Join me tomorrow as I interview Viveka von Rosen share with us about LinkedIn Marketing.

Viveka is author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day and is known internationally as the “LinkedIn Expert”. CEO of Linked Into Business, she also hosts the biggest LinkedIn chat on Twitter and co-moderates LinkedStrategies, the largest LinkedIn strategy group on LinkedIn. Forbes has listed her as a top social media influencer for 2012 and 2013 and she is regularly cited in Ragan, CNN, Forbes, Mashable, The Miami Herald, Social Media Today and The Social Media Examiner!

You won’t want to miss this call. You can listen live or archived -
at www.GetMoreBusinessShow.com.

Viveka tells me there is a lot happening on LinkedIn right now that she’s excited about. She’ll talk about things like the Influencer Program. and the new UI.

Call in with your questions – (347) 945- 7686.

I’m also excited to invite you to a LinkedIn Webinar Training taught by Viveka.

Too often we’ll join LinkedIn and other social media sites thinking that there is a silver bullet that will propel us to business success with little or no effort.  Then, after months  – or years – and seeing little return on our time investment, we give up because we’ve attracted little or no new business, no new prospects, no new leads.  Sound familiar?

It’s not your fault!  LinkedIn does little to show you how generate leads and get more business.  But have no fear, there are many people using LinkedIn successfully for lead generation, an my presentation will show you how!

Intended Outcomes

The Benefits of this program include:

• Learning to use LinkedIn optimally for increased exposure, connections, business and income

• LinkedIn tips and strategies developed and perfected by my clients and myself over many years

• Staying clear of “fatal” mistakes on LinkedIn that inhibit functionality (and may result in extensive loss of income)

• Building your “list” – sharing your product, service and voice with more people

• Attracting warm leads to your inbox (never cold call again)

• Creating evangelists: your unpaid sales force

• Expanding your network exponentially beyond your existing database

• Informed choices: Prospecting employees, vendors, clients, partners, competition

• The opportunity to do more good for more people

Bonus:

• 4-Part Webinar Series  $6000
• Webinar Recordings $1995
• Community Consulting Call  $500
• “Laser” LinkedIn Session  $150
• LinkedIn Lead Gen Checklist  $97
• LinkedIn Lead Gen Workbook  $47
• LinkedIn Lead Gen eBook  $37
• LinkedIn Communications Template Book $97
• Bonus:  First Chapter of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day

Total Value:   $8,923

Today ONLY! $497 - Go Directly to Viveka’s website for more information.

What is “Inbound Marketing” and why should small business owners care?

Today’s guest, Patrick Shea, is the head of marketing for HubSpot’s emerging business and channel divisions. He is responsible for helping  small business channels grow exponentially and succeed with inbound marketing.

Hubspot has just recently published the 2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report. The data they gathered for this comprehensive report is a result of interviewing 3,339 marketing professionals in 128 countries to discuss strategy, budget, organizational alignment and channel management.

Marketers that succeed with inbound marketing dedicate a high level of time, commitment, and resources to getting it right.

Patrick Shea, HubSpot
Inbound Marketing

On April 24, 2013 HubSpot boldly publishes 10 Inbound Discoveries that will Disrupt Marketing Forever. The full report is available for download at Hubspot’s website. The report is 175 pages of feedback from marketing professionals that have gotten inbound marketing right. There is no doubt that inbound marketing is being taken pretty seriously and it’s here to stay.

Listen in by heading over to www.GetMoreBusinessShow.com. Guest can call in during live shows at (347) 945-7686.

When I first started to build my business I had no idea what I was doing.In 1991 I opened GiveAways Plus, a promotional products company. I had two years experience selling promotional products for another company. Like many business owners I thought that owning your own business was just more of what I was already doing – which was sales – but now I’m in charge. HA!

I learned a lot during the 16 years that I owned and operated GiveAways Plus. By the time I sold the business in 2007 I had finally built it into a million dollar business, but looking back, knowing what I know now, it took way too long to build it to a million dollars.

So why do some businesses seem to just ‘get by,’ while others seem like an over-night success?

The deciding factor for me in to create success in business has always been systems. Smart business owners develop a system to

• bring in new business and converting leads to sales
• generate larger and more frequent transactions
• identify unnecessary costs and fees associated with doing business
• train employees an easily duplicate-able system for serving the customer and meets quality standards
• market the business through referrals

Businesses that succeed have a plan and systems to operate the plan.

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On today’s Get More Business Show we’re going to talk about John Jantsch’s book, The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself.

A point that he makes early in the book is the primary reason people give referrals is because it makes us feel good. There is a part of the brain that is responsible for people giving you referrals. What is it and how can you tap into it?

I can’t possibly cover the whole book on the air.You’re going to have to buy the book yourself. Click Here to purchase the Kindle book on Amazon.

The last chapter of this book is like a mini workshop which will create the elements of the things we’ll talk about. Call in live today April 12th, 2013 at 9 am Pacific or listen in the archives at www.GetMoreBusinessShow.com.

Guest Call In (347) 945-7686

Hey! Thanks for reading my blog. I appreciate that my website might have at least piqued your curiosity. Better than that I hope you learned something new that will help you grow your business. Knowing that I helped would totally make my day!

One of the resources that I use myself is in the banner below. Host Gator is the website hosting company that I use. I have been hosting with Host Gator for over 5 years. They are priced right and are totally reliable. My websites and the websites that I host for my customers are always online. The banner below is an affiliate link which just means that if you use their services because you clicked on this link they’ll pay me for advertising. And, hey, you can get your first month for only .01 cent! Gotta love a deal like that!

Today on the Get More Business Show < – Listen to the recording in the archives

Facebook is one of the most important tools for inbound marketing. If you’re a small business owner and are new to the world  of social media, then this show is for you. We’ll cover what is Facebook and why you should care, as well as some of the business goals using Facebook.

What started out as a closed community for college students – requiring users to sign up with a valid university email address – has expanded to over 750 million active users including individuals, schools. small businesses and major corporations worldwide! Wow!

Approximately two thirds of U.S. Facebook users are outside the college demographic and over half are in the age range of 26 – 64 year olds (InsideFacebook.com).

Business Goals for Using Facebook

Businesses should not only have a page on Facebook but their business presence should be represented by a marketing strategy and someone either within the company or an outside paid professional to execute that marketing strategy. Some of the goals your business should target are listed below:

• Get Found – Your Facebook page, especially when represented with interesting content will help you get found by people who are searching for your products or services.
• Connect and Engage – Once people find you on Facebook you have a platform to interact about your product or service. It’s more than a sales pitch – It’s all about the customer.
• Create a community around your business – conversation happens in a community. By reading and “listening” to your community you receive insight about what your customers want and don’t want. The surest way to grow your business is to give the people what they want.
• Promote content you create – Facebook is an inexpensive “stage” to educate your customers on why they need your product or service and why they should come to you.
• Generate Leads –  Isn’t this what it’s all about?

Listen into today’s show as we discuss “why Facebook” when my caller prefers LinkedIn. We discuss how to filter the “bloat of content” to get down to business. We also discussed 10 Best Practices for business on Facebook.

Check out my free resources page to download a free ebook by Hubspot “Beyond the Facebook Business Page: How to Generate Traffic & Leads with Facebook“

Should I accept credit cards?

I have a Google Alert set up for “accepting credit cards” which brought me an email this morning showing a post in Contractor Talk forum about accepting credit cards…which inspired this blog post.

Let me invite you to call me to discuss your options. Before you take the plunge and make a commitment to accept credit cards I would like to call your attention to a couple of really important things:

1. Do not sign up for an account to accept credit cards that requires a long term commitment. Many processors are still requiring a 3 year contract which could cost you up to $575 or more to cancel if you decide that it’s not for you.
2. Do not lease your credit card equipment. Many independent sales reps for credit card processors will try to get you to sign a lease agreement for a credit card processing terminal. Big mistake! You will end up paying many times the value of the terminal with a lease. You can get a free terminal from many processors for as long as you do business with them.

There are a few more things that you should be aware of that you can read about by clicking here on my blog.

These mistakes apply to any merchant anywhere in the country.

No time-value for money – This will hurt cash flow in the long run.

The above was one of the responses in the Contractor Talk Forum. The concern I have for any small business owner that offers one to seven years with no interest to pay for the goods and services is that this strategy does not take into account the time-value of money which is critically important to a healthy cash flow. While his customers might really love this I suspect that this owner will very likely run into cash flow problems before too long.

This contractor has the right idea…”write the invoice, swipe the card and be done” all the way to the bank…literally! And, it’s quite acceptable to offer a discount when customers pay by cash. According to a study by Intuit, which I wrote about here you can increase sales substantially by simply accepting credit cards. Just be sure you bid the job with credit card fees in mind.

Adding a fee for using a credit card to pay is no longer a violation.

Nope…that changed July 2012. Read here where after a seven year battle with Visa and MasterCard retailers won the lawsuit and may now charge a fee to consumers for using plastic.

However I am personally in favor of giving the 2% discount for payment by cash and not adding 2% when the customer pulls out his or her credit card.

I would really love to set you up to accept credit cards and help you avoid these mistakes. I can even help you get set up to accept credit cards using your smart phone.

Please call me and I will guide you through the process so you can try this out without penalty if you decide to cancel the service later.

Read my customer reviews  by clicking here -> thesmallbusinessguru.whirlocal.com

I’m a whiz at technology which allows me to work with merchants in 3 states. I am confident that I can give you personalized service and help you maximize the benefits of accepting credit cards for your business.

Call me Monday – Friday from 9 am – 5 pm Pacific – or leave a message and I will call you back. You can also connect with me on my social media websites.

Melody Campbell Payment Solutions

The Small Business Guru
www.TheSmallBusinessGuru.com
971-563-2007 mobile

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SmBizGuru
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/getmorebusinessshow
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melodycampbell

This man changed my life. I first “met” Zig Ziglar at the public library. I was 19 years old and had my first job in sales. That was a joke because I did not belong in sales. I was soooooo shy I could not hold a conversation with anyone other than family or very close friends. I kept losing deals because I would put myself in the other person’s shoes and come up with every reason possible why they didn’t want to buy. I had thought of all the objections before I talked to them and had frightened myself so bad that I couldn’t get past hello!

I was and still am a “book worm.” I knew that the answer to anything could be
found at the public library.  I dug through stacks of books in search of knowledge to help me break free from being shy so I could succeed at sales. I can’t remember which book I read first; I think it was “See You at the Top” and then “Secrets of Closing the Sale“.

I read and re-read both books; learned the closes verbatim. Then somehow I got a hold of a “Salesman’s Opportunity Magazine” and discovered that I could order recordings of Zig on cassette tapes (remember those?) from a little company called Nightingale-Conant.

The sound of his voice became that of an endearing mentor. He caused me to believe that with a little practice I could be exceptional.

I listened to the recordings over and over until I began to succeed in sales. I have been in sales by choice my entire life because of this man. I built and sold a million dollar business, making the ultimate sale when I “sold” my husband on the idea of quitting his job with a Gannett Newspaper to join me in building the business.

For the last seven years I have been a single parent raising three children – sales have kept us going. I believe I have grown as a person and am becoming the woman of influence that I desire to be by improving the lives of others with the products and services I sell.

May God allow me to expand my area of influence to touch lives the same way that Zig Ziglar touched mine and many, many others.

My friend and mentor, Zig Ziglar, thank you. I will see You at the Top. I am heaven-bound.

Credit Card Processing / Merchant Services does not need to be tied directly to your POS System.  

Many POS (Point of Sale) System companies have found that a great way to generate on going profits is by telling business owners they must use their merchant services provider. It’s their POS system so you’re stuck with their pricing, right?

Some POS companies program the software so that you can only use their processor. To give the merchant the most control over the price he or she pays for credit card processing I recommend the option below.

This option is to operate the credit card terminal separate from the POS and enter the credit card transaction just like you would cash. It’s simple and does not require any additional work on the merchants part. Simple swipe the card and run the transaction on the stand-alone terminal. Tap “pay” and the “credit card sale” button on the touch screen (or something similar depending on the POS software that you’re using). The stand-alone terminal will process the payment and you have also entered the receipt of payment into the POS. I work with more than one merchant that does this so that if their POS system ever goes down for some reason they can still accept credit card sales by processing the transactions on the stand-alone terminal.

I worked with a restaurant whose POS system went down for a whole day and they lost over a $1000 in sales because they could not accept credit cards since their POS terminal was down. The owner was in tears by the time I talked with her.

Credit Card Processing is like a utility, just like the electricity that turns the computer on, you can use any processor you want as long as they support the platform your POS System is running on, or if you add a stand alone credit card terminal. You should find the best price on merchant services.

If you’d like to receive a complimentary cost analysis to see if we can save you more of your own money please contact us at 971-563-2007 or melodyc @ TheSmallBusinessGuru.com. We can provide you with one terminal for each business location even if you’re using a POS system.

Very few business can survive in this economy without accepting credit cards. It is a necessity like water and electricity. Studies have shown that the customer spends more when he or she uses their debit or credit card instead of cash. Most consumers simply don’t walk around with much cash and when they do it’s usually for a very narrow and specific purchase – which has it’s limitations based on the cash on hand.

If accepting credit cards is a necessary part of your business practice as a convenience to your customer then you might as well keep more of your own money. Since you pay a percentage of every credit card transaction in a processing fee to your credit card processor – shouldn’t that be as low as possible?

This is what I do every day for my customers. I provide a free cost analysis of the fees that the merchant is paying with his or her credit card current processor.  Depending on the merchant’s volume of business I usually save hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands of dollars a year in credit card processing fees.

Money saved by lowering merchant processing fees can be used for business growth and expansion.

If you’re sick and tired of being tricked and conned into paying high prices for merchant services please contact me for a complementary cost analysis of your rates to discover how much you can save.

• Month to Month Agreement – No more 3 year agreements keeping you trapped into high rates and out of date pricing.
• Free Equipment – You do not need to purchase expensive equipment or sign up for over-priced lease agreements. We place one free terminal in each business for the merchants that process through us. If you decide not to do business with us simply return the terminal with no penalty for cancellation.
• Guaranteed Lowest Rates – With our complementary cost analysis we can lower your current rates, sometimes even eliminate costly monthly fees to help you keep more of your own money. If someone offers you a lower rate just send us the estimate and we’ll adjust our rates to meet or beat the rate.
• Customer Service Provided by a “Real Person” – I personally service merchants in my local community of Salem, Oregon. Through the use of technology I am also am able to provide excellent customer service in other areas. I have many loyal and happy customers in Montana and California.

I hope you will accept my invitation and contact me for your complementary cost analysis. Just last week I helped merchants save more than $3,000 a year. How much will I save for you?

Simply put SEO as it relates to your website or blog is to make your website the best it can be with words and phrases that match the ones your potential customers use to find you.

Search engines are a larger source of business referrals than the Yellow Pages, businesses no longer need to spend thousands of dollars on advertising in directories and magazines.

Most of your customers no longer use the Yellow Pages to find a business. Google is the new phone book. Most local searches look something like this, “what your customer wants, city, state” which may look like this “winery, Temecula, Ca” or “hairdresser, Murrieta, Ca” depending on what type of business and the location your customer is looking for local products or services. The Internet is no longer just for global or national businesses. Local business owners in Salem, Oregon; Murrietta, California or Temecula, California must have good SEO on their website or blog.

The general idea is that if Google or other search engines find the words and phrases your customer uses in their search on your website or blog your website will show up in the search results.  There is some strategy and technique to show up on the top of the first page of the search results. Most of your potential customer will chose from the first page of the results and most often he or she will make their selection from the first three merchants – That’s where you want to be.

Having a website is not enough unless your customers can find it. A website or blog that is optimized with the words and phrases that the search engines uses to match your website or blog up with prospects who are looking to make a buying decision is absolutely essential in today’s market place.

If you are not getting leads from your website or blog then we need to talk. Your website or blog should be your number one source of business. Let me invite you to call for a consultation today.