One of the most important, but unfortunately often overlooked, aspects of customer relationship management is ensuring that your company has effective branding. Appropriate and visible branding is the first step at establishing a relationship with customers. Customers establish a rapport and familiarity with a company based entirely on its brand, at first. Branding is the first impression that an enterprise makes on customers, and if it isn’t handled right it can be the last impression as well.

What is a brand?

A company’s brand is essentially the sum of its presence and products – its identity. A company’s identity can be broken down into it name, logo and slogan(s), philosophy and design, and marketing. A good brand has a cohesive message or theme that persists across the company’s entire identity. This theme or message should be obvious to customers and help differentiate your business from competitors. However, while your company’s identity should all share a common theme it doesn’t mean that your company’s identity necessarily has to be based upon the product or services that it provides. For instance, Apple (AAPL), a supplier of advanced computer devices and software, does not have a name or logo related to computing. However, the Apple corporation is perfect example of how a company that has a common theme across its entire brand.

Apple is famous for their unique and unobtrusive design for their consumer products. Whether it’s an iPhone, iMac, or iPad the company’s philosophy of clean lines and uncomplicated design is obvious across their entire product line. The theme or message across Apple appears to be simplicity through efficient engineering. Apple products are minimal; many “iProducts” such as the iPhone, and iPad have less buttons and are less complicated than competing devices. Even Apple logo itself is an example of minimalistic design; there are no bright colors or unnecessary elements. If you are running web design company, for example, then all your company’s web pages and designs should showcase of some aspect of the internet or technology.

Company Philosophy& Reputation

A business’ philosophy, design, and marketing essentially go hand in hand. A company’s philosophy or design sets the pace for its design and marketing. Apple, for example, which we have already established is famous for its philosophy of minimalism, also has a design and marketing strategy in the same scope. Apple’s product commercials and newsletters, emails , et cetera are also quite simplistic. Apple marketing is to the point: they quickly show the audience or viewer what their product can go and get out of the way. Apple essentially lets their products and services speak for themselves instead of speaking for them.

When establishing your company’s brand and philosophy it’s important to show that your company is heavily invested in its particular product field. Apple has demonstrated over the years that it values software development, and not just great product design, by hosting a conference every year for software developers know as the World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC). At the same time that Apple shows their commitment to advancing consumer software they also get to show off their companies’ products as WWDC is mainly a showcase of Apple’s upcoming software and technology. To achieve similar success, a business or company can hold conferences or events in addition to giving out free tips and advice. A company that specializes in auto repair, for instance, could distribute manuals on auto detailing or tips how to easily repair small vehicle dings and scratches.

Sub-Brands

Once a company brand has been established many businesses begin to focus on establishing a sub-brand for their company’s products and services. The lowercase English “I” is strong part of Apple’s brand for their consumer products and services. Apple’s reputation for quality merchandise has essentially added value to the letter “I”. Because of Apple’s carefully constructed branding and clever marketing, people nowadays unequivocally associate “iProducts” with superior craftsmanship and design. IF your company offers multiple products or has a several separate divisions or subsidiaries then establishing a sub-brand is good way to help customer connect with those products.

If your company ever undergoes a brand modification, such as a name change then it is important to ensure that your new overall brand is at least as strong as the previous one; ideally the new brand should be stronger. TravelShark, for example, recently changed their name from SwiftRank. TravelShark, which hosts thousands of online hotel booking sites, is a much stronger name than SwiftRank. At this point, TravelShark can continue to build upon its new name to strength their brand with customers.

Your business might only have one chance to impress upon a potential customer, so make sure that your impression is a good one.

Photo by Nicolas Nova & Christian Rasmussen

One of the most famous and useful Twitter applications for any business working to improve their CRM is ExactTarget’s CoTweet. One of the features that CoTweet is known for is its CRM Connector which links together a company’s customer records, email, twitter conversation into a unified file on a customer. The CRM Connector allows a company to capture individual Facebook and Twitter posts or conversations and link them to a specific individual or business highlighting potential opportunities or leads. The CRM Connector also integrates with web analytics such a Google Analytics for detailed tracking and statistics. Another feature of CoTweet is that it has a list of on duty twitters that may be working for you company. If you have multiple Twitter accounts to serve your business CoTweet makes it all the more simple to coordinate and manage a company’s entire Twitter presence.CoTweet has two versions Standard, which is gear towards small businesses and individuals, and Enterprise, which caters to large businesses and corporations.

Some of CoTweet’s professional business clients include McDonald’s (MCD), Sprint Nextell (S),Coca Cola (KO), and Microsoft (MSFT).

Find out more about CoTweet here

The options for selling things on the web have exploded in the last decade. It is now possible to list the occasional item for sale on various online classified sites or open a full-fledged online store as a business — and those are just the two ends of the spectrum of possibilities. You could post an item in a forum, offer it on your blog, tweet it or even create an elaborate video sales pitch .

If you have things you want to sell on a regular basis, you are mostly likely going to be using a site like ebay. There are countless success stories of people who have turned a hobby into a second income or built a small inventory into a major store using this online auction site. Artists, antique dealers, and collectors have found success on ebay over the years.

If you are planning to use ebay, make sure that you read everything you can about the site’s policies and guidelines. You want to make sure you are doing everything ethically and above board once you start selling. You also want to invest time and consideration in your ebay store design . A bad design will make it hard for customers to find, see, and purchase your products, which completely defeats your purpose in being there. A good design will be attractive and extremely easy to use. It will have the standard features that ebay users expect as well as extensive information on your products, your store, and your policies for returns.

If you invest in doing your homework and designing a good store, you’ll be much more likely to build a successful ebay presence, either as a hobby, a supplemental income, or as a brand new portal for your growing business.

For any kind of major task, teamwork is essential, and one of the greatest challenges is learning how to work together successfully. In a number of contemporary cultures, it’s particularly difficult because there are so many messages that constantly instruct people to be rugged individualists . Being self-sufficient, able to do-it-yourself, and being resourceful don’t always have to take away from the ability to work as a team. In fact, some of the best corporate team building programs are designed to take people’s individual strengths into the equation, to make the team stronger.

It may seem like a contradiction in terms, to accentuate individual talents in order to make a team stronger, but it’s had some remarkable success. It’s also how a strong team will function together, naturally, anyway, and sometimes it’s necessary to relearn what we already know in order to implement the talents with success.

One thing that has become clear, and this is very useful for building sales teams that can work together effectively, is that it is necessary for everyone to be appreciated for their talents. Recognition is a very strong motivator for any sales force. Studies have shown that the prime reason for employees to continue engaged work with any company doesn’t have as much to do with salary as one might expect. It seems that interest in the work, and the opportunity to continue to do interesting work, are the highest priorities for people at their jobs.

This is also a good thing to keep in mind when considering advancing skills through sales training . Here, the lessons of the past are useful in understanding human behavior , and a sales team can work miracles with a little bit of understanding of how people tick. It’s also something that can give the team an extra jolt, and extra motivation for working. New skills and new techniques make for interesting days, and with a team motivated in this way, there are some very sunny days ahead.

It took them a while, but Microsoft slowly came to the realization that Hotmail is coming up on fifteen years and it just doesn’t have all that many features to offer the new up and coming generation of computer users who are slowly taking over the internet. With the take over comes the demand for social media integration, smart email, and above all customization. Microsoft is now happy to announce that there are a few new features that it is offering for Hotmail including smart folders that know which mail is from a regular contact, and which mail is from social networking sites which will be set of automatically if you change over to the new system.

If your business has received a damaging negative review or unwarranted comment on the Internet, about the only way to make it disappear is to push it down in the Google results . Managing your business’s reputation online should be considered a priority and a valuable asset, even if and especially if your company doesn’t sell anything online. There are now companies on the Web, like ‘Yelp’, which let any consumer rate and write a review about your business. So, when the general public does a particular search for a company they would like to do business with or have a product they are in need of, and your company’s name appears in Yelp first, before your company’s’ website shows up, and someone has written a negative review about your company, then the consumer will find another company to do business with, hence your business’s reputation is ruined in just a matter of minutes and you’ll lose customers left and right.

About the only way to deal with this negative comment or review is to push it down in the Google results. But, basically, websites like ‘Yelp’ has a pretty good record for staying on the first search result page. Your best bet it to hire one of the many online reputation management (ORM) companies that will help you change the playing field for your business. These companies will manage the way your company is portrayed on the Web. They will improve upon your brand visibility with all search engines. They may also employ tactics known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) , in which the SEO’s will use keywords and phrases that increase traffic to your companies website, provide top rankings on the first page result, and could even possibly push all negative reviews way down the results list so only your positive reviews, comments and website will be visible. When searching for the right company to improve upon your online reputation and company visibility, see if the company has a proven track record. Experienced companies will have resources such as reputation management white papers , available. Also, look for consistency with their results for other companies, such as examples of improved client reputation and if that reputation warranted a turn around in the first place; The company you choose should always work with companies that have integrity, excellent customer service, and a good product; you don’t need to tarnish your companies reputation further by dealing with a non-reputable ORM.

It’s not necessary to understand the psychology of sales to make things happen in the world of business, but it probably doesn’t hurt. Likewise, it’s not necessary to know the basics of gravity to stay on the earth, but a little knowledge might make the experience deeper. There are, however, some principles that work for all areas of life, that have applications and implications in the world of sales, and understanding these can be a great advantage to any born leader.

There are many opportunities to grow in the world of business, with seminars and retreats, and plenty of online courses that are designed to make things work more smoothly. Occasionally, it’s even necessary to get back to the basics of the art of sales by investing resources in a solid course that focuses on selling. For some, it might seem like a chance to get refreshed on the same principles that made selling so exciting at the very beginning, and for others, it’s a golden opportunity to learn it all for the first time.

The truth of the matter is, we do all get bogged down with our own habits over time. There might be certain things that worked very well a few times, but aren’t necessarily replicable in other times and other situations. Unlearning these can be very difficult, but sales training can make it rather easy.

Taking the idea that we all come from a common place, with common wants and needs, is one of the most simple but magical premises that guide a perfect sell. Learning how to speak to people on their terms never has to mean giving up integrity, because their terms are also our terms, it’s simply a matter of shifting perspective to see things as they are. Then the trick is learning how to move things in the right direction, and with a little bit of time, this becomes second nature, and we can move from success to success. This is where wisdom trumps knowledge, and things move smoothly.

Actually, Bump is the new acquisition. They are a company that designed a 3D desktop interface with touch capabilities. This is expected to change a number of things with the next wave of Google software that will go on the market, such as generations of Androids in the future. This is expected to throw Apple for a little bit of a loop and keep Google competitive. If you would like to know the other things it will do for Google, there is a great article on it here.