Why Facebook and Twitter Icons Can Decrease Online Sales by 25 Percent

Adding Facebook and Twitter icons next to your product online affects whether consumers buy it in the first place, says a new study.
That's because – not surprisingly – people think about what other people will think of their purchases.
According to "The 'Conspicuous Purchase' Effect," as the study is called, if the product was one someone would be proud to trumpet (such as sportswear for women or a cool fragrance for men), the presence of the Facebook "like" button and the Twitter "tweet this" button made people 25 percent more likely to buy it. When the product was not one most people would want to be public news (for women, Spanx bodyshaping underwear; for men, acne products such as Clearasil), the presence of those same social media buttons made consumers 25 percent less likely to buy it.
The study – from the University of Miami School of Business Administration, Empirica Research, and StyleCaster Media Group – asked some 200 people, age 16 to 45, to rate their likelihood of buying items as presented on a mocked up shopping site. Participants randomly were assigned to see product pages that included Facebook or Twitter icons or did not. Researchers then measured intended purchase behavior. According to the study, the impact on intended buying behavior "emerged regardless of whether people had any memory of having seen the social media icons." Consumer age and internet usage level made no measurable difference.
Said Claudia Townsend, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Miami School of Business Administration: "Our study finds that the mere presence of social media icons on a web page where we shop appears to cause us to feel as if our purchases are being watched by our social network, and we adjust our buying decisions accordingly.
She added: “Marketers should be aware that the placement of these symbols in their web design strategy could have a major impact on buying behavior.”
Another thing to consider: Whether the social media icons make people feel stalked.
Study author David Neal told The Wall Street Journal that even those not invested in Facebooking or tweeting every little detail of their existence could be “shaped” by the vague prospect others – parents, girlfriend from junior year, widowed aunt – might learn they purchased Clearasil or something spandex from Body Glove. Neal suggested the buttons tend to leave users feeling they are under some sort of surveillance.
Do you have Facebook or Twitter icons next to products for sale on your web site? Do you think they have they affected sales?

Get More Business With LinkedIn

When LinkedIn went live in 2003, it made its mark as a place for professionals to network and job hunt. People signed up, posted their resumes and waited for good things to happen. Now the social networking site is evolving into a robust tool for helping individuals and businesses succeed.
That’s right, businesses. There are 2 million business pages on LinkedIn. Viewers can learn about a business, “follow it” to hear about its latest products, and of course, search for job openings. Many employees also are linked to their employer’s company page, making it easier for businesses to find connections and sales prospects.
If you’ve kept a passive LinkedIn account for years, consider strategies for using the service to benefit yourself and your company. "Is there a place for small business on LinkedIn? Absolutely, yes,” says Lori Ruff, a social media trainer who wrote the book Rock the World with Your Online Presence with her partner, Mike O’Neil.
“If you ask small business people where their business and leads come from, most will tell you it’s from referrals,” Ruff says. “They can mimic that same behavior in the online space, and they will be more successful because it just enhances everything. You can speak to 10 to 15 people at a networking event, but on LinkedIn you can speak to hundreds of people and tell them so much more.”
O’Neil and Ruff own Integrated Alliances, a consulting firm that trains people and companies on effectively using LinkedIn. Here they share their tips and tricks for boosting sales, finding new opportunities and making a better name for your company.
Spiff up your profile
Add detail to your job descriptions and make sure to use keywords that are relevant to your industry. That way, your name or company page will show up more often in search engines, says O’Neil. Include details like organizations you belong to, specific accomplishments, the value your company brings to clients and complete contact information so that people can reach you.
Use LinkedIn’s tools to their full advantage
Write a snappy headline and use the 120 available characters to describe what you do in an attention-grabbing way, Ruff says. Also, be sure to use all 2,000 characters allotted in the summary space under your bio. Compose an elevator pitch that tells prospects who you are and how you can help them. Then end with a call to action.
“That call to action really makes a difference,” Ruff adds. “You’re telling people, ‘Here’s how you can do business with us.’”
Build your network
At a minimum, your company should have 500 connections or followers to make sure you’re generating traffic to your profile or company page, O’Neil says. Once you achieve 500, aim for 1,000. The more people you’re connected to, the bigger your network—because your network is made up of your connections’ connections (second-degree connections) as well as their connections (third-degree connections).
When you meet someone at an industry or social event, drop him or her a personal note to connect. “It should be a regular process for you to invite people you meet. It just cements those relationships,” O’Neil adds. “Being connected on LinkedIn causes you to look at each other from a business perspective.”
Be a joiner
Connect with industry groups and organizations to which you belong or want to belong. All other members of these groups or organizations then become part of your network, even if you’re not directly connected to them. This vastly broadens the number of people who can see your profile or company updates, O’Neil says, and you can e-mail them through LinkedIn’s InMail.
Work the tools
Use your newly robust network for recruiting or sales. “Now we get to have some fun,” says O’Neil. “It’s like in sports—you’ve built the stadium and the team, and now the team is going to play.” LinkedIn can be used for territory selling; plug in a ZIP code and a few keywords to find prospects. Then you can view their profiles to gather information about them to use in sales calls, he says. The best part? It’s all free.
Reach out
Build stronger connections with your connections. Follow their companies and “like” their status updates. On a group’s page, join an ongoing discussion by making a comment. “It gets your name out there,” says Ruff. “Show yourself to be a listener—someone else commenting on the discussion posts will take notice of you.”
Eventually, you might find yourself with new clients, stronger relationships with your customers, and a whole different way of hiring new employees who can help grow your organization.
Suzy Frisch is a Twin Cities–based freelance writer. She’s covered business, politics, law and many other topics for a range of publications, including Twin Cities Business magazine, the Star Tribune and the Chicago Tribune.

The 3 Biggest Blunders When Closing a Sale

If you’ve ever interviewed for a job, you’ve likely been stumped when the hiring manager asked you, “What salary are you looking for?” Remember that feeling of dread—not wanting to answer too high and lose the opportunity, too low and undersell yourself or not at all and risk alienating your interviewer. Now, think about the sales prospects you’ve talked with lately. When you’re early in the process of qualifying sales leads, one surefire way to put them off is to sound like a hiring manager by asking them, “What is your budget for this project?”
Don’t fall into the trap of asking “the budget question.” From our 23 years of experience working clients, we’ve seen the three biggest blunders that sales people make when trying to close a sale all revolve around “the budget question.” These are:
1. Asking about budget too soon
Believe it or not, many sales people ask about budgets upfront, during lead generation, so they can tailor their offering around how much money the client tells you they’d like to spend. Makes sense, right? Wrong. If you ask about the budget too soon into the process of qualifying sales leads, you risk getting incomplete or no information from the prospect, and thus any rapport you may have established is about to disintegrate. It’s the equivalent of meeting someone at a party and then immediately saying, "Hi, Jeff, nice to meet you. I'm Bob. So, what's your net worth?" It can be perceived as rude and invasive in a personal context, and this may actually carry over to the business environment as well. So when is the right time to ask about budget? Read on. The answer might surprise you.
2. Asking about budget too directly
Generally speaking, it’s never wise to ask outright, "Do you have a budget for this project?” or “What is your budget?” Sure, these are the questions you want answered. But if you’re too blunt or too eager to get budget information from your sales leads, you run the risk of shutting down the sales process before you’ve had time to talk and get to know the client’s needs. Although we all want to win the client’s business, there are smarter ways to get there. For example, you could ask, “What are some recent initiatives you’ve done in this area?” This shows that you’re interested in the broader problems facing the client’s business, and you can get a sense for how much they might have spent on other similar solutions. You could also say, “Where does this situation stand on your priority list?” This gives you insights into the client’s level of urgency and eagerness to make a buying decision.
3. Asking about budget. Period.
Getting at the budget in a sale is an art form. Most sales leads don’t come right out and tell you their preferred budget; instead, it requires finesse to hone in on the client’s needs and clarify expectations of what solutions to deliver, and at what price. The real trick is getting the prospect to give you the budget information you're looking for without having to explicitly ask for it. How? Start by leading off with questions that show you're concerned with the client’s best interests. Then show them that you’ve been listening, and demonstrate how you can help solve their problems. Finally, provide a basic cost-benefit scenario and leave it to them to tell you if they can afford it. If you’re doing your job right, you won't even have to ask if they "have enough money."
So now that we’ve discussed the blunders, what is the “right” way to talk about budgets when qualifying business leads?
Remember that you are selling a solution—an “investment” that will benefit the client’s business. Don’t talk about what the client has to pay, talk about what they’re going to get in the context of ROI. Show them that they can’t afford not to pursue your solution since it will likely deliver a positive return for their business. That is, assuming you believe your product or service will genuinely provide this. Here are some examples of how to do it:
Cost-driven conversation
“We have a solution that’s going to cost you $X,000, but if you can afford to go higher on the budget, we also give you additional features for $X,000 more.”
With this conversation, the prospect is prompted to think, first and foremost, about what they will pay instead of what they will gain. A cost-driven conversation reminds the client of what they’ll be giving up, before they think of how they will benefit.
ROI-driven conversation
"Our solution can help you reduce your payroll by X percent and also give you more capacity and faster processing. This means that you can save (X amount) during the next 12 months. The cost of our solution is Y. So would a return on your investment of Z be a good fit for you? If so, then we might have just the solution you're looking for.”
You’ll always be on the right path to profits when the conversation is about the impact your product or service will have on day-to-day business operations or long-term growth.

12 Key Success Areas That Drive Business Growth

For nearly a decade and a half, Victor Holman has been consulting large businesses and government agencies on performance management. But somewhere in the course of advising them, he realized small businesses could benefit from the best practices and strategies he collected in his work with the big guys.
Especially because they often lack the over-abundance of resources that big corporations and government agencies enjoy, Holman says, small businesses need to make sure they’re spending their time, energy and resources the right way to ensure success. That’s where his work as CEO of Lifecycle Performance Professionals comes in.
Holman has found 12 specific guiding principles, he says, and if a small business owner can refine his or her approach in each of those areas, his or her company is virtually guaranteed to thrive. Some of them are straightforward, some a bit more daunting–but what they all have in common, Holman says, is that they’re entirely learnable. But it all starts with taking an honest look at your operation.
“A lot of times, we avoid the areas that we're not comfortable in, that we're not good at,” he says. “If we just focus on trying to improve, small improvements in multiple areas will lead to huge gains and huge yields.”
Strategy
Have a plan and know it intimately. Simply drafting one and filing it away isn’t going to cut it.
"Many businesses, they have the strategy, but it's always good to continue to come back to your strategy, to update it and see what opportunities you can take."
Customers
Invest in getting to know who your existing and ideal customers are. More than ever before, you have the cater to them if you want to keep them loyal to your brand.
"We have a new type of customer today," he says. "You have customers that are very informed. They do their research, so if you don't have a plan to actively retain your customers, they're going to go elsewhere."
Finance
One of the most daunting parts of a company for a leader without accounting or finance expertise, it’s also one of the most important. If you aren’t confident in your skills, find a way to boost your savvy – take a course, find an experienced adviser or hire someone highly qualified.
"You've got to understand they key financial ratios within [your business] and what your ratios mean within your business. You have to understand the components that go into your income statement, your balance sheet, your cash flow systems," he says. "You can make a major difference in your business very quickly just by applying a couple of strategies."
Distribution systems
"You have to have a plan for getting your product to your customer with the least amount of effort for them and the quickest amount of time," he says. "You've got to constantly understand, what are [the] better ways that you can get to your customer."
Marketing
Gone are the days when basic marketing strategies were all small business owners needed.
"You've got to be able to know the exact customer that you have," he says. "A lot of successful businesses will take advantage of a niche or very targeted marketing–that way, you can compete with the bigger companies because you're focusing your dollars on a very targeted customer that brings in the biggest return."
Products and services 
"Unless you're able to analyze the products and services well–[that is,] you have a system for doing it–you may not quite realize that the actual products and services, what types you can make that can [have an] impact on your sales," he says.
Pricing strategies
Know your products and understand their worth to consumers. That means objectively evaluation their quality so you can come up with the best price and selling strategy.
"A lot of business owners don't take pricing strategies into consideration as well as they can,” he says. “Just a simple change in your pricing can make a major impact on your sales and your revenue."
People
Human resources are among your most valuable. Know your people, and make sure your staffers resonate with your organization’s values, and vice versa.
"It's very important that you have your people that are on the same page, that they understand what they're doing impacts the overall mission of your business," he says. "As a business owner, you [must] understand the drivers of good and poor performance, because if you identify employee performance problems early so that you can correct them, it doesn't affect your business as much."
Performance

"[Business owners need] to be able to measure their people, they've got to be able to measure their processes and they've got to be able to measure their system performance,” he says.
That means having consistent metrics across all divisions of your company.
Sales
"You've got to make sure that your sales people are equipped with the right tools to be the best sales people they can be," he says. "You've got to develop a solid system for getting appointments, you've got to teach your sales staff how to overcome resistance, that means you've got to really understand what are all the possible [forms of] resistance you'll probably get with each of your products."
Technology
Among the most important aspects are cloud technology, a solid email program and security protection for your IT content.
"These are all things that the savvy business owner is looking for," he says. "They're look at tools that can help automate, they're looking for tools that can help speed up and simply processes. They're looking for tools that can drive their business success, so that's important."
Personal development
"Just like you set goals for your business, you've got to set goals for yourself. You've got to have a personal method. You've got to have your values, what you're going to put first in your life," he says. "Ultimately, your business relies on how much knowledge and how much growth you can sustain personally."