Hub You - Business

Career Success: Take Charge of Your Career
People react very differently to the waves of change that suddenly flood the work and marketplace. Some, who feel confused or unsettled struggle to keep their heads above water gasping for air. By contrast, others, who may not even like or agree with the changes, nevertheless accept them, get on with their lives and swim forcefully to their new destination. The following three tactics will help you mobilize your resources to take charge of their careers.Fuel the Fire In Your Heart. Live your life and career with intention. The key to sustained peak performance is discovering who you are, what

n your business, modify it to meet your business needs:

1. When they buy from you – send a “Thank You” card
2. January – send a “New Years” card
3. March – send an Item-of-Value or Special Offer letter
4. May – send a “Referral Request” card
5. July – send a “Fourth of July” card
6. September – send an Item-of-Value or Special Offer letter
7. November – send a “Referral Request” card
8. Birthday – send a “Birthday” card

Breakfast Clubs for Networking
I am sure you are aware of Breakfast Clubs. Regular early morning meetings of a group of people with mixed business interests. Oh, and some breakfast. Clubs operate so that only one person can occupy a particular business slot. So only one Accountant, one Mortgage Advisor etc.The advantage of Breakfast clubs is that you get to educate a tight knit group of people about your business, who then are out in the big world with your business in mind. You are doing the same for them. The disadvantage can be cost and a very early start. Sometimes a VERY early start.I have met several people from various busine

Most surveys show the average business loses about 19% of its client base each year. In fact, the authors of, “Customer Winback: How To Recapture Lost Customers – and Keep Them Loyal” estimates the average at 20 to 40% per year.

This means that if you have 500 customers and lose 19% or 95 customers you must get 95 new customers each year just to stay even.

Research shows it costs six times more to get a prospect to buy from you than it does to keep an existing customer, and it's 16 times easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one.

So why would you spend any marketing dollars on new prospects before doing everything you can to get more business from your existing and past clients? Let me repeat that, “Why would you spend any marketing dollars on new prospects before doing everything you can to get more business from your existing and past clients?”

The truth is that the real money to be made by most businesses is from additional sales of products and services to their existing customers and those they refer. Getting repeat and referral business is something most small business owners are not proficient in.

If you want your business to be successful, you need to have a compelling reason, “Why should your customers and prospects do business with you, rather than your competition”? You need to become someone they will gladly and often refer new customer prospects to!

The one strategy that can do more for building your business than just about anything else you can do and the most overlooked marketing tool by almost every business is “Follow Up”!

You need to immediately put in place a strategy and an effective system to follow up with:

- Existing Customers
- Past Customers
- Potential Customers or Prospects

Since it costs six times more to get a new customer to buy from you, it just makes sense to spend much of your time, effort and money on strengthening your relationships with your existing customers and turning them into referral machines for you.

In developing a follow up system for your customers and prospects, you need to determine:

- The number of times you want to contact them and over what period of time

- The frequency of contact. For example, every two month plus on their birthday

- The method of contact. Will you send a greeting card, post card or letter? Research has shown that a greeting card will get opened 12 times more often that other types of mail.

- Determine the purpose of the contact. Will you be thanking them for buying from you, making them a special offer or asking for a referral?

A study done by the Association of sales Executives revealed that 81% of all sales happen on or after the fifth contact. If you’re only doing one or two follow up’s, imagine all the business you are losing. Not following up with your customers and prospects is like filling up your bathtub without first putting the stopper in the drain!

Here’s an example of an eight contact follow up system you could put in place in your business, modify it to meet your business needs:

Things to Observe When Writing a Sales Letter
Have you ever received a letter that tells you about a product or advises you to buy it? You may have or may have been convinced by the letter. That kind of communication is called a sales letter.A sales letter is generated and sent by a company directly or through the intervention and help of a marketing or advertising firm. Thus, before the letter reached, you, there were several quality control measures that were put in place.The sales letter may be short, but it can sufficiently tell so much about a company and the products that company sells. Through the years, sales letters surely are working, th

eting dollars on new prospects before doing everything you can to get more business from your existing and past clients?”