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Home » Business And Finance Articles » Using Technology To Get And Keep Your Foot In The Door

Using Technology to Get and Keep Your Foot in the Door

In years past it was easier to get your foot in the door of a prospective client than it is today. Competition has increased, your prospect has more demands on their time and a simple visit to the Internet can offer many prospects the same choice you are offering for less money.

So what can you do? Not only do you have to do front-end marketing and promotions to gain new customers, you absolutely must have a good system in place to follow-up with your current customers and keep your name fresh in their mind.

With the advent of the Internet and specific types of technology, we now have tools to accomplish this with ease. The fear some people have is that use of the Internet and technology will take away the human aspect of doing business. Although this may be true in some cases, proper use of technology can allow you to have more time to spend with your customers. Using technology in any business situation should only be done when it will better serve you and your customers.

Although you might not be ready to embrace all that technology can do for you, your customers probably are. The Computer Industry Almanac projects that we will have 1.35 billion Internet users by 2007.

Every day more people are utilizing the power of the Internet to research companies, determine level of credibility of a company based on their web presence and making purchases via the Net. If you do not have a good system in place to take advantage of this, you will soon be left behind.

There are several reasons to become a real player in the world of the Internet. Most importantly, in order to be considered a credible business you have to have a presence on the Internet.

Other reasons include:

• To increase your reach and visibility
• Lower the costs of traditional marketing
• Increase Return on Investment for every marketing dollar
• Develop and maintain credibility
• Attract visitors to your site and/or physical business location
• Increase profit margins
• Increase speed of response time

Patricia Twitchell, owner of Just Bears and Stuff, a specialty gift shop in the quaint town of Myrtle Creek, Oregon (population 3,000) relies heavily on the power of the Internet for her business success. With the implementation of one simple strategy, Patricia, known to many as The Teddy Bear Lady of Myrtle Creek, increased her Ezine signups by 600% of what they usually were in one week.

She simply implemented the use of an autoresponder and a hover menu. Not only have her signups increased, so have revenues.

The Ezine contains articles of interest to teddy bear enthusiasts as well as any specials of the month she is offering that readers have first opportunity to learn about. To see how The Teddy Bear Lady uses technology to streamline her operations and provide better service to her customers visit www.justbearsandstuff.com.

Imagine how much untold revenue is lost by not fully utilizing the power of technology and the Internet. To not only survive but thrive, you must have a proper foundation and effective systems in place for attracting visitors, providing information, selling products and services and following up.

Many people are under the mistaken notion that if they sell only in their local market they don't need a strong Internet presence. It is this type of thinking that leaves many businesses in the dust.

Additionally, without a strong Internet presence you can waste countless marketing dollars that could be saved through the use of technology.

If you want to continually be in the game of "getting your foot in the door" you must develop and utilize a system that makes doing business with you simple.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

How to Find Value in No Load Mutual Fund Investing

What are you thinking when it comes to your no load mutual fund selections? Are you saving pennies and sacrificing dollars?

Are you spending your time looking at expense ratios, analyzing Morningstar ratings and searching for funds with low fees and no 12b1 charges?

If you are like most people, you know these things in and out. You've spent hours evaluating them, and your chosen mutual funds cost little to purchase and maintain. But they still don't perform to your hopes and expectations.

So, why is this happening? Because this kind of investing focuses on cost as opposed to value.

Investors with this philosophy have usually interviewed numerous advisors. But instead of trying to find someone suitable with a sensible approach, they only want to know who has the lowest fees. That's like going to the cheapest auto repair shop and getting the best price, but your car still doesn't run well.

Then there are the investors who call or email me wanting a recommendation on a no load mutual fund. They want one with no 12b1 charge, but they completely ignore the issue of how the fund might perform.

Both these kinds of investors spend their time trying to save pennies and in the process they are losing dollars. Instead of falling into the penny wise, dollar foolish trap, here are some ideas that will assist you in evaluating the end profit rather than just the short term saving.

1. Shift your focus from penny pinching to looking at the big picture: What can a mutual fund or an advisor do for you, not how much does it cost? Why? If you buy a given no load mutual fund at the right time and it gains a tidy 15% for you over a 6 week period, would you really care about the costs? If a mutual fund-or an advisor for that matter-can give you superior performance and an increase of several percentage points over your bargain price pick wouldn't you pay an extra 0.25%?

2. Consider finding a fee-based investment advisor who uses a facts-based methodology and has a track record indicating those kinds of returns. For example, in my own practice I used a trend tracking approach to get my clients into the market on April 29, 2003. Plus, our research and homework led us to recommending funds that gained anywhere from 11.50% to 22.00% over the following 6 week period. How did you do during that time? Do you think any of my clients care whether one of these funds has a small 12b 1 charge? Or whether they have the lowest expense ratios in the industry? I know they don't. (If you are looking for an advisor, please see my article "How to find an Investment Advisor" at http://www.successful-investment.com/articles18.htm)

The bottom line is to look at costs as balanced by performance and that's where you find value. Then seek true value not simple savings, enjoy healthy dollar-level returns and don't sweat the pennies.