About the Author: Barbara Hemphill, founder of the Productive Environment Institute, has been referred to by the media as “America’s Favorite Organizer“.

Some months ago I sent out the following e-mail to my top customers: “I believe that birthdays are important.  For that reason, I would love to know the day of your birthday (not your age!).  I don’t promise to send a card, but I do have a reminder system that will alert me to your special day, and I do promise to say a special prayer for you.”

I received more response to that e-mail than any communication I have sent out in over 30 years of business. Customers shared stories about how they celebrate their birthdays, special memories they have of past birthdays, or ways they celebrate other people’s birthdays.

This is a powerful marketing lesson.  During the past ten years of offering a training program for productivity consultants, I’ve discovered that the biggest challenge for many trainees is marketing.  Many of them say, “I hate marketing.”  As any successful business owner knows, regardless of the specific business you are in, you are in the business of marketing – so you had better figure out how to market, or get out of business!

When trainees ask me, “How should I market?” my reply is, “That is the wrong question.”  Instead ask, “How WILL I market?”  The good news is there are many ways to market, but keeping in touch with people regularly is, without question, one of the best.   More good news is that there are many ways to keep in touch:  newsletters, blogs, phone calls, greeting cards, e-mails, letters, teleclasses, social networking, webinars, and more.

Growing up on the farm in Nebraska, my father used to say, “Half of any job is having the right tool.”  One of the essential tools for every business is a well-managed database.  We use Infusion Soft because of its capability of totally automated marketing sequences, systems for tracking sales opportunities, and the interface with our shopping cart.

One of my favorite “marketing” activities is randomly calling someone from my database and asking how things are going.  In the thirty years I’ve been doing this, I could count the negative responses on the fingers on one hand – and still have fingers left over!  In these days of automation, customers long for the personal touch.  This morning I got a call from the pest control guy to ask about the service I had the day before. He closed the conversation with, “I just wanted to be sure you were getting the kind of service you need.  Have a great weekend.”  When a colleague asks me to recommend a pest control service, who do you think I’ll mention?

One of my favorite ways to stay in touch is personalized (physical) greeting cards.  Send Out Cards is an amazing company that makes that “personal touch” easy and cost-effective.  The founder’s story is a touching one.  His brother died suddenly, and he had not kept in touch with him.  As a result he started a company that would enable people to “never lose touch again.”   Their tag line is: “Changing people’s lives one card at a time.”  Here’s how it works:  You go to their website, which has a catalog of 5,000+ greeting cards.  Choose the card you like (or you can customize one yourself with your own photos and logo or have them make a custom card for you). Type in the message you want to send to the recipients, and Send Out Cards will print and  mail a physical card with a real stamp. It takes minutes, and the cost is a fraction of what it would cost to buy an equivalent card in a store.  You also have the option of including a gift.  (Try it out for yourself for free)

Research shows that the biggest reasons that a company loses a customer after a long time is apathy.  Obviously, this company knows that – and they want to be sure it doesn’t happen to them! Regardless of how you do it, stay in touch with your customers. Take advantage of the power of personal!

About the Author: Brian Reese is the co-founder and CEO of TestSoup.com.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the United States Air Force Academy, CO, where he was a distinguished graduate in 2007.

“There is no such thing as one brilliant or earth-shattering idea.  Ideas are cheap.  Implementation and execution are what set apart the entrepreneurial contenders from the entrepreneurial pretenders.” –Brian Reese

For many people, the word “entrepreneurship” conjures up illusions of grandeur—thoughts of instant success and overnight riches.  For the great majority, however, the word “entrepreneurship” means late nights, early mornings, and sweat equity.
My assertion is this:  Entrepreneurship is neither about capitalizing on that one monumental idea nor about making millions of dollars.  Entrepreneurship is a passion.  Entrepreneurship is a continual process with many ups and downs.  Entrepreneurship is a mindset and a way of life.  Entrepreneurs constantly ask questions such as:  How can I make this process better?  How can I save my company both time and money?  How can I develop a new way to attack this old problem?

An entrepreneurial contender views entrepreneurship as a passion and a personal mantra for living one’s life.  He/she is thinking of ways to improve people, systems, and processes constantly.  An entrepreneurial pretender views entrepreneurship as a contest of thrills rather than a contest of wills.  An entrepreneurial pretender thinks that because he/she has a good idea, fame and riches are right around the next corner.  This is far from the truth.

I personally believe that every possible idea for a new product or service already has been thought of by somebody else.  Having a good idea does not make you a successful entrepreneur—it simply means you have a good idea.  Implementation and execution are what separate the entrepreneurial contenders from the entrepreneurial pretenders.

Successful entrepreneurs have the foresight to take decisive action to achieve desired results.  At the same time, successful entrepreneurs know when to persevere through adversity and when to quit and shift valuable resources to other projects.  Nobody likes to admit failure; however, entrepreneurs do not think of it as failure, they think of it as the “shifting valuable resources.”  In addition, successful entrepreneurs are not afraid to take on various roles within a start-up.  For example, in the early stages of a start-up, you may need to wear many different hats:  CEO, CFO, marketing manager, product development, etc.  This is completely normal.  Cherish this opportunity because your chance to call all the shots diminishes over time as more people and resources get involved with a start-up.

The bottom line is that there is nothing glamorous about being an entrepreneur.  Moreover, there is not one idea or implementation method that will guarantee a return on your investment.  It’s a tough process and not meant for the faint of heart.  Expect a constant teetering of risk and reward.  Don’t be afraid to take some calculated risks.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Do not forget that sweat equity goes a long way—especially in the start-up environment.  Above all else, never be afraid to fail.

This article is neither meant to scare you nor prevent you from chasing your dreams.  Think of it more as a “truth tool” to show you what you are up against.  A venture capitalist told me a long time ago that he expects one out of every ten start-ups he invests in to provide a decent return and the other nine to fail miserably.  So, you might ask, why even bother in the first place?  Because, if you recall, entrepreneurship is a mindset.  A ceaseless desire to create, change, revise, and improve people, systems, and processes.  Successful entrepreneurs are not afraid to fail.  Successful entrepreneurs love to challenge the status quo—especially with the odds stacked against them.

About the Author: Tracy Campbell is CEO of Simplicated, LLC, Productivity Consultant, trainer and speaker.

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

Taking literary license and a spin toward the business owner, I suggest that, “Your business/career will be the same in five years as it is today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”  (Let me qualify “books you’ve read” to include all avenues available to learning, whether they be books, trainings, educational courses, etc.)

Given the above, I venture into the blogosphere following a theme, speaking to the books I read or the people I meet.

In Work The System, The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, author Sam Carpenter comments,  “Too many corporate managers and small business owners see their businesses and the world as a complex mass of sights, sounds, and events.”  Speaking to the foundational reason for business mediocrity and failure, he goes on to state, “The leader isn’t seeing the mechanisms that are producing the bad results. If a leader is blind to the mechanics, he or she won’t be able to climb out of the morass.”

I unequivocally agree. Whether you are a seasoned business leader or recent start-up, failure to understand the mechanics of your business and create systems and procedures  in written form to support those mechanics will result in business chaos, stress, and mediocrity.

Statistics indicate employees who lack understanding of employer expectations and company operating procedures cost employers as much as $2,733 per employee per year in lost time and inefficiency. The “math” is easy; stressed employees that lack an understanding of expectations, policies and procedures will result in unstable, unpredictable products and/or customer service.

Conversely, when employees know what is expected of them, where to find what they need and how things are done, everyone benefits. Employees are more productive, less frustrated and more customer centric. Clients and customers find interactions professional and seamless. The company saves money and increases efficiency by minimizing training time and downtime.

What’s my point?  Create standard operating procedures for every step of your business, write them out, keep them current and make sure to respect and support your employees by training them step-by-step.   You’ll increase the caliber of your staff, the value of your business and the experience of your customer.  The satisfied customer is your best business strategy.