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Are you up to date with a QR code?

What the…?
Well… QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). They are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media and put it in to your cell phone. You may have seen QR Codes in a magazine advert, on a billboard, a web page or even on someone’s t-shirt. Once it is in your cell phone, it may give you details about that business (allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet.

The reason why they are more useful than a standard barcode is that they can store (and digitally present) much more data, including url links, geo coordinates, and text. The other key feature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, many modern cell phones can scan them.

The cell phone needs a QR code reader, like this one: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/. It takes literally 1 minute for someone with an iPhone or Android phone to find and install the reader.

You can easily generate a QR code using a site like Kaywa.com or you can use the Open Source code to generate codes for you if you have a smart developer on hand.

Add them to your business cards, websites and printed media. Use them to offer discounts, promote your sale’s, even offer your free offer through them (like the one I have added to this page).

Add them to any print advertising, flyers, posters, invites, TV ads etc containing:
• Product details
• Contact details
• Offer details
• Event details
• Competition details
• A coupon
• Twitter, Facebook, MySpace IDs
• A link to your YouTube video

By creating your own QR Codes (called “qurifying”) you can make whatever you want more interactive. Put one on your business card, on flyers for a party or poster to promote your products or services. Or use them to help sorting your books or CD’s, put them on your keys or tools so you know what they are for. Just qurify any text or website url, put theQR Code on a product and make everything you have more interactive!

People have been asking me about the systems I use to automate my business and so i thought I would just add the link here for you to check them out for yourself.

They are called Infusionsoft and I highly recommend using them to automate your business. I worked out that it takes the job of 2 employees to do what Infusion does – worth it’s weight in gold.

It takes a while to learn how to use it, but I’ve put together a manual on how to do the basics to get you started. I’m happy to send that to you if you donate £10 to Tobysshoes for women and their families in India.

Click on the link above to check them out anyway.
All the best, Toby

This question was emailed to me today: How can my small coffee shop compete against the likes of Starbucks and Costa Coffee?

My answer: By being totally different and unique… Find a niche and a new market that Starbucks or Costa, because of their size, cannot. I drink in a buddhist coffee shop who offer many varieties of buddhist tea and coffee for example – Starbucks and Costa just wouldn’t be able to attract in the same cliental or offer the same variety as a niche cafe with fewer franchise restictions.

If you compete against Starbucks or Costa you will lose, but find a new way of doing things and your target audience will certainly come to yours for tea…

The advert reads: “Ready to quit?”

Genius…

Toby, December 2010

Adverts like this (below) really grab peoples attention.  Simple, yet effective.

When you advertise anything, think of AIDA…

A = Attention

I = Interest

D = Desire

A = Action

Make sure your advert does all of this…

Toby, December 2010

Or almost nothing… But before you rent an office or employ a PA, take a look at what’s available for free!

THE PHONE
Google Voice (google.com/voice) is set to kill off expensive fixed line telecoms packages. Voice gives you the local number of your choice and lets you forward as many landline or mobile phones as you please, giving you an ‘office’ number’ even if your office consists of you, a spare bedroom and your cat… Voice also transcribes voicemail for you into text messages or emails, and recorded messages can be played back over the web. Local calls are free and long distance calls start at 6p per minute. Skype also offer a similar service. Check it out at skype.com

CREDIT CARDS
Setting up a conventional credit card payment system can be a nightmare and very expensive. Ex-Twitter Director Jack Dorsey has a new startup called Square that allows you to swipe plastic with your iPhone or iPod. Simply plug Square’s box into the headphone jack and your customers can make a purchase from anywhere. With instant photo verification, on-screen signature technology and email receipts, the system is paperless, too. Square will be available in the UK in April.

THE UN-OFFICE
Save your rent and work with your colleagues anywhere that has Wi-Fi signal. Google Docs allows you to store all of your documents online so that you can access them from anywhere you have Wi-Fi. When you need to meet with clients, meet in coffee shops that provide free Wi-Fi – It won’t cost you anything in rent, and the drinks are on tap… If you don’t like the sound of a cafe, check out Instant Offices – part of Easy Group – who provide start up entrepreneurs with cheap and flexible office space. Instant Offices will also help you earn money on any surplus office space you have. Instantoffices.com

THE IT GEEK
Get the perks of a corporate network with Dropbox’s free downloadable software: Just drag and drop files into a desktop folder to sync them to computers and PDAs – No need for an IT geek. Dropbox.com

ACCOUNTING
Freshbooks – an online invoicing, time-tracking and expense service – automates the accounting department with an easy web interface that sends documents (with your logo) to clients. You get 3 clients for free, then $19 per month after that. Freshbooks.com

MERCHANT ACCOUNT
George Karibian, the entrepreneur behind Euroffice and XLN Telecom, set up PaymentSense last year on the principle that “small businesses are overcharged and under-served.” Registered with Visa Europe and Mastercard as an independent sales organisation, PaymentSense claims to offer UK businesses the most competitive rates on debit and credit card processing. There are no account setup, joining or membership fees and no transaction or call out charges. And if you’re offered a better price, PaymentSense says it will match or beat it… PaymentSense.co.uk

YOU’VE GOT MAIL
Parcel2go is a £11 Million-turnover courier company that has struck a partnership with the likes of FedEx, DHL, CityLink, UPS and Home Delivery Network to offer a customers cheaper parcel service. Parcel2go.com

OUTSOURCING
If you need some basic research, a virtual PA or website programming, Elance.com is a good place to get low-cost providers to do it all for you. It works a bit like eBay, but for services rather than goods. Whatever business service you need, Elance has someone who can provide it for you. Elance.com

CONFERENCE CALLING
Powownow, the Richmond based free conference-calling service, is run by Entrepreneur Andy Pearce – who claims to have saves 101,597 customers £21m on conference calls. It’s easy to use. You just enter your email address, generate a pin number, then share this with all the people who you want to be on the call. Powownow.co.uk

DISCOUNT VOUCHERS
Using Discount voucher codes can save you a fortune on the cost of computers and office equipment. Price comparison sites are worth a visit too. Visit MyVoucherCodes.co.uk and Shopsafe.co.uk to save some cash.

Toby, December 2010

Two of my Platinum Members (Fran Fowler and Jasmine Cross) took my advice last year and wrote their first book. The book can now be bought online at Lulu.com and on Amazon. It’s soon to appear in the shops too after a bit of ‘reverse shoplifting’. Don’t worry, ‘reverse shoplifting’ as I have titled it is completely legal (As far as I know…). More on this later…(I love suspense). First of all, the truth is, you don’t even need to write your own book (although Fran and Jas definitely did)… Elance.com, the ebay for skills, is the place to visit to get your book ‘ghost written’ for you if you don’t have enough time, or the right skills to write one yourself. Writers on Elance will ‘bid’ to write your book for you and you can choose from them based on price, ratings and their previous work… Once your book is written you can then ‘self publish’ it via a handy little site called lulu.com. Self publishing is an easy way to get your book recognised quickly. The down-side to ‘self publishing’ is you don’t have a publisher to promote your book. I have solved that though with my ‘reverse shoplifting’ technique. Simply buy an ISBN number from Lulu, have several books printed, take them into your local book shops and slap them on the counter, money in hand ready to buy back your own book… When the cashier scans the ISBN code their systems say “Out of stock” and automatically order ‘new’ copies of your book from the book stores distributor. The distributor finds you on lulu and buys your book before sending copies to the original book store. You pay for your book, giving the bookstore ‘money for nothing’ and everyone’s a winner!
Toby, December 2010

In 1999, ice cream retailer Cold Stone Creamery had 74 stores. Director Doug Ducey had bigger plans. He wanted to expand to 1000 stores in 5 years… In his mind, the route to doing this was through the ultimate ice cream experience. The brand was already unique. Customers mixed and matched their ideal combinations, with staff mixing it all up on a granite slab. Ducey wanted to go further though and started hiring staff based on their performance skills and personalities. Staff would then sing and dance while serving customers and encourage customers to take part in games. In 6 years Ducey had 1000 stores… (Source: HSBC thoughts).

Ponder over the following; In what ways can you differentiate your customer experience? What are your customers really buying from you? What is their bigger need?
Toby December 2010