Keep a Key Under the Rug

Backup everything important, including customer lists, employee data, and vital equitment.  Keep it someplace safe that is not your primary location.  You may also want to take a look at backing up your data online for a reasonable subscription fee.

Make Sure Your Covered

If you don’t have insurance for your property, it would probably be a good idea to look into what policies would suit your business. Property insurance reimburses you for the cost of any damages to your equipment or buildings.  You should also check out business interruption insurance, which will help you whether the storm if your business has to shut down temporarily due to unforeseen events.

Come up with a Plan B

What if one of your main vendors shuts down?  Do you have a plan to keep your business up and running in that event?  Look into to other possible places to get the supplies you need in case of a shortage.  It’s also a good idea have all your employees emergency numbers so you can immediately inform them of any developments.

Have a Way to Reach Your Customers

If something happens that disrupts your business, and you have to cancel appointments, you should have a way to notify your customers.  Using Setster, all you have to do is cancel a certain time slot, and Setster will automatically notify your customers by email, saving you time and stress, and keeping your customers informed.

Also check out sba.gov, as they have a few tools that may assist you in creating a disaster plan that is right for you.

Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of these little reunions:

Get Feedback

Your customers are the most important judge of your service, because they are the ones that pay your bills.  So ask questions; have your customer tell you what aspects of your service they think you are kicking ass at, and where they think your failing miserably.  If you get all A’s, good for you.  If your review is a mixed bag, you’ll get an idea of what you need to improve on.  The customer will appreciate that they were given time to voice their issues, and probably feel a little more invested in your service.

What’s New?

Just like you would with a friend, find out how your customer has been doing since you last saw each other.  Ask them if there is anything you can do (within the perimeters of your business) to better assist them.  After you have have a good grasp on whats going on with them, inform your customer about any new developments in your business, new products, services ect.  Your customer will feel like your on their team, and you’ll have valuable information you can use to better cater to their needs.

Offer Them Special Promotions

Show your customer you value their loyalty by offering them nifty perks. For instance, you could offer them a discount if they book certain services online.  This will make your customer feel all warm inside, and show them that you are continually making an effort to keep their business.

Follow Up

Make sure to schedule a follow up meeting to discuss progress any new developments or improvements that were put into gear as a result of the meeting.  This will keep the customer involved and thinking about your service.

Let your customer help you.  They’ll thank you for it:)

• JupiterResearch ranks customer reviews as the second most important website feature.
• Andrew Angus recently tested two versions of a web page. One page had a list of testimonials below the video, the other one did not have any testimonials. The testimonials led to a 158% increase in conversion.
• Intelliseek’s “2005 Consumer-Generated Media (CGM) and Engagement Study” survey found that consumers trust other consumers (including those they don’t know personally) 50% more than any other form of advertising media.
• Forrester’s 2008 study reports that over 70% of shoppers actively seek reviews and testimonials when planning a purchase.

So as you can see, testimonials are almost essential for closing a deal.  Want to close a deal even faster?  After you have hooked them with your kick-ass testimonials, convert them now so they immediately purchase your service while they are still hyped up.  Scheduling software will not only increase your sales,  but may even lead to a few more great testimonials because booking with you  was so darn easy:) PEACE

You don’t check your page’s analytics.
Checking your analytics is paramount to measuring the success of your page. Without analytics, you are as blind at as a bat. Click the Analytics tab on your LinkedIn Company Page.  All admins can access this page (it’s the fourth tab over on the top of the page). Now check your analytics. Create a baseline and record your results.  Your LinkedIn Company Page lets you see your Page Views, Products and Services, and Unique Visitors and Clicks.  This is the easiest way to determine which aspects of your page are working and which aspects suck. Say there was a service that got many more clicks than the others. That may be an indication that your should start writing the other services the way you wrote that one.

You haven’t explained what you do.
Your LinkedIn page is basically a straight forward presentation of your business and what you have to offer.  Not including the services your business therefore, is an awful idea.  You should not make it difficult for people to figure out what use you can be to them. Go to your LinkedIn Company Page and click the Products tab.  Choose Admin Tools on the right hand side of the page and select Add a product or service.  Pick the category most relates to your product and/or service, give it a name, add an image, describe it, list the key features, add a URL to your website and finally, add a contact from your company. This is you opportunity to really make a good impression on potential clients. This is where people will measure your initial worth. So get creative and make your page pop.

No status updates?
You need to post status updates. If you don’t, you’re not going to get any traction on LinkedIn. Post regular updates on what is going on with your company, and any new offers and discounts that you are offering. Doing this will not only keep people informed and up to date, but will show people that you are actively present on the site and will give your company more legitimacy.

No call to action?
LinkedIn is your virtual calling card. That means someone should be able to get in touch with you right away. There should be an instant call to action directly from your profile page,  bridging the gap between your customer and a sale.  The best way to do this is to tell people that you are available and have a link to your online scheduling profile page. Linking to your appointment scheduling page, you enable people to reach you and make an appointment with you right away. You should have three links on your page. One to your website, one to a keyword related landing page, and one to your online scheduling profile page.

People by nature are fickle.  Don’t give them any reason to change their minds, or they more than likely will. Give them the instant gratification they are craving and they’ll give you the business you’re craving.  For a great example of an optomized LinkedIn profile page, log into LinkedIn and check out our CEO’s profile on LinkedIn and notice the consistent branding and link to his scheduling page. Be sure to add him to your network!

As we ring in the New Year,  I think that now is a better time than ever to look at what you are doing as a small, local business to drum up new leads.  Here are three things that you may or may not be doing that you probably should be if you want your business to experience growth in 2012.

Engage, Engage, Engage.

Talk to your website audience, getting people talking.  Find a way to get a conversation started with your customers and potential customers.  The way that this helps is that it not only engages the customer and grows your relationship, it will allow you to collect vital information that will aid you when making important decisions about which direction to steer your business.  Using things such as coupons and discounts are a great way to collect this information.

Look into Local SEO

Optimizing your website for SEO is a cheap and easy way to drive more traffic to your website.  You can take advantage of the Google keyword tool too find out what people will most likely search for if they are looking for your type of service.  If you make sure your website titles and urls contain these keywords, you will up your rank on search engines and therefore get more traffic.  Another great tool to utilize from Google is Google Places.  Listing your site will allow people to find you online when searching locally.

Create A Referral Program

As a local business, you probably already get a lot of your business from referrals.  But have you actually come up with a method of getting more?  Develop a machine-like process to get referrals from your customers.  The optimal time to get a referral is during a purchase, or right after a purchase.  One way to do this is ask a satisfied customer to post to his or her Facebook page saying that they just purchased your service and make a comment.  However be extremely careful not to ask for a referral if a customer is disgruntled.  Unlike in show business, not all press is good press.

Have All Your Social Media in One Place

Your website and your social media presence serve different purposes in marketing your business. Therefore, bringing them together in easy to view place is a surefire way to get more leads and keep potential clients focused on what you have to offer. If you have all your social media right on your site, they can get a full picture of what your company is without ever leaving.  Check out Setster’s in-house social media profile page, which does exactly that for you. In addition, once they get a full picture and are ready to book an appointment, they can use Setster Online Appointment Scheduling to book their appointment right there.  So essentially you can go from inquiry to purchase in one sweep.

Happy New Years From Everyone Here At Setster!  Happy Scheduling!

]]> http://www.setster.com/blog/2012/01/3-cheap-ways-to-get-more-leads-as-a-small-business/feed/ 0 http://www.setster.com/blog/2012/01/3-cheap-ways-to-get-more-leads-as-a-small-business/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/setster/~3/HOBdcDCFjzo/ http://www.setster.com/blog/2011/12/staying-organized-during-the-holidays/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:35:00 +0000 edward http://www.setster.com/blog/?p=561 With the holidays quickly approaching, and so many last minute things to accomplish, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed.  In light of this, we here at Setster have compiled a list of a few of our favorite articles from across the web to help you stay organized and on top of your schedule during this hectic time, whatever your demands may be. Hope these come in handy.  Enjoy the festivities!  Love, Setster:)

Peter Walsh on Staying Organized During the Holidays

http://midtown.patch.com/blog_posts/peter-walsh-on-staying-organized-during-the-holidays#photo-8703171

Green Holiday Preparation

http://www.thechicecologist.com/2011/12/green-holiday-preparation/

Getting Ready for an Organized Christmas

http://christmas.organizedhome.com/christmas-countdown

Holiday Preparation Checklist

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/home-garden/2011/12/05/holiday-preparation-checklist/

Simple Steps for Staying Organized During the Holiday Season

http://www.blogher.com/simple-steps-staying-organized-through-holiday-season

10 Tips to Reduce Employee Holiday Party Expenses

http://eventplanning.about.com/od/eventplanningbasics/tp/reduce_holiday_party_expenses.htm

6 Tips for Staying Organized During The Holidays

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mia-redrick/holiday-organization-tips_b_1159168.html

What hours do you work per day? Per week?

Do you get all your work done each day? Or is there usually some left over?

How much time per week do you spend on the clock?

How much time per week do you doing activities off the clock? (doing promotions, cleaning up, keeping up your social media presence.)

Is your customer base what you want it to be? Are you bringing in the right kind of client?

Do certain activites take up most of your energy?

Do certain customers take up most of your energy?

Are you utilizing the recourses available to you?

Are there areas of your business that you should be spending more money on?

Are there areas that you should be spending less on?

Are all the projects you are working on right now worth your time? Could you put off a few and focus on more important ones?

Do you Schedule your time? Or just take things as they go?

Do you make it easy for clients to book online appointments with you?

Happy Sailing! Make sure to checkout Setster Online Scheduling to make your business even more efficient.

Your Not a Big Business, So Don’t Market Like One.

If you were a big business, you could sit back and use your advertising money just to spread the word about your brand, in the hope of future revenue. For instance, Amazon pulled a stunt where they sold Lady Gaga’s new album for the deeply discounted price of $1 (from $11.99). Amazon obviously took a huge loss on this, but that was fine because they were just trying to promote their new music service. As a small business, you unfortunately do not have this luxury. Your marketing money should be directed toward one thing and one thing only: Getting Sales NOW. Make it clear what your selling, and even include the price. Give people all the information they need to make a buying choice in the immediate future.

Offer Different Tiers of Service

There are people out there who are always looking for the best deal, the steal, the bargain. To pull those people in, you should offer a lesser, stripped down version of you current products or services, for a cheaper price. For example, if you were a spa and the lowest package you offered was a thirty minute massage for $25, you might want to offer a special “in and out” massage (something like 10 minutes for $10). This will draw customers in that wouldn’t otherwise of paid the $25 dollars, and have others scheduling more appointments.

On the flip-side, some customers are willing to pay more for a higher degree of service. Lets go back to the spa example. So on top of the standard 30 minute massage and the quick 10 minute massage, you could also offer a $80, hour-long deep tissue massage, that also includes a facial and a seaweed body wrap as a perk. With both of these you tiers of service in your arsenal, plan on scheduling in both those who want more for less, and those who just want more, as well as your those who want the standard fare.

Try Something Different

It never hurts to be a little unconventional. Trying a marketing technique that people don’t see everyday is a great way to get the word out about your small business for cheap. Sydney Frank, creator of Grey Goose Vodka, had people post the Vodka’s logo above urinals in club bathrooms, so that when men were taking a leak they’d have to stare right at the logo, which would lead to brand recognition. This was a relatively cheap and effective method that just took a little thinking outside of the box. Give it a try. I’m sure you can come up with something pretty slick. If your drawing a blank, borrow from other successful campaigns that have used unconventional means to court customers.

Have a link to book on every page.

Once you’ve hooked them, make sure you make it easy for clients to book your services.  You don’t want to have done all this work just to have a customer opt out at the last minute because they aren’t sure how to book an appointment immediately. Using Setster’s Online Scheduling Software, you can put a link to book an appointment online on every page, which is sure to make your services more accessible, and therefore increase conversions.

Hope these tips help set you on your way to a full house! Happy Marketing!

Identify the Problem

What is your vice? What is the thing that steers your away from the light of productivity and into the dark and seemingly endless pit of procrastination? For me it’s definetely facebook and twitter. And articles on new tech. Or celebrities. Okay, I have a lot of things that distract me. But identifying them is the first step on the road to rehabilitation. If you know what is wasting your time, you can make a more conscious effort to weed those distractions out.

Set Time Management Benchmarks

Time management is less about managing your time, and more about managing your behaviors. If you can keep those in check, you’ve got a leg up on everyone else. The first course of action you should take is to get rid of the activities that are wasting your time, by setting goals for yourself. For instance, one day you could say you are not going to get on Facebook for personal use for the first half of the day. The next day you could try and eliminate it completely. If you keep following through on these goals, eventually your inclinations will change, and as a byproduct, your bad behaviors. You are basically training your mind not to check your notifications every five minutes. You would be surprised how time this exercise will free up.

Keep Track of Your Progress

It is important that you track each benchmark you meet and how much time it has saved you. Even if the challenge proves to be too much and you fail, you should record it. This will give you an idea of how much time you are saving and encourage you by showing any strides you are making in a certain area.

Use a Day Planner

A lot of time management is just about being organized. Keeping a day planner, or the digital equivalent, will help you organize your schedule and keep you on a clear and cohesive path. It will also help you prioritize certain things over others. Maybe write a number next to the task that dictates how much of a priority it is. This will help you judge quickly where your time could be best spent.

The small business usually takes a loss on the deal, but the deal is supposed to get people, with the hope that the business will then retain that customer. And it certainly does get people in the door. There are quite a few businesses that have successfully done this, and Groupon has been more beneficial than not for them. But some businesses experienced a problem: in the few days after the coupon was offered, a whole rush of people would come in to redeem their discounted service, effectively overwhelming the business, so that they could not provide everyone with the service. Some people had to leave empty handed and most likely angry. Leaving a potential customer out to dry does not do wonders for retention. Businesses end a bunch of disgruntled customers, and never plan on coming back, all while taking a loss on each and every coupon.

So how does a business avoid having this problem? One simple way manage this calamity is by using an online scheduler. When you use Groupon, say in your deal description that the customer needs to book a time through Setster. This way, once they purchase the deal, they go to your Setster page, pick a block of time, and pick their service. Once they select a block of time, it will be blocked off, so nobody else can take it. They will also see what other services you offer, which will allow them to maybe pick some others that you are offering at full price.

The point of making them book through Setster is that now your business will have an organized schedule, and you won’t have a whole flurry of walk-ins. You won’t be overwhelmed, and you’ll be able to retain more customers, making the deal more beneficial to your business. Groupon is not a perfect. It definitely has some issues. But with Setster, at least one aspect of the process will be manageable.