Dariako Valko Business News

Archive for September, 2010

If you’ve been in business very long, you’ve likely heard it all! You know, the irate customer who is going to sue you over the nineteen dollar product that they claim is bogus; the one that’s going to “shut your business down” because they conjure up in their minds that you might have breeched your privacy policy, or the one that takes complete advantage of your money-back guaranty. My favorite has to be the one that calls and screams vulgarities into the phone for apparently no reason.

It doesn’t happen often, but if you’re going to be in business, you will run across some nut cases from time to time. Some can be diffused, some can’t. That’s just the way things go in business.

There are some simple techniques for dealing with irate customers without burning yourself an ulcer over them and without telling them you hope they get cancer and die!

Here are some tips you may find useful…

1. Don’t take it personal

There is one thing that almost all nasty customers have in common. They try to attack you on a personal level. Name calling is not unusual. When you take it personal, you are likely to get into a yelling match with the customer which resolves nothing and only stands to make things worse. Try to diffuse the situation – kill the anger with kindness so to speak. If that doesn’t work, ask them to contact you again once they have calmed down and are willing to speak reasonably. Refuse to speak with a customer in an irate state. You don’t have to put up with abuse ever.

2. Don’t overdo the “customer is always right” concept

In customer service training you will always hear that the customer is always right. While that is true to some extent, sometimes they are just flat wrong. You should always try to accommodate a customer within reason, but do not allow that concept to go too far.
Read the rest of this entry »

Got a difficult problem in your job search?

Say, a lack of networking contacts? Or trouble answering interview questions?

Well, you’ve got company. Problems in a job search are as common as mosquitoes in July.

But … have you ever written your problem down on a piece of paper?

I’ll bet you haven’t.

Because, when you write problems down, you take an immediate, huge leap towards solving them. Think about it: Every great invention or solution, from the atomic bomb to the Xbox, was first worked out on paper.

Why not solve your employment problems the same way?

Here’s a three-step method that will help you do it …

1) Start by asking the right questions
Most folks put themselves behind the eight ball in their job search by asking questions that are depressing and demotivating.

Questions like, Why won’t anyone give me a job? or How do I network when I don’t know anyone?

Ack. Pass the happy pills.

Instead, start asking questions that motivate and inspire you.

Better questions to ask are:

* How could I give people a reason to call me with job leads?
* How did my 10 closest friends find their current jobs? How could I brainstorm with them and use their methods in my job hunt?
* What worked in my last job search? The job search before? How could I do that again?

Important: Ask questions that you yourself can solve. Never depend on the government, your school, parents, family — anyone else — to do this for you. Because, once you give up responsibility for solving problems with your job search (or anything else), you become a prisoner of outside forces.

When you ask the right questions, however, you’re halfway to the answer. So write down at least five empowering questions about your job search, right now.

Then, you’re ready for step two …

2) Brainstorm at least 20 possible answers
After you write down five good questions, circle the one question that looks most promising. You’re going to use it to get hired faster.
Read the rest of this entry »

To all writers and non-writers out there, now is the time to start digging up those creative writing skills back.
With modern communication technology comes the popularity of information-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques in getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers. This is why article writing, submissions and publications are also getting popular.
There are already many tools that people can use to make the process of distributing their articles more easily. Though this is invaluable in getting the contents more exposure, which is only half of the story.
Let us take a look first at the common mistakes that some people make before submitting their contents to article directories:

1. Confusing the reason to promote the articles with the reason to write them.
In article writing, there are three key benefits why you are promoting them; branding, lead generation and promotion, which are all part of your optimization efforts.
But there is only one reason why you write an article, and that is to inform your audience. If the article is not focused on this primary and most important purpose, it will fail to achieve the three promotion benefits because no one will be interested in reading them.
You need to figure out first how to get people to read what is in your article, then make them click on your resource box. You can achieve this by producing better contents.

2. Failing to maximize the promotional opportunities of article marketing.
You may know already that your articles can help you generate additional links back to your site. But do you know that you can get more visitors and better search engine results from that same articles?
Mention keywords at strategic places. Just be sure not to overdo them. Some are even using anchor texts which is also an effective method. But it is important to know that majority of the directories are not able to support this.
Remember that is not only about the links back to your site. Part of doing well in your article marketing is getting picked up by publishers with a large number of audiences and gaining the ability of leveraging other brands because of the quality of your work. Better search engine results also are great benefits.
But these things do not put much money in your pocket. There are other factors that can turn your article marketing efforts into an opportunity that can boost your earnings. Not just increase the number of visitors to your site.
Start out with a plan and see to it that your article will serve the function that you intended it to have.
Read the rest of this entry »