The #1 mobile app platform worldwide
Posts tagged business apps
25 Motivational Quotations about Sales
Dec 19th
Selling through continuous rejection takes a lot of motivation. For those who need a boost today, we offer these 25 quotable quotations:
“Today is always the most productive day of your week.”
–Mark Hunter
“A goal properly set is halfway reached.”
–Abraham Lincoln
“Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman – not the attitude of the prospect.”
–W. Clement Stone
“Most people think that selling is the same as talking. But the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job.”
–Roy Bartell
“Your competition is everything else your prospect could conceivably spend their money on.”
–Dan Cooper
“You will get all you want in life if you help other people get what they want.”
–Zig Ziglar
“You have to drop your sales mentality and start working with your prospects as if they’ve already hired you.”
–Jill Konrath
“Obstacles can’t stop you. Problems can’t stop you. Most of all, other people can’t stop you. Only you can stop you.”
–Jeffrey Gitomer
“If you work just for money, you’ll never make it. But if you love what you’re doing and always put the customer first, success will be yours.”
–Ray Kroc
“Talk to unhappy customers.”
–Linda Sanford
“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
–John Wooden
“Make a customer, not a sale.”
–Katharine Barchetti
“Stop selling. Start helping.”
–Zig Ziglar
“Tough times never last, but tough people do.”
–Robert Schuller
“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’ Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.”
–Mary Kay Ash
“Confidence and enthusiasm are the greatest sales producers . . . “
–O.B. Smith
“You don’t close a sale; you open a relationship…”
–Patricia Fripp
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”
–Zig Ziglar
“Excellence is not a skill. It’s an attitude.”
–Ralph Marston
“Life’s battles don’t always go to the strongest or fastest; sooner or later those who win are those who think they can.”
–Vince Lombardi
“Take risks. If you win, you’ll be happy. If you lose, you’ll be wise.”
–Anonymous
“Business opportunities are like buses – there’s always another one coming.”
–Richard Branson
“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.”
–Zig Ziglar
“The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.”
–Henry Ford
“Goals aren’t enough. You need goals plus deadlines…”
–Ben Feldman
5 Tips for Getting Started with Content Curation
Dec 18th
A great way to make the most of your audience on the web is to participate in content curation. For those who don’t know, content curation is finding interesting items on the Web that pertain to your chosen theme, and presenting them to your audience with the goal of becoming a go-to outlet for that theme.
For example, if you want to run a curated content blog about automobile safety, you would scan the Web for news, opinions, video, and other content regarding auto recalls, accident data, accident prevention advice, and more. Becoming a go-to source for information on a particular topic takes time, but the tips below show the basic process for getting started with content creation.
Study your audience, and ask what they want
Reading sources on your chosen theme alone simply isn’t enough. At the end of the day, you need to serve an audience. For that reason, you need to figure out what topics are most interesting, what the prevailing opinions about hot issues are, and what content there isn’t enough of. Understanding these things will help you select pieces that are “where the audience wants to be,” rather than “where they are.”
You want tomorrow’s content, not yesterday’s.
Reading comments on articles and participating in forum threads will help give you a feel for these things, but you can also ask your audience directly. Post a Facebook poll, or make a blog post asking readers to leave comments about topics that interest them. That way, you’ll get it right from the horse’s mouth.
Find content, especially from little-known sources
Visit a lot of places, not just mainstream outlets, when looking for content. The major developments of the day are, of course, relevant, but if you only offer things that most people are aware of, your site won’t do well. You need to offer your own insights on things, do extra research, and find pieces that aren’t getting the attention they deserve.
Do that, and your blog becomes irreplaceable.
Don’t share everything
Just like your visits to the doctor’s office, you don’t want to share everything you learn with others. Indeed, this is the “curation” part of the project. Don’t be a glorified RSS feed – select the more interesting and informative pieces, and share those only. The Internet is a vast sea of garbage. One of the most valuable services you can perform is to sift through it and find the worthwhile pieces of content. If you have a reputation for quality, people will gladly read your site over outlets that favor the “shotgun” approach.
Add value
There are lots of formats for sharing content – your site doesn’t just have to be a linkroll. You can organize information, annotate it, add your two cents, and more. Add value, don’t just be a mechanical repeater of content. The more robust your treatment of the topic becomes, the more authoritative your outlet will be.
Study other curators
Find other content curators (from any niche) that you enjoy and study them. What do they do right? What do they do wrong? Analyzing your own work can be hard to do objectively, but studying the work of others will yield a wealth of tips about how to run your own site. Keep an eye on the best curators out there, and you’ll never be far behind.
Good luck!
How Small Businesses Plan To Boost Sales Via Mobile This Holiday Season
Dec 17th
Thanks to a new survey from Ink from Chase, we’ve gotten an interesting look into the plans of small business owners for the holidays and the coming year. The findings show where small businesses plan to focus their efforts, and also show what strategies are expected to become more popular in the coming year. Here are a few of the more interesting facts:
Not everyone starts holiday promotions early.
Only a third of small businesses are running holiday promotions that start on or before Thanksgiving. Apparently, the desire to boost revenue is still outweighed by the desire to keep the holiday season extending beyond Thanksgiving (keep fighting the good fight, people!).
Preparing for the holidays.
Almost half of small businesses increase inventory in preparation for the holidays, an obvious and necessary strategy. Interestingly, however, about a fifth will increase their social media activity as well. Online strategies are an extraordinarily cost-effective way to reach people, and when winter weather drives people inside, online activity can only increase, right?
Are things looking up this year?
Only 34% of small business owners think that this holiday season will be better than the one before. The optimists from this group think that expanded marketing efforts and offerings will drive the increase, as well as new consumer demand.
Fortunately, we don’t need to wait for next year to find out whether these folks are right or not. As we’ve recently reported in other posts, the optimists are correct, at least as mobile commerce is concerned. Sales through smartphone-enabled websites are up a mind-blowing 258%, as compared to last year! If the respondents of the survey want this holiday season to be merrier than the last, a little mobile website or app in their business’s stocking just might be the answer.
As a last note, small business owners are feeling quite generous this year, with 71% planning to spend extra on employee gifts and celebrations. All we can say is, we wish all small businesses a prosperous new year, so that next time around, the number is closer to 100%!
6 Sales Tips to Help You Land More Clients
Dec 16th
People are always looking for ways to get better at selling. After all, developing your sales skills is as good as money in the bank! But for every good piece of sales advice out there, there are two crazy or downright wrong ones.
Here are six classic sales tips that won’t let you down.
1. Get criticism
Either record yourself and review the video, or have someone watch your pitch and critique it. This way, you’ll get a clear look at how your pitch is received, and some mannerisms you might not be aware of. The best sales pitches are natural and delivered without artifice, and criticism will help you root out the behaviors and words that you might think are solid gold, but that are actually hurting your sales pitches.
Be honest with yourself, and be open to change, and your pitch will continually improve. And so will your conversion rate!
2. Study your product
Many salespeople know what they want to say about their product, and leave it at that. But the best salespeople keep up with studying their product and industry. This can mean reading reviews, catching up on innovations, testing competing offerings, and more.
In short, be a master of your topic.
This will help you in several ways: 1) you’ll rarely be surprised in a sales meeting, 2) you’ll rarely be without a response to a prospect’s comment, and 3) you’ll understand the true value of your offering. All of these things will help you sell more effectively.
3. Focus on the prospect
Sales is a performance, but the star of the show isn’t you – it’s the prospect! Be keenly attuned to how they react to your pitch, and tailor your pitch to what interests them. Don’t bowl them over with points that you think are stellar. Instead, have a two-way conversation driven by their needs. And don’t use canned re-directions that take the conversation back to your favorite points. Put yourself in their shoes and actually work to solve their problems. If you can, you’ll probably make a sale.
4. Ask for honest feedback
If they show you the door and don’t seem interested, ask for a candid reason why. Tell them your feelings won’t be hurt, and you want to make your offering better in the future. Often, a prospect will use a cover reason to end things neatly. Ask for the ugly truth, and no presentation will ever be a total loss. You’ll walk out with valuable, useful information, more often than not.
5. Don’t get discouraged
When trying to sell, you’ll suffer a ton of rejection, unfortunately. But you’ll have to thicken your skin and be ready to keep pushing on. Sales is a numbers game – if you contact enough prospects, you’ll eventually find people who are interested in your offering. And if you contact a huge amount of prospects over time, in the end, you’ll have a successful business!
6. No tricks
Instead of finding clever ways to coerce people into saying, “Yes,” make them actually want to say “Yes.” This means figuring out how to actually demonstrate the value of your offering to various prospects. Get rid of the gimmicks, and focus on solving problems.
That’s a winning approach.
5 New Marketing Trends Small Businesses Should Be Aware of in 2014
Dec 14th
Out with the old, in with the new!
No one knows what the future holds, but if we look at trends that are in motion today, we can often get a bit of a preview. Many times, people will discuss trends one at a time, but for this post, we thought it would be interesting to discuss opposing trends two at a time. Each of the forces described below are part of the push and pull that will influence small business marketing significantly in the coming year.
New: Live-streaming remotely
Old: Face-to-face
New technology has made it incredibly convenient to live-stream events to your target market. This lets people become a part of your events in real time no matter where they are. But at the same time, people are also reacting to an increasingly technological, impersonal world by wanting to have more authentic, in-person experiences without the intermediation of technology.
When it comes to marketing, the answer will be to cater to both groups. Don’t use technology to screen yourself off from customers and pursue online-only marketing. Offer the personal touch where possible to keep the human element intact.
New: Everything on demand
Old: Slow, handcrafted
Nowadays, people want things instantaneously. Unfortunately, if your company expects patience from its customers, you soon won’t have any. This doesn’t apply universally, however. Many consumers are willing to embrace delayed gratification when the quality of the ultimate product or service is high, or is from a small, local provider. The key, essentially, is to deliver an added benefit if you’re going to do things in a consciously slow manner.
If you choose this approach to your business, you may want to experiment with including that fact in your marketing materials. In an era where everyone is touting how fast they can get things done, the slow, traditional company sometimes can still win out.
New: Content marketing
Old: Direct marketing
Uploading how-to videos, posting guides to your blog, and other forms of content marketing are fairly effective ways to generate new business. Being overly spammy and shilly, however, can turn off your audience. This means that sometimes, it’s better to focus on direct marketing, rather than trying to be cute and hiding the ball. Keep a close eye on how your marketing efforts are received, and focus on what works best for your business.
New: Data analysis
Old: Intuition
It’s possible to capture more information about your business than ever before. But getting too caught up in making all decisions by data analysis can be harmful to your business. Sometimes, data is misleading. And computers don’t always have the feel for a situation that a person does. While you’re exploring all that becomes possible with innovative marketing data analysis in 2014, don’t forget that an algorithm can’t tell you everything. It’s a tool, just like any other, and should be used wisely.
New: Mobile
Old: Online
Nothing is restraining the mobile trend right now – people are increasing their usage of mobile devices every day as limitations are eliminated and obstacles are removed. They’re spending more time browsing, shopping, socializing, and doing everything that can be done with a computer, on their mobile devices. As this trend continues to expand in 2014, focus your marketing efforts on the mobile web and mobile apps, and you’ll be riding a rising tide.
5 Mobile Predictions For Small Businesses To Watch in 2014
Dec 12th
2013 was the year that mobile reached the tipping point in terms of digital marketing priority for small businesses. Strategies targeted towards desktop users are still quite relevant, but new initiatives should now ideally be “mobile first.” The continued migration of users to mobile devices shows no signs of stopping, and the trend lines show that the future of digital marketing will be mainly mobile. Accordingly, here are five safe, non-controversial predictions about things to watch and take advantage of in the increasingly mobile world of 2014.
1. More mobile searching
Now that a majority of searches are coming from mobile users in many contexts and on many platforms, small businesses have to cater to those users to avoid falling off the digital map. This means that a mobile-optimized website is a must, but also means that mobile ads will continue to hit more eyeballs and lead to better returns.
These points are especially important for small businesses, because a large percentage of mobile searches are for local businesses – more than desktop searches, certainly. Small businesses that are mobile-friendly are capturing prospects that are, more often than not, ready to come in for a local visit and spend some dough.
2. Bigger demand for mobile video
A great way to drive engagement and conversions with mobile users is to create video. Video represents a huge percentage of mobile traffic, and not just because the files are so large – video is fun! Use video on your website and social media accounts, and you’ll deepen the relationship with customers and draw in prospects.
3. More consumers shopping via mobile
Users have made the jump to shopping via mobile devices, especially tablets. If your app doesn’t offer mobile shopping, you’re almost certainly missing out on revenue. You don’t have to do it today, but put it on your to-do list: incorporate mobile shopping in 2014. Your bottom line will thank you!
4. Growing comfort with mobile payments
In-person mobile payments have replaced credit cards at a lot of leading retailers and businesses (Starbucks, Walgreens), and eventually, small businesses will need to follow suit. This change will likely take place over a long period of time, but don’t be surprised if customers in 2014 start to ask whether you have a mobile payment option. Carrying cash has declined markedly over the years in favor of credit cards. But no payment method is exempt from the forces of technological advancement, and many users are now looking to skip plastic and tap payments out on mobile devices.
5. A wealth of geolocation apps
Checking in was only the beginning. Now, loads of apps are providing inventive ways for users to find new businesses and events, provide social referrals, have fun with enhanced reality games, and more. The upshot for small businesses will be to make the greatest use of the newest geolocation-enabled apps so that, wherever users are in the mobileverse, there’s a chance that your business will pop up for them.
Mobile presents more opportunities than ever before. If you want cost-effective revenue growth, mobile is the way to do it.
4 Steps to Ensure Consistently Excellent User Experience in Mobile Apps
Dec 10th
A bad user experience (UX) is instant death for a mobile app.
The majority of mobile apps downloaded have low utilization rates and wind up in the trash, and bad UX is one of the main reasons why. But there’s some good news: creating a quality user experience is not that complicated. There are some simple guidelines that can make a world of difference when it comes to creating a useful app that, at the very least, ensure that your app won’t be instantly closed and uninstalled seconds after the first launch.
Think mobile first
If your app is already available online, or in some other incarnation, look at the mobile version as a chance to start fresh. Begin with a blank canvas: what do mobile users want most? How can you give it to them in as few steps as possible? How can you pare down and streamline other features? By thinking through these questions, you’ll make decisions about what features matter, which is key to a good mobile UX.
The little screen doesn’t have a lot of room for loads of tabs, features, and text. Instead, the best way to design an app is to focus on a single function and create everything around that. Obviously, this won’t be ideal for every app, and instead a handful of features will be made available. Still, the point of the exercise applies to all mobile apps: less is more.
Be simple and fast
This ties into the above point. Your app should be streamlined, simple, and speedy. At each screen, available options should be limited and clearly presented so that navigation is straightforward. People have been trained to be quite impatient with digital solutions. On mobile devices, this impatience is ruthless. If things are unclear or take too long to load, the app is toast.
Make it simple, make it quick, and you’ll be off to a good start.
Value should be easy to understand
By now you can see that everything on mobile revolves around simplicity. Another outgrowth of this central principle is that the value your app brings should be very easy to understand and acquire. Don’t hide the ball, and don’t expect users to spend a lot of time getting acclimated to your app. Deliver your value front and center, then design everything around it, so users don’t get lost.
Study analytics and feedback, and change over time
Apps are living things. After launch, it is essential to see what tabs and functions users prefer, where and when they use your app, how long they use it for, what actions they take, etc. It’s also very valuable to check out user feedback. If users are upset, they’ll tell you exactly why, and you’ll have your work cut out for you.
Make the necessary changes, and then continue to measure and evaluate your app. Over time, it will become a finely tuned machine that does just what users want it to do. If you don’t get that right, nothing else really matters.
Conclusion
Basically, all of this advice about UX boils down to putting the users first. Your own goals are obviously important, but if you focus on them too much, you’ll actually hurt them because your app will suffer. Take care of the users, and they’ll take care of you.
How mobile apps can make restaurants more efficient
Dec 9th
Some restaurant owners might view a mobile app as a project they simply don’t have time to take on. We think it’s the opposite way, however – a restaurant can’t afford not to have a mobile app. Why? The efficiency and profitability gains are just too good! Read on to find out how mobile apps can make a restaurant run more smoothly and generate additional revenue.
Mobile orders
When customers can submit orders through your mobile app, you cut down on lines, wait times, and employee order taking. By removing the human element, you can also reduce errors in orders, and make it easier to record special requests and boost customer satisfaction.
Also, as an added bonus, the average order price goes up with mobile orders! This is due to a number of reasons. First, people have all the time they want to decide – there’s no rush at the counter to submit an order. Second, upsells can be set up automatically, making it easy to suggest natural add-ons that customers might not think of on their own.
The result is bigger, more profitable orders that come in to your restaurant automatically!
Promotions
When a customer has a mobile app downloaded on their phone, you can use push notifications to send them messages about special deals and events. This opens up a cost-effective new avenue for promotions, and makes marketing a lot more efficient. You may not do away with the expense of mailers or circular ads completely, but mobile promotions will still provide an unbeatable bang for your buck.
Referrals
Mobile apps make it easy for customers to refer friends through features that allow users to post to Facebook or tweet about orders. This helps you generate new business without any additional effort or cost. It doesn’t get more efficient than that!
Loyalty programs
With a mobile loyalty program, you can offer a way for customers to earn rewards without having to remember to bring in a punch card. Mobile technology means that customers never miss out on rewards, and administration of your program becomes easy and efficient.
Reservations
Mobile reservations are a must. They cut down on employee phone time, and give customers a way to make reservations, cancel if needed, and handle everything without having to yell over a busy restaurant. Time is saved and operations get that much more efficient.
Mobile apps can make life a lot easier at your restaurant, but you can’t enjoy the benefits if you don’t have one created! To learn more about how easy it can be to have your own restaurant app, click here.
App of the Week – Hail Merry
Dec 5th
This week, our featured app is the Hail Merry app. Who or what is Hail Merry? That’s easy! The company makes delicious and healthy refrigerated desserts that cater to diets of all kinds – dairy-free, low glycemic, kosher, etc. – and they do it all using pure, mostly organic, non-GMO ingredients.
(Oh yeah, the product tastes amazing, too. Nice bonus, right?)
The delectables include Miracle Tarts, macaroons, tasty seasoned nuts and seeds, and something called Grawnola. Hail Merry has won awards, been on TV, and is available in big-time chains and through big-time partnerships.
And now, thanks to Bizness Apps, Hail Merry is on your phone!
Here’s why you need to get the app:
• You can get exclusive app-only recipes and lifestyle tips
• You can enjoy special coupons
• You can get help finding Hail Merry products in stores
• You can submit product orders
• You can learn how to transform your body through nutrition
• And more!
Grab it, but remember: once you taste the goods, you won’t be able to go back!
Check it out, here.
Holiday Sales are Through the Roof at Smartphone-Friendly Websites
Dec 4th
According to recent data from Branding Brand regarding Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales, about a third of all e-commerce traffic over the holiday came from smartphones. While this may not sound like a lot, the year-over-year gains are what we found most striking.
Smartphone sales are skyrocketing, and are on pace to dominate the market in the very near future. Consider some of the Black Friday increases on smartphone-optimized sites from last year to this year:
• Visits were up 76%
• Views were up 88%
• Average order value was up 22%
• Mobile sales increased 187%
187 percent! The Thanksgiving Day increases were also staggering:
• Visits were up 69%
• Page views were up 103%
• Average order value was up 16%
• Mobile sales were up 258%
258%. We can’t even put an exclamation point on that one. It’s an absurd increase. Mobile device shopping is exploding in popularity, and these numbers show just how drastic the changes are.
Good for mobile sellers, I guess. Why should the average small business owner care?
These data show that it’s more valuable than ever before to offer mobile-optimized sales. With easy-to-implement mobile stores, the profit potential has become much more attractive than in past years. For many small business owners, the idea of offering a mobile store was once a costly proposition that offered little return. Now, the above figures show that generating a significant amount of revenue via the mobile platform has become a lot easier.
There are two forces driving these changes: 1) user behavior and 2) the availability of solutions.
As for user behavior, when only a small segment of the consumer market was shopping via mobile, it simply wasn’t worth it to cater to them. Now, with users flocking to mobile stores and huge volumes of transactions happening on mobile platforms, the critical mass is there. And if trends continue, the majority of online shoppers (or perhaps just “shoppers”) will soon be making purchases via mobile.
As for the availability of solutions, creating and managing a mobile store once required major IT expenditures, took lots of time to implement, and was difficult to maintain and control. Now, there are cost-effective solutions that can be set up and configured in record time, like Bizness Apps!
The mobile sales revolution is definitely here. And if you want to join in the fun before this holiday season is over, we can absolutely help.
