How to Get and Use Testimonials, Referrals and Reviews
How to Get and Use Testimonials, Referrals and Reviews.
Maybe some of them send you referrals or give you a testimonial.
Ask a customer who likes your business to comment on it, and it will likely make the customer smile just to have been asked.
Other people like this product or service.
Robust referrals A passive referral happens when John says to Scott, “I’m thinking of getting a Lexus like yours.
Revelatory reviews People trust reviews.
I’d be embarrassed.” My retort: “Would you rather be embarrassed or broke?” Testimonials, endorsements, reviews and referrals help more people trust in your product or service.
If you don’t know where you’d like reviews to appear, ask your new customers where they first heard about you and once you know, tell anyone who asks that that’s where you want them to write the review.
For many businesses, customers are attracted via a website.
Remember: People do business with people they like and trust.
7 Productivity-Boosting Apps for Busy Entrepreneurs
7 Productivity-Boosting Apps for Busy Entrepreneurs.
Sorc’d.
Timely.
How it helps entrepreneurs: An app designed for entrepreneurs who make a living one appointment at a time, Timely is more than just your standard appointment scheduling app.
Timely lets you manage your entire business while allowing customers to directly schedule appointments.
Entro aims to make the “who you know” part a bit easier by taking some of the awkwardness out of first-time introductions between colleagues and making it easy for you to add value to those around you.
If you’re looking to enhance your networking efforts and perhaps generate a few introductions of your own, take the time to check out Entro.
You can store, move, manage and edit notes and documents stored in any connected platform via your Mohiomap.
GMass lets you send individual automated email marketing campaigns that keep their personal feel without requiring you to manually type each one.
Regardless of whether you want to use it for outbound prospecting to a targeted set of warm leads, send an email announcement to all of your clients or send a personalized email to candidates you’re recruiting for an open sales position, GMass offers entrepreneurs an easy, cost-effective solution for email marketing.
You Need a Bit of Naivety
You Need a Bit of Naivety.
Weiss & Company is a public accounting firm that provides a full range of public accounting services.
Frank Lee, partner, shares his insights by saying if you make mistakes, it’s important to fix them.
He shares a story of an experience making a mistake with a client, and what fixing that mistake did to help its business.
Lee says the advice he would give to business leaders is follow your passion, and do it the right way.
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The Secret to Spotify’s Success
The Secret to Spotify’s Success.
The following excerpt is from Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood’s book Simplify.
Perhaps the value of simplifying and how to do it are only just starting to be fully understood.
Perhaps, also, the internet and associated technologies are making it easier to simplify and transform a market almost overnight.
Let’s take a look at an instance of proposition-simplifying that now seems so obvious that we wonder why it didn’t happen years earlier.
It would have been an outrageous idea to think that you might be able to get access to most of the music in the world.
Because this was so difficult to execute, requiring enormous upfront investment, and because it was not something that could be imitated with a million dollars and a few talented developers, the Spotify story developed in a very different way from Uber’s.
The difficulty of imitation seems to have given Spotify, which now boasts over twenty million licensed tracks, a wide lead over any rival.
On Spotify, users can listen to any artist or any song they want.
Despite its initial difficulties and large monetary investment, Spotify is a prime example of a proposition simplifier that took over a major market.
Hong Kong Regulator Sues StanChart, UBS Over 2009 Timber IPO
Hong Kong’s securities regulator has filed a lawsuit against Standard Chartered Plc, UBS Group AG and audit firm KPMG LLP over an initial public offering by China Forestry Holdings Co. in 2009.
Standard Chartered and UBS were joint sponsors of China Forestry’s $216 million first-time share sale in November 2009, while KPMG was its auditor, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Hong Kong was the second-biggest market for new listings last year with $25.2 billion of deals, trailing only the U.S., data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Spokesmen for Standard Chartered, UBS, KPMG and the SFC declined to comment.
The SFC also sued China Forestry, its former Chairman Li Kwok Cheong and former Chief Executive Officer Li Han Chun, the court documents show.
The regulator is seeking compensation from the defendants to “restore” independent minority shareholders who had bought China Forestry stock and held the equity at the time trading was suspended in January 2011, according to the court documents.
Liquidators were appointed for the logging company in June 2015 by a court in the Cayman Islands, where it is incorporated.
The liquidators, Borrelli Walsh, last April filed a writ of summons against Standard Chartered, UBS and other advisers on the IPO, alleging offenses including breach of contract and misrepresentation.
In October 2013, the Hong Kong securities regulator introduced a new system under which banks that sign off on listings, known as sponsors, will be held accountable if offer documents contain untrue statements.
It has also warned that bankers on such deals can be held criminally liable.
5 Steps to Rock Any Networking Event
Approaching people you don’t know while trying to build connections can be awkward.
Ditch any notions you have about being a cool kid and get there before the party starts.
Negative Nancies always have time to show up at a networking event.
Never feel pressured to engage with a negative person, especially at a networking event.
If you’re feeling down about work, consider this a prime opportunity to find new positions.
You’ll have a small window to make an impression on a large group, so help yourself out by doing research ahead of time.
Use the list as a way to make note of the people you will definitely want to make connections with.
Pretend your business card is money.
Before you go and make your business cards rain on your networking event, consider that successful networking requires genuine connections.
Don’t do that at an event.
More Than Money: How the Right Investor Can Add Lasting Value to Your Startup
More Than Money: How the Right Investor Can Add Lasting Value to Your Startup.
Investors are no different.
I once asked a potential angel investor to share a time he’d invested in a company that had subsequently failed.
“I understand the product.” In a recent survey, more than half of participating angel investors said a thorough understanding of a startup’s technology was a top reason for pursuing a partnership.
“I believe in your team.” Three-quarters of angel investors have said say a startup’s management team is a top consideration for investing.
With the best investors, you won’t even need to ask.
“Get back to work!” You want a partner, not a micromanager.
Your investor should understand you have a job to do and trust you and your team to accomplish it.
If a potential investor indicates he or she will want to check in every day to see how things are going, run — don’t walk — away.
Take things slowly, do your research and trust your gut.
Exclusive: Restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese prepares IPO – sources
Exclusive: Restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese prepares IPO – sources.
The parent of Chuck E. Cheese has begun preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) that could value the U.S. restaurant chain at more than $1 billion, including debt, people familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.
The last such company to go public, Brazillian steakhouse Fogo De Chao Inc (FOGO.O), followed many of its peers in trading below its June 2015 IPO price.
Within the broader restaurant industry, sit-down casual restaurants have struggled as consumers opt to eat at home and increasingly avoid the mall, where such restaurants are often located.
The threat of a rising minimum wage has put further pressure on the sector.
Still, “interactive” restaurants such as Chuck E. Cheese, which offers video games, bumper cars and play areas in addition to food, promise a distinctive dining experience.
Its closest competitor, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc (PLAY.O), saw comparable store sales increase nearly 6 percent in the third quarter of 2016 over the year prior, a slower growth rate than the 8.8 percent growth it achieved in 2015.
Chuck E. Cheese was taken private by Apollo in 2014 for $1.3 billion, including debt.
It has since sought to broaden its appeal beyond children, expanding its alcohol offerings for adults.
Chuck E. Cheese was founded in 1977 by Nolan Bushnell, the founder of video game company Atari and one of the first bosses of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) founder Steve Jobs.
4 Ways Managers Can Commit to Improving Employee Engagement
And while it’s still important to set goals for 2017 at your company if you haven’t already, intentions and commitments rather than outcomes should be your focus.
They need to commit to improving employee engagement in fun, meaningful ways, and communicate their intention to treat employees as people, not just assets.
Here are some tips on helping managers improve employee engagement while staying focused on the process: Measure performance.
Of course, outcomes need to be measured and tracked, but what’s more important is how well employees are performing in the process to achieve those results.
Help management set regular schedules with each employee so ongoing assessments are available, to keep talent on track.
This is where visuals come in.
The better they understand their impact on the company and their individual progress, the more engaged they are in their work.
Delivering performance reviews can be difficult; engaging employees in an impactful discussion about their performance is even harder.
Employees being reviewed will themselves be engaged, by participating in setting a plan that shows potential for growth.
How can managers effectively communicate expectations if they don’t have a tool to measure with?
Are Your Employees Capable of and Willing to Do the Job?
Are Your Employees Capable of and Willing to Do the Job?.
Often, we see our clients agonize over termination decisions, and rightfully so.
Employers should make the choice to terminate only after thoughtful consideration, but they should not drag out the decision.
If an employee isn’t performing, an employer should first try to help him or her improve.
Sometimes, though, the employee may not be physically capable of doing the work.
Sometimes, an employee is not cognitively capable of doing the work.
You know the person can do the work, and he or she promises to perform better, yet, continues to come up short.
At this point you have two choices: 1) transfer the employee to a job in which he or she can be successful or, 2) terminate the employee.
However, if the employee has tried very hard, but is not capable of doing the job for which you hired him or her, you may look within your organization to find a more suitable position.
Then, be willing to make the tough decision.
Rev Group expecting more than $230 million from IPO
Rev Group expecting more than $230 million from IPO.
Milwaukee-based specialty vehicle maker Rev Group Inc. hopes to raise $231.4 million in its initial public offering and use the money to pay down long-term debt.
A $1 per share change in the price would increase or decrease the proceeds by $11.7 million.
The potential total proceeds from the IPO represent a significant increase over the company’s initial filings, which suggested it would raise $100 million.
The company has been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol REVG.
The offering will be priced and begin trading sometime next week, although an exact date has not been set.
That figure will drop closer to 72 percent after the offering.
In November, Rev Group chief executive officer Tim Sullivan said the offering would offer the company’s private equity ownership an opportunity to exit while also providing capital to accelerate Rev Group’s growth.
The company manufacturers fire trucks, ambulances, commercial buses and recreational vehicles.
Sullivan became CEO in 2014 and has worked to bring the network of brands into a more unified corporate structure.
Create a Business That Inspires Change (in the World and in Your Pocket)
The best businesses are those that have built sustainability into the core of their business models and are using their people to create passion for their mission with consumers.
After all, when offered comparable price and quality, 90 percent of consumers surveyed in one study said they would choose brands associated with a cause over the alternative.
AeroFarms demonstrates why it’s time more companies follow suit, building businesses that are inherently more sustainable in what they make.
Conscious consuming Though the path to social or environmental responsibility can be difficult, such efforts can have a major effect on not just the planet and its people, but a company’s bottom line.
Inspire advocates: It’s shortsighted to say that consumers buy solely because of price, value or convenience.
The effort was so successful that it led to Tippens’ creating Goods That Matter, an eco-friendly marketplace where every product sold gives back to social causes.
Focus not on pushing products, but on establishing relationships with customers: Help them enrich their lives and expand their businesses — that’s one of the best (and most sustainable) ways to build a successful brand.
The company asks customers for their their feedback and for suggestions to improve its products and operations.
But there’s still more depth to what consumers care about in the products they buy.
Building sustainability into the DNA of your business and the quality of your products will help achieve your social mission while also building greater loyalty.
10 Reasons Why People Quit
10 Reasons Why People Quit.
Entrepreneurship is no walk in the park, and every entrepreneur will experience times when he or she feels like giving up.
In this video, Entrepreneur Network partner Patrick Bet-David discusses the 10 reasons why people quit, and how not to be a quitter.
The number one reason why people quit is they feel overwhelmed, says Bet-David.
Instead of surrendering to this feeling, it’s important to overcome it — in the end, once you get through the overwhelming phase, you’ll begin to grow into a whole new person.
But being resilient and pushing through these challenging phases will benefit you in the long run.
Watch more YouTube videos from Bet-David on his channel.
We provide expertise and opportunities to accelerate brand growth and effectively monetize video and audio content distributed across all digital platforms for the business genre.
EN is partnered with hundreds of top YouTube channels in the business vertical and provides partners with distribution on Entrepreneur.com as well as our apps on Amazon Fire, Roku and Apple TV.
Click here to become a part of this growing video network.
UC Santa Cruz receives $2.2 million for innovation and entrepreneurship program
UC Santa Cruz receives $2.2 million for innovation and entrepreneurship program.
AB-2664 funds support a UC-wide effort to broaden the university’s infrastructure and programs for bringing research innovations to the marketplace With $2.2 million in state funding to expand its innovation and entrepreneurship efforts, UC Santa Cruz will launch a multi-faceted support program to help bring research innovations to the marketplace and spur economic development in the Santa Cruz area.
The Support Program for Long-term Innovation, Commercialization & Entrepreneurship (SPLICE) will include an incubator and an accelerator for start-up companies in Santa Cruz, a Silicon Valley incubator, an entrepreneurial training program for students, an internship program for arts students, and commercialization grants.
The Startup Sandbox Incubator will provide wet-lab and office space, as well as training and mentoring, with a focus on the areas of biotechnology, health science, and agricultural technology.
Also to be located on the West Side is Santa Cruz Accelerates, an accelerator led by local nonprofit Santa Cruz Works.
Heather Putnam, executive director of Santa Cruz Works, explained that, while the incubator will serve companies in the early stages of product development, the accelerator will serve those that have a product and need help building their company and securing more funding. “We have so much talent coming out of the university and already here in Santa Cruz, but if they don’t get the support they need in terms of mentoring and funding, they leave, and that means we lose opportunities for job creation,” Putnam said.
According to Abousalem, UC Santa Cruz has already secured interest and commitments from outside sources for more than $2.5 million to support SPLICE activities. “Innovation and entrepreneurship programs have typically focused on engineering students, but the problems they address and the solutions they come up with tend to be narrowly focused,” said CIED director Sue Carter.
The Launchpad component of SPLICE, led by the Office of Research, will offer competitive grants of $5,000 to $15,000 to UCSC entrepreneurs with innovative technology product ideas.
7 Wealth-Killing Risks That Threaten Your Retirement
Are you among the millions of American business owners who haven’t saved enough for retirement?
Whether you’re banking on selling your business as your primary retirement asset or have other conventional investments such as an IRA, real estate or college savings, you face some serious retirement risks.
If you have $100,000 in your retirement accounts, you safely can pull out $4,000 a year using the 4-percent rule — but only $2,800 per year if you want to err on the side of safety.
In that scenario, your $1 million 401(k) suddenly becomes a 201(k) worth $500,000, and withdrawing 2.8 percent will provide you only $14,000 a year.
According to a study by Fidelity, a 65-year-old couple retiring now will need $220,000 to cover out-of-pocket health care costs during retirement.
That figure assumes you are covered by Medicare and does not take into account possible costs for a nursing home or long-term care.
Risks related to retirement savings are less obvious.
Business owners and successful executives are obvious and easy targets for those looking to “create” their wealth through litigation.
Banks now can seize the money in your accounts.
Because the government created these plans, its agencies know where your money is and how much you have there.
15 Celebrities Who Had Epic Fails as Entrepreneurs
15 Celebrities Who Had Epic Fails as Entrepreneurs.
Because success requires a perfectly mixed cocktail of smarts, talent, timing and more than a dash of luck.
Some people find this out the hard way.
And when you are a celebrity, everyone knows about it.
Sometimes its ego, sometimes its bad management and sometimes they simply leapt without even so much as a glance.
But celebrities, high profile by nature, have made many high-profile business investments that end in epic flameouts.
Like the examples below.
Some might see them as cautionary tales.
Others, looking at the overall success of many of these people, might see them as proof that even big mistakes can be overcome.
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Fundingwire – EdTech Startup Curiositi Raises Rs 3.5 Cr & More Investment Updates
Fundingwire – EdTech Startup Curiositi Raises Rs 3.5 Cr & More Investment Updates.
EdTech Startup Curiositi Raises Rs 3.5Cr Bangalore-based Education startup Curiositi has raised Rs 3.5 crore in Series A round of investment from Menterra Social Impact Fund, with participation from existing investor Unitus Seed Fund.
ZoloStays Raises Rs 26Cr Led By Nexus Venture Partners Bangalore-based accomodation booking platform, ZoloStays, has raised Rs 26 crore in Series A round of investment led by Nexus Venture Partners.
This brings the total capital raised by the firm to Rs 37 crore.
The app was launched in 2016.
Adtech Platform Oi Media Raises Seed Investment from Quarizon SaaS platform for out-of-home (OOH) advertising, Oi Media, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Quarizon.
Logistics Solutions Firm Roambee Raises $4.1M in Series B Mumbai and Silicon Valley-based logistics solutions provider, Roambee, has raised $4.1 million in a Series B round of investment.
The round was led by Deutsche Telekom Strategic Investments, and saw participation from a few Silicon Valley based angel investors.
It claims to have 500,000 registered users and over 200,000 active users.
The firm had raised $12 million in investment from Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group in November 2016.
How to Improve Your Subscription Business Churn Rate
How to Improve Your Subscription Business Churn Rate.
Some of them will lose the original motivation they had to use your service in the first place.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons why people will cancel their services.
Sometimes there is a good reason a card is declined, but often times users simply forget to change their information.
Offer upgrades to bring back canceled subscribers.
You can often draw them back if you send them a “sorry to see you go” message with an offer of an upgrade.
One sure-fire way to minimize cancellations is to over-deliver your service.
They’re effective at getting people to come back time and again.
The promise of those benefits will help convince new subscribers that they want to stick around.
Too frequent emails can drive people to cancel just to relieve email clutter, but too few communications means people forget about you entirely.