Looking for new business but don’t have a huge advertising budget; or perhaps you have no budget at all.

Well a great place to find potential business is the micro blogging site Twitter.

I’m not going to go into what Twitter is in this post you can read some of my other posts to figure that out; but what I will say us with a little imagination and use of Twitters search engine you can find specifically what you are looking for .

For instance I did a simple search by typing “I need a web designer” and hundreds of posts came up with those words in the tweet. I then simply tweeted to that person what they were needing and if I could help them I would and if not I may be able to point them in the right direction.

See the trick is to not come in to strong just ask questions and try to be helpful. It may not turn into anything today but somewhere down the road it could turn into your biggest account.

There are a lot of great ways to promote your products or services online. Somethings cost money; other things are free. Today let’s take a look at some if the free services that you can use to drive lots of traffic to your website.

Online classified sites are a great way to get people to your website. I’m sure you have heard of Craigslist. Craiglist is a great tool to get visitors to your website really fast, and the great thing about it is that you can target the specific city you want your ads to show up in.

You can be as creative as you like with Craigslist, you can just feature text based ads or if you have basic HTML skills you can create some nice ads with graphics.

The trick to being successful on Craigslist is to set some goals and plan on posting a couple times a day; everyday. You alsways want your ads to appear at the top of the page and the only way to control that is to keep posting.

If you keep up with this and make it part of your daily marketing; you will find success in online classified advertising.

Email is such a great communications tool. It avoids constant contact on the telephone. You can ask a simple question in a couple of seconds rather than waste time on the telephone.

Every company has email yet they don’t properly use it. I sent an email to a small local business and never got a reply, it’s someone I know so I asked if he got my email when I saw him. He said he said he never checks email because he does not have the time. Then why in the heck is it on your business card? It’s like saying I don’t use the telephone in my business.

Here’s the disturbing thing big companies do the same thing. Intact it’s worse becase you expect a high level of service from these companies.

I sent Godaddy.com an email last week and it took 4 days to get a reply and then is was a form email. I recently emailed wsradio a question and never got a reply. I had a simple question for Comcast a month ago that went unanswered. It’s just crazy.

The excuse I heard from Godaddy was that they receive thousands of emails per day. No excuse, if that’s the case then either increase your email customer service team or unpublish your email.

Rule of thumb is that emails must be replied to within 2 hours. Companies have to stop ignoring their email. If you publish and email contact then you better be ready to answer it.

The customer is always right. That’s the saying right? It’s true to some degree I think; but is it true in situations where the job is almost impossible.

There are several ways to look at this but the main thing is you are trading service for money. In that regard the customer may always be right. But in the end do they appreciate the extra effort.

Let’s see; I’m about to put it to the test.
I’m pulling an all nighter for a client and then have to get an approval by a certain time in the morning. All this to get something printed and delivered by the close of business on Tues.

The moon and stars will have to align in order to pull this off in a stress free manner.

In the end will the client appreciate the effort.

Visit back to find out.

When it comes to business there are not many things that separate similar business types. Some business owners play the price game. But that’s a means to an end.

When running your business you need to do the little things to be better than the competition. Here is a list of the little things to do before the sale:

1. If you have an appointment; show up on time. And if for whatever reason you are going to be late and can’t avoid it; call.

2. Listen to your customers needs; it’s shocking to see how many people don’t listen.

3. Under promise and over deliver.

4. Ask your potential client if they are getting quotes from other companies. If they are give them a sheet with the top 10 or 15 questions they should ask. Make sure you address every question on that sheet.

5. Follow up

Following these simple 5 steps will make a big difference between you and your competition. You will be surprised how many companies don’t do the little things.

One of the things that keeps eBay sellers honest is the feedback system eBay has in place. If you do a good job people will grade you with positive feedback. If you do bad you will get negative feedback which result in a loss of trust; and a loss of sales.

This is a great system it requires vendors to give the very best service.

Imagine if that grading system was used in all business transactions? We would still have some bad service but overall the quality of service would go up.

One thing you can do is to start thinking their is a feedback system out there and start giving exceptional service. If you think about it there is a feedback system out there it’s just not published online. But believe me if you give bad service that person will let everyone they know.

In the end providing good service will result in more business; just like on eBay.

Ok ok we understand the economy sucks. But it won’t be this way forever; so the question is; what are you doing to weather the storm?

Don’t fall into the trap of dropping your prices and get involved in the price war game. That’s dealing with a client you don’t want or need.

Not everyone is looking for the lowest price; there are consumers who look for good service. Let’s face it cheap prices means poor service. The consumer who only shops on price alone is a one time person who will suck the life out of you..

Although times are tough, don’t lose your focus; keep your service high and don’t lower your prices and when the good days return you will still be around.