Mystery shopping companies need to charge their clients the correct amount to succeed. Too little, you don’t make any money. Too much, you discourage prospective clients. I have helped to launch many mystery shopping businesses. In that process, the question I receive the most is how to figure out how much to charge per report. What I can not do is give you specific amounts for different types of shops. There are just too many variables. What I can do is give you a formula so that you can figure out how much to charge. Basically, you figure your expenses and the profit you think is fair. How do you do this?

Start out by figuring out your expenses. If you enlist mystery shoppers, your first expense would be to pay them out of what you charge. How much should you expect to pay for different types of shopping jobs? What is the going rate? Here’s a tip to help you determine that. Go to shadowshopper.com. On the bottom, it says available jobs. Click on that. Next page will have a box for a zip code. You can put in your zip code or you can use the zip code of any large city. Jobs will then come up with shopper fees. You can do the same with jobslinger. Put a zip code in the “search near” box at the top. Now for the type of shop you are looking at, example retail store, you will have the amount of fee to pay the shopper on top of reimbursement.

How do you figure out the rest of the expenses? Take the total ongoing expenses; example, phone bill, office rent, web site fees, etc. These are expenses that continually occur. We will call these “fixed expenses.” Add these up, say for a period of three months. Divide this figure by the number of mystery shops you’ve had over the same three months. As an example, say your total expenses for three months was $1000 (if you work at home, this amount will be minimal). In that same period of time your company did 200 shops. $1,000 divided by 200 equals $5/shop. Add to that; the shoppers fee, an editing fee, if applicable, and any automation service per report fee. In this example, your total expenses would be $5 fixed expenses, editing fee $5, automation fee $3/report and shopper fee $5. So using this example, your total expenses would be $18. You decided you want to make $20/report. So you would charge $38/report ($18 + $20).

Another consideration: some shops might take a very long time to perform (such as a hotel stay) and require a long narrative, whereas other shops, such as a fast food restaurant, would require much less time and have a quick yes/no type questionnaire. Additional expenses to do time-consuming shops and long narratives would have to be taken into consideration.

Now you might be tempted to want to charge a bargain rate just to get your foot in the door, thinking you can later raise your rate when the client is happy with you. Resist the temptation to do this. Clients won’t like it when you turn around and raise your fees. Right from the start, you have to charge a rate you will be comfortable with long term.

Mystery shopping companies can make good money if they correctly figure out how much to charge. Copyright 2010 Shari Joseph

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As I was working out today, there were a few things that struck my mind. “My god, am I getting my butt kicked.” “Who said this was  easy?” “How much longer do I have ’til I’m done?” It was an excruciating workout. I go thru this everyday. Its a normal routine to not really be looking forward to my workouts because they just are gruesome. But that’s the whole idea, isn’t it? If I want the physique that I’m striving for, I really have to work for it. It truly is an extraordinary thing to reach success.

The sad thing is that so many today don’t adapt that mentality in developing themselves as individuals and as leaders. We live in a society where we are constantly bombarded with infomercials where everything is “easy for just $19.99.” “Get those abs of steele with 10 minutes of using the power ab buster.” “Make $10,000 per month in 30 days.” Not going to happen.

In order for you to be able to get what you want, you must work for it. Many go to the home-based business realm believing that it’s actually easier than working at a normal 9-5 job. WRONG! Its actually harder. Yes you heard me correct…its harder. Think about this…you are now responsible for everything. You must take care of the finances, the resources needed to build your business, marketing, and much more. You might work 10, 12 hours or more in a day. You can’t get mad at your boss because, hey, guess what, you ARE the boss. Yes, having a home-based business is very taxing BUT you are investing in yourself. Its just like exercising, you have to invest in the time to get the body you seek. You want the freedom to be able to have more time for your family. You want to be able to control your income. You want to take your success as far as you can…no glass ceiling. Well, this all comes with hard work. And when you go through all that and succeed, don’t you think you’ll feel extraordinary?

The key thing to do is connect with others that have also joined the ranks of entrepreneurs and share positive encouragement. Stay active in your personal development. This is one big way to stay connected with your WHY. Don’t get caught up in other peoples problems. This is a fast way of going south in your progress. Extraordinary people don’t bother with negativity. Keep your mind focused on the positives of life. Try working on your happiness. Get involved in helping others succeed. Remember that the steps you take to your success are not going to be easy but well worth it when you reach that goal that you were shooting for. If you apply these simple but yet crucial steps, you will succeed in achieving an extraordinary result.

To Your Success,

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Are you satisfied with the number of clients you have? How often do they return for repeat business? Do you make it easy and enjoyable for them to do business with you? If not, a strategic coach helps analyze your business’ moments of truth to create positive, lasting impressions of you and your company that will turn the most skeptical client into your company’s biggest advocate.

So, what is a moment of truth? It’s a sliver of time when clients or prospects interact with you and your business and decide whether or not to do business with you, to share you with their network, or to use your products/services again and again. Jan Carlzon, in his book, Moments of Truth, defines them as “anytime a customer comes into contact with any aspect of a business, however remote, [as] an opportunity to form an impression.”

The role of a strategic coach is to ensure your business makes the right impression when interacting with clients and prospects. By strengthening the moments of truth in your business, a strategic coach focuses on accelerating your business’ growth by ensuring your clients remain on the continuum of the “Nine Steps for Building Virtual Trust.” The result is an increase in client acquisition, retention, and sales.

A strategic coach advises business owners to be aware of common moments of truth, such as:
* When someone views your Web site
* When someone receives your business card or brochure
* When you answer the phone
* How you interact with a prospect during a sales appointment
* What you post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites
* How you handle a customer complaint
* How and when you respond to requests for information
* When a client receives your billing statement

Moments of truth can seem insignificant to a business owner when they’re happening, but clients may have an entirely different reaction. For instance, if a potential client calls you and you don’t give them your full attention because of an office distraction (whether you think your attention is diverted or not), his or her impression may be that you are unfocused, unprofessional, and perhaps unworthy of his or her business.

A strategic coach brings clarity to your business by creating strategies that address your moments of truth. Immediate feedback on how you present yourself during these moments of truth can also be provided by a strategic coach.

Since they interact with so many business owners, a strategic coach has seen and heard it all. And, since your strategic coach is your advocate, his or her objective evaluation can be the difference between having a great experience with a client and landing that next big sale.

Some common questions your strategic coach asks to define and improve upon the way you handle your moments of truth include:
* What are the various touch points (such as your Web site, meeting at a networking event, sending an email, leaving a voicemail message, etc.) during which a potential client has an opportunity to “experience” your business and develop an impression?
* What is the current impression your clients and prospects experience?
* What is your intended impression?
* What changes need to be made to ensure each impression is the one you want your client to experience?
* Who will make these changes?
* By when will these changes be made?
* How will you measure the effectiveness of your changes?

Regardless of the moment of truth that’s holding your business back, a strategic coach uncovers your moments of truth to ensure you make the right impression. As clients benefit from a consistently positive experience, you can count on them returning for repeat business.

If you’re ready to identify and strengthen the moments of truth in your business to attract, impress, acquire, and keep loyal clients, contact the strategic coaching experts at Synnovatia by visiting http://www.Synnovatia.com or calling 800.398.6428 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              800.398.6428      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Jackie Nagel is the founder and president of Synnovatia, a strategic coaching firm that collaborates with entrepreneurs and business owners to realize accelerated business and personal growth. Learn more about growing your business by visiting www.Synnovatia.com

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The most important aspect of writing has always been to get your point across clearly. And this article I’ll reveal the technique the pros use for clear, concise writing.

Many amateur writers feel that writing is about complex sentences and long, fancy words. But the professionals now that the opposite is true. Writing clearly is far more important than writing cleverly. And over the years as a professional writer, I’ve developed one strategy that works over and over to create clear, concise writing.

I call it the “talk to me like I’m five years old” technique.

It sounds kind of silly, but let me explain what I mean. When a child asks you how something works, they are not looking for a million details. They’re just looking for the basics. For example, if my son asked me how a car works, I might say something like this:

“When I turn the key, a motor starts. And the motor makes the wheels go round and takes us from one place to another. By stepping on the gas pedal I can make the car go faster. And by stepping on the brake pedal, I can make the car slow down and stop.”

Now to a college professor that definition of how a car works is woefully inadequate. But for a five year old child it’s just fine. And the little secret that no one wants to talk about is:

Most readers are reading more like a five year old than like a college professor!

So here’s how the technique works in the real world. When you are writing, you start off with a topic. A point that you want to cover. What I like to do is turn the topic into a question. And then I answer the question as if I were speaking to a five year old child.

For example, let’s say that might topic was learning to type. I would turn that topic into a question, such as ” what is the best way to learn how to type?”

Then in my head I imagine a small child asking me that question. Immediately my brain begins to break the topic down into its simplest components. In this case, I would patiently explain that to learn to type well you need either a teacher or a computer program to help you. You must carefully follow the instructions and practice every day.

Instantly I can see three points that I will need to make when writing about this topic:

• You need a teacher or computer program to help you
• You need to carefully follow the instructions
• You need to practice every day

Now, when I’m actually writing the information for this topic I may use words and phrases that are far beyond five year old level. But the general outline, and the points that I need to cover, have been broken down until they are so simple anyone can understand.

Try it for yourself. The next time you need to write about a topic, turn it into a question and then answer it as if a small child had just asked you.  I think you’ll be pleased with the results.

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Purchasing a hair salon is a big decision and an even bigger potential chance for financial freedom. A serious consideration in purchasing a salon is location. You need to be very certain of your target clientele in choosing a location to acquire ownership.

If you are looking for the working mom, young and single sort of customer, it’s essential a salon be conveniently located. Strip malls and plazas with multiple stores and places that provide services such as dry cleaning, one hour photo and fast food will lend their business traffic to yours. A salon located in along with the ‘one stop shopping’ experience make your salon convenient and therefore potentially more popular and successful. This is also a demographic where accepting walk-ins can greatly increase your clientele. Someone picking up their dry cleaning, photos, or running errands may decide to pop in for a quick trim and then later return for more time-consuming services such as coloring. Combining this with good customer service has the potential to generate a considerable amount of business.

Mid-range pricing with perhaps more services offered must strike a very clever balance for location. When purchasing a hair salon with potentially more high-end service, consider the surrounding area. Will it support your salon? For instance, are there nice restaurants in the area? Is it a well-maintained portion of town? Is there a sufficient demand for your services, as well as a population with the money to spend? It should also still be convenient, situated not too far from residential areas.

Location for a high-end hair salon is absolutely crucial. The area must be very appealing, perhaps a bit set aside. Venues with fast food places and other sort of ‘everyday life’ establishments can weigh down the escapism, spa-like feel a customer in this demographic seeks. This type of clientele wants a lovely face value for the salon as well. A free-standing structure is almost required. You may have to allow for the finances to afford a landscaper and even retain a service to see to the exterior appearance. Busy roads should be close enough for convenience, yet distant enough as not to create intrusive noise. You must also be prepared to use more expensive products, and hire very well-reputed stylists. This demographic can be a bit unforgiving. So, top-notch professionals on staff is a must.

Whatever demographic clientele you intend to target, always keep them in mind when purchasing a hair salon. Your research and good judgment in advance will decide the health and success of your business endeavor.

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Products are a key part of any online business. They are one of the main ways to earn money, alongside any services you provide.

There are various different types of product you can offer. Each of the examples listed below is a cost-effective way to earn additional income as, once created, they can be sold over and over again on your website at no extra cost to your business.

E-books- similar to printed books, but produced in a digital format that can be read on any computer. E-books are great introductory products.

E-courses- training courses, delivered via scheduled emails over a set time period.

Podcasts- audio recordings, accessed via a web page, or available to download.

Webinars- practical demonstrations, which include simultaneous physical and spoken instruction, performed to camera, and viewed on a computer screen. Webinars are Ideal for demonstrating a specific product, or providing training in a particular skill or software program.

Teleseminars- training over the telephone, usually to a small group of attendees.

Online Courses- training courses, presented in any of the above formats, which are accessed via the internet.

Home study programmes- digital training programmes to do at home.

Books- paperback or hardback books sold directly from your website and/or via bookshops and online retailers.

DVD programmes- a home study programme with content provided on a DVD, rather than delivered via a download.

Templates/documents- templates or documents that customers can customise for their own use to save them time and money.

Transcripts- written documentation of a teleseminar or podcast.

Group coaching- coaching in a group setting, either face-to-face or via conference calls.

Membership programmes- continuity programmes with a membership fee.

‘Mastermind’ programmes- high-level group coaching sessions.

Live events- workshops that take people through your training or systems.

So, what products are you going to implement in your online business?

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Clearly, the number of hours you can work each day is not unlimited. You have to sleep, eat, perform routine daily tasks, as well as have a social life.

By working through this five-step strategy, aimed to help you to focus on your systems and processes, you will be able to take control and get organised now.

Even if you can implement only one tip from each strategy, you will benefit enormously.

Take control of your email
Email is a wonderful resource, which allows us to communicate quickly and easily and makes a real difference to our daily lives. But, beware; emails can soon take over if you let them.

Emails are not urgent
If something was genuinely ‘urgent’, the sender would telephone you, so do not think that you have to answer an email as soon as it arrives, even if it has a ‘high priority’ tag or ‘urgent’ in the subject line.

Set times to check emails
Set times to check and respond to emails. This will focus your time more effectively. Checking your incoming emails twice a day is enough – try 11am and 4pm.

Disable email notification
Make sure that you disable the notification sign and sound, so that you will not be tempted to check each time an email arrives. This allows you to focus on tasks you need to complete without distractions.

Take control and manage your day-to-day activities
Unless you have a daily plan, you will soon be asking yourself what you have achieved at the end of each day – it is all about working effectively and efficiently.

Create a schedule
Include all personal and business appointments in your schedule, so that you do not miss any important appointments.

Include deadlines on your schedule
Include all your important deadlines in your schedule, both clients’ and your own, so that you can plan the work accordingly.

Treat yourself like an important client
Set aside time in your schedule to complete your own work; in that respect, treat it the same as you would an appointment with an important client.

Take control and keep projects on track
It is important that all project work is planned, so that you know what you want to accomplish and by when.

Have a budget
All projects need a budget to allow you to monitor expenses effectively. Use a simple-to-use spreadsheet program, such as Excel, to record all income and expenses.

Create an expenses system
Create a spreadsheet to monitor all expenses against budget, on either a weekly or monthly basis.

Create a contact-management system
Every project, regardless of size, requires the support from a number of people. Therefore, you should have a contact-management system to allow everyone involved to be able to access all the necessary contact details easily.

Review your project regularly
Regularly review projects against objectives and budget to monitor your progress. You can then make any necessary changes immediately instead of leaving them until the last minute.

Take control of your filing
Few people like filing, but it is an important part of running any business successfully – you need to be able to retrieve any document quickly.

You should do your filing regularly – I do mine on a weekly basis.

Remember, the simplest systems work best!

Paper filing System
System needs to be simple and easy to maintain otherwise there is no point. I make use of a two-drawer filing cabinet and use a colour-coding system:

Drawer 1 (yellow files) includes: general and financial information

Drawer 2 (pink files) includes: marketing, projects and client information

Electronic documents filing system
Ideally, this should mirror your paper-based system to make things easy.

Email filing system
You should make sure that your inbox does not get cluttered. Again, this should mirror your paper and electronic filing system.

Back-up system
It is imperative to have a back-up system and back up your work regularly. You can use of an online system, an external drive or a memory stick.

Take control and delegate
A support team is a group of people to whom you can delegate certain aspects of your business and personal life. They might include: a virtual assistant, a cleaner, a gardener or a childcare assistant.

Who could you have in your support team?

Set deadlines and prioritise
When delegating tasks, set deadlines and prioritise tasks for the person doing the work.

Clear instructions and information
You need to be clear with your instructions and information to avoid any misunderstandings.

Give advanced notice
You need to give advanced notice of required tasks, so that people have enough time to complete the work.

Communication is key
Communication is the key to an effective relationship with those to whom you delegate work to, but it is a two-way process. And, remember to treat people how youwould like to be treated!

By taking some time now to review and implement some of the tips in this five-step strategy, you will save a great deal of time in the future.

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Back in 1982, I read the prolific and prophetic Megatrends by John Naisbitt. His foretelling of the coming Hi-Tech revolution was amazingly accurate. But on page 53 in dark bold letters is an insight that has proven true and is getting more relevant with each successful Internet entrepreneurial enterprise… “The more high technology around us, the more the need for human touch.”

The number of people and ideas that strive for our attention continues to grow. As creatures of habit we tend to rely on the familiar, the trusted and the personal. The incredible increase of Hi Tech means that human inter-action, kindness and sacrifice are more important than ever before.

Kiran Yocom, raised in India, worked alongside Mother Teresa for many years. Mother Teresa was her role model and inspiration for how to build a business – with great love and care. Kiran started Seniors Helping Seniors in 1998. Kiran started her company as a mission to fill a need that was not being served in her own community. She’s inspired to bring out the best in every person she meets, and inspires others to do the same. “Our business is love,” says Yocom. “If we don’t have love for each other, what do we really have?”

Her company, which provides non-medical in-home services for older adults by older adults is dedicated to doing good AND earning money. You can have both, says Yocom, and she’s proving it with 100 plus franchises now in 29 states and more on the way. High Tech….High Touch….High Success!

August 29, 2010 by Larry Braccio

Larry Braccio
Successipedia/BuyersLooking

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Recently while swimming in the middle of a multitude of projects and an overwhelming to-do list, I found myself in laser focus mode, cutting through my tasks but along with it, other people as well.

Just at the brink of going into zombie mode, I was awaken sharply by news of a family member who was in a coma from a heart attack. The sudden awakening reminded me of 3 important points:

1. People are more important than things

Material things are to support and help people. Not the other way around. Whenever we find ourselves consumed and pursueing “things”, we need to stop and ask ourselves why and who is it really going to make a difference for.

2. People are more important than projects

As great as projects that aim to “make the world a better place”, we can often get so caught up and consumed by our projects that we forget the very purpose of the project – to help someone. Projects support people not people support projects.

3. People are more important than programs/plans

Life is not a program. Yet, we may often be tempted to hammer life into something predictable and easy. Nothing can be more harmful than to try and control people and life. We build programs and make plans so that it can help others. We need to be flexible to adjust and change if our plans are not fulfilling its purpose.

So what now? Do we give everything away, drop our projects and never make plans?

Of course not. We need to constantly renew our attitudes. Our attitudes are also known as “the window to the soul” and the “lens” by which we see life. Every day, we need to clean our lens and ensure we are seeing life clearly, truthfully and correctly.

People are most important. Regardless of what we’re doing, identify the people who are most important and always see through that lens.

Renew your commitment to put others first today and you’ll be on the way to be the champion you are meant to be.

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Remember the 1980?s video game “Paperboy?” You moved your bicycling paperboy up the screen and used buttons to make him throw newspapers onto the porches of the correct houses. I just read a very insightful article by Dan Pallotta of the Harvard Business Review entitled “Is the Entrepreneur and Endangered Species?”

In his article, Dan talks about how kids today aren’t doing things like running yard work businesses, snow blowing businesses, becoming paperboys, and building hot dog carts or lemonade stands. I realized that he was right. These training opportunities have becomes extinct rites of passage for the past couple generations of American youth.

As an entrepreneur myself, with experience in startup after startup, Dan’s article made me think about my own upbringing. I grew up at the right time, but I never had the opportunity to be a paperboy – we moved around a lot growing up and it seemed you had to be well established as a kid in the community in order to crack the inner circle to get a coveted paperboy job.

By the time I was 12 or so, we had moved to a rural area – and no paperboy jobs existed. In fact, we lived so far in the country, that there was no RFD (home mail delivery) in our “town”. We had to drive in to the post office every day to get out mail. It was very “Hooterville”. We did live in a Country Club for a while, so my younger brother and I would go out early on Saturday mornings and retrieve golf balls from the streams and lakes on the course. The club pro would buy those balls back for either a dime or a quarter apiece, depending on how dinged up they were. He would then sell them as used balls for 50 cents, or paint a stripe on them and turn them into “range balls”. It was the 1970?s – things were simpler then.

On a good Saturday, we could make nearly $20 that we would split. Ten bucks went a long way back then, if you remember. Not bad for a startup, board members were 13 and 9. In high school, I had a couple of jobs, but nothing entrepreneurial. I was working for the man. One of the saddest reasons that I believe these opportunities have disappeared is that the current culture makes it a much riskier proposition than ever. I don’t think most parents are comfortable letting their 13 year olds run about unsupervised.

Where we live (suburb of Atlanta) there aren’t any kids doing lawn work either – it’s all done by landscaping companies who employee “people who will do the jobs Americans won’t”.

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