Mind Your Business

How Visible Should Your Business Be?

Hello Everyone! By now you know that today is marketing Wednesday which always follows the MakeMinePink.com member's Tuesday marketing chat! I had big plans to lasso my committee volunteers last night and move on to marketing chat.. and it just didn't happen! FORTUNATELY for me, due to the enthusiasm I received from my members to volunteer for the 2008 committees, we staffed all the committees! However, we never made it to the chat topic "How Visible Should My Business Be?" well today I say.. visible enough! Well how visible is visible enough? If your customer has to spend more then a minute or two looking for your contact information, it's too long. Five minutes.. and they're really getting annoyed. Trust is already shaky and you're on the verge of losing a potential customer.

Some of my members have expressed a concern about having their address and phone number out in the public eye. If it’s your home address and phone number, you absolutely should be cautious… BUT.. And this is a BIG BUT.. Part of Branding your business and creating a professional presence is building customer trust. If your customers can’t reach you or feel you’re hiding contact information, you’ll cast a shadow of suspicion or at least doubt on your business. As a reputable business, you should...without a doubt... have a business address (a P.O. Box is fine), and email address and a business phone number.

Have you ever been in the position of trying to find a way to contact a company and no matter how hard you try, you just can't get through all the road blocks they've put up. How did that make you feel? I know that it infuriates me. How can I possibly feel that I'm important to a company that isn't interested in talking to me?

There are many ways to make yourself more accessible to your customers and I think the more avenues of contact that you provide, the better.

Some ways that you can provide accessibility is through:

Email - Of course we all have that. But how visible is it? Can your customers easily find it?

Live Chat on your web site - There are many programs now that offer this feature. If you're on-line a lot, I think it's a great feature. Example: http://www.liveperson.com

A Business Phone - this can be a cell phone, or a Voice over IP Internet phone (VOIP)or even an answering service or virtual receptionist. Many of these services provide you with a number to use for your customers and then transfer the call to you seamlessly. Your home phone number is not appropriate for business.

Here is a really good resource for comparing VOIP companies and plans. http://www.voipreview.org/

Say NO to missed calls and missed sales and take the steps necessary to build trust with your customers.

As you know we've been working hard on branding our business over the past few weeks. Being accessible is as vital to the success of your business as branding. What good will gorgeous presentation do for your business if your customers can't reach you. If you were to step back and look at your business objectively.. Do you think you look reputable? Do you look like someone you’d be comfortable doing business with? It is our responsibility as a business owner to make ourselves readily available to our customers and to build the trust that they deserve. It's part of the entire customer service package.

If you already have good avenues of contact, be sure they are clearly visible on your web-site.

Open up communication.. Let your customers reach you easily. You may not close a sale immediately, but you will start the process of building trust and eventually that will mean a sale!

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1001 ways to romance your business!

You can run but you can't hide from me on Marketing Wednesday! As most of you know by now, MakeMinePink.com hosts a members marketing chat on Tuesday nights. It's a place for boutique owners to come together to discuss creative marketing ideas and get motivated to move into the next week of promoting your business. Then bright and early on Wednesday I am here to remind our members that it's time to market your business like your life depends on it. If you think about it, it basically does. The life of your business depends on it. If you think of your business like any other relationship in your life, you'll perhaps understand a little better. If you don't nurture a friendship, if you don't take time to do something special for that friend every now and then, or be there to listen when she has a problem, it would be a pretty one sided relationship that could eventually end badly. You need to take your business relationship just as seriously. If you spend time thinking of ways to creatively nurture your business, your business will start giving back in ways you can't even imagine. The bolder the idea, the more buzz you'll create. Your relationship with your business needs to be as important as any other relationship you have.

Years ago, I bought a series of books called 1001 ways to be romantic. It talked about the importance of always creating in your relationship to keep it fresh and interesting. I was just starting a new relationship and thought I'd give the theory a try. The results were amazing! My relationship started out fun.. exciting.. interesting and 11 years later is still as amazing as it was in the beginning! I take the time to nurture my personal relationships because they're important to me. Over the years and especially these past 3-4 years, I've come to realize that you need to apply these same principles to your business. If you don't think your business is "All That" Who will? You need to develop a loyal, creative and DEVOTED relationship with your business. You need to commit to that relationship as you do to other relationships in your life. Make it the envy of all business owners!
Have you ever looked at a couple and thought how happy they look? Or looked at a business and thought wow, they are so successful! Just look at that ad campaign? Look at that creative branding.. I wish my business could be like that. Well it can! Absolutely, positively, hands down CAN. The more time you spend focusing on the positive aspects of a relationship, the more positive the relationship becomes. It's inevitable. If you are excited about your business.. you can't help but create excitement in others. It's the law of attraction at work. Remember "Like attracts Like". Your successful and exciting business should be on your vision board and in your gratitude journal. The more time you spend reflecting positively on your business, the more ideas you'll get.
I find that I can't even relax in a bubble-bath anymore with out a pad of paper and a pen! The ideas flow ALL the time. My husband calls me an idea machine! I'm convinced that it's because I never lose focus of how important it is to nurture my business and I am grateful beyond words for the opportunity to have this wonderful business. So as valentines days draws near and you start thinking about doing a little something special for the ones you love, Remember.. your business needs a little love and romance too!

Until next week.. please join us at MakeMinePink.com where we we're all busy minding our business!

Membership opportunities available.

Interview with Author Jill Monroe

Each month Make Mine Pink interviews an inspiring woman entrepreneur. This month we're honored to introduce Author Jill Monroe.

Romance is in the air!
What could be more fun than to interview a Romance Writer for our February “Women Who Inspire” column? Several MakeMinePink.com members “met” Jill Monroe in the summer of 2007 when she visited and commented on our blogs during our virtual Tea Party week. After exchanging a few emails with Jill, I found her to be a very warm, funny, and inspiring author and to be a down to earth wife, mom, and entrepreneur like so many of our members and readers, so I know you will enjoy learning more about Jill and the ridiculously fun work she does!

Interview by Dianne Hadaway of Mama's Pocketbook.

To read this fun and inspiring interview please visit Make Mine Pink Women Who Inspire!