When’s the last time you answered a knock on the door only to find a vacuum cleaner salesman? If you asked me yesterday, I would have said sometime in the late 80s when a clean-cut college kid was trying to sell a fancy Electrolux to my mom.

Now if you were to ask me today when the last time I was visited by a vacuum cleaner salesman, I would have to say…oh…sometime before lunch.

It’s true. There was a vacuum pusher (pun intended) prowling around my sleepy little village this morning knocking on doors with a stack of business cards four inches high in his fist.

There are a lot of reasons why door-to-door sales people are extinct. For starters, nobody’s at home during the day anymore (and if we are, we’re VERY busy meeting deadlines, preparing meals and keeping children alive). Then there’s the concern of opening the door to a stranger (always something to be cautious of, boys and girls) and the fact that most of the civilized world has access to the Internet for their purchasing needs or a vehicle to take them to a store to buy what they want.

In the case of the vacuum salesman…well…I don’t have carpet. That’s exactly what I told this man, “I don’t have carpet.”

Then he said, “What do you have, hardwood?”

“Yes.”

“Well you still should be vacuuming them.”

Me: Blank stare of disbelief.

Him: “When you use your Swiffer, you get dust in between the boards and your floors are likely starting to buckle.”

Me: Blank stare of disbelief. I don’t, in fact, use a Swiffer. I have one of those new-fangled contraptions called a broom.

Him: “Do you have any allergies or air quality concerns?”

Me: Still staring blankly, “Um…”

Him: “Because we do air testing and things like that now.”

Me: “Um…I think we’re good.”

Him: “Okay. Just vacuum your floors, it doesn’t have to be one of our models,” he says as he hands me his card and walks away.

I close the door and think about how long a day this guy has ahead of him if this is his bread and butter. If you’re going to try to sell me a vacuum, at least put on a suit.

This scenario presents the perfect opportunity for me to discuss the importance of relationship marketing.

Consumers are busy these days. We’re busy and we’re cautious of where our money goes and we’re smart. We’re really smart. We have tools (Internet) that allow us to compare products before we ever leave the house to buy something…if we do have to leave the house rather than just order something right there from our sofa.

If you want to try selling me something I don’t need, you have to convince me why I’m wrong (that I do need it) and you need to gain my trust because, you know, there are only so many dollars to go around.

This is why Facebook is so important. If this vacuum cleaner guy has a Facebook account he should have his own Facebook page that he could use to educate his friends and potential customers about his products. See, if I’d heard of him before I probably would have at least felt like listening to him or inviting him in.

He could have fun contests and trivia. He could post information about why older models don’t work…about why Swiffers are harming hardwood floors. (See, if you lead by telling me I’m making a mistake that’s harming one of my home’s biggest assets I might listen.)

With a Facebook page you’re building relationships and you’re educating the market…if you use it the right way.

That tidbit he told me about the Swiffer could have made a great blog post. Blogs are a great way to build relationships with your customers. (If I came across that info on my own, I likely would have run out and bought some sort of vacuum cleaner.) A door-to-door salesman just seems so pushy.

This guy should be on Twitter, posting information about air quality issues and how a good vacuum can help.

The thing is…I feel one of the big reasons why the door-to-door thing is dead is because nobody wants to be sold to. If I want a vacuum, I’ll find someone who’s selling them.

This brings us to SEO and search marketing. A nice, sharp website targeting those in need of a vacuum will be way more successful than having some joe schmoe wandering around from town to town getting doors slammed in his face.

I could go on forever but I won’t. I have things to do (remember, interrupted by a salesman earlier).

How about you? Do you have some tips on how to sell a vacuum in 2010? What do you think about my advice?

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I’m asked this question quite a bit; ‘How does ghostblogging work anyway?’

I maintain blogs for several people, so I thought I’d write a post here to explain my process. (As you can see, I’ve even given you a sneak peek of the branding for my soon-to-be-launched copywriting business with the image below I’ve chosen to represent Mann Made Ghostwriting services!)

First of all, I’d like to address something. I’ve heard people argue that if someone hires a ghostblogger, they’re being inauthentic. This is not true, and you’ll understand why after I explain how I blog for my clients.

When I start working with someone, I get busy learning as much about them and their business as I possibly can. There are forms I need filled out to learn specifics such as keywords, target market and the tone they like taken with their blog posts. I read through pieces they’ve written in the past, I study their websites, review their social networking profiles and basically worm my way into their heads.

There’s always a phone conversation (or several) involved so that we can discuss the schedule the client likes to keep for their blog, and we brainstorm topics for future posts.

From there, it can go a few different ways. Some people like me to outline a series of posts, then they review them and set me free to post them in their blogging software and schedule them to be published.

Others like to be much more hands on, giving me rough notes for their posts that I simply polish them up and elaborate on before they’re published.

Then there are other clients where a much more collaborative effort is required. We agree on some topics, I write the posts and put them in their blogging software (by this I mean WordPress or Blogger) where the client then edits posts to add more details and tweak until it sounds exactly like them.

When I work as a ghostblogger, I don’t just take control of someone’s blog and fill it with my own ideas and thoughts. It couldn’t work that way.

I work closely with my clients and either elaborate on a point they want to get across, take their ideas and expand upon them or write something which they tweak to reflect their feelings or view on the topic.

People who hire a ghostblogger to maintain their blogs are not being inauthentic. They are delegating a task they don’t like or don’t have time for. There’s a difference. I would prefer not to ghostblog for someone who didn’t want anything to do with the process, because that’s where it starts feeling a little bit wrong to me. I’m sure people do it this way as well, but I wouldn’t feel right about it so I won’t do it.

What do you think about ghostblogging? I think this topic would make for a great discussion so please comment if you have an opinon!

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Hello world! I’m coming up for air in between projects to revisit my lonely old blog. I’ve been so busy ghostwriting other blogs (along with my other client work) that my own has been somewhat neglected. Sorry blog.

It feels like my business is running in absolute tip-top shape so I’ve decided to start taking some time out for myself whenever I can. That meant I had to take some time to reevaluate the services I offer, the work I outsource, and how to get everything to where I need it to be to not be working 18 hour days. I set some goals that involved spending more time playing with my ankle-biters, making my marriage a higher priority (actually, just getting it back on the priority list was a start!) and getting my butt back to the gym.

Done, done and done!

I am absolutely blessed to have the clients I do. Each and every person that I do work for on a daily basis is a joy to have in my life. My team is fabulous as well – I wouldn’t trust my treasured clients to just anyone!

If you’re self employed and are feeling like your life has gotten away from you, please slow down and evaluate the situation. Nobody is going to give you a medal for getting burnt out cause you’re doing too much.

There are so many things you can do to get closer to the ultimate life/work balance. I haven’t found the ultimate yet, but I’m on my way.

Mann Made Time is rolling out a new service in October to help the self-employed free up even more time – Telephone Services.

Yes, we are willing to (wait for it…)

Mann your phones!

This super hard to find service is now available via your Mann Made Receptionist.  Our virtual telephone services will include incoming and outgoing calls and I expect the incoming spaces are going to fill up quickly, so consider this fair warning!

Now, there. I’m officially back. Blogging for my business is going to be one of my non-negotiable tasks in my Basecamp account. Really, if I were my own client (which I am) I would have fired me for making my blog a non-priority.

That’s it for this first post after such a long break.

Baby steps.

2 Comments »

I am so sorry for being ‘away’ from my blog for such a long time. Things have been quite busy around the Mann Made Time offices, and I have been wanting to write some great posts – really – but I was coming up with nothing. I mean…I have ideas all the time. My Gemini/entrepreneur brain is going all the time. But I believe if you don’t have anything very interesting to ‘say’ in your blog – or if you can’t say it well – then you shouldn’t say something just for the sake of saying it.

I know I should carefully craft my blog posts in advance, I know that, but that’s not my style. I am a very passionate person. When I feel passionately about something, everyone that knows me knows about it. If I write a post today about the benefits of sticky notes with the intention of posting it in a week from now, well, that just doesn’t feel right to me. In a week from now I might want to blog about desk drawer organizers and blogging about post it notes might feel – I don’t know – dishonest or something. It’s a mental thing, I know nobody cares if I switch the topics, but it’s just too structured for this…my little outlet for creativity…my blog.

Now it’s not like I haven’t had interesting things happen over the last couple of weeks to be blogging about. It just seemed as though a great idea would pop in my head on a day that I was so busy working and writing other people’s blog posts that I couldn’t get to my own.

I’ve had lots of topics come to mind:

• Should I blog about the insanity of the new toner cartridges I have to order costing $600 while the whole printer with three colors and black toner would cost me $220?
• Perhaps I should blog about what a great printer that was since I’ve had it for two years and this is the first time the color cartridges have run dry.
• Maybe I could write about the difference between marketing and advertising. Nah…that one will take too much thought.
• There are a few real estate tools I could blog about, but I’d have to piece it together.
• The book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer was an amazing read, but it’s not a business book. Could I extrapolate a business lesson from that book? Stop it Jaime – you read that for pleasure.

Now, keeping in mind that I have two children under the age of three, and I have not slept through the night since June 2005 (no exaggeration) maybe I was experiencing some negativity from the sleep deprivation. I mean, I have the ability to turn any of those topics into interesting blog posts, right?  Probably, but I just haven’t had the time. All of my best hours have been spent on client work (and of course, aforementioned children).

I felt that any post I would make would simply not be good. I’ve posted less than stellar posts in the past, just for the sake of posting something. That, my friends, is a mistake. No post is better than a boring post.

So, I think you should thank me now for not cluttering your RSS feeder with uninspiring posts over the last two weeks.

I have come to learn that it’s true in blogging as it is in life. If you don’t have anything nice to say, really, don’t say anything at all.

3 Comments »

I was pondering something last night while I was watching American Idol (and wondering why in the world that first guy sang a WHAM song) that I thought would make great blog material.

I had this dilemma when I was starting my business. I was brand new and had lots of administrative experience, but I was trying so hard to find that first client, and I felt like all of the more experienced VAs were getting all the work. I had a case of the self-doubts and wondered why anyone would want to work with me when I had no actual ‘virtual’ experience.

First of all, what didn’t strike me right away was that nobody needs to know how many clients you have. I didn’t write my website content stating “Newbie VA offers her services”. I used testimonials from past employers, tried to demonstrate my areas of experience, and whipped up a ‘corporate resume’ so in the event of a potential employer questioning my work history, I would be prepared. Interestingly enough, to this day nobody has asked to see a resume. I pushed those doubts aside, and worked with what I did have that the more experienced VAs might not. Time. I marketed the bejeezus out of my business. And it worked.

Second of all, it could be an interesting feature to play off of, if you’re bold. Why not advertise that you’re brand new in business. Offer a deal – your first client will receive 10% off your services for their first year – or something. A new business owner is full of energy. Full of motivation and momentum. A new business owner is a force to be reckoned with.

Sometimes, after being in business for a while, you get lots of referral business, you let your marketing efforts get stale, you feel confident that you’re going to continue to do alright. You’re busy, your systems might be getting a little old, you might have lost a bit of that entrepreneurial spark you had when you were just getting out of the gate.

Of course, with experience comes knowledge, expertise and trust.

I was thinking about this, in particular, when it comes to real estate agents. There is always someone new popping up. They come, they go. Some stay for a long time.

A seasoned ‘top producer’ has a lot going for her. A great database full of contacts, name recognition in her market area. Lots of word of mouth referrals, etc.

Does that mean there’s no hope for a new agent starting out in that area? Not at all.

A new agent is coming on to the scene full of new ideas, a drive to become successful and catch up with the big guys.

I was perusing Active Rain and found a new agent in Charlottetown that has a great blog over there. Good for her. She was the only agent I saw in this area that didn’t just plug in an RSS feed for ‘PEI’ . I feel that’s cheating. It’s not really blogging. This agent actually wrote an interesting and useful post. She took the time to share something with her readers, and in turn, her blog has much more to offer than local news, weather reports, and other mundane information that doesn’t belong on Active Rain.

I am going to keep my eye on this person. I’ve seen her name in a lot of places, and I think she is going to be one of the ‘top producers’ in a couple of years time.

So what do you think?

When you’re in need of a service, would you rather work with someone that’s brand new – full of energy and drive?

Or would you tend to work with a seasoned pro. Someone who’s name has been around for awhile?

1 Comment »