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What EXACTLY are "processes and systems"? Creating processes and systems is all about setting things up so your business can pretty much run on its own. Do You Have An Iron Cage Around Your Customers? You ordered a glass of wine and two bottles of water. The bill came to US $40 Are you shocked? Horrified? Common Courtesy as a Client Magnet I recently needed to contact a vendor regarding a delivery question. Without naming names, I can tell you that the vendor is a small business and I do a not-insignificant amount of business with them. How Do You Know It's Time to Fire a Client? As a business owner, you're no longer sitting in your too-small cubicle waiting to be called to HR for yet another downsizing in yet another company. No more being told when you can take lunch, make a personal call or, heavens forbid, go to the bathroom. Owning your own business comes with lots of perks. One of them that is frequently overlooked however is that you now have the ability to fire a client. Proven Time Management & Productivity Techniques for Entrepreneurs -- Part II The following techniques work incredibly well for me. You should read and adapt them for your own personality and work style. Techniques 1 and 2 were in last week’s article and can be found at Proven Productivity and Time Management Techniques for Entrepreneurs – Part I. Proven Time Management & Productivity Techniques for Entrepreneurs My friends are always amazed at how much I accomplish and frequently ask "How do you get so much done?". I normally just shrug it off, but the question has been coming so much lately that I decided to share my top productivity techniques. My top two are included here and the remainder will come in next week's article. How to Develop a Professional Image -- Even If You Work Virtually In this day of technology and the dreaded recordings, insuring that you maintain a professional image is crucial to business success. How you come across on the phone, through your website, on a plane or at a networking event directly impacts how others (read "potential clients") perceive you and your business. Especially if you ARE your business. Do You 'Make a Sale' or 'Provide an Experience'? You ordered a glass of wine and two bottles of water. The bill came to US $40. Are you shocked? Horrified? I smiled. Why did I smile rather than cringe? It was the "experience". I was immediately brought back to the people, the chatting, the smells, the feel of the warm sun on a winter's day, the sound of the Fountain of Four Rivers -- all of it, generated off a receipt for wine and bottled water. December 31, 2007: Where Will Your Business Be? You create your list, you write your plan, you dream your dreams and, before you know it, another year has passed and you're no closer to achieving them. Are you thinking "been there, done that"? If so, I'd like you to repeat after me... New Year's Resolutions, "The Word" and a Small Business Retreat Do you spend so much time working IN your business that you never work ON your business? The corporate world knows the value of taking time out to assess what is going right, what is going wrong and what just plain isn’t going anywhere. It is critical to take time out to plan for the upcoming time period, be it a year, or even a long-term goal. Otherwise, how can you get where you want to be if you don’t know where that is? Podcasting: What is it and how can it help your small business? Our world has gotten increasingly "grab and go" and podcasting allows the customer/client to subscribe to a podcaster (read "entrepreneur") that he likes and automatically get all the latest information from that person via audio files which he can listen to in his car, take to the gym, listen to on a plane, take on a walk. . .you get the idea. As such, it makes sense for the small business owner to jump on the podcasting bandwagon. What is a Blog and how can one help your small business? To put it simply, a blog is an online journal and can be about any topic that you want to write on: from marketing to gardening to weight loss to new business techniques. In the business world, blogs are a great way to market your business by generating traffic to your website. 3 Simple Steps to Insure Your Clients Pay You You’ve done the marketing, you’ve filled your funnel and the phone starts ringing – you’ve got a new client! Now what? Whether you are a consultant, coach, virtual assistant or other type of service provider, it’s important to insure you start off your client relationship properly. Email Marketing: A Simple, Free and Overlooked Way to Market Your Business There’s a limited amount of real estate in every email that you send. How you use it determines, in part, how effective your emails are and how well you are marketing yourself. Given how often emails are forwarded around, a well-crafted email signature can get you calls/emails from prospects you never knew even existed, new ezine subscribers and, in the best cases, a new client – this is a great return on free marketing. How To Reach Your Clients Without Publishing An Ezine Are you thinking that you need to send some type of ezine or newsletter to your customers and clients, but afraid that you don’t have the time or the content to publish on an ongoing basis? If that’s the case, you may want to consider one of these alternatives. They will help you stay in touch with your clients, capture email addresses on your website and establish your credibility without requiring you to come up with new content each week. How to Easily Make Your Customers Always Think of You Have you ever noticed that people get incredibly happy whenever you unexpectedly think of them or do something for them? Gifts and goodies are an inexpensive way to help with client and customer retention – remember it’s much less expensive to keep an existing customer than it is to get a new one. This is a great and simple way to stay at the forefront of your customers’ minds.

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