Standing Out

I’ve just recently read a post written by Andrew Fife about entrepreneur etiquette when entrepreneurs present their businesses to potential investors.

First of all, I agree with him that it’s completely rude to ask a presenting entrepreneur (if you are also a presenting entrepreneur) a question about their business. Why? Because they are not pitching their business to you. The pitch is designed for the ears of an investor.

My issue with it is this: would you, as a presenting entrepreneur, want another entrepreneur taking up your precious Q & A time? Probably not. You want to spend this time sparking enough interest to get investors to contact you later.

I’m sure that not all curious entrepreneurs ask questions to throw the others off, but the intention is irrelevant when the result is any one of the following:

1. Loss of time. Q & A session time is not unlimited!

2. Frustration.

3. Embarrassment.

These could occur even if that wasn’t the intention.

So be kind. If you find yourself in this type of forum, keep your mouth closed during the pitches of other entrepreneurs. Karma will ensure that you are rewarded with the same courtesy!

Cheers!

Tia

If you’re looking for Wordpress Help, here are a couple sites I found that are really great.

1. OptiNiche - I used this Wordpress tutorial to figure out what the heck was the problem with my trackback functionality. It led me to a couple of other great sites…below.

2. Solutoire.com

3. Wordpress @ T2 -the site I found using OptiNiche that was actually the solver of my problem!

4. Untwisted Vortex - found this post through Google, while searching whether or not pings from Wordpress to Typepad blogs work. For some reason, my pings to Typepad blogs never show up! Still seeking answers on this one…

Cheers!

…to turn away a customer from a product or service for good.

Case in point: I was multitasking. Feeding my son & browsing the internet for futons simultaneously. I normally don’t read product reviews, but have started to do it more often, particularly when shopping for baby stuff. Anyway, I’m browsing this site, and locked my eyes on what appears to be a lovely, not-so-futon-looking futon, and clicked.

Up popped all the retailer’s info on the product. It was looking pretty good. I scrolled down and read review number 1 and review number 2. Both raved about the product and complained only about something minor that’s irrelevant to me anyway. But along came review number 3…

poor quality, 03/08/2008 By bdgsmom, Gastonia, NC Read all reviews by this reviewer Overall Rating: 1 out of 5 Product Attributes: Value for price paid: 2 out of 5 Meets Expectations: 1 out of 5 Features: 1 out of 5 Appearance: 2 out of 5

This futon is not comfortable! the seat is hard & the back is stiff and too upright for comfortable lounging. When we set it up, one of the legs broke. We would return it but it was the only piece that would fit up our irregular stairway

Recommends this product? No Age: 35 - 44 Gender: Female Has owned product for: 2 - 7 weeks Uses product: Every few days

Yikes! To be honest, I didn’t get past “too upright for comfortable lounging.” I immediately clicked away. It was then that I realized it only takes one. A single bad review made me turn away and never look back (except to paste it into this post). I will not purchase that futon and I don’t feel bad about that in the least. Customer satisfaction is critical and a product or manufacturer’s reputation is crucial!

I found the review very helpful, obviously, but I was much more intrigued that it took just that one review to change my mind.

Consider the eBay power-sellers. How damaging is it to have a 98.7% positive rating? I’m guessing it’s a huge deal! Why buy from a seller whose positive rating is only 98.7% when you can find 30 others with 100% positive ratings? I’ve only purchased from sellers with 100% reviews, and not even intentionally. There’s just something about that 100%.

Same deal with Elance, of which I am a part. I’m a provider with 100% positive feedback. If I ever get less than that, I’d honestly consider ditching that profile and starting again! Let’s be real. No one wants to hire something with only 90% positive feedback. That means someone didn’t like them so much that they felt the need to warn others!

We’re a culture ruined by the notion of perfection. Why do we expect perfection? We all know it isn’t possible. When the Graco swing my mom purchased for my son didn’t work, and we got a replacement and that didn’t work, and then the third didn’t work (no joke) I swore off Graco electronic products for good! We went and got a Fisher-Price one instead.

I know that I am not alone on this. We as consumers expect perfect. We expect it from our retailers, our school systems, our politicians, our doctors, and even our garbage men. We believe we are deserving of this because of the time and money we give. Whether it is right or wrong, it simply “is” and you must accept this as a marketer.

So pull out the PR (not kidding) and suck it up. And if you’re reading, Graco, I “expect” an apology!

Cheers!

Tia

You’ve probably been there. You’re checking your email and see something from a client and you’re sooooo tempted to open it. You tell yourself that you’ll open it, but whatever the need is can wait until you’re “working” again. So you open it, but the request is so simple, right? It’ll just take a second.

So you do it. And instantly, you’re working. Even though it’s 10 PM. On Saturday.

Seriously. Does this sound like you? If so, it’s because you (and I) need to set email answering hours and actually keep them. Not just working hours. Email “answering” hours. Because more often than not, if you answer your email, you’re working. Even just thinking about a client request can technically be classified as working.

In the B2B world, setting email answering hours and informing your client of them should not set off any alarms. In fact, chances are that your client either already has established this practice or deep down, really wants to, so it won’t be a shocker.

So give yourself a break and get organized. Say, yes, I work at home (or on the road with my Blackberry or whatever), but, I answer client email from X AM to Y PM and stick to that. Say to your client, if it’s urgent, give me a call. That way, you’re still accessible in case of an emergency, but you’ve got work boundaries that you would probably have if you worked in an office away from your home, right?

I have a client that actually has an auto-responder that informs you of his email answering hours. I don’t need to adopt that method, but his principle is right on. In order to stay organized and manage your time more effectively, not to mention keeping your sanity, do yourself a favor and set some email hours and stick to them. Do this for two weeks and if it doesn’t work and you don’t feel better, come back and say I told you so!

–Tia

This video, not even intended to make a case for target marketing, does it brilliantly. Thanks, Seth!

Make sure your marketing efforts and dollars are spent on the people who want what you’re selling.Cheers!

Tia