Recently Webvantix was working to land two pieces of business.  One that had come to us via our website, the other that had attended a seminar we held on Social Media Marketing, who we initiated contact with via Twitter (I will get more granular on Twitter in our next post).  At face value the prospect that had come to us via our site was more sizable, but proved over a three month period of time, to be unable to make a decision (classic paralysis-by-analysis), and kept throwing up objection after objection, that was, essentially, pulling Webvantix away from its core operating values.  While it was important to win this customer, especially during such a soft economy, and classically quiet time of year (late November to late December), I began to remember my time at mother Merrill, “work with customers that want to work with you.”  Yes, still words to live by.  I shot off a quick e-mail to the prospect informing them that I believed it best if we did not continue to move forward in attempting to secure their business, and wished them well.  Done and done, further aggravation and possible problems averted.

The second prospect, while smaller, was energetic, smart, and excited about what we offered.  In reviewing our Before/After video as well as our quotations from our existing customers, we quickly reached a price-point with a flex-payment structure that worked for them, executed the necessary paperwork and were on our way!  When they received their first proof, they quickly realized the stark difference between what they had, and what their new site will look like–and just in time as their late winter sales push is beginning.  Oh, and did I mention, they have a second business that needs a new site, and have referred two other businesses to us.  Well eclipsing the relationship that did not work out.

Remember, work with customers that want to work with you.  Don’t force the fit, you will just end up with problems down the road.  Words to live by.

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

Next posting:  Finding Customers on Twitter

Participation in blogging, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are far less expensive than both ongoing SEO work and traditional advertising and have the potential to quickly reach exponentially more people, yet we still hear the following reasoning NOT to participate:

1.  ”We are too busy.”

(Response:  That’s great, especially in this economy, but if you’re busy, your competition has taken notice, and is doing EVERYTHING they can to take business away from you, EVERYTHING.)

2.  ”We don’t know anything about computers.”

(Response:  Business is dynamic.  It is no longer sufficient to open a local brick and mortar business, and hope for the best.  Be proactive, learn what to do–blog about the passion you feel for your business.  If you have an antique store, blog and video blog about your passion for the pieces in your shop.  If you own a restaurant blog and Twitter about your specials and anything going on such as live music–I promise you, your customers want to know!)

3.  ”Our customers are not online.”

(Response:  If your customers are seniors, they are the fastest growing demographic online, and, as they move into retirement, their children and those taking their positions at companies that may be your clients, are online.)

4.  ”I tried Twitter and had only 8 people following me.”

(Response:  Social Media Marketing is a long-term investment.  You cannot be online for a couple of weeks and expect major changes, yet time invested will have a lasting effect.)

5.  ”I don’t like Facebook.”

(Response:  Facebook recently crossed the 350 million person threshold.  Your customers are there, if you don’t connect to them there–someone else will, that’s for sure!  And while you are considering spending a few thousand dollars to create one of those awful local cable TV advertisements, you could spend a fraction of that money to advertise via pay-per-click on Facebook in only your geographic area, and reach far more people.)

As a reader of this blog, what are your thoughts about businesses using Social Media to market themselves?  Do you have questions about getting started, or have you had some specific success or failures?

Your input and thoughts are welcome.

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

Best viewed if you hit the HD (High-Definition) button in the lower right of the player.

Let us know what you think!

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

Here’s a video blog by Gary–you can see his passion.  Oh, and by the way, his marketing tactics that employ Social Media (yeah, that social media that you’ve shunned), have taken his family’s wine business in New Jersey Wine Library from $4 mil per year in revenue to $50 mil…I would like that too!  Wow!

Get Crush It! and read it quickly…it’s a small book and only about 150 pages.

You owe it to yourself, your family and your business to understand what you can do now, yes in this terrible economy, to explode your business, while people are busy saying you can’t.

Note, this is no get rich quick scheme, it’s just a lesson in how to begin to utilize the platforms that are out there, and are free, that you probably have not used.

Get passionate!

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

In his book Cormac McCarthy painted a picture that I have had difficulty putting out of my mind, and has left me reeling with apocalyptic visions that have shaken me to the core of my being–with the movie coming out, though delayed several times, I knew I had to see it.  I was simply drawn to it.

Viggo Mortensen (expect an Oscar nomination here), Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and newcomer Kodi Smith-McPhee , along with Director John Hillcoat and Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe have created a masterpiece that will endure as a sincere testament to the bond a parent feels for a child, and the obligation that bond engenders.

The end of the world scenario is simple and we’ve heard it over and over, yet in The Road the now standard hyperbole is washed away by the purest of stories:  survive in a world where all that once was is gone, food is scarce and the evil the conditions of this nature would breed is everywhere.  Protect the boy.  Travel the road toward the coast.  Eat.

In the movie, as in the book, the world has experienced some sort of naturally occurring geophysical shift, and is now destroying itself.  All animals and people are gone, save pockets of survivors.  Essentially, as Robert Duvall’s “Old Man” says “I knew this was going to happen, there were warnings, I always felt it…not like some con, but I always felt it” underscores the biblical nuances McCarthy uses to make us understand, this was not caused by man.

Mortensen’s quest, though not and Arthurian quest for good, is to get his son south to the coast–the coast representing hope, and the quest, simply for survival.  Along their journey on the road, they portray themselves as “good-guys” in a world of bad guys, but as their journey continues the realities of the stark new world begin to blur the lines between good and evil, and evil could just be a metaphor for survival.  These lines, of course, fade much more quickly for some, though in the mind of a child not yet tainted by the real world, be it an apocalyptic world, or today’s world, goodness, hope and purity endure, and as the father knew, would be rewarded. I highly recommend it.
Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

Is Your Business on Yelp?

As our country’s economic base has morphed from one oriented toward production of actual goods, to a service  orientation (how many real estate agents and financial consultants and personal trainers are out there-whew), there is tremendous clamor for customer acquisition–ask anyone who worked in the 60’s and 70’s and they will tell you, they’ve never seen competition so fierce.  Customer acquisition is the core issue, period.

What that means is that those of us seeking the all-important customer must use every tool in our bag, or as I have loved to say for years, every arrow in our quiver.

That leads me to my Yelp story.

Back in early October I was in Connecticut for my 25th. year high school reunion–ouch (Wilton High School, 1984), that hurts to even type!  One of my closest friends and I were already in the vicinity of the venue, but found we had some extra time before the reunion began, and wanted to have a seat at a nice bar–we are both wine drinkers (he lives in San Francisco, and even makes his own, and it’s amazing).  Like a complete tech-head, I pulled out my iPhone and went straight to Yelp, punched in “Wine Bar” only to find the closest was over in New Canaan, about 30 minutes each way–too far.

We decided to run up to Ridgefield and see what we could find.  By chance we found a great place that had recently opened, the Bissell House Restaurant and Bar.  It’s a really nice place with a beautiful marble bar, and nice wines by the glass (nice, I did not say excellent).

The restaurant had recently opened, and we discussed this with the two bartenders, who, when we mentioned Yelp, had never heard of it, and seemed to dismiss it.  When we left we were chatting with the hostesses and again mentioned how we found the restaurant, and recommended they tell the owner to get onto Yelp–they seemed to roll their eyes and yes us as we left.  I thought nothing more about it and went on to one of the nicest and most wonderful evenings of my life!

When I started thinking about Yelp again, and checking it for restaurants up in my area (the middle of nowhere in Northeastern Pennsylvania), I wondered if I punched in “Wine Bars” in the Connecticut area if the Bissell House Restaurant and Bar would show up…guess what, it’s now on Yelp and even has a warm review.  Lesson:  if you have a brick and mortar shop, restaurant, bar, whatever, get onto Yelp, and begin to look at the other Social Media networks that can help you get exposure…why not?

Do you use any networks to promote your local business?  Let us know!

More ideas on exposure to come.

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

4. Dollarize Your Benefits Often when you get a rejection that is a knee-jerk reaction it can be because YOU have not quantified, or “dollarized” what you can do–how much profit you can create for your customer.  The perception of “value” is always going to be considered when purchasing a product or service (regardless of whether is dollar value or emotional value).  Therefore this value aspect must be presented.  To paraphrase Tom Hopkins, if you are trying to sell a website to a new prospect for $5,000, yet they were only ready to spend $3,000, you need to illustrate to the customer why they should spend that extra $2,000, and how your process is going to be worth that $2,000 investment.  My suggestion is to amortize the $2,000, and highlight how if over ten years the additional investment of $200 per year will quickly be overcome by the additional business that will be won with your website.  In business, the bottom line is king, focus on that and guide your prospect to full understanding of the financial benefits and they will choose you.

5.  No is GOOD I once read a piece written by a very, very successful Wall Street broker, who wrote that if he did not hear “No” several times per day, he knew he was not working hard enough.  Think about that, here is a guy who was top producer, yet even he was hearing “No” daily.  Therefore, in essence, “No” can be a good thing–it means you’re on track,and working hard.  Sso instead of letting “No” get you down, and spiraling you into a rut, embrace it, and understand that when you’re out there presenting ideas to people you will ALWAYS hear “No,” so, take advantage of it–LOVE IT!

6.  BONUS.  Learn from NO! Every time I interface with a prospect, at some point during the process I make a mistake–always.  Scheduling, follow-up, the presentation, wording, pricing, some aspect of what I do is wrong, which can ultimately end up in a rejection.  So, what do I do?  Learn from rejection.  My strongest suggestion to you is to review each step after you receive a “No” and highlight what you did wrong, and work to avoid doing this again.  This will make your end to end interactions with both customers and prospects stronger and much more engaging for them, ultimately leading you to a higher customer vs. lost prospect ratio.

I believe if you truly digest these aspects of rejection, you can learn to handle “No” better, overcome them, and when it is a real “No” understand “No” can be a good thing–in its own way.

What do you think?

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

From a business perspective, if you are marketing or selling a product, no matter how super-wonderful-incredible-awesome it is, be prepared to hear the word no–or, not even to hear back.

Here are 5 specific ideas to what you can do when you hear “No,” and how you can use it to work closer with your prospective customer, as well as learn from business rejection.

1.  “No” gives you the opportunity to drill-down and understand why your prospective customer is rejecting you and your product/service.  If they spent the time to look at what you are proposing, and ultimately said “no” it is your chance to get closer to them by understanding why.  According to Tom Hopkins in How to Master the Art of Selling, you can say something like, “just to clarify my thinking, is it the the integrity of my company or my integrity that led you to no?”  They will almost always say that is absolutely not the case,  and you can work through various aspects of your offering, eventually getting to the chance inject “is is the investment that’s involved?”  This will almost always be the case–but that leads you to the opportunity to understand how much they ARE ready to invest/spend, and that’s where a professional must quantify the VALUE of your offering.  If you cannot ,then you are not prepared, and game over man!  Be ready to quantify that differential.

2.  Numbers, numbers, numbers.  Business is a game of numbers, plain and simple.  If someone says no, and means no, be prepared to move on quickly.  Don’t agonize over the loss of a prospective customer, just have another prospect in your pipeline.  If you have a quality product or service, there will be customers for you–always.  So understand that generating prospects through all aspects of your marketing campaign is critical.  Someone will always reject you.

3.  How many “No’s” does it take for you to get to a “Yes.”  Understand this formula and your business will thrive.  If you know over a period of time that you must cultivate nine opportunities to achieve a yes, then all your business becomes in a mathematical equation.  Plug that equation into your business model and see how well you can do!  If you can, through your marketing efforts, find ten prospects per week, you should be creating four new customers per month.  So, you must understand your pipeline and what it will take for you to create the new customer stream you need.

Tomorrow, yes, the day before Thanksgiving, I’ll post ideas 4 and 5.  If in the meantime you have any thoughts or ideas for dealing with “No” and rejection, please share them with us!

Preston Ehrler, Webvantx