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.

About the Author: Elinor Stutz is CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, International Author, Sales Trainer & Coach, and Motivational Speaker.

The one key factor to keep in mind, when meeting with prospects and clients, is “commonality”. It is a well-known fact that people buy You. They have to like you and feel comfortable with you. The best way to increase your like-ability rating is to find what you have in common with the other person.

Tips for Developing Commonality:

1. Listen carefully to spoken words
2. Listen carefully for what is omitted
3. Question anything you do not understand
4. In-person carefully watch facial expressions & body language at all times
5. Social media – read the written words & between the lines
6. When you read or hear of a similar situation you experienced (one that brings fond memories), succinctly tell your story
7. Appropriate laughter or sharing of fun experiences builds your bond
8. Ask how you may work together
9. Ask the other person’s timeframe
10. Always follow-up!

When your mindset is focused on paying close attention to the other person and re-enforcing what they tell you, you will be communicating that you listened and you care. This, too, builds the bond and increases your opportunity for getting the sale. Your stories reflecting commonality attract the right attention and lead your clientele on the path of doing business together.

Working to build your relationships is a big part of your business development. Clients will market for you telling everyone how nice and good you really are. Commonality will help you enjoy the Smooth Sale!

SaaS (Software as a Service) is all of the rage in the start-up world.  Investors love the recurring revenue stream, and companies are beginning to love the ease of deploy and the low upfront cost for deployments.

But what is not always realized is that SaaS really needs a human component as a start-up software company.  A recent interaction at one of our portfolio companies really demonstrates this.  The first part of the email is a member of the start-up’s management team talking about the importance of human interaction.  The second part is an email from an actual customer.  NOTE: All names have been removed.

Manager’s Email:

Hello All:

As you all may or may not know, at least every 3 months every one of our customers gets a contact email and/or phone call from their account manager.  From these calls, we learn a great number of things and re-enforce our relationship.

I wanted to pass on this great email to demonstrate why this is so important.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXX was doing his usual account maintenance and got the response below.  The customer mentions an obvious product deficiency,  (NOTE: We hear this from at least 90% of the customers we speak to), but also mentions that our customer service is second to none.

Often, the human touch can overcome any product shortcoming. It is good to know that we have instilled a culture where the “Service” part of SaaS is executed upon.

Customer’s Email:

Hi XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,

Thank you for your email, it’s nice to know that when we purchase a product from a company such as yours that we actually get to deal with real people, and not automated computers!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX has done wonders for our school – more and more teachers are starting to use them for their course work and also to collaborate planning sessions amongst staff members as well as parents. We use them in a variety of ways, from course work, to an online newspaper, to parents signing up for interview times and, as I mentioned, teachers planning lessons with other specialists whom they may not get a chance to do so otherwise.

At the moment I don’t really have any queries, only a suggestion… Is it possible in the near future that INSERT FEATURE REQUEST will be completed? Just a query

Otherwise, I appreciate your email and look forward to continuing with XXXXXXXXXXXXXX in the future,

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cheryl Vargas is CEO of WikiBuzz Events, event planners and buzz generators for the hospitality industry.

Why should potential customers leave their cozy keyboards to attend your live event when the proverbial ‘world is at their fingertips’ via the Internet?  Well, it’s got to be something they don’t want to miss, something everybody’s talking about, the latest industry event buzz!  How do you generate that buzz?  It’s easy, (but it takes time and effort).  Involve your audience in the process of creating interest, using a standard arsenal of today’s tools.

Before the event - Invite attendees to “save the date”,  use podcasts, blog interviews with featured guests and create social buzz via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other community sites.  Talk about what’s hot about your event, the food, the presenters, the entertainment, the sheer anticipated number of attendees, etc. Be sure not to neglect traditional means via appropriately placed ads, articles and press releases. Offer early bird specials, incentives for early RSVPs and offer exhibitors and sponsors the opportunity to share information, specials and discounts without being obviously sales-driven.  A well executed plan should include tracking mechanisms (Google Analytics, BudUrl) to monitor your efforts.

During the event -  You can broaden your reach beyond those in attendance through the use of community forums and webcasts. Having a screen showing live Tweets encourages attendees to comment live from the event. Additionally, you might create a space for guests to post photos on your site or on public forums. This is also a great opportunity for bloggers, videocasters, and podcasters to interview speakers and attendees.  Track actual attendance, solicit feedback and interaction, so that you can further tailor your company message to your customer needs after the event.  Have future event dates in place so you can share the information on-site with incentives.

After the event – Don’t drop the ball. Stay connected to attendees with ‘thank you’ offers, event wrap-ups, links to photos, evaluation feedback and products and future events. Make sure you encourage them to share your information with others who might be interested.  Offer opportunities to engage attendees through invitations to opinion forums, product trials, samples, reviews and user case studies.

To be sure, pulling off a stellar affair requires advance planning and should be based on an activity or theme that relates to your business and, most importantly, your target customer.  Though it should still come off as a soft sell opportunity to appreciate, educate and treat your guests well.