FEATURES and BENEFITS of your Business

"The smallest deed is greater than grandest intention".  Patti Labelle

FEATURES and BENEFITS of your Business

Your potential customers need to know the Features and Benefits of your business. When preparing advertising or marketing materials for your business be sure to stress the Benefits more than the Features.

What is the difference between Features and Benefits? Features are a description of your product. Benefits are how it will impact your customer and why they should choose your product or service. Let's pick a couple of products as examples: Yard Cards/ Lawn Displays and Window Coverings.

YARD DISPLAYS

FEATURES: 5-6 ft. colorful Yard Signs, Personalized message sign, Critters in the yard like Flamingos, Buzzards, Grad Caps, Smilies and other fun creatures or props. 

BENEFITS:

"Make a friend happy with a unique early morning surprise in the yard", "Let the whole neighborhood know of your Graduate's Big Day!”,“Surprise a new Mom with a Stork in the Yard” Announce the New Baby” “Celebrate that BIG birthday with a Yard Card” "Welcome someone home from the Military".  You will make your friend or family smile and afford them recognition by creating a very visual memory.  We work with you to make the special occasion one of joy for the recipient with a wonderful Lawn Display.  Your Surpise will NEVER be forgotten!

WINDOW COVERINGS

FEATURES:

The blinds are made of durable wood and come in different sizes and colors. The curtains are made with quality fabric and you can choose the fabric, the size and the color.

BENEFITS

The blinds will allow you to have sunshine in your home during the day and privacy at night when the blinds are closed.  They are easy to open and close and you can choose different styles to meet your needs.  Our rpices are competitive and we do our best to meet all ofyour needs.

Drapes or curtains add color and beauty to your room and can complement furniture and accessories in the room. You can decorate around your curtains or blinds or pick your color theme of furniture and then chose your blinds. The fabric helps quiet excess noise in the room.

The point is:  People are more interested in the benefit to them and or the recipient than they are hearing about a long description of your product. In the Celebration Lawn Greetings business, it is all about recognizing people and offering a new type of "social expression"!

This idea can be applied to almost any business. When you describe your business, be sure you are telling the person about what your product will do for them, rather than all of the details regarding your product or service!

"You can’t be a success in any business without believing it is the greatest business in the world.  You have to put your heart in the business and the business in your heart." Thomas Watson, Sr

WE LOVE YOUR COMMENTS!

Marty Miller; Entrepreneur, Busines Owner & Coach, Writer & Artist 

www.yardcarddirectory.com/

www.homeandhealthtips.com/

SPRING into BUSINESS

Spring is a great time to start a business and to rework and market your business!  There seems to be a surge in energy and excitement in the Springtime.

"When Spring is dancing among the hills, one should not stay in a little dark corner"
Kahlil Gibran


A. INTERNET Marketing:  First and Foremost make your presence known on the Internet. (More on internet marketing later). Have your website on Directories that reflect the industry that you are in --sometimes if these are high in the search engines it will help your position and people can find you. (ie. Yard Card Industry  www.yardcarddirectory.com    These Directories are available for many businesses and sometimes will have business Start-Ups if you are searching in your area of interest.

B. START NETWORKING:  Since Networking is so important to ANY business, here are a few tips when going to a business meeting, luncheon or just an informal gathering. There are numerous Small Business Organizations in most cities.
1. Arrive early--that gives you a chance to move around and talk with several people.2. ALWAYS ask about the other person and repeat their name back to them such as "Susan, what you do sounds so interesting" It helps you remember the person's name by repeating it & gives a compliment.3. If there are name tags--wear it on the right, so it seen when shaking hands.4. Concentrate on one person at a time and wrap up conversation graciously, so you may move on to another.5. Work on a "tag line" or "memory hook" which tells about your business in the fewest words, but has an impressive impact.6. Drop a note or postcard to those you have met or make a quick phone call saying how nice it was to meet them.7. Be consistent about attendance at the organizations you have chosen. Usually people must become well acquainted with you before they are interested in your product or service.8. Send Thank You postcards to customers and also to anyone who has given you a referral. Referrals can be thanked by email although receiving actual mail is nice these days.


Prepared by Marty Miller, past President of 2 large business organizations in the Denver Metro area, who has delivered presentations on this subject.


"Some people dream about success, and others wake up and do something about it"

HAPPY SPRING!   Marty Miller, Former Business Owner, Writer, Blogger, Artist
http://www.homeandhealthtips.com/

Blogging on your Business

BLOGGING About Your Business

When you start a website you must first make sure that you have a passion, product or service that will be interesting to people. Research the other websites in your area of interest. If you are unsure of what you might want to start as a website, try blogging until you decide what you are truly passionate about. You might set up a http://www.blogger.com/ account, which is free. Start blogging about some of your passions; whether it be art, music, health, people or a business you already have or one you wish to start. As you blog, you may find a certain subject, product or service that is really interesting to you or one that you already have that consumers find interesting.

Make a list of domain names that you would like to use. They should be relevant to the subject of your Website. (i.e.) http://www.yardcarddirectory.com// refers to a US and Canada Directory for those in the Lawn Display and Yard Sign business. You can easily search for domain names by typing in "domain name search" in the search area. You have several options of registering your website name – either as a dot.com, a dot. net or a dot. org. The dot.com is the most common, dot.net is more for business and dot .org is for organizations, profit or non-profits. If you are able to secure the website name you wish in a dot.com, that is best for the average website.

One of the best Sites to visit if you are learning is Lisa Irby's website at: http://www.2createawebsite.com/.

Once you decide that you are headed in the right direction, then you need to research how to start a website.

There are many possibilites. You may have a hosting company that sets everything up for you, or you may wish to try something like www.snapmonkey.com where you can make changes or updates whenever you wish for the same monthly charge.

"The more places you are seen, the better you are recognized."

Marty Miller,  Entrepreneur, Writer, Artist, Blogger 

ROLES and GOALS --Starting 2012

ROLES and GOALS

A good way to start the new year is to define your Roles and set your Goals.

Take a sheet of paper and make a small column for ROLES and a larger area for GOALS.

In the ROLES column put things relating to you such as Mother, Husband, Business Person, Volunteer

In the GOALS area put Short Term (maybe a week or month) and Long term ( maybe 6 months or a year)

Examples:
ROLE: Mother
GOAL: Spend 1/2 hr. with each child individually each day.

ROLE: Spouse
GOAL: Plan at least one "couple" activity per week

ROLE: Business Owner
GOAL: 20% more sales or rentals for the month, send Thank You Notes, check Inventory 
Start an Advisory Board, keep better records. Join Business Clubs, Leads Clubs, Start your own group of business owners, whether you are a large or small business.

ROLE: YOU
GOAL: Spend 1/2 hr. each day reading, praying, excercising, Relaxing--something just for YOU!

These are all things for TIME MANAGEMENT and for LIFE BALANCE. Each person's sheet will be different. This is helpful in creating in putting your priorities in order. Things can change, so you may need to review monthly.

The following site has some great articles and insight into daily living. http://www.spiritualwealth.com/

Hope this help in the start of your new year! Please comment!

AND--there will always be things that prevent you from accomplishing your goals.  I broke my Femur in late Aug and my husband and I moved to AZ in December, which has put me way behind in business, but life goes on and Roles and Goals do change!

"Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is.
The way you cope with it is what makes the difference."


Marty Miller; Business Owner, Artist, Writer
http://www.homeandhealthtips.com/       (which is in need of updating)

Selling Your Business

"You can’t be a success in any business without believing it is the greatest business in the world. You have to put your heart in the business and the business in your heart." Thomas Watson, Sr

SELLING YOUR BUSINESS

When it comes time to sell your business, it is hard in so many ways. Some of the things that need to be done to sell your business are:

•  Come up with a marketable, fair price
•  Decide if you want to sell your name and your website
•  Decide how and where to advertise
•  Come up with a training or consulting plan
•  Find a buyer you feel can represent your Company
•  Find something you enjoy doing to fill the temporary void following the sale

It can be done. I just sold my “Lawn Expressions” business of 21 years. This business was something I loved and a social expression that made people happy-- putting up celebration signs as a Lawn Display for special occasions. Each time I created and painted a new yard card, it was such a joy to rent these to my customers. It was time for me to sell and retire from this business, even though selling the business that I started and enjoyed for so many years is difficult. Luckily I found the perfect family to continue making Lawn Expressions a very unique and special business.

The new Owners AMY & DEREK were recent customers of mine and loved the idea of this type of business. Both of them and their young family will continue to make others happy with this business in the Denver area.

The new Lawn Expressions contact information is Phone # is 720-556-1250
Email: amy@lawnexpressions.com
Website: www.lawnexpressions.com/
I will continue writing this Business Blog and hope that others in this business or ANY business will benefit from the different Blog about Business!
"There are exactly as many special occasions in life as we choose to celebrate." ~Robert Brault

Sincerely,
Marty Miller; Entrepreneur, Business Consultant, Artist & Blogger
www.homeandhealthtips.com/

ADVERTISING & MARKETING your Business

ADVERTISING and MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS

"You can’t be a success in any business without believing it is the greatest business in the world. You have to put your heart in the business and the business in your heart." Thomas Watson, Sr

Summer is a GREAT time to market your business. Advertising and Marketing are two different ways of promoting your business, along with Networking.

Advertising is things like is usually done in: Newspapers, magazines, television, radio, telephone book or promotionals. Donating a Sign or Display for a large event can be both advertising and marketing, particularly if you are present at the event "marketing" your product or services.

Marketing is usually where YOU are physically present like: LEADS Groups, Chamber of Commerce groups, Local Business Clubs, School or Church clubs, Business forums and Advisory Boards. (small group of business people who share Accomplishmetnsanother subject we will address later). The advantage to MARKETING is that you are socializing and selling yourself along with your product/service. People who Market their product or service will do much better in business. People like to do business with someone they know. You will also get support from others who run small businesses if you are in a business group environment.

The INTERNET is now the BEST way of both advertising and marketing, even though you are not physically present. People want the convenience of getting things instantly, so more consumers use the Internet, rather than phone books or print media. However there is still a segment of society that do not use the Internet and rely on Print media.

The best advise is to try different ways of advertising and marketing and find which works best for you and your particular business.

Marty Miller, Business Owner, Entrepreneur     http://www.lawnexpressions.com/     www.yardcarddirectory.com/
www.homeandhealthtips.com/

"You are never fully dressed until you wear a smile!"

SUMMER SALE for Yard Card Business

"Ambition is the path to success.  Persistance is the vehicle you arrive in".  William Eardley

If this is your first visit to this blogsite, please peruse the many business issues that have been featured for those who are serious about making their business a SUCCESS!

For Great business advice and ideas on blogging, websites and creating a succesful business visit www.2createawebsite.com/

"Doing business without advertising is like winking at a someone in the dark. YOU know what you are doing, but no one else does." Stewart Britt


Marty Miller   http://www.yardcarddirectory.com/