What type of entrepreneur are you? Our virtual team has worked with many types of entrepreneurs over the years. We’re not so sure they’ve covered everyone in this awesome infographic… We all have a genius ability or special skill that inspires us.
Are you a different type of entrepreneur that can’t be classified (or hasn’t been yet)?
Let us know in the comments section! We’d love to hear from you…
Ready to take the next step to grow your business? Schedule a no-obligation Discovery Call now or download our free report on 101 Ways a Virtual Team Will Grow Your Business from the right sidebar. ——–>
If you’re a business owner, marketer or conduct any business in Canada, you’re undoubtedly aware of the proposed changes to Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL).
CASL prohibits the sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages (CEMs) without prior consent of the recipient and provides rules regarding the manner in which such messages may be sent. The legislation is expected to come into force in late 2013.
The legislation imposes significant monetary penalties for the sending of unsolicited CEMs, the alteration of transmission data, and the unauthorized installation of computer programs. Financial penalties range up to $1 million for an individual and up to $10 million for a business per violation.
On January 5, Industry Canada released its newest version of the proposed regulations, accepting comments until February 4.
For the past month, businesses and groups from across the country have been expressing their concerns by taking action with a campaign against the legislation.
Though we can all agree that excessive spam is not a good thing, businesses are concerned about the strict requirements, costs to implement and hefty fines for mistakes.
For more information, review the full proposed law and the official site.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has taken a hard stance against the legislation and provided a summary of the law and action you can take.
Though it’s past the deadline to submit comments to Industry Canada, you can still contact your member of parliament.
What do you think about the CASL? Let us know in the comments section.
What does Abe Lincoln the Vampire Hunter have to do with my business?
First off, not my typical movie genre choice, but it was/is for my young companion, so I watched this movie a couple of weeks ago. The strength of character has not left my mind so I felt compelled to write about it.
There were two things really stand out for me in this movie. (WARNING: Spoilers may be ahead, if you haven’t seen it…)
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, discovers vampires are planning to take over the United States. He makes it his mission to eliminate them.
For me, and I bet many reading this post, going through a few exercises about vision, mission, genius ability, etc, I have answered what I hate and yet knew it was not exactly the right answer. When I stay with the question, it gets refined, the struggle is released and the AHA appears, and most importantly the tree or vampire goes down.
Things got easier for me when I really focused on what I love about my business, about the possibilities to help other entrepreneurs. It became easier to attract a team of entrepreneurs to deliver services (their genius abilities), to support our clients. And it became easier to attract ideal clients who knew what they were good at and where they wanted support. It became easier to tell our story.
To Your Success!
Gary
P.S. One of my goals in life is to live with ease, both personally and professionally. I wish the same for you.
© Gary Evans, Chief Growth Officer
This infographic visually displays the need for a strong lead management system within any company, to ensure your leads don’t turn into ‘the Walking Dead’.
DemGen stands for Demand Generation, both literally and in our principles.
Lead management is an essential factor for every successful business. It covers the full customer life cycle from lead generation, to nurturing, to actually making the sale.
The art of selling begins with you generating leads and bring them into your funnel, but then what? If you’re jumping straight to a sales pitch, you may be lowering your odds of closing. Not all leads are ready to buy immediately.
Here at DemGen, we have various automated systems to nurture and educate our prospects, such as our daily quotes and newsletter, but know nothing replaces the human touch.
Your prospects and clients want to feel cared for. They want to know you understand them, any questions to be answered and to trust you. They want a real relationship with who anyone they choose to work with.
Many of our clients come to us after realizing this. They have working strategies for lead generation to bring in new prospects, but have forgotten to consider what to do with those prospects once they’re in the funnel.
The human touch helps to optimize the sales and marketing funnel by scaling and qualifying leads.
Be sure to track and analyze every click, from email campaigns, to web site visits, to downloads and utilize a robust CRM system to keep it all organized.
This will help you to track your hot leads and know what conversation to have. There is a wealth of data you can collect to ensure you’re calling at the right time, with the right message.
Using the right technology, systems and strategies can help to make the lead management process more efficient, but will never replace a good, old fashioned human touch.
© DemGen Inc.
There are many classes in many societies. And over the centuries “the creative class” has been viewed with a mixed attitude. Certainly some highs, yet probably more lows. Then there’s the whole what is the definition of the creative class, again I’d say many interpretations. I haven’t researched this over time or even looked into the cursory viewpoint from the top Google picks. This is simply my impression.
To me, the modern day “creative class” is someone who creates. This can be books, art, dance, photography, music, architecture and business. Something that can be appreciated, viewed, consumed by another. Then there’s the whole “valuation” of the creative piece: why are some painting worth $5. While others are $5,000,000, same for books or anything else. Same goes for information marketers with product launches, some (many) flop while others consistently earn “reportedly” in the millions.
A few questions to spark your creative outlet in business:
Is the art, book, information better? Or is it the packaging or rather the art of packaging, promoting and marketing? More questions than answers here. My sense is that if it comes from the heart, versus being forced or coerced in some way, you will find your audience just as they will find you and respond positively.
So in business, are you creating from the heart? Are you expressing your authentic skills and creating value to the market? I feel creating is why we are here, to express our skills and create.
Cre8alot,
Gary Evans
© DemGen Inc.
The world of social networking can seem daunting at times, especially if you’re running a small to mid sized operation…
Big players often have an entire team dedicated solely to social media. How can you stand out with limited resources at your disposal? The first step is to start with a plan.
The folks over at Intuit produced this handy 12 Month Plan to Boost Your Business’ Social Presence infographic that should help you get started.
If you find developing your plan for the year to be intimidating, we’re here to help! Our expert virtual team can help you to plan and implement your social networking strategy. Schedule a free, no-obligation Discovery Call to find out more!
A 12 Month Guide to Social Media Success
Infographic via Intuit
Each week we have been covering one of the experts from our team. This week we’d like to introduce you to Louise Hull, our Systems & Technology Goddess.
Louise joined DemGen’s virtual team in early 2011, bringing over 30 years of diverse experience in progressive positions, ranging from working with successful entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies.
Her innate ability to quickly identify our clients’ individual needs allows her to develop and implement sustainable solutions to move their business forward. Her passion for excellence ensures continuous improvement of systems and strategies, as well as exceptional customer service.
Louise’s expertise is in such high demand that she was flown out of the country to facilitate a client’s premier event, to huge success. (It’s no wonder our client fondly refers to her as her ‘goddess’!)
In her own words: At DemGen I enjoy having the ability to use varied talents rather than being pigeonholed with one brushstroke. This atmosphere motivates you to develop new concepts, innovative ideas and mental stimulation. Even better, the success and happiness you feel, is possible by working virtually from your home office.
© DemGen Inc.
When we heard the news of Infusionsoft’s latest acquisition earlier this week, we were excited (to say the least).
The news came on the heels of $54 million in funding from Goldman Sachs, so it’s sure been a busy week for Infusionsoft!
As we discussed in another post, we made the switch to Infusionsoft last year and haven’t looked back! Naturally, the news of an application for social media had us intrigued…
After signing up for the free trial, it’s evident that there are both benefits and drawbacks to the system.
Pros
Integration with Infusionsoft is an obvious benefit, allowing opt-ins for email marketing through social media.
It’s a great system for beginners that are running a small business that need an easy way to setup Facebook and Twitter pages, especially if you’re doing it all yourself.
Key features include the ability to easily create Facebook cover images and Twitter backgrounds using Infusionsoft’s drag and drop format (without the need of a graphic designer), analytics reporting and simple set-up for Facebook contests and promotions.
If you’re new to the social media world and want an easy solution, this might be the right tool for you.
Con
The main drawback for GroSocial is that it only works with Facebook and Twitter. If you have a strong presence on other platforms such as LinkedIn, Google+ or Pinterest, you will still need to use them as you have been.
Here at DemGen our virtual team has worked hard to create systems both internally and for our clients. As much as we love Infusionsoft, we’re not quite sold on GroSocial enough to change our current systems. (“If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.”)
Another issue we’ve come across is that the GroSocial servers weren’t ready for all of the new activity. We’re sure this will be fixed soon, but not a great first impression.
The Bottom Line
GroSocial is definitely worth checking out to evaluate whether it’s the right solution for your business. With a 30 day free trial (no credit card required), why not?
If you already have an established system in place and/or a team assisting you with social networking, you may be a bit underwhelmed.
If you are just starting out and don’t know where to start, GroSocial may be the perfect system for you.
Here are some key questions to ask yourself when evaluating:
Let us know what you think in the comments section and don’t forget to check us out on social media!
© DemGen Inc
Each week we will be covering one of the experts from our team. This week we’d like to introduce you to Heidi Winter, our Customer Service & Recruiting Goddess.
Heidi is our resident relationship builder. Her background in management, recruiting, sales and quality assurance allows her to get to know our clients and their businesses intimately, in order to build a great rapport and strong working relationship.
She truly cares for our clients and it shows in her work. She consistently goes above and beyond to keep clients happy. Her positive attitude and bubbly demeanor make her a pleasure to work with. (Just check out our testimonials!)
Heidi also applies these principles internally for DemGen for lead nurturing & management, customer service and recruiting. She has been an essential asset in growing the company through keenly understanding our values, offerings and team.
In her own words: After working from home for 15 years, I have never felt like such a part of a team before. I am blessed to be working with talented, insightful people, who inspire me on a daily basis. I agree with Pam this is not “work” it is pleasure, and I have found my balance between work and play!
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