Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
It is proven, the more contact you have with your database the more likely you are to turn them into a client. But are you doing it? The key is consistency and getting in front of your database on a regular basis. You can decide what that means for you and your business. For us, we are in touch at least three per month and we use our Constant Contact newsletter and email postcards to share information, add value and solutions to our database as well as promote our products and services. Sometimes its tough to get out the door, but you know what, every time we send it, something happens. We get a call, a client, a purchase or a member.
We want to challenge you to pick a tool and decide how often you will communicate with your database. Here are few we recommend:
- Monthly Newsletter
- Blog updated at least once per week
- Tips or inspirations – These can be available on your website, but you can email your database to let them know they are available.
- Provide articles on your website (must enter their contact info)
- Create an audio course (like on the A Red Bench bench home page)
- Teleclasses
- Marketing style workshops
Marketing is scary to a lot of people, but it doesn’t have to be and you don’t have to be an expert marketer to be successful. You do have to be consistent and constantly focused on growing your database. Pick one of these tools and start growing and staying in touch with your database more often.
A Red Bench offers business training to Professional Organizers and small business owners.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Professional Organizer Business, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench, Red Bench Program
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
Monday, October 5th, 2009
(Prefer to LISTEN to the audio version of this article? Click here and turn up your speakers.)
Potential clients and prospects are everywhere. But what should we do after we meet them, how do we follow-up? Consistent follow-up and communication is key to growing your database, but is so often forgotten or just simply not done well. The fact is with each contact follow up you make, you increase the odds that a client will act on your offer. So get in front of them on a consistent basis.
To get the ball rolling, here are three tips you can use right now to stay in better touch with your clients.
- Create a newsletter: I will be the first to tell you a newsletter is time consuming, but every time we send our newsletter we get a new client, a product purchase or inquiry. Use a tool like Constant Contacts and start communicating on a consistent basis to your database. Consistency is key here. For more information on creating your own newsletter, purchase our audio recording called Launch and Sustain Your Newsletter.
- Use Send Out Cards: I would be lying if I said I could get a card in the mail on time and that’s for my Mom’s birthday. So the thought of actually coming back to my office and sending thank you card, or nice to meet you card, to a potential client is just not going to happen. Then I discovered Send Out Cards and all that changed. I absolutely love this product!!! I’ve created campaigns and can send a thank you card in a few seconds. It’s just that easy. For more information on staying in touch using note cards, purchase our audio recording called Rise Above the Rest with Relationship Marketing.
- Free Information: A great way to grow your database is to offer free tips and information on your website. The key is to have the person enter their contact information in order to get the tips. A simple and effective way to increase your database.
Every touch point is an opportunity to grow your business and increase profits. Get back in touch with potential clients today and consistently stay on top of your database.
A Red Bench offers business training to Professional Organizers and small business owners.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Business Training, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Marketing, Maximize your marketing, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Training, Small business training, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Teleclasses | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
(Prefer to LISTEN to the audio version of this article. Click here and turn up your speakers.)
Just a quick post to say you never know where opportunity is hiding. Last year on the plane to the LA Organizing Awards, I sat next to a wonderful couple who took an interest in my paper organizing eBook called Conquer Paper Clutter. We started talking and they were so interested in organizing their new apartment. I returned from my trip and followed up a few times to no avail.
Then I took the liberty of inviting her to a workshop I was offering. She would be my guest and this would give her a chance to get a further sense of my style and for us to get back in touch. Long story short, I have now worked with her and her husband, her son in his office and her daughter called me yesterday to film a news segment on office organizing for a local TV station. How great is that?
Opportunity is everywhere. Be persistent and patient and good things will come.
Tags: A Red Bench, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Professional Organizer Business, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
A question we get all the time is should I have a blog or a newsletter. Well, you may not like the answer because its both. The good news is you can use these two amazing tools together to help you stay in touch with existing clients as well as increase your visibility on the web. And no joke every time we send out the newsletter, traffic increases to our website and we experience a boost in sales to our professional organizing classes, our audio recordings or our eBooks and forms.
During our social media event, called
Embrace Social Media, we learned the first step to using social media and online communications is to have a blog. Using Word Press or Blogger you can have a free blog up and running in no time. This is an important first step because this allows you to own all of your intellectual property. When you post on Facebook and Twitter, you don’t own that material. So having a blog gives you real estate online and its all yours. Also a blog increases your web visibility with well done search engine optimization.
I know what you’re thinking I don’t have time for both a blog and a newsletter. But these tools can easily work together for you. Blog a few times each week, or write all your blogs at one time and schedule them like I do, and then use the blog posts for your newsletter articles. Now, you are not recreating the wheel, but rather leveraging the same information in multiple formats. Brilliant! You can use the posts as an article, a tip series or a promotion. Get create and leverage what you already have on hand. If you would like to receive our newsletter, email us at info@aredbench.com with “Add to newsletter” in the subject line.
A Red Bench provides training and classes to professional organizers and other service based businesses.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Embrace Social Media, Professional Organizer Business, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench, social media
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, social media | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Are you using social media, but not really sure why and not seeing much benefit? Keep in mind the process can take time and turning friends and followers into clients does not happen over night. But there are a few ways to speed up your results.
Since we offer training to professional organizers, and other service based professionals, we had to get some answers on this new phenomenon that is changing the way small businesses market their business. We had an Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit a few months ago and it was a huge success and I learned so much on each of the eight expert calls
. How to use LinkedIn to find and make new connection and how to use social media and still manage to get all your other work done.
Our Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts will be available soon, so stay tuned or email us at info@aredbench.com to be the first to hear of their release. But in the meantime, here are a few of my own takeaways from the event.
- 90% Is Showing Up: One of our experts, Dan McComb on the topic of the The Social Media Phenomenon, said show up and be consistent. If your going to start a blog or post on Twitter then do it consistently. You can decide what that means for you, but show up and be present with your social media usage. By doing so you will more quickly become a trustworthy expert people come to rely on.
- Enjoy It: Like everything else, you don’t have to to anything you don’t want to. Expert Nancy Marmolejo, whose topic was How to Turn Followers Into Fans (and Fans Into Leads!) With Social Networking said be sure you’re enjoying social media or people will not find you genuine. Social media is very transparent and people can see right through you, so be genuine and either like what you’re doing or leave it.
It’s up to you if you want to participate, but there is a lot of opportunity out there and the world has certainly become a lot smaller with so many friends waiting for more information.
We will launch the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts one at a time or you can get all eight very soon! More details coming soon!
Tags: Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Dan McComb, Nancy Marmolejo, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench, Red Bench Program, social media, Social Media Training, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, In The Know-What's Hot In Organizing, Marketing, Teleclasses, social media | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
On our monthly class for professional organizers, and other service based businesses, we spoke to Sales Expert Helen Graves. The topic was How To Sell Without Being Salesy Or Feeling Like a Pushy eSalesperson. What was interesting is Helen is a shy person and used to hate sales. She was afraid of it and found herself not selling any of her products regardless of the business. The problem wasn’t her product or business, it was her. 
On the class Helen shared her sales template she uses with every perspective client and now has a tremendous record of success and sales. One of the questions that came up on the class was not being assertive enough. The professional organizer said, “If I sense a person is not interested, or even on the fence, instead of trying to pull them back on the fence and over, I back off and give them too much opportunity to say no. I then lower my price too much in an effort to pull them back on, thereby compromising myself and my service.”
Helen responded by saying when we pull back or don’t have confidence in what we are selling, the person on the other end can sense this energy and therefore pulls back and loses confidence as well. Consider this the next time you are in a “sales” situation. Are you asking for the business? Are you pulling back or lowering your price? It is the product the problem or you have some work to do on your sales approach.
The business training class with Sales Expert Helen Graves is now available on our website. Search for How To Sell Without Being Salesy Or Feeling Like a Pushy eSalesperson.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
We are hearing a lot about social media these days. It’s a topic that certainly can stir some emotion. Some people have jumped in with both feet and others are avoiding it like the plague. We have been using social media for a little while now and I have to say I am finding the blog and Facebook enjoyable and worthwhile, but I still have so much to learn.
Since we offer training to professional organizers, and other service based professionals, we had to get some answers on this new phenomenon that is changing the way small businesses market their business. We had an Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit a few months ago and it was a huge success and I learned so much on each of the eight expert calls. How to use Twitter effectively and not lose your mind, how to create content around keywords and the do’s and don’t of a blog.
Our Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts will be available soon, so stay tuned or email us at info@aredbench.com to be the first to hear of their release. But in the meantime, here are a few of my own takeaways from the event.
- Engage People and Be Interesting: My best status updates are the ones where I pose a question and get lots of answers from my friends. This has been the beginning stage of several information products I have in the works. By asking interesting questions you get people to engage and participate with you.
- Listen: Don’t just talk all the time, listen to what’s going on, make comments and contribute. A great thing to do is send people Happy Birthday wishes to let them know you are thinking of them.
It’s up to you if you want to participate, but there is a lot of opportunity out there and the world has certainly become a lot smaller with so many friends waiting for more information.
We will launch the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts one at a time or you can get all eight very soon! More details coming soon!
Tags: Angela Ploetz, Business Training, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Embrace Social Media, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, social media, Social Media Training, Teleclasses
Posted in In The Know-What's Hot In Organizing, Marketing, Teleclasses, social media | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
It goes without saying that social media is changing the way we market ourselves. All of a sudden we can get our message to so many more people for virtually no cost, but our time. Since we offer training to professional organizers, and other service based professionals, we had to get some answers on this new phenomenon. We had an Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit a few months ago and it was a huge success and I learned so much on each of the eight expert calls. How to use Facebook effectively, how to turn followers into fans and how to manage my time, yet still use these amazing and ground breaking tools.
Our Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts will be available soon, so stay tuned or email us at info@aredbench.com to be the first to hear of their release. But in the meantime, here are a few of my own takeaways from the event.
- Start with a blog first. If you are heading down the path of social media, the first step is to get a blog so you own all your intellectual property. If everything you write is on Facebook or Twitter, you don’t own your material. Create a blog and then link your blog to the various social media tools. For help getting started purchase and listen to our class called How to Plan, Build and Promote Your Blog with Blog Expert and 2 Time NAPO Conference Speaker Rich Brooks.
- Add Value: If you are using social media solely for the purpose of personal use, then sure post that your child just pooped himself. But if you are using social media for your business think about how you can add value and what would attract people to your. What problems or challenges do your followers have and how can you provide some help and solutions.
It’s up to you if you want to participate, but there is a lot of opportunity out there and the world has certainly become a lot smaller with so many friends waiting for more information.
We will launch the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts one at a time or you can get all eight very soon! More details coming soon!
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Business Training, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Dan McComb, Nancy Marmolejo, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench, Red Bench Program, Rich Brooks, social media, Social Media Training, TeleSummit
Posted in Grow Your Business, In The Know-What's Hot In Organizing, Marketing, Teleclasses, social media | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Half of getting what you want is to ask for it. I learned this valuable lesson at my very first job out of college. I was a straight commission sales person for the bad country station in Pittsburgh, PA. Not the good country station, but the bad one; we had terrible ratings and the station was just not good. We had no listeners which made it tough to get advertisers on the air.
Anyway to make a long story short I learned two things at the job. To think outside the box and to ask for what you want. I would meet with people and listen to what their needs were and then I would share with them how we could help them achieve a goal or reach a certain audience. And then…. I would ask for the business! I was listening and asking. And you know what? I started to get it. Do you ask for the business you want?
Attend our next Teleclass called “How To Sell Without Being Salesy” with Sales and Marketing Expert Helen Graves, and learn what to say if you hate to sell and selling techniques tips you can use right away. Click here for more info and to register.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Red Bench Program, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing | No Comments »
Monday, July 20th, 2009
I recently saw a report on CNN that focused on what was in and what was out during a recession. According to Christine Romans of CNN, what is out is: teen apparel, cameras, high end baby products, and bottled water. Even disposable diapers are down 4% from last year! Wow!
So what is in? Spending money on lipstick and high end cosmetics is up. This may be attributed to vanity and escapism. I believe if women are tightening the purse strings on their wardrobe budgets they may be loosening them on cosmetics which have a smaller price point then a new pair of shoes. What else are people still purchasing? According to the CNN report: i-phones, specialty pet supplies, vegetable seeds, romance novels, vitamins, and insect repellant are the hot items of the summer.
The report states “Conspicuous consumption is now seen as bad manners”. This is great if you are in the business of helping clients to stop over buying and start reducing their purchasing!
It seems like people are looking for more of the experience. Is that what you are offering? Is there anything you can do with your marketing language that can suggest more of an experience for your clients?
Tags: A Red Bench, Add new tag, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Marketing, Maximize your marketing, Professional Organizer Business
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
