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5 Tools Your Online Business Needs for a Super-Productive 2017

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You already know that running a business is hard work. The late hours, the managing of customers and employees, the brainstorming sessions for lead generation and handling cash flow: These are the reasons many businesses fail before they barely even start. And even some that escape the slammer would be better off dead. All these factors comprise the tale of business owners around the globe.

However, one of the defining attributes of a successful entrepreneur is the art of being relentless. If your own business did not do as well as you projected in 2016, then you should turn the page on that chapter and look forward to 2017 with fresh gusto and determination.

Thankfully, the year has only begun. So, now is the best time to evaluate what is working or not and invest more in the elements that do work. Technology, of course, looms large here: Owing to the new wave of stay-at-home jobs and the growing acceptance of remote teams by many businesses, the use of technology in running today’s businesses is at an all-time high.

Included in that technology are the apps available for just about every aspect of running a business. What comes to mind here are apps like Dropbox for file-hosting, iMessage for fast communication, Google Wallet for mobile payments, and many more apps, all of which have contributed toward making entrepreneurship easier and more effective for more and more people.If, in 2017, one of your goals is effective business management and optimal productivity, then the apps below are non-negotiable.

1. wunderlist

Have you ever been so overwhelmed with work that you begin to lose track of your priorities and can’t recall what tasks you have or haven’t completed? Wunderlist is one of the best task-management tools you will come across when you’re looking for a solution.

With Wunderlist, you can create an unlimited number of to-do lists and share them with anybody: clients, staff, investors, partners, etc. These lists can also sync automatically so that everyone you shared the list with can see in real time which tasks are complete, and who’s accountable.

For strictly business purposes, you can delegate tasks and divide them into mini-tasks; you can also assign durations for these tasks, add notes and set reminders. While the basic Wunderlist is free, Wunderlist for Business starts at $4.99 per user, per month.

2. templafy

The Templafy app was developed to help work teams create professional files without having to leave their office application. It will help you improve the workflow of your busy team. Using the Templafy app, for instance, will help you access your company content anytime, whether you are in the office or at home.

Considering that as many as two billion business documents are created daily worldwide, this solution is rather timely. Moreover, the app is fully integrated with all your office platforms, too. The Essential package goes for $3.76 user/month, while the whole setup goes for just under $375.

3. square

This app is the best for businesses that offer point-of-sale products or services. Such businesses include food trucks, beauty salons, grocery stores, etc. Users are provided with a small card reader to plug into their smartphones. This enables them to swipe their cards and process payments quickly and conveniently.

You won’t lose money investing in Square, either, because the app isn’t characterized by heavy monthly payments as are many other online payment systems. Instead, you’re billed only a tiny percentage of your profit whenever you make a sale. Square deducts 2.75 percent for every transaction, or 3.5 percent plus 15 cents for transactions entered manually.

4. quickBooks

This is arguably the world’s largest accounting software. QuickBooks gives you a full accounting experience. Its offerings range from tracking sales and expenses and dealing with financial statements to doing your taxes, handling payment of staff and vendors, and much more.

You can access this software on the go on your smartphone or tablet; and connect it to your bank account, PayPal and Square, or credit cards. You can also upload data from these sources without hassle. Pricing ranges from $10 to $24 for the first six months and $13 to $40 per month after that. Quickbooks also comes with a free 30-day trial period.

5. nimble

As a customer-relationship management tool, Nimble is a solid bet. CRMs are supposed to help you keep track of all customer-related events in your business, and Nimble does a really good job of this, especially if your business has a huge online presence — as every business should.

Nimble can automatically update your contacts’ information from their social media profiles. It also offers robust reporting and analytics and third-party app syncing, among many other features. Nimble further works on all platforms; pricing starts at $25 per license, with a 14-day free trial period.

Your Long Game Strategy and Your Short Game Strategy

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The results you want when you play the long game are made up of the results you create by playing the short game.

your long game

Over the long term, you need to nurture your dream clients, create new opportunities, and win those opportunities.Nurturing your dream clients by feeding them value-creating ideas is a play for your long game. It takes time to be known as a value creator, to generate trust, and to open relationships. You can’t cram thesis outcomes, that’s why you need professional persistence to play the long game.The social channels, or digital you, is a long game play. Most of what you do will take time to create the impact you need. Digital lends itself to campaigns, and campaigns are what you need to play the long game.

your short game

Creating new opportunities is the short game. Your long game can set up your short game. By nurturing and building relationships over time, you may make it easier to create opportunities.That said, you can’t wait to create those opportunities. To generate opportunities now, you are going to have to use an approach that produces better results faster, and that means referrals and the telephone. You can’t wait until your dream client raises their hand and asks for your help. You have to create the opportunities you need now by doing the work that produces those opportunities right now.The sales process is a long game. You should do everything you can to compress the time it takes to win deals because it benefits you, your company, and your dream client, especially when they need results now. But it’s important to remember that fast is slow, and slow is fast.You are selling to create a preference for you, your company, and your solution. If you are trying to play the short game by behaving as if your complex sale is a transaction, your short game will kill your long game. Playing the long game and selling for the lifetime value of the deal for you and your dream client is how you build clients for life.

play both your games together

You can’t play only the long game. You also can’t limit yourself to the short game. You generate the best results playing the long game and short game together with discipline and persistence.

10 Tips to Grow Your Business

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Are you ready to grow your business? Even if you have clear-cut objectives, use your answers to these 10 questions to help you fine-tune your efforts and grow your business successfully.By now, you’ve set a working direction for the year, established clear-cut objectives. Your first-iteration plan to reach them should be in place. This now seems like an ideal time to rethink the whole thing, doesn’t it? After all, one of the effects of internet time is that plans are subject to change just as soon as – or perhaps even before – they are written.

Along these lines of thinking, perhaps there are some items you missed. Maybe there are issues you didn’t have time to consider, or even things your mind touched on, but quickly passed over to deal with more urgent and pressing events. If you are off-cycle, and on the verge of a new period, you can use this exercise ex ante, rather than ex post. To help you stimulate your neural pathways and hopefully create an idea or two, I offer the following thoughts for your consideration. These “considerations” are not sequenced in order of importance. I think they are all important.

1. how far in the distance is your planning horizon?

​Most companies today plan 12-24 months out, calling anything beyond that “vision.” Internet time implies a shortened time frame for activities, but does that time-collapse extend to a shortened vision as well? How much have you thought about what you will accomplish this decade? What will be your company’s impact on the millennium? (OK – perhaps millennium is too far out. What about the century?) You may say you have more pressing fish to fry. Your investors would like to see increased returns sooner than that. While this might be true enough, taking the long view can inform the short view, leading to greater returns for years to come. What do you see when you take the long view?

2. how are your prospects’ needs going to change?

​How is their world affected by the dramatic increases in connectivity and the compression of time? What are you doing to understand their changing environment – their changing business issues? What are you doing to improve your customer’s business under these slippery conditions? To take it one step further, what do your customers’ customers want? While you are at it, you might stop to consider how your suppliers’ needs are changing? Could those changes open up new opportunities for you, or darkly portend changes downstream totally derailing your business model? What about your distributors? Is their world shifting? Can you both benefit?

3. who in your organization simply isn’t contributing?

​As they say, your mileage may vary from individual to individual but everyone has the responsibility to go some distance, to make something valuable happen. Not everyone will make good on that implied promise. The often observed 80-20 rule applies to your staff as well: 20% of your people will produce 80% of the value.

That leaves 80% producing only 20%. Do the math: the bottom 10% of your organization produces almost nothing.

Who isn’t making the cut? Should you be doing something about it? You may think it beneficent to provide that bottom percent with a paying job – don’t. It isn’t. The non-performers know who they are, but they won’t cut the cord on their own. Do what you can to help them reach the bar, but if after a while they don’t make it, set them free to find an environment in which they can succeed. Free up your own resources for people who make a difference.

4. are you creating solutions to today’s problems?

​What about next week’s, next year’s, or the problems of several years from now? How are you figuring out what those problems are going to be, way out there on the time horizon? Because the solution you sell today should certainly address today’s problems, but the solutions on today’s drawing board better not. Who in your organization is responsible for trend-tracking and forecasting?

Are you building scenarios for the future? What about prospect focus groups, or some other market-based feedback mechanism? Who is your resident futurist?

5. what do you believe about the business you are in?

For most people this is a strange question – we rarely spend time thinking about our own beliefs. The collection of beliefs you hold about your business – what the Germans call Weltanschauung – is decisive in most of the choices you make. How much risk to take. What’s risky and what isn’t. What projects and initiatives to undertake. What kind of resources you need and whom to hire.

Whom to partner with, or should you have partners at all?

Cooperate or compete. How to treat your team. What your customers should expect from you. How hard do you expect people to work?

All these decisions stem from your beliefs, and it will help you to make them explicit. Once you surface those beliefs, you can start to distinguish which are useful beliefs and which are not.

What is the benefit of a particular belief? Is this belief relevant to your current world, or is it a holdover from some past part of life? Then, when you are ready, you can experiment with new beliefs.

6. what are the obstacles to proceeding along your current path?

​Yes – you’ve set a plan in motion, and you are taking steps toward its achievement. But what roadblocks may rise up to stop you? What things could get in your way – foreseen and unforeseen? (I know, if it’s unforeseen how are you going to see it? Use your imagination, that’s the point of this exercise.)

Rank these obstacles in terms of likelihood, then rank them in terms of severity. Consider how you might deal with them if they come up. The value of this is a) like the Boy Scouts, you are better prepared; b) you may illuminate issues you have been trying to sweep under the rug; and c) you just may invent a whole new approach to get where you are going, and it just might be better than what you are doing now.

7. what, if you only knew how, would you be doing?

​What would you do now if you had additional resources – and should the lack of resources be stopping you? What, if you were sure it would be successful, would you jump on right away? What would you begin immediately, if your resources were limitless? (Yes, limitless can be relative.) What are you betting the future of your company on? What would you be willing to bet the future of your company on?

8. what are the most important issues, right now?

​Make separate lists for issues in your market and issues in your company.

Which of these issues are you dealing with, which ones are on the backburner, and which ones aren’t even in the kitchen? What are the processes you use to deal with these issues? Which issues are you ignoring, or hoping will go away?

What breakthroughs might be possible by addressing or resolving issues in the latter category? Where are you “resolving” issues by compromising? What possibilities are available by refusing to compromise, or by breaking your compromises? What old stories or old ways of looking at things make these compromises seem inevitable? Where could new technologies (either material, virtual, or societal) be applied to break these compromises?

9. what are you sacrificing to accomplish your current objectives?

​The definition of sacrifice is giving up something of value for something of even greater value. Did you intend to give up that thing of value, or is it a thoughtless byproduct of your other choices? Do not dismiss this lightly.

In your business there are a number of priority-conflicting critical success factors. These include profitability, product development, new sales, customer satisfaction, recruiting and retention, revenue growth, sufficient capital – which one gets the most attention? And in this operating cycle – will each area get the attention it needs? Even in a lower position of priority, these areas cannot be neglected. What isn’t getting done that needs to be done and how are you going to do it?

10. what is the purpose of your organization?

I don’t just mean increasing shareholder wealth that simply won’t inspire your people to greatness. What besides that – a given – is the purpose of your company. Purpose is not something you invent, it is there already – you have to uncover it. Why do you come to work each day? What do you hope to accomplish in the long run?

What about your executive team? Your individual employees – why do they come? What do they think they are doing each day? Do you know? Have you bothered to find out? You’ve just completed a planning cycle, and I’m asking what your purpose is! If you can’t answer this question easily, now would be a great time to start.

Bonus question for consideration: Are there any questions I’ve listed above that you do not have easy answers to, but wish you did?

10 Ways to Get New Customers

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Getting new customers for your business is hard work, but it’s necessary if you want to be successful. Here are 10 ways you can get the attention of new prospects and turn them into loyal customers.

Your business needs a steady influx of new prospects in order to be successful. Whether you’re in sales and looking for new customers or you’re a freelancer looking for new clients, you need to know how to attract prospects to your business. While the rise of the Internet over the last couple of decades has forever changed the way that business is done, the top professionals know that getting new prospects and retaining clients requires a mix of old and new techniques. If you’re looking for a leg up as you prospect for new customers, here are ten helpful tips to get you started.

make use of social media

The first step to acquiring new prospects is to use social media to your advantage. Creating Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts for your business is free and can exponentially increase the exposure of your company. More importantly, since these platforms have become ubiquitous, prospective clients may be turned off if your business doesn’t have a social media presence.

keep content fresh

Consistently updating your website and social media accounts with new content is a great way to stay relevant and show prospects that you’re actively engaged with your industry. Find articles, infographics or studies that are related to your business and post links on your social media accounts. Additionally, it can be helpful to maintain a weekly blog to showcase your own opinions and personality.

use testimonials

One of the best ways to attract new prospects is to show off your existing ones. If you know that you’ve provided a customer with a particularly positive experience, ask them for a testimonial. These testimonials don’t have to be elaborate or embellished. Simply providing proof that you can deliver on your promises will help to give faith to prospective customers.

network

Making use of the Internet can go a long way towards attracting new prospects, but personal connects are the lifeblood of business. Whenever possible, engage with prospects and clients face-to-face in order to give them a personalized experience. By making an effort to get to know everyone you work with individually, you can create a stronger bond, increasing the likelihood that they decide to do business with you.

expect resistance

It’s human nature to follow a set routine. As you prospect for new clients, don’t be surprised if you encounter resistance from people who feel set in their ways. If you sense that a prospective client is hesitant about doing business with you, listen to his or her concerns and do your best to address each of them accordingly.

get referrals from existing customers

One of the easiest techniques for finding new prospects is to make use of your existing customer pool. Talk to your clients and see if they know of anyone who could also benefit from your services or expertise. Remember that word of mouth can be incredibly powerful, and by having an existing client refer you to a prospect, you can greatly increase the likelihood that you land the new customer.

How Do You Know Which Social Network Is Best for You?

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You could have a presence on every social media site out there if you had unlimited time – but you don’t. Here’s how you can figure out which social media platforms are the best for your business.

Social media is big, right? There’s no denying that you could put a lot of time into trying to have a presence on all of the major networks but there’s a problem—you don’t have that kind of time. Instead of trying to have a presence on all of them, the better strategy is to pick one or two and concentrate your efforts there. The question becomes, which networks fit your business the best?

facebook

Facebook is, by far, the largest social network on the planet. With 1.04 billion daily active users,

Facebook would be the third largest country in the world if it had a physical presence.According to the company, about 84% of its users are outside of the United States and Canada but even if you aren’t a multinational company, there’s still plenty of reasons to use Facebook.

You might have heard that Facebook has become the network for the older audience. Although it’s true that teens are flocking toward other networks like Instagram and Snapchat, Facebook still has as its largest audience the 18-29 crowd.

If you can only pick one social network, it would be Facebook. Because Facebook has a strong user base of adults, the ones that have money to spend, spending time on Facebook is a no-brainer if you’re looking for an all-purpose social network. Even if your business caters largely to the teenage crowd, you still want to reach their parents.

Don’t listen to the people who say that Facebook is dying. The network continues to grow and shows no signs of letting up.

instagram

First, let’s set some context. Since Instagram is owned by Facebook, there are a lot of similarities between the platforms although loyal users say that they’re on Instagram because they dislike Facebook. In fact, if you use Facebook advertising, you now have the option to advertise on Instagram as well.

With 300 million users and still growing, Instagram is worth your time, especially if your business caters to the younger audience. 32% of teens identify Instagram as their most important social network but the platform is gaining popularity with adults as well.

Because Instagram doesn’t allow links, business pages, or other features specifically catered to businesses, your presence will feel very personal, even if you advertise. If you use Instagram, you’ll want somebody with an eye for photography because the platform is designed to be highly visual. If you’re an accounting firm, for example, Instagram probably isn’t going to be the network of choice for you. On the flipside, if you’re a clothing retailer, it’s perfect.

twitter

Twitter is widely known as an influencer’s network. You’ll find high profile people on Twitter. People with celebrity status, yes, but more important, well-respected people in their fields. If you’re an architect, you’re likely to find the leaders in the architecture industry on Twitter.

You probably don’t need to use it to advertise your retail store but as a well-known consultant in your field, you’ll probably find it worth your time.

periscope

Recently, Twitter’s COO, Adam Bain said that the company’s focus is largely on the live experience. Periscope is how the company will do that. Periscope allows you to create live broadcasts from your phone or tablet and broadcast them to all of your followers. Periscope is an up-and-comer in the social space but is rapidly gaining traction.

Don’t forget that statistics show that people like text but they love video and pictures. Any business can benefit from using Periscope. Broadcast from your factory, broadcast a weekly podcast-style session as a thought leader in your field, or just have some fun and give your business a human side.

snapchat

If you’re over 30, you probably don’t use Snapchat. In fact, more than 70% of Snapchat’s users are between the ages of 18 and 34. If you don’t know about Snapchat, users can send pictures to a list of followers but the image only lasts for a few seconds. Some major brands now have Snapchat including the NBA, McDonalds, Taco Bell, and many more. Brands often use Snapchat to set up an air of secrecy taking their followers behind the scenes of their business. There are probably better ways to use to your social media time than Snapchat but if your business caters to younger people and it’s fun and media friendly, (you have something interesting to share) Snapchat might present some opportunities.

pinterest

Yes, everything you have heard about Pinterest is true. It’s all about the ladies. Nearly 70% of its users are female and yes, you’ll find more about interior design than you will about fishing. If you run a bait and tackle business, Pinterest is probably a waste of your time but if you’re a fashion blog, or a graphic designer, Pinterest is a great way to establish authority in your market. If your business appeals to females, Pinterest is worth consideration especially since it’s users spend more time on it than Facebook.

linkedIn

You probably won’t use LinkedIn to advertise your next storewide sale but if you’re a consultant, content marketer, PR person, or own a business that is largely about connecting with others, you want to be on LinkedIn. Don’t think of LinkedIn as a way to advertise your business to customers; instead, use it to connect with other professionals in your industry and gain exposure.

For example, you might look for journalists who cover topics that fit your business. If you own a personal training business, you might look for sports journalists or if you’re a financial advisor, look for financial journalists. Or look for people who own businesses that would compliment yours. A personal trainer might look for people working in the sports equipment or apparel industry.

Networking is what often gives a small business the momentum to become larger. That’s the strength of LinkedIn.

bottom line

Whatever you do, the modern social media landscape requires a go-big-or-go-home mentality. You can’t dip your toe in the water; you have to fully immerse yourself to make it worth your while. For that reason, find one or two networks that fit your customer and concentrate your efforts. That’s the best way to find the success you’re looking for.

Gain a Competitive Advantage With Social Analysis Tools

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Social media is ever evolving. Starting out originally as a way for the Internet savvy to stay in touch online, over the years it has grown to infiltrate nearly every aspect of our lives. Now it is a fundamental part of marketing for brands both big and small. A properly maintained social media page can actually make or break your business!

This isn’t a surprising development. Back in the early days of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg was obsessed with his mission to convert his social platform into a viable business advertising tool. Today, using social media for brand engagement and awareness is so natural that we would never question its importance.

Keeping an Eye on the Other Guys

Social media isn’t only about keeping up with your customers–it is about keeping an eye on the competition. Other brands in your industry are launching their own social media campaigns every day, and they are reaping the results. You need to be aware of the progress, their campaigns, and especially their attempts to poach your business and profits.
Social pages make it easier to do this than in the past. Here are eight social analysis tools that let you analyze and learn from competitors’ social media tactics:

Facebook Page Analyzers

BuzzSumo–I can’t say enough about BuzzSumo and its list of both free and paid tools. One such feature is the Facebook Page Analysis. Use it to get a direct comparison between your Facebook page and that of your major competitors. Add a whole list of pages to analyze side by side, making it a quick and simple tool to use.
The graph shown in the “8 Free Tools To Analyze and Track Your Competition On Social Media” graphic near the top of this post is only one of the many views the BuzzSumo Facebook analysis feature provides. Another one of my favorites shows top engagement by time of day.
Use it to search for influencers by keyword, filter them by location, and then save them to lists. Find out which influencers are promoting which competitors. Spot trending stories about to go viral. Use searches by keyword to know what to create to best reach your target audience. This is by far the most popular social analysis tool used by serious content marketers.
Fanpage Karma–Don’t be fooled by the plans listed on the website, Fanpage Karma also offers a free version of its services. The free version is very basic, but it includes a few features that allow you to monitor your social media page and those of other brands.
You can monitor only one fan page at a time on the free plan; you can monitor unlimited pages with a paid subscription. From using the tool, here are some of my favorite insights:
  • Learn who your most engaged page supporters were over the last 30 days. Find out who spreads your competitors’ messages and brands to their followers.
  • Posts per day: When does a fan page usually post? What about the weekend?
  • Engagement per day: Which time slots work best for fans’ posts?
  • Ad cost: What would the cost have been to reach the same number of people with paid ads in other marketing channels as a fan page reached with its posts.
LikeAlyzer–I love this tool because it offers something a lot of tools don’t: real explanations. If your page is weak in an area, LikeAlyzer lays out exactly what that area is and how you can fix it. To compare your site to other pages, just have a fan page of a competitor’s brand analyzed.
The above graphic gives you an idea of how the tool works–showing which areas of a page are working and what needs to be worked on. The only downside is that you have to search each page separately, save the results, then manually go over them. There is no comparison feature built into the app.

Tools for Analyzing Twitter

Twitonomy–Easy to use, very detailed, and visually stunning, Twitonomy combines all the analytical data you need into one single, multi-widgeted report dashboard.
You can track both your competitors and influencers, so you always have your finger on the pulse of your industry’s social activity. Plus, you get actionable insights on everything from your followers’ interests and needs to your own growth over time.
Tweetdeck–Tweetdeck is free, and is still one of the best Twitter listening dashboards around. You can monitor a number of accounts, keywords, and locations through customized columns.
Power users tend to set up one column per major competitor to listen to fans and customers. If you add “-filter:links” to your search, you’ll listen to tweets that contain no links (these tend to be real people’s conversation).
If you are not a fan of using a desktop app, here is a list of tools you can browse to find an alternative.

Comprehensive Analysis Tools

Cyfe–This is a multipurpose marketing dashboard which is one of the most used social analysis tools. With Cyfe you can set up a separate dashboard to listen to your competitors using the following widgets and so many more:
  • Twitter search
  • Google Plus search
  • Google alerts

With Cyfe’s inexpensive paid version, you can add an unlimited number of widgets for multiple competitors and different search queries. Hopefully by now you’ve heard of Cyfe and set up your business or social dashboard with at least the five free widgets they provide. You can evenaggregate all your SEO data into one dashboard.
Klear–Part competitive analysis tool, part listening software, Klear is one of the more thorough of tools on this list. The app is geared to provide information on influencer marketing which is great for Twitter users in particular. Unlike many other free plans, Klear offers its primary features for you without having to upgrade.
Klear also has a nice list of free tools for you to utilize that are compatible with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Sadly, Klear has not moved on to platforms like Pinterest.
SEMRush–SEMrush recently added a Social Analysis Tools feature that allows you to compare your social media pages with the pages of your major competitors.
The best part: you can set up weekly reports to be emailed to you for you to track your progress versus your competitors’.

More Tools for Discovering Your Competitors

  1. WhoICompete: A free tool that finds competitors that rank for two or more of your target keywords.
  2. SiteGeek: You can easily locate additional sites your competitors own; analyze how they are using extra sites for marketing and beyond.
  3. Followerwonk: Find Twitter users who work for your competitors; limit your search to bios and search for your competitors’ brand name.
  4. SimilarWeb: Expand your list of competitors by finding “similar” sites to yours or your current competitors.

Are You Using Any of These Social Analysis Tools?

Do you have a social analysis tool that helps you track and analyze your competition on social media? We would love to hear about it! Let us know via a tweet to @GrowMap or comments on Facebook (just search for GrowMap) or discuss this post with us on Inbound or GrowthHackers. Send us your case studies, anecdotes, and tips and you may see them in a future post.

7 Essential Elements to a Winning Sales Proposal

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Every sales proposal represents an opportunity to grow your business. After spending years in business and sales, I have seen how the ability to put together a well-crafted proposal is crucial to achieving advancement for yourself and your business. Here are key elements to include:

let your audience know what to expect

People generally don’t like surprises, so a brief overview of your key points is a good start. Remember KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. It is your job to make it easy for the person reading the proposal to understand it. Don’t put them to the test of doing the work for you; they won’t.

include persuasive elements

The purpose of a proposal is to persuade your prospect to buy your product or service, to persuade them that your product or service is something they will benefit from and is something they should not live without. Develop materials that support your final objective of getting them to buy your product/service—include statistics, testimonials, references, or quotes.

recognize customer needs

​A winning proposal will overwhelmingly serve the customer. Whenever you write a proposal, ask yourself: What audience will be reading my proposal and who is the decision maker? What is important to my customer? What are the best ways to address the issues and present my solutions? Your proposal’s message and benefits should be orientated to the audience, company and industry it addresses.

tailor your proposal

​Now that you know your customer, make sure your proposal is tailored directly to that unique customer and their unique business goals. Also, always address your proposal to the correct individual(s). People love hearing/reading their names and it makes the experience that more personal.

create positive perceptions

Proposals that create positive perceptions of the product, service, and brand drive results. You have the unique ability to design your proposal for each customer to make your solution and company look positive. Taking time to examine competitors and demonstrate how your product/service is better can create a positive perception you will want your prospect to think about while making their decision.

include a call to action

​Make sure you specifically ask your prospect what you want them to do. Remind them that they can choose to purchase today or ask if you can move forward with invoicing. Asking your customer (in writing or vocally) personally by name can be the single greatest way to quickly move from prospect to customer. You can say, “Mr. Johnson, after reviewing this proposal would you please provide me with your approval to move forward by signing your name on the indicated areas?”

review and edit

​Your audience is more likely to respond affirmatively to your proposed solution (call to action) if the points you have made steer them in the right direction. Make sure you review your proposal and make any necessary edits so that your proposal includes sufficient reason(s) to take action. Ask yourself: Will the contents of this proposal create the desired action that I am asking for?By taking into account the above elements before writing your next proposal you have already improved your chances of winning the business!

Are You Missing Out on E-Commerce Sales Because of Bad Website Filtering and Sorting?

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E-commerce websites are constantly being tweaked and optimized to allow for better user experiences, yet one of the most important features is often overlooked—we’re talking about filter and sorting capabilities. And if your website isn’t accounting for better filtering and sorting, it’s likely that you’re missing out on sales.

e-commerce: don’t overlook filter and sort capabilities

On any given e-commerce website, there are generally two different ways a user can find a product: browse or search. Browsing is the equivalent of going into a store and meandering around until you find something that interests you. This is what you do when you’re out shopping with friends. In terms of e-commerce, browsing looks like scrolling through inventory and clicking on listings that capture your attention.Then there’s searching. Using our in-store example, this involves entering a store, identifying the right aisle, and strategically narrowing your focus until you find the exact product you came to purchase. In e-commerce, searching is supposed to be even easier–that is, if you use filters and sorting tools.“When done right, filters enable users to narrow down a website’s selection of thousands of products to only those few items that match their particular needs and interests,” writes Christian Holst, co-founder of Baymard Institute. Filters are those neat dropdown menus that let you sort based on price, style, size, etc.“Yet, despite it being a central aspect of the user’s e-commerce product browsing, most websites offer a lackluster filtering experience,” Holst continues. In fact, he points to the fact that only 16 percent of major e-commerce websites offer a “reasonably good” filtering experience.Considering that filtering is so important, this is an alarming statistic. And as a small e-commerce business owner, your website’s filtering experience more than likely doesn’t fall under the label “reasonably good.” This is a problem that should not be overlooked.

3 tips for better filter and sort functionality

The good news is that there are ways to improve the filter and sort functionality of your site. Here are some helpful tips:

1. give users viewing/sorting options

​Today’s customers like options. But if you’re going to offer a wide selection of products, you must be willing to present them in an organized manner. One of the biggest things to keep in mind is that shoppers can only buy what they can find. As such, you need to offer as many different filtering options as you can.For starters, make sure you’re offering multiple display options. This means both a grid and a list view. If you’re unfamiliar with the difference between the two, check out this page from Home City for an example of how each one looks. As you can see, the grid view presents four thumbnails across, whereas the list view presents the thumbnails in a vertical fashion.Secondly, you need to include basic filters. These may change depending on the industry you’re in and the products you sell. For an example, let’s look at this product’s page from Kohl’s. It gives customers the ability to sort based on size, category, accessories, trends, and featured brands. Then there are subcategories under each of these. That’s what you call offering plenty of options!

2. enhance the search bar

​The search bar is very important, yet often neglected. While filters are important, sometimes a customer just wants to use a search bar because it’s the quickest option. There are a lot of good examples of effective search bars, but FootSmart has one of the best. The search bar lets you input any brand name, keyword, or item number and instantly see results. Then, once the results are populated, the user can further filter based on other options.If you offer filtering options without a search bar, you only have half of the equation. Make sure your filtering options and search bar are working in tandem with one another for a lasting user experience.

3. provide category-specific options

​As previously mentioned in the Kohl’s example, it’s important to include category-specific options. These are filters that apply to a specific product. For example, TV categories would include things like refresh rate, screen size, and picture, whereas a shoe category would include things like material, sole color, and season.Unfortunately, 42 percent of websites don’t account for category-specific filters. This is unfortunate, since all it takes is a little more work to include these subcategories.

putting it all together

Filtering is very important to your e-commerce website’s overall user experience. If you want customers to enjoy their shopping experience, make more purchases, and return in the future, then you need to invest in improving the filter and sort capabilities on your site. Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be better off than even some of the biggest e-commerce players on the Internet.

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SEO Tips to Make Your Recruitment Stand Out From the Crowd

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The latest in a long line of buzzwords in the world of recruiting new employees is “recruitment marketing.” This is a fusion of career recruitment and marketing elements commonly employed in search engine optimisation.

To some people recruitment and marketing sound like two completely different areas, but the fact is marketing experts are increasingly collaborating with recruitment professionals to develop ads for online job boards that have a new and very different impact.

make keywords count

Research has suggested that the same keywords and phrases that are popular in search engine searches should also be used in job ads. When a job seeker arrives at a job board, chances are they have done a search for the job they are looking for via Google first. To ensure your job ad reaches the right audience you have to employ this thinking into your ads so the search engines index them and they appear at the top, or very near, on the results pages.

So, if you have a fancy job title, it’s potentially going to struggle to work if your target audience is searching for a more common phrase.

leave it to the pros

Online jobs boards are saturated with information that can be both helpful and detrimental. Yes, there are a lot of job seekers out there looking for their dream role, but think of how many companies are churning out job ads that all sound the same.

A marketing expert will analyse the content of the ads and create something that really stands out from the crowd and includes those all-important search terms. This can help enormously when you have to fill a vacancy quickly or one that has been languishing for weeks with very little interest.

make the most of your company brand

It’s human nature that a job seeker will see a position they are interested in and then do a bit of homework on the company offering the job. This becomes even more important if it’s a company they have never heard of before and want to check out its credentials.

You should make full use of social media to make sure your brand is out there, and create a strong online and social media presence. If your company’s online presence currently consists of a couple of lines in an online local business directory, then your chance of attracting applications from the top talent are slim.

how marketing is best used in recruitment

Marketing is essentially a process which is employed to determine which types of message will most successfully motivate specific target audiences to act in certain ways. When you think about it, online recruitment works in much the same way, using terms that will appeal to readers and motivate them to apply.

For example, “Cloud Systems Administrator in Stockport” will attract job applicants, whereas “Head of Information, Systems, Cloud and Infrastructure” won’t because it’s not a term people would use when searching.

Recruitment marketing takes this to the next level by utilising marketing tactics to target specific audiences rather than the general public. Once an audience of specific job seekers is identified, the search terms people are most likely to use can be determined and killer job ads created. The content contained in the ads should rank high on the search engines, and also on searches within the jobs board themselves.

If early figures are anything to go by, combining SEO with your job ads could well be a match made in recruitment heaven.

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Time Out: How To Make More Time For Yourself

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streamline your email

You can accomplish more and thus save yourself time if when you work you actually are more productive. In the new book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, author Cal Newport suggests sharpening your ability to do productive work rather than wasting your time on busy work.

One major time suck is email. You might have noticed that some email threads seem to go back and forth needlessly–a classic example is when participants are deciding when to meet. Instead of the back and forth, Newport suggests offering three possible times and saying that someone’s choice will serve as their confirmation.

I also love his method for responding to emails which can reduce the number of incoming emails further. If you are part of a group that needlessly uses Reply All, stop it. Send an email to the group leader or participants and ask that this practice stop. A simple, “There’s no need to reply all to this email,” should stop it.

It’s up to you to define what you think is needless otherwise people are sucking your time away from you.

streamline your work

What do you find yourself doing more than once? For example, I’m often asked to provide my bio in different word counts. After the second request, I realized that I needed to have multiple bios: a 25-word, a 50-word, a 100-word, and a longer bio. I created a folder that has all the different bios in it with bio titles searchable by word count for quick access.

Proposals and their contents can also be streamlined. There is certain information that will be regularly inserted into every proposal, even if you are trying to customize your proposals. This regularly used information is what you should create and keep in a separate file and have readily available.

You should also create a template to use for creating proposals. That way you aren’t needlessly formatting documents.

Even more important is thinking about your work actions. Why have files buried several layers deep in your filing hierarchy? Figure out how to create fewer clicks to retrieve your most-used files. You could move those folders to your computer desktop. Just make sure your computer desktop doesn’t become a mess.

Who doesn’t want more relaxation time and less busy work? Only you can make the right choices so you get to relax.

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