Take your business blinkers off!!

It’s been a month of meetings for team One to Three – some brand new clients and prospects and some catching up with old networking friends and colleagues.

Over a relaxed coffee with networking colleague, the lovely Lorraine Pascoe from Catch Telemarketing (www.catchtelemarketing.co.uk) we came up with a joint offering that could offer real value to both of our client bases.

It’s early days in our thought process so we won’t divulge too much detail now (we promise we will in the future!) but it got us thinking that you never know where the next business opportunity may come from. We’ve known Lorraine for over two years now and our ‘bright idea’ only just hit.  

So next time you are networking, or browsing LinkedIn or Twitter take a moment to remove those business blinkers and see what opportunities are out there. You never know what might be around the corner!

Did we mention that we love Christmas?

Oh we did? Well sorry to bore you but we really do …..so is it any surprise that December 1^st was the evening of the One to Three Christmas ‘do.’

We have been friends for longer than we’ve been business partners so going out for a meal and a bottle of bubbly is certainly no hardship and with our two biggest fans (our husbands) at our sides a great night was had.

The Arbour in Pinkneys Green, Maidenhead http://www.thearbourgroup.co.uk

was our chosen destination and the evening went without a hitch (two years ago Lisa set fire to her menu so we did quite well really!)

As we always do when we socialize together we had a blast, drank a little too much (but it is Christmas) ate far too much (see previous excuse) and laughed a lot!

We often say we love what we do and a big part of that is because we love each other (sorry to gush, but again it is Christmas) and working together has been a lovely bonus to a friendship that is well into its second decade. We know, we don’t look old enough!!

Most importantly we raised our glasses to all of our wonderful clients who continue to support us so thank you and Merry Christmas!

Counting down to Christmas with One to Three……

We love Christmas here at One to Three and come 1^st December our halls will be decked and mince pies will replace biccies for elevensies!

We also see it as a great opportunity to communicate with past and present clients – and the odd hot prospect too.

Fascinating research by the Harvard Business School shows that the probability of selling services to a prospective customer is 1 in 16. However, the probability of selling services to a current customer is 1 in 2. 


New business development is important of course but businesses still tend to spend a disproportionate amount of time on new client acquisition and ignore their existing client base.


Spreading the season’s goodwill is a great excuse to get in touch with your clients. You don’t have to send expensive gifts, how about a Christmas card, a seasonal blog post, an email campaign or even a social media campaign.

We have all of our Christmas communications nicely planned….our cards are written and our gifts are wrapped…..there’s also something that we really think will make people smile…..watch this space… we’ll keep you posted!

Watch Claire in action at the WIBN

Some of you will know that I am Chair of the Women In Business Network Maidenhead group - it's a role I absolutely love and networking has been the lifeblood of One to Three since we launched back in 2010.

I was given the opportunity to present the five minute spotlight at the October meeting and as much of my work lately has been refreshing websites for all manner of businesses I chose to share my top tips on what content I consider to be the must haves. I'd like to share this presentation with you all as one of my fellow members, the wonderful Ann Rennie was on hand to video the session!

It's just over five minutes long so grab a cuppa and enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGFEkSlSeHg&feature=plcp

Our must have's when it comes to website content

OK, a few facts and figures to start.....

Did you know:

  

• The first domain name was registered …….. 1985 (I was 9!!)

• There are approximately 150,000 new domain names registered every day!

•  When I Googled the question how many websites are there on the www….the number was so  huge it took me a while to work it out…..let’s just say its billions and billions!

•  The most Googled search term is…..Facebook!

•  Google is the 5^th most googled search term……

  

I think we can all conclude that the internet is HUGE and it should form a huge part of your marketing plan  - and of course it’s not just your website that is important but your presence on social media sites, networking websites….have you ever Googled yourself to see what comes up……it’s a good idea to do it because that is what potential customers will find if they Google your name……

I could write all day about the importance of a general online presence but this blog is going to focus on website copy and will give you our top 5 tips of what content we believe is must have.

1       Now this sounds obvious but you’d be surprised….contact details. Telephone  numbers, address, email and also Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn details. People are  more and more wanting to find out a bit about you online before they pick up the phone or drop you an email.

2      What do you do? So many websites don’t tell you this vital information. Write this ‘about you’ section as if you are introducing yourself to someone at a networking event for the very first time. Don’t try to be ‘clever’ or too creative here – get to the point!

3     YOU! It is so important to have a personal presence on your website – a bit about you. It doesn’t have to be a chapter and verse life story but an insight into you as a human being is key - I also like to see pictures of the people involved in the business  to add a personal element

      REAL case studies……show off a bit! Tell the world about your business successes and ask clients for  testimonials that can be published online– case studies demonstrate you in action and can be very powerful

      Simplicity – don’t use 10 words when 1 will do! Don’t use jargon, don’t use fluff to fill a page – a good image will say far more than ‘gumf’!

Once you have the basics in place it is then important to think about how people are gong to find your website and how you are going to keep it up to date……but that’s a whole other blog which we’ll share with you soon!

Ending the year with a bang.....

 

The calendar here at One to Three HQ is bulging with appointments right up to the end of the year and although we ‘shut up shop’ for Christmas, we don’t down tools until the very last minute of our working year.

It can be tempting to see the last quarter of the year as a fight to the finish line and making it through another year but we have found that quarter 4 is actually a great time to ramp up your activity and end the year with a bang not a pop! We practice what we preach to our clients and we are investing our time in not only servicing our wonderful array of clients but to building our new business contacts and networking.

This week alone we have met with two local companies who are interested in partnering with us (watch this space) and have had a number of new business enquires thanks to word of mouth recommendations.  Lisa has also run our first ever Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) workshop, with great feedback from the client and Claire has added advertising copy to her portfolio of copywriting skills!

Networking has been the life-blood of our business (over half of our clients have come from business networking) and it is thanks to online networking, via a local business group, that we can announce our newest client, the inspiring Elevate Associates Ltd. Claire and Lisa will be working  with the Elevate team over the coming months to build awareness of their leadership and business coaching expertise via their website, social media and PR. You can find out more about Elevate Associates Ltd on their website www.elevateassociates.co.uk

We intend to end our year with a bang – do you?

We wanna hold your hand!!!

Please sing this blog’s headline to the tune of the well know Beatles song!! Thank you!!

But why do we want to hold your hand – well having a hand to hold is comforting isn’t it? A romantic stroll holding hands, a walk to school holding hands with your child – how lovely! 

Yes you say but what’s this got to do with a business blog……

Okay, let’s get to the point – many clients have employed us in recent months to hold their hand as they dip their toe into the ocean of social media. We are there to guide them, teach them, develop strategies with them and answer questions which almost always begin with, “I know this might be a silly question, but………”

Whenever you are trying something new it’s nice to know you’ve got someone to turn to with those “silly questions” who can give you the answers and help you along the way. 

We work with some clients on an ongoing basis, managing their social media strategy day-to-day but with others we will work with them for one or two months, getting them started, building their confidence…..holding their hands!

If you’d like to find out more about how we can offer a bit of comfort and familiarity in what can be a scary online world please contact us via info@onetothree.co.uk