Happy Holidays from Beckmann Collaborative

Whether you celebrate the holidays or not, it's hard to deny the magic that is in the air this time of year. There seems to be more hope, joy, and gratitude than usual. It's an ideal time to reflect on the year coming to a close and recognize those who have supported you in one way or another. 

Thank you to our growing community of clients and partners. As we reflect on our year, it has been filled with the good fortune to have relationships with incredible people and businesses.  We wish all of you a very happy holiday season filled with love, joy, and prosperity. 

What Goes Into Your Business Holiday Greetings?

If you're thinking about the best way to show your gratitude and spread the holiday cheer, then consider what works best for your customers or clients. If you serve other businesses, it can be as simple as a hand-written note. You do not need to send something that is extra unique or clever for a holiday greeting to be effective. Your goal is to...

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CRM Strategy and Getting Started with Zoho CRM

If you are currently shopping around for the right CRM System, chances are that you already understand the value of customer relationship management. Right? 

Have you come up with a clear plan or strategy for HOW you will use Zoho CRM in your business? New technology is fun and the idea of automating processes is very appealing. The hitch is that planning work needs to be put in before you start uploading contacts and setting up workflows. 

If you already have a CRM Strategy, then you can jump down the page to the "Intro to Zoho CRM" section.


Offer Value + Listen, Watch and Ask.

Clients ask me about how to write social media posts that will connect with their customers or emails that will get opened because of a good subject line.

The first thing I tell them is to be sure they are offering something of real value. Offering value is through your marketing is called a  content marketing strategy and it's a powerful tool.

The second thing I...

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5 Reasons You Need a CRM Strategy

What is a CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. This term is used by sales teams to describe contact management for leads. Among high-tech marketers, it usually refers to the software or systems used to manage relationships. 

    Before you jump into a CRM software, remember that first and foremost CRM is a part of your sales and marketing strategy. If your goal is to grow long-term relationships with customers and prospects over time to increase revenue and lifetime value, then you are seeking a smart CRM strategy. Everyone has a different bend on what CRM Strategy means - ranging from personalized communications to retargeting email ads. At the end of the day, CRM is all about how you can optimize Customer Relationships to maximize your sales.

 While I could go into all of the logistics behind why CRM is vital to your business. Today I'll keep it simple by sharing with you 5 simple reasons that a customer relationship management...
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Conversion Conversations

Conversion from a lead into a customer does NOT require magic or manipulation. There are many misconceptions about what a conversion is and how to measure it. Before we get into the how, let's define conversion. 


The traditional definition of conversion is the process of changing or causing something to change from one form to another.


A marketing definition of conversion is getting a potential customer/client to respond to your call-to-action. When marketers talk about conversion, it often relates to views, clicks, likes, and paid transactions.


One example of a marketing / sales conversion is getting someone to open an email, while another may be someone making a purchase.


Get Conversions From Conversations

Conversations, unlike a social media "like" or an email "click through", offer a deeper understanding of your brand, as seen through the eyes of a customer.  No, a conversation does not exclusively happen in person or...

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Customer Retention Strategies for Small Businesses

Keeping a good friend is a lot easier than making a new one, right?  The same goes for customers / clients. Maintaining your existing customer relationships is less expensive and has a better return on your investment. While it's important to put energy into your "top of funnel" efforts to find new people, I would argue that it's MORE important to work on customer retention strategies.


Creating a Customer Retention Strategy

The biggest challenge for many companies looking at their customer retention is where to begin.  Here are 5 practical customer retention strategies you can use to keep your existing customers happy over the long-term and increase your profits.


1. Customize Your Content Strategy

Speak / Write to your existing customers like you know them - because you do! No one wants to feel like another number, so create customized messaging for your customers based on their history with you.

If you know about their purchase history, then send an email...

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An Introduction to Content Strategy

Honesty. It's a word that so many of us claim to live by and be a reflection of our lives. And yet, business owners sometimes forget the importance of honesty when promoting their brands. While marketing is often tied to the idea of stretching the truth, padding the truth, or "making it sparkle" to sell, that is not Good Marketing.  Business owners aren't trying to be dishonest by marketing their brands. The Man Men era of advertising taught many people that it is necessary to "trick" consumers into buying from us - and it's simply not true.

Business Owners and Marketers: You have the power to end this ridiculous way of thinking starting here and now.  No one wants to be tricked into buying anything, because they end up feeling deceived and angry later. 

Our goal as business owners is to offer a valuable product or service to the people who want and need it. That's it. Authentic marketers understand this idea and we run with it by offering value using...

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Lead Generation and Funnel Basics

What's Your Lead Generation Plan?

While I love content marketing, storytelling and expressing business concepts through the written word and images, it’s all useless if you haven’t laid out a lead generation plan for your company. The phrase lead generation can seem overwhelming to non-marketers. I assure you that there is nothing to fear. Here is a quick-start guide to your lead generation plan and understanding a common "marketing funnel" in action.


Quick Start to Lead Generation

Creating Awareness About Your Company / Product / Service

This is the step you are most likely doing right now. When you publish a blog, publish a post on social media, attend a conference, or speak at an event, you are creating awareness of your company / brand. Make the best use of these tactics. When it comes to website content and social media, allow readers to subscribe to get updates. This can be done with an email newsletter or using an RSS Feed.


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Successful Business Relationships Begin with Trust

GUEST POST by Jamie Williams

Would you create a relationship with someone if you felt they were not trustworthy? Are you wasting valuable time working with someone who does not have you or your business’ best interests at heart?

Trust is the foundation of all relationships, both personal and professional. In order to grow that trust, we need to establish the foundation first. Building strong relationships can set you up for success. Below are a few ways to establish trust and create lasting relationships.

As a virtual assistant, I am always creating and maintaining relationships with clients (one being the amazing Candice!). Building trust is key to ensuring the success and growth of our clients. To me, trust is a feeling of security, a way to show someone that I am knowledgeable, reliable, honest, and always have their back.

There are Many Different Ways to Establish Trust in Business Relationships:

  • Be Personable
  • Communicate
  • Be Honest
  • Be Respectful
  • Exceed...
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Customer Communications + Productivity = A Smart CRM Strategy

Planning, process, systems, segmentation, and automation...these seemingly mundane concepts are the true key to balancing your customer relationships with your day-to-day business operations.

Customer Relationship Management (abbreviated "CRM”) is a term used to describe your customer communications strategy. It also refers to the software most businesses use for implementing that strategy. Before you get excited about another tech tool (or run for the hills), a smart CRM Strategy begins with people and your customer communications. 

How do you keep in touch with customers, prospects, vendors, and partners? Is it just as ideas pop up in your head? Do you have a specific system for maintaining those relationships?

For many of us, the answer to that last question is sort of or not really. However, maintaining regular communications with your vital business contacts is essential to the sustainability of your business in the long run.


Holiday Card Anxiety


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7 Steps to Creating Customer Personas

Would you like to…

Attract more ideal customers?

Increase your conversion rates?

Create marketing campaigns that generate engagement?

Provide useful resources for your loyal customers?

Build a feedback loop for improving your business?


If if your answer is yes, then continue reading, because this article reveals the powerful tool that so many small business owners neglect. It is highly effective, easy to use, and can completely shift the way you run your business.


What are Customer Personas?

Have you ever heard any of these phrases used before? Target Market, Target Audience, Buyer Persona, Marketing Persona, Customer Avatar

These are the phrases used to describe the semi-fictional character(s) who represent your ideal customer and ideal prospect. Businesses create these characters based on internal data on existing customers as well as external information gathered from market research.  The Success of your business’ marketing, sales, product...

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