WEEKLY SPECIAL 8/18/12 – 8/25/12
What are you doing to protect your identity? Come into our store and mention this special and get your sensitive information shredded for .99 cents per pound! All shredding is done on the premises. This offer is only good between 8/18/12 and 8/25/12. We can’t wait to see you!
SOHO OFFICE Dunwoody announces Dunwoody Business Networking Opportunities
Dunwoody, GA, May 10, 2012 The SOHO Office – Dunwoody, (SOHO) has developed a strategy to link the businesses of Dunwoody together in an effort to drive customers, clients, and businesses to one another. Through social media, our community guide and business counter, SOHO Office is allowing businesses in Dunwoody and the surrounding areas to market their business materials to their customers. As well as network potential leads through social media and our community guide on our website, http://dunwoody.sohooffice.com/community.php .
The Plan: Leads to Business
SOHO has partnered with Erik Grosskurth to strategically develop its social media campaign for 2012. He will be in charge of managing the networking process. Contact us through one of our many social media platforms or our website:
- SOHO Office Website – http://dunwoody.sohooffice.com
- Google +: http://gplus.to/sohoofficedunwoody
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SOHODunwoody
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sohoofficedunwoody
- StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/sohodunwoody
- Del.ico.us: https://delicious.com/sohodunwoody
- Digg: http://digg.com/socialdunwoody
- Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sohoofficedunwoody
- Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/soho-office-atlanta
- Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/people/sohoofficedunwoody/
SOHO Office Dunwoody will take business materials and display them throughout the internet using these platforms, as well as in our store. The idea is that this plan will assist in linking the businesses in Dunwoody and the surrounding areas together in order to: get more referrals, drive more business and increase B2B networking in our area.
The Strategy: Network Together
SOHO Office – Dunwoody (SOHO) professionals are highly qualified to guide entrepreneurs and home based business owners with professional, affordable business services as well as experienced businesses with reliability and efficiency. Using this expertise, the strategy is to take businesses marketing materials such as: business cards, brochures, and/or website etc. and increase its visibility to the public. SOHO Office – Dunwoody (SOHO) can provide these materials to you or your business if they are not readily available. We will disburse them in a variety of formats:
- In Store Placement
- Stop by the store today and you can place your business cards on our Marketing Counter http://www.flickr.com/photos/sohoofficedunwoody/6938878838/in/photostream
- Call in or upload a business card to our website’s upload Documents page http://dunwoody.sohooffice.com/uploads.php and we will print them out and place them out front on our Marketing Counter (printing costs apply)
- Our Website’s Community Guide
Think small to get big! Identifying areas of your company that set your business apart from your competition???
Identifying areas that set your business apart from your competition
Companies are always finding ways of reaching certain target demographics. Whether it is B2B or B2C targets, markets can easily become over saturated with companies’ products or services. This can make finding the right company an arduous task. It is comparable to finding the right needle in a large stack of needles. What to do? The first step is for a business owner to sit and ask themselves questions to determine that company’s niche in the market, including:
• “What is my business doing that separates us from our competitors?”
• “What is it about our products that make them better, faster and more efficient?”
• “What level of service do we offer that potential clients cannot get elsewhere?”
These are just a few of many questions that could potentially put your company on an island unto itself. Addressing the primary elements of your business marketing will primarily be the focus of the discussion here. For instance, some of the main topics that should be looked at first are:
• Are your company materials representing you professionally?
• Have you established your company’s niche?
• Think small to get big?
• What product or service that you offer can you say is the “Show Horse?”
Are your company materials representing you professionally?
When you are networking or talking about your business, it is crucial to have materials that people can take with them. Many times, companies will get their potential clients excited about their business but not have any marketing material to convey to the customer. Many times people will hype up their business as some grand achievement of professionalism and then hand you a business card designed by their sixteen year old nephew and printed by a free company on the net.
These types of things happen more often than not. These marketing materials: websites, business cards, brochures, etc. are extensions of your business. Coming across as professional is very important when it comes to setting your business apart from your competition.
Have you established your company’s niche?
What does your company do that others do not? Establishing a niche for your company, then exploiting it through niche marketing will drive more business than you can handle. For example, let’s say your business is laminating printed materials for medium to large size companies. Is this the first thing people see when they shop your company? Often times in the past, companies focus on being a “One-Stop-Shop” providing everything instead of focusing on what they do best. If what you are good at is laminating, then make sure everyone knows that. Once you have made a connection with your customer, then you can offer everything else.
Think small to get big!
With the recent rapid economy change, it has forced the hand for change. Before, the company that had the most to offer was the most sought out. Today, consumers and businesses alike are looking for the “master of one” as opposed to the ”jack of all trades.” The preference now is a group of skilled tradesmen as opposed to a company that can do it all. Most large contracts now go through companies that start with recruiting per project as opposed to one that has to be molded around a project. With this in mind, it is time to start thinking small in order to grow. Choose what your company does best, market it, and then grow your team around that focus. Watch your company grow while doing less and producing higher quality work in the process.
What product or service that you offer can you say is the “Show Horse?”
Now that you are ready to focus on one, or a few specialties of your company, the question is choosing the right one. This part takes some research. Whether by doing online research for smaller businesses, or focus groups, polls, and surveying for larger ones, the key is to find the most unsaturated market. By identifying a niche your company succeeds at in an area where there is less competition, your chance of breaking out in the untapped market is much higher. Consider this area of your business your show horse. Show it off, hype it up, and sell it!
• Talk about it when you network,
• put it on your business card,
• design a logo based off it,
• put brochures out everywhere,
• put a giant picture of it on the home page of your website,
• write a blog about it,
• laminate a big sign or banner and put it out on the street,
• start social media groups to talk about it,
• do everything you can.
The Copy Shop Guy,
The Copy Shop Guy,
Have you ever been to a print shop, copy shop or post office and thought to yourself, “This guy does not like his job?” Wherever I go, I critique a business on their level of customer service. There are a couple of particulars that make me mad about the experiences I have had at these types of businesses. I believe that businesses should understand that these things make or break your company’s reputation.
Taking pride in your work is an important part of any quality customer service experience. Clients, customers, and potential franchisees can tell your passion for what you are doing with your life just by talking to you. Personally, I hate going to the print shop, copy shop or post office. This is just based on the fact that the people that work there obviously despise their job. It does something to the morale of the store when I think, “they do not look happy.” It gives you the feeling of impatience, for instance “I cannot wait to get out of here.” That is not a feeling I want to have and it is the reason why drive thru’s were invented.
Dude, you’re a Barista, a good example of what I mean is at about 58 seconds into this video the attitude of a coffee shop guy is the same way felt about the copy shop guy.
Getting it done right the first time. The main idea here is that no matter what you do just get it done right the first time. Listen and be respectful of what the customer’s needs are. Whether you are getting copies, print outs, banners, or getting something notarized, just put other people before yourself. Think to yourself, “How would I want to be treated if I were in their position.” Do not think that this is the end but that better things are to come. Optimism is a powerful tool. It will make everyone’s experience much better.
Finally, taking pride in your work no matter if you are a CEO of a fortune 500 company or a cashier at Kinko’s will make yours and the customers experience a better one. Daydreaming, being lazy, or treating people like you should be somewhere else will not get you anywhere in this world. It will lead to much bigger and better things.
Printing in Dunwoody… Expectations in customer service, and how to get in and out without the headache!!!
Printing in Dunwoody…
Expectations in customer service, and how to get in and out without the headache!!!
Small business and home office owners rejoice! This is a guide to finding a reliable printer that
will be there for you when deadlines are close, new business cards are needed in a hurry, or the
color copies for your next business meeting need to be done quickly. The keys to finding a fast, reliable print shop are right here in this handy little guide.
1. Find a Printer that will greet you when you walk in the door
Ever made that trip to the printer and stood there for fifteen minutes constantly thinking about where you needed to be fifteen minutes ago? It is important for a Printer to acknowledge you when you walk in, in order to determine your time restraints.
2. Test out the call ahead
Call the printer ahead of time and let them know what you want to do. If they still stare at you as if they do not know who, or what you are there for when you go in, just do not even bother. Although it is good practice always to give your name on the phone.
3. Do they offer multiple services
Printing, Copies, Graphic Design, Business Cards, Letterhead and Envelopes, Posters and Banners, Brochures, Shipping, Packaging, Mailbox Rental, Rubber Stamps & Labels, Laminating & Binding, Fax Services, Notary Services, WiFi Internet Access. Do they offer all of these services? I am sure if they do, it will save you one of your most valuable assets. Time! If they do offer these services, make sure they do not make you wait in separate lines to access to all of the services. It is a headache having to go three places to get one thing done, even if it is inside the same store.
4. Are they reasonably priced
Paying too much for printing can really hit your small business right in the budget! Make sure the printer will work with you. Ask about specials and be reasonable, allowing you to find out if your business is worth it to them. Do understand, time is money and no printer can make deals on rushed projects. As some would say,
“Rome was not built in a day, Although for the right price it may have been possible!”
5. Focus on the quality of their work AND their customer service
When deciding on your printer, think back to your experience when working with them. Did they offer good customer service, did they save you time, and was the final product worth the price and time it took to get it the way you wanted? Be careful and good luck!
Small businesses are fuel to our economic growth, so your country depends on the companies you decide to do business with. Time, money and effort are all assets that small businesses must conserve to grow and thrive in today’s economic times. Think small to get big, Your attitude determines your success and persistence overcomes resistance.
Thank You for reading our blog and happy printer hunting!
SOHO Office Dunwoody
2090 Dunwoody Club Drive
Dunwoody, GA (MAP)
Phone 770-352-3434
Fax | 770-352-3448
E-Mail: shilling@sohooffice.com
Flickr Photos
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