Business Etiquette Archives - Page 4 of 4

The Art of Building Customer Relationships

By: Bianca M. Strzalkowski

Retaining customers is good for business … and your bottom dollar.

The cost of attracting a new customer can be six to seven times more costly than keeping a current one, according to research conducted by Flowtown, a social media marketing platform. This cost is a leading reason why building loyalty through an excellence in service and focus on customers’ needs can determine a company’s longevity.

Lakesha Cole, owner of She Swank Too – an online boutique operated from Okinawa, Japan – says word-of-mouth referrals are the lifeline of her success. She places high value on building strong relationships with her clientele, who often become like family.

“Customer relationships are what drive your business. Keep in mind your most profitable customers are repeat customers. Build relationships by rewarding your loyal customers,” Cole said. “Stay in touch often, and give them something of value in exchange for their business.”

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Jessica Bertsch2016-05-19T19:45:22-04:00May 18th, 2016|Business Etiquette, PowerTips e-newsletter|

The Customer is Always Right – Tell Them

By: Bianca M. Strzalkowski

Nadia Martinez says her customers are always right and she goes out of her way to make sure they know it. The Marine wife is owner of Kallie Shoes, LLC, a not-just-for-profits footwear company that gives part of its proceeds to organizations that support veterans and wounded warriors. She used her education and professional experience to get started, then met up with some of the brightest minds in business at an Inc. 5000 conference late last year. The interactions there gave her tools to grow her business even further.

Kallie Shoes targets a specific customer: people who love shoes, people who are animal-friendly, and people who support the military. The PETA-approved vegan company delivers products made with the safety of animals in mind. Because she knows her customer base so well, Martinez put flexible policies in place to ensure her shoppers always know they are right. (more…)

Jessica Bertsch2016-02-08T16:12:59-05:00February 1st, 2016|Business Etiquette, PowerTips e-newsletter|

The Importance of QA in Social Media

By Jen McKee

In these days of the instantaneousness of social media, there is often not as much importance placed upon grammatical correctness within the message as upon the message itself. That is, people are often in so much of a hurry to get their message out there, that proofreading becomes a casualty.

Unfortunately, despite the frequency with which this happens, it is a detriment to the message itself. Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or any other social media platform, you want your message to reach its intended audience, and you want your message to be effective. Incorrect spelling, grammar, or punctuation undermines your message – even negates it. (more…)

Jessica Bertsch2015-11-18T03:51:31-05:00November 16th, 2015|Business Etiquette, PowerTips e-newsletter|

Making sure you’re words are rite

Pitfalls of using a spelling checker

By Jen McKee

Proofreading is a vital part of any writing process. I credit my mother with my nearly obsessive need to proofread. As a child I had to submit my assignments to her before turning them in at school. If she found something wrong, she would tell me she found an error (or errors), but wouldn’t tell me what or where it was. It was up to me to read it over again (and again if necessary) until I found the mistake(s). As a result of several years of this, I went on to earn a livelihood finding and fixing other people’s writing errors.

Over the years it has become apparent to me that there are many people who don’t share my belief in the importance of proofreading. This leads to fewer people willing to pay to have their work checked, and more errors going to print. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard, “I have SpellCheck…” And yet even with a spelling checker, errors make it to print.

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Jessica Bertsch2015-08-05T19:28:02-04:00August 5th, 2015|Business Etiquette, PowerTips e-newsletter|

Business Etiquette

Common Grammar Errors Part 2

By: Jen McKee

As promised in the last issue of PowerTips, we’ve got another installment of common grammar mistakes. This time we’ll look at a few commonly confused words.

Then/Than

Confusion of the words then and than is more common than one might think. See what I did there? Throwing the example in there right off the bat!

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Jessica Bertsch2015-04-30T20:59:09-04:00May 5th, 2015|Business Etiquette, PowerTips e-newsletter|

It’s Time to Talk Grammar

Common Grammar Errors

By: Jen McKee

When I sat down to write this column, the idea was to list the “top five” grammar mistakes. So I started to make a list of what I felt were the “top five” mistakes that rub me the wrong way. As I got going though, I realized I was going to go way over my word limit. I also realized that what I think are the most offensive errors may not be what others feel are the worst. Bottom line is that I will have to break this up over a series of columns over time. Please remember there is nothing scientific about this report – what I describe is not any sort of official ranking of grammar offenses. I’m just trying to share some that I see commonly and how to avoid them. (more…)

Jessica Bertsch2014-10-30T20:01:38-04:00October 30th, 2014|Business Etiquette, PowerTips e-newsletter|

I Thought I Poofed That!

Why Quality Assurance Matters
By: Jen McKee

Why is quality assurance important? More and more, with the idea of trying to cut costs, an attempt at “streamlining” processes, or just trying to “get it out the door,” quality assurance appears to be getting left in the dust. We’re not speaking of quality control, or the oversight that must take place in industrial or production line-type activities. We’re talking about good old-fashioned proof reading: copy editing and text review. It seems to be happening less and less.

“I’ll just check it over myself before I send it out.”

“Nobody really pays attention anyway.”

These are two common “reasons” for skipping the “QA” step, but these reasons are flawed. (more…)

Jessica Bertsch2019-11-26T20:52:19-05:00July 24th, 2014|Business Etiquette, PowerTips e-newsletter|