For a small business, building up a large mailing list of people interested in your products and services is one of the best marketing tactics you can invest your time in. An email list can consist of current and previous clients, but the majority of it should be made up of prospective clients. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways of reaching a targeted audience, because potential clients will only sign up if they’re interested in something you’re offering. [Tweet “For small businesses, email marketing is a high-impact, low-cost way of getting your message heard.”] I know when…
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Clients are the single biggest determining factor in the success of your small business, so you need to show them how valued they are. Your client care approach should focus on both attracting new clients, and retaining current ones for repeat business. In order to grow your business, you’ll need to make clients happy so they’ll return to work with you again, and so they’ll recommend you to their colleagues. [Tweet “Determine what you need from your client care system and implement technology that will provide it.”] I know that most of my clients find Jennie Lyon Virtual Assistant Services…
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Attracting new clients is essential for the success of all small businesses, and the majority of new clients you get will find you online first. That means your business needs to have a strong online presence, starting with its website. As someone who runs a business entirely online, I can guarantee this makes a difference! Think of your website as the “store window” of your online business. It needs to be attractive, up-to-date, and interesting enough to draw potential clients in to engage with your business on a deeper level. [Tweet “Not attracting the right kinds of clients? Your website…
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Onboarding new clients is one of the most time-consuming and important tasks for any small business. Ideally, your onboarding system should run smoothly and leave clients feeling taken care of, but in the messiness of real life, that doesn’t always happen. I find that the best way to manage onboarding successfully is to automate as much of the process as possible. Of course, you still need to give the prospects and new clients your personal time and attention! However, if you can leave all the details to be dealt with according to a set of basic procedures, it frees up…
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If you make just one resolution this year, let it be to put yourself first. Too many small business owners work themselves to the bone, burning the candle at both ends, sometimes for years at a stretch. Your body and mind need time to recover from a hard day’s work, and there’s no shame in taking care of yourself. I know how tempting it can be to try and “do it all” when you’re in charge of everything about your work. Trust me when I say I have been there before. I have learned to resist the urge to spend…
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Well, we’ve almost made it through another year! I hope it was as good for your business as it was for mine, although I have some great suggestions if you didn’t meet all of your business goals this past year. The perfect time is coming up, in the lull between holiday gatherings and the new year starting in earnest, for you to take some steps for envisioning your next year in business. [Tweet “Come up with concrete plans and goals to make the New Year, your best year yet!”] One of the key practices you should adopt if you want…
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Do you have the right team in place to support your business? Your goals probably involve the growth of your business, taking on new clients, expanding your services or product line, tackling more and larger projects, etc. No small business owner wants to get stuck in a rut or have their business stagnate. However, growth means more work. A lot of small business owners view hiring an additional person to work on their business as a scary prospect. They worry about paying a salary, whether their need for support will remain consistent enough to warrant the commitment of a new…
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It’s Thanksgiving week, which means it’s a good time to focus on the things in our lives that we’re grateful for. Owning and running a small business can sometimes be challenging or draining, but there are so many wonderful things about it that make the trials worthwhile. I always try to remember to think on all the parts of running my own business that fill me with gratitude and appreciation for the work I do and the people I work with. Especially around holiday time, when the themes of thankfulness and love are so prevalent, I find it makes me happy…
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Clients are the heart of your business, and you can’t afford to take them for granted. Without your clients, your business wouldn’t exist, so you always need to be considerate of their needs and appreciative for their patronage. The benefit to showing clients your appreciation is that it builds a strong connection with them, encouraging return business and making it more likely that they will refer others to you. Good client care is fundamental to the success of every business! While there are actions you can take year-round to let clients know how much you appreciate their business, the holidays…
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