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You are here: Home / Archives for business

Why gathering meaningful customer survey results can be tricky

January 12, 2012 By Jim Raffel 1 Comment

Businesses supposedly use surveys to improve their service and product offerings all the time. The question is just how accurate are these surveys? For example, an international hotel chain recently asked me to complete a survey about their frequent stayer program of which I am a member. Here's an … [Read more...]

Filed Under: customer service 101 Tagged With: business, customer satisfaction, customer survey, customer surveys, incentive, loyalty program, loyalty programs, marketing, research methods, results, statistical survey, survey results, surveys, Twitter

The 2012 Plan

January 2, 2012 By Jim Raffel 5 Comments

Planning works. A year ago, I shared The 2011 Plan and last week I shared the success story of that plan when I wrote "How to make what you write come true." Finding a planning method that works for you is, unfortunately, not so easy. I've settled on a method that combines Chris Brogan's three words … [Read more...]

Filed Under: motivation, personal development Tagged With: 2012, automate, automation, business, future, growth, management, plan, planning, problem solving, project management, success, success stories, teams, themes

G+ Brand & Business Pages – Jim Says

November 10, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

For someone who had only had about 48 hours to work with Google+ pages, Shelby covered this topic well yesterday. Today I'll focus on thoughts about the potential benefits and pitfalls of a business or brand having a Google+ Page. I'll also share some basic getting started steps that worked for me. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: she said he said Tagged With: brand, brand business, branding, business, business owner, business pages, google, Twitter

Concentrate on the bird in your hand

October 25, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

The problem with building a marketing engine that works 24/7/365 is that at some point you are going to have to filter the sales leads and business opportunities that come your way. It's not a bad problem to have but it's one you should prepare for before it hits you. My general rule of thumb is to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: motivation, personal development Tagged With: business, business opportunities, concentrate, distracted, marketing, opportunities, sales leads, stay focused

What affiliate revenue can mean to you

October 11, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

The picture with this post was taken just as the Milwaukee Brewers won game 5 of the National League Division Series. My wife and I were at games 1 and 2 of the series as well. With one child in college and another starting next fall, I'm 100 percent sure our budget would not have allowed for this … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Marketer Tagged With: affilate, affiliate marketing, affiliate revenue, affiliate sales, affiliates, business, income, revenue, sales commission

How partnering and giving things away for free leads to success

October 4, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

Recently, I signed up for the free version of TripIt. I liked the free version enough to give the Pro option a try. The first 30 days are free anyway, so my risk was zero. Then I found out that TripIt Pro is partnering with Regus Businessworld to include a year of free access at no additional cost. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Marketer Tagged With: business, grow, grow sale, partner, partnering, regus, regus businessworld, success, tripit, tripit pro

The silly and the serious

September 2, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

Running a business is serious but it doesn't mean you can't have a silly side. I'd argue that having a silly side probably makes you a better business person; especially if a big part of your day is interacting with others. Some of the most serious topics are best approached with a dose of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: personal development Tagged With: balance, behavior, business, business hour, funny one liners, office hours, serious, silly

Social Media ROI – Jim Says

August 31, 2011 By Jim Raffel 2 Comments

This week for our She Said, He Said posts we decided to tackle social media return on investment (ROI). I lead off today with my take and Shelby will follow up tomorrow. As usual tomorrow’s post will include topics for this week’s #shehechat over on Twitter at 8 p.m. CST each Thursday evening. Yes, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: she said he said, social media Tagged With: business, Facebook, gut feeling, linkedin, media consultant, roi, social media, Twitter

Writing every day makes you a better business person

August 29, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

Recently, I had to prepare three letters for the bank. As a small business owner, my personal finances are judged right alongside those of the business. As we worked to refinance our home, the bank wanted to know many of the details about my business. It required writing three separate letters to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: bank, better business, blogging, business, communication, letters, outline, personal finances, Writing

The small business lifestyle

July 20, 2011 By Jim Raffel 4 Comments

I probably have an advantage in small business that you just don't have. I grew up in a family that owned a small business. Okay, there's nothing you can do about it anymore than I can do anything about being 5 foot 6 inches tall. I'd love to be taller but it is never going to happen. I'm just not … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Small Business 101 Tagged With: business, dad, family, furniture business, lifestyle, lifestyles, paul bunyan, small business, story

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