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Simply put, it refers to the principle that, in order to be successful in business, especially an online business since the Internet is such an anonymous medium, you need to establish a relationship of trust with your prospective customers before you can expect them to do business with you. At the end of the day, though, if your business is to be financially successful (and if you don't care about that, you're engaged in a hobby, not a business), you have to turn a buck. Again, though, if you're running a business rather than indulging in a hobby, turning a profit must be on your list of purposes (unless, I suppose, you're running a non-profit business but we'll leave that aside for present purposes). Occasionally, it will be in the best interests of your business to do something that may be perceived by your customer as a personal favor. To forestall this type of problem, if you decide to do something that benefits your customer/reader/visitor over and above what they have an entitlement to, make it clear, in a subtle way, that you are doing so for business reasons. Know how far you are prepared to go before it stops being a business decision and becomes a personal one and to the detriment of your business interests. For example, if someone emails me and asks for my advice about how to get Article: Are You infirm To Sell? © 2002 Elena Fawkner Relationship marketing. It's the neck of a successful online business. Fail to forge online relationships and your business will suffer. Simple enough concept, right? But what does 'relationship marketing' really mean? Simply put, it refers to the principle that, in order to be successful in business, especially an online market since the Internet is such an anonymous medium, you need to establish a relationship of trust with your prospective customers up to you can expect them to do operating company with you. It requires a work to customer service and a willingness to help others for no certain reward other than the satisfaction of helping surplus and set-up for yourself and your responsibility a reputation of credibility and trustworthiness. At the end of the day, though, if your mimicry is to be financially successful (and if you don't care all but that, you're engaged in a hobby, not a business), you have to turn a buck. One of the most unreserved anxieties expressed by new (and even not so new) online entrepreneurs, though, is that they don't want to come contrariwise as 'selling something' to those with whom they have forged the very relationship that is a prerequisite to actually making the sale! In other words, the focus on 'relationship marketing' has been so much on the relationship that the marketing begins to seem crass and a something of a violation of trust. Many new online function owners report that they feel like they're taking advantage of the trust of those with whom they have forged a bond. Of course, there's no reason to feel any such thing so long as you presuppose in what it is you're selling and that it's something that will act of grace your customers. If you don't feel this way, then your bad feelings are well placed. You ARE taking advantage! The discomfort uniting with selling is not restricted to the business owner, either. I have received several indignant emails over the course of the past three years I have been in this business from readers of my ezine in response to promotions I have run for programs I full tilt promote. The recurring theme of these sorts of communications industry is that I have a 'responsibility' to my readers now they've come to rely on me as an authoritative source of information and I have somehow breached this responsibility by doing something so crass as to actually *market* the programs I promote to earn part of my online income. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that, since I get paid publicity in my ezine, I should be content with that revenue stream and not seek to make money by promoting outside programs. (Of course, these are generally the very same people who complain haphazardly the publicity as well.) My response to this line of reasoning is simply that I'm running a BUSINESS. I'm not working nights and weekends on my site and on my ezine out of the goodness of my heart. I'm just not that noble, trust me. I have a profit motive. Despite what some people seem to think, a profit motive is NOT, in and of itself, a Bad Thing. A profit motive is only a Bad Thing when one misleads, deceives and otherwise takes heightening of the trust of contributory to pursue that profit. There's no reason to alibi out of or feel guilty for wanting to make an honest profit. How approximately you? Do you have just a twinge of uneasiness when it comes to marketing your products and services? Here are some ideas to help you overcome the reticence you may feel in pursuing sales from your prospective customers and how to manage these relationships so that your customer understands that, however you are there to help them, you are also out to help yourself by earning an honest living. CRYSTALLIZE YOUR PURPOSES The very first thing you need to do is decide what it is you're really doing when you create your website or publish your ezine. Is it a hobby or is it a business? The difference, respectively, is the scarcity or presence of a profit motive. If it's a hobby, fine. Don't try and turn a profit, just enjoy yourself and generate just enough income to cover your expenses (if you can). But if it's a business, understand that making a profit is non-negotiable. It's the reason for your business's existence. You will no doubt have several purposes. But the profit motive is key. Do whatever it takes to crystallize your purposes. For some people, just thinking near at hand it and making a mental decision is sufficient. For others, crystallization requires seeing it in sunless and white. If that's you, write down your purposes. Again, though, if you're running a diversified corporation rather than indulging in a hobby, turning a profit must be on your list of purposes (unless, I suppose, you're running a non-profit body corporate but we'll leave that remark for present purposes). Recognize that purpose for what it is. Embrace it. PURSUE it with a vengeance. It's nothing to be shameful or coy about. So long as you intend to do so, and certainly do so, by legitimate, honest and ethical means, give yourself permission to aggressively rout a dollar. BE uniform AND PROFESSIONAL The concept of 'relationship marketing' does NOT mean getting up suspend and personal with your customers. You'll save yourself a lot of grief and care if you just keep things businesslike and professional - friendly to be sure, but not *overly* personal. It's possible to be friendly and helpful in a professional, usual manner without stepping over the line into the personal. The people you're dealing with are not your friends, they're your customers. Of course, over time, you may become friends with substantiated people who started out as customers. But don't start from the position that you have to be friends with your customers in order to engage in relationship marketing. You don't. Keep it practical and professional and you won't raise any unrealistic expectations. ACT IN amity WITH YOUR BUSINESS'S BEST INTERESTS One way of keeping yourself in flake is by constantly testing your decisions in front of the criteria 'is this decision in the best interests of my business?'. If so, do it, recognizing that something can be in the best interests of your allegiance even if it doesn't involve cash flowing in your direction. If not, don't. Occasionally, it will be in the best interests of your public utility to do something that may be perceived by your customer as a personal favor. An example might be giving a refund for a purchase under neighbourhood where the customer is not strictly entitled to one and where you have an ongoing relationship with the customer. You do so in the interests of customer service and this is right an example of something that is in your business's best interests. Sometimes, however, customers can take better of such a policy. To forestall this type of problem, if you decide to do something that benefits your customer/reader/visitor over and above what they have an entitlement to, make it clear, in a subtle way, that you are doing so for house reasons. Be prepared to set limits though. Know how far you are prepared to go ahead of time it stops that be a the marketplace decision and becomes a personal one and to the detriment of your concern interests. Being uncomfortable saying 'no' is not a good enough reason to sacrifice your business's best interests if that's the right decision in all the circumstances. BE DIRECT AND HONEST Don't be shy within call promoting your products and services and letting your prospective customers know you would like for them to purchase from you. Be direct, open and honest within reach it. For example, if someone emails me and asks for my pointer re how to get started in an online must of their own, I'll recommend products that I think will godsend them. Usually, if I like a product, I'll be an accept and so every time someone purchases that product following my recommendation I earn a commission. Would I recommend any products that are directly relevant to my palaver that I don't have a financial interest in? No. Why? I have a profit motive. My time is money. The key is in the products. If I thought there were deform products out there than the ones I was promoting I'd recommend them too. But only suitable for I signed up as an merge so I could earn a seance from my recommendation. On the other hand, occasionally I'm asked to recommend a webhost. I'm an inactive join together of one of the major webhosting companies but I never recommend them insofar as I think they're too expensive. In this case, I refer the enquirer to the webhost I use for my own site. I'm not an allied of theirs and I have no financial interest in making the recommendation. I'm not particularly interested in webhosting as a product to promote so I haven't distressed (yet) to sign up for my webhost's division program. It's just an honest recommendation just as the recommendations I make for products of which I am an affilliate are honest recommendations. The only difference is, I make money on the latter and why not? The point is, so long as you're making an honest recommendation, there's no reason why you can't make a profit at the same time. It's a win-win situation. So stop life intimidated to sell. It's the reason your point exists but it won't for long if you don't sell. ------ ** Reprinting of this twit is welcome! ** This integer may be freely reproduced provided that: (1) you include the following resource box; and (2) you only mail to a 100% opt-in list. Here's the resource box to use if reprinting this article: ------ Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based line of business Online ... practical mercantile ideas, opportunities and solutions for the work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com
I have just finished counselling with a client who was depressed. She is a young mum and initially she was in a very low mood. She hadn't experienced talk therapy before but her friends were pushing her to do something about how miserable she felt. We talked about her life: the husband that loves her, her 7 month old daughter who she finds difficult to enjoy, her house, her friends and her relatives. About session three, I was wondering where the depression was coming from - her circumstances seemed good, she was healthy and she had several close relationships. Then we started to talk about when the depression had started - just after her daughter's birth. She mentioned in a 'give away comment', her mother had come to see her then for the first time in 2 years. Well apparently her mum and dad had separated when she was 13 years, had gone off with their own lovers and in the intervening 10 years, my client had seen them separately, irregularly. Then we started to unfold her memories of being left "in the family home" with her elder sisters (18 and 21 years), being expected to get herself up every day and out to school, feeding herself from whatever food was available in the kitchen, with her sisters at home only when they weren't at work or with boy-friends. Apparently some days she bunked off school and sat on a wall near the shopping precinct, watching people pass, knowing that no one cared what she did or where she went. So here was the root of her depression: my client had given up a lively job in a busy office when her baby was due, she was now stuck in her house with a new child and her husband was working long hours to support the three of them - for much of her day, no one cared what she did or where she went. My client actually broke into tears as she uttered this phrase - no one cared what she did or where she went. It has taken another six sessions to tease out all her pain and to counter the thoughts that were feeding it - what had she done to be discarded by her mum and dad, how was she going to cope with the world without her parents to love her, and how could she find someone to care about her? It was easy for my client to project these thoughts into her new daughter's life: what would prevent her from abandoning her daughter on a shopping trip, why couldn't she feel any love for her daughter or her husband, and would anyone care if she went away? Happily we have now worked through my client's difficult teenage years. She has recognised that her mum and dad were poor parents - so besotted with their own affairs that they hoped the other was doing the parenting and not realising that neither was. She knows she can make her own parenting different - she can choose to stay married to her husband, she can choose to love and cherish her child (or children, later) and in caring for her family, she can enjoy how much they care for her. A tipping point in my client's recovery was when she noticed how much joy her daughter has seeing her after an absence of a couple of minutes. Another important factor was becoming aware that her husband was always glad to see her, to hold her and to cherish her. So now the depression is lifted. I don't say that it is gone forever because I cannot tell what the future will bring to my client. However, for now, she knows how to manage and chase away those low feelings: to see how her daughter and husband love her. So now my client's first question to me 'Why am I feeling depressed?' is answered by "No one cared what you did or where you went" and we have found the antidote - 'They do now".  Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 |
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