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Best Small Business Idea — It’s All About You

Getting More Focused — It’s All About You

Jeanna Pool from Catalyst Creative writes a great ezine on marketing each month. In January she shared 5 Great Marketing Tips for 2006. Number 1 was “Stop Focusing on You”. She declares 2006 the year of the client and exhorts you to focus totally on your clients and their needs. I think she’s right on. And I think she’s completely wrong. Why right and wrong?

Because if you’ve been in business for awhile and have great products and great services and aren’t getting the results you want, you may be too focused on your clients and not focused enough on yourself. Last week, I encouraged your to revisit your vision of your business and ask yourself why you started your business in the first place. Now I want you to focus even more on what you want. What exactly do you want out of your business? Do you want more money? If so, how much? Write down a number. Do you want more flexible hours? If so, write out exactly the schedule you’d like. Do you want to change the world? If so, write out specifically how that would look.

Why all this focus on you? Because if you aren’t absolutely clear on what you want, how are you going to know if you are successful? How are you going help your clients if you aren’t taking care of yourself as well. Maybe you need to be making 0,000 a year to provide your family with the life that you wanted. You want to send your kids to college. You want to retire while you are still in active and in good health. Or maybe you want to just make an extra ,000 a year working part-time while you take care of your children until they are in school. Or perhaps your goal is to make a million dollars a year and live a really incredible life. Defining this is very important. Why?

Because what you want will shape your business. It will determine who your customers are and how you will help them. If you want ,000,000 in sales, your products and methods are going to be a whole lot different than if you want ,000 in sales. If you want to work only afternoons, that is going to shape your business as well. If you want to sell your business and retire in five years, that’s going to affect your decisions as well. So right now, get out a paper and pen and get ready to write.

Did you get your pen and paper out? Answer the question, “What do I want out of my business?” Write in as much detail exactly what you want your business to give you. Be as specific as possible. Write as much as you can. Think income, lifestyle, schedule, partners, travel, location, employees. What exactly do you want? Throughout the week, add to this and revise it. Compare where you are right now to what you really want. How large is the gap? Next week, I’ll help you create a plan to narrow the gap with: Why Business Plans Don’t Work — How to Create an Effective Action Plan

by Nicki Flouton
Copyright © 2009

Do you want your company to provide outstanding customer service? Well, all you have to know is the alphabet! Here are some alphabetical tips to providing high quality service…and it’s easy to remember! As easy as ABC!

A – Attitude:  Maintaining a positive attitude is critical! Positive people set the tone for those around them, and uphold a positive image of their company when interacting with their customers.

B – Balance:  Striking a balance between your professional life and personal life is imperative to your success!

C – Compassion:  This one really goes without saying…compassion is essential to all customer service interactions!

D – Demeanor:  Always display your best, professional demeanor when dealing with your customers.

E – Empathy:  Your customers want us to do more than just provide our regular service, and actually understand how they are feeling. Inject your customer service interactions with some empathy!

F – Fun:  Let loose! Customers enjoy dealing with staff that displays a light-hearted attitude. Yes, it is possible to be professional and also have fun.

G – Grace:  This is especially important when interacting with irate customers, but applies to all customer service interactions. Remember to conduct yourself with grace!

H -Honesty:  Be honest with your customers at all times. If you are unable to assist them, be honest and transfer them to someone who can.

I – Innovation:  Constantly improve on your methods and work on advanced solutions. Be innovative!

J – Jovial:  When on the phone or live chat with a customer, remember that they would rather deal with a happy representative, not a representative who is just indifferent. Why not elevate their mood while alleviating the problem?

K – Knowledgeable:  Be knowledgeable about the company you represent, and all of its products and services. This way, you will always have the answer to every question!

L – Loyalty:  Outstanding customer service not only keeps your clients happy-it also creates loyalty. Your goal is to maintain their loyalty!

M – Multitask:  A good customer service representative is adept at multitasking! They must be able to take phone calls, help a customer via live chat, and generally be able to perform their daily tasks while helping their clients at the same time.

N – No:  While the word “no” may not be the best thing to say to a customer, sometimes it needs to be said. Replace the word “no” with a phrase like “I am unable to, but what I can do is…”

O – Organized:  Organization is very important, because you won’t be able to assist your clients if you can’t even find the answers! Make sure that your workspace is always organized.

P – Personable:  Project an agreeable personality, and reach out to the customer. Always remind them that they can contact you for assistance at any time, and I assure you-they will!

Q – Quality Service:  Pride yourself on providing quality service, and your clients will pick up on it. Never settle for providing less than the best!

R – Responsibility:  As a representative of your company, you will ultimately have to assume responsibility for some issues. Simply take responsibility, and offer solutions to fix the issue.

S – Satisfaction:  Make sure that you’re taking customer complaints seriously, and using them towards bettering your product or service. This way, you can help increase customer satisfaction!

T – Trust:  Without trust, you have no customers! They depend on you to deliver exactly what you promise, and it is up to you to help build client trust everyday.

U – Understanding:  Always try to understand what the customer experienced when helping them with a problem. This will help you, help them.

V – Versatile: Be ready to adapt to any issue at a moment’s notice! Even if you have dealt with smaller issues all day, you should always be prepared to deal with a disastrous one!

W – Welcoming:  Welcome customers who are new to your product or service with a friendly phone call, and your extension should they have any questions or require assistance.

X – The X Factor:  Just when you thought there wouldn’t be anything for “X”! Here is an excellent book, about boosting your productivity and increasing your sales!

http://www.amazon.com/X-Factor-Getting-Extraordinary-Results-Ordinary/dp/0471443891

Y – Yes!:  This is one of the best words you can say to a customer! Make sure that you can say it all the time, and if you aren’t able to, then figure out what to improve so that you can!

Z – Zealous:  Be zealous! What does that mean? It just means you should be enthusiastic, passionate about what you do, and eager to help whenever you can!