Dear Melissa,

Memorial Day is fast upon us! And I have no plans beyond more packing and, of course, advertising more stuff for sale. I need your help, please, please forward this to any friends, enemies, relatives, family, business associates or anyone else that is in need of quality furnishings in showroom condition.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lifestylediva
I must lighten this load and make deals!

Wrapping up a big one! This week I'm wrapping up a beautiful transformation of a family's main floor. The project started out with the idea that I'd just tweak a couple of pieces, but soon bloomed to a full redo in just 45 days! It has been crazy, but fun and the clients are thrilled. I'll be getting professionals shots soon to share the glorious details.

Prosper by Design,

MG

"To be nobody but yourself in a world that is doing its best to make you just like everybody else means to fight the greatest battle there is to fight and to never stop fighting. "
~ E.E. Cummings
Poet / Painter

Turning on the Faucet for Referrals

As I went to my twice weekly Pilates session recently, I realized that I had never referred the studio I go to to any friends or clients. I am one of those “loyal-as-the-day-is-long” types and love to share my favorite resources so this surprised me.

I realized that there were a couple of reasons. Firstly, while I genuinely enjoy my Pilates trainers, I don't like the owner of the studio. I find her abrasive, unfriendly, and she doesn't maintain the place in a fashion that I would consider truly professional. Secondly, while I've seen others there, I really have no idea who constitutes a good referral if I did want to share! So with this brief story, I'd like to share with you how to turn on your faucet of referrals!

Be friendly! Always greet everyone you come into contact with professionally and with a smile. It doesn't matter if they are going to do business with you or not, they likely know people that would be great clients or customers.

Keep it clean! Maintain your product or premises in a clean, professional manner. Design counts! Making an office, showroom, or shop inviting always adds to the word of mouth that can grow your business. For those that work out of their car, that appearance counts as does a professional personal image. (Believe me: even in Pilates for the owner to look just-rolled-out-of-bed isn't serving her.)

Be Targeted! Find out about your clients and customers. Dig deep so you know who your target is and know why they like to patronize your business or buy your products. Knowing this translates into knowing who else is your ideal fit.

Read the Rest of the Article Here!

Reference the Giants

Whenever you are blogging or making a comment on one of the many social networking sites from Twitter to Facebook, Linked In to Ecademy you want to include the name of a guru in your industry. We all love the site and sound of our name, and many of us have Google alerts on our names so we can monitor when they are mentioned on the web and in print.

By using the gurus' name they will likely see it and make note of who mentioned them. This can be a great way to score points and make yourself known to the top tier in your industry, whether it is design, staging, real estate, or home furnishings retailing.

Gotcha! I get you thought I was going to divulge some juicy tidbits from my personal romance life, well no such opportunity this time. Instead I am speaking to the eWomen Network May Meeting on Relationship Investing for Real Business Results.

Tuesday, May 20 4:30-7pm
At the Holiday Inn at Holcomb Bridge and 400 in Roswell

Come join me!

Tree Originals