Sometimes brutal honesty can become part of a brand and even become the most important part of a brand. If you are in an industry where customers are highly likely to experience inconvenience or dissatisfaction from your service or your product, this can be a bizarre yet successful marketing angle.

Consider airline companies. We all understand why we must wait for several hours in security, and most of us don’t really mind trading a little time for the security. However, most of us wait for an equal amount of time at the airline check in before we even reach the security checkpoint. Airlines are incapable of processing their customers in an efficient or timely manner. For this reason, most of them admonish customers to allow several hours to get from their taxi to their gate. We have accepted this as a fact of airline travel and are in fact pleased when we only need to spend an hour to get through the tedious process.

Imagine that you are the owner of an airline instead of your current business. Would you handle this issue in the same way? Would you instead bill your brand as the speedy, full service brand even though you can’t deliver on your promise? In this case, brutal honesty seems like the best plan. Telling customers to expect unreasonable delays is an interesting branding choice, but it works in this case.

The moral of this story seems to be that if there are inherent drawbacks in your industry, taking an open and honest approach is the best possibility. This allows your customers to decide how they will deal with the inconvenience: in this case, either by arriving early for flights or expecting to rush through the various steps of getting on an airplane and possibly miss their flight anyway.

If this seems like an approach that only airlines could get away with, rest assured that more and more businesses are taking this approach to what could otherwise be customer service nightmares. A South Florida hospital (and many like it) has started communicating honestly and accurately about how long potential patients can expect to wait before being seen by a doctor. Most people are unhappy with the amount of time that they spend waiting in an emergency room, with national averages at about an hour and much more than that normal in many areas.

Although Aventura Hospital has a much lower average, at times just a few minutes, it nonetheless has erected large billboards throughout its area. These billboards tell potential customers how long the wait at the emergency room is at that time, so that people know what to expect before they even enter the parking lot. People who are at home wondering whether their emergency is serious enough for the investment of time can also check on the hospital website. The estimates are texted to both sources every half hour from the hospital itself.

Apparently brutal honesty works in this case as well as the airline one. Since starting this program, emergency room visits to the hospital have increased by a quarter. While the wait times may not always be low, customers at least know what to expect. This is a key part of a brand promise—letting your customers know what to expect and then following up consistently to ensure satisfaction every time.

Vinters, hold on to your wine glasses. Bottle Shock, which is based on a true story, is an informative, entertaining and slightly long-winded film about the Judgment of Paris, a 1976 tasting competition between the finest French wines (long-thought to be the best in the world) and California’s Napa Valley crop.

Bottle Shock is about Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman of Snow Cake, and Love Actually), a British oenophile and wine salesman living in Paris, who takes it upon himself to travel to California to sample the local wines. While he clearly expects a bunch of hippie, hillbilly rednecks making moonshine, he soon discovers that some of the best wines heís ever tasted are being made there. Along the way, he meets the makers (including Bill Pullman, Rachael Taylor, Freddy Rodriguez, and Chris Pine).

Pullman (You Kill Me, The Grudge) plays Jim Barrett, owner and operator of the Chateau Montelena vineyard; Pine (Smokin’ Aces, Just My Luck) plays Barrettís son, Bo (though why he was forced to don a wig that looks like a rat’s nest is beyond me’it was so distracting that every scene he was in was overshadowed by the thing!); Taylor (Transformers, See No Evil) plays Montelena intern Sam; and Rodriguez (Grindhouse, Bobby, “Six Feet Under”) plays Montelena vinter Gustavo, who years to break out on his own.

The film also stars Bradley Whitford (An American Crime, “The West Wing”), as a local wine expert and professor; Dennis Farina (The Grand, You Kill Me) as Maurice, an American wine lover and frequenter of Spurrier’s shop in Paris; Miguel Sandoval (The Killer, Nine Lives); Joe Regalbuto (“Murphy Brown”); and Eliza Dushku (“Tru Calling”, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”), as the local bartender and supporter of local wines.

Bottle Shock was co-written/directed by Randall Miller (Houseguest, The Sixth Man), and while his film meanders between fine wine making and tasting, to sub-plots involving debt, personal betrayal and liberal sexual activity, it is when he sticks to the wine that he truly shines.

The film is presented in 2.35 : 1 aspect ratio with audio in Dolby Digital 5.1. and optional subtitles in English and Spanish. Extras include audio commentary with Miller, Pine, Pullman, Dushku, and co-producer J. Todd Harris and co-writer Lannette Pabon. Featurettes include “An Underdog’s Journey: The Making of Bottle Shock”, which features behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast and crew, as well as the real-life Barrett family; and “Chateau Montelena: One Winery’s Search For Excellence,”, a short infomercial. Rounding out the extras is a handful of deleted scenes.

The film is rated PG-13 for brief strong language, some sexual content and a scene of drug use. It has a 110-minute run time.

Fans of wine making, particularly that of the Napa Valley region, are sure to enjoy Bottle Shock’s peek at the start of the industry. The scenery alone is worth the watch.

I give Bottle Shock 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Sometimes a personal need can be the impetus for a winning business idea. For Kelly Wagner, this was certainly the case. Wagner wanted a day planner that was suited to her own busy lifestyle, one that would allow her to balance her goals and her day to day life. When she realized that this product was not available, she decided to create it for herself and for women everywhere.

However, there were several roadblocks on the path, most notably Wagner’s lack of business experience. Luckily, she enlisted experts to help her get her business off the ground, including graphic designer Laura Thake, marketing expert Bobette Kyle, and office manager Cecilia George. With this team, Kelly Wagner felt confident in developing the idea that would become the Daysteps planning system.

Kelly Wagner designed Daysteps to be her dream planner, a tool capable of helping her manage every aspect of her life from appointments to goals. True to its roots, Daysteps is more than the average day planner. In addition to standards slots for appointments and work obligations, women can use the planner to achieve balance in the many obligations that they juggle and learn to make healthier choices on a daily basis. With nontraditional sections such as ‘Fill Your Heart’ and ‘Clear Your Head’ as well as special tools for household management, this product is uniquely made for modern women.

One unique feature of the planner is that it is highly customizable, acknowledging the fact that every woman has not just a busy lifestyle, but one that is unique in its commitments and life goals. This recognition of modern women is a core part of the brand. The fact that the company was started and is run by a diverse group of women only adds authenticity to the brand.

The logo design is a core part of this brand strategy. The blue and chocolate brown color scheme is one that reflects current fashions, while the font is highly feminine and detailed. The tagline, “Your best day, every day,” is a good representation of the brand, while the wavelike shape in which it is written reflects positive movement that women can achieve by using the planner to get more control over their lives. This logo design is relevant to the audience, making for a brand that entices modern women with promises of much needed balance and support.

Once a professional brand had been created, the next step was to get the message out. The women who run the business aggressively pursued media appearances and had the product placed both in small local stores and on web giants such as Amazon.com. The women also promoted the brand through social media such as Facebook, where many busy women maintain a presence. They are currently in the process of having the brand distributed through major retail outlets. As you can see, creating a strong brand with the help of professionals along with marketing the brand through free and effective channels is one way of achieving small business success.

Every entrepreneur should learn how to maximize every conversation or interaction with customers and prospects. It is quite easy to forget this objective particularly if we enjoy chatting with them. Don’t forget that the purpose of these relationship building efforts is to promote your business or your brand.

This is where selling script comes into play. Having a well-prepared script will help you deliver consistent message and create strong first impression. Sometimes we get nervous causing us to commit mistakes and say weird things in front of them. Most importantly, it will help us prepare answers to their questions or objections without getting sidetracked.

Delivery is very important when you are using a selling script. In some cases, people who use scripts tend to sound robotic, making more damage than good to your business image.

Writing a marketing or selling script is one of the most useful things you can develop for your business, if done right. One way to make your selling script sound natural is to simulate actual conversations with your customer. Try to make your opening line interesting and brief. The first thing you need to accomplish is to grab their attention and establish rapport.

Don’t start by selling or promoting your brands to your prospects. Instead, try to find out what a particular client wants or needs before you start talking about what you can offer. Open-ended questions are great in gathering insights.

Well-prepared answers to objections and questions about your product or services can lead to good conversations. Aside from that, your selling script can help facilitate closing – an area where many entrepreneurs and even salespeople are weak. At the end of the day, you should achieve a specific objective – it can be appointment, leads, sales, or even vital business information.

Back in September 2008 I decided to redesign and update my blog. Lack of inspiration and time meant that it took me more than 5 months to do it!

The reason I wanted to update my blog design was that in terms of my personal development online, I had changed my focus and my views quite a lot. I used to ignore social media marketing till last year. I was focusing solely on traditional organic search and traditional content building for most of my web sites.

The beginning of this year saw a major shift in my approach to my online presence and that of my online properties. First of all, even though I have had my twitter account for quite some time, I started posting regular tweets more often starting January of this year. I was following more people and was being followed more. I installed Tweet Deck which changed the way I tweeted.

Then I started building up my profile on LinkedIn, eCademy and also started using Technorati, Digg, Stumble and Delicious. Mind you, I had all these profiles for years now but never used them actively.

So with this shift in my online behavior, I decided I finally found the focus for my personal blog. I knew what I what I wanted to write, which would be related to small businesses, online entrepreneurship and related stuff. I will not be writing any more movie or gadget reviews on this blog because I have a dedicated website for such posts.

The choice for this new layout and the color scheme might surprise some of my readers. Since the ideal reader would be a small business owner looking for some information on issues related to running a small business, the dark color palate and the “tech” look and feel might throw off some of them. However, I wanted the design of my personal website to be closer to my likes and the kind of designs that I like.

I hope you like the new site design. Of course I will be tweaking it and try to improve it in the coming weeks. Please drop me a comment on what you think of this design.

Complaint is one of the most dreaded words in the business world.

If you or your employees don’t know how to manage these issues carefully you will end up losing a hefty portion of your profits.

Solving a problem, no matter how complicated, can be summed up in 3 steps:

1. Listen attentively. Most complaints are simply misunderstanding between sellers and buyers. The worst thing you can do is to defend your company without understanding the real issues. Resist the temptation of cutting customers off in the middle of their complaints. It will only worsen the situation. Hear beyond their angry tone to uncover the real problems at hand. Let them get it all out of their system. Only then can you start turning this to conversation.

2. Mind your nonverbal gestures. Some studies show that communication is 60% body language, 30% tone, and 10% verbal. It means what you say won’t have much impact if your body and tone are not aligned with it. You may “sorry” but your gestures might indicate lack of sincerity. Try to empathize with your customer and be genuine about it. Apologize if the company is at fault and acknowledge your shortcomings if any.

3. Solve the problem. At the end of the day, you must settle the problem once and for all. Words and compassion don’t mean a thing unless it’s backed up with action and commitment. Ideally, you should have a ready standard answers to different problems. This should be a part of your brainstorming sessions.

But decide quickly. Depending on the nature of the problem, you can offer a refund, discount or replacement of product. Don’t hesitate to return the money if the complaint is valid. Give your business card to reassure that you really want to help solve the problem. They might not call you but at least they will feel at ease.

These 3 simple steps when applied efficiently and genuinely to your business can become a strong competitive advantage. Master the art of defusing anger and you will get rewarding returns on your investment.