Know Your Customer, Build Your Reputation

The reputation a company has is built upon consistent delivery during the customer experience. That statement holds true for both positive and negative experiences. What is your reputation? Are you maintaining a good one or repairing a bad one?

Online retail is almost exclusively built on trust and reputation. Seller reviews and post-sale customer service experiences are the key components most online buyers are looking for. What most people don't realize, is these reviews are also a great resource to find ways to improve the way you do business. Look at competitors negative reviews, and make their weakness your strength. These reviews are also a great way to identify in store opportunities. You may encounter why a certain product is doing so well online by reading the great things people are saying, and use that as additional product knowledge.

Reputation also goes into your success in attracting the very best talent available to help build your brand. Being known as a great company to work for, can quickly go sour if the people involved don't display the same professionalism and brand passion that built that reputation.

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"Humility Time"

Yesterday I took part in a TweetChat presented by the #bealeader community. The topic for the chat was the importance of self-awareness for a successful leader. One of the questions posed was "How does one keep self awareness from becoming the less desirable self involved?". I responded with a concept that I had been taught very early in my career that I have since dubbed "humility time". I had a few responses that unfortunately, the 140 limit of Twitter made very difficult to properly respond to. Very early in my career, I worked off the premise that knowledge was power. At the time, I had all the knowledge, and assumed that granted me all the power. My team very quickly delivered me a very harsh reality check in letting me know that was not going to be the case. My manager at the time explained the importance of self-awareness. She recommended I mentally schedule time for myself to intentionally be the guy "that does not have all ...

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The Power Of Social Networks-Myspace vs. Facebook

AOL started it. With very popular chat rooms and a skeletal, but functional, social network. Myspace , Facebook , Twitter , Bebo , Friendster , LinkedIN and several others have since emerged. All offering something unique to make their platform the biggest and most successful. As I learn more about blog writing/internet marketing (yes, they go hand-in-hand), it is clear that these sites drive the "personality" that the online society has taken. To be successful online, it is clear that a strong and steady participation and presence on these sites is critical. This blog generates reports that allow me to view the sources of my daily traffic. So far, Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn, are responsible for a LARGE portion of my visitors. I am pretty much a "nobody" writing on a topic that interests me. I realize how amazing it is that because of the internet, people from around the world are reading what I am writing!! I wonder how powerful these sites would be...

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