Make A Blogging Plan For Your Business

Guest post by Robbi Hess, All Words Matter 

Quick question for business owners. Are you blogging for your business? Hhmmm, is that crickets I hear? Is there a reason you're not blogging? Do you wonder if blogging as simple as sitting down and churning out great prose? Yes and no. Sometimes the words just flow other times it would be easier to collect hen’s teeth than to write a post.

Are there secrets that can help anyone grasp the blogging concept? Perhaps. I know that during my years of writing, the more than a million words I have penned and from the writing classes I've taught  I’ve I found there are two kinds of people:

1. I have a ton of ideas and don’t know what to do with them people, and
2. I can never find an idea people

How Strong Is Your Business?

Monsoon season in Arizona takes hold in a month or so and it had me wondering what business owners do to weather storms -- both literal and figuratively. With the weather that has been striking across the nation -- hurricanes and tornadoes, floods, forest fires, earthquakes -- a business owner needs to have a contingency plan in place to deal with these events. Do you have one?

Do you wonder what could these weather events have to do with your business and its success or viability? Imagine this: A physical business location could be harmed by a storm if there is a flood,

fire or even loss of electricity.

Running a virtual business, such as my coaching business -- means I have to have access to Internet, electricity to run my computers and much more. I also need to make sure my computers and all of my systems are backed up in the event of a computer meltdown. It happens and if you don't have your systems backed up, you could lose your client lists, your inventory tracking and your invoicing systems. Could you recover?

Do you use cloud storage? Do you back up your computer systems to an offsite location regularly? If you back up weekly, have you considered what you might have lost during those previous six days?

There are myriad items that many business owners don't consider when thinking of whether they could weather a storm or a computer meltdown. If you want a walk through and an idea of what could be lost and how you can protect yourself, your business assets and your company's bottom line, give me a call!

Be Part Of The 'In' Crowd At Networking Events

Remember how you used to walk into the lunch room when you were in grade school or high school and wondered, "Who am I going to sit with?" Well, sometimes those feelings come back when you walk into a networking event. Unless you're the gregarious type, you may be faced with that tinge of panic that struck each day in the school lunch room.

What can you do to combat that? Here are a few networking how-tos I've gleaned:

• Have a plan in mind of how many people you want to meet at the event. If you know that, you will have a focus and a goal. 
• Get in touch with the event organizer and see if there is a Facebook group or other area in which attendees are gathering to "get to know" one another prior to the event. This is a great way for you to hone in on who you'd like to meet.  
• The event is not a place at which you will sell your widgets. The event should be looked at as a way to get to know potential clients. Once you meet someone, set up a time at a later date to get together to grab a coffee and see if you can work together. 

Remember, if you see someone standing alone, approach them. If you're in a group and you see someone wandering around, looking lost, invite them into your group -- they will thank you for it. 

'Shark Tank' Business Lessons

Start-ups or long-term business owners might find themselves in the situation of having to approach investors for capital for their businesses -- this is a great position to be in, but it does require planning and forethought on the part of the entrepreneur. 

If you're meeting with potential investors you will need to have your "investor pitch" prepared. What

goes into an investor pitch? Here are a few items:

1. Stating your business premise and the clients you serve in a concise and clear manner. If you're stumbling for words, you haven't honed in on your ideal client yet and you need to do so. 
2. What are the potential flaws in your business plan? A flaw could encompass not having thought through who will manufacture your widgets, or how you will market, or not having a plan in place for growth and hiring of staff. 
3. How will you make money? Having passion for your business is ideal, but if it doesn't put money in the bank, you need to step back and consider how you will generate income. An investor won't want to invest if he isn't sure whether he will see a return. 

Are you ready for potential business growth? Do you have a written business plan? That will be a necessity when you meet with potential investors. 

Just Let Your Employees Do Their Jobs

Do you find that you're continually in hiring mode? Do you ever do exit interviews to find out why your people are leaving? It might be an eye-opening experience. You may find out that your employees are unhappy or unfulfilled or any number of other factors of dissatisfaction with their jobs in your company. While you may not be able to address all issues of dissatisfaction, there may be issues that you uncover that you can -- and likely should -- address if you want to keep any new hires.

In many studies it's found that employees are dissatisfied if they feel they are being micro-managed.

If you hired diligently you should have hired staff who are qualified to do the job for which they are hired and after a training period, let them do their jobs. If you don't want to lose your employees, consider changing these micromanaging traits:

1. Let them do their jobs. It's that simple. If your employees don't feel you appreciate their skills or respect their work ethic they will stop working. Plain and simple. 
2. Provide training so the employee understands the nuances of your firm and how it works, and then let them do the jobs for which they were hired. 
3. Make certain there are goals and expectations set that are reasonable and attainable. Benchmarks help everyone understand whether they are performing up to expectations and if not, you can address with them, why not. If they are meeting or exceeding expectations, then mention that. 

Do you have a lot of turn over? Are you wondering what you can do differently to keep your employees? Call me for an onsite evaluation. 

Tips To Being More Productive

Everyone wishes they had more hours in a day. If you were granted that, would you get more done or would you use those additional hours to spend more time on Facebook or LinkedIn or involved in some other activity that didn't further your business or your life?

Here are some tips that I share with my consulting clients to help them get more done in the office:

• Work on smaller tasks first. Finishing off ten small tasks will give you the momentum of having completed something and that will spur you onward to complete complex, larger tasks. 
• Before you leave the office at the end of the day, put together a to-do list for the following day. Knowing what your plan is for the day ahead will help you jump in as soon as you step foot in the office. Having a to-do list will keep you on task and will also offer you a way to track what you've completed. 
• Give yourself permission to take a break. Stepping away from your desk and even getting out of your office will give you a much needed respite and will help you come back to face work with a refreshed, relaxed attitude.  

I'd love to hear where your productivity problem areas are. Leave a comment below.

How Well Do You Communicate?

How finely honed are your communication skills? Are you adept at both verbal and non verbal? Can you send an email that gets your point across without sounding terse?

If you hesitated to answer any of those questions, you will want to keep reading for tips to improve

your communication skills:

1. Clarity rules. Steer clear of industry jargon. If you’re sending an email, it’s important to be clear as well, but remember in an email, short sentences may sound terse. Never deliver bad news via email. 
2. Don't multitask when you're talking with clients. Give them the courtesy of your full attention. Don’t let a caller or client feel they are not important enough for you to stop what you’re doing and pay attention. 
3. What you do is as important as what you say you will do. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. 

Are you an effective communicator?

Set Yourself Apart With Your Customer Service

I don't know about you, but I get annoyed with people who talk on their cell phones while in a checkout line. I also get a bit annoyed by the poor customer service delivered by many in the service industry. Perhaps the rudeness is a function of no one paying attention and therefore no one delivers good customer service. 

I can tell you though, as a business owner you need to set the standards high for yourself and for your employees on what you expect for the customer service they (and you) deliver. In the past when someone said they set themselves apart from the competition based on their level of customer service it was a cliche. It is no longer a cliche because too many business owners are providing shoddy service.

What can you do to be one of the business owners who sets himself apart from the crowd as it relates to the customer service your business delivers? Here are my ideas: 

1. Be that business owner who actually answers his phone. Don't screen your calls or have a caller navigate a phone menu. Answer the phone. It's as simple as that. 

Get Prospects To Call You Back

You met with a prospect and you felt like you hit it off. What gives with them not calling you back? Could it be your phone etiquette or when you're calling or the message you're leaving?

It could be any of those, so here are my tips for getting a call back:

• Don't call Mondy morning or Friday afternoon. Chance are you don't want to talk then and chances are, neither does your prospect. Mondays are typically catch-up time from the weekend and Friday is slowing down time. 
• Leave a clear message with your name, your number, the reason for your call and the action you're requesting,  ie...a call back, a meeting, etc.
• If you're cold calling but have a connection to the prospect, mention it, ie. "Jack from XYZ Company said I should give you a call because (fill in the blank that shows the relevance)."

Make the best use of your phone call time and give the prospect a reason to call you back. 

Email Etiquette For #Manufacturers

Guest blog by Robbi Hess, Written Marketing Specialist

Electronic communications are the norm for most every business owner, and with good reason. It's quick, efficient and can be taken care of no matter the time of day. However, in our "texting era" email communication has taken on the slang of texting and that doesn't always translate well.

Here are tips for writing better emails:

• Clearly state your message. In your message do you require a response, or action? If so, spell
  
  that out so the recipient knows his or her next steps.
• Try to stick to one issue. Don't muddle your message with multiple issues. If possible stick to one issue per email. If the email is regarding Company XYZ and there is more than one issue, it's all right to have more than one as long as it's related to a specific client.
• Make your subject line clear, ie "Action needed on XYZ client" rather than "follow up on meeting."
• Be brief, but polite. Don't ramble. Keep in mind that your client is just as busy as you are so be cognizant of his or her time. Don't forget a salutation and a closing.
• Don't use slang or industry acronyms. Sometimes messages get lost in acronyms and unless you are truly clear that the recipient will understand without a shadow of a doubt what they mean, leave them out. 

Your email is your public persona so make certain your best image shows through.

Robbi Hess is a Written Marketing Specialist who writes web copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and other business correspondence. Your Words. Your Message. Where It Matters!

Honing Your Marketing Plan For 2015

Just as one size does not fit all for manufacturers, neither does that approach work for your marketing efforts. The ultimate goal of your marketing is to reach potential clients and turn them into clients, right? To do that you need to find them, gain their trust and then convert them into clients.

When you're putting your 2015 marketing plan together here are three items to consider:

1. Where in your sales stage do you find that prospects convert into customers? In other words, how often do you need to touch them before they convert?
2. How do they like to be communicated with? In your initial conversations you should be able to gauge whether a prospect prefers a text, an email, a face-to-face or a phone call. "Meet" them where they are comfortable.
3. Ask permission. This is especially important if you want to add someone to your e-newsletter mailing list. Having an e-newsletter sent to prospects and current clients regularly helps you stay in touch in a non-intrusive way.

What steps can you take to amp up your 2015 marketing efforts?

Make Email Communications Effective

Can you remember the last time you picked up the telephone and called a client or a colleague? If you're like most business owners, your communication is done via email or text. 

If you've ever received an email or a text and wondered if there was a "hidden meaning" because, let's face it, it is easy to have a misunderstanding via electronic means because you don't have voice inflection or tone or body language to help you decipher the conversation. 

How can you make certain your emails are delivering the message you want? Here

are my top tips: 
  

1. Be clear. If your email requires a response or an action, make certain that is stated either in the subject line (“Response required” or “Action needed”) or at the end of the message itself (“Awaiting your response.”)
2. "Say" what you mean. Make sure the subject conveys what the message is about. Let the recipient know whether it’s work related (“Information needed on the Jones account”) or personal (“Dinner party at my house Thursday). This makes it easily to search for when the need arises.

Hone Your Collaboration Skills

Post by Robbi Hess, All Words Matter 

How can you help your workforce to become more effective? By becoming an effective collaborator. Just as you likely don't run your business by yourself -- unless you're a solopreneur, but even in that case you may still work with a business coach or contract out some of the tasks at which you are not

an expert.

I believe that collaboration can help you grow your business. Why? Because you're drawing in information and expertise from others and putting them all toward the company's greater overall goal. Here are some of my collaboration tips:

How Healthy Is Your #Manufacturing Workforce?

If you're a business owner, you want to have the "best workforce money can buy."

Whenever I talk to business owners about their operations, we invariably wind up talking about HR issues. The two most common are; 1) how to manage the employees I have and 2) how do I hire good people? It turns out these two apparently diverse concerns are closely related.

How you say? Well, if you hire good people, you don’t have as many HR issues day-to-day." But

David, how do we hire the “right” people that “fit” our company?"

Well, as with most things, it takes a bit of planning. You must take the time to put down on paper the skill set you are looking for along with a very introspective look at your company culture. Do you have a diverse workforce or not? Will it be affected by bringing in a trained individual at a higher wage or will a promotion from within be more accepted? These kinds of questions along with a good job description will give you a good base of check-off items that any candidate will have to meet.

Cash Is King In #Manufacturing

I think you will agree that one of the biggest problems for companies is cash flow. After all, cash is the lifeblood of your company .You buy your supplies with it, you pay your employees with it and of course you get to pay taxes with it.

However, many companies are lax with their cash flow management, which is very dangerous in these days when loans are harder to come by to tide you over.

4 Ways to Improve Your Cash Flow:

1. Try to do credit checks before you start up with a new customer. Folks who pay others promptly will probably continue to do so. The ones that pay slower, well you get the idea.
2. Send out invoices promptly. Again, this seems pretty straightforward but I’ve seen companies wait until the end of the week or even a month before they invoice. GET THE BILL OUT QUICK and YOU’LL GET PAID QUICK!
3. Improve your quality by making good parts the first time and they won’t be rejected. Seems counter intuitive but if you are not constantly, crediting and rebilling your customer’s accounts for bad parts you do make, your cash flow will improve and you won’t be wasting time doing paperwork.

Stress Management Tips For Entrepreneurs

Post by Robbi Hess #WrittenMarketingExpert

As an entrepreneur, stress may be a part of your daily life and business activities. While it may be more stressful to be the captain of your own ship, for many people the rewards are well worth the cost of admission.

If, however, you find the stressors of the day becoming unwieldy here are some tips for managing it:

Five Steps To A Sales Call

Guest post by Robbi Hess, The Written Marketing Expert at All Words Matter 

You may say to yourself, "But I'm not a sales man/woman," but I am here to tell you, if you are an entrepreneur you ARE a sales person. You have to be. If you weren't selling how would remain in business? 

In my limited experience as a sales person, here are the five steps I've found to be true in my sales

calls on potential clients: 

1. You have to prospect. Sure word of mouth is great, but if word of mouth dries up, you have to jump start your prospecting strategies. Prospect where your ideal client resides -- whether that's at local networking events, on social media or at trade events. 

Is Your #Manufacturing Company A Job Shop?

If you were to ask manufacturers if they are a “job shop," I’d guess a great percentage would say “Yes.” They’d say they work on “jobs” and of course a “shop” is just another name for a facility or factory.

In my mind, a true job shop is one that makes discrete quantities of parts on a purchase order and ships them all to a customer in one shipment. No long-term delivery or commitment requirements. On the other hand, a shop that does have longer term purchase orders with multiple releases and/or formal purchase agreements or contracts is not what I would describe as a job shop.

Let’s go through some of the pros and cons of each so you can clearly see what type of business mix you have and whether it works best for you.
                                   

“Job Shop” (as described above)
         
Pros:

• Lower volume- lower investment in outside processes
• Shorter time to payment as total process/invoice cycle is short
• Lower or no WIP (Work In Process) and finished inventory.

Are Business Cards Dead?

Guest post by Robbi Hess

Do you still look at gathering business cards as a sport when you're attending a business meeting or networking event? You know, whomever gets the most cards wins? I have to caution that when it comes to business cards, quantity doesn't necessary equate to quality. If you're gathering business cards for the sake of gathering them you may want to rethink your strategy and only accept cards --

and give cards -- to potential referral partners or others with whom you feel you can work.

If you still use a business card, and I honestly can't see any reason why you wouldn't, here are tips for making the most of that valuable piece of business real estate:

1. Make sure it's branded with your company business name and logo. While you don't want to clutter the card with a lot of information, you are selling yourself and your business and your logo is a big part of that. 

Do You Want To Buy My #Manufacturing Company? Valuation Information

From our newsletter archives:

Do you want to buy my company? This is a question, that when I hear it from a business owner what I truly suspect they want to know is... how much will you pay me for my company. The problem is that many owners have only a vague idea of how much their company is worth and will actually get quite upset if you run a number by them that isn’t what they had in mind.

What these owners don’t know is that there are very simple but detailed methods to determine the value of a company. The other fact is that the buyer will most likely be going to a bank for money and they also will be using these methods to value the business. It doesn’t matter that you clean the shop every week or that you just painted the walls. Great job but in the financial world they only look at the books for the initial value. Only after the offer is accepted and the due diligence starts will any weight be given to aesthetics and other subjective matters.

So what are buyers and banks looking for?