Tag: how to communicate with clients

Build Better Client Relationships

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client relationships

How good are your client relationships?

The better the relationship, the more loyal your client will be.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and with that in mind, what better time to address your business relationships?

There are many aspects to business relationships, and today we are addressing the relationship you have with your clients.

So… just how good are your relationships with your clients?

Watch today’s Marketing In A Minute video to see how building better relationships with your clients enhances the success of your business.

Please join us now, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you won’t miss any of our upcoming tips.

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.

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The Evolution Of Social Media Marketing

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social media marketing

Social Media is here to stay!

And its evolution has changed marketing.

Okay, let me rephrase that.  To reference my position on marketing, marketing is a process.  The fundamentals are the same; the delivery method of promoting your business is what changes.

Regardless of the distinction, don’t underestimate the role of social media marketing.

Watch today’s Marketing In A Minute video and see how and why to integrate this as part of your overall marketing strategy.

Please join us now, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you won’t miss any of our upcoming tips.

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.

Body Language Secrets

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body language

What do your actions say about you?

Many studies have been conducted and many reports exist regarding the issue of body language. It’s no secret that our actions do often speak louder than words, sometimes revealing emotions and feelings that we were hoping to keep subdued.

The concept of body language, properly applied, can be a useful tool for marketers. Observing how a prospect is responding to what is being said can reveal important clues to help the astute marketer gauged the interest of the prospect.

My friend and colleague, Patty Miller, shared a video on LinkedIn speaking to this issue. The video is called five proven tactics to read body language. (You can find my interview on YouTube with Patty here!  Or here, if you prefer a podcast)

Watch the Video here:

So although this short video may appear to be a bit simplistic, it does clearly identify five key areas that anyone can observe to help read their audiences interest and engagement levels.

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.

5 Ways To Improve Client Rentention

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client retention

Do you have loyal customers?

It’s one thing to obtain a client; it something else to keep that client.

There have been statistics as long as there have been sales. Depending on your industry, the rates might vary slightly, but overwhelmingly the statistics support the case for keeping your customers happy.

It costs a significant amount more, both in time and actual cash, to obtain a new client. However, once you have obtained that new customer, the costs to service and maintain that customer are markedly less. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense to ensure that you are retaining your customers?

Ask yourself the following five questions to see if you can improve your client retention rates:

1. How do your customers currently use your products or services? It makes sense that the more your clients are using your products or services, the more likely you are to retain them. Keeping your clients informed and engaged is a key element of client retention.

2. Do your clients know about all of the features products and services that you offer? Be sure that you are communicating with your customers on a regular basis, keeping them informed of the full scope of your offerings. If they don’t know that you can provide them with an additional service or benefit that they need, they may look elsewhere.

3. What’s the likelihood that your client would recommend your company to a friend? It’s true; referrals and testimonials are the best form of flattery. If your customer is happy with your services and would be willing to tell a friend about you, you are likely to retain the client – at least as long as you continue to provide them with the quality of service that they have come to expect from you.

4. Is there anything that would make your customers stop doing business with you? Communication with your clients is not only important as a means to keep them engaged with you, but is also an essential part of making sure that you are providing the services and products that will keep your customers loyal to you. Ask your customers if they are happy with your services. Find out if you are meeting all of their needs and expectations, or if there’s anything else that you can do to help them.

5. What, if anything, would your clients change about your company? Again, communicate, communicate, communicate! Phone your clients. Email them. Send out surveys. Ask questions, even if you’re not sure that you want to know the answers. If you are not meeting the needs and expectations of your customers, you can be guaranteed that they’ll find what they need somewhere else.

A happy customer is a loyal customer. And a loyal customer will bring you referral business. Treat your customers with respect and let them know that they matter.

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.

6 Steps To Improve Your Content Marketing

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content marketing

Is your content marketing working for you?

To be relevant online, it is important that you are continually providing fresh, new material. This is not only critical for search engine optimization, but also to keep the visitors to your website -your clients and prospects – engaged and interested. You have to give them a reason to keep coming back. After all, if they’ve already seen everything you have to offer, why would they come back? And, of course, if they don’t come back chances are they’re going to miss something new when you do put it out there.

But you can’t just randomly put up content. You need to be original. You need to be relevant. And, if you are sharing material that you have found in other places, you need to give attribution.

Ask the following six questions to improve the content that you are providing:

1. Do your visitors find your posts, white papers, infographics, webinars, etc. relevant and helpful?  Most people, when searching the Internet, are looking for answers to questions or problems. If you are providing something of value they are more likely to learn to trust you, to become regular visitors to your site, and eventually your client.

2. When someone lands on the blog portion of your site, what do they read first? There are lots of software solutions out there that can help you to track and identify this information. Some will give basic stats, such as the number of visitors to the site and others will provide you with live tracking of exactly where they scrolled to on the page.

3. What was it about the article noted above that first caught the visitor’s eye? Was it the title? Was it the associated image? Was it the actual material within the article? All of these are important factors that can lead to more readership and a better response to the article. Just like in print media, a headline is important to capture your audience, and images must be relevant to the material you are presenting.

4. Do you know if your visitors enjoy reading similar content from your competitors, and if so, which ones? Let’s face it, much of what is out there has been said by others in different ways. Searching cyberspace for answers is kind of like watching TV; 500 channels all showing the same or similar programming. So make sure that your content is presented in a way that attracts and retains more readers than your competitor.

5. What topics would your visitors like to see next? Delivering what you are client or prospect wants is key to keeping them loyal to you. There are many ways that you can find out what your website visitors are looking for. Consider dropping in an online poll, or use some of that tracking software I mentioned earlier to ascertain what types of articles are attracting the most readers.

6. Where do your visitors typically go to find content that is related to their interests, job, or industry? By discovering the answer to these questions, you can reach out to specific sites and associations that they are engaged with and offer to provide guest content from time to time. This serves not only to help your SEO with back links, but also helps you gain authority as an expert within the chosen industry.

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.

5 Ways To Ensure Your Content Is Effective

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effective content

Is your content being read?

We are all familiar with that proverbial saying, “if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a noise?”

Well, we can apply the same question to our content.

You can spend all kinds of time, money, and effort compiling and posting content, but if no one reads it, what’s the point?

Creating relevant content that speaks to your target audience, as well as presenting it in an attractive and easy to read format is critical to gaining readership and loyalty online.

We have put together five questions to ask yourself to ensure that your copy is effective and is being noticed by your target audience.

Check out these 5 questions:
              • What does your homepage tell people about what you are offering? Always try to think like a first-time visitor to your website. Make sure that your homepage is designed in such a way that it clearly represents your brand and your offerings. This will ensure that visitors to your website will know immediately if this is a site that they wish to explore further.
              • Is your content written for consumption by the average reader, and free of jargon? Every industry and profession has its own jargon. We converse regularly with our colleagues and our peers using this jargon. But sometimes we can get so used to speaking in these terms that we forget that those folks not involved in our industry or profession don’t understand what that terminology means. If your clients and prospects understood this jargon, chances are they wouldn’t need you. Make sure you are communicating in plain language to your prospects and clients.
              • Does your choice of language within your content “speak” like your target audience speaks? Aside from simple common sense and personal experience, there is times of research out there that proves that when you communicate in the same terms and language is your intended audience, you create a better rapport. By building this relationship, you build trust and community among your audience, which translates to more readership and a loyal client base.
              • Are your calls to action effective? Content without a call to action is nothing more than an article or an advertisement. Let’s face it, 99% of us are using online methods and strategies to promote our businesses and convert visitors to customers. Make sure that you would include a clear, effective CTA within your content. Measure the effectiveness of your CTAs with the use of analytics and software tools such as heat maps and content analysis.
              • Are you effectively communicating your unique value proposition? Differentiation of your business from all others offering the same or similar products or services is the key to building your business and keeping clients. Review your website content regularly to see that your message is clearly defined. But sometimes we are too close and can’t really see how it is being perceived. Consider polling some of your clients to see if they believe that a first-time visitor to your website could define and describe your UVP in their own words

 

  • 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.

Give ‘Em What They Deserve!

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client experience

How do you take care of your clients and prospects?

There are many facets of running your own business that can be challenging. But one of the most important aspects is to ensure that you are giving a great client experience. After all, without customers you have no business.

You spend lots of time hiring the appropriate support staff, creating the perfect products and services for your ideal customers, developing and promoting your brand, etc.

However, the preparation is simply the prelude to the success of your business. Once you have laid the foundation, it is essential to capture and retain your market share in order to run a profitable business-and to stay in business!

Now, I do not believe in that old adage “the client is always right”. While the vast majority of your customers have reasonable expectations, you will always find the rarity who either believes they deserve special treatment, or will never be satisfied with what you provide no matter how hard you try. So don’t focus your time and energy on these few bad apples; instead focus on providing the best experience to the majority of your clients and you will have success.

There are three key ingredients that will help you define and deliver quality service to your clients, ensuring loyalty. Let’s break them out.

1. Provide good quality to your clients and prospects.

Okay, that’s easy to say, but what is good quality? The key factor here is for you to define what good quality means to you. How do you want your product or service to look and feel? What guarantees or warranties do you provide for your product or service? Do your employees represent you and your brand in a way that is consistent and matches your values? Do you have proper policies and procedures that are easy to understand and easy to follow?

2. Evaluate your products or services regularly.

The secret here is to continually monitor your product or service to ensure that you are delivering something of value to your clients. Consider sending an email survey to your clients on occasion, asking for feedback. Invite them to express comments or concerns they may have during delivery of your product or service. If you’re working on a project that has deliverables over time, evaluate each step of the process. Take the time to follow up personally with clients on a random basis. Make sure that you address any issues that are brought to your attention immediately. This doesn’t mean that you have to change your product or service, but ensure that the client feels that they have been heard and understands why things are done the way that they are.

3. Never underestimate the value of a testimonial or review.

Remember to ask your clients to share their experiences with your company. Nothing is as effective as a positive review or positive feedback on the experience you have provided to a client. Expressing why they prefer to do business with you, instead of one of your competitors, can be one of the most compelling reasons for new prospects to choose your business in the future. These reviews and testimonials can be provided by the written word, an audio file, or video testimonial. Think about making it a policy to send a follow-up email or make a follow-up phone call with each and every client, asking them about their experience with your business, and then asking for the testimonial. Be sure to get permission to share this information, and post it on your website, social media profiles, and any other appropriate place.

It truly doesn’t take that much effort to ensure that you are providing a quality experience for your clients. Following these three simple steps will help provide the foundation to build a client user experience policy that will give your customers that loving feeling and help you grow a successful business.

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.

What A Difference A Year Makes!

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rebranding

One year ago this month, I rebranded Agapi Marketing & Consulting and launched our new website.

Prior to April 2015, my website was old, not mobile responsive, and I was marketing like I had been 10 years earlier.

Some of you know that I started the new millennium by doing things a little bit differently. Although marketing was always a key part of everything that I have done, I branched out into a couple of other areas. From 2002 to 2006, I was taking advantage of the changing real estate market in Calgary and was working with the company who invested in, and then flipped, houses. I became a licensed financial planner, and focused much of my marketing on the financial services industry. From 2009 to 2013, I worked with a company that focused on taking businesses public.

And then I decided to become less dependent on individual contracts and get back to helping business owners from all verticals learn how to effectively and efficiently market and promote their companies.

But there was a bit of a learning curve involved. After being out of the marketing mainstream for many years due to focusing on individual and specific contracts, I had to rebuild my network and my reputation. At first, I tried to run my consulting business as I had prior to 2002, providing planning and fulfillment services. This proved to be a challenge; when you’re busy doing fulfillment, you can’t be taking care of the myriad of responsibilities required in the running of a business.

So I re-branded my business. I decided to focus on my core strength, which is helping people develop their strategic marketing plan. After all, without this foundation, your marketing will cost you more, be less effective, and be inconsistent.

I met and worked with business owners who could provide fulfillment services that met with my high standards. After all, if it’s not good enough for me, it’s not good enough for my clients.

I rebuilt my website and re-branded my Corporation, honing my focus to better deliver that message.

I began participating in webcasts, podcasts and interviews, and began writing articles for various publications.

I wrote a couple of books which are now sold on Amazon.

I developed and built out my corporate, as well as my personal social profiles on twitter Facebook and LinkedIn.

I began providing our “Expert Interview Series” to our newsletter subscribers.

And I got over my intimidation and fear of the camera, launched a YouTube channel and began posting videos.

And the result?

The response has been great! More and more people are watching my YouTube videos and connecting on my social profiles. My web statistics show that people are not only engaging with, but are expecting my twice-weekly posts. People are spending time on my website; approximately 10% of all visitors to my site are spending a minimum of an hour there. I have successfully built a following, authority, and a solid group of experts to assist me with fulfilling the needs of my clients.

So thanks for being a part of my phenomenal growth over the past year. It has been an experience – and sometimes a frustration – but always fun and always a privilege.

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.

Doing It Write

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writing

Communication is at the core of everything we do in life.

And writing is at the heart of all communication.

From very early times, humans have striven to tell stories in a way that is preserved for future generations. From cavemen drawing images on walls, to hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone, to manuscripts and books, and now to abbreviated conversations through the technology of texts, we have told our stories.

Now, I’ll admit that I’m a bit old-school. I’m a bit of a stickler for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. I prefer telephone conversations rather than text messages, especially for any conversations of length. And, if I’m looking to memorialize something, I am more likely to rely on email than on a text message.

But I also am a realist.

I recognize that technology has changed the substance of communication, if not the inherent value of it. Probably half of our current population has grown up in a world that doesn’t know what it was like before the age of computers. Although most of the younger generation can type faster than I can, none of them grew up with the experience of learning the keyboard on a manual typewriter.  These are the folks who can text nearly as fast as they speak.  Which is probably why I still prefer telephone conversation.

Typos and Auto Correct are the bane of my existence!damn you autocorrect

In so many ways, technology has improved our ability not only to communicate, but to communicate with people at great distances from us. And this communication happens in an instant.

So, how are you communicating with prospects and clients?

The art of writing is not lost. If you are not already providing a newsletter – or at least regular email updates – to your clients and prospects, I urge you to consider starting this immediately. Yes, in a world of messages of 140 characters or less, people still like to engage at a deeper level.

Don’t stop doing your short posts on social media, and don’t stop making and uploading videos and podcasts. But don’t forget the art of writing. There is something permanent about the written word; something that strikes to the core of all of us.

And although I admitted being a stickler for proper spelling, etc., language continues to evolve. Many words that were abbreviated for the purposes of text messaging have now become normal in many areas of our language. Who hasn’t included “LOL” in something that they have written?

So my final thoughts for this article are to encourage you to keep writing, in whatever form makes you comfortable. Just keep doing it!  And  100 years from now, people will have an indication of how we communicated, just as we look back in history at others.

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.

Time For A Digital Diet?

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digital diet

Happy New Year and welcome to 2016!

Traditionally, the beginning of the new year is a time when many people make resolutions. There is something about the clean slate of a brand spanking new year that seems to motivate people to change, or at least alter, some of their habits and to make a commitment to doing things differently.

Many of the most common resolutions seem to be to exercise more, eat healthier, or go on a diet to lose those extra pounds. And we all know that gym memberships skyrocketed this time of year, only to see attendance dwindle after a few weeks.

But what about trying out a digital diet?

I’m not talking about giving up all of your technology and all of your digital devices. In fact, you probably received some newer, updated gadgets for Christmas. And we all know that technology isn’t going anywhere, and is fully integrated as a part of our society.

Indeed, technology has changed the way that we communicate. It has truly opened up a global marketplace for businesses, and has allowed for individuals to meet and discuss issues with people all around the world.

But after advancing at warp speed, it seems as though a bit of digital fatigue is starting to set in. Perhaps the pendulum is starting to swing back to a place of balance. At least I hope so.

Over the holidays, those of us in Canada witnessed a television commercial produced and promoted by Telus that encouraged people to “unplug” for the holidays. Now, for those of you who are not familiar with this corporation, it is worth mentioning that Telus is one of the three major providers of Internet and mobile service in Canada. I think a message like this, coming from a corporation who obtains much of their revenue through the use of digital technology, speaks volumes about the misconception of our so-called connections and friends that have resulted from our love affair with technology.

I also recently saw an ad online for a chief marketing officer for a new startup. The business model for this new startup is about building community by actually meeting people face-to-face, in real life. Gee, what a novel idea! Their concept is kind of a mash up between a networking group and speed dating. They intend to hold networking groups in various locations with electronic signs over each table that mentions the topics of discussion at that table, allowing people to mingle and become involved in whatever topic they choose. Now, call me crazy, but I think it is ludicrous to think that something as time-tested and commonplace as a networking group has to disguise itself as an “online mimicking forum” in order to attract and entice people to actually meet with others face-to-face.

Now don’t get me wrong. I think technology is amazing, and has created benefits that were only dreamed of 20 years ago. But the flip side is that people have forgotten how to interact personally with others. We all know people who boast of having thousands of online friends. But how close are these friends? I see people posting pictures of family dinners, kids receiving awards, family vacations… You get the point. And, to be frank, I don’t like it. First of all, I think it has the potential to be dangerous, especially for small children, to be exposed and shown all over the Internet. Secondly, maybe it is because I am a more private person, but I don’t see the benefit or the sense in sharing personal, private family moments with all of my connections online. Of course, some of my connections are family and friends, who are actual real, personal connections. For those folks, I find other ways to share these moments, either by private message, email, telephone call, or personal visit.

So, for 2016, why not try to take a digital diet. Don’t turn your back on technology; simply make a point of unplugging from time to time. Maybe you should turn your phone off after business hours. Or put it in another room while you’re having dinner with your family. Make a point of taking the time to meet face-to-face with people. There is great value, and pleasure, and actually looking in someone’s eyes.

Technology makes improvements that assist us in our day-to-day living and our needs. It is meant to serve a purpose for us, not to enslave us.

Just think about it…

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.

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