3 Steps to A 5-Star Recommendation

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3 Steps to A 5-Star Recommendation

Why does one restaurant have a waiting list yet empty seats litter the next?  Is it the food?  Sometimes.  But more often, before the server slides a plate on the table, you’ve decided whether to tell your friends t5star job and business recommendationo show up or steer clear.  The same holds true for potential employers and customers.  Here are 3 critical tips to earn a 5-star review when searching for a job or running a business.

View the Experience from the Other Side – Just as a good restaurant  plans a soft opening to work out the kinks,  you should try a dry run before going public with a new profile or a service.   An interview coach can find the holes in your company research, teach you to highlight your best experience, and direct the conversation without making you sound canned.  Activating a business website?  Get friends to navigate through and share the glitches before going live.   

Pay Attention to Details- A sticky ring on the table may seem like a small oversight until you’re the patron wiping the ick off your elbow.  Even on an informational interview, your entire package – contact email, dress, handshake (yes, it still matters), the bag you carry – is being assessed.  It screams whether you’re a fit for the environment or industry.   Delay returning a phone call in your small businss and you’ve killed the customer connection before you’ve even made contact.  Recently, I called my upholsterer three times before a call back.  Without realizing it, he sent the message that my business wasn’t important to him.   

Plan on Damage Control - Even a great restaurant can mess up an order.  But when it happens, it’s usually follwed by a drink or dessert on the house. Bumble an interview answer? Finish strong or follow up with a well-written email recalling a positive highlight from the interview, as  in, “I enjoyed sharing philosophies about XX.”  Surprise a client with a higher bill than expected? Consider eating a few dollars.  It’s still less expensive than digging out of negative buzz or worse a nasty Yelp posting.

If propsects or business seem slow, now’s a good time to consider some expert insight on the message you’re conveying with our FREE  marketing assessment.  And, stay tuned for our upcoming BizClinic and Who Wants to be a Consultant? workshops.

Small Business LaunchKit Series

Starting, Thursday, January 14, 2010
10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Knit-One-One Studio, Berkeley, CA

Whether you’re about to hang out a shingle, or formalize a life-long passion, building a thriving business requires the know-how to package, promote, and present your business to customers.

What’s the most effective way to tell people you exist and keep them coming back when you’re operating on a shoestring?   Bring your idea or start-up to this 4-week Small Business LaunchKit series and learn to:

  • Analyze the competition to deliver a unique, well-branded product or service
  • Develop new, or pull together existing, marketing materials in the most cost-effective way
  • Generate buzz through a creative promotion using traditional or online media
  • Receive a ½ hour individual review of your business package and promotional plan

If you’ve ever had someone design your website only to find it doesn’t accurately reflect your business, OR hung an “Open” sign, only to notice a die-down in traffic, it’s time to build a better LaunchKit. 

Cost is $60 per session or $220 for the series. 
Buddy discount of an additional $20 off per/person with sign up of 2 or more. 
Sign me up.

Where’s the WIIFM?

small business marketing

I just received an online offer from DIRECTTV that read:

 “You are one of a very small number of DIRECTV subscribers selected to participate in an anonymous survey about media and technology at home.   Don’t miss this opportunity to let DIRECTV know what you think.  This is an important chance to influence future products and services from DIRECTV.”

I don’t know why DIRECTTV would think I’d find this so compelling that I’d stop my day to fill out a survey.  Or, maybe the company’s banking on a lot of unemployed, really bored people.  My marketing assessment, however, is that they forgot the golden rule of marketing – the WIIFM – What’s In It For Me, their target audience.  

How did they miss so badly?

  • Selling me on being part of a small number. 
    So what?  If that’s true, tell me what makes me so special? Make me feel good right now.  Otherwise, I’m guessing they say that to all their subscribers.
  • Telling me this is my chance to tell someone what I think. 
    Couldn’t I already do that under the contact info on the website?  You could argue that taking the survey is more immediate, but unless I have something burning to say, I have other, more pressing activities.
  • Saying I can influence future products. 
    Perhaps so, but when and how will I know?  There’s nothing terribly gratifying in sending information into the ether and never knowing the result.  Nor is this something I can use as boasting rights with a friend. 

Last and most importantly,

  • Forgetting to offer immediate gratification.
    As a busy consumer, if I do something for them beyond paying my bill, I want something in return.  

 Which is why I kept reading for my special offer – the thing that would motivate me to jump through a survey hoop that they said should only take about 10 minutes of my time. 

What’s 10 minutes of my time worth to them?  At a minimum I’m thinking a free movie download (less than $10), or a $10 dollar rebate on my next bill.  

Social media marketers are extremely attuned to giving people something for something.  Small players, who have to work harder, frequently offer a free download of insider tips. (This one is played out in my opinion.)  Big players like Apple know that getting people to buy apps means letting them sample first.  Whether you’re asking someone to read, or sending out a monkey survey, you need to give to get. 

In your own marketing, what are you asking an audience to do?  What’s in it for them right now?  What will you give them to get their input, undivided attention, or attendance?

And because I like to walk my own talk – Here’s my special offer.  For the first 100 of you who write in a marketing challenge, I’ll give you 15 minutes of no strings marketing recommendations. 

Now that’s gratification.

Small Business LaunchKit Series

Starting, Thursday, January 14, 2010
10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Knit-One-One Studio, Berkeley, CA

Whether you’re about to hang out a shingle, or formalize a life-long passion, building a thriving business requires the know-how to package, promote, and present your business to customers.

What’s the most effective way to tell people you exist and keep them coming back when you’re operating on a shoestring?   Bring your idea or start-up to this 4-week Small Business LaunchKit series and learn to:

  • Analyze the competition to deliver a unique, well-branded product or service
  • Develop new, or pull together existing, marketing materials in the most cost-effective way
  • Generate buzz through a creative promotion using traditional or online media
  • Receive a ½ hour individual review of your business package and promotional plan

If you’ve ever had someone design your website only to find it doesn’t accurately reflect your business, OR hung an “Open” sign, only to notice a die-down in traffic, it’s time to build a better LaunchKit. 

Cost is $60 per session or $220 for the series. 
Buddy discount of an additional $20 off per/person with sign up of 2 or more. 
Sign me up.

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