YouTube Strategies for Business

What are you doing today that is better and different to your competitors? How do you find and attract new clients?

If you are not doing anything that differentiates you from the competition, you could be losing out on a huge amount of potential business.

One of the easiest methods to differentiate your company is to embrace technology and social media. It is easy and can save you time, money and headaches.

One of my favorite social media sites is YouTube and here are some tips, strategies and ideas that can help your business immediately:

·         Have your own YouTube Channel and base the channel name on keywords e.g. Health and Fitness London – IT Security New York

·         Make sure the sound on your videos is clear and mixed and edited well so users can clearly hear it. One of the best inexpensive cameras with great sound is the Zoom Q3 HD.

·         Create well thought out, professional style videos that are edited properly.

o   Use edit suites like Adobe VC3, Techsmith Camtasia and Sony Vegas for PCs and IMovie, Screenflow and Camtasia for Mac.

·         Keep your content funny, engaging, and informative so that it will keep viewers watching until the end of the video.

·         Embed your logo and website into the video. Take a look at http://youtube.com/salestips

·         Keep the resolution of the video as high as possible, at a minimum 800 by 600.

·         Be yourself. Don’t lose sight of the purpose and mission of the video. Think of yourself speaking to a friend in a pub or coffee shop and use the same tone and expressions.

·         Practice before posting the final video. Do a few dry runs before taping and publishing and remember if you are boring, the video will be boring to viewers.

·         Do more than just talk. People don’t want to sit and watch a person just talking to the camera. Make it exciting and interesting as well as fun.

·         Limit your video length to two minutes maximum, most viewers lose interest after this. Take a look at any move, the scenes change around every minute.

·         Use the ‘problem, solution and action’ method of filming. E.g. Have you been trying diets and still can’t move that fat (problem) – here are 3 exercises to help you right now (solution) and sign up for our free newsletter or call us to find out about our gym membership (solution)

·         At the end of each video, ask your viewers to ‘like’ the video and comment, this helps with your rankings.

·         If you are going to use music, use copyright free music, get some at www.frankfurnessresources.com/copyrightfreemusic

·         Grab viewers by integrating important keywords into the title. This will help to boost the search engine results.

·         Use keywords in the tags that will lead potential clients to your videos and make the first line of your description is your website address as that is what viewers will see immediately below the video.

·         Choose the most relevant category

·         Make the videos are  viral, and spread them  to as many websites as possible. Once you have uploaded the video, click on the ‘share’ button and then share the video with Twitter, Facebook your Blog and any other social media sites that your business uses.

Remember to use the videos in different ways

·         Videos on the website

·         Meet the team

·         Video testimonials

·         Staff training

·         Expert advice

·         Tip of the week

Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker specialising in sales and social media. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 52 countries. Take a look at his latest resource, http://www.technologytoolsforbusiness.com  or to book Frank to speak at your next conference email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. http://www.frankfurness.com

NOTE: You are  welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com

YouTube Strategies for Health & Fitness Clubs

What are you doing today that is better and different to your competitors? How do you find and attract new members? If you are not doing anything that differentiates you from the competition, you could be losing out on a huge amount of potential business.

One of the easiest methods to differentiate your club is to embrace technology and social media. It is easy and can save you time, money and headaches.

One of my favorite social media sites is YouTube and here are some tips, strategies and ideas that can help your club or business immediately:

·         Have your own YouTube Channel and base the channel name on keywords e.g. Health and Fitness London

·         Make sure the sound on your videos is clear and mixed and edited well so users can clearly hear it. One of the best inexpensive cameras with great sound is the Zoom Q3 HD.

·         Create well thought out, professional style videos that are edited properly.

o   Use edit suites like Adobe VC3, Techsmith Camtasia and Sony Vegas for PCs and IMovie, Screenflow and Camtasia for Mac.

·         Keep your content funny, engaging, and informative so that it will keep viewers watching until the end of the video.

·         Embed your logo and website into the video. Take a look at http://youtube.com/salestips

·         Keep the resolution of the video as high as possible, at a minimum 800 by 600.

·         Be yourself. Do not lose sight of the purpose and mission of the video. Think of yourself speaking to a friend in a pub or coffee shop and use the same tone and expressions.

·         Practice before posting the final video. Do a few dry runs before taping and publishing and remember if you are boring, the video will be boring to viewers.

·         Do more than just talk. People don’t want to sit and watch a person just talking to the camera. Make it exciting and interesting as well as fun.

·         Limit your video length to two minutes maximum, most viewers lose interest after this. Take a look at any move, the scenes change around every minute.

·         Use the ‘problem, solution and action’ method of filming. Eg Have you been trying diets and still can’t move that fat (problem) – here are 3 exercises to help you right now (solution) and sign up for our free newsletter or call us to find out about our gym membership (solution)

·         At the end of each video, ask your viewers to like the video and comment, this helps with your rankings.

·         If you are going to use music, use copyright free music, get some at www.frankfurnessresources.com/copyrightfreemusic

·         Grab viewers by integrating important keywords into the title. This will help to  boost the search engine results.

·         Use keywords in the tags that will lead potential clients to your videos and make the first line of your description your website address as that is what viewers will see immediately below the video.

·         Choose the most relevant category

·         Make the videos viral, and spread them to as many websites as possible. Once you have uploaded the video, click on the ‘share’ button and then share the video with Twitter, Facebook your Blog and any other social media sites where your club is active.

Remember to use the videos in different ways

·         Videos on the website

·         Meet the team

·         Health tips

·         Training tips

·         Expert advice

·         Tip of the week

Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker specialising in sales and social media. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 52 countries. Take a look at http://www.technologytoolsforbusiness.com  or to book Frank to speak at your next conference email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. http://www.frankfurness.com

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com

Boosting the Effectiveness of Cold Calling

As a sales technique, cold calling can be a pretty hit and miss affair. When not performed properly, calling a list of numbers, even if they are established leads, can be a scattergun approach that can be both unpopular and ineffective. However, quite often, salespeople and sales managers are not helping themselves by taking the wrong approach and making what can already be a difficult method of selling even harder. Correctly done, cold calling can be an effective sales technique, but just like any form of selling it requires skill, techniques and the right approach. Done incorrectly, and cold calling can be perceived as rude, intrusive and too impersonal.

Calculating the cost
Cold calling can be expensive, especially for businesses that have large call centres where dozens of people are going through the phone book and calling thousands of numbers a day. According to the Direct Marketing Association, even those companies that are good at it rarely have success rates higher than 5 percent. However, for those less proficient, the cost of phone calls alone could be astronomical and make cold calling as a sale endeavour pointless. Of course, cheap landline deals and lower tariffs during the evening can help save money, but even then, with only a couple out of 100 calls turning into a potential sale, this could still mean a company could be spending more on phone calls, paying staff and keeping the lights on than they are making in sales. This is one of the reasons that many businesses that rely solely on cold calling for their income, such as double glazing companies, have a reputation for being risky enterprises. However, by taking a more planned approach, you can maximise the potential success rate, and make the cold calling far more cost effective.

Timing
The thing about cold calling, particularly on the telephone as opposed to personal face-to-face canvassing, is that you never know if it is a potentially a good time to be approaching your intended customer. Somebody could be in the bath or otherwise preoccupied when you call. With cold calling, timing can be everything. When calling a business, making contact at lunchtime when somebody might be eating their sandwiches or calling late in the day, when people are getting ready to go home, is going to reduce the chance of making a sale. The same is true of domestic cold calling. Many cold callers prefer the evening when people are more likely to be home from work. However, this can often be a time when people are busy, preparing dinner or putting children to bed,
If it does turn out to be a bad time, simply trying to batter your way through with your sales pitch will get you nowhere. A good salesperson can learn to identify that it is an inopportune moment and switch the purpose of the original call from attempting to sell, to arranging an appointment to phone back at more suitable time.

The opening
The opening is by far the most important aspect of a cold call. It is within the first few seconds that you can either intrigue potential customers or completely alienate them, and if it is the latter, there is nothing you can subsequently do to change the situation. Many cold calling companies use scripts for their salespeople, and while these have their advantages, not all salespeople are great actors and so can’t be expected to sound natural or even human when reading a script or repeating well-rehearsed words. Either they sound as if they are reading, or they speak so fast it can be both difficult to comprehend or make them sound like a robot.
Sounding human, professional and warm, as if you are calling a colleague for chat rather than bombarding somebody with your sale’s pitch is by far a better approach. However, some cold callers go too far the other way and start trying to be too personal, such as asking how somebody is that day or evening. People see right through this. Nobody believes somebody on the end of the phone that they have never met is going to have any real interest in their health or wellbeing, so keeping it professional, saying good morning/afternoon/evening and introducing yourself is by far a better approach than trying to soft soap somebody.

The pitch
Once you have introduced yourself, you can start your pitch. While everybody has their own techniques and methods of explaining what they are selling or calling about one key ingredient is always essential: to the point quickly and succinctly. It may well be that the person on the other end of the phone will be interested in what you are selling, but by taking to long to get to the point, you risk frustrating them, especially if they are busy.
Another aspect of cold calling to understand is identifying when it is time to quit. While tenacity and perseverance can pay off, identifying a lost cause will save you from wasting your time. For instance, if you are selling double glazing and the person on the other end of the phone tells you they have had their windows done only six months earlier, there is nothing you can say, and no discount you can offer them that will entice them to buy.
As with all aspects of sales, cold calling is a skill that has to be learned and practiced. Perhaps the most important method of increasing the chance of success is to try new pitches and openings, and seeing what works and what doesn’t work for you. You have more chance at success by developing techniques based on your own personal experience rather than on some handed-down dogma that may be effective for one salesperson but not for another.

School Fees Planning

Should you be an expat with children, and also you need or decide privately educated, or indeed should you expect them to head to university, then you should think about planning the financing of the education.

You might like to have your son or daughter educated locally or with a boarding school within your country of origin. In any event it’s really a costly experience, as well as the costs of educating children are increasing, and also the rate of increase is significantly more than inflation. Quite similar pertains to the price of an university education.

The expense of school fees varies, and will depend on the college and site. A figure of £4, 000 per term for a day pupil would be typical in the UK, and £8, 000 per term for any boarder. To the even more exclusive private schools the expenses could be significantly higher.

Choices for funding school fees and university costs
Regular cost savings
You will find quantity of companies who offer monthly savings plans to assist in order to save to purchase school fees or university costs. These can be handy for those who have pre-school children, or expect your private education costs to improve down the road and wish to put aside spare cash in a tax efficient environment which could offer excellent returns.

One time purchase
For those who have an one time of cash available it is easy to invest this, and make use of the profit to cover school fees. Many plans and investments have specific possibilities to allow income to get paid at the beginning of each school term. What’s more it is possible to invest offshore to protect your funds from paying tax. You can also get low risk and high risk investment strategies available.

Funding
Sometimes you could have no option but for take out a loan to finance school fees. One of many cheapest means of doing so is always to increase or arrange a mortgage. If you’re living or working overseas then it is even possible to set up a home loan by using an offshore bank, to get the mortgage you want in the currency which you have chosen.

Pay-as-you-go

It might be the truth that you can comfortably afford to protect the cost of school fees from the salary. You need to however think about the future associated with school fees as well as the rate from which these are increasing, or should you is expanding then you definitely have to consider how you will fund any additional school fees.

Furthermore you may want to think of how your funds could be affected if you were die or become too ill to be effective. Then you should consider protecting your family via a protection policy.

Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker specialising in sales and social media. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 52 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. http://www.frankfurness.com

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/

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Sony Electronics catastrophe

Catastrophe at Sony Electronics

Catastrophe at Sony Electronics is the only way I can describe the useless after sales service at Sony. I purchased a Sony top of the line laptop six months ago and it has already packed up.

When phoning support, I was told that the only support is now provided from a call centre in Egypt where I struggled to even understand the accents. Having phoned the 16th and being promised a pick up on the 17th and 5 days before I would get the laptop back, I had some hope.

This was short lived, the laptop was not collected. Seven phone calls later and having spoken to who I was told were the managers of the call centre in Egypt, Sherif and Mo, the laptop was finally collected on Thursdaythe 19th and I was promised that after 5 working days it would be returned repaired. 

Why was I not surprised when I received the call today saying that it would not be ready in five days, in fact it seemed that they had no idea that it would be ready.

On Wednesday next week I leave for a speaking tour of Australia where I will be presenting to 14 groups of CEO's who I will be sharing this story with.

Of course, not knowing when and if I will receive my laptop before I leave, I now have to go and purchase another, but believe me, it will certainly not be a Sony, but back to the tried and trusted Toshiba.

Isn't it funny that at one time Sony Electronics was a powerhouse with an incredible reputation. Unfortunately now with outsourcing, closing local offices, not keeping promises and having no clue about customer service, they probably rate as the worst of any electronic company. If you don't believe me, just type in 'bad customer service sony' into Google, you will find more than 10 pages of postings.

All I can say is: Catastrophe at Sony Electronics

Sony Europe Hopeless at Customer Service

My Sony Vaio S series is still under guarantee and all of a sudden all power failed. As an International Technology speaker, I use this laptop all the time for presentations and urgently needed it repaired.

I called th only number on their site  which is 09050310006 and was put through to a call centre in Egypt. It seems that Sony Europe is not accessable in any form by phone except by going through to an Egyptian call centre, great customer service Sony......

After speaking to someone to arrange a collection today, I had to follow uo to get a tracking number for UPS. To my surprise, I was told that there was a problem and it had not been arranged.

Five calls later (Including one to the person who say's he heads up the call centre, Sherif Ebdelsolam) I am no further with my case.

On my last call, someone truthfully told me that all Sony's systems were down and this was the reason that no-one came back to me or Sherif was in meetings every time I phoned. They have no idea when their systems will be repaired, so all Sony customers are getting absolutely no support or feedback.

In the meantime I have paid out abot £30 in phone calls (.35 pence per minute for a call)

How can a company as large as Sony be so utterly useless at customer service, I'm sure that the service shines in Japan where the headquarters are based.

As all their calls are recorded for training, I informed them that mine was as well and they were not at all happy about that...it works both ways Sony....

In the meantime I am left in a quandry, do I now go and buy a new laptop (NOT SONY) while my Sony is still under guarantee, or hope that their systems will come back online in time for me to get my laptop repaired.

I am doing a speaking tour in 2 weeks of Australia where I will be speaking about technology and customer service to hundreds of CEOs and sharing this wonderful story with them.

I will keep you updated on the Blog and via Twitter, YouTube and Facebook as to the outcome of this case..

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