Eccentric WAHM Bloggers - Christa - Noel - Val » Christa Jensen http://eccentricwahm.com Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:23:47 +0000 en hourly 1 Managing Moments of Truths http://eccentricwahm.com/wahm-news/managing-moments-of-truths/ http://eccentricwahm.com/wahm-news/managing-moments-of-truths/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:00:42 +0000 Christa Jensen http://eccentricwahm.com/?p=2075 bring the truth to light

The biggest challenge for any business is how to convince potential clients or customers that they are getting value for their money. Parting with one’s hard earned dollars is a value judgment that can be conditioned by the right strategy. How to convince a prospective customer that what they are buying is the best in the market or what they are getting is only the best is the single biggest challenge for any business marketing strategy. In every business...

]]> bring the truth to lightThe biggest challenge for any business is how to convince potential clients or customers that they are getting value for their money. Parting with one’s hard earned dollars is a value judgment that can be conditioned by the right strategy. How to convince a prospective customer that what they are buying is the best in the market or what they are getting is only the best is the single biggest challenge for any business marketing strategy.

In every business process there is what is referred to as ‘Moment of Truths.’ These are situations when clients or customers offer judgment over a business process. If you are able to manage customer expectations properly during these ‘moments,’ it will provide an excellent opportunity to ensure that the business gets its sale.

Consider these ‘Moments of Truth’ in any Business Process:

Available Parking Space. This is the first moment of truth for every customer. Remember the time when you just drove away after going around the parking lot more than ten times? If you do, then you have just been in one moment of truth. Are there enough parking space or would I waste time going around the parking area looking for an available slot? Most of the time, if your customer could not get an available parking space, they drive away no matter how good your products or services are. Amidst space and resource limitations, find ways to ensure that this moment of truth is not ignored.

Courteous Service. This is very critical. Your guests come in to a shop because they need something. Do not ruin this experience by discourteous and unresponsive staff. Let this moment be your customers’ moment. Let them enjoy the moment by making them feel very important. From the moment they first set foot, say in a catalog printing company, your customers should already feel that the made the right decision. Always remember that the moment a person enters your shop, you have done accomplished 50% of your objective, the other 50% is to convince them to buy the product or service.

Variety of Service or Products. Your menu, if you like, should offer variety. The experience should be complete. Anticipate what your customers would look for and be sure that you have something to offer. Again, if a customer wants custom catalog printing, you must be able to provide options on size, color, paper texture, etc. It has to be complete and more importantly, available.

Quality of Service or Product. The most important of all ‘moments of truth’ is the quality of the service or product. There should be no question about it. All the other moments of truth will fail if the quality of service or product does not meet your customers’ expectations.

Promptness of Service. Another ‘moment of truth’ is how efficient your services are. Most guests have limited patience when it comes to waiting for their orders. While you may have them committed already, chances are they would not be coming back to your business if there are significant delays.

These moments of truths define whether you can cash in on your customers’ presence. Sit with your team and identify more moments of truths. The more you identify, the better. Leave no stones unturned and be thorough – from your parking space to your service, to the cleanliness of your shops. Do not think that these things are trivial, because they are definitely not. To a customer, all these things matter. After identifying them, find ways to make that moment of truth an unforgettable moment.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

For more information, you can visit this page on catalog printing and custom catalog printing

Creative Commons License photo credit: gurdonark

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]]> http://eccentricwahm.com/wahm-news/managing-moments-of-truths/feed/ 1 Affiliate Marketing: Avoiding The Scams http://eccentricwahm.com/articles/affiliate-marketing-avoiding-the-scams/ http://eccentricwahm.com/articles/affiliate-marketing-avoiding-the-scams/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:00:27 +0000 Christa Jensen http://eccentricwahm.com/?p=2072 199 - Danger sign

Affiliate Marketers make their money by selling other people's products or services. These affiliate programs allow them to earn commissions based on the sales generated through the affiliate marketer's special link. In some cases, they can earn money by getting people to sign-up to a special list or offer that the affiliate company provides. These programs can be good income generators, provided you put in the work necessary to make your commissions. There are...

]]> 199 - Danger signAffiliate Marketers make their money by selling other people’s products or services. These affiliate programs allow them to earn commissions based on the sales generated through the affiliate marketer’s special link. In some cases, they can earn money by getting people to sign-up to a special list or offer that the affiliate company provides.

These programs can be good income generators, provided you put in the work necessary to make your commissions. There are numerous affiliate marketing opportunities out there for anyone to choose from and each one offers differing monetary rewards for the commissions. The problem is, that not all of those opportunities are legitimate ones. Yes, the annoying scammers have gotten to this part of the internet too.

So, as an aspiring Affiliate Marketer, what can you do to avoid falling into one of these Affiliate Marketing traps? Here are some things to look for when deciding on one of those opportunities:

Website

Take a thorough look at the website of the product, that you’re considering taking on in your affiliate marketing business. The website should contain a decent amount of information about the product you would be taking on. It should also provide good information on the affiliate program that they are offering. Make sure that the site has contact information in case you need to ask questions or get support.

Any website, offering affiliate programs, that have no contact information is not worth your time. If you can’t get a hold of them when you need to, how can you be sure you’ll get the money due to you. Also, if the site has more information on how much money you could make from their program and less on what the product is and does; then it’s not likely the program is legit.

Research

As with anything on the internet, you should be doing your research to determine if the program is on the up and up. Look to see if anyone else might have used that program and find out what their experience was. Also, look for information about the company, if any is available, to see if they seem legit.

Don’t Pay

Legitimate programs will not charge you to sign-up with them to sell their products. There are some cases where you may be paying for other items, like their magazines, special software or some other type of service. But, as far as signing up to simply market and sell their items, there shouldn’t be any charge for you.

Affiliate Marketing is a legitimate business opportunity. You’ll just have to sort through a lot of programs to make sure you’re signing up for one that won’t scam you. Take your time and thoroughly research the programs that interest you and you should be able to avoid some scams that could cost you a lot of money in the long run.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Nell Taliercio has been working at home full time since 2004. She’s worked as a telecommuter, virtual assistant and affiliate marketer. In 5 years she’s discovered many secrets to finding legitimate work at home jobs and securing them. You can find work at home job information and tips at: www.justonlinejobs.com

Creative Commons License photo credit: MrB-MMX

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]]> http://eccentricwahm.com/articles/affiliate-marketing-avoiding-the-scams/feed/ 0 How to Find Solutions Instead of Giving Up http://eccentricwahm.com/wahm-life/how-to-find-solutions-instead-of-giving-up/ http://eccentricwahm.com/wahm-life/how-to-find-solutions-instead-of-giving-up/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000 Christa Jensen http://eccentricwahm.com/?p=2023
I knew summer was going to get busy but was unprepared for how busy it would actually get for me. My web design business hasn't been hit, I have set hours for work AND that is the only thing I consider work. My blogging has taken a huge hit and I am trying at this very moment to remedy that. I spoke up on my fear to the lovely women who blog here with me cause I noticed we ALL were struggling with it and in sheer panic mode of thinking I can't fill in, they can't...

]]> I knew summer was going to get busy but was unprepared for how busy it would actually get for me. My web design business hasn’t been hit, I have set hours for work AND that is the only thing I consider work. My blogging has taken a huge hit and I am trying at this very moment to remedy that.

I spoke up on my fear to the lovely women who blog here with me cause I noticed we ALL were struggling with it and in sheer panic mode of thinking I can’t fill in, they can’t fill in WHAT to DO!

Blog less….that was the simple solution.

I wanted to instantly freak out and run from the stress of seeing NO posts in a week. I actually broke out into a cold sweat at the thought of giving up because I thought this site had to have daily posts ALL the time to keep readers and gain more subscribers.

I didn’t see past my panic, I couldn’t grasp a solution and actually thought about selling MY FAVORITE blog. That quickly passed as I realized with the help of the other bloggers here that NO we can cut back the posts because this blog is worth keeping, worth growing and it’s potential is HUGE.

We work from home and do adjust our schedules to fit our needs…this blog is part of WHAT WE DO!

Would love to hear your stories of solutions when you faced adversity in your business, blogging etc! What did you do to overcome your obstacles?

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]]> http://eccentricwahm.com/wahm-life/how-to-find-solutions-instead-of-giving-up/feed/ 0 Smart Women Serve It Up The Right Way http://eccentricwahm.com/articles/smart-women-serve-it-up-the-right-way/ http://eccentricwahm.com/articles/smart-women-serve-it-up-the-right-way/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:00:38 +0000 Christa Jensen http://eccentricwahm.com/?p=2052
Have you ever heard the phrase opposites attract? This can be true of my husband Greg and I when we go out for dinner together. I like fine dining with beautiful menus, fine wine and those heavy linen napkins. Greg prefers more casual dining where someone takes your order or you place your order at the counter and sit wherever you can find a spot. We both enjoy two different kinds of experiences. This got me thinking about how Smart Women need to offer their...

]]> Have you ever heard the phrase opposites attract? This can be true of my husband Greg and I when we go out for dinner together. I like fine dining with beautiful menus, fine wine and those heavy linen napkins. Greg prefers more casual dining where someone takes your order or you place your order at the counter and sit wherever you can find a spot. We both enjoy two different kinds of experiences. This got me thinking about how Smart Women need to offer their ideal client what they want and prefer if they have a desire to grow their business.

When I gave birth to Smart Women Smart Solutions 5 years ago, I offered some programs that I loved—notice the “I” here. I offered group coaching programs that were ideal for me in terms of the time and day of week, however I found out t hat this was not the optimum time for my ideal clients. I had to change my way of thinking and design programs that appealed to my client. This is a trap we can fall into as entrepreneurs. Too many times, we offer services to clients that appeal to us—we love them so everyone else will too, right? You are in business for yourself; however the key to success is to offer services that appeal to your ideal client so that when they learn about them, they immediately say, “Yes!”

There are 3 things you can do right away to make sure that what you offer is exactly what your ideal client wants:

1. What do you serve? Using the example of eating out, is it All-American, Italian, French, Greek? What type of business do you have? Are you a coach, speaker, real estate agent, attorney, pet store owner? Are you serving what people want and need? One quick tip is to Google your business idea and see what comes up. If multiple pages come up, then you may have a winner on your hands. If you get no results, you may need to re-think your idea. Example: If you Google “mani/pedi for dogs,” you’ll see that there is a very small market for this. It’s not a service that enough people are looking for to build a successful business.

2. How do you serve it up? Is it eat-in or take-out? Is it buffet-style? Is it formal or casual? How do you serve your client the product or service? In an office? By phone? Privately, one to one? Group programs? This is key to growing a business with happy clients who will send referrals your way. I offer my coaching services for women in several ways to make sure that I have different choices for different women’s needs.

3. Your comments, please – Do you ever notice the manage r walking around the restaurant asking if you have everything you need? Or maybe they bring you a comment card at the end of the meal asking for your feedback? The best way to find out what your ideal client wants is to ask them. I send out surveys to my existing clients and potential clients at least one time per year and sometimes two. I learned a long time ago not to live in a vacuum when it comes to marketing. Don’t sit in your office all alone trying to figure out what your ideal client wants and needs. You can ask them and they will be happy to tell you! It’s so easy to do online. I use a company called SurveyMonkey.com and there are several others as well.

You may be wondering how Greg and I ever go out to dinner since we both have different ideas about the dining experience we each want. Guess what? We take turns. Sometimes we go more formal and sometimes we order at the counter and grab a table for two. “Taking turns” won’t work with your ideal client. They want it their way. Take some time to look at your own programs and services. Find out what your ideal client wants and serve it to them in a way that will make them happy. You’ll have them coming back again and again.

Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you.

*****
© 2010 Joy Chudacoff

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Joy Chudacoff, ICF, PCC, is the founder of Smart Women Smart Solutions(tm), a Professional Certified Coach to 1000’s of women, Motivational Speaker, and Entrepreneur. She publishes a weekly buzz generating ezine, Reflections On Life and Business for Women Entrepreneurs. If you’re ready take your coaching business to the next level, get your FREE Tips, FREE Report, FREE MP3 at Smart Women Smart Solutions Coaching .

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