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Welcome to Part 2 of a two-part series addressing online marketing. Last week we discussed the importance of being found early in search engines – a concept called SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This week we will visit the concept of “online reputation”.

What are others saying about you?

Do you know what others are saying about your business? I don’t mean what they are saying to their neighbors and friends, although that is important. I’m referring to the relatively new concept of local review web sites that have become the new Yellow Pages for those who search for businesses over the internet.

Let’s say you are looking for a hair salon in Norman. You could open the phone book or Google “hair salons, Norman OK”. If you choose the later, a Google search page will open with a map in the top left hand of the page, indicating where each of the top 10 salons is located. Those salons will be listed to the right of the map. Under each listing will be a link: “ reviews, directions, hours, and more »”. By clicking on reviews you can read what others are saying about their experience with that business. Local review sites such as Google, Yelp, Citysearch, and Yahoo! Local are rapidly becoming the “go-to” place for an ever more discriminating consumer population.

Don’t ignore review sites!

If you serve the local public and ignore these sites, you do so at your own peril. As a mentor of mine, Keith Cunningham, states: “The purpose for all marketing is to give your target market a reason to discriminate in your favor!” With the proliferation of local review sites, you could very likely be the victor or the unaware victim of this facet of online marketing! This can be a terrifying proposition; but managed properly can become one of your best marketing strategies.

Reviews from happy customers can be one of your best new business sources. Negative reviews can be like broadcasting you have the Swine Flu virus! What’s the answer? Overtly manage your online reputation.

By now you might be thinking: “With everything that I now have on my plate, how do I have the time and how do I acquire the skills to manage this?” I suggest the following:

1. Become aware: Monitor your reputation by periodically going to the various local review sites and read what others are saying about you. This is valuable data for improving your customer experience, which is the sole reason they do business with you and not your competition. Sign up for Google Alerts which can automatically alert you when your business is mentioned in a review, blog, or online document.

2. Manage the reviews: Make sure you are showing up on local search sites (see last week’s article). Then respond to the reviews, using as much of the “How to Win Friends and Influence People” tact that you can muster. Do not let uncomplimentary reviews raise your blood pressure no matter how scurrilous! Remember, you are involved in customer relations.

Respond to every negative review

You don’t have to respond to every review. However, I highly suggest that you respond to every negative review, otherwise you send the message that you don’t care, which only legitimizes the negative reviews and worsens your reputation. Thank the reviewer for calling this to your attention and explain how you intend to correct the problem. Never argue with a customer who posts a negative review!

A recent car buying experience

I recently purchased a new car. My decision had been narrowed down to two models from two different manufacturers. One of the choices had no negative reviews and the other had three negative reviews regarding their service department, with no response posted. I called some friends who drove that car and their experiences collaborated with the negative reviews. Even though, I was leaning toward that car prior to seeing the negative reviews, I decided on the other car.

I then took the time to write a constructive letter to the owner of the losing dealership, whom I’d met when in the showroom, explaining why I chose the other vehicle. To my surprise, I received an email from the general manager of the dealership denying they had an issue! This only reinforced my decision and the negative reviews in my mind. Denial is not a river in Egypt! It is lunacy!

Some tips:

· Never post false reviews on your site or on competitors’ sites. At the very least you can suffer embarrassment – and worse, heavy civil penalties.

· Create automatic alerts to notify you.

· Make sure you are listed on the local search sites and that your profile is complete.

· Study and learn from your reviewers.

· Too busy to monitor your reputation? Talk with your SEO provider and see how they can help you. But don’t neglect this aspect of your marketing!

Proverbs 22:1 states: “A {good} name is to be more desired than great wealth,” Do you know your online reputation?

Rob Garibay is a local business owner and business coach with 30+ years of business experience. Forward your business questions to: 405 573-6537 or robgaribay@actioncoach.com

I see this scenario too often. A small business invests in a web site and expects the world to beat a path to their virtual or real door. Seeing little traffic to their site and no increase in sales, the business owner many times concludes that e-marketing and/or having an online store is a waste of money.

The facts about e-commerce belie this conclusion. E-Commerce is the fastest growing part of our economy. North American advertisers spent approximately $9.4 billion in 2006 on search engine marketing, which determines where you show up in search engines based upon typical words used to find your product or service (called “keywords”). By 2011, spending is expected to top $18.6 billion.

Why have a web site?

By now you might be thinking “In that case I better get a web site.” There are three reasons to have a web site:

1. Your focus is business to business commerce with most of your sales effort revolving around face to face sales and you have a well known established brand. As a minimum you should have an online brochure providing a convenient efficient way for others to learn about your company, your products or services, and your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Search engine placement is not as important in this scenario as in the next two.

2. You have a brick and mortar business where your prospects come to do business with you. Your web site should be designed to drive prospects to you. In this case, placing in the top ten of the local search engine results is much more important, as is managing your online reputation.

3. You have an e-commerce store with a shopping cart and no need to drive prospects to your brick and mortar store, if you even have one. This web site provides you with the opportunity to do business with anyone anywhere. Showing up on the first page of the organic search results (located on the left 2/3 of the search results page as opposed to paid search engine placement located in the right hand column) can make a big difference in revenue for this type of web site.

This article will focus on the last two reasons to have a web site. If you own a brick and mortar business that serves a geographically limited local consumer market, showing up in the top 10 local search results, next to the little map, can make a big difference in your sales. If you own a purely e-commerce store, showing up on the first page of the organic search results can make a big difference in your sales. In both cases, managing your online reputation (the number and type of reviews) can also have a significant impact on your sales, especially if you are a service business.

What is SEO?

Most business owners are now familiar with the concept of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO is defined in Wikipedia as: “the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via ‘natural’ (‘organic’ or ‘algorithmic’) search results. Typically, the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine…

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.”

Architect for SEO

To the nontechnical person, that is a mouthful! Bottom line, if you are going to invest in a web site, be sure that you are working with an SEO expert, not just a creative graphic artist who knows HTML. The reason is that you want your site to be architected for SEO. Otherwise your site is handicapped when it comes to competing for search engine placement with those who have incorporated SEO into their web site structure. It can be analogous to building an energy efficient home from the ground up versus retrofitting energy saving concepts into an older home – much more expensive and less effective.

Work with an SEO expert

Find a reputable SEO expert with whom to work who is knowledgeable about e-marketing and is innovative in their approach. If you want, they can explain to you how cost per click, keywords, duplicate content, page indexing, affiliate marketing, SEO friendly shopping cart, etc, factor into your SEO success, or you can just ask them for results. However, the more you understand about SEO, the better SEO supplier you will likely select.

The battle for search engine placement, and therefore visibility, is being waged in a constantly changing arena. Diligently studying this ever evolving landscape and innovating with SEO technology to stay ahead of the game is essential to maintaining your online visibility. Similar to most advertising, it is very easy to throw a lot of money at SEO and not achieve the desired results. Look for an SEO expert who can point to a significant number of successes based upon return on investment and has the technical drive to stay ahead of the game without over charging.

Google “SEO OKC”. You can find some local experts with whom to work. At least one of those that appears in this search result has SEO patents pending, was a 2009 Journal Record Innovator of the Year Award winner, and is based in Norman. Regardless of with which SEO firm you work, subject your SEO investment to the same criteria that you would any other investment into advertising. Make sure that you are receiving good return for your dollars. For more details on how to test and measure advertising investment read my article “How Much Should I Spend on Advertising?” published in The Norman Transcript 7/27/08.

Join me next week when we discuss part 2 of this series, managing your online reputation.

Rob Garibay is a local business owner and business coach with 30+ years of business experience. Forward your business questions to: 405 573-6537 or robgaribay@actioncoach.com

First impressions matter, especially in the areas of sales and customer service. First impressions can inflame or disarm a dissatisfied customer, resulting in a severed or strengthened relationship. The choice is yours! Here is some food for thought.

We often refer to the brain as having two hemispheres: the left, largely responsible for logic, and the right, predominately responsible for creativity. This description fits what we know to be the cortex. However, there is a third dimension, the hypo-thalamus, which is in fact the brain stem and is solely responsible for instincts.

First impressions – fight or flight!

Bruno Catellani, of the Institute of Communication, Management and Sales in Switzerland, refers to the hypo-thalamus as the ‘Guard’ or ‘Gatekeeper.’ The ‘Gatekeeper’s’ sole function is to decide whether you are a friend or a foe. It is incapable of thought or rationalization and reacts purely on instinct by how it perceives your approach. If your initial approach stresses the ‘Gatekeeper,’ it will switch on the fight/flight response! Part of this process includes shutting down all other message receptors, which means any opportunity you had to communicate has just been totally closed off.

Build trust immediately

It’s absolutely true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Building the language of trust is the first step to successful customer service, which translates into building sales. What would your business look like today if every customer who ever did business with you was still an active customer? What if 20% of those were Raving Fans? See my Norman Transcript article published 8/24/08: “Developing the Ideal Customer Experience”

Instinct kicks in first

Think about this next sentence. If the ‘Gatekeeper’ doesn’t think, does the initial ‘Language of Trust’ have to be verbal? The answer is no. The first impression you deliver is based on instinct alone. The signals that you need to give out in the first 10 to 20 seconds are instinctive, i.e. your body language, which is translated by your movements, gestures, facial expression and eye contact. Is your body language open and relaxed or is it closed and tense? If you are sending an open relaxed message, your voice modulation and tone are calm, the speed of your speech is controlled and gentle. And finally, you must not invade the customer’s space.

Other factors, which will influence the ‘Gatekeepers’ friend or foe decision, are your appearance, clothes, smell, enthusiasm and posture. Once you’re past this initial first impression you can get on with developing a relationship with your prospect. The first impression that you offer a customer can be either a barrier or a doorway to open communication and a good relationship.

Professor Albert Mehrabian of UCLA broke communication down into three “V’s” as follows:

• Verbal: The message itself; i.e. the words you use.
• Vocal: The sound of your voice, intonation, projection, pitch and speed of your voice.
• Visual: The posture and gestures, facial expression and eye movement that people see.

The Thomas Gordon Institute added another dimension to this research and came up with:

• Words: Verbal
• Voice: Vocal
• Face: Visual
• Body: Visual

In separate studies, both institutions measured the effectiveness of each component of communication and its contribution to believability. Here are the results of their respective research:

UCLA

· Verbal = 7%

· Vocal = 38%

· Visual = 55%

Thomas Gordon Institute

· Words = 7%

· Voice = 23%

· Face = 35%

· Body = 35%

Such strong agreement warrants attention! The first step in delivering great customer service on order to create Raving Fans is to approach and greet your customer with open, friendly body language coupled with soothing, gentle voice modulation. Our total focus in this initial greeting is to get past the ‘Gatekeeper’ so that we develop and build rapport and open the prospect’s message receptors. The words themselves are not as important. A simple “Hi, how are you today,” is a good ice breaker.

Be present: dump preconceived notions

Be totally present and dump any preconceived notions about the customer’s mood or purpose for approaching you. Do not allow a defensive thought and/or posture to occur. You are calm and in control! Approach each and every customer as if they were your best friend and that you are there to help them have a great experience in doing business with you. Such an approach is likely to disarm and defuse any anger or distrust. Then watch what happens to your customer relationships and retention rate!

Rob Garibay is a local business owner and business coach with 30+ years of business experience. Forward your business questions to: 405 573-6537 or robgaribay@actioncoach.com

Last week we introduced salesman, John, to you. John had been making a decent income ($100,000/year) as a sales representative. However, he recognized that he could be accomplishing much more if he could only figure out how to utilize his time more effectively. After John contacted ActionCOACH for help, we learned that John knew very little about the numbers that could describe John’s sales career. John had a light bulb go on in his head when he realized that tracking KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) related to his sales activities could provide the knowledge needed to dramatically improve his earnings and lifestyle.

John’s continuing story

Over the next few weeks John started keeping sales records. He recorded the names of the people with whom he met, what he thought they would purchase, the dates he met with them, whether or not they bought from him, and the amount of the sale. As we studied his records, we noticed something very interesting in his spreadsheet: He was closing about 23 percent of his sales on the first interview, 12 percent on the second interview, and 6 percent on the third. When he met with a prospect a fourth, fifth, or subsequent interview, only 2 percent of those people ever purchased. And, those were his smallest, least profitable sales! John had been trained in the “everybody’s a prospect” school of selling and had always followed the “I’m going to call on them ‘til they buy or they die!” sales methodology.

Numbers give clarity!

As John reviewed his records, he noted that he was closing 37 percent of his business opportunities on either the first or second call, and only 8 percent thereafter. As we considered this interesting fact, we talked about how much time he was investing in following-up on these opportunities. For the most part, the people who bought on the first or second meeting were typically easy sales. They were fun clients to work with, and many of these customers became friends.

But the 63 percent who didn’t buy on the first or second call were typically much more difficult to work with. They didn’t return phone calls or respond to voice or e-mail messages. They tended to cancel or postpone meetings. They just weren’t easy to work with. We asked John, ”How much time are you spending chasing these people?”

John thought for a moment and said, “I’ve been spending almost 60 percent of my time chasing people who aren’t buying. And the few that do buy aren’t usually worth the effort…in that they don’t often become long-term customers. It’s almost like they’re giving me an order just to get rid of me.” As he spoke, he appeared to have an “Ah-ha moment!”

John understands

A smile came across his face as he realized what had been keeping him from making the commissions he really wanted. He was wasting the majority of his time chasing people who were never going to buy from him.

We then discussed the ‘novel’ notion of not calling a prospect after the second contact. If they haven’t bought, move on; look for a better prospect. We spent the next few sessions working on John’s telephone techniques and helped him perfect his “Elevator Speech”.

We invested time improving his networking skills so he could meet more people, make more friends, find more business opportunities, and close more sales.

Transformation follows understanding

Over the past few weeks, John’s results have been startling. Because he’s more focused on finding people who are in the market today, he’s not pushing himself on those that aren’t interested. He’s using the telephone much more effectively to find prospects and qualify them. His closing ratios have improved…and he’s making more money. And best of all, he’s got more time for his friends, family and himself. He’s no longer working harder, and he’s not just working smarter; he’s working less!

Can you think of some ways to achieve similar results in your business by knowing your numbers and implementing strategies for improvement? If you aren’t measuring how can you improve?

Thank you, ActionCOACH Terry Lussier, for contributing this informative story about John the sales representative.

Rob Garibay is a local business owner and business coach with 30+ years of business experience. Forward your business questions to: 405 573-6537 or robgaribay@actioncoach.com