Free Advice & Entrepreneurial Education Sessions from Small Business Week 2013

As the nation’s 50^th Small Business Week comes to a close, we reflect on the changes that face small business. While it’s true that America is built upon the foundation of millions of small businesses in this country, what is not often recognized is the monumental effect these businesses have upon our economic stability as a nation. Small businesses make up our economic system as a whole and certainly support our local communities.

With 2013 seeing more tech startup communities built upon this same entrepreneurial spirit, these new businesses need to find ways to economically bring in business while being conscious of reducing costs, all while being successful. While some small businesses have made their migration on the Internet in order to bring new business in, others find they need to have a strong web presence in which to support their current clientele.

On the other hand, having a web presence is certainly not a fail-safe to guard against automation; there is a certain fact that all small business owners know: one can’t answer every question a prospective customer has over the web. One of the reasons we all appreciate small businesses in our community is not just the convenience of the location geographically, but the ability to reach out and speak with the owners themselves. It’s the personal attention that customers appreciate when they come into a store, or when call on the phone.

In such cases no one knows more than the small business owner how important it is to remove all obstacles that may hinder a potential client from picking up the phone. Statistics show that people are 40% more likely to call a business that advertises a toll free number. Successfully running a small business means leveraging these types of services to work for you in the marketplace, irrespective of your other marketing efforts.

Both toll free numbers as well as vanity numbers that are easy for consumers to recall are two simple ways that a small business can effectively have a marketing tool do the work for them, while they concentrate on giving great and personalized service. Most small business owners are such masters in their fields that they know if they can just get a prospective customer on the phone they can easily convert that prospect into a customer just by the knowledge they hold in their area.

But marketing intelligently with such tools means that you leverage them across the mediums of marketing you do for your business. Remember that the goal is to spark the call; consumers won’t discover your expertise without speaking with you.