join the TNNW family this month...

...for best results, read this next missive in a dark room around midnight...candles are optional...

There I was...working late at night at our illustrious world headquarters, when I had just nodded off to sleep. Just then the phone rang. It was from a person identifying himself only as "The Mad Genius". In the background I could have sworn I heard thunder as well as pipe organ music.

He told me in a frighteningly-deranged voice that "the fates" had chosen our "humble publication" to be (after years of research) the instrument of his world-wide plan. When I asked for the details of his plan, he just told me that "all will be revealed in time", and then proceeded with a mad, diabolical cackle.

After a minute or so of his laughter, he then told me "what I needed to know for now". Apparently, he will be presenting a new monthly column called Nightmares of Networking, in which he will present only the most gruesome, horrifying, spine-tingling, blood-boiling, bone-chilling tales of networking gone horribly, horribly wrong.

He then told me that he would be "unleashing" his column every 4th week of the month and that I had no choice but to publish it. Beads of sweat formed on my brow as he told me he knew where I lived and that he wasn't even remotely scared of "that Castle guy". With a gulp I had no other choice but to say "oh...ok". He then preceded to tell me that "all was going according to his plan", upon which followed another two or three minutes of diabolical laughter, thunder and pipe-organ music until there was a loud click.

I urge only those readers with the strongest of constitutions to read his article at their own discretion and peril.

Who is he? Where does he come from? How does he get his graphic designer to render such a dramatic picture of him? Only time will tell...stay tuned.

So...my faithful TNNW readers, we have yet another writer that has joined us this month. For those keeping tally at home, The Mad Genius joins:
Leanne Hoagland-Smith - Working Within
Sandy McKee - Speak Aloha and Let Your Voice Be Heard
Wendy Kovitz - Networking Fun for the Introverted
John A. Lee - It All Starts With Us!

One other thing...when I do face-to-face networking and I want to avoid the nightmares, I love to go to The Ultimate Networking Event that we co-sponsor. If you're in and around the Greater Philadelphia area this Tuesday, July 28th, my friend Tom Camarda puts on a really great event and this week it will be at Rembrandt's in Philadelphia's famous Museum District. To find out what people are saying about his event, click here. To find out more, please click here.

Still more surprises to come. We've been keeping really busy around here. For more on that, please read this week's update.

As always, I look forward to Networking with you,

Adam

For more about Adam J. Kovitz, please click here.

Hire Adam to speak at your next conference or event by emailing info@thenationalnetworker.com.

Follow Adam on Twitter!

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A NOTE FROM THE CHAIRMAN: Nightmare on TNNW Street