VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business

FREE & Low Cost Tools We Found (And Use) To Help Your Business

I'm taking a break from writing about email marketing to tell you about some very cool online tools you might try to put to work for your business. We know that you like online tools that are easy to use and affordable, so we took that into account when we made these fantastic recommendations, plus we use a lot of these tools for our business.

Vontoo Express - Outbound Voice Messaging

You may have received a short voicemail from VerticalResponse when you signed up to use our service. We welcome you, we tell you how to get started and ask if you'd like to talk to someone immediately. That's what we use Vontoo for. 

How does it work? You basically upload the phone numbers of your customers that told you it was ok to call them, just like you upload your email addresses into VerticalResponse. You record your voicemail message and launch your campaign.

Vontoo express will give you stats back as to how many people picked up, how many transferred and how many messages were left. They also provide an "unsubscribe" feature for those who don't want to hear from you in this manner anymore.

Why do you think you'd need this for your business?

• Get people into your store or restaurant with a coupon code
• Give a discount on your services (limo service, rug cleaning, teeth whitening)
• Community sports teams and clubs
• Small to mid-size churches
• Event or webinar reminders the day before
• Appointment reminders

COST: $15 for 100 minutes...yep pay as you go! First 25 calls are FREE.

Email Center Pro - Get Control of Your Customer Service Emails

This service is a must-have for any small business communicating with their customers through email, and that's pretty much all of them.

Here is a simple example of why it's great.

Let's say you send out an email marketing campaign and you input the email address where people will reply to you as info@yourcompany.com. Then you get a flurry of customers responding asking questions or making comments. Do you forward that email to the people in your business responsible for answering it? Then what happened? You have no idea who answered these replies or more importantly "if" they were even answered. The folks at Palo Alto Software had the same problem so they developed Email Center Pro. This service rocks.

You log in to one simple-to-learn interface and you can access all of your company's mailboxes. You can assign emails to people and track if they're being answered and how effectively.  Email Center Pro helps you provide consistent and timely responses to customer emails. Check out the video.

COST: FREE for 2 users, $19/month for 5 users (VerticalResponse customers get an additional 10% discount!)

Shorten Your Long URLs with Tr.im, Bit.ly and TinyURL

Try out these free web services that provide short aliases for redirection of super long URLs. 

Why would you need this tool?

• If you are using a text-only email that has a very long URL, you'll want to avoid your link breaking when you have line breaks. You want your link to work!
• Twitter only allows for 140 character tweets, so you'd want to redirect a URL that pushes your tweet over the limit.

TinyURL doesn't provide tracking however Tr.im and Bit.ly provide tracking on number of times your link was clicked and offers a few other very cool reporting features.

COST: FREE

Pando - Transfer HUGE Files for Free

I had to send a large logo file to a friend of mine at Selling Power magazine and I had to do it fast. I was having lots of trouble because the file was so big he couldn't receive it. I think his email limit may have been set too low for this file. I needed to make a deadline that day so putting it on a DVD wasn't an option. So my friend Gerhardt told me about Pando, a free P2P software that makes downloading, streaming and sharing large media files fast & easy.

It worked and I'm hooked.

Cost: FREE for 1GB files or $24.95/year for 3GB files

There you have it. Our round up of services we use to make our lives easier here at VerticalResponse. Hope they make your life easier too.

A few months ago VerticalResponse partnered with Duct Tape Marketing to provide comprehensive marketing resources for small businesses. Now we're behind another great resource from our friends over at Duct Tape, their own stimulus package for small businesses.

Make a Referral Week, March 9-13 2009, is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business. Small business is the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy and merits the positive attention so often saved for corporate bailout stories.

VerticalResponse is pledging to make a referral to a business we want to help! What a great way to grow your list and grow your business. Join us by making your pledge here.

We've partnered with a great company, StartupNation to launch the first annual "Leading Moms in Business" ranking, which highlights one of the fastest growing segments of entrepreneurship, Moms! 

According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, there are 10.6 million women-owned businesses in the United States generating $2.5 trillion in annual revenue. With women starting businesses at nearly twice the rate of men, many of these businesses are run by mothers.

Nominate Yourself, Tell a Mom to Nominate Herself

Contestants interested in making the list can submit their profile. The top 200 winners will be selected by popular vote, with results announced in advance of Mother’s Day. If you know a Mom who would be great for this, forward her the info!

Send an Email to Get Votes for Your Nomination

Use email marketing and send an email to your recipients with an exciting announcement that you’re a contestant. By encouraging them to vote for you and support your quest to be a winner, you provide them with an engaging and fun way to participate in your success. This can help you create deeper loyalty and affinity, which ultimately can lead to business opportunities and increased revenue.

Mom-run businesses are at the forefront of what’s happening more broadly in the business world, including trends like telecommuting, flexible work schedules and green workplaces. The Leading Moms in Business ranking will shine a spotlight on these exceptional businesses and the dynamic women behind them. Among other things, the ranking will focus on recession busting businesses, highlighting entrepreneurial moms that have implemented strategies to make their businesses thrive in spite of the economic downturn.

To enter, contestants must be a mother and a majority owner of a business. Contestants must also have a website for their business and be based in the U.S.

Occasionally I like to write about things other than email marketing ... shocker! This time I thought it would be great to talk about LinkedIn, and how small businesses can harness the power of this valuable business networking tool.

A lot of small business owners ask the same question: What is LinkedIn and how can I use it to help my business grow? Well, since LinkedIn's inception in 2003 there are over 80 million people using this business social networking site that allows for super easy business networking. That's a lot of people to get access to. So here are just a few ways you can utilize this great solution.

How Do You Start?

Create Your Profile - What’s important for using LinkedIn successfully depends on the amount of information you contribute to your profile. You’ll surely want to display where you work now and your past work experiences, as well as your interests and company website.  But after that it’s up to your comfort level for the type of information you want to include.

Make sure you define what you want to get out of LinkedIn. Most people use it as a business tool. If that’s how you want to use it then that’s what you should be thinking about when you accept “Invitations to Connect” from people that may or may not know you. Now that you've created your free account, the real stuff happens.

Personal Accounts are free with limitations, but you can upgrade to a Business Account for more functionality. Check out pricing and functionality here.

Human Resources

Reference Searches - If you want to get a snapshot of what a new prospective employee is like, check out their LinkedIn profile. See if what they have on their profile matches their resume. To take it one step further, if you upgrade to a Business Account, you can do a Reference Search to find out who they've worked with in the past. Then you might even see that you're connected with someone they know and you can then send that contact an "Inmail", an email that is generated through the LinkedIn network, with some questions you might have about your candidate.

Find New Employees – You can post a job description on LinkedIn then send it out to all of your connections or a subset of them. It's $195 for a 30-day listing. Here’s where it pays to have some great connections. If one of your contacts knows someone that might be perfect for the job, they’ll forward the job description to them. Then you’ll get your contacts referring people they know for the job.

Sales

Learn About Your Prospects -  If you've been talking to a prospective customer, it pays to know as much about them as possible. Check out their LinkedIn profile, you might even find you have a connection in common or are a few degrees away from it. This might even help you close the deal.

Find New Prospects - Investigate a company you want to do business with, it's simple with LinkedIn. You can even do an advanced search on the type of title you’ll need to be speaking to. For example, if you need someone on the marketing team you might type in “VP Marketing” or “Vice President Marketing”. Once you've found them you can send them an “Inmail”. Then it’s up to your prospect to decide if they want to communicate back with you. You’d be amazed at the response you’ll get if you articulate clearly why you want to talk to them. Note: If they don’t want to be contacted they’ll have already added that to their profile, and you won’t be able to contact them using Inmail but many people are on LinkedIn for the purpose of networking. You'll need to upgrade to a Business Account for Inmails, but IMO it's worth it.

Get Introduced – If you’re looking at someone you might want to do business with, you might find that you’re connected with someone who knows them. Then you can ask your connection for an introduction to them. Sometimes it’s easier to get in front of someone if they know someone you know.

Marketing

Get Advice – The “Questions & Answers” feature is a fantastic tool you can use to get your name out in your LinkedIn Network. If you have questions on anything about your business or industry you can simply ask your LinkedIn network.

Give Advice - The “Answers” feature enables you to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. I’ve had a few people forward me questions on direct marketing and email marketing because they thought I’d be a great resource to answer them. Then people rate your answer and you can have it display in your profile. One thing to note here, when you’re answering questions try not to be too self-serving and salesy. It’s ok to talk about your company just try not to be too pushy, it seems disingenuous.

Here's a funny story about LinkedIn. The building next to where I live was having their windows washed very early on a Saturday morning with a very loud machine. Now I don't know about you, but Saturday mornings for me need to be a bit quiet. Somewhat angry and pretty tired, I wanted to find the CEO of the company that was having the work done. I looked him up on LinkedIn, sent him an Inmail and that same day he emailed me back apologizing for how early they were starting and promised they’d never start work that early on a weekend again.

If you've got any great LinkedIn stories please share!

I'm in LA at the Governor's Conference on Small Businesses & Entrepreneurship. They're launching Global Entrepreneurship Week in conjunction with the Kauffman Foundation. It will be the third week in November. There are over 350 people attending, all amazing businesses and stories, ranging from small businesses to non-profits to policy makers from all over CA. We're convening at the Renaissance Hotel.

It's a pretty amazing cast of people here. From the Governor's office Marty Keller, Director, Office of Small Business Advocate is leading the show and doing a superb job. The conference is meant to put real policies forth to the Governor to get more small business growth in the California economy.

The show got off to an amazing start with Author of Jump Point, Tom Hayes, and Michael Malone, ABC News Journalist. They talked about the role that California's entrepreneurs will play in shaping the future of the new economy.

Lunch came and so did the Governator! Governor Schwarzenegger really inspired the crowd with his story on his life and how he came to America to live the American dream and be an entrepreneur. We also got a few muscle jokes out of him too! Watch the video.

After, there were sessions on different issues that small businesses need to deal with. The interesting thing was that in the breakout session you chose, you actually have a say in policies that will be presented to the Governor. The following were the issues facing California small businesses:

Issue: Clean Air
Issue: Access to Capital
Issue: Entrepreneur Encouragement Group - High Tech
Issue: Healthcare - Cost containment (this was a huge issue in a survey I recently did)
Issue: Innovation & technology - Support business who are seeking state dollars
Issue: Procurement Issues
Issue: Regulatory Reform Group
Issue: Transportation - Rising fuel costs
Issue: Taxation - Conformity state tax code, Consolidation of agencies, energy tax credits
Issue: Education - How can we restructure education so that kids want to work in small businesses.

I chose the Innovation & Technology group where we came up with some pretty good ideas. From this, the entire group of 350 will vote on what is the most important for CA small businesses.

After dinner we got to see 3 young entrepreneurs, from the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour that were really inspiring to listen to.

Notable people I've met:

Kristin Johnson, Regional Director, Northern California SBDC, the SBDC has some really great programs to help businesses grow. I met Terry Hicks, GM, Small Business Group, QuickBooks, and Guy Philips, Head of US Small Business, VISA, (we chatted about the Facebook VISA Small Business Network, check it out) I also met Drew Boyles, Franchise Partner, owning seven 1-800-Got Junk franchises and Brook Taylor from the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, and beloved Oregon Duck fan. Brook had a big hand in putting together the conference. All were great conversations and I look forward to more in the future. 

Next up? I speak on a panel with David Fischer, VP of Online Sales, Google, moderated by Arel Moodie, America's Top Young Speaker about marketing tools that will take your business global.

I'll be back.

Since we've seen the stock market plunge in the past few weeks, there has never been a better time to take a closer look at how we can shave to save. So I put together a list of some things to look at, because every little bit helps.

Credit Card Processing Fees - Banks are hurting these days but it doesn't mean that you have to bear the brunt of it. Call your bank and see if there is any room to lower the percentages you have to pay when someone uses a credit card to buy your product. I found an article on Forbes about small businesses saving on these fees.

Paper Costs - It's becoming rare that you should actually have to print a document. You can read email, you can read a document attached to an email and it's even quicker than printing on paper. So here's an idea: every time you go to print something so you can snail mail it or read it on paper, ask yourself "Can I send this in an email?" or "Can I read this on my computer screen?" I bet you'll find out most of the time you can avoid the printer. 

Another idea for reducing paper usage is to keep your documents online. Google Docs are free and you can invite people to share your documents and make changes to them. I know an events manager at a local restaurant who was keeping event dates on a paper calendar until he was introduced to Google Calendar. Now he's keeping everything online. Even better? The owners can access the calendar without having to contact him.

Obviously I'm going to tell you to stop printing out and snail-mailing your newsletter. It's not environmentally friendly and it's probably about 10x the cost of sending an email newsletter. Now is the time to convert your list into getting your newsletter in digital format. Feel free to take a test drive of VerticalResponse to do it, if you don't already.

Last, but not least, stop faxing. Get rid of the fax machine, there are a ton of free services as well as services with low monthly fees.

Travel - If your business relies on a face to face meeting to close the sale, you probably can't cut down drastically. However there are many ways to have meetings on the phone especially if you need to present something. Check out InterCall and GoToMeeting for web conferencing, and Glance to share your desktop.

One more thing, have you looked at your frequent flier statement recently? Now's the time to cash in on some of those rewards for travel if it is an important part of how you do business.

Supplies - Take a look at the monthly supplies you buy for your location. Can you save money buying cheaper paper plates? Can you use real silverware in the lunch room instead of buying plastic utensils? Do you really need name-brand paper towels? Are there coupons you can use from the Sunday paper? It might not seem like a lot but it all adds up.

Phones - Do all of your employees need a phone? Of course you'll need them especially if your sales or marketing folks have to speak to your customers or order inventory. But if you've got a group of employees that don't need their own, try setting up a phone for them to share.

Also look at Voice over Internet Protocol. VoIP allows users to use regular telephone networks anywhere through any internet service provider, cuts down on long distance charges. For a listing of providers go here.

Shipping Costs - If you ship a lot of your products, why not put a call into your shipper to see how you can reduce some of those costs. I also found this blog post from the Shipping Coach with tons of advice on reducing shipping costs.

Little by little it all adds up so make sure you keep a close eye on everything you're spending money on!

Have you visited the VR Lounge yet to interact with over 1400 people interested in email marketing? If that hasn't been enough to get you there maybe this will; over 60 business forms for you to download absolutely free!

I would have loved to have these when I started the business. We've even put some of the ones we use today in there too. Here's a small sample of what you'll find:

• Accounting - Pro forma balance sheet, profit & loss statement, cash flow statements & more.
• Admin - Credit check, fax cover, wire transfer, purchase order, invoice template, expense report template & more.
• Finance - Lease or buy comparison, calculating present value & more.
• HR - Job description, application for employment, offer letter, employee termination report & more.
• Legal - Consulting agreement, confidentiality agreement & more.
• Marketing - Marketing plan, creative brief, press release template, marketing budget & more.
• Strategy - Strategic plan outline, SWOT analysis, executive summary & more.

So have fun with them but remember, the forms are to be used only as a starting point. VerticalResponse makes no claim that these forms are legally binding in your state, country or part of the world so first consult your attorney!

From time to time I write about some tools we use here at VR to keep the business running. Today it's going to be about Instant Messaging. We use instant messaging here a LOT since we're on different floors and very spread out. Maybe too much. But it can be a really useful tool and very cost-effective since for the most part it's free. It stops our one-on-one email traffic and if we need to move quickly on something it's easy to do. But to most positives there are negatives to be aware of too. Here are a few that we've run into.

Positives

• It's great if you're in multiple locations and you need a cost effective way to communicate.
• It saves us money on long distance.
• You chat with someone while on a conference call to steer the conversation.
• It's great if you can't leave your desk and need a quick answer to a question.
• It saves you on foot traffic if you've got a long way to walk for a quick discussion.
• Stops the shouting between offices if that is a factor.
• We use live chat to talk to customers real time because many of you can't wait for a call or email back from us. Some of our reps have multiple windows open chatting with you.

Negatives

• For long drawn out conversations, pick up the phone. I've been a victim to this too many times.
• Sometimes tone is misconstrued and conversation can take a turn for the worse.
• Putting a smiley face on the end of a nasty note does not make it ok to say nasty things:-)
• Managing people from afar 100% by AIM doesn't really work. People still need to talk.
• It can be an interruption when receiving them since either a tone is heard or something pops on your screen.
• People tend to be more courageous with what they say vs. talking face to face or on the phone.

How to use an instant messenger in your business:

Be Considerate! - Don't just start typing. A nice "U There? before you start typing is always considerate. It's the proverbial knock at the door.

If you are not paying attention and are talking to someone while someone is instant messaging you simply say "hold". Then get back to them. If you're not going to get back to them for a while let them know so they are not sitting around waiting.

Pick Up The Phone - If you're unsure about how the tone of a conversation is going, pick up the phone or have a face to face conversation.

Use Your Status. I'm terrible at this but getting somewhat better. If you're not available or do not want to take messages, tell people that by saying "unavailable" as your status. With many programs you can go as far as to use a custom status and tell people where you are or when you'll be back.

Your Picture - Remember in many programs your picture will show up to anyone you're chatting with. Make sure it's appropriate.

Be Careful - Don't put crucial information like user names and passwords in IM, it's not secure.

How are you using instant messaging for your business? What do you like and what do you hate?

Today businesses and consumers alike have to be careful about the energy we use and the environment we want to protect and clean up. There are so many ways a business can get greener, we know, we decided to go on the journey ourselves and believe me, there are a lot of tough habits to break!

As a company that works at sustainability we tend to attract the type of employee who cares about the environment. As a side benefit, employees who work in environmentally friendly organizations might even collectively learn what they can do outside of the workplace. Here at VerticalResponse we've got a long way to go but we'll share a few steps we've been working on. A lot of little things sure add up to a lot.

We don't have a tangible product that needs cardboard boxes to sit on a store shelf!
We send email marketing campaigns on behalf of businesses that are replacing direct mail with email.
We print our postcards on recycled materials.
We don’t use plastic utensils.
We supply our employees with water bottles made out of recycled plastic so they don't drink from plastic cups.
We recycle glass, cans, plastics and mixed paper.
We buy Fair trade coffee.
We print on recycled 20% post-consumer materials.
We often use eco-friendly supplies from green businesses.
We buy many supplies from The Green Office.
We use eco-friendly cleaning products like those from Seventh Generation.
We use reusable bags instead of paper bags.
We recycle used batteries and encourage employees to bring in old batteries.
We offer commuter benefits for people who take public transportation, it's a pre-tax benefit.
When we have to print on paper we print double-sided.
We keep our lights off during the day, it’s nice and bright in here anyway!
We turn our computers off at the end of the day. It saves more energy than sleep mode.
We buy local - saves transportation costs and supports the local economy.
We offset carbon emissions with Native Energy who is building a farmer-owned wind project.
We regularly participate in computer recycling drives.
We collaborate with each other by sending electronic documents through email or posting and sharing them using Zimbra and Google docs to avoid circulating paper.
Our office building is green, using recycled carpeting, and eco-friendly lighting.

You probably have something like this in your area, but if you want some ideas, SFEnvironment has a great checklist with ideas for greening up your business.

And if you've got some ideas for us let's hear them!

Join Google and the VerticalResponse product specialists for an exclusive webinar on Google Apps. Find out how you can use Google docs, calendars, and sites alongside VerticalResponse. From collaborating with coworkers on newsletter content, to creating and hosting a site, to developing a list of your most valuable customers, it's easy to do with Google Apps.

               When: Wednesday, July 9,  10AM-11AM PT

Learn more about all the features in Google Apps and how you can use them to effectively manage your business. This is your chance to chat directly with the folks at Google, so don't miss out!

Reserve your spot today, I think it's gonna be great!

Stimulus Package for Small Businesses - Make Your Pledge Now

A few months ago VerticalResponse partnered with Duct Tape Marketing to provide comprehensive marketing resources for small businesses. Now we're behind another great resource from our friends over at Duct Tape, their own stimulus package for small businesses.

Make a Referral Week, March 9-13 2009, is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business. Small business is the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy and merits the positive attention so often saved for corporate bailout stories.

VerticalResponse is pledging to make a referral to a business we want to help! What a great way to grow your list and grow your business. Join us by making your pledge here.

StartupNation and VerticalResponse Let You Pick Top Mom-Run Businesses

We've partnered with a great company, StartupNation to launch the first annual "Leading Moms in Business" ranking, which highlights one of the fastest growing segments of entrepreneurship, Moms! 

According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, there are 10.6 million women-owned businesses in the United States generating $2.5 trillion in annual revenue. With women starting businesses at nearly twice the rate of men, many of these businesses are run by mothers.

Nominate Yourself, Tell a Mom to Nominate Herself

Contestants interested in making the list can submit their profile. The top 200 winners will be selected by popular vote, with results announced in advance of Mother’s Day. If you know a Mom who would be great for this, forward her the info!

Send an Email to Get Votes for Your Nomination

Use email marketing and send an email to your recipients with an exciting announcement that you’re a contestant. By encouraging them to vote for you and support your quest to be a winner, you provide them with an engaging and fun way to participate in your success. This can help you create deeper loyalty and affinity, which ultimately can lead to business opportunities and increased revenue.

Mom-run businesses are at the forefront of what’s happening more broadly in the business world, including trends like telecommuting, flexible work schedules and green workplaces. The Leading Moms in Business ranking will shine a spotlight on these exceptional businesses and the dynamic women behind them. Among other things, the ranking will focus on recession busting businesses, highlighting entrepreneurial moms that have implemented strategies to make their businesses thrive in spite of the economic downturn.

To enter, contestants must be a mother and a majority owner of a business. Contestants must also have a website for their business and be based in the U.S.

How to Use LinkedIn for Your Business

Occasionally I like to write about things other than email marketing ... shocker! This time I thought it would be great to talk about LinkedIn, and how small businesses can harness the power of this valuable business networking tool.

A lot of small business owners ask the same question: What is LinkedIn and how can I use it to help my business grow? Well, since LinkedIn's inception in 2003 there are over 80 million people using this business social networking site that allows for super easy business networking. That's a lot of people to get access to. So here are just a few ways you can utilize this great solution.

How Do You Start?

Create Your Profile - What’s important for using LinkedIn successfully depends on the amount of information you contribute to your profile. You’ll surely want to display where you work now and your past work experiences, as well as your interests and company website.  But after that it’s up to your comfort level for the type of information you want to include.

Make sure you define what you want to get out of LinkedIn. Most people use it as a business tool. If that’s how you want to use it then that’s what you should be thinking about when you accept “Invitations to Connect” from people that may or may not know you. Now that you've created your free account, the real stuff happens.

Personal Accounts are free with limitations, but you can upgrade to a Business Account for more functionality. Check out pricing and functionality here.

Human Resources

Reference Searches - If you want to get a snapshot of what a new prospective employee is like, check out their LinkedIn profile. See if what they have on their profile matches their resume. To take it one step further, if you upgrade to a Business Account, you can do a Reference Search to find out who they've worked with in the past. Then you might even see that you're connected with someone they know and you can then send that contact an "Inmail", an email that is generated through the LinkedIn network, with some questions you might have about your candidate.

Find New Employees – You can post a job description on LinkedIn then send it out to all of your connections or a subset of them. It's $195 for a 30-day listing. Here’s where it pays to have some great connections. If one of your contacts knows someone that might be perfect for the job, they’ll forward the job description to them. Then you’ll get your contacts referring people they know for the job.

Sales

Learn About Your Prospects -  If you've been talking to a prospective customer, it pays to know as much about them as possible. Check out their LinkedIn profile, you might even find you have a connection in common or are a few degrees away from it. This might even help you close the deal.

Find New Prospects - Investigate a company you want to do business with, it's simple with LinkedIn. You can even do an advanced search on the type of title you’ll need to be speaking to. For example, if you need someone on the marketing team you might type in “VP Marketing” or “Vice President Marketing”. Once you've found them you can send them an “Inmail”. Then it’s up to your prospect to decide if they want to communicate back with you. You’d be amazed at the response you’ll get if you articulate clearly why you want to talk to them. Note: If they don’t want to be contacted they’ll have already added that to their profile, and you won’t be able to contact them using Inmail but many people are on LinkedIn for the purpose of networking. You'll need to upgrade to a Business Account for Inmails, but IMO it's worth it.

Get Introduced – If you’re looking at someone you might want to do business with, you might find that you’re connected with someone who knows them. Then you can ask your connection for an introduction to them. Sometimes it’s easier to get in front of someone if they know someone you know.

Marketing

Get Advice – The “Questions & Answers” feature is a fantastic tool you can use to get your name out in your LinkedIn Network. If you have questions on anything about your business or industry you can simply ask your LinkedIn network.

Give Advice - The “Answers” feature enables you to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. I’ve had a few people forward me questions on direct marketing and email marketing because they thought I’d be a great resource to answer them. Then people rate your answer and you can have it display in your profile. One thing to note here, when you’re answering questions try not to be too self-serving and salesy. It’s ok to talk about your company just try not to be too pushy, it seems disingenuous.

Here's a funny story about LinkedIn. The building next to where I live was having their windows washed very early on a Saturday morning with a very loud machine. Now I don't know about you, but Saturday mornings for me need to be a bit quiet. Somewhat angry and pretty tired, I wanted to find the CEO of the company that was having the work done. I looked him up on LinkedIn, sent him an Inmail and that same day he emailed me back apologizing for how early they were starting and promised they’d never start work that early on a weekend again.

If you've got any great LinkedIn stories please share!

Governor's Conference on Small Business & Entrepreneurship in California

I'm in LA at the Governor's Conference on Small Businesses & Entrepreneurship. They're launching Global Entrepreneurship Week in conjunction with the Kauffman Foundation. It will be the third week in November. There are over 350 people attending, all amazing businesses and stories, ranging from small businesses to non-profits to policy makers from all over CA. We're convening at the Renaissance Hotel.

It's a pretty amazing cast of people here. From the Governor's office Marty Keller, Director, Office of Small Business Advocate is leading the show and doing a superb job. The conference is meant to put real policies forth to the Governor to get more small business growth in the California economy.

The show got off to an amazing start with Author of Jump Point, Tom Hayes, and Michael Malone, ABC News Journalist. They talked about the role that California's entrepreneurs will play in shaping the future of the new economy.

Lunch came and so did the Governator! Governor Schwarzenegger really inspired the crowd with his story on his life and how he came to America to live the American dream and be an entrepreneur. We also got a few muscle jokes out of him too! Watch the video.

After, there were sessions on different issues that small businesses need to deal with. The interesting thing was that in the breakout session you chose, you actually have a say in policies that will be presented to the Governor. The following were the issues facing California small businesses:

Issue: Clean Air
Issue: Access to Capital
Issue: Entrepreneur Encouragement Group - High Tech
Issue: Healthcare - Cost containment (this was a huge issue in a survey I recently did)
Issue: Innovation & technology - Support business who are seeking state dollars
Issue: Procurement Issues
Issue: Regulatory Reform Group
Issue: Transportation - Rising fuel costs
Issue: Taxation - Conformity state tax code, Consolidation of agencies, energy tax credits
Issue: Education - How can we restructure education so that kids want to work in small businesses.

I chose the Innovation & Technology group where we came up with some pretty good ideas. From this, the entire group of 350 will vote on what is the most important for CA small businesses.

After dinner we got to see 3 young entrepreneurs, from the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour that were really inspiring to listen to.

Notable people I've met:

Kristin Johnson, Regional Director, Northern California SBDC, the SBDC has some really great programs to help businesses grow. I met Terry Hicks, GM, Small Business Group, QuickBooks, and Guy Philips, Head of US Small Business, VISA, (we chatted about the Facebook VISA Small Business Network, check it out) I also met Drew Boyles, Franchise Partner, owning seven 1-800-Got Junk franchises and Brook Taylor from the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, and beloved Oregon Duck fan. Brook had a big hand in putting together the conference. All were great conversations and I look forward to more in the future. 

Next up? I speak on a panel with David Fischer, VP of Online Sales, Google, moderated by Arel Moodie, America's Top Young Speaker about marketing tools that will take your business global.

I'll be back.

6 Ways to Cut Costs for Your Small Business Now

Since we've seen the stock market plunge in the past few weeks, there has never been a better time to take a closer look at how we can shave to save. So I put together a list of some things to look at, because every little bit helps.

Credit Card Processing Fees - Banks are hurting these days but it doesn't mean that you have to bear the brunt of it. Call your bank and see if there is any room to lower the percentages you have to pay when someone uses a credit card to buy your product. I found an article on Forbes about small businesses saving on these fees.

Paper Costs - It's becoming rare that you should actually have to print a document. You can read email, you can read a document attached to an email and it's even quicker than printing on paper. So here's an idea: every time you go to print something so you can snail mail it or read it on paper, ask yourself "Can I send this in an email?" or "Can I read this on my computer screen?" I bet you'll find out most of the time you can avoid the printer. 

Another idea for reducing paper usage is to keep your documents online. Google Docs are free and you can invite people to share your documents and make changes to them. I know an events manager at a local restaurant who was keeping event dates on a paper calendar until he was introduced to Google Calendar. Now he's keeping everything online. Even better? The owners can access the calendar without having to contact him.

Obviously I'm going to tell you to stop printing out and snail-mailing your newsletter. It's not environmentally friendly and it's probably about 10x the cost of sending an email newsletter. Now is the time to convert your list into getting your newsletter in digital format. Feel free to take a test drive of VerticalResponse to do it, if you don't already.

Last, but not least, stop faxing. Get rid of the fax machine, there are a ton of free services as well as services with low monthly fees.

Travel - If your business relies on a face to face meeting to close the sale, you probably can't cut down drastically. However there are many ways to have meetings on the phone especially if you need to present something. Check out InterCall and GoToMeeting for web conferencing, and Glance to share your desktop.

One more thing, have you looked at your frequent flier statement recently? Now's the time to cash in on some of those rewards for travel if it is an important part of how you do business.

Supplies - Take a look at the monthly supplies you buy for your location. Can you save money buying cheaper paper plates? Can you use real silverware in the lunch room instead of buying plastic utensils? Do you really need name-brand paper towels? Are there coupons you can use from the Sunday paper? It might not seem like a lot but it all adds up.

Phones - Do all of your employees need a phone? Of course you'll need them especially if your sales or marketing folks have to speak to your customers or order inventory. But if you've got a group of employees that don't need their own, try setting up a phone for them to share.

Also look at Voice over Internet Protocol. VoIP allows users to use regular telephone networks anywhere through any internet service provider, cuts down on long distance charges. For a listing of providers go here.

Shipping Costs - If you ship a lot of your products, why not put a call into your shipper to see how you can reduce some of those costs. I also found this blog post from the Shipping Coach with tons of advice on reducing shipping costs.

Little by little it all adds up so make sure you keep a close eye on everything you're spending money on!

New Free Business Forms in the VR Lounge

Have you visited the VR Lounge yet to interact with over 1400 people interested in email marketing? If that hasn't been enough to get you there maybe this will; over 60 business forms for you to download absolutely free!

I would have loved to have these when I started the business. We've even put some of the ones we use today in there too. Here's a small sample of what you'll find:

• Accounting - Pro forma balance sheet, profit & loss statement, cash flow statements & more.
• Admin - Credit check, fax cover, wire transfer, purchase order, invoice template, expense report template & more.
• Finance - Lease or buy comparison, calculating present value & more.
• HR - Job description, application for employment, offer letter, employee termination report & more.
• Legal - Consulting agreement, confidentiality agreement & more.
• Marketing - Marketing plan, creative brief, press release template, marketing budget & more.
• Strategy - Strategic plan outline, SWOT analysis, executive summary & more.

So have fun with them but remember, the forms are to be used only as a starting point. VerticalResponse makes no claim that these forms are legally binding in your state, country or part of the world so first consult your attorney!

How To Use an Instant Messenger for Your Business

From time to time I write about some tools we use here at VR to keep the business running. Today it's going to be about Instant Messaging. We use instant messaging here a LOT since we're on different floors and very spread out. Maybe too much. But it can be a really useful tool and very cost-effective since for the most part it's free. It stops our one-on-one email traffic and if we need to move quickly on something it's easy to do. But to most positives there are negatives to be aware of too. Here are a few that we've run into.

Positives

• It's great if you're in multiple locations and you need a cost effective way to communicate.
• It saves us money on long distance.
• You chat with someone while on a conference call to steer the conversation.
• It's great if you can't leave your desk and need a quick answer to a question.
• It saves you on foot traffic if you've got a long way to walk for a quick discussion.
• Stops the shouting between offices if that is a factor.
• We use live chat to talk to customers real time because many of you can't wait for a call or email back from us. Some of our reps have multiple windows open chatting with you.

Negatives

• For long drawn out conversations, pick up the phone. I've been a victim to this too many times.
• Sometimes tone is misconstrued and conversation can take a turn for the worse.
• Putting a smiley face on the end of a nasty note does not make it ok to say nasty things:-)
• Managing people from afar 100% by AIM doesn't really work. People still need to talk.
• It can be an interruption when receiving them since either a tone is heard or something pops on your screen.
• People tend to be more courageous with what they say vs. talking face to face or on the phone.

How to use an instant messenger in your business:

Be Considerate! - Don't just start typing. A nice "U There? before you start typing is always considerate. It's the proverbial knock at the door.

If you are not paying attention and are talking to someone while someone is instant messaging you simply say "hold". Then get back to them. If you're not going to get back to them for a while let them know so they are not sitting around waiting.

Pick Up The Phone - If you're unsure about how the tone of a conversation is going, pick up the phone or have a face to face conversation.

Use Your Status. I'm terrible at this but getting somewhat better. If you're not available or do not want to take messages, tell people that by saying "unavailable" as your status. With many programs you can go as far as to use a custom status and tell people where you are or when you'll be back.

Your Picture - Remember in many programs your picture will show up to anyone you're chatting with. Make sure it's appropriate.

Be Careful - Don't put crucial information like user names and passwords in IM, it's not secure.

How are you using instant messaging for your business? What do you like and what do you hate?

Is Your Company Getting Greener? Tell the World!

Today businesses and consumers alike have to be careful about the energy we use and the environment we want to protect and clean up. There are so many ways a business can get greener, we know, we decided to go on the journey ourselves and believe me, there are a lot of tough habits to break!

As a company that works at sustainability we tend to attract the type of employee who cares about the environment. As a side benefit, employees who work in environmentally friendly organizations might even collectively learn what they can do outside of the workplace. Here at VerticalResponse we've got a long way to go but we'll share a few steps we've been working on. A lot of little things sure add up to a lot.

We don't have a tangible product that needs cardboard boxes to sit on a store shelf!
We send email marketing campaigns on behalf of businesses that are replacing direct mail with email.
We print our postcards on recycled materials.
We don’t use plastic utensils.
We supply our employees with water bottles made out of recycled plastic so they don't drink from plastic cups.
We recycle glass, cans, plastics and mixed paper.
We buy Fair trade coffee.
We print on recycled 20% post-consumer materials.
We often use eco-friendly supplies from green businesses.
We buy many supplies from The Green Office.
We use eco-friendly cleaning products like those from Seventh Generation.
We use reusable bags instead of paper bags.
We recycle used batteries and encourage employees to bring in old batteries.
We offer commuter benefits for people who take public transportation, it's a pre-tax benefit.
When we have to print on paper we print double-sided.
We keep our lights off during the day, it’s nice and bright in here anyway!
We turn our computers off at the end of the day. It saves more energy than sleep mode.
We buy local - saves transportation costs and supports the local economy.
We offset carbon emissions with Native Energy who is building a farmer-owned wind project.
We regularly participate in computer recycling drives.
We collaborate with each other by sending electronic documents through email or posting and sharing them using Zimbra and Google docs to avoid circulating paper.
Our office building is green, using recycled carpeting, and eco-friendly lighting.

You probably have something like this in your area, but if you want some ideas, SFEnvironment has a great checklist with ideas for greening up your business.

And if you've got some ideas for us let's hear them!

Webinar: Getting Started With Google Apps

Join Google and the VerticalResponse product specialists for an exclusive webinar on Google Apps. Find out how you can use Google docs, calendars, and sites alongside VerticalResponse. From collaborating with coworkers on newsletter content, to creating and hosting a site, to developing a list of your most valuable customers, it's easy to do with Google Apps.

               When: Wednesday, July 9,  10AM-11AM PT

Learn more about all the features in Google Apps and how you can use them to effectively manage your business. This is your chance to chat directly with the folks at Google, so don't miss out!

Reserve your spot today, I think it's gonna be great!