Even if you’re managing your small business efficiently, there might be instances wherein you face negative publicity. It might come from an irate customer or from your not-so-friendly competitor. These things can easily damage your business reputation, shatter relationships with your customers, and affect your profitability. Here what you should do in these situations:

Keep it Cool

Although it’s more easily said than done, you should try to keep your cool and analyze the situation objectively. Don’t be compelled to answer right away for it might further damage your business. You may want to check the information reported for any inaccuracy or false claims.

Talk to the Source

Contact the writer or editor if you find any inconsistent information in the report. Most writers are very open to reactions from the other party to complete the picture. If your point is valid, they will issue a correction right away. If they stick to their article, you can go to their direct media competitor and share your story. I’m quite sure this competitor will be very delighted.

Issue Your Official Statement

They say silence means yes, so you should clarify to the public what needs to be clarified. Send your press release to different sites and also email all customers in your list. Aside from stating the facts, try to make it more personal and heartfelt to win your customers back.

Blurbs, client testimonials, and quotes are a great way to promote yourself or your book as you let the clients and readers do the talking. No worries about sounding like a braggart. But there are good, bad, and tricky testimonials.

“This is a great book!”

“Joe did an excellent job on the project!”

Do these tell you anything? These are empty and generic quotes. Here’s one that’s an example of a tricky testimonial, but you wouldn’t know it:

“Jane is very reliable.”

This tells part of the story. The rest of the story… “Jane is very reliable in arriving late for work every day.” Makes it easy for someone who didn’t like the person’s work to avoid saying something bad. But in most cases, the employee wouldn’t use such a person as a referral.

When reading book reviews in Amazon or elsewhere, you can tell which ones might be friends of the author’s. They’re short and empty. They tell you nothing about the book. It’s better not to have a testimonial than one like this. What if a big name wrote this kind of blurb? The blurb is useless in terms of convincing you to buy the book, but the author’s association with the person could convince some people to buy it (that old “It’s who you know.”).

When asking for a testimonial after the person agreed to supply one, ask the person to answer this results-oriented question and the testimonial will more likely be valuable.

“What has [product or service] helped you achieve?”

Or, if it’s too soon to know the answer to this, ask for a testimonial about the process of working with the company. How well they did in meeting deadlines, how well they did meeting requirements, and so on.

You can make your testimonials more credible if you include one that’s not positive. Why would you want to include that? It shows you’re honest and human. But why would we want to show our weaknesses? Everyone has weak areas and we might as well as be up front about them and earn credibility points.

About the author

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl.net, helping companies build relationships with clients and prospects through content.

When it comes to selling, some entrepreneurs have an ongoing debate about which is generally better: on the phone or in the field? Although selling’s importance varies from industry to industry, some business experts recommend that you don’t choose which method is better. Rather, you should use both to have better sales performance.

Field Team

The field team are your good old traditional salespeople who visit your clients. The advantage of this team is its power to build more personal relationship. Also, a face-to-face communication motivates customers to share more details about their preferences and complaints.

Inside Team

Your inside sales team is composed of contact center agents who spend countless hours over the phone to close a deal and generate new leads for prospecting. Generally, this team is relatively cheaper because you can sometimes outsource the work to contact centers in various countries. In some cases, your inside sales team can also be your customer service team.

Integration

You should pay attention on how to seamlessly integrate both teams so they work optimally. Some helpful activities include weekly coordination meetings, setting of shared goals, sharing of information and best practices. When it comes to motivating your sales team, check out Biz Plan Hack’s advice.

The online world made it possible for me to become a full-time freelancer. All of my clients come from outside of my home state. Here are examples of where I met clients and people online:

Through blogs (especially in earlier days). We bloggers left comments or sent emails to each other. Over time, we learned about each other and became friends.

Through an interview. I found the client because I interviewed (by email, of course) a co-worker of his who connected us.

Through referrals. Two other clients come from referrals from someone I met on the Internet - one through his blog and the other from working on a Web site together. An online networking group, also brought in more clients and friends.

Through searches. One gig came from the editor’s using the search engine to find me. He did a great job because my experience fit well with what he needed.

Obviously, the Internet offers many routes for meeting people and finding gigs (emphasis on gigs as the chance of finding a full-time job is only about 8% as reported in a career-related column). The following lists ways to meet others online:

• Blogs: Leave a comment and link to another person’s entry from yours.
• Forums and email mailing groups: Join discussions.
• Email newsletters: As an editor, I respond to all reader emails and survey feedback.
• Online groups: Mailing list and forum discussions.
• Web site: One that’s content-rich and frequently updated (this is where a blog or blogging-tool can help).
• Emails: Contacting people. Compliment a writer on an article. Congratulate a business on a recent success.
• Articles: One of my first freelance gigs came from a guy who contacted me based on an article I wrote. There, I met another editor and we recently connected and helped each other.
• Chats: You might attend a chat where there’s a guest. Usually chats are secondary — meaning you meet the person some other way before you talk in instant messenger.

You never know who you’ll meet through the Internet. Interact with the virtual world — you never know who you meet.

About the author

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl.net, helping companies build relationships with clients and prospects through content.

Once upon a time, an entrepreneur was very troubled because he didn’t know how to effectively communicate with his customers. He climbed the highest mountains and fought against 7 dragons in search for the secret formula. Little did he know, the answer is very simple. It’s…

storytelling

Yes, this simple childhood activity might be the missing element in your marketing campaign. Since it has been with us way back to our younger years, our minds are conditioned to be easily stimulated and interested whenever we hear a good story. More importantly, we all crave a sense of adventure, drama, and fairy tale happy ending.

Why use this to your business?

This is because reporters and customers go for great stories. This is a great publicity tool for your small business once you know the right elements. Here are some of the things you need to prepare to create a compelling story:

1. Anecdotes or success stories. These real life examples of how your company helped customers solve their problems.
2. Statistics. Make your stories credible by stating some facts and figures related to your business and industry.
3. Passion. If you are speaking with your customers, they should feel the passion you have for your business. Don’t focus on yourself. Do highlight the strengths of your company.

There are several element of storytelling you need to learn. Visit Story Theater to understand the Art of Storytelling in Business.

Networking can do great things for your small business. As you enter into several challenges in your startup, sometimes who you know is more important than what you know. That’s why you need to take a time off from your busy schedule to network with your competitors, suppliers, and customers. Below are some key pointers about effective networking:

No Selling

The purpose of networking is to train people who matter in your industry to be your indirect sales force through word-of-mouth marketing or recommendations. During conversations you should focus on building your company identity, highlight your competence, and refrain from boring them with your detailed product features or discounts.

Meet One on One

If you are in networking sessions like tradeshows and association meetings, try to get away from the crowd and engage in a one on one conversation with your network. Try to deepen your relationship by exploring business opportunities or sharing best practices. Strive to get few but high quality networks instead of collecting 100 business cards from people you don’t really know.

For a deeper discussion about business networking you can visit PowerHomeBiz to understand the six networking essentials.

Part of what we, entrepreneurs, are thinking every single day is how to make our startup business stand out from competition. You might feel disappointed and skeptical after months or years of trying, but the game continues.

An article from the Wall Street Journal mentions that the younger entrepreneurs are facing bigger challenges ahead. Standing out from the crowd is cited as one of the 5 important strategies to increase the odds of success when pitching to investors. Here are some practical tips to help you shine above the rest:

Patience

Before you learn any strategies and tactics connected with this area, you should try patience. There are no shortcuts in building your company identity and it will definitely take some time before you can earn the respect of your customers

Establish Contacts with Your Community

You should get in touch with different organizations related to your business to promote your business to your prospects. Business consultants, for instance, should network with the members of local chambers of commerce, business clubs, and professional groups. Be active in looking for speaking opportunities to promote your company.

Pre-Sell Your Business

You should ask your customers to sign up to your newsletters. Then, start offering free articles that do not promote your products or services. (Or at least not a hard-sell.) The objective here is to create an impression that you are an expert in your field and they should trust you. With the right content, you will have higher chances of closing a deal. Don’t imitate other businesses that use newsletters as their advertising billboard.

Via YoungEntrepreneur

With so many things to do in a day, it is sometimes difficult for employees and some entrepreneurs to appreciate the big picture or the essence of the business. That’s why Bootstrap Me says knowing your core goals is one of the patterns of success.

The best way to remember all these goals is to write a mission statement and share it with your colleagues. It may appear trivial but it serves as your lighthouse in the long run.

A mission statement or mantra captures, in a concise sentence, what business you are in, your philosophies, and aspirations or goals. To come up with the right words and phrases, some of the key questions you need to answer include:

• Who are your customers and in what way are you helping you them?
• What sets you apart from the competition or what makes you better than others?
• What business values do you like to emphasize? Is it customer delight, innovation, social responsibility, continuous improvement?

Even if you know the answers to the key questions above, the big challenge is how to make your mantra sticky and powerful. Contrary to traditional mission vision statements with 2 or 3 sentences, Guy Kawasaki’s best advice is keep it short with 3 or 4 words only. This would help you and your employees understand easily the essence of your existence.

The ultimate test for a mantra (or mission statement) is if your telephone operators can tell you what it is. If they can, then you’re onto something meaningful and memorable. If they can’t, then, well, it sucks.

After finding the right business prospect, the next challenge for you and your salespeople, if any, is how to close a deal. At the end of the day, all your efforts are wasted if you fail to get that “yes”. Here are some tips to guide you:

The Bottom Line Approach

Start the meeting by stating how your customers can benefit from your products or services. In some cases, an upfront approach projects your honest intentions and this can easily gain the trust of your customers. Try to create a sense of urgency so they won’t have to look for alternatives. However, not all situations call for this method. Sometimes, you need to be indirect to gather more information.

Pay Attention to Cues

Be very particular with your customers’ verbal and nonverbal gestures because this indicates to you the appropriate time to close the sale. When they start asking for details about deliveries, payment methods, or free goods, then it’s time for you to ask for their commitment. Visit the Public Speaking Advantage to know the emotional meanings of our nonverbal gestures.

Assume Agreement

In some cases you need not ask your customers if they are willing to buy because that will give them a time to think things over. Instead, you go to the specifics right away by asking them how much is their first order or when is their preferred initial delivery.

If you are looking for ways to start or expand a business, you may want to consider building a membership site to earn recurring income. These are paid sites where your customers are given access to exclusive data, insights, or secret tricks. Most often, customers need to pay monthly fees to access membership sites.

While this is a popular technique now among many internet marketing experts, isn’t it wonderful if you are the first to do this in your industry? If your business is related to the stock market, for instance, you can set up a membership site to give some hot tips and mentor starting traders.

The heart of a membership website is the value of information you are sharing with your members. It’s important to give something that will truly help your members achieve their goals. Otherwise, it will become a short-lived project.

If you are wondering about the strategic value of this venture, here are some key points:

• Captured Customers. Instead of selling just one product, you have more opportunity to promote all your products. The mere fact that they paid for membership means these customers trust you. It’s up to you to make the subtle moves.
• Steady income. With customers paying monthly subscription, you already have guaranteed sales. Take advantage of this opportunity by offering lower subscription fees for customers paying 6 months or 1 year subscription in advance.
• Low Cost. You simply need a domain name, web hosting, and a well-designed template with your company logo. Try membership site software for quick implementation. If you already have your website, then setting up will not be much of a problem.

You can learn more about launching membership sites by reading Entrepreneur’s Journey.