Small Business Blog

We welcome Jill Lublin as a guest author on the Referral Key small business blog. Jill is an expert in the areas of PR, business networking and referral marketing. Jill has been featured in The New York Times, Women’s Day, Fortune Small Business, Inc, and Entrepreneur Magazine, and on ABC and NBC radio and TV national affiliates. Subscribe to the Referral Key blog to stay up-to-date with advice on growing your small business from Jill and other industry leaders. - Christopher O.

Top 10 Get Noticed! Tips

• Be yourself. Build on your assets and your uniqueness because they are really what people want. Clients and customers want you, your special viewpoint or approach; your unique insights or touch, not a weak imitation of someone else. Don’t just be a copycat; find your own voice. Get noticed in your own way; in the manner most natural and comfortable to you. Examine the approaches that others have taken and then follow what feels natural for you. Trust yourself and your instincts.

• Work your business around your life, so it fits in your life, supports your life, and reflects you. Too many people do the reverse, they work their lives around their businesses and it frequently doesn’t work out well.

• Think of your clients, customers, referral sources, vendors, and suppliers as your partners and friends as people who want to help you. Never forget that they’re people, not just business statistics, and that you cannot succeed without them.

• Master the art of listening because when you listen, you truly learn. If you listen, people will want to share their knowledge with you, be with you and help you. They will consider you their friend and go to great lengths to help you.

• Before you take on any project, make sure that you know exactly what the client or customer wants. Reduce your understanding to writing to eliminate doubt. It’s hard to satisfy people when you don’t know what they want.

• Be generous. Make giving a central part of your life. Work hard and give your clients and customers more than they expect. Give people your time. Always show your appreciation, thank and reward those who help. Praise others, and give them the credit and the spotlight.

• Surround yourself with the most interesting, active, and positive people. Hang around with experts, authorities, and people who are smarter and more accomplished than you. Find ways to meet them and be with them because they will open amazing new doors for you. They will support your efforts and add fullness and excitement to your life.

• Constantly strive for excellence and do everything in the best possible way. Build a reputation for continually doing outstanding work and everyone will want to be with and work with you. People who live excellence will find you.

• Always ask can I do it better, more interestingly, or more inventively? Challenge yourself to go beyond your prior accomplishments and to always surpass your best. Constantly look in new directions.

• Never compromise your integrity. Stand by your values, but don’t preach. Always be truthful, honest, fair, understanding, and humane. Deliver what you promised when you promised.

Follow these suggestions and you will be noticed. The best people will notice and appreciate you and you will enjoy a wonderful life.