Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

5 Marketing Tips You Need this Week

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hey it's a sales pipeline!I’ve been talking to a lot of small business owners this week about what they need to do to have better marketing systems in place for the year. Here’s a few things I kept saying…

  1. A CRM – YES, you need a database. NO Outlook isn’t a database. I use Zoho for my CRM – I love it because it integrates easily with MailChimp and I can assign tasks and follow up for people so I don’t have to remember to follow up, Zoho will tell me to. Everyone’s talking about Insightly this week too – I don’t care what CRM you use, I care that you have one AND use it.
  2. Follow Up – why aren’t you getting new business? Because you never follow up with people. For every networking event you attend schedule a half hour the next day to do all the follow up you promised you’d do. I send the follow up notes, make the calls, add people to Zoho, and connect with them on LinkedIn. It’s not hard, it’s a little time consuming, but it totally pays off. I’ve had 4 calls this week that prove it.
  3. Newsletter – I’m not really going to preach on this because I do too often, but once a month is great. Don’t over think it, just give me a tip or two or three, make it look clean/pretty/whatever and be easy to read. Tell you what – I’ll do a newsletter review of your current newsletter for FREE – just email it to me.
  4. Networking – Oh your pipeline is empty? Yeah, mine wasn’t great either. Q4 sucked. But back up on the horse and away we go. Get out of your house and go physically network with other people. My goal this year? 1 event a week and 1 1:1 a week. My pipeline is filling up…
  5. It Takes Time – Oh you’ve been going to that networking group for 3 months and haven’t gotten business yet? Yeah, that happens. Make sure you’re tweaking your message, maybe it’s not resonating. Give away a raffle item – especially if people choose what items they want to win, then you know you’re on to something by the amount of tickets for your item. Do your follow up. Make the coffee dates, make sure you’re maximizing the opportunities within the organization. It’s really yours to lose. But yeah, it takes time.

Customer Service Lessons from 6 Hours on a Train

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CYPNh4FUAAAvyiYLast month I attempted a quick overnight trip to Seattle to attend a retirement party for a friend. I usually drive to Seattle, but with winter weather and traffic I thought I’d finally try out the train. A couple of friends have been down to visit on it and raved how easy it was (in May, yes). So, after our train departed an HOUR late, because we were waiting for an engine (which seems important so why wasn’t it already there?!) we got going.

And then stopped. Trees on the tracks. Obviously outside their control (but of course, I wonder if we’d left on time…) by the time we got going again it was clear I wasn’t going to arrive till the party was over. I knew it’d go long but as we waited and waited I was losing faith I’d arrive in time for my departure the next morning. So, I called Amtrak figuring that was easiest and they said I could jump off at Kelso and go back. I talked to the conductor and he gave me a super informal slip of paper to give the other conductor and I could go back. So, I did.

Then I called Amtrak to get a refund for that useless trip (they said they couldn’t refund/process till the trip was complete) and 6 hours spent on trains to literally go nowhere (because if you’ve driven past Kelso you know this is true). Everyone I talked to was nice and helpful along the way, but all I got for a day of lost time was a credit to my account for the half of the trip I didn’t take.

As is often my problem with customer service folks, they aren’t given the tools to ACTUALLY fix the problem. They’re given the lowest common denominator: don’t spend money, don’t actually make the customer love you. I did ask if there was anything they could do, but no of course not, that’s their policy.

I took to Twitter, and ZERO response from them. Which is a disappointment, but not a surprise. If you’re on social media BE on social media (my other favorite rant…)

And so, I’ll continue to drive to Seattle or fly, because Alaska Airlines knows what they’re doing and I wouldn’t have missed the party.

Where Does Your Business Come From?

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santa-marking-checklist-21785140Earlier this week I was challenged to make a list of all my clients in 2015 and identify the referral source for them.

It was a GREAT exercise that I don’t know why I haven’t done before, or with regularity! I included clients I’ve been working with for a few years, not just ones acquired this year. I knew exactly where each client came from. Networking, referrals, and my newsletter were my major sources.

And, now as I move into 2016 I know where to focus my marketing efforts. I’ll continue to attend those networking events that are bringing me business, I’ll continue to work with those referral partners who send me new business and will refer back to them as well. And that monthly newsletter will continue to be monthly.

In this last month of the year, it’s a great time to take 15 minutes and make a list of all your clients from this past year, and where they came from. You may be surprised at the lead sources, you may not be. But making the list and seeing just how much business someone gives you is a pretty good gift to give yourself this time of year.