IMG February 2015 Affiliate Newsletter by Deliverabilities

NEWS ISSUE 04/ FEBRUARY 2015

Setting the Standard

Royal Coach Tours

FEATURE IMG COMPANY

Is kindness as important

as toughness in leadership?

6 Rules for

Effective Peer-to-Peer

Communication 3 Common Mistakes Made

When Hiring Sales Reps

Want a

problem-free trip?

Try the bus

10 QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN HIRING AN SEO FIRM/

Based on anecdotal evidence I’ve collected after working in the digital-marketing space...

6 RULES FOR EFFECTIVE PEER-TO-PEER COMMUNICATION/

HOUSE APPROVES OBAMACARE BILL DESPITE VETO THREAT/

Effective peer-to-peer communication affects the workplace...

IThe House voted Thursday to curb a provision in ObamaCare that some...

FMCSA REINSTATES FUNG WAH BUS COMPANY, SAYS IT WILL WATCH CLOSELY/

FMCSA WILL ESTABLISH COMMITTEE ON TRAINING FOR ENTRY-LEVEL COMMERCIAL DRIVERS/

A New York-based bus carrier famously had its authority yanked in March 2013...

IS KINDNESS AS IMPORTANT AS TOUGHNESS IN LEADERSHIP?/

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced through...

I once interviewed for a position where the hiring manager interrogated me...

CONSERVATIVES TO GOP: PUMP THE BRAKES ON GAS TAX HIKE/

A conservative group is criticizing Republican leaders in the Senate for suggesting...

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It’s difficult to understate the rarity of Shannon Lee’s complaint. It’s almost as...

FMCSA TO MAINTAIN 50 PERCENT RANDOM DRUG TESTING RATES THROUGH 2015/

FMCSA to Maintain 50 Percent Random Drug Testing Rates through 2015. The Federal...

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3 COMMON MISTAKES MADE WHEN HIRING SALES REPS/

As your organization starts growing it becomes much harder for the founders to...

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Sophisticated marketers measure everything from website traffic and...

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President ’s Message How quickly the new year has unfolded, with so many industry events in January. From ABA, to UMA, to NTA, it was great to see many of you. Of course, IMG has their very own Maintenance and Safety Forum, in New Orleans pre- UMA. This was a well-attended meeting and as the name suggests, attended by Directors of Maintenance, Safety and Owners. This is where we see the very unique workings of IMG, a network of operators who work collectively to ensure they have the safest vehicles, remain up to date on latest developments from compliance to technology and share best practices.

out for their 2014 efforts and we salute the entire Royal team. In January, we welcomed our 52nd company, Transportation Charter Services (TCS), Los Angeles. This adds to the presence IMG has in LA, with TCS joining Pacific Coachways. Terry Fischer who acquired TCS in 2011, said: “We are very proud to join IMG and the other great operators that form the IMG organization. IMG brings to us a certification and commitment of shared philosophy of exceptional operating principles and customer care.”

Congratulations to Starr, Trenton, New Jersey and Royal Coach Tours, San Jose, CA who won IMG’s prestigious Spirit and Safety Awards respectively at our Maintenance and Safety Forum. STARR, our Spirit Award recipient, richly deserves this award for their contribution to not only IMG but also to the larger motorcoach community. Within IMG, Starr has been consistent with their participation in committees, the IMG Board and various projects. Such commitment and time has helped IMG continue to grow and evolve. Royal Coach Tours, our Safety Award recipient, has an outstanding commitment to safety, training and maintenance. As our panel of past winners reviewed compliance, SMS scores, insurance loss ratios, additional training and safety measures, Royal stood

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Our featured IMG company in this month’s magazine is, coincidentally, Royal Coach Tours. We hope you enjoy the many interesting articles!

Bronwyn Wilson President, IMG

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IMG Feature Company Royal Coaches

“Royal Treatment”, more than just a name but a commitment by the team at Royal Coach Tours, San Jose, California.

together have continued to build the business and have collectively introduced a new level of service in the charter bus industry.

A second generation company that had it beginnings in the 60’s, the tradition of “Royal Treatment” is the cornerstone of the company’s success that proudly stands behind their mission statement to provide top quality transportation service delivered with the highest standards in customer service, safety and care.

Our Drivers

It all began in 1960 This was the year that Joanne Smith and her husband purchased their very first 37 passenger motor coach and began a commuter service from Fremont to Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in Sunnyvale. With the success of their first commuter services, two years later, they decided to transition into the charter bus business and the birth of Smith Charter Service. With the dramatic growth of the Bay Area came the growth of Smith Charter Service. In late 1970 Joanne changed the company name to Royal Coach Tours, a title that would convey to its clients the type of service which her company offered, the first class royal treatment. This foundation combined with solid business practices and operations, was a platform for the continued growth of Royal Coach Tours. Today, Joanne’s passion and commitment has been passed on to her two children Sandy Allen and Dan Smith, who

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At Royal Coach Tours, the philosophy is that “It all starts with our drivers”, they are the face of our company with our customers and reflect our values. Royal hires professional drivers with the goal to

provide outstanding service to our customers. To enhance driver performance, all full-time drivers are SPAB (Student Pupil Activity Bus) Certified, which means even stricter regulations can and are imposed by the California Highway Patrol.

to the Royal’s continued commitment to training and safety programs for their drivers and staff. Also, for the past 2 years, the California Bus Association has awarded Royal Coach Tours drivers with the distinguished Driver of the Year Award.

IMG’s driver program, ADA Sensitivity training, bicycle awareness training, defensive driving training - just some of the many training tools utilized at Royal to give drivers the most comprehensives skills and knowledge of regulations. Safety is and remains, Royal Coach Tours and their driver’s top priority.

Fueled by dedication

Safety meets technology: “When our very precious cargo is people, we do go beyond the industry standards to ensure we do all can to operate safely” said Dan Smith. “We use technology to supplement and support our drivers, and that includes such technologies as Event Data Recorders, Fire Suppression System, and Tire Pressure & Temperature Monitoring System. Our motor coaches are sophisticated vehicles that provide the ultimate comfort and safety for our valued clients”.

Recognition of Excellence This year Royal Coach Tours was awarded IMG’s prestigious Safety Award, an outstanding recognition

Located in the heart of San Jose, California, Royal Coach Tours takes pride in the wide variety of quality vehicles. With a fleet of over 65 Motor-coaches, Specialty Coaches, Minibuses, and Sprinter Vans, Royal has the perfect fit for their clients needs. Royal Coach Tours dedication to our clients is no business strategy it’s our culture.

Back at the Royal garage While not all customers see what happens behind the scene, Royal over many years has built a great facility, over 13,000 square feet, to ensure the highest level of mechanically sound vehicles for our passengers. The Royal team of ten certified and trained mechanics, represent over 100+ year of combined experience. Preventative maintenance is a key component for Royal’s mechanic, with a rigorous schedule in place for inspections. Industry recognition is a hallmark of such commitment to maintenance with Royal’s Director of Maintenance was recently awarded the California Bus Association, Mechanic of the Year.

Green Initiative

Sandy Allen

At Royal Coach Tours we are committed to becoming environmentally friendly, constantly developing new and strategic business practice to promote sustainability. We understand the value of our environment and natural resources , and we have see our outstanding results such as reducing particulate matter (black smoke) by 90 percent; reducing our nitrogen oxide output by 52 percent with the installation of diesel particulate filters in all late model coaches and using Bio-Diesel blends for all motor coaches. We continue to work on reducing our carbon footprint. Our love for employees and our customers - join us and experience our “Royal” treatment. www.royal-coach.com

Dan Smith

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IMG Companies Recognized IMG companies were recipient of many awards at recent association events, and at IMG’s own awards dinner during our Maintenance and Safety Forum, where both Royal Coach Tours and Starr were proudly recognized. Congratulations to all!

IMG’s Starr team with the IMG Spirit Award

IMG’s Pacific Coachways proud recipient of the UMA Vision Award, Small Operator category. 8

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The Royal Coach Tour team with

Recognized by BUSRide Magazine at U IMG’s Starline Luxury Coaches

BUSRide Magazine recognizes Michael Colborne, IMG’s Pacific Western Transportation, for the Good Stewardship Award, at ABA marketplace.

h the IMG Safety Award

UMA award night,

UMA’s “Green Spirit Award” for a large motorcoach company was awarded to IMG’s Sun Diego Charters, San Diego.

Metro Magazine award at UMA event, IMG’s Brown Coach

Peter Worthington, IMG’s DATTCO, inaugural winner of the Norm Littler Safety Award at ABA Marketplace. www.greenazine.com

IMGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Maintenance & Safety Meeting 2015

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Communication

6 Rules for Effective Peer-to Effective peer-to-peer communication affects the workplace in a variety of ways, including employees’ engagement, morale and satisfaction as well as the company’s overall success. Gallup’s 2013 “State of the American Workplace” observed that “regular communication from the company’s leaders and informal communication between employees will begin to breed a culture of engagement, leading participation rates of employee engagement metrics and other interventions to be more successful.” Here are a few rules for more effective peer-topeer communication:

1. Make building relationships a priority. A TinyHR study, released last year, analyzing some 200,000 responses from more than 500 organizations, found peer relationships and camaraderie are significant factors in spurring employees to go the extra mile at work. Teach employees to be open and willing to change their behavior and communication preferences to accommodate others. Model respectful communication techniques that employees can learn from, and if conflicts or misinterpretations arise, be the first to seek a resolution.

2. Say something at the right moment. Timing is key in effective communication. Why? A study published online last April in the journal of Psychological Science found the longer rewards are delayed, the more they’re devalued.

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o-Peer Communication

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If employee recognition is delayed, it might not have as big an impact. If staffers receive feedback requesting a change too late, the comments might not be as relevant and making a late modification might not be as helpful to the team. Motivate employees to speak up and recognize one another immediately if communication or recognition is warranted. Give them the tools needed to do so.

3. Use the right medium. For employees to successfully communicate with one another, they need the right tools. The TinyHR study found that 44 percent of employees offer peer-to-peer recognition when they have an easy tool to use. Set up an instant messaging or a recognition platform to encourage employees to communicate and acknowledge one another more often. Notice which employees are motivated by written recognition and those who value tangible rewards. Let peers commend one another either way, at their discretion.

4. Prompt understanding. A study by Root that analyzed the responses of more than 1,000 U.S. employees found that the majority of them expressed having had a tough time collaborating for reasons, ranging from gaps in leadership and training to competencies in teamwork and accountability. Only 27 percent reported that when working with another group they can strongly depend on outsiders’ meeting their obligations. This could arise due to a gap in understanding or

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employees’ perception that others are not as highly trained or competent at their jobs. To help employees better understand one another, arrange for collaborative projects, whereby communication and understanding are essential for successful completion. Assigning more tasks that require effective teamwork gives employees the opportunity to demonstrate their skills to one another, learn and narrow the gap in mutual undertanding about their individual roles in the workplace. An employee should take the time to fully understand another staffer’s point of view before making a rash judgement or accusation. If your organization allows for this, let employees swap roles or crosstrain and perform another function for a day to gain a better appreciation of how people need to work together.

5. Promote honesty straightforward behavior.

and

A study analyzing the responses of more than 550 participants, published in the Journal of Trust Research, measured the relationship between workplace trust and turnover. Employees who trusted their coworkers, especially their leaders, were less likely to harbor the intention of leaving their organization, according to the study. Trust doesn’t thrive in environments where people omit important information and beat around the bush. Teach employees to express themselves honestly and straightforwardly. The sooner employees can express their points,

Effective peer-to-peer communication affects the workplace in a variety of ways the more they will avoid cumbersome misunderstandings.

6. Aim to encourage. Root’s survey also revealed that more than 54 percent of the employees surveyed have experienced frustration and discouragement in the office. When employees feel discouraged, they find it more difficult to solve problems, make decisions and enjoy their jobs -ultimately leading to dimished productivity and higher turnover. Whenever employees communicate or give feedback to one another, ensure that they do so in a positive, constructive way. The aim always should be to encourage employees, never to tear down others by hammering at flaws. Serve as a role model for encouraging others. Respond to mistakes with a willingness to help and make employees feel they have the competence and skills to try again.

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Fung Wah Bus Company

FMCSA reinstates Fung Wah Bus company, says it will watch closely Safety is our highest priority and Fung Wah has put new operational safeguards in place, passed multiple bus inspections and will be subjected to extra oversight and permitted limited operations to prove they can safely transport passengers and protect the motoring public. 16 www.greenazine.com

A New York-based bus carrier famously had its authority yanked in March 2013 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Under a new law, it recently obtained a gift in time for the holidays: the right to transport more passengers. Fung Wah Bus Transportation once had a bus overturn on a highway ramp in Massachusetts – injuring 48 passengers, including some serious injuries. The company was fined for having drivers exceed the speed limit and being unable to speak English, and paid $12,900 in fines tied to the wreck. “Effective December 11, 2014, Fung Wah Bus Transportation Inc. is authorized by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to engage in transportation as a common carrier of passengers in interstate commerce,” FMCSA wrote in the release. FMCSA said the authority comes with strings attached. “Safety is our highest priority and Fung Wah has put new operational safeguards in place, passed multiple

bus inspections and will be subjected to extra oversight and permitted limited operations to prove they can safely transport passengers and protect the motoring public,” the statement reads. “FMCSA will aggressively and continually monitor Fung Wah’s operations and subject its vehicles and drivers to unannounced inspections to ensure that the company fully complies with all federal safety regulations.” The company was fined for having drivers exceed the speed limit and being unable to speak English, and paid $12,900 in fines tied to the 2006 wreck. FMCSA investigated the company until Fung Wah stopped cooperating with the agency’s investigators and blocked them from looking at safety records.

For the first time in its history, FMCSA used authority under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century law (MAP-21) to revoke Fung Wah’s operating authority in March 2013. MAP-21 was signed into law by President Obama in 2012. The bus company’s website boasts it is the “largest Chinatown” bus service provider between the two East Coast cities of New York and Boston. Fung Wah recently accepted five requirements from FMCSA before being allowed back into the bus business. The stipulations are as follows: Hiring qualified management staff responsible for operational safety and DOT compliance;

Limiting service routes and numbers of trips during the company’s first 60 days of operation, in addition to requiring written petition to add routes or trips; Installing and using on-board recording devices to record and document driver duty status information; Ensuring drivers don’t exceed posted speed limits; and Agreeing to heightened monitoring and investigation by FMCSA during the next four years.

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Once again, Setra has raised the benchmark in the North American luxury motorcoach segment, with over 30 innovations in design, passenger and driver comfort, safety and environmental efficiencies. Daimler’s new, unique Front Collision Guard (FCG), for instance, is a passive safety system engineered to protect the driver and tour guide in the case of a frontal impact. Experience the all-new Setra TopClass S 417. From Daimler Buses North America, the worldwide leading manufacturer of buses and motorcoaches.

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Leadership

Is kindness as importan in leadership? 20 www.greenazine.com

nt as toughness www.greenazine.com

I once interviewed for a position where the hiring manager interrogated me mercilessly. The immediate impression I had of him as a leader was not favorable. My concern was that he would be overly demanding to his staff and possibly a micro-manager. I thought he’d be very tough (in an unfavorable way) to work for. Luckily, I spoke with some of his direct reports to find out more about him after the interview. Several stories from those who reported to him illustrated his kindness; there wasn’t evidence that he would be excessively tough to work for. I was offered the position, and accepted. It required me to work closely with my new manager on a particular high-profile committee in the company that included top executives. I discovered that this manager was one of the best I’d ever had in terms of balancing his intervention in the work I did as I was learning with trusting that I was capable of doing what was required to have our business area seen by the executives as professional and effective. My new manager was both tough and kind. This manager’s criticism was delivered with care and his praise and recognition was just frequent enough to give me the confidence to know that he believed in me. In turn, I had no problem giving him feedback or suggesting new ways to operate; he wanted it and received it with grace. Finally, our team (those who reported to him) forged bonds with each other that I found to be rare. We helped each other out when there was a crunch, and we delivered feedback without rancor. We were both tough and kind to each other, and we accomplished a lot.

What the data are showing More and more data is showing that managers who focus on results while still showing kindness is what the world needs now: - Projecting warmth before establishing competence in a new position is more effective than beginning with toughness. - When leaders are fair to their team, the team reflects fairness to each other and to customers. - Employees would rather be happy than have more pay. - A focus on results and social skills are necessary to be seen as a great leader. 22 www.greenazine.com

When leaders are fair to their team, the team reflects fairness to each other and to customers. How many leaders are both results- and peoplefocused? Management Research Group has mined the data of 60,763 leaders who completed the LEA360 (a multirater feedback tool) to answer the question: Can leaders be both caring and focused on achievement?. Within that sample, they found only .77% (that’s not a typo; the number is less than 1%!) of leaders who were in the top third of the population studied had a balanced focus on both achievement and caring. Part of the reason for this strikingly low percentage is that the brain often seems incapable of focusing on results and people simultaneously. However, we know that the brain is “plastic,” with the ability to change, so with intention and practice, it’s possible to change how you react and lead over time to be more balanced. Even if being overly tough or overly caring is your ingrained response mode, I believe you can become more balanced. It takes practice, focus and dedication. It’s hard. But your balance in these areas can help your organization to get better results. The bottom line is that we need toughness (resultsorientation) and kindness (caring for others) in our leaders. What if we started rewarding leaders for knowing how to balance these traits? Where do you stand on the continuum between results and caring? What impact would achieving balance have on your organization?

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Gas Tax Hike

Conservatives to GOP: Pump the brakes on gas tax hike A conservative group is criticizing Republican leaders in the Senate for suggesting they might be open to an increase in the 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal gas tax. As prices have fallen to their lowest levels since 2008 in recent weeks, transportation advocates have been pushing for the first gas tax increase since 1993 to help pay for a new long-term infrastructure bill that has stalled in Washington. The Alexandria, Va.-based Citizens for the Republic group said Tuesday that increasing the amount that drivers are charged at the pump for their gas prices would be a bad idea. “Declining gas prices are granting consumers sorely needed economic relief and opportunity, the kind this government has consistently failed to provide over the last six years,” Diana Banister said in a statement. “It is utterly shameful that government and especially Republicans are moving to immediately steal that opportunity from the consumer in order to pad its own wallet,” she continued.

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Transportation Policy Best Sellers: The comments came in response to statements that were made over the weekend by new Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). Thune said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” that lawmakers will need to “keep all options” available when asked about a proposal from Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) to increase the gas tax by 12 cents over the next two years. “I don’t favor increasing any tax,” Thune said during the Sunday interview. “But I think we have to look at all options.” Lawmakers have been struggling with finding a way to pay for a new multi-year transportation funding bill for years. The last long-term infrastructure measure was approved in 2005, with lawmakers only approving temporary patches, including the current eight-month package, since then. The gas tax, which predates the development of the Interstate Highway System by nearly two decades, has been the primary source for federal transportation projects since its creation in the 1930s. Receipts from the gas tax have been outpaced by transportation expenses by about $16 billion annually in recent years as construction costs have risen and cars have become more fuel efficient. The current level of federal spending on transportation is about $50 billion per year, but the gas tax only brings in about $34 billion annually at its current rate. Transportation advocates have argued that increasing the gas tax for the first since 1993 would be the easiest way to close the gap. Lawmakers have been reluctant to ask drivers to pay more at the pump, however, making a gas tax increase politically toxic. Congress has instead turned to other areas of the federal budget in recent years to close the gap in lieu of asking drivers to pay more at the pump. However, critics say the temporary bandages are contributing to a weakened national infrastructure. Citizens for the Republic’s Banister said Tuesday that charging drivers more at the pump after years of elevated gas prices is not the solution.

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“Deficit spending and the debt need to be reined in and controlled, but that must begin with the government looking inward. It must first look to its own internal waste, abuse, and fraud,” she said. “Only afterwards can it reasonably ask for more from the individual. This habit of instinctively taking from the American people is reprehensible, especially when the idea comes from self-proclaimed Conservatives.” Congress had a chance to pass a multi-year transportation funding package last year, but lawmakers could not agree on a way to pay for more than a couple of months’ worth of projects, resulting in a temporary extension that lasts only until May 2015. The nearly $11 billion measure, which reauthorized the collection of the gas tax but did not increase it, was intended only to prevent a bankruptcy in the Department of Transportation’s Highway Trust Fund. The trust fund had been scheduled to run out of money in September without congressional action. Transportation advocates criticized the conservative group for attacking lawmakers who are open to considering a gas tax hike in the new Congress. “It’s clear there is bipartisan recognition that gas taxes should be adjusted, consistent with the userfee principle, to sustainably fund infrastructure across the United States,” Association of Equipment Manufacturers Michael O’Brien said in a statement provided to The Hill. “Gas prices are at a record low, and Congress should seize the opportunity to fund our infrastructure while we can be sensitive to consumers,” O’Brien continued. “It’s incumbent upon conservative naysayers to offer up constructive alternatives to fund infrastructure, but unfortunately, they have none.” Advocates had suggested that the recently completed lame-duck session would have been the best time for lawmakers to raise the gas tax, because it would be more politically viable. However, lawmakers showed little appetite for tackling the proposed hike before they wrapped up the 113th Congress.

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Hiring an SEO Firm

10 Questions to Ask When Hiring an SEO Firm Based on anecdotal evidence I’ve collected after working in the digital-marketing space for 15 years, I’m confident saying that the vast majority of those hiring an SEO firm end up being disappointed.

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1. Have you done work before for a business like mine? Perhaps no other question goes to the heart of the matter like this. If you own a self-storage business and want an SEO agency to help you

obtain more customers, the ideal shop would have a proven history of securing them for other like companies. The same applies when hiring an SEO agency to target a certain language or geography. Yet, just because an agency has worked with a company like yours doesn’t necessarily mean it will do a better job than another outfit that hasn’t. But this is definitely a factor to weigh heavily.

2. Can you show me case studies? Whether the agency you’re considering has worked before with a company of your type, case studies of its work will enable you to see the results delivered to other clients. In theory, this means the company can also come through for you. Talking with an agency representative about the case studies will also help you understand how the organization works.

3. Can you provide references? No agency will intentionally give out as references the names of clients unhappy with its work. But if an agency can’t even provide three positive references, what does that say?

4. What metric do you focus on the most? Surprise! The right answer is not rankings -- or traffic or links. The kind of SEO agency you want to work with won’t ignore rankings or traffic as metrics in measuring a campaign’s success but will primarily focus on customer leads, sales or conversions of prospects into clients.

5. How long until I start seeing results? A representative of a good agency will underpromise and overdeliver. While every situation is different,

this generally means the company will promise early positive results within four to six months and more substantial results within six to 12 months. It’s not unreasonable for an SEO consultant to say you will start seeing things moving in the right direction within two to three months, but he or she should make it clear such results will likely not be the kind that affect the primary metrics cited above. SEO is a long-term tactic, and if it is sold to you as a short-term solution to get sales, then move along to an agency where you’ll be told the frank truth, even if it isn’t what you’d like to hear.

6. What is your link-building philosophy? The right answer emphasizes quality over quantity. Any SEO agency promising a certain number of links a month deserves skepticism if not outright rejection. The best links come naturally, from highquality sources like news or industry websites. Therefore link building is more like traditional public relations. Any SEO firm worth hiring for link-building services should be able to provide samples of high-quality links built for other clients and explain the process of how they were procured. If there’s an explicit mention of buying links or anything that suggests the agency pays for links, run away.

7. How has SEO changed over the past few years? It can be tricky to parse the answer to this. It’s just as correct to say that SEO practices haven’t changed at all as it is to remark they have been completely transformed. People at a firm that has always engaged in SEO through creating high-quality content and

While even the best SEO agencies won’t have a perfect track record, some are better than others. Clients shopping for SEO services can save themselves time, headache and money by asking simple questions building high-quality links might feel that not much has changed. On the other hand, Google has rolled out major changes to its search engine that make high-quality content and links more valuable than before, while penalizing low-quality content and links. In addition, more searches are being performed on mobile devices. And today more searches use “natural language,” or complete sentences, rather than just a keyword or two. This has changed keyword strategy to a focus on more on long-tail results rather than just those “golden keywords” that many clients think will bring them the most traffic. www.greenazine.com

8. What is your reporting process? The industry norm seems to be to promise monthly reports and then not deliver them. The ideal agency should promise monthly reports (and more frequent ones when necessary), and when you talk to references, verify that the company follows through.

9. How do you price your services? The answer you’re seeking isn’t whether the firm overprices its services or offers a good deal, but whether it’s offering fixed-price packages or custom options. If you have a small business want local SEO that costs several hundred to a few thousand dollars a month, a fixed price-package might be a good fit. If your budget is $5,000 per month or more, then probably SEO is a more critical service for your business and you want a customized service from an agency that can accommodate your changing needs.

10. What other services do you offer? Are they integrated? Maybe you need an agency that does nothing but SEO. But chances are that you could benefit from other digital-marketing services like web design, paid-search management, content marketing, conversion-rate optimization or marketing automation. It’s not enough to know if the agency offers these services. You will want to know how these services are tied together behind the scenes. If your SEO is being managed by one guy and paid search by another, but they never talk with each other about your account, then valuable data is being squandered and a strategy is lacking. Your agency consultant should explain how everyone connected to your account works together in an integrated fashion so that the tactics used match your digital-marketing strategy. Most clients trying to hire an SEO firm don’t ask these questions. That’s why many clients end up disappointed. Asking these questions and understanding the answers will help you avoid agencies that might take your money and give little in return. Find the one that will help your business grow.

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Obamacare Bill

House approves ObamaCare veto threat

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e bill despite

The House voted Thursday to curb a provision in ObamaCare that some lawmakers say is hurting the job market, as the new Republicancontrolled Congress moved quickly to challenge the administration on several fronts. The House voted 252-172 for the ObamaCare bill, which tweaks the law’s definition of full-time workers who must be offered employerprovided health care. Twelve Democrats sided with Republicans in approving the first Affordable Care Act-related legislation of the new Congress. The bill changes the full-time worker threshold from 30 hours weekly to a 40-hour minimum. Critics claim defining full-time employees as those working at least 30 hours is pressuring firms to save money by cutting workers’ hours below that and, in turn, the number of full-time jobs. The White House, though, already has vowed to veto the bill, drawing jeers from GOP leaders. “You say you care about low-income workers, about working women and small businesses?” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., taunted Obama. “Show it and sign this bill.” The White House, just days into the 114th Congress, also has threatened to veto two other Republicansponsored bills, including one forcing approval of the Canada-toTexas Keystone pipeline. The House is planning to vote on that bill Friday, while a Senate panel on Thursday approved the

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legislation - teeing up debate on the Senate floor for next week. On both bills, GOP leaders would face uphill fights mustering the two-thirds House and Senate majority votes they would need to override Obama vetoes. But both measures had some support from Democrats, and Republicans could use them to portray themselves as championing bipartisan legislation, only to be thwarted by Obama and his Democratic congressional allies. “Given the chance to start with a burst of bipartisan productivity, the president turned his back on the American people’s priorities,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters Thursday, adding, “We were taking our oath of office when they were issuing veto threats. Come on.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democrats would sustain Obama’s vetoes on both bills and said it was Republicans who have blocked progress. “The president has always extended the hand of friendship. Some say too much,” she told reporters. She also said Democrats would uphold a promised Obama veto on a third measure rolling back some regulations on the financial industry enacted after the 2008 economic crash. That bill fell short in the House this week but is expected to pass on a revote next week. Obama’s 2010 health care law, a perennial GOP target, is phasing in a requirement that companies with more than 50 full-time workers offer health care coverage or face penalty payments to the government. House Republicans say boosting the standard to 40 hours would protect those workers and named their bill the “Save American Workers Act.” They cite a study by the conservative Hoover Institution saying that 2.6 million workers are at risk of having their hours reduced by the 30-hour minimum, including disproportionately high numbers of female, lowincome, younger and less-educated workers. The White House and Democrats, with support from labor and liberal groups, mock the measure as the

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Obama’s 2010 health care law, a perennial GOP target, is phasing in a requirement that companies with more than 50 full-time workers offer health care coverage or face penalty payments to the government. latest attempt by Republicans to scuttle Obama’s health care law. The House has voted more than 50 times to repeal or roll back parts of that law since Republicans took control of the chamber in 2011. Democrats say changing the full-time threshold from 30 to 40 hours would make fewer workers eligible for employer-provided health coverage and put more of them at risk of losing that coverage from companies looking to cut costs. The measure’s fate is less clear in the Senate, where majority Republicans will need at least six Democratic votes to get the 60 needed to overcome Democratic delaying tactics. Senate GOP leaders have not said when the bill will be debated.

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In regards to the Motorcoach Marketing program, we love it. So far, we have made the 1000 postcards, and we did some full page handouts. We just got a stand up banner. When I get some time, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be making new rack cards for both offices. We made 500 church theme postcards and 500 in the safety theme. We sent out the church cards through a local mailing company to every church within 50 miles. So far, we have had a great response and 4-5 people booked trips from it. I plan on using the safety ones soon by sending them to our new customers. All of our staff and drivers love the modern design and the finished products. Only one of my staff has watched the videos so far, but we will be working on that next month. So far Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very happy with the service. It works well and looks great!

Chris Knittel

Owner/General Manager New Mexico Texas Coaches, LLC

We Help Operators Sell More Charters To More People. Easier. Faster. Far More Effective. MotorcoachMarketing.org www.greenazine.com

Training For Drivers

FMCSA will establish comm entry-level commercial driv 36 www.greenazine.com

mittee on training for vers

The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) directs FMCSA to establish minimum training requirements for individuals seeking to obtain an intrastate or interstate commercial driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license (CDL) and become a professional truck or bus operator.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced through a Federal Register notice that the agency is seeking comment from commercial driver and training organizations, truck and bus associations, motor carriers, state licensing and law enforcement agencies, labor unions,

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safety advocacy groups, insurance companies, and the public on recommendations for membership to a negotiated rulemaking committee on minimum training requirements for entry-level commercial drivers. The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP21) directs FMCSA to establish

minimum training requirements for individuals seeking to obtain an intrastate or interstate commercial driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license (CDL) and become a professional truck or bus operator. In August 2014, FMCSA announced by notice in the Federal Register that it had retained a neutral convener, and was exploring the possibility

of proceeding with a negotiated rulemaking. The convener interviewed stakeholders and has recommended proceeding with a negotiated rulemaking. The negotiated rulemaking committee woould examine minimum training requirements, including length of classroom instruction and behind-

the-wheel experience, accreditation versus certification of CDL training programs and schools, curricula for passenger, property, and hazardous materials carriers, instructor qualifications, as well as other areas.

Persons who will be significantly affected and believe their interests will not be represented on the proposed committee are encouraged to nominate themselves or another person.

The agency seeks to ensure a wide range of candidates are considered to achieve a balanced committee.

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Try The Bus

Want a problemfree trip? Try the bus It’s difficult to understate the rarity of Shannon Lee’s complaint. It’s almost as unusual as the topic of this story: bus travel. Lee, an accountant from Pasadena, Md., was part of a group traveling to New York for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Her friends, Dan and Jacqueline Childs, who had each paid Megabus $89 for their roundtrip bus fare, were turned away when they tried to board the motorcoach because there wasn’t enough room. “They’ve sent numerous e-mails and made phone calls asking Megabus for a refund,” Lee says. “But so far, nothing.” Bus complaints are almost nonexistent, at least compared with airlines. That doesn’t make sense, since when it comes to customer service, buses are lightly regulated by the federal government. The real reason behind this absence of passenger discontent may hold the key to making other parts of the travel industry better and more complaintfree. I receive only a handful of gripes about bus service every year. They’re almost always resolved lightning-fast. So when I contacted Megabus about Lee’s friends, I wasn’t surprised to hear back from company spokesman Sean Hughes almost immediately. 40 www.greenazine.com

“We’re calling them and offering them a full refund and giving them an apology,” he told me. The more interesting question is why? How did the decidedly unglamorous bus industry get so attuned to its customers? Transporting about 80 million passengers a year while keeping them happy is no small achievement. It may explain the unprecedented expansion of city-tocity express carriers. They grew 2.1% in 2014, while the number of flights dropped 3% during the same period, according to new research. Part of the secret to the industry’s success is the “laid back” culture of bus travel, says Joe Schwieterman, director of DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute, which will release its study today. “People can see clearly why delays occur, like traffic or bad weather, so there is more understanding when things go wrong,” he says. Bus travel is cheaper than other modes of transportation, which affects passenger expectations. You get exactly what you paid for: scheduled bus carriers have on-time ratings that exceed 90%, Schwieterman says. Another thing: If you run a bus company, you can’t run away from

your customers. “You know that you have to offer a good product at a fair price,” says Dan Ronan, a spokesman for the American Bus Association, a trade association. If you’re a passenger on a medium-size bus line, such as C&J, which offers service between New Hampshire, Boston and New York, it’s not uncommon

to see the company’s president, Jim Jalbert, in the parking lot. “If you have a service problem, he’s right there, and you can tell him about it,” Ronan says. Surprisingly, the government isn’t forcing buses to do the right thing. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s

(DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees the motorcoach industry, is primarily focused on safety issues. In 2013, it conducted almost 40,000 bus inspections and shut down more than 100 unsafe bus companies. The department issued rules that required lap and shoulder seat belts

for each passenger and driver seat on new motorcoaches and other large buses. It ordered improvements on the structural design of large buses, so passengers are better protected in the event of a rollover crash. For interstate bus carriers, federal law is largely silent on service www.greenazine.com

If you run a bus company, you can’t run away from your customers. “You know that you have to offer a good product at a fair price,” says Dan Ronan, a spokesman for the American Bus Association, a trade association. questions, addressing disability access, compensation for lost luggage and ticket sales. That’s a dramatic contrast to the commercial aviation industry, which is practically stalked by the DOT with rules and regulations. Apart from the marked differences in service culture between the motorcoach and airline industries, it’s a function of the mode of transportation, experts say. “It’s a bus,” says Gabe Klein, a former commissioner for Chicago’s Department of Transportation and an expert on bus travel. “There are less opportunities for things to go wrong.” Still, a bus, like a plane, transports you from point A to point B. Why do buses not need the heavy hand of government to tell them what to do? Simple, industry watchers says. “There’s more competition,” says Robert Turner, a bus industry consultant in San Diego. There are hundreds of bus operators in the

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USA, compared with three monopolistic airlines, so a bus line can’t afford to offer bad service. As airlines embrace bizarre five-class configurations that promise to make air travel even more unbearable for all but a privileged few, many passengers refer to planes as “buses with wings.” That’s meant as an insult to airlines, but it actually offends the bus industry. The newest motorcoaches don’t just have government-mandated seat belts. They also come with bigger seats, onboard entertainment, wireless Internet connections and galley kitchens where you can microwave your dinner on the way home. Buses can offer better customer service than airlines in almost every way. Competition made them do it. Maybe we need more of that. How to get better bus service Complain directly to the company. Most customer-service problems can be resolved quickly and in real time. Lost baggage is usually found quickly, and ticket refunds are processed fast. Larger bus lines have websites where they accept complaints, but it rarely gets to that point. Reference federal law. Regulations are brief. For example, the DOT guidelines on ticketing are covered in five short bullet points on one webpage. Switch to a competitor. Motorcoach operators are flourishing in the USA, so there are many competing bus lines that would be happy to have your business. Don’t waste your time with a bus company that doesn’t appreciate your patronage — if you can even find one.

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Drug Testing

FMCSA to Maintain 50 Pe Testing Rates through 20

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ercent Random Drug 015 FMCSA to Maintain 50 Percent Random Drug Testing Rates through 2015. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reported today that the annual minimum random controlled substances testing rates for employees in safety sensitive positions, including tractor-trailer and bus drivers, will remain at 50 percent through 2015. The agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to maintain the current testing rate was based on data from motor carrier industry controlled substance lab test results, the 2012 drug and alcohol testing survey, and additional investigations, which showed that:

of the reported tests;

- Positive test rates following an initial positive result increased by 4.1 percent from 2011 to 2012;

While results for FMCSAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2012 Drug and Alcohol Testing Survey of approximately 2,000 carriers indicate that positive random drug testing results have decreased for a second year, the agency is committed to seeking additional information related to driver test rates and will continue to monitor industry testing programs before re-evaluating the controlled substances random test rate for 2016.

- Reasonable suspicion positive test rates continued to rise sharply from 5.6 percent in 2010, to 15.7 percent in 2011 and 37.2 percent in 2012, marking a five-fold increase over the 3-year period; - The rate of total positive drug test results reported to DOT from independent Health and Human Services-certified laboratories increased from 95,427 positives in 2011 to 97,332 positives in 2012. FMCSA-regulated industries comprise approximately 80 percent

- Serious controlled substance and alcohol testing violations were identified in 24 percent of recent compliance investigations; and - A two-week 2014 Strike Force focusing on the identification of drivers who tested positive resulted in 205 driver enforcement cases, and 138 enforcement cases against carriers for violations relating to drivers with positive test results operating a commercial motor vehicle. These include drivers operating passenger carrying vehicles and transporting hazardous materials.

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Effective Emails

13 Steps to Effective Emails 46 www.greenazine.com

“The best subject lines use a mix of clear value to the recipient— concise language that’s not too dull or too clever, and an impetus to act,” says Hunter Boyle, senior business development manager for AWeber,

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Three things that make an entrepreneur anxious: one, managing cash flow; two, finding the right partners/hiring the right team; and three, pressing the “send” button on an email campaign. On the surface, email seems straightforward, not least because the people on your list have asked to receive your messages. (You are using an opt-in list, right? I hope so.) That’s an advantage: You have the privilege of interacting with a person by invitation, in the relatively intimate setting of the recipient’s inbox. All you need to do is create a compelling message, and boom—you’re done. But email is the Rube Goldberg machine of online marketing: There are multiple moving parts in what has become a complicated process. Get one wrong, and you might jam up the whole apparatus. Here’s a checklist to follow to make sure your email machine performs flawlessly.

1. Spend as much time on the subject line as on the body of the email … The subject line is to the email what the headline is to an article or blog post. The most compelling prose or the most enticing offer in the galaxy isn’t going to do you a smidge of good if no one opens the email. The few words in the subject line are the most important words in the message, so they deserve extra love. “The best subject lines use a mix of clear value to the recipient—concise

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language that’s not too dull or too clever, and an impetus to act,” says Hunter Boyle, senior business development manager for AWeber, an email marketing software company in Chalfont, Pa. “Picture your busy reader saying ‘So what?’ while skimming a full inbox,” he adds. “What can you say that grabs their interest in mere seconds?” It helps to think of a specific problem that your offer or email resolves, then craft the subject line around that. For example, a message about a business coaching service might tap into the frustration mid-career people feel in their jobs. So your subject line might tease “5 signals you’ve dead-ended at your career” or “carve a new path while keeping your day job.” The key to any good content, in a subject line or elsewhere, is this: Make it specific enough to be relevant, but universal enough to be relatable.

2. … but keep it brief. Emails with subject lines of six to 10 words have the highest open rates, yet most of those sent by marketers have subject lines of 11 to 15 words, according to a report from Santa Monica, Calif.-based Retention Science that analyzed 260 million delivered emails and 540 campaigns. “All of us need to challenge ourselves to be brief and pack more power into fewer words,” Boyle says. “That’s why Twitter and blog-post headlines can be a great way to pretest subject-line verbiage.”

3. Make it smartphone-friendly. Don’t do anything that might render in a strange way on a small screen. The key here is that whatever email provider you use should rely on responsive design.

4. Use subheadlines. The seven to 10 words in a preview pane at the top of an HTML email are what the recipient will likely see first. Make sure you tailor the language of this subhead to expand on the subject line or explain it a bit further. Many of us squander this valuable spot by using template messaging such as “Having trouble reading this? View as webpage.” “Don’t waste this space!” Boyle says. “Think of it like a meta description tag in search-engine results, and use copy here to support your compelling subject line.”

5. Be a real person. Write with a point of view—from an actual person to an actual person. I don’t mean this literally: The “from” line might still be your company’s name, but the content should feel as if it comes from a human being, speaking in the first person (using “I” or “we” and addressing the recipient as “you”), with natural-sounding language.

6. Specify a call to action. Make it as specific as you can—and say it twice within the email body. So instead of a generic “Get in touch,” try “Get a free 15-minute consult” or

“Grab your own copy.” I like how Joanna Wiebe of Victoria, British Columbia-based Copy Hackers described this approach during the Authority Intensive event last year in Denver: “Don’t amplify the act of proceeding, amplify the value of it. Not ‘Start free trial’ but ‘End scheduling hassles.’”

7. Use compelling images … Avoid boring, impersonal stock images in favor of unique ones that don’t look like they could appear anywhere else—including a competitor’s newsletter. Sources for stock images that don’t suck include Mountain View, Calif.-based Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that enables digital sharing through free (and legal!) tools. Its search function is like the Costco of photos, with content from numerous free sources—including Flickr, Google Images and Pixabay— all in one place. Other image sources: Compfight, Dreamstime, Photo Pin, freeimages, Public Domain Pictures, Fotolia, Ancestry Images (old and antique prints, maps and portraits) and morgueFile (gratis if you give credit to the photographer). In all cases, make sure you read the fine print, because there are some restrictions on commercial use.

8. … or use animated images or a thumbnail/video link.

words, animated images or videos are even more valuable. You can embed a static thumbnail video image in an email that links to a video on a landing page, or you could create an animated GIF and embed it directly into the email.

11. Grade your email copy to be sure you aren’t talking above your audience.

Various tools allow you to create GIFs—GIFMaker.me, MakeAGIF. com—while GifDeck allows you to turn a SlideShare into a cool, embeddable GIF that’s more compelling than a static image.

Some email providers include a grading or an assessment option. You could also use a service such as The Readability Test Tool (readable.com), an alternative to the Flesch-Kincaid tool that’s built into Microsoft Word, which provides document-readability statistics, such as the grade level at which it’s written and how many passive sentences it contains.

9. Include a P.S.

12. Verify your links.

A postscript after the main body can restate an offer, create a sense of urgency or add a bonus. Additionally, a P.S. is a chance to underscore your human, personal approach. “There’s a reason we still see these in personal emails, sales emails and even direct mail—they still work,” Boyle says. “Since the P.S. is the end of the line, use it as a call to action that supports your primary offer rather than introducing an entirely new one. This way, people who skim and scroll right to the bottom still know what the big deal is—and they can act on it.”

10. Include feedback forward mechanisms.

Click them to be sure they work and go where you want them to.

13. Before pulling the trigger, send the email to yourself. The marketing cliché “Always be testing” isn’t just for conversion optimization—“it’s a must for your email process,” Boyle says. “We all make mistakes, but having an experienced set of eyes proofreading every send makes a huge difference. Minimizing typos and, even worse, those dreaded ‘oops’ emails, builds confidence in your brand, so make the time!”

and

Give your subscribers a way to share the email as well as get in touch— via share, forward-to-a-friend, blog comments or simple reply.

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Hiring Sales Reps

3 Common Mistakes Made When Hiring Sales Reps 50 www.greenazine.com

As your organization starts growing it becomes much harder for the founders to divide as much time as they used to with sales. Hiring and strategy become barriers for allowing the early employees to contribute to selling the way they used to. As this starts to occur, organizations will look to bring on help. When done properly, sales reps can assist in keeping the growth of the company going. They can also give your executives more time for strategic tasks. Sales reps are nothing new to businesses. And while effective, there are some common problems that business owners make when they bring them in. Sometimes hiring a new position actually puts more work and stress on your plate not less. Most leaders don’t take this mind, hiring first and then figuring out the rest later. This is a recipe for disaster. If you’re thinking about hiring your first sales rep, read the common mistakes people make below. Avoid these and I promise you and your new employee will be much happier and productive.

1. Hiring Before You Need To This happens to so many entrepreneurs who get overly excited about their product. I’ve made this mistake before, and it’s caused me more migraines than I could handle. Depending on how you structure your deal, you may be able to bring a sales rep on for no initial cost. But just because you can afford to bring in more help, doesn’t mean you need to. Many times, entrepreneurs love the idea of running a big company. Unfortunately, big organizations also come with big problems. The issue is that many business owners don’t realize the amount of wasted time that goes into hiring someone that isn’t a good fit. There is major risk involved anytime you bring someone new into your company, and it’s your job as the leader to be strict on whom you let in.

do. If you don’t absolutely need to bring in sales reps, it’s worth waiting until the time is right.

2. Not enough time onboarding So you have a sales rep who’s excited to get started, now what? Many times, you have them shadow a few sales and then let them go off on their own. The trouble in this is that you don’t have an idea of what they’re telling prospects. Depending on their experience, there’s many ways they can get themselves and your startup in trouble. The most common mistake I see with this is that a sales rep doesn’t understand the product well, so they start making things up on the fly. To close the deal, they promise the client features that your product doesn’t have. Now you’ve lied to a buyer and will have to explain the misunderstanding. Whoops. A second blunder I see is that by not properly training the rep, you risk them ruining relationships rather than building ones. There are all types of sales people in the world, but the strategy for selling differs based on the market. Some sellers are great in small transaction deals, but are awful in longer sales. Unless you teach the rep about your market and customer base, they could drive away more business then they bring in.

3. Not ingraining sales reps into the company culture You should treat everyone that works for your company as a team member. This goes for virtual assistants, lawyers, and your sales reps. Sometimes, executives forget the importance of getting feedback and opinions from their reps. This makes no sense. Ignoring your reps feedback means you are missing out on insights from the purchaser. Instead, you should always be checking in with them to find out what feedback you’re getting in your service.

The other reason why rushing to bring in a sales rep is bad is that it takes away from finding proper productmarket fit. If you hire someone who’s only incentive is to sell as much as possible, they’re not looking for evidence on how to improve the product. Instead, they want to get as many deals closed as they can, no matter what. While you may get away with this in the beginning, rushing to scale before you’re ready will come back to bite you.

By not getting your new sales hires in the company culture, you also hurt their spirits. Everyone wants their opinion to be heard and feel like they’re a part of the team. Unless you have the time to do this, don’t hire sales reps. A strong company culture is more important than a monetary incentive any day of the week.

Before you go out hiring reps, take a long look at your team and determine whether you need to or not. Try switching priorities or delegating tasks that others can

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Social Media Mistake

The No. 1 Social Media Mistake You’re Making (and Four Ways to Fix It) Sophisticated marketers measure everything from website traffic and pageviews to form submissions and email click-through rates. But when measuring social media, most rely on fluffy metrics, such as “new followers”

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and “increased brand awareness.” Only 1 in 3 marketers can measure the ROI of their social media efforts, according to Social Media Examiner. In other words, most businesses have

no idea whether their social strategy is even working. That wouldn’t have been surprising not too many years ago, when the world was still trying to make sense

of Twitter and Facebook; as long as companies were present on social sites back then, marketing was doing its job. Today, though, these channels should be second nature for marketers, and not measuring their impact on the company’s bottom line is a big mistake. Marketers are expected to double their social spend within the next five years, according to the CMO Survey, so being able to prove the value of social media to your business is more important than ever. The C-suite doesn’t want to hear that a good chunk of Marketing’s budget last quarter was invested in social buzz; it wants to know how that buzz fueled real results—not to mention how you’re using those results to influence and shape your marketing strategy.

Luckily, marketers today have tools, data, and insights at their fingertips to tie social efforts to hard metrics. It’s time for businesses everywhere to start thinking of social media as revenue-building, not just brandbuilding. Here are four ways to tackle your social efforts with a resultsdriven approach.

1. Set tangible goals Measuring your social media efforts starts long before you even tweet, post, or publish anything. From the get-go, you should have clearly defined goals for what you want to accomplish with social. The trick is that those goals have to be tangible. Most marketers make the mistake of saying they plan to “boost

engagement” or “increase awareness”; such vague objectives make it tough to evaluate progress or analyze the final outcome. And if you want to effectively evaluate social, you need numbers. To come up with those numbers, you need to figure out what matters most for your business and will have the most positive impact on it. After that analysis, you might, for example, decide to boost engagement via Twitter 20%, increase the number of leads generated from Facebook three-fold, or reach 15,000 LinkedIn followers by the end of the year. No matter how aggressive or modest the target, it has to be attainable.

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2. Put your results in context Remember getting an allowance from your parents when you were a kid? That $5 a week felt like winning the jackpot... until you found out one of your friends was getting $10 a week. Similarly, your social media results shouldn’t be evaluated in isolation; you need benchmarks against which to measure your metrics. For example, let’s say you received 40 Twitter clicks this month, and that’s a record for your business... so it’s safe to say your Twitter strategy is in good shape, right? Wrong. You need data beyond your own to know what “good shape” actually looks like for businesses like yours. Industry benchmark reports can help put your results into perspective, but to really know how you’re social media efforts stack up you should be comparing your results to companies with similar-size followings. Choose a handful of companies to investigate on your own or look for social media tools that can whip up benchmark data that fits your social media reach. That way, you can discover whether 40 Twitter clicks is high, low, or standard. To be able to set goals that will actually have an impact on their business, marketers need context around how they’re performing on social.

3. Measure down to the dollar Not long ago, some 41% of companies had no idea how social media was affecting their business financially, according to an eConsultancy survey from 2011. Your Facebook efforts, for example, might be having a direct impact on your company’s bottom line; you just need to prove it. Tracking leads from their very first interaction all the way

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through the buying process is crucial. If your Facebook page brings in 30 new leads one month, you should be savvy to how many of those become customers down the line. Customers who initially found your business through Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn can and do bring in revenue, not just retweets or shares. Attaching a dollar value to social used to be wishful thinking, but now marketers can link their efforts directly to revenue. More marketers need to apply closed-loop marketing across social channels to tackle ROI. If you haven’t yet, identify the solution or tools that make sense for your business and can seamlessly tie your social efforts to conversions and sales.

4. Let results be your guide Your social strategy should never be set in stone; it should be fluid and improved upon continually. But to be able to improve, you have to have insight into what’s working and what isn’t. Marketers who aren’t measuring social media results can’t confidently say which channels need more attention or why one platform performs better than another. If you’ve been pouring the same resources into both Google+ and LinkedIn for months, for example, and you are finding that one has much lower audience engagement than the other, don’t keep doing the same thing you’ve always done. Instead, dive in to the analytics and reassess the investment your team is putting into each platform. Don’t just track your metrics, analyze them so that your resources are always fueling growth. Your ROI will thank you. ***

Every business is different. As a result, each business will have unique social media marketing strategies. But all businesses should all have one, fundamental thing in common: a commitment to measuring their efforts. Every business is different. As a result, each business will have unique social media marketing strategies. But all businesses should all have one, fundamental thing in common: a commitment to measuring their efforts. By setting quantitative goals, comparing your metrics to a larger landscape, diving into closed-loop reporting, and learning from your results, you will make social media an even more effective marketing avenue for your business. Not to mention... you’ll actually be excited to present to the C-suite at your next meeting.

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