Need a good reason to try and sell products online? More and more folks are finding innovative ways to reach a variety of customers. I’d like to share some predictions on trends and habits of consumers that will make 2011 an amazing year to shop online!

1) Random Acts of Kindness

Following the path made by Zappos (randomly sending flowers to customers or giving them free shipping) has established performing random acts of kindness online as hip. It also satisfies a need or craving for human contact and to make the world a better place.

One example of this is a flower delivery service Interflora. They launched a social media campaign in the UK designed to brighten up the lives of Twitter users by sending them flowers. Interflora simply monitored Twitter,  looking for users that they can cheer up. Once found, the users are contacted via a tweet, and sent a bouquet of flowers as a surprise.

2) Group buying and more…

Groupon has changed how we look at discounts and purchasing a “deal”.  This movement has started a large trend toward collective buying with social networking expanding the reach of information.

Expect to see similar Groupon websites pop up this year, along with a focus on member sales: exclusive membership to receive discounts. Some of these sites might be by invite-only. This is happening in mostly fashion focused businesses but expanding to travel and furniture as well.

3) Flash sales

Flash sales use both time-limiting and frequency offers to encourage impulse buying.

Threadless has done a great job on demonstrating this type of sale over the last year, offering a special t-shirt sale every so often. This sale is limited to certain sizes/styles of t-shirt and must be purchased with a 24 hour timeframe. Threadless blasts the sale over Facebook, Twitter, and email newsletters and it’s proven successful!

4) Local discounts

Location based services are really taking off! With the help of mobile apps using geo-location such as Foursquare and other technologies, it gives businesses the ability to focus on regions. One aspect is having small businesses offer special deals to locals. The use of social media to hype/promote has made a huge impact and keeps spreading the word.

A good example of this is how Starbucks was one of the first to extend the “local store mayor” specials to all it’s stores with a single $1 Frappuchino coupon for any Starbucks mayor at any Starbucks. Read more about how it was executed.

5) Social-lites

Social-lites is a label for those folks who want to try new things, are  very curious about new products & services and will actively promote and share what they discover. They are all over Twitter and Facebook. Some might have their own blog, but they can be one of your biggest allies if they rave about your product. Once you’ve won them over with your business, what they announce can worth 10x more than a paid advertisement!

Both Yelp and Amazon are great examples of where the social-lites hang out. Yelp allows members to post about their experience at different restaurants and other establishments and that post can also be broadcast onto the Facebook platform, even spreading the review even further.

Amazon reviews of products have literally changed how we shop online. How often do many of us visit amazon.com before purchasing something, if only to read the reviews and overall rating for a product? It’s become a very powerful, entertaining, and persuasive way to share knowledge about an experience with a product, including the good, the bad, and the ugly!

6) Netflix treatment

Consumers are realizing they are enjoying ‘renting’ some items instead of buying them. It’s the overall new wave of Access vs. Ownership. We are seeing this huge trend through movie rentals, video games, cars, and other so-called luxury items. It has the power to make people feel more eco-conscious and less wasteful. As a business, it’s an opportunity to provide a more sustainable way to rent instead of offering purchased items.

A great example is the streaming content Netflix is offering. Recently, they began allowing a select group of movies and TV shows to be streamed onto your TV via the internet and through a game console such as the PS3 or a similar device. For a small fee, you can access this content at any time, on your TV. Articles have been written in Wired magazine and other places how Netflix is beginning to replace cable with the streaming option. Talk about a powerful way to make an impression.

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It’s that time of the year, a time to reflect on how your business performed and changes you would like to make for the new year. Looking back over 2010, it’s easy to look for trends and habits that brought you closer to your current goals.  It might be wise to focus on some of your habits that might have pushed you away from your goals (spending too much time on Twitter or not charging enough for your hourly rate)

Setting goals can help you move forward and measure what you want to achieve. Many times we set an unrealistic goal around New Year’s to lose weight or stop a bad habit. It can be hard to maintain a hard goal if you don’t have the right support and guidance to help you reach it.

Here’s some suggestions to help you get started with your 2011 business goal strategies. Please leave other suggestions in the comments, I’d love to hear other tricks to tackle your goals!

*Set Clear Goals

It’s very important that the goals you set for yourself are clear and something you could easily share with a colleague (they would understand it). Don’t set fuzzy goals. An example of a clear goal would be: Writing a 3 paragraph blog post once a week (have it due every Tues at 5pm, publish on Wed at 12pm).

Just saying that you’d like to do more YouTube videos or blog posts isn’t enough, you need to be explicit and write down exactly what you want to accomplish.

Put the goals in a place in your office where you can see them daily or weekly if possible. I’ve read that it’s good to move things around at your desk every week or so, so that you still can SEE them. After a while, you can’t really see a piece of paper, especially if it’s been sitting in the same place for week. Mix it up!

*Have Someone Hold You Accountable!

This could be a colleague, a mentor, or a business coach. Personally I found it hard to hold myself accountable to goals and noticed a huge change when I promise someone I’ll get something done. Be sure to maintain this accountability on some kind of schedule. Perhaps meeting with your accountability person every 2 weeks or once a month. Explain and give valid reasons why you didn’t achieve a goal and have your accountability person help you re-evaluate the goal to make it more attainable. Also, celebrate when you have accomplished your goals!

*Look at Your Habits of 2010

Did you have hurdles in your business that caused you to slow down or not accomplish what you wanted? I’ve seen it happen with myself and colleagues, we become afraid of finishing that one step that will lead to bigger and greater things such as hiring an assistant, investing in software that will free up our time, partnering up with a colleague, and many more.

Take a look and examine those hurdles and figure out some strategies to help you break free to them. Incorporate the strategies into your goals.

*Use Visual Aids

Having visual triggers can help you motivate as well as be very inspirational. I wanted to double my web hosting customer base over the last year. My office mate wanted to help me, so he created a graph to reflect my current customers and how many more I needed to reach my goal. Every time I got a new customer, I would physically stamp a little deer on the chart. I can’t tell you how excited I got very time I signed up a new customer and had the chance to add more deer!

*Break Goals into Bite-Size Chunks

Don’t forget to break the goals into weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals. This can help you reflect on data and numbers in different ways and give you an overall sense of where your business is going. Many times, business is seasonal, maybe you have a slow time in Quarter 1, but always double your sales in Quarter 2. Perhaps you sell a lot of products around holidays, so you can set more timely goals and plan to market for those occasions!

*Reward Yourself

If you do make your goals, be sure to have a way to reward yourself. This could be as simple as taking a day off, getting a massage, or doing an activity you love, but don’t make time for (golf, hiking, skiing, camping, etc). Sometimes the best rewards are making memories with family and friends.

Dream up those goals out and be creative. Imagine that they are as important as the supporting posts in your house. Without the posts, the house would collapse. They are necessary for a house and how it functions, just like in your business!

For more tips on goal setting, visit: http://www.entrepreneur-resources.net/setting-goals-for-2011-2010-habits-to-keep-or-leave-behind

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I recently attended a panel of speakers with the Power MOB. The discussion was Tips & Secrets for owning a Service Based Business. Since I fall into that category, I was eager to hear what the speakers had to share!

The speakers were:

Kim Campbell
Campbell Salgado Studio

Kimberely Bepler
ABC Doula

Robin Taylor
Folklore Media

Here’s some highlights from the discussion:

*Methods in Getting New Clients

-Donating to auctions

-social media

-Get referrals from other experts/consultants in your field

*Product vs. Service Businesses, What’s the Difference:
-Service isn’t a tangible product. Educating people can pay off. Focus on the value you offer, how are you saving them money and time? 1-1 consulting is important.

-Give a complementary session to qualify people

-Offer different budget packages so you can have a variety of clients

*How to price your services
-Market research/find out what is realistic for your city

-Protective pricing (not listing on your website) try not have your customers base their decision to work with you on price

-Offer a special package (a lighter version), just limit the options

-Be open to trade,but have a contract

*Customer Service

-Look for friendly contractors & employees to represent your businesss

-Satisfaction policy – Redo or fix things if customer isn’t happy

-Make your customer happy, it always pays off

-Ask for a testimonial at the end of a project

-Use Survey Monkey or Google Apps to have customers take a survey

*How to Stand Out in your Industry

-Keep yourself and your staff educated

-Promote you and your staff’s education through blogs & social media

-Do webinars, read blogs to keep up in your industry

-Join forums and email lists

-Professional development is a must, build on an expertise

-Don’t get caught up in trends

Want more info? Kim Gordon at Small Business Now offers up some useful tips for a service based business as well.

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The Internet has grown up in past 15 years and very few people can really be true “Webmasters” (doing everything: programming, animation, graphic design, SEO, information architecture).  It’s better to rely on folks who have a speciality in their field. Hiring professionals who are very skilled within their field can save you lots of time and money as a business owner.

There’s a slew of reasons how a website consultant can help you, but here’s some useful suggestions to get you started:

1) A professional is trained to have an overall view for detail, design layout, search engine optimization, information architecture, usability, and functionality. They also know how these factors play a role in the project and which talent to hire.

2) Talking to a consultant can save yourself hours of research when trying to find the right solution to solve a number of problems for your website.

3) A professional can step into your company and give guidance and direction for your website and provide different suggestion and methods to help you achieve the results you want.

4) A consultant can help you organize your website assets before even beginning the website design process. Usually this step is over-looked and done at the last minute.

5) A professional can help provide your business a road map and assess your needs that you may not even realize you have right away or may not encounter until business has a growth spurt. Experts can look into the future at the bigger, overall picture.

Now that you’ve decided to hire a Website Consultant, how do you find them?

• Referrals – Other web firms, designers, developers can refer you to great consultant they know and work with. They can help match you up with the right people.
• Online Forums that are up-to-date and well regulated
• User/Group Lists
• Craigslist.org

Some Items to Keep in Mind When Hiring:

• Timezone. Do you want someone local, or anywhere in the world?
• Personality. Do you find that you immediately like the consultant’s style? Do you like the way they communicate?
• What kind of clients has the company/consultant worked with in the past?
• Diversity of skill sets – perhaps your project involves complex database problems or e-commerce solution. Has the website consultant has experience in those fields of work?
• How does the company/consultant handle project management?
• Do you like how they tackle problems, do their problem-solving skills match the style of your business?

Hiring a professional to help you undertake an overwhelming website project can be a great experience. There is keep in consideration when you are wanting to solve a billion different problems at once and aren’t certain of the solutions that are out there. Talking to professional can calm your fears and help build the foundation to help you solve those problems and move forward to a better future!

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