Have you ever went to a restaurant and seen a box to insert your business card and win something free? Did you know that this is actually a great networking tool?

Try it. Go to a restaurant and ask them if you might put one of these boxes up. Offer to win a free lunch at the restaurant. You now have information to dozens of potential business clients or partners. This is a great way to network and meet new people.

I can’t express how important customer service is. Here are two personal and recent experiences on customer service and how they made me feel about the company:

We recently went to a very popular restaurant in Las Vegas for lunch. We eat at this restaurant all the time and we were not suprised to be seated quickly as they are not usually busy during the day. We sat at our table for fifteen minutes without one person stopping by to get drinks or ask how we were doing. There were plenty of servers around and plenty of people were getting their food and drinks. Being very hungry and tired of being ignored I went up to the hostess and told her that I had been at the table for a significant amount of time without acknowledgment. She said she would take care of that right away. I went back to the table and within a minute had a server at our table. She said she was sorry and that she isn’t the normal server but would comp our drinks and have a manager come to our table. The manager did come to the table and apologized. We told him it was alright our current server was taking care of us. When the bill came we were very suprised to see that the restaurant comped our entire meal. This was a complete suprise to us because we didn’t complain. We just wanted to be acknowledged. We have since gone back quite a few times and had outstanding service. Continue »

Here are six quick sales tips that really make the difference.

1. Send out at least five hand written notes each month. Send a note to anyone. This could include customers, someone who helps you make a sale, prospects and new assocaites.
2. Always smile when speaking on the phone. Try putting a mirror in front of you when you are on a phone call. Make sure that you are smiling during the entire call, the other person will be able to tell the difference.
3. Make sure you are devoting enough time to your business. Time yourself if you need to.
4. Make goals. These goals should be reasonable and achievable. With my first business I made a goal to increase my profit each month by a simple five percent. My first month in business I made a little over $102. The second month I made $304. That was almost a 300% increase. The goal was easily achieved as I only needed to make about $108 the second month.
5. Spend your first fifteen minutes every day prioritizing your plan for the day. Make a ‘To Do List’ and stick to it. this should be the first thing you do each day.
6. Spend the next fifteen minutes relaxing. Read a book or listen to a CD. This will increase your productivity because it relaxes your mind and body.