Valuable advice for free. Submit Your Site to the Sales Rescue Team for Free. Welcome to the Sales Rescue Team, a pay-it-forward lab of Q4 Sales. This is a collection of experts from around the world who willingly volunteer to share their insights and expertise to help other business owners and executives.
Twitter Lists. After the success of my post yesterday at Dun & Bradstreet’s AllBusiness.com blog: 5 Ways to Build Super-Useful Twitter Lists, I started thinking deeper about tactical lists. I set out to compile a list of lists that might help us grow our small businesses in different areas.
This post was partly inspired by @heygrover, founder of PhotoShelter, who created a “Twitter Lists that all Photographers Should Follow.” Absolutely stunning.
Feel free to DM or @me via TJ McCue on Twitter and suggest some other good resources or categories and I’ll update this list from time to time. I tried to pick people that you haven’t heard of, to make it more useful and valuable, but there are a few exceptions.
Marketing in general by Dallas Marketing.
Marketing Information by AE Churba.
Internet Marketing and more by WebSavvyMrkting. [ I really liked this one ]
Marketing Technology by TheWebChef.
Small Business Sales tips list by Bill Rice.
Cloud Computing by Digiphile. Because the cloud is growing bigger…
SaaS by Acce. Saas is essentially another term for the cloud, web-based applications.
Designers for web and life by Smashing Mag.
Email Service Providers by ESPs.
Email Marketing by JLoriaux.
Email Marketing by IndieScott.
Business and Management by Mumblr.
Human Resources by Terri McCullough.
AICPA list by CPANet.
Tax & Accounting by PurkAssocPC. You will see a lot of financial advice, big co and small, on this list.
2010 Startups by Scoblemedia. A worthwhile list if you like watching the movers and shakers.
More Startups to watch by ThinkSpace.
Coaches, Advisors & Mentors by Chuck Blakeman
Small Business Leaders by TrustE
Small Businesses by Anita Campbell.
Disclosure: I am a consultant, editor and contributor to SmallBizTrends and advisory board member to BizSugar, but I have also been the fortunate recipient of Anita Campbell’s generous spirit and experience and any list she offers, I follow.
Essential Indie Business by Etsy.
List of government accounts by GOVsites – related to business, recovery, commerce and economic development.
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Again, Feel free to DM or @me via TJ McCue on Twitter and suggest some other good resources or categories and I’ll update this list from time to time.
At Sales Rescue Team, we are constantly trying to help biz owners figure out how to find and keep online customers. Anne Holland (founder of MarketingSherpa – which she sold) has a new site that is relevant here. (Full interview w/ Anne on Dun & Bradstreet).
Which Test Won is perfect for brainstorming and finding research-proven ideas. In a nutshell, they test two website landing pages, or an email opt-in program, or an online video to see which design and structure performs better. The title phrase above the Submit Your Vote button says: How Good Is Your Gut? Quite appropriate.
The best part: They showcase both results and ask you to test your own intuition and vote for the one that you think won. I’m pleased to report that I did quite well… Phhewww.
The voting is one way to test your basic instincts on which design or idea will land more click throughs and customers. Anne then has a series of judges who review the pages and give a little bit of commentary as to what made it successful and the actual numbers of why A was better than B (or vice versa).
Tweet it: Which Test Won? How Good is your Gut? New site by Anne Holland (MarketingSherpa founder) RT @tjmccue
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P.S. So, since I said I was pretty good, I went back in, feeling confident, and blew my next gut check… Oh well.
Here is a powerful collection of ideas from Seth Godin and a team of thought leaders he asked for input on the one word that would matter in 2010. A Worthy Read.
Download link just below. Seth leads out with Generosity. At the end of the book, they suggest that you add your own. I’m working on mine. Stay tuned. If you get stuck with this download, email me at Q4Sales at Gmail and I’ll forward the PDF to you, but it is 3meg large.
12/18 UPDATE: Working on a post for Dun & Bradstreet and FastCompany blog: In the spirit of What Matters Now, what IS the FIRST thing you’re going to do for your small business in 2010? @me on Twitter or email me at Q4Sales at Gmail.
Tweet this: RT @tjmccue What is Priority 1 for your SmBiz in 2010. Inspired by Seth Godin What Matters Now http://bit.ly/4Hz8XK
With our new approach, we’re highlighting the new startups and small businesses doing something innovative and useful. Let us know what you like about KeyRingThing.
I read Seth’s blog from time to time. Usually after someone I know posts about him and says – “this is really spot on…”
This post on the Lifetime Value of a Customer hit home. For me and for the many small biz owners I work with: What are we doing to make sure those customers use our services, buy our products, come to our stores (online and physical)?
Worth the 5 minutes of reading time.
Seth’s blog post on Embracing Lifetime Value.
This Harvard Business Review blogger post by Jeffrey Stibel and Annette Tonti is pretty amazing. They share some insights into how the fiber of the internet, partly via Twitter, is becoming or already a neural network, of sorts, that processes information much like the brain. If you’ve wondered how social media might be valuable to your small business, you only have to read this piece and think.
