It’s easy to build trust when you have the opportunity to connect with customers in person. You can look into their eyes, read their expressions, and interact at a more personal level. Even on the phone you can listen to a customer’s tone of voice and react accordingly. But, building trust online is a different […]
People can make or break your business. This includes everyone from your professional advisers, suppliers, customers and clients to your employees, business partners, and even your friends and family. Making wrong decisions about any of the people with whom you deal can significantly hurt your business and impede—even destroy—everything you are trying to achieve. When […]
June 26 is National Handshake Day. For the small business owner, it should remind us that our word and handshake must be absolutely trustworthy. Without trust, there can be no commerce. Remember the story about George Washington and the cherry tree? You’ve also probably read somewhere that it didn’t actually happen. However, I recently read […]
There is a very basic, fundamental, and perhaps even Golden Rule of business, and that is: “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.” When you think about it, as a small business owner, your job is to constantly and consistently cultivate relationships […]
If the trend toward using virtual employees continues to grow, someday going out for drinks after work and lunchtime pot lucks may be relegated to our fond memories. First, I should clear up the term “virtual employee” a little. The person isn’t virtual, the person’s location is virtual—or more simply “online.” Your Internet marketing company […]