Successful Blog

Are You Letting Customer Relationships Pass You By?

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Don’t Let One Customer Click Away

One customer. That first customer. That next customer. Will that customer click away before you connect?

Most businesses don’t realize that the missing out on a single customer relationship is more costly than it appears. The customer that passes by today doesn’t mean the loss of one sale. That one customer gone represents

  • today’s sale
  • every purchase might have returned to make.
  • and every friend that customer might have brought to the business in future days.

Every customer that doesn’t connect takes those benefits to another business.

Strong businesses are built on strong relationships. Strong relationships are built on connections that stick.

Relationships that last don’t happen by accident.

Connection Central for Solos Opens Today

I’ve been working on a way to make useful 20+ years of education, the strategy, business, and relationships. The result is a sleek and flexible set of courses called Connection Central for Solos. They’re smartly focused on conversations connections, relationships, customers and paying the rent.

Connection Central is two carefully crafted curriculum — one stands alone, one comes in three versions. Each is designed to show you how to attract, delight, and form long-lasting relationships with customers. Both offer solid methods and strategies you can use to connect quickly, profitably, and predictably. I only made two because I only have so much time

Don’t let another customer click away.

Connection Central for Solos

Choose the course that fits your situation. Or call to discuss something tailored precisely to what you need. Visit SOBNet: Connection Central. If you have questions, call or email me. Don’t let those customers keep passing by. Isn’t it time that you connect?

Course 111: Getting Paid What You’re Worth

Are you ready to charge more for your services? Are you having a problem naming your fees?

Course 111-TeleLiz

Work with Liz to set the rationale for your fees. Use value, time, and math to discuss what you charge. Develop and price smaller offers. Check what you offer for missed opportunities to deliver value. Learn how to change the amount of work rather than lower your fees.
Enroll at Connection Central.
3 Telephone sessions with Liz ……………………………………………$295.00

Course 222: Connect with Customers

Like to Work Alone? Email Self-Coaching Course

Learn on your own with all of the tools you need or learn through conversations with Liz. See the complete 16-Step Curriculum in the box at the bottom of the page.

Course 222-Email

Self-coaching means just what it sounds like. You’ll get the tools and information and a push in the right direction. Weekly coaching plans and worksheets crafted by experienced educational publisher will guide you to define your product or service, fine tune your presentation, write a compelling offer, attract ideal customers, and close the deal. Begins January 20th, 2008
Enroll at Connection Central.
16-Step Email Self-Coaching Course …………………………………… $ 97.00

Don’t have 16 weeks to wait?
2 TeleCourses with Liz

Course 222 -TeleLiz-1

It’s the same curriculum with all of the same content, but fast-tracked through telephone sessions with Liz. Identify, connect, and form a relationship with your ideal customers by providing them with an atmosphere they recognize and an offer they value more highly than the price.
Enroll at Connection Central.
6 Telephone sessions with Liz …………………………………………… $585.00

Course 222- TeleLiz-2

Invite a colleague to work alongside you and share the benefits.
Enroll at Connection Central.
6 Telephone sessions with Liz ……… $970.00 [$485.00 each for two]

TeleSeminars are available to limited number immediately.
The first session of the email course will begin January 20th.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

blogtalkradio 12EST … 11CST … 9PST Today! Lorraine and Liz Talk about Fiercely Loyal Fans

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Getting Fiercely Loyal Fans

Powerfull Living with Lorraine Cohen

Today on the Powerfull Living Show at blogtalkradio, I’ll be talking with with Lorraine Cohen about how to form client and customer relationships in 7 key ways.

Listen in, if you have a chance.

PS You can call in to join the conversation by dialing

646 716 7937

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Are You Making the Most of the Conversation?

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Which Conversations Are Important Too!

insideout logo

In the world of business, it takes an action to make something happen. Watching rarely gets anything done. A conversation is a great place to make things happen. Yet, many of us seem to be missing out.

Where do you fit in the conversation? Are you a lurker, a listener, or a participant?

the conversation

If you’re a lurker, you’re getting the value of the information.

If you’re a listener, you’re also finding out who knows what and who’s a pretender. Listeners soon find out who’s connected to whom.

If you’re a participant, you’re making an impression. People are also finding out about you.

But this is only stage one.

Where the conversation occurs makes a difference. Are you only talking to the people you already know? When you move into a new network do you move down to the level of a lurker? I know that I used to do just that. Then I realized something important.

If we only talk to the same group of people, we’ll always be in that same group talking about the same things on and on.

Want to know, want to grow? You need to expand where you have your conversations.

the network

In our circle of friends, we usually agree on the same ideas.

When we move out to a network of colleagues and acquaintances, we can share in new ideas and new thoughts.

If we want to move up and out, if we want to grow and become more, we have to get to know the folks who know what we need to know. That means reaching out of our personal network to explore many more networks — the networks to which those people belong — and letting those who need a hand up into our own.

Being part of a conversation is a step in the right direction. Using the conversation to reach out raises the bar. Are you taking the conversation as far as you might to grow?

–ME ‘Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

How Smart People Can Be So Dense, Difficult, and Frustrating

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Thinking about What I Think About

think_different

It was Valeria who challenged me and Joe who challenged her. The challenge was simple enough. Choose something that I have a negative response to and find a way to give my view a new spin . . . think “different” . . . change the way we’ve thought in the past.

When she put forth the challenge, Valeria said,

I tag Liz Strauss at Successful and Outstanding Blog(gers) — because she can think different.

which added a bit to the mix. My natural inclination to make things interesting was — BAM! — kicked up a notched because of what Valeria said.

For a whole day, I walked around
thinking about what I think about
so that I might think about
how I might think about
what I think about in a new and different way.

Naturally, my worry was that if I start out as someone who thinks differently, would my “think different” response end me up an answer that looks the same as most people already think?

Think about it. The question was mathematical. Does different + different = same?

I’ve resolved the issue, I think.

The Rules of the Challenge

Write a new blog post in which you “think different”. Interpret the challenge phrase the way you want. (Thanks, Joe, for letting me borrow yours.)

  1. State that the post is a part of the Think Different Challenge and include a link and/ or trackback to this post so that readers know the rules of the challenge. Feel free to use the above banner (inspired, of course, by Seth Godin).
  2. Include a link and/or trackback to the blogger who tagged you.
  3. At the end of your post, go ahead and tag some fellow bloggers. Don’t forget to email them to let them know they have been tagged.

People Really Do Think Differently

All of that thinking made me realize that I really had only one think different topic that was truly close to my heart . . . we too often forget that, from the very start, people really do think differently.

Let’s think this through . . .

When we solve a problem, make a plan, or try to teach something, we offer our thinking process using the order and logic we find natural. Listeners who can arrange ideas in the same way track what we’re trying to communicate.

Folks who think the same way as we do are smart, savvy, and quick on the uptake. Now, really, wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone was as smart as we are?

Truth is, for all practical purposes, most everyone we meet is smart enough. We’re all just smart in different ways. The difference is in how we construct ideas.

Yep, it’s a fact that different brains construct thoughts in different ways.

  • Some folks have to see things; then they can do things; then they can talk about them.
  • Some folks have to see things; then they can talk about things; then they can do them.
  • Some folks have to do things; then they can see things; then they can talk about them.
  • Some folks have to do things; then they can talk about things; then they can see them.
  • Some folks have to talk about things; then they can do things; then they can see them.
  • Some folks have to talk about things; then they can see things; then they can do them.

Agree on the right order and the communication goes smoothly. Choose an order that’s unnatural to the listener and he or she will have trouble following the ideas.
That person will probably not “get” what we’re saying.

That’s when we start to think something like . . . the listener is . . . um, er . . . dense, or inattentive, or just plain difficult. After all, other folks “get it” when we say what we’ve just said. So it must be the listener not the message — right?

I’ve been “dense, inattentive, and just plain difficult.” So have most of my friends. We know because of inane conversations like this.

“I’m not following you. I don’t understand.”

“You can’t be so smart and not understand. You’re just being difficult.”

“Busted! It’s a plot to frustrate us both to no end.”

“Oh. What part don’t you get?”

By the way, I’ve been on both sides of that conversation. I suppose most folks probably have.

Presenting the information in a different way usually works, especially when the listener gets to ask for the data in the order that he or she constructs ideas.

Think “different” about how people think.

People really do think differently.

Don’t you think?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

How I Tripled My Traffic in Less than an Hour

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Watch Yourself!

“GET” STICKY!

Do you watch how you do things? Do you ask other folks whether they go about things the same way? When you find the places that they do things the same way, it could be that you’ve found something that most people do.

It was by paying that kind of attention that I tripled the traffic on my writing blog in less than an hour. No kidding! It had a similar effect here — traffic nearly doubled.

What I Watched: How do I use blog archives on other blogs — in a certain way or a certain order?

What I Found:

  • It depends. Often I browse archives from old to new — ideas build on each other over time. Other times I read for certain topics.
  • Folks I know do the same things in pretty much the same way. I found out through informal conversations. A blog post could have gotten the same information. When the issue is small, I use what I already know.
  • I devised a way to organize my archives to meet all of those needs — I made sure that besides the date archives, folks could access a list of Popular Posts and find posts that were part of a series. It took less than an hour. (I did this first on my writing blog — See the sidebar. Then I did it here — See the Popular Posts and Successful Series pages.)

The day I did that my pageviews were three times higher.

Ever made a small change that had that kind of impact?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
I make business sticky. Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar. Call me.

Related:
See the Customer Think Series on the Successful Series page.

Would You Rather Be Martha Stewart or David Armano?

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Before You Choose . . .

“GET” STICKY!

Did you read David Armano’s post on corporate stumbling this week? He cites an article in GlobeandMail about how Martha Stewart made a beautiful website that no one wanted to visit. He points to simlar mistakes made by Coke and Bud, and then explains “what really motivates users.”

  • There are literally millions of enthusiasts out there producing quality content in highly search engine friendly formats.
  • Not only is much of their content easier to find on the Web—it’s engaging, relevant,
  • and the people who produce it actually talk back to us.

David “gets” what’s “sticky,”

. . . it’s the content that will keep us engaged, and coming back for more. It’s the special sauce that can take a consumer and make them an active participant.

So will you be Martha Stewart or David Armano? The choice is yours.
How will you make yourself sticky to the customers already want to love you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
I make business sticky. Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar. Call me.

Related:
See the Customer Think Series on the Successful Series page.