Archives for July 2015

Mobile Marketing Strategies That You Should Forget

July 7, 2015 by Christine

While we're living in an age of tremendous innovation in mobile marketing, there are also plenty of companies that are still holding on to tactics that only worked three or four years ago, or never worked at all.

Mobile Marketing Strategies That You Should Forget

With that in mind, here are some mobile marketing strategies that you would be wise to forget:

Focusing only on apps and mobile web. While it’s important to incorporate mobile web and apps (when sensible) into your mobile marketing campaign, you’re really missing out on a whole world of potential marketing endeavors if you only focus on those two channels. People carry their devices with them everywhere they go, and you have many different ways that you can reach out to them through your brand. Why not try to go outside the box a bit?
Over-collection of data. We’ve all heard about the importance of data mining so that we can improve our marketing metrics. This process is especially big in mobile marketing. However, there’s definitely such a thing as collecting too much. Try only to focus on collecting data that is actually relevant to your brand and how you market to your consumers. Otherwise, you’re bogging yourself down with far too much information.
Being overly intrusive. If you send out too many push notifications, too many brand text messages or too many mobile email messages, you’re going to risk annoying your customers and ultimately pushing them away. Show some discipline with your mobile marketing and only reach out in the right context and with messages that will actually interest your customers.
Not taking intent into account. You need to be able to contextualize the experience of your customers. To do this, you need to consider a variety of factors, not just one (like location, gender, age, etc.).

Are you still using any of these mobile marketing strategies? If so, get in touch with us at Viral Solutions for assistance in tweaking your mobile marketing automation to achieve better results than ever before.

by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer

Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.

Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.

We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: automated relationship marketing, content marketing, Lifecycle Marketing, marketing strategy, marketing tactics, mobile marketing, mobit, sms mobile marketing

Difficult Customers: Know When to Call it Quits

July 6, 2015 by Christine

When it comes to dealing with difficult customers, when is it best to bite your tongue and when is it appropriate to tell a cantankerous client to “talk to the hand?” Although business dictates that the customer is always right, frankly you know sometimes the customer isn't right for your business. Read more to find out when to cut your losses and begin building less contentious – and more profitable – business relationships.

Not every customer is easy to deal with. Just about any business owner has had their share of clients who make unreasonable demands, are indecisive or who just take up too much time.

If you find yourself dreading certain phone calls or avoiding face-to-face interactions with particular clients, it may be time to weed out your customer base. Here's how to tell when it's time to move on:

Know when to fold. When it comes to sales, persistence pays. But if you find yourself calling on customers who don't recognize the value of your

We bring to the table, over 30 years of business ownership, c-level executive leadership, the experience of managing 100’s of people at once from a remote location, the challenges of balancing family with your entrepreneurship and the objectivity that fuels our insight and oversight of your business. When we’re first approached about the possibility and opportunity of working together on your business, we spend hours getting to know you, your challenges, what makes you tick and the business model you have developed. It’s so important to understand your why of what you do. It’s so important to understand what drives your passion. It’s so important to understand what your goals and objectives are. It’s so important to understand the depth and complexities of what makes you unique.

product or service, or with whom you just can't “connect,” maybe it's best to walk away. Doggedly pursing a weak lead takes you away from more productive encounters.

Remember the 80/20 Rule. Take a good, hard look at your customers and identify which ones are responsible for the most business and which ones give you the most headaches. One business rule-of-thumb states that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. Focus on those customers that have the most potential to add to your bottom line.

Get to the root of the problem. Before you give up on a customer, find out what may be behind his or her resistance. Ask if there is anyone else who should be involved in the decision-making process. Or pin them down by asking what they need from you to make a decision by the end of the day, week or month. You may uncover the key to getting the sale back on track, or you may find out that the relationship isn't right for either of you.

Know your ROI. Is the time you are spending on a particular customer worth what you are getting back? How much time have you already invested in this client without positive results? Know what your value is. Identify how much time you are willing to spend, and the absolute bottom line price of your product or service, to make your efforts worthwhile.

Don't burn your bridges. Who knows what the future holds? It may be tempting to tell a problem customer that they are more trouble than they are worth, but it is always best to walk away on friendly terms. Instead, bring the relationship to a close by saying that you are not a good match for each other. Even better, recommend another product or service that may better meet their needs. Keep the lines of communication open for the future.

Difficult customers can put your skill and character to the test. Hard-to-please clients also can detract from your bottom line. Knowing when to call it quits with a client can be a positive step in boosting your bottom line.

by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer

Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.

We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.

Filed Under: Analytics Tagged With: customer loyalty, customer service, customer value

How to Make Connections in the Workplace

July 2, 2015 by Christine

If you are able to make genuine connections with your employees or coworkers, you’ll find you’ll be better able to overcome challenges as a team and grow both as an individual and as a company. Of course, making lasting, deep connections is about more than water cooler small talk.

Here are a few strategies that can help you to build meaningful connections in the workplace:

The foundation of our success as a business is the relationships that we create with our clients. Everyone we work with says the same thing: we truly care about our clients and will do everything we can to help them find success in their operations.

• Do something together outside of the office. It’s hard for people to be their true selves when they only interact with their coworkers in the office. Arrange to have fun activities and events every so often to get people from the office together to bond and learn more about each other. It can help to lighten the mood and get people more comfortable with each other, opening them up to creating these kinds of connections.

• Be consistent. You don’t want other people approaching you with the sense that they always have to gauge your mood. If people know what to expect from you at all times, they’ll be more likely to approach you and be willing to make connections with you. Even if you’re having a bad day, it’s important that you don’t “poison the well,” so to speak, by letting your mood infect others.

• Give full attention. If, for example, you have an employee or coworker come up to you while you’re working, don’t attempt to multitask — you’ll come off as uninterested and distant. By giving people your full attention, you show you respect what they are saying and are taking an active interest in it.

• Be the first to reach out. Not everybody is outgoing enough to make the first move to forge a connection with coworkers. Take it upon yourself to be the first one to make the leap. Share more about yourself, ask questions about others and let people know through your actions that they can be completely comfortable being themselves and voicing their opinions.

By forging lasting connections in the workplace, you’re helping to create a better work atmosphere, which in turn leads to a healthier, happier company. Contact us today at Viral Solutions for more tips.

by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer

Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.

We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.

Filed Under: Analytics Tagged With: connections, culture, employee relations, leadership

Financial Tools For Successful Small Business Owners

July 1, 2015 by Christine

Helping overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves so doing business is fun again is the daily duty of all the staff at Viral Solutions. Christine Kelly and I have been doing just that for decades. However, growing revenue and being profitable do not always go hand-in-hand. We've grown from a two-person local operation to a multinational client centered firm with a very talented and diverse team. Efficiently measuring our financial performance helped make this growth possible.

The following are 9 important financial tools any business owner should have to effectively manage their company.

Short-term cash flow. This measurement provides a six-to-eight-week projection of the inflow and outflow of funds through the business, which needs to be updated weekly on a revolving basis. We have this front and center on our dashboard and it updates automatically.

Written Terms of Agreement. These measures provide guidance to help educate customers, thereby decreasing the risks for your company.

Financial Tools For Successful Small Business Owners

We aren’t ‘techy-coder-geeks‘. While we offer the services of custom scripts and integrations through API, it is not what built our reputation. If this is the top attribute you seek in a partnership, we are not your best choice. We are the best choice for those that seek a systems expert with a great business mind – the one that cares about and understands your business almost as much as you do.

Annual flexible budget. This plan should take into account fixed, variable and semi-variable expenses for flux in volume month to month (lowest/average/highest). This includes profit and identifies the break-even volume of business.

Break-even point. A clear identification of what makes up break-even for the business helps an owner understand what costs are controllable. When these costs are changed in “what if” models, owners can determine how different actions affect the break-even point and volume.

Variance report. This measure compares your planned budget to actual costs. A breakdown of this variance report into departments is essential so that each can be reviewed by the department manager who should be held accountable for results.

Annual cash flow. A projection with the next 12 month's ebb and flow allows you to identify any short-term requirements for loans or line of credit. It also helps demonstrate to a bank how your company will pay back the loans.

Gross margins analysis. Information about gross margins helps you understand the revenue mix of each profit center, its relationship to pricing, and the gross margin contribution each brings to cover overhead and to provide profits.

Understanding of corporate ratio analysis. Why? Because this is the way that your bank and outside investors look at your business. It is also an excellent internal tool for measuring location results as a basis for management incentives. Example: Three grocery stores at 60%, 30% and 10% of revenue. Which one is most profitable and which one has improved the most as measured against its own revenue and the company as a whole. To put all three on an even playing field requires the use of ratio analysis.

Strong communication with outside professionals. Solid financial planning also demands the specialized skills of bankers, lawyers, tax advisers, insurance brokers and/or investment brokers, software programmers and other consultants. The Controller/Accountant needs to take an active role in the long-term direction of the business in activities such as bank presentations, business plans, wage and salary review structure, bonuses and incentives, and long-term training.

by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer

Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.

We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.

Filed Under: Analytics Tagged With: entrepreneur, small business