Traci Walker’s VisualCV – Traci D. Walker

Traci Walker’s VisualCV – Traci D. Walker.

Promoting your business with Twitter

I recently spoke to someone who said they did not have time to use Twitter for their business.  Say that again?  Time is money, right?  In business, we need to make smart decisions about what we invest in and what tools we utilize to make our business grow.  I submit that Twitter is one of those tools like a hammer is to a nail.  Start using Twitter today.  Tomorrow is too late.  The rewards you will reap will be plenty.  Remember “Field of Dreams?”  Kevin Costner says, “If you build it, they will come.”  If you are creative and Tweet about what your business is offering and people listen to you, fans will come.  Not just any fans but “raving fans!”

Let’s discuss for a minute value before profit.  Case in point — according to the co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone, the geniuses at the Twitter helm wanted to go for “value before profit.”  Smart.  Very smart.  They have done everything the right way — in steps.  Twitter will generate a + revenue stream.  We knew the time was coming at some point and inevitable is key here.

How can you be smart about your business and let Social Media work for you?  Time is money.  Short, creative characters will keep your fans buzzing and excited about what is to come.  I recently talked to a second client who indicated they did not have time to utilize Twitter.  We talked about how powerful Twitter is and, while they acknowledged that, they did not have time to do anything in addition on the computer.  BIG mistake.

I had the privilege of meeting the one and only great Chris Brogan at a Tweetup in Atlanta so I am going to pay him kudos and borrow his “50 ideas on using Twitter for business” from his blog.

When you run your own business, you need to decide what is worth investing in.  The proper tools to do a stellar job are essential.  Making the right investment choices are also key. Look at the companies that first advertised on Twitter. The companies that really understand the power of social media and the super creative companies out there, in my humble opinion, are the first to advertise — Starbucks, Best Buy, Virgin America.  The tweets will be intertwined amongst other tweets with the word “promoted” nearby.

Show your company’s creativity by thinking outside of the box.  How do people see you?  If you tap into your creativity you will find new ways to stand out.  Starbucks is coming out with new ads to recruit online fans which I think is an ingenious way to do things: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/business/media/19starbux.html That is a company that makes a great-tasting cup of Joe, but makes a name for itself by building relationships and has a humongous following.

So Twitter will not really take a large amount of time.  Use time to your advantage.  Time is money.  Time management is always key.  Rest assured that,  if you invest in Twitter, amazing things will happen.  After all, look at how LARGE Twitter has become!!  What are you waiting for?

Growing Your Mobile User Base – From a seedling into a tree!

With technology becoming increasingly easier, more people are turning to Smartphones and the latest and greatest cutting-edge technology. What people need to realize is that it pays to invest in the tools for your business to be successful and to grow.  Keep trying to grow your mobile user base from a seedling to a tree!  The sky’s the limit!

If you can make your organization magnetic to attract “raving fans” IE: happy customers and, in turn, those customers become loyal fans, you are well on your way to building something that will keep clients coming back.  “If you build it, they will come.” An effective avenue to reach your customers is an item that is easy, quick, and saves time.  After all — time is money! This “effective avenue” is your Smartphone.

Look at your mobile user base statistics and analyze your data. Analyzing data is essential because you can set in motion a plan that shows models for technology, growth, and how the building of those key relationships is working in your favor. From that point forward, map out your progress, growth and statistics.  That data will be the key to your continued ideas, creativity, growth and, ultimately, success.  So keep growing your mobile user base and grow your business from a seedling into a tree!

Communication is a wonderful word!

I would like to “talk” about communication.  Communication is, indeed, a wonderful word and of the utmost important in business.  Let’s take a moment to look at why this is the case.  Many employees state, according to a survey, that communication or information within their company is lacking in some way.  How can we attempt to make this situation even better? We all know that if you act in a positive manner and think in a positive manner and encourage positiveness, that ++ is contagious and will rub off on others.  Start at the top and you will see a trickle-down effect! Take a moment to thank a co-worker for a job well done, congratulate another, take a moment to communicate feedback to your team.   Motivation also goes a long way.  Just as important is constructive criticism.  How can we do a better job and work together to benefit the company?  If you benefit the organization then you ultimately benefit you and this results in a win/win all the way around. 

Let’s look at how social media has helped communication.  Social media is powerful.  We all know that.  We communicate through different social media channels, most of us, on a daily basis.  However, take the case of a new business who is very active in social media and then, eventually, they do not send out updates, Tweets and their flame burns out.  What happens to their fans?  We want to create any fans, but raving fans.  We all have a choice on who will be our provider.  Keep communicating and offering exemplary customer service one customer at a time.  Communication adds value and is worth the investment.  I sent out a Tweet via Twitter that said, “Communication is key.  Find your key and unlock the door.”  When you open the communication door, you will end up going places you never thought possible.  Start investing, start communicating, and you will yield positive results.

Giving is the best gift of all!

Let’s talk about giving during this holiday season.  The best gift of all during the holidays?  Paying if forward, helping others, and volunteering.  There are so many people who are unemployed, families who cannot provide food, clothing, or any gift to their loved ones.  We always have something that we can give to another — our time and love and a SMILE!  Let’s take an opportunity to think of those less fortunate than us and give back to somebody else this Christmas.  Maybe donate to a charity, buy some food or clothing for another.  Maybe you know of someone hiring or you have time to volunteer, perhaps, as a soup kitchen?   Think about, for just a moment, that giving is way better than receiving.  You will feel merry and bright knowing that you passed along a little kindness to another and made their holiday brighter.  Now who could ask for a better holiday?  Start helping today!  Here is a quote on a study that was done recently: “Money may not buy you love but it might buy you happiness if you spend it in the right way, US researchers say. In studies they found that the old adage “it’s better to give than to receive” is correct: spending money on others or giving to charity puts a bigger smile on your face than buying things for yourself.”  I hope that each and every one of my readers experience some type of joy this holiday season.  We get so busy in our everyday lives that we can sometimes take the little things for granted.  Stop and look, stop and listen, stop and feel, feel with your hear and give with your hands, give your time.  Use time to your advantage.  Joy is around you, but you must remain open for joy to occur.  Joy is there.  You just have to let it happen. 

Paying it forward this holiday season. Give something back.

How To Manage Your Time During the Holidays

How to manage time, especially during the holidays!  Repost due to reader request.

Time management is an important topic, especially in business and during the busy holiday time.  How do we juggle work, our families, leisure, and time and still have time to catch our breath?  I like to approach this time as I do in my professional life, but strategize a little more.  I had to fine-tune my time management skill when I went back to college later in life.  When is a good time?  Is there a good time?  I am too busy with work.  The kids are too small.  The kids are too big.  How about n-o-w!  So I speak from my experience and maybe this will help others.  How will I get everything done and not feel overwhelmed?  Easy.  Don’t procrastinate and come up with a plan.  The plan, for me, stands for: “P” for plan.  Plan (and don’t procrastinate). “L” =leisure activities (take time out for yourself) and “A”=action (how your actions will affect how your act)  and “N”=now.  What can I do now to save me time later?  As in business, improper time management will result in your potential fizzling out.  Want to know where your time goes?  As in Weight Watchers, write down every thing that goes into your mouth, no matter how insignificant.  You’ll be surprised what you actually eat.  Time management is no different.  Come up with a plan. Brainstorm, strategize, and write down you spend your time.  You’ll soon realize that your time management will tick down the right path and soon you will be “tocking” away useless minutes.  Time is money.  Don’t get discouraged.  Remember, Rome was not built in a day.  As we all experience the hustle and bustle of the busy holiday season, plan ahead, plan accordingly,  and you’ll have time to relax.

In honor of Halloween — passion is not scary!

Good morning on this day before Halloween eve…I have been super busy but wanted to take an opportunity to post a few words about passion!  I submit that passion is not a scary term at all! 

When you sell you need to possess a certain passion — a passion for your customers and the employer that you work for.  One big arena is connecting people — the connections between the sales rep. and your customers, the connections when building relationships, and the connection between your customers and listening.  With social media on the forefront, how can you stay more connected and passionate about your customers?  Instead of an impersonal tweet or Facebook post, try the old-fashioned note!  People enjoy reading something, touching something and getting a hand-written note.  It has a very personal touch!  Keep that customer-centric mission at the forefront and be the best that you can be.  Try to visualize the opportunity out there, which is so vast, and you can be successful.  Remember to stay passionate as passion goes a long way and is not

Possessing passion is not scary!

The Sky’s The Limit When it Comes to Sales — what are YOU passionate about?

Hello to all my readers out there.  I hope everyone is having a terrific Saturday!

I wanted to write about something that just occurred to me; thus, another idea for a blog post!   I started a recruiting program for my past company from scratch.  The program was and still is successful.  Selling people to come work for your company, as you know if you are a recruiter, is much more challenging than selling an product.  You have to have a plan, a strategy which is sales, science and selling creatively to get the best of the best candidates to come on board with your organization.  I did that.  I was successful.   I enjoyed the challenge, the relationship building, the networking and the game of finding the ultimate talent. 

I submit that if you are passionate about a product you can sell it.  You have to convince someone to purchase your product and, more importantly, listening….aghh….yes.  Listen to your customers and *how* does the product benefit them?  Show them the ways.

Follow-up is also vitally important.  See my post on follow-up.  http://traciwalker.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/following-upresults/ We had the top realtor in the Mid-South are, Judy Mac, selling our home in the Memphis area.  You can Google her and you will see that, indeed, she is the top realtor in the area.  She is a wonderful, astute, successful realtor, I might add, as well as a terrific person!  However, let me qualify my statement by saying that she could not sell our home.  Who did?  I did.  Judy sells millions each month and this was 2006/2007 and welcome, toughest real estate market in a gazillion years, right?  Exactly.  One day in April of the previous year we put a well designed “For Sale By Owner” sign in the yard.  We wanted to return to the great City of Atlanta, which we love.  A couple knocked on the door.  We spoke and they wanted to see the home.  Sure.  Come on in.  He was a pilot for Fed-Ex and was going to be placed in Alaska or Memphis, not sure.  They were living in South Carolina at the time.  They liked the house but were just starting to look at that point.  What did I do?  I took their phone number, their e-mail address and I followed up with them every 30 days or so.  Guess what?  I sold them that house a year later.  I subsequently helped a friend with marketing for ReMax and spoke with prospects on the phone.  I also was successful in selling two homes after that by owner for family members.  What I am driving at is that, good sales folks are born.  I started selling produce by the side of the road and I made a profit.  Sales+entrepreneurial spirit is awesome! http://traciwalker.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/a-berry-interesting-topic-sales/

In closing, have a plan, strategize, believe, achieve.  The sky’s the limit when it comes to sales.  So with wind in your “sails”, go to places beyond the ocean and beyond the sky.  With a passion in your beliefs you can do anything and sell anything.  Until next time…

Following up=results

How many of you keep your promise of following up?  My pet peeve is people who do not follow-up.  I think it shows poor time management skills.  You can always find time in your day to follow up and follow through on your commitments.  If you are unable to keep your professional commitments then you need to utilize better time management skills.  Come up with a more efficient scheduling system.  I recently had someone who had me their Outlook calendar for another day.  We are all human and mistakes happen.  I have two calendars that I utilize along with a color-coded filing system.  It works great!  Also returning to school, working, and taking care of my family made me a better manager of time.  Time is $!  I know a few business professionals who often say, “I will do such at X time” and they subsequently renege  on their promise.  How successful are they in their professional and personal lives?  Probably not very.

I recently had a client who was testing new software.  They called me at least 10 times in one day to keep testing and making sure the product was 100% ready to fly.  They wanted to be prepared and wanted to make sure the product was trouble-free.  I did not blame them.  I spoke to them each time and provided them with the customer service and followup they required until we worked out the kinds, tweaked and had the results-> success!! 

In order to stand apart from your competition you need to provide extraordinary followup skills and exemplary customer service.  Don’t leave your customers hanging.   Make every experience extraordinary each customer at a time!  In this economy product and price is not enough.  You have to create a WOW experience each and every day with each and every client!  Followup=results=great exerience!

Don’t forget your vision

What is your vision?

 

I received a LinkedIn invitation recently from an old co-worker and member of my past team.  Even though, for some of us, names seem hard to recall, I never forget the name of a teammate.  Why?  Together everyone achieves more.  That is so very true!  The synergistic nature created amongst the teams I have had the privilege to be a part of and the creativity and ideas that were generated, can never be forgotten.  We spent so much time together that I would not forget them, any of them.  

So that reflection spurred my mind for a blog idea –  vision.  Don’t forget your vision and who you are actually trying to help and what you are trying to achieve — achieve for your organization, customers and your goals.  What do you want your organization’s future to entail?  What do you want your future to entail?  How are you going to get from point A to B?  Without a plan you could be continually spinning your wheels wasting valuable, precious time.  

This particular team member reminded me of the time we were both starting out and we learned as we went along, gaining that valuable experience.  We were allowed to shadow employees of the organization, learn, absorb like sponges, and continue to ask questions and continue to learn.  

So what does that have to do with vision, you ask?  Don’t ever forget where you came from.  I come from a family of teachers so teaching, assisting, helping is something that is a part of me.  Do you know how rewarding it is to help someone, to be a mentor and to watch them develop from a rough stone to a polished gem?  At this time I would like to submit the following fitting quote: “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”   John Bunyon  

Look at Chris Gardner from “The Pursuit of Happyness.”  He said the following: “I went to some very successful business people when I was trying to open the doors of my company, and none of them would give me the time of day,” he recalls. “I made a promise to myself and to God. I said, ‘God, if you ever let me get to a certain level, I am not going to be like that.”   

“Be like that.”  How many people reading this have tried to obtain informational meetings, made phone calls, extended your hand to everyone you know, used your elevator pitch, your enthusiasm and your vision for your future maybe to be told that someone was too busy or you simply never heard back?  Think back to where you started and how you wanted a chance to make your vision seen, but not only heard.  We are all super busy, but we can continually organize our time better to fit something else in.  So reach out to someone and pay it forward.   

Take the founder of Spanx as another example of someone with a vision, Sara Blakely.  I heard a radio interview and she went from manufacturer to manufacturer to produce her product, only to repeatedly get the door closed on her.  When one door closes, another one opens so, therefore, she continued on.  Look at her now.  Over five million pairs of Spanx have been sold since 2000 and the company continues to be creative, coming up with new products pretty often.  Why?  She had a clear vision.  She knew what she wanted.  She had her vision set on the future and was guided by the principles she set for herself.   

Vision, to me, goes hand in hand with paying it forward, as referred to above.  I have paid it forward and will continue to do so, as do my children.  Hard work, honesty, volunteering and paying it forward.  Great lessons to anybody.  My oldest worked at the Atlanta Soup Kitchen this summer and I am going with her next time.  What a truly rewarding feeling to help others who are less fortunate than you.  So why don’t you take a moment to look at JobAngels for example on Twitter (@JobAngels) or LinkedIn and help another in need.   

My vision?  To find an exciting, challenging position soon.  I also would be happy to intern gratis or volunteer and am available in the afternoons after my ”day” job.  I am continuing my job seeking (not search) because I am keeping it fun.  A search sounds like a lot more work and time than it already is.  So feel free to visit my website to see how I can add value to your organization.  

Remember, may you have the clear vision to continue to define organizational success, but also help others in need and pay it forward.   

Until next time…