Best of the Best for April
It It was a fast and furious month here at Smallbizbee.com, and in case you had a hard time keeping up with the action, here are our most popular articles for April.
The Best of the Best
The following were the most read, most tweeted, or most commented on that we published this month.
- World’s Most Ethical Companies
- 7 Signs You’re Not Ready for Business Ownership
- 105 Absolutely Free Online Business Videos and Lectures
- Over 90 Field Tested Guerrilla Marketing Tactics
- Four Lazy Business Mistakes
- Contest: What Would You Put in Your Store?
- One Quick Tip to Get More Sales
- The Vanity Advantage
- 5 Characteristics of Great Business Names
If you find any of these articles particularly helpful, please help us spread the word and pass them on to your friends
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Featured Entrepreneur: Feedback Jar
We’ve talked a lot recently about the importance of getting feedback from your customers. For customer feedback to be most effective it needs to be a two way communication between business owner and consumer, and our latest Featured Entrepreneur understands how important that dynamic is.
I’m happy to have Nick Leung, founder and owner of Feedbackjar.com, tell us a little bit about himself and his company which provides a community built around two way feedback and communication.
Special Offer: Nick has a special offer just for Small Biz Bee readers. If you want to start gathering, and using, your customers feedback this is for you! Details following the interview.
What is Feedback Jar?
FeedbackJar is a way for customers to communicate with each other and with their local businesses. Customers and merchants can help answer questions, share ideas, and resolve problems with products and services they use in their local community in a public forum.
When did you start the business?
We’re started implementing the idea back in the summer of ’08 and started a private launch in Fall ’08. We’re currently in public beta as of Feb ’09.
How did you get the idea?
We read a lot of bad press on how review sites do not give business owners justice when it came to bad reviews. Clearly, the solution was to allow the merchants to talk with their customers in a public forum. We also wanted to allow customers to respond and help to other customers with products and services they use from their surrounding businesses.
This put us in another category, which was not your traditional review site but a crowdsource customer support application. We searched other companies that were in a similar space, and soon discovered none of them were focusing on the local small business market. This of course inspired us to create FeedbackJar.com.
What sources did you use to fund your biz?
Currently it’s me and my friend I’ve known since college. Our burn rate is very low since we do all the development ourselves and we can move relatively fast.
What was the biggest startup challenges?
The biggest challenge is getting the word out and getting people to use the site. Our idea is very new and not many people are familiar with the concept.
How did you overcome those challenges?
We’ve been embedding ourselves in online communities, Twitter, social networks, and blogs. We also getting our faces out there in the community by going to networking events, parties, and talking with bloggers. Focus on what your users want is probably most important since a happy user is your best evangelist.
What has been the response/reaction to your business from your clients?
A lot of the merchants on FeedbackJar like using the site since they have another medium to communicate and connect with their customers. Customers are more likely to voice their opinion to the business since it’s so easy to submit a feedback.
Best advice you can give to a new startup?
Be passionate about what you’re doing. That passion will reverberate into your product and customers. Also, be prepared to experience highs and lows. Starting a new business can be daunting since there’s no black and white way to do things. It’s okay to make mistakes, but make sure you can identify your mistakes and correct them early.
Biggest lesson you’ve learned from starting your own business?
Your product doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be working. Have tools and mechanisms in place to measure your progress before you become obsessed with constantly adding unnecessary features.
What’s the future look like for Feedback Jar?
We’ve just finished creating a FeedbackJar widget. Now any merchant can easily embed a FeedbackJar widget on their business homepage. With the widget, customers can leave feedback without going directly to FeedbackJar.com.
We’re also working on a new UI design and hopefully have that done with in a couple of months.
What inspires you to do what you do?
I’ve lived in the Silicon Valley all my life. I know and heard of countless people who formed startups in their garage. I’m still relatively young and don’t have much to lose. It’s just part of the culture here in the Valley where young entrepreneurs take a leap of faith hoping to create the next killer app.
In one word, what’s the key to success?
Passion
About Nick
Nick Leung and Dennis Chan are programmers from the Silicon Valley wanting to start a online business together ever since they were roommates in college.Nick previously founded open.srcphp.com, a visual library for open source php projects. Dennis is the founder of costshare.net, a group expense sharing site, and slickgadgetz.com, an ecommerce site.
Special Offer:
Feedback Jar is giving away 25 free website widgets to Small Biz Bee readers. The widget is easy to install on your website, and gives your customers a quick and convenient way to leave you feedback. If you would like to claim your free widget, and start capitalizing on your customer’s feedback, here’s how:
1. Create a business profile.
2. Go to http://www.feedbackjar.com/ContactForm, fill out the info,
and enter "SmallBizBee" in the subject line.
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We Have a Winner!
Last week I posed this question to Small Biz Bee readers.
To “encourage” participation we offered a $20 Amazon gift card to one lucky respondent.
The Question Was…
You’re given $2,000,000 to open a store (can be a physical or virtual) and your only requirements are:
- You have to give your product/service away for free
- Your success is judged on how much you give away
What Would You Do? How would you decide what to put in your store? What would it be, and why?
The responses we got were fabulous (I expected no less from the outstanding readers of Smallbizbee.com!). Well thought out, and creative, and let me just say I’m glad we picked the winner of the $20 by random, and not by the quality of the answer…I don’t know if I could have picked “the best”.
And the Winner is…
Wayne Liew!
Congratulations to Wayne for being our comment winner. As the winner he’ll be receiving a $20 Amazon gift card on us! In case you’re curious, here is Wayne’s response to our question:
As a business consultant, the $2,000,000 will be a big extra for me to help more small business owners. Because I enjoy learning and passing on my marketing and business building skills to others, I actually don’t mind giving away this service for free. In fact, I am thinking of allocating part of the $2,000,000 fund to creative small business owners who just don’t have enough money to grow or to spend on small marketing campaigns.
Wayne also runs a small business entrepreneurship blog that is well worth checking out if you haven’t done so already.
On the Up and Up
Wayne’s winning comment was picked by Random.org, from the 14 comments that were submitted between April 19-26, 2009.
A Big Thanks!
Thanks to everyone who participated. The quality and thoughtfulness of the responses was impressive to say the least…if you haven’t, take a few moments to see what our readers came up with.
Photo Credit: Fregon57
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105 Absolutely Free Online Business Videos and Lectures
If you’re looking for a big time business education without spending thousands of dollars, you’ve come to the right place. The following business videos and lectures are the same as you would get in the most prestigious MBA programs, all for free.
These videos range in complexity and length, but all incorporate the concepts and business foundations you will need to be successful. Some are as short as 1 minute and others are full class lectures, which cover topics such as entrepreneurship, financing, marketing, business planning, and more.
You can never have too much education, and thanks to the internet nearly everything you need to know is available to you, at your finger tips…for free, which is a pretty sweet deal.
I hope you find something here that helps you and your business be successful!
General Business – Getting Started
- Building a Company from the Ground Up
- Business Forms
- Formal Business Forms
- How Do You Find Your Passion and How Do You Pursue It?
- The Purpose of Business
- Debating the Merits of Business Education
- Experience Is Overrated
- Small Business: A profile
- “So You Want to Start a Business”
- What I Wish I’d Learned in College
- Business Owners Look Ahead
Startup
- Startup Resource: The Idea
- Startup Resource: Testing the Idea
- Startup Resource: Protecting the Idea
- Finding Good People
- Structuring the Business
- Starting Out on the Right Foot
Entrepreneurship
- What are the Best Qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs?
- What is Entrepreneurship?
- Entrepreneurial Spirit
- Entrepreneurial Women
- Google’s 5 Tips for Entrepreneurs
- New Media Entrepreneurship
- Can Innovation and Entrepreneurship be Taught?
- Eighteen and Entrepreneurial
Strategy
- Use Failure to Grow Your Business
- Startups: How to Avoid Being Squashed by Big Companies?
- The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy
- The Management Process
- Managerial Issues
- Organizational Issues & Styles
Business Tips
- Google’s Matt Cutts Gives Tips to Small Business Owners
- Top 10 Tips for Entrepreneurs by the CEO Expert
- Small Business Magazine Business Tips
Marketing / Advertising
- Marketing Introduction
- Marketing Mix: The Product
- Marketing Mix: Price
- Marketing Mix: Place
- Marketing Mix: Promotion
- Marketing Strategy
- Getting Wize: Making Sense of Web 2.0
- Market Positioning and the Importance of Partnerships
Small Business Accounting
Financing
- Make a Great Pitch
- Looking for Investors
- Sources of Small Business Financing
- VC Startup Relationship
- Using Government Funding to Kick Start Your Start-Up
- Financial Markets
- Financial Management
- Financial Analysis
- Beyond Startups Webinar – How to Manage Cash Flow
- Understanding Cash Flow
- Finding the Money
Business Plans and Business Planning
- SBA Webinar – Develop Your Business Plan – Part 1
- SBA Webinar – Develop Your Business Plan – Part 2
- SBA Webinar – Develop Your Business Plan – Part 3
- SBA Webinar – Develop Your Business Plan – Part 4
- SBA Webinar – Develop Your Business Plan – Part 5
- SBA Webinar – Develop Your Business Plan – Part 6
- SBA Webinar – Develop Your Business Plan – Part 7
- SBA Webinar – Develop Your Business Plan – Part 8
- Ask Tim Berry – What Sort of Business Plan Do You Need?
- Ask Tim Berry – Common Business Planning Questions
- Purpose of a Business Plan
- The Business Plan
Leadership
- Leadership Brand
- Innovative Leadership during Economic Crisis
- Question Everything
- Values-Based Leadership with Steve Newberry
- 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump
- Southwest Airlines’ Colleen Barrett on ‘Servant Leadership’
Social Media for Business
- Building Brands with Viral Content
- How to Be a Social Media Change Agent
- O’Reilly Webcast: Twitter for Business
- How To Use Twitter For Business
- Social Media in Plain English
- Building Personal Brand Within the Social Media Landscape
- Hugh MacLeod: Web 2.0 (excerpt)
Branding
- Alfred Lin Lecture: “Building a Brand that Matters”
- Product, Brand, Experience – Nike & Sony
- How Starbucks Built a Global Brand, UCLA
- Ginny Shanks: Brand Management
- What is a Brand Really Worth?
- Marketing ROI Extends beyond the Bottom Line
- Building Global Brands
Business Profiles and Interviews
- Amazon.com: Customer Experience Matters
- A Few Things Learned from Craigslist
- A Conversation with Jack Welch
- A Conversation with Michael Dell
- Jeffrey Immelt, GE
- Kevin Plank, Chairman & CEO, Under Armour
- Warren Buffett MBA Talk
- Eye To Eye: Richard Branson
- How Starbucks Built a Global Brand
- Youtube Founders on Their Success
- Russel Simmons interview Bill Maher
- Ben & Jerry
- Bill Gates Speech at Harvard (part 1)
- Bill Gates Speech at Harvard (part 2)
- Bill Gates Speech at Harvard (part 3)
- Bill Gates Speech at Harvard (part 4)
- Bill Gates Speech at Harvard (part 5)
If you know of any free video lectures focused on small business or entrepreneurship let me know about them in the comments section and I’ll add them to the list.
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The Giveaway Get’em Back Marketing Strategy
For an ice cream lover yesterday was a good day. For someone looking for a textbook case study in marketing mastery, it was a great day.
If you don’t live two blocks from a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream location like I do you may have missed what all the hub-bub as about. It turns out that every April the good folks and Ben & Jerry’s give out a free scoop of ice cream to anyone that comes through the door. Awesome!
But they didn’t stop there, they also gave every individual a coupon for 10% off…not 10% off their next purchase, or 10% off until next week…we all got 10% every single purchase for an entire year! Double awesome!
It was the combination of Ben & Jerry’s “Giveaway and Get’em Back” that leads us to today’s topic, and a super powerful marketing combination.
First the Giveaway
Ben & Jerry’s knows they have a great product. The only thing they have to do is to get you to know that. What’s the easiest way to turn your customers onto your great product and service? Give it to them!
If you believe you have a product that people will fall in love with, or a service that people can’t live without – get out there and start giving it away! This is a tough step for some businesses, they feel like all those giveaways are lost income or just another expense. Flip the thinking – look at your giveaway as the marketing tool it is.
Tips for a Successful Giveaway
- Have a great product/service!
- There is no sense in giving away an adequate product, or a service that is just good enough. We (customers) can get enough of that almost anywhere.
- Really give it away
- Not a small sample, or a discount. Don’t go cheap here. Ben & Jerry’s gave out a full sized scoop of any ice cream they serve, in a cup or a cone. They want you experiencing the whole product-give your customers the same.
- Be enthusiastic about your giving away the house
- The more excited you are to get your product into your customers hands the more enthusiastic they will be about receiving it, and the more they will talk it up with everyone they know.
- Treat it as opportunity, not expense
- Everything you give away is marketing. It’s guaranteeing you’ll get more business – if your product/service a great as you think it is.
Now the Get’em Back
Once you’ve got your stellar product in the hands of your consumer don’t stop there. In order to properly deliver the marketing knockout you’ve got to do something to get them back.
Having a product they love, or the service that is a life saver, is step one. That is enough to get them thinking about coming back to you time and again. But don’t leave it up to chance, with your giveaway incorporate a “Get’em back”.
What was Ben & Jerry’s Get’em back? The simple coupon, good for 10% off for a year. As I was standing there eating free ice cream they gave me a not so gentle reminder that they’d like to see me again, and they made it worth my while to stop back by.
The “Get’em back” tactic you use will vary based on your business, but to see maximum results you need to tell the customers you want their business. Don’t leave it up to chance.
Tips for a Successful Get’em Back
- Go as big as you can
- I wouldn’t be talking about this if Ben & Jerry’s gave me 10% off my next purchase, that’s ordinary. What they did by extending the offer a year is extraordinary.
- Make it easy
- No hoops to jump through. Nothing to fill out, no forms to send in, your goal is to get them back in your shop and the least amount of steps they have to take the more likely you’ll see them again.
- Also make the deal easy to communicate. They should be able to tell somebody else about you and your offer in a couple seconds, get that word of mouth working for you!
- Ask for their business
- We’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating. Ask your customer to come back. A simple, “come back and see us” may be enough to make you the top of the mind provider.
A Powerful Combination
The Giveaway -Get’em Back strategy is an extremely powerful combination. First you seed your target market with your products and/or services then you make it worth their while to come back and see you. It works because they get to touch/see/feel what you do, become familiar with you, and they have the not so subtle reminder they should come back to you again and again. If you this right it can become your most effective form of marketing. Happy consumers, with an incentive to come back, all the while spreading the word for you. It doesn’t get better than that.
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Guy Kawasaki on Listening to Your Customers
Here’s a short video from Guy Kawasaki that can serve as a reminder to us all what is most important when running our businesses.
Listening to our customers.
Listen to your customers and your noncustomers, emphasizes Kawasaki. People who are not your customers are going to buy your product and use it in ways that you would not expect.
Guy Kawasaki on Listening to Your Customers
Running time: 2min 14sec
Photo Credit:ky_olsen
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Contest: What Would You Put in Your Store?
In my reading today I came across a very interesting scenario.
I’d like to pose the question to you all and see what we can come up with. To sweeten the deal, we’ll even be giving out a prize to some lucky commenter.
Here’s the Scenario:
You’re given $2,000,000 to open a store (can be a physical or virtual) and your only requirements are:
- You have to give your product/service away for free
- Your success is judged on how much you give away
What Would You Do?
How would you decide what to put in your store? What would it be, and why?
Win a Couple Bucks From Us
Let’s hear your idea in the comments section, and next Sunday (April 26, 2009) I’ll randomly select one of the commenter’s to win a $20 Amazon Gift Certificate.
Fine Print: Smallbizbee reserve’s the right to disallow any comment, for any reason.
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5 Characteristics of Great Business Names
Naming your business should be given the same care and consideration as naming your child, however it seems many businesses don’t treat it as such.
Here’s a quick video to help you navigate the naming process, making sure your business doesn’t end up like these guys.
5 Characteristics of Great Business Names – Watch the top videos of the week here
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Photo Credit: evelynishere’s photostream
One Quick Tip to Get More Sales
Here’s one of the quickest, easiest ways I know to get more sales.
It won’t cost you a dime, and everything you need for the strategy to be successful you already have at your disposal.
What’s the Secret?
Start collecting compliments.
For the next month start collecting all the compliments you’re getting from your customers. Every time they tell you you’re doing a great job, or that your product/service rocks ask that customer if they mind if you use their comments as a testimonial.
Make it easy for them to give you a testimonial by having a simple page on your website devoted to getting their feedback. Or, if in person perhaps an easy to fill out form will do. However, be sure that they know you are using their statements as a testimonial, you have their express consent to use it, and run it by them before you publish their praise for the world to see.
Where to Use the Testimonials?
Once you have a nice selection of customer praise, integrate it into your marketing materials, brochures, your website, or anywhere you directly interact with your customer.
To help get the most bang for your buck here, use testimonials that are:
- Specific – “Jim’s expert advice on small business writeoff’s saved me $500 on my taxes this year alone” is a lot better than “Jim is great at taxes”
- Authentic/Genuine – These shouldn’t sound like a sales seminar, in fact quite the opposite. You want to use comments that sound genuine and authentic
- Relateable – Some customers have a way of giving you feedback that will easily translate to the masses. Use the comments that the majority of your customers will relate to.
Why Does it Work?
Simple. A testimonial is proof you don’t suck. Consumers want to know that somebody before them has used your service and loved what you do, or they have your product and can’t live without it.
Testimonials act as a kind of social proof. When consumers talk about your products they are automatically thought of as more credible than when you talk about your products. Consumer testimonials:
- Build trust
- Aide familiarity
- Reinforce your marketing message
Remember:
- 2/3 of the United States Economy is driven by word of mouth
- 10% of consumers influence the purchasing decisions of the other 90%
- 91% of consumers are “likely” to buy off of a recommendation
- 92% of consumers “prefer” a word of mouth recommendation
Final Thoughts
Many business owners don’t like to toot their own horn, that’s fine with testimonials your customers do it for you. Many times you’ll find that they enjoy giving you feedback, and will get a kick out of seeing their statements or quotes on published material of yours. If you’re good, customers want to tell the world about you.
This takes no real time, cost no money, and you’re getting the “data” anyway, so tell me where you’ll get a better deal than that?
Your Turn
If you’re not using them, take a couple weeks to collect the praise and use the feedback – then come back and let me know how it went. If you do use testimonials in your marketing let’s hear about how it’s working out for you.
Photo Credit: hirondellecanada
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World’s Most Ethical Companies 2009
Hopefully as you are building and growing your business you’re keeping your ethical responsibilities in mind.
In a “dog eat dog” world it can be tempting to comprise ethics in order to get ahead, but according to the latest study from The Ethisphere Institute, doing business in an ethical manner can be, well, good for business.
Ethical Companies Outperform
Past performance of the world’s most ethical companies have significantly outperformed the S&P 500 over the past five years according to the research from the Ethisphere Institute.
So while it may be tempting to check your ethics at the door in an effort to capture outsized profits, this research would indicate that good guys don’t always finish last!
This would indicate that ethics should be high on your list of priorities for you and your business, perhaps even a piece of your mission should speak to your ethical business practices, in order to act as a reminder of their importance.
The Worlds Most Ethical Selection Process
The Ethisphere Institute uses a rigorous selection process when deciding who makes the list. Per their website, the selection process includes:
1. The Methodology
A methodology committee of leading attorneys, professors, government officials and organization leaders, assisted Ethisphere in creating the scoring methodology for the World’s Most Ethical Companies awards.
2. Candidate Selection
Over the course of the year, companies across the world submitted their applications to become 2009 World’s Most Ethical Companies. Based on these applications, as well as information Ethisphere gathered throughout the year, a list of semi-finalists was created.
3. In-Depth Analysis
At this stage, semi-finalist companies were notified and given an in-depth survey questionnaire to fill out regarding their ethics and compliance program, governance and corporate responsibility.
4. Further Refinement
Ethisphere then conducted data analyses on hundreds of companies based on their responses to the survey, as well as documents and information researched and requested by Ethisphere to confirm survey responses. Every company was then given an EQ score based on the results of the survey and measured against seven distinct categories. These categories were Corporate Citizenship and Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Innovation that Contributes to the Public Well Being; Industry leadership; Executive Leadership and Tone from the Top; Legal, Regulatory and Reputation Track Record; and Internal Systems and Ethics/Compliance Program.
Corporate citizenship and responsibility: 20%
How does the company respond to the community and workplace, what is the company’s sustainability track record and how does it audit its supply chain? Ethisphere factored in placement on major sustainability lists, such as FTSE4Good Index Series.
Corporate governance: 10%
Is the company properly aware of potential value conflicts at and around the company and address those conflicts in an effective way?
Innovation that contributes to public well being: 15%
Does the company provide products, services and/or process innovation that positively contributes to public well-being?
Industry leadership: 5%
How does the company set industry standards for business ethics and compliance, corporate governance, responsibility, sustainable development and environmental protection?
Executive leadership and tone from the top: 15%
Does the company have strong and visible executive leadership on ethics, corporate governance and citizenship?
Legal, regulatory and reputation track record: 20%
What is the legal history of the company?
Internal systems and ethics/compliance program: 15%
Does the company have satisfactory internal control systems, including a leading Code of Conduct, whistle-blower policies, prevention and detection controls, etc?
2009’s Worlds Most Ethical Companies
The highest EQ scores for each industry became this year’s 2009 World’s Most Ethical Companies.
Summary
Take a few minutes to look over the list of companies selected. These are some of the most well respected and profitable companies in the world, and they are doing business ethically. Try to emulate some of what they do with your own business and I am sure you will benefit from what could be called an ethical advantage.
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Starting a Business? Find Something to Sell That is Close to Home
Business is hard enough without the business owner making it harder than need be. Here Brian Linton, founder of Sand Shack, talks about how he keeps it simple with his business by keeping it close to home.
Struggling to find the right product or service to sell?
You may not realize it, but business opportunities are all around you. When thinking of a business to start many people fail to realize that they don’t have to look far away to find a product or service to sell.
Most successful business ideas develop because of the unavoidable, obvious truth that, “everyone is different.”
So what does this have to do with entrepreneurship?
Each person has unique resources, knowledge, or experiences to build a successful company from – it is just a matter of exposing them.
When I turned towards entrepreneurship as a college student 3 years ago I came up with a ton of good idea. One of the ideas that I seriously considered implementing was buying and developing remote tropical islands in the Philippines. Ok, don’t laugh, I seriously considered doing this. Because I grew up overseas I speak Mandarin Chinese and I thought I could buy an island, fit it with a house and a helicopter pad and then sell it to some rich Chinese business mogul. Although to me the Philippines and China were “close to home” (I grew up in Singapore) – I obviously did not have the resources to carry out such an endeavor, as I realized $1000 would not be enough!
You Don’t Have to Have a Novel Idea or Innovative Product
Eventually I found something that was close to home, easy to get, and something a scalable business model could be built around. The idea? Buying beaded necklaces from Thailand and selling them under my own brand in Cape Cod, Massachusetts during my summer vacation from college. It wasn’t a novel or innovative idea but it was ‘close to home’ for a variety of reasons.
First off, because I grew up in Singapore I have friends all over South East Asia, including Thailand. Secondly, whenever I would visit the United States I would go to Cape Cod to see my grandparents, and during college this is where I would spend my summers. While going back and forth between Asia and America I made the simple realization that all the beachy, choker, shell necklaces being sold in Cape Cod for $10 could be purchased in Thailand for $0.20. Hence, Sand Shack was born.
Obviously, jewelry is a very competitive industry, however, truth be told, you can make money selling anything – the key is finding something ‘close to home’ to sell. Something you can easily get or develop. And although I looked in areas across the globe for my business, this to me was close to home – it was a natural and un-daunting process for me to carry out, and it was something I knew I had a competitive advantage doing.
3 Steps to Find Out What You Can Sell That Are Close to Your Home
So when you are choosing what your company will sell, take note to the following steps. Following these three simple steps will not guarantee your success, success will be based upon your merit to sell what you chose, however, following these steps will ensure that you enjoy, and are passionate about, what you are selling.
1. Decide what you are passionate about. What do you love?
2. Find out what product or service you can easily offer. What can you offer that is already close to home?
3. Research the market for the items you have chosen. Can you make money offering these products or services?
About the Author:
Brian Linton is the Founder of Sand Shack, an environmentally friendly brand of resort merchandise sold in stores across the United States. Brian is an entrepreneur, world traveler, and avid writer at his blog Brianlinton.com. Brian can be reached at brian [at] sandshack.com and followed @brianlinton
Photo Credit: martinreach
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The Vanity Advantage
Just admit it – we’ve all done it – a time or two, when you didn’t think anyone was looking, you typed your own name into Google just to see what would come up.
I’ve done it, more out of curiosity than a feeling that something may be lurking out there, but I’ve always felt a bit vain searching for myself. And as we all know, vanity is so unbecoming.
However, while vanity may be frowned upon at a personal level, I would encourage you to embrace your vainity when it comes to your business.
The Vanity Advantage
In business, vain is an advantage. Being aware of what is being said about you, what image your business portrays, and how you are perceived by your customer are critical to your success.
Embrace the vanity. Take an active and on going interest in knowing what is being said about you, and preen for your customer. Not only is it okay from a business perspective, I would encourage it!
Get Your Vanity Check On
Doing a routine vanity check on your business will help keep your finger on the pulse of your customer, fill holes in your service model, and more readily meet your customers needs. So where do you start?
Just like you Googled your name…Google your business. See what comes up, where are you listed, how do you rank online.
Look at review services like Yelp, or if you sell a product take a look at Epinions.
Start listening to the conversations being had about you online. Search Twitter conversations for your business, your product, or for comments about your service.
Use a service like Trackur to monitor blog postings, comments, news stories or video content published on the web about you, your product or service.
Set up Google Alerts to email you whenever your name pops up on a website, newsgroup or blog post.
Check out boardtracker.com to see if your products or services are being discussed on any number of message boards.
There is even desktop software available to help with your vanity advantage. Copernic for example monitors websites for your search terms and lets you know when they change.
The point is there are a host of services, many of which are free, to monitor the conversations being had about you and your business online. A simple Google search for “Online Reputation Management” should get you moving in the right direction.
Don’t Forget the Offline World
Your vanity advantage transfers to the offline world as well. Know how you are perceived by your customers, and listen to what they are saying about you.
Ask your customers directly how you are doing. Get their feedback, and take it to heart without getting defensive.
Want a more anonymous way to get feedback?
Use online survey tools such as Survey Monkey, or Zoomerang to quickly poll your customers.
Start giving out feedback forms to your customers as part of your product or service offering, and give incentives for them to turn them in (it’s amazing what a $25 Starbucks card will get people to do).
The Tip of the Iceberg
This is just a small sampling of the ways you can embrace your vanity and turn it into an advantage. There are literally hundreds of ways to listen to your consumers, hopefully the above gets you started down that path. The key is to search out ways in which to search for yourself. Remember we’re embracing our vanity here – so the more ways to look for yourself the better!
The Last Step is the Hardest
Your customers are talking. They are talking about you and your business right now, and it’s up to you if you want to use their conversations, feedback, and criticisms to move your business ahead.
The hardest part of this exercise doesn’t come with the listening, it comes with the responding. Only listening is of no real help, and if you choose to ignore what is being said you will loose the majority of the vanity advantage.
Hopefully much of what you hear will be positive, but there are bound to be some negatives too. Hit them head on – make any wrongs right – that’s the point.
Look for areas of opportunity in the conversations, and work to fix them. See what your customers love about you and keep doing it. Identify areas of improvement in your business model, or areas where marketing messages need to be refined, or customer education is necessary. Remember that responding can be done with actions as well as words.
The key is to listen, and then respond. Embrace your vanity, and use it as your advantage.
Photo Credit: nathalielaure
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Top 10 Tax Extension Questions Answered
The following guest post from FileLater’s CEO Ryan Thompson helps answer the most common questions about filing a tax extension. I know all readers of this blog are way ahead on their tax prep this year, but maybe you have a friend who can benefit from the info!
Does the IRS need a reason for my tax extension?
No! An IRS tax extension is “automatic” which means that your extension will automatically be approved as long as you file correctly and on time.
What are the deadlines associated with a tax extension?
A personal tax extension will grant you six more months, giving you a new tax deadline of October 15th. Most businesses that file for an extension will have a new tax deadline of September 15th. Tax extensions must be submitted by your original tax deadline, which is April 15th for individuals and most businesses (including LLCs, partnerships and sole proprietors), and March 15th for corporations.
Do my chances of audit go up if I file a tax extension?
The IRS never tells us what triggers audit; however, the fact that the IRS makes tax extensions possible, and that you are showing compliance by filing for an extension leads many CPAs and tax professionals to believe that your chance of audit may actually decrease if you file for a tax extension
How do I file an extension?
There are three ways to file for a tax extension. You can fill out and send in the IRS forms (IRS 4868 for individuals and IRS 7004 for businesses), have your CPA file an extension, or do it yourself online with an authorized IRS e-file provider like FileLater
What information is needed to file for a tax extension?
Luckily, the IRS doesn’t ask for any complicated tax information when you file for a tax extension. Some personal information is needed, such as name, address, and social security number, and you’ll also have to estimate if you’ll owe or get a tax return when you file your extended taxes. But, you won’t need any information from W2s, 1099s, 1098s, etc.
Does a tax extension give me more time to pay any taxes due?
A tax extension is an extension in time to file your tax extension, not an extension of time to pay. The IRS asks that you still pay any tax balance on time. However, filing a tax extension will eliminate the stiffest late penalty, which is called the late filing penalty, and is 5% of any balance due per month.
Why should I e-file my extension?
E-file is the only method to file a tax extension where you’ll get an IRS confirmation when your tax extension is approved.
Do I also need to file for a state tax extension?
Each state has their own rules for state tax extensions. However, many states will automatically grant you a six month tax extension as long as your IRS federal tax extension is approved. FileLater provides instructions and forms where needed for all 50 states: http://www.filelater.com/states.html
How many extensions are filed annually?
10 million personal extensions and 5 million business tax extensions are filed annually with the IRS, and is expected to grow by about 5% in 2009 with more complicated tax situations for many filers given the current economic environment.
What are the benefits of using FileLater?
FileLater is an authorized IRS e-file provider, which means that you’ll get an IRS confirmation when your extension is approved, and has over 98% of submitted tax extensions approved by the IRS! FileLater is also the only extension service on the web that can e-file business tax extensions, and is a BBB accredited business.
Ryan Thompson is co-founder and CEO of FileLater. After 3 years with Intuit’s TurboTax, FileLater was established to provide the 15 million businesses and individuals who file tax extensions annually with the easiest way to get a tax extension online. FileLater is an authorized IRS e-file provider, and the only place on the web to e-file business tax extensions online.
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Photo Credit: churl
Exercise: Think You Know Your Business?
Think about your core business, your flagship product, or marquee service.
Now answer the following question:
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When my customers refer me to others, what three things are they saying about what I do?
Have you got your answers?
Now ask your customers the same question…their answers may surprise you.
As a business owner I know that I’ve fell into the trap of marketing the service I think I provide, instead of marketing the service my customers think I provide.
There can be a big difference between the two. Only after you know what your customers value, why they use your service, and most importantly what they say about you to others can you begin to tailor your marketing message.
It’s okay if there is an initial disconnect between what you think of you, and what they think of you. Within the disconnect lies opportunity to more efficiently serve your current customers and attract new ones.
This exercise also provides opportunity to evaluate how well you are educating your customer base into the value of your services. If they are missing the big picture, the main “value add” of your business, you need to begin educating and crafting better messages to help them realize how you can help them.
Let me know how this exercise goes for you, I’d be interested in hearing your story.
Photo Credit: tantek’s photostream
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Turn Your Business into a National Champion!
If you’re not a sports fan the end of March and early April probably hold no special significance for you.
However in my household nearly all semblance of normalcy disappears as we hang on every second of action during March Madness, those few weeks before spring where college basketball teams battle it out to be the national champion!
Scores are checked incessantly, “smack” is talked amongst friends about who will win the title (I have the University of Connecticut winning it all this year), and the days between games seem like weeks and months. Yes, I’m a bit of a college basketball fan.
Becoming a Champion
One of the greatest coaches of all time in college basketball was John Wooden, his accolades are too long to list here, but he did win 10 national titles while coaching at UCLA.
But what does this have to do with business? On the surface it may look like not a lot. However, I got to thinking about the similarities between a successful basketball team, and a successful business, and saw quite a few parallels – teamwork, leadership, poise under pressure, just to name a few.
Coach Wooden’s teams were some of the most well coached, and best prepared to ever step on a basketball court. When it came to leadership, and fostering teamwork, nobody was better than Wooden.
Learn from the Best
So can we learn anything from Coach Wooden, keys that made him a successful coach, that we can take back to our own businesses and make them more successful? You bet.
Here’s coach Wooden’s 12 lessons in leadership, and I think you’ll see how these traits transcend basketball and can be used to make yourself a better leader and thus your business more successful.
12 Lessons in Leadership
- Good values attract good people.
- Love is the most powerful four letter word.
- Call yourself a teacher.
- Emotion is your enemy.
- It takes 10 hands to make a basket.
- Little things make big things happen.
- Make each day your masterpiece.
- The carrot is mightier than a stick.
- Make greatness attainable by all.
- Seek significant change.
- Don’t look at the scoreboard.
- Adversity is your asset.
Success Pyramid
Also Coach Wooden had what he called a success pyramid – which I love. It shows how success really builds onto itself. You can’t skip any step, or have a piece of the pyramid missing, without it falling down.
Success is like that, everything you do builds on itself. You can’t afford to be missing one piece of the pyramid and expect to continue building your business upwards.
Again, Coach Wooden was thinking of the success pyramid in the context of basketball, but the core values here are the same for any endeavor you want to succeed at.
You’ll notice the pyramid is built around “Faith and Patience”, with the pinnacle being “Competitive Greatness”, which Coach Wooden defines as “Performing your best when your best is required. Your best is required each day.”
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable
Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success – Free Legal Forms
In Closing
Take some time to think through Coach Wooden’s principals of leadership, and the success pyramid, and see how you can apply the concepts to your business. Anyone as successful as he is certainly worth listening too – who knows it could make your business a national champion!
What do you think is the most important aspect of leadership?
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