Small Business

3 Questions with Jackie Huba, author Church of the Customer Blog

2008-05-16T15:28:25Z

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Jackie Huba at our Dell|SXSW social media event. Her expertise on social word of mouth marketing (SWOM) is invaluable and can be applied to numerous industries and organizations. Below we talk about word of mouth and how small and medium businesses can take advantage.

Amie- How can SMBs identify citizen marketers?

Jackie- Just to have a basic understanding of what people thought or said about you used to cost tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars in research. Many of those research costs have been democratized to free or nearly free by tools like Google Alerts, which alerts you via email anytime your company or brands are mentioned online. It, or a free service like Yahoo Pipes, now make it so easy to identify a brand's citizen marketers.

When they appear, pay them special attention. Post a thank-you reply or send them an email thanking them for the kind praise. Initiate a dialogue.

Amie- In an era of participatory customer engagement, how can SMBs join the social community?

Jackie- There are so many entry points now that it can be bewildering or intimidating knowing where to start. The most common entry points are tens of millions of blogs, millions of discussion forums, company and product review sites like Yelp and CitySearch, YouTube videos, and Twitter. But the most important issue for SMBs is a willingness to really listen to customers and take their feedback to heart. If the culture of a business isn't genuinely open to change based on customer feedback and interaction, social media may not be right for them. They don't even have to ask their doctor about that.

Amie- Can you give us an example of an SMB that successfully utilizes WOM? In your opinion, why have they been successful?

Jackie-Washington, D.C. t-shirt maker CustomInk.com showcases its real-time word of mouth prominently on its website. The company's composite customer satisfaction score and real-time, unedited comments, appear on CustomInk's front page. That's probably scary to most companies, but it's brilliant. It compels CustomInk to stay on its toes every day, every hour. Plus, all customer feedback entries are stored in a publicly searchable database.

Customer history is a timeline to authencity. All of this freely available customer feedback gives new customers a source of ongoing commentary to understand the company and its products. Knowing what others say lowers decision-making barriers for prospects. Keeping existing customers is the hard work of operations and marketing.

More About Jackie-

Jackie Huba is the co-author of two books on word of mouth, "Citizen Marketers" and "Creating Customer Evangelists." She writes at the award-winning "Church of the Customer" blog. She is also the co-founder of the Society of Word of Mouth.

Europe Vostro Keyboard Update

2008-05-14T16:25:27Z

Since I blogged about the Europe Vostro keyboard issue, we’ve had several questions about system warranty similar to the comments from Damian Poland and Janet Moore on the blog. I wanted to take some time to answer some of those questions.

You will not void your warranty if you choose to replace the keyboard yourself. If you do damage components in the replacement process, we will replace damaged parts according to the specifics of your warranty.

Customers who choose to have the keyboard replaced by an on-site technician will have a longer wait than those who choose parts only, but we will work through service requests as quickly as we can.

Direct2Dell reader Bryan wondered if his pending Vostro 1510 unit would ship with the updated keyboard. Yes, all orders will be shipped with the updated keyboard.

Direct2Dell reader Matthew wondered if there was a BIOS update he could utilize before receiving the keyboard. Unfortunately, the short answer is no. I’ll work with the BIOS team and will post updated information when I have it.

Your Beauty Network - 2008 U.S. Small Business Excellence Award Finalist Profile

2008-05-14T16:00:00Z

“I just finished comparing our 2007 Clinic and Retail numbers to our 2006 numbers. The results are amazing!”

Susie Carder, founder of the online salon and spa business support service Your Beauty Network (YBN), has grown accustomed to this kind of client praise and attributes such success to the growth and implementation of technology.

“In our industry, salon owners and operators are primarily stylists, not necessarily savvy business people,” says Bert Carder, YBN’s CEO and “Chief Technology Wiz,” as wife Susie likes to call him. “Providing our clients with easy-to-use, cost-effective online tools like client relationship management, e-marketing, online appointment booking and business builder archives, we can help their businesses grow at unprecedented rates.”

Building on her 15 years of experience as a professional speaker in the salon and spa industry, Susie founded YBN in 1999 during the infamous DOT.com craze. Out of dozens of competitors, YBN is the only business of its kind still standing today. YBN credits its competitive advantage to embracing technological and industry changes, like the insight to change to a subscription-based service model. “We have to always be two steps ahead of change that comes our way,” said Susie, “to not only stay ahead in the industry, but also maintain our technology knowledge base to successfully counsel our clients.”

In addition, with only 6 employees, YBN has learned how to act like a big business to help other small-business salons and spas act and look big too. “93% of the beauty industry is not profitable, but once we consult our customers on what technology can do to increase revenues, they are amazed, said Susie. “ They begin to see exactly why they are not profitable and what changes they can make to see real profit gains.” Especially when it comes to mom-and-pop type beauty salons, YBN’s mission is to help them integrate technology to raise the bar and better compete against larger, more technologically advanced salon and spa chains.

“The beauty industry is a sleeping giant full of truly talented individuals,” said Susie. “By helping our clients implement technology they never thought they’d need, we are able to see many business owners meet their full potential while enhancing the reputation and caliber of the industry overall.”

If you are in the beauty salon or spa industry and have questions regarding how to implement technology in your business, please comment here or contact YBN directly. Dell also offers point-of-sale solutions you may want to check out.

Direct2Dell Launches in Japan

2008-05-12T20:02:00Z

Here's a great opportunity for our Japanese Small Businesses customers or our readers who speak Japanese:

Japanese is the largest blogging language on the planet (Technorati’s State of Live Web 2007 report) and now is available in a Direct2Dell blog.

D2D Japan will be managed locally in Kawasaki, Japan, by Kiwako Suzuki. Kiwako is a newly seasoned member of Dell’s social media team. With Kiwako firmly planted in Japanese culture and exposed to Dell Japan operations, she will be blogging on Dell topics, local events and engage Japanese bloggers to join Dell Japan’s social media.

Our goal with Japan D2D is same as all of our blogs – to foster a relationship and communicate with our readers on Dell news, product information, industry trends & Dells involvement in global community.

http://japanese.direct2dell.com

TecAccess - 2008 U.S. Small Business Excellence Award Finalist Profile

2008-05-12T16:00:00Z

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the more than 750 million individuals with disabilities worldwide comprise one of the largest and fastest growing minority groups. However, they are often overlooked as candidates for meaningful employment – not anymore if Debra Ruh has anything to do with it. In 2000, she founded TecAccess to help government, higher education and private employers deploy electronic and information technology accessibility solutions that enable employees with disabilities to contribute and succeed in the workplace. As Debra explains, “Technology is the great equalizer that allows us to look at all people as potential employees regardless of disabilities,” and TecAccess proves this to its clients every day.

With 70% of its 60-person staff comprised of individuals with disabilities, TecAccess uses itself as a case study when helping clients realize the benefits of an accessible workplace. TecAccess is also uniquely positioned to take on the challenge of developing creative accessibility solutions because its staff lives with disabilities themselves. Working and speaking from experience, the company provides testing and assessment, training, engineering, policy review and consulting for clients that need to meet Section 508 accessibility compliance or want to leverage technology to open up a whole new pool of viable job candidates. Because budgets are tight, they also offer return-on-investment reporting to help clients measure success.

Case-in-point: Rosemary Musachio, a TecAccess employee, has cerebral palsy and cannot speak or use her hands. Because of technology and a specially designed head pointer used to navigate a keyboard, Rosemary’s disabilities have not prevented her from attaining success. As a key contributor to TecAccess’ new Disabled Veterans Training Program (DVET) designed to help find high-quality jobs for our nation’s heroes, Rosemary uses her life experience coupled with tremendous writing and communication skills to both identify with and train disabled war veterans through online classrooms.

“Without advancements in technology, TecAccess could not exist,” said Debra. “Because technology has come so far, it allows us to make the impossible possible for so many people.”

If you are in the IT or accessibility industry or are interested in TecAccess’ services, please comment here or contact Debra or her staff directly.

Do Small Business Owners Need a Website?

2008-05-12T15:00:00Z

“I don’t sell products online, so I don’t need a website.” That’s a common statement heard from small business owners. But you don’t have to sell products online to benefit from having a website. Entrepreneur.com emphasizes how a web presence helps customers, potential employees, business partners and even investors be able to quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you offer.

In this vlog, Karen Dayan, Senior Marketing Manager, Microsoft Office Live Small Business discusses the importance of websites for small business owners.

View Video
Format: flv
Duration: 4:06

If you decide a website is for you (or if you already have a website and are looking to improve it), here are some resources to help you out.

SmallBizTechnology.com: 10 Website Musts
StartUpNation.com: 11 Steps to Create a Successful Website
Localna8ion.com: Your Website Should be Your Star Sales Person
Dell Small Business 360: Build a Website to Win Customers

Simplified Pricing for Vostro Laptops

2008-05-09T15:00:00Z

When we launched Vostro last year, we wanted to help simplify IT for businesses without extensive IT staffs. While simplifying the ownership and use of technology is a big part of our daily jobs on the Vostro team, part of simplifying IT is also about simplifying the purchase of Vostro systems.

As we’ve gotten to know more about what our Vostro customers want, we’ve found out that the people buying Vostro are some of our busiest customers and one thing they want is more time. We know that every minute they spend purchasing a new PC is a minute that can’t be spent on running their business. Time spent hunting for the best deal or comparing prices within the Dell website could be put to better use, and customers have told us that our pricing can sometimes be confusing or frustrating.

So this week, we launched new pricing for Vostro laptops in the US to address these issues. Here’s what you can expect from Vostro laptops:

Consistent pricing within each model. Interested in buying our new Vostro 1510? Go online and click on any of the Vostro 1510 “Customize It” links. Identically configured systems will be identically priced. This consistent pricing applies to each Vostro laptop model that we sell, so you can spend less time comparing prices within each model, and more time choosing the hardware that’s right for you.
Lower prices for the hardware that you want most. Instead of waiting for the right deal with the right hardware configuration, you can shop Vostro laptops and get great pricing every day. The upgrade from 1GB to 2GB of memory is only $25, DVD burners are $15, dual core processors are available for $25, and you can double your hard drive from 80GB to 160GB for only $30. No special deals or coupons are required to get these prices.

We hope that these changes will help speed the purchase process, provide terrific value, and let our Vostro customers get back to business. Let us know what you think, because we’re also looking to expand this pricing strategy to Vostro desktops.

Europe Vostro Keyboard Issue: What We're Doing

2008-05-08T13:44:00Z

Thanks to Flickr user Jake Gordon for alerting us to a problem with our Vostro 1310 and 1510 keyboard layout. He's the one that influenced Engadget and other blogs like Wired to write about the issue. There is no way to say it... we made a mistake and want to apologize to affected customers. I want to point out that this issue only affects some users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It should not be an issue for customers in any other region.

The pictures below will explain the issue a little more clearly. Bottom line, Jake was right on with his observations: we chose to use a larger left-Shift key than the one that commonly ships on industry-standard keyboard layouts. The backslash key was placed in its normal spot, immediately right of the Shift key. The increased width of the Shift key pushes the whole row of keys one position to the right. This is not a workable layout for touch typists.

Note: The original keyboard is on the left; the revised keyboard is on the right. Click on these images below for a larger version.

The new layout moves the backslash key to the far right of the second row from the bottom, which pushes the rest of the letter keys on that row to their traditional positions. While this location differs from some layouts, the larger left Shift key is beginning to appear on more systems there.

Here's what we're going to do: we plan to contact all affected customers, beginning today. All affected customers will receive an updated keyboard. They will have two options: we can send the keyboard and required BIOS update directly to them, or they can choose to have a field technician replace the keyboard onsite.

Swapping the keyboards is a pretty simple process. Take a look at the field service manual for the Vostro 1310 and the Vostro 1510. Soon, we'll publish a video that walks folks through the process. Update: Here's the video:

View Video
Format: flv
Duration: 5:38

Customers who don't want to wait can contact Dell directly via e-mail: emea_ts_pfr@dell.com

Please use the words Vostro Keyboard in the subject line. Here is the information we need from you in the e-mail:

Name
Daytime Phone Number
Order Number
Service Tag Number

Should Small Businesses Blog?

2008-05-07T20:00:00Z

I blogged last week about the Microsoft Office Live Vision to Venture event. In every location, local entrepreneurs were asked to participate in a panel discussion about their start up stories. Carli Kiene, Owner, inkedFingers Fotography was one of the panelists at the Austin event. Carli added a blog to her website to help stand out in the marketplace and develop relationships with her clients.
I caught up with Carli after the event for a Q&A on the benefits of blogging for small business owners:

Kelly: What are the main benefits of blogging for a small business owner?

Carli: Blogging allows me to connect with my clients on a very personal level. As a photographer, I am able to post daily my recent photographs for potential clients to view my updated work and existing clients get to know me as a friend, not just some girl taking their wedding photographs.

Kelly: How often do you blog?

Carli: I try to blog after every shoot, but when I have three shoots a weekend I can't post everyone's shoot. On average, I blog 2-3 times per week.

Kelly: How do you determine topics for blog content?

Carli: Because I am so passionate about photography, it is my goal to communicate this through every post. I want my clients (mostly brides, right now) to know that I LOVE working with them - they are fun to be around and I love photographing them. I have had potential clients tell me that they decided to book me after looking at my blog. In a photographer's case, if you're writing enough in your blog and not just posting pictures, your clients can get a feel for your great personality and that's enough to generate business.

Kelly: What blog software do you use? Is it hard to add it to your site? Is it expensive?

Carli: Blogspot hosts my blog. It's free, easy to use and quick to get started. I just inserted a link on my website to redirect people to my blog, hosted on blogspot. I have seen other business owners have an expensive site built and then incur additional costs by having a blog page added. At the same time, I have seen large, reputable companies use these free blogging sites like blogspot or typepad with no hesitation. They are fully customizable.

Kelly: What results have you seen from your blog?

Carli: Like I said, I've had clients still deciding if they would book me as their wedding photographer, look through my blog and that was their deciding factor. I had one bride who had booked me but I had not yet photographed her, and she did not know I had a blog. She said in one night she read through/viewed EVERY blog I had ever posted and it generated that much more excitement for her upcoming shot. This is the same girl after I posted her pictures on the blog, couldn't stop sending her own friends/family to take a peek and comment. That's creating enthusiastically satisfied customers, if you ask me. Will she refer her friends, bridesmaids and cousins to use me as their wedding photographer? She already has.

Kelly: Have you had to overcome any obstacles or difficulties while starting your blog?

Carli: My first couple of posts I wasn't really sure what to say. I didn't think I knew what my clients wanted to hear. But it really isn't that difficult I have learned. Clients of service-oriented businesses want to know what makes your company tick. They want to know why you are in business... do you love their job? What is your favorite coffee drink at Starbucks? If one of my bride's sees that after every bridal shoot I posted in the past on the blog I RAVE of the bride's beauty and comment on some crazy and fun occurrence during the shoot, it builds her own excitement for her bridal portraits.
Ultimately, blogging is about furthering your relationship with your clients. If they know you and you know them (or even if you are providing the perception that they are getting to know you) then they will be back. Period.

A special thanks to Carli for her time. If you want more information on starting a blog, check out John Jantsch’s article on 10 Essential Blogs Tools

Rugroden Drafting & Design: 2008 U.S. Small Business Excellence Award Finalist Profile

2008-05-06T15:01:00Z

A little over 5 years ago, Ryan Rugroden recognized the need to better leverage information technology to assist in the designing and redesigning of customers’ dream homes. Taking it upon himself to keep up with the latest in home design software, Ryan knew he could serve customers in a way that truly differentiated him from his competition. With this realization, Ryan founded Rugroden Drafting & Design.

“We don’t live in a 2D world, so why settle for a 2D house plan,” said Ryan. “I always tell my customers, you wouldn’t spend thousands of dollars on a car just by looking at the manufacturer’s plans, so why wouldn’t you also test drive your new home?”

Rugroden Drafting & Design uses Softplan, architectural design software, to turn a customer’s requests, thoughts and ideas into a fully-rendered, 3D “virtual” home with detail right down to the interior design. Ryan and his customers can sit at his computer and take a virtual walk through their future home, provide and gather feedback and see instant modifications.

Because the average consumer finds traditional house plans to be extremely complex, Ryan found an unmet need in the custom home building market. “I have found over the past 16 years of designing peoples dream homes that 95 percent of them do not fully understand a floor plan.” With this insight, Ryan has capitalized on his tech-savvy skills to cater to customers in a unique way that helps him better meet their needs, compete and grow his business.

If you are in the construction industry and have questions for Ryan or are a consumer in the market for a home drafting and design firm specializing in 3-D design, please comment here or contact Ryan directly.