“All you can eat” is an entirely different price than “very, very cheap.”

Traditional economics says that lowering the marginal price from $2 to $1 should have a similar effect to lowering it from $1 to $0 — but experience and experiments have both shown that the traditional demand curve acts in an odd manner when we reach $0 marginal cost. Jet Blue’s executives should have known better. But the Jet Blue management team is not alone.

Many executives assume their customers are more rational than they really are. For example, most leaders believe in enhancing the options given to customers, but increased choice can actually freeze decision-making by overwhelming the shopper. Excessive options is a key reason that an average of 60% of all online shoppers abandon their purchases mid-stream.

Read more at Design Your Customers’ Decisions – Harvard Business Publishing, 26 Aug 2009

Flickr photo credit: pawpaw67

Campaigner has just launched a new series of “101 Tips for Getting Started with Email Marketing” to help companies create and execute an effective email marketing strategy. You can sign up to receive a few tips each week via email, or read them as they are posted on Campaigner’s website at http://www.campaigner.com/lp/101tips.aspx

The tips will focus on a different theme each quarter of 2009, starting with Building a Strong Email Marketing Foundation. Here are the first five…more at 101 Tips for Getting Started with Email Marketing – SmallBizTechnology.com, published 29 March 2009.

Flickr photo credit: Esparta

Physician, heal thyself is good advice if you run a small business. You already know how to fix the problems in your business, and you know how to grow from those problems.

Last month, I gave a talk on “Surviving and Thriving in Real Estate” to about 200 people. I went around the room and met about 50 people before I spoke. I asked, “If you were giving today’s talk, what would you say?” I got eight great ideas and shared them with the audience. I showed them: If you’re working, you already know what works.

Your experience is more valuable than the expertise of a dozen MBAs and Ph.Ds. Your experience becomes expertise when you look squarely at your problems and create solutions. You just need to know how to think like your own consultant.

Fix Your Business

Follow six steps to think like a consultant and fix your business. …more at 6 Steps to Better Business Solutions – Entrepreneur.com, published 26 March 2009

Flickr photo credit: Ms Photo

But those of us who run small and home businesses have a different perspective on outsourcing.

For us, outsourcing is the “secret sauce” that lets us pull together the resources to handle temporary work overloads, reduce fixed costs, speed products to market, simplify distribution, provide more or better service to our customers, and compete with our deeper-pocketed competitors.

Much of the business that small businesses outsource goes to other small and home businesses within our own country. Often those freelancers or subcontractors are business owners we’ve met at local business meetings or events. Sometimes they’re people we’ve “met” by participating in a mailing list or forum, or via specific Web sites, like Elance.

But the key to successful outsourcing has little to do with where you meet the subcontractors and freelancers you work with. Like anything else, it takes planning. Here are 18 ways to get the best results when you outsource work… more at 18 Tips For Small Businesses That Outsource – SmallBizResource, published 19 March 2009.

Flickr photo credit: markhillary

It’s a shame that most of you will only meet Marcia through the printed or electronic page because her enthusiasm and energy are contagious. Being a multi-mistake-maker myself, the first thing I said to Marcia was “I bet you have a long line of small businesses who want to be in your column.” When Marcia told me that she literally had to beg companies to share their ‘Biggest Mistake’ I couldn’t believe it.

“Let’s just say I have no problem doing my part to convince people. I’m not too proud to beg,” she said with a big smile and sparkling eyes. She was undaunted by the multitude of rejections she’s received over the five years it took to pull together over 260 small business lessons, from which just over 120 stories made the book. …read more of this at Book Review: My Biggest Mistake And How I Fixed It – Small Business Trends, published 4 March 2009

Flickr photo credit: julsatmidnight

Before TMZ released the infamous tape of a foul-mouthed Christian Bale on the set of Terminator 4, our Batman hero had played Patrick Bateman, just your everyday serial killer in the film American Psycho. Say what you will about the story’s controversial message, the scene in which Patrick Bateman proudly displays his new business card is simply classic.

Oh my god, it even has a watermark.

I wouldn’t advise it these days. And I am not talking about the killing.

For all the old school businessmen who are still salivating over the creamy colors and raised lettering of their colleagues’ business cards, there are, thankfully, more savvy professionals today advising their colleagues and clients to run, not walk, to LinkedIn.

I recommend it to people myself. Often.

So, boy, wasn’t I surprised the other day when a client said that she basically doesn’t understand it. And I was equally surprised, after posting a question on Twitter about it, to not be inundated with tons of instructional video links.

Surely someone has created a video on what makes LinkedIn so powerful for small business?

After scouring YouTube for material, I found 9 solid clips to help you learn about LinkedIn and harness its power.

(If you’d like to head straight to the videos, skip to the bottom of this page for the list of links. If you are already lost — LinkedIn??? Twitter??? — I recommend starting with CommonCraft’s video, Social Networking in Plain English.)

Three Keys to Understanding LinkedIn

It’s more than a social space. If you’ve jammed on all the music you can handle at MySpace and learned 25 things about 25 times on Facebook, you’ll see the obvious differences with LinkedIn. While it is technically a social networking space, what distinguishes it from its peers is its target market: namely, an international community of professionals that see the future of business online . LinkedIn’s focus is its asset: it is the premiere portal of its kind, dwarfing Xing, its closest market competitor with 35 million users to Xing’s 7 million.  And, according to a November 2008 report by Anderson Analytics, the majority of LinkedIn users (66%) are “decision makers or have influence in the purchase decisions at their companies.”  While LinkedIn may not have the Internet traffic ranks that Facebook (#5) and MySpace (#8) have, it is gaining considerable ground, rising 52 position points to 149 in just the last 3 months alone, according to Alexa. Want to see aggressive growth for your own business? Ride that horse to the top.

It’s the networking on steroids. If all you have done with LinkedIn thus far is register an account, you’ve overlooked 99.9% of its effectiveness. At its core, LinkedIn is about, well, linking. As before, it’s not what you know, but who you know that creates business opportunities. While the most obvious first step is to connect with old friends and colleagues, do not neglect the next steps: of joining a LinkedIn group, of asking and answering questions in its forums, of inviting the people you meet in those spaces to connect with you. Yes, yes, some purists will deride the open networkers who boast 500+ connections on their profiles. (“What’s the point if you cannot personally recommend someone?”) But there is a middle ground between your 5 most trusted friends and 5,000 anonymous network connections. Find it.

It’s the cold call made a lot warmer. Remember those days when Gertie Gatekeeper stopped you right at “May I speak to the Director of Marketing?” Those days can be placed firmly behind you with the power of just two words: a first name and a last name. On LinkedIn, members within your extended network (i.e. the friends of your friend’s friends) are fully visible by name and title. For example, just 150 strategic connections can connect you with nearly 5 million professionals. That means that the next time you want to reach the marketing director in an Austin, Texas agency, chances are good that you can ask for her directly. Even better, because she has already voluntarily posted the most current information about her duties in the company, you can be sure that she is, indeed, the person with whom you want to speak. Power tip: using a calling list or a lead database? Cross reference it with LinkedIn.

Finding professionals in your target markets has gotten a whole lot easier because of LinkedIn. It is, as one of the video gurus puts it, “the grown-up version of your address book.” That is just the tip of the iceberg. Increasing the visibility of your small business, sharing resources with your industry peers, and leveraging your connections for new business: that’s the power of LinkedIn.

So are you going to get online? Or are you going to continue stroking your business card?

– Tammi, who reminds you that hiring ArcherTC to polish your LinkedIn profile is business smart

YouTube video links:

• What is LinkedIn? by LinkedInMarketing (2:28)
• How & Why to Use LinkedIn.com by SmallBizTrends.com (8:21)
• Use LinkedIn to Sell at Internet Speed by yBC.TV (3:14)
• See the remaining 6 videos on the ArcherTCdotcom YouTube channel.

Related shopping:

• Despair.com is selling some awesome Christian Bale t-shirts. The Official Tee For Those Who Shan’t Be Working Together With Him Again. It would make the perfect gift…send me one!
• Amazon.com is selling the second edition of Jason Alba’s “I’m on LinkedIn — Now What???”. Skip the videos and buy the book!

- Flickr photo credit: Jerry Luk

A: You probably can’t.

The new client concluded, fairly or unfairly (but fairly, I think) that if things are going wrong already, at the start of your working relationship, it does not bode well for work down the road.

But I suggest that a bigger issue is at play, namely, the value and power of first impressions. And especially in this economy, first impressions are more important than ever.

Back in my UCLA days, I once got a job as at a new pizza joint. My roommate at the time gave me some advice that has served me well ever since. “When you get a new job,” he told me, “work extra hard the first month. Do extra without being asked. Say yes to everything. They will see what a good, hard worker you are, and forever more will look at you through that lens.” I must say that I have since found this to be quite accurate. …more at Ask an Expert: You’ve got to impress clients from the get-go – USATODAY.com, published 16 February 2009

Flickr photo credit: cursedthing

Given these massive losses and a bleak job market, industry forecasters say they expect to see more people turning to self-employment. But who says you have to go it alone? Partnering is a viable option, whether you’re looking to start a new venture or, perhaps, bring someone on-board what you already have under way. This article from Business Know-How contributor and Prime Strategies president Marian Banker outlines a five-step approach to joining forces with the right person. …Steps To Finding The Right Business Partner | SmallBizResource.com: The Essential IT Blog For Small Businesses, published 5 Feb 2009.

Flickr photo credit: chuckp

But even if your business is struggling, you can take steps to turn it around and be poised to grow this year, says Paul Rauseo, managing director at the George S. May International, a Chicago consulting firm. Practical tips from Rauseo and other small business experts follow….more atTurning Around a Struggling Business – BusinessWeek.

Flickr photo credit: Digital Explorer

Mr. Patnaik, founder and chief executive of Jump Associates, a firm in San Mateo, Calif., that advises companies on growth strategies, and a part-time professor at Stanford, has written a book, Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, scheduled for release this month.

Saturday Interview – Companies From Mars, Customers From Venus – NYTimes.com. Flickr photo credit: Melork