Job openings in America are at a record high! 9 tips on how business owners can recruit the talent they need.

Job openings in the U.S. rose to the highest on record in April 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Openings totaled 6.04 million, according to the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released this week.

The high number of openings underscores the challenges that some employers have filling positions, eight years after the recession, especially for jobs that require specialized skills. The number of hires fell by 253,000 to 5.05 million, the lowest since April 2016. 

And that’s exactly what business owners that I coach are telling me – it’s difficult to find and hire talent.

So, here are 9 things to help you get that perfect team member.

1. Know what you want

Are you directly replacing a role? Or does the role need to be revised to suit the needs of the business? If you have a clear outline of the job to be filled, then it is more likely you will get applicants who fit the criteria you are after. Having specific experience, qualities and cultural points will enable you to attract the kind of team member you want for the job.

A vague job description will lead to numerous applicants that are not fit for the role, or a team member who was expecting a different role to the one they end up performing.

2. Ask your current team… and then everyone else you network with

Good team members are often found and recruited by referral from a current team member. Most people will only recommend someone they believe will be a good worker, since a bad hire might tarnish their personal or professional reputation.

Consider adding an incentive for current team members to refer a candidate for a job opening, with a reward for a successful application. I suggest breaking it down a little - a smaller incentive to just recommend a name (maybe they heard about someone, where you do the research and contact) and a larger one if this is someone they know and have influence with.

Next ask everyone you network with – in person and through online platforms. Partners, customers and even family/friends are often happy to help. And of course it’s all good publicity as it shows your company is prospering and can afford to have new team members (funnily enough, this is the perception even if you are replacing).

3. Be attractive in your marketing

The market has changed, and you need to action that. Even if you find a good candidate, they may have other offers and opportunities – so market to them – sell to them.

If you’re marketing to Millennials then think like one. Do you know a Millennial that doesn’t like watching a video?  Then get your phone out, put it on your selfie stick and take one and a half minutes to explain a little about your company, while you walk around it – they’ll pick up the culture pretty quickly and know if it’s a good fit – because Millennials are all about the cultural fit.

The interview stage is a good time to sell your company to the candidate. Make it be known why people find it fun to work with you and at your company.

It’s likely you’re in a competitive environment to win this candidate from other offers, so don’t be afraid to ask them about that. If you can find out which other offers they are considering you can talk to it. Candidates look at far more than just the remuneration… location, their manager and peers are all critical to this decision.

6. Select like a ninja

Use the best technology at your fingertips to find and select. You do not want to take time searching through multiple applicants. That can really sap your time. Use pre-qualification questions and let technology help you push the best candidates to the top of the pile.

A lot of people I am working with are also asking for the candidates Facebook and LinkedIn profiles (check your local laws about whether that is possible where you operate).

7. Re-evaluate your hiring process

Is it too long? Overly complicated? Do you keep in touch with the candidate while making a decision?

Candidates move quicker today, so should employers. The most important thing here is to keep the candidate updated on a regular basis. Communication every 48 hours is not overdoing it.

Don’t let your own internal business day-to-day slow down the process.

8. Background checks

Do them!  Spend less than $50 to find out what you need to find out. In addition, do your own cyber research.

True story: last week, during an interview, the hiring manager was looking down the candidate’s Facebook page and five posts in it said, “If I get through today without killing any co-workers it will be a miracle”. Disqualified.

9. Treat the new recruit’s family like royally

So, here’s what really happens. A team member goes home one day, tiered/frustrated and says to their significant other, ‘bad day!’ The supporting significant other says, ‘you should look for something else if it’s getting you down.’

That’s what starts the job search journey.

Having the significant other on your side really helps.

When your new team member starts (that very day), send an appropriate gift to their home thanking their family for allowing you to share them.

What is the first thing your team member is going to be asked when they get home? ‘How is the new job?’

Now you have two people agreeing this is the best new job ever.

How is your recruiting going?

If you have tips to share we’d all love to hear.

Business Owners – how to be the best boss in the world

Employee development used to be a luxury only big businesses could indulge in. That’s no longer the case and especial for business owners of small and medium businesses. To maintain a competitive edge in today’s marketplace, business owners must put a priority on building the skills sets of their team, to contend with ever-constant changes in both technology and market conditions – but more importantly – to keep your best team members.

If you’re looking to accelerate the quality of team development within your company, here are several tips to keep in mind:

A commitment to development begins at the top. Sometimes team members are sent the message that training is all-important, but then they see little participation or support from the business owner. This disconnect can weaken a team development initiative right from the start.

Business owner buy-in is “essential, and training programs can flourish when upper management recognizes the value of training, provides support, and participates in creating concrete objectives,” writes HR expert Steve Rossetti. Never forget, he adds, “that senior management are employees, too.”

If you’re a TAB Member (or thinking of becoming a TAB Member), you’re already demonstrating a commitment to developing your own skills—a point well worth making as you bolster your team training program.

Make training a regular part of each team’s work schedule. A one-time “training event” rarely delivers much return on investment, experts say. It’s more efficient to establish a schedule of ongoing development workshops or classes, because (a) this sets up the expectation and understanding among employees that training is a key part of their job responsibilities; and (b) continuous training reinforces key lessons and makes far more of an impact than any once-a-year or semi-annual event.

For bonus points – make it part of their KPIs.

Offer a range of learning options. Training is not the type of program that succeeds with a “one-size-fits-all” structure. Obviously, team members (like anyone else) learn at their own pace—not to mention having different workloads and job responsibilities—so it’s more effective to provide flexible learning options, including mobile and on-demand opportunities for training that better fit their schedules and ability to absorb new information.

This is particularly important, considering an average workplace might have as many as five different generations of employees working there. A serious commitment to development involves recognizing how different generations best absorb new information (millennials, for example, expect training to incorporate mobile devices as part of the learning process), in order to succeed.

Not to mention – your team may not be in one location.

If all this sounds like a significant expenditure of time and resources, remember the benefits your organization will reap with an effective employee development program:

Aids in recruitment and retention. The ability to acquire knowledge and further one’s career through training is a powerful recruitment and retention tool. Higher-quality job candidates will look more closely at your company if they see a genuine commitment to training built into your culture. In this way, your business can emerge as an employer of choice in the hunt for new, high-quality job candidates.

Builds a cadre of potential leaders. Employees who might otherwise be “stuck” in their positions can, through proper development, emerge as authentic leaders in their own right. In this way, you’re gaining a talent pool of potential team leaders and managers—a significant benefit, when you consider all the effort required to look outside the organization for such individuals.

Keeps your focus on the future. Team development necessarily centers around changes in meeting customer needs and adapting to new conditions in the marketplace. This focus on what lies ahead benefits everyone in the organization—from HR and marketing to IT and sales. It keeps everyone on their toes and looking ahead, rather than backward at “what worked in the past.”

Companies that go beyond paying lip service to team development reap the benefits of this type of initiative. Don’t overlook the value of a skilled, learning workforce as a key ingredient towards the growth of your business.

Want more advice on team development or general advice from other business owners like you? Find out if a TAB Board is right for you!

4 Tips to Boost your Sales by Kick-Starting your Influencer Marketing

Your company’s marketing efforts are up against some stiff competition. Way back in 2014, the research firm Yankelovich estimated that “the average American is exposed to 5,000 advertisements a day” (and we can all imagine that number has grown since then). As a result, your target customer have become increasingly impervious to ads, banners, pop-ups and other attempts to draw their attention to any particular product or service.

What’s the solution to overcoming this blizzard of images and ads that fewer people pay attention to? For many businesses, the answer lies in influencer marketing.

In case the term is unfamiliar, it’s pretty much what it sounds like, that is, “the action of promoting and selling products or services through people (influencers) who have the capacity to have an effect on the character of a brand.” And in our era of social media, influencer marketing has largely shifted from relying on superstar athletes and Hollywood celebrities to aligning with individuals with massive followings on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

If you feel influencer marketing has potential to dramatically enhance awareness of your brand, keep these tips in mind:

1 - Be selective about the influencers you pursue. Obviously, an influencer should possess a following whose tastes and needs correspond to your offerings. Research influencers before asking them to endorse or otherwise promote your products or services, to ensure that you’re connecting with likely prospective customers.

In the same respect, it’s not necessary to chase after “A-list” influencers with the largest social media audience. As communications strategist Linda Landers notes, “If your influencers are reaching the target market for your brand, then you’ve hit the jackpot, no matter how large or small their audience may be.”

2 - Clarify your goals. Associating with a key influencer can assist your business in a variety of ways, so it’s helpful to determine beforehand where they might be most effective. As noted, boosting brand awareness is a common objective, but there may also be opportunities to:

• Actively generate sales leads
• Reach a wholly new target audience
• Become more visibly active on social media
• Strengthen your relationships with an existing customer base

Knowing what you want to achieve will affect the ways in which you approach influencer marketing.

3 - Reach out to influencers in an authentic, respectful manner. In many ways, key influencers need businesses like your own as much as you might need them. But they will also be selective about whom they associate with. So, don’t rush in like a bull in a china shop. Cultivate a relationship based on an approach of authenticity and respect.

Start slowly, by following the influencer on social media. “From there you can comment on posts, retweet their content, or simply send them a compliment via social media,” advises marketing communications expert Bonnie Harris. Demonstrate a sincere interest in their content and don’t ask for reciprocity “until they see that you also want to do something for them.”

4 - Incorporate influencer marketing in a broader strategic plan. It’s exciting to successfully associate with a prominent social media figure and to begin amassing a whole new set of followers. In the long run, however, influencer marketing is more effective as part of a larger strategy that also draws upon more traditional marketing activities. This way, you can refine your various campaigns to reap the most benefits from a wide range of strategies.

Want more advice on sales and marketing or general advice from other business owners like you? Find out if a TAB Board is right for you!

8 Tips to Boost Employee Morale Today

The success of your company is dependent upon the success of your employees. The employee needs three things to be successful, a system to follow (including all the tools required to perform the job), accountability from their supervisor and motivation to keep on going. It’s this last factor – motivation – that can seem so elusive to some company owners.

Let us be clear, it is 100% the job of the company owner to keep the team motivated. Need a little help in this area? This might help:                                                   

1. Set expectations

Employees love to know what is expected from them. We prescribe to the well documented idea of having each employee list their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the quarter using SMART goals. Once approved by their manager, the employee now has an objective way to keep their boss happy.

2. Have a daily huddle

Communication is key.  If I walked into your office right now, how much communication is going on (verbally, or online)? A simple, 5-minute standup daily huddle keeps the communication flowing and everyone on point. Daily huddles act as a natural caffeine boost to the morning. And if, like so many teams today, you’re not in the same location – do it virtually by web conference. We love Join Me, for the simplicity, but take your pick from the multiple technology options. The key to business owners – don’t miss even one – wherever you are.

3. Surprise the schedule

You’re the boss, so put a surprise in the schedule.  Maybe it was a long weekend, so let the team start late the first day back in the office.  Maybe it’s the first beach day of the season – so close early at the end of the week. Hump day getting people down – then grab a drink for the team early.

4. Why are you in business?

Your team need to know why you’re in business, beyond the financial reason. Pretty much every company owner I have worked with started their business for the good of something else, for the passion, for the challenge… so share that.

You may be able to also communicate your core values or guiding principles – providing you have them – this will work in the same fashion.

5. Say “thank you” and smile when you say it

Everyone loves to hear “thank you” – so say it often and say it like you mean it. That’s all.

6. Listen. Lots.

When someone is angry, you learn to let them talk it out. It’s the same for team members – sometimes they just need to get it off their chest. So, let them do that.

Remember Men are for Mars, Women are from Venus? Not every comment needs to be acted upon – they are not necessarily complaints.  At least half of the population like to talk it out, so let that happen.

7. Frame the environment.

Scientific study example… the landing page of a sofa company was changed in one way only – the background image. The visitors that saw the image of money (specifically pennies) were more inclined to buy on price. The visitors that saw the image of fluffy clouds were more inclined to buy on comfort (costing more). How do you want your employees to act when they are at work? What can you do about the work environment to support this?

8. Organize something out of the ordinary.

There are hundreds of things that you could do to reward an employee – and they don’t need to cost a fortune. Offer flexible hours, send a thank you note, throw a pizza party, offer primo parking, have a flip flop day /casual Friday, a day off pass, rent them a cool car for a weekend/week/month,  start a wall of fame, get a car detailer to come to the office, name an office room after them, have a masseuse visit the office, arrange an adult education class of their choosing, give them a magazine subscription, get a catered lunch, offer a gas card (or public transportation passes) to cover a month’s worth of travel expenses, movies on the company, support their kids interest (sports or girl scouts), concert tickets, send flowers to the family home, give them a new office chair,  email everyone in the office, lottery tickets, have their home cleaned,  bring the dog to the office, arrange for a singing telegram (what’s that gorilla doing in the office?),  send fruit or cookies arrange for their own personal assistant, an ice cream party, let them choose the background music for the office for a day/week, offer a taxi/Uber service, thank the entire family…

As a business owner, you want to motivate and keep the best team possible – really, little else is more important. So, act now, act today, and not only will your team appreciate it, the word will get out and you’ll start attracting higher caliber potential employees.

The Top 5 Sales Myths Every Business Owner Needs to Know

Every business owner (you and I included) is a sales person at some level. Pretty much 99% of the business owners I work with must sell to customers (potential and/or existing). And we all must sell our ideas to employees, vendors, partners etc.

Then, we move to the next level of a maturing business, where we (as the owner) can’t do all the selling. Either we don’t want to do all that selling, or we realize we can’t do everything in the business (if you get this, then great – your business is doing great).

Here are the 5 sales myths you need to know.

Myth #1: We can pick any employee to learn sales.

Well, perhaps not anyone—but certainly the guy in marketing who’s such a well-known “people person.” Right? In fact, salespeople who are good at what they do are a breed apart. They have a unique ability to strategize and think ahead, regardless of where they are in the sales cycle. They’re also committed to building relationships that don’t have any immediate pay-off. Yes, they’re persistent by nature, but that persistence encompasses much more than making repeated telephone calls. It involves ongoing research and working hard to retain such “soft” information as the name of a client’s fifth-grade daughter.

Myth #2: The right salesperson can convince anyone to buy our product.

Yes, salespeople are persuasive by nature (and training). But the era of mass impulse buying is long past, thanks to the wealth of information available to consumers online. Prospects know a lot more about your business before they’re ever approached by a member of your sales team, so they’ve already made at least a partial decision about whether to consider purchasing your product or service.

Expert salespeople understand the key is determining if a prospect has a genuine need for what they’re selling. They know they could spend all day extolling product features, when all the would-be customer wants to know is, “What’s in it for me?” Such sales veterans aren’t interested in trying to sell to everyone they meet.

Myth #3: CRM and online resources make selling easy.

While it’s true that Customer Relationship Management and the internet’s vast toolkit of resources offer advantages undreamed-of in an earlier time, the best salespeople understand that these resources help pave the way, but aren’t the cause of sales. They use online data to help prepare for their appointments with prospects, but never mistake the web and/or social media as replacing the all-important relationship they build with individual buyers or department managers.

Myth #4: The best salespeople see everyone as the “enemy” (including their fellow employees).

We can pigeonhole salespeople as wildly competitive and out to make themselves better than anyone else, including the people they work with. But don’t fall for the idea that your best performers will be cold-blooded, deal-making machines. Instead, aim for a sales culture within your organization that promotes a team mentality, by rewarding more than just the top performers, and by inspiring confidence in the entire team’s capabilities.

Myth #5: Our sales team must always be closing.

We all fall prey to the notion that sales must focus entirely on “ABC” (always be closing). But, as noted earlier, sales are equally all about relationships. And those relationships must revolve around a discussion of value to the customer, not the salesperson’s need to meet or exceed quotas. Building relationships takes time, so the most effective perspective is long-range, rather than any short-term benefit to the company.

Want more advice for your sales process, or general advice from other business owners like you? Find out if a TAB Board is right for you!

6 Qualities of Effective Women Leaders

This week is International Women's Day 2017 and the question is - will you #BeBoldForChange? Some of the most dynamic women I meet lead companies and have no problem with #BeBoldForChange. It lead us to the question:

Do leadership traits differ between men and women?

No one can say definitively, but it remains clear that women executives often face more difficult hurdles than men on the way to becoming CEOs and business leaders.

Here’s a look at six qualities that successful women leaders typically possess and which help them realize their leadership potential.

1. A belief in oneself. For both men and women, there’s a fine line between healthy self-confidence and an oversized, “look at me” ego. Certainly, an unshakeable belief in oneself is an essential trait for women leaders—not in the sense that they should prove they’re better than everyone around them, but rather being able to forge a culture where no one seeks to undermine or demoralize others at their own expense.

In fact, women with a deep sense of self-confidence are often more inclined to accept critiques and feedback on their leadership styles.

2. A willingness to nurture. In the frequently cutthroat world of business, “nurturing” can appear to be a soft or even disposable trait.

While a nurturing spirit is often confused with being lackadaisical or an inability to hold people accountable – this is simple not often the case. Being a nurturer, having a sense of being fair and just, and use of our women’s intuition are some of our strongest traits.

3. A focus on achieving one’s goals. The most effective women in business maintain a clear vision of what they wish to achieve—both in the short-term and over the long haul. Aspects of this vision may change depending upon circumstances, but the commitment to reaching one’s objectives remains unwavering.

This is frequently illustrated by a woman leader’s drive to balance her professional obligations with her life outside of work. Maintaining this precarious balance requires creativity and flexibility, additional traits demonstrated by effective leaders (of either gender).

TAB member Kris Derrig, president of Action Machined Products, describes her own personal journey towards a more balanced life (with the help of her Advisory Board).

It you want to focus on your goals, then this planning template will help immensely.

4. Building and leading teams. It probably can’t be said that women are better at developing relationships and building teams than their male counterparts. However, they can make use of their intuitive natures to discern conflict within a team—and then seek to resolve that conflict—as well as follow their instincts to favor a team approach, rather than asking an individual to take on too large a challenge.

5. Willingness to question the status quo. Strong female leaders frequently feel the need to challenge “the way business has always been done.” They don’t necessarily accept a traditional approach to strategy and may be more willing than some male leaders in pushing back against convention when they feel strongly about finding a more effective solution.

6. Not afraid to ask for help. Of course, broad generalizations are to be viewed skeptically, but women leaders often feel less inhibited about reaching out for input and guidance when necessary. They understand the limitations of trying to do everything themselves and (as noted previously with the quality of nurturing) see great value in empowering others to assume greater responsibilities. They’re also unafraid to seek the insights and feedback of other business leaders.

As long-time TAB member Lynne Gastineau, president of Gastineau Log Homes, recalls, “I knew I was going to need help if I wanted to grow the company and meet growing customer demand. Managing the staff and dealing with growth would require help. I saw TAB as a way to help me through that process.”

If you think being part of a group that offers consistent, insightful advice makes sense for your business, contact a local TAB board to learn more about membership.

To all the women who will #BeBoldForChange – we applaud you.

Four Tips for Successful Lead Generation

Your sales need qualified leads, like you need oxygen – it is the lifeblood of most businesses.

What is a qualified lead? Someone that has demonstrated an interest in your business’ products or services and is qualified to purchase from you. I other words – has the cash – or whatever else they need to have (location, time, prerequisite) to buy. Some of these leads can be nurtured into prospects and converted into sales, and won’t. To get tips on how to connect with qualified leads you can view our recorded webinar.

There are four key elements you need to get right to maximize qualified leads

1. Your lead capture forms MUST be user-friendly

Generating leads starts with capturing key customer information—enough to move a casual
visitor to your site to start the sales process rolling. Many sales efforts stumble when the lead capture forms on your landing page don’t reflect a typical user’s preferences; either they ask for too much information or, too little of the user.

Short forms may generate larger numbers of potential leads, but the quality of those leads might be lacking. There simply won’t be enough for your sales team to go on, and a lot of time can be wasted chasing after prospects who stubbornly refuse to become “qualified” in the desirable sense of the word.

Forms that ask for too much information are most likely to discourage potential interest in your business offering. (Though, on the bright side, those visitors willing to share an abundance of information are probably better qualified to begin with.)

Finding the right amount of information you ask for on your lead form may depend on what you offer as a “reward” for sharing information. Strive to balance your request for data with the value of the benefit you’re offering.

2. Your web pages should be optimized to generate leads

As with any business site, visitors flock to certain pages more than others. Businesses sometimes err by not optimizing the most heavily trafficked sites (such as the home page, “Contact Us,” etc.). Here are opportunities to seize on prospect interest in your business.

Make sure these pages are optimized with eye-catching, stand-alone calls-to-action (CTAs), generally placed in the upper left-hand corner for prime visibility. Also consider adding special offers on these pages, to generate further interest.

If your CTA does happen to send users to a general page on your site, it’s likely that they won’t bother wasting the time trying to find what they were after in the first place. They’ll just get it elsewhere.

3. Your call-to-action requires urgency

Speaking of CTAs, how compelling are the ones you feature now?

Remember, visitors come to your site at different stages in their “buyer’s journey.” A generic CTA won’t likely produce much response. Consider tailoring these with different goals in mind, such as downloading a white paper, viewing a demo product video or some other value-added incentive to generate more click-throughs.

4. Define what a ‘qualified lead’ is and ensure everyone in your business agrees

In some organizations, there’s a clash between marketing and sales when it comes to defining a lead.

Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) are those leads identified by marketing as having genuine potential for a long-range customer relationship (with an emphasis on repeat business), These leads may grow out of analytic results or customer demographic characteristics that have proven successful in the past.

Sales-qualified leads (SQLs) are, by contrast, regarded by the sales team as promising opportunities for a short-term closed deal.

It’s imperative that your company’s definition of an MQL matches its definition of an SQL for this transference between departments to work seamlessly. For better results, close communications between teams will improve overall sales by generating a marketing agenda that best suits and supports your sales force.

Want more advice on sales and marketing or general advice from other business owners like you? Find out if a TAB Board is right for you!

Application of Servant Leadership

Application of Servant Leadership

When: February 22, 2017, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. MST
Where: BOSS Webinar


We'll discuss the principles of servant leadership and how to apply them in your business. After this webinar, you'll be able to unleash the power of "courageous conversations," and learn how a higher ROI starts with engagement.

REGISTER

The 5-Step Strategic Planning Template for Your Businesses

Are you hoping to invest more time into growing your business instead of getting bogged down by day-to-day business challenges? Maybe you are thinking you would like more time away of the business in 2017? More sales? Better profitability? More efficiencies with your team?

The most important tool for refocusing your energies on your company’s core goals is your strategic plan. There is hard evidence from the Small Business Pulse Survey showing the real-world advantages of the strategic planning process.

I’m going to assume you love what you do – check out this video.

Here, we’re focusing on a strategic planning template that will help you to craft your own strategic business plan. TAB’s Strategic Business Leadership® (SBL) process provides an effective framework for transforming your personal vision of your company into a clear and concise road map that will help to guide your organization’s response to every new challenge and opportunity. The SBL strategic planning process is designed to help small- and medium-sized businesses develop practical strategic plans with attainable, measurable goals. Use your “big picture” focal points to meet today’s business challenges with SBL’s five-step strategic planning template:

1. Align organizational vision with your personal vision.
2. Turn a critical eye toward your business.
3. Develop the plans needed to meet your goals.
4. Carry out your plans.
5. Continually evaluate and adjust your plans as business conditions change.

The Five-Step SBL Strategic Planning Template

1. Vision. To develop a truly effective strategic plan, you’ll first need to take an honest look at what you want to get out of your business. Develop a written Personal Vision Statement, one that details what you’d like to see your business strive towards and how that connects with your goals for your personal life. This isn’t a statement you need to share with employees, investors or customers, so be honest with yourself: are you hoping to sell the business? Bring in new management? Turn the company over to your son or daughter? After you answer these questions, you can develop a Company Vision that will ensure your management team and employees understand your team’s common goal. I have a couple of videos to help you write your personal and business vision.
2. Analysis. Next, you’ll need to detail the features of your company and the business challenges that loom on the horizon. One proven method for accomplishing this is the SWOT analysis for identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Assess the things your company does best, and consider the areas where you fall short. Ask yourself about the characteristics that make your company unique, and describe the way your customers truly view your organization. Then identify emerging technologies or markets that might provide new opportunities going forward. Finally, make note of external factors that could cause trouble in the future, such as new regulations or competitors.
3. Plan. You’ll need to detail critical success factors, goals, strategies and action plans as part of the SBL strategic planning template.
   • Critical Success Factors. Identify your organization’s most important large-scale objectives to help direct your efforts.
   • Goals. Set up concrete goals that can be achieved within one to three years. If your Critical Success Factor is expanding your product line, for example, you could set a goal of developing two new products within the next 18 months.
   • Strategies. Develop guidelines that will help you to meet your goals. In the above example, that might include allocating more resources to your R&D department to facilitate product development.
   • Action Plans. Produce a plan of action that meets SBL’s “S.M.A.R.T.” criteria: your plan must be Specific, Measurable, Actionable, assigned to a Responsible party, and fit within a set Timeline
4. Take action. A plan won’t do you much good if you and your team let it sit idle. Focus on effective communication to make sure you meet your goals. Your whole organization needs to understand the direction you’re heading and the role they’ll play in making sure you reach your destination. You’ll also need to review and modify your plan as often as possible (preferably weekly), which will allow you to factor in new and unforeseen developments. Also, remember that growing your business will require your full participation. As the business owner, you’re ultimately responsible for ensuring that your company moves towards your objectives.
5. Turn the Wheel. The last factor in the SBL strategic planning template is what we refer to as “Turning the Wheel.” You didn’t become a business leader because you wanted to stick with the status quo or let others guide your fate. Take ownership over your company’s progress. If things are veering off course, review your plan and revise it. If you need to change course to respond to the loss of a major client or because of difficulties acquiring capital, you’ll need to embrace your role as a leader. If you remember that your strategic plans will need to be dynamic and malleable, you’ll be better prepared to respond to the unexpected and to chart a new path forward.

The strategic planning process is an essential part of any company’s decision-making process. Regardless of your level of experience, and no matter how large or successful your organization is, TAB’s SBL strategic planning template can help you to excel when faced with tomorrow’s business challenges.

You’ve got a finite supply of business resources, and you’ll use them best when you move forward with purpose and conviction.

Start the strategic planning process today.

What would you consider the most important aspect of a cogent business strategy? Comment below to let us know what you’d need to include in your strategic plan.

How to Boost Customer Loyalty to Your Business

What’s the long-term value of a loyal customer? Let’s start with a look at the “non-loyal” customer. He or she will:

• Abandon your business after one mistake in delivery or a bad moment with your customer service representative
• Jettison your business if they find better pricing from a competitor, even if the quality of that competitor’s product or service is suspect
• If sufficiently disgruntled, spread the word on social media—potentially damaging your brand’s reputation before you have a chance to defend yourself

Given these scenarios—and considering the high cost of new customer acquisition—there’s a lot to be said for cultivating long-term loyalty among your current customer base. Here’s a look at key loyalty-boosting strategies to boost greater allegiance to your brand:

Reward loyalty with exclusive offers. Loyalty doesn’t count for much if there’s nothing “special” about it. Explore options such as offering exclusive discounts, free shipping or a points-based loyalty program you can promote on social media and in email marketing campaigns.

Be active in the community (and foster a community among your customers). People respond favorably to businesses that display a sense of civic duty. What type of charity events or non-profit involvement seems like a logical fit with your business? Get involved in your community and don’t be shy about publicizing these efforts on your website and social media platforms.

In the same spirit, how about cultivating a sense of community within your business? If possible, invite customers to visit your retail space and host events where they can mingle with you and other customers. Over time, such gatherings can instill a genuine sense of being “part of a family.”

Give customers a say in product development. If you’re looking at a product upgrade or new product launch, why not contact some of your loyal customers and get their feedback? This kind of informal collaboration not only generates loyalty (in terms of the customer’s pride of ownership), but helps ensure that Product 2.0 will more effectively meet your customers’ needs.

“We’ve used a private Facebook group of ‘super users’ to encourage customers to discuss their needs,” says Victoria Lynch of the UK-based Additional Lengths Ltd. Giving customers this kind of influence “has paid dividends both for product development and brand value overall, because people can see that we are listening and responding.”

Share your expertise and insights. You’re an expert in your field, or you wouldn’t be leading a successful business. Create opportunities to share your expertise and insights with loyal customers—for example, through once-a-quarter email newsletters—and invite them to ask questions on your website or blog. If the information you provide proves helpful (in terms of boosting their own customer loyalty or getting them over a business hurdler), their gratitude and loyalty will be strengthened and more likely endure.

Remember customers’ special occasions. Marking an event like a birthday can be both a pleasant surprise and a touching gesture towards your customers. Entrepreneur Jai Rawat suggests motivating customers “to provide their special dates when they opt in to your newsletter” and then “reward them with bonus loyalty points” on their birthday.

Always provide a quality customer experience. Perhaps most importantly, do everything in your power to ensure customer satisfaction with your business at every touchpoint. Provide extra training where needed for customer service representatives. Invest in the most advanced and customer-friendly technology so people can easily contact you with inquiries or complaints. In these days of fragmented and often deficient service, people will often pay more for a quality customer experience.

Putting more effort into cultivating long-term loyalty will help keep your business growing in 2017 and beyond.

How and Why Entrepreneurs Choose Business Coaches [New Small Business Owner Survey]

According to The Alternative Board’s most recent Business Pulse Survey, 81% of entrepreneurs have seen a positive impact on their business from business coaching. Of course, business coaching comes in all shapes and sizes, and choosing the right coach for your business is essential to a positive ROI.

The survey considered some of the most important questions owners ask when choosing a coach to help improve their business. The answers to these questions as well as the insight found within the survey are not only beneficial to those seeking business coaching, but to business coaches looking to bring on new clients or improve their current services.

Whether you’re looking to bring on a business coach or build out your service offerings, the following questions are an excellent place to get started on your business coaching journey.

Who are the best business coaches?

There’s one thing 73% of business owners can agree on: other business owners make the best business coaches. In fact, the majority of entrepreneurs surveyed chose other business owners as their number one most trusted advisor — placing them over traditional business coaches and family members. Why?

Regardless of size, industry, or value, 70% of businesses face the same challenges. Experienced business owners, with any degree of success, have already overcome the bulk of the challenges entrepreneurs face everyday. Their first-hand experience is likely to hold the answers to any pressing issues.

What is a business coach?

The answer to this may seem obvious, but it’s important to differentiate between a business coach and a business consultant. Consultants are brought on to provide solutions to business challenges, while coaches help business owners find the answers themselves. Consultants solve problems — coaches train leaders. Karen Greetstreet at Passion for Business provides an excellent analogy for understanding the difference:

“A business coach will help you understand how and why you ride a bicycle, help you to determine what’s holding you back from riding properly, and jog along next to you as you ride.

A business consultant will explain why one bike is superior to another, teach you how to ride the bike, and if necessary, ride the bike for you.”

There’s no right or wrong, or better or worse way when it comes to choosing the right advisor for your business. It’s up to you to reflect on your business’s challenges and needs and determine whether you need a business coach, consultant, or both.

When do I need a business coach?

According to the survey results: always. Business owners were nearly split down the middle on whether a business coach is more important when the market is strong or the market is weak. “Business owners see the value in retaining a business coach both in a healthy business climate and an unhealthy one,” says TAB Vice President David Scarola. “The question isn’t when do you need a business coach, but what do you need it for.”

Where do I find a business coach?

The best way to find a business coach is to turn to your personal network. 85% of business owners agree that personal referrals are the most reliable method for finding the right business coach. This comes as little surprise, considering last year’s survey on how business owners choose the vendors they work with.

The majority of business owners surveyed in the 2014 study selected “other business owners using the products or services” as the most influential individual or group when making purchasing decisions for their company.

Why do I need a business coach?

The number one reason you need a business coach is to help you become a more effective leader. More specifically, those surveyed believe a business coach can best assist business owners who have trouble with accountability, growing revenue/reducing costs, voicing their business concerns, hiring more capable employers, and projecting themselves to key stakeholders and their business’s community.

Of these pain points, accountability was selected as the greatest benefit of business coaching. “As you run a growing organization, everything gets complex; you get busy and sometimes push off things you know are important. This is where a business coach comes in,” says Jeff Cayley, of Worldwide Cyclery. “You can discuss the vital things you need to accomplish in order to achieve your goals, and your coach will hold you accountable. That alone will make you more effective.”

How do I choose a business coach?

Take it from hundreds of other business owners – the number one factor to consider when choosing a business coach is their coaching style and philosophy. Not every style will work for every business, or every business owner. Close runner ups include their areas of expertise and their character/integrity. Scarola adds, “Just as your core values drive your business, so should your business coach’s drive theirs.”

With the majority of business owners choosing fellow business owners as their most trusted advisor, it’s no surprise The Alternative Board’s peer advisory model has seen a quarter century of success. Combining the insight of other business owners with additional business coaching provides entrepreneurs with the best of both worlds. If you’d like to profit from the accountability, strategic planning, and growth benefits of working with a business coach, contact your local TAB advisory board. Each advisory board is comprised of facilitators and local business owners to ensure the most powerful 360 degree perspective of your business.

How Business Psychology Can Help You Gain Customers

By Guest Blogger, Eileen O’Shanassy

There is a ton of psychology involved in doing business, and as a business owner you must understand that people behave in certain ways and can be influenced with the right triggers to purchase your products or services. There are many examples of how to use basic psychology to get more customers and if you are savvy, you can use these to your advantage as you market. If you want more information, check out applied psychology programs online or courses where you can learn these skills in a business sense.

Using Social Proof
When people have an opinion on something, you will put more weight into that opinion even if they didn’t conduct any in-depth research and haven’t compared the pros and cons. Businesses use social proof in the form of reviews, ratings, social media mentions, and buzz to bring attention to their products and services. They know that if they build a positive conversation around their business, it’ll create a momentum that will attract new customers. Use positive reviews like these to improve your customer reach and to market your business more easily.

Using Authority
You are more likely to trust a business if some kind of authority is attached to them. For example, if you see an endorsement given by a well-known figure or celebrity, you are more likely to trust the company that’s being endorsed. Sometimes the authority is built around reputable roles like doctors, law enforcement, physical trainer, etc. If you can establish authority around your business, you’ll increase your credibility and make it easier for new customers to trust you.

Scarcity
A psychological trigger that you often see used in infomercials is scarcity. People are generally attracted to things that are harder to get. Some get emotionally worked up by the possibility of losing something valuable. Infomercials often use this trigger by building up value in bonuses and discounts. The kicker is that the bonuses and discounts are only available for a limited time. This creates scarcity and often triggers customers to buy when they may not have done so under normal circumstances.

While psychology is an incredible way to gain customers, you still need to realize that your customers are people too. Don’t insult your audience by making it obvious that you’re trying to use a gimmick to get them to make a purchase. You have to walk a fine line and embed psychology into your communication in a way that is respectful while also impactful. Consumers have become more educated about marketers over the last few decades, so it’s important to learn how to use psychology the right way for the right products.

Need more advice on gaining more customers? Find out if the collective wisdom of a peer-advisory board is right for your business.

How to Treat Recruiting Like a Sales Process

In the fevered competition to recruit and hire “A-player” job candidates, many recruiters and HR departments are turning to a different model to get the job done. Imposing the structure of a sales process offers a new way to look at recruitment in general, and how to better position their own companies in particular. This approach might well be the answer to your own recruiting challenges.

Here’s a look at how taking a sales approach to hiring can work for your business:

Adapt elements of sales to recruiting. Your sales team follows a rigorous process of cultivating, nurturing and converting sales leads. With a little imagination, your in-house recruiter can adapt many of these same elements for the hiring process. HR thought leader Kim Shepherd advises following these “sales-like” steps:

• Define the value proposition of your company for job candidates.
• Reconfigure that value proposition into an appealing message.
• Disseminate that message to targeted prospects via job boards, social media, etc.
• Qualify and manage “candidate leads” as they come in.
• Pursue the most promising candidates and close the deal.

Look at your applicant tracking system as “more than storage for archiving resumes,” Shepherd writes. Use it to “build and manage a pipeline, including measuring leads, tracking conversion rates and even creating the recruitment version of a sales forecast.” In this way you develop clear-cut metrics, including job candidate targets and deliverables.

Act like a high-performing salesperson. The best members of your sales team diligently stay on top of everything happening in the industry—reading blog posts and articles, reviewing trade publications, looking closely at potential clients’ websites and so on.

They also maintain an active presence on social media, passing along helpful links, connecting with influencers and sharing news about your company without openly engaging in a “sales pitch” to job candidates. “Don’t fall in the trap of tweeting sales jobs! Jobs! and more Jobs!” warns Live and Learn Consultancy LTD. “It’s not authentic and guess what, no one listens.”

Become a pro at selling your company. Here’s an area where many businesses can improve their odds of “bagging” the candidates they truly want. Look at the situation from the job-seeker’s perspective and develop compelling answers to these questions:

• Why should I want to work for your company?
• What does your company offer that I can’t find at one of your competitors?
• What growth opportunities do you offer?
• How do you foresee the company growing in the near future in ways that benefit me and other potential employees?

These are variations on the types of questions prospective clients ask of any company seeking their business. You’ll see greater interest among job applicants if you answer these questions in an authentic and inspiring manner.

Show off your culture. Just as a salesperson might give a potential client a tour of your business—in order to demonstrate how the culture is geared towards serving customers’ needs—so a recruiter should be prepared to show off your culture to achieve similar results.

Of course, candidates will get a taste of your workplace environment when they show up for an interview, so it’s imperative that they leave with a favorable first impression. Put together a “package tour” so candidates meet your best, most outgoing employees, get the chance to see your technology at work and get a feel for what’s going on. In many ways, this experience might be the “close” to your sales approach.

Finally, even if things don’t work out, be sure to end the budding relationship on a positive note. No one wants a disgruntled job applicant tweeting and posting unfavorable comments about your company based on a bad interview or recruiting experience. You never know when a candidate who wasn’t the right fit might (because he or she remembers how pleasant and approachable your recruiters were) refer a friend or colleague who turns out to be precisely the A-player employee you’re looking for.

Need more help finding top talent? Join us Tuesday, November 22, 2016, for our Business Owner Success Series webinar on “Recruiting When People Are Scarce.”

5 Tips for Effective Digital Recruiting

In the increasingly cut-throat world of employee recruiting, businesses that fail to devise effective digital recruitment strategies face the threat of getting left behind in the dust. That’s because, as the vast majority of prospective job candidates are soon to come from the millennial generation, digital technology is the best way to “speak their language” and draw the interest of this highly sought-after talent pool.

Here are five tips for crafting a digital hiring strategy that yields better results than more traditional recruitment efforts:

1. Focus on creating a memorable first impression.

Before undertaking any other efforts, it’s critically important that your business website—and particularly, your “Careers” page—impress job seekers from the instant they land on your site. The look and feel should be engaging, upbeat and informative (and of course, easy to navigate). A cluttered or amateurish site instantly conveys the notion that a business doesn’t have its act together—and can discourage candidates from looking any further.

Think of your site as a “company storefront” where visitors are treated to a display of your culture and products. Such a storefront must “deliver a cohesive brand image that reflects the company mission, vision and values,” notes HR expert Amber Hyatt. The brand experience, combined with in-depth job descriptions and online applications, “engages job seekers and helps them determine proactively if they are a cultural fit to the organization, and whether to apply.”

2. Showcase your brand on multiple platforms.

Remember, prospective candidates come to your business from a wide array of online sources. Putting together a noteworthy company profile on LinkedIn is a necessary first step—with special attention paid to highlighting your company culture—but no business can afford to stop there. Your brand must have a significant presence, and following, on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram as well.

Maintaining a consistent message across various platforms is key. Since it’s your brand that “gives you the ultimate credibility,” be sure to “use the same banners, icons and style across the platforms and continue this theme into your website.” This way, your brand and messaging are familiar wherever job seekers encounter them.

3. Focus on providing content that engages and informs.

Both on your business and career sites, and in your social media outreach efforts, pay close attention to the kind of content you offer to followers. Tweets, posts, articles, etc., should reflect your company’s upbeat, employee-friendly culture. In order to reach the widest possible audience, mix things up with a blend of images, short videos, surveys, and so on that engage job candidates and keep them coming back for more.

4. Make the online job application process quick and easy to complete.

If you successfully grab the interest of a prospective candidate, don’t make the mistake of putting obstacles in the way of completing your online job applications. A variety of technology options should be considered, from dedicated candidate job portals to employee referral networks—anything that leverages integrated platforms to ease the application process. (Additionally, this will impress job seekers looking for companies proficient in digital technology.)

5. Incorporate big data in your recruiting efforts.

The same “big data” technology used to attract new customers can be applied to your recruiting efforts. Look into high-quality recruitment analytics programs that gather key data such as:

• Typical applicant online behavior
• Job website visits
• Job description searches
• Favorite social media platforms
• Profile updates on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

“In the near future, most HR departments (many large companies already do) will have access to considerable pools of data that can tell a recruiter more about candidates than they know about themselves,” writes marketing specialist Aleah Radovich.

Adding a “digital dimension” to your recruiting strategies will broaden the range and scope of potential candidates, including the right type of talented individuals you want in your business.

Recruiting When People Are Scarce

Recruiting When People Are Scarce

When: November 22, 2016, 10:00 - 10:45 a.m. (MST)
Where: BOSS Webinar

Sometimes it feels like small business owners are fighting an uphill battle in the proverbial “War for Talent.” This month’s BOSS Webinar will focus on pragmatic ideas and considerations for uncovering hidden sources of talent, flipping the traditional candidate pursuit conversation and leveraging tools/plans that you may already have in place. Join us to learn how you can get ahead of the game as we all prepare for the 2017 recruiting season!

Register

Taking an Ethical Approach to Poaching Employees

Is it possible to use “ethical” and “poaching” in the same sentence? These days, the hunt for qualified talent is ruthless. Many businesses think nothing of covertly recruiting employees of choice away from competitors. For TAB Members, dedicated to running their companies as honestly and transparently as possible, the issue is more complicated. Is there a way to poach a gifted employee from another organization and emerge with your reputation for integrity intact?

Here are factors to consider before embarking down this path:

Certain limits shouldn’t be breached. First off, it’s unwise to poach another company’s employee when the negative consequences outweigh the benefits. “If an employee works for a business partner or vendor, you’ll likely find the lost business connection is far more costly than losing the great employee,” notes digital media consultant John Boitnott, who concludes that “you’re smarter not to hire someone who will cost your business more money in the long term.”

The most clearly unethical tactics include going after an employee to whom you were introduced by others in that person’s organization, thinking the introduction would help your company to work together. That’s a betrayal of trust that’s very hard to live down—as is the tactic of actively smearing a competitor in order to entice a desirable employee away.

Look for non-compete agreements. Before pursuing a targeted employee from a competitor, make sure he or she is legally permitted to work for you. Some employees sign non-compete agreements that forbid the individual from working for a competing business for a set period of time. If you suspect such an agreement exists (or there’s an brief anti-poaching clause in that person’s contract), consult your attorney before doing anything else.

Explore the “employee referral” option. For business leaders bent on conducting themselves honestly, another option is promoting employee referrals within their organizations. An employee who refers the name of someone working for another business can’t make any promises or commitments, and is only raising the possibility of considering a new employment option. No ethical breach is involved.

“An employee asking a good friend or colleague is considered ethical by most companies,” notes HR strategist Danny Kellman. “The employee referral method is more ethical than using recruiting agencies with bad value systems.”

Enlist the services of a reputable search firm. Of course, most recruiting agencies don’t resort to underhanded recruitment techniques. By hiring a reputable search firm to locate your ideal candidate, you maintain an ethical distance from any association with poaching.

Spread the word in your professional network. Another option is letting everyone in your professional network know that you’re seeking candidates with particular skills and have those individuals contact you, rather than the other way around.

If such a person steps forward—and happens to be employed at a colleague’s company—you can approach that colleague and respectfully request permission to explore new opportunities with the individual in question. Should your colleague agree to let the process continue, then everything’s above-board and transparent. If your colleague objects, probably the wisest move is to abandon further discussions with that individual.

You still need to make a persuasive case for a candidate to leave. Even engaging in an ethical approach to poaching doesn’t guarantee a desired outcome. You still need to sell your company to the prospective candidate. Obviously, writes Hilary Johnson at Inc., that person’s first question is, “why should they leave their job and join you? You need to make your opportunity sound more attractive than what they’ve already got.”

One final cautionary note: Remember that, as you consider the pros and cons of poaching employees from others, many organizations are contemplating the same approach towards your top performers. Of course, it’s impossible to control the actions of the people who work for you, but if you’ve created a culture that promotes career development and personal achievement, you probably have less to worry about than companies with a dysfunctional environment.

Preparing Your Business for Policy Change

Preparing Your Business for Policy Change

When: September 14, 2016, 10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Where: BOSS Webinar


In May of this year, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a new rule that will expand overtime regulations to an estimated 4.2 million workers, extending the current rule to those making less than $47,476 a year and removing long-standing exemptions. Victoria Aguilar, Managing Partner of The AR Group, will discuss the rule change and steps you should consider as your business prepares to meet this new regulatory standard.

REGISTER

Boost Conversations with With Smarter Content

Are you ready to make your content more effective when it comes to real conversion data? Don’t worry, content ROI is certainly out there – and we have the tactics you need to tap into it.

Calls to Action

This step is very, very obvious, but we need to mention it anyway, because it’s at the heart of content conversions: You need a call to action. You can write or create the best content in the world, but it’s not going to get the conversions that you need until you give people a way to respond. So if you want content to do more than build brand awareness and loyalty, you need to include a CTA. Link to your products, ask readers to fill out a survey, request comments or responses – your CTA can have many different goals, but it needs to exist!

Think in terms of a long-term funnel with multiple touchpoints and attribution. If your content is highly informational, you may not want to lead your visitor immediately towards a sales CTA. Instead, consider giving them a simple action, such as subscribing to your email list, so you can continue to market to them over time and slowly guide them to a sale.

Bringing Value

Why do consumers read your content? Hint: It’s not because you really, really want them to. Content can’t ask nicely for people to spare some of their valuable time and attention – it has to promise something in return. In other words, every piece of content you create should provide value to the consumer. Fortunately, there are many different potential approaches to this. Successful content provides value in some of these ways:

Product Information: New or interesting ways to use products, or how-to guides. This can work with services, too, but it’s generally more difficult.
Industry Information: More popular in B2B circles, this approach provides insight and analysis about market trends and the general industry which readers may find interesting.
Entertainment: More common in the B2C field, entertaining content uses pop culture, humor, memes, and other factors to give the consumer an enjoyable experience. A consistent tone is important here.
Savings and Money: If content helps customers save money – not necessarily through discounts, although that’s a possibility – then it has immediately apparent value.
Tip-related articles (just like the post you are reading right now) also fall into this category, because they focus on helping the reader either save time, money or even earn more money through successful practices.

boost conversions

Positioning Yourself as an Expert

The long-term goal of good marketing content should be to set up the company as an expert on its products and industry. This accomplishes a couple things. First, it helps bring in more traffic as consumers who think you are an expert continue to revisit your content and examine new content: More traffic means more conversions. Second, it gives your direct ads and product listings greater weight. If people believe that you know what you are doing, they will be more likely to think your products/services are worth their time, and so they take the next conversion step.

TIP: Give away as much information as possible. Don’t be afraid to share your knowledge. Thin, fluffy pieces don’t perform as well as very in-depth, comprehensive guides where you not only talk about an idea, but you give very specific advice about how to tackle a topic.   Trendjack so you can use new and emerging topics to gain thought leadership. For example, Teensafe, a smartphone monitoring app, used the Pokemon Go phenomena to become “Top-of-Mind” for parents wanting to keep their kids safe while using the app.   By being first to market with this kind of content, they become the go-to site for parents.

Case studies are another powerful way to showcase your expertise and the success of your product/service/process. Writing in-depth case studies is a prime example of smarter content that provides the proof that your company is the ideal solution for your visitors problems. Backlinko publishes powerful case studies that have helped to rocket their traffic and the sales of their products/services.

Community Connections

Content is the perfect place to tap into the community that exists within your industry, city, and customer base. When possible, try to cultivate a thriving comments section that keeps people talking and sharing.

Create a strong business persona that allows you to comment on other articles in return (like LinkedIn discussions or Google Hangouts). Invite expert guest bloggers or interviewees whenever possible. All of this will help you reach other circles of customers and drive up traffic.

Instant Answers

Let’s talk a little about mobile: There’s a whole lot we could say here, but let’s distill it down. It’s a good idea to have at least some of your content focused on instant answers to questions that buyers have. Sometimes a full post or lengthy article isn’t always necessary. When people bring up their mobile devices, they are both – in a hurry to find an answer and ready to make a purchase decision. You can win these conversions by creating mobile-ready content that gives people exactly what they want.

A “Call Now” or “Order Now” button just may be some of the best content you ever create…as long as people can find it! Make sure you use the right colors and designs to help people find exactly what they are looking for quickly and easily.

Targeted Content

While ads and emails can be targeted, you may not have thought much about targeting your more general marketing content. However, this is both possible and an effective way of getting more conversions from a particular demographic that you aren’t already reaching as much as you should be.

Salesforce and others call this narrowcasting, but it doesn’t really need another marketing buzz term to define it – just work on making content that answers questions and provides value for a very particular type of customer persona that you want to reach.

How Social Media Can (& Will) Boost Your Sales This Year

Just this month, TAB released a Small Business Pulse Survey which revealed how business owners view social media, and how they’re using it to forward their business goals. Surprisingly, the stats revealed that most business owners (59%) are not prioritizing social media, despite its enormous influence on customers and today’s digital society.

Why aren’t business owners investing more time and money into social media? According to our latest poll, they’re having trouble measuring results. “Six percent of small business owners are still using vanity metrics (shares, likes, views) as a way to measure ROI for social media,” says TAB Chief Marketing Officer Jodie Shaw, “and 43% are not measuring ROI at all.”

AT TAB, we believe so strongly in the power of social media, we interviewed 10 entrepreneurs to see how social media directly impacts their sales. Here’s what they said:

1. Yelp helps jumpstart our business
   Gene Caballero, GreenPal
    
   With good reviews comes more business. We encourage customers to leave us positive reviews by surprising them with small gifts. For example, we send dog bones to our homeowners with pets along with a Thank You card. Not only is this very affordable, but it lets our customers know we care. Each gift is followed up with an email asking if they received the gift along with a link to our Yelp page.
2. We used Instagram to reach our first client
   Rachel Coley, The Brandiful Group
   
   By using relevant hashtags, constantly engaging with potential clients, and posting valuable information on our page, our first client found us! She left a comment under our post, and we followed up with her with a reply. Soon after, she sent us an email, and the rest is history!

3. Reddit resulted in a sale for us
   Max Robinson, Kitchen Specialists Glasgow
    
   Reddit helped establish our business as an authority in our industry. We began by offering free advice to fellow users via relevant subreddits. A few weeks ago, we had a customer read one of our many comments on a thread and approach us for work. It proved to us the value of using social media for business and the value of providing as much free information and advice as you can afford. We now have a member of staff who monitors our Reddit profile regularly to pick up on any leads that we might’ve missed. We currently generate a few leads per month on average through the platform. (Note: since publication, Max has moved to: Flying Scot Glasgow)

4. We build customer trust by responding to their comments
   Brittany Arnold, Catchie Concepts
    
   The #1 way that we obtain sales is when someone comments on our social posts (either Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc). We always respond within 15 minutes to say thank you and encourage them to share the post by offering a special promo. Customers love this, and we spread the word of our brand – it’s a win-win!
5. A relevant social following led to five figures worth of sales
   Sebastien Dupéré, Dupray
    
   Ashton Kutcher will not be your friend online, nor will Kim Kardashian. BUT, the local bakery owner will. Interact with people who you have already done business with. This base will usually translate into actionable sales conversions. For example, we published an article on how to clean up after the Super Bowl. When our social audience started tweeting about it, we were contacted about our cleaning service. We directed that interest to our website and made five figures worth of sales.
6. Our timeliness fostered a purchase
   Sherry Holub, JV Media Design
    
   I was managing a client’s social media and fielded an initial question from a tweet. The interaction went on for about 10 minutes, and the person ended up making a purchase over $50 from the client’s website. With social, it pays to be on top of customer interaction and provide timely and helpful responses that can turn into a sale.
7. We track social ROI by using promo codes
   Zondra Wilson, Blu Skin Care
    
   I post coupons on my social media sites with a specific code that isn’t offered anywhere else. Customers enter the code during checkout, which makes it really easy to measure ROI on each social promotion.
8. We sync email campaigns with social ads to generate sales
   Andrew Choco, Directive Consulting
   
   We combined an email blast with Facebook ads to promote a 10% off sale. We created a custom audience on Facebook based on the email list (around 6,000 people). From there, we synchronized a giant email blast with an ad campaign highlighting the sale, and only targeting those 6,000 people. We used a budget of around $25 a day, and ran the ads for 4 days, spending $100 total. This ensured that our audience would see the ads at least twice during the whole campaign. The sale performed very well, generating over $400 of sales just from the Facebook ads.
9. We find customers via hashtags
   Arsineh Ghazarian, Zveil
   
   We search for unique hashtags such as #YesToTheDress which are often used when brides announce they’ve found their wedding dress (which happens to be the time when brides begin their search for a veil). We then engage with these brides by congratulating them on the instrumental milestone and add provide them with a discount coupon that can be used towards any veil from our collection.
10. Snapchat closed a deal for us
    Nicole Bermack, Edwardsturm.com
     
    A few months ago, we used Snapchat to land a video production client who was on the fence about signing with us. We had a large shoot for another client at the time and sent the potential client snaps of us directing the crew, as well as the lights in our huge studio. The intimacy of Snapchat made the sale feel a lot more personal. Based on the initiative we were taking, the resources we were using, and the passionate crew we were working with, the client signed with us.

If you don’t believe social media is beneficial for your business, there’s a good chance you don’t really know how to maximize it. Try some of the above tips to boost your sales via social media, or contact a local TAB board. A board of fellow entrepreneurs can help you better navigate social media, as well as your long term digital marketing strategy. Get in touch!

New Survey Shows Entrepreneurs Could Make Better Use of Social Media

A recent study from The Alternative Board revealed that 64% of small business owners are monitoring their social media accounts only one time per week or less, with 22% of entrepreneurs only checking their social channels a few times a year. Why are business owners spending so little time on this highly valuable, yet cost-effective marketing tool?

According to 59% of the entrepreneurs surveyed, social media is merely an accessory to their business, not an essential function. A surprising 18% of business owners report having no social media presence at all.

“Six percent of small business owners are still using vanity metrics (shares, likes, views) as a way to measure ROI for social media, and 43% are not measuring ROI at all,” says The Alternative Board’s Chief Marketing Officer Jodie Shaw. “Without a full picture of the impact of social media, business owners cannot fully comprehend its value.”

That stats reveal just how little focus business owners are dedicating to social media. For instance, the large majority of those surveyed (67%) are putting their social media channels in the hands of beginner to intermediate users – not experts.

Perhaps business owners aren’t observing the full value of social media, because they aren’t devoting enough resources to it. “More small business owners than not (59%) are managing their own social media channels,” says Shaw. “By hiring experts to take that task off their hands, they’re likely to see greater results and win back time for what they really should be focusing on – strategic planning.”

Despite their reluctance to build out their brand via social media, business owners do report social channels advancing their company’s strategic goals, citing LinkedIn as the most effective (38%) over Facebook (32%), Google+ (17%), and Twitter (6%).

“LinkedIn presents business owners with an opportunity to connect with other business owners and build profitable partnerships,” says Shaw. “These numbers show business owners are focusing their social media efforts more on business development than reaching their customer base.”