August 8th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Many professionals and business owners go about networking and building business relationships the wrong way. Passing out business cards and blindly pitching things or asking for favors from people you met only once is frustrating, impersonal and ineffective. If you’re guilty of doing just that, it’s time to build a better network of business contacts. One of the biggest mistakes professionals make in business relationships is reaching out to contacts only when they need something. So, how do you build maintain better business relationships?
Check out the following:
Ask for favors the right way
When reaching out to a business connection,it’s important to make it personal. Be sure to tell them why you’re coming to them specifically. For example, a statement like, I understand that you know a lot about this topic, and I was wondering if you can help me, can work well because people like to be recognized for their expertise and knowledge and are more likely to help you if you do so.
Get into a habit
Really successful salespeople train themselves to get in a habit of connecting and contacting people who don’t have an immediate need. Be a really good curator of content. Prioritize people and relationships based on your last date of contact. Social media makes the whole process much easier and quicker, so follow your contacts on Twitter and LinkedIn. A short comment can really go a long way and people appreciate it because it gives them an opportunityto engage.
Give people an out
Beyond telling a business connection what you’re asking for and why you’re specifically reaching out to them, it’s important to offer them an out, too. Giving them that out, rather than implying it, disarms people and gives them comfort. In other words, don’t be overly demanding, and give them a chance to pass the buck to someone else. Pressuring someone to respond or follow through with a favor won’t get you anywhere.
Reciprocate
One of the most frustrating things for sales people is dead silence. In other words, when you reach out to a contact and don’t get a response. This is likely because you don’t have the appropriate request at the appropriate time. Even if you don’t have the time to respond to something or deal with a request right away, make sure you find some way to reciprocate. It’s important that whether you’re a giver or a receiver in a particular instance that you remember what it’s like to be on the other side. Get back to thinking about it regularly, rather than thinking about it when you need something.
Posted in nationaltransaction.com Tagged with: cards, linkedin, networking, social media, twitter
June 20th, 2014 by Elma Jane
The LinkedIn Job Search App available exclusively for iPhone for now, launched today with new tools for job seekers. LinkedIn is already one of the best spots on the Web to network and establish new business contacts and now with a new app designed to help you get hired. The app includes a deep search function to help you find the most relevant job openings. You can tailor your search to filter results by title, location, company, industry, seniority level and more. That could help you spend more time applying for jobs and less time browsing irrelevant posts.
Another handy feature lets you browse jobs LinkedIn recommends for you based on your saved searches, jobs you’ve viewed and information pulled from your LinkedIn profile. This could help ensure you won’t overlook a listing and miss a good opportunity. The feature also helps you browse job posts on your iPhone when you have just a few seconds or minutes to look, but what really sets this app apart from similar job search apps is its integration with LinkedIn. That means you can instantly view information about a company with just a few taps and because virtually every company and business owner has a presence on the social networking site, you’re sure to find information that will help you evaluate a job opening. You’ll even get alerts on your LinkedIn profile when recruiters view your application, taking a bit of uncertainty out of the job search process.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: app, Iphone, linkedin, network, networking, tools, web
April 8th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Today’s consumers are defining themselves by their mobile devices, their social presences and how they interact with brands, both offline and online. The digital evolution of the average consumer is alive and kicking.
Today’s consumer is more connected than ever, with more access to and deeper engagement with content and brands. Thanks to the proliferation of digital devices and platforms. Content that was once only available to consumers via specific methods of delivery such as via print, radio and broadcast television can now be sourced and delivered to consumers through their multiple connected devices. This is driving the media revolution and blurring traditional media definitions.
What are the specific characteristics or dynamics shaping today’s consumer behavior? Digital consumers are social-savvy and more connected to their friends, family and favorite brands than ever before.
Focused On The Gadgetry
Consumers love gadgets.
One out of four Americans plan to buy a smartphone in the near future. Thirty percent intend to upgrade from a regular mobile phone to a smartphone once able. For those ages 18 to 24, 49 percent they want to upgrade to a smartphone.
How frequently consumers use their mobile devices in a given month? Consumers spent an average of 34 hours and 17 minutes per month using apps on their devices, an increase of 9 hours and 52 minutes from 2012.
Interestingly, the amount of time consumers spend surfing the Web fell 1 hour and 54 minutes to a total of 27 hours and 3 minutes. The amount of time used to watch videos online increased by 43 minutes, to 6 hours and 41 minutes.
Social Media & Everyday Life
Digital consumers, by and large love their social media.
Sixty-four percent said that they use social media at least once per day. For mobile however, the growth figures reported suggest a broad shift is happening, pushing more people to access social networks via mobile platforms.
Forty-seven percent of smartphone owners log onto a social network each day. Additionally, the number of people who use social-media apps on their smartphones rose by 37 percent from 2012.
Digital consumers are also diversifying their choice of social networks, opting to use LinkedIn and Pinterest in addition to so-called traditional social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
As digital consumers find their own mix of devices and platforms to access and engage with social media, they are building profiles and connections on multiple social networks as well.
Two Screens Is A King
Digital consumers also rely on their mobile devices as a second type of television screen.
In a survey, eighty-four percent said they use their smartphone or tablet to surf the Web or to use apps while watching television. Of those, 44 percent of tablet owners shopped while watching TV, and 24 percent used their smartphones to make purchases.
Fourteen percent of tablet owners used their device to buy a product or service as it was being advertised on TV. Just 7 percent of smartphone owners said they would do the same.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Financial Services, Merchant Services Account, Mobile Payments, Small Business Improvement, Smartphone Tagged with: apps on their devices, average consumer, content, deeper engagement, digital consumers, digital devices, digital evolution, Facebook, gadgets, linkedin, media revolution, Mobile Devices, mobile platforms, offline and online, pinterest, regular mobile phone, smartphone, social media, social network, social presences, social-media apps, social-savvy, tablet, traditional media, twitter
March 17th, 2014 by Elma Jane
With so much to do each day, it’s easy for a small business owner to get bogged down in details. That’s where your smartphone comes in. With the right apps, your mobile device can automate the tasks that used to be daily chores. Whether you need help keeping track of all your business documents, or organizing your calendar and contacts list, it’s time to let your smartphone do some of the heavy lifting.
Back up your business files. Your work machine contains everything you need for a productive day, including every file and document you are working on. But you can’t always be at the office. With your smartphone and the right apps, however, you can back up and access your business files from anywhere. Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, SkyDrive and iCloud are all solid mobile apps that automate the process of syncing your business files to the cloud so you can access them from any Web-connected device, including your smartphone or tablet. Better yet, any edits you make will be synced across all your devices, so you can stay productive and organized.
Manage new contacts. Swapping business cards is a great networking strategy, but cards are easy to lose, and manually inputting all that contact information into your address book is a chore. So let your smartphone enter all that data into your address books. CamCard (available for iOS and Android) is an all-in-one business card management solution. Just point your iPhone camera at a card and snap a photo. The app’s text-recognition software will pull out the key details and update your address book automatically. It can even search for new contacts on LinkedIn to add a photo and additional personal details for each new contact.
Silence your smartphone. A buzzing or ringing smartphone can be distracting – not to mention embarrassing – during a business meeting. Silencing your phone is simple, but chances are you’ll occasionally forget. That’s why there are handy apps that monitor your smartphone calendar for meetings and appointments, then silence your phone for the duration of that event. You can even whitelist specific numbers so you won’t miss an emergency call. When the meeting is over, your smartphone’s ringer and vibration settings will be returned to their normal state. That way, you can stay focused and free from distraction when it matters most. Android users can try Silencify. For iPhone users, AutoSilent is a good option.
Sync your calendars. Both Android and iOS have built-in calendars to help you plan your week and schedule meetings. But juggling both a mobile calendar and a desktop office calendar is a pain, so why not use your smartphone to synchronize the two? If you use Microsoft Outlook as your business calendar, for example, Google Calendar offers an easy way to link them. And iPhone users can synchronize their mobile calendar with Outlook by plugging their smartphone into their computer and accessing the Calendars tab in the iTunes options menu. Automating the process of syncing your calendars means you’ll never mix up appointments. And if you share your business calendar with your employees, it ensures that everyone is always on the same page.
Sync your social media accounts. A strong presence on Facebook and Twitter can help you engage your customers and grow your business. Mobile apps can help you keep your business profiles fresh when you’re on the go, but reposting those updates on each platform individually can be a chore especially from a tiny smartphone screen. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to automate the process of synchronizing social media posts between your business profiles. Simply visit this page to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts. After that, go ahead and use the Facebook mobile app to post updates, news or promotions to your business’s Facebook page, each post will be automatically funneled to your Twitter followers as well.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Mobile Payments, Small Business Improvement, Smartphone Tagged with: all-in-one, Android, apps, automate, automate the process, automating, box, business documents, business profiles, camcard, devices, dropbox, Facebook, google drive, icloud, iOS, Iphone, linkedin, Mobile Apps, mobile device, networking, organizing, productive, skydrive, small business, smartphone, synchronize, synchronizing social media, syncing, tablet, twitter, web-connected
December 20th, 2013 by Elma Jane
16 Free Online Tools for Small Businesses
Whether you’re starting a small business or you’re just thrifty, you can likely benefit from some free online productivity tools.
There are apps for accounting, collaboration, customer management, development, scheduling, general office tasks and more. All of these tools have free plans, and several are entirely free.
Appointlet
If you make appointments with customers, you may need Appointlet, an online appointment-scheduling app for Google Calendar. Add it to your website and let your clients do the booking. Confirm, decline, cancel, or reschedule any appointment right from the comfort of your Google Calendar. Easily gather all the information from your clients that you need to fulfill the appointment.
Boomerang for Gmail
Lets you write an email now and schedule it to be sent automatically at the perfect time. Write the message as you normally would, then click the Send Later button. Tell Boomerang when to send your message by using the calendar chooser or the text box that understands language like “next Monday.
Dropbox
Is a cloud-storage service that lets you access and sync files across all your devices. While Dropbox only offers 2 GB of initial free storage (Google Drive and SkyDrive offer more), it expands free storage up to 16 GB free for referrals. Dropbox offers native support for Linux and Blackberry, as well as Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android. To supercharge your Dropbox, utilize the many third-party apps, which offer enhanced file syncing with Dropbox’s new Datastore API.
Evernote
Is an app to remember everything, from lifelong memories and vital information to daily reminders and to-do lists. Everything you store in your Evernote account is automatically synced across all of your devices, making it easy to capture, browse, search, and edit your notes everywhere you have Evernote.
Gmail
Is a Google’s email application, which includes 15 GB of free storage (across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+ photos). Gmail also lets you communicate via SMS, voice, or video chat. See who’s online and connect instantly. See your contacts’ profile photos, recent updates, and shared docs next to each email.
Google+ Hangouts
Turn any gathering into a live video call with up to ten friends or simply call a contact to start a voice call from your computer. Enhance your call with Cacoo for online drawing, SlideShare for sharing presentations, and Conceptboard for whiteboard collaboration.
HelloSign
Is an application for getting documents signed. It includes tools to facilitate document signing, tracking and management. Notifications keep you appraised of the signer’s activity. Signed documents are securely stored and always accessible. Sign an unlimited number of documents for free. HelloSign has mobile apps and a Gmail extension.
HootSuite
Is a social media dashboard to manage and measure you social networks. Manage your messages, get custom analytics on your social campaigns, and communicate internally without leaving the HootSuite dashboard. Access a single interface to monitor Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ Pages, WordPress and more. Or add more social networks with the HootSuite App Directory.
KeePass
Is a free password manager to help manage your passwords in a secure way. Put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. Remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using secure encryption algorithms (AES and Twofish).
Mural.ly
Is a visual-collaboration whiteboard app. Drag and drop images, links, and documents to organize your ideas. This simple visual tool can keep your team in sync through brainstorming, planning, or designing a project. Features include private murals, auto-save and backups, comments, activity feed, and chat.
NutshellMail
Takes copies of your latest updates in your social networking accounts and places them in a snapshot email. The NutshellMail update is then sent to your primary email address. NutshellMail supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, MySpace, YouTube, Foursquare, and Citysearch. Receive updates as often as you wish.
Rapportive
Shows you everything about your contacts right inside your inbox. Immediately see what people look like, where they’re based, and what they do. Establish rapport by mentioning shared interests. Record thoughts and leave notes for later.
Streak
Is a customer relationship application for Gmail. Track your deals from your inbox. Group emails from the same customers together, utilizing spreadsheet view right inside Gmail. Use the mobile app to keep track of your customers, make calls, and send emails. Share selective parts of your inbox. Schedule emails to send later.
Trello
Is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. Trello uses boards, lists, and cards to create projects and develop your workflow.
Wave
Offers online accounting and finance applications for small businesses. It includes invoicing, accounting, payroll, payments, receipts, and personal finance software. Accounting, invoicing, receipts, and personal finance applications are free.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Merchant Account Services News Articles, nationaltransaction.com Tagged with: accounting, Android, appointlet, apps, automatically, boomerang, developer, dropbox, email, evernote, Facebook, free, gmail, google, hangouts, hellosign, hootsuite, iOS, keepass, linkedin, mac os, mural.ly, nutshellmail, online, passwords, scheduling, skydrive, small businesses, streak, sync, syncing, tools, trello, twitter, wave, windows, wordpress
