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*Do You Want More Business?
*Do You Want More
Customers?
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Promotion?
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Building a Business in the 'Thank You Economy'
Social media maven Gary Vaynerchuk on the importance of a
customer-focused company culture.
Social media requires
that business leaders start thinking like small-town shop owners. This means
taking the long view and avoiding short-term benchmarks to gauge progress. It
means allowing the personality, heart and soul of the people who run all levels
of the business to show. And doing their utmost to shape word of mouth by
treating each customer as though he or she were the most important customer in
the world.
In short, business leaders are going to have to relearn the ethics
and skills our great-grandparents' generation used in building their own
businesses and took for granted.
We're
living in what I like to call the Thank You Economy, because only the companies
that can figure out how to mind their manners in a very old-fashioned way --
and do it authentically -- are going to have a prayer of competing.
Click HERE to read full article_______________
Richard
Branson on Winning Customers' Trust
The British
billionaire on how his publicity stunts helped build the Virgin brand.
Editor's Note: Entrepreneur
Richard Branson regularly shares his business experience and advice with
readers. What follows is the latest edited round of insightful responses. Ask him a question and your
query might be the inspiration for a future column.
Q:
I recently became my own boss, joining forces with my brother, who has an
established operation. I am very much enjoying this experience, but the
challenges of finding ways to draw attention to our business and earn
customers' trust are extremely tough.
Drawing a distinction between
a businessman (who usually has money as his goal) and an entrepreneur (whose
goal is to create), if you had to choose one element, or perhaps strategy, that
defined your success as an entrepreneur, what would it be? -- Randall De Freitas, Trinidad & Tobago
A:
Congratulations on your new venture. Working for yourself and your family can
be a rewarding experience. It sounds like you and your brother have chosen the
path to entrepreneurship rather than business as you work to create something
that will make everyone in the company proud.
Click HERE to read full article
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Meet Our Leadership
Michael Sasso
President, East Metro, MN
formally St. Paul
Michael has over 25 years experience as a leader in business with a strong background in the airline industry and more recently as the National Sales Director for MapWide.com. His passion for small business and start ups has been a strong motivational drive in his work within the small business community as well as his volunteer work as a SCORE counselor. “Entrepreneurship has always captivated and inspired me. As President of the East Metro chapter of MainStreetChamber and still serving as Vice president for West Metro, I am really looking forward to helping small businesses in Minnesota grow and prosper.” Known for communication and leadership skills, Michael is considered by many, to be one of the most effective team builders and leaders in his field. With a broad range of expertise in advertising, auditing, planning, budgeting, hardware, computer skills, counseling, customer relations, customer service, financial analysis, hiring, legal compliance and leadership, he is sure to be a valuable asset to members of the East metro chapter of MainStreetChamber.
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Dear Subscriber,
One Reason Why You May Need a VIP Membership
Prescription Drug Prices Still
Growing Strong
If your
pharmacy bill seems to be growing larger faster, that's because it probably is.
In the past four years, prescription-drug prices have increased much
more quickly than the prices of other medical products and services, the nonpartisan
Government Accountability Office said this week.
The GAO study, which
Congress requested after the federal government spent $78 billion -- or about
31% of the $250 billion U.S. total -- on prescription drugs in 2009, found that
prices for common prescription drugs grew at an average annual rate of 6.6%
from 2006 through the first quarter of 2010. That's much higher than the medical
consumer price index's 3.8% average annual increase.
And the
prescription-drug-price hikes follow years of previous increases. In 2007,
another GAO report found that the average price for commonly used brand-name
prescription drugs had grown approximately 6% per year from January 2000
through January 2007.
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Present
your VIP card at any of the over 50,000 participating pharmacies and save up to 75%
Even if you have insurance you can use the card
for discounts on non-formulary or non-covered drugs
*Contact your local chapter for more information and pricing.
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Support Your
VIP Discount Providers
Florida
Curves
VIP Pass with FREE Fitness Assessment, 3 Personal Training
Sessions and 1 Free Curves Circuit with Zumba Class.
North Carolina
ReMax Executive
Commission discount
South Carolina
Tupperware- Storage
Organization
FREE Shipping on ANY order with Main
Street VIP Card
Contact Person: Deanna Morton
Phone: 864-363-9501
Minnesota
Catgut Laboratories
Musician's Co-op, offering Lessons
and Repairs for Stringed Instruments
10% off First 4 Lessons, and repair bills $40 or over
Socal
Coastal Payroll Services
VIP Members will receive a 25%
discount on our payroll fees.
Nocal
Apple Tree Lawncare
10 % off first month when you sign
with Apple Tree Lawncare
Colorado
Aligned Performance, Inc.
$100 off every course, Free 1/2 hour
coaching
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How Can I Reach Clients Online?
We sell
high-end custom furniture. Our problem is knowing how to reach our clients. We
utilize a website. Any advice?
Instead of
utilizing a website, you need to utilize a web presence, which consists of
carefully planned placements of content about your business on other
highly-trafficked websites. Here's the formula for a healthy web presence:
Search Engine Presence.
Optimize your website content for search engines, and place paid-search
advertisements on Google and Bing. Create local listings for any physical
stores or offices on all local directories. Include your products in shopping
search feeds such as Google Product Search.
Content website
presence.
Use an advertising network to place display ads on websites that produce
content about furniture, home décor, high-end real estate, and other topics of
interest to your target market. Place links to your website on other websites
and blogs where possible.
Social media presence.
Create business pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and niche social
communities in non-competing industries. If you have physical stores, create
listings on local directories and review sites such as local.com, Yelp.com,
Foursquare.com, and furniture review sites. Post your emails, coupons, and
other communications to social media sites and create a blog for search engines
and humans to read and link back to your site.
Click HERE to read entire article
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and customize it with Your Company Name
Download & Print the Badge of Credibility needed in today's Business World
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