Business

Nurture and expand your network now, especially if you are still gainfully employed.
Yes, many others are also working on their Linkedin Profile, their Plaxo listing and sending out Resumes. You may be surprised how many are not or are not doing a good job at it.

Try calling 2 or 4 (or 15) people each day, even before you send them and let’s connect email thru Linkedin or Plaxo or Facebook etc.

Once they accept the connection write them a short note, thank them and give them a short update, inquire about them. Most people are not following up and actually connecting with the new connection, they are not leveraging it.

Offer to help, volunteer or consult. Form or join a group, meetup and support others, allow others to support you.

If you are in the market for new gig, consider giving away your experties for free, pick a worthy cause or a company that intrests you and offer them your services for free.  Don’t extend your offer to the Receptionist or the HR generalist insted identify someone high up in the food chain.

need more ideas or coaching on how to get started go here

these are difficult times if you own or run any kind of business, especially a retail business. Inspite of how difficult it is to get customers spending, even today many businesses do not understand or implement the very basics needed to make their customers feel welcomed and have a enjoyable experience while spending their money purchasing your goods and services.

Focus on what will impact customer experience and will not cost you anything extra. Focus on your frontline, the people that are the face of your company. The employees you have hired that look the customer in the eye or answer the phones with a smile.

Most business do not have the eye contact or smile onthe phone conversation as a part of basic training and ongoing expectation of their employees.

Culture comes top down and there are many good examples of this. Jet Blue and Safeway are two such companies.  then there is that Pizza parlor and the asian resturant, that cleaner and that dentist I drive past on my way to get dinner and pick up my laundry, or get my teeth cleaned, I just ignore them and their coupons, door hangers and their direct mail.

They all have missed the opportunity to win my loyalty and ensure an ongoing access to my money when that had me standing in their doors.

Large and small businesses must focus on client experience each and everytime or else the writing is on the wall.

To learn how go here