Facebook for Small Businesses

Cressida Johns Uncategorised

Love it or loathe it – of all the available social media sites, Facebook is the most popular for small business owners wanting to grow their business (even if they don’t use it for personal reasons) – and with good reason. For one, there are over a billion people each day using Facebook. For another, most small businesses are keen to promote themselves within their local area and Facebook is perfect for that. All that said, the people at Facebook don’t make it easy for you. They introduce new algorithms seemingly every day to make it very difficult to grow a business for free through their site. Don’t be put off by this though, Facebook is still an invaluable tool to grow your business once you understand a little on how it all works….and that’s what I’m here for……keep on reading…. How to get started If you don’t already use …

Handling Objections

Cressida Johns Uncategorised

  Handling Objections Don’t be frightened of objections – this is a completely natural part of the process and should be expected.  Your client isn’t being negative – 9 times out of 10 they are actually just asking for more information or a bit more time.  At the same time, when they are giving an objection it’s a critical time to listen to what they are saying. Knowing how to handle objections when a potential customer is genuinely interested in….or doesn’t understand and would benefit from…your product/service is one thing – pushing and pushing someone who is clearly not interested at this time is both fruitless and will give you no chance of getting their business in the future. It’s just as important to know when it’s time to back off. Here are some of the most common objections and how to respond. ‘It’s too expensive = ‘Tell me why …

The Importance of Having a Business Plan

Cressida Johns Uncategorised

  The Importance of Having a Business Plan I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve referenced business planning when working with clients.  As you may be wondering what all the fuss is about I thought I’d put together this article to focus entirely on the reason a business plan is so damn important. When I asked my college professor what all the big deal with business planning was he relayed to me a scene from Alice in Wonderland and it really stuck with me (not least because I’ve always loved Alice in Wonderland). “Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to” said the Cat “I don’t much care where-” said Alice “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go” said the Cat Without a plan you are guiding a …

An Introduction to Social Media

Cressida Johns Uncategorised

  An Introduction to Social Media Love it or loathe it, social media is a big part of life these days and unfortunately it therefore also has a place in the marketing strategy for your business even if you don’t use it personally. It probably doesn’t seem that long ago since email and broadband was introduced – it really wasn’t THAT long ago!  Now we have social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, Bebo, Pinterest…..the list seems endless! I’m not even going to bother quoting any stats on here as by the time you’ve read this sentence the data will be out of date! There are so MANY social media sites, how are you supposed to know what is used for what and which would be better for your business and reaching your customers?  You need to consider what type of business you have, and what type …