All The Comforts Of Home - Or Home Office!Written by Diane Hughes
With continued explosion of small business startups these days, home office setups are becoming more and more of an issue. You need all standard equipment of a brick and mortar business, but can you afford them? And does it really make a difference? The answer to both questions is yes!Many home business entrepreneurs feel that if they don’t have clients stopping by, they don’t need to have a good office setup. An old desk, your child’s forsaken bookshelf, a chair from kitchen table, and a miscellaneous table or two will work just fine. The rest is just fluff. However, consider these things. Every human being responds to his/her surroundings in one form or another. When your office looks like a professional place of business, you actually respond by being more professional with your clients and vendors. But more importantly, "leftover" desks and chairs are normally not as comfortable as furniture specifically designed for an office. When you spend a tremendous amount of time at your desk, you physically need it to be as comfortable as possible. Chairs that provide little support, desks that don’t offer enough space or aren’t ergonomically correct, and a setup that does not lend itself to ease and functionality often cause back, neck, shoulder, and eye strains. These may only manifest themselves in form of fatigue at first, but eventually can develop into more serious conditions.
| | What's the Secret to Repeat Business?Written by Diane Hughes
When you think about ways to gain repeat business from your customers, you probably turn your thoughts to marketing efforts such as advertising, public relations and other means that will allow you to repeatedly be seen. However, without one particular element included in your plan, your efforts to entice customers to buy over and over will fail. Even autoresponders - "king" of repeat exposure - can't produce type of loyalty needed to ensure your customers continually send their dollars your way.This missing link is often not even considered as part of a marketing plan - but it should be! What is secret to repeat business? Exceptional customer service. Are you surprised? You really shouldn't be. Put yourself in "consumer mode" for next minute or two and let's explore power of a solid customer service program. Think of last time you purchased from a business and had a poor experience. What brought you to business to begin with? Maybe low price. Perhaps it was that company had a product/service you needed immediately. Even selection can play a role in attracting us to a business. But once you bought, what happened next? When product didn't live up to your standards or when service didn't work as expected, did you get response you needed? Did company show concern for your position? Did they correct mistake or issue a refund? If not, you - like most others - probably left vowing never to buy from them again. What you experienced was a marketing plan that had no follow-through. They were able to entice you and draw you in. They were successful in getting you to spend your money. However, when it came time for plan to promote "backend sales", it failed. It had no follow-through and they lost remainder of your business for life. Here are several things to consider when creating a customer service program that will help to boost your marketing plan and your repeat business.
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