TractionThroughAction Blog

Behold The Turtle

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:50:29 +0000

"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out." - James B. Conant

This quote is relevant in the business world today. In these economic times it is very hard for the small business to feel secure in "sticking its neck out" in order to bring in new customers or explore a new niche. But, as another saying goes "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". Where as the large corporations have the luxury of a whole department that does Market Analysis, the smaller company just can't afford such an expenditure. There is however a friend out there for you.

A business coach is there to help you utilize the tools that you already have at your disposal, while the business constultant is going to give you a new "toolbox" to use. I believe it is safe to say that if you choose the consultant it would be wise to also include getting the coach to show you how to make the best use of the new tools at your disposal. More than likely any constultant worth their salt is going to include the coaching aspect in their services.

This brings us back to the turtle sticking his neck out comparison. You have to be willing to use the options available to you if you want to remain viable in today's economy. While this option may not be for everyone it is something to consider for the future endeavors you are going to likely want to pursue to keep up with the rest of the business community. Obtaining your dreams for your business only works if you take the steps toward "Sticking your neck out"!

~Lisa

Even a Professional needs a Professional's Help sometimes

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:31:25 +0000

Even a Professional needs a Professional's Help sometimes

Every business has a niche that it fills as only it can but, there are aspects of that business that may require another professional that has expertise in that specific aspect. Realizing that your business is lacking in certain areas and addressing those issues is key to giving your clients the total package they are expecting.

Let's look at it this way.

You cut yourself shaving, it's just a nick so you grab your styptic pencil and dab it on a couple times to stop the bleeding. Now, you in the kitchen slicing some veggies for dinner, for whatever reason you make a misstep with the Ginzu and you got a nasty gash in your hand - Time to head to the ER - You need a Professional! Or you are heading out to the backyard to have some beers with your buds, you're playing some football, you fall and land on your arm. Upon getting yourself up you notice your arm really hurts and is bent at an odd angle. You again head to the ER for the Professional to do his job. However, ultimately the professional in the ER is not the end of your journey; this professional gives you a referral to an Orthopedist (another professional) who specializes in the skeletal system.

You need the right professional to address the aspect of your business that needs their specific expertise. You don't want to hire a rocket scientist to fix your transmission but you most certainly don't want the transmission guy doing your brain surgery. I mean while the rocket scientist may have the knowledge to it takes to work on your transmission it is not in his SPECIFIC scope of practice. This means then that the transmission guy would be useless to you for brain surgery because it is totally out of HIS scope of practice.

It's time you stopped doing brain surgery with a monkey wrench and let us handle your SEO, SEM, Programming, and Online Marketing needs.

Next time, getting a tune-up where the rubber meets the road.

~Lisa Dage

Ethics vs. Entitlement

Thu, 28 May 2009 15:32:17 +0000

Ethics vs. Entitlement

Many of us remember the days of renting an apartment, townhouse or home and the monies that were required. For some of us we had to pay an extra deposit for our "fur kids" along with the deposit for the rental itself and the pet deposit is NEVER refundable. I am sure we all remember being told that this was to cover any damages from the pet. With this important information stored for the future and eventual move out, you go on your merry way.

Now, it's time to move out. Here is where you should be hunting and finding your lease agreement to make sure you follow the "rules" that some but not all rental agencies graciously supply. Our previous rental agency supplied a list of what it cost them to have things cleaned by their cleaning crews. To my mind reading over this price list I could only surmise that this agency was getting screwed. But, alas and alack t'was not the rental agency who was to suffer!

I am not sure what the norm is for how long rental agencies have before they are supposed to inform you of what portion if any of the deposit will be reimbursed to you. The agency we had said 30 from occupancy, so with that milestone having come and gone we decided to call to find out what was going on. Our call was finally returned. When my husband received this call he was not overly surprised at the "laundry list" of things that the agency says had to be done to put the rental back in condition for future renters.

Don't get me wrong I am not saying that I had the rental professionally cleaned though in hindsight; I might not be writing this if I had. We cleaned for 3 days straight and we did have the living room/dining room/computer rooms' carpet professionally cleaned. Honestly, we felt that we had done a pretty good job of cleaning as we kept their list handy to make sure we cleaned everything they would charge to have done themselves upon our vacating the property. We did realize that we may have overlooked the pest control aspect but, recalled that the "pet deposit" was for just such an issue (so we thought)

Remember, I said they supplied us with a list of prices for costs - we were informed that the bedroom carpets had to be cleaned, the four ceiling fans had to be cleaned and the rental was sprayed for fleas even though there were "NO FLEAS IN EVIDENCE" (the agent's own words)! This is where my ramble meets my blog title Ethics vs. Entitlement.

Is it ethical for the agency to nitpick and use every loophole they find favorable to them, while using everyone they can to chip away at our hefty deposit so that we receive a mere fraction of it? It seems very much that they made every effort to get what they felt they were entitled to get by using the parts of the rental agreement to THEIR advantage.

Update! - Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

Mon, 25 May 2009 20:03:51 +0000

Update! - Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

As promised I will finish the saga about the problem my husband and I had due to client software NOT being updated and its users NOT being informed of changes made to the software. I cannot stress enough how important this aspect of customer care is to a business.

Our agent has spent countless hours of her time on the phone with different departments throughout her company as well as the underwriters themselves, she has informed them all of the issue and that neither she nor we feel it is our responsibility to pay for their mistake. Let us not leave out the simple fact we don't have the amount of money they want at this time. After all that the best these people can offer is for us to pay 1/3 of the money by the 30th and give us 90 days to pay the remainder in full. I must say our agent is a gem because she has fought so hard for us. We are however, still greatly disappointed in the underwriters failure to accept their responsibility in this matter.

They will get their monies as per the new agreement we have made. But, we won't go quietly! We are filing a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner's office and the Better Business Bureau in regards to this company using what we feel are "Bait and Switch" tactics in order to obtain customers. This filing may only be a drop in the proverbial bucket yet, we feel it is a necessary step toward getting this situation rectified so that another new home owner doesn't have to go through this nightmare.

Timely Response to Customer Issues

Thu, 21 May 2009 21:11:26 +0000

Timely Response to Customer Issues

In a perfect world there would be no customer complaints or issues that required you to communicate with them when they are being less than pleasant. This however, is not a perfect place and some of your customers are going to call with silly inane/annoying questions because they aren't as savvy about computers or the product they are trying to utilize. On the other side of the coin your going to have those who know their way around systems and software like the back of their hand, there most likely will be some in this group who will get nasty if things don't work to their expectations.

I think one main things that tends to set off most people is when they are trying to get answers to their questions or resolve an issue they are having and they can't get a "live" person on the line. This is not so much of an issue for the smaller business professional but, there is a different aspect here that annoys the customer. Whether or not you utilize a secretary, voicemail or just answer all calls your self the customer maybe made to feel that they (not their issue they are calling about) are trivial at best.

The last thing you want is for your customer to feel that they are unimportant because the reality of this is that they are the ALL IMPORTANT component for your success as a business professional. So, addressing your customers needs/issues in a timely fashion is imperative.

In utilizing a secretarial option you should have a plan for handling these calls that come through in prioritized fashion. Should you be unavailable at the time your customer calls, returning their call within the time frame your secretary sets forth is a MUST! If, you are unable to do so your secretary should inform you that the time frame has expired and would you like to call the client or have them call the client to let the client know that they haven't been forgotten. This step may very well save you from having to deal with the disgruntled and aggravated client mentioned earlier.

Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

Thu, 21 May 2009 15:23:36 +0000

Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

Today's blog is written from personal experience with outdated client software issues. I will talk about what has transpired thus far with this. Hopefully, I will have subsequent blog that ends on a happier note.

My husband and I are first time home buyers and as such we needed to purchase home owner's insurance to satisfy our lender. Finding the best home owner insurance for the lowest price is the name of the game. Our advice here is - Shop Around! That said we did our shopping found an agent who could give us what we needed at the right price.

We went in the agent's office answered all the pertinent questions, provided the necessary information and signed the needed documents. We were told what the insurance would cost and that the lender(s) would set up an escrow account that would cover this through our mortgage.

Now, everything has gone through and we are now home owner's ready to get down to the business of enjoying our new home, right? Two and a half weeks into ownership we receive a notice from the underwriter our agent wrote us the policy through. They state that our insurance quote was incorrect and they WANT nearly $300 more by the 30th. Immediately we call our lender who says to call our agent as now there is nothing he can do here. We call our agent, who has since been on the phone daily trying to resolve this issue... This is where the title of my blog comes in "Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

After a week and dozens of calls later... Our agent is told by the underwriter that "they changed" the area in which we purchased our home from a mobile home park to a subdivision (thus raising the price of our insurance) over 2 months ago! But, they had not updated their client software to reflect this "change"! Their drop down menu still shows our location as a mobile home park. How was our agent supposed to know NOT to give us the quote she gave us? Why didn't the underwriter at least send out a memo over 2 months ago to their clients who use their software?

So, Dear reader our battle is underway to get the underwriter to own "their mistake" and wave their request for additional monies to cover their failure.

Sustainability can only be obtained by Responsibility to customers.

Thu, 21 May 2009 14:20:07 +0000

Sustainability can only be obtained by Responsibility to customers. This means taking a hard look at things that benefit your bottom line and benefits your customers. In order make your business more steamlined you will need to indentify the necessities for running your business at optimum performance levels while paring down things that negativly impact your bottom line.

This may mean that the upgraded smart phone you WANT should wait as long as it doesn't keep your customers from being able to communicate with you effectively. Being hip and looking savvy is NOT a business necessity, whereas a healthy bottom line is. Also that software upgrade that the vendor swears wil be the best thing you ever do - probably can wait too - again just as long as it doesn't adversely effect how you take care of your customers needs.

Basically, what I am trying to get across is something very simple that I use when shopping. I ask myself "Do I NEED it or do I WANT it"? I believe this can be used in business to a certain degree. So, remember customers needs 1st, the things you need to fulfill those needs 2nd, meeting your needs 3rd and your wants somewhere around...oh, let's say 50th.

Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability - Part Deux

Thu, 21 May 2009 12:17:59 +0000

Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability - Part Deux

In yesterdays blog we talked about the automakers who to the government bailout monies and what it has done for their shareholders all the way down to us the consumers (a.k.a. stakeholders).

I didn't name names in the first portion of this blog as I didn't feel it was necessary. Today, however I am going to use the one and only automaker who didn't take the government bailout monies as our prime example of Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability.

How man automakers can say that their stock value has increased? Looking at The New York Times today, Ford* is in the spotlight for its ongoing commitment to Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability. They are proving that despite a steady drop in their sales and their production, consumer (stakeholder) confidence still remains high as their stock value has almost tripled since rival automakers have received the government bailouts.

By no coincidence they are the only ones not filing for bankruptcy. This is not to understate the fact that they are hurting fiscally as a company. Despite this economic downturn spokespersons are projecting that the company should recover by 2011. So, here we can see that Accountability + Responsibility at least gives us the promise of Sustainability.

*The only one of the "Big 3" automakers who did NOT take the government's bailout money.

Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability

Wed, 20 May 2009 15:14:46 +0000

Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability

These words have been thrown around so much in the business world that their meanings vary depending on what person is using them to describe their own brand of accountability, responsibility and sustainability. So, before I begin I want to be clear on the definitions of these three words in relation to business as I see and understand them.

Accountability: the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions. (Merriam-Webster,2008)
Responsibility: the quality or state of being responsible: as a: moral, legal, or mental accountability b: Reliability, Trustworthiness. (Merriam_Webster,2008)
Sustainability: [to meet] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Brundtland Commission,1989)

Now, let's look to the auto industry for a lesson in Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability. Certain automakers gladly took the bailout monies offered to them. Where in the world did their Accountability + Responsibility to us as consumers go? THEY SOLD IT!

Despite taking the bailout monies give to them, they're still closing plants and laying off workers on an almost daily basis.

They have let everyone down their shareholders, their stakeholders as well as the guy who sweeps the floors has been abandoned by their lack of accountability. Yes, even we the consumer have been left to our own devices to figure out what we will do. Consumer confidence is/has been going down as more and more companies shirk their responsibilities, as a direct result their sustainability suffers.

Sustainability will depend on the consumers' faith in you doing what you say you're going to do - not saying what you think they want to hear - this is accountability.

Small Stuff Tends To Grow Into Big Stuff

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:13:28 +0000

I think it's safe to say that we've all heard the expression, "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff", and while I do tend to agree with the expression, it's important to know that while it does say not to sweat the small stuff, it does not say to ingore the small stuff.

In life, in business, in communications, in just about everthing - the small stuff can easily accumulate into big stuff if it's left unchecked.

And when it grows into big stuff, it can leave a person, a relationship, a business, a project -anything that is is a part of - completely crippled.

So, true - don't sweat the small stuff - do something about the small stuff before it becomes big stuff.

It makes everything so much easier.

Remember: Communication Is A Two Way Street

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:58:02 +0000

There's a growing trend with a lot of small businesses today that, quite frankly, is scary.

Social Communication, provided by websites such as Twitter or Facebook, is a wonderful thing when it is used properly.

The problem exists when a small business spends an unbalanced amount of time sending out one way "updates" (which is NOT communication).

It's simply a false sense of accomplishment in thinking that by updating your status online, or posting to Twitter or some other social network, that you're actually communicating with your audience.

Remember, communication is a two way street.

That does not mean reading someone elses "tweets", or reading their "status updates" qualifies as real communication.

While, yes, you can carry on a conversation with someone via updates or tweeting - REAL COMMUNICATION is needed to be successful in any business.

Traction Through Action has a suite of VOIP telephony tools that make real communications with your audience and customers a breeze.

For more information, click on the Contact button on the top of this page.

Letting Your Customers Get Ahold Of You

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:35:57 +0000

Letting Your Customers Get Ahold Of You

The notion of being too busy to talk to your customers is simply absurd.

I'm not advocating being 100% available to them at all times, but I am also not advocating a system where customers are greeted with a message saying that their call is important to the business and that they'll be called back within 24 to 48 business hours. What kind of message is the business sending? Simple: We do not care about you as a customer.

So what to do? Where's the balance?

I'm a big fan of call scheduling. With my VOIP System, I can tell it when I want calls to route to me, my Administrative Assistant, or go to voice mail. Furthermore, if the call comes in during the time I am available and I am not at my desk, the call follows me. That means it rings at my desk, then rings on my cell phone. The call gets through no matter what.

I understand people in business can be busy - but the reason people are busy is because of their customers. Ignore them and they will go away.

Of course, if I am in a meeting or simply in a situation where I cannot adhere to my phone time schedule, I can simply set myself up as temporarily unavailable, or I can press the Do Not Distrub button. (The DND button is something that should be used sparingly, not a feature to be employed full time!)

With the powers and features of a real VOIP Phone system, why would you trust your customer relations to anything less?

In this week's podcast, we're continuing with part two of the discussion Mike and I had about VOIP. Tune in on Wednesday for the next episode.

Also, sign up for our free e-zine: The Action Report, where we deliver the answers to the topics posed in the blog and podcast.

~Andy

Why Your Customers Expect You To Use VOIP

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:28:29 +0000

Why Your Customers Want You To Have VOIP

Voice Over Internet Protocol, (VOIP), or "Internet based phones" have been around long enough to have fully matured, and have become a powerful tool that businesses must learn to adopt, use, and profit from.

In our newsletter this week, we're going to publish a link to a VOIP primer that Mike has put together for our readers - so, subscribe today...

In most businesses, the phone line is a necessity. Incoming calls usually equate to incoming money, and happy a happy customer base.

Some people will actually tell you to try to make yourself unavailable to your customer base - make yourself hard to get ahold of to create the illusion of how busy you are. This is complete and utter nonsense. Trust me, I've been there. At one point in my business, I listened to someone who believed in giving the appearance of being busy. All this did was aggravate our customer base. I've since made myself not only available, but easily available - and since doing so, my business contacts have flourished, my customer base has grown, and my customers are much happier.

Like a large number of people, I work from home. I need to balance my time between communicating with my customer base, handling escalated technical support questions, speaking on teleseminars, and 10 other things... this is nothing new, nothing special, and nothing unique to me - anyone who is serious about their business knows about all the hats they have to wear...

If I were to use a POTS (plain old telephone system) for my business, I would simply not be able to conduct business. If I were using a commercial home VOIP system, like Vonage (which is excellent for home phone), I would simply not be able to conduct business.

Most commercial VOIP systems provide some basic features that every home based business needs to have such as:

Availability Scheduling
Call Following
Call Blasting
Call Conferencing
Multiple Extensions *
Call Recording
Call Scheduling
Remote Logins
Soft Phone / Hard Phone

In reality, the feature list could go on and on - especially with a customizable VOIP system from a professional provider (http://www.technomonk.com)

The key thing to remember is that if you're not using a professional VOIP system in your business, you're literally stealing from your customers. You're robbing them of the ability to communicate with you in a timely, professional manner.

As I mentioned before, I've been on both sides of this topic. I've seen what doesn't work, and I've felt the financial impact of not being readily available for a customer. I've also experienced the satisfaction of talking to my customer base, resolving issues, providing input, and receiving feedback in a timely manner. While the decision is yours to make, I personally feel you'd be a fool to do anything else but get yourself a professional VOIP system in place as soon as possible. If you already have one, great - now all you need to do is make sure you're using the available features to the benefit of your business.

I'll be chatting with Mike in the podcast this week about the top reasons for businesses to use a professional VOIP System - subscribe to our podcast feed today so you don't miss this episode!

The importance of a 'team'

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:15:52 +0000

You often hear of projects that suceed with only one or two people involved at the early stages but its rare that this state remains for very long.

Why is this?

Every project needs many roles filled to be sucessful. These include such roles as

project manager
developer
database administrator
architect
designer
tester
accountant
tea boy etc...

As a project grows so does each of these roles. Without delegating them to other people your time has to be split between them all and growth will be slow. Too slow and you will miss your chance in the market. If you delegate these roles out then you have more time available for any role and growth can be far greater than alone.

The drawback to this is two-fold. Managing a team can be hard. Not everyone is as focused as you and some people will need a whack with a stick or reminding them of the carrot that is leading them to keep them on track. A good project manager can do this. Secondly, recruiting a team takes money. If not straight away, then at least the promise of some reward at the end. Where to get this money is left as a problem to the reader, but many projects have been bankrolled by loans, credit cards, investment partners and venture capitalists. All have advantages and disadvantages and we will reserve the discussion of those for a future week.

A CMS Primer Of Sorts

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:55:09 +0000

A Content Management System, or CMS, is a program used to create, edit, manage and publish text and digital media. Typically, CMS's are used for publishing articles, news, information, stories, blogs, manuals or marking information specific to ones industry or niche.

Features of CMS's include:

User management
Role management
Internal Messaging System
Content Control
Content Publishing
Separation of Content and Design

There are several different CMS's available for people to use, most of which are free.

Each CMS system comes with their own group of developers, contributors, themes, extensions, modules, and add ons.

Deciding on which CMS you want to use is more than just a matter of opinion. There are things you need to consider:

Ease of use
Available modules
Security of System
Available Themes
Speed of security patches
Ease of updates

One of my pet peeves when it comes to most freely available CMS's is the amount of exploits easily obtainable online today. I have personally had to deal with friends and customers calling me after having their websites "hacked". Their content and theme gone, replaced with something along the lines of an Evil Clown.

In the podcast this week, I'm going to cover some of the more interesting benefits of using a proper CMS. In our newsletter, I'll not only tell you which CMS's to stay away from, but I'll let you know which one I prefer (and why), and I'll tell you exactly when you want to use a free CMS versus a professional CMS.

Why You Need To Understand SEO Basics

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:10:04 +0000

One thing you'll have to do first is come to terms with the fact that SEO/SEM changes at lightspeed. What worked last week might not work as well today. What worked last month, but was then discarded might very well be on the way back up.

There is one universal truth to SEO/SEM that remains constant. The trick lies in both knowin gwhat that is, and, more importantly, knowing how to take action on them.

Things that no longer work, and might get you de-listed include:

Keyword Spamming
Blind Linking
Overuse of Meta Tags
Hidden Fields
Hidden Layers
Page Duplication
Redirecting / Page Cloaking

In the upcoming podcast, I will cover the above methods in detail, explain what they are, why they don't work, and why you shouldn't be using them.

If you're working with an SEO/SEM Company that is suggesting any of the above "technqiues", I would highly suggest you leave them now, and ask for a full refund if you've spent any money with them.

To Your Success!

Do More Than Plan

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:56:56 +0000

You need to do more than just PLAN for your Success

The old addage "Failing to plan is planning to fail" is simply not true. If you don't plan, you don't fail - you don't do anything.

Anyone can plan anything; the magic lies when positive action is taken on that plan.

The way I see it, PLAN is an acronym:

Process
You've got to know how you're going to do whatever it is you are wanting to accomplish. Without a process in place, you're just setting yourself up for failure.

Leadership
You need to have proven leadership in place. Even in a 1 person business, you need to have someone you're accountable to, who has the abilility to lead you to your success.

Action
Without action, a plan is just a nice idea written down on a used napkin. You might as well crumple it up and throw it away.

Need
There has to be a need to fill in order for your plan to be a success. You may think you have the best idea since sliced bread, but if there is no established need for your plan, your plan will simply fail.

If you never take action on your plan, you will neither succeed or fail. You will get no results. Failure, at it's very core, is a result. Without results, you do not move forward in business, or life.

If you're suffering from "Paralysis Through Analysis", and don't know how to achieve "Traction Through Action", take the following steps:

Read This Blog
Listen To Our Weekly Podcast
Subscribe To Our Free Newsletter
Contact us to see if you qualify for our unique services

To your success,
Team TTA