Word of Mouth Marketing: Thank your referrers

Written on Monday, May 12th, 2008 | Bootstrapping Tips, Entrepreneurship | 3 Comments

Never bite the hand that feeds you. Thats what they say right? Well, they are right; especially in business. If you’re a small business owner and are looking for a quick way to kill any chance you have at growing, by all means, bite that hand. But I believe it’s safe to say that all of us here have a little more sense then that right?

Word of mouth advertising is the very best form of marketing your company can have. There’s nothing like a happy client who is ready to tell their friends and family about your services or products. If you’ve been hired for a job or you just shipped out $1,000 worth of product to a client and they’re so excited that they actually bring in business for you, how is that not a good thing? It costs you ZERO dollars, which is awesome for all of us who bootstrap on a daily basis, and it is achieved by doing the most simple task imaginable; PROVIDE TOP QUALITY SERVICE!

How to gain your word of mouth momentum

As stated above, top quality service is the best way to make sure your name is spoke in many conversations your current client or customer will have. This is the easiest thing to do, yet so many people overlook it. If you’ve got a client who you know has a lot of friends who are in a similar field and would make for great customers, why would it be so hard to answer emails quicker or make a couple extra phone calls giving progress reports on your project.

What about reminding him or her that you’re thankful for their business and hope that you’re living up to their expectations? This sentence has gained me many referrals due to the fact that people LOVE to be appreciated. And once again for all of us bootstrappers, it’s free! Never underestimate the power of going the extra mile for someone you know has connections or could possibly benefit you in the future. Some business relationships are meant to build upon farther then others, so make sure you can spot the positive ones and grow with it; your bank account will thank you

You’re getting referrals; now what?

So you’ve got some referrals coming in from past clients and you’re business is starting to do very well. What do you do now? Most people I’ve talked to seem to just sit back, enjoy the business and keep moving forward. I do NOT recommend doing this. You’re overlooking another GREAT avenue to keep the word of mouth going; thanking your referrers.

There’s many different options you can go with when you’re thanking your referrers; hand written thank you letters, percentage of the sale, gift basket, personal gifts, and so on. No matter what you do, your referrer will be happy and will end up telling everyone about the gift they’re getting as well. When this happens, the clients they’re referring might get excited and want to refer you more customers so they can also get the free perks. It’s a chain reaction at this point and from one referral could potentially spawn 100 referrals and a small army of energetic people who are passionate about your product and love the perks they receive when they’re referring you clients.

I want to thank my readers

I wanted to take the last bit of this article to thank all of you; not for referring me clients or anything like that, but just for reading this website and commenting on my articles. It lets me know that I’m doing something worth while and helping at least one person grow their business with just that much less stress. So, thank you

 

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Bootstrapping Your Business part one

Written on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 | Bootstrapping Tips, Entrepreneurship, How-To | 3 Comments

This is a series I am going to be putting on here for the next couple days, regarding bootstrapping your business. The main focus of this series is going to be strategies for the bootstrapper and how to do it successfully. For those who do not know, Bootstrapping is the act of starting a business with little to no external funding. Many people have gone through the process of bootstrapping and now run multi-million dollar companies like:

1. Printingforless.com
2. iClick
3. Aromasys
4. eBags.com

There are many more to list; too many to name her actually. So, with all of that out of the way, here is part 1 of 2 in my Bootstrapping Your Business course. The second part will be posted soon, so make sure you subscribe to the feed to be informed instantly when it’s posted.

Find the Right Product or Service

Before any bootstrapper starts his journey to success, he has to ask himself/herself a question:

How are you going to make the BIG money thats out there?

The internet and world alike are full of small time money making endeavors but a real bootstrapper will know how to pick his way through those and find the gem that will put himself/herself over the top in business. Can you come up with a million ideas for different business models, but can never decide which one you want to do? Well, its a harsh truth, but you will probably never become successful if the hardest thing for you to do is decide what to do.

A bootstrapper will only find out what business is successful by doing this: Talking to customers to discover what the industry REALLY NEEDS, and not what you WANT TO GIVE. Understanding this will put you at a huge advantage in generating a successful business.

Think about it like this, if you are selling a product that NOONE WANTS, what is the probability that your company will succeed? Very low. Now, think about KNOWING what the customers want, before you even step foot into the business. You will have one leg up on everyone competing against you because you will know the exact needs of the customers.

Once you come up with your business idea, you will want to contact as many potential clients as possible. Even before you have your product or service ready. What? That sounds crazy? NO! Its not crazy, its SMART! There is a difference. If you contact 50 people, and no one wants your product, the most you wasted was a little time, and some phone bills. Compare that to the 1,000+ you might have spent in creating everything needed for your company to start, and you will have saved yourself a big headache.

Immerse Yourself

This strategy is pretty simple and straight forward for anyone who knows anything about getting a business off the ground. In the beginning of your business, doing the many phone calls and emails might seem too time consuming, but they are all worth it. They might cost a little on the time side as well as a small phone bill, but they are all well worth doing.

You will also want to take the time to figure out what companies in your field are currently doing right and also doing wrong. Knowing what companies are doing right is self explanatory; you can follow in their footsteps. The process of finding out what they are doing wrong is where the real key is. By figuring out what their current clients do not like about their services, customer service, website look and user interaction, you can then capitalize on this and create your business model to become better then the competitors.

Trial and error is a big part of immersing yourself in your business. You need to learn how to run a successful business in order to make money, and in order to learn what will work and what will not, you need to work. If you want to know how well your meals are that you are preparing for the local hospital staff after their cafeteria closes, then you need to sell some of those meals to get the customers reactions. Hell, offer them their first meal for free. (Who knows, they might like it and since you already have given them a meal for free, they will be more willing to buy a second meal) If they do not like the first meal, well, you wasted 10-20 bucks on the meal.

Become the Expert Yourself

The title means what it says; become the expert yourself. In too many cases, people will fall victim to someone claiming to be the smartest person in business and life in general. You’ve seen all of the e-books floating around claiming to make you rich while sitting on your couch and so on. These are a reason why becoming the expert yourself is key in bootstrapping your business.

There are many people who will claim to be experts in their business field, but the majority of the time, these guys/girls are fresh out of high school or college and only follow google trends, or other trends that makes them believe they know what is hot. The beauty of being a bootstrapper is that you can look past what is hot now, and look forward to what WILL BE hot in the future and capitalize on it now before the competition gets too large.

Even with a marketing expert or business expert and all of the knowledge they claim they can sell you, or sell their time to give you, you can find online or locally for free. Doing research is what will put you ahead of the game and make you the expert in your field. I would never pay someone to give me a consultation unless I knew for sure they were millionaires, and even then I would be skeptical because what works for them might not work for you.

Perfect example of an expert who blows smoke up your ass: THE RICH JERK! We all know about his e-book and his asshole attitude, but what you might not know is that he is currently being sued by a lot of people. Not the people who bought his e-book though. Remember the cars and planes and mansions on his main page? The rightful owners of those images are suing him. He owns none of what he portrays. He just made people believe he was an expert and so many people bought it.

I am not saying to become and expert in the field of business you are going into and then blow smoke up other peoples asses about what you can do for them, but just learn it for yourself. You might spend more time on it, but never more money. Bootstrappers know why saving money and not spending it unless you have to is key.

Think in Black and White

When I say this, I do not mean to think racially so get that out of the way right now. Thinking in black in white is the basic idea that the world can be filled with a lot of hazy lines and gray areas, but thinking in black in white is a huge time saver. In the past strategies, I have mentioned some things that require some time and effort, so anything you can do to save time, is good.

Think in black and white and you will weed out a lot of the dumb ideas that get tossed at you from people who know nothing about what you are doing, or want to do. It will also help you realize the great ideas in the midst of those that are not as great. Myself, I get caught up in a lot of things when I am working, and I know I shouldn’t. I watch videos, I listen to music, read message boards, and so on, but as of right now, I am taking a Think Black and White Stance on everything.

If it doesn’t make money, then it probably isn’t worth it. Remember that when you are surfing myspace, or looking at dumb kids on youtube when you should be creating another website for your portfolio, or writing up your business plan. You will thank me later.

Distractions will come up in any part of your life, but learning how to balance your time and not be distracted by the middle area of the color spectrum will help you profit a lot sooner then you would if you were playing with your playstation 3 and drinking beer all day. Theres a time and place for those things, and if you cannot figure out the time, then time might just come back to haunt you. Its not really that complicated:

Do what you need to, when you need to. Do what you want to, when you have time.

The bootstrapper should know how to judge what is good for business and bad for business really quick. Its something you are either born with, or you work really hard to obtain. If you do not want it or do not think it is important, then do not worry about being a millionaire like the rest of us are doing!

* Please remember to stick around and subscribe to our feed to keep up to date on the sites articles and to make sure you don’t miss part two to this series which will touch on 4 more major points of Bootstrapping Your Business

 

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The one hit wonder: Why opening statements are so important

Written on Monday, May 5th, 2008 | Bootstrapping Tips, Entrepreneurship, How-To | 5 Comments

I design websites that increase a companies profit and branding.

The above sentence is the statement I give all of the people that I meet face to face and ask me the question “What do you do for a living?”. After that introduction, I instantly have them hooked and am followed up with a “How” or “Wow” in which I then proceed to explain in a bit of further detail some of the specifics of my blog design company. If you run a business, a sentence like this is priceless to your profitability.

When I say “one hit wonder” most will think of a musician who releases one great song but is never seen again. That is the complete opposite of what this introduction can do for you. This one sentence can make or break many deals. Time is money, and attention spans are increasingly small today so anything you can do to instantly grab the attention of the person across from you, your computer screen or promotional materials puts you far ahead of the pack.

Get your company and your opening statement reviewed

What I’d like to do is have anyone reading this to leave a comment letting me know what you do for a living and a possible one hit wonder sentence you use or could use and I will go through them and list everyone’s replies in a future article along with my thoughts on each; what the positives of the sentence is or what could be done differently.

 

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Customer Service is Key

Written on Monday, May 5th, 2008 | Bootstrapping Tips, Entrepreneurship | Be the first to comment

Everyone wants to be the “best company on line” and boast about their “100% customer satisfaction” but a very small amount can deliver on this statement. I myself have even fallen into the ‘bad business’ when it comes to customer service before but I have realized that customer service is key in growing your business past just the normal sized business it is now, into the “SUPER BUSINESS” you want it to be and know it can be.

You can have the most kick-ass company in the world, but without the right customer service, you will instantly gain a bad reputation for handling your customers and you will ultimately LOSE business deals that could have been worth millions. You will also lose out on joint ventures with other company’s who could compliment your business-model because they do not want to align themselves with a company with your bad reputation (because face it, with bad customer service you have a bad reputation).

I have come across some key ideas on how to keep your customer service high and bad business referrals low. Most of the things I am going to say should go without mention, but I know a lot of people struggle with these things as I did a year or so ago.

There are many ways to hold your customers in high regard without breaking your back to do it. The main thing that comes to my mind when working with clients is offering them a referral bonus for a certain amount of friends they refer to your business. This gives them a sense of importance and at the same time allows you to focus on other aspects of business besides searching for clients. With a design company, you could offer them a free design after X amount of referrals, or a 10% profit of all referrals they send. Giving them the option to choose which they would like is also a great way to have them ‘believe’ they are in control.

Another great concept for customer service is to do the following: Under commit and over achieve. The concept it simple when you think about it; Give them a week deadline and finish in 5 days. Always over-bid your time when working with clients. Do not feel as though you need to tell them “12 hours and I will have a 30 page website complete with flash! YAH!” That is a dumb move and I have done that numerous times in the past and it never works out. You want your customers to move on with their business after you have worked with them thinking that you did everything BETTER than expected, not WORSE than promised.

Giving your customers a form of contact with you via AIM, EMAIL, PHONE and so on is good but do not stick your neck out and tell them you are “always around” and “will help out whenever” and so on. This goes similar to the last paragraph because you again do not want to over-commit to something you can not keep your word on. Doing this (over-committing) will just hurt you and the things people say about you in the end. Tell them you will give them 8 hours a day while working on their project to be “on call” but never “whenever you need” because as I learned, you will have people IM you at 3am asking to change some simple text. This brings me to my next point as well.

Make sure you do not give your clients the feeling that you give an “unlimited amount of changes” when working on their project. Let them know that “within reason, you will help them to change things” or a “24 hour after completion policy” but never an “unlimited” statement. Doing this will cause a LOT of confusion 2 weeks after a job is done and you are working on a new project when you have Susy emailing you because she removed a paragraph and needs you to help get it back. Or, Jimmy is getting a project done and asks for 200 variations to designs because he doesn’t “like it in that area” and wants you to move a box 10 pixels down.

The things I have mentioned are mainly from an on line business stand-point similar to design companies, hosting companies, copy write companies and so on but can be applied to any business. You want your customers to always feel like a part of the team and that everything you promised you completed. This will bring in so many referrals you may never have to look for work again. Trust me, customer service IS KEY!

 

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Acting On Emotion Can Be HARMFUL For Business

Written on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 | Entrepreneurship | 5 Comments

In a recent comment on Bootstrapping Blog, Daniel mentions that it’s hard to distinguish emotional, hard-headed reactions to the naysayers and well thought out replies to them. I believe that may entrepreneur’s and bootstrappers have the same issues and I wanted to touch on some reasonings behind why acting on emotion can be harmful for business.

It’s like the saying goes: “Think before you talk”. This quote is true to business as well and I know from personal experience that opening your mouth and acting on impulse is something that causes more harm then good. Sure, it might feel good to just jump up and say exactly what is on your mind, or yell at the business you’re trying to trade with because they’re trying to give you the shaft, but holding your tongue and thinking things through yields a much better result.

Hard-headed decision making will cause failure

We’ve all been there, our friends or family members looking at us right in the face and saying that they think we’re crazy, or whatever plan we’ve come up with will fail. The immediate reaction of most humans is the hard-headed one. Immediately, we jump to the defensive and give the “I’ll prove them wrong” attitude the drivers seat in all of our decision making. By doing this, we’re losing track of our solid business sense, and in the process will end up making bad business decisions because we’re so angry that we’re not thinking straight.

Acting on emotions will cloud your judgment

If you’re sad about a recent comment a friend or family member gave you, or maybe you’re just a bit shaken up by the rude comments someone you recently talked to gave you about your recent business plan ideas, odds are you’ll be acting on emotion. Whether it’s sadness, hurt feelings or anger, acting on emotions will cloud your judgment and will result in your business being in a position you don’t really want, or need it to be.

For instance, if you’ve got tears in your eyes, how hard is it to see clearly across the room? Pretty hard I presume. Now, if you’re consumed with anger over a certain subject, how hard is it to come up with a complete sentence that makes sense? Also pretty hard. The same goes for business decision making.

Stubborn attitudes are roadblocks to success

When you come across a stubborn person, you either think one of two things; this person is really goal oriented and focused, or they are plain old rude and close minded. Most of the time people will perceive you as the latter and with good reason. When you’re possessing a stubborn attitude and you’re engaging in conversations with potential clients or other business owners, they will see these characteristics as selfish and will deem you an uncompromisable person. Being flexible is one of the best assets a bootstrapper has, and when the stubborn attitude comes into play, you lose all hope of bending at all, and your potential client will notice it and possibly move on to someone else who can better conform to their needs.

The follow up

In our next article, I’m going to cover the complete opposite of this article and give you some great reasons why acting on emotion can be GOOD for business. Until then, make sure you subscribe to our feed and stay up to date with what we’re doing here at Bootstrapping Blog. Leave comments if you have anything to add to this article as far as reasons why acting on emotions can be harmful for business.

 

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