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Strategic Guidance to Build Your Business
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Volume 3, Issue 1, September 08
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"The Business Builder" is brought
to you by VSA, Inc. in collaboration with Rink
Consulting. VSA, Inc., founded by Valerie Schlitt,
builds and implements B2B prospecting programs for
businesses and professional service firms. VSA has
a
team of professional telephone callers who open
doors to new business opportunities for VSA clients.
Linda Rink, president of Rink Consulting, specializes
in
B2B and consumer marketing and research. Both
Wharton MBA graduates, Valerie and Linda often
team together to help clients identify and reach new
customers. In this newsletter, they share some of
their business development insights.
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Three Basic Business Tips
by Valerie Schlitt, President of VSA, Inc.
The Business Builder is a collaborative experiment
between Rink Consulting and VSA, born in September
2006. It has turned out to be terrific. I cannot
encourage each of you strongly enough to embark on a
similar collaborative effort.
For our two-year anniversary issue, VSA is presenting
three basic business tips we have picked up over the
last two years. And, they have nothing to do with B2B
Cold Calling!
But we learned them all through cold calling!
Your assistants need a good "out of the office"
response
We have heard it all. Once someone told us, "Oh, he
left with a stomach ache three months ago and never
came back."
Another receptionist told us, very graphically,
about the terrible disease symptoms someone
experienced for 3 weeks, and that's why she wasn't in
the office.
Other times, we heard about exotic lengthy vacations -
communicated in not so positive terms.
This is way too much information, and those we're
calling probably don't want their personal situations
shared this way to the world - especially
customers.
Clearly these are rare instances, but when we get
explanations like this they are glaring.
I caution you to be sure those who answer the phone
in your absence know exactly what you want them to
say.
The "Intercom"
We absolutely understand that smaller companies
may not have a hold button on their phones. When
they need to find someone in another part of the
building, it's a lot of work.
But, putting the phone down and shouting the
person's name is just plain unprofessional. We hear
tones of voice that are unpleasant; we hear
disagreeable responses from the other end of the
building; and we feel that we're intruders.
So, if you don't have or use your hold button, think
about the impression you might leave on others
calling your firm.
It's one thing if we as B2B cold callers hear these
shouts; it's another if it were a customer.
Auto Attendants and Voicemail
Okay, we're all trying to cut costs. We're all trying to
become more efficient.
But, it's getting to the point where auto attendants are
a real drain on efficiency. And voicemail blocks
effective communication.
We make hundreds of calls every day. Over 50% of
them leave us in a maze of pushing button after button
to get through to a live person. Often we never get to
the right person.
When we do, in only 10 - 20% of the cases do we
actually talk to this person.
Imagine if we were customers trying to navigate a
phone system. Trying to figure out which button to
push.
In fact, VSA talked to a firm who wanted to work with us
largely because we actually answered the phone! He
said he called two other firms and the auto attendant
directed him to voicemail. He decided against these
firms because if these firms didn't answer the phone
directly, perhaps his business just wasn't that
important.
In today's world, there's technology that can direct your
calls to your cell phone if you're not in. So, being out
of the office is not a fool-proof reason not to answer
the phone.
We encourage you to think of your phone system from
your customers' perspectives. Make it easy for them
to find you.
Summary
Think about the impression you're giving to your
customers. You might even want to ask a few of
them. If you're not making it easy for them, these are
a few basic tips that can help.
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VSA, Inc.
441 Station Avenue
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
856-429-5078
valerie.schlit@vsaprospecting.com
www.vsaprospecting.com
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Fortune Telling
by Linda Rink, President of RINK Consulting
In honor of the second anniversary of The Business
Builder, I thought this month I would write a
more "fun" - but still useful - article on fortune
telling! In these uncertain times, wouldn't it be
nice to have a crystal ball to gaze into and be able to
predict future trends?
In fact, there are websites that claim to spot trends in
practically every imaginable area of interest. I've done
research for you and picked some interesting ones.
While I wouldn't necessarily advise playing the stock
market with the information from these websites, they
do make for fascinating reading.
Here are 20 websites that report on trends - from
global to cellular!
1. www.wfs.org. The World Future
Society's
website offers plenty of info, including its annual "Top
Ten Forecasts." You can also sign up for a free
newsletter.
2. www.earthtrends.wri.org "is a
comprehensive online database maintained by the
World Resources Institute that focuses on the
environmental, social, and economic trends that
shape our world."
3. www.Springwise.com. With input
from
more than 8,000 trend "spotters," it pulls together new
business ideas from around the world.
4. www.Trendwatching.com offers
free monthly briefings on consumer trends.
5. www.Trendhunter.com lets you
subscribe
to Trend Candy, its "delicious" free weekly e-
report.
6. www.Google.com/trends/hottrends
will
give you the day's hot trends, as measured by Google
searches.
7. www.addictomatic.com compiles
the latest
buzz on any topic, pulled from the web, blogs, Flickr,
etc.
8. www.Fashiontrendsetter.com
reports on
fashion all over the world.
9. www.Style.com/trendsshopping.
Make sure you have a good pop-up blocker, then read
all about the latest runway shows.
10. www.digitaltrends.com. Read it
for tech
product reviews.
11. www.searchtrends.org. Blog
containing
news and commentary on the world of search
engines.
12. www.realtrends.com. News
about the
residential real estate market.
13. www.luxuryhousingtrends.com.
Home
improvement ideas, presumably for those with plenty
of money to spend.
14. www.turfgrasstrends.com. In
case you
are responsible for the grass at golf courses.
15. www.constructiontrends.com has
links to
numerous free articles on topics from interior design
to the latest in "green" housing.
16. www.smallbiztrends.com is a
marketing
blog that "updates you on trends affecting the small
business market."
17. www.roboticstrends.com covers
all things
robotics, including personal robots!
18. www.wxtrends.com. Weather
Trends
International offers "the unparalleled competitive
advantage of pro-actively planning for the weather over
a year in advance!" Wow - sounds like a great tool for
vacation planning!
19. You would think that a website called
www.trends.com would have a
goldmine of
crystal-gazing info. Well, only if you're interested in
specialized scientific publications like "Trends in
Endocrinology and Metabolism."
And finally
20. To be fully prepared for anything, you can
subscribe to
the Trends Journal put out by the Trends Research
Institute (www.trendsresearch.com),
which "allows you to participate, recognize and
preempt significant changes in virtually every field of
modern life." Whew!
Stay tuned
Soon you will have a
chance to give us formal feedback via a short (I
promise!) online survey, so that we can make sure
The Business Builder continues to be informative and
enjoyable. Watch for the survey link in the November
issue.
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RINK Consulting
1420 Locust Street, Suite 31N
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-546-5863
lrink@lindarink.com
www.lindarink.com
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