How To Increase Your Income

Why on earth would you want to run an event for your business? Events take a lot of organizing and publicity, not to mention the time you might not have and, depending on what you want to do, they can also cost quite a bit of money.

So is it really worth all that effort?

In a word, yes!

An event is a fantastic way to get a whole lot of your clients and potential clients together so you can present to them all at once, saving you huge amounts of time and effort trying to reach them all individually - and even better, as the speaker, you come across as an expert in your field. Give your clients valuable information and they will talk about you and recommend you to others. Having an event is also a great way to encourage your clients to network with each other and see how they can help each other - and of course, it’s you they’ll thank for that opportunity.

Having your name on an event can be very good publicity for you and your business. If you pick a hot topic for your industry you could find yourself interviewed by the local press, on the radio, or even on television, all of which increase your chances of being seen as an expert by potential clients.

You may even make money directly from your event - either by charging admission, finding sponsorship or by having products to sell at the event. Regular events could produce a nice stream of new income.

You could generate yet another income stream just from one event by creating one or more products - you could video it, record it, transcribe it, turn the learning materials into an ebook or online course and sell it - the possibilities are endless.

So once you’ve decided to go ahead - how do you pick a good topic? You’ll need to look at what your industry is discussing right now and what they really want to know. There are lots of ways to find this out:

- Run an online survey - www.surveymonkey.com has a free option you can use to create some very useful surveys

- Ring several trusted clients and find out what they’d like to learn more about

- Go to online forums on your subject and see what everyone is talking about

- Post on online forums and ask people what they might be interested in

- Look at the bestsellers on Amazon, Barns & Noble and Clickbank

- Look at the most popular keywords using a word tracker tool

- Go to your trade association and ask what their members are interested in

- Look at competitor’s ezines and see what they are discussing at the moment.

Once you have your topic you’ll need to pick a date and an event format. What kind of event should you offer? Look at where your potential clients are based:

- If most people are in a particular area of the country, you should consider having a face to face meeting - this is always the best option if possible as you have much more chance to impress and to deal on the spot with any objections and questions, as well as providing that all important networking opportunity for your clients.

If your clients are scattered across the country or even across the world, you’ll need to look at running a teleclass or web based event:

- With a web based event using a facility such as www.hotconference.com, you have the option of using the whiteboard, showing a PowerPoint presentation, directing people to view a website and seeing the attendees online via webcam - this is a great way to give a presentation but make sure you are practiced at using all the features of the software first and consider whether your clients are technically-minded enough to be comfortable with this, and likely to have equipment such as webcams and microphones.

- If this is your first time running an event, the easiest option is to run a teleclass, where you set a date and time and participants simply dial in and listen to you. Many companies, such as www.freeconference.com, offer this service and a quick Google search should bring up a long list of companies you could use.

If you choose a live event you’ll need to find a good venue. Look at cost, position - find somewhere central with good transport links and parking. Make sure you see the room you’ll be using before the event so you can see the space you have available and plan your layout. Check maximum numbers the room can hold for fire regulations, find out where the fire exits and fire alarm are and make sure there is disabled access.

You’ll need to market your event very well to get good numbers:

- Use your own ezine, local press and radio, the chamber of commerce and online forums.

- Write articles on your subject and submit them to article directories and other ezines.

- Tell your trade association and use online event listings.

- Go to networking events and take leaflets with you to advertise what you are doing.

- Ask each client to bring one potential client to get a free place

- Offer to speak at other events on the run up to yours with a taster of what people will get on the day.

- Find another non-competing company who are aiming for the same market and do a joint event

Don’t just rely on one way to get publicity - think of as many different ways as you can and use the best ones for your event.

You’ll need to be very organized and plan well ahead. Make sure you order any equipment you might need in plenty of time. Make up an event checklist and build yourself a kit with plenty of spares - pens, training materials, extension cables, flip chart paper, gaffer tape, scissors, etc. Check with the venue that everything’s ready for you the day before the event.

The more value you provide, the more likely you are to be seen as an expert in your area and the more business you will get from your event and from word of mouth after the event as a result, so don’t deliver a sales pitch - your content has to be high quality, entertaining and informative or people will feel cheated, particularly if they paid to attend.

Once the event is over make sure you follow up and ask for feedback - it’s the best way to find out if the event was what your clients wanted, to get ideas for future events, and also a great to chance to chat to prospective clients to see if they’re interested in working with you. You can also collect testimonials which will help you if you plan to run events on a regular basis, and which you can also use to promote any products you develop from your event content.

In short, pick a great topic, plan everything carefully, publicize what you are doing as much as you can, and check everything is in place the day before the event. On the day, don’t forget to relax and enjoy yourself - if you are having fun, the audience will too. Lastly and by no means least, whatever you do, don’t forget to follow up.

Just by following these guidelines you could find yourself with any amount of new clients, lots of publicity and several new income streams.
Worth it? Definitely!

Morris gathers information about online mortgages

online mortgage investment.

How to Calm Cranky Customers Without Blowing Your Stack

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t hear another small business owners complaining about some of the customers they have to do business with. Some of them REALLY are legitimate complaints, but after listening to 100’s of different complaints, I have found the root of most of them is a lack of understanding. Therefore, I hope this article gets you on the road of addressing complaints and customer problems in your home business.

The first step is to get past the irritation. It’s only human nature to get a little upset when a customer writes to complain about something totally stupid. Complaints like: It’s been two whole weeks and I haven’t seen my ad on your website yet. Or, how about those really stupid emails, like: Send me more info. (No name provided. Info on what?) Then, the guy writes you the next week and calls you a crook because you didn’t answer his email right away. It’s obvious that there is a breakdown of communication.

But let’s look at the last complaint explained above and analyze it for better understanding. For some reason, the guy was so excited about your company that he forgot to mention what information he wanted. He knew his name but never thought about the fact that you probably didn’t know it. Instead he was excited and wanted to get his request emailed right away so he could find out more. So his complaint to you would actually be a compliment.

It’s easy to simply write a quick email that says: Thank you for requesting more information about our company. We apologize that your first request was not filled, however, you neglected to tell us what information you were interested in. It helps us getting your request processed faster.

Now let’s try and understand the education you provided to this customer. I know, it’s human nature to want to strike back because this idiot hurt your feelings. But the only way you are going to advance in business and present the professional image you should be hoping to achieve, is to educate and help this person. They, in turn will probably never make this mistake again and will probably relate the information to others they come into contact with. However, if you are hateful or never fill the request you will have gained nothing except the self-satisfaction of revenge.

Training and educating people is not really very hard at all. Jesus gave us an example of how to teach in order to obtain POSITIVE results by using parables. Parables are examples of everyday situations so the person can relate and understand what you are trying to tell him or her. Just saying the words may not help. Some words go over a person’s head or they don’t comprehend what you’re saying because their mind is on something else.

Good customer service and marketing go hand in hand. They both depend on each other and work together for your business survival. There should never be a moment when you shout back at a customer. Hanging up the phone is a much better approach and achieves the revenge you may seek in a more POSITIVE manner.

Kim Haas is a WAHM and Founder of Womans-Net.com, a popular online networking community focusing on working from home and women in business and owner of http://Article-Host.com. To learn more about Kim, visit http://kimberlyhaas.com
Copyright 2005 Kim Haas

Young Adsense Affiliates And Why You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

Young Adsense affiliates who also happen to be some of the leading bloggers on the net with blogs that have colossal amounts of traffic are having a field day on the World Wide Web.

The huge advantage with which young Adsense affiliates start off with is their ability to reach out to the important market of younger folks on the net. They are able to reach this market with the right kind of interesting content that is able to hold this market captive. This is critical for anybody who wants to make money from Adsense, because the longer people stay at your site, the more likely they are to click at your Adsense ads.

Older Adsense affiliates have many more issues bothering them than the young when it comes to generating good quality content for their sites. Even older content providers transferring from offline rates where every freelance written articles was paid for in hundreds of dollars are having a huge problem with the going rates online. Online content is usually paid for with a small single digit or double-digit handful of dollars. Meaning that for an online content provider to make any decent cash they will need to churn out significant volumes of content.

That is the reality of the net which young Adsense affiliates seem to grasp more quickly than older folks who find the idea of churning out content repulsive. This is one reason why young Adsense affiliates have tended to enjoy an advantage over older Adsense affiliates. Content is very important for success in the Adsense program and the young Adsense affiliates tend to much more readily embrace the realities associated with content on the net.

Learn more about the best home business opportunity from a blogger who rakes in thousands of dollars… and growing from their home business. Also get the bloggers’ amazing free report How I used only free articles marketing to get thousands of hits daily at my site.

Great Customer Service: Do You Use This Essential Tool?

Are your customers thrilled by the way your employees interact with them? Learning the answer to this question can literally change the future of your business.

Please understand that your customers do NOT deal with your business because it is just the same as other businesses in your industry. People, who deal with your business repeatedly, do so because your business is different in ways important to them. How your employees treat customers is one of the most important differentiators.

If your cashier, the last person a customer usually sees, is unfriendly, inattentive, slow, or poorly groomed, guess what impression your customers take away when they leave?

If your salespeople are pushy, unhelpful, incompetent or fail to treat prospects to a good experience in any other way, how many of those valuable potential customers will just ‘vote with their feet’ and go elsewhere to purchase?

If your service, delivery, or installation people are poorly dressed, ill mannered, messy, tardy, or incompetent, will people deal with you again no matter how great your other employees are?

If the employee who answers your telephone is unfriendly, unaccommodating, sounds bored, or gives the impression that the caller is an unwelcome interruption, will that person be likely to call again when they can clearly see your competitors’ ads in the Yellow Pages?

Most employees will perform in a satisfactory manner when the boss is observing them but how do they perform when they think no one is watching?

Here is a bit of business wisdom. You have to INSPECT that which you EXPECT!

The best way to apply this wisdom to customer service issues is to hire someone to ‘mystery shop’ your business. Also, you should let your employees know that mystery-shopping reports impact pay raises, bonuses, and even the continuation of employment.

Although great customer service should be the norm, an excellent mystery shop report could result in an immediate small bonusa couple of theater tickets along with some recognition at your next staff meeting, for example. Behavior that is rewarded gets repeated.

On the other hand, an unsatisfactory mystery shop report must always result in strong corrective action: training, coaching, a formal reprimand, or if appropriate, even dismissal.

Your mystery shop questions must be tailored to your specific situation but following are some sample questions to get you started.

1. Was this employee appropriately dressed and well groomed?

2. Were you greeted within 30 seconds of your arrival?

3. Did this employee make eye contact and smile?

4. Did this employee ask about your needs and listen attentively when you were speaking?

5. Was this employee knowledgeable about the company’s products and services?

6. Was this employee helpful and accommodating?

7. Was this employee polite and respectful?

8. Did this employee thank you for (shopping, buying, etc)?

9. (If work is performed in the customer’s home or a delivery made) Did this employee show up on time? Did this employee leave things tidy and clean? Were you comfortable having this person in your home?

10. Overall, was your experience positive enough that you would enjoy coming back again?

11. Overall, was your experience positive enough that you would confidently recommend us to your family and friends?

12. What was it about the interaction with this employee that you liked most?

13. What was it about the interaction with this employee that you liked least?

14. What frustrations did you experience? (On hold for a long time, confusing voice mail, lack of parking, other facility deficiencies, employee chewed gum, too long a wait for an employee to help, etc)

15. Other than identified above, what suggestions do you, the mystery shopper, have to make us a better business with which to deal?

After each mystery shop, have a meeting to discuss the results. Get everyone involved creating ideas about how improvements can be made and specific situations handled.

If you have a business where mystery shopping is impossible or impractical, you can still benefit by calling some customers who did purchase (and some who did NOT). By asking some of the questions listed above, you will learn about the performance of your employees as well as what is important to customerswhy the customer chose to either purchase from you or go elsewhere.

In business you always get the results you insist on getting. Used properly, mystery shopping is a valuable tool you can use in your relentless pursuit of excellent customer service and financial success.

Stephen has helped many business owners recruit, screen, hire, train, motivate, discipline, and inspire superstar employees. He has developed many tools employers can use to boost the morale and performance of their teams.