Create For Cash

Are You Creating Loyal Customers?

customer loyalty

I would be willing to bet that most people are creatures of habit. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, because when we find companies we like we tend to stick with them. That could be a brand of clothing or a type of car or the restaurants we frequent. And we usually tend to stick to our own neighborhood restaurants for various reasons.

So, when I found out one of my favorite restaurants had gone out of business, it was sad. This is where I spent many Thanksgivings and Christmases enjoying the holiday special of turkey and pumpkin pie. They were always creating loyal customers.

I went through the restaurant reviews and found out that I wasn’t the only one that felt that way. In fact, some of the reviews were quite interesting. [Read more…] about Are You Creating Loyal Customers?

My Week Without TV or Internet

I just realized it’s been quite a while since I wrote my last blog post. I’ve been on the road traveling and had no Internet access or even a TV. I think the last time I did this was years ago when I was backpacking through New Zealand. I didn’t exactly do it on purpose, but the places I stayed didn’t have either one.

Funny, I did have a phone, but no one called me all week. I was already getting to the point that I thought many people have stopped connecting to each other. And after stepping back and watching the world go by in my week without TV or Internet I realized I was right.

You would think by the way I’m talking that I was on a mountaintop in Siberia, but no, it was New York City, Washington, D.C. and places in between. I stayed in B and Bs and hotels in the middle of nowhere with no Internet access and bad cable reception. [Read more…] about My Week Without TV or Internet

To Whom it May Concern – Cold Emailing

Cold emailing. It’s kind of like cold calling, but without the really scary part where you have to talk to a live person and get rejected. Sometimes over and over again. Hiding behind an email may feel safer, but it’s less likely to get a response, especially if it’s not done right.

Cold email

I got a cold email today from a company that wanted me to hire them as a publicist. It started with “To whom it may concern”. Okay, already I’m going to delete it, but not before checking out their site. This is already more homework than they did on me. It just takes a few extra minutes to at least look through someone’s site before contacting them, especially when you’re asking someone to spend $5,000 a month.

If they had looked through my site they would have seen that I have quite a lot of PR already and just by Googling swiggies and publicity. My Linked In info comes up on my page along with the title of “publicist”. [Read more…] about To Whom it May Concern – Cold Emailing

Honesty in Business

On the way to walk the dogs today I dropped some money in the elevator. I was already at the end of the street when my neighbor chased me down to return it. She could have taken it. No one would have known. But that simple act of honesty really made my day. I already think highly of this new neighbor and will go out of my way to help her if she needs it.

Honesty in business

The same thing happened again the other day when I went to have a workbook printed at a small print shop in the neighborhood. The owner gave me a quote a couple of weeks earlier based on a printed sample I showed him. But when I sent it in on disk it turns out it was much cheaper than the previous quote.

He charged me the cheaper rate, but I really wouldn’t have known otherwise if he hadn’t been honest about it. I’m certainly not a big customer, but after that I will be a loyal one. And that’s one of the best reasons to be totally honest with your customers. They will appreciate it and remember it. They will also be more likely to spread the good word about your business either through referrals or testimonials. Create honesty in business. [Read more…] about Honesty in Business

Where There’s a Seller, There’s a Buyer

I was helping a friend clean some things out of the office the other day. He is a talent scout for musicians and had boxes of old demo tapes from the 70’s and 80’s. Just for fun I played a few of them to see what kind of musicians he turned down.

As the music played, he cringed and said it was some of the worst music he had ever heard. He never signed any of the artists and said to throw the tapes in the trash. Well, I hated to admit it, but I thought some of it was pretty good. What was I missing? I mean, I know I’m not an American Idol judge and really don’t know anything about the music industry, but I am a consumer and I did used to buy music.

I started wondering, if I liked it, I wondered how many other people in the world would have liked it too. Okay, so maybe the industry never released that music and it never made it on the radio or top 10, but surely there had to be a market for it somewhere. [Read more…] about Where There’s a Seller, There’s a Buyer