05.12.08
Posted in Business Profiles, Coaching and Consulting, Communication, Entrepreneurship, Personal Profiles, Professional Profiles, Profile Writing, Using your professional profile
at 11:32 am
by Anita Bruton
Your professional and business profile needs to reveal your uniqueness. Your uniqueness is part of you and plays a huge part in your success. Your potential clients need to know what is special about you. They need to know why they should come to you for services.
How do you accomplish this?
One way is to tell your readers what makes you unique. What is it about you that makes you stand out?
Is it how you perform your service? Is it that one extra benefit you offer your clients that others don’t?
Take a minute right now to think about this. What do you do that others in your industry don’t? Write it down.
Now describe what your uniqueness is. Write out the details. Write out exactly what you offer, how you offer it and what benefit your extra service offers to your clients. What do they get out of it? What’s in it for them? This is part of your USP (unique selling position). This is what makes you special. You want to and need to include this in your business or professional profile. This is what is going to make you stand out and attract your new clients to you. This is what is going to make those clients want to come to you to satisfy their needs.
If you are saying to yourself you don’t know what makes you stand out, what makes you unique, then it’s time to take a step back, sit down in a quiet place and reflect on what you are doing. Think about your services and what one thing could you add to your services to give you that competitive edge.
There are hundreds of service providers who offer the same services you are. What can you do that the others aren’t?
Find that one thing and you will be on the road to success.
Now you need to write about it and add your unique offering to your professional and business profiles.
How do you effectively communicate to your reader what your USP is?
Start by summarizing everything you wrote when you were describing it in the steps above. Use nouns and adjectives to describe the benefits. Explain how they will benefit. Keep in mind, you want to sell benefits, not features.
Write like you are talking to your potential client one to one. In fact, talk it out. Say it out loud. Say it as write it. That’s the best way I have found to e
You need to show your potential clients why they need your services over the competition by adding your unique selling position to your professional and business profile.
You are invited to learn more about writing your company profile at my website: http://anitaspen.com Download your complimentary copy of my latest report: “Top Tips to Writing Company and Personal Profiles: 20 Do’s and don’ts to Creating a Powerful and Influential Marketing Tool”. This report is sure to help you as you write your profile, whether it be personal or for your company.
Anita Bruton is a professional freelance writer and entrepreneur specializing in assisting entrepreneurs and executives, locally based service providers and established small to midsize businesses to compile their personal and company profiles, creating a highly influential marketing tool. Having been a freelanced home based entrepreneur since 2003, Anita knows what is involved in starting and developing a business.
Anita is passionate about helping women become successful entrepreneurs and is an active member and volunteer with WBO, Women Business Owners (http://www.womenbizowners.org)
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05.05.08
Posted in Articles, Communication, Entrepreneurship, Public Speaking
at 9:37 am
by Anita Bruton
Guest Author Felicia Slattery talks to us today about Communication
By Felicia Slattery
Communication and customer service go hand-in-hand when you’re in any business– but particularly if you are an entrepreneur running a small home-based business. However, I’ve witnessed and heard of some not-so-professional customer service behaviors from solo-professionals recently. If you have a small or home-based business, these types of behaviors — otherwise known as “flaking out” — could be the kiss of death for your business.
Here are a few examples of what to never do:
1. Take the money and hide.
If you agree to a job and payment is made to you, you are obligated to do that job in a timely manner while also communicating to your client about the progress of that job. As a solo professional, are you busy wearing a dozen different hats? Sure? Does life happen? Yes. But it is your responsibility to communicate with your paying clients about what’s happening with you and most importantly what’s happening with their projects.
2. Start gung ho and never finish.
You get a new client and do some great work on their project. Then boom. Something happens. If you can’t personally finish a job for a particular reason, then it is your responsibility to make sure it gets done. Hire a freelancer yourself to finish the work — with full knowledge of the customer– or refer your customer to someone else. Never leave anyone hanging.
3. Barter and leave out your end of the bargain.
Maybe you offered a service in exchange for another equivalent-priced service. You got what you wanted and conveniently “forgot,” “got busy” or had some other, let’s face it, lame excuse as to why you didn’t do what you promised. Holding up your end of the bargain speaks volumes to your lack of credibility as a business owner. If you don’t live up to your promises, then why would that person later want to pay for your services or refer anyone else to you? They won’t. And image what they’re telling others about you. Pretty soon your reputation will be down the tubes.
Most small and home-based business owners started their businesses for the extra cash and flexibility working from home can provide. Of course things come up with the kids, family members, or other “life issues” in general. A simple note stating what has happened, how it affects your clients, and an honest “where do we go from here” would work wonders for your customer service. If you can’t be on top of communicating with your clients right away, designate someone who can in your place. Make sure your clients and customers feel like they’re in the loop and you’ll be on your way to boosting your credibility and getting many more referrals from your existing happy clients and customers with your service and communication.
Effective communication with your clients and prospects is the key to making your business successful. The first thing you need to communicate– and continue to communicate — is your credibility. Without credibility, your business will go nowhere. With it, you’ll automatically attract new clients and see positive cash flow.
I invite you to discover how to Increase Business by Communicating Your Credibility now. Visit http://www.communicationtransformation.com/creating-credibility-ecourse.html to get your free e-course that will help you customize a credibility plan for your business and get you more of what you want.
Felicia J. Slattery, M.A., M.Ad.Ed. is a communication consultant, speaker & coach specializing in training small and home-based business owners effective communication skills so they can see more cash flow now.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Felicia_Slattery
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