The Challenge of Time Management: 7 Tips To Help…

time management

Time Management…

In order to be efficient in your business, mastering time management is essential. It can be difficult to establish and follow good time management skills, but by creating few simple habits, you can conquer this challenge and become more proficient and more profitable in your business.

Of course, sometimes disruptions arise that can’t be avoided. But following the tips listed below should help you gain control of your time:

1. Keep Track of Your Time:

Do you know how your time is currently being used? If you don’t know how you are managing your time now, you won’t know where and how to better utilize it. Track your time for about 2 weeks, keeping to your usual routine, including everything you do in your day from start to finish. Read more

Are Your Website Visitors Engaged?

website visitor engagement

Engaging you website visitors.

No, we’re not talking about tying the knot here. Is your website pulling your visitors in and providing them with reasons to explore?

Pretty websites are easy to create. But if the site isn’t engaging visitors, well… is it really worth anything or is it just wasting everyone’s time?

The main purpose for any website that is being used to build and promote a business is to draw visitors in and propel them to interact with the site. Without engagement, your visitors will leave and never come back. You need to give clients and prospects a reason to come back to your site, and the only way to do that is to encourage engagement.

So just how do you get your website visitors to do what you want while they are on your site? By creating a site that encourages engagement. Without engagement, your visitors won’t buy from your site, they won’t share your information about products and services, they won’t sign up for your newsletter, and they certainly won’t come back.

There are lots of ways to increase visitor engagement.

Design and appearance of your site is one important factor. If your site is muddled or too busy, the visual effect will turn visitors away. Clean design is important to make the site welcoming to your clients and prospects.

Be sure to watch your wording. This applies not only to your content, but also to any sign up forms you may have on your site. After all, the best engagement is to capture the names and email addresses of your visitors.  When developing your opt-in’s test the wording. Also, be sure to remove any questions that can be answered ‘no’. Once ‘no’ pops into a prospects head, they will disengage, i.e., leave your website – the exact opposite of your intent.

Another thing you can include on your site to encourage and increase engagement is a blog. Providing interaction with prospects and clients on a regular basis through a blog gives them a reason not only to continue to come back to your site, but also to share your information with their circle of influence. Make sure your blog is relevant, current, and informative.

If your business is such that it necessitates more immediate interaction with clients’ and prospects’ questions, you might want to consider adding live chat. Several platform options exist, and this could give your company an edge over your competition. If live chat isn’t really an option for your business, be sure to give excellent customer service. There is no substitute for great customer service.

And what about video? This means of communication is becoming more and more popular as it engages visitors on a more personal level. Even if you, like most of us, are a bit camera shy and uncomfortable in front of a webcam, consider doing a number of short videos to promote your business and let people get to know you and your team a bit better. And, trust me. I speak from personal experience – it does get easier the more you do it!

Surveys are also a good tool to use for visitor engagement. People love to be asked their opinion, especially if they can respond in a non-threatening environment.  When creating your survey, be sure to include some open-ended questions that will obtain more information than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. Consider offering an incentive to your visitors for completing the survey to attain more participants.

Another technique that is gaining popularity is the exit poll. Similar to a survey, they typically ask only one question when a visitor is leaving a website. The most effective exit polls focus on objections that a visitor may have, such as ‘What prevented you from purchasing from us today?’

So what’s the bottom line?

By now you are starting to understand just why visitor engagement is so critical to growing your business online. A boring site that does little or nothing to engage visitors and encourage them to interact is actually detrimental to your bottom line. And, as you have read, it doesn’t really take too much effort to implement techniques and strategies that will improve your visitor engagement. Using the tools described in this article – and there are many others out there as well – will enrich your visitors’ experience, converting more browsers into clients.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

It’s Déjà vu all over again!

oil boom and bust cycle

So says Yogi Berra!

Yogi Berra, a former American baseball player and member of Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame, is well known for his many malapropisms. Even those of us who are too young to have heard them when they first left his lips are familiar with many of these memorable phrases.

And this one is certainly applicable to the cycles of boom and bust in the oil industry.

People are kind of funny; we seem to have a very limited memory of some less-than-pleasant events in our lives, which is probably a good thing. When times are good and things are moving forward, we all get caught up in the momentum and roll with it, never knowing how long it will last but enjoying the ride.

But just like every industry, there comes a time when things cool down. Basic economic theory teaches us that economies can’t exist in an environment of uncontrolled and unending growth. Every economy and every industry will go through a cycle of contraction and control.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. It gives those involved in the industry a chance to catch their breath, regroup and plan for the future.

Those who fear the contraction the most tend to be those who are the least prepared. These are the folks who have overextended themselves and have lost equity, and thus, value, in their business.

Others, who have grown in a more measured fashion are better prepared to weather the storm and come out of it in a position to benefit from the deals that will inevitably appear.

So how do you make sure that you are a survivor? And how do you position yourself to take advantage of the surfacing opportunities?

The following 5 tips will help guide you in the right direction.

1. Take stock of what you have. This includes people, materials, equipment, etc. Are you utilizing all of your assets to their full extent?

2. Continue networking with others in your field. Perhaps there are some items that are bogging you down in your business that you can trade or sell to others who generally need the same items as you do.

3. Do NOT stop marketing. Many businesses fall into the unfortunate trap of pulling back on their marketing efforts when things get tough. Marketing is seen to be an ‘optional’ spending area. But if you stop marketing, you disappear from view and have to pick up from ground zero when the economy improves. Rather than stopping marketing, make more judicious choices, ensuring that you are getting the most out of your reduced marketing budget. This is likely a good time to look at hiring the expertise of a marketing professional who can point you in the right direction.

4. Look for opportunities to create allegiances with others who provide complementary services. Word of mouth is, and always will be, a huge factor in obtaining business, since there is already a built-in element of trust. Strong allegiances can help ensure that you are getting business that would likely otherwise go to someone else.

5. Stop listening to every analyst and economist offering their two-cents worth on what’s happening. Or at least, take it with a grain of salt. Just a couple of months ago, scores of economists were forecasting a price per barrel free-fall to less than $30 per barrel; in some cases, even as low as $20 per barrel. Well, that didn’t happen, did it? And although we would all like a higher price than we are currently dealing with, relatively stability in the range of $50 is better than what they forecast.

We also all know that it is just a matter of time until this correction has run its course, the political obstacles are behind us, and the industry once again is sailing along. While we are waiting for this to happen, hold your head high, evaluate where you have been and where you want to be when the dust settles, and make sure you are marketing your business so you will be in a position to capitalize on the opportunities when they arise!

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

This article was published in the April 2015 issue of the Oilfield Pulse Newsletter.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Our New Website Is Now Live!

Agapi website

“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”.

 

New website photo

You may be familiar with that quote from John Lennon, and  many times it has proven to be true.

We had great plans for the launch of our new (and improved) website.  We had a schedule to follow and an intent to do a build up to the announcement.

Alas, you can never be sure things will go exactly according to plan when you are dealing with technology!

But, a week later than planned, we are pleased to announce that our new site is live, a bit obvious, since you are reading this post on the new site.  Perhaps a bit anti-climatic, but we’re happy with the result.  And we hope you will be too.

Our new style allows us to give you even more information that was on the original site, but with less pages to navigate.  We like the look of the new site: more white space, better text and graphic, more interactive, etc.  And we are hoping you will agree.

So take the site for a test drive.  And please be sure to let us know what you think.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Top Ten Marketing Mistakes: No. 1

video series

Well, we’re here!

The countdown on our video series The Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make has come to its completion with today’s video, Mistake No. 1.

As a business owner, are you guilty of trying to do everything yourself? Do you feel like you are juggling too many things and, as a result, some areas are performing less than expected?

Marketing Mistake Number 1 will identify for you what happens when the small business owner neglects to understand how critical the commitment of specific resources can be when attempting to execute a marketing program.

We hope that you have enjoyed this series and have realized some value from watching it. If you have friends, relatives, or colleagues who might also appreciate the tips presented, please be sure to share the information with them. We are already preparing our next series, so be sure to stay tuned and check back with us! Thanks for watching our series.

For now, watch this video to see the Number 1 Marketing Mistake.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Top Ten Marketing Mistakes: No. 2

video series

Budgets.

We continue our countdown on the Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make with Mistake No. 2, which speaks to the issue of budgets.

This video will explain why it is so important to establish – and follow – a realistic marketing budget. Expenses can easily get out of hand if a business owner fails to do this! On the flip side, the failure to budget an appropriate amount of time, money and resources can cause the failure of a campaign, wasting the investment and creating the false belief that the campaign itself was the cause of the failure.

Watch this video and learn just how important it is to avoid making this mistake in your marketing efforts.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Top Ten Marketing Mistakes: No. 4

video series

What does a timeline mean to you?

Is it something that you embrace or do you think it confines you and your creativity? Are you using timelines when you engage in your marketing or do you ‘fly by the seat of your pants’?

Our Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make video series presents Mistake number 4 today, which talks about developing and following timelines. Much like everything else you do in business, your marketing should also be managed with appropriate timelines.

Watch this video and you will learn just how important it is to create and follow timelines for your marketing campaigns, and how failing to do so can impact negatively on your successes and failures.

 

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Top Ten Marketing Mistakes: No. 5

video series

What do you know about corporate branding?

Is it something you are paying attention to in your business or is it something that only the ‘big guys’ engage in?

We continue our video series “The Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Small Business Make” with Mistake number 5 today, which discusses the importance of a consistent brand.

What this video and find out how important it is to create and maintain a brand for your business, and how avoiding this mistake can help you achieve better marketing results.

 Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube:

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

 

How to Effectively Communicate With Your Current Customers

effective communication

Communicating effectively!

Effective communication is the cornerstone of ANY relationship, whether personal or professional. That means effective communication with your customers is paramount if you want to be successful. Loyal customers come from building a real relationship with them, not just providing them with one-offs. How do you create that relationship? By providing them with something of value, which will prove to be profitable for you in the long run.

The way to accomplish this is pretty straightforward.

First of all you need to know the value each of your clients. This may sound a bit harsh, but to be successful, you must determine which of your clients provides you with the best return on your investment in order to prioritize your marketing and communications programs with all your clients.

Your customers will generally your customers will fall into one of three categories; high value, medium value, or low value.

Your high value customers are most likely your repeat clients, and will generate the most revenue for you. These are the customers you want to keep in regular contact with, and provide them with some extra value from time to time, in order to keep them as lifetime customers. Medium value customers are often those clients who are currently a very profitable customer who, with proper care and communication, could very likely become a high value client.

The low value customers are those customers who offer very little in the way of profitability to your company. You can lower your costs of doing business with them by automating much of your communication with them as possible. At some point, these low value clients are likely to either become more profitable or take their business elsewhere.

So, of course the first thing you have to do it to properly categorize your clients. Whether you are capturing contact information manually via foot traffic into your brick and mortar business, or are capturing information electronically through a lead capture system on your website, you still need to do regular maintenance to ensure all the info is current and up to date. It is especially important to make sure that all names are spelled correctly; if you can’t take the time to get your clients’ names right, the impression you will leave with them is that they are unimportant, and therefore, what value could you possibly provide to them?

The other thing you need to do is ‘know your customer’. Understand their wants and needs. Identify and remove their ‘pain points’. This will also enhance your communication with your clients, further strengthening your relationship with them.

Finally, always give your customers a method to provide you with feedback. Remember that communication is a two way street. Your clients’ needs may change over time, and if you are not in tune with that, you will end up losing them. Great customer service and feedback from your clients go hand in hand, and if you don’t provide your customers with both, you can be certain your business will suffer.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Creating An Online Media Kit

online media kit

How To Create An Online Media Kit

Are you unclear on what, exactly, an online media kit is? Are you wondering if you can benefit from an online media kit? Or, how to create an online media kit? Well, odds are that developing one for your business can enhance the delivery of information to both prospects and the media.

Watch our video now, or on YouTube.

This video will help you understand the six main components to crafting your online media kit. Following the steps that are laid out in this video, you will be up and running with your own online media kit in no time!

But if you are a bit hesitant about setting this up on your own, or simply don’t have the time to take care of it, simply contact us and we will be happy to follow up with you.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you are ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

 

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
LinkedIn