eCommerce and

Social media has emerged as one of the best ways to keep in touch with your customers. Yet it can be a little confusing to know how to do this in the most effective manner. Social media is, after all, supposed to be for socializing. How, then, can you best utilize it for business? Let's take a look at a few basic rules.

While businesses thrive on the ability of the consumer to purchase its products, sometimes an invisible barrier exists that hampers this exchange, specifically, if consumers are not aware of the product or the business. For those interested in e-commerce, outreach emails are a great opportunity for making connections with potential customers and directing them to your wares. Knowing that though, what are the most effective steps for crafting the perfect outreach email?

1) Branding is Key - As any marketing executive can attest to, branding is one of the most important steps in creating an attractive business. Just as you wouldn't call clients and ask them to purchase products from your garage, it's important when sending outreach emails that you do so from a branded domain. Spam comprises a large percent of people's inboxes these days, meaning that their first inclination upon seeing an email from a domain they don't recognize is to simply delete it and move on. This is obviously contrary to the aims of an outreach email.

2) Reach the Right People - This might seem like an obvious point, but contacting the right people is crucial to the success of an outreach email. When researching viable clients, be sure to send your email to the people most likely in charge of purchasing your product. The most persuasive and informative email you've ever crafted means nothing if it doesn't go to the person with the power to make the decisions you need.

3) Attractive Subject Lines - Going along a similar vein as crafting a brand for your email, it's also important to make an accurate and persuasive subject line. Since people often delete first and ask questions later, the subject line is your first line of defense against an unwarranted deletion. To create a strong subject line it's important to specifically address the person you're emailing and be sure to phrase your goal in the form of a question. For example, "isn't this interesting?" can be a great way of tempting people to open your email and get into the meat of your content.

4) Keep it Simple - Once you're working on the general body of your email, you'll find it's helpful to keep it as short as possible. Five hundred characters is a good general guideline, as people prefer something just short enough to tantalize them than a long essay they have to work through.

5) Get Personal - Make sure the opening of every email personally greets whoever your email is directed towards, if no name is available it can be as simple as a general greeting to the department or company you're contacting.

With these tips in mind, it won't be long before you've crafted the perfect outreach email, and from there it's just a matter of sending it out to as many potential clients as possible. Are there any tips we missed? Let us know in the comments!

We live in a world full of distractions. With Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at our fingertips, it can be hard to stay focused in the work place. It becomes exceedingly hard since we communicate with co-workers in so many forms: Email, Instant Message and face-to-face.  How then, do we keep effective communication flowing? Here are a few tips.

Email:

When communicating through email make sure to be concise and to the point, always remembering what you want to accomplish. This is especially important if you are relaying information that may be a more involved issue. If you get distracted or stray from what your main goal is, your email will only confuse the person it is going to. The key here is to keep your email to as few sentences in length as possible. As the saying goes, “less is more.” Writing five paragraphs is not an email, it’s an essay. Let’s face it, the majority of us only skim emails so make it count.  Keep in mind, if you feel the issue at hand requires more than a few sentences in length then you need to communicate face-to-face. This way, nothing you need to convey will lost in translation.

Instant Messaging:

This type of communication can be great if you need a quick response, or when you need someone to take a look at a link to see what you are referring to. This type of business conversation is highly effective in business because it uses the least amount of time and can get you back to what your working on fast. Word to the wise though, know your audience. Since no one person has an identical personality, some may interpret what you say over IM in a way you may not have meant it. Try to stay away from correcting or disciplining someone over IM. Those are situations that should be left for face-to-face communication. Also, just as with email communication, it is important to keep what you are communicating short, sweet and to the point. No one wants to have to sift through lines and lines over an IM.  The longer the IM gets, the more likely you are to distract the person away from what you’re trying to accomplish.

Face-to-Face:

Saving the best for last, nothing seems to beat face-to-face communication (other than the fact that you might have to get out of your cubical to do it!). Communicating amongst each other in person can alleviate any misunderstandings that could happen over an IM or email and allows for the most information-rich medium. Another great tool face-to-face communication gives us is growing and maturing social relationships with co-workers.  Growing bonds between each other by face-to-face interaction can prove to be very valuable by pulling everyone together to problem solve and think more critically about certain issues. There can be a down side to face-to-face communication, if all your employees are just standing around each others desks “chit chatting it up” then no work is getting done. It is important to make sure that conversations are kept work related when on the clock. This is also extremely important to remember so you can prevent disruptions among other co-workers who may be taking sales calls.

As you can see, brevity seems to be the reoccurring theme in effectively communicating with co-workers. The more clear and concise you are the more efficient you will become, and the more work you can accomplish.

What about you, do you have any other tips on how to communicate more effectively? Leave them in the comments.

Sinks come in all shapes and sizes. PlumberSurplus.com sells everything from bathroom sinks to kitchen sinks and vessel sinks. There has never been a better time to upgrade your sink then now!

You just never know how or when, or in what capacity you may strike up a relationship that positively impacts your business.

I purchased a home in the not so distant past and subsequently found myself tied up in Code Enforcement red tape.  Code Enforcement responds to concerns, complaints, and nuisances within a city to make sure that properties are in compliance with city codes.  These complaints are often associated to issues that can impact the quality of life in a city such as zoning, maintenance of structures, inoperative vehicles, overgrown yards, and illegal signs.  Receiving a violation from Code Enforcement can be costly and time consuming regardless of the reasoning behind the violation or where the fault lies.  One thing I do know is that finding your family’s financial well being placed in the hands of bureaucracy places an emotional strain on the soul that I can’t put into words.  I responded in a way I’d never before, kicking off a letter to every bit of political representation I could think of.

Despite not expecting a single response I somehow felt better and was reinvigorated to continue the good fight. Interestingly enough I did receive a response from Council Member Rusty Bailey and although I’m confident no strings were pulled, I appreciated the handful of phone conversations that were had by the Councilmen and myself throughout the process. Ultimately, our (my family) plight was brought to resolution with the closing of our “file” and fines returned. I believe Councilmen Bailey summarized the situation best when he explained, “cooler heads prevailed.”

Having mentioned along the way my involvement with Gordian Project I had the honor of introducing Councilmen Bailey to Gordian Project Managing Partners Timothy Jackson and Brian Chelette over lunch.  A casual meeting for sure, sharing the life of Gordian Project along with hearing Councilmen Bailey’s heart for Riverside.  My thanks to the Councilman for the time and opportunity to continue in that relationship as I, we, Gordian Project seeks to partner with that heart.

Councilmen Bailey’s email signature concludes with, “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." (Author unknown)  I believe I’ve accomplished navigating Code Enforcement’s red tape successfully but perhaps more importantly struck a relationship that can assist in Gordian Project’s desire to philanthropically impact "Riverside".

For those that are curious about my big code violation, here are a few pictures:

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For many people in the workforce Christmas is the time of year when your employer takes you to a decent restaurant where you hang out with your work buddies, exchange gifts with your "Secret Santa", and proceed to watch Sally in accounting have one too many Mojitos. While that may be the highlight of the year for some, I personally have never been a huge fan of it. That is why I was so excited to receive the email our boss sent out telling us that this year we were going to forego the normal party and partner with Sandals Church and Medical Office Services donate over 700 jackets to children in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area of town. However, it wasn’t just me that was excited, the response from everyone in the company was overwhelming. A lottery even had to be established to see who could represent the company at this give away.

Google did this same thing this year (albeit on a larger scale) by committing to donate 20 million dollars to charities instead of sending out their normal packs of mugs, t-shirts, flash drives, and digital picture frames. You can find more about what Google is doing here.

Needless to say last Friday me and a couple of my colleagues were able to partake in this awesome outreach and brought along the video and picture camera to share the story. My impressions and photos / video are below.

One of our fearless leaders Brian carrying jackets.

The whole group that was chosen from the lottery with a Kindgergarten class that just received their new jackets.

Our other two managing partners Ronnie and Tim enjoying handing out jackets.

Merry Christmas!

Kohler is arguably one of the most innovative brands in the home improvement industry. The new Karbon faucet has completely transformed the kitchen and more specifically revolutionized the kitchen faucet. Meanwhile Kohler seems to effortlessly create bathroom fixtures that are not only sleek but save water, like the Escale toilet.

Too often, and through no malicious intent, companies lose sight of their customers interests. In many company war rooms, you’ll find brilliant people bunkered in the back of the building burning through notepads and hallucinating from the noxious fumes of dry-erase markers. Fight plans are drafted and pricing structures are in place. But, ultimately, none of this matters if your customers are not on board. You cannot “go live” in a ghost town.

We’ve all had the impossible call with customer service or have wanted to set fire to stacks of unnecessary rebate paperwork (and sometimes ourselves.)  And there are companies that exploit the working poor in order to generate heftier profits. Bad business is all around us - I’m quite sure there are examples of companies you’d like to see fold. But, successful businesses have customers that support their success. Why would your customers want you to succeed?

Prices, the basest of all customer/company dynamic, and ultimately the cheapest (pardon the pun.) Your prices may keep your customer base, but if your service, brand and quality do not provide a similar value, your customers will eventually tire of “selling” their consumer dignity. Your customers will want you to succeed, but only as long as your prices make it worth it. If you know someone who would still shop at Wal-Mart if they raised prices, I’d like to meet them…On second thought, I’m busy that day.

Your brand (see also: Bragging Rights.) Customers are made up largely of human beings, and my anthropology professor told me that despite our best efforts, humans are emotionally dependent creatures. We seek validation and approval from others, if your company is one that connotes status or promotes a definite image, your branding is a reason your customers want you to succeed. Oftentimes, the more lucrative your brand, the higher the value of its emotional “stock.” Need proof? The iPhone has ego-boosted its way through a record-setting recession.

Because you defend them. Backwards right? But it is a rare occasion that customers defend their brand first. Companies defend their customers by knowing who they are, giving them what they want, and improving their quality of life. Defend customers from your competitors who might not have their sustainable interests in mind. Understand their humanity; share it, rather than exploit it.

The “forest for the trees” metaphor is dripping in apropos. All of the ingenuity in the world will not matter to you if your customers don’t.

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• Optimalogica blog recommends a reconciliation system for making financial decisions and experimental sales decisions.


• Gross National Happiness has been measured, and Facebook’s Prototype confirms that we are in fact less happy on Monday’s.


• Can’t keep up with all of the social media, internet and search options available at any given moment?  Mike Moran can help you figure out what to ignore in Internet Marketing.


• Google Reader adds Magic to your settings.

My personal favorite this week, courtesy of SEOmoz:

Sam Niccolls, SEOmoz blogger, writes "This e-mail from a hopelessly confused webmaster to a competitor is worth its weight in gold."

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• Craig Tomlin offers five usability tips and teases readers with an additional five to follow in an upcoming article.  I may not agree with every tip provided in this article but each website designer can evaluate usability for themselves.  I particularly enjoyed the example given in number five which was “Reduce shopping cart distractions”.  The example given by the author is a great one as I too would have been completely overwhelmed by the shopping cart page.  I look forward to seeing the next article.


• Almost 30% of British online shoppers forget their login information when shopping online and state that it is their biggest annoyance.  Europe as a whole said that their biggest annoyance was poor customer service.  Both statistics led those surveyed to reveal that these annoyances led them to spend less money than when their satisfaction level was high.


• Trust and security remain important factors to consumers when deciding who to shop with online retailers.


• Sears leaves categories vulnerable to creative comics.







• Analysts are early to point to signs of stabilization in the economic environment, stating highlights from eCommerce as the beginnings of recovery.
  
  

Little Giant has been hard at work engineering pumps that their most loyal customers have been waiting for. PlumberSurplus.com is your destination for the new Little Giant TSW Sump Pump System and their NXTGen Condensate Pumps.

• This is something that we have talked about and something that I have wanted to do for a really long time so I am glad that another blogger brought it up as a subject and as a best practice.  Michael Martine wrote Make Your Customer the Hero a post about featuring customers on the company blog, how to go about doing so, and the benefits that both parties receive from doing so.  I would be really curious to know if our customers are reading our blog and how many would be interested in being featured, so maybe this post will spur the conversation.


• Internet Retailer reported on data released by the Commerce department and comScore both of which show consumer spending down for the second quarter of 2009 as compared to last year.


• Although the title suggests that Kevin Ertell is merely making predictions when it comes to the future of online retail I would argue that this article is closer to an educated forecast.  A worthwhile read, Predicting the Future of Retail, doesn’t really make claims that are too outlandish, at least not in my humble opinion.


• Twitter contests that go well v. Twitter contests that can ruin or really damage a reputation.


• The title alone for this week’s Whiteboard Friday sucked me in.  SEOmoz is quite good at doing that anyways, but the content’s worth it as well.  Check out Whiteboard Friday: 10 Disturbing Similarities Between Dating & Raising Venture Capital.
  

Little Giant has been hard at work engineering pumps that their most loyal customers have been waiting for. PlumberSurplus.com is your destination for the new Little Giant TSW Sump Pump System and their NXTGen Condensate Pumps.

• Shop.org released their 2009 State of Retailing Merchandising Report this week: 
  • “Specifically, retailers this year are setting the following as priorities for their Web sites:
    Checkout process redesign – 79%
    Improved content on product detail pages – 73%
    Site search and browse results – 71%
    Home page – 60%
    Redesigned help section / FAQ”

• Clickthrough rates can change when language and experience are factored into the equation; if you don’t believe me take a look at this experiment.


• Optaros is offering a complimentary eBook on social eCommerce.  The book "5 Winning Strategies in Social Ecommerce" can be found here.


• Social media is only effective if it’s based on trust, transparency and ethical business practices, luckily I work for a company where this isn’t a problem.  Unfortunately there are still, as I suppose there may always be, companies out there that don’t operate in this fashion.  The New York Attorney General isn’t standing for it, in fact he has fined a company $300,000 for encouraging fake reviews.


• Entrepreneurs are powerfully positive.


• Google announces second quarter 2009 financial results.
  

Little Giant has been hard at work engineering pumps that their most loyal customers have been waiting for. PlumberSurplus.com is your destination for the new Little Giant TSW Sump Pump System and their NXTGen Condensate Pumps.