Is your business listed in a credible directory, in print or online? Every day millions of people go to a directory to find a business or service. Don't think online directories are worth the investment? Some are and some aren't.
How many unique users do they attract on a monthly basis? This will tell you how fast their site is growing. For example, Yellow Pages claims 5 million new users a month and Canpages claims 3 million new users a month. Canpages provides more relevant searches and is constantly evolving and is affordable for advertisers. Yellow Pages provides a brand that people find credible but their site isn't as user friendly and is expensive for advertisers.
Kijiji enables businesses to list their products and services for a small fee. Kijiji is like the bargain finder or newspaper classifieds, where many will go when looking for a deal or are price motivated. Kijiji has decent google rankings and provides high organic search results for those advertising their business on it. It is not just a business directory and as a result attracts price motivated shoppers.
Regardless of the directory you choose they will provide you with quality links that will increase your sites ranking. They will provide you with exposure and many who are looking to buy right now will contact you. Don't believe me? Let's look at Canpages audited search results, they have 3 million new users a month and 7 million heading searches in the month of September 2008. Does your site get that much traffic? Would you like a piece of theirs?
As a business owner you are responsible for your advertising, promotion and marketing along with 100 other roles. How much time does it take you to obtain 10 phone calls? How much are you worth an hour? Wouldn't it be easier to invest that amount of money into programs that will bring customers to you while you concentrate on what you are good at?
Links:
Graph showing hits that Yellow Pages and Canpages received - Canpages is poised to overcome yellow pages online in the near future at the rate they increased traffic.
Advertise on Canpages.ca
India's Kijiji - Sell to customers in India
Belgium's Kijiji - sell to customers in Belgium
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
6 Survival Tips for Lean Times - Article from the Vancouver Province Paper
6 survival tips for lean times
Don't panic, stay strong, nurture key customers and find new ones
Fiona Walsh
Special to The Province
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Small-business owners have one question on their mind these days: How do I survive this recession? This economy is a lot tougher than the one we have enjoyed over the past few years.
Over the last two weeks I have fielded a lot of phone calls from panicked business owners, asking for advice on how to keep going in a recession.
So here are my six tips for making money in this economy:
1. Your attitude determines the dollars. If you give in to panic and think that you won't be able to survive, you are probably right. In this kind of market, your attitude will determine your survival.
What you believe about this market determines what will happen to your business. I have clients that range from sole business owners to multimillion-dollar companies, and they have clearly divided into two camps: those who whine and complain about how awful things are and those who see opportunity and go after it. One client supercharged her prospecting program over the last two weeks and has already landed three new accounts.
Even in a recession, people are still doing business. The opportunities are always there, but you won't see them if you close your eyes and hide away.
2. Do more. Now is not the time to shrink into the background. Get busy doing more marketing and promotion. Sit down and identify opportunities. Take advantage of low-cost online marketing tools like blogging, Facebook and Twitter if they are a good way to reach your target market.
Do a co-promotion with another company to attract new customers. Get out and do more networking, more prospecting. The more people you get in front of, the better chance you have of making sales.
One cleaning service I know is offering their services as part of a buyer's package with a real-estate agent and it's working -- they sold three properties this month.
3. Protect your key customer accounts. Many businesses do not spend enough time thinking about the quality of relationships they have with key customers.
Do you know why they buy from you? Are there things they would like you to improve? Do you thank them for doing business with you? Improving those relationships will make you less vulnerable to poaching from the competition.
Put a plan in place for each of your key customers, focusing on how you can build a stronger partnership. One of my clients, a health product wholesaler, put a distributor sales-rep training program into place and in less than one year on the market, has become a top-selling product.
4. Follow up on every lead. Many small business owners hate selling and they make excuses for not following up on leads when they come in. They treat it as something optional that they do when they have a "spare moment."
They think up all the reasons the sale won't go through before they even follow up. That kind of negative thinking is costing you money and opportunity. Some of my biggest deals came from following up on long shots. I teach all my clients to never assume. You won't know which lead will turn into a sale until you do the follow-up.
5. Prospect! Prospect! Prospect! The more prospects you have in your sales funnel, the more sales you will close. This is a fundamental law of business. To keep sales coming in, you have to keep uncovering new opportunities and new customers on a regular basis.
Successful business owners are always focused on finding new prospects. Sit down and build yourself a list of potential customers that would benefit from buying from you, then start working that list every day. You can't just sit there and hope that they come through your door.
6. Ask for referrals. Lots of people won't ask for referrals because they think they are being pushy or they might hear no. That's ridiculous. Asking for referrals should be an automatic part of your sales process.
Yes, you will hear no sometimes. But many times, if you ask in the right way, you will get great introductions to solid prospects. And that kind of endorsement from happy customers is the best kind of marketing you can have!
Don't be content to listen to the doom and gloom; don't panic. Instead, get serious about your sales and marketing activities. Look for opportunities and act on them.
Fiona Walsh is a Vancouver-based business coach with worldwide clients. She can be reached at fiona@fmwalsh.com.
© The Vancouver Province 2008
Should you Cut Back on Advertising During a Slow Economy?
Don't panic, stay strong, nurture key customers and find new ones
Fiona Walsh
Special to The Province
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Small-business owners have one question on their mind these days: How do I survive this recession? This economy is a lot tougher than the one we have enjoyed over the past few years.
Over the last two weeks I have fielded a lot of phone calls from panicked business owners, asking for advice on how to keep going in a recession.
So here are my six tips for making money in this economy:
1. Your attitude determines the dollars. If you give in to panic and think that you won't be able to survive, you are probably right. In this kind of market, your attitude will determine your survival.
What you believe about this market determines what will happen to your business. I have clients that range from sole business owners to multimillion-dollar companies, and they have clearly divided into two camps: those who whine and complain about how awful things are and those who see opportunity and go after it. One client supercharged her prospecting program over the last two weeks and has already landed three new accounts.
Even in a recession, people are still doing business. The opportunities are always there, but you won't see them if you close your eyes and hide away.
2. Do more. Now is not the time to shrink into the background. Get busy doing more marketing and promotion. Sit down and identify opportunities. Take advantage of low-cost online marketing tools like blogging, Facebook and Twitter if they are a good way to reach your target market.
Do a co-promotion with another company to attract new customers. Get out and do more networking, more prospecting. The more people you get in front of, the better chance you have of making sales.
One cleaning service I know is offering their services as part of a buyer's package with a real-estate agent and it's working -- they sold three properties this month.
3. Protect your key customer accounts. Many businesses do not spend enough time thinking about the quality of relationships they have with key customers.
Do you know why they buy from you? Are there things they would like you to improve? Do you thank them for doing business with you? Improving those relationships will make you less vulnerable to poaching from the competition.
Put a plan in place for each of your key customers, focusing on how you can build a stronger partnership. One of my clients, a health product wholesaler, put a distributor sales-rep training program into place and in less than one year on the market, has become a top-selling product.
4. Follow up on every lead. Many small business owners hate selling and they make excuses for not following up on leads when they come in. They treat it as something optional that they do when they have a "spare moment."
They think up all the reasons the sale won't go through before they even follow up. That kind of negative thinking is costing you money and opportunity. Some of my biggest deals came from following up on long shots. I teach all my clients to never assume. You won't know which lead will turn into a sale until you do the follow-up.
5. Prospect! Prospect! Prospect! The more prospects you have in your sales funnel, the more sales you will close. This is a fundamental law of business. To keep sales coming in, you have to keep uncovering new opportunities and new customers on a regular basis.
Successful business owners are always focused on finding new prospects. Sit down and build yourself a list of potential customers that would benefit from buying from you, then start working that list every day. You can't just sit there and hope that they come through your door.
6. Ask for referrals. Lots of people won't ask for referrals because they think they are being pushy or they might hear no. That's ridiculous. Asking for referrals should be an automatic part of your sales process.
Yes, you will hear no sometimes. But many times, if you ask in the right way, you will get great introductions to solid prospects. And that kind of endorsement from happy customers is the best kind of marketing you can have!
Don't be content to listen to the doom and gloom; don't panic. Instead, get serious about your sales and marketing activities. Look for opportunities and act on them.
Fiona Walsh is a Vancouver-based business coach with worldwide clients. She can be reached at fiona@fmwalsh.com.
© The Vancouver Province 2008
Should you Cut Back on Advertising During a Slow Economy?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Ever Had a Bad Day and Just Don't Care about Your Prospect?
Today was one of those days! After dialing for 2 straight days and not booking any appointments and listening to lame excuse and misinformed businessness people I just didn't care anymore. I didn't care if they succeeded or not, I didn't care if their business went under. I just didn't care if they found another customer or not. If this happens to you after talking with prospect after prospect or client's that think they know more about your business then you do - It's time to take a break.
Your frustration, demotivation, and not caring will come across in your voice, your mannerisms, and your interaction. You can try your best to cover it up, be cheerful, use positive words the whole 9 yards, but if you don't care about the prospects needs, they will know it.
So what can you do? That was the million dollar question today at the office. When you are at the end of the line and you just feel you can't get one more sale, or one more project done, it's time for fun and rest.
1. Stay home and watch the funniest movie you can find
2. Go to the spa and relax
3. Go out with friends and be as silly as possible - Alchol may be needed.
4. Curl up in your favorite chair, turn off the phones and read a good book.
What other ideas do you have to turn around the sales blues or funk? What do you do when you are near the end and need just one more heroic push to make it over the finish line but you just can't seem to?
Cold calling is a hard way to make a buck and trying to educate business people who think they know what your business is about is even more frustrating. The only way cold calling works, or any telephone type sale or customer service call works is if you are smiling, cheerful, understanding, sympathetic, and genuine. If you just don't care about the prospect then you'll be working harder and harder and harder and getting no where fast. You need an attitude adjustment at this point in time, so go have fun, relax, and get a new outlook on life. Then try again tomorrow.
Your frustration, demotivation, and not caring will come across in your voice, your mannerisms, and your interaction. You can try your best to cover it up, be cheerful, use positive words the whole 9 yards, but if you don't care about the prospects needs, they will know it.
So what can you do? That was the million dollar question today at the office. When you are at the end of the line and you just feel you can't get one more sale, or one more project done, it's time for fun and rest.
1. Stay home and watch the funniest movie you can find
2. Go to the spa and relax
3. Go out with friends and be as silly as possible - Alchol may be needed.
4. Curl up in your favorite chair, turn off the phones and read a good book.
What other ideas do you have to turn around the sales blues or funk? What do you do when you are near the end and need just one more heroic push to make it over the finish line but you just can't seem to?
Cold calling is a hard way to make a buck and trying to educate business people who think they know what your business is about is even more frustrating. The only way cold calling works, or any telephone type sale or customer service call works is if you are smiling, cheerful, understanding, sympathetic, and genuine. If you just don't care about the prospect then you'll be working harder and harder and harder and getting no where fast. You need an attitude adjustment at this point in time, so go have fun, relax, and get a new outlook on life. Then try again tomorrow.
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