Archive for November, 2011

Doing the Right Thing Helps You Succeed in Business

Doing the Right Thing Helps You Succeed in Business

You’ve probably heard the saying that “what goes around, comes around” – when you and your business consistently do what’s best for your customers and promote good business practices, word will spread that you and your business will always do the right thing. Doing the right thing builds trust, and trust means more customers and sales. More customers and sales mean a successful business.

Here are even more reasons why doing the right thing builds business:

Feeding and building your feeling of self-worth – Doing the right thing makes you feel good. That feeling inside shows authentically outside and attracts more people to you and your business.
It limits making wrong decisions – Like any foundation in life, with a strong foundation you can build anything. So, if you consistently do the right thing, that foundation increases your effectiveness and good decision making.
It doesn’t only make you mentally stronger, but also physically stronger – With the belief that you can do right, you’ll be able to draw on that momentum and tap your positive energy to get more things done.
Reduces worry and stress – Doing right helps you focus on making right choices, and if you know you are making right choices, that reduces worry and stress.
It makes you more understanding and compassionate – The process of doing the right thing will mean making difficult choices at times while also spending more time listening to others, and these experiences enlarge your capacity to be more empathetic and tolerant.
A brighter future – Doing the right thing will also mean following up the right way, thus increasing business and creating more opportunities for the future.
You will have better friends and support – Part of being successful in business is building up the people that surround and support you and your business. These people will share your can-do and positive outlook. They will want to be your friends and help you achieve your goals.
Makes you more positive – Like anything that is nurtured, your capacity to choose the right thing will grow stronger and better. The more you do the right thing, the more positive you will become.

The key to doing the right thing is to focus on transparency, fairness and creating a strong foundation for your brand and reputation. In return, you will be rewarded with personal and business success!

How do you keep focus on doing the right thing? We would love to hear about your experiences in the comments.

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How to Handle Difficult Situations

How to Handle Difficult Situations

Once in a while, out of the blue, you’re surprised with an uncomfortable, unsettling and difficult situation. You may respond emotionally, and later stew over the aftermath. When in business, this can have a negative impact on what your customers say about you, as word of mouth tends to spread.

It would be great if you could press a do-over button, but even better than a do-over is not reacting in a way you’ll regret later. Here are some steps to help you handle difficult situations better.

Acknowledge your emotions, stay calm, think and assess the situation.
Gain perspective – give your difficulty a number on a scale of 1 to 10.
Stay positive – think or write down some possible solutions.
If necessary, find a place that gives you reassurance and peace – it may be a park or house of worship.
Look for support from family, friends, co-workers and other professionals. Ask them what they think about the situation from an outsider’s point of view.
Seek joy and laughter – play your favorite music, watch funny movies and surround yourself with positive people.
Create and follow through on a simple plan:

State a goal – for example, I will stay calm.
Turn your goal statement into a mantra and keep saying it.
Develop a list of strategies to reach your goal – for example, put on a set of headphone for music, avoid tense situations, start counting backward from 100 in your head, and any other strategy that is appropriate for the situation.
You may need to write a plan to handle larger problems – For example, let’s say you have a customer that was unhappy with your business, and is telling people not to purchase from you. Develop a list of strategies such as calling the customer directly to assist with the problem, providing a refund and a gift certificate to apologize, posting in response to public social media posts from the customer asking her to contact you directly so you can help, etc. Think of things that will show that you are responsive and that you care, while understanding that you may not be able to resolve the customer’s issue or change her opinion. You are also managing what the people observing the situation think.
Check off your list of strategies as you slowly resolve your difficulties to help you stay positive and on track.

After resolving the situation you may want to explore how it was handled, how you can improve the way it was handled, and review valuable lessons you’ve learned.

In business and in life there will always be difficult situations. Some will be small, and some may be devastating. The key is to always try to stay positive, think, assess the situation and trust that you’ll come up with the best solution at the moment. The more you learn from difficult situations the better you’ll be at resolving them and achieving a happier life, as well as a more successful business.

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Tips for Keeping Your Clients Coming Back

Tips for Keeping Your Clients Coming Back

We all know it’s better and more cost effective to have a steady stream of returning customers than always being focused on finding new customers. So, how do we keep our customers coming back once the first sale is made? Think of the first transaction as the first date in a series of dates, which ultimately leads to a long and wonderful relationship. The way to keep customers coming back is to develop and nurture a relationship with them.

Here are some ideas to keep your new customer coming back, in order to establish a lasting relationship:

Promote your strengths, best products/services and greatest value compared to competitors.
Offer incentives/discounts for return customers.
Develop a customer-based community online: create a Facebook page where customers can share ideas and communicate with others of like mind.
Once you have a Facebook page, provide valuable and interesting information that can help your customers.
Create trust: let your customers know that if they don’t like something you’ll fix it.
Contribute to a cause in a way that involves your customers. For example, if you sell books, offer to collect old books to give to charity like your local library or women’s shelter, and in return your customer gets 15% off on their next purchase.
Establish a loyal customer rewards program and make it feel like it’s personalized to each individual.
Make the sales process easier, faster and better than your competitors.
Establish a follow up process to check on your customer’s satisfaction and needs regularly.
Offer free personal delivery service or shipping.
Establish an online relationship with your customers and provide real-time customer service.
Provide an easy and comfortable way for customers to provide feedback, and promote changes and improvements you’ve made based on the suggestions of your customers.
Once in a while, surprise your best customers with a special gift and share what you’ve done with the world.
Highlight loyal customers and promote their importance for the world to see (create positive buzz).
Create a fun, interactive contest as part of your marketing.
Provide memorable and excellent customer service and value consistently.
Focus on making the customer feel special, respected, highly valued and like they are a dear friend.

The key is to focus your efforts on developing a relationship with your customers, offering excellence, value and unique service that only you can provide.

How do you keep your customers coming back? We love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.