Marketing is about Sharing, Communication and Building Relationships. I've upload a presentation I did a while back and wanted to share it with you all here. Enjoy.

I was dismayed when at an invitation-only meeting after the meeting ended one of the hosts turned his back on me as I stood politely waiting for a moment to speak to him. Has this happened to you?

Networking is an important part of every business, although for some it is difficult to meet strangers and strike up a conversation. I have had to deal with this difficulty myself and have found a technique that works best for me - just be myself. So, when the gentleman host turned his back I stood patiently while he had a discussion with another attendee and did not take it personally. Their conversation was not private as their voices remained at the same level. Even with my respectable distance I could clearly hear their conversation. I waited a few minutes longer and then wanting to speak to a few other attendees I walked away.

The not so funny thing about this whole episode was that the host, a non-profit, was seeking my business to get involved and help with input and support of policy-making. What this particular individual does not realize is that I am an activist on issues that I care about and I volunteer a considerable amount of my time to community efforts and non-profits.

Ways to Handle the Situation

I have found through my experiences of being "blown-off" in similar situations whether it's by people I'm talking to or want to talk to that there is a professional way to handle these situations. Face it, there isn't enough time to talk to everyone you want to speak to or meet. The way I've tried to handle these situations when either someone wants to talk to me or I to them is to maintain politeness and professionalism.

When I'm in a conversation with someone and I know someone is standing near and wants to speak to me I have politely interrupted the conversation (while I'm speaking) to acknowledge the person waiting. If I know that I don't have the time right then to speak to them I've asked them for a business card and promise to call them either later that day or the next day. I return to the conversation and thank the person I am talking to for waiting.

I have handled it in a similar way when there is someone I want to speak to who I'm standing near either asking them to speak to me before they leave or asking if I can call them later. If there is someone I want to speak to them but didn't get the chance and I have their contact information I find the meeting is the perfect opportunity to follow-up with them after the event.

In any situation I find myself in I make every effort to remain polite and professional.

Have you had similar experiences? How have you handled them? You can comment below.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments.

I know first-hand the job is dirty, grimy, sweaty and unhealthy or as I say down right "nasty." I know because in a previous rental residence I had to sweep the woodstove once a month or more due to an improperly fitted and installed woodstove the landlord just refused to correct.

According the National Chimney Sweep Guild "a chimney service professional is to aid in the prevention of fires related to fireplaces, woodstoves, gas, oil and coal heating systems and the chimneys that serve them."

But what about Roses?

Last week I had my chimney sweep company Seacoast Sweeps come for the annual fireplace chimney clean. I've been using this company for well over 7 years and have referred them to friends and neighbors several times. Philip Mitchell Jr. is the owner of the business and is someone whose experience and opinion I value. In fact, I have consulted with him on his recommendations for a new woodstove. And, he is just a down-to-earth good person.

Well, after his visit I noticed on my kitchen island a single Red Rose and note card left by Seacoast Sweeps thanking me for my business. I thought that was such a special touch I wanted to share it here with everyone.

There's more

The Saturday after my chimney sweep I was at a neighborhood potluck and noticed a rose and card in the host's kitchen. I pointed out that I, too, had just received one. "Yea." Bonnie, the host, said, "my chimney sweep guys gave me a rose, how cool. I love them."

A Special Touch

Bonnie and I went on about how we would use Seacoast Sweeps whether they give us roses or not because they are a top-notch quality service, but we agreed the rose certainly adds a special touch that shows they truly appreciate our business.

Thanks for reading

This is the Third in a Series of entries on Marketing Your Business without Breaking the Bank. The information is from a talk I presented at the Womens' Business Center Breakfast Table entitled Marketing without Breaking the Bank.

Onto the Series

Another strategy to help you improve your business is by Strengthening your Customer Loyalty and Growth. Doctors, sports trainers, physical therapists and our mom and dad teach us the basics about our health. If we spend time lying on the couch our muscles become soft, weak and unforgiving to us. Well, the same for our customers. If we aren't spending time with them, caring for them and helping them they will be unforgiving and go some place else for a little TLC.

3 Keys to Pumping the Iron

1. Communication

Increase the quantity or quality of your communications to your customers and let them know they are valuable to your business. You can highlight a customer in one of your newsletters, blog posts or put them in one of your brochures. Recognize their patronage to your business.

2. Create

Create specials or events just for your customers. If you're a retail business and have a list of key customers invite them to a pre-sale offer and open the store early just for them to browse and shop. If you have a membership program offer an upgrade to your customers for a limited time or at a discounted rate.

3. Leverage Partnerships

If you have complementary product or service business in your area that would interest your customers go speak to that business owner and suggest partnering with them in a introductory discount program that benefits both of your sets of customers.

Know, Listen, Learn and Thank

When you think about how you can show your customers you care it can be as simplistic as getting to know and listen to them first. When you do this you will always learn a little bit more about what makes them tic, what they care about and how to please them. This could give you some insight into what they may appreciate you doing for them to strengthen the relationship.

Thank You

I didn't forget this from the last paragraph. I purposely wanted to leave this as my parting thought for you. The two most important words we can all say to our customers is "Thank You". I find these two words dying in many retail businesses right along with the associate counting out my change. Both frustrate me to the point that I wish D-Fens (the character Michael Douglas played in the movie Falling Down) would accompany me shopping to point out to the associate behind the counter the obvious lack of care...well, maybe I don't want to go to that extreme... If you have a way to thank your customers let me know, I'd love to hear about it and if you'd like, I'll post it in a future entry.

Thank you for reading.

Take a look at 3 views about The marketing maze in this video or read the article on theglobeandmail.

I especially like what Greg Salmela of Aegis Toronto says: "the heart of marketing is people"

I agree.

thanks for reading

Onto the Series

Another strategy to help you improve your business is by creating a Dashboard. Think about every time you get into your automobile and turn the key. The Instrument panel on your dashboard gives you many indicators of the way your car or truck is performing, whether your safety belt is connected, how many miles you have traveled, whether you have enough fuel and the list continues. Well, to run your business you should have a dashboard with many indicators that you check often.

There are many Dashboard software programs on the market, but if you are a small or micro business you can utilize a spreadsheet to build your own customized dashboard.

3 Keys that Turn Your Dashboard On

1. Measure Efforts. A dashboard allows you to measure the efforts you are making throughout your business. What you measure will depend on your business plan and what is critical to your business. Here are a few:

a. You should include cash flow, accounts payable and receivables and any other day-to-day financial activities that your business incurs.

b. You should measure your marketing efforts. One example may be your search engine optimization efforts. If you are spending money whether it is internal or external to increase your ranking in search engines ask yourself if you are getting the return on this investment you expected.

c. You should measure sales leads in relation to the efforts you are putting towards generating new business.

d. Other ideas may be your customer satisfaction, your product margins, or your capacity utilization.

2. Create Metrics. Measurement for the sake of measuring is a waste of time unless you have some metrics established. As in the example above, set some weekly or monthly metrics to determine if the path towards your annual financial goals is moving forward. Some of the metrics may be determined based on what you have laid out for your business plan or annual plan while others you may be benchmarking against an industry standard or leader, a competitor or a historical data point. What matters most is that you have one and if you don't have one begin to measure the effort then set develop some goals based on the data.

3. Evaluate Programs or Projects. You have likely started some special program or project in your business and this needs to be part of your dashboard. Here is where you tie in the measuring and metrics, but make them specific to your special efforts. For example, I worked with a customer that ran a variety of workshops, but never measured the returns of the workshops in relation to any specific goal for the business. I asked them what they expected the workshops to do for their business, was it to generate new customers, increase overall sales, or promote new products? We discussed their specific expectations which they definitely had but were not doing any evaluations of the workshops. We then explored all the current workshops they had underway and went through the list to determine if any of them should be eliminated, improved or utilized in other ways that would benefit their customers and their business.

When You Should Look at The Instrument Panel

When you look at your dashboard will depend on the size and nature of your business. I look at my dashboard weekly and for the majority of my customers weekly seems to be the best way to keep on top of their business and to gets them into a routine. I recommend setting one specific day and time each week to pull the data together and review it and take any action that may be necessary to rectify an issue or celebrate a success.

Share the Information You should share the Dashboard with your employees either as often as you look at it or at some designated time each month or quarter. It is just as valuable to them as it is to you and keeping them informed would help you with challenges, changes and celebrations.

Go ahead and start a dashboard with just a few of the criteria I've mentioned. It does not have to be elaborate or perfect. Allow it to evolve and let me know how it goes.

Thanks for reading.