Make Your Boring Business Fun
5 Things I am going to do to spice up my business
1. Find a New Story. The "story" of my company lands a little dull with people. I am putting together an "our story" project to find a NEW and fun way to describe who we are and what we do. My goal is to let our clients be a part of "our story." Stay tuned on this project.
2. Change My Voicemail. My voicemail box was boring. So I changed it. Now it is a little bit more fun. Sorry, you will have to call to see what it is. (970) 225-4707. If you call please leave a FUN message. I could use a laugh :) (maybe tell me a joke or a riddle or something. You could also do your best Chevy Chase impression)
3. Add Stickers to My Notes. Remember when you were in kindergarden and you always got a sticker on your paper? Why not try adding stickers to your notes?!?! Watch out HTL...stickers are coming!
4. Weekly Chalkboard. One of my favorite creations in my office is the Home Team Lending Weekly Chalkboard. It is a fun way to communicate news to the team instead of a boring email. Wanna see it? You can mention that in your voicemail when you call and I will send it to you.
5. Sock Monkey Madness. Well you already know that I carry that cute little guy around with me everywhere I go...but I usually stick his rear end or little face out of my purse so it is a conversation starter with people. This is a FUN way to spice up my business. I will take the sock monkey on a field trip each week...stay tuned!
Have FUN! PLEASE let me know what you are going to do to spice up your business!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Free Printing and Paper
Where to find it
I often run into people who say "I can't afford to do a mailer" or "I can't afford to print those flyers".
Good news!!! There are EASY solutions to this!
Depending on what your need is, you can find FREE (or discounted) paper and FREE (or discounted) printing.
1. Find a company with a similar cause/need. Say you are in the Real Estate business and you want to print flyers to "farm" an area, passing them out to neighbors. You may partner with a mortgage company, title company, lawn care service, maid service or even a pizza company who is interested in printing on the opposite side of the flyer or just split the cost. You could do this for ANY company. Think outside the box.
2. Split it up. Depending on what you want to print, companies are usually willing to donate paper if there is a cause involved. We needed 5 reams of paper to print 1,250 flyers for a charity drive our company was doing. Instead of buying the paper and printing ourselves, we got 5 companies do donate 1 ream of paper each and 3 companies to split up the printing. We offered to put their logo on the flyer as a thank you and for publicity.
3. Find a cause. Your marketing idea could have a twist for a cause. Meaning, you could partner with a non-profit. You will be promoting their cause and people are usually willing to donate for a write-off or a cause. One year, I got 5 reams of colored paper donated to our non-profit from a local office supply company.
4. Back side sneaker. Call your local printer and let them know you are looking to partner up with someone for advertising. They may have some clients who would let you have the back side of their publication for a minimal cost. OR just be on the lookout for marketing pieces that could easily be double sided and give them a call.
5. Bulk discounts. Printers offer discounted rates for bulk orders. Collect orders from your fellow associates to print in bulk rather than printing a small order by yourself.
6. Bulk postage. Many mail places offer bulk postage discount rates. All you have to do is send them your contact list in an excel spreadsheet so they can sort the list by postal code and they print your labels right on your mailer! For us, it is less than a price of a stamp to fold, tab and send our newsletters with the bulk rate.
Oh and please remember to use re-cycled paper when possible and also to support your local post office.
Happy mailing!
Where to find it
I often run into people who say "I can't afford to do a mailer" or "I can't afford to print those flyers".
Good news!!! There are EASY solutions to this!
Depending on what your need is, you can find FREE (or discounted) paper and FREE (or discounted) printing.
1. Find a company with a similar cause/need. Say you are in the Real Estate business and you want to print flyers to "farm" an area, passing them out to neighbors. You may partner with a mortgage company, title company, lawn care service, maid service or even a pizza company who is interested in printing on the opposite side of the flyer or just split the cost. You could do this for ANY company. Think outside the box.
2. Split it up. Depending on what you want to print, companies are usually willing to donate paper if there is a cause involved. We needed 5 reams of paper to print 1,250 flyers for a charity drive our company was doing. Instead of buying the paper and printing ourselves, we got 5 companies do donate 1 ream of paper each and 3 companies to split up the printing. We offered to put their logo on the flyer as a thank you and for publicity.
3. Find a cause. Your marketing idea could have a twist for a cause. Meaning, you could partner with a non-profit. You will be promoting their cause and people are usually willing to donate for a write-off or a cause. One year, I got 5 reams of colored paper donated to our non-profit from a local office supply company.
4. Back side sneaker. Call your local printer and let them know you are looking to partner up with someone for advertising. They may have some clients who would let you have the back side of their publication for a minimal cost. OR just be on the lookout for marketing pieces that could easily be double sided and give them a call.
5. Bulk discounts. Printers offer discounted rates for bulk orders. Collect orders from your fellow associates to print in bulk rather than printing a small order by yourself.
6. Bulk postage. Many mail places offer bulk postage discount rates. All you have to do is send them your contact list in an excel spreadsheet so they can sort the list by postal code and they print your labels right on your mailer! For us, it is less than a price of a stamp to fold, tab and send our newsletters with the bulk rate.
Oh and please remember to use re-cycled paper when possible and also to support your local post office.
Happy mailing!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Ditzy, Snotty, Bossy & Irritated
Ditzy, Snotty, Bossy & IrritatedUnderstanding Personality Types
We have 11 people that make up our company. We had a company retreat today. It was awesome. One of the components of the retreat was learning about social styles and figuring out what our individual styles are. It was a highly interactive session which involved a lot of standing up and moving around based on questions from our presenter Bob Heavers from Priority Management in Denver. (highly recommend him)
In the midst of all the laughter and puns tossed about the room, what we saw is that our 11 people make up the melting pot that is our office. Not two of us are the same. Sure we mirror components of each others personalities, but we are not the same. Thank goodness! We all compliment one another in a really beautiful and convoluted way AND our needs are different.
One of the true gems about this training was finding out what people need (to be right, produce results, have personal security or gain personal approval), their growth action (to declare, to listen, to initiate or to check in) and their back-up behavior rather, how they act when you raise tension in their environment (withdraw, become autocratic, acquiesce or attack). This is very valuable in the workplace but can be extremely useful when you apply this to your clients.
What should you do when you know someone just wants the bottom line? How should you handle a client that needs ALL the facts and details before making a decision? What should you say to an extremely expressive and outgoing person? How do you talk to someone that is hesitant to even work with you because they don't trust you yet? Being versatile, that is to say being able to work well with all social styles will increase your value and set you apart from your competition.
Additionally, knowing yourself and controlling yourself are two very useful tools to have when working with other human beings. Next, spend some time to get to know others. Think about how you should best communicate and interact with them. Doing something for others, we were taught, and adjusting your style to their needs will create more productive relationships.
Bottom line, always follow the platinum rule: "Treat others the way they want to be treated."
P.S.
Why did I title this blog Ditzy, Snotty, Bossy & Irritated? Well, let's just say those are some of the funnier traits in our team members including myself. Bonus - I thought it would get more people to read this post...which is one of my favorites!
P.S.S.
A shout out to North American Title of Greeley for the yummy omelet bar! You guys rock!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
125 Coffees
125 Coffees(or tea) Instead of $1,000
Our President Pete Lansing and I had breakfast a few months ago. We were chatting about marketing and got to talking about relationship marketing instead of advertising marketing. The two are very different.
"We don't spend money on print advertising," I tell him, "we are focused on the relationship."
He then went on to tell me about a Loan Originator who came to him wanting to spend thousands of dollars on this print advertising campaign that he "hoped" would bring in the business.
Pete went on to ask him a few questions, probably like "who is your target demographic" and "why will this work" and such. After a few minutes Pete asked him if he would rather have thousands of dollars for this one marketing campaign or take 125 people out for a lunch or coffee.
The point was it is the relationship that makes the bigger difference and it costs LESS money. Your A clients are the ones you have a relationship with so go hang out with those people. It is more fun anyway.
You could have 125 coffee appointments for under $8 each.
That is about 10 per month = $80 per month
That is about 3 per week = $24 per week
Depending on how your paid, if you get 10 deals per year how much would you make?
What if you got 25 deals from it?
What if you got 50 deals?
Don't get me wrong, print advertising can and does work (I have a lot of AMAZING friends in the industry) but think about what you are trying to accomplish and ask yourself, "how about a coffee instead?"
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