Simple Ways To Thank Your Clients

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Retaining loyal clients is a key part of any business. Making sure your trusted suppliers, freelancers, and distributors keep up the good work is essential. And, it’s easier than you think; all it takes is a simple thank you. It’s one of the most effective words in the English language! Let your clients know that you appreciate and value their business. Strengthening this relationship will help secure you more work in the future. It will grow the rapport between you, and lead to better results.

Here’s how you say thank you to your clients.

  • Take them out

    Wherever possible, you should try to meet your clients in person. Making a real, personal connection is a great way to strengthen your bond. It’s tricky to build a strong relationship over email and calls. It’s more difficult to get to know each other and interact based on passions. Of course, they are always a client first, friend second. But, we find that a little friendship goes a long way when it comes to that top client. Take them for dinner to thank them for their services or buy them a drink.

  • Send seasonal greetings card

    We all love the holidays, and it’s a great time to say thank you to those around you. When you’re writing your Christmas card list, don’t forget to include your clients. You can find Christmas ecards for business online, and it’s an easy way to say thanks. It will brighten their day, and they’ll remember to keep you in mind next year!

  • Refer them

    Remember, your clients are always looking for more work. Just like any business, they’re hoping to expand their client roster and build the company. If you’re happy with their services, recommend them to someone else in the business. It’s the best way to show that you value their work. They’ll remember your act of kindness and they might even return the favor.

  • Just say thank you

    Never forget the power of this simple phrase. Send them a heart-felt thank you over email after a big job. Let them know that you appreciate their work and show them how it has helped. If they send you a prompt payment, let them know that you’re grateful for that. It’s so easy to say thank you, and it will make a big difference.

  • Send food or flowers

    If your client has a team of staff, send a fruit basket or some muffins to their office. It’s a small gesture, but your client will love it! So will the rest of their employees. There’s nothing an office loves more than free food.

  • Offer a discount

    Your clients are always looking to shave costs, so offer them a small loyalty discount. It’s often a good idea to do this after the holidays in January. Budgets are tight and your client will appreciate a little breathing room. It usually means you’ll secure their work for the rest of the year too.

There are so many ways to say thank you to your clients. It doesn’t matter how you say it, just make sure that you do!

The Best Ways To Change Your Business

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Businesses don’t always turn out as successfully as we would like. Of course, we would love our startups to evolve into multi-million dollar conglomerates. But, the stark reality is that will not happen for a vast number of companies. However, that doesn’t mean that you should resign yourself to defeat. It does mean, however, you must be able to react to changes as and when you need to and here’s how.

Assess Your Options

If everything is not going to plan, take a deep breath and assess what options are available. Sometimes Plan A will not work and if that happens you need another plan.

For example, you might want to set up as a sole proprietor for business and tax purposes. However, upon reflection you might realize that a partnership is the best option.  Maybe you can start blogging about your business – and interact with people to get your questions answered and help other people answer their questions.

Whatever decision you make, it is important to read up on the positive and negatives before you decide on any change.

Assess The Pros & Cons?

You might have to change your business or its structure because of a change in your business circumstances. If you are considering a switch, there are a couple of factors that you should consider. For example, the positives and negatives of the potential switch. Firstly, what is your liability? And if that changes, what effect does it have on you? Secondly, think about tax. For example, if you form a corporation you can get taxed twice. Once on your profits and again on any dividends that are paid to shareholders. And finally, what are you investment needs? If you need more investment, corporations offer stocks and shares. These will attract more investors as compared to a sole proprietorship.

Know What To Expect

There are going to be a lot of changes, and you have to keep up with them all if you want to take advantage. Obviously, every avenue for change has different factors that you have to consider. Plus, business changes tend to be convoluted and complicated to say the least. You have to know what to expect before you make a change. Otherwise, how would you be in a better position than you were in the first place?

Talk To The Pros

Professionals exist in every industry, and changing business management and structure is no different. You can go to a company for advice for you can to an individual like change management consultant Mike Lehr of Omega Z advisors. Both parties should be able to guide you through the process and tell you exactly what you want to know. Talking to a professional is always a nice backup plan because they are specialists and know what they are talking about.

Do It

Once you have everything you need, make the change. If you don’t you could put your business at risk like so many others that have failed over the years. It is a hard decision, but it will be well worth it in the end.

Never underestimate the effects of change and what it can do for your company.

Easy Ways to Promote Products and Offers In-Store

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Orin Zebest

Advertising your products and offers on an online store is very different to doing it in “real life”. If you own a brick-and-mortar store, you might struggle to come up with ideas for how to promote your products, special offers and events. However, your problem could be that you’re trying to make things too complicated. There are lots of simple but effective ways that you can advertise in-store. And you can do it without spending too much time or money. Next time you’re looking for new ways to draw attention to an offer or product, try the ideas below.

In-store Competitions

Everyone loves the idea of being able to win big. With just one attractive prize, you could increase the people entering and coming back to your store. You could even use a competition to encourage purchase. There are lots of ways you can use a competition to promote your store. You could hand out a ballot with every purchase, which the customer then fills out and puts into an entry box. You could give them a URL so that they can enter online or require a particular purchase for entry into the competition. Just make sure you offer something that people want. It could be specific to your store, or it could be unrelated, such as an iPad or a cash prize.

Posters

Posters are one of the easiest and simplest ways to promote products and offers in your store. All you need is some quality poster frames and to print some decent posters. You could have them printed professionally, or you could do it yourself. The key to using posters, no matter what you’re promoting, is to place them where people will look. It’s no use hiding them in corners. They need to be in people’s line of sight, where they can stop and read them. Use your posters to tell people about a new product, a discount or a 2-for-1 offer.

Loyalty Cards

Loyalty cards are a no-brainer. You probably have a couple from your favorite coffee shop or store. They’re easy to make up and simple to carry out. Just offer customers a card with ten or so places to stamp or receive a sticker. Once they’ve filled up their slots, they can get a free item, a discount, gift card or perhaps entry into a competition. Try not to set the requirement too high or customers might not be able to hang onto their cards long enough.

Spend and Receive

Another excellent idea is to offer some money back for spends over a certain amount. For example, you may say that if a customer spends $100, they get $20 on a gift card or in vouchers. You could also offer points toward a reward system to get money off their next purchase. Coupons are another option, which you could hand out with receipts. They could be for specific items, a percentage off a purchase or a set amount.

Promoting your store inside it is easier than you might think. You already have people inside; you just need to get them to spend more and keep coming back.

Simple Design Ideas That Will Make Your Website Awesome

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If you want to attract customers, you have to have an attractive website. It may sound like an oversimplification but it really is that clear. To get customer interest, you have to ensure that once they see your site they stick around. You may be getting a lot of clicks and hits, but not many sales and that is because your site is not bringing the message home. On this post, we are going to show you how to make your website awesome.

Get A Logo

You want your site to look professional and not like an online scam. A logo will help here, and you can get one professionally designed by a company online. Try not to mimic a style of a logo that already exists. You need to be imaginative and create a unique design with the help of some professionals. Remember, if you want your website to be awesome, you should not dismiss the idea of getting some expert help.

Make It Colourful And Dynamic

If a customer sees a site with no images or videos, they are immediately turned off. They probably will not even bother to find more information about the company or business. Investors will react in the same way, and that is why it is so important to make your site visually attractive. You can do this by making sure the opening page has lots of pictures and graphics. You may even want to consider adding a video that introduces your team or company. Make the front page or your site welcoming, like a door into someone’s home and invite your customers to look around.

You may have noticed most new business sites have a pop up box so that the customer can speak to an employee. These usually work by a customer getting automated responses at first. Then, if they need to speak to an employee, they are linked to one. These are easy to set up, and you can find out more about this online.

Get Some Help

We already talked about getting help designing a logo, but why not think about handing the job of site design to another team? When designing a website these days, you have to take into account that a customer may not be viewing it on their laptop. There are lots of different devices that customers use to view a site, and you need to make sure your web page is ready in this capacity. You can hire a team to create a responsive website design that will work on mobiles or tablets in a unique way.

Add Links

Links are used for a variety of reasons depending on the individual. For a website owner, it is about increasing SEO but for a consumer it is so that they can easily navigate the internet. If you want your website to be easy to use, add some links. By using these, you can direct your customers where you want to go.  If you have an article on your site that is referring to how good a product is and you sell this product, you can link to the shop. This will get the customer to buy before they even think about looking at a competing website.

These are just some simple ideas that will make your website look fantastic.  That way you can be sure your customers stick around for a purchase.

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Great Online Marketing Ideas You Probably Haven’t Considered

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There are so many marketing ideas out there; it’s impossible to try them all. But it’s important to experiment and try new ideas if you want to grow your business. Here are some ideas that you might not have even considered before.

Make Your Business Sound Small

No matter how big your business is becoming, it’s important that you have the mindset of a small business. This might sound strange, but it’s true. Small businesses are more trusted and accepted by people. So, they’ll be much more willing to buy from you if you give off the impression of a small business online.

People like the idea of family-run businesses that are kept small and uncorrupted. Also, having the mindset of a small business will keep your spark and drive alive. You don’t want to become another faceless corporation. Then it becomes more difficult to engage with customers in a meaningful way.

Let Go Off the Wheel a Little

Sometimes, it’s best to stop being so controlling and analytical when it comes to marketing. You can use focus groups and trials as much as you want, but that doesn’t give you an idea of what will connect with the public. Most of the best marketing ideas today are viral, meaning that they’re spontaneous.

You need to be prepared to try these spontaneous and out of the box ideas. That’s the only way you’re going to come up with an idea that captures the public’s imagination. Some of the ideas won’t come off, but others will. Combining these experimental ideas with reliable marketing methods like those provided by Pay on Performance is a great strategy to use.

Open Up the Conversation

If you’re going to improve your customer satisfaction, you’re going to have to talk to them. When a company grows, that gap between the business and its customers tends to get larger. And then, the business becomes distant. Luckily, the internet offers all kinds of opportunities for businesses to connect with customers.

You could start a blog, for example. This gives you the opportunity to create a community around your business and the content you’re creating. Blog posts are the perfect way to engage with people and start new conversations that can get people interested in what you do and what you offer.

Explain What You Do Well

There’s no need to be shy about what your business does well, and what it does better than your competitors. But you need to have a product that has a high level of quality if you’re going to be able to boast about what makes your business so good. Quality isn’t something you can fake or manufacture; it has to actually be there.

So, as long as you have something to boast about, boast about it! It doesn’t have to tip over into arrogance. It’s possible to say what you’re good at without alienating the people you’re trying to attract to your business. Keep working at it, and you’ll get there eventually.

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At least one of these ideas will be able to help your business out, so give them a try.