Category Archives: Services

How Can I Get More Business For My Tutoring Company?

Publicity, Services

I own a small company that provides tutoring and other supports for children with special needs. I have been running my butt off for months going from place to place, but have seen little in the way of real business. I know from the feedback that I get from every professional in my industry that my business will be amazing "at some point" – unfortunately my funds are making that some point someone else’s point. I need to drum up business, but obviously am having no success. I have 7 employees who cover the gamut of services for special needs and we provide services in the home & at our (really expensive & really empty- sigh) office. I have visited guidance counselors at schools, administrators, local organizations and networking groups. In addition, I work very hard to make sure my clients are happy & that they know that we hope that if they like our services they will pass our name. I guess I am just tapped and getting frustrated with running all over town and getting no results. Any advice would really be appreciated!

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Jay’s Answer: It’s time to listen to what people need, not just push what you’re selling.

If I were in need of your services, who would tell me about you? Do you have competitors? If so, why would I choose you over them? What are the strengths of your competitors (you need to perform a SWOT analysis)? Has the school system itself provided similar services to yours in-house? Do you take any forms of insurance to ease the cost of your services?

Are there fewer numbers of special-needs children in your area?

Do you have great stories to share about children who "graduated", and the results of their learning (both for them and their family)?

Would your services be appropriate for non-special needs children as well (i.e., general tutoring)? Why or why not?

How Do I Know Why Someone Did Not Buy My Product?

eMarketing, Services

We are selling an Enterprise software product and during the course of last year I had many contacts to many companies that evaluated the product, some of which ended up as clients, others did not. Usually I called the prospects asking why they choose not to buy our product if they decided against it.

I would now like to have a more structured approach to get some understanding what we do right or wrong with our offering – is it the product, is it the service, is it the price or anything else (what should I ask?). My goal is to convert more prospects into clients.

My initial idea is to conduct on online survey and send an invitation to all the people I had contact with last year. Do you think this is a good approach? If so, which questions do I need to ask? (I am assuming there is a typical set of questions to ask). I would like to keep the set of questions as small as possible in order to make answering the survey more attractive.

Or should I take another approach? I am also glad about any additional pointers.

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Jay’s Answer: I don’t know how many people you need to contact (and the lifetime value of the prospect), but if it’s under a couple of hundred people, I would call them. An online survey request is all to easy to ignore. What you really want is a dialog.

Before contacting any of them, create a script that could use either for a survey (should you wish) or a phone call. The script would be very similar to the one you would use when you initially contacting them: 1) confirming that they are a decision maker for this service/product, 2) finding out their current solution to the product/service, 3) confirming that they would be interested in a better solution, 4) determining a budget for it, etc.

When you contact them the first time, you needed to learn about their organization’s needs first, then you could sell them your solution. If after testing, your solution was rejected, I would go over the answers that they initially provided to see where their answers and your solutions didn’t "match up".

How Should I Organize A Regional Event?

Publicity, Services, Starting Out

I’m making a 10 minute presentation to answer the brief: “You have a £5,000 budget to activate your own regional event (Small Fire). What is your event concept, your implementation plan and how would you leverage it?” I’d like to know what points i should think about, what should the money be spent on, methods of promoting it, a good implementation plan and any other helpful points to make it an excellent presentation.

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Jay’s Answer: Once you have the product/service idea, focus on the marketing strategy. Who are you trying to sell it to? How does your product/service solve a problem of theirs? How much better is your product? Why should they trust you?

Once you have the strategy, figure out how to attract your target audience. It might be anything from a talk (10 ways to reduce your taxes), to a party (new moms night out), etc. The key is to match your activity with your target demographic & their needs.

What Are the Ingredients For A Great Ad Agency?

Services

I recently took a job at an agency that has not had the best reputation (bad management re finances), they are now trying to rebuild and I thought that it would a challenge and wonderful accomplishment to bring it back to where it used to/ should be.

Thing is when I walk in, there is no organisation…none. Staff going on four hour lunches, coming in whatever time in the morning, breaking as much as possible the companies policies…e.g. entertaining your boyfriend at your desk and you handle the company’s finances…to name one that irked me in particular.

The staff here can work they have just been so demotivated by all the bad publicity that one man brought, some have no idea about what an A.E should be… they think its administrative or "gofer"…and when I try to explain what they need to do and should be doing it falls on deaf ears (and I’m assertive) I don’t mind walking them through each job ( the few we have left) what worries me is the fact that I have to bring in new clients with MY name associated with this company…if the home is in trouble how can we effectively do our jobs? I can’t do everything all at once…they seem contented to just collect a salary without putting the work in…its as if they have no pride in what they do.

SOOO any ideas on how to motivate this bunch before they’re all fired… I believe they can do the work…its the drive they don’t have and education as to what an Advertising Agency does.

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Jay’s Answer:

  1. Why should they care? and
  2. Are they doing the work?

If the work is being done (but internally, unprofessionally) then consider instituting performance reviews. It’ll document the problems so you won’t have legal problems later.

If people don’t care, then you need to give them a reason to care. Everyone has different motivations, but pride in accomplishments is good (public acknowledgement). Focus on the positive things you’re seeing, and applaud that. You’ll get more results than attempting to punish the negative.

How Should My Web Company Do Software Escrow?

Services

We are almost done with the development of our web project. There is more work to be done, but we want to change providers because our current company can’t meet their own target dates (we’re looking at a November launch of a project that was promised by last June.) Our contract has an intellectual property clause that gives us control of the code for our own further development with other contractors. My question is how and when does one go about setting up a software escrow? Once this contract is fulfilled, will we necessarily need a software escrow to access the code for further development? Are there any recommendations for choosing a software escrow company?

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Jay’s Answer: Here’s a good article detailing the whole escrow process including recommendations: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=236193

What’s the Best Way To Market My Web Design Agency?

eMarketing, Services

I am operating a web design agency that is focused on corporate web designs. Our target market is Real Estate companies, corporates and middle sized companies. We are using Google Adwords and Adbrite.com. Now we plan to place print ads. In which Business Magazine we should place ads?

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Jay’s Answer: Focus on one niche at a time. I would start with real estate companies, creating a landing page that targets them instead of your generic (“we do logo, web, and branding design”) message. Sell the solution – a great logo, website, branding helps attract customers short- and long-term, etc.

Corporate and middle-sized companies most likely do this work in-house, so you’ll be less likely to find opportunities there. However, if you focus on a niched middle-sized or corporate company, and know that you have a special service that it’s unlikely they have in-house, then by all means fill the need.

As for print magazines – don’t place ads in general business magazines. Place them in magazines that your niche reads. What do they read? Ask them.

Also, make sure you get your keywords in alignment for your niche’s search. You want to be easy to find.

How Do I Market My New Wedding Planning Business?

Services, Starting Out

If there is anything that scares me, its the thought of starting my business and then having it totally fail! I am starting my own wedding planning business in the Toronto area. I’ll be a certified coordinator (some are not!) with no “experience.”

So my question is, how do I sell myself? I have done 3 weddings (all for free – friends and family), but they were all done before I even thought of becoming a WP, so I don’t have a portfolio. Who is going to want to hire someone without that PROOF of “experience”? If you look at the competition, they all say the same thing “…has done X amount of weddings” or “over 15 years experience…” – I don’t have that.

I was thinking of starting out with a cheaper price than the other companies (average 10-15% of total wedding budget), but then… how much cheaper? Then I was also wondering what kind of special offers I can give out for signing with me… maybe a day at the spa, a gift certificate for a vendor, etc. but would that work?

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Jay’s Answer: First, if your new business must succeed for financial reasons, then don’t start it in the first place. A new business is by definition, a risk.

Next, to increase your chance of success, start with a strategic plan. Who are you targeting (demographics, location, etc.)? What problem are you solving? Why should they trust you, etc.? Who are your competitors? Study them – know what they know.

Everyone once was a beginner. Hiring someone new is a tradeoff – they have less experience avoiding the inevitable bumps but more invested in the outcome (to build a portfolio).

Don’t start by advertising “I’m inexpensive”. That screams the wrong message.

How Can I Sell Advertising In Tourist-Visited Grocery Stores?

Publicity, Services, Starting Out

I sell advertising in a tourist destination area at grocery stores.Trying to get info or research to show locale business in this area it will benefit them to advertise locally and just not out of the area.

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Jay’s Answer: It sounds like the goal is to have a location in the grocery store to advertise local businesses for tourists.

First, what’s the competition for getting food & snacks in the area? You’re competing with grocery stores, vending machines, hotels, etc.

Second, the location in the store – will it be visible? How do you know?

Lastly, what other locations are advertising hubs for tourists. These are also your competition.

The best measure of effectiveness is actual testimonials. Are you existing advertisers getting business from the display? How much more business? That’s what prospective advertisers care about.

How Can I Get Involvement In A Hospital Taskforce?

Clubs + Associations, Names + Taglines, Services

The hospital I work for is a 200-bed hospital that needs to improve it’s quality and safety scores. In order to due this, we have put together numerous Quality and Safety initiatives to be put into action in the coming year. Some of these are: Safety, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Timeliness, Equability, and Patient-Centered. We have also made different sub-committees in order to make these initiatives happen. I am on the sub-committee titled, “Quality Communication Task Force”. The purpose of the Quality Communication Task Force is to communicate key strategic initiatives in a focused, organized manner to all levels of the organization.

The main goal of the Quality Communication Task Force is to have every single employee in the hospital provide all six initiatives (Safety, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Timeliness, Equability, and Patient-Centered) and then be rewarded with some type of celebration. So, here’s my dilemma, how do we communicate all of these initiatives to the employees? We could do a PowerPoint in different sessions to the employees, but that doesn’t seem very engaging, and that doesn’t build excitement. And that is what we are trying to do. Build excitement and get everyone motivated to change and improve the hospital. Also, in addition to needing ideas on how to identify and bring these initiatives to the employees? Any ideas on a creative name for this committee? Besides, “Quality Communication Task Force”.

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Jay’s Answer: Start by creating some ideas for how different groups in the hospital can improve. Then hold meetings where employees meet with their supervisor and provide concrete ideas that are in alignment with your general goals (and more than just ideas – collect stories of things that people have done – they “stick”). Share these “best-practice” ideas with others within the organization. Consider finding other “best-practice” lists for other hospitals in your area as well.

To build excitement – focus on WHY people in the organization should care. Is it a matter of pride? job security? salary?

Share the stories – and make them about how a group within the hospital did something significant, not just the individual. You’re trying to build a team mentality for improvement, not just superstar individuals.

As for a name: Hospital Boosters. You’re trying to help people to help themselves, not force them into a specific set of behaviors.

What’s a Good Name for a Salon?

Names + Taglines, Services

I am opening my FIRST of many (hopefully) beauty salon. we will cover hairdressing, nails, massage, pedicure etc. every thing in the one salon. we will be located in a beach side community which is very busy with tourists. there are quite a few resorts here too. we are aiming for the upmarket clientele. I’m looking for something classy, catchy and amusing.

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Jay’s Answer:

  • Seaside Spa
  • Le’ Spa
  • Beauty And The Beach