In addition to this information, on your company page (Page) there are several other things that need to be filled out. Under basic information put in the year your company was founded.  For the detailed information, fill out the websites that you own, a company overview with some detail about your company and the services that you offer. There is also space to put in your mission statement and any products that you sell. There are many applications that you can add as well such as a discussion board, events that you are having, links to important information that you can share with your target market.  There is also a spot where notes and photos can be posted. You also want to post any videos that you have or want to refer people to.

There are many ways to participate on Facebook.  First you want to look at your connections in the news feeds.  Next you want to update your status frequently.  Try to keep track of your connections birthdays so that you can send birthday wishes.  Also, make sure anytime you have an event going on, are attending an event or want to let your network know of an event you post it on your profile. It is important to look for groups to join within your industry and target market, as well as any interests that you have. Also, make sure to have a subscriber sign up box on your page so that people can sign up for your e-zine, assuming you have one. Also, suggest to your network that they become a fan of your page.  Include a link to this in your e-zine to increase your fans. It is important to have a link to your profile in your auto signature to increase your online exposure.  I cannot emphasize enough that with participation, frequency is key.  You should be participating on a daily basis to maximize the effectiveness of your online networking.

Become a fan of my page at: http://www.facebook.com/kgrassbusinessconsulting

To continue our discussion about LinkedIn, this week I will show you how to participate.

There are several ways and they should all be utilized:

• Questions/Answers: This is simply a place where you can post questions and answer other people’s questions.  You can be seen as a wealth of knowledge from your network and be labeled as an expert.
• Join Groups: Find groups to join, based on your target market, alumni, and interests. Participate in discussions within these groups.
• Network Updates: Participate on this daily so that you are visible to your network
• Link to profile in auto signature: This encourages people to link up with you and see your profile.
• Digest e-mails: I encourage you to sign up for the daily or weekly digest e-mails that tell you all the updates for your network, including groups that you belong to.  It is a great way to hear about resources, the latest news and keep in contact with your network.
• Frequency: This is something I cannot emphasize enough. Belonging to social networks is not enough.  You have to participate and it has to be on a regular basis.  Ideally you should be making this a daily task.  The rewards of this dedication will be invaluable to your business.

Some of the benefits of LinkedIn are:

• A professional platform for networking with so many options for building an online presence and interacting with professionals.
• Plenty of opportunity for establishing yourself as an expert in your field.
• Great SEO (search engine optimization).

Network with me at www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlygrass

• Add a photo so that people can meet you virtually and put a face with a name
• Have a descriptive title that thoroughly explains what you are an expert in
• Give as much detail as you can for the section titled education and experience, to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise
• Recommendations: this is a two way street- ask clients who are happy with your work and also provide recommendations to others
• Connections: connect with people in your network and keep connecting as you add to your network. Also connect with your target market.
• Websites: Add links to your website, blog and other websites that you have to promote yourself.  Rename them so that they don’t say My Website (for example: KGBUSCO Website)
• Public Profile Address- Change this so that instead of it having a bunch of numbers in the web address, it states your name (for example: www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlygrass)
• Summary- provide as much detail as you can here, about your experience, background and company information
• Additional Sections- Add certifications you have, languages you know, patents and publications that you have and additional skills that you have.
• Specialties- What do you specialize in? Who is your target market? What products/services do you concentrate on in your business?
• Applications: Add some applications to your profile.  Add an RSS feed from your blog so that people can see your new posts as they are added. Also, you can add what you are currently reading through on the “Reading List by Amazon”.  Another great application is posting a PowerPoint on your profile. This application is called Google Presentation.
• If your company is not listed on LinkedIn, then add it so that it will be listed on their database. Here is a screenshot of how to do this.
• Track stats: Look at the box on the right hand side titled “Who’s Viewing My Profile”.  This will tell you who is viewing your profile and how many times you have appeared on the search engines.  There are also additional benefits if you have an upgraded membership. Here is a cross comparison of the different levels of membership with some of the benefits they offer.

Now that you have your profile completed, you are probably asking how do I participate. Stay tuned. Our next post will delve into this.

• Customize Background: You can use several different programs for free or you can have one designed specifically for you for a fairly low price. This sets you apart from the competition and stands out to your target market. Some suggested sites that you can use for free Twitter backgrounds are: www.twitterbackgrounds.com, www.mytweetspace.com/, http://twitterbacks.com/, and http://www.twitbacks.com/
• Bio Box: Include your professional photo, name, where you are located (other than Earth), link to your website and a one line bio of yourself.  A mistake that many make is to not have an actual photo of them or they put an obscure location.  This comes across as suspicious and does not personalize the profile.  Remember that the key to these social networking profiles is for people to be able to relate to you as a person and business owner.  It is all about building relationships and how can someone do that if your picture is an icon or you are listed as location Planet Earth?
• Plugins: There are several applications that can be used with Twitter, such as twhirl (www.twhirl.org/ ), twitterific (http://twitterrific.com/ ), and         TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com/ ), just to name a few.  There are tons of these out there. These applications help users to manage their profile from their desktop. There are also applications to help with filtering followers, rating users, stream your blog into your profile and so much more.

Now that your profile is setup I am going to tell you how to participate.  First you should ask questions not for the sake of asking them but to illicit discussion and out of true curiosity.  It is important to remember that your posts should add value to the discussion and the online environment.  You also want to track stats on your profile.  You can do this by starting a free account with Twitter Counter. This is important because you want to find people that you can follow that are in your target market and also to know who is currently following you.  This information is invaluable in a social media marketing campaign.  Another way to participate and this is the most obvious is reply and DM.  Reply to people’s posts and DM.  DM is direct message.  This is when a user directly messages another user.  Just as you would not ignore a phone call or e-mail, you should not ignore a DM or an opportunity to communicate with people in your network.  Once again daily participation is critical to the success of this. Whenever posting a link make sure to shorten the URL by using an application such as bit.ly ( http://bit.ly/).

Network with me at: www.twitter.com/kgbusco

A great bio should do several things. It should inform the viewer about relevant information you want them to know, it should highlight your strengths much in the same way that a resume does and it should give the viewer a sense of your professionalism. It should also provide some sense of your personality so that your target market can relate to you on a personal level as well. The last and most important thing that a bio should do is emphasis the skills that you possess that will demonstrate that you are the person that will suit their business needs.

You should also highlight your strengths and downplay your weaknesses. Just like you would do in a resume, where you try to portray yourself in the best light possible, do the same in a bio. If your big strength is multitasking, than you should absolutely mention it in the bio you write. Think of some great things about yourself that you would include in a resume, these are pure gold for a bio. If you’re having trouble thinking of things to include ask a friend to list your strengths for you. You’ll be surprised what they might say. Sometimes it’s hard to think of our own virtues but it’s easy for others to see them.  One thing that many cannot agree on is whether to include some personal interests or hobbies in your bio. I think that is something that should be included but not be a major part. For example, I would say that I am married with a son. I would also include a few of my hobbies. Then I would leave it at that. This provides my potential clients with a sense that I am a person and possibly someone that shares a common interest.

The last and most important aspect of a good bio is professionalism. Unless your bio is just for fun and is in no way tied to your occupation, you must strive to be as professional as possible. Remember to think of your bio as sort of an extended business card, or as a resume; its job is very similar. When using a bio in a business sense, its main job is to tell the world how great you are and, more to the point, how professional you are. This means having well written, complete sentences. It means having no spelling errors whatsoever. Have someone proofread your bio before posting on your website. Often having an extra set of eyes can make the difference when writing a great bio. The last part of a professional bio simply comes down to pure quality. If you aren’t a strong writer then perhaps you should have someone else write it for you. Tell them the overall message you want to give and sit with them as they write it, giving them some guidance. It may seem drastic to have someone else write it for you, but if writing is not your strength you may end up showing yourself in a less than favorable light, which defeats the purpose of a bio in the first place. Two other important points that I must mention are: write your bio in the third person (this sounds more professional) and update your bio on a regular basis. You want your bio to shine you in the best light possible and provide an accurate portrayal of your skills and experience.

Business cards and websites are tools. They aren’t magic wands. They are very useful when properly used and should be part of every business, but remember that they are still just tools. They are not a substitute for charm, personality and communication. Could a construction worker construct a building by randomly hitting things with his hammer? Of course not! It takes planning, organization and hard work to do that. Don’t use a business card or a website as a crutch. You still need to use your social skills to build up relationships.

To help your business card do its job, make sure you smile and talk to the person about yourself and what you do. Don’t ever expect to immediately get hired by the people you give cards to. A business card is just the first step in the relationship you need to form. Business is really all about relationships. People will hire you when they know, like and trust you. Think of it this way. They won’t hire you unless they trust you. They won’t trust you unless they like you. They will never like you if they don’t know you. A good business relationship is a lot like a good marriage. You probably wouldn’t marry someone after a first date would you? After you get to know the person, you will know much more about them and you will be able to decide if you want to be with them for a lifetime. Think of a business relationship like a mini marriage. They won’t marry you until they know, like and trust you. Once married, both sides are expected to live up to specific expectations.

In order to build that repertoire and credibility, you must demonstrate your knowledge base. You must show someone that you know how to do something, not just tell them that you do.  This can be demonstrated through social media marketing. Put out articles, e-zines, and social networks. Once you build these relationships interact with your contacts on a frequent basis. This will establish the like factor and build that trust that is so important to business owners.

Make a list of all of the qualities that you would like to see in a client. These qualities should be realistic. Obviously every client you take on can’t be a complete joy to work with who is witty and makes you laugh. What I mean by characteristics are values and personality traits that match with your own. A good way to do this is to make a list of good past clients and write down what you liked about each of them. A good example of this is communication. If you run a business that requires solid communication between you and your client in order to function, good communication skills might be an important quality for your list. The next step is to get rid of all the clients who don’t share at least a few of your qualities. Again, I know that this is a big and scary step for most of you, but it needs to be done to make room for better clients. The bad ones are just draining you and your business. Keep the ones that you share a few qualities with; after all, your clients aren’t perfect and neither are you. At least if you have a few things in common, it will make working with them a whole lot easier. This step is not fun, but it’s needed.

You should never try to market to the whole world. The internet allows us to reach anyone and everyone on the planet with access to a computer. Just because we can do this doesn’t mean we should. To put it short, it’s a complete waste of time to try to reach everyone with your business. Not everyone will be a good fit for your business, and trying to market to everyone is an almost impossible task. Instead, try to pick specific, and more focused avenues to apply your marketing. The first step in this is to establish a niche. This means a specialization that sets you apart from others in your industry. If you specialize in real estate support for example, post some articles on a real estate networking site. Also, try to establish yourself as an expert. Do things to let your potential clients know that you are at the top of your industry. Again, if your niche is real estate support, write some articles that demonstrate your knowledge of that industry. No one wants to hire someone that has an average knowledge or ability in a particular field; they want an expert.

Like minded people typically associate with each other. What this means is that people often form relationships with other people who are at least a little like themselves. So why not try to find the people your clients are associated with and see if they may need your services? This is a great way to increase your business and has a fairly high likelihood of finding clients who match your ICP. There is no harm in asking your clients if any of their associates may need your help. You should do this once you have developed a good relationship with them of course. If you have made them happy with excellent service, they probably will have no problem giving out a few of your business cards to people they know.

The first thing to remember is to make them put everything in writing. The worst thing that any client can do to you is say that you didn’t follow instructions. Many times this will be a case of their ego getting in the way of being honest. It will typically happen like this. The client tells you that they want you to complete task A, B and C by next Monday. You begin working diligently on the project to meet the deadline. The next day they think to themselves that they also want you to do task D as well, and they want it done by Sunday morning instead of Monday. Well, the client is a busy person and they forget to notify you of this change in the deadline. Sunday comes around and the project is not complete yet, and task D has not even been touched. The client is furious, but rather than admitting that they forgot to tell you of the change in plans, they say that you just didn’t follow their instructions. This is a scenario that I have heard of many times before. Now, not only do you have an irate client, but they will likely tell other people that you can’t even follow basic instructions. This is very bad; you never want people saying negative things about you or your company. Negative rumors spread like wildfire and can deeply hurt your reputation. So how can you avoid this nightmare in the first place? There is a simple solution that is 100% guaranteed to protect you from this problem. There are four words to remember, put it in writing! Before you start a project with any client, make a detailed checklist of the tasks you are going to complete for them. Have it be as complete as possible with a deadline included. Have your client sign this checklist before you begin. As long as you do this, you will be safe. If they complain at all about what you did or didn’t do, you can just show them the checklist with their signature. They may still be mad, but at least your reputation will be safe.

The next thing to remember is that it’s only business. What this means is that you really shouldn’t take it personally if your client is treating you this way. They may have an attitude; they may be disrespectful and just flat out rude. You need to remember that you are working with this client for one reason and one reason alone, getting paid. You don’t have to love them or be best friends to work with them. Just do the job as the instructions were given. It’s up to you to decide if the money is worth the effort of dealing with the client. It may or may not be worth it. If it is though, you must put aside all of the things that you don’t like about them and just do the job. Even with enjoyable clients, you are never working with them to be friends. Having a good relationship with your client helps, but you should never expect it.

The last tip that should always be remembered is to drop a client as soon as you realize that it isn’t going to work out. Think about it; if you realize that your boyfriend/girlfriend is a psychopath after a week of dating, you don’t continue to date them for a year. If things are really bad after working with a client for just a few weeks, think about how bad it will get after a month or after a year? There are some warning signs to look for that you should be cautious of. It’s up to you of course to decide if these problems are deal breakers and good reasons to end the working relationship. These problems are major ones though and should never be ignored. Not returning e-mails or phone calls. This one is bad. If you don’t have good communication with your client, working with them will be tough; after all, you can’t read their mind. Being verbally abusive is a major deal breaker for me. If a client can’t even give you basic courtesy and speak to you respectfully, then you should drop them. No amount of money is worth being treated disrespectfully. An unnecessary lack of trust is a bad sign. If you feel that your client needlessly distrusts you, you may want to consider dropping them. This is a problem that will not go away any time soon, so get used to being distrusted if you decide to stay with a client like this.

We hope this has shed some light on high maintenance clients. Everyone has them from time to time; just remember that it’s nothing personal and that there are always ways to deal with them. Always remember to drop them early if it’s more than you can take!

Stay tuned for our next post about how to build your ideal client profile. This will help you to decide who you want to work with and possibly how to avoid these high maintenance clients. Have you had any experiences with a high maintenance client?

Jason Grass, MBA

K Grass Business Consulting

Newmarket, NH 03857

Phone: (603)292-5716

Website: www.kgbusco.com

There are several components to a good business plan. They include:

Executive Summary: This should include your mission statement as well as information about your company. This means when the company was formed, number of employees, who the owners/founders are and locations. Of course you want to expand on as much company information as possible.

Market Analysis: This is where you describe your industry and the economic outlook on it. The target market that you are focused in should be detailed as well. Your competitors should be analyzed here and any laws/regulations should be outlined.

Company Description: This is a general overview of your company. Describe who you are providing your products and services to, what you are providing them and how you are going to serve them. This helps to better define the purpose of your company as well as what your unique selling proposition is. That is, why should your target market choose you over your competitor.

Management: This section should include a more detailed description of the managers and owners of the company. Look at this as a organizational chart of the company with expanded information on the key people.

Marketing: Here is where you want to outline your strategies for marketing and sales. Define more clearly how you are going to market your products and services.

Services or Products Offered: This should be the area where you discuss the products and services you are offering. It can include patents, research and development and any other planning mechanisms for your products and services. Also, you should include what need you are filling for your target market by offering these specific things.

Sources of Funding: This is the nitty gritty of where you are going to acquire funding in order to make your business successful. This should be very specific and organized.

Financials: Use this section to show your financial projections. Include your projected sales revenue as well as any costs associated with producing your products and running your business.

Last but not least attach any pertinent appendices that will assist in making the above components complete.

There are some great resources when writing your business plan such as:

http://www.sba.gov

http://www.score.org

Kimberly Grass, MBA

K Grass Business Consulting

Newmarket, NH 03857

Phone: (603)292-5716

E-mail: kgrass@kgbusco.com

Website: www.kgbusco.com

We started to write blog posts, like this one, that had links to our website. We started to use social networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. After trying this for several weeks, we noticed that we had much more traffic on our website. We were getting e-mails requesting our services and even getting phone calls. This really inspired us to try even harder. Then we started to go to in-person social networking events. Our local chamber of commerce meetings seemed like a good place for us to start. There we met other business owners and even picked up a couple of clients. The point to this post is that we were considering giving up at one time when we really didn’t need to. It sounds overly simplistic, but the fact was we just weren’t trying hard enough. I hope anyone who is experiencing troubles in their business life in these tough economic times can take this bit of advice from us. Often it’s tough to admit that you haven’t been trying hard enough, I know it was hard for me. I had to put my pride aside and admit that I was responsible for the lack of success. This is not to say that that’s the only reason that you’re business may be doing poorly. After all, we are in a very weak market right now. Before you throw in the towel, ask yourself if you are really doing all you can do to make your business great.

Kimberly Grass, MBA

K Grass Business Consulting

Newmarket, NH 03857

Phone: (603)292-5716

E-mail:kgrass@kgbusco.com

Website: www.kgbusco.com