-•- HomeOfficeDigest.com Newsletter - Issue 145 -•-
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THE HOME OFFICE DIGEST NEWSLETTER
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BE YOUR OWN BOSS
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If you're the boss, be smart about it! There are times that you're
going to be tempted to post a spirited response on a message board
or write a scathing email back to someone but keep your temper in
check. If you write that email to the wrong person, or post that
message on the wrong board it can make a serious negative impact
on your bottom line. Being the boss means looking at what's right
for the long term success of the business, not what is going to
make you feel good in the short term. Run your business as a
business, don't take it personally! If you get a nasty email, or
see something negative about you on a message board react with
class. Posting a negative response, or replying with a nasty tone
only adds credibility to that post, don't fall into the trap!


FEATURED ARTICLE
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Building a Referral-Friendly Business
by: Angela Wu

Referrals are an important part of any successful business.
They're a great way to keep building your customer base,
year after year, without having to go out and pay for
advertising. Instead, you use the power of your current
customers to help you continue to grow.

Referrals really are 'golden'. For one thing, in this
time-crunched age where everyone's so busy, people are
more willing to depend on the advice of trusted contacts.
It saves them from spending time in laborious research.

Referrals also produce a 'snowball' effect. Happy
customers tend to have a good idea of which one of their
friends would appreciate your product or service. They
refer people similar to themselves... who also refer
people they know... and so on.

But one of the best things about referrals is that they're
easier to convert into customers! It's fine for YOU to
say that you provide a great product or service -- but
when someone else says it, it instantly has more impact...
especially when it comes from a trusted friend or contact.
Your credibility and expertise have been established by
the referrer.

However, many business owners assume that just because
they do a good job, referrals will happen automatically.
This isn't true; people often need a little encouragement
to send referrals your way. It's up to you to take a more
active role in making them happen.

Go ahead and tell your customers that you'll do your best
to make sure they're happy. Then let them know that you
would welcome any referrals -- in other words, simply ASK
for new referrals. Encourage them by offering referral
incentives.

For example, offer a referral bonus or discount. Offer
free gifts, extra entries into a contest, whatever is
appropriate for your business. And ALWAYS send a thank-
you note and possibly even a small gift to the referrer
... regardless of whether or not the person he referred
becomes a customer. This will show that you appreciate
him thinking of you. Everyone likes to feel appreciated,
and he'll be more likely to continue to send referrals
your way. You never know -- someone he refers in the
future might very well become a customer!

Another example of how to generate referrals is to write
articles and distribute them around the Internet. Once
again, if you get published you instantly have more
credibility -- you build an "expert" status, so to speak.
Many article syndication sites offer a feature that allows
the reader to email the article to a friend... and articles
are often passed around from person to person through email.

In both of the above cases, your business automatically
has more "clout" than, say, if a prospect were to simply
visit your website. In the case of a referral, the
prospect has already been at least partially influenced
by his or her friend or contact... which makes your job
of converting him to a paying customer that much easier!

A referral-friendly business is one which can continue to
send you new customers day after day, year after year.
Encourage it and reward it!

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Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, an exclusive
newsletter for eBusiness beginners. She offers a 'no hype, no bull'
approach to building a profitable Internet business. Every issue is
packed with helpful tips and useful tools, specially selected to fit
a beginner's shoestring budget. Visit her online today at
http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html
OR mailto:businessbasics@workyourleads.com for a series of 10 free
reports on building a business on the web.


DOWNLOAD OF INTEREST
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I don't know of anyone who's computer has a clock that keeps good
time. If you're one of the millions of people out there with a
clock the seems to slow by the day then the download of interest
this week is for you! I've found a nifty little program that syncs
with the atomic clock on one of the time servers operated by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the
United States. Once this free program connects it automatically
updates the time on your clock for you, which makes sure that the
clock on your computer is always accurate! If you're interested
in this great little download then go to the following website
and download it! http://www.worldtimeserver.com/atomic-clock/


WHAT ARE THEY THINKING
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I work with a lot of people that you might call "heavy hitters" in
the MLM/biz opp field. Most of these people have spent thousands of
hours refining their methods and thousands of dollars on the a great
web site to get where they are. With all the time these top earners
put into making a living why do some people think that these heavy
hitters would join an opportunity under them? All of these heavy
hitters know that these freeloaders are just looking for spillover
and/or second level sales without having to lift a finger working
for them themselves. What are these people thinking? Why in the
world would any of the top earners out there place themselves in
a position that they know isn't going to generate them any money?
The top earners got where they are today by making the right moves
and knowing the right people, not by passing along free money to
beggars.


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