How to Become an Expert

How to Become an Expert

Being recognized as an expert in your field can bring many opportunities to edge out your competitors and grow your business. Once you have devoted yourself to becoming an expert, you will need to take the appropriate steps. Read on for some ways to get started.

Get focused. Even if you consider yourself an expert in several fields, especially if they are unrelated, choose one on which to focus. You may know a great deal about scrap-booking and fashion, but the two aren’t closely enough related to tie together in your search for expert status. Choose one area of your business (marketing, customer service, social media, etc.), and make it your job to know everything there is to know about it. Tip – Find a mentor or an individual you want to emulate. Copy what they did. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.

Get learning. Even the most respected folks in their fields are continually seeking professional development to further their education. Read up on your subject, interview other experienced people, attend workshops, and take some classes. You might even want to get yourself a mentor. Tip – Consider taking a certificate course to add to your credentials and experience.

Get writing. After doing the appropriate amount of research required to share your expertise, publish as much quality literature on your subject as you can. Ideally, you will want to publish in several different media, such as blogs, newsletters, articles, and mailers. Having some published material will demonstrate your knowledge of the subject matter and act as a “pre-sell” of your information. Tip – Partner with bloggers and offer a weekly article/post or join their staff.

Get talking. Begin setting up speaking engagements; there’s nothing wrong with starting small. Begin by reaching out to your local library, community center, senior center, or chamber of commerce. Design your talk to highlight your accomplishments and background as well what you have to offer that makes you unique. Of course, bring some literature to distribute and use the time before and after to network and book further speaking engagements. Word of mouth can go a long way, and if you are good at what you do, people will notice and seek you out. Tip – Promote and offer your availability to do interviews.

Get promoting. You should already be used to doing this as an entrepreneur, but in order for others to recognize you as an expert, you need to promote yourself in a different way. Contact local newspapers and cable news networks to get attention put on you and your subject matter. Find some way that your expertise can benefit them as well. Tip – Present workshops, participate on internet radio, create your own YouTube videos, and submit to article websites, and present on community TV channels.

Experts in business have many doors open for them once they become established and respected. With hard work and dedication, two qualities you undoubtedly possess already, you can position yourself as an expert and reap the benefits that go along with it. What do you think it takes to become an expert? Share your ideas in the comments below!

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Four Priorities for Small Businesses

Being a small business owner often requires you to wear many different hats. However, it is important to focus on your business’s main objective, which is to turn a profit. Read on for four elements of small business that should be at the top of your priority list.

Be social. Make a list of all the possible ways you can meet and socialize with people. Start with a list of people you know and their interests. Then make a list of the people they know and finally, create a list of ways to meet new people. Becoming a social butterfly will help grow your business naturally and effectively. The benefits of being social will result in greater word of mouth for your business, increase business and increase opportunities. To optimize your social interactions utilize social media networks to stay connected and to nurture relationships with all your people.
Focus on your local market. In the past, the idea was to cast a large net and hope to catch as many as you can. But, that was expense and usually yielded poor results. The better strategy is to help customers find solutions that your products solve, keep them close by so your business can easily maintain a relationship with them, and efficiently promote return business. Here are a few ideas on how to tap your local market. Hold an open house, inviting local residents and business owners to see what your business is all about. Consider getting professionally involved in a local cause such as school fundraisers, community food banks, or places of worship.
Collaborate with others. In addition to focusing on the local market, join forces with other businesses that complement your own. Collaboration can take several other forms as well. Perhaps attending a convention or other professional development opportunity, you will meet people with similar goals and interests. Working cooperatively with them can benefit you both.
Make it snappy and easy. Most people today are always on the run and are multitasking all day long. When introducing your business either in person or online, make sure you have an informative couple of sentences that sums up what you do and how it might help that possible customer. Also make sure your business processes are efficient. Make sure your business is easy to find, make the sales process quick, make customer service engaging and quick to respond to customers/prospects needs.

What other elements of being a small business owner do you feel are important? Please add them to the list by commenting below!

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5 Tips to Improve Your Social Media Marketing

5 Tips to Improve Your Social Media Marketing

Social media tools can be a wonderful way to increase your business’ visibility while also improving communication with existing customers. However it is not a “magic bullet,” and relying on social media exclusively to build your business is usually a mistake. That said, there are ways to improve the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts, in order to increase your overall bottom line. Here are 5 tips to improve your social media marketing:

Focus. Instead of jumping onto Facebook or Pinterest and getting swept away with posts from your friends, force yourself to focus on business objectives and goals for the time you’ve allotted for social media marketing for your business. Of course, this means that you need to HAVE some goals for your time. Think about what you’d like social media to do for your business, and write it down. Things like increasing reorders from existing customers, encouraging team members to reach their goals, etc. Then, when you go online, work on activities that are directly related to those goals.
Find the Locals. Yes, social media tools can be great for reaching people far away. But it can be even more effective in helping you build deeper relationships with the people you know casually in your own community. So figure out where the locals hang out online. Is it a Facebook Page or Group for your church or town? A website set up for town issues? Find out where the people you know spend their time, and become actively involved. It’s a great way to build relationships which can ultimately help to increase your business’ visibility.
Do One Thing Well. Rather than trying to have a presence EVERYWHERE online, determine the social site where you’ll both enjoy spending time, and get the most social media “bang for your buck.” Two sites that seem to be doing good things for those in sales right now are Facebook and Pinterest. But whichever site you choose, pick one and really learn it. Invest the time in becoming part of the community, have conversations, and avoid the temptation to just blast your advertisement and move on. This will bring you much greater success than a “finger in every social media pot.”
Time Yourself. How long do you typically spend on social media tools? How does that translate into dollars? If you’re spending a lot of time on social media tools and it’s not translating into sales the way, say, meeting new clients face to face does, then maybe you should reevaluate how much time you’re spending online.
Measure Your Results. One of the biggest mistakes business owners make when using social media is the failure to measure. Setting up a Facebook Page is not enough. You MUST know how it’s working for you, and if the activities on your page are bringing you closer to your goal. So start by defining a goal for your online efforts, and then look at the analytics of each tool, along with the sales you produce, to determine whether the activities you’re engaging in are worth the time you’re investing. At the end of the day, you’re in business to make money. Make sure the work you’re doing brings results.

By making slight adjustments to the way you “do” social media marketing, you can enjoy big improvements which impact your bottom line positively.

What have we missed? What tips do you have to improve social media marketing for small business owners? We would love to read your thoughts and comments below.

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Gamification To Increase Business

Gamification To Increase Business

Gamification is a relatively new term that refers to the integration of game dynamics into any aspect of business. Its main objectives are to drive participation, increase awareness of the business, and draw in new customers. Here a few ways to get started.

Use a service designed to track your customers’ loyalty. A great place to begin is Badgeville, a “social loyalty platform” that gives businesses the “power to drive and measure user behavior with social game mechanics.” Badgeville provides a step by step process to help you set an objective, choose which behaviors to track, and create real-time user rewards. This is similar to the way FourSquare works, except you get to create your own system. The advantage here is that you can truly tailor your game to the needs and wants of your customer base.
Gamify your team’s professional development. Big businesses, such as Google, are using this with increasing frequency. In order to motivate employees to spend less than they were allotted for business trips, they created a game in which employees could save up unused amounts to receive cash back, donate to charity, or save up towards a future trip. (Source) Small business owners and direct sellers can use this same concept to motivate teams and increase sales.
Take to Twitter and Facebook. Many companies are using gamification to increase awareness of themselves to prospective clients. A simple way to do this would be to give away a free small sample. For every 20 new Twitter “retweets” or every Facebook “like”, you draw a name from the new likes or people who retweeted for the give-away. Doing so will keep customers coming back to your site, encourage them to seek out what’s new with your business, and drive them to recommend you to their friends. Think of it as 21^st century word of mouth.
Invite participation in your blog. The fast-food chain Wendy’s recently created a short-lived game show on Twitter to promote a series of new items on its menu. The game show gained a cult following for several reasons, including the mystery surrounding who was hosting it, but also because prizes were being given away for participating in various tasks. Fellow tweeters were asked to post pictures of themselves in their funniest pair of socks, for example. Consider using this method in your blog by creating a task and giving each participant one entry into a small giveaway. Getting creative here will also draw more people to your blog and of course, your business.
Other game formats to explore. A scavenger hunt, Motto/Jingle contest, Wheel of fortune like – fill in the blank, and an old fashion riddle of the day contest. As you continue to explore using games and contests to generate engagement please check your social media site’s terms of service before installing a game. Most social media sites have rules you must follow or risk being removed from the site. For example, Facebook requires that you use a third party service like Wildfire to administer any contest on its platform.

When integrating games into your business, keep in mind your objective, audience, and reward systems. You need not spend exorbitant amounts of money to gamify; start simple with the plethora of free resources found all around the internet and build out from there. And most importantly, have fun! That is what gaming is about, after all. What ideas do you have for gamification? Share them with us in the comments section below!

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Seven Ways to Increase Friends and Build Your Network

In this digital age, it is now easier than ever to interact with people all around the globe, so a solid network is within your reach. Increasing your friends and building your network is a cost-effective marketing strategy that can lead to sales opportunities in a variety of ways. Read on for seven ways to get started.

1. Don’t just attend events, be an active participant. Deciding to attend workshops, conventions, and the like is a great start to meeting new people in your field. However, you should make the most of your time there. Speak up, be helpful and get involved. Set a goal for how many new people you will meet at an event, and be consistent. The more you do it, the easier it will become.

2. Hold off on the sales pitch. When introducing yourself to potential contacts, DO share your name, business, and other relevant information. DO NOT break into a prepared commercial in hopes of selling yourself then and there. The relationship you want to build must be based on common interests and shared goals. Save the sales pitch for a follow-up meeting or phone call.

3. Ask good questions. When talking to people you’ve just met, asking questions shows that you are interested in what they have to say and that you are truly listening. Take this strategy to the next level by asking the right types of questions that facilitate a worthwhile conversation. For example, “So how do you like the food here?” will doom you to several minutes of small talk and get you nowhere. On the other hand, “So what is your role in your business?” and “What are you hoping to get out of this convention that will help you in your business?” are more effective questions that get people talking about themselves. Not only are you learning more about them, but you are building the foundation for a professional relationship. As you perfect your conversations skills you may want start with and develop a script to help you with this process.

4. Follow up. So you’ve met several potential contacts; now what? Don’t be lax about initiating the first phone call or email. Remind the person where you met him or her, mention that it was a pleasure to meet, and set a time to discuss what you talked about earlier. Furthermore, don’t wait more than a day or two after meeting the person to make contact. Make this a weekly habit to meet with new people.

5. Incorporate your online presence with your offline presence. When you meet people at a networking event, be sure to give them what they need to find you online (your website URL, Twitter handle, etc.). It’s also a good idea to arrange for face-to-face meet-ups with some of your online business contacts. By integrating your networks, you enhance those relationships and build your business.

6. Ask friends to make introductions. When you’re at a social gathering or event, don’t be shy to ask your friends to introduce you to other people. Just like in tip one, set a goal for how many new people you want to meet.

7. Do something new. Don’t sit around and wait to be invited to a party or event. Make it happen. Find something new that peaks your interest or something that you have no concept of. Once you get there have fun, engage in conversation with others, and tag along with individuals you like. Again, set a goal for how many new people you would like to meet.

What are your ideas for building your network? Please share them with us in the comments section below.

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DSEF & CBBB: My Experience With Multi-Level Marketing

Today’s highlighted blog post from the Council on Better Business Bureaus (CBBB)

My Experience With Multi-Level Marketing

By Holly Doering

When I was a little girl, my mom stayed at home to look after us kids while my dad worked. That was just what women did. Especially in a small Idaho town with a limited job market. One day my mother brought home a trunk of cosmetics: almond face lotion, peppermint foot rub. There was even something called “Royal bee jelly”—I think—that was thick and soft but not greasy. The company was called “JAFRA”—Jan and Frank were the owners—and all Mom had to do to make money was to host parties and invite her women friends.

What happened next was what often happens—Mom threw a few parties, went to a few parties, and then the creams and lotions sat in the cupboard for the next decade. (They were really good products though!)

In college, I worked for a fast-food franchise owner who was big into Amway. She bought all their cleaning products for the restaurant. She was convinced that this company was her ticket to early retirement and possibly multi-millionaire-dom. As far as I know, she’s still trying to become a Diamond.

The BBB sometimes gets calls about multi-level marketing (MLM) opportunities. Are they scams? While any particular scenario could be a scam, the short answer is no. MLM is a legitimate business model that has made certain individuals extremely wealthy. However, it isn’t easy.

Many people who get into network marketing don’t have the personality or the tenacity to make a go of it. They chicken out of making cold calls or meeting strangers at Perkins. They don’t want to invest all the time into their home business that would be necessary for it to succeed. Or, they get divorced and end up splitting their downlines.

You see, I worked for a network marketing company for a few years. But not as a distributor—I stayed with a steady paycheck from the corporate offices. It was there that I met a company executive who had gone from abysmal failure—sleeping in his car—to becoming a millionaire with these MLM products. And when he did, his sponsor, the man who recruited him, became a multi-millionaire.

I chose this particular MLM company to work for because their products:

Were environmentally-friendly
Were not tested on animals
Were not significantly more expensive than items in the store
Were something I could believe in

Here are some tips on how to research a MLM company and make sure it’s right for you. Think about:

How transparent is the company? Are you getting real answers to your questions, and not just the run-around or a company line? Do they disclose their financials?
Has the company been around for awhile? (The longer, the better.)
What is the initial investment?
Who will support you? Does your sponsor seem like they will actively coach you and have time for you? Can you meet other people in this person’s downline?
How are refunds—to you and to your customers, clients, prosumers, or whatever they call them—handled? How do they deal with complaints?
Is their technology easy to use or is it kind of a pain?
What is the competition?
Are they aware of or do they subscribe to the Direct Selling Association (DSA) Code of Ethics?

Final thoughts

1) Remember that pyramid schemes, which can look like MLM to begin with, are not legitimate. A genuine MLM opportunity involves product and is not simply mailing cash back and forth.

2) You may not want to make your living from your MLM business—I’ve been to plenty of Cabi, Partylite, Avon, and Pampered Chef parties hosted by friends who just wanted to get these products that they liked discounted or cheaper. Even so, do your homework first. You won’t be sorry you did.

DSEF and Council on Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) fosters honest and responsive relationships between businesses and consumers—instilling consumer confidence and advancing a trustworthy marketplace for all.

About the Better Business Bureaus
As the leader in advancing marketplace trust, Better Business Bureau is an unbiased non-profit organization that sets and upholds high standards for fair and honest business behavior. Every year, more than 87 million consumers rely on BBB Business Reviews® and BBB Wise Giving Reports® to help them find trustworthy businesses and charities across North America. Visitwww.bbb.org/us for more information.

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Making More Time

Making More Time

Time management is essential for any working individual, but it is especially important to the self-employed. Direct sellers and small business owners are constantly performing multiple jobs in a single day, so there are many opportunities to get sidetracked, lose focus, and ultimately waste precious time. Read on for a simple step-by-step guide on how to maximize your time as efficiently as possible.

Pinpoint what tasks are most imperative. Thinking about what you do in any given day, decide which of those things directly contribute to the growth and money-making aspects of your business. When time is tight, these are the tasks that should take precedence over any others.
Rid your day of at least one time-waster or distraction. Although we all deserve a break throughout the course of the day, we often allow for too many detractors which can easily add up to an hour or more. After you’ve identified your most important tasks, do the same with your least important ones, such as updating your personal Facebook page or checking the score of the big game. Commit yourself to avoiding such diversions while you get your time management under control.
Put in place time limits for your tasks. Now that you’ve weeded out the unnecessary and know exactly what you should be working on, give yourself a certain amount of time to complete these duties. If you know you only have an hour, for instance, to create a rough draft of that new promotional poster, you will work much more efficiently toward your goal than you would if you were going back and forth between the poster and other activities.
Make use of time management tools. There is a plethora of software and internet-based organizational programs at your disposal, and much of it is free. For example, Google Calendar is a very effective way to map out your day, week, and month. It also offers useful features such as event reminders, scheduling across time zones, and automatic synching to your Microsoft Outlook calendar. Find one that works for your business and tailor it to your needs.
Don’t try to work for too long in one sitting. Our brains can only focus for no longer than 60-90 minutes at a time. Plan on taking a quick break to go outside for some fresh air, listen to a song on your iPod, or have a healthy snack. Even 5-10 minutes away from your work every hour and a half or so will increase your energy and long-term focus throughout the day.
Get enough rest. This seems like a no-brainer, but most of us simply don’t get enough sleep. When you are sufficiently rested, you can actually get more accomplished in less time than it would take if you were tired all day long. Not only that, the work you do will be of higher quality because you will be working at optimum capacity.

Remember, no matter what you do, there will only ever be 24 hours in a day. You can’t create more hours, but you can manage yourself to get the most productivity out of each valuable minute. Please share your own time management tips in the comments section below!

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DSEF & CBBB: Jumpstart Your Creative Marketing Strategies

Today’s highlighted blog post from the Council on Better Business Bureaus (CBBB)

Click here:

Jumpstart Your Creative Marketing Strategies

It isn’t easy to always be at the top of your game. For most of us, even if we eat our Wheaties every day, the likelihood that we bring creative and competitively-charged ideas to work with us each morning is far-fetched.

At the BBB, the members of our marketing department pride themselves on working together as a team. I assume most of your marketing departments do the same. We bounce ideas off each other and brainstorm for new and creative ways of attracting both consumers and businesses to the BBB brand.

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DSEF & Money Wise Women: Become a Sought After Speaker to Grow Your List, Attract Clients & Make Your Biz THRIVE!

Today’s highlighted post from Money Wi$e Women Get Smart Teleseminar Series:

Become a Sought After Speaker to Grow Your List, Attract Clients, and Make Your Business THRIVE!

Would you like to walk out of your house in the morning, go to a place where you know no one and come home with clients in the afternoon? If so this info. packed session is for you. You will learn: All the reasons why public speaking is the best business building strategy, how to get started to position yourself as a speaker and get booked, what to do before during and after your presentation to come home with clients.

DSEF proudly sponsors the free Money Wi$e Women Get Smart Teleseminar Series hosted by Marcia Brixey, Founder and President of Money Wise Women Educational Services and author ofThe Money Therapist: A Woman’s Guide to Creating a Healthy Financial Life. The series covers topics related to business and finances and provides women the opportunity to learn from professional experts in a safe, comfortable environment.

To find out about upcoming teleseminars, visit http://www.moneywisewomengetsmart.com/

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Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for your Business

Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions for your Business

Another year is almost through, and just like most of us make resolutions for our personal lives, it is also a smart idea to make some for your business as well. So before your pop open that champagne and watch the ball drop in Times Square, consider making a few changes to boost your business in 2015.

Improve your time management. Take an inventory of what your typical day looks like. What areas lack efficiency? What duties can be multitasked to save time? Perhaps your daily to-do list is too long. Prioritize aggressively to get a handle on how much can actually be accomplished in any given day.
Give back to your community. Remember that your business is part of a community. Giving back has an endless list of mutual benefits for everyone involved. Make a point to find one or two local organizations with which to involve yourself this year. You can find some good ideas here.
Learn something new. Even if you’ve been in business for decades, there are always new, exciting, affordable, and convenient opportunities to further your business education. Consider taking a mini-course at the local community college or participating in a webinar hosted by others in your industry.
Get organized. Whether you’re dealing with actual papers in a filing cabinet or electronic files on your hard drive, organization is essential to productivity. Now is a good time to set aside any documents you might need for tax purposes, as April 15 will sneak up on you in no time. Maybe your customer records need updating, your finance software is inefficient, or your desk is buried in paperwork. Focus on one aspect and bring order to it so you can start fresh in the New Year.
Predict your financial future. The end of the calendar year is an opportune time to look back on your overhead and sales volume. Using this information, plan ahead for the coming months so you don’t spend money needlessly and you do make the most out of your current investments.
Set realistic goals. A goal that is realistic is one that is both specific and attainable. It’s okay to think big and challenge yourself, but create benchmarks so you have a path to get there. For example, if you want to increase profits by 50% next year, what has to be done each week and each month to make that happen? Answers to those questions will guide you in setting your objectives.
Update your website. Do some exploratory surgery on your website, searching for things like broken or outdated links, unnecessary flash content, and information about discontinued products. Even a cosmetic reboot may be just what your business needs to start anew in making the best use of your website. While you’re at it, consider creating or updating your social media presence such as networking sites and blogs.
Back up your files. In addition to manually backing up files onto a CD/DVD or flash drive, most internet service providers and antivirus software companies offer free or inexpensive online storage services. Take advantage of these because all it takes is one accident to erase years of data and hard work. It’s simply not worth the risk.
Ramp up your customer service. In what areas is your customer care lacking? Do you procrastinate in making courtesy or follow-up calls? How long does the average customer usually have to wait before they get a return call or email after making an inquiry? Make customer service a frequent flier on that to-do list of yours.
Celebrate your accomplishments. Every once in awhile, it’s important to evaluate what you have done well and give yourself a pat on the back. As a business owner, you are ultimately the one responsible for every outcome, good and bad. When you reach a goal or solve a problem, reward yourself by going out to your favorite restaurant or simply taking a much-needed day off. You will feel re-energized and motivated to forge ahead and tackle the next project or obstacle.

What resolutions have you made for your business? Please leave a comment below and have a happy, prosperous New Year!