Hints And Helpful Ideas For The Home Business Owner

Running a home business is an exciting venture. It can be a little scary, too. There are so many things to learn and to coordinate. You have to figure out a daily routine, keep improving your skills, and take care of lots of paperwork.

The helpful tips in this article can make these tasks and many others a lot easier for you.

You should be able to talk about your business plan and goals in a few sentences. If you're able to tell others what your business is about in a couple of sentences, you can impress people when you're speaking with them.

3 Benefits of Social Networking

Social networking is an advertising method that uses social networks to build ones business presence on the internet. Although, social networking has been around since the stone ages, it is still in its first stages of development on the internet; it is here to stay.

It can be a very powerful tool to an internet business user if it is used correctly. There are quite a few benefits to social network advertising but the more common ones will be listed here.

1. Cost

It is a lot cheaper for a business owner to advertise in social networks than paying for advertising. This is because social networks are free to join and interact. This is a great benefit for those that are just starting out and do not have a lot of money to use for advertising.

Also when you use social networks you can prescreen potential customers and create a customer profile. This would cost a lot of money if you would do this outside the social network community.

Also the personal relationship that you create with your new potential customer is more valuable than any other advertising campaign.

Too many business owners today still believe in the old advertising philosophy that one size fits all. This belief is no longer true with all the new methods available and if you are following this method you stand to lose a lot of money in the future.

2. Trust

Connecting with your potential clients on some personal level builds trust and credibility. A good rule of thumb for a business owner to follow, especially in social networking, is to offer your services, expertise, or help before a person asks you for it. This will gain trust with the potential client.

You should only offer your product or service only if your client asks. Do not try to jam your product or service in their face as you will lose their trust and you will lose your credibility.

If you are not careful when offering your product or service, you could get into trouble for spamming which will also cause you to lose the trust and credibility factor. Instead, you need to follow the practice of waiting till the opportunity to promote is brought to you.

3. Whom you know

When you interact in social networking, you meet people who know people and on down the line. Social networking should benefit both parties so never take more than you are willing to give. If the opportunity presents itself never hesitate to ask for any potential leads from your contact. More often than not you will get a whole list from your contact.

There are many other benefits to using social networking as a marketing tool. To get results from these benefits you need to be sure that you have the time to spend. It takes time to build trust, credibility and relationships.

Sell Online Products through Affiliate Marketing Strategies

Do you want to sell online products?  It is actually not all that difficult to get started selling products online.

You don’t even have to create or develop your own product to sell online products.

Affiliate marketing is a strategy where you sell other people’s products.

Start a Computer Business in Your Spare Time

There’s never been a better time to start a computer business.

While the overall economy is in the tank, advertising expenditures on the internet are constantly going up.

The internet is sucking all of the advertising from print and television.

What is even better is that it is incredibly easy to start a computer business.  There’s very little cost involved and you can get started in your spare time without leaving your job.

Change Your Social Media Marketing Outlook With These Excellent Pointers

Social networking is absolutely everywhere. You can tweet a large corporation, visit the Facebook page for your local dentist, and even instant message an old friend at the same time. If you find yourself checking your social media accounts often, consider adding a page for your business.

Why It Seems So Hard to Get Hired for Your Services!

To answer this question let’s first take a look at the difference between promoting products VS services.

Products often have cool features that show results quickly.

Talk about the benefits of a feature and how it’ll make your customer’s life easier and you’ll probably get a sale.  

Services on the other hand, are intangible.

There are no buttons to push or “before and after” pictures to see. Services often get categorized as “luxury items” we can usually survive without.  They are more challenging to sell because the “results” of a service can be difficult to quantify measure or prove.

Many “hard sell” sales trainers shy away from working with service providers. It is easier to train someone to sell products with features you can see and results you can prove.  

After four years in the corporate world selling products (Electronic telephone systems), I transferred into yellow pages advertising.  Many of the “sales” techniques we used to sell telephones wouldn’t work at all in advertising!

I quickly found out that I needed new sales techniques to promote the intangible results of advertising.

Authors, Coaches, Consultants, etc. produce results that improve the human side of life and business and “Alternative Healers” deal with subtle energies that may take longer to produce quantifiable results.  To the average consumer, these are luxuries that, although desirable and beneficial, can be “done without” if money is tight.

Most of my clients haven’t got a clue how to tell people about the benefits and results of their good services. They feel frustrated and wonder why clients are so hard to get. Many are good at explaining how they work and what tools they use.

The problem is that most consumers couldn’t care less about how you work. We care more about the benefits we’ll experience after hiring you. We want to be clear on what results you can deliver in exchange for our hard-earned money.  

“What’s in it for me?” your customers are asking. It is time to stop feature-dumping!  Features only imply that a “process” is beneficial, or a “technique” is going to help…. As service providers we must be able to describe clear results to potential clients.

Success Story:

One client arrived in despair.  She had a great service as a professional organizer and sadly, few customers to show for it.

I asked her to give me the top 10 benefits of her good service…alas she (like many others responding to this request) provided a list of top 10 features instead.

She listed “features” that describe how she gets to a result. Features like:
  - Customized quotes
  - Office flow organization tweaking
  - Created new filing systems
  - Ergonomic layouts for offices, etc.

Sound pretty good, don’t’ they?  Sure, and her customers seemed interested and keen, BUT they were not following through and hiring her.  

I helped her articulate a more effective sales list of the benefits and results of her good work. Results like:
   - Added value of charging only her client’s specific needs
   - Improved and streamlined office procedures
   - To save time and decrease frustrations
   - Ability to provide better customer service
   - Increased efficiency with improved filing structure
   - Less time wasted due to poor office layout
   - Resulting in increased productivity all around.

We created a list of 6 good questions she can ask to uncover if a client needs organizational help.  Why waste time telling clients all about our services if they don’t need them?

Now, my client will always ask questions to find out first if someone seriously needs her service. If they do, she tells them with confidence about the results she can provide and is more secure asking for their business.

By following these guidelines you too can get hired faster with more confidence practically every time!  

"Anna Kanary's Sales class was exactly what I needed! As someone with very little sales background and who struggles to close the deal with potential clients, this class gave me the format, confidence, clarity and momentum I needed to get out there and get more clients!

Anna's expertise combined with her warmth makes this class not only exceptional but necessary...you will get more than you ever expected!"

Sarah O. Bloomquist, Personal Life Coach, Innermost Coaching, www.innermostcoaching.com